Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-27
DARWIN AT HOME.
The Personal characteristic and Life
Work of the Dead scientist.
London Truth.

London Truth.
Mr.. Darwin, like his friend, Sir Joseph
Hooker, is an instance OF hereditary trans
mission of peculiar characteristics. He is
third of his fsmily in direct descent who
have been Fellows Of the Royal Society. 1t
is his fate, like that of many other cele-
brated men, to be best known by the works
which he would himself hardly assign the
highest rank among his many productions.
The popular mind, smitten with taste for
smattering OF science, naturally pounces
most eagerly upon those scientific works
which approach borderland speculation, and
has thus done him but scant justice; the
hurryiDg and laundering millions not paus-
ing to distinguish between those statements
which he puts forward as matters OF fact,
ascertained, beyond all possibility OF doubt,
by experiment, and the hypothesis which
with admirable caution he sometimes
bases upon them. His work covers
an immense area of thought, extend
ing over zoology, botany and geology,
in each of which he has made the mark OF
an original and powerful mind, enriched by
long research. The bulk of work of this
kind conveys but the dimmest idea OF the
toll involved in the collection of material,
and spent in experiment and observation.
In actual writing, Mr.. Darwin works on
plan of his own, IN very short spells, never
exceeding couple OF hours, and never COM
menced until the evidence has been carefully
collected, arranged and duly pondered over.
In one respect, despite his vexatIou5 attacks
of illness, Mr.. Darwin must be considered
fortunate man. During the whole of his
life he has been in easy circumstances, above
the toll of earning an income. Unlike many
philosophers, he has not had the morti6ca-
ton of spending his best hours in the
drudgery of official routine, or the hardly
less wearisome task of teaching. He has
been enabled to devote his entire time to his
favorite pursuits, and since his marriage
with his cousin, Miss Emma Wedgwood, he
has resided at Down, amid the rich and varied
scenery of one of the prettiest parts OF Kent.
AS his numerous family has grown up
around him he has been relieved OF all the
cares which distract the scientific worker in
the heat and turmoil of active Lille. He leads
a truly calm and philosophic existence, IN
vsxed by the contemplation of weekly bills
and the signing of checks. In his wife and
family he is especially happy, being spared
the pain Of degenerate Offspring. His eldest
son, William Darwin, is banker at South
ampton; the second, George, took high hon.
ors at Cambridge, and is now Fellow OF
Trinity; the third, Frank, who has inherited
his fathers ill-health, acts as his secretary;
the fourth, Leonard, is an officer of the ar
tillery, and distinguished himself as one of
the scientific corps sent to observe the transit
of Venus; the fifth, Horace, is an excellent
Observation-Disclosures. Ooe married anu one un-
married daughter complete a family whose
constant care is to relieve its head of all
possible care or anxiety. Thus free from
the disturbing influences of the werld,
he can wen afford to treat with ad-
mirable good humor the attacks of scientific
opponents, and the jokes of ignorant folk
incapable OF understanding either his books
or himself. When young ne pursued field
sports with the combined interest of the
hunter and the naturalist; but of late years
he has found his chief relaxation in reading
the popular novels of the day, feeling like
Auguste Comte, that the scientific bow re-
quires frequent unbending. In the treat
ment of books and specimens he resembles
Mr.. Carlyle-caring nothing for them when
read or thoroughly investigated. 1t is, per-
haps, hardly too much to say that no man
has exercised more powerful influence on
the study of natural history since Aristotle
himself.