HOW DARWIN ACCUMULATED HIS FACTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5163, 9 June 1891, Page 4

HOW DARWIN ACCUMULATED HIS FACTS.

Mr W. B. Tegotmeier, of tho Field, sends ao interesting letter lo that paper a propos of a discussion on the cackling of hens. Incidentally Mr 7'egetmeier enlargoa our knowledge of Charles Darwin's passion for accuraoy m bis work. " I havo," he says, " been greatly amused with the correspondonco which has taken place with regard to the cackling of hens after hiving laid their eggs. The manner io whioh some persons theorise r.n subjects on which they ore confessedly iunorant is, to say the leaßt, amusing. When I compare the manner m which Darwin exhaustively investigated any subject before proceeding to theorise upon it, with the complacency with which his successors, without any preliminary investigations, evolve, I cannot help making a contrast which is not complimentary to the latter. I had the distinguished honour ot working with Darwin for many yerrs, and as an example of the pains-taking and conscientious manner m which he accumulated facts, I may mention that on one occasion ho employed a clerk for several weeks to investigate the

proportion of sexes m the births of domesticated animals, and that the whole of this work, so carefully done, mado three lines m the ' Variation of Animals ' It may seem an easy matter to ascertain the proportion m which the two sexes ocour m the births of many species. In reality, thero aro only thren iv which any trustworthy record hits been kept— that is to say, m numbers sufficiently large to afford an accurate ground for a general statement. .These are m the eenus Somo (the speciea which is by courtesy called sapiens), m thoroughbred horses, and greyhounds —no other animals, that I am aware of, baying bad such a record kept of the proportion of saxes m any large number of birihs. It was m this way that Darwin worked out the investigation of the Bubject, wliich, limited as it wa?, cost him £10 and only made, as I have asiia, aome three lines m his great work."