1. These statements are taken chiefly from a sketch of his life published by his father, Erasmus, in 1780, together with two of his posthumous medical essays. See also Hutchinson's ‘Biographia Medica’, 1799,Vol. i., p. 239; also ‘Biographie Universelle’, Vol. x., 1855; also an article in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’, 1801, Vol. lxxi., Pt. ii., p. 604 [C.D. wrongly has September 1st, 1794, Vol. lxiv., p. 794], signed ‘A.D.’, evidently Professor Andrew Duncan, of Edinburgh.

2. ‘Harveian Discourse’, by Professor A. Duncan, 1824 [pp. 10–12].

3. Author of ‘Hereditary Genius’, ‘English Men of Science’, and of other works and papers.

4. Published by one of his descendants in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’, Oct. 1808, Vol. lxxviii., Pt. ii., p. 869.

5. I am much indebted to a son of Dr. Sieveking, who brought to England the original letters preserved by the descendants of Reimarus, for permitting me to have them photographed.

6. ‘Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Darwin’, 1804, p. 11–14.

7. J. Cradock, ‘Literary Memoirs’, 1828, Vol. iv., p. 143.

8. ‘Memoirs of the Life of Dr Darwin’, 1804, p. 125.

9. ‘The Botanic Garden’, part I, canto I, lines 103–114.

10. ‘Memoirs of R. L. Edgeworth’, 2nd ed., 1821, Vol. ii., p. 111. [1st ed., Vol. ii., p. 131]

11. Dated June 23, 1792 and published in the ‘Monthly Magazine’, 1803, Vol. ii., p. 100.

12. ‘Pursuits of Literature’. A Satirical Poem in Four Dialogues; 14th ed., 1808, p. 54.

As the character of a man depends in some degree on the circumstances under which he has been brought up, it will be advisable to give a very short account of the family to which Erasmus Darwin belonged. It is more important to show to what extent a man inherits and transmits his characteristic qualities; for every addition, however small, to our knowledge on this head is a public benefit, as well as spreading a belief in inheritance.

{As the name Darwin is an unusual one, I may mention that in the Cottonian Library, now in the British Museum, there is a large and very rare book, on the History of Lichfield; and in this book the antiquary, Sir R. Cotton, who was born in 1570 and died in 1631, made the following entry: “This Booke was found in the thatch of an House at Clifton-Campville, in the demolishinge thereof. And was brought to mee by Mr. Darwin”. Clifton-Campville is near Tamworth, in Staffordshire. Whether the Mr. Darwin who made this discovery was a member of the family we do not know.}

Erasmus Darwin was descended from a family of yeomen who lived for several generations on their own land, apparently of considerable extent, at Marton in Lincolnshire. The great-grandson of the first Darwin of whom we know anything seems to have been a loyal man, for in his will made in 1584 he [Richard Darwin] bequeathed 3s. 4d.

In the February number, 1879, of a well-known German scientific journal, ‘Kosmos’, Dr. Ernst Krause published a sketch of the life of Erasmus Darwin, the author of the ‘Zoonomia’, ‘Botanic Garden’, and other works. This article bears the title of a ‘Contribution to the history of the Descent-Theory’; and Dr. Krause has kindly permitted my brother and myself to have a translation made of it and published. {Mr. Dallas has undertaken the translation, and his scientific reputation, together with his knowledge of German, is a guarantee for its accuracy.}

As I have private materials for adding to the knowledge of Erasmus Darwin's character, I have written a preliminary notice. These materials consist of a large collection of letters written by him; of his common-place book in folio, in the possession of his grandson Reginald Darwin; of some notes made by my father shortly after the death of his father, together with what little I can clearly remember that my father said about him; also some statements by his daughter, Violetta Darwin, written down at the time by her daughters, the Miss Galtons, and various published notices. To them must be added the ‘Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Darwin’, by Miss Seward, which appeared in 1804, and a lecture by Dr. Dowson on ‘Erasmus Darwin, Philosopher, Poet, and Physician’, published in 1861, which contains many useful references and remarks.

The proofs were cut up and re-assembled by Henrietta, and then pruned and added to. So, given any page in the book, which pages in the proofs does it stem from? Or are parts of it not in the proofs at all? There are no logical answers; so I have provided the list below, in which the minimum ‘recognized’ length of text is 2 lines, and the symbol N denotes ‘not in the proofs’.