New-York tribune., 1909-07-01
DARWIN CELEBRATION
The Cambridge CentenniaI-A he
markaGle Pil grimage.
Tandou. June %.

unique event in ''an6us mraollls VI O0No"
NAL commemorations. The university AS io'
has called together hundreds Of eminent men VI
science IN unite in an academic tribute to an
observer and thinker who taught ihs"Aiu ~
look at the mysteries of creation in ne" way
70 .to ,.+,., d.te- NJ Darwin's birth in the cal
endar of the year had been chosen for the CEN
+s,n;ar seett1-ities there would have been an
inedeorata response The postponement OF the
celebration from February TO June has enapleo
nearly two hundred and fifty universities acao-
enoies of science and learned bodies TO organize
q pilgrimage 10 the shrine where MS arooF lol
knowledge was first kindled into fervent neat
Thirty German universities and fifteen French
societies have sent delegates; Austrla-h huh-
gary Belgium. Denmark Switzerland NOR
way Sweden Italy. Portugal, Russia hoi-
land and other continental countries are
-enresen+ed nv scientific investigators; thirty
American colleges and institutions are JONI
,nr in this memorial: the University Of
Santiago in Chill bears testimony TO MS
work in the Andean passes: two japanese
college professors have crossed the seas 10 pay
homage to a great Engshman: Canada AUS
tralia. New Zealand. Java. India. Ceylon ana
the Straits Settlements complete Worlo-"lue
circuit Of recognition: and thin the Unlteo
Kingdom sixtv-eisht univer les and socleues'
reinforced by a company Of two hundred emil
nent men, attest the permanence or MS Tame
among his own people. Festivities so unpre0e-
dented are worthy Of the ancient university anu
Of a thinker VINO filed his century WIN '|o
light Of knowledge
How much Cambridge had to do with the IN
teIectuaI equipment Of Darwin is an open Ques-
tion-certainly much more than either SHfe"s
bury school where his masters disapproVeo OF
HIS bovish experiments in chemistry. cohouC'eu
roughly in a Toulouse. Edinburgh OhlNe'-
sit, where he was disgusted with the opera
tions in the medical theatre and forced TO aoah-
don the idea Of becoming physician II was
with the idea Of entering the ministry tnat ne
received his meagre knowledge Of Greek ana
entered Christ's College. Cambridge; but II was
not long before he shooting on the fens'
riding recklesslv across country. enjoying card
summers in college rooms and collecting beetles
when he ought TO have been Crammlng CLASSICS
or mathematics # he received at Cambridge
sn impulse that made naturalist OF MIN III
place Of a Clergyman. il was because he reao
book Hurnboldt's Personal Narrative, "hlch
created nassioDate desire for travel in tropical
America and because he had & friend. HensloW'
who taught him the rudiments OF botany anu
induced him 10 study geology. il was this IN
fuential friend who secured for him an appoint
rnent as naturalist on the Beagle and gave MIN
the training required for a career in science
Dsrwin's College rooms are to be shown during
the commemoration festival this week There
will be an exhibition in the old library OF
Christ's College of Darwin portraits, books ana
souvenirs; the geological collection made by
him during the voyag of the Beagle will be seen
a. the Sedgwick Museum; his own library from
Down will he at the Botany School. and col
lection illustrating the progress Of science VIII
be displayed at the University Library
After Darwin's return from the five years
voyage and journey he made brief visit 10 the
family home in Shrewsbury and settled down
for few months at Cambridge, where his
friends Henslow and SedgWick welcomed him
as their most brilliant pupil After a transi-
ton period in London, where his friendship with
I.vel began he took his wife to his perma-
nent home in Down, among the Kent chalk hills.
where his scientific researches were TO be labor-
ously conducted despite impaired health and his
epoch making books were to be written. What
was original liz an ugly house a bleak hillside
in small village was subsequently enlarged and
covered with vines and the exposed garden was
sheltered with clumps of. trees and banks OF
evergreens. II there that he carried on
systematic observation OF plants and expert
nented with the action Of earthworms, and 1t
was there that he received visits from the mas
tiers OF modern science and expounded with
quiet confidence his revolutionary theories on
the origin Of species. the mysteries Of life and
the orderly processes Of evolution. II was IN
that retired. picturesque village among the downs
that he economized his strength by alternately
working and resting and was enabled to trans
form current ideas Of natural operations and
creative order: and il there that he died
He was even more deeply attached to this nest
among the Kent highlands than Tyndall was 70
the bracng and breezy uplands OF Hindhead-
The pilgrims from America. the European
continent and the ends of the earth VIII not
neglect to visit Down, which is the true shrine
Of Darwin: but Cambridge is the temple Of
learning where a special altar has been set up
this week and where the incense Of the world s
appreciation is to be burned The Chancellor
Of the University. Lord Rayleigh, welcomed five
hundred delegates at the Fitzwillam Museum
last night. To-day addresses from foreign. CO.
lonal and national universities Will be presented
in the Senate House; there will be a garden
party AT Christ's College, banquet in the new
examination hail and a reception in Pembroke
College; and the American delegates are TO ne
thanked for the gift Of bust of Darwin by Mr..
William Couper Of New York. Tomorrow
honorary degrees will be conferred upon the
most notable visitors and the Rede lecture will
be delivered by Sir Archibald Geke on Darwin
as Geologist" The celebration will be closed with
garden party at Trinity College with Darwin s
sons and daughters hosts and hostesses. The
visitors viii carry away with them souvenirs
commemorative volume on Darwin and Mod
ern Science" with essays by the most eminent
writers at home and abroad on biological evolu-
ton and also the naturalist's earliest outline of
the origin Of species.
The university appointed least eighteen
months ago influential committee for the ar
rangement Of the three days commemoration