NATURE 



97 



THURSDAY, JUNE I, 1882 



CHARLES DARWIN x 

 III. 



THE influence which our great naturalist has exerted 

 upon zoology is unquestionably greater than that 

 which has been exerted by Any other individual ; and as 

 it depends on his generalisations much more than upon 

 his particular researches, we may best do justice to it by 

 taking a broad view of the effects of Darwinism on 

 zoology, rather than by detailing those numberless facts 

 which have been added to the science by the ever vigilant 

 observations of Darwin. Nevertheless, we may begin 

 our survey by enumerating the more important results of 

 his purely zoological work, not so much because these 

 have been rarely equalled by the work of any other zoolo- 

 gist, as because we may thus give due prominence to the 

 remarkable association of qualities which was presented 

 by Mr. Darwin's mind. This association of qualities was 

 such that he was able fully to appreciate and successfully 

 to cultivate every department and ramification of biologi- 

 cal research — whether morphological, physiological, syste- 

 matic, descriptive, or statistical — and at the same time to 

 rise above the minutia of these various branches, to take 

 those commanding views of the whole range of nature 

 and of natural knowledge which have produced so enor- 

 mous a change upon our means of inquiry and our modes 

 of thought. No labourer in the field of science has ever 

 plodded more patiently through masses of small detail ; 

 no master-mind on the highest elevation of philosophy 

 has ever grasped more world-transforming truth. 



Taking the purely Zoological work in historical order 

 we have first to consider the observations made during 

 the voyage of the Beagle. These, however, are much too 

 numerous and minute to admit of being here detailed. 

 Among the most curious are those relating to the scissor- 

 beak bird, niata cattle, aeronaut spiders, upland geese, 

 sense of sight and smell in vultures"; and among the most 

 important are those relating to the geographical distribu- 

 tion of species. The results obtained on the latter head 

 are of peculiar interest, inasmuch as it was owing to them 

 that Mr. Darwin was first led to entertain the idea of 

 evolution. As displaying the dawn of this idea in his 

 mind we may quote a passage or two from his "Voyage 

 of a Naturalist," where these observations relating to 

 distribution are given : — 



"These mountains (the Andes) have existed as a great 

 barrier since the present races of animals have appeared, 

 and therefore, unless we suppose the same species to have 

 been created in two different places, we ought not to 

 expect any closer similarity between the organic beings 

 on the opposite sides of the Andes, than on the opposite 

 shores of the ocean." 



"The natural history of these islands (of the Galapagos 

 Archipelago) is eminently curious, and well deserves 

 attention. Most of the organic productions are Aboriginal 

 creations, found nowhere else ; there is even a difference 

 between the inhabitants of the different islands ; yet all 

 show a marked relationship with those of America, though 

 separated from that continent by an open space of ocean, 

 between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago is 

 a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached 



1 Continued from p. 75. 



Vol. xxvi. — No. 657 



to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, 

 and has received the general character of its indigenous 

 productions. Considering the small size of the islands, we 

 feel astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, 

 and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned 

 with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava- 

 streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a 

 period, geologically recent, the unbroken ocean was here 

 spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to 

 be brought somewhat near to that fact — that mystery of 

 mysteries — the first appearance of new beings on this 

 earth.'' 



Next in order of time we have to notice the Monograph 

 of the Cirripedia. This immensely elaborate work was 

 published by the Ray Society in two volumes, comprising 

 together over 1000 large octavo pages, and 40 plates. 

 These massive books (which were respectively published 

 in 1S51 and 1854) convey the results of several years of 

 devoted inquiry, and are particularly interesting, not only 

 on account of the intrinsic value of the work, but also 

 because they show that Mr. Darwin's powers of research 

 were not less remarkable in the direction of purely ana- 

 tomical investigation than they were in that of physio- 

 logical experiment and philosophical generalisation. No 

 one can ever glance through this memoir without per- 

 ceiving that if it had stood alone it would have placed its 

 author in the very first rank as a morphological investi- 

 gator. The prodigious number and minute accuracy of 

 his dissections, the exhaustive detail with which he worked 

 out every branch of his subject — sparing no pains in pro- 

 curing every species that it was possible to procure, in 

 collecting all the known facts relating to the geographical 

 and geological distribution of the group, in tracing all the 

 complicated history of the metamorphoses presented by 

 the individuals of the sundry species, in disentangling the 

 problem of the homologies of these perplexing animal;. 

 &c. — all combine to show that had Mr. Darwin chosen to 

 devote himself to a life of purely morphological work, his 

 name would probably have been second to none in that 

 department of biology. We have to thank his native 

 sagacity that such was not his choice. Valuable as with- 

 out any question are the results of the great anatomical 

 research which we are considering, we cannot peruse 

 these thousand pages of closely written detail without 

 feeling that for a man of Mr. Darwin's exceptional 

 powers even such results are too dearly bought by the 

 expenditure of time required for obtaining them. We 

 cannot, indeed, be sorry that he engaged upon and com- 

 pleted this solid piece of morphological work, because it 

 now stands as a monument to his great ability in this 

 direction of inquiry; but at the same time we feel sin- 

 cerely glad that the conspicuous success which attended 

 the exercise of such ability in this instance did not betray 

 him into other undertakings of the same kind. Such 

 undertakings may suitably be left to establish the fame of 

 great though lesser men ; it would have been a calamity 

 in the history of our race if Charles Darwin had been 

 tempted by his own ability to become a comparative 

 anatomist. 



But as we have said — and we repeat it lest there should 

 be any possibility of misstating what we mean — the 

 results which attended this laborious inquiry were of the 

 highest importance to comparative anatomy, and of the 

 highest interest to comparative anatomists. The limits of 



