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CHARLES DARWIN.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the sudden and unexpected death of Mr Charles Darwin has cast a deep shadow over the whole scientific world. The loss was so unexpected that no allusion whatever was made to his illness at the meeting of the Zoological Society on Tuesday evening, when a communication from him was read introducing a paper by Dr Vandyke on the modification of the semi-feral dogs of Beyrout by the action of sexual selection. Mr Darwin had been suffering from ill-health for some time previously, but was presumed to be recovering, when a relapse occurred Tuesday evening. Dr Andrew Clark and Dr N. Morris were in attendance, and Dr Moxon, of Guy's Hospital, was summoned, but he only arrived in time to witness the death of his patient, which arose from cessation of the action of the heart and respiratory functions, closely allied to the mysterious disorder known as angina pectoris. The general health of Mr Darwin was not of late years very robust, his constitution having been impaired by the continued attacks of sea sickness from which he suffered during the surveying voyage of the Beagle under Admiral Fitzroy.

Mr Charles Darwin was the grandson of Dr Erasmus Darwin, known to the world at large as the author of the remarkable poem "The Botanic Garden," in which he hazarded many fulfilled, and some unfulfilled, prophecies, on the progress of scientific discovery, such as the utilisation of steam, the progress of aerial navigation, &c. The third son of Erasmus Darwin was a physician, in practice at Shrewsbury, and married a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, of Etruria. Mr Charles Darwin, who was the offspring of this union, was born on Feb. 12,1809. His early education was received at Shrewsbury School. In 1825 he went to the University of Edinburgh for two years, and subsequently entered Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1831, and became M.A. in 1837.

In December 1831, Mr Darwin joined the exploring expedition of H.M.S. Beagle, under Capt. Fitzroy, returning to England, after having circumnavigated the globe, in October, 1836, having been absent nearly five years. Of this voyage a most admirable account was published for general readers, under the title of "A Naturalist's Voyage round the World" (1845), the more technical results of his labours having been previously published in separate treatises. Of these, the most interesting to the public at large was his essay on the structure and distribution of coral islands and reefs, of which a valuable abstract appears in the "Naturalist's Voyage."

Passing over his more technical works, such as the "Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle" (1840), "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands" (1844), and "On South America" (1846), his monographs on the Cirripedia and on the fossil Lepadidæ, or barnacles, published by the Ray and Palæontographical Societies in 1851-3, we arrive at the period of the publication of his best-known work, "The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of the Favoured Races in the struggle for life." The first edition of this work appeared in 1859, and gave rise to the most angry and embittered controversy. It has, however, lived through all opposition, and its doctrines of evolution, and the descent of existing animals from prior forms, are everywhere accepted by the great majority of scientific men. When treating of the present distribution of the animal kingdom over the earth's surface, and tracing the relations and affinities of different groups, the theory of evolution is at the present time taken for granted, and deductions based upon it are allowed to pass unchallenged in every scientific society throughout the world.

In "The Descent of Man" the doctrine of evolution from pre-existing forms is applied to the human species; whilst in "The Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication" we have a marvellous collection of facts bearing, on the one hand, on the theory of evolution, and, on the other, on the more practical questions of inheritance, cross-breeding, and selection, which are of the utmost value to the breeder of domestic animals. The volume on "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" is an endeavour to demonstrate that the gestures and facial movements by which our feelings are expressed are derived from actions in pre-existing forms of life.

The theories of Mr Darwin have entirely revolutionised scientific thought and modes of expression; but the extent of his influence did not terminate with the establishment of hypotheses. He possessed the marvellous faculty of looking at old things from totally new points of view. Shelley, in his eloquent defence of poetry, said of it that "it stripped the veil of familiarity from the world, and laid bare the hidden and unseen powers which were the spirit of its form." It might be said of Darwin that he in like manner tore the veil of familiarity from common objects, and disclosed the wondrous relations of their structure which had previously been hidden from mortal eye.

Take, for example, that strange bizarre group of plants, the orchids; the greatest botanists of the century failed to discover the slightest reason for the grotesque structure of their flowers; Lindley, Bauer, and Decandolle worked at them in vain. When Darwin, not himself a professed botanist, took the subject in hand, the obscurity which had concealed the wonderful relation of these plants to certain insect forms was dispelled; and orchidaceous flowers, instead of appearing as grotesque blunders of nature, were shown to have the most intimate relation to the structure and habits of those insects by whose agency they are fertilised.

Children who have gathered primroses have for ages noticed the two different kinds of flower in the species, and botanists have recorded the fact; but it remained for Darwin to show the design of the structural difference, namely, the ensuring cross-fertilisation and this simple discovery has led to the establishment of general laws applicable to the whole vegetable kingdom. In his works on Insectivorous and Climbing Plants, the same wonderful power of discovering things unseen by others was displayed; so that, even if he had never promulgated the theories and hypotheses which have shaken the old superstructure of biological science to its foundation, and caused a new edifice to be erected upon the ruins, he would nevertheless have been regarded as ono of the greatest natural philosophers that the world has ever produced.

Having spoken of him as a savant, something remains to be said of him as man. To those who had not the pleasure of his acquaintance, it is impossible to convey words an idea of the charm of his manner, which was almost child-like in its simplicity and inherent truthfulness. To his scientific opponents he was ever most courteous and forbearing, never retorting the hasty words with which he was assailed. To the assaults of ridicule and anger he was impervious; he worked for the sake of truth, and he knew that his views, where right, would eventually prevail, and where erroneous would pass away, as he himself would desire. To his fellow-workers he was kind and courteous in the extreme, and the honesty with which he acknowledged the aid of humbler men so greatly endeared him to them, that it may be said he had hundreds of assistants in every part of the world, who thought it the highest honour of their lives to find even a single "fact for Darwin."