NATURE 



49 



THURSDAY, MAY 18, iS 



CHARLES DARWIX 

 I. 



THE object of this notice is to give a brief account of 

 the life, and a proportionately still more brief ac- 

 count of the work, of Mr. Darwin. But while we recognise 

 in him perhaps the greatest genius and the most fertile 

 thinker, certainly the most important generaliser and 

 one of the few most successful observers in the whole 

 history of biological science, we feel that no less great, or 

 even greater thin the wonderful intellect was the charac- 

 ter of the man. Therefore it is in his case particularly 

 and pre-eminently true that the first duty of biographers 

 will be to render some idea, not of what he did, but of 

 what he was. And this, unfortunately, is just the point 

 where all his biographers must necessarily fail. For 

 while to those favoured few who were on terms of inti- 

 mate friendship with him, any language by which it is 

 sought to portray his character must seem inadequate, to 

 every one else the same language must appear the result 

 of enthusiastic admiration, finding vent in extravagant 

 panegyric. Whatever is great and whatever is beautiful 

 in human nature found in him so luxuriant a development, 

 that no place or chance was left for any other growth, 

 and in the result we beheld a magnificence which, unless 

 actually realised, we should scarcely have been able to 

 imagine. Any attempt, therefore, to describe such a cha- 

 racter must be much like an attempt to describe a splendid 

 piece of natural scenery or a marvellous work of art ; the 

 thing must itself have been seen, if any description of it is 

 to be understood. 



But without attempting to describe Mr. Darwin's cha- 

 racter, if we were asked to indicate the features which 

 stood out with most marked prominence, we should first 

 mention those which, from being conspicuous in his 

 writings, are already more or less known to all the world. 

 Thus, the absorbing desire to seek out truth for truth's 

 sake, combined with a characteristic disregard of self, led 

 not only to the caution, patience, and candour of his own 

 work — which are proverbial — and to the generous satis- 

 faction which he felt on finding any of his thoughts or 

 results independently attained by the w 7 ork of others ; but 

 also to a keen and vivid freshness of interest in every 

 detail of a new research, such as we have sometimes 

 seen approached by much younger men when the research 

 happens to have been their own. And indeed what we 

 may call this fervid youthfulness of feeling extended 

 through all Mr. Darwin's mind, giving, in combination 

 with his immense knowledge and massive sagacity, an 

 indescribable charm to his manner and conversation. 

 Animated and fond of humour, his wit was of a singularly 

 fascinating kind, not only because it was always brilliant 

 and amusing, but still more because it was always hearty 

 and good-natured. Indeed, he was so exquisitely refined 

 in his own feelings, and so almost painfully sensitive to 

 any display of questionable taste in others, that he could 

 not help showing in his humour, as in the warp and woof 

 of his whole nature, that in him the man of science and 

 the philosopher were subordinate to the gentleman. His 

 courteous consideration of others, also, which went far 

 Vol. xxvi. — v o. 6:5 



beyond anything that the ordinary usages of society 

 require, was similarly prompted by his mere spontaneous 

 instincts of benevolence. 



For who can always act ? but he 

 To whom a thousand memories call ; 

 Not being less but more than all 



The gentleness he seem'd to be, 



Best seem'd the thing he was, and join'd 



Each office of the social hour 



To noble manners, as the flower 

 And native growth of noble mind ; 



Nor ever narrowness or spite, 



Or villain fancy sweeping by, 



Drew in the expression of an eye, 

 Where God and Nature met in light. 



And this leads us to speak of his kindness, which, whether 

 we look to its depth or to its width, must certainly be re- 

 garded as perhaps the most remarkable feature of his re- 

 markable disposition. The genuine delight that he took in 

 helping every one in their work — often at the cost of much 

 personal trouble to himself — in throwing out numberless 

 suggestions for others to profit by, and in kindling the 

 enthusiasm of the humblest tyro in science ; this was the 

 outcome of a great and generous heart, quite as much as 

 it was due to a desire for the advancement of science. 

 Nothing seemed to give him a keener joy than being 

 able to write to any of his friends a warm and glow- 

 ing congratulation upon their gaining some success ; 

 and the exuberance of his feelings on such occasions 

 generally led him to conceive a much higher estimate of 

 the importance of the results attained than he would have 

 held had the success been achieved by himself. For the 

 modesty with which he regarded his own work was no 

 less remarkable than his readiness enthusiastically to 

 admire the work of others. In fact, to any one who did 

 not know him well, this extreme modesty, from its very 

 completeness and unconsciousness, might almost have 

 appeared the result of affectation. At least, speaking 

 for ourselves, when we first met him, and happened to 

 see him conversing with a greatly younger man, quite un- 

 known either in science or literature, we thought it must 

 have been impossible that Mr. Darwin — then the law- 

 giver to the world of biology— could with honest sincerity 

 be submitting, in the way he did, his matured thought to 

 the judgment of such a youth. But afterwards we came 

 fully to learn that no one was so unconscious of Mr. 

 Darwin's worth as Mr. Darwin himself, and that it was a 

 fixed habit of his mind to seek for opinions as well as 

 facts from every available quarter. It must be added, 

 however, that his tendency to go beyond the Scriptural 

 injunction in the matter of self-approval, and to think of 

 others more highly than he ought to think, never clouded 

 his final judgment upon the value of their opinions ; but, 

 spontaneously following another of these injunctions, 

 while proving all things, he held fast only to that which 

 was good ; in malice be ye children, but in understanding 

 be ye men. 



On the whole, then, we should say that Mr. Darwin's 

 character was chiefly marked by a certain grand and 

 cheerful simplicity, strangely and beautifully united with 

 a deep and thoughtful wisdom, which, together with his 

 illimitable kindness to others and complete forgetfulness 



