254 OBITUARY X 



saying that his mother had taught him how, by 

 looking at the inside of the blossom, the name of 

 the plant could be discovered." (I., p. 28. 1 ) 



The theory that men of genius derive their 

 qualities from their mothers, however, can hardly 

 derive support from Charles Darwin's case, in the 

 face of the patent influence of his paternal fore- 

 fathers. Dr. Darwin, i'ideed, though a man of 

 marked individuality of character, a quick and 

 acute observer, with much practical sagacity, is 

 said not to have had a scientific mind. But when 

 his son adds that his father " formed a theory for 

 almost everything that occurred " (I., p. 20), he 

 indicates a highly probable source for that' in- 

 ability to refrain from forming an hypothesis on 

 every subject which he confesses to be one of the 

 leading characteristics of his own mind, some 

 pages further on (I., p. 103). Dr. R. W. Darwin, 

 again, was the third son of Erasmus Darwin, also 

 a physician of great repute, who shared the 

 intimacy of Watt and Priestley, and was 

 widely known as the author of " Zoonomia," and 

 other voluminous poetical and prose works which 

 had a great vogue in the latter half of the 

 eighteenth century. The celebrity which they 

 enjoyed was in part due to the attractive style (at 

 least according to the taste of that day) in which 

 the author's extensive, though not very profound, 



1 The references throughout this notice are to the Life and 

 Letters, unless the contrary is expressly stated. 



