OBITTJJLI?,"Y'. 239 



CHARLES DARWIN. M.A., F.R.S. 



BoKN February 12, 1809; Died April 19, 1882. 

 Death, with tender hand, has taken away our most celebrated 

 Naturalist, Charles Darwin ; one of whom it is not too much to assert 

 that he has made a greater impression on the minds of men of science 

 throughout the world, than any of his contemporaries. His publica- 

 tions have had the effect of exciting numberless persons to make ob- 

 servations for themselves, and thus unconsciously to become natural- 

 ists ; whilst, both directly, and indirectly, our store of scientific know- 

 ledge has been enlarged a thousandfold. He was born at Shrews- 

 bury on Feb. 12, 1809, his father being Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, 

 F.R.S., physician of that town. His grandfather was the celebrated 

 Dr. Erasmus Darwin, F.R.S., the poetical and scientific physician of 

 Lichfield. His mother was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the 

 modern founder of the English pottery manufacture. Charles Darwin 

 was educated at Shrewsbury Grammar School under Dr. Butler, thence 

 he went to the University of Edinburgh in 1825, remained there two 

 years, and next entered Christ's College, Cambridge, where he 

 graduated B.A. in 1832, and M.A. in 1837. His hereditary aptitude 

 for the study of natural science was early perceived, and the Rev. 

 Prof, Henslow recommended him to Captain Fitzroy and the Lords 

 of the Admiralty, in 1831, as Naturalist to accompany the second 

 Surveying Expedition of H.M.S. Beagle in the Southern Seas. The 

 first expedition, that of the Adventure and Beagle (1826-30), had 

 explored the coasts of Patagonia ; the Beagle, which sailed again 

 December 27, 1S31, and returned to England October 22, 1836, 

 made a scientific circumnavigation of the globe. Mr. Darwin served 

 without salary, and partly paid his own expenses, on condition that 

 he should have the entire disposal of his zoological, botanical, and 

 geological collections. On returning to England, he published a 

 " Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History" of 

 the various countries he had visited. This originally appeared with 

 a general account of the voyage by Captain Fitzroy, but was after- 

 wards published separately. Since that time Mr. Darwin has 

 resided at Down, near Farnborough, Kent. In addition to numerous 

 papers on various scientific subjects, Mr. Darwin edited the "Zoology 

 of the Voyage of the Beagle" and wrote three separate volumes on 

 geology — viz. "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs," 

 1842, second edition 1874; "Geological Observations on Volcanic 

 Islands," 1844; and " Geological Observations on South America," 

 1846. The most important of Mr. Darwin's subsequent works are 

 a " Monograph of the Family Cirripedia," published by the Ray 

 Society in 1851-3, and on the Fossil Species of the same group, by 

 the Paleeontographical Society. But by far the most widely-known 

 contribution from Mr. Darwin's pen was his famous " Origin of 

 Species by means of Natural Selection," published in 1859, which 

 has gone through several editions at home, and has been translated 

 into French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other European languages. 

 No other book ever caused a more profound sensation, and probably 

 no book was ever received with such extreme manifestations of 

 scientific enthusiasm and scientific incredulity. 



