ERASMUS, a poet, physician, and medical writer, was born at Elston, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, Dec. 12, 1731. He was the fourth son of Robert Darwin, Esq., and received the early part of his education at Chesterfield school, under the Rev. Mr Burrows. He was entered, with two of his elder brothers, at St John's College, Cambridge; and, being intended for the practice of physic, he took the degree of bachelor in medicine in 1755, defending in his thesis an opinion that the motion of the heart and arteries is produced by the immediate stimulus of the blood. During his residence in Cambridge, Darwin was elected to one of Lord Exeter's scholarships, worth about sixteen pounds per annum, which, from the meagreness of his father's income at that time, was esteemed a desirable acquisition. After having prepared himself for his future profession, by an attendance on the lectures of Dr Hunter in London, and by a severe course of study at Edinburgh, he contemplated the metropolis as the proper theatre for his exertions. Deterred, however, by the improbability of obtaining immediate patronage, Dr Darwin thought it more advisable to settle in the country. The first place to which he went, in the capacity of physician, was Nottingham, where, being disappointed in his hopes of practice, he removed to Lichfield. Here his great capacity and various acquirements were most justly appreciated. He resided at Lichfield for many years, in the enjoyment of an extensive reputation, and a profitable practice.

In the year 1757 Dr Darwin married Miss Mary Howard, daughter of Charles Howard, Esq. By this lady, who died in 1770, he had five children, two of whom died in infancy. The eldest son, Charles, was educated for the medical profession, but died in the twentieth year of his age, very soon after he had finished his curriculum at Edinburgh, where he gained considerable reputation, by endeavouring to furnish a criterion for distinguishing pus from mucus. Soon after the decease of his wife, Dr Darwin commenced the Zoonomia, which, however, he did not publish till long afterwards. In 1780 Dr Darwin married the widow of Colonel Sacheverel Pole, a lady with a jointure of £600 per annum. This marriage occasioned his removal from Lichfield to Radbourne, and ultimately to Derby, where he continued to reside till within about two months of his death.

During the last years of his life, Dr Darwin was much subject to inflammation of the chest and lungs; and in the spring of 1801 he had a very serious attack of this disease, from which, after repeated bleedings, he with difficulty recovered. On 10th April 1802 he was attacked with febrile disorder, which at the end of a week proved fatal.

Dr Darwin left a widow and six children, three boys and three girls, by his last marriage. Besides these, he left two natural daughters, whom he had established in a school at Ashbourne, and for whose instruction and assistance he composed and published his Treatise on Female Education.

Darwin was distinguished through life for his benevolence of disposition, which was particularly conspicuous in the care which he took even of the lower animals. He was of a middle stature, in person portly and corpulent; his features were coarse, and his countenance, though not wholly devoid of animation, certainly was by no means expressive.

The pretensions of Dr Darwin as a medical philosopher rest chiefly on his Zoonomia. Whether this work be considered as a mere repository of curious natural and medical facts, or as a scheme and system of pathological and physiological disquisition, it must be allowed to possess considerable merit. As a philosophical agriculturist Dr Darwin is entitled to high consideration. A small portion of his Phytologia is devoted to a fanciful system of vegetable physiology; the second part, divided into three sections, treats of the economy of vegetation; and the third of agriculture and horticulture. Dr Darwin's reputation as a poet does not stand high. As a prose writer he was incorrect; his grammatical errors are numerous, and he was even deficient in orthography. In the year 1758 he published various papers in the Philosophical Transactions.

In 1782 the Botanical Society of Lichfield published a translation of Linnéus's Systema Vegetabilium, the execution of which was principally confided to Dr Darwin. He left a poem entitled The Temple of Nature, which was published after his death.