Personal sketches of recent authors . n, and hewrites at some length about him in his Recollec-tions. This Dr. Darwin, although a very success-ful practitioner, at first hated his profession so muchthat he afterward declared that had he been assuredof the merest pittance in any other line of work, hewould never have practised medicine for a day. Tothe end of his life, the thought of an operation sick-ened him. He was vehement against drinking, andwas convinced of both the direct and inherited evileffects of alcohol when habitually taken, even inmoderate quantity, an opinion in which he wasmuch
Personal sketches of recent authors . n, and hewrites at some length about him in his Recollec-tions. This Dr. Darwin, although a very success-ful practitioner, at first hated his profession so muchthat he afterward declared that had he been assuredof the merest pittance in any other line of work, hewould never have practised medicine for a day. Tothe end of his life, the thought of an operation sick-ened him. He was vehement against drinking, andwas convinced of both the direct and inherited evileffects of alcohol when habitually taken, even inmoderate quantity, an opinion in which he wasmuch in advance of his time, and one in which hisson afterward came to share. Dr. Darwins mindwas not scientific, and he did not try to generalizehis knowledge under general laws.: His son didnot think that he gained much from him intellec-tually, but that all his children were much indebtedto him morally. Charles was born in 1809, and wasone of six children. Of these brothers and sisters,we hear most of the eldest, Erasmus, who died un-. CHARLES DARWIN. 4 JPU. CHARLES DARWIN. 55 married at the age of seventy-seven. The picturepainted of him by Charles in his Autobiography isa very pleasant one; and there is also a fine sketchof him in Carlyles Reminiscences. Carlyle pre-ferred Erasmus to Charles for intellect, and was exceedingly fond of him. Charles, inspeaking of him, says: Our minds and tastes wereso different, however, that I do not think I owe muchto him intellectually. I am inclined to agree withFrancis Galton in believing that education and envi-ronment produce only a small effect on the mind ofany one, andthat most of our qualities are innate. Mrs. Darwin died when Charles was eight yearsold, and he was sent at once to a school, where hestayed a year. At that time his taste for naturalhistory and his passion for collecting were alreadywell developed, and he thinks were clearly innate,as none of his brothers or sisters ever showed anyfondness for these things. H
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