Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1Darwin, Charles
History
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1
Darwin, Charles
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
He walked with a swinging action, using a stick heavily shod with iron,
which he struck loudly against the ground, producing as he went round
the "Sand-walk" at Down, a rhythmical click which is with all of us a
very distinct remembrance. As he returned from the midday walk, often
carrying the waterproof or cloak which had proved too hot, one could see
that the swinging step was kept up by something of an effort. Indoors
his step was often slow and laboured, and as he went upstairs in the
afternoon he might be heard mounting the stairs with a heavy footfall,
as if each step were an effort. When interested in his work he moved
about quickly and easily enough, and often in the middle of dictating
he went eagerly into the hall to get a pinch of snuff, leaving the study
door open, and calling out the last words of his sentence as he went.
Indoors he sometimes used an oak stick like a little alpenstock, and
this was a sign that he felt giddiness.
In spite of his strength and activity, I think he must always have had a
clumsiness of movement. He was naturally awkward with his hands, and
was unable to draw at all well. (The figure representing the aggregated
cell-contents in 'Insectivorous Plants' was drawn by him.) This he
always regretted much, and he frequently urged the paramount necessity
of a young naturalist making himself a good draughtsman.
He could dissect well under the simple microscope, but I think it was by
dint of his great patience and carefulness. It was characteristic of him
that he thought many little bits of skilful dissection something almost
superhuman. He used to speak with admiration of the skill with which he
saw Newport dissect a humble bee, getting out the nervous system with
a few cuts of a fine pair of scissors, held, as my father used to show,
with the elbow raised, and in an attitude which certainly would render
great steadiness necessary. He used to consider cutting sections a great
feat, and in the last year of his life, with wonderful energy, took the
pains to learn to cut sections of roots and leaves. His hand was not
steady enough to hold the object to be cut, and he employed a common
microtome, in which the pith for holding the object was clamped, and the
razor slid on a glass surface in making the sections. He used to laugh
at himself, and at his own skill in section-cutting, at which he would
say he was "speechless with admiration." On the other hand, he must have
had accuracy of eye and power of co-ordinating his movements, since he
was a good shot with a gun as a young man, and as a boy was skilful
in throwing. He once killed a hare sitting in the flower-garden at
Shrewsbury by throwing a marble at it, and, as a man, he once killed a
cross-beak with a stone. He was so unhappy at having uselessly killed
the cross-beak that he did not mention it for years, and then explained
that he should never have thrown at it if he had not felt sure that his
old skill had gone from him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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