til 



DARU, COUNT. 



DARWIN. ERASMUS. 



tit 



DARU. PIERRE ANTOINE NOKL BRUNO. COUNT, was bom 

 t Mi>ntpe!lirr. January 1'Jth, 1707. Ha wu educated in the military 

 academy at Tcuriion, then directed by the father* of the Oratory, and 

 very loon distinguished himself by bis prolicirncy in literary exercises. 

 Though destined for an administrative career, he received a brevet ai 

 lieutenant of artillery when only seventeen yean of age. In 1788 he 

 became secretary to Count Perigord, and was engaged in regulating 

 the Uzm in I^anguedoo, but did not throw uide his literary habits. 

 He translated some of the Latin daisies, and wrote an epic poem in 

 twelve books, entitled ' Washington, or the Liberty of North 

 America.' In 1791, after having defended himself against a charge of 

 royalum, he was appointed intendant in the army appointed to act in 

 Brittany against the expected attack of the English. Here he became 

 again suspected, through a ludicrous misunderstanding of an inter- 

 cepted letter, in which he had raid, " Here I wait for our friend* tlie 

 English, who are said to be expected to arrive soon." Notwithstand- 

 ing the frivolousness of the cause, he remained a prisoner till the fall 

 of Kobespierre restored him to freedom, employing his enforced 

 leisure in translating the Odes and Epistles of Horace, and writing a 

 poem on his jailer, ' Kpttre a mon Sans-Culotte,' which was published 

 several yean afterwards. 



In 1796 he resumed his official occupation*, and as chef-dc-divisiou 

 honourably distinguished himself by endeavouring to repress the illicit 

 profits and the rapine so common at that time in all the departments 

 of government In 1799 he was made intendant of the army in 

 Switzerland under Massena, and most ably and industriously fulfilled 

 the difficult duties which devolved on him, while he yet found time to 

 finish Horace by translating the ' Satires,' and to write a poem on the 

 Alps, and a ' Chant du guerre,' that was set to music by order of the 

 minister of the interior. He soon after became secretary of war, and 

 was charged with the task of improving the military organisation. 

 The plan was chiefly prepared by Dam, but it was signed by Berthier. 

 Bonaparte however had a plan of his own, to which Dam's was forced 

 to give place, though he defended it with a firmness which made a 

 favourable impression on the Fir-t Consul In 1802 as a member of 

 the Tribunal, where he spoke strongly and eloquently in favour of 

 public instruction and on the monetary system, and took an active part 

 in the discussions generally. He also supported before the legislative 

 body the law for a conscription as a measure favourable to public 

 liberty. In 1805 he was named a councillor of state, and general 

 inteudant of the imperial household. He hesitated to accept this 

 office. " I have passed my life, ' he caid, "among books, and have not 

 had time to learn the functions of a courtier." " Of courtiers," replied 

 Napoleon, " I have plenty around me ; they will never fail. But I 

 want a minuter, at once enlightened, firm, and vigilant ; and it is for 

 these qualities that I have selected you." Under the emperor, Daru 

 was fully employed ; sometimes in the administration at home, at 

 others in foreign missions. After the battlo of Jena he acted as 

 intendaut of the army ; he WHH entrusted with the execution of the 

 treaty of Tilsit, and directed the evacuation of Warsaw and of the 

 Prussian territories; ho was ambassador to the king of Prussia; he 

 was oommiuioned to carry into effect the provisions of the treaty of 

 Vienna after the battle of Wagram ; and he opposed the Austrian 

 marriage of Bonaparte, recommending rather that he should choose a 

 Frenchwoman, became hit " throne was not founded on the Mime basis 

 as that of the other sovereigns of Europe ; " an opinion that has been 

 adopted in spirit by the present emperor of the French. Daru hail 

 now become the confidential friend of Napoleon, and a number ol 

 familiar retorts are recorded of him. When the triumphal arch in the 

 Carrousel ws erected it was severely criticised. " Does not every- 

 body speak ill of my triumphal arch?" inquired tho emperor. 

 "Excuse me," replied Dam, "1 hare heard two praise it, yourself 

 and the architect." 



Daru at length, on tho retirement of the Duke of Bossano, became 

 the prime minister of N|oleou ; his labour was immense, his position 

 high, but he remained the same modest, honourable, and disinterested 

 man as before. In 1812 he strongly opposed the expedition against 

 Russia, saying it was not men he feared, but nature. When however 

 the war was definitively resolved on, he took the most prompt ami 

 active measures for rendering it successful. On the disastrous issue 

 of the- campaign he prepared for that in Saxony with the same zealous 

 activity ; and during tho succeeding events remained firm to his 

 imperial master. He advocated the defending of Paris against the 

 Allies ; hs opposed the removal of the government from Paris ; he 

 followed tbs empress to Blois; and after the abdication of Napoleon 

 at Fontainbleau he retired from public life. Hu WM exiled by the 

 first royal government, and retired to Bourges, whence he was recalled 

 in 181 9 and mads a peer of France. He occasionally appeared and 

 spoks in bis legislative capacity, but his time was now almost entirely 

 devoted to literature. He died Sept, 5, 1829. 



Count Daru's literary works are numerous; the best known in 

 England U the Hiatoire de U Kfpublique de Venise,' 1819, in 7 vols. 

 which has been frequently reprinted. Among others an 'La 

 Cteopttie, ou la Theoric dss Reputations LitUSraire,' 1800; 'Huloire 

 de Bretagne,' 1820, 3 vols.; a number of speeches delivered iu the 

 legislative chambers, and many poems, some of them of considerable 

 length. 



DARWIN, CHARLES. F R.R, an eminent living naturalist. II 



s not only distinguished for his scientific duooveries in geology and 



zoology, but for his elegant popular work entitled The Voyace of a 



Naturalist,' which has made his name familiar wherever the English 



alienage is read. This work is the record of a voyage made by 



I.M.S 'Beagle,' under the command of Captain Fitzroy, K.N., from 



the yean 1832 to 1836. Mr. Darwin was attached as naturalist to 



his expedition, and profited by the great opportunities it afforded him 



of observing the physical geography of the earth and the habits and 



tructure of its animal inhabitant!. 



Most of Mr. Darwin's works nave been written since tho voyage of 

 the 'Beagle,' and all of them bear evidence of his great industry in 

 collecting and observing the facts which were presented to him during 

 its travels. One of the earliest of his scientific labours was his 

 Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the 

 various Countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle.' This was published in 

 1839. In this work he bos given a general view of the natural history 

 of the countries be visited. In subsequent works however he has 

 elaborated highly interesting general views as tho result of his special 

 observations. Thus, in his ' Geological Observations on South America,' 

 mblished in 1846, he presents the phenomena afforded by the South 

 American continent in connection with a general theory of the causes 

 of geological changes in this part of the world. The same may be 

 said of his papers on the volcanic islands of Australia, on the diitri- 

 ;ution of the erratic boulders, on tho unstratified deposits of S. nth 

 America, on the geology of the Falkland Islands, on the areas of 

 elevation and subsidence iu the Pacific and Indian Oceans, all of which 

 lavo been published in the 'Transactions,' or iu the 'Journal of the 

 Proceedings of the Geological Society.' His geological writings claim 

 for him a position among the most distinguished geologists of the 

 present day. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, and was 

 formerly one of its secretaries. 



His zoological publications have given him no less a position as a 

 zoologist. His separate papers on zoology are not numerous. He has 

 contributed an interesting paper on the formation of mould by the 

 agency of the carth-worui to the ' Transactions of the Geological 

 Society.' He also wrote the introduction, and many of the notes, to 

 the ' Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle,' published by the 

 _"%! rimicnt from 1840 to 1843. He has also published several papers 

 ou various departments of zoology iu the ' Annals ' and ' Magazine { 

 Natural History.' His great work however, and that on which IIH 

 reputation as a zoologist is founded and will probably depend, is 

 bis ' Monograph of the Family Cirripedia ; ' this family includes the 

 animals commonly known as I'arnaclea and Sea Acorns. Mr. Darwin, 

 in this work, has given an accurate definition of every known species. 

 In addition to thin, he has pointed out several very ourious facts in 

 the history and economy of these animals. The excellent style, the 

 great addition made to the existing knowledge of the family to which 

 it is directed, and the remarkable caution exercised by the author in 

 coming to his conclusions, render this work a model of the manner in 

 which such works should be written. It has been characterised by a 

 competent writer as one of the most remarkable works on zoology 

 produced during the present century. This work, which is in 2 vols. 

 8vo, was published by the Kay Society, and distributed to their 

 subscribers iu the yean 1851 and 1853. 



In the second volume of Agassiz's ' Bibliographia Geologies et 

 Zoologia*,' published by the Kay Society in 1850, the number of 

 Mr. Darwin's papers and works mentioned is twenty-two. 



All this labour has been performed under most disadvantageous 

 circumstances ; for Mr. Darwin returned from his voyage round the 

 world with shattered health, which rendered it impossible for him to 

 pursue his literary and scientific labours without considerable inter- 

 ruption. Mr. Darwiu (1856) is still iu the prime of life, sod may 

 therefore be expected to contribute largely to the extension of the 

 sciences he has so successfully cultivated. 



DAKW1N, ERASMUS, an English physician and physiologist, 

 was born at Elton, near Newark, ou the 12th of December 1731. 

 After studying at St. John's College, Cambridge, and taking the 

 degree of Doctor of Medicine at Edinburgh, he established himself 

 as a physician at Lichficld, where he married, and resided till after 

 the death of his nist wife, by whom he had three sons. In the year 

 1781, having again married, hu removed to Derby, where ho died on 

 the 18th of April 1802, in the seventieth year of bis age. He is said 

 to have been a msn of an athletic person and of temperate habits, the 

 advantage of which he lost no opportunity of pointing out to 

 those over whom his influence extended. His biographers give him 

 credit for having done much service to the poor of Lichficld in this 

 respect. 



Dr. Darwin claims a place in this work as a general physiologist and 

 poet. In the year 1781 he published his 'Botanic Garden,' a poem 

 in two books; in 1793 bis 'Zoonomis, or Laws of Organic Life,' 

 which was succeeded in 1796 by a continuation of the subject, the 

 whole forming two volumes in quarto ; and in 1800 his ' Phy tologia, or 

 Philosophy ol Agriculture and Gardening,' iu one volume quarto of 

 rather more than 600 page*. All these works have excited consider- 

 able attention ; by some they have been extravagantly praised, by 

 others as unreasonably depreciated, and at the present day they are 

 little read or consulted. Nevertlieless they are .far from deserving to 

 ink into neglect and oblivion. The author was unquestionably a 



