e
world of Nature."

Erasmus Darwin had the felicity to have his biography written in German,
and he also has his place in the "Encyclopedia Britannica" quite
independent of that of his gifted grandson.

Charles Darwin's grandfather on his mother's side was Josiah Wedgwood,
one of the most versatile of men. He was as fine in spirit as those
exquisite designs by Flaxman that you will see today on the Wedgwood
pottery. Josiah Wedgwood was a businessman--an organizer, and he was
beyond this, an artist, a naturalist, a sociologist and a lover of his
race. His portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds reveals a man of rare
intelligence, and his biography is as interesting as a novel by Kipling.
His space in the "Encyclopedia Britannica" is even more important than
that occupied by his dear friend and neighbor, Doctor Erasmus Darwin.
The hand of the Potter did not shake when Josiah Wedgwood was made.
Josiah Wedgwood and Doctor Darwin had mutually promised their children
in marriage. Wedgwood became rich and he made numerous other men rich,
and he enriched the heart and the intellect of England by setting before
it beautiful things, and by living an earnest, active and beautiful
life.

Josiah Wedgwood coined the word "queensware." He married his cousin,
Sarah Wedgwood. Their daughter, Susannah Wedgwood, married Doctor Robert
Darwin, and Charles Darwin, their son, married Emma Wedgwood, a daughter
of Josiah Wedgwood the Second. Caroline Darwin, a sister of Charles
Darwin, married Josiah Wedgwood the Third. Let those who have the time
work out this origin of species in detail and show us the relationship
of the Darwins and Wedgwoods. And I hope we'll hear no more about the
folly of cousins marrying, when Charles Darwin is before us as an
example of natural selection.

From his mother Darwin inherited those traits of gentleness, insight,
purity of purpose, patience and persistency that set him apart as a
marked man.

The father of Charles Darwin, Doctor Robert Darwin, was a most
successful physician of Shrewsbury.

His marriage to Susannah Wedgwood filled his heart, and also placed him
on a firm financial footing, and he seemed to take his choice of
patients. Doctor Darwin was a man devoted to his family, respected by
his neighbors, and he lived long enough to see his son recognized,
greatly to his surprise, as one of England's foremost scientists.

Charles Darwin in youth was rather slow in intellect, and in form and
feature far