Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

66

[ocr errors]

66

"In my mind's eye I still see him as he was when a schoolfellow-cheerful, good-tempered, and communica"tive. I can picture Darwin to myself when sitting near "him. He used to appear among his class-fellows learning "the lessons which were appointed by the master of that royal foundation of King Edward the Sixth. But no sooner had Darwin any leisure time after school hours, "than the innate desire of the young naturalist lost no time or opportunity in examining the petals of a flower, or the "leaves and properties of plants. I can imagine Charles "Darwin holding up lilies in his hands, and saying to his companions, not in so many words, but in expressions of similar meaning

66

"See these lilies of the field,

"How their leaves instruction yield.'"

Though the Vicar of St. Chad's now claims the man who was formerly branded as an Atheist by all "orthodox" Churches, as having been there "received into Christ's flock" by baptism, I have no doubt that Mr. Myers is correct in describing the early religious impressions by which his character was shaped, as consisting in “a reverent "belief in God, a personal fidelity on man's part to what "he believed to be true, the doing of duty, the being good "and doing good in practical life." "In so far as the "Churches taught this, he was in harmony with them; "but in respect to their dogmas, their theologies, and religious speculations, he simply had nothing to say about "them. And thus, like his father and grandfather, while "in a certain sense he belonged to all Churches, yet none "could claim him as distinctively its own."

66

On leaving Shrewsbury Grammar School, in 1825, at the age of sixteen, Charles Darwin was sent to the University of Edinburgh, of which his father and grandfather were Medical graduates, with the view, it is believed, of preparing himself to follow their profession; but after remaining there

for two years he removed to Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1831. During his studentship it was his good fortune to fall under the influence of Prof. Henslow, who fostered not only his taste for Natural History, but his ardent love of truth; and impressed upon him that strictness of method in the pursuit of it, for which, with the noblest moral nature, the most genial temperament, and the most ardent philanthropy, the memory of Henslow will be kept green among those who knew and loved him as long as their own lives last. The master could not have had a more apt pupil, or the pupil a master better fitted to train the genius which might otherwise have strayed like that of his grandfather. In after times, as we shall presently see, these relations were reversed.

It was at Prof. Henslow's instance, that when Capt. Fitzroy (who was about to proceed on a four years' Surveying Voyage) was on the look-out for a volunteer Naturalist to accompany him, Charles Darwin offered himself for the post and was accepted. The results of the marine surveys executed by Capt. Fitzroy during the 'Voyage of the Beagle,' are impressed on the copper plates from which our Charts are printed; but the life-work of Charles Darwin, of which the fundamental conceptions were formed, and the actual commencement made, during that voyage, constitute a "monumentum are perennius,' which will give it a place in the history of Mankind not less distinguished-as having opened out a New World of Thought-than that accorded to the memorable voyage in which Columbus discovered America. I well remember the delight with which I read Darwin's Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various countries he had visited, first published in 1839; and still more his Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, which appeared in 1842, giving a doctrine of their formation, which, based upon a most careful observa

[ocr errors]

tion of facts, completely revolutionised all previous ideas upon the subject, and led up to that great conception of areas of subsidence" and "areas of elevation," which was at once recognised by Geologists as of fundamental importance in their science. He next published a description of the Volcanic Islands visited during the expedition; in which the relation of the areas of elevation to volcanic activity was further developed. And he then worked out, chiefly on the basis of his own observations, the Geological History of South America, of which his account was published in 1846. It was whilst this work was in preparation, that it was my privilege first to become personally acquainted with him; for the microscopic researches I had published on the Structure of Shells, led him to request me to examine for him some specimens of the great Pampas formation, the results of which inquiry are recorded in his work (pp. 77, 99). And after its publication, when he was turning his attention to Zoological and Botanical study, I had the pleasure of being able to aid him in providing himself with instruments for Microscopical research. He was at that time one of the Secretaries of the Geological Society, and had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and I therefore enjoyed frequent opportunities of meeting him.

The effect of his voyage, however, was in one respect very prejudicial to him; for the sea-sickness from which he constantly suffered left behind a permanent dyspepsia, which greatly impaired his power of scientific and literary labour. But I am not at all sure that this was otherwise than really beneficial to Science. For the infirmity of his health led him to withdraw altogether from the whirl of London life, and to pass his time in the tranquil seclusion of his country residence; where-fortunately possessing an ample competence, blessed with a wife (a Wedgwood cousin) in every way fitted to be his companion, and happy in a rising family, whose members, as they successively grew up under his

watchful care, came to be his efficient helpers in the collection of observations and the performance of experimentshe could calmly excogitate and mature his great ideas, thinking about them the more, because he was able to do so little.

With most men such solitary contemplation, alike in Scientific as in other matters, is dangerous. The importance of continually "comparing notes" with others, is attested by all experience. But there was no such danger of going wrong in Charles Darwin's case. For, in the first place, he was thoroughly on his guard against it, as the following passage in one of his subsequent letters to me shows:-"When I think of the many cases of men "who have studied one subject for years, and have per"suaded themselves of the truth of the foolishest doctrines, "I feel sometimes a little frightened whether I may not be "one of these monomaniacs." But, however bold his speculations, he ran no risk of going persistently wrong; because he had so disciplined his mind in habits of exact thought and loyalty to truth, that he was constantly testing his conclusions, step by step, as he elaborated them, by their conformity, not with the views of other men, but with the teachings of Nature. His mind was omnivorous for facts; and the feebleness of his digestion of bodily food seemed even to invigorate his power of assimilating mental pabulum. To use a common proverb, "All was fish that came into his net." Nothing in Nature was too mean or trivial to interest him; he could utilise the most casual observation to fill up some gap in his fabric of thought.

The history of his Origin of Species, as told by himself in his original Introduction to it, shows that what he had himself observed during the voyage of the Beagle, as to "certain "facts in the distribution of the organic beings inhabiting

It is told of Newton that when some one asked him how he came to make his great discoveries, he replied, "By always thinking about them."

[ocr errors]

"South America, and in the Geological relations of the "present to the past inhabitants of that continent, seemed to "throw some light on the origin of species-that mystery of "mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest 'Philosophers ;" and that on his return home it occurred to him "that something might perhaps be made out on this “question, by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all "sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it." "After five years' work," he continues, "I allowed myself "to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; "these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions "which then seemed to me probable; from that period to "the present day (1859) I have steadily pursued the same object."

But while keeping this continually before his mind, he was at the same time applying himself, in spite of his infirmity of health, to the investigation of the very difficult group of Cirripedia (Barnacles and Acorn-shells), to which he was led in the first instance by his desire to describe an abnormal type that he had found on the coast of South America. The Monograph of it which he produced after several years of laborious study, is a master-piece of Anatomical skill, Physiological acumen, and Zoological completeness; leaving nothing to be done for the exhaustive treatment of the group (as then known), save the study of its early Embryology, which neither the materials at Darwin's disposal, nor the methods of microscopical research then in use, could have enabled him to carry further. During the same period he also had in train a number of distinct series of researches, bearing in various ways upon the great idea which was ever before his thoughts: as, for example, his own investigations into the fertilization of Orchids; and the experiments on the breeding of Pigeons and Fowls, in carrying on which he engaged the assistance of my old fellow student, Mr. Tegetmeier. And it was known to his intimates

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »