156 LIFE OF 



flowed in abundantly, and came from all countries of 

 Europe, the United States, the British Colonies, and 

 Brazil. Sweden sent the astonishing number of 2296 

 subscriptions ; persons of all ranks contributed, from a 

 bishop to a seamstress. Over ^4,000 in all was sub- 

 scribed, and it was resolved, in the first place, to procure 

 the best possible statue. This work was entrusted to Mr. 

 Boehm, R.A., with admirable results. Permission was 

 obtained to place it in the great hall of the British 

 Museum of Natural History, South Kensington, and 

 here it was unveiled on June 9, 1885, by the Prince of 

 Wales, who accepted the statue on behalf of the Trustees 

 of the British Museum from Professor Huxley as repre- 

 senting the subscribers. It is agreed that the statue is 

 excellent, the attitude easy and dignified, the expression 

 natural and characteristic. The only defect is that the 

 hands are unlike Darwin's. The balance, about ^2, 200, 

 remaining over from the fund, was given to the Royal 

 Society to be invested for the promotion of biological 

 studies and researches. 



The conditions under which Darwin lived were just 

 those in which, as The Saturday Review put it, his 

 sweet and gentle nature could blossom into perfection. 

 "Arrogance, irritability, and envy, the faults that ordinarily 

 beset men of genius, were not so much conquered as 

 non-existent in a singularly simple and generous mind. 

 It never occurred to him that it would be to his gain to 

 show that he and not some one else was the author of a 

 discovery. If he was appealed to for help by a fellow- 

 worker, the thought never passed into his mind that he 

 had secrets to divulge which would lessen his importance. 



