situation of considerable delicacy and difficulty, which was ultimately got over by the two discoverers presenting a joint paper, _On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties_, and _On the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection_. The publication in 1859 of _The Origin of Species_ gave D. an acknowledged place among the greatest men of science, and the controversies which, along with other of his works, it raised, helped to carry his name all over the civilised world. Among his numerous subsequent writings may be mentioned _The Fertilisation of Orchids_ (1862), _Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication_ (1868), _The Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex_ (1871), _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals_ (1872), _Insectivorous Plants_ (1875), _Climbing Plants_ (1875), _Different Forms of Flowers_ (1877), _The Power of Movement in Plants_ (1880), and _The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms_ (1881). D., with a modesty which was one of his chief characteristics, disclaimed for himself the possession of any remarkable talents except "an unusual power of noticing things which easily escape attention, and of observing them carefully." In addition, however, to this peculiar insight, he had a singular reverence for truth and fact, enormous industry, and great self-abnegation: and his kindliness, modesty, and magnanimity attracted the affection of all who knew him. _Life and Letters_, by his son, F. Darwin, 3 vols., 1887; _C. Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection_. E.B. Poulton, 1896; various short Lives by Grant Allen and others. DARWIN, ERASMUS (1731-1802).--Poet, physician, and scientist, was _b._ at Elston, Notts, and _ed._ at Camb. and at Edin., where he took his degree of M.D. He ultimately settled in Lichfield as a physician, and attained a high professional reputation, so much so that he was offered, but declined, the appointment of physician to George III. In 1778 he formed a botanical garden, and in 1789 _pub._ his first poem, _The Loves of the Plants_, followed in 1792 by _The Economy of Vegetation_, which combined form _The Botanic Garden_. Another poem, _The Temple of Nature_, was _pub._ posthumously. He also wrote various scientific works in prose. The poems of D., though popular in their day, are now little read. Written in polished and sonorous verse, they glitter with startling similes and ingenious, though often forced, analogies, but have little true poetry or human interest.