i88o.] The History of Evolutionism . 7 
all-sufficiency of this hypothesis, we must yet admit that it 
marks out distinctly the interval between Erasmus Darwin 
and his grandson, and constitutes a most important step in 
the history of Evolution. 
As an introduction to the English version of Dr. Krause’s 
work, Mr. Charles Darwin has contributed a biographical 
notice of his grandfather, from which we gather interesting 
facts not a few. He was, for instance, one of the fore- 
runners both of Sanitary Reform and the Temperance 
Movement, though free from the savour of quackery and the 
ultraism by which his successors in both make themselves 
too often unpleasantly notorious. He was a mechanical 
inventor, no less than a biologist, and his prophecy as to 
the future career of steam has iDeen too often quoted to need 
repetition. He refers in his writings to the value of bones 
as a manure. He expressed the confidence that microscopic 
research would lead substantially to the discovery of a new 
world. Two of his sayings here given are worth quoting : — 
he delared that “ the world was not governed by the clever 
men, but by the adtive and energetic,” and that “ the fool is 
he who never experiments.” 
But the most interesting feature of this biographical 
notice is the light which it throws on the interesting question 
of heredity. For several generations the Darwin family has 
been distinguished for an intelligence far above the average, 
which in two cases at least has risen to the rank of genius. 
Almost all its members have possessed scientific tastes, and 
have followed the learned professions, generally with success. 
We read that Robert Darwin, the father of Erasmus, was a 
man given to scientific pursuits : he left two sons, Robert 
Waring, a poet and a botanist, and Erasmus, the subjedt of 
this memoir. Of the children of the latter five reached 
maturity : — Charles, who had already become distinguished 
as an anatomist, when he died from the effedts of a wound 
received whilst dissedfing ; Erasmus, a statistician and 
genealogist; Robert Waring, a skilful and eminent phy- 
sician, father of him whom we must designate as the Darwin 
of our own days ; Francis, a naturalist of merit ; and 
Violetta, who became the mother of Mr. Galton, the author 
of the well-known treatise on the “ Heredity of Genius.” 
A son of Francis, Captain Darwin, in his “ Gamekeeper’s 
Manual ” shows “ keen observation and knowledge of the 
habits of various animals.” The two sons of Mr. Charles 
Darwin, George and Francis, have not merely taken part in 
their father’s researches, but have entered into independent 
scientific investigations. 
