286 MISCELLANEA. [Ch. XV. 



senseless, and unpleasantly slimy annelid. Mr. Darwin under- 

 takes to rehabilitate his character, and the earthworm steps 

 forth at once as an intelligent and beneficent personage, a 

 worker of vast geological changes, a planer down of mountain 

 sides ... a friend of man . . . and an ally of the Society for 

 the preservation of ancient monuments." The St. James's 

 Gazette, of October 17th, 1881, pointed out that the teaching of 

 the cumulative importance of the infinitely little is the point 

 of contact between this book and the author's previous work. 



One more book remains to be noticed, the Life of Erasmus 

 Darioin. 



In February 1879 an essay by Dr. Ernst Krause, on the 

 scientific work of Erasmus Darwin, appeared in the evolutionary 

 journal, Kosmos. The number of Kosmos in question was a 

 " Gratulationsheft," * or special congratulatory issue in honour 

 of my father's birthday, so that Dr. Krause's essay, glorifying 

 the older evolutionist, was quite in its place. He wrote to Dr. 

 Krause, thanking him cordially for the honour paid to Erasmus, 

 and asking his permission to publish an English translation of 

 the Essay. 



His chief reason for writing a notice of his grandfather's life 

 was "to contradict flatly some calumnies by Miss Seward." 

 This appears from a letter of March 27, 1879, to his cousin 

 Reginald Darwin, in which he asks for any documents and 

 letters which might throw light on the character of Erasmus. 

 This led to Mr. Reginald Darwin placing in my father's hands 

 a quantity of valuable material, including a curious folio 

 common-place book, of which he wrote : " I have been deeply 

 interested by the great book, .... reading and looking at it is 

 like having communion with the dead .... [it] has taught me 

 a good deal about the occupations and tastes of our grand- 

 father." 



Dr. Krause's contribution formed the second part of the Life 

 of Erasmus Darwin, my father supplying a "preliminary 

 notice." This expression on the title-page is somewhat mis- 

 leading ; my father's contribution is more than half the book, 

 and should have been described as a biography. Work of this 

 kind was new to him, and he wrote doubtfully to Mr. Thiselton 

 Dyer, June 18th : " God only knows what I shall make of his 

 life, it is such a new kind of work to me." The strong interest 

 he felt about his forbears helped to give zest to the work, 



* The same number contains a good biographical sketch of my father 

 of which the material was to a large extent supplied by him to the writer, 

 Professor Preyer of Jena. The article contains an excellent list of my 

 father's publications. 



