Meanwhile I solicit the favour of being heard, through you, respecting the grounds upon which I seconded Mr.Darwin's nomination for the Copley Medal.
Referring to the classified list which I drew up of Mr.Darwin's scientific labours, ranging through the wide field of (1) Geology, (2) Physical Geography, (3) Zoology, (4) physiological Botany, (5) genetic Biology, and to the power with which he has investigated whatever subject he has taken up,--Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit,--I am of opinion that Mr.Darwin is not only one of the most eminent naturalists of his day, but that hereafter he will be regarded as one of the great naturalists of all countries and of all time.

His early work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs constitutes an era in the investigation of the subject.

As a monographic labour, it may be compared with Dr.Wells' "Essay upon Dew," as original, exhaustive, and complete--containing the closest observation with large and important generalisations.
Among the zoologists his monographs upon the Balanidae and Lepadidae, Fossil and Recent, in the Palaeontographical and Ray Societies' publications, are held to be models of their kind.
In physiological Botany, his recent researches upon the dimorphism of the genital organs in certain plants, embodied in his papers in the "Linnean Journal," on Primula, Linum, and Lythrum, are of the highest order of importance.

They open a new mine of observation upon a field which had been barely struck upon before.

The same remark applies to his researches on the structure and various adaptations of the orchideous flower to a definite object connected with impregnation of the plants through the agency of insects with foreign pollen.