NULLIUS IN VERBA 141 



share of immortality as the author of a description 

 so magnificently inappropriate.^ 



This is the contrast I referred to ; on one hand 

 a Head Master in 1822 doing his best to discourage 

 a boy from acquiring knowledge of a great subject 

 in the best possible way, i.e. by experiment. And 

 on the other, a Head Master of the same school in 

 191 1 encouraging, with a wise zeal, the rational 

 study of science as a regular part of the school 

 course. It may not be possible to trace out the 

 complete evolution of these Darwin Buildings, but I 

 like to fancy that the germ from which they have 

 sprung is that tool house at the Mount.* 



It is some comfort to us to know that Shrews- 

 bury was not the only place which failed to educate 

 my father in the regulation hnes. When he left 

 school he went to Edinburgh University to study 



' In the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. i., are given my 

 father's autobiographical recollections. He wrote (pp. 31 32) : 

 "Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind 

 than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else 

 being taught, except a little ancient geography and history." This 

 seems to be an exaggeration, as the following list shows. It is taken 

 from Samuel Butler's Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Butler, 1896, 

 Vol I., p. 196. The "weekly course of instruction for the fifth and 

 sixth forms, under Dr. Butler," is given, and the items which are 

 not classical are as follows : — 



Monday. — English History follows Grecian and Roman history. 

 The rest of a very full day is classical. 



Tuesday. — ^Half-holiday. All classical except that the Masters 

 of accompUshments attend in the afternoon. 



Wednesday. — AU classical. 



Thursday. — Half-holiday. All classical except a " Lecture in 

 algebra " for the sixth and upper fifth forms. 



Friday. — All classical. 



Satwday. — All classical except " Lecture in EucUd to sixth and 

 upper fifth." 



' Charles Darwin's home at Shrewsbury. 



