Centennial of Charles Darwin 373 



* CENTENNIAL OF CHARLES DARWIN. 



Of the many men born in the year 1809, none, not 

 even Gladstone, has filled so large a place among men of 

 learning and thought as Charles Darwin. It may be said 

 without exaggeration that he is the greatest naturalist 

 who has ever lived. Numerous societies, including his 

 alma mater, the University of Cambridge, England, have 

 held celebrations in his honour, and it is fitting that the 

 Natural History Society of Montreal, the oldest organi- 

 zation in Canada for the prosecution of Natural Science, 

 should have put in its proceedings some notice of the 

 event. Darwin may be regarded as an illustration of 

 his own theory of evolution. Heredity demonstrated its 

 force in him, for was he not the grandson of Erasmus 

 Darwin, author of several works bearing on Natural 

 History, among others a whimsical one on the "Loves of 

 the Plants," in which there were some hints looking in 

 the direction in which his more famous grandson after- 

 wards travelled? He was first destined by his father, 

 who was a medical man, for his own profession, and 

 afterwards for the ministry of the Church of England, 

 but he did not feel himself drawn to either calling. He 

 rather took up the subject of Natural Science, under the 

 guidance of one of his professors, and he soon won dis- 

 tinction in his chosen line of work so that when captain, 

 afterwards Admiral Pitzroy, wanted a naturalist to 

 accompany him on the surveying voyage of the 

 ''Beagle," he was offered and accepted the position. 

 In 1839, he published a journal of his researches on 

 that voyage. This was followed, in successive years, by 

 publications on the structure and distribution of Coral 

 Reefs, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands 

 visited, ak~ notices of the Geology of Australia and the 

 Cape of Good Hope and Geological Observations in. 



* Portion of a Somerville Lecture delivered by Dr. Robert 

 Campbell, March 3rd, 1910. 



