Charles Robert Darwin. Exactly a year to a day has separated the deaths of two of the most powerful men of this century, some have said of any century ; and those who care for the task will find some very curious analogies between the progress and the ultimate results of the work of the two men, totally diffe- rent as were the spheres in wlich they exorcised theirremarkable powers. On April 19, 1881, all the civilized world held its breath at the newa of the death of Lord Bewonsfield; not less must be the effect upon the most civilized part of the civilized world when the anuonncement of the death of Charles Darwin flashes over tho face of that earth whose secrets he has dono more than any other to reveal. All who knew anything of Mr. Darwin know that, mas- sive as he seemed, it w?s only by the greatest caro and the simplest habits that he was able to maintain a moderate amount of health and strength. Mr. Darwin had been suffering for some time past from weakness of the heart. bht had m- tiammu Vo Qo a silght amount of experimental work up to the last. Hoe was taken ill on the night of Tuesday last, when Ie bad an attack of pain in the chest with faintness and nausea. The latter lasted with mole or less intermission during WVednesday and culminated in his death, which took place at nbout 4 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. Ho reomnined fully conscious to within a quarter of an hour of his death. His wife and several of his chil(dren were present at the closing scone. During his illness he had been attended by Dr. Norman Moore, Dr. Andrew Clarke, Dr. Moxon, and Dr. .Ifrey, of St. Mary Cray. Mr. Darwin leaves besides his widow a family of dve sons and two daughters. It has not vet been dnnidArl ~h- M; remains will be interred, but the place of burial will be in the quiet churchyard of the village of Down, near which place Mr. Darwin spent the last forty years of his life. Fifteen volumes lie before us and nearly as many memoirs large and small, the product of 46 years' work-a product which, in quantity, would do credit to the most robust constitution. Bnt when we consider Mr. Darwin's always feeble bealth and his deliberately slow method of work, never hasting hut rarely resting, the result seems marrellous. But wonderful as this is undor the circumstances, it is not by mere quantity that Mr. Darwin's work will be judged; the quantity is of chief importanee iin respect of the inultifarious ehannels through which his influence has spread. On the great principle of hereditariness,of which he himself was the prophet and expounder, Mr. DarwinIcould not help being a remarkable man. t5Z IIJS taT.ner descended trom Erasmus Dnarwin, one sf the most remarkable and original men of bis age, and through his mother from Josiah NYoWlgwood, a man in his own line of scarcely less originality, Mr. Darwin was bound, under favourable surroundings, to develop powers far beyond the average. Charles Robert Darwin (he seldom used the second name) was the son of Robert Waring Darwin, the third son by his first marriagae of Erasmus Darwin, best known to the general reader by his scieptifico- poetic work " The Botanic Garden." The late Mr. Darwin's father was a physician at Sbrews- bury, uho, although a mani of considerable originality, devoted his powers almost entirely to bis profession *his mother, as we havo said, was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwooa . He was born at Shrewsbury on Fobruary 12, 1809, so that he has died in his 74th year. Mr. Dqrwin w7as educited at Shrewsbury School under Dr. Butler, afterwards Bisbop of Lichfield. In 1825, he went to Edinburgh Universitv, therein following the example of his grandfather, whore ho spent two sessions. 'Here, among other subjects, tic studied marine zoology, and at the close of 1826 read before the Plinian Society of tke UcIiversity two short papers, probablv his first, one of them on the Ova of Flustra. From Edinburgh Mr. Darwin went to Christ's College, Cambridge. where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1831, proceeding to Ml A. in 1S37. The interval was of epoch-waking im- portance. We believe that Darwin, like Mur- chison, wvas a keen fox-hunter in his youth, and that it was in the field that his great habits Ui onservation were tfrst' awakened. In the antumn of 1831. Captain Fitzroy having offered to give up part of his own cabin to any naturalist who would accompany Her MNajesty's ship Benglein her surveving vovage ronnd the world, Mlr. Darwin volunieered his services w,ithout salary, but on condition that he should have entire disp3sal of his coilentions,all of which be ultimately deposited in varion.j publio institutions. The Beagle sailed from EnPiland December 27, 1831, and returned October, 28, 1836, having thus been absent nearly five years. In more ways than one these five years were the most eventful of Mr. Darwin's life. During these five yearstheBeagle circumnavigated the world, and it is not too much to say that single- handed, Mr. Darwin during the voyage did !more ror naturai niscory in atl its varied depart- jnents than any expedition has done since ; much more when we consider the momentous results that followved. Na one can read the simple, yet intensely interesting " Naturalist's Vocvage Round the World," without tracing in it the germs of all that MIr. Darwvin has subsequently done in natn:al science. Simplicitv and free dom from technicalitv have been the leading characteristics of all Mr. Daiwin's hest known and most influential works, and in this volume on the Yoyage of the Beaglo there is scarcely a page that will nor interest any ordi- narily intelligeut man, and many pages that must claim the attention of the mere reader of stories of adventure. Full of incident it is, especially during the author's lone sojourn in South America and in the vicinity of Magellan's Straits. Mr. Dar.vin's phenomenal genius as a scientific observer is seen thronghout-when watehing the method of catching and taming the wild horses of the Pampas, as when investigating the strueture of the ooral reefs of the Pacific. The nrst ealnton was puoiisnea early in 1I;40, and the second was dedicated to Sir Charles Lyll, who, with hisTusual acuteness, early perceived the re- markable originalitv of the young naturalist, and to whom the latter was indebted for much wide counr,el and belp, as is evident from the recently published Life and Letters of the great geologist. That was not the onlv immediate result of this great voyage ; under the superintendence of Mr. Darwin, and with abundant description and anno- tation by him, the Zoology of the oxpedition was published beforo the narrative, in 1840, w ith Professor Owen, MIr. Waterhouse, the Rev. L. Jenyns,and Mr. Bell as contributing specialists. Not only so, but still also before the general narrative, Mr. Darwin published his first original contribution to science in his " Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefa " (1842). This work for the bfrst time shed clear light upon the method of work of the tiny creatures whose exquisite fabrics are spread over the face of the Pacific. True, quite recently Mr. Murray has broached a now theory. or rather modification of Darwin's thoory, wh ich is begin- ning to find acceptance ; but even if universally accepted it will not detract from the original estimate of the work of the Beagle naturalist. Still further, we have as direct result of the voyage in a volume, published in 1844, on tbe " Volcanic Islands vsited during the Voyage of the Beagle," and in 1846, " Geological Obser- vations in South America." Both these works are even now referred to by geologists as classical, and as having suggested lines of research of the highest fertility. in the Trlnsac- tions of tho Geological Society, moreover, other memoirs suggestedby the results ofthe voyagewill be found, one as early as 1838. But even that is not the earliest important paper of the great observer. Just a year after his return, in November, 1837, he read to the Geological Society a paper, to be found in its Transactions, " Onl the Formation of Vege:able Mould." This paper gave the result of observations begun some time before, observations only completed in his latest published work, that on " Earthworms," reviewad in these columns only a few months ago. Experiments were arranged for, we then pointed out, wbich took 40 years ro ripen. oicn Tar-seeing deliberation can only be the attribute of the grsatest minds, which can see the end from the beginning. Othor results of the voyage in botany and ento- mology wo could refer to were it needful. Bu, the greatest result of all was probably that on the mind of the naturalist himself. Passing over a generation, the spirit of his grandfathor seems to have re-appeared in Charles Darwin -with intensified power and precision. We need not here enter into the delicate distinctions wbioh exist betwveen the developuiental theories of Erasmus, whioh were prematurely aown in unfruit- ful and unprepared soil, And thoso of bis wrexter .vMvuu- lilt,ue u*-vrigln ot bpeoses." The revolu tion in scientific dootrine and scientific method brought about by the piblizationof this work was ably pointed out by Professor Buxley two years ago in his lecture on " Tle Coming of Age of the Origin of Species." Mr. Huxley says .- " In fact, those who have watched thc progress of scieDce within tho last ten years will bear me rut co the full wben I assert that there is no held of biological in- quiry in wbich the influence of tho ' Origin of Species ' is not traceable the foremost men of scionce in every country are either avowed champions of its leading doc- trilles, or at any rate abstain from opposing them ; a host of young and ardent investigators seek for and fnd in- spiration and guidance in Mr. Darwin's great work; xnd the general doocrine of Emolution, to one side of which it gives expression, ends in the pheiompna of biology a firm Dbse of operations whenea it may conduct its conquest of the~ whole realm of nature." But it is not only in physical and natural science that the revolutionary influence of tho Origin of Species " is een. It is not too much to say that the dectrines propounded in this volume, on " The Descent of Man," and other sub- seqtuent works, have influenced thougbt and III every airection. It has been said, porhaps prematurely, that one must seek back to Newton or even Copernicus, to find a man wbose influence on human tlhought and methods of looking at the universe has been as radical aq that of the naturalist wvho has just died. Of course MIr. Darwin's originality has been assailed. Kant, Laplace, Buffon, Erasmus D)arwin, and others, and of couirse Lucretius, h tve been brought forward as the real originators of the fertile idea which has taken its name from Mr.' Charles Darwin. Give those old-world worthies all the credit which is jnstly their due, and it is not little; let it be granted that Darwin received the first initiativo in his'fertile career of research from a stuidy of what they had done by his pre- decessors ; and ye, how comes it that these old theories fell comparatively dead and bore no sub- | stantial fruit 1 One reason must bo that, as pro- pounded by Mr. 1 arwin, the theorv of evolution hlad a mature vitality wvhich cornpelfed acceptance, and the phenomonal viFoir of which is seen in the results. .M1r. Darwin s great theory, in some of its parts, mnay require modification ; lie himself latterly, we helieve, did not seek to maintain it in all its original integrity. As has been sug- gested, some greater law mav yet be found which will cover Darwinism and take a wider sweep but, whatever development science may assune, Mr. Darwin will in all the future stand out as one of the giants in ecientific thought and Bcientific investigation. All Mlr. Darwin's subsequent works were developmuents in different directions of tbo igreat principles applied in the " Origin of Species." Between 844 and 1854 he published through the Ray and other societies various mono- graphs, which even his greatest admirers ndmit do not do him the highest credit as a minuto anatomist. His next great work, published in 1862, was that on the " Fertilization of Orchids ;" this, with tbe work on " Cross and Self-Fertiliza- tion of Plants " (1876), and that on the "1 Forms of Flowers " (1878), and various papers in scientifc publications on the agency of insects in fertilization, opened up a new field which in his own hands and the hands of his nutnerous discip]es have led t- ressilts of the greatest interest and the greatest influenco on a knowledge of the ways of plants. Other works belonging to this category are those " On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants," " Insectivorous Plants," and "The Movements of Plants " (1881), all of which opened up perfectly fresh fields of in- vestigation, and shed light on the most intimate ~ -1 - -.- _ _e ga i n,tr13. jvir. uarvrWin's influence in t,hese, as in others of his works, has acted like an inspiration, leading men to follow metbods and attain results which a quarter of a century aao were beyond the scope of the most fantastic dream. But, perhaps, the works with wvhich the natme of I MRr. Unrwin is most intimately associated in popular estimation, and indeed the works which have had the deepest inflnence on the tendencies of modern thought and research in those dapart- mnents in which humanity is most deeply interested, are those bearing on the natural history of man. Nine years after the publication of the " Origin of Species," appeared (1868), in two volumes, the great collection of instances and experiments bearing on the " Variation of Plants and Animrals under Domestication." We have ealled this a col- lection of facts, and tbe same term might be applied, with greater or less exactness, to all the other works of Mr. Darwin. This is the character- istic Darwinian method. Years and years are spent in the acenmulation of facts with open-minded watchfulness as to the tondency of the results. 'the expressed inferences in ldr.Darwin's works are few; he piles instance on instance and experiment on ex- periment, and almost invariably the conclusion to which he comes seems but the ezXpression of the uarutui nan unDiassea reaaer s oWn thought. No- where is this more signally evident than in the work on Domesticated Animals and Plants. The results which were brought out in those volumes wero full of significance, while at the same time they afforded abundant occasion for the opponents of Darwinism to scoff and pour harmless contempt on the wholo line of inquiry; forgettingor wilfully shutting their eyes to tho fact that the results which fNIr. Darwin showed were possible in petto boro no proportion to the gigantic efforts of nature through untold ages. The chapters on Inheritance in this work were full of significance, and seemed a natural transition to the work which followed three years later (1871)-" The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex." Even renter consternation was caused in many circles by the publication of this work than by " The Origin of Species." And the reason of this is obvious. Not only did it seem directly to assail the amour propre of humanity, but to imperil some of its most deeply cherished beliefs. With wonderful rapidity, hoeover, didl men of all shades of belief manage to reconcile themselves to the new and disturbing factor introduced into the sphere of scientific and philosophical speculation. All sorts of halfway refuges were sought for and found by thosa whose mental comfort was threatened, and, again, as before, there was little difficulty in finding a i,wdus vive7di between two sets of doctrines that at first sight saemed totally irreconcilable. After all, what have thQ hjghe4t aspirations of riankind to fear grandson, wbicb hate revolutionized research and thought in every departmnent of human activity. The inherited germ was doubtless ipidly and fully developed during the splendid Jnportunities presented by the voyage of the Beagle. Through- out all his subsequent work the influence of this voyage is apparenf, and continued reference is made to the stores of observation laid un during those erentMul five years. Mr. Darwin's subse- quent life wras totally uneventful. Tbree vears after his return, in the beginning of 1839, he married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and in 1842 he took up his residence at Down, Beckenham, Sent, of which countv he was a magistrate. There he has lived since; and there on Wednesday he died. It'is known to his friends that Mr. Darwin never quite recovered from tho evil effects of his long voyage. He himself tells us that during nearly the whole time he suffered from-sea-siok- ness, an affliction which no constitution could altogether withstand. As we have said, it has only been by the quietest living and the greatest carefulness that Mr. L'arwin wvas able to keep himself in mcderate health and wvorking order. His habits and manners were of childlike sim- plicity, his bearing of the most winriing aenialitv. - -Lu1uEu:it.y anct ev-ident unconsciousness of his own greatness almost phenomenal. In snnding a letter or contribution to a journal, he asked For its insertion with a doubting hesitancy, rare even in a tiro. His personal influence on young scientific mencanwitli difficulty be calculated; his simple readiness to listen and suggest and help has wOI1 the gratitude of many an aspiring observer. Sinco he took up his resideneo at Down, MTr. Darwin's life has been marked mainly by the successive publi ati.n of those works wbhi-h have revolutionized rmodern thought. In 1859 was published wbat may be regarded as the most momentous of all his works, " The o Origin of Species by riieans of Natural Selection." No one who had not reached manhood at the time can have any idea of the consternation caused by the publication of this work. We need not repeat; the anathemas that were hurled at the head of the simple-minded observer, and the prophecies of ruin to religion and morality if Mr. Darwin's doctrines were accepted. No one, we are suire, vould be more surprised than the author himself at i the results which followed. But all this has long passed. The work,slowly at first,but with increasing rapidity,made its wav to general acceptance, ann its anathematizers havo been bouAld pofind a modus vivendi betweeia their creeds and the theories from the investigations and speculations of a man who is capable of writing as Mr. Darwin does in the concluding pages of bis "Descent of Man." " Important as the struggle for existence haibenn, and even still is, yet as far as the highest part of man's nature is concerned, there ate other agencies more important. For the moral qualities ate advanced either directly or in- directly, much more through the effects of habit, the reasonitng powers, instruction, religion, &c., than through natural selection; through to this latter agency may be safely attributed the social instincts which afforded the basis for the develop- sment of the moral sense. . . . For my own pat I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey who braved hiis dreaded enemy to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs-as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrilices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his nwives like slaves, knows no decency,and is haunted by tho,grossest superstition. Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale ; and the fact of his having thus risen instead of having been aboriginaUy placed there may give him hope for a still hiaherdestiny in the dixtant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or toars, only swith the truth as far as our reason permits us to dis3ern it; and I have gvenM the evidenco to the best of my ability. We must, howevar, aclcnowledge, as it seems to me that man with aU his noble qualities, with sympathy which fools for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other mfen, but to the humblest living creature, with his godlike intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system- with all these exalted powers, man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his low origin." Among scientific men themselves, among those cwho welcomed the Darwinian method and the distinctive doctrines of Darwinism, none of the nmastor's works have probably met with more criticism than that on tho Descent of Man. Not that the naturalists of the hlighest standing have any hesitation in accepting the general principles illustrated in the " Descent of Man ;" the ablest and most candid biologists admit that in that direction the truth seems to lie; but that the various stages are so incomplete, the record is xo imperfeot, that bafore stereotyping their beliefs it would be wise to wait for more light. The general conclusion is not doubted, but how it has been reached by nature is by Do means evident.' And in this connexion we cannot do botter than quote the words of Professor Huxley in the lecture already alluded to, and whicb, we are sure, Mr. Darwin himself would have endorsed with aLl his strength. " Histury warnsus,however,tbat it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as supersti. tions; and, as matters now btand, it is hardly rsh to anticipate that in another 20 years, the new generation, e lucated under the influences of the present day, v.ill bo in danger of accepting the main doctrines of the 0rigin of Species i%ith as lttle reflection, and it may be with as little 3nstillcation. as So many of our contemporaries 20 years ago, relected tbem. Agailist any such a consumma- tion let us all devoutly pray ,for the scientifc spirit is of more value than its prodnets, and irrationally-beld truths may be more harmfntl than reasoned errors. Now, the esser.ce of the scientitc spirit is criticism. It tells us that to whatever doctrineclCaiming our assent we should reply, Take it if you can cornel it. The struggle for existence holds as much in the intellectual as in tue physical world. A theory is a speCies of thinking, sand its right to exist is co-extensive with its po s'er of resisting extinction by its a sort of side issue of the " Descent of Man," and as throwing light upon the doetrines developed therein, with much niore of indepen- dent interest anid su$gestiveness, *" The Expres- sicn of the Emotions in AMen and Animals ' was published in 1872. This is, perhaps, the most amusing of Mr. Darwin's works, while at the same time it is one wvhich evidently involved observation and research of the most minute and careful kind. It is one, moreover, which shows how continually and instinctively the author was on the watch fox instances that vwere likely to have any bearing or tho varied lines of his researches. To attempt to reckon up the influence wvhich 'Ar. Darwin's multifarious work has had upon modern thought and modern life in all its phases seems as ditficult a task as it would be to count the number and trace the extent of the sound-waves from a parkc of artillery. The impetus he has given to science, not oaly in his own, but in other depart- ments, can only find a parallel in Newton. Through his influeuce the whole method of seeking after knowledge has been changed, and the in. creasing rapidity with which the results are every day developed becomes more and more bewildering. To what remote corners in religion, in legislation, in education, in every-dav life, from Imperial As. semblies and venerable Universities to humble board schools and remote Scotch manses, tho im- petus initiated on board the Beagle and developed at the quiet and comfortable homeat Beckenham,hbs reached, those wlio are in the whirl and sweep of it 'Yu arU nlob in a PO-It'OD to sav. LI Under the immediate influence of the sad loss ero can only state a few ahviouis facts and make a few quite as obvious re- flections; in time we may be able to realize how great a man now belongs to the peist. That Mr. Darwin's worlc was not done nor his capacity for work exhausted was well enough seen in his re- cently-published work on Worms; and with the help of his able and congenial sons, Mr. George nnlU Mr. Francis Darwin, we might hare boped for one or two more of the familiar green-covered volumes. Mr. Darwin's older brother, the faithful friend of Mrs. Carlyle. died about a year ago, leaving his younger brother his principal heir ; tie latter, how ever, has all along been in comfortable circum. stances It goes without saying that honours and medals were 8howered upon Mr. Darwin by learned societies all theo world over from Germany, where his disciples led by Haickel, have out-Darwined Darwin, he received a Knighthood of the Prussian Order of Merit. From respect to the memory of btr. Darwin, the Liunean Society yesterday adjourned after transacting formal business ouly. Sir John Lubboc3, the president, address- ing the meoting, said they would, no doubt, aU bave hesrl the sad news of the irraparable los -which science, the country, and thoir society bad experienced in tbe death of Mlr. Darwin. Only a few days ago they had the pleasure of hearing a paper of his-unhappily, his last-which showe. no sign of any abatement of vigour. That was not the occasion to speak of the value of bis scientific work, but ha might say that while the originality and profound character of his researches hai revolutionized natural history, he hal also added enormously to its interest, and given, if he might so say, new life to biological science. lany of taem, and n: one more than himself, bad also to mourn one of the kindest and best of triends. He begged to propose, as a small mark of respect to the memory of their inte illustrious countryman, tbe greatest-alas, that lie could no longer say of living naturb6lists, that, after tbe formal business was concluded, the society should adjourn. CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN.