Darwin Memorial

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 544, 22 December 1928, Page 5

Darwin Memorial

Man Who Shook the World »g-i ROM Downe, his home in y the County of Kent, England, it has been truly said, Charles Darwin j/ shook the world, giving 3s, to human thought an impress which will endure for all time. That is the memorable conclusion of an article in “Nature,” on Downe House as a Darwin Memorial. The property was acquired by Mr. George Buxton Browne, F.R.C.S., from a grandson of the great naturalist, and he has “transferred its possession to the British Association, under the most liberal conditions, and with an endowment amply sufficient for its maintenance and preservation for all time” —a noble gift to the nation. Downe House will become a museum of Darwiniana, as well as a memorial to one of the world’s greatest men. At present, Downe House is in use as a private school; when the tenancy ends, it becomes a national possession. And thousands of people of all nations, will go on pilgrimage to the home of Darwin; the house which his father. Dr. Darwin, purchased for him three years after the future author of the “Origin of Species” had married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood. At Downe, his large and gifted family lived for years, and there, in April, ISS2, Charles Darwin died, world famous himself, and the father of distinguished sons. No single home in the world, says “Nature.” can show such a record as that of the Darwins of Downe.

It is proposed to gather, as far as possible, articles which were in the possession of Darwin, or associated with him; original documents concerning the naturalist and his work; for preservation at Downe. On the shelves in his old study will be placed copies of all the many editions of his books. It will be as necessary for the Darwinian to visit Downe House, as it is for the pious Moslem to go to Mecca, once in his lifetime, at least. And since there are few among the host of naturalists who are not evolutionists, since belief in evolution is almost universal among educated people the world over, Darwin will receive annually many thousands of visitors—will be the Mecca of men of science especially. All the searchlight of criticism, all the discoveries made by later students of biology, have not shaken the foundations of the structure Charles Darwin raised. All his conclusions have not been confirmed, nor all his deductions accepted. But dissent from his teachings on several points does not dethrone Evolution. His own mind to the end remained open, and he was over willing to consider any serious argument against natural selection. Darwin will never be deposed. His place is secure as one of the world masters in science; he is a Hero in the History of Ideas.

Darwin's demonstration of Evolution was not his only great “gift to mankind.” His supreme service, Professor Fairchild Osborne has said, “was that he won for man absolute freedom in the study of the laws of Nature; he literally fulfilled the saying of St. John: ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ ” He ranks with, not next to. Aristotle as a natural philosopher. Recently several letters written by Darwin to a young man named Dismorr, who lived in Victoria, have been presented to the Historical Society of Victoria by Dr. H. Dismorr. of Folkestone, England, who was born at. St. Hilda. In 1851, Dr. Dismorr’s father visited England, and sent to Darwin specimens, discovered near Melbourne, which he regarded as “fossil footsteps.” He was mistaken; but Darwin, instead of dampening the young nature-lover's zeal, encouraged him with a kindly letter. “Depend on it,” he wrote, “everyone makes plenty of blunders at first, and I well know that I have done so, and so long that they are not printed and published, it signifies nothing. ... I

sincerely hope that you may meet with success and fiud interest in your geological pursuits.” These letters, with comments by Mr. Chas. Daley, 8.A.. are printed in full in the Victorian Naturalist. The Historical Society is fortunate in possessing the originals. Doubtless, however, they are not the only Darwin letters in Victoria. I have myself an original letter of one of Darwin’s great contemporaries, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the friend to whom he once wrote: “There never was such a good man as you for telling me things which I like to hear.” And Hooker had written, correcting some impression of Darwin’s!

.The man who shook the world” came on board the “Beagle” to Australia and New Zealand and left them without regret. He tells us so, in his most popular book the “Journal of Researches.”

When, on that March day, so many years ago, the “Beagle” stood out of K'ng, George’s Sound, on a course for Keeling Island, Darwin wrote in Lis journal: “Farewell, Australia! You are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the bouth but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret.” It is our regret that the master naturalist did not see more of New Zealand, of its wonderful fauna and flora, and learn to love the land as we do.