CHARLES DARWIN. Memoir of the Great Evolutionist.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 256, 18 April 1888, Page 5

CHARLES DARWIN. Memoir of the Great Evolutionist.

()\ the 19th. ot Apiil, 1082, the greatest naturalist ot the picsent eenttny p is.sed away. lie li\ed to le-oieate the biological .study. liOiiu before the \eteran ot seventythroe was entombed in Westminster Abbey, In- name was tamiliar tluoughout the woild. He has been ehicll) Unown by his books; now we shall undei stand something ot the man. The autobioijinphy, the letteis, nnd the leminiseenees ot his son, and fellow winker, Fianeis Dai win, i^i\ c u.s thcstoi> ot hi.s \outh and education, his aeeonnl. ot the booko lie lead and the Lriend;he knew, a pietuie oi the happj timo in the -ecluded little Kent, ullage ot Down, and, h\ no means t, he least, \aluable. Darwin toah modest estnn.de oi hi* life an<l powei>. Loni; is ii hikv any biogmphy ot equal inInest to tlu seu-ntitu- woild has seen the d;i> It is lull of li^ht on a giuml and yuieiu is ehaiaclei, and ot enenuinyenuMit to the honest and perse \eiin<4 woikei in e\oi) dopaitinent ot the woilds reononiN. Tlie man whose n.une will lank with those that ha\e made epochs in the woild's histuiN w as i.U In r aiaduie till he was two and t\\cnt\. Hi* eaihest leeolleeiionsot himselt extoit the eonfes-ion that , is ,i little lad he was slower in loam inu th.m lu-\ouuget shstei ( 'at hei me, wib in mam w.i\s a naughl\ bo\ , and nnieh ni\en to imcnting delibeiale falsehoods ; as, tot evuuph , he mv-. "1 told anothei hltle !>o\ lln hoc it Mas Lei^hton. who aftei w.iuls beiami' .1 well known liehenolo ntst md botanist that I could ptoduce \ tt'ou^h tolotned pohautluw s and pinn nut- b\ wiliiinir ihem with (eitam Lolomeil lluids, whnh was, ot ionise, ;i innnstious t.ible, anil had iu\e) bicn tiled by nu ' lit w.i- eight \eai- old when he IoM hisiuothei. ?\e\l \eav 1.1R1R) h" was -en' to |)i Butlei s gie-it -diool in hinati\e town ot Sinew .sbui\. Nothing Lindd hu\e been wnbo toi the development ot hi- mind, he consider, than the st\,>n \eai- spent thete. The education beinu stneth elasMeal, 1! wa-. to one who dunng his whole bte wa.s "mii nulail,\ mi apableof mastt ling any lanuuarjL, -nnpl> <i blank. How deal a pietuie lines it eonves ol the nanow nnndedness ol L;ieal sehool-masteis h:df a eentui\ a«, r o to foam tint. Dr Mutlei publiel> lebukedthe pieate^t pu])d hee\et had toi wastmnhis tune on such uselts^ -.tib|tM'U as chemical L'\peinuent-<, for which tabteior ical know ledjie his sehoolmatcs uu\ c him (he nick name ot " <ia-, and the mastei tailed him "n poto inianti. 01 can-It. s-, neuliuent tetluw. At si\U'cn hi- di-appointcd lathei ent him to Edtubumli I ni\eisit\ to ■liable him to tollow his own piotes<ion, that ot a doctoi. Youuu Dai uin h.id bee onv com meed tioin \.iiiou- httU nidi nations that his f.uhei would lta\.^ him pioptitN enotioh to subsist on in ( ointoi t . " though he atlds, in hi- ow 11 le [■illiniums, '• I newt imagined I -hould be so neb a man as I am; and, -.'condK, ht was not m^ed to piactis,ilir,stH tiun, and thus ne\n cneuaine hiinnate bmioi .it the st u ht nt l>!ot» I, whiih lemamed with him to the tnd ] ot ht- da\- ' On two <H<a-ion-, ,h" wiite-, "J attended iht opuatim, tln ati» m the hn-p'tul at IMiubiu^h, and -a 1 two \u\ bad o|)ei.itions, one on a v Inlil : but I iiished awa\ befoiC lhe\ weie completed. Nor did 1 i\'pi jiUt-nd 'i^am, ioi h udl\ ans nidut cmeut would haNcbeen -t 1011^ enough to make me du -o. this heinu, I(>ii£ Ik toi c the ble-sed da\sot ehloiotttim Tlio-i two La-i>- tairl\ hatmtul in« i"t many -i I'm? \cu Thus, nol ,t t U->i( . di-< Mi-led with the notion ot bein^ a doet<»), theie Ha-^cimi^!) ntil\ out piote-sitm lelt -to bet onit a diio>nian. Nome little doubt LAi- ted ai histV to belief in all the dogmas nl the lliiuih ot lai^rland. butothciwi-e ht- lathti bkul tin -u-ue-tion of bcinjj; iiountis p, 0-011 Aeund)n<_d\ hev.ntei ic.nl witl> t in- Pt.o-on on tin Cu-liU | mil a te\\ otln-i books on tli\nut\ . >i\u\ a- 1 In! not then <n tlie leas! tloiibi the '•Iml nnd liteial tmth ol e\< m wonl 111 tlie iiible, 1 soon ncisuadcl nuself that our t iced iiiu-1 hr iv - ( : opted. ('i)nsidPiin^ linw liemh I Imu 1 been ittarkfd l)\ the orthodox. 11 seems Imhtiousj ihat I ome'intcinlt d to he <i 1 'ei^\ man. ii the ' nhrenolof,'i-ts,irc to be tii.stotl. \ was well lifted m one icspet tto lie n (kMK\'iiaii. A lew jeais !iLrn tDe secK-lano- of a (.erman IV c-liolokk hI Socioty linker! me caint-sih b\ letter tor.i photo 'raph'of niwlf, ami timo atlciwaids I ieeci\ul a n-juvt 01 one of the meetings hi ttlin U it bL-onu'd that the shape ol in\ head had boon the stibieet ot public di-eu-sion. and nuc ot the siipakcis deelaicd thai I had tiie bump ot 11 \ I'l'ence de\ eloped enough lor ien piiests, Acactemiealls tin- tluet >cai- at ( ambudne wcie wot-e than wasted— so D.iiwtn thought. Euclid In ujipieciated but inath"einiiti< s ho tailed to undei stand, deeply to his leyiot .dtciwaid-, '■ FOl men »o endowed -eeni to ha\e an i \tia sense. He riauaued to a\oid a misei.ible taihue in cla-^it s. and m passed in the publu examinat ion- w ithout an> diiunetton W 01-e than all this, \ ]{i >,n.s : Kioin n\\ piissiDii for shooting and tor Imnt" niif. and, when this i.ukd. lor inlirn; ueross iouiitr\. I «ot into a spoiling -ft, liieludiiitf SDiiU- 'bssipaud. low minded no\ui« men. We Used often lo time together m the evening, though tlie-o dinners oCten mt hided men of a higher -jt.unp, and v>> % sometimes drank too ninth, with iolh singjng nnd pla,\ msr at cmds atteru.n-ds. I know 1 ought to I eel ashamed of (\,i\ * and evenings thus spent, but as some oi ni\ Iriondb were \ er\ pleasmt, and we "were <il) in* the highest spuils, I cannot help looking belt klo those times with much pleiisme. I also got into u musical set. . . . and I soinotuueh lured the chorister bo.\^ to sing in m.\ rooms. Ni-Aertlielesb, I am so utlcrh destitute ot an oai that I cannot peiecne .1 discord or keep time or hum a tune <,orrc< dy, audit isamjstcr\ lo me how I could pos^ibh have derived pleasure trom music. It was lastc- hke these \\ hioh led !)i Diiwin to tear that his sun would become "an idle sporting man, and to UII him in uonU that jtiodueed a feeling ot deep mollification at Hie time: %t You care for nothing but footing, do^.s, and lat catchiiiL r ; and you will be a displace to youiself and all your tamil>. ' Unjust- estimate ' Tlie lather, whom Daiwin ne\cr ceased t,o lo\c and re\eie, li\ed to see his son on the hi"h road to a distinction iar beyond that which even hi.s grand father F,rasmu.«, pool and naturalist, had achie\ed, 01 e\en chcanitof. "lain thankful, ' tlie fou leeords, "to say thab L became n jii'imc favourite with him." Now came tlie e\olution of the cvolu Lionisl. Danvin, like all the greatest miiuh — like Tfomer, Sluikspere, Newton, Horschel, Stcphcnhon and hundreds more —had been educating Jiimsclf. There was one man at Cambridge who saw this: it was Professor Jfcnblow, the teacher of botany. Honblow discovered Darwin : he took him on botanihin^ excursions, and introduced him to .Scdgwick, the geologist. The naturalist's real education began when he was very young, when he " took to collecting all hortb ot thingb— shellb, seals, frnukh 1 , coins, nuneialb." At Cambridge (he writes) notliinp; gave me so much pleasure as collecting hectics. 1 will give a proof of my zeal. One day, on tearing of)' sonic old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; I lien 1 aaw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which 1 held in my right hancl into my mouth. -Alas! it ejected some i intensely acrid Iluid, which burnt my tongue, so that 1 was forced to spit the hectic out, j which was loat, as was the third one. " There is something iv that young man that intereotfe me," avAd Sir .James Mackintosh when ho met Darwin at Edinburgh. It was tins beetle-catcher who atterwards spent eight years on the " (Jirripedca " and twenty years on the "Origin of Species," and many more on " Orchids " and " Earth-

worms."' To Hoim-low belongs the merit of iccoguc-mg: ii» the man who novel' l% mastered" any language, ' did not undertand the- higher mathematics, would nob bo a doctor, and was hardly lilted to be n clergyman, such faculties and aptitudes that when the prot'esbor was united luiocotnmend a naturalist (o accompany the purveying expedition in her MajuMy'h ship 15ea"io on hor voyage round the globe he at once naimd the beetle-catcher, "Not. as a Implied naimulist, but as amply <|uahlied tor eoUeclimj, ob.seniny, inafcural history. Thcstoij of that voyage is told in the humj popular and elwuming ot Dai wins book.-. Talents which nanowminded pedagogue^ could not sec in the .\ouug student were patent to all the wold when" (he " Voyage ol the Beadle "' ap peaied. i was an " opi'n-M'sanie "to the i best men in (he scientific woild and to society. Kiom LS36 to 1842 Dan\in li\ed in London, having, in LS39, inanied his eou.sin, lamina Wedgwood, dnughtei ol ! .losiuh Wedgwood, and giand-daughter ol I the toiuidei <>t the eelebralcd Klruiiu Works. In 184*2 the\ icmoved to Down, in Kent lie met m soeietv, among otheis, Sii John ILcisfliel, Muielnson, lJuckle, llumboldt, Sidney Smith, Dean Mdinan, ' Loid Stanhope, Babbage, Maeaula\, (ail) ie, (hole, and othei-. Foi llcivlu-l he telt a high ie\ciencc, was a little disappointed with lluinboldt, and gioatly divcitcd i\N Smith, oi whom lie obseive- " Theio w.ts foiiic Lliinj; uiexplic ably amusing in e\.eiy woid ho utteied. ' Mae.uilas he admited so waimly tliat lie t-a^ssueh <i man could not talk Loo much as' long a- lie allowed otbei- to linn the -hoani ol in- coineisatioii, and this M.v uala\ did Ol uu a who did talk too exclusively hi mention--, in a genial wav, Buckle and Cail>le. Ol th«-e lie wntes Ruckle was a great lalkoi. I listened to him saving hardl.v a woid, noi indeed, could I have done so. lor he lelt no u'aji-. When Mrs Knncr began to sing. 1 lumped up and "-aid, "I must list on to her;" lie Mien tm nod lound te> h mend and s.iul, "' Well, Mr Dai wm's l)Ooks me niiu l\ better than his convei-~ation." . . . . I re.member a funny dinner jit mj brothers \ (Egnsm's Darwin's) where, among .i few others were RibbagO, and L.yell, both of whom liked to talk. Ciulyle, howev er. siloneed evm one by har.in^uinu; during tlve whole dinuor on tin nd\tintai?("3 oi silence. Alter dinner, Ji:i)) have. in tin* X' "" i>R "' 1 maniier, ihanked (iul\lelor his \ei^ mleresUnK leetiue on sileiu i. D.v win's most intimate pei-onal faciuK ' ( Di io->pundetice u ltli w lium o< eupics much ot tlie-t \olume- ttiit L>ell HooLei, and llu\le\ To scieiitiln. 1 men the (ones pondeuec m the-e \olume.s will be ol deep mltiesi, on account, of it -giadtial unfolding 1 of the law of natuial in Daiwins mind. Theiu is one te.itme in it w huii ought to isi ape no i eadei the magnani moil-, h k ud-liip it dfs(»la\s between Duiwiu and Mi A. K. Wallace, who independently aimed at tlio oamo conelu-ion--. Then pajieisim the .subject «vi snnultaiieously laid bcioie the Liuna'an hoeiet> , and >et the> weu ne\er lealou- ot each othei. D.v win exalts the -'geneiou- and noble di-po^ition ' oi hi-* hiend, and Wallace defend -5 Daiwin m e\eiy dneetion. One othci man had pmtl) anticipated tlicongin ot -ptine-, Mi tleibeit Speneei, to whom we o\\<- the plua^e, '".SiiMnal of the fittest. ' and wnh whom, horn 1852. Dai win maivvtaiued the wai me-t tncndsh'p. In a Ictte-i i to lla\ Lanke-te,r he -aj s •■ L suspect that j henattei he(Spenuci) will )>e looked upon j as l>\ Lv the gieate-t living plulo-,o[)liei in Iviigland ; and, pel hap-, equal to an\ that ha\e b\ed Daiwin- n.ituial geueio-ity led him to s ( v u hat h,i- best and noblest in hi- lellows , ; and thi- is id I the moic m.huu kablc, con | -idering that, to use the wouls of FianeiDaiwm- \ery gtacetully ictoidiug the do- j \oLion ot his motiiei . l'"oi ne.irl\ toity j oar- he mu-r knew ol one da\ oi the'healt'h ol ordinary men ; and thus his lite i\ib one stiu^k against the wearn.css .mdstuun ofsickne-s Noonee\(ent tni mother knows the full amount ofsullerm^ lii«eaduied,oi of his wonderful p.itieiue. In.ill the latlei j eais ol his life she never Ictl him fur a nielli, <md her ihi\ s weie so idunned thai all his lcstmK hums might i»e sinned with her. '-he -hieldcd him fiom evciy annoj.imc, and omitted nothmK that miKhl sa\e him fiom double, oi pie\cu( him becoming o\crlired. or that nm,'ht alleviate tin man\ disi omloits ot hi) ill-health In 1m lelation^lnp towauh m.\ inothei his t"i\rier a'ul sympathetic nature was shown in its inoi' beautiful asjicct. In her presence he found his ha])]imess, and tliiou'jrh hei Ins hie which might lune been overshadowed b\ gl oom- beuune one of content and quiet yladiuss. It has been assumed that this ill health was due to the .sea -iekne<- tiom which the natmah-t ot the Beagle -ulleied dining In- \o\ago lound the globe ; but the hitlleiei lnm-clf a-enbed it lo the heieditaty '' taull which came out as gout in some of his ance-tois The. editor appeal- to think that the extent to which la- lathei sulleird fiom .sea su-kne^s lu^ been a good ded cxaggeiated. Despite his sullrimg-, staice.l> < luldien oi aciv.int could e\ ci iemombei an ebullition ol illtempei on the pait ot the meat natuiahsf. The tedium pioduced b> so much ill health was pai th iclievcd by novel leading. Ml suits of novels -\veie uad to him, the one condition he insisted on being that they should end hapjiily ; |oco-cl\ he added that he would have a law to pi event people making then fttotics end mi-eiabl). "A novel,' to be a good one, he ob->ci\es, " must have some chaiactei that one can love: and if tins ehawietei -hould be a pretty woman, .-o much the bcttoi.' Anothci leci cation at Down was back gammon, two games of -which he played eveiy night with Mi- Daiwin. Curiously enough, he was a constant pcrusei of (he raihainentai-y debates. The leading t.ioublcd him mo-t wa- "the veidammtc (lerman, ' a- he used to call it ; and he wan indignant with the (Jciin.ms toi not all Avi it ing like Dr. Y. Ilildcbiand, whose woik was as cleat a^ Ficneh. \\ hen Darwin began to learn the language he boabted of it to -Sir <J. Hooker, who replied, " Ah, my dear fellow, that's nothing ; I've begun it many times."' A gi eat number of people wioteio Daiwin to inquiic about his iciigious beliefs. In aiiMVCi to a (loiman youth who, alter leeciving one leply that the theory ot evo- I lution was (iitite compatible with the belief in a (.Jod, was not batished and wanted moie light, the following response was> sent : lain muoli engaged, an old man and out of health, and I cannot spare time to answer all your questions fully. Nor, indeed, csin they bo answered. Science has nothing to do -with Christ, except in so far as the habit of research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence, For mj belf I do not believe that there bus e\ er been any revelation. A s for a future lite, every man imist .nidge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities. Beginning, as we have seen, in a belief in the liteial trull) ot every word in the Bible, the scientist "gradually came, between 1836 and 1839, to bee that the Old Testament wa.s no more to be trusted than the sacred booLs of the Hindoos.'' Jn 1876 ho wrote : By further reflecting; that clearer evidence would be requisite to make an 5 sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is supported, t.nd that the more we know of the ilxcd laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become ; that the men at Unit time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us; that the (Jospcls cannot be proved to have been writton simultaneously with the events; that they dillbr in many important details, far too important, as it gcciu.s to me, to be admitted as i the usual inaccuracies of. eyo-wilnesacs ; by such reflections as these, which L give not as having the least novelty or value as they influenced me, '1 gradually came to disbelieve in 1 Christianity as a divine rovolation. The fact

that many false religions have spread over largo portions of the earth like wildfire had Bomo weight with mo. But I was very unwilling to give up my bolief. ... I his rtis- , belief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress. • . With respect to immortality . . . believing as Ido that man f ' in the distant future will he a. Lay more perfect crcatiiro limn ho now is. it is an into] or- I able thought, that, he and all other sentient beings are doomed to oomplote annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the soul tho destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful. Another source of conviction in the oxistenco of Uod follows from the extreme dillleultv, or rather impossibility i of ooncening this immense and wonderful 1 universe— including man. with his capacity of looking far backwards and into luturiM— as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting, I feel compelled to look to a Kirst Cause having an intelligent mind, in some degree analogous to tli.it of man, and I deserve to he called a Thoist. The conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as i I can remember, when f wrote tiie "Oiigin of Species," and it is since that, timo that it lias, very gradually, with many fluctuations, be come weaker. ' Hut then arises the doubt, can Hie miudot man, which has, as 1 lull> believe, been developed from a mind as low as that 1 (Obsessed by the lowest animals, bo t muled when it dniws-MicJi grand conclusions.' 1 ennnot pretend to throw- the least light on such ' altstrnse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us, and I, tor one, must be content to remain an Agnostic. On Apiil 18, JOB 2, the <l;t,\ before Ins decease, Darwin ieeo^ni:-L'd that his end ;\«i- near, and said, "I am not the leas!a!niid to die. Onl.y on the pic\iousday ho had lecorded foi his .son an experiment in which the l«ilt"i was en^ed. We will lollow Mr Kianci.s Datum's example m closing tiiu leeoid of hi* fathoi'.s life with a few wokN which weio added l<i the nianu-M-iipt of the hitters aululiio^iaphy in 187 f ) As for mjsell. 1 believe that I have acted rightly in steaiMv following nnd de\otingmy lite to'scieiKC. I feel no remoise Irom having committed .u\\ great sin, hut ha\c otten and otten letcictt'Hl that 1 have not done more direct good to m}, fellow creatures.