2o8 Charles Darwin. 



It was contended that acceptance of the teachings 

 of Darwin would have a pernicious tendency, and 

 entail riot, lawlessness, and crime in the world. 



A long life of singular purity and blamelessness 

 in the person of Darwin was an answer. An unsul- 

 lied heritage from an ancestor entertaining like 

 views has been transmitted to heirs of his body 

 without flaw. Sons of the great philosopher con- 

 tinue the studies of their great sire, and worthily 

 wear the heavy mantle left to them. 



One after another the scientific opponents of evo- 

 lution became convinced of its verity, or died out. 

 The naturalists of a new generation with one accord 

 accepted " Darwinism " as a starting-point for their 

 more profound studies. The methods and aims of 

 biology became changed. Biology became exalted 

 from empiricism into a science. Long before " The 

 Origin of Species " had even " come of age," accept- 

 ance of its teachings had become an essential of 

 scientific creed, and Darwin was acknowledged to 

 have effected a greater revolution in science than 

 any Englishman since the time of Newton. Most 

 meet was it then that he should rest by the side of 

 his great predecessor, whose rival he will ever be in 

 fame. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



BY WILLIAM H. DALL, 

 Honorary Curator, Dept. of Mollusks, U. S. National Museum. 



Charles Robert Darwin, son of Dr. Robert War- 

 ing Darwin, F.R.S., and Emma Wedgwood, grand- 

 son of Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, 

 was born at Shrewsbury, England, February 12, 



