The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933)(about) |
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Wednesday 19 December 1877
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Celebrities at Home
MR. DARWIN AT DOWN.
A GREAT peal of laughter fills the modest house at Down. Not one of those sharp metal- lic cachinnations which jar on the ear and set the teeth on edge, nor one of those dry wooden rattlings like the crackling of thorns under a pot, nor yet the loud laugh which speaks the vacant mind , but a rich Homeric laugh, round and full, musical and jocund - a laugh to re- member. This outburst of merriment proceeds from the recluse of Down, infinitely amused to hear that, while he has been watching the ten- drils of the vine and examining the predatory habits of the sundew, the microscope of the World has been focussed upon the great observer himself ; that, without going through the pre-
liminary process of pinning him to a cork like a cockchafer, he has been a marked man for some time past, that when he has imagined him- self most secure at the pleasant house of his friend Dr. Farr, discussing the light and exhilirating subject of vital statistics, the same penetrating orb was still fixed upon him, that, in the little garden where he cultivates his plants for expeimient, "observation with ex-
ton I d mW' was at hiB elbow "It is better
so," says Mr Darwin, "than to be interviewed and harrassed with questions which cannot be answered without some appearance of vanity.
Moreov 01, it strikes mo as not pi ope« Hint a man Bhould communicate iniythnig to tho nitthoi of a biogi «plucnl notice Ho should bohnve ns i£ alrontly dead ' On any Bubject but himaolf ho ia tho most free and communicativ e of living pluloaopheis Without an atom of scientific leiloiiBy, ho IB always ready to expound his view 8, to uni r ite tho reault of tho delicate ex pLinnents on which ho ia pel potutilly occupied, and to assist othor investigators fiom tho stoics of an experience that has ranged ovei tho wholo field of natinal Bcience, aud tho conclu- sions of ii iniiid ti anted to leason closely on such fact« na h vv o been ascot tamed by actual obaei v il- toon No niitui ahst of this or nny othor timo Ima confined himself more stnttly to well nacer tainod fnr-ta, mid devoted mole liboi to original luv utigntion '1 ho i onaon of tins evctsBiv o em u is to bo found in tho keystone of the Daiwinun philosophy-Ia i el ile quand mCmc tho pursuit of ti nth tlnough all difficulties, and without ltgnul to consequtnees 'lo this object ho has devoted his eutno lifo, saving, of COHIBO, the dieu ful hourii spent in his family circle one of tho most muted and alltetionate in 1 nglnnd-and with Ins oldest friends, Sn Joseph Hooker and Professor Huxley Pet haps no meiner trio of philosophers) evei gathered to- gether, anil enlivened iibstiuao subjects with quiiint quip and crank , but neither of hw two friends, gem ii companions though they be, can approach Mr Darwins pitch of lnlanty At a droll illustration of Mr Huxley's, oi a humorous doubt insinuated in tho music ii tones of tho President of tho Royal Society, the eyes twinkle under the inassivo ovei hanging brows, the Soeintic henil, is Professor Tynd ill loves to cull it, is tin own back, and over the long white beni ii rolls out auch a laugh as we luvo attempted to describe unfortunately there are moments when Mr Darwin can enjoy neither scientific investigation nor friendly converse ; when sud- den fits of illness to which he has been subject since Ina liiauhootl, I ty lum piostrnte for «lays togotltor Happily these attacks aro only trou bleBomo whilo thoy lest, and millet no i cumulent injury on Ins powerful f rime '1 he long wakeful
periods of convalescence, too, ure utilised for observation» which require almost constant atten- tion ; BO that the tables limy be Haiti to bo tin ned
on disease.
Mr. Din win, like his friend Sir Joseph Hooker, is an instance of tin- hoi éditai y transmission of peciiliai characteristics. Ho is the third of his family in direct descent who have been Fellows of the Royal Society. Ho ia the Him of Dr. Robert Waring Dm win, F.R.S , mid gruudsou of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, author of the " Botanic Garden," " Xoonoiuia," &c. ; .and by the mother's Bide ¡H grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S., the celebrated iii.iiiufactuier of pottery, anil founder of the works at Ktrnrii. In him, how- ever, the artistic «lenient which dominated the Wedgwood« h.is been almost entirely over- shadowed by tho scientific instinct which impels man to seek for knowledge for its own Rake, without the slightest admixture of interest or ambition. For sculpture or pottery or even for drawing, except as an aid to botanical .and zoo- logical pm suits, ho cares very little, his collec- tion of pictures being confined to a portrait of old Dr. Darwin and one of JOBÍUII Wedgwood, hanging in his dining-room, and sketches of Sir Joseph Hooker and Professor Huxley in the small study whence havo issued the " Origin of Species," " the Descent of Man," and a large number of equally valuable but less generally known works on zoology, botany, and geology. It is the fate of Mr. Darwin, like that of many other celebrated men, to be best known by the works to which he would himself hardly asign the highest rank among IIÍB many productions. The popular mind, smitten with a taste for a smattering of science, naturally pounces most eagerly upon those scientific workB which approach the borderland of speculation, and has thus done him but Bcant justice ; the hurry- ing and blundering million not pausing to dis- tinguish between those statements which he puts forward as matters of fact, ascertained, beyond all possibility or doubt, by experiment, and the hypotheses which, with admirable caution, he sometimes based upon them. This ia groasly unfair to the most candid of philosophers, who cires nothing for his theories, and, us in the well-known case of the bees in the " Origin of Species," frankly admitted the difficulty of recon- ciling the phenomena of Nature with his hypothesis of divergence. Thus it is not un- common to hear persons of supposed scientific taste, who chatter glibly enough about pro- toplasm and the monad, compare Mr. Darwin's most popular works with the "Vestiges of Creation," a mere scientific romance, founded on the daring speculations of Lamarck and the nebular theory of Laplace, the famous astrono- mer, who, when asked by Napoleon why he had not attributed the Btructure of the universe to one great Architect, is said to have replied that he " had no occasion to adopt that hypothesis."
Mr. Darwin's books are founded upon no hasty generalisations from facts collected by others, but on patient and independent observation. Yet so persistent have been his labors that a mere catalogue of them would fill a column of this journal. Since his return from the memor- able voyage of the Beagle, he has been constantly preBent to the scientific world. It was a happy thought of Captain FitzRoy to offer, on setting out in 1831, to give up part of his own cabin to th 1 any naturalists who would accompany the ship his on her now historic survey. Mr. Darwin had
just then taken his degreo at Cambridge, his preliminary studies having been made at Shrews- bury School, under Dr Butler (afterwards Bishop of Lichfield), and then for two years at the University of Edinburgh, whou he devoted some time to manne zoology, and read his first papers before the Phnian Society, on the move- ment of the ova of Flush a On hearing of Captain 1 itzRoy a offer, he at onco volunteered his services without salary, but on condition that he should have the entire disposal of his collections, all of which he deposited m various
public institutions
His work covers an immense area of thought, extending over zoology, botany, and geology, in each of which he has made the mark of an origmal and powerful mind, ennched by long research Tho bulk of work of this kind con- veys but the dimmest idea of the toil involved in the collection of material, and spent in ex penment and observation In actual writing, Mr Darwin works on a plan of his own, m very short spells-never exceeding a couple of hours -and never commenced until the evidence has been carefully collected, arranged, and duly pondered o\ er
In one respect, despito his vexatious attacks of illness, Mr Darwin must bo considered a for- tunate man Dunng the whole of his life he has been in easy cueumstances, above the toil of eui nmg au income Unlike many philosophers, ho has not had tho mortification of spending hia best hours in the drudgery of official routine, or tho hardly less wearisome task of teaching He has boen enabled to dovote Ins entire time to his favorite pursuits, and 8inco his marnage with his cousin, Miss Emma Wedgwood, has resided at Down amid the nell and varied scenery of one of the prettiest ports of Kent As his numoioua family has grown up around him, he has beou relieved of all tho cares which distract the scientific woikor in tho heat and turmoil of activo life Ho leads a ti uly calm and philo- sophic CMStouco, unvexed by tho contemplation of weokly bills and the signing of cheques In his wifo and family he is especially happy, being spared tho pam of degenorate offspnng His eldest son, Mr William Darwin, is a banker at Southampton , tho socond, George, took high honors at Cambndgo, and is now a I ellow of 1 nnity tho third, 1 rank, who has inherited his father s ill health, acts as his secretary , the fourth, Leonard, ia an oflicei in tho Artillery, and distinguished himsolf as ono of tho scientific corps sont to obsei ve tho transit of Venus , the the fifth, Horace, is an excellent mathematician One marni d and one uumarned daughter com- pleto a family whoso constant caro is to rohovo its head of all possiblo tioublo or anxiety
Ilma, freo from tho disturbinglnfluencos of the world, ho eau well aflord to treat with admirable good humor the attacks of scientific opponents and the jokes of iguoiant folk in- capable of understanding eithoi his bookB or himself When y oung ho pursued held sports with tho combined interest of tho hunter and tho mitin iliBt but of loto years ho has found his chief loliixatiou m reading the popular novels of tho day, feeling hko Auguste Comte, that tho scientific bow loquiics fi equont unbend- ing. In his treatment of booka and spéculions, ho resembles Mi Carlyle-eui nig nothing for them when lead or tlioioughly investigated.
His booka and plants aio always at tno aervico
of his friends and noighboi s, among whom ono of the nearest ia Sn John Lubbock 1 unilly, lot it bo lcmoinbored that Mr Du win bus exorcised no common degieo of moral inlluoiico on tho scientific woild Coinpletelj posscsaed with the idea of absoluto truth at all lui/iuds, ho abhors tampiuing with 01 shaping facts to suit pre- conceived theoiics It is, pcrhats, hardly too much to say that no man lias exorcised a more powei ful influence on tho Btudy of natural histoiy siiico Anstotlo huusolf-Ike Woild
THI reckless prodigality of bygone ages has long Binco boen extinct Ono might almost as well oxpect tho mastodon to revive, or tho icthrosaurus to bo found browsing m th« Quccn'fl Paik, na to hear nowadays of a pyramid ou tim Cheops patlern taking tho placo of the modem casi non tonibstouo, or a mun endowing a costly sin mu oi building a chapol as an acknowledgment of special divino bcnolita, or erecting a costly mauBoloum to his mother m law as a monument of outlining lovo for ponsh ablo relations It is moro in accoidaneo with modem sentiment for tliobonovcd aon in hw to obHoi i o tho sti ictest economy ni tho disposal of Ins deceased mother in law, and for the thanks giver to expend as littlo as IB coinpotiblo with a decent righteousness In lnednuviil tuneB, whon Brian do Horsey returned from the perils of a crusado his pipi gave liberally to soino local chanty to signify his giatitndo for tho divine protection that vouchsafed tho roturn of his heir This was of courso in the bnrborouB tuneB, before modern civilisation showed peoplo how to do their thanksgiving on tho cheap The commercial pt maple has after all been the great civiliBor, and wo have with all propriety carried it into our lchgiouB observances 'I ho five hundred who assembled m tho Town Hall to oller think« foi the late ram observed a very laudablo economy m their devontness £10 "is was tendered by tins mul titudo as a th inksgiving otlei nig, which would bo Bomowhcro about 4d a piece lo many prcHcnt, prob ibly, tho timely relief in so rigorous
» "« niav have averted a loss of, say, a
a season may liave averlea a ms« w, nuj, »
thousand pound», so that by this fourpenny thanksgiving ii clear gain has accrued of £999 Ills. 8d., which is currying out the spirit of the age to its true sublimity. Aro not these five hundred as wull entitled to tho immortality verse bestows as those who rode to orders in the valley of death '( We think so, and being of a liberal turn ouraelf, gladly accord it.
tlropwl thumb juill HIIROI* where, (
111 wiLÎHtcollt pocket there Lay silver coin mt fuir,
Four to the «hilling ;
Ho that tho pi.ile took round Hinllod at tho «ilvurn Hound, lint at the coppers fiownM,
How ho'il havo wonilored lind ho got half-a-ct-OKil'd
From tho Five Hundred. Whon CHU their glory finio?
O' the Bunill chango they paid,
All llrisbane wondered. Honor tho total mudo,
In nmullont coln displayed.
Noble Flvo Hunilrod.
-"Specialities," in the Queenslander
Tun REION OF YELLOW.-A Paris letter writer Bays : " Yellow or mandarine ia a very goneral color just now with ladies, relieved occasionally with black. Oddly enough, an old minogynist in a passage of arms with a well known comteaae a few evenings ago, quoted Charles Blanc's criticism, adding that the pre- vailing colors were extremely appropriate to the ladies, as ' yellow, intersected with black, was the characteristic covering of tigers, panthers, and waaps.' A battalion of fanB wus levelled at him instantly, and ho is indobted to his years for having escaped being brained. Yellow is very common in Italy, especially for walla, but it has compelled ladies to change the shado of their hair from blonde to brown ; not a danseuse in the opora but now displays brown hair. Other wonder : thoy were not the slender ladies who originated thecloao-fittiug sheath toilets, but the latter that turned stout figures into graceful yardB of pump-water. What next-and next 1"
BED.-" Home is home," Bays the good pro- verb, " however homely." " Bed," saya Leigh Hunt, is the home of homes, the innermost part of the content. It ia sweet within sweet ; a nut in the nut; within the snuggeat nest a snugger nest ; my retreat from the publicity of my privacy ; my room within my room, walled -if I please-with curtains ; a box, a separa- tion, a snug corner, such as children love when they play at ' house ; ' tho place where I draw a direct line between mo and my cares ; where I enter upon a new existence, free, yet well in- vested ; reposing, but full of power."
A LOCAL engineer has a letter from a friend in Chili, South America, who runs a train through the Andes, whero the grades are 200 and 300 feet to the mile. The Chilian brakeman is de- scribed as a most recklessly indifferent critter, devoid of all emotion. " Of ten," he writes, "havo I been running down grade at a rate that brought my heart to my mouth, and these Chilian galoots would be laying off in the dump*, Bnioking their paper cigars and regarding the scenery as calm and as cool as a canvass-covered ham. They didn't know the diffeience ; forty miles an hour around embankment curves was all the same t»
Ihem."
A LANDLADY said that she did not know how to make both ends meet. " Well," said & boarder, " why don't you make one end vego tables ?" rt~~--..i