Darwin artefacts to go on display

A hand-written manuscript for Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, in the author's own hand, is to go on display

A manuscript for Charles Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species, written in the author's own hand, is to go on display in Edinburgh.

It is being displayed as part of Edinburgh University's Talbot Rice Gallery exhibition.

It looks at how Darwin's time as a medical student in the capital influenced his future science career.

Other exhibits include a class ticket, signed by Darwin, which admitted him to anatomy lectures at the university.

The exhibition, which opens later on Friday, will be held in the Talbot Rice's Georgian Gallery, previously the College Museum of Natural History, where Darwin studied specimens and learnt about taxidermy.

Darwin's Edinburgh exhibition will be held alongside An Entangled Bank, which is a presentation of work by five contemporary artists interpreting the continuing relevance of Darwinian ideas in art.

Works commissioned for the show include a sculpture of a giant skeleton, titled The Unknown, by Kenny Hunter and a contemporary interpretation of the death mask by Christine Borland, which is part of an installation called Simbodies and Nobodies that looks at medical teaching practice.

Other works, influenced by collaborations with Edinburgh University scientists, include depictions of volcanoes by Ilana Halperin, a film by Ben Rivers that explores isolation and wilderness, and installations by Brian Hewitt that are influenced by a range of scientific research.