CHARLES DARWIN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1045, 28 April 1882, Page 3

CHARLES DARWIN.

We take the following details concerning the l ito Charles Darwin, whoso death was announced on Saturday, from “Mon of the I’im* ” .-—Darwin, Charles Robert, LL.D., F i.S, was born at Shrewsbury. Eubruary 12, 1809, being the sou of Dr Robert Waring Darwin, F.R.S., physician of that town. His grandfather was the celebrated Dr Erasmus Darwin, E R.S., the poetical, philanthropic, and scientific physician of Lichfield, whose '‘Botanic Garden," “Temple of Nature,” “Zoonomia,” and “ Origin of Society,” were once extensively read and greatly admired. Mr Darwin’s mother was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the modern founder of the English pottery manufacture. He was educated first at the Shrewsbury grammer school, under Dr Butler, afterwards Bishop of L chfield ; ho went to the University of Edinburgh in 1825, remained there two years, and next entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, where ho giaduated B. A. °in 1832 and M. A. in 1830 His hereditary aptitude for the study of natural science was early perceived by his instructors ; the Kev. Mr Henslow, Professor of Botany at Cambridge, recommended him therefore to Captain Fitzroy and the Lords of the Admiralty in 1831, when a naturalist was to bo chosen to accompany the second surveying expedition of H.M.S. Beagle in the Southern Seas, The first expedition, that of the Adventure Beagle (1826 30) had explored the coasts of Paiagonia ; the Beage, which sailed December 27, 1831, aud returned to England October 22, 1836. having made a scientific circumnavigation of the globe. Mr Darwin served without salary, and partly paid his own expenses on condition that he should have the entire disposal of Ins zoological, botanical, and geological collections. On returning to England he published a “ Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History” of the various countries he had visited. This originally appeared with a general account of the voyage by Captain Fitzroy, but was afterwards published separately. Since that time Mr Darwin has prosecuted his scientific investigations in England ; and for many years past he has resided near Fan thorough in Kent, having married in 1831 his cousin, Miss I 'mma Wedgwood, by whom lie has a large family. In addition to the numerous papers on various scientific subjects, Mr Darwin edited the “Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle,” and wrote three sepaiato volumes on geology—viz., “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,” 1842. second edition 1874; “Geological Observations, on volcanic Islands,” 1844 ; and “Geological Observations on South America,’ - 1846. The most important of Mr Darwin’s subsequent works arc a “Monograph of the Family Cirrhipedia,” published by the Ray Society in 18513, and on the “ Fossil Species,” by the Palmontographical Society. His “ Origin of Species by Moans of Natural Selection,” published in 1859, which has gone through several editions at Home, and has been translated into French, Gorman, Italian, Spanish, and other European languages, gave rise to much controversy. In this bold and ingenious essay he propounded his famous philosophical theory, of which the main proposition is, that all the various forms of vegetable and animal life, past or present, have been produced by a scries of gradual change ; in natural descent from parents to offspring. According to him all the animals, beasts, birds, reptiles, in. sects, fishes, and zoophytes, have descended from at most four or five progenitors ; all the plants from no greater number. But analogy would lead to the belief that all animals and plants have together descended from some one prototype, Mr Darwin’s subsequent works have had for their object ihe supplying the data on which he founded his conclusions. A treatise ou the “ Fertilisation of Orchids,” published in 1562, was followed by “ Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants ; or the Principles of Variation, Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Inter breeding, and Selection, under Domestication” in iS67. In 1871 he published the “ Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sox,” 2 vois. ; a new edition of which was published in 1874 in one volume, with largo additions. In this work the author infers that “ man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tailand pointed ears, probably abnreal in its habits.” Other works fo lowed at intervals until 1877. Mr Darwin, who lias been elected a member of various foreign and English scientific bodies, received from the Royal Society the Royal and Copley medals, for his various scientific works, and from the Geological Society the Wollarton Palladian medal. Ho has been created a knight of the order Pour le Merita by the Prussian Government; and in June, 1871, he was elected a corresponding membei of the Academy of Vienna. The University of Leyden conferred upon him the honorary degree of M. D. in February, 1875; and the University of Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of LL.D., November 17, 1877. He was elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences in August, 1878.