New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-26
DIR. ERASMUS DARWIN.

,rcrtox AND the SURVIVAL OF The fi1ILsI-
ANECDOTES TOLD ny CHARLES DARwIN-RoCs-
sFAU And DR.. JOHNSON
In the regions of the intelligence men are
becoming RAPIDLY cosmopolitan. Differences Oh language
snA race as boundary lines In matters OF learning ana
snecuiation no longer amount TO much Germany mas
produce tho best criticism OF shakespeare France tue
bess history Of English literature, aud Dn'ehiasn
writes history OF French literature Tor Enchsh rear
ers and translates them Tame aud Moiere 80 II Is
getting 10 matters OF science also what Is cAeu
"D,rUtnssm hes obtained converts ana aroused
more discussion In Germany than In England or even
In America and while II can hardly be surprise I"
scientific men, TO layman II seems ODD enough ''t
should fan a German writer TO take mp the TASK o.
showinc-for the first time with clearness and exhaust
ivencsslhat 70 q considerable degree the specuiaVhs
which have made Charles Darwin famous we've In an
imperfect and dislcnted way anticipated oy hs gfa"o
father Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the distinguished poet.
physician and naturalist Of a century ago students OF
science for several years have understood that 10 SONIC
extent this was the Huxley has made certain QUO
ta,ions from Dr. Darwins quite forgotten booEs'
Chsrle. Darwin himself has referred to ms giah".
fathers books in tue openinc pages OF his origin oi
species" and Samuel Butler, an English writer OI hOe
al home has called attention TO the condolences IN us
more recently published " Evolution Old ara New
Blu, these quotations done scart justice TO the h-
icrest of the subject Tne German writer has gone
much further Las, February Ernest krause cohTouF
ell 10 a periodical called Kosmos an article VITA the
\
Theory" which Charles Darwin had translated INT"
English and after adding preliminary notice himself
Of about the length he has pui'hed Dom "'e'S
IN volume which he names The Liie OF Erasmus pa-
win" tscrianer & welford). 10 many people the con
tents OF thc book will he ievcisiiou
Herr Krause observed that he was lea TO write h'r
essav rs the following passage the second PAGE q"
the Origin OF Species: 1T is curious how largely
my grandfather. DR. Erasmus Darwin anticipated Inc
views ana erroneous grounds Of opinion OF L'aItH III
his "Z,onomia published IN 1904" Kra'se could "o
tain no light on the subject from German literature ana
bcnc. procured the works of Erasmus Darwin, published
eighty or ninety years ago. and probably never since
reprinted, that he might study them himself Almost
every single work Of the younger Darwin says htauSe
may be parillecd by least chapter In the WORKS
OF hts ancestor; the mystery of heredlty. adap'a"Vh
and protective arrangements OF animals ana plants;
sexual select on. insectivOrous plants are 10 De
found already discussed IN the writings o the o"e'
Darwin" Goethe he continues, discovered the Ner'c
bral nature Of the skull the idea OF vegetable met"hor
phoss and showed that the intermediary bone existed
IN man the supposed absence OF which had been re-
glfdcd IA o character clearly separating man rom
animals hut he long in getting recognition. ana
Kfausc holds that there was similarity
IN the conceptions Of the universe Pot forth
by him aud Dr. Darwin, which wac IN many
respects great as their need to give III
teramcc TO them IN verse For DJrwin in his time was
poet OF eminence, II not rcnown' and as theor1er III
science was more laughed than seriously listened TO-
and il seems that until Charles Darwins books came
into notice dd this disposition undergo any change VI
his poem The Temple or Natdre" The Edinofrgh
Rer,,c wrote thus II his fame be destined IN any
thing 10 outiye the fashion of tie day. t is on his merit
a. poet that II ia likely TO rest aud his revcries In
science have probably other chance OF being saved
from oblivion but by having been married
10 immortal verse;" Nowadays the lines IN
which he predicted the locomotive and the
railway train about the only ones which busy
world has remembered Darwin proiessed that lie
wrote poetry 10 aid science. The design OF The Do
tanic Gardens his chief poem. he admitted to be to
enlist uner the banner Of Science. and 70
lead his yOtaries from the lCOscr anaOges which dress
ont the Imagery poetry the strlcer ones which
form the authorizations Of philosophy" In note TO
this poem speaks OF" the sublime alegofy OF Eros OK
Divine Love producing world from the Egg of Night
as Il aoated in Chaos" But his great prose work is
after an the book ON which his fame rests. Seventy
five years ago II had wide reputation IN Europe The
poems had translated into French, Italian and Por
tuguese. This WAS rendered into German aud Paley In
his Natural Theology" directed his arguments AZ IT
IL was Paley's success. II Is said which led to the
neglect that fell upon Darwins book Moreover Oar
win died year In which psey's book was published
In the Zoonomia," while renarkng on the greot SINH
larity IN the structure OF thu warm-bOodei animals.
Darwin asks the following striking question:
Would Il be too bold to imagine that III The great
lcncth OF time since The earth began To exis'perhaps
tory OF manSind would be too bold to imagine that
all wara hoodcd animals have arisen nom ore living
maity with the power OF acquiring new parts attended
with new propensities directed by limitations.
tians yo lOus. aud associations. and thus possessing
the faculty Of continuing 10 improve by Its own inner
ebt activity, and by delivering those improvements by
generations IN lis p0seriiy world without eniI
Herr il the doctrine OF evolution DE- Darwin saw II
with the light he had should be borne mind
that he published his work fifteen years before
Lainarcks "Philosophie ZoJocquc" hal appeared.
His poem, The Temple Of Nature" which was also
written several years before the Phlosophe zoolo-
gaue" an3 published after his death, contains
the following prophetic passages;
Organic life beneath the shorcless waves
Was born and nursed IN oceans peafly caves;
First forms minute, unseen by sphere glass,
Move on the mud, or pierce The watcfy mass;
These, successive generations bloom.
New powers acquire. ana larger limbs assume;
Whence countless srouns OF vegetation s9rlns
And breathing realms OF nn, ana rect ana wing.
Inperious man. who rules the bestia crowd,
OF language. reason. aud reflection proud
with brow erect who scorns the earthly sod.
Aud styles himself the image OF bis Cod
Arose nom rudimeuts or form and sense
cnbryOn poiG: or microscopic ems.
There are many quotations In Herr Krause's essay
which bear the younger Darwns iavorito theories OF
natural selectIOu the struggle for existence and the
survival OF the nttest. These questions asked:
"were al the ammonia destroyed when the continents
we're raised do some genera OF animals perish by
the increasing power OF their eneiesi or do they still
reside at inaccessible depths in the seat or do
animals change their forms gradually and become
new general He speaks OF "somc apparently useless
or incomplete nppcndages to plants and animals winch
see 90 show they have gradually undergone changes
from their original state" and mentions stamcns with
out anthers, and styles without stgnas. also the rdi
ments of wings OF insccistbe paps Of male animals.
and formed toes IN swiae Then he refers 20
animals which snow marks OF having In long process
or time undergone changes In parts OF their bodies
which may have been effected 10 accommodate them
20 of procuring their food" Krause observes
that Buifoa already had regarded the ruimeutary
organs somev hat In the way. that he had by
ad "A uual f.a fuf