Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-05-03


peninsula IN July, 1853, A. II. Wallace's
Essay Oh the Tendency of Varieties
TO depart ndeinitely from their Origi.
nal Type, Darwin at once determined
TO do nothing more with his own mann
script notes on the "Origin of Species.
saying that Wallace had independently
worked ont the same views. cont had
expressed them much better" II was
with difficulty Lyell persuaded him TO
read an abstract of his own work on
the same evening that he communicated
Wallace's Essay to the members of tba
LInnean Society.
What thoughts of the immortal .sOri-
gun thronged within me as 1 stood
alone IN the very penetralia of its birth
place, the larger of the two studies
"hlch were his workshop, and gazed
on that admirable photograph. What a
grand expanse of brow, what serions
purpose In the steadfast face, what in
telligence and transparent trnthfnlness
IN the expressive eyes, what simplicity
and benevolence in the open couuten
ance And this was the spot where the
great investigator sat down, on the
very morning after the reading of these
TWO memorable pages, to compose his
frlnclpla as the book might well be
cailed-of the system of organic life on
our earth, as the mighty Newton had
done nigh two centuries earlier for the
mechanism of the heavens. In this
room Darwin began the final ARA ge-
ment and condensation of those piles
OF manuscript which contained the re-
searches and observations on which he
had labored at invervais for twenty-one
years, and tas he has told us) he wrote
continuously and with intense applica-
ton ''for one year and ten days;" and
the fruit of this travail was the comple-
ton of the Origin of Species" in the
late summer, and It's publication and
triumphant reception by the world in
the November of 1859.
Remembering the philosophers hab-
Its, L lookei closely ct the bookshelves
IN this room, but the collection was
somewhat miscellaneous. Amongst
them, however, as | expected, was a
goodly array of novels; but the volumes
had evidently been bought fer reading,
not for show. No stately phaIanx of
Scotts or James, or Bulwer Lytton's
romances, with costly bindings and
richly gilt backs, such as one often
sees IN the well ordered library of
town OF country mansion; but the
volumes were mostly yellow backs, -
many of them belonging rather to the
category of the "intense" than to the
inspired" and in every case giving
evidence of being procured to be
thumbed and read and put away, all
packed together on the plainest and
fomeliest OF bookshelves, without nail
studded leather fringe below or green
baize edging above. There they were
clustered, without formal array or
order, Dickens, Marryst's, Yonge's,
Oliphants, Levers, Braddon's, ef hoe
genus OHHG. Each had served its
turn, had ministered to the duIce aesi-
ptrc of the great thinker, or contrib
nted its harmless opjate to his tired
mind; hal evoked the quiet laugh, or
unlocked the too-littie used cham bers of
imagery, or, 1t may be, demanded from
that chlldhke nature a tribute drawn
from the ''sacred source of sympa-
thetic tears"
1t was a pleasure to find this motley
collection undispersed; but not all the
books were novels. Others | saw
which suggested that Mr.. Darwin's s
CONS, now grown to mans estate, walk
ing in their fathers footsteps, and even
augumenting his fame, had laughed
and cried over childish tales of tender
pity and boyish heroism. Moreover,
| espied two books of religious char
acter, side by side, both expressive of
the breadth of mind, the freedom from
effete conventionalIty, and the pres
ence of a true devotional spirit, which
are now the DISTINGUISHING character
Istics of the liberal scIool of theology.
The two books we're the sermons of
+. w. Robertson and of Bishop Colen-
so. Five .and-thTty years ago the
as orthodox, whilst those of the other
were branded as the most pernicious
heresy.
Perhaps if i had ventured on a
closer scrunity L might have discov
cred the copy of Paley's evidences"
and of his Natural Theology" both
of which works Darwin regarded as
models of close and conclusive rea-
soning, "the premises" (as he says)
"being granted" and he always, and
valued at the highest rate the
exquisite clear ness and perspicuity of
the writer's style.
But-whether for good or ill-"Evo
of Nature" that the
old methods of reasoning upon phenom-
ornamental and physical, sensuous
and supersensuous-have very little
dialectic efficacy on the modern intel
lect, and have become practically obso-
lete.
In the midst of my cogitations the
visiting party arrived, headed by our
baat Mr NUm Darrip uhn
ha come from Southampton expressly
to meet them, as his mother Cthe owner
of the house) could not be present.
OF this venerable lady L may say in
passing that she is in the full posses
sion of all her faculties, and is still
blessed with excellent health. How
much is owing to her for the scrupu-
Ions and reverent care that preserves
to many touching mem
orials of her husbands 8 personality and
work, in the spot now consecrated by
the remembrance of his life and
lab orsl
Mr.. W. Darwin pointed ont in the
smaller study many impressive rellcs
of his father; his fav. Ate chair, the
table at which he wrote, the micro
scope which he used so constantly in
anu
and on this table were num-
erous sheets of his Ms. notes, and,
above all, the last pages Which he bad
penned before death put an end to his
toll.
In the drawing-room, on side table,
there was laid open for our inspection
the large handsomely bound album,
which was presented to the distln-
guished English student of sciences by
all the great nsturalists belonging to
the German, French, Austrian, Danish,
and other foreign Universities. Their
names are legion, and their photo
number several hundreds, and
fill the volume. On the
dedication page is an inscription In
richly Illuminated letters:-
"DEM
CHARLES DARWIN