[pages 167-168]

From a speech which Virchow made last month, in a meeting of the Berlin Anthropological Society, in reference to Darwin's death, we glean the following concerning the last hours of the great naturalist:─

Darwin died from an affection of the heart, from which he had been suffering for years, but which, till a few days before his death, had not been considered as dangerous to life. Until two weeks before his death Darwin used to leave his house and take a walk, notwithstanding he commenced to feel very weak. He still continued his favourite work, and the day before his death, he examined a plant. About half-past eight o'clock in the evening he was carried to his bedchamber, where he sat up some time, reading. Toward midnight he was seized by a severe spasm, which, notwithstanding the most attentive treatment, caused his death at four o'clock in the afternoon.

[page] 179

Charles Darwin's Memorial.

The executive committee of the Darwin Memorial Fund recently held a meeting at the Royal Society's Rooms, Burlington House, where the subscriptions received or promised amounted to over $12,000. A decision was arrived at that a marble statue of the late naturalist should be executed, and a sub-committee was appointed to arrange for this being done. The site chosen for the statue is the large hall of the Natural History Museum, at South Kensington, for permission to place it in which the trustees of the British Museum will be petitioned.