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_.