DARWIN AND HUMBOLDT. 



[309] 5 



lag the young feel completely at ease 

 with him, though we were all awe- 

 struck with the amount of his knowl- 

 edge. Before I saw him, I heard 

 one young man sum up his attain- 

 ments by simply saying that he 

 knew everything. When I reflect 

 how immediately we felt at perfect 

 •ease with a man older, and in every 

 way so immensely our superior, I think 

 it was as much owing to the trans- 

 parent sincerity of his character as to 

 his kindness of heart, and perhaps 

 even still more to a highly remarkable 

 absence in him of all self -conscious- 

 ness. We perceived at once that he 

 never thought of his own varied 

 knowledge, or clear intellect, but sole- 

 ly on the subject in hand. Another 

 charm, which must have struck every 

 one, was that his manner to a distin- 

 guished person and to the youngest 

 student was exactly the same : to all, 

 the same winning courtesy. He 

 would receive with interest the most 

 trifling observation in any branch of 

 natural history, and however absurd 

 a blunder one might make, he pointed 

 it out so clearly and kindly that one 

 left him in no way disheartened, but 

 only determined to be more accurate 

 the next time. So that no man 

 could be better formed to win the 

 entire confidence of the young and 

 to encourage them in their pursuits. . . 



" During the years when I associa- 

 ted so much with Prof. Henslow, I 

 never once saw his temper even ruf- 

 fled. He never took an ill natured 

 view of any one's character, though 

 very far from blind to the foibles of 

 others. It always struck me that his 

 mind could not be well touched by 

 any paltry feeling of envy, vanity, 

 or jealousy. With all this equability 

 of temper, and remarkable benev- 

 olence, there was no insipidity of 

 character. A man must have been 

 blind not to have perceived that 

 beneath this placid exterior there was 

 a vigorous and determined will. 

 When principle came into play, no 

 power on earth could have turned 

 him an hair's breadth. . . . 



"In intellect, as far as I could 



judge, accurate powers of observation, 

 sound sense, and cautious judgment 

 seemed to predominate. Nothing 

 seemed to give him so much enjoy- 

 ment as drawing conclusions from 

 minute observations. But his admi- 

 rable memoir on the geology of 

 Anglesea shows his capacity for ex- 

 tended observations and broad views. 

 Reflecting over his character with 

 gratitude and reverence, his moral 

 attributes rise, as they should do in 

 the highest characters, in pre-emi- 

 nence, over his intellect." 



Charles Robert Darwin was 

 born at Shrewsbury on February 12, 

 1809. His father was Dr. R. W. 

 Darwin, F.R.S., a physician of emi- 

 nence, who, as his son used frequently 

 to remark, had a wonderful power of 

 diagnosing diseases, both bodily and 

 mental, by the aid of the fewest 

 possible questions ; and his quick- 

 ness of perception was such that he 

 could even divine, in a remarkable 

 manner, what was passing through 

 his patients' minds. That, like his 

 son, he was benevolently inclined, 

 may be inferred from a little anecdote 

 which we once heard Mr. Darwin 

 tell of him. while speaking of the 

 curious \kinds of pride which are 

 sometimes shown by the poor. For 

 the benefit of the district in which he 

 lived Dr. Darwin offered to dispense 

 medicines gratis to any one who ap- 

 plied and was not able to pay. He 

 was surprised to find that very few 

 of the sick poor availed themselves 

 of his offer, and guessing that the 

 reason must have been a dislike to 

 becoming the recipients of charity, 

 he devised a plan to neutralize this 

 feeling. Whenever any poor persons 

 applied for medical aid, he told them 

 that he would supply the medicine, 

 but that they must pay for the bottles. 

 This little distinction made all the 

 difference, and ever afterward the 

 poor used to flock to the doctor's house 

 for relief as a matter of right. 



Mr. Darwin's mother was a daugh- 

 ter of Josiah Wedgwood. Little 

 is at present known concerning his 

 early life, and it is questionable 



