I2'8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



and propounded epoc-raaking theories with regard 

 to all those subjects. 



The statue stands upon a site immediately in front 

 of the Free Library of Shrewsbury, which occupies 

 the building where Darwin went to school. It rests 

 upon a block of polished Labrador granite four feet 

 six inches in height. This pedestal is in four pieces, 

 which collectively weigh about seven tons. That 

 in turn rests upon a base of Devonshire granite ; 

 the total height being about twelve feet six inches. 

 On the centre of the pedestal is the one word, 

 "Darwin," at the sides the dates 1S09-1882, while 

 at the back is modestly inscribed, " Presented by 

 the Shropshire Horticultural Society, 1897." 



If Shrewsbury neglected its great townsman's 

 memory until a private society had to show the 

 town what was its duty, it made some amends 

 at the ceremony of unveiling, which took place on 

 August 10th. A great and influential company 

 assembled in honour of the event. Lord Kenyon, 

 in handing over the statue from the society who 

 gave it to the Mayor, as representing the town 

 which will protect it, reminded the company 

 assembled that they were in the town which saw 

 Darwin's birth, were under the shadow of the 

 school wherein he studied, and that the statue 

 was the gift of a society devoted to horticulture — 

 a science he dearly loved. At the public luncheon 

 which followed the ceremony, the eulogy of 

 Charles Robert Darwin was unstinted ; among the 

 speakers being Sir Joseph D. Hooker, who pro- 

 posed the memory of him whom they had come to 

 honour. As Sir Joseph's words refreshen our 

 knowledge of Darwin's amiable character, we give 

 the substance of his speech on the occasion. 



After introductory remarks and saying how little 

 he could add to what had already been written in 

 the admirable " Life of Darwin," Sir Joseph 

 Hooker asked those present 



" to look back in their imagination to just sixty 

 years ago and let him tell them of the genesis 

 of the affection and reverence which he cherished 

 for the memory of Charles Darwin. It was in 1S3S, 

 or early in 1839, that he first knew of him through 

 receiving from an old friend of his (Sir Joseph's) 

 father, the loan of some sheets of the ' Records of a 

 Naturalist during the Voyage of the Beagle,' which 

 classical work was then passing through the press. 

 Sir Joseph was at the time himself hurrying 

 through his studies at the University of Glasgow, 

 in order that he might accompany, as a naturalist, 

 Captain (afterwards Sir James) Ross, in his projected 

 voyage to the Antarctic regions. Being engaged 

 with hospital duties, he had little time to devote to 

 the precious sheets, and so he slept with them under 

 his pillow in order that he might read them in the 

 interval between dawn and dressing. This he did with 

 fascination, but, he must add, with despair of ever 

 following, at however great a distance, in the foot- 

 steps of so admirable an observer and reasoner. A 

 copy of the ' Records of a Naturalist ' was sent to 

 him as a parting gift as he was on the eve of leaving 

 England ; but meanwhile he had once met the 

 author, having been casually introduced to him 



in the streets of London by a shipmate who had 

 sailed with him in the B eagle. 



" Very shortly after his return from the Antarctic 

 voyage in 1843, he received from Darwin a cordial 

 invitation to visit him at his ' inaccessible home,' 

 as he used to call it, at Down, adding that he had 

 much to ask him about, in botanical matters 

 especially ; and, as he afterwards found, Darwin 

 especially wished that he should publish some of 

 the botanical results of the voyage. This ' inac- 

 cessible home,' destined to become the Mecca of 

 so many a scientific and literary pilgrim in after 

 years, was then ten miles from a railway station. 

 Sir Joseph said he should never forget the frank and 

 joyous reception that met him on his first visit to 

 Down, damped though it was by finding his friend's 

 health so impaired. They had much to talk over, 

 having visited in many cases the same countries 

 during their respective voyages — the Cape of Good 

 Hope, Rio de Janeiro, St. Helena, Tasmania, New 

 South Wales, New Zealand, &c, so that they felt 

 like fellow-voyagers, forgetting the eight years that 

 had elapsed between the dates of their respective 

 cruises. It was, however, in the study at Down 

 that their intimacy commenced and ripened. On 

 the morning after his arrival on his very first visit, 

 Darwin asked him to accompany him to his 

 sanctum for the purpose of his giving Mr. 

 Darwin some botanical information, the great 

 naturalist being especially engaged on the geogra- 

 phical distribution of animals and plants. The 

 following was a sample of how the day was passed 

 on this and many subsequent visits. 



" Mr. Darwin had always a long list of queries 

 to put to him, sometimes collated months before- 

 hand, the answers to which were distributed on 

 slips of paper amongst a marvellous number of 

 pockets, bags and portfolios that hung on the wall 

 or occupied racks by the fireside. This ' pumping,' 

 as Darwin called it, went on for twenty minutes or 

 half-an-hour, after which he stated that he was 

 incapable of further mental exertion, and that he 

 must rest till the time for his mid-day walk. They 

 might ask him what struck him most forcibly about 

 these exercises of his intellect, and putting aside 

 the marvellous amount of knowledge which he 

 gained. They were Darwin's indomitable persever- 

 ance under bodily suffering ; his command of all 

 the available sources of knowledge in any given 

 object of research ; his vivid and strong grasp of 

 the most difficult subjects, and his power of turning 

 to account the waste observations and even the 

 blunders of his predecessors and contemporaries ; ■ 

 which power Sir Joseph's friend, Sir James Paget, 

 once told him was, he thought, one of the most 

 striking of the many evidences of Darwin's genius. 

 It is ' dogged that does it,' was a favourite expres- 

 sion with him, and so dogged was he that he had 

 cited his very illness as being to his advantage, 

 congratulating himself, for instance, on sleepless 

 nights that allowed him to read off his continuous 

 observations on the movements of his beloved 

 plants. Such was his association with Darwin for 

 forty years, during all which time he was his guide, 

 philosopher and friend. It only remained for him 

 to join with them in rejoicing over the fact that 

 the admirable likeness of his old friend, which the 

 President had unveiled that day, had been obtained 

 by the efforts of horticulturists, and when he 

 considered how much scientific horticulture owed 

 to Darwin, this was as it should be ; moreover, he 

 felt well-assured that could Darwin know that that 

 tribute to his memory was, by those special efforts, 

 placed in his birthplace, amongst the loved scenes 



