LTNTTEAN SOCIETY OT LONDON. 6 1 



EoBEET Daewin. As the President lias so admirably dealt with 

 the influence exercised by our late Fellow in every department of 

 human thought, no further observations on that point need be 

 offered here, whilst the still recent events and the notices which 

 have been so abundantly inserted in the public j)rints, together 

 with the copious memoir in course of publication by my col- 

 league in the Secretariat, absolves from any extended recapi- 

 tulation of the events of his life. 



He was born on February 12th, 1809, at Shrewsbuiy, his 

 grandfatlier being Dr. Erasmus Darwin, one of the earliest of 

 our Fellows, and his father Dr. EoberL Waring Darwin. The 

 poetical effusions of Dr. Erasmus are well known ; but it is not 

 so well known that he was the chief mover in aii anonymous trans- 

 lation of the ' Systema vegetabilium,' edited by Eeichard, entitled 

 * The Families of Plant, &c., by a Botanical Society at Lichfield.' 

 The proof of this lies in several letters from Dr. Erasmus in 

 the Banksian correspondence belonging to Lord Brabourne. Dr. 

 R. W. Darwin had previously published a volume entitled ' Prin- 

 cipia botanica ' as a concise and easy introduction to the sexual 

 botany of Linufeus, published at Newark, 1793. The preface is 

 signed vnth the initials only. 



His voyage with Captain Fitzroy in H.M.S. 'The Beagle' re- 

 sulted in the publication of his observations in the narrative of 

 that Commander's voyage ; it was afterwards published sepa- 

 rately, and called ed. 2. Whilst on this voyage Mr. Darwin first 

 observed those variations in animal and vegetable life when subject 

 to modifying surroundings, which were formulated only several 

 years later. It must be a just source of pride to every Fellow of 

 the Society that the first sketch of this epoch-making theory was 

 promulgated in the rooms of the Linnean Society. Robert Brown 

 having died on June 10th, 1858, the subsequent Meeting of the 

 Society held on the 17th adjourned after formal business only ; a 

 Special Meeting was therefore convened out of the Session, on 

 July 1st, to elect a Member of Council to fill Mr. Brown's place. 

 At this Meeting there was read a letter, dated June 30th, from 

 Sir Charles Lyell and Dr. Hooker, embodying extracts from Mr. 

 Darwin's writings on this subject, and Mr. Wallace's letter from 

 the Malay Archipelago, which was the proximate cause of Mr. 

 Darwin's reluctance to publish his views being overcome. This 

 notable communication will be found in the tliird volume of our 

 Journal. The * Origin of Species,' when published in the follow- 

 ing year, led to memorable debate. Several Fellows withdrew 

 from the Linnean Society because the President refused to 

 take steps to eject the author. 



Of the remarkable series of works which followed the above 

 there is no need of a detailed list ; particulars of them are in 

 every hand. Suffice it to say that his last elaborated papers, viz. 

 on the influence of carbonate of ammonia on the roots of plants 

 and on chlorophyll-bodies, were read in this room only one 



