Charles Darwin. 



[Biographical notice by Dr. Asa Gray. From the Proceedings of the American 



Charles Darwin died on the 19th of April last, a few 

 months after the completion of his 73d year ; and on the 2o'th, 

 the mortal remains of the most celebrated man of science of the 

 nineteenth century were laid in Westminster Abbey, near to 

 those of Newton. 



He was born at Shrewsbury, Feb. 12, 1809, and was named 

 Charles Robert Darwin. But the middle appellation was omit- 

 ted from hi- and from the title-pages of the 

 volumes which, within the last twenty-five years, have given 

 such great renown to an already distinguished name. His 

 grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, — who died seven years 

 before his distinguished grandson was born,— was one of the 

 most notable and original men of his age ; and his father, also 

 a physician, was a person of very marked character and ability. 

 His maternal grandfather was Josiah Wedgwood, who, begin- 

 ning as an artisan potter, produced the celebrated Wedgwood 

 ware, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a man of 

 much scientific mark. The importance of heritability, which 

 is an essential , v\ ot l>arv\ nism, would seem to have had a 

 •^niiieam illustration in the person of its great expounder. 

 He was educated at the Shrewsbury Grammar School and at 

 Edinburgh University, where, following the example of his 

 in'ai.d father, he studied for two sessions, having the medical 

 profession in view, and where, at the close of the year 1826, he 



(one of them on the ova of Flustra). Soon finding the medical 

 profession not to his liking, he proceeded to the University of 

 Cambridge, entering Christ's College, and took his bachelor's 

 degree in 1831 ; that of M.A. in 1837, after his return from 

 South America. 



