Two of naturalist Charles Darwin’s notebooks that were reported stolen from Cambridge University’s library have been returned, two decades after they disappeared.
The university said on Tuesday that the manuscripts were left in the library inside a pink gift bag, along with a note wishing the librarian a happy Easter.
The notebooks, which include the 19th-century scientist’s famous 1837 “Tree of Life”sketch on evolution, went missing in 2001 after being removed for photographing, though at the time the staff believed they might have been misplaced. After the staff had searched the library’s collection of 10 million books, maps and manuscripts, but failed to find them, they were reported to police in October 2020 as stolen.
Darwin filled the notebooks with ideas shortly after returning from his voyage around the world on the ship HMS Beagle, developing ideas that would bloom into his landmark work on evolution On the Origin of Species. The notebooks are estimated to be valued at millions of dollars.
On March 9, 2022, the books reappeared, left in a public area of the library, outside the librarian’s office, which is not covered by security cameras. The university’s director of library services, Jessica Gardner, said her relief at the books’ reappearance was “profound and almost impossible to properly express.”
“The notebooks can now retake their rightful place alongside the rest of the Darwin archives (档案) at Cambridge, at the heart of the nation’s cultural and scientific heritage, alongside the archives of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Stephen Hawking,” she said.
The notebooks are set to go on public display from July as part of a Darwin exhibition at the library. Cambridgeshire police said their investigation was continuing,“and we are following up some lines of inquiry. We also renew our appeal for anyone with information about the case to contact us,”the force said.
【小题1】What caused the notebooks to go missing?| A．Being left in a pink plastic bag. |
| B．Getting removed by two naturalists. |
| C．Getting mixed with other collections. |
| D．Being taken away for taking pictures. |
| A．The staff had misplaced them. |
| B．The staff misjudged the situation. |
| C．The notebooks were guaranteed to be returned. |
| D．The notebooks were too worthless to be reported. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Disturbed. | C．Indifferent. | D．Overjoyed. |
| A．The police were to drop the case. | B．New witnesses have come forward. |
| C．The stealer has yet to be determined. | D．The investigation came to a dead end. |
