CHAPTER II.

BOYHOOD--EDINBURGH--CAMBRIDGE (1817–31).

Of Darwin’s boyhood and school-life we only know the facts given in his brief “Autobiography,” written when he was sixty-seven, together with those collected by his son Francis and appended in the form of notes. He first went to Mr. Case’s day-school in Shrewsbury in 1817, the year of his mother’s death. At this time, although only eight years old, his interest in natural history and in collecting was well established. “The passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso, or a miser, was very strong in me, and was clearly innate, as none of my sisters or brother had this taste.”

In the following year he went to Dr. Butler’s school in Shrewsbury, where he remained seven years. He does not appear to have profited much by the classical instruction which at that time received almost exclusive attention. His interest seems to have been chiefly concentrated upon sport; but whenever a subject attracted him he worked hard at it, and it is probable that he would have conveyed a very different impression of his powers to the masters and his father if scientific subjects had been taught, as they are now to a moderate extent in many schools.

That he was a keen observer for his age is clear from the fact that, when he was only ten, he was much interested and surprised to notice that the insects he found on the Welsh coast were different from those in Shropshire. His most valuable education was received out of school hours--collecting, and working at chemistry with his brother Erasmus, although this latter study drew down upon him the rebukes of Dr. Butler for wasting time on such useless subjects.

[Sidenote: AT EDINBURGH.]

He was removed from school early, and in 1825 went to Edinburgh to study medicine--a subject for which he seemed to be unfitted by nature. The methods of instruction by lectures did not benefit him; he was disgusted at dissection, and could not endure to witness an operation. And yet here it was evident, as it became afterwards at Cambridge, that Darwin--although seeming to be by no means above the average when judged by ordinary standards--possessed in reality a very remarkable and attractive personality. There can be no other explanation of the impression he made upon distinguished men who were much older than himself, and the friendships he formed with those of his own age who were afterwards to become eminent.

Thus at Edinburgh he was well acquainted with Dr. Grant and Mr. Macgillivray, the curator of the museum, and worked at marine zoology in company with the former. Here, too, in 1826, he made his first scientific discovery, and read a paper before the Plinian Society, proving that so-called eggs of Flustra were in reality free-swimming larvæ. And it is evident from his “Autobiography” that he took every opportunity of hearing and learning about scientific subjects.

Darwin’s love of sport remained as keen as ever at this period and at Cambridge, and he speaks with especial enthusiasm of his visits in the autumn to Maer, the home of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, who afterwards exerted so important an influence upon his life.

[Sidenote: AT CAMBRIDGE.]

After Darwin had been at Edinburgh for two sessions, his father realised that he did not like the thought of the medical profession, and suggested that he should become a clergyman. With this intention he was sent to Cambridge in the beginning of 1828, after spending some months in recovering the classics he had learnt at school.

He joined Christ’s College, and passed his final examination in January, 1831, being tenth in the list of those who do not seek honours. The immense, and in many respects disastrous, development of the competitive examination system since that time has almost banished from our universities the type of student represented by Darwin--the man who takes the easiest road to a degree and obtains it with the minimum of effort, but who all the time is being benefited by residence, studying, without any thought of examinations, the subjects which are of special interest to him, and seeking personal contact with older men who have reached the highest eminence in those subjects.

He seems to have led a somewhat double life at Cambridge, his intense love of sport taking him into a pleasure-loving set, while his intellectual interests made him the intimate friend of Whitley, who became Senior Wrangler, and of Professor Henslow, to whom he was introduced by his second cousin, W. Darwin Fox, who also first interested him in entomology. He became so keen a collector of beetles that his successes and experiences in this direction seem to have impressed him more deeply than anything else at Cambridge. Entomology, and especially beetles, form the chief subject of those of his Cambridge letters which have been recovered.

Darwin’s friendship with Henslow, which was to have a most important effect on his life, very soon deepened. They often went long walks together, so that he was called “the man who walks with Henslow.” This fact and the subsequent rapidly formed intimacy with Professor Adam Sedgwick, indicate that he was remarkable among the young men of his standing.

One of his undergraduate friends, J. M. Herbert, afterwards County Court Judge for South Wales, retained the most vivid recollection of Darwin at Cambridge, and contributed the following impression of his character to the “Life and Letters”:--

“It would be idle for me to speak of his vast intellectual powers ... but I cannot end this cursory and rambling sketch without testifying, and I doubt not all his surviving college friends would concur with me, that he was the most genial, warm-hearted, generous and affectionate of friends; that his sympathies were with all that was good and true; and that he had a cordial hatred for everything false, or vile, or cruel, or mean, or dishonourable. He was not only great, but pre-eminently good, and just, and loveable.”

Two books greatly influenced Darwin--Herschel’s “Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,” which, he said, “stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science”; and Humboldt’s “Personal Narrative,” which roused in him the longing to travel--a desire which was soon afterwards gratified by his voyage in the _Beagle_.

“Upon the whole,” he says, “the three years which I spent at Cambridge were the most joyful in my happy life; for I was then in excellent health, and almost always in high spirits.”

After passing his last examination, Darwin had still two terms’ residence to keep, and was advised by Henslow to study geology. To this end Henslow asked Sedgwick to allow Darwin to go with him on a geological excursion in North Wales in August, 1831. He thus gained experience which was of the utmost value during the voyage of the _Beagle_.