Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/923

* DAKWIN. added to liis genius, made for him strong friends, many of wliuni were of great assistance to liim in gaining an acceptance of his theories. His metliods of study were interesting. He was a voluminous gallierer of notes on topics wliieli interested liim ; in experimentation lie was quick in liis movements and accurate. As in the case of man.y other leaders of science, his hrain was fertile in li,vpothcses, which were readily rejected when experiment had shown them to be faulty. Although his correspondence' was voluminous, he attended to it all with scrupulous care, re])ly- ing courteously even to a request from a young man who was preparing a lyceum lecture for an abbreviated statement of his views, as the writer had no time tA read his books. He died April 10, 1882, full of years and honoi'S. He was awarded the Prussian Order Ponr le Mirite (1871), and was made a member of the French Academy in 1878. Consult Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter, edited by his son, Francis Darwin (3 vols., London, 1887; reprinted in 2 vols.. New York, 1893). DAKWIN, Er.smus (1731-1802). An Eng- lish plivsician and naturalist, the grandfather of Charles Darwin. He was born at Elton. He was a keen and philosophic observer of nature, and embodied much of his observations and thoughts in didactic verse, which form several long poems, whose style is stilted and fancifull,y elaborate. The principal of these is The Botanic Garden (1789), of which the second part, en- titled "The Loves of the Plants," became fa- mous, and was translated into French and Italian. It contained many suggestions as to 'protective niimicrv' and other features after- wards a part of tlie elaborated doctrine of the evolution of plants. In 1794-96 was published his Zoiinomia, in prose, which was primarily a medical work, but contained many more gen- eral reflections, and received wide notice. Its ideas were so novel and revolutionary that, ac- cording to Samuel Butler, Paley's Xatural The- ology was aimed at it and extinguished for a time its intlucnce. Charles Darwin wrote of it, in his Origin of .S'peci'es.- "It is curious how largeh' m,y grandfather anticipated the views and erroneous grounds of opinion of Lamarck;" and modern students see also that he anticipated much that Charles Darwin himself advanced to acceptance. Erasmus Darwin's views on evolu tion include the belief that all animals have originated from a single living 'filament'; that changes are produced by difl'erences of climate; that all animals undergo constant changes, and that many of their acquirements are transmitted to their posterity; that the contests of the males for the possession of the females lead to such results as were afterwards stated under the name of 'sexual selection'; that man,y struc- tures have been acquired as a means of securit.v in a struggle for existence ; and that a vast length of time has elapsed since these modifica- tions began. The debt which Charles Darwin, Lamarck, and other exponents of the doctrines of organic evolution, owe to Erasnnis Darwin has been carefully considered by Packard in his biography of Lamarck (New York, 1901), and by Krause in The Scientific Works of Erasmus Darmin (1879) : also by Butler. Evolution, Old and New (London, 1879). A meagre biography by Anna Seward was published in London in 799 DASENT. 1804. Dr. Darwin's last work was I'hyloloijia, or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Uurdcuiug (1799), in which he ex])resses a belief that ])lants have sensation and volition. He died at Derby. See Evolution. DARWIN, Fh.vncis (1848—). An English botanist, a son of Charles Robert Darwin, l)orn at Down, in Kent. He received his education at Trin- it,y College, Cambridge, studied medicine at Saint (Jeorgc's Hospital in London, assisted Charles Darwin at Down, and in 18SS was made reader in botany at the University of Cambridge, lie- sides a number of interesting papers on special botanical topics, he published the following works: Life and Letters of Charles Daruiii (1887); Charles Darwin (1892); Practical Physiology of Plants, jointl,y with Acton ( 1894) ; Elements of JSotany (189.5). Charles Darwin's Practical Physiology of Plants was prepared with the son's aid. DARWIN, George IlowARn (184.")—). An English geologist, son of Cliarles Robert Dar- win. He was born at Down, Kent, and after graduating at Trinit.y College (18081, where lie was later a fellow (1808-78), he was admitted to the bar. He did not practice, however, but devoted his entire attention to mathematical science, and particularl.v to experimental in- vestigation on tlie pressure of loose sands, on changes in the level of the earth's surface, and minor earthquakes. His publications include papers on The Harmonic Analysis of Tidal Ob- servations (1883) ; The Effects of Tidal Friction on the Earth and Moon; Periodical Orbits (1896); and Tides and Kindred Phenomena^ (1898). In 1882 he assisted Sir William Thom- son in the preparation of a new edition of Thomson and Tait's Xatural Philosophy. He was appointed Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge in 1883. Mr. Darwin was chosen a member of the Eo.yal Society, and in 188.5 became a member of the council of the Meteorological Office. DARWIN, MoujiT. A mountain of Tierra del Fuego. South America, above 0000 feet in altitude (Map: Chile, D 14). It is named after Charles Darwin. DARWINISM. .See D.vRwiN, Charles; Evo- lution ; and Natural Selection. DASE, dii'ze, .TouAXN SIartin Zacuarias (1824-01). A mathematical prodigy, born in Hamburg. When a boy he gave ])ublic exhi- bitions as an expert calculator. One of his feats was the rapid multiplication of a series of fifty figures or more by another scries of equal length ; and he is said to have been equally ex- pert in extracting the culiic root of niunliers containing from 80 to 100 figures — a task he frequently performed in less than an hour. He wrote Tafcln der natiirliehcn Logarilhmcn dcr Zahlen (Vienna, 1850), and Factoren-Tafeln fiir alle Zahlen der siebenten Million, oder genauer von 6,1)00,001 his 7,002.000 mit den darin vor- kommenden Primzahlen (1802-0.5). DASENT, dii'scnt. Sir f;EOR(iE WnnnE (1820- 9ti). .u Knglish scholar and author, bom at Saint Vincent, West Indies. He was educated at Oxford, was appointed civil-service commis- sioner in 1870. and in the following year ns- sumed the editorship of Eraser's Magazine. He was also associated for sonic time with the Lon-