Part 7 (1/2)

'I have felt all my life and I still feel, the most sincere satisfaction that Mr Darwin had been at work long before me, and that it was not left for me to attempt to write _The Origin of Species_. I have long since measured my own strength and know well that it would be quite unequal to that task. For abler men than myself may confess, that they have not that untiring patience in acc.u.mulating, and that wonderful skill in using, large ma.s.ses of facts of the most varied kind,--that wide and accurate physiological knowledge,--that acuteness in devising and skill in carrying out experiments,--and that admirable style of composition, at once clear, persuasive and judicial,--qualities which in their harmonious combination mark out Mr Darwin as the man, perhaps of all men now living, best fitted for the great work he has undertaken and accomplished[116].'

And fifty years after the joint publication of the theory of Natural Selection to the Linnean Society he said:

'_I_ was then (as often since) the ”young man in a hurry,” _he_'

(Darwin) 'the painstaking and patient student, seeking ever the full demonstration of the truth he had discovered, rather than to achieve immediate personal fame[117].'

And when he referred to the respective shares of Darwin and himself to the credit of having brought forward the theory of natural selection, he actually suggests as a fair proportion '_twenty years to one week_'--those being the periods each had devoted to the subject[118]!

Never surely was such a n.o.ble example of personal abnegation! We admire the generosity, though we cannot accept the estimate, for do we not know that, for at least half the period of Darwin's patient quest, Wallace had spent in deeply pondering upon the same great question?

CHAPTER X

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

In the preceding chapter I have endeavoured to show how the hypothesis of Natural Selection originated in the minds of its authors, and must now invite attention to the way in which it was introduced to the world.

What has been said earlier with respect to the labours and writings of Hutton, Scrope and Lyell may serve to indicate the great importance of the _manner_ of presentment of new ideas--the logical force and literary skill with which they are brought to the notice of scientific contemporaries and the world at large.

There are some striking pa.s.sages in Darwin's naive 'autobiography and letters' which indicate the beginnings of his ambition for literary distinction. It must always be borne in mind in reading this autobiography, however, that it was not intended by Darwin for publication, but only for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the members of his own family. But the charming and unsophisticated self-revelations in it will always be a source of delight to the world.

When making his first original observations among the volcanic cones and craters of St Jago in the Cape-de-Verde Islands, he says 'It then first dawned on me that I might perhaps write a book on the geology of the different countries visited, and this made me thrill with delight[119].'

He tells us concerning his regular occupations on board the _Beagle_, that 'during some part of the day, I wrote my Journal and took much pains in describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen: and this was good practice[120].'

'Later in the voyage' he says 'FitzRoy' (the Captain of the _Beagle_) 'asked me to read some of my Journal and declared it would be worth publis.h.i.+ng, so here was a second book in prospect[121]!'

Darwin's first published writings were the extracts from his letters which Henslow read to the Philosophical Society of Cambridge, and those which Sedgwick submitted to the Geological Society. At Ascension, on the voyage home, a letter from Darwin's sisters had informed him of the commendation with which Sedgwick had spoken to his father of these papers, and he wrote fifty years afterwards: 'After reading this letter, I clambered over the mountains of Ascension with a bounding step, and made the volcanic rocks ring under my geological hammer.' When in 1839 his charming _Journal of Researches_ was published he records that 'The success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books[122].'

As a matter of fact, no one could possibly be more diffident and modest about his actual literary performances than was Charles Darwin. I have heard him again and again express a wish that he possessed 'dear old Lyell's literary skill'; and he often spoke with the greatest enthusiasm of the 'clearness and force of Huxley's style.' On one occasion he mentioned to me, with something like sadness in his voice, that it had been a.s.serted 'there was a want of connection and continuity in the written arguments,' and he told me that, while engaged on the _Origin_, he had seldom been able to write, without interruption from pain, for more than twenty minutes at a time!

Charles Darwin never spoke definitely to me about the nature of the sufferings that he so patiently endured. On the occasion of my first visit to him at Down he wrote me a letter (dated August 25th, 1880) in which, after giving the most minute and kindly directions concerning the journey, he arranged that his dog-cart should bring me to the house in time for a 1 o'clock lunch, telling me that to catch a certain train for return, it would be necessary to leave his house a little before 4 o'clock. But he added significantly:--

'But I am bound to tell you that I shall not be able to talk with you or anyone else for this length of time, however much I should like to do so--but you can read newspaper or take a stroll during part of the time.'

His constant practice, whenever I visited him, either at Down or at his brother's or daughter's house in London, was to retire with me, after lunch, to a room where we could 'talk geology' for about three quarters of an hour. At the end of that time, Mrs Darwin would come in smilingly, and though no word was spoken by her, Darwin would at once rise and beg me to read the newspaper for a time, or, if I preferred it, to take a stroll in the garden; and after urging me to stay 'if I could possibly spare the time,' would go away, as I understood to lie down. On his return, about half an hour later, the discussion would be resumed where it had been left off, without further remark.

Mr Francis Darwin has told us that the nature and extent of his father's sufferings--so patiently and uncomplainingly borne--were never fully known, even to his own children, but only to the faithful wife who devoted her whole life to the care of his health. As is well known, Darwin seldom visited at other houses, besides those of immediate relatives, or the hydropathic establishment at which he sought relief from his illness. But he was in the habit of sometimes, when in London, calling upon David Forbes the mineralogist (a younger brother of Edward Forbes) then living in York Street, Portman Square. The bonds of union between Charles Darwin and David Forbes were, first, that they had both travelled extensively in South America, and secondly, that both were greatly interested in methods of preserving and making available for future reference all notes and memoranda collected from various sources.

David Forbes devoted to the purpose a large room with the most elaborate system of pigeon-holes, about which he told me that Darwin was greatly excited. He also mentioned to me that, on one or more occasions, while Darwin was in his house, pains of such a violent character had seized him that he had been compelled to lie down for a time and had occasioned his host the greatest alarm.

It must always therefore be remembered, in reading Darwin's works, what were the sad conditions under which they were produced. It seems to be doubtful to what extent his ill-health may be regarded as the result of an almost fatal malady, from which he suffered in South America, or as the effect of the constant and prolonged sea-sickness of which he was the victim during the five years' voyage. But certain it is that his work was carried on under no ordinary difficulties, and that it was only by the exercise of the sternest resolution, in devoting every moment of time that he was free from pain to his tasks, that he was able to accomplish his great undertakings.

I do not think, however, that any unprejudiced reader will regard Darwin's literary work as standing in need of anything like an apology.

He always aims--and I think succeeds--at conveying his meaning in simple and direct language; and in all his works there is manifest that undercurrent of quiet enthusiasm, which was so strikingly displayed in his conversation. It was delightful to witness the keen enjoyment with which he heard of any new fact or observation bearing on the pursuits in which he was engaged, and his generous nature always led him to attach an exaggerated value to any discovery or suggestion which might be brought to his knowledge--and to appraise the work of others above his own.

The most striking proof of the excellence and value of Darwin's literary work is the fact that his numerous books have attained a circulation, in their original form, probably surpa.s.sing that of any other scientific writings ever produced--and that, in translations, they have appealed to a wider circle of readers than any previous naturalist has ever addressed!

We have seen that the idea of Natural Selection 'flashed on' Darwin's mind in October 1838, and although he was himself inclined to think that his _complete_ satisfaction with it, as a solution of the problem of the origin of species, was delayed to a considerably later date, yet I believe that this was only the result of his over-cautious temperament, and we must accept the date named as being that of the real birth of the hypothesis.

At this early date, too, it is evident that Darwin conceived the idea that he might accomplish for the principle of evolution in the organic world, what Lyell had done, in the _Principles_, for the inorganic world. To cite his own words, 'after my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject[123].' 'In June 1842,' he says, 'I first _allowed_ myself' (how significant is the phrase!) 'the satisfaction of writing a brief abstract of my theory in pencil in 35 pages[124].'

For many years it was thought that this first sketch of Darwin's great work had been lost. But after the death of Mrs Darwin in 1896, when the house at Down was vacated, the interesting MS. was found 'hidden in a cupboard under the stairs which was not used for papers of any value but rather as an overflow of matters he did not wish to destroy[125].' By the pious care of his son, this interesting MS.--hurriedly written and sometimes almost illegible--has been given to the world, and it proves how completely Darwin had, at that early date, thought out the main lines of his future _opus magnum_.