Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1882 — CHARLES R. DARWIN. [ARTICLE]

CHARLES R. DARWIN.

Death of thv Author of the Theory of Evolution. Charles R. Darwin, the well-known scientist died at London on the 20th of April, aged 73 years. He was born at Shrewsbury, Feb. 12, ’.809, son of Dr. B. W. Darwin, F. R. 8., of the t amo place, and grandson of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, F. R. 8., author As the “ Botanic Gardens,” “ Zoonomia,” etc., and was educated at the grammar school at Shrewsbury. In 1825 he went to Edinburgh, attended the lectures at the university for two years, entered Christ's College. Cambridge, 1827, and took his degr/c in 1831. Capt Fitzroy, R. N., having offered to give up part of his own cabin to any one who would volunteer to accompany H. M. 8. Beagle as naturalist, Mr. Darwin tendered his services, and sailed Dec. 27, 1833, in that vessel, for the survey of South America and the circumnavi«gation of the globe, returning to England Oct. 2, 1836. Mr. Darwin published “Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries, etc.,” which appeared with 1 general account of the voyage by Capt. Fitzroy, but has since been published separately. In 1839 Mr. Darwin married the granddaughter ot Jo.uah Wedgwood, F. R. 8., the well-known improver and manufacturer of earthenware. In addition to numerous papers on various scientific subjects, Mr. Darwin edited the “ Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle,” and wrote three separate volumes on geology—viz: “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,” published in 1842 ; “Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands,” in 1844; and “Geological Observations on South America,” in 1846. T.e most important of Mr. Darwin’s subsequent works are a “Monograph of the Family Cirrhipedia,” published by the Ray Society in 1851-’53, and on the “ Fossil Species,” by the Paleeontographical Society. His “ Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” published in 1859, which has gone through several editions at home and abroad, has given rise to much controversy. It was followed by “Fertilization of Orchids,” in 1862, and “Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants; or, the the Principles of Variation, Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Interbreeding and Selection, under Domestication,” in 1867. In 1871 he published the “ Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex,” two volumes. In this work the author inferred that “man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits.” Mr. Darwin was elected a member ot various foreign and English scientidc bodies, received from the Royal Society the Royal and Copley medals tor his various scientific works, and from the Geological Society the Wollaston Pailadian - medal. He was created a Knight of the Order Pour la Mer.te by tue Prussian Government; and in June, 1871, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Vienna.