Charles Darwin was a avid collector. He collected many things during his life including birds eggs, rocks, shells and beetles. He had a real thing for beetles which I quite understand and fully appreciate. In Downs House a few of his beetles are on display, all carefully pinned and labelled by his own hand. These very beetles Darwin no doubt referred to many times and examined in great detail. What I want to share with you was his pure delight in his beetles with a quote from his autobiography: 'I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one.' Those of you that know me, now know why I always carry collecting pots!
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| Charles Darwin. |
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| Darwin's Study almost as it was. Where he wrote, examined, experimented and studied. |
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| Darwin's beautifully labelled beetles. |
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