54 Proceedings. 



was tlie only thing that appealed to him. He had done a certain amount of experimental 

 work in chemistry, and was sent to Edinburgh University to become a doctor. He de- 

 scribed his studies there as irksome, and the lectm'es in his second year on geology and 

 zoology as incredibly didl. Though he took little interest in his medical course, Darwin 

 pursued his natural-history studies. His parents deen ed him to be so imfitted for the 

 medical ]>rofession that they sent him to Cambridge to study for the Church, and he 

 spent a year tliere. It was at Cambridge that Darwin n\et Henslow. the famous botanist, 

 who encouraged his taste for natural history, and eventually was instrumental in his 

 joining the " Beagle," vvliioh was sent out to comitlete the survey of Soutli America and 

 to make astronomical observations in 1831. The imjwrtance of that voyage on his 

 future work could hardly be overestimated, for it was then lie laid the foundation-stone 

 of his great theory. The shi]) arrived in New Zealand in 1835, but Darwin's experiences 

 were not fortimate. and he left with the impression that the Maoris were a very inferior 

 race. The voyage took five years, and he returned to London in 183(5, wliere his rejiu- 

 tation grew apace. He lived in London iintil 1842, and then settled down with his 

 wife in Kent, where he lived until his deatli. His great work, " The Origin of Species," 

 was suggested by the " Beagle " voyage. The first notes on the subject were made 

 in July. 1837, and from then he gathered every possible fact bearing on the subject. In 

 1844 he had finished liis first sketch of the theory, though the idea of organic evo- 

 lution had previoush' been promulgated in the eighteentli century by Lamajck, and 

 Darwin's gi-andfather had expressed the same views. Their belief was more or less 

 theoretical, and it was left to Darwin to establish the basic theory. He worked slowly 

 on, accumulating facts, and received gi'eat encouragement privately. Then occurred 

 the " Wallace incident." While lying on a sick-bed in the tropics Wallace thought 

 out a theory on the same lines as that of Darwin, and immediateh' communicated his 

 observations to him. Darwin took Wallace's theory to other scientists in London, and 

 the result was the publication of their joint papers. These atti-acted little attention, 

 but in the following year. 1859, Darwin published an abstract of his gr-eat work, which 

 raised an enormous corflict between scientists and supporters of Christianity. The 

 work was warmly welcomed by the younger men of the day, and in 1861 Cajitain Hutton 

 wi'ote a i-eview of the book which brought a letter of thanks from Darwin. Later on 

 Darwin and Captain Hutton became closely associated, and the great man was made a 

 member of the New Zealand Institute. He was also elected to the Philosoy)hical Institute, 

 so that those present were celebrating the work of one of their owni members. Dr. Chilton 

 went on to speak of the great helj) Huxley extended to Darwin, and said that the theory 

 soon gained ground. In France and America it was not so well taken up. but Haeckel 

 made it well known in Germany. The full work was never published as a whole, but 

 in books such as '" The Descent of Man," " Animals and Plants in Domestication," and 

 others, the main fi„cts were given. Darwin died on the 9th A]u-il, 1881. and was buried 

 in Westminster Abbey. The im])ulse which he gave to all branches of natiual history 

 had been enormous. 



;\lr. Wiite referred to Darwin's great researches on the subject of earthworms, and 

 to the many interesting facts presented by him in his work on animals and plants under 

 domestication. He showed a number of pictures of the many quaint varieties of pigeons 

 and poidtry, all shown by Darwin to have sprung from a common ancestor, and went 

 on to speak of Darwin's researches into the subject of sea-barnacles and insects generally. 



Dr. Cockayne said that when Darwin's botanical studies commenced under Henslow 

 at Cambridge the teachings of Linnaeus still dominated tire botanical world. Then the 

 first business of a botanist was to make collections of dried plants, label, and stow them 

 away. Above all, no attention was to be paid to variations : such was no affair of a 

 botanist, but a nuisance rather. Certainly the science was making considerable i>r..gress ; 

 the improvement of the microscope had stimulated that anatomical research which was 

 destuied before long to yield in the hands of Hofmeister such a splendid harvest. Also, 

 much was being done towards arranging geneia in natural orders ; notwithstanding 

 that without the idea of descent such could be but conceptions of the mind, whilst their 

 linear arrangement was altogether inmatural. Henslow s lectures taught Dai win little 

 or nothing, but he expressed his admiration of the field-work. In the " Voyage of the 

 ' Beagle'" one comes across certain botanical obseivations of considerable interest — 

 for instance, the account of the peat-making habit of certain Fuegian plants while still 

 alive, a characteristic, as we know now, of many subantarctic species. 



Dr. Cockayne biiefly touched on the vaiious botanical publications of Darwin, 

 showing by example how experiment formed the basis of his lesearchcs, and how, untram- 

 melled by prejudice, and with an altogether open mind, he studied various classes of jilants, 

 having no care for their systematic relationships, but dealing with them entnely from the 

 biological standpoint, and with the nio^t brilliant succchs. Thus Darwin, leaving out of 

 the question the intense stimulus evolution gave, by his example of looking on plants 



