The Hawaiian gazette., 1878-02-06
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6, 1878.
Celebrities AT Home.
Nh. DARWIN AT DOWN.

vacant mind but rich Homeric laugh, round
aud full. musical and jocund-a laugh TO remem-
Der. This outburst of merriment proceeds from |
the recluse OF Down, infinitely amused to hear |
that while be has been watching the tendrs Of |
the vine and examining the predatory habits |
of the sundew, the microscope OF the World |
has been focused upon the great observer him
self that, without going through the prelimlna-
ry process of pinning him to cork like cock
chaier, he has been marked man for some
time past that when he has imagined himself
most secure at the pleasant house of his friend
DIR. Farr, discussing the light and exhilarating
subject Of vital statistics the same penetrating
orb was stIll fixed upon him that, IN the little
garden where be cultivates his plants for expert
ment, observation with extended view" was at
his elbow. " 1t is better So" says Mr.. Darwin,
I" than 10 be interviewed and harassed with ques
tions which cannot be answered without some
appearance of vanity. Moreover it strikes me
as not proper that a man should communicate
anything to the author of biographical notice.
He should behave as if already dead" On any
subject but himself he is the mostiree and commu-
NEGATIVE of living philosophers. Without an
atom of scientific jealousy, he is always ready to
expound his views, to narrate the results of the
delicate experiments on which he is perpetualy
occupied, aud 10 assist other investigators from
the stores of an experience that had ranged over
the whole field of natural science, and the con-
illusions of mind trained to reason closely on
such facts as have been ascertained by actual OBJ
servation. No naturalist of this or any other
time has confined himself more strictly to we'll
ascertained facts, and devoted more labor TO
original investigation. The reason of this exces-
siVe care is to be found in the keystone OF the
Darwinlan philnsophy-ln verIte quand meme
the pursuit of truth through all difficulties, and
without regard 10 Consequences. To this object
he has devoted his entire life, saving, of course,
the cheerful hours spent in his family circle
one of the most united and affectonate in Eng
land-and with his Oldest friends, Sir Joseph
Hooker and Professor Huxley. Perhaps no
merrier trio of philosophers ever gathered to-
gelher, and enlivened abstruse ubjects with
quaint quip and crank but neither Of his two
friends genial companions though they be, can
approach Mr.. Darwins pitch Of hilarity. At
droll illustration of Mr.. Huxley's, or humorous
doubt insulated in the musical tones of the
President of the Royal Society, the eyes twinkle
under the massive overhangiug brows, the So
cratic head, as Professor Tyndall loves TO call
it, is thrown back, and over the long white beard
rolls out such laugh as We have attempted TO
describe. Unfortunately there are moments
when MIR. Darwin can enjoy neither scientific
investigation nor friendly converse when sud-
den fits of illness, to which he has been subject
since his manhood, lay him PROSTATE for days
together. Happily these attacks are only trou-
blesOme while they last, and infct no permanent
injury on his powerful frame. The long wakeful
periods of convalescence, too, are utilized for
observations which require almost constant at
tention 50 that the tables may be said to be
turned on disease.
Mr.. Darwin, like his friend Sir Joseph Hooker,
is an instance Of the hereditary transmission of
peculiar characteristics. He is the third of his
family in direct descent who have been Fellows
OF the Royal Society. He is the son of Dr.
Robert Waring Darwin. f. r. S., and grandsUn
of DR.. Erasmus Darwin. author of the Botanic
Garden" "ZOoHomia," &C.; and by the mothers
side is grandson Of Josiah Wedgewood, +. R. s..
the celebrated manufacturer OF pottery, and
founder of the works at Etruria. ln him, how
ever, the artistic element which denominated the
WedgewOods has been almost entirely over
Swallowed by the scientific instinct which impes
man to seek for khowlegde for its own sake,
without tine slightest admiXture of interest or
ambition. For sculpture or pottery or even for
drawing, except as an and to botanical and ZOO
logical pursuits, he cares very little, his coec.
ton oil pictures being confined to portrait Of
old Dr. Darwin and one of Josiah Wedgewood,
hanging IN his dining-room, and sketches of Sir
Joseph Hooker and Professor Huxley in the
small study whence have issued the Origin of
Species" the Descent of Man." and large
number Of equally valuable but less generally
known works on zoology, botany, and geology.
1t Is the fate of Mr. Darwin. like that of many
other celebrated men, TO be best known by the
works to which he would himself hardly assign
the highest rank among his many productions.
The popular mind, smItten with a taste for
smattering of science. naturally pounces most
eagerly upon those scientific works which ap-
proach the borderand of speculation, and has
thus done him but scant justice; the hurry
ing and laundering million not pausing to dis
tinguish between those statements which he
puts forward as matters of fact, ascertained,
beyond all possibility or doubt, by experiment,
and the hypothesis which, with admirable eau
ton, he sometimes bases upon them This is
grossly unfair to the most candid of philosophers,
who cares nothing for his theories and, in '!le
well-known case of the bees in the "'Orign of
Species" frankly admitted the difficulty of recon-
CLING the pheDomeRss OF Nature with his hy-
pothesis of divergence. Thus it is not uncom-
mo- .. hear persons of supposed scientific taste,
rho chatter glibly enough about protoplasm and
the monad, compare MIR. Darwin's most popular
works with the Vestiges of Creation mere
scientific romance, founded on the daring specu.
laiOns of Lamarck and the nebular theory Of
Lapace, the famous astronomer, who, when
asked by Napoleon why he had not attributed
the structure OF the universe to one great Archi.
tect, is said to have replied that he " had no
occasion to adopt that hypothesis"
Mr. Darwins books are founded upon no hasty
CONGRATULATIONS from facts collected by Others.
but on patient and independent observation
Yet so persistent have been his labors that
mere catalogue of them would fill column of
this journal. Since bis return from the memoir.
able voyage Of the Beagle, he has been constant
ly present to the scientific world 1t was hap
Ply thought of Captain Fitz Roy to offer on set
ting out in 1881, to give up part of his own cabin
to any naturalist who would accompany the
ship on her now historic survey. Mr.. Darwin
had just then taken his degree at Cambridge
his preliminary studies having been made at
Shrewsbury School under DR.. Butler afterwards
Bishop OF Lichfeld), and then for two years at
the University of Edinburgh, where he devoted
some time to marine zoology, and read his first
papers before the Plinian Society, on the move.
ment of the ova of Flustra. On hearing of Cap
tain Fitz Roy's offer, he at once volunteered his
service without salary, but on condition that be
should have the entire disposal of his collections
all of which he deposited in various public in
stitutioos.
His work covers an immense area Of thought,
extending over zoology, botany and geology in
each OF which be has made the mark of an orr
ginal and powerful mind, enriched by long re-
searches. The bulk of work of this kind con-
veys but the dImest idea of the toll involved
in the collection of material. spent in ex-