RECORD: Anon. 1882. Death of Professor Darwin. Manchester Evening News (20 April): 2.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 7.2022. RN1

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[page] 2

DEATH OF PROFESSOR DARWIN.

Our London correspondent telegraphs that Professor Darwin, the evolutionist, died yesterday at Orpington, in Kent.

"Men of the Time" says that Charles R. Darwin, who was born at Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809, was son of Dr. R. W. Darwin, F.R.S., of the same place, and his grandfather was the Dr. Erasmus Darwin, F.R.S., author of the "Botanic Garden," "Zoonomia," &c., was educated the grammar school at Shrewsbury, In 1825 he went to Edinburgh, attended the lectures at the university for two years, entered Christ's College, Cambridge in 1827, and took his degree in 1831. Captain Fitzroy, R.N., having offered to give up part of his own cabin to any one who would volunteer to accompany H.M.S. Beagle as naturalist, Mr. Darwin tendered his services, and sailed, December 27th, in that vessel for the survey of South America and the circumnavigation of the globe, returning to England October 2nd, 1836.

Mr. Darwin published "Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various Countries.' &c., which appeared with a general account of the voyage by Captain Fitzroy, but has since been published separately. In 1839 Mr. Darwin married the grand-daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S., the well-known improver and manufacturer of earthenware. In addition to numerous papers on various scientific subjects, Mr Darwin edited the "Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," and wrote three separate volumes on geology; viz., "The Structure and distribution of Coral Reefs," published in 1842; "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands," in 1844; and Geological Observations on South America," in 1846. The most important of Mr Darwin's subsequent works are a "Monograph of the Family Cirrhipedia," published by the Ray Society in 1851-3, and on the "Fossil Species," by the Palæontographical Society. His "Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,"  published in 1859, which has gone through several editions at home and abroad, and has given rise to much controversy. It was followed by "Fertilization of Orchids, in 1862, and "Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants; or the Principles of Variation, Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Interbreeding, and Selection, under Domestication" in 1867. In 1871 he published the "Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex," 2 vols.; a new edition of which was published in 1874, in one volume, with large additions. In this work the author infers that "man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits." His more recent publications are "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872; "Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, 2nd edit., 1875; "Insectivorous Plants," 1875; "Cross and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom," 1876; and "Different Forms of Flowers in Plants of the same Species," 1877. Mr Darwin, who has been elected a member of various foreign and English scientific bodies, received from the Royal Society the Royal and Copley medals for his various scientific works, and from the Geological Society the Wollaston Palladian medal. He has been created a knight of the order Pour de Mérité by the Prussian Government; and in June 1871, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Vienna. The university of Leyden conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.D. in Feb. 1875; and the university of Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of LL.D. November 17, 1877. He was elected a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences in August, 1878.


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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

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