Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-22
Charles Robert Darwin.

Charles Robert Darwin, whose death was announced yesterday, was a native of Shrewsbury, England and was born Febru- ary 12, 1909. His father, Robert W. Dar- win, and his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin,
 especially the latter, were men of scientific attachments and fellows of the Royal society.
 His grandfather of the maternal line was Jo- siah Wedgwood, the celebrated manufacturer of pottery, and also member of the Royal society Charles Robert received his early
 education at the grammar school of Shrews-
 bury In 1895 he entered the University of
 Edinburg, where he studied two years and
 then entered Christ College, Cambridge, and
 took his degree in 1881. He began at once
 what proved to be his renowned career,
 by volunteering to accompany as natur-
 alist the surveying expedition of the
 ship Beagle of the royal navy. The
 vessel sailed on December 27, 1881, and
 returned October ?, 1886. The voyage
 was around the globe, and explorations were
 made of the coasts of South America, the
 Pacific islands, Australia, New Zealand, and
 Mauritius. His fame acquired in these re
 searches had preceded him, and in 1854, be-
 fore his return, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal society. He published soon after reaching home volume giving an account of
 the discoveries made in natural history and
 geology, which proved not only scientifically
 valuable but exceedingly interesting as 8 narrative, so that @ second and third edition
 were called for within few years Several
 years later he edited another volume entitled
 the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle" Other publications succeeded the first named with what, considering the subject mat ter, must be deemed great rspidity,
 viz ''The Structure and Distribution of Co., ral Reefs, "in1842; Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands" in 1S44 Sociological Ob-
 A I
 nograph of the Family Cirripedia,n the first
 volume in 1851, and the second in 1858. In
 1859 he published the "Origin of Species by
 Means of Natural Selection" This work has gone through many editions in England
 and in other countries, attracting general at
 tention everywhere and giving rise to much
 controversy. The publication was somewhat hastened in consequence of the same views
 having been arrived at independently by an-
 other eminent naturalist, Mir. A. R. Wallace. The opposition which the book called forth
 has gradually disappeared, and from the date of it's publication steadily increasing pro portion of the scientific world has assented to the doctrines contained in 1t. Its theory, briefly stated, is that organisms multiply at
 greater rate than their means of subsistence i; l that offspring resemble their parents in gen. eral points, but vary in minor particulars i; that these variations are of different value as regards the welfare of the being; that under the conditions the premature death Of some is inevitable; that those die which are least l adapted to the conditions which surround l them that in this way those characters or
 variations are selected which are most for the benefit of the species; and that these
 variations are increased in proportion as the medial conditions vary. The proposition
 that the struggle for the means of existence | among living creatures has always been going
 on and must continue; that it must be a
 winnowing and improving process, those | least adapted to the situation giving way be- | fore those better adapted, may readily be seen | and admitted to be true. But MT. Darwin | saw further into the case than this. It was lis
 merit to discover that natural selection is capable of producing fitness between organ | isms and their circumstances. Thus the
 creature, plant or animal may become better i adapted or readapted to the aggregate of sur l rounding agencies not through any direct action of such agencies, but through their in
 direct action, through the destruction by l these agencies of the individuals which are l least oongruous with them and the survival | of those which are most congruous. All l these slight variations of function and struc-
 ture arising among the members of g 1 species serve ss 80 many experiments,
 a great majority of which fail, but few | of which succeed. In 1871 Mir, Darwin pub
 lished his treatise on "The Descent of Man
 and Selection in Relation to Sex.n This
 work is complementary to that on the origin
 of species and is an attempt to prove the descent of man from lower order of animal