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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, by Charles Darwin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
+       From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
+
+Author: Charles Darwin
+
+Editor: [Charles Darwin’s son] Francis Darwin
+
+Release Date: December, 1999 [eBook #2010]
+[Most recently updated: April 26, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Sue Asscher
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DARWIN ***
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
+CHARLES DARWIN
+
+From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
+
+By Charles Darwin
+
+Edited by his Son Francis Darwin
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.
+ “VOYAGE OF THE ‘BEAGLE’ FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2, 1836.”
+ FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE (JANUARY 29, 1839.)
+ FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER STREET, TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14, 1842.
+ RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876.
+ MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.
+ WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.
+
+
+
+
+[My father’s autobiographical recollections, given in the present
+chapter, were written for his children,—and written without any thought
+that they would ever be published. To many this may seem an
+impossibility; but those who knew my father will understand how it was
+not only possible, but natural. The autobiography bears the heading,
+‘Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character,’ and end
+with the following note:—“Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch of my life was
+begun about May 28th at Hopedene (Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood’s house in
+Surrey.), and since then I have written for nearly an hour on most
+afternoons.” It will easily be understood that, in a narrative of a
+personal and intimate kind written for his wife and children, passages
+should occur which must here be omitted; and I have not thought it
+necessary to indicate where such omissions are made. It has been found
+necessary to make a few corrections of obvious verbal slips, but the
+number of such alterations has been kept down to the minimum.—F.D.]
+
+
+A German Editor having written to me for an account of the development
+of my mind and character with some sketch of my autobiography, I have
+thought that the attempt would amuse me, and might possibly interest my
+children or their children. I know that it would have interested me
+greatly to have read even so short and dull a sketch of the mind of my
+grandfather, written by himself, and what he thought and did, and how
+he worked. I have attempted to write the following account of myself,
+as if I were a dead man in another world looking back at my own life.
+Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with me. I
+have taken no pains about my style of writing.
+
+I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and my earliest
+recollection goes back only to when I was a few months over four years
+old, when we went to near Abergele for sea-bathing, and I recollect
+some events and places there with some little distinctness.
+
+My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old,
+and it is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her except her
+death-bed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed
+work-table. In the spring of this same year I was sent to a day-school
+in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year. I have been told that I was much
+slower in learning than my younger sister Catherine, and I believe that
+I was in many ways a naughty boy.
+
+By the time I went to this day-school (Kept by Rev. G. Case, minister
+of the Unitarian Chapel in the High Street. Mrs. Darwin was a Unitarian
+and attended Mr. Case’s chapel, and my father as a little boy went
+there with his elder sisters. But both he and his brother were
+christened and intended to belong to the Church of England; and after
+his early boyhood he seems usually to have gone to church and not to
+Mr. Case’s. It appears (“St. James’ Gazette”, Dec. 15, 1883) that a
+mural tablet has been erected to his memory in the chapel, which is now
+known as the ‘Free Christian Church.’) my taste for natural history,
+and more especially for collecting, was well developed. I tried to make
+out the names of plants (Rev. W.A. Leighton, who was a schoolfellow of
+my father’s at Mr. Case’s school, remembers his bringing a flower to
+school and saying that his mother had taught him how by looking at the
+inside of the blossom the name of the plant could be discovered. Mr.
+Leighton goes on, “This greatly roused my attention and curiosity, and
+I enquired of him repeatedly how this could be done?”—but his lesson
+was naturally enough not transmissible.—F.D.), and collected all sorts
+of things, shells, seals, franks, coins, and minerals. The passion for
+collecting which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso,
+or a miser, was very strong in me, and was clearly innate, as none of
+my sisters or brother ever had this taste.
+
+One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in my
+mind, and I hope that it has done so from my conscience having been
+afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing that
+apparently I was interested at this early age in the variability of
+plants! I told another little boy (I believe it was Leighton, who
+afterwards became a well-known lichenologist and botanist), that I
+could produce variously coloured polyanthuses and primroses by watering
+them with certain coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous
+fable, and had never been tried by me. I may here also confess that as
+a little boy I was much given to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and
+this was always done for the sake of causing excitement. For instance,
+I once gathered much valuable fruit from my father’s trees and hid it
+in the shrubbery, and then ran in breathless haste to spread the news
+that I had discovered a hoard of stolen fruit.
+
+I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first went to the
+school. A boy of the name of Garnett took me into a cake shop one day,
+and bought some cakes for which he did not pay, as the shopman trusted
+him. When we came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he
+instantly answered, “Why, do you not know that my uncle left a great
+sum of money to the town on condition that every tradesman should give
+whatever was wanted without payment to any one who wore his old hat and
+moved [it] in a particular manner?” and he then showed me how it was
+moved. He then went into another shop where he was trusted, and asked
+for some small article, moving his hat in the proper manner, and of
+course obtained it without payment. When we came out he said, “Now if
+you like to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well I remember its
+exact position) I will lend you my hat, and you can get whatever you
+like if you move the hat on your head properly.” I gladly accepted the
+generous offer, and went in and asked for some cakes, moved the old hat
+and was walking out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so
+I dropped the cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being
+greeted with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett.
+
+I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this
+entirely to the instruction and example of my sisters. I doubt indeed
+whether humanity is a natural or innate quality. I was very fond of
+collecting eggs, but I never took more than a single egg out of a
+bird’s nest, except on one single occasion, when I took all, not for
+their value, but from a sort of bravado.
+
+I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of hours
+on the bank of a river or pond watching the float; when at Maer (The
+house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.) I was told that I could kill the
+worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted a living
+worm, though at the expense probably of some loss of success.
+
+Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that
+time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply from
+enjoying the sense of power; but the beating could not have been
+severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure, as the spot
+was near the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown
+by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It
+probably lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and for a
+long time afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an
+adept in robbing their love from their masters.
+
+I remember clearly only one other incident during this year whilst at
+Mr. Case’s daily school,—namely, the burial of a dragoon soldier; and
+it is surprising how clearly I can still see the horse with the man’s
+empty boots and carbine suspended to the saddle, and the firing over
+the grave. This scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was in
+me.
+
+In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler’s great school in
+Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years till Midsummer 1825,
+when I was sixteen years old. I boarded at this school, so that I had
+the great advantage of living the life of a true schoolboy; but as the
+distance was hardly more than a mile to my home, I very often ran there
+in the longer intervals between the callings over and before locking up
+at night. This, I think, was in many ways advantageous to me by keeping
+up home affections and interests. I remember in the early part of my
+school life that I often had to run very quickly to be in time, and
+from being a fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt I
+prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I
+attributed my success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and
+marvelled how generally I was aided.
+
+I have heard my father and elder sister say that I had, as a very young
+boy, a strong taste for long solitary walks; but what I thought about I
+know not. I often became quite absorbed, and once, whilst returning to
+school on the summit of the old fortifications round Shrewsbury, which
+had been converted into a public foot-path with no parapet on one side,
+I walked off and fell to the ground, but the height was only seven or
+eight feet. Nevertheless the number of thoughts which passed through my
+mind during this very short, but sudden and wholly unexpected fall, was
+astonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what physiologists have, I
+believe, proved about each thought requiring quite an appreciable
+amount of time.
+
+Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr.
+Butler’s school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being
+taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a
+means of education to me was simply a blank. During my whole life I
+have been singularly incapable of mastering any language. Especial
+attention was paid to verse-making, and this I could never do well. I
+had many friends, and got together a good collection of old verses,
+which by patching together, sometimes aided by other boys, I could work
+into any subject. Much attention was paid to learning by heart the
+lessons of the previous day; this I could effect with great facility,
+learning forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was in
+morning chapel; but this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse
+was forgotten in forty-eight hours. I was not idle, and with the
+exception of versification, generally worked conscientiously at my
+classics, not using cribs. The sole pleasure I ever received from such
+studies, was from some of the odes of Horace, which I admired greatly.
+
+When I left the school I was for my age neither high nor low in it; and
+I believe that I was considered by all my masters and by my father as a
+very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect. To my
+deep mortification my father once said to me, “You care for nothing but
+shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to
+yourself and all your family.” But my father, who was the kindest man I
+ever knew and whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been
+angry and somewhat unjust when he used such words.
+
+Looking back as well as I can at my character during my school life,
+the only qualities which at this period promised well for the future,
+were, that I had strong and diversified tastes, much zeal for whatever
+interested me, and a keen pleasure in understanding any complex subject
+or thing. I was taught Euclid by a private tutor, and I distinctly
+remember the intense satisfaction which the clear geometrical proofs
+gave me. I remember, with equal distinctness, the delight which my
+uncle gave me (the father of Francis Galton) by explaining the
+principle of the vernier of a barometer with respect to diversified
+tastes, independently of science, I was fond of reading various books,
+and I used to sit for hours reading the historical plays of
+Shakespeare, generally in an old window in the thick walls of the
+school. I read also other poetry, such as Thomson’s ‘Seasons,’ and the
+recently published poems of Byron and Scott. I mention this because
+later in life I wholly lost, to my great regret, all pleasure from
+poetry of any kind, including Shakespeare. In connection with pleasure
+from poetry, I may add that in 1822 a vivid delight in scenery was
+first awakened in my mind, during a riding tour on the borders of
+Wales, and this has lasted longer than any other aesthetic pleasure.
+
+Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the ‘Wonders of the World,’
+which I often read, and disputed with other boys about the veracity of
+some of the statements; and I believe that this book first gave me a
+wish to travel in remote countries, which was ultimately fulfilled by
+the voyage of the “Beagle”. In the latter part of my school life I
+became passionately fond of shooting; I do not believe that any one
+could have shown more zeal for the most holy cause than I did for
+shooting birds. How well I remember killing my first snipe, and my
+excitement was so great that I had much difficulty in reloading my gun
+from the trembling of my hands. This taste long continued, and I became
+a very good shot. When at Cambridge I used to practise throwing up my
+gun to my shoulder before a looking-glass to see that I threw it up
+straight. Another and better plan was to get a friend to wave about a
+lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on the nipple, and if
+the aim was accurate the little puff of air would blow out the candle.
+The explosion of the cap caused a sharp crack, and I was told that the
+tutor of the college remarked, “What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr.
+Darwin seems to spend hours in cracking a horse-whip in his room, for I
+often hear the crack when I pass under his windows.”
+
+I had many friends amongst the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly, and I
+think that my disposition was then very affectionate.
+
+With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with much
+zeal, but quite unscientifically—all that I cared about was a
+new-_named_ mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them. I must
+have observed insects with some little care, for when ten years old
+(1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the sea-coast in
+Wales, I was very much interested and surprised at seeing a large black
+and scarlet Hemipterous insect, many moths (Zygaena), and a Cicindela
+which are not found in Shropshire. I almost made up my mind to begin
+collecting all the insects which I could find dead, for on consulting
+my sister I concluded that it was not right to kill insects for the
+sake of making a collection. From reading White’s ‘Selborne,’ I took
+much pleasure in watching the habits of birds, and even made notes on
+the subject. In my simplicity I remember wondering why every gentleman
+did not become an ornithologist.
+
+Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at
+chemistry, and made a fair laboratory with proper apparatus in the
+tool-house in the garden, and I was allowed to aid him as a servant in
+most of his experiments. He made all the gases and many compounds, and
+I read with great care several books on chemistry, such as Henry and
+Parkes’ ‘Chemical Catechism.’ The subject interested me greatly, and we
+often used to go on working till rather late at night. This was the
+best part of my education at school, for it showed me practically the
+meaning of experimental science. The fact that we worked at chemistry
+somehow got known at school, and as it was an unprecedented fact, I was
+nicknamed “Gas.” I was also once publicly rebuked by the head-master,
+Dr. Butler, for thus wasting my time on such useless subjects; and he
+called me very unjustly a “poco curante,” and as I did not understand
+what he meant, it seemed to me a fearful reproach.
+
+As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away at a
+rather earlier age than usual, and sent me (Oct. 1825) to Edinburgh
+University with my brother, where I stayed for two years or sessions.
+My brother was completing his medical studies, though I do not believe
+he ever really intended to practise, and I was sent there to commence
+them. But soon after this period I became convinced from various small
+circumstances that my father would leave me property enough to subsist
+on with some comfort, though I never imagined that I should be so rich
+a man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any strenuous
+efforts to learn medicine.
+
+The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and these were
+intolerably dull, with the exception of those on chemistry by Hope; but
+to my mind there are no advantages and many disadvantages in lectures
+compared with reading. Dr. Duncan’s lectures on Materia Medica at 8
+o’clock on a winter’s morning are something fearful to remember. Dr.——
+made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself, and the
+subject disgusted me. It has proved one of the greatest evils in my
+life that I was not urged to practise dissection, for I should soon
+have got over my disgust; and the practice would have been invaluable
+for all my future work. This has been an irremediable evil, as well as
+my incapacity to draw. I also attended regularly the clinical wards in
+the hospital. Some of the cases distressed me a good deal, and I still
+have vivid pictures before me of some of them; but I was not so foolish
+as to allow this to lessen my attendance. I cannot understand why this
+part of my medical course did not interest me in a greater degree; for
+during the summer before coming to Edinburgh I began attending some of
+the poor people, chiefly children and women in Shrewsbury: I wrote down
+as full an account as I could of the case with all the symptoms, and
+read them aloud to my father, who suggested further inquiries and
+advised me what medicines to give, which I made up myself. At one time
+I had at least a dozen patients, and I felt a keen interest in the
+work. My father, who was by far the best judge of character whom I ever
+knew, declared that I should make a successful physician,—meaning by
+this one who would get many patients. He maintained that the chief
+element of success was exciting confidence; but what he saw in me which
+convinced him that I should create confidence I know not. I also
+attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the hospital at
+Edinburgh, and saw two very bad operations, one on a child, but I
+rushed away before they were completed. Nor did I ever attend again,
+for hardly any inducement would have been strong enough to make me do
+so; this being long before the blessed days of chloroform. The two
+cases fairly haunted me for many a long year.
+
+My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during the
+second year I was left to my own resources; and this was an advantage,
+for I became well acquainted with several young men fond of natural
+science. One of these was Ainsworth, who afterwards published his
+travels in Assyria; he was a Wernerian geologist, and knew a little
+about many subjects. Dr. Coldstream was a very different young man,
+prim, formal, highly religious, and most kind-hearted; he afterwards
+published some good zoological articles. A third young man was Hardie,
+who would, I think, have made a good botanist, but died early in India.
+Lastly, Dr. Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became
+acquainted with him I cannot remember; he published some first-rate
+zoological papers, but after coming to London as Professor in
+University College, he did nothing more in science, a fact which has
+always been inexplicable to me. I knew him well; he was dry and formal
+in manner, with much enthusiasm beneath this outer crust. He one day,
+when we were walking together, burst forth in high admiration of
+Lamarck and his views on evolution. I listened in silent astonishment,
+and as far as I can judge without any effect on my mind. I had
+previously read the ‘Zoonomia’ of my grandfather, in which similar
+views are maintained, but without producing any effect on me.
+Nevertheless it is probable that the hearing rather early in life such
+views maintained and praised may have favoured my upholding them under
+a different form in my ‘Origin of Species.’ At this time I admired
+greatly the ‘Zoonomia;’ but on reading it a second time after an
+interval of ten or fifteen years, I was much disappointed; the
+proportion of speculation being so large to the facts given.
+
+Drs. Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology, and I often
+accompanied the former to collect animals in the tidal pools, which I
+dissected as well as I could. I also became friends with some of the
+Newhaven fishermen, and sometimes accompanied them when they trawled
+for oysters, and thus got many specimens. But from not having had any
+regular practice in dissection, and from possessing only a wretched
+microscope, my attempts were very poor. Nevertheless I made one
+interesting little discovery, and read, about the beginning of the year
+1826, a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society. This was
+that the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement
+by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae. In another short paper I
+showed that the little globular bodies which had been supposed to be
+the young state of Fucus loreus were the egg-cases of the wormlike
+Pontobdella muricata.
+
+The Plinian Society was encouraged and, I believe, founded by Professor
+Jameson: it consisted of students and met in an underground room in the
+University for the sake of reading papers on natural science and
+discussing them. I used regularly to attend, and the meetings had a
+good effect on me in stimulating my zeal and giving me new congenial
+acquaintances. One evening a poor young man got up, and after
+stammering for a prodigious length of time, blushing crimson, he at
+last slowly got out the words, “Mr. President, I have forgotten what I
+was going to say.” The poor fellow looked quite overwhelmed, and all
+the members were so surprised that no one could think of a word to say
+to cover his confusion. The papers which were read to our little
+society were not printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of seeing
+my paper in print; but I believe Dr. Grant noticed my small discovery
+in his excellent memoir on Flustra.
+
+I was also a member of the Royal Medical Society, and attended pretty
+regularly; but as the subjects were exclusively medical, I did not much
+care about them. Much rubbish was talked there, but there were some
+good speakers, of whom the best was the present Sir J.
+Kay-Shuttleworth. Dr. Grant took me occasionally to the meetings of the
+Wernerian Society, where various papers on natural history were read,
+discussed, and afterwards published in the ‘Transactions.’ I heard
+Audubon deliver there some interesting discourses on the habits of N.
+American birds, sneering somewhat unjustly at Waterton. By the way, a
+negro lived in Edinburgh, who had travelled with Waterton, and gained
+his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did excellently: he gave me
+lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him, for he was a
+very pleasant and intelligent man.
+
+Mr. Leonard Horner also took me once to a meeting of the Royal Society
+of Edinburgh, where I saw Sir Walter Scott in the chair as President,
+and he apologised to the meeting as not feeling fitted for such a
+position. I looked at him and at the whole scene with some awe and
+reverence, and I think it was owing to this visit during my youth, and
+to my having attended the Royal Medical Society, that I felt the honour
+of being elected a few years ago an honorary member of both these
+Societies, more than any other similar honour. If I had been told at
+that time that I should one day have been thus honoured, I declare that
+I should have thought it as ridiculous and improbable, as if I had been
+told that I should be elected King of England.
+
+During my second year at Edinburgh I attended ——’s lectures on Geology
+and Zoology, but they were incredibly dull. The sole effect they
+produced on me was the determination never as long as I lived to read a
+book on Geology, or in any way to study the science. Yet I feel sure
+that I was prepared for a philosophical treatment of the subject; for
+an old Mr. Cotton in Shropshire, who knew a good deal about rocks, had
+pointed out to me two or three years previously a well-known large
+erratic boulder in the town of Shrewsbury, called the “bell-stone”; he
+told me that there was no rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland
+or Scotland, and he solemnly assured me that the world would come to an
+end before any one would be able to explain how this stone came where
+it now lay. This produced a deep impression on me, and I meditated over
+this wonderful stone. So that I felt the keenest delight when I first
+read of the action of icebergs in transporting boulders, and I gloried
+in the progress of Geology. Equally striking is the fact that I, though
+now only sixty-seven years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture
+at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke, with amygdaloidal
+margins and the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all
+around us, say that it was a fissure filled with sediment from above,
+adding with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it had been
+injected from beneath in a molten condition. When I think of this
+lecture, I do not wonder that I determined never to attend to Geology.
+
+From attending ——’s lectures, I became acquainted with the curator of
+the museum, Mr. Macgillivray, who afterwards published a large and
+excellent book on the birds of Scotland. I had much interesting
+natural-history talk with him, and he was very kind to me. He gave me
+some rare shells, for I at that time collected marine mollusca, but
+with no great zeal.
+
+My summer vacations during these two years were wholly given up to
+amusements, though I always had some book in hand, which I read with
+interest. During the summer of 1826 I took a long walking tour with two
+friends with knapsacks on our backs through North Wales. We walked
+thirty miles most days, including one day the ascent of Snowdon. I also
+went with my sister a riding tour in North Wales, a servant with
+saddle-bags carrying our clothes. The autumns were devoted to shooting
+chiefly at Mr. Owen’s, at Woodhouse, and at my Uncle Jos’s (Josiah
+Wedgwood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works.) at Maer. My
+zeal was so great that I used to place my shooting-boots open by my
+bed-side when I went to bed, so as not to lose half a minute in putting
+them on in the morning; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of
+the Maer estate, on the 20th of August for black-game shooting, before
+I could see: I then toiled on with the game-keeper the whole day
+through thick heath and young Scotch firs.
+
+I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the whole
+season. One day when shooting at Woodhouse with Captain Owen, the
+eldest son, and Major Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord Berwick, both
+of whom I liked very much, I thought myself shamefully used, for every
+time after I had fired and thought that I had killed a bird, one of the
+two acted as if loading his gun, and cried out, “You must not count
+that bird, for I fired at the same time,” and the gamekeeper,
+perceiving the joke, backed them up. After some hours they told me the
+joke, but it was no joke to me, for I had shot a large number of birds,
+but did not know how many, and could not add them to my list, which I
+used to do by making a knot in a piece of string tied to a button-hole.
+This my wicked friends had perceived.
+
+How I did enjoy shooting! But I think that I must have been
+half-consciously ashamed of my zeal, for I tried to persuade myself
+that shooting was almost an intellectual employment; it required so
+much skill to judge where to find most game and to hunt the dogs well.
+
+One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting
+there Sir J. Mackintosh, who was the best converser I ever listened to.
+I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, “There is
+something in that young man that interests me.” This must have been
+chiefly due to his perceiving that I listened with much interest to
+everything which he said, for I was as ignorant as a pig about his
+subjects of history, politics, and moral philosophy. To hear of praise
+from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or certain to excite
+vanity, is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in
+the right course.
+
+My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite
+delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting. Life there was
+perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding;
+and in the evening there was much very agreeable conversation, not so
+personal as it generally is in large family parties, together with
+music. In the summer the whole family used often to sit on the steps of
+the old portico, with the flower-garden in front, and with the steep
+wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake, with here and
+there a fish rising or a water-bird paddling about. Nothing has left a
+more vivid picture on my mind than these evenings at Maer. I was also
+attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and
+reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes talked
+openly with me. He was the very type of an upright man, with the
+clearest judgment. I do not believe that any power on earth could have
+made him swerve an inch from what he considered the right course. I
+used to apply to him in my mind the well-known ode of Horace, now
+forgotten by me, in which the words “nec vultus tyranni,* etc.,” come
+in.
+
+* Justum et tenacem propositi virum
+Non civium ardor prava jubentium
+Non vultus instantis tyranni
+Mente quatit solida.
+
+
+
+
+CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.
+
+
+After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or
+he heard from my sisters, that I did not like the thought of being a
+physician, so he proposed that I should become a clergyman. He was very
+properly vehement against my turning into an idle sporting man, which
+then seemed my probable destination. I asked for some time to consider,
+as from what little I had heard or thought on the subject I had
+scruples about declaring my belief in all the dogmas of the Church of
+England; though otherwise I liked the thought of being a country
+clergyman. Accordingly I read with care ‘Pearson on the Creed,’ and a
+few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the least doubt
+the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon
+persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted.
+
+Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it seems
+ludicrous that I once intended to be a clergyman. Nor was this
+intention and my father’s wish ever formerly given up, but died a
+natural death when, on leaving Cambridge, I joined the “Beagle” as
+naturalist. If the phrenologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted
+in one respect to be a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a
+German psychological society asked me earnestly by letter for a
+photograph of myself; and some time afterwards I received the
+proceedings of one of the meetings, in which it seemed that the shape
+of my head had been the subject of a public discussion, and one of the
+speakers declared that I had the bump of reverence developed enough for
+ten priests.
+
+As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was necessary that I
+should go to one of the English universities and take a degree; but as
+I had never opened a classical book since leaving school, I found to my
+dismay, that in the two intervening years I had actually forgotten,
+incredible as it may appear, almost everything which I had learnt, even
+to some few of the Greek letters. I did not therefore proceed to
+Cambridge at the usual time in October, but worked with a private tutor
+in Shrewsbury, and went to Cambridge after the Christmas vacation,
+early in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard of knowledge, and
+could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek
+Testament, with moderate facility.
+
+During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was wasted,
+as far as the academical studies were concerned, as completely as at
+Edinburgh and at school. I attempted mathematics, and even went during
+the summer of 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth,
+but I got on very slowly. The work was repugnant to me, chiefly from my
+not being able to see any meaning in the early steps in algebra. This
+impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply regretted
+that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand something of
+the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem
+to have an extra sense. But I do not believe that I should ever have
+succeeded beyond a very low grade. With respect to Classics I did
+nothing except attend a few compulsory college lectures, and the
+attendance was almost nominal. In my second year I had to work for a
+month or two to pass the Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my
+last year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of B.A.,
+and brushed up my Classics, together with a little Algebra and Euclid,
+which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did at school. In order to
+pass the B.A. examination, it was also necessary to get up Paley’s
+‘Evidences of Christianity,’ and his ‘Moral Philosophy.’ This was done
+in a thorough manner, and I am convinced that I could have written out
+the whole of the ‘Evidences’ with perfect correctness, but not of
+course in the clear language of Paley. The logic of this book and, as I
+may add, of his ‘Natural Theology,’ gave me as much delight as did
+Euclid. The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn
+any part by rote, was the only part of the academical course which, as
+I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the
+education of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about
+Paley’s premises; and taking these on trust, I was charmed and
+convinced by the long line of argumentation. By answering well the
+examination questions in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not
+failing miserably in Classics, I gained a good place among the oi
+polloi or crowd of men who do not go in for honours. Oddly enough, I
+cannot remember how high I stood, and my memory fluctuates between the
+fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list. (Tenth in the list of
+January 1831.)
+
+Public lectures on several branches were given in the University,
+attendance being quite voluntary; but I was so sickened with lectures
+at Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick’s eloquent and
+interesting lectures. Had I done so I should probably have become a
+geologist earlier than I did. I attended, however, Henslow’s lectures
+on Botany, and liked them much for their extreme clearness, and the
+admirable illustrations; but I did not study botany. Henslow used to
+take his pupils, including several of the older members of the
+University, field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places,
+or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the rarer plants and
+animals which were observed. These excursions were delightful.
+
+Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming features
+in my life at Cambridge, my time was sadly wasted there, and worse than
+wasted. From my passion for shooting and for hunting, and, when this
+failed, for riding across country, I got into a sporting set, including
+some dissipated low-minded young men. We used often to dine together in
+the evening, though these dinners often included men of a higher stamp,
+and we sometimes drank too much, with jolly singing and playing at
+cards afterwards. I know that I ought to feel ashamed of days and
+evenings thus spent, but as some of my friends were very pleasant, and
+we were all in the highest spirits, I cannot help looking back to these
+times with much pleasure.
+
+But I am glad to think that I had many other friends of a widely
+different nature. I was very intimate with Whitley (Rev. C. Whitley,
+Hon. Canon of Durham, formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy in Durham
+University.), who was afterwards Senior Wrangler, and we used
+continually to take long walks together. He inoculated me with a taste
+for pictures and good engravings, of which I bought some. I frequently
+went to the Fitzwilliam Gallery, and my taste must have been fairly
+good, for I certainly admired the best pictures, which I discussed with
+the old curator. I read also with much interest Sir Joshua Reynolds’
+book. This taste, though not natural to me, lasted for several years,
+and many of the pictures in the National Gallery in London gave me much
+pleasure; that of Sebastian del Piombo exciting in me a sense of
+sublimity.
+
+I also got into a musical set, I believe by means of my warm-hearted
+friend, Herbert (The late John Maurice Herbert, County Court Judge of
+Cardiff and the Monmouth Circuit.), who took a high wrangler’s degree.
+From associating with these men, and hearing them play, I acquired a
+strong taste for music, and used very often to time my walks so as to
+hear on week days the anthem in King’s College Chapel. This gave me
+intense pleasure, so that my backbone would sometimes shiver. I am sure
+that there was no affectation or mere imitation in this taste, for I
+used generally to go by myself to King’s College, and I sometimes hired
+the chorister boys to sing in my rooms. Nevertheless I am so utterly
+destitute of an ear, that I cannot perceive a discord, or keep time and
+hum a tune correctly; and it is a mystery how I could possibly have
+derived pleasure from music.
+
+My musical friends soon perceived my state, and sometimes amused
+themselves by making me pass an examination, which consisted in
+ascertaining how many tunes I could recognise when they were played
+rather more quickly or slowly than usual. ‘God save the King,’ when
+thus played, was a sore puzzle. There was another man with almost as
+bad an ear as I had, and strange to say he played a little on the
+flute. Once I had the triumph of beating him in one of our musical
+examinations.
+
+But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness
+or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere
+passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared
+their external characters with published descriptions, but got them
+named anyhow. 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 was the
+third one.
+
+I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods; I
+employed a labourer to scrape during the winter, moss off old trees and
+place it in a large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the
+bottom of the barges in which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus
+I got some very rare species. No poet ever felt more delighted at
+seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephens’
+‘Illustrations of British Insects,’ the magic words, “captured by C.
+Darwin, Esq.” I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin W.
+Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ’s
+College, and with whom I became extremely intimate. Afterwards I became
+well acquainted, and went out collecting, with Albert Way of Trinity,
+who in after years became a well-known archaeologist; also with H.
+Thompson of the same College, afterwards a leading agriculturist,
+chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parliament. It seems
+therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of
+future success in life!
+
+I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles which I
+caught at Cambridge have left on my mind. I can remember the exact
+appearance of certain posts, old trees and banks where I made a good
+capture. The pretty Panagaeus crux-major was a treasure in those days,
+and here at Down I saw a beetle running across a walk, and on picking
+it up instantly perceived that it differed slightly from P. crux-major,
+and it turned out to be P. quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or
+closely allied species, differing from it very slightly in outline. I
+had never seen in those old days Licinus alive, which to an uneducated
+eye hardly differs from many of the black Carabidous beetles; but my
+sons found here a specimen, and I instantly recognised that it was new
+to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for the last twenty
+years.
+
+I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole
+career more than any other. This was my friendship with Professor
+Henslow. Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my
+brother as a man who knew every branch of science, and I was
+accordingly prepared to reverence him. He kept open house once every
+week when all undergraduates, and some older members of the University,
+who were attached to science, used to meet in the evening. I soon got,
+through Fox, an invitation, and went there regularly. Before long I
+became well acquainted with Henslow, and during the latter half of my
+time at Cambridge took long walks with him on most days; so that I was
+called by some of the dons “the man who walks with Henslow;” and in the
+evening I was very often asked to join his family dinner. His knowledge
+was great in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology.
+His strongest taste was to draw conclusions from long-continued minute
+observations. His judgment was excellent, and his whole mind well
+balanced; but I do not suppose that any one would say that he possessed
+much original genius. He was deeply religious, and so orthodox that he
+told me one day he should be grieved if a single word of the
+Thirty-nine Articles were altered. His moral qualities were in every
+way admirable. He was free from every tinge of vanity or other petty
+feeling; and I never saw a man who thought so little about himself or
+his own concerns. His temper was imperturbably good, with the most
+winning and courteous manners; yet, as I have seen, he could be roused
+by any bad action to the warmest indignation and prompt action.
+
+I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as horrid
+a scene as could have been witnessed during the French Revolution. Two
+body-snatchers had been arrested, and whilst being taken to prison had
+been torn from the constable by a crowd of the roughest men, who
+dragged them by their legs along the muddy and stony road. They were
+covered from head to foot with mud, and their faces were bleeding
+either from having been kicked or from the stones; they looked like
+corpses, but the crowd was so dense that I got only a few momentary
+glimpses of the wretched creatures. Never in my life have I seen such
+wrath painted on a man’s face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid
+scene. He tried repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it was simply
+impossible. He then rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to follow
+him, but to get more policemen. I forget the issue, except that the two
+men were got into the prison without being killed.
+
+Henslow’s benevolence was unbounded, as he proved by his many excellent
+schemes for his poor parishioners, when in after years he held the
+living of Hitcham. My intimacy with such a man ought to have been, and
+I hope was, an inestimable benefit. I cannot resist mentioning a
+trifling incident, which showed his kind consideration. Whilst
+examining some pollen-grains on a damp surface, I saw the tubes
+exserted, and instantly rushed off to communicate my surprising
+discovery to him. Now I do not suppose any other professor of botany
+could have helped laughing at my coming in such a hurry to make such a
+communication. But he agreed how interesting the phenomenon was, and
+explained its meaning, but made me clearly understand how well it was
+known; so I left him not in the least mortified, but well pleased at
+having discovered for myself so remarkable a fact, but determined not
+to be in such a hurry again to communicate my discoveries.
+
+Dr. Whewell was one of the older and distinguished men who sometimes
+visited Henslow, and on several occasions I walked home with him at
+night. Next to Sir J. Mackintosh he was the best converser on grave
+subjects to whom I ever listened. Leonard Jenyns (The well-known Soame
+Jenyns was cousin to Mr. Jenyns’ father.), who afterwards published
+some good essays in Natural History (Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield)
+described the fish for the Zoology of the “Beagle”; and is author of a
+long series of papers, chiefly Zoological.), often stayed with Henslow,
+who was his brother-in-law. I visited him at his parsonage on the
+borders of the Fens [Swaffham Bulbeck], and had many a good walk and
+talk with him about Natural History. I became also acquainted with
+several other men older than me, who did not care much about science,
+but were friends of Henslow. One was a Scotchman, brother of Sir
+Alexander Ramsay, and tutor of Jesus College: he was a delightful man,
+but did not live for many years. Another was Mr. Dawes, afterwards Dean
+of Hereford, and famous for his success in the education of the poor.
+These men and others of the same standing, together with Henslow, used
+sometimes to take distant excursions into the country, which I was
+allowed to join, and they were most agreeable.
+
+Looking back, I infer that there must have been something in me a
+little superior to the common run of youths, otherwise the
+above-mentioned men, so much older than me and higher in academical
+position, would never have allowed me to associate with them. Certainly
+I was not aware of any such superiority, and I remember one of my
+sporting friends, Turner, who saw me at work with my beetles, saying
+that I should some day be a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the notion
+seemed to me preposterous.
+
+During my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound
+interest Humboldt’s ‘Personal Narrative.’ This work, and Sir J.
+Herschel’s ‘Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,’ stirred
+up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the
+noble structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen other books
+influenced me nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt
+long passages about Teneriffe, and read them aloud on one of the
+above-mentioned excursions, to (I think) Henslow, Ramsay, and Dawes,
+for on a previous occasion I had talked about the glories of Teneriffe,
+and some of the party declared they would endeavour to go there; but I
+think that they were only half in earnest. I was, however, quite in
+earnest, and got an introduction to a merchant in London to enquire
+about ships; but the scheme was, of course, knocked on the head by the
+voyage of the “Beagle”.
+
+My summer vacations were given up to collecting beetles, to some
+reading, and short tours. In the autumn my whole time was devoted to
+shooting, chiefly at Woodhouse and Maer, and sometimes with young Eyton
+of Eyton. Upon the whole the three years which I spent at Cambridge
+were the most joyful in my happy life; for I was then in excellent
+health, and almost always in high spirits.
+
+As I had at first come up to Cambridge at Christmas, I was forced to
+keep two terms after passing my final examination, at the commencement
+of 1831; and Henslow then persuaded me to begin the study of geology.
+Therefore on my return to Shropshire I examined sections, and coloured
+a map of parts round Shrewsbury. Professor Sedgwick intended to visit
+North Wales in the beginning of August to pursue his famous geological
+investigations amongst the older rocks, and Henslow asked him to allow
+me to accompany him. (In connection with this tour my father used to
+tell a story about Sedgwick: they had started from their inn one
+morning, and had walked a mile or two, when Sedgwick suddenly stopped,
+and vowed that he would return, being certain “that damned scoundrel”
+(the waiter) had not given the chambermaid the sixpence intrusted to
+him for the purpose. He was ultimately persuaded to give up the
+project, seeing that there was no reason for suspecting the waiter of
+especial perfidy.—F.D.) Accordingly he came and slept at my father’s
+house.
+
+A short conversation with him during this evening produced a strong
+impression on my mind. Whilst examining an old gravel-pit near
+Shrewsbury, a labourer told me that he had found in it a large worn
+tropical Volute shell, such as may be seen on the chimney-pieces of
+cottages; and as he would not sell the shell, I was convinced that he
+had really found it in the pit. I told Sedgwick of the fact, and he at
+once said (no doubt truly) that it must have been thrown away by some
+one into the pit; but then added, if really embedded there it would be
+the greatest misfortune to geology, as it would overthrow all that we
+know about the superficial deposits of the Midland Counties. These
+gravel-beds belong in fact to the glacial period, and in after years I
+found in them broken arctic shells. But I was then utterly astonished
+at Sedgwick not being delighted at so wonderful a fact as a tropical
+shell being found near the surface in the middle of England. Nothing
+before had ever made me thoroughly realise, though I had read various
+scientific books, that science consists in grouping facts so that
+general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
+
+Next morning we started for Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel
+Curig. This tour was of decided use in teaching me a little how to make
+out the geology of a country. Sedgwick often sent me on a line parallel
+to his, telling me to bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the
+stratification on a map. I have little doubt that he did this for my
+good, as I was too ignorant to have aided him. On this tour I had a
+striking instance of how easy it is to overlook phenomena, however
+conspicuous, before they have been observed by any one. We spent many
+hours in Cwm Idwal, examining all the rocks with extreme care, as
+Sedgwick was anxious to find fossils in them; but neither of us saw a
+trace of the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not
+notice the plainly scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral and
+terminal moraines. Yet these phenomena are so conspicuous that, as I
+declared in a paper published many years afterwards in the
+‘Philosophical Magazine’ (‘Philosophical Magazine,’ 1842.), a house
+burnt down by fire did not tell its story more plainly than did this
+valley. If it had still been filled by a glacier, the phenomena would
+have been less distinct than they now are.
+
+At Capel Curig I left Sedgwick and went in a straight line by compass
+and map across the mountains to Barmouth, never following any track
+unless it coincided with my course. I thus came on some strange wild
+places, and enjoyed much this manner of travelling. I visited Barmouth
+to see some Cambridge friends who were reading there, and thence
+returned to Shrewsbury and to Maer for shooting; for at that time I
+should have thought myself mad to give up the first days of
+partridge-shooting for geology or any other science.
+
+
+
+
+“VOYAGE OF THE ‘BEAGLE’ FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2, 1836.”
+
+
+On returning home from my short geological tour in North Wales, I found
+a letter from Henslow, informing me that Captain Fitz-Roy was willing
+to give up part of his own cabin to any young man who would volunteer
+to go with him without pay as naturalist to the Voyage of the “Beagle”.
+I have given, as I believe, in my MS. Journal an account of all the
+circumstances which then occurred; I will here only say that I was
+instantly eager to accept the offer, but my father strongly objected,
+adding the words, fortunate for me, “If you can find any man of common
+sense who advises you to go I will give my consent.” So I wrote that
+evening and refused the offer. On the next morning I went to Maer to be
+ready for September 1st, and, whilst out shooting, my uncle (Josiah
+Wedgwood.) sent for me, offering to drive me over to Shrewsbury and
+talk with my father, as my uncle thought it would be wise in me to
+accept the offer. My father always maintained that he was one of the
+most sensible men in the world, and he at once consented in the kindest
+manner. I had been rather extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my
+father, said, “that I should be deuced clever to spend more than my
+allowance whilst on board the ‘Beagle’;” but he answered with a smile,
+“But they tell me you are very clever.”
+
+Next day I started for Cambridge to see Henslow, and thence to London
+to see Fitz-Roy, and all was soon arranged. Afterwards, on becoming
+very intimate with Fitz-Roy, I heard that I had run a very narrow risk
+of being rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent
+disciple of Lavater, and was convinced that he could judge of a man’s
+character by the outline of his features; and he doubted whether any
+one with my nose could possess sufficient energy and determination for
+the voyage. But I think he was afterwards well satisfied that my nose
+had spoken falsely.
+
+Fitz-Roy’s character was a singular one, with very many noble features:
+he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, and
+indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway. He
+would undertake any sort of trouble to assist those whom he thought
+deserved assistance. He was a handsome man, strikingly like a
+gentleman, with highly courteous manners, which resembled those of his
+maternal uncle, the famous Lord Castlereagh, as I was told by the
+Minister at Rio. Nevertheless he must have inherited much in his
+appearance from Charles II., for Dr. Wallich gave me a collection of
+photographs which he had made, and I was struck with the resemblance of
+one to Fitz-Roy; and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E. Sobieski
+Stuart, Count d’Albanie, a descendant of the same monarch.
+
+Fitz-Roy’s temper was a most unfortunate one. It was usually worst in
+the early morning, and with his eagle eye he could generally detect
+something amiss about the ship, and was then unsparing in his blame. He
+was very kind to me, but was a man very difficult to live with on the
+intimate terms which necessarily followed from our messing by ourselves
+in the same cabin. We had several quarrels; for instance, early in the
+voyage at Bahia, in Brazil, he defended and praised slavery, which I
+abominated, and told me that he had just visited a great slave-owner,
+who had called up many of his slaves and asked them whether they were
+happy, and whether they wished to be free, and all answered “No.” I
+then asked him, perhaps with a sneer, whether he thought that the
+answer of slaves in the presence of their master was worth anything?
+This made him excessively angry, and he said that as I doubted his word
+we could not live any longer together. I thought that I should have
+been compelled to leave the ship; but as soon as the news spread, which
+it did quickly, as the captain sent for the first lieutenant to assuage
+his anger by abusing me, I was deeply gratified by receiving an
+invitation from all the gun-room officers to mess with them. But after
+a few hours Fitz-Roy showed his usual magnanimity by sending an officer
+to me with an apology and a request that I would continue to live with
+him.
+
+His character was in several respects one of the most noble which I
+have ever known.
+
+The voyage of the “Beagle” has been by far the most important event in
+my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so
+small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to
+Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as
+the shape of my nose. I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the
+first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend
+closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of
+observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed.
+
+The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more
+important, as reasoning here comes into play. On first examining a new
+district nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but
+by recording the stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils at
+many points, always reasoning and predicting what will be found
+elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure
+of the whole becomes more or less intelligible. I had brought with me
+the first volume of Lyell’s ‘Principles of Geology,’ which I studied
+attentively; and the book was of the highest service to me in many
+ways. The very first place which I examined, namely St. Jago in the
+Cape de Verde islands, showed me clearly the wonderful superiority of
+Lyell’s manner of treating geology, compared with that of any other
+author, whose works I had with me or ever afterwards read.
+
+Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes,
+briefly describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine ones; but
+from not being able to draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical
+knowledge, a great pile of MS. which I made during the voyage has
+proved almost useless. I thus lost much time, with the exception of
+that spent in acquiring some knowledge of the Crustaceans, as this was
+of service when in after years I undertook a monograph of the
+Cirripedia.
+
+During some part of the day I wrote my Journal, and took much pains in
+describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen; and this was good
+practice. My Journal served also, in part, as letters to my home, and
+portions were sent to England whenever there was an opportunity.
+
+The above various special studies were, however, of no importance
+compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated
+attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired.
+Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on
+what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit of mind was
+continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was
+this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in
+science.
+
+Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually
+preponderated over every other taste. During the first two years my old
+passion for shooting survived in nearly full force, and I shot myself
+all the birds and animals for my collection; but gradually I gave up my
+gun more and more, and finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting
+interfered with my work, more especially with making out the geological
+structure of a country. I discovered, though unconsciously and
+insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much
+higher one than that of skill and sport. That my mind became developed
+through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by a remark
+made by my father, who was the most acute observer whom I ever saw, of
+a sceptical disposition, and far from being a believer in phrenology;
+for on first seeing me after the voyage, he turned round to my sisters,
+and exclaimed, “Why, the shape of his head is quite altered.”
+
+To return to the voyage. On September 11th (1831), I paid a flying
+visit with Fitz-Roy to the “Beagle” at Plymouth. Thence to Shrewsbury
+to wish my father and sisters a long farewell. On October 24th I took
+up my residence at Plymouth, and remained there until December 27th,
+when the “Beagle” finally left the shores of England for her
+circumnavigation of the world. We made two earlier attempts to sail,
+but were driven back each time by heavy gales. These two months at
+Plymouth were the most miserable which I ever spent, though I exerted
+myself in various ways. I was out of spirits at the thought of leaving
+all my family and friends for so long a time, and the weather seemed to
+me inexpressibly gloomy. I was also troubled with palpitation and pain
+about the heart, and like many a young ignorant man, especially one
+with a smattering of medical knowledge, was convinced that I had heart
+disease. I did not consult any doctor, as I fully expected to hear the
+verdict that I was not fit for the voyage, and I was resolved to go at
+all hazards.
+
+I need not here refer to the events of the voyage—where we went and
+what we did—as I have given a sufficiently full account in my published
+Journal. The glories of the vegetation of the Tropics rise before my
+mind at the present time more vividly than anything else; though the
+sense of sublimity, which the great deserts of Patagonia and the
+forest-clad mountains of Tierra del Fuego excited in me, has left an
+indelible impression on my mind. The sight of a naked savage in his
+native land is an event which can never be forgotten. Many of my
+excursions on horseback through wild countries, or in the boats, some
+of which lasted several weeks, were deeply interesting: their
+discomfort and some degree of danger were at that time hardly a
+drawback, and none at all afterwards. I also reflect with high
+satisfaction on some of my scientific work, such as solving the problem
+of coral islands, and making out the geological structure of certain
+islands, for instance, St. Helena. Nor must I pass over the discovery
+of the singular relations of the animals and plants inhabiting the
+several islands of the Galapagos archipelago, and of all of them to the
+inhabitants of South America.
+
+As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during the
+voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong
+desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural
+Science. But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific
+men,—whether more ambitious or less so than most of my fellow-workers,
+I can form no opinion.
+
+The geology of St. Jago is very striking, yet simple: a stream of lava
+formerly flowed over the bed of the sea, formed of triturated recent
+shells and corals, which it has baked into a hard white rock. Since
+then the whole island has been upheaved. But the line of white rock
+revealed to me a new and important fact, namely, that there had been
+afterwards subsidence round the craters, which had since been in
+action, and had poured forth lava. It then first dawned on me that I
+might perhaps write a book on the geology of the various countries
+visited, and this made me thrill with delight. That was a memorable
+hour to me, and how distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff of lava
+beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert
+plants growing near, and with living corals in the tidal pools at my
+feet. Later in the voyage, Fitz-Roy asked me to read some of my
+Journal, and declared it would be worth publishing; so here was a
+second book in prospect!
+
+Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at
+Ascension, in which my sisters told me that Sedgwick had called on my
+father, and said that I should take a place among the leading
+scientific men. I could not at the time understand how he could have
+learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I believe afterwards)
+that Henslow had read some of the letters which I wrote to him before
+the Philosophical Society of Cambridge (Read at the meeting held
+November 16, 1835, and printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for
+distribution among the members of the Society.), and had printed them
+for private distribution. My collection of fossil bones, which had been
+sent to Henslow, also excited considerable attention amongst
+palaeontologists. After reading this letter, I clambered over the
+mountains of Ascension with a bounding step, and made the volcanic
+rocks resound under my geological hammer. All this shows how ambitious
+I was; but I think that I can say with truth that in after years,
+though I cared in the highest degree for the approbation of such men as
+Lyell and Hooker, who were my friends, I did not care much about the
+general public. I do not mean to say that a favourable review or a
+large sale of my books did not please me greatly, but the pleasure was
+a fleeting one, and I am sure that I have never turned one inch out of
+my course to gain fame.
+
+
+
+
+FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE (JANUARY 29,
+1839.)
+
+These two years and three months were the most active ones which I ever
+spent, though I was occasionally unwell, and so lost some time. After
+going backwards and forwards several times between Shrewsbury, Maer,
+Cambridge, and London, I settled in lodgings at Cambridge (In
+Fitzwilliam Street.) on December 13th, where all my collections were
+under the care of Henslow. I stayed here three months, and got my
+minerals and rocks examined by the aid of Professor Miller.
+
+I began preparing my ‘Journal of Travels,’ which was not hard work, as
+my MS. Journal had been written with care, and my chief labour was
+making an abstract of my more interesting scientific results. I sent
+also, at the request of Lyell, a short account of my observations on
+the elevation of the coast of Chile to the Geological Society.
+(‘Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pages 446-449.)
+
+On March 7th, 1837, I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street in
+London, and remained there for nearly two years, until I was married.
+During these two years I finished my Journal, read several papers
+before the Geological Society, began preparing the MS. for my
+‘Geological Observations,’ and arranged for the publication of the
+‘Zoology of the Voyage of the “Beagle”.’ In July I opened my first
+note-book for facts in relation to the Origin of Species, about which I
+had long reflected, and never ceased working for the next twenty years.
+
+During these two years I also went a little into society, and acted as
+one of the honorary secretaries of the Geological Society. I saw a
+great deal of Lyell. One of his chief characteristics was his sympathy
+with the work of others, and I was as much astonished as delighted at
+the interest which he showed when, on my return to England, I explained
+to him my views on coral reefs. This encouraged me greatly, and his
+advice and example had much influence on me. During this time I saw
+also a good deal of Robert Brown; I used often to call and sit with him
+during his breakfast on Sunday mornings, and he poured forth a rich
+treasure of curious observations and acute remarks, but they almost
+always related to minute points, and he never with me discussed large
+or general questions in science.
+
+During these two years I took several short excursions as a relaxation,
+and one longer one to the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, an account of
+which was published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ (1839, pages
+39-82.) This paper was a great failure, and I am ashamed of it. Having
+been deeply impressed with what I had seen of the elevation of the land
+of South America, I attributed the parallel lines to the action of the
+sea; but I had to give up this view when Agassiz propounded his
+glacier-lake theory. Because no other explanation was possible under
+our then state of knowledge, I argued in favour of sea-action; and my
+error has been a good lesson to me never to trust in science to the
+principle of exclusion.
+
+As I was not able to work all day at science, I read a good deal during
+these two years on various subjects, including some metaphysical books;
+but I was not well fitted for such studies. About this time I took much
+delight in Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s poetry; and can boast that I
+read the ‘Excursion’ twice through. Formerly Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’
+had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of
+the “Beagle”, when I could take only a single volume, I always chose
+Milton.
+
+
+
+
+FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER
+STREET, TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14,
+1842.
+
+
+(After speaking of his happy married life, and of his children, he
+continues:—)
+
+During the three years and eight months whilst we resided in London, I
+did less scientific work, though I worked as hard as I possibly could,
+than during any other equal length of time in my life. This was owing
+to frequently recurring unwellness, and to one long and serious
+illness. The greater part of my time, when I could do anything, was
+devoted to my work on ‘Coral Reefs,’ which I had begun before my
+marriage, and of which the last proof-sheet was corrected on May 6th,
+1842. This book, though a small one, cost me twenty months of hard
+work, as I had to read every work on the islands of the Pacific and to
+consult many charts. It was thought highly of by scientific men, and
+the theory therein given is, I think, now well established.
+
+No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for
+the whole theory was thought out on the west coast of South America,
+before I had seen a true coral reef. I had therefore only to verify and
+extend my views by a careful examination of living reefs. But it should
+be observed that I had during the two previous years been incessantly
+attending to the effects on the shores of South America of the
+intermittent elevation of the land, together with denudation and the
+deposition of sediment. This necessarily led me to reflect much on the
+effects of subsidence, and it was easy to replace in imagination the
+continued deposition of sediment by the upward growth of corals. To do
+this was to form my theory of the formation of barrier-reefs and
+atolls.
+
+Besides my work on coral-reefs, during my residence in London, I read
+before the Geological Society papers on the Erratic Boulders of South
+America (‘Geolog. Soc. Proc.’ iii. 1842.), on Earthquakes (‘Geolog.
+Trans. v. 1840.), and on the Formation by the Agency of Earth-worms of
+Mould. (‘Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838.) I also continued to superintend
+the publication of the ‘Zoology of the Voyage of the “Beagle”.’ Nor did
+I ever intermit collecting facts bearing on the origin of species; and
+I could sometimes do this when I could do nothing else from illness.
+
+In the summer of 1842 I was stronger than I had been for some time, and
+took a little tour by myself in North Wales, for the sake of observing
+the effects of the old glaciers which formerly filled all the larger
+valleys. I published a short account of what I saw in the
+‘Philosophical Magazine.’ (‘Philosophical Magazine,’ 1842.) This
+excursion interested me greatly, and it was the last time I was ever
+strong enough to climb mountains or to take long walks such as are
+necessary for geological work.
+
+During the early part of our life in London, I was strong enough to go
+into general society, and saw a good deal of several scientific men,
+and other more or less distinguished men. I will give my impressions
+with respect to some of them, though I have little to say worth saying.
+
+I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after my
+marriage. His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me, by
+clearness, caution, sound judgment, and a good deal of originality.
+When I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw
+the whole case clearly, and often made me see it more clearly than I
+had done before. He would advance all possible objections to my
+suggestion, and even after these were exhausted would long remain
+dubious. A second characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work
+of other scientific men. (The slight repetition here observable is
+accounted for by the notes on Lyell, etc., having been added in April,
+1881, a few years after the rest of the ‘Recollections’ were written.)
+
+On my return from the voyage of the “Beagle”, I explained to him my
+views on coral-reefs, which differed from his, and I was greatly
+surprised and encouraged by the vivid interest which he showed. His
+delight in science was ardent, and he felt the keenest interest in the
+future progress of mankind. He was very kind-hearted, and thoroughly
+liberal in his religious beliefs, or rather disbeliefs; but he was a
+strong theist. His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by
+becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much
+fame by opposing Lamarck’s views, and this after he had grown old. He
+reminded me that I had many years before said to him, when discussing
+the opposition of the old school of geologists to his new views, “What
+a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die when sixty
+years old, as afterwards he would be sure to oppose all new doctrines.”
+But he hoped that now he might be allowed to live.
+
+The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyell—more so, as I
+believe, than to any other man who ever lived. When [I was] starting on
+the voyage of the “Beagle”, the sagacious Henslow, who, like all other
+geologists, believed at that time in successive cataclysms, advised me
+to get and study the first volume of the ‘Principles,’ which had then
+just been published, but on no account to accept the views therein
+advocated. How differently would anyone now speak of the ‘Principles’!
+I am proud to remember that the first place, namely, St. Jago, in the
+Cape de Verde archipelago, in which I geologised, convinced me of the
+infinite superiority of Lyell’s views over those advocated in any other
+work known to me.
+
+The powerful effects of Lyell’s works could formerly be plainly seen in
+the different progress of the science in France and England. The
+present total oblivion of Elie de Beaumont’s wild hypotheses, such as
+his ‘Craters of Elevation’ and ‘Lines of Elevation’ (which latter
+hypothesis I heard Sedgwick at the Geological Society lauding to the
+skies), may be largely attributed to Lyell.
+
+I saw a good deal of Robert Brown, “facile Princeps Botanicorum,” as he
+was called by Humboldt. He seemed to me to be chiefly remarkable for
+the minuteness of his observations, and their perfect accuracy. His
+knowledge was extraordinarily great, and much died with him, owing to
+his excessive fear of ever making a mistake. He poured out his
+knowledge to me in the most unreserved manner, yet was strangely
+jealous on some points. I called on him two or three times before the
+voyage of the “Beagle”, and on one occasion he asked me to look through
+a microscope and describe what I saw. This I did, and believe now that
+it was the marvellous currents of protoplasm in some vegetable cell. I
+then asked him what I had seen; but he answered me, “That is my little
+secret.”
+
+He was capable of the most generous actions. When old, much out of
+health, and quite unfit for any exertion, he daily visited (as Hooker
+told me) an old man-servant, who lived at a distance (and whom he
+supported), and read aloud to him. This is enough to make up for any
+degree of scientific penuriousness or jealousy.
+
+I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I have occasionally
+seen, but I have little to say about them worth saying. I felt a high
+reverence for Sir J. Herschel, and was delighted to dine with him at
+his charming house at the Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards at his
+London house. I saw him, also, on a few other occasions. He never
+talked much, but every word which he uttered was worth listening to.
+
+I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison’s house the illustrious
+Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing a wish to see me. I was a
+little disappointed with the great man, but my anticipations probably
+were too high. I can remember nothing distinctly about our interview,
+except that Humboldt was very cheerful and talked much.
+
+—reminds me of Buckle whom I once met at Hensleigh Wedgwood’s. I was
+very glad to learn from him his system of collecting facts. He told me
+that he bought all the books which he read, and made a full index, to
+each, of the facts which he thought might prove serviceable to him, and
+that he could always remember in what book he had read anything, for
+his memory was wonderful. I asked him how at first he could judge what
+facts would be serviceable, and he answered that he did not know, but
+that a sort of instinct guided him. From this habit of making indices,
+he was enabled to give the astonishing number of references on all
+sorts of subjects, which may be found in his ‘History of Civilisation.’
+This book I thought most interesting, and read it twice, but I doubt
+whether his generalisations are worth anything. Buckle was a great
+talker, and I listened to him saying hardly a word, nor indeed could I
+have done so for he left no gaps. When Mrs. Farrer began to sing, I
+jumped up and said that I must listen to her; after I had moved away he
+turned around to a friend and said (as was overheard by my brother),
+“Well, Mr. Darwin’s books are much better than his conversation.”
+
+Of other great literary men, I once met Sydney Smith at Dean Milman’s
+house. There was something inexplicably amusing in every word which he
+uttered. Perhaps this was partly due to the expectation of being
+amused. He was talking about Lady Cork, who was then extremely old.
+This was the lady who, as he said, was once so much affected by one of
+his charity sermons, that she _borrowed_ a guinea from a friend to put
+in the plate. He now said “It is generally believed that my dear old
+friend Lady Cork has been overlooked,” and he said this in such a
+manner that no one could for a moment doubt that he meant that his dear
+old friend had been overlooked by the devil. How he managed to express
+this I know not.
+
+I likewise once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope’s (the historian’s)
+house, and as there was only one other man at dinner, I had a grand
+opportunity of hearing him converse, and he was very agreeable. He did
+not talk at all too much; nor indeed could such a man talk too much, as
+long as he allowed others to turn the stream of his conversation, and
+this he did allow.
+
+Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy and
+fulness of Macaulay’s memory: many historians used often to meet at
+Lord Stanhope’s house, and in discussing various subjects they would
+sometimes differ from Macaulay, and formerly they often referred to
+some book to see who was right; but latterly, as Lord Stanhope noticed,
+no historian ever took this trouble, and whatever Macaulay said was
+final.
+
+On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope’s house, one of his parties
+of historians and other literary men, and amongst them were Motley and
+Grote. After luncheon I walked about Chevening Park for nearly an hour
+with Grote, and was much interested by his conversation and pleased by
+the simplicity and absence of all pretension in his manners.
+
+Long ago I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of the
+historian; he was a strange man, but what little I knew of him I liked
+much. He was frank, genial, and pleasant. He had strongly marked
+features, with a brown complexion, and his clothes, when I saw him,
+were all brown. He seemed to believe in everything which was to others
+utterly incredible. He said one day to me, “Why don’t you give up your
+fiddle-faddle of geology and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences!”
+The historian, then Lord Mahon, seemed shocked at such a speech to me,
+and his charming wife much amused.
+
+The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several times
+at my brother’s house, and two or three times at my own house. His talk
+was very racy and interesting, just like his writings, but he sometimes
+went on too long on the same subject. I remember a funny dinner at my
+brother’s, where, amongst a few others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of
+whom liked to talk. Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing
+during the whole dinner on the advantages of silence. After dinner
+Babbage, in his grimmest manner, thanked Carlyle for his very
+interesting lecture on silence.
+
+Carlyle sneered at almost every one: one day in my house he called
+Grote’s ‘History’ “a fetid quagmire, with nothing spiritual about it.”
+I always thought, until his ‘Reminiscences’ appeared, that his sneers
+were partly jokes, but this now seems rather doubtful. His expression
+was that of a depressed, almost despondent yet benevolent man; and it
+is notorious how heartily he laughed. I believe that his benevolence
+was real, though stained by not a little jealousy. No one can doubt
+about his extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things and men—far
+more vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay. Whether
+his pictures of men were true ones is another question.
+
+He has been all-powerful in impressing some grand moral truths on the
+minds of men. On the other hand, his views about slavery were
+revolting. In his eyes might was right. His mind seemed to me a very
+narrow one; even if all branches of science, which he despised, are
+excluded. It is astonishing to me that Kingsley should have spoken of
+him as a man well fitted to advance science. He laughed to scorn the
+idea that a mathematician, such as Whewell, could judge, as I
+maintained he could, of Goethe’s views on light. He thought it a most
+ridiculous thing that any one should care whether a glacier moved a
+little quicker or a little slower, or moved at all. As far as I could
+judge, I never met a man with a mind so ill adapted for scientific
+research.
+
+Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the
+meetings of several scientific societies, and acted as secretary to the
+Geological Society. But such attendance, and ordinary society, suited
+my health so badly that we resolved to live in the country, which we
+both preferred and have never repented of.
+
+
+
+
+RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876.
+
+
+After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we found this
+house and purchased it. I was pleased with the diversified appearance
+of vegetation proper to a chalk district, and so unlike what I had been
+accustomed to in the Midland counties; and still more pleased with the
+extreme quietness and rusticity of the place. It is not, however, quite
+so retired a place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who
+says that my house can be approached only by a mule-track! Our fixing
+ourselves here has answered admirably in one way, which we did not
+anticipate, namely, by being very convenient for frequent visits from
+our children.
+
+Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done.
+Besides short visits to the houses of relations, and occasionally to
+the seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere. During the first part
+of our residence we went a little into society, and received a few
+friends here; but my health almost always suffered from the excitement,
+violent shivering and vomiting attacks being thus brought on. I have
+therefore been compelled for many years to give up all dinner-parties;
+and this has been somewhat of a deprivation to me, as such parties
+always put me into high spirits. From the same cause I have been able
+to invite here very few scientific acquaintances.
+
+My chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life has been
+scientific work; and the excitement from such work makes me for the
+time forget, or drives quite away, my daily discomfort. I have
+therefore nothing to record during the rest of my life, except the
+publication of my several books. Perhaps a few details how they arose
+may be worth giving.
+
+
+
+
+MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.
+
+
+In the early part of 1844, my observations on the volcanic islands
+visited during the voyage of the “Beagle” were published. In 1845, I
+took much pains in correcting a new edition of my ‘Journal of
+Researches,’ which was originally published in 1839 as part of
+Fitz-Roy’s work. The success of this, my first literary child, always
+tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books. Even to this
+day it sells steadily in England and the United States, and has been
+translated for the second time into German, and into French and other
+languages. This success of a book of travels, especially of a
+scientific one, so many years after its first publication, is
+surprising. Ten thousand copies have been sold in England of the second
+edition. In 1846 my ‘Geological Observations on South America’ were
+published. I record in a little diary, which I have always kept, that
+my three geological books (‘Coral Reefs’ included) consumed four and a
+half years’ steady work; “and now it is ten years since my return to
+England. How much time have I lost by illness?” I have nothing to say
+about these three books except that to my surprise new editions have
+lately been called for. (‘Geological Observations,’ 2nd Edit.1876.
+‘Coral Reefs,’ 2nd Edit. 1874.)
+
+In October, 1846, I began to work on ‘Cirripedia.’ When on the coast of
+Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into the shells of
+Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that
+I had to form a new sub-order for its sole reception. Lately an allied
+burrowing genus has been found on the shores of Portugal. To understand
+the structure of my new Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many of
+the common forms; and this gradually led me on to take up the whole
+group. I worked steadily on this subject for the next eight years, and
+ultimately published two thick volumes (Published by the Ray Society.),
+describing all the known living species, and two thin quartos on the
+extinct species. I do not doubt that Sir E. Lytton Bulwer had me in his
+mind when he introduced in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had
+written two huge volumes on limpets.
+
+Although I was employed during eight years on this work, yet I record
+in my diary that about two years out of this time was lost by illness.
+On this account I went in 1848 for some months to Malvern for
+hydropathic treatment, which did me much good, so that on my return
+home I was able to resume work. So much was I out of health that when
+my dear father died on November 13th, 1848, I was unable to attend his
+funeral or to act as one of his executors.
+
+My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as
+besides describing several new and remarkable forms, I made out the
+homologies of the various parts—I discovered the cementing apparatus,
+though I blundered dreadfully about the cement glands—and lastly I
+proved the existence in certain genera of minute males complemental to
+and parasitic on the hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has at last
+been fully confirmed; though at one time a German writer was pleased to
+attribute the whole account to my fertile imagination. The Cirripedes
+form a highly varying and difficult group of species to class; and my
+work was of considerable use to me, when I had to discuss in the
+‘Origin of Species’ the principles of a natural classification.
+Nevertheless, I doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of so
+much time.
+
+From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile
+of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the
+transmutation of species. During the voyage of the “Beagle” I had been
+deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil
+animals covered with armour like that on the existing armadillos;
+secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one
+another in proceeding southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by
+the South American character of most of the productions of the
+Galapagos archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they
+differ slightly on each island of the group; none of the islands
+appearing to be very ancient in a geological sense.
+
+It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could
+only be explained on the supposition that species gradually become
+modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that
+neither the action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the
+organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the
+innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully
+adapted to their habits of life—for instance, a woodpecker or a
+tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I
+had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could
+be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by
+indirect evidence that species have been modified.
+
+After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the
+example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in
+any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and
+nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My
+first note-book was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian
+principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale
+scale, more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by
+printed enquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners,
+and by extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds
+which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals and
+Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that
+selection was the keystone of man’s success in making useful races of
+animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms
+living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me.
+
+In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my
+systematic enquiry, I happened to read for amusement ‘Malthus on
+Population,’ and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for
+existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of
+the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these
+circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and
+unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the
+formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a theory by which
+to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice, that I determined not
+for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In June 1842 I
+first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract
+of my theory in pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the
+summer of 1844 into one of 230 pages, which I had fairly copied out and
+still possess.
+
+But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it
+is astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg,
+how I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the
+tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in
+character as they become modified. That they have diverged greatly is
+obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed
+under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and so
+forth; and I can remember the very spot in the road, whilst in my
+carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me; and this was long
+after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the
+modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become
+adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.
+
+Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty fully, and
+I began at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as
+that which was afterwards followed in my ‘Origin of Species;’ yet it
+was only an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got
+through about half the work on this scale. But my plans were
+overthrown, for early in the summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then
+in the Malay archipelago, sent me an essay “On the Tendency of
+Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type;” and this
+essay contained exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed
+the wish that if I thought well of his essay, I should sent it to Lyell
+for perusal.
+
+The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell and
+Hooker to allow of an abstract from my MS., together with a letter to
+Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same time
+with Wallace’s Essay, are given in the ‘Journal of the Proceedings of
+the Linnean Society,’ 1858, page 45. I was at first very unwilling to
+consent, as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so
+unjustifiable, for I did not then know how generous and noble was his
+disposition. The extract from my MS. and the letter to Asa Gray had
+neither been intended for publication, and were badly written. Mr.
+Wallace’s essay, on the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite
+clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little
+attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember
+was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that
+was new in them was false, and what was true was old. This shows how
+necessary it is that any new view should be explained at considerable
+length in order to arouse public attention.
+
+In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and
+Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was
+often interrupted by ill-health, and short visits to Dr. Lane’s
+delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the MS.
+begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and completed the volume on the
+same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten days’ hard
+labour. It was published under the title of the ‘Origin of Species,’ in
+November 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected in the later
+editions, it has remained substantially the same book.
+
+It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly
+successful. The first small edition of 1250 copies was sold on the day
+of publication, and a second edition of 3000 copies soon afterwards.
+Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold in England; and
+considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been
+translated into almost every European tongue, even into such languages
+as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has also, according to
+Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese (Miss Bird is mistaken, as I
+learn from Prof. Mitsukuri.—F.D.), and is there much studied. Even an
+essay in Hebrew has appeared on it, showing that the theory is
+contained in the Old Testament! The reviews were very numerous; for
+some time I collected all that appeared on the ‘Origin’ and on my
+related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper reviews) to 265;
+but after a time I gave up the attempt in despair. Many separate essays
+and books on the subject have appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or
+bibliography on “Darwinismus” has appeared every year or two.
+
+The success of the ‘Origin’ may, I think, be attributed in large part
+to my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my
+having finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an
+abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts
+and conclusions. I had, also, during many years followed a golden rule,
+namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought
+came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a
+memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by
+experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape
+from the memory than favourable ones. Owing to this habit, very few
+objections were raised against my views which I had not at least
+noticed and attempted to answer.
+
+It has sometimes been said that the success of the ‘Origin’ proved
+“that the subject was in the air,” or “that men’s minds were prepared
+for it.” I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally
+sounded not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a
+single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even
+Lyell and Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never
+seemed to agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I
+meant by Natural Selection, but signally failed. What I believe was
+strictly true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in
+the minds of naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as
+any theory which would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another
+element in the success of the book was its moderate size; and this I
+owe to the appearance of Mr. Wallace’s essay; had I published on the
+scale in which I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four
+or five times as large as the ‘Origin,’ and very few would have had the
+patience to read it.
+
+I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the
+theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I
+cared very little whether men attributed most originality to me or
+Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I
+was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always
+made me regret, namely, the explanation by means of the Glacial period
+of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals
+on distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view
+pleased me so much that I wrote it out in extenso, and I believe that
+it was read by Hooker some years before E. Forbes published his
+celebrated memoir (‘Geolog. Survey Mem.,’ 1846.) on the subject. In the
+very few points in which we differed, I still think that I was in the
+right. I have never, of course, alluded in print to my having
+independently worked out this view.
+
+Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work on the
+‘Origin,’ as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes
+between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance
+of the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was
+taken, as far as I remember, in the early reviews of the ‘Origin,’ and
+I recollect expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa
+Gray. Within late years several reviewers have given the whole credit
+to Fritz Muller and Hackel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much
+more fully, and in some respects more correctly than I did. I had
+materials for a whole chapter on the subject, and I ought to have made
+the discussion longer; for it is clear that I failed to impress my
+readers; and he who succeeds in doing so deserves, in my opinion, all
+the credit.
+
+This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated honestly
+by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as not
+worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly misrepresented,
+bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been generally done, as I
+believe, in good faith. On the whole I do not doubt that my works have
+been over and over again greatly overpraised. I rejoice that I have
+avoided controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many years ago, in
+reference to my geological works, strongly advised me never to get
+entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and caused a
+miserable loss of time and temper.
+
+Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has
+been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and
+even when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it
+has been my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that “I
+have worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than
+this.” I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego,
+thinking (and, I believe, that I wrote home to the effect) that I could
+not employ my life better than in adding a little to Natural Science.
+This I have done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what
+they like, but they cannot destroy this conviction.
+
+During the two last months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a
+second edition of the ‘Origin,’ and by an enormous correspondence. On
+January 1st, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the
+‘Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication;’ but it was not
+published until the beginning of 1868; the delay having been caused
+partly by frequent illnesses, one of which lasted seven months, and
+partly by being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the time
+interested me more.
+
+On May 15th, 1862, my little book on the ‘Fertilisation of Orchids,’
+which cost me ten months’ work, was published: most of the facts had
+been slowly accumulated during several previous years. During the
+summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led
+to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects,
+from having come to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of
+species, that crossing played an important part in keeping specific
+forms constant. I attended to the subject more or less during every
+subsequent summer; and my interest in it was greatly enhanced by having
+procured and read in November 1841, through the advice of Robert Brown,
+a copy of C.K. Sprengel’s wonderful book, ‘Das entdeckte Geheimniss der
+Natur.’ For some years before 1862 I had specially attended to the
+fertilisation of our British orchids; and it seemed to me the best plan
+to prepare as complete a treatise on this group of plants as well as I
+could, rather than to utilise the great mass of matter which I had
+slowly collected with respect to other plants.
+
+My resolve proved a wise one; for since the appearance of my book, a
+surprising number of papers and separate works on the fertilisation of
+all kinds of flowers have appeared: and these are far better done than
+I could possibly have effected. The merits of poor old Sprengel, so
+long overlooked, are now fully recognised many years after his death.
+
+During the same year I published in the ‘Journal of the Linnean
+Society’ a paper “On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition of Primula,”
+and during the next five years, five other papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants. I do not think anything in my scientific life has
+given me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the
+structure of these plants. I had noticed in 1838 or 1839 the dimorphism
+of Linum flavum, and had at first thought that it was merely a case of
+unmeaning variability. But on examining the common species of Primula I
+found that the two forms were much too regular and constant to be thus
+viewed. I therefore became almost convinced that the common cowslip and
+primrose were on the high road to become dioecious;—that the short
+pistil in the one form, and the short stamens in the other form were
+tending towards abortion. The plants were therefore subjected under
+this point of view to trial; but as soon as the flowers with short
+pistils fertilised with pollen from the short stamens, were found to
+yield more seeds than any other of the four possible unions, the
+abortion-theory was knocked on the head. After some additional
+experiment, it became evident that the two forms, though both were
+perfect hermaphrodites, bore almost the same relation to one another as
+do the two sexes of an ordinary animal. With Lythrum we have the still
+more wonderful case of three forms standing in a similar relation to
+one another. I afterwards found that the offspring from the union of
+two plants belonging to the same forms presented a close and curious
+analogy with hybrids from the union of two distinct species.
+
+In the autumn of 1864 I finished a long paper on ‘Climbing Plants,’ and
+sent it to the Linnean Society. The writing of this paper cost me four
+months; but I was so unwell when I received the proof-sheets that I was
+forced to leave them very badly and often obscurely expressed. The
+paper was little noticed, but when in 1875 it was corrected and
+published as a separate book it sold well. I was led to take up this
+subject by reading a short paper by Asa Gray, published in 1858. He
+sent me seeds, and on raising some plants I was so much fascinated and
+perplexed by the revolving movements of the tendrils and stems, which
+movements are really very simple, though appearing at first sight very
+complex, that I procured various other kinds of climbing plants, and
+studied the whole subject. I was all the more attracted to it, from not
+being at all satisfied with the explanation which Henslow gave us in
+his lectures, about twining plants, namely, that they had a natural
+tendency to grow up in a spire. This explanation proved quite
+erroneous. Some of the adaptations displayed by Climbing Plants are as
+beautiful as those of Orchids for ensuring cross-fertilisation.
+
+My ‘Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication’ was begun, as
+already stated, in the beginning of 1860, but was not published until
+the beginning of 1868. It was a big book, and cost me four years and
+two months’ hard labour. It gives all my observations and an immense
+number of facts collected from various sources, about our domestic
+productions. In the second volume the causes and laws of variation,
+inheritance, etc., are discussed as far as our present state of
+knowledge permits. Towards the end of the work I give my well-abused
+hypothesis of Pangenesis. An unverified hypothesis is of little or no
+value; but if anyone should hereafter be led to make observations by
+which some such hypothesis could be established, I shall have done good
+service, as an astonishing number of isolated facts can be thus
+connected together and rendered intelligible. In 1875 a second and
+largely corrected edition, which cost me a good deal of labour, was
+brought out.
+
+My ‘Descent of Man’ was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had
+become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable
+productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the
+same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own
+satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing.
+Although in the ‘Origin of Species’ the derivation of any particular
+species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no
+honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by
+the work “light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history.”
+It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the book to
+have paraded, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect
+to his origin.
+
+But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of
+the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such
+notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin
+of man. I was the more glad to do so, as it gave me an opportunity of
+fully discussing sexual selection—a subject which had always greatly
+interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our domestic
+productions, together with the causes and laws of variation,
+inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects
+which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the
+materials which I have collected. The ‘Descent of Man’ took me three
+years to write, but then as usual some of this time was lost by ill
+health, and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other minor
+works. A second and largely corrected edition of the ‘Descent’ appeared
+in 1874.
+
+My book on the ‘Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals’ was
+published in the autumn of 1872. I had intended to give only a chapter
+on the subject in the ‘Descent of Man,’ but as soon as I began to put
+my notes together, I saw that it would require a separate treatise.
+
+My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced
+to make notes on the first dawn of the various expressions which he
+exhibited, for I felt convinced, even at this early period, that the
+most complex and fine shades of expression must all have had a gradual
+and natural origin. During the summer of the following year, 1840, I
+read Sir C. Bell’s admirable work on expression, and this greatly
+increased the interest which I felt in the subject, though I could not
+at all agree with his belief that various muscles had been specially
+created for the sake of expression. From this time forward I
+occasionally attended to the subject, both with respect to man and our
+domesticated animals. My book sold largely; 5267 copies having been
+disposed of on the day of publication.
+
+In the summer of 1860 I was idling and resting near Hartfield, where
+two species of Drosera abound; and I noticed that numerous insects had
+been entrapped by the leaves. I carried home some plants, and on giving
+them insects saw the movements of the tentacles, and this made me think
+it probable that the insects were caught for some special purpose.
+Fortunately a crucial test occurred to me, that of placing a large
+number of leaves in various nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous fluids of
+equal density; and as soon as I found that the former alone excited
+energetic movements, it was obvious that here was a fine new field for
+investigation.
+
+During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my
+experiments, and my book on ‘Insectivorous Plants’ was published in
+July 1875—that is, sixteen years after my first observations. The delay
+in this case, as with all my other books, has been a great advantage to
+me; for a man after a long interval can criticise his own work, almost
+as well as if it were that of another person. The fact that a plant
+should secrete, when properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and
+ferment, closely analogous to the digestive fluid of an animal, was
+certainly a remarkable discovery.
+
+During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the ‘Effects of Cross and
+Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.’ This book will form a
+complement to that on the ‘Fertilisation of Orchids,’ in which I showed
+how perfect were the means for cross-fertilisation, and here I shall
+show how important are the results. I was led to make, during eleven
+years, the numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere
+accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be
+repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable
+fact that seedlings of self-fertilised parentage are inferior, even in
+the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of
+cross-fertilised parentage. I hope also to republish a revised edition
+of my book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants, together with some additional observations on allied
+points which I never have had time to arrange. My strength will then
+probably be exhausted, and I shall be ready to exclaim “Nunc dimittis.”
+
+
+
+
+WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.
+
+
+‘The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation’ was published in the
+autumn of 1876; and the results there arrived at explain, as I believe,
+the endless and wonderful contrivances for the transportal of pollen
+from one plant to another of the same species. I now believe, however,
+chiefly from the observations of Hermann Muller, that I ought to have
+insisted more strongly than I did on the many adaptations for
+self-fertilisation; though I was well aware of many such adaptations. A
+much enlarged edition of my ‘Fertilisation of Orchids’ was published in
+1877.
+
+In this same year ‘The Different Forms of Flowers, etc.,’ appeared, and
+in 1880 a second edition. This book consists chiefly of the several
+papers on Heterostyled flowers originally published by the Linnean
+Society, corrected, with much new matter added, together with
+observations on some other cases in which the same plant bears two
+kinds of flowers. As before remarked, no little discovery of mine ever
+gave me so much pleasure as the making out the meaning of heterostyled
+flowers. The results of crossing such flowers in an illegitimate
+manner, I believe to be very important, as bearing on the sterility of
+hybrids; although these results have been noticed by only a few
+persons.
+
+In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause’s ‘Life of Erasmus
+Darwin’ published, and I added a sketch of his character and habits
+from material in my possession. Many persons have been much interested
+by this little life, and I am surprised that only 800 or 900 copies
+were sold.
+
+In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank’s assistance, our ‘Power of
+Movement in Plants.’ This was a tough piece of work. The book bears
+somewhat the same relation to my little book on ‘Climbing Plants,’
+which ‘Cross-Fertilisation’ did to the ‘Fertilisation of Orchids;’ for
+in accordance with the principle of evolution it was impossible to
+account for climbing plants having been developed in so many widely
+different groups unless all kinds of plants possess some slight power
+of movement of an analogous kind. This I proved to be the case; and I
+was further led to a rather wide generalisation, viz. that the great
+and important classes of movements, excited by light, the attraction of
+gravity, etc., are all modified forms of the fundamental movement of
+circumnutation. It has always pleased me to exalt plants in the scale
+of organised beings; and I therefore felt an especial pleasure in
+showing how many and what admirably well adapted movements the tip of a
+root possesses.
+
+I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS. of a little book
+on ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms.’
+This is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it
+will interest any readers (Between November 1881 and February 1884,
+8500 copies have been sold.), but it has interested me. It is the
+completion of a short paper read before the Geological Society more
+than forty years ago, and has revived old geological thoughts.
+
+I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and these
+have been the milestones in my life, so that little remains to be said.
+I am not conscious of any change in my mind during the last thirty
+years, excepting in one point presently to be mentioned; nor, indeed,
+could any change have been expected unless one of general
+deterioration. But my father lived to his eighty-third year with his
+mind as lively as ever it was, and all his faculties undimmed; and I
+hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible extent. I think
+that I have become a little more skilful in guessing right explanations
+and in devising experimental tests; but this may probably be the result
+of mere practice, and of a larger store of knowledge. I have as much
+difficulty as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this
+difficulty has caused me a very great loss of time; but it has had the
+compensating advantage of forcing me to think long and intently about
+every sentence, and thus I have been led to see errors in reasoning and
+in my own observations or those of others.
+
+There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at
+first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. Formerly
+I used to think about my sentences before writing them down; but for
+several years I have found that it saves time to scribble in a vile
+hand whole pages as quickly as I possibly can, contracting half the
+words; and then correct deliberately. Sentences thus scribbled down are
+often better ones than I could have written deliberately.
+
+Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will add that with
+my large books I spend a good deal of time over the general arrangement
+of the matter. I first make the rudest outline in two or three pages,
+and then a larger one in several pages, a few words or one word
+standing for a whole discussion or series of facts. Each one of these
+headings is again enlarged and often transferred before I begin to
+write in extenso. As in several of my books facts observed by others
+have been very extensively used, and as I have always had several quite
+distinct subjects in hand at the same time, I may mention that I keep
+from thirty to forty large portfolios, in cabinets with labelled
+shelves, into which I can at once put a detached reference or
+memorandum. I have bought many books, and at their ends I make an index
+of all the facts that concern my work; or, if the book is not my own,
+write out a separate abstract, and of such abstracts I have a large
+drawer full. Before beginning on any subject I look to all the short
+indexes and make a general and classified index, and by taking the one
+or more proper portfolios I have all the information collected during
+my life ready for use.
+
+I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during the last
+twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry
+of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth,
+Coleridge, and Shelley, gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy
+I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical
+plays. I have also said that formerly pictures gave me considerable,
+and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to
+read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and
+found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost
+lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking
+too energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me
+pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause
+me the exquisite delight which it formerly did. On the other hand,
+novels which are works of the imagination, though not of a very high
+order, have been for years a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I
+often bless all novelists. A surprising number have been read aloud to
+me, and I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end
+unhappily—against which a law ought to be passed. A novel, according to
+my taste, does not come into the first class unless it contains some
+person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman all the
+better.
+
+This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes is all
+the odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels (independently
+of any scientific facts which they may contain), and essays on all
+sorts of subjects interest me as much as ever they did. My mind seems
+to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large
+collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of
+that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I
+cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly organised or better
+constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered; and if
+I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some
+poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps
+the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active
+through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may
+possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
+character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.
+
+My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into many
+languages, and passed through several editions in foreign countries. I
+have heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test
+of its enduring value. I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but
+judged by this standard my name ought to last for a few years.
+Therefore it may be worth while to try to analyse the mental qualities
+and the conditions on which my success has depended; though I am aware
+that no man can do this correctly.
+
+I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable
+in some clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic:
+a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and
+it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak
+points. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought
+is very limited; and therefore I could never have succeeded with
+metaphysics or mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet hazy: it
+suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have observed
+or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing, or on
+the other hand in favour of it; and after a time I can generally
+recollect where to search for my authority. So poor in one sense is my
+memory, that I have never been able to remember for more than a few
+days a single date or a line of poetry.
+
+Some of my critics have said, “Oh, he is a good observer, but he has no
+power of reasoning!” I do not think that this can be true, for the
+‘Origin of Species’ is one long argument from the beginning to the end,
+and it has convinced not a few able men. No one could have written it
+without having some power of reasoning. I have a fair share of
+invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly
+successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any
+higher degree.
+
+On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am superior to
+the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention,
+and in observing them carefully. My industry has been nearly as great
+as it could have been in the observation and collection of facts. What
+is far more important, my love of natural science has been steady and
+ardent.
+
+This pure love has, however, been much aided by the ambition to be
+esteemed by my fellow naturalists. From my early youth I have had the
+strongest desire to understand or explain whatever I observed,—that is,
+to group all facts under some general laws. These causes combined have
+given me the patience to reflect or ponder for any number of years over
+any unexplained problem. As far as I can judge, I am not apt to follow
+blindly the lead of other men. I have steadily endeavoured to keep my
+mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I
+cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown
+to be opposed to it. Indeed, I have had no choice but to act in this
+manner, for with the exception of the Coral Reefs, I cannot remember a
+single first-formed hypothesis which had not after a time to be given
+up or greatly modified. This has naturally led me to distrust greatly
+deductive reasoning in the mixed sciences. On the other hand, I am not
+very sceptical,—a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the
+progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is
+advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few
+men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or
+observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly
+serviceable.
+
+In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have known. A
+gentleman (who, as I afterwards heard, is a good local botanist) wrote
+to me from the Eastern counties that the seed or beans of the common
+field-bean had this year everywhere grown on the wrong side of the pod.
+I wrote back, asking for further information, as I did not understand
+what was meant; but I did not receive any answer for a very long time.
+I then saw in two newspapers, one published in Kent and the other in
+Yorkshire, paragraphs stating that it was a most remarkable fact that
+“the beans this year had all grown on the wrong side.” So I thought
+there must be some foundation for so general a statement. Accordingly,
+I went to my gardener, an old Kentish man, and asked him whether he had
+heard anything about it, and he answered, “Oh, no, sir, it must be a
+mistake, for the beans grow on the wrong side only on leap-year, and
+this is not leap-year.” I then asked him how they grew in common years
+and how on leap-years, but soon found that he knew absolutely nothing
+of how they grew at any time, but he stuck to his belief.
+
+After a time I heard from my first informant, who, with many apologies,
+said that he should not have written to me had he not heard the
+statement from several intelligent farmers; but that he had since
+spoken again to every one of them, and not one knew in the least what
+he had himself meant. So that here a belief—if indeed a statement with
+no definite idea attached to it can be called a belief—had spread over
+almost the whole of England without any vestige of evidence.
+
+I have known in the course of my life only three intentionally
+falsified statements, and one of these may have been a hoax (and there
+have been several scientific hoaxes) which, however, took in an
+American Agricultural Journal. It related to the formation in Holland
+of a new breed of oxen by the crossing of distinct species of Bos (some
+of which I happen to know are sterile together), and the author had the
+impudence to state that he had corresponded with me, and that I had
+been deeply impressed with the importance of his result. The article
+was sent to me by the editor of an English Agricultural Journal, asking
+for my opinion before republishing it.
+
+A second case was an account of several varieties, raised by the author
+from several species of Primula, which had spontaneously yielded a full
+complement of seed, although the parent plants had been carefully
+protected from the access of insects. This account was published before
+I had discovered the meaning of heterostylism, and the whole statement
+must have been fraudulent, or there was neglect in excluding insects so
+gross as to be scarcely credible.
+
+The third case was more curious: Mr. Huth published in his book on
+‘Consanguineous Marriage’ some long extracts from a Belgian author, who
+stated that he had interbred rabbits in the closest manner for very
+many generations, without the least injurious effects. The account was
+published in a most respectable Journal, that of the Royal Society of
+Belgium; but I could not avoid feeling doubts—I hardly know why, except
+that there were no accidents of any kind, and my experience in breeding
+animals made me think this very improbable.
+
+So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Beneden, asking him
+whether the author was a trustworthy man. I soon heard in answer that
+the Society had been greatly shocked by discovering that the whole
+account was a fraud. (The falseness of the published statements on
+which Mr. Huth relied has been pointed out by himself in a slip
+inserted in all the copies of his book which then remained unsold.) The
+writer had been publicly challenged in the Journal to say where he had
+resided and kept his large stock of rabbits while carrying on his
+experiments, which must have consumed several years, and no answer
+could be extracted from him.
+
+My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little use for my
+particular line of work. Lastly, I have had ample leisure from not
+having to earn my own bread. Even ill-health, though it has annihilated
+several years of my life, has saved me from the distractions of society
+and amusement.
+
+Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have
+amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and
+diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most
+important have been—the love of science—unbounded patience in long
+reflecting over any subject—industry in observing and collecting
+facts—and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With
+such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I
+should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of
+scientific men on some important points.
+
+
+
+
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, by Charles Darwin</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin<br />
+  From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles Darwin</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: [Charles Darwin’s son] Francis Darwin</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December, 1999 [eBook #2010]<br />
+[Most recently updated: April 26, 2022]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Sue Asscher</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DARWIN ***</div>
+
+<h1>THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF<br />
+CHARLES DARWIN</h1>
+
+<h3>From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin</h3>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">By Charles Darwin</h2>
+
+<h3>Edited by his Son Francis Darwin</h3>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001">CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0002">&ldquo;VOYAGE OF THE &lsquo;BEAGLE&rsquo; FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2, 1836.&rdquo;</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0003">FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE (JANUARY 29, 1839.)</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0004">FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER STREET, TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14, 1842.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0005">RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0006">MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0007">WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p>
+[My father&rsquo;s autobiographical recollections, given in the present
+chapter, were written for his children,&mdash;and written without any thought
+that they would ever be published. To many this may seem an impossibility; but
+those who knew my father will understand how it was not only possible, but
+natural. The autobiography bears the heading, &lsquo;Recollections of the
+Development of my Mind and Character,&rsquo; and end with the following
+note:&mdash;&ldquo;Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch of my life was begun about May
+28th at Hopedene (Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood&rsquo;s house in Surrey.), and since
+then I have written for nearly an hour on most afternoons.&rdquo; It will
+easily be understood that, in a narrative of a personal and intimate kind
+written for his wife and children, passages should occur which must here be
+omitted; and I have not thought it necessary to indicate where such omissions
+are made. It has been found necessary to make a few corrections of obvious
+verbal slips, but the number of such alterations has been kept down to the
+minimum.&mdash;F.D.]
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>
+A German Editor having written to me for an account of the development of my
+mind and character with some sketch of my autobiography, I have thought that
+the attempt would amuse me, and might possibly interest my children or their
+children. I know that it would have interested me greatly to have read even so
+short and dull a sketch of the mind of my grandfather, written by himself, and
+what he thought and did, and how he worked. I have attempted to write the
+following account of myself, as if I were a dead man in another world looking
+back at my own life. Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over
+with me. I have taken no pains about my style of writing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and my earliest recollection
+goes back only to when I was a few months over four years old, when we went to
+near Abergele for sea-bathing, and I recollect some events and places there
+with some little distinctness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old, and it
+is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her except her death-bed, her
+black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed work-table. In the spring of
+this same year I was sent to a day-school in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year.
+I have been told that I was much slower in learning than my younger sister
+Catherine, and I believe that I was in many ways a naughty boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the time I went to this day-school (Kept by Rev. G. Case, minister of the
+Unitarian Chapel in the High Street. Mrs. Darwin was a Unitarian and attended
+Mr. Case&rsquo;s chapel, and my father as a little boy went there with his
+elder sisters. But both he and his brother were christened and intended to
+belong to the Church of England; and after his early boyhood he seems usually
+to have gone to church and not to Mr. Case&rsquo;s. It appears (&ldquo;St.
+James&rsquo; Gazette&rdquo;, Dec. 15, 1883) that a mural tablet has been
+erected to his memory in the chapel, which is now known as the &lsquo;Free
+Christian Church.&rsquo;) my taste for natural history, and more especially for
+collecting, was well developed. I tried to make out the names of plants (Rev.
+W.A. Leighton, who was a schoolfellow of my father&rsquo;s at Mr. Case&rsquo;s
+school, remembers his bringing a flower to school and saying that his mother
+had taught him how by looking at the inside of the blossom the name of the
+plant could be discovered. Mr. Leighton goes on, &ldquo;This greatly roused my
+attention and curiosity, and I enquired of him repeatedly how this could be
+done?&rdquo;&mdash;but his lesson was naturally enough not
+transmissible.&mdash;F.D.), and collected all sorts of things, shells, seals,
+franks, coins, and minerals. The passion for collecting which leads a man to be
+a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso, or a miser, was very strong in me, and was
+clearly innate, as none of my sisters or brother ever had this taste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in my mind, and
+I hope that it has done so from my conscience having been afterwards sorely
+troubled by it; it is curious as showing that apparently I was interested at
+this early age in the variability of plants! I told another little boy (I
+believe it was Leighton, who afterwards became a well-known lichenologist and
+botanist), that I could produce variously coloured polyanthuses and primroses
+by watering them with certain coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous
+fable, and had never been tried by me. I may here also confess that as a little
+boy I was much given to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was always
+done for the sake of causing excitement. For instance, I once gathered much
+valuable fruit from my father&rsquo;s trees and hid it in the shrubbery, and
+then ran in breathless haste to spread the news that I had discovered a hoard
+of stolen fruit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first went to the school. A
+boy of the name of Garnett took me into a cake shop one day, and bought some
+cakes for which he did not pay, as the shopman trusted him. When we came out I
+asked him why he did not pay for them, and he instantly answered, &ldquo;Why,
+do you not know that my uncle left a great sum of money to the town on
+condition that every tradesman should give whatever was wanted without payment
+to any one who wore his old hat and moved [it] in a particular manner?&rdquo;
+and he then showed me how it was moved. He then went into another shop where he
+was trusted, and asked for some small article, moving his hat in the proper
+manner, and of course obtained it without payment. When we came out he said,
+&ldquo;Now if you like to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well I
+remember its exact position) I will lend you my hat, and you can get whatever
+you like if you move the hat on your head properly.&rdquo; I gladly accepted
+the generous offer, and went in and asked for some cakes, moved the old hat and
+was walking out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so I dropped
+the cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being greeted with
+shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this entirely
+to the instruction and example of my sisters. I doubt indeed whether humanity
+is a natural or innate quality. I was very fond of collecting eggs, but I never
+took more than a single egg out of a bird&rsquo;s nest, except on one single
+occasion, when I took all, not for their value, but from a sort of bravado.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of hours on the
+bank of a river or pond watching the float; when at Maer (The house of his
+uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.) I was told that I could kill the worms with salt and
+water, and from that day I never spitted a living worm, though at the expense
+probably of some loss of success.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time, I
+acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply from enjoying the sense of
+power; but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl,
+of which I feel sure, as the spot was near the house. This act lay heavily on
+my conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was
+committed. It probably lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and
+for a long time afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an
+adept in robbing their love from their masters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remember clearly only one other incident during this year whilst at Mr.
+Case&rsquo;s daily school,&mdash;namely, the burial of a dragoon soldier; and
+it is surprising how clearly I can still see the horse with the man&rsquo;s
+empty boots and carbine suspended to the saddle, and the firing over the grave.
+This scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was in me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler&rsquo;s great school in Shrewsbury,
+and remained there for seven years till Midsummer 1825, when I was sixteen
+years old. I boarded at this school, so that I had the great advantage of
+living the life of a true schoolboy; but as the distance was hardly more than a
+mile to my home, I very often ran there in the longer intervals between the
+callings over and before locking up at night. This, I think, was in many ways
+advantageous to me by keeping up home affections and interests. I remember in
+the early part of my school life that I often had to run very quickly to be in
+time, and from being a fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt
+I prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I attributed my
+success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and marvelled how generally
+I was aided.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have heard my father and elder sister say that I had, as a very young boy, a
+strong taste for long solitary walks; but what I thought about I know not. I
+often became quite absorbed, and once, whilst returning to school on the summit
+of the old fortifications round Shrewsbury, which had been converted into a
+public foot-path with no parapet on one side, I walked off and fell to the
+ground, but the height was only seven or eight feet. Nevertheless the number of
+thoughts which passed through my mind during this very short, but sudden and
+wholly unexpected fall, was astonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what
+physiologists have, I believe, proved about each thought requiring quite an
+appreciable amount of time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr.
+Butler&rsquo;s school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught,
+except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of
+education to me was simply a blank. During my whole life I have been singularly
+incapable of mastering any language. Especial attention was paid to
+verse-making, and this I could never do well. I had many friends, and got
+together a good collection of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes
+aided by other boys, I could work into any subject. Much attention was paid to
+learning by heart the lessons of the previous day; this I could effect with
+great facility, learning forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was
+in morning chapel; but this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse was
+forgotten in forty-eight hours. I was not idle, and with the exception of
+versification, generally worked conscientiously at my classics, not using
+cribs. The sole pleasure I ever received from such studies, was from some of
+the odes of Horace, which I admired greatly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I left the school I was for my age neither high nor low in it; and I
+believe that I was considered by all my masters and by my father as a very
+ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect. To my deep
+mortification my father once said to me, &ldquo;You care for nothing but
+shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and
+all your family.&rdquo; But my father, who was the kindest man I ever knew and
+whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been angry and somewhat unjust
+when he used such words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking back as well as I can at my character during my school life, the only
+qualities which at this period promised well for the future, were, that I had
+strong and diversified tastes, much zeal for whatever interested me, and a keen
+pleasure in understanding any complex subject or thing. I was taught Euclid by
+a private tutor, and I distinctly remember the intense satisfaction which the
+clear geometrical proofs gave me. I remember, with equal distinctness, the
+delight which my uncle gave me (the father of Francis Galton) by explaining the
+principle of the vernier of a barometer with respect to diversified tastes,
+independently of science, I was fond of reading various books, and I used to
+sit for hours reading the historical plays of Shakespeare, generally in an old
+window in the thick walls of the school. I read also other poetry, such as
+Thomson&rsquo;s &lsquo;Seasons,&rsquo; and the recently published poems of
+Byron and Scott. I mention this because later in life I wholly lost, to my
+great regret, all pleasure from poetry of any kind, including Shakespeare. In
+connection with pleasure from poetry, I may add that in 1822 a vivid delight in
+scenery was first awakened in my mind, during a riding tour on the borders of
+Wales, and this has lasted longer than any other aesthetic pleasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the &lsquo;Wonders of the
+World,&rsquo; which I often read, and disputed with other boys about the
+veracity of some of the statements; and I believe that this book first gave me
+a wish to travel in remote countries, which was ultimately fulfilled by the
+voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;. In the latter part of my school life I
+became passionately fond of shooting; I do not believe that any one could have
+shown more zeal for the most holy cause than I did for shooting birds. How well
+I remember killing my first snipe, and my excitement was so great that I had
+much difficulty in reloading my gun from the trembling of my hands. This taste
+long continued, and I became a very good shot. When at Cambridge I used to
+practise throwing up my gun to my shoulder before a looking-glass to see that I
+threw it up straight. Another and better plan was to get a friend to wave about
+a lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on the nipple, and if the
+aim was accurate the little puff of air would blow out the candle. The
+explosion of the cap caused a sharp crack, and I was told that the tutor of the
+college remarked, &ldquo;What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr. Darwin seems to
+spend hours in cracking a horse-whip in his room, for I often hear the crack
+when I pass under his windows.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I had many friends amongst the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly, and I think
+that my disposition was then very affectionate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with much zeal, but
+quite unscientifically&mdash;all that I cared about was a new-<i>named</i>
+mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them. I must have observed insects
+with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for three weeks to
+Plas Edwards on the sea-coast in Wales, I was very much interested and
+surprised at seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous insect, many moths
+(Zygaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshire. I almost made up
+my mind to begin collecting all the insects which I could find dead, for on
+consulting my sister I concluded that it was not right to kill insects for the
+sake of making a collection. From reading White&rsquo;s &lsquo;Selborne,&rsquo;
+I took much pleasure in watching the habits of birds, and even made notes on
+the subject. In my simplicity I remember wondering why every gentleman did not
+become an ornithologist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at chemistry, and
+made a fair laboratory with proper apparatus in the tool-house in the garden,
+and I was allowed to aid him as a servant in most of his experiments. He made
+all the gases and many compounds, and I read with great care several books on
+chemistry, such as Henry and Parkes&rsquo; &lsquo;Chemical Catechism.&rsquo;
+The subject interested me greatly, and we often used to go on working till
+rather late at night. This was the best part of my education at school, for it
+showed me practically the meaning of experimental science. The fact that we
+worked at chemistry somehow got known at school, and as it was an unprecedented
+fact, I was nicknamed &ldquo;Gas.&rdquo; I was also once publicly rebuked by
+the head-master, Dr. Butler, for thus wasting my time on such useless subjects;
+and he called me very unjustly a &ldquo;poco curante,&rdquo; and as I did not
+understand what he meant, it seemed to me a fearful reproach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away at a rather
+earlier age than usual, and sent me (Oct. 1825) to Edinburgh University with my
+brother, where I stayed for two years or sessions. My brother was completing
+his medical studies, though I do not believe he ever really intended to
+practise, and I was sent there to commence them. But soon after this period I
+became convinced from various small circumstances that my father would leave me
+property enough to subsist on with some comfort, though I never imagined that I
+should be so rich a man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any
+strenuous efforts to learn medicine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and these were
+intolerably dull, with the exception of those on chemistry by Hope; but to my
+mind there are no advantages and many disadvantages in lectures compared with
+reading. Dr. Duncan&rsquo;s lectures on Materia Medica at 8 o&rsquo;clock on a
+winter&rsquo;s morning are something fearful to remember. Dr.&mdash;&mdash;
+made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself, and the subject
+disgusted me. It has proved one of the greatest evils in my life that I was not
+urged to practise dissection, for I should soon have got over my disgust; and
+the practice would have been invaluable for all my future work. This has been
+an irremediable evil, as well as my incapacity to draw. I also attended
+regularly the clinical wards in the hospital. Some of the cases distressed me a
+good deal, and I still have vivid pictures before me of some of them; but I was
+not so foolish as to allow this to lessen my attendance. I cannot understand
+why this part of my medical course did not interest me in a greater degree; for
+during the summer before coming to Edinburgh I began attending some of the poor
+people, chiefly children and women in Shrewsbury: I wrote down as full an
+account as I could of the case with all the symptoms, and read them aloud to my
+father, who suggested further inquiries and advised me what medicines to give,
+which I made up myself. At one time I had at least a dozen patients, and I felt
+a keen interest in the work. My father, who was by far the best judge of
+character whom I ever knew, declared that I should make a successful
+physician,&mdash;meaning by this one who would get many patients. He maintained
+that the chief element of success was exciting confidence; but what he saw in
+me which convinced him that I should create confidence I know not. I also
+attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the hospital at Edinburgh,
+and saw two very bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they
+were completed. Nor did I ever attend again, for hardly any inducement would
+have been strong enough to make me do so; this being long before the blessed
+days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a long year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during the second
+year I was left to my own resources; and this was an advantage, for I became
+well acquainted with several young men fond of natural science. One of these
+was Ainsworth, who afterwards published his travels in Assyria; he was a
+Wernerian geologist, and knew a little about many subjects. Dr. Coldstream was
+a very different young man, prim, formal, highly religious, and most
+kind-hearted; he afterwards published some good zoological articles. A third
+young man was Hardie, who would, I think, have made a good botanist, but died
+early in India. Lastly, Dr. Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became
+acquainted with him I cannot remember; he published some first-rate zoological
+papers, but after coming to London as Professor in University College, he did
+nothing more in science, a fact which has always been inexplicable to me. I
+knew him well; he was dry and formal in manner, with much enthusiasm beneath
+this outer crust. He one day, when we were walking together, burst forth in
+high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution. I listened in silent
+astonishment, and as far as I can judge without any effect on my mind. I had
+previously read the &lsquo;Zoonomia&rsquo; of my grandfather, in which similar
+views are maintained, but without producing any effect on me. Nevertheless it
+is probable that the hearing rather early in life such views maintained and
+praised may have favoured my upholding them under a different form in my
+&lsquo;Origin of Species.&rsquo; At this time I admired greatly the
+&lsquo;Zoonomia;&rsquo; but on reading it a second time after an interval of
+ten or fifteen years, I was much disappointed; the proportion of speculation
+being so large to the facts given.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drs. Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology, and I often
+accompanied the former to collect animals in the tidal pools, which I dissected
+as well as I could. I also became friends with some of the Newhaven fishermen,
+and sometimes accompanied them when they trawled for oysters, and thus got many
+specimens. But from not having had any regular practice in dissection, and from
+possessing only a wretched microscope, my attempts were very poor. Nevertheless
+I made one interesting little discovery, and read, about the beginning of the
+year 1826, a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society. This was
+that the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement by
+means of cilia, and were in fact larvae. In another short paper I showed that
+the little globular bodies which had been supposed to be the young state of
+Fucus loreus were the egg-cases of the wormlike Pontobdella muricata.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Plinian Society was encouraged and, I believe, founded by Professor
+Jameson: it consisted of students and met in an underground room in the
+University for the sake of reading papers on natural science and discussing
+them. I used regularly to attend, and the meetings had a good effect on me in
+stimulating my zeal and giving me new congenial acquaintances. One evening a
+poor young man got up, and after stammering for a prodigious length of time,
+blushing crimson, he at last slowly got out the words, &ldquo;Mr. President, I
+have forgotten what I was going to say.&rdquo; The poor fellow looked quite
+overwhelmed, and all the members were so surprised that no one could think of a
+word to say to cover his confusion. The papers which were read to our little
+society were not printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of seeing my paper
+in print; but I believe Dr. Grant noticed my small discovery in his excellent
+memoir on Flustra.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was also a member of the Royal Medical Society, and attended pretty
+regularly; but as the subjects were exclusively medical, I did not much care
+about them. Much rubbish was talked there, but there were some good speakers,
+of whom the best was the present Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth. Dr. Grant took me
+occasionally to the meetings of the Wernerian Society, where various papers on
+natural history were read, discussed, and afterwards published in the
+&lsquo;Transactions.&rsquo; I heard Audubon deliver there some interesting
+discourses on the habits of N. American birds, sneering somewhat unjustly at
+Waterton. By the way, a negro lived in Edinburgh, who had travelled with
+Waterton, and gained his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did
+excellently: he gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him,
+for he was a very pleasant and intelligent man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Leonard Horner also took me once to a meeting of the Royal Society of
+Edinburgh, where I saw Sir Walter Scott in the chair as President, and he
+apologised to the meeting as not feeling fitted for such a position. I looked
+at him and at the whole scene with some awe and reverence, and I think it was
+owing to this visit during my youth, and to my having attended the Royal
+Medical Society, that I felt the honour of being elected a few years ago an
+honorary member of both these Societies, more than any other similar honour. If
+I had been told at that time that I should one day have been thus honoured, I
+declare that I should have thought it as ridiculous and improbable, as if I had
+been told that I should be elected King of England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During my second year at Edinburgh I attended &mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;s lectures
+on Geology and Zoology, but they were incredibly dull. The sole effect they
+produced on me was the determination never as long as I lived to read a book on
+Geology, or in any way to study the science. Yet I feel sure that I was
+prepared for a philosophical treatment of the subject; for an old Mr. Cotton in
+Shropshire, who knew a good deal about rocks, had pointed out to me two or
+three years previously a well-known large erratic boulder in the town of
+Shrewsbury, called the &ldquo;bell-stone&rdquo;; he told me that there was no
+rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland or Scotland, and he solemnly
+assured me that the world would come to an end before any one would be able to
+explain how this stone came where it now lay. This produced a deep impression
+on me, and I meditated over this wonderful stone. So that I felt the keenest
+delight when I first read of the action of icebergs in transporting boulders,
+and I gloried in the progress of Geology. Equally striking is the fact that I,
+though now only sixty-seven years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture
+at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke, with amygdaloidal margins and
+the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all around us, say that
+it was a fissure filled with sediment from above, adding with a sneer that
+there were men who maintained that it had been injected from beneath in a
+molten condition. When I think of this lecture, I do not wonder that I
+determined never to attend to Geology.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From attending &mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;s lectures, I became acquainted with the
+curator of the museum, Mr. Macgillivray, who afterwards published a large and
+excellent book on the birds of Scotland. I had much interesting natural-history
+talk with him, and he was very kind to me. He gave me some rare shells, for I
+at that time collected marine mollusca, but with no great zeal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My summer vacations during these two years were wholly given up to amusements,
+though I always had some book in hand, which I read with interest. During the
+summer of 1826 I took a long walking tour with two friends with knapsacks on
+our backs through North Wales. We walked thirty miles most days, including one
+day the ascent of Snowdon. I also went with my sister a riding tour in North
+Wales, a servant with saddle-bags carrying our clothes. The autumns were
+devoted to shooting chiefly at Mr. Owen&rsquo;s, at Woodhouse, and at my Uncle
+Jos&rsquo;s (Josiah Wedgwood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works.) at
+Maer. My zeal was so great that I used to place my shooting-boots open by my
+bed-side when I went to bed, so as not to lose half a minute in putting them on
+in the morning; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of the Maer
+estate, on the 20th of August for black-game shooting, before I could see: I
+then toiled on with the game-keeper the whole day through thick heath and young
+Scotch firs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the whole season.
+One day when shooting at Woodhouse with Captain Owen, the eldest son, and Major
+Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord Berwick, both of whom I liked very much, I
+thought myself shamefully used, for every time after I had fired and thought
+that I had killed a bird, one of the two acted as if loading his gun, and cried
+out, &ldquo;You must not count that bird, for I fired at the same time,&rdquo;
+and the gamekeeper, perceiving the joke, backed them up. After some hours they
+told me the joke, but it was no joke to me, for I had shot a large number of
+birds, but did not know how many, and could not add them to my list, which I
+used to do by making a knot in a piece of string tied to a button-hole. This my
+wicked friends had perceived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How I did enjoy shooting! But I think that I must have been half-consciously
+ashamed of my zeal, for I tried to persuade myself that shooting was almost an
+intellectual employment; it required so much skill to judge where to find most
+game and to hunt the dogs well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting there Sir
+J. Mackintosh, who was the best converser I ever listened to. I heard
+afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, &ldquo;There is something in
+that young man that interests me.&rdquo; This must have been chiefly due to his
+perceiving that I listened with much interest to everything which he said, for
+I was as ignorant as a pig about his subjects of history, politics, and moral
+philosophy. To hear of praise from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or
+certain to excite vanity, is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to
+keep him in the right course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite
+delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting. Life there was perfectly
+free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding; and in the evening
+there was much very agreeable conversation, not so personal as it generally is
+in large family parties, together with music. In the summer the whole family
+used often to sit on the steps of the old portico, with the flower-garden in
+front, and with the steep wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake,
+with here and there a fish rising or a water-bird paddling about. Nothing has
+left a more vivid picture on my mind than these evenings at Maer. I was also
+attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and reserved, so as
+to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes talked openly with me. He was the
+very type of an upright man, with the clearest judgment. I do not believe that
+any power on earth could have made him swerve an inch from what he considered
+the right course. I used to apply to him in my mind the well-known ode of
+Horace, now forgotten by me, in which the words &ldquo;nec vultus tyranni,*
+etc.,&rdquo; come in.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Justum et tenacem propositi virum<br />
+Non civium ardor prava jubentium<br />
+Non vultus instantis tyranni<br />
+Mente quatit solida.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"></a>
+CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.</h2>
+
+<p>
+After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or he heard
+from my sisters, that I did not like the thought of being a physician, so he
+proposed that I should become a clergyman. He was very properly vehement
+against my turning into an idle sporting man, which then seemed my probable
+destination. I asked for some time to consider, as from what little I had heard
+or thought on the subject I had scruples about declaring my belief in all the
+dogmas of the Church of England; though otherwise I liked the thought of being
+a country clergyman. Accordingly I read with care &lsquo;Pearson on the
+Creed,&rsquo; and a few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the
+least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon
+persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it seems
+ludicrous that I once intended to be a clergyman. Nor was this intention and my
+father&rsquo;s wish ever formerly given up, but died a natural death when, on
+leaving Cambridge, I joined the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; as naturalist. If the
+phrenologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted in one respect to be a
+clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a German psychological society
+asked me earnestly by letter for a photograph of myself; and some time
+afterwards I received the proceedings of one of the meetings, in which it
+seemed that the shape of my head had been the subject of a public discussion,
+and one of the speakers declared that I had the bump of reverence developed
+enough for ten priests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was necessary that I should
+go to one of the English universities and take a degree; but as I had never
+opened a classical book since leaving school, I found to my dismay, that in the
+two intervening years I had actually forgotten, incredible as it may appear,
+almost everything which I had learnt, even to some few of the Greek letters. I
+did not therefore proceed to Cambridge at the usual time in October, but worked
+with a private tutor in Shrewsbury, and went to Cambridge after the Christmas
+vacation, early in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard of knowledge, and
+could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek Testament, with
+moderate facility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was wasted, as far as
+the academical studies were concerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at
+school. I attempted mathematics, and even went during the summer of 1828 with a
+private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth, but I got on very slowly. The work
+was repugnant to me, chiefly from my not being able to see any meaning in the
+early steps in algebra. This impatience was very foolish, and in after years I
+have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand
+something of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed
+seem to have an extra sense. But I do not believe that I should ever have
+succeeded beyond a very low grade. With respect to Classics I did nothing
+except attend a few compulsory college lectures, and the attendance was almost
+nominal. In my second year I had to work for a month or two to pass the
+Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my last year I worked with some
+earnestness for my final degree of B.A., and brushed up my Classics, together
+with a little Algebra and Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did
+at school. In order to pass the B.A. examination, it was also necessary to get
+up Paley&rsquo;s &lsquo;Evidences of Christianity,&rsquo; and his &lsquo;Moral
+Philosophy.&rsquo; This was done in a thorough manner, and I am convinced that
+I could have written out the whole of the &lsquo;Evidences&rsquo; with perfect
+correctness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley. The logic of
+this book and, as I may add, of his &lsquo;Natural Theology,&rsquo; gave me as
+much delight as did Euclid. The careful study of these works, without
+attempting to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical
+course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me
+in the education of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about
+Paley&rsquo;s premises; and taking these on trust, I was charmed and convinced
+by the long line of argumentation. By answering well the examination questions
+in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in Classics, I
+gained a good place among the oi polloi or crowd of men who do not go in for
+honours. Oddly enough, I cannot remember how high I stood, and my memory
+fluctuates between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list. (Tenth in
+the list of January 1831.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Public lectures on several branches were given in the University, attendance
+being quite voluntary; but I was so sickened with lectures at Edinburgh that I
+did not even attend Sedgwick&rsquo;s eloquent and interesting lectures. Had I
+done so I should probably have become a geologist earlier than I did. I
+attended, however, Henslow&rsquo;s lectures on Botany, and liked them much for
+their extreme clearness, and the admirable illustrations; but I did not study
+botany. Henslow used to take his pupils, including several of the older members
+of the University, field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places,
+or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the rarer plants and animals
+which were observed. These excursions were delightful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming features in my
+life at Cambridge, my time was sadly wasted there, and worse than wasted. From
+my passion for shooting and for hunting, and, when this failed, for riding
+across country, I got into a sporting set, including some dissipated low-minded
+young men. We used often to dine together in the evening, though these dinners
+often included men of a higher stamp, and we sometimes drank too much, with
+jolly singing and playing at cards afterwards. I know that I ought to feel
+ashamed of days and evenings thus spent, but as some of my friends were very
+pleasant, and we were all in the highest spirits, I cannot help looking back to
+these times with much pleasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I am glad to think that I had many other friends of a widely different
+nature. I was very intimate with Whitley (Rev. C. Whitley, Hon. Canon of
+Durham, formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy in Durham University.), who was
+afterwards Senior Wrangler, and we used continually to take long walks
+together. He inoculated me with a taste for pictures and good engravings, of
+which I bought some. I frequently went to the Fitzwilliam Gallery, and my taste
+must have been fairly good, for I certainly admired the best pictures, which I
+discussed with the old curator. I read also with much interest Sir Joshua
+Reynolds&rsquo; book. This taste, though not natural to me, lasted for several
+years, and many of the pictures in the National Gallery in London gave me much
+pleasure; that of Sebastian del Piombo exciting in me a sense of sublimity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I also got into a musical set, I believe by means of my warm-hearted friend,
+Herbert (The late John Maurice Herbert, County Court Judge of Cardiff and the
+Monmouth Circuit.), who took a high wrangler&rsquo;s degree. From associating
+with these men, and hearing them play, I acquired a strong taste for music, and
+used very often to time my walks so as to hear on week days the anthem in
+King&rsquo;s College Chapel. This gave me intense pleasure, so that my backbone
+would sometimes shiver. I am sure that there was no affectation or mere
+imitation in this taste, for I used generally to go by myself to King&rsquo;s
+College, and I sometimes hired the chorister boys to sing in my rooms.
+Nevertheless I am so utterly destitute of an ear, that I cannot perceive a
+discord, or keep time and hum a tune correctly; and it is a mystery how I could
+possibly have derived pleasure from music.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My musical friends soon perceived my state, and sometimes amused themselves by
+making me pass an examination, which consisted in ascertaining how many tunes I
+could recognise when they were played rather more quickly or slowly than usual.
+&lsquo;God save the King,&rsquo; when thus played, was a sore puzzle. There was
+another man with almost as bad an ear as I had, and strange to say he played a
+little on the flute. Once I had the triumph of beating him in one of our
+musical examinations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave
+me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for
+collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their external
+characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow. 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 was the
+third one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods; I employed a
+labourer to scrape during the winter, moss off old trees and place it in a
+large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the bottom of the barges in
+which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus I got some very rare species.
+No poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem published than I did
+at seeing, in Stephens&rsquo; &lsquo;Illustrations of British Insects,&rsquo;
+the magic words, &ldquo;captured by C. Darwin, Esq.&rdquo; I was introduced to
+entomology by my second cousin W. Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man,
+who was then at Christ&rsquo;s College, and with whom I became extremely
+intimate. Afterwards I became well acquainted, and went out collecting, with
+Albert Way of Trinity, who in after years became a well-known archaeologist;
+also with H. Thompson of the same College, afterwards a leading agriculturist,
+chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parliament. It seems therefore that
+a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles which I caught
+at Cambridge have left on my mind. I can remember the exact appearance of
+certain posts, old trees and banks where I made a good capture. The pretty
+Panagaeus crux-major was a treasure in those days, and here at Down I saw a
+beetle running across a walk, and on picking it up instantly perceived that it
+differed slightly from P. crux-major, and it turned out to be P.
+quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or closely allied species, differing
+from it very slightly in outline. I had never seen in those old days Licinus
+alive, which to an uneducated eye hardly differs from many of the black
+Carabidous beetles; but my sons found here a specimen, and I instantly
+recognised that it was new to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for
+the last twenty years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole career
+more than any other. This was my friendship with Professor Henslow. Before
+coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my brother as a man who knew
+every branch of science, and I was accordingly prepared to reverence him. He
+kept open house once every week when all undergraduates, and some older members
+of the University, who were attached to science, used to meet in the evening. I
+soon got, through Fox, an invitation, and went there regularly. Before long I
+became well acquainted with Henslow, and during the latter half of my time at
+Cambridge took long walks with him on most days; so that I was called by some
+of the dons &ldquo;the man who walks with Henslow;&rdquo; and in the evening I
+was very often asked to join his family dinner. His knowledge was great in
+botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. His strongest taste was
+to draw conclusions from long-continued minute observations. His judgment was
+excellent, and his whole mind well balanced; but I do not suppose that any one
+would say that he possessed much original genius. He was deeply religious, and
+so orthodox that he told me one day he should be grieved if a single word of
+the Thirty-nine Articles were altered. His moral qualities were in every way
+admirable. He was free from every tinge of vanity or other petty feeling; and I
+never saw a man who thought so little about himself or his own concerns. His
+temper was imperturbably good, with the most winning and courteous manners;
+yet, as I have seen, he could be roused by any bad action to the warmest
+indignation and prompt action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as horrid a scene
+as could have been witnessed during the French Revolution. Two body-snatchers
+had been arrested, and whilst being taken to prison had been torn from the
+constable by a crowd of the roughest men, who dragged them by their legs along
+the muddy and stony road. They were covered from head to foot with mud, and
+their faces were bleeding either from having been kicked or from the stones;
+they looked like corpses, but the crowd was so dense that I got only a few
+momentary glimpses of the wretched creatures. Never in my life have I seen such
+wrath painted on a man&rsquo;s face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid
+scene. He tried repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it was simply impossible.
+He then rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to follow him, but to get more
+policemen. I forget the issue, except that the two men were got into the prison
+without being killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Henslow&rsquo;s benevolence was unbounded, as he proved by his many excellent
+schemes for his poor parishioners, when in after years he held the living of
+Hitcham. My intimacy with such a man ought to have been, and I hope was, an
+inestimable benefit. I cannot resist mentioning a trifling incident, which
+showed his kind consideration. Whilst examining some pollen-grains on a damp
+surface, I saw the tubes exserted, and instantly rushed off to communicate my
+surprising discovery to him. Now I do not suppose any other professor of botany
+could have helped laughing at my coming in such a hurry to make such a
+communication. But he agreed how interesting the phenomenon was, and explained
+its meaning, but made me clearly understand how well it was known; so I left
+him not in the least mortified, but well pleased at having discovered for
+myself so remarkable a fact, but determined not to be in such a hurry again to
+communicate my discoveries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dr. Whewell was one of the older and distinguished men who sometimes visited
+Henslow, and on several occasions I walked home with him at night. Next to Sir
+J. Mackintosh he was the best converser on grave subjects to whom I ever
+listened. Leonard Jenyns (The well-known Soame Jenyns was cousin to Mr.
+Jenyns&rsquo; father.), who afterwards published some good essays in Natural
+History (Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield) described the fish for the Zoology of the
+&ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;; and is author of a long series of papers, chiefly
+Zoological.), often stayed with Henslow, who was his brother-in-law. I visited
+him at his parsonage on the borders of the Fens [Swaffham Bulbeck], and had
+many a good walk and talk with him about Natural History. I became also
+acquainted with several other men older than me, who did not care much about
+science, but were friends of Henslow. One was a Scotchman, brother of Sir
+Alexander Ramsay, and tutor of Jesus College: he was a delightful man, but did
+not live for many years. Another was Mr. Dawes, afterwards Dean of Hereford,
+and famous for his success in the education of the poor. These men and others
+of the same standing, together with Henslow, used sometimes to take distant
+excursions into the country, which I was allowed to join, and they were most
+agreeable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking back, I infer that there must have been something in me a little
+superior to the common run of youths, otherwise the above-mentioned men, so
+much older than me and higher in academical position, would never have allowed
+me to associate with them. Certainly I was not aware of any such superiority,
+and I remember one of my sporting friends, Turner, who saw me at work with my
+beetles, saying that I should some day be a Fellow of the Royal Society, and
+the notion seemed to me preposterous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound interest
+Humboldt&rsquo;s &lsquo;Personal Narrative.&rsquo; This work, and Sir J.
+Herschel&rsquo;s &lsquo;Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,&rsquo;
+stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the
+noble structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen other books influenced me
+nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt long passages about
+Teneriffe, and read them aloud on one of the above-mentioned excursions, to (I
+think) Henslow, Ramsay, and Dawes, for on a previous occasion I had talked
+about the glories of Teneriffe, and some of the party declared they would
+endeavour to go there; but I think that they were only half in earnest. I was,
+however, quite in earnest, and got an introduction to a merchant in London to
+enquire about ships; but the scheme was, of course, knocked on the head by the
+voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My summer vacations were given up to collecting beetles, to some reading, and
+short tours. In the autumn my whole time was devoted to shooting, chiefly at
+Woodhouse and Maer, and sometimes with young Eyton of Eyton. Upon the whole the
+three years which I spent at Cambridge were the most joyful in my happy life;
+for I was then in excellent health, and almost always in high spirits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I had at first come up to Cambridge at Christmas, I was forced to keep two
+terms after passing my final examination, at the commencement of 1831; and
+Henslow then persuaded me to begin the study of geology. Therefore on my return
+to Shropshire I examined sections, and coloured a map of parts round
+Shrewsbury. Professor Sedgwick intended to visit North Wales in the beginning
+of August to pursue his famous geological investigations amongst the older
+rocks, and Henslow asked him to allow me to accompany him. (In connection with
+this tour my father used to tell a story about Sedgwick: they had started from
+their inn one morning, and had walked a mile or two, when Sedgwick suddenly
+stopped, and vowed that he would return, being certain &ldquo;that damned
+scoundrel&rdquo; (the waiter) had not given the chambermaid the sixpence
+intrusted to him for the purpose. He was ultimately persuaded to give up the
+project, seeing that there was no reason for suspecting the waiter of especial
+perfidy.&mdash;F.D.) Accordingly he came and slept at my father&rsquo;s house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A short conversation with him during this evening produced a strong impression
+on my mind. Whilst examining an old gravel-pit near Shrewsbury, a labourer told
+me that he had found in it a large worn tropical Volute shell, such as may be
+seen on the chimney-pieces of cottages; and as he would not sell the shell, I
+was convinced that he had really found it in the pit. I told Sedgwick of the
+fact, and he at once said (no doubt truly) that it must have been thrown away
+by some one into the pit; but then added, if really embedded there it would be
+the greatest misfortune to geology, as it would overthrow all that we know
+about the superficial deposits of the Midland Counties. These gravel-beds
+belong in fact to the glacial period, and in after years I found in them broken
+arctic shells. But I was then utterly astonished at Sedgwick not being
+delighted at so wonderful a fact as a tropical shell being found near the
+surface in the middle of England. Nothing before had ever made me thoroughly
+realise, though I had read various scientific books, that science consists in
+grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning we started for Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig. This
+tour was of decided use in teaching me a little how to make out the geology of
+a country. Sedgwick often sent me on a line parallel to his, telling me to
+bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the stratification on a map. I
+have little doubt that he did this for my good, as I was too ignorant to have
+aided him. On this tour I had a striking instance of how easy it is to overlook
+phenomena, however conspicuous, before they have been observed by any one. We
+spent many hours in Cwm Idwal, examining all the rocks with extreme care, as
+Sedgwick was anxious to find fossils in them; but neither of us saw a trace of
+the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not notice the plainly
+scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral and terminal moraines. Yet
+these phenomena are so conspicuous that, as I declared in a paper published
+many years afterwards in the &lsquo;Philosophical Magazine&rsquo;
+(&lsquo;Philosophical Magazine,&rsquo; 1842.), a house burnt down by fire did
+not tell its story more plainly than did this valley. If it had still been
+filled by a glacier, the phenomena would have been less distinct than they now
+are.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Capel Curig I left Sedgwick and went in a straight line by compass and map
+across the mountains to Barmouth, never following any track unless it coincided
+with my course. I thus came on some strange wild places, and enjoyed much this
+manner of travelling. I visited Barmouth to see some Cambridge friends who were
+reading there, and thence returned to Shrewsbury and to Maer for shooting; for
+at that time I should have thought myself mad to give up the first days of
+partridge-shooting for geology or any other science.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"></a>
+&ldquo;VOYAGE OF THE &lsquo;BEAGLE&rsquo; FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2,
+1836.&rdquo;</h2>
+
+<p>
+On returning home from my short geological tour in North Wales, I found a
+letter from Henslow, informing me that Captain Fitz-Roy was willing to give up
+part of his own cabin to any young man who would volunteer to go with him
+without pay as naturalist to the Voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;. I have
+given, as I believe, in my MS. Journal an account of all the circumstances
+which then occurred; I will here only say that I was instantly eager to accept
+the offer, but my father strongly objected, adding the words, fortunate for me,
+&ldquo;If you can find any man of common sense who advises you to go I will
+give my consent.&rdquo; So I wrote that evening and refused the offer. On the
+next morning I went to Maer to be ready for September 1st, and, whilst out
+shooting, my uncle (Josiah Wedgwood.) sent for me, offering to drive me over to
+Shrewsbury and talk with my father, as my uncle thought it would be wise in me
+to accept the offer. My father always maintained that he was one of the most
+sensible men in the world, and he at once consented in the kindest manner. I
+had been rather extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my father, said,
+&ldquo;that I should be deuced clever to spend more than my allowance whilst on
+board the &lsquo;Beagle&rsquo;;&rdquo; but he answered with a smile, &ldquo;But
+they tell me you are very clever.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day I started for Cambridge to see Henslow, and thence to London to see
+Fitz-Roy, and all was soon arranged. Afterwards, on becoming very intimate with
+Fitz-Roy, I heard that I had run a very narrow risk of being rejected, on
+account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent disciple of Lavater, and was
+convinced that he could judge of a man&rsquo;s character by the outline of his
+features; and he doubted whether any one with my nose could possess sufficient
+energy and determination for the voyage. But I think he was afterwards well
+satisfied that my nose had spoken falsely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fitz-Roy&rsquo;s character was a singular one, with very many noble features:
+he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, and
+indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway. He would
+undertake any sort of trouble to assist those whom he thought deserved
+assistance. He was a handsome man, strikingly like a gentleman, with highly
+courteous manners, which resembled those of his maternal uncle, the famous Lord
+Castlereagh, as I was told by the Minister at Rio. Nevertheless he must have
+inherited much in his appearance from Charles II., for Dr. Wallich gave me a
+collection of photographs which he had made, and I was struck with the
+resemblance of one to Fitz-Roy; and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E.
+Sobieski Stuart, Count d&rsquo;Albanie, a descendant of the same monarch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fitz-Roy&rsquo;s temper was a most unfortunate one. It was usually worst in the
+early morning, and with his eagle eye he could generally detect something amiss
+about the ship, and was then unsparing in his blame. He was very kind to me,
+but was a man very difficult to live with on the intimate terms which
+necessarily followed from our messing by ourselves in the same cabin. We had
+several quarrels; for instance, early in the voyage at Bahia, in Brazil, he
+defended and praised slavery, which I abominated, and told me that he had just
+visited a great slave-owner, who had called up many of his slaves and asked
+them whether they were happy, and whether they wished to be free, and all
+answered &ldquo;No.&rdquo; I then asked him, perhaps with a sneer, whether he
+thought that the answer of slaves in the presence of their master was worth
+anything? This made him excessively angry, and he said that as I doubted his
+word we could not live any longer together. I thought that I should have been
+compelled to leave the ship; but as soon as the news spread, which it did
+quickly, as the captain sent for the first lieutenant to assuage his anger by
+abusing me, I was deeply gratified by receiving an invitation from all the
+gun-room officers to mess with them. But after a few hours Fitz-Roy showed his
+usual magnanimity by sending an officer to me with an apology and a request
+that I would continue to live with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His character was in several respects one of the most noble which I have ever
+known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; has been by far the most important event
+in my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so small a
+circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to Shrewsbury, which
+few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose. I
+have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education
+of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history,
+and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were always fairly
+developed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more
+important, as reasoning here comes into play. On first examining a new district
+nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but by recording the
+stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils at many points, always
+reasoning and predicting what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to
+dawn on the district, and the structure of the whole becomes more or less
+intelligible. I had brought with me the first volume of Lyell&rsquo;s
+&lsquo;Principles of Geology,&rsquo; which I studied attentively; and the book
+was of the highest service to me in many ways. The very first place which I
+examined, namely St. Jago in the Cape de Verde islands, showed me clearly the
+wonderful superiority of Lyell&rsquo;s manner of treating geology, compared
+with that of any other author, whose works I had with me or ever afterwards
+read.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes, briefly
+describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine ones; but from not being
+able to draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical knowledge, a great pile
+of MS. which I made during the voyage has proved almost useless. I thus lost
+much time, with the exception of that spent in acquiring some knowledge of the
+Crustaceans, as this was of service when in after years I undertook a monograph
+of the Cirripedia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During some part of the day I wrote my Journal, and took much pains in
+describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen; and this was good
+practice. My Journal served also, in part, as letters to my home, and portions
+were sent to England whenever there was an opportunity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with
+the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated attention to whatever I was
+engaged in, which I then acquired. Everything about which I thought or read was
+made to bear directly on what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit
+of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it
+was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually
+preponderated over every other taste. During the first two years my old passion
+for shooting survived in nearly full force, and I shot myself all the birds and
+animals for my collection; but gradually I gave up my gun more and more, and
+finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my work, more
+especially with making out the geological structure of a country. I discovered,
+though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and
+reasoning was a much higher one than that of skill and sport. That my mind
+became developed through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by
+a remark made by my father, who was the most acute observer whom I ever saw, of
+a sceptical disposition, and far from being a believer in phrenology; for on
+first seeing me after the voyage, he turned round to my sisters, and exclaimed,
+&ldquo;Why, the shape of his head is quite altered.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return to the voyage. On September 11th (1831), I paid a flying visit with
+Fitz-Roy to the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; at Plymouth. Thence to Shrewsbury to wish
+my father and sisters a long farewell. On October 24th I took up my residence
+at Plymouth, and remained there until December 27th, when the
+&ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; finally left the shores of England for her
+circumnavigation of the world. We made two earlier attempts to sail, but were
+driven back each time by heavy gales. These two months at Plymouth were the
+most miserable which I ever spent, though I exerted myself in various ways. I
+was out of spirits at the thought of leaving all my family and friends for so
+long a time, and the weather seemed to me inexpressibly gloomy. I was also
+troubled with palpitation and pain about the heart, and like many a young
+ignorant man, especially one with a smattering of medical knowledge, was
+convinced that I had heart disease. I did not consult any doctor, as I fully
+expected to hear the verdict that I was not fit for the voyage, and I was
+resolved to go at all hazards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I need not here refer to the events of the voyage&mdash;where we went and what
+we did&mdash;as I have given a sufficiently full account in my published
+Journal. The glories of the vegetation of the Tropics rise before my mind at
+the present time more vividly than anything else; though the sense of
+sublimity, which the great deserts of Patagonia and the forest-clad mountains
+of Tierra del Fuego excited in me, has left an indelible impression on my mind.
+The sight of a naked savage in his native land is an event which can never be
+forgotten. Many of my excursions on horseback through wild countries, or in the
+boats, some of which lasted several weeks, were deeply interesting: their
+discomfort and some degree of danger were at that time hardly a drawback, and
+none at all afterwards. I also reflect with high satisfaction on some of my
+scientific work, such as solving the problem of coral islands, and making out
+the geological structure of certain islands, for instance, St. Helena. Nor must
+I pass over the discovery of the singular relations of the animals and plants
+inhabiting the several islands of the Galapagos archipelago, and of all of them
+to the inhabitants of South America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during the voyage from
+the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few
+facts to the great mass of facts in Natural Science. But I was also ambitious
+to take a fair place among scientific men,&mdash;whether more ambitious or less
+so than most of my fellow-workers, I can form no opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The geology of St. Jago is very striking, yet simple: a stream of lava formerly
+flowed over the bed of the sea, formed of triturated recent shells and corals,
+which it has baked into a hard white rock. Since then the whole island has been
+upheaved. But the line of white rock revealed to me a new and important fact,
+namely, that there had been afterwards subsidence round the craters, which had
+since been in action, and had poured forth lava. It then first dawned on me
+that I might perhaps write a book on the geology of the various countries
+visited, and this made me thrill with delight. That was a memorable hour to me,
+and how distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff of lava beneath which I
+rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert plants growing near, and
+with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet. Later in the voyage, Fitz-Roy
+asked me to read some of my Journal, and declared it would be worth publishing;
+so here was a second book in prospect!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at Ascension, in
+which my sisters told me that Sedgwick had called on my father, and said that I
+should take a place among the leading scientific men. I could not at the time
+understand how he could have learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I
+believe afterwards) that Henslow had read some of the letters which I wrote to
+him before the Philosophical Society of Cambridge (Read at the meeting held
+November 16, 1835, and printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for distribution among
+the members of the Society.), and had printed them for private distribution. My
+collection of fossil bones, which had been sent to Henslow, also excited
+considerable attention amongst palaeontologists. After reading this letter, I
+clambered over the mountains of Ascension with a bounding step, and made the
+volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer. All this shows how ambitious
+I was; but I think that I can say with truth that in after years, though I
+cared in the highest degree for the approbation of such men as Lyell and
+Hooker, who were my friends, I did not care much about the general public. I do
+not mean to say that a favourable review or a large sale of my books did not
+please me greatly, but the pleasure was a fleeting one, and I am sure that I
+have never turned one inch out of my course to gain fame.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"></a>
+FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE (JANUARY 29, 1839.)</h2>
+
+<p>
+These two years and three months were the most active ones which I ever spent,
+though I was occasionally unwell, and so lost some time. After going backwards
+and forwards several times between Shrewsbury, Maer, Cambridge, and London, I
+settled in lodgings at Cambridge (In Fitzwilliam Street.) on December 13th,
+where all my collections were under the care of Henslow. I stayed here three
+months, and got my minerals and rocks examined by the aid of Professor Miller.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I began preparing my &lsquo;Journal of Travels,&rsquo; which was not hard work,
+as my MS. Journal had been written with care, and my chief labour was making an
+abstract of my more interesting scientific results. I sent also, at the request
+of Lyell, a short account of my observations on the elevation of the coast of
+Chile to the Geological Society. (&lsquo;Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pages
+446-449.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On March 7th, 1837, I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street in London, and
+remained there for nearly two years, until I was married. During these two
+years I finished my Journal, read several papers before the Geological Society,
+began preparing the MS. for my &lsquo;Geological Observations,&rsquo; and
+arranged for the publication of the &lsquo;Zoology of the Voyage of the
+&ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;.&rsquo; In July I opened my first note-book for facts in
+relation to the Origin of Species, about which I had long reflected, and never
+ceased working for the next twenty years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During these two years I also went a little into society, and acted as one of
+the honorary secretaries of the Geological Society. I saw a great deal of
+Lyell. One of his chief characteristics was his sympathy with the work of
+others, and I was as much astonished as delighted at the interest which he
+showed when, on my return to England, I explained to him my views on coral
+reefs. This encouraged me greatly, and his advice and example had much
+influence on me. During this time I saw also a good deal of Robert Brown; I
+used often to call and sit with him during his breakfast on Sunday mornings,
+and he poured forth a rich treasure of curious observations and acute remarks,
+but they almost always related to minute points, and he never with me discussed
+large or general questions in science.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During these two years I took several short excursions as a relaxation, and one
+longer one to the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, an account of which was published
+in the &lsquo;Philosophical Transactions.&rsquo; (1839, pages 39-82.) This
+paper was a great failure, and I am ashamed of it. Having been deeply impressed
+with what I had seen of the elevation of the land of South America, I
+attributed the parallel lines to the action of the sea; but I had to give up
+this view when Agassiz propounded his glacier-lake theory. Because no other
+explanation was possible under our then state of knowledge, I argued in favour
+of sea-action; and my error has been a good lesson to me never to trust in
+science to the principle of exclusion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I was not able to work all day at science, I read a good deal during these
+two years on various subjects, including some metaphysical books; but I was not
+well fitted for such studies. About this time I took much delight in
+Wordsworth&rsquo;s and Coleridge&rsquo;s poetry; and can boast that I read the
+&lsquo;Excursion&rsquo; twice through. Formerly Milton&rsquo;s &lsquo;Paradise
+Lost&rsquo; had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage
+of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;, when I could take only a single volume, I always
+chose Milton.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"></a>
+FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER STREET,
+TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14, 1842.</h2>
+
+<p>
+(After speaking of his happy married life, and of his children, he
+continues:&mdash;)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the three years and eight months whilst we resided in London, I did less
+scientific work, though I worked as hard as I possibly could, than during any
+other equal length of time in my life. This was owing to frequently recurring
+unwellness, and to one long and serious illness. The greater part of my time,
+when I could do anything, was devoted to my work on &lsquo;Coral Reefs,&rsquo;
+which I had begun before my marriage, and of which the last proof-sheet was
+corrected on May 6th, 1842. This book, though a small one, cost me twenty
+months of hard work, as I had to read every work on the islands of the Pacific
+and to consult many charts. It was thought highly of by scientific men, and the
+theory therein given is, I think, now well established.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for the whole
+theory was thought out on the west coast of South America, before I had seen a
+true coral reef. I had therefore only to verify and extend my views by a
+careful examination of living reefs. But it should be observed that I had
+during the two previous years been incessantly attending to the effects on the
+shores of South America of the intermittent elevation of the land, together
+with denudation and the deposition of sediment. This necessarily led me to
+reflect much on the effects of subsidence, and it was easy to replace in
+imagination the continued deposition of sediment by the upward growth of
+corals. To do this was to form my theory of the formation of barrier-reefs and
+atolls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Besides my work on coral-reefs, during my residence in London, I read before
+the Geological Society papers on the Erratic Boulders of South America
+(&lsquo;Geolog. Soc. Proc.&rsquo; iii. 1842.), on Earthquakes (&lsquo;Geolog.
+Trans. v. 1840.), and on the Formation by the Agency of Earth-worms of Mould.
+(&lsquo;Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838.) I also continued to superintend the
+publication of the &lsquo;Zoology of the Voyage of the
+&ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;.&rsquo; Nor did I ever intermit collecting facts bearing
+on the origin of species; and I could sometimes do this when I could do nothing
+else from illness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the summer of 1842 I was stronger than I had been for some time, and took a
+little tour by myself in North Wales, for the sake of observing the effects of
+the old glaciers which formerly filled all the larger valleys. I published a
+short account of what I saw in the &lsquo;Philosophical Magazine.&rsquo;
+(&lsquo;Philosophical Magazine,&rsquo; 1842.) This excursion interested me
+greatly, and it was the last time I was ever strong enough to climb mountains
+or to take long walks such as are necessary for geological work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the early part of our life in London, I was strong enough to go into
+general society, and saw a good deal of several scientific men, and other more
+or less distinguished men. I will give my impressions with respect to some of
+them, though I have little to say worth saying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after my marriage.
+His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound
+judgment, and a good deal of originality. When I made any remark to him on
+Geology, he never rested until he saw the whole case clearly, and often made me
+see it more clearly than I had done before. He would advance all possible
+objections to my suggestion, and even after these were exhausted would long
+remain dubious. A second characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work
+of other scientific men. (The slight repetition here observable is accounted
+for by the notes on Lyell, etc., having been added in April, 1881, a few years
+after the rest of the &lsquo;Recollections&rsquo; were written.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On my return from the voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;, I explained to him my
+views on coral-reefs, which differed from his, and I was greatly surprised and
+encouraged by the vivid interest which he showed. His delight in science was
+ardent, and he felt the keenest interest in the future progress of mankind. He
+was very kind-hearted, and thoroughly liberal in his religious beliefs, or
+rather disbeliefs; but he was a strong theist. His candour was highly
+remarkable. He exhibited this by becoming a convert to the Descent theory,
+though he had gained much fame by opposing Lamarck&rsquo;s views, and this
+after he had grown old. He reminded me that I had many years before said to
+him, when discussing the opposition of the old school of geologists to his new
+views, &ldquo;What a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die
+when sixty years old, as afterwards he would be sure to oppose all new
+doctrines.&rdquo; But he hoped that now he might be allowed to live.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyell&mdash;more so, as I
+believe, than to any other man who ever lived. When [I was] starting on the
+voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;, the sagacious Henslow, who, like all other
+geologists, believed at that time in successive cataclysms, advised me to get
+and study the first volume of the &lsquo;Principles,&rsquo; which had then just
+been published, but on no account to accept the views therein advocated. How
+differently would anyone now speak of the &lsquo;Principles&rsquo;! I am proud
+to remember that the first place, namely, St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde
+archipelago, in which I geologised, convinced me of the infinite superiority of
+Lyell&rsquo;s views over those advocated in any other work known to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The powerful effects of Lyell&rsquo;s works could formerly be plainly seen in
+the different progress of the science in France and England. The present total
+oblivion of Elie de Beaumont&rsquo;s wild hypotheses, such as his
+&lsquo;Craters of Elevation&rsquo; and &lsquo;Lines of Elevation&rsquo; (which
+latter hypothesis I heard Sedgwick at the Geological Society lauding to the
+skies), may be largely attributed to Lyell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I saw a good deal of Robert Brown, &ldquo;facile Princeps Botanicorum,&rdquo;
+as he was called by Humboldt. He seemed to me to be chiefly remarkable for the
+minuteness of his observations, and their perfect accuracy. His knowledge was
+extraordinarily great, and much died with him, owing to his excessive fear of
+ever making a mistake. He poured out his knowledge to me in the most unreserved
+manner, yet was strangely jealous on some points. I called on him two or three
+times before the voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo;, and on one occasion he
+asked me to look through a microscope and describe what I saw. This I did, and
+believe now that it was the marvellous currents of protoplasm in some vegetable
+cell. I then asked him what I had seen; but he answered me, &ldquo;That is my
+little secret.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was capable of the most generous actions. When old, much out of health, and
+quite unfit for any exertion, he daily visited (as Hooker told me) an old
+man-servant, who lived at a distance (and whom he supported), and read aloud to
+him. This is enough to make up for any degree of scientific penuriousness or
+jealousy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I have occasionally seen, but
+I have little to say about them worth saying. I felt a high reverence for Sir
+J. Herschel, and was delighted to dine with him at his charming house at the
+Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards at his London house. I saw him, also, on a
+few other occasions. He never talked much, but every word which he uttered was
+worth listening to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison&rsquo;s house the illustrious
+Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing a wish to see me. I was a little
+disappointed with the great man, but my anticipations probably were too high. I
+can remember nothing distinctly about our interview, except that Humboldt was
+very cheerful and talked much.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;reminds me of Buckle whom I once met at Hensleigh Wedgwood&rsquo;s. I
+was very glad to learn from him his system of collecting facts. He told me that
+he bought all the books which he read, and made a full index, to each, of the
+facts which he thought might prove serviceable to him, and that he could always
+remember in what book he had read anything, for his memory was wonderful. I
+asked him how at first he could judge what facts would be serviceable, and he
+answered that he did not know, but that a sort of instinct guided him. From
+this habit of making indices, he was enabled to give the astonishing number of
+references on all sorts of subjects, which may be found in his &lsquo;History
+of Civilisation.&rsquo; This book I thought most interesting, and read it
+twice, but I doubt whether his generalisations are worth anything. Buckle was a
+great talker, and I listened to him saying hardly a word, nor indeed could I
+have done so for he left no gaps. When Mrs. Farrer began to sing, I jumped up
+and said that I must listen to her; after I had moved away he turned around to
+a friend and said (as was overheard by my brother), &ldquo;Well, Mr.
+Darwin&rsquo;s books are much better than his conversation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of other great literary men, I once met Sydney Smith at Dean Milman&rsquo;s
+house. There was something inexplicably amusing in every word which he uttered.
+Perhaps this was partly due to the expectation of being amused. He was talking
+about Lady Cork, who was then extremely old. This was the lady who, as he said,
+was once so much affected by one of his charity sermons, that she
+<i>borrowed</i> a guinea from a friend to put in the plate. He now said
+&ldquo;It is generally believed that my dear old friend Lady Cork has been
+overlooked,&rdquo; and he said this in such a manner that no one could for a
+moment doubt that he meant that his dear old friend had been overlooked by the
+devil. How he managed to express this I know not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I likewise once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope&rsquo;s (the historian&rsquo;s)
+house, and as there was only one other man at dinner, I had a grand opportunity
+of hearing him converse, and he was very agreeable. He did not talk at all too
+much; nor indeed could such a man talk too much, as long as he allowed others
+to turn the stream of his conversation, and this he did allow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy and fulness
+of Macaulay&rsquo;s memory: many historians used often to meet at Lord
+Stanhope&rsquo;s house, and in discussing various subjects they would sometimes
+differ from Macaulay, and formerly they often referred to some book to see who
+was right; but latterly, as Lord Stanhope noticed, no historian ever took this
+trouble, and whatever Macaulay said was final.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope&rsquo;s house, one of his parties of
+historians and other literary men, and amongst them were Motley and Grote.
+After luncheon I walked about Chevening Park for nearly an hour with Grote, and
+was much interested by his conversation and pleased by the simplicity and
+absence of all pretension in his manners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long ago I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of the historian;
+he was a strange man, but what little I knew of him I liked much. He was frank,
+genial, and pleasant. He had strongly marked features, with a brown complexion,
+and his clothes, when I saw him, were all brown. He seemed to believe in
+everything which was to others utterly incredible. He said one day to me,
+&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you give up your fiddle-faddle of geology and zoology,
+and turn to the occult sciences!&rdquo; The historian, then Lord Mahon, seemed
+shocked at such a speech to me, and his charming wife much amused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several times at my
+brother&rsquo;s house, and two or three times at my own house. His talk was
+very racy and interesting, just like his writings, but he sometimes went on too
+long on the same subject. I remember a funny dinner at my brother&rsquo;s,
+where, amongst a few others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of whom liked to
+talk. Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing during the whole
+dinner on the advantages of silence. After dinner Babbage, in his grimmest
+manner, thanked Carlyle for his very interesting lecture on silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Carlyle sneered at almost every one: one day in my house he called
+Grote&rsquo;s &lsquo;History&rsquo; &ldquo;a fetid quagmire, with nothing
+spiritual about it.&rdquo; I always thought, until his
+&lsquo;Reminiscences&rsquo; appeared, that his sneers were partly jokes, but
+this now seems rather doubtful. His expression was that of a depressed, almost
+despondent yet benevolent man; and it is notorious how heartily he laughed. I
+believe that his benevolence was real, though stained by not a little jealousy.
+No one can doubt about his extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things
+and men&mdash;far more vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay.
+Whether his pictures of men were true ones is another question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He has been all-powerful in impressing some grand moral truths on the minds of
+men. On the other hand, his views about slavery were revolting. In his eyes
+might was right. His mind seemed to me a very narrow one; even if all branches
+of science, which he despised, are excluded. It is astonishing to me that
+Kingsley should have spoken of him as a man well fitted to advance science. He
+laughed to scorn the idea that a mathematician, such as Whewell, could judge,
+as I maintained he could, of Goethe&rsquo;s views on light. He thought it a
+most ridiculous thing that any one should care whether a glacier moved a little
+quicker or a little slower, or moved at all. As far as I could judge, I never
+met a man with a mind so ill adapted for scientific research.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the meetings of
+several scientific societies, and acted as secretary to the Geological Society.
+But such attendance, and ordinary society, suited my health so badly that we
+resolved to live in the country, which we both preferred and have never
+repented of.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"></a>
+RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876.</h2>
+
+<p>
+After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we found this house
+and purchased it. I was pleased with the diversified appearance of vegetation
+proper to a chalk district, and so unlike what I had been accustomed to in the
+Midland counties; and still more pleased with the extreme quietness and
+rusticity of the place. It is not, however, quite so retired a place as a
+writer in a German periodical makes it, who says that my house can be
+approached only by a mule-track! Our fixing ourselves here has answered
+admirably in one way, which we did not anticipate, namely, by being very
+convenient for frequent visits from our children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done. Besides short
+visits to the houses of relations, and occasionally to the seaside or
+elsewhere, we have gone nowhere. During the first part of our residence we went
+a little into society, and received a few friends here; but my health almost
+always suffered from the excitement, violent shivering and vomiting attacks
+being thus brought on. I have therefore been compelled for many years to give
+up all dinner-parties; and this has been somewhat of a deprivation to me, as
+such parties always put me into high spirits. From the same cause I have been
+able to invite here very few scientific acquaintances.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life has been scientific
+work; and the excitement from such work makes me for the time forget, or drives
+quite away, my daily discomfort. I have therefore nothing to record during the
+rest of my life, except the publication of my several books. Perhaps a few
+details how they arose may be worth giving.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"></a>
+MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.</h2>
+
+<p>
+In the early part of 1844, my observations on the volcanic islands visited
+during the voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; were published. In 1845, I took
+much pains in correcting a new edition of my &lsquo;Journal of
+Researches,&rsquo; which was originally published in 1839 as part of
+Fitz-Roy&rsquo;s work. The success of this, my first literary child, always
+tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books. Even to this day it
+sells steadily in England and the United States, and has been translated for
+the second time into German, and into French and other languages. This success
+of a book of travels, especially of a scientific one, so many years after its
+first publication, is surprising. Ten thousand copies have been sold in England
+of the second edition. In 1846 my &lsquo;Geological Observations on South
+America&rsquo; were published. I record in a little diary, which I have always
+kept, that my three geological books (&lsquo;Coral Reefs&rsquo; included)
+consumed four and a half years&rsquo; steady work; &ldquo;and now it is ten
+years since my return to England. How much time have I lost by illness?&rdquo;
+I have nothing to say about these three books except that to my surprise new
+editions have lately been called for. (&lsquo;Geological Observations,&rsquo;
+2nd Edit.1876. &lsquo;Coral Reefs,&rsquo; 2nd Edit. 1874.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In October, 1846, I began to work on &lsquo;Cirripedia.&rsquo; When on the
+coast of Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into the shells of
+Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that I had to
+form a new sub-order for its sole reception. Lately an allied burrowing genus
+has been found on the shores of Portugal. To understand the structure of my new
+Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many of the common forms; and this
+gradually led me on to take up the whole group. I worked steadily on this
+subject for the next eight years, and ultimately published two thick volumes
+(Published by the Ray Society.), describing all the known living species, and
+two thin quartos on the extinct species. I do not doubt that Sir E. Lytton
+Bulwer had me in his mind when he introduced in one of his novels a Professor
+Long, who had written two huge volumes on limpets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although I was employed during eight years on this work, yet I record in my
+diary that about two years out of this time was lost by illness. On this
+account I went in 1848 for some months to Malvern for hydropathic treatment,
+which did me much good, so that on my return home I was able to resume work. So
+much was I out of health that when my dear father died on November 13th, 1848,
+I was unable to attend his funeral or to act as one of his executors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as besides
+describing several new and remarkable forms, I made out the homologies of the
+various parts&mdash;I discovered the cementing apparatus, though I blundered
+dreadfully about the cement glands&mdash;and lastly I proved the existence in
+certain genera of minute males complemental to and parasitic on the
+hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has at last been fully confirmed; though
+at one time a German writer was pleased to attribute the whole account to my
+fertile imagination. The Cirripedes form a highly varying and difficult group
+of species to class; and my work was of considerable use to me, when I had to
+discuss in the &lsquo;Origin of Species&rsquo; the principles of a natural
+classification. Nevertheless, I doubt whether the work was worth the
+consumption of so much time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile of notes,
+to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the transmutation of species.
+During the voyage of the &ldquo;Beagle&rdquo; I had been deeply impressed by
+discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil animals covered with armour
+like that on the existing armadillos; secondly, by the manner in which closely
+allied animals replace one another in proceeding southwards over the Continent;
+and thirdly, by the South American character of most of the productions of the
+Galapagos archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ
+slightly on each island of the group; none of the islands appearing to be very
+ancient in a geological sense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could only be
+explained on the supposition that species gradually become modified; and the
+subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that neither the action of the
+surrounding conditions, nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case
+of plants) could account for the innumerable cases in which organisms of every
+kind are beautifully adapted to their habits of life&mdash;for instance, a
+woodpecker or a tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or
+plumes. I had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these
+could be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by
+indirect evidence that species have been modified.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of
+Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the
+variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light
+might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first note-book was opened in
+July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory
+collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with respect to
+domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by conversation with skilful
+breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading. When I see the list of books
+of all kinds which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals
+and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that
+selection was the keystone of man&rsquo;s success in making useful races of
+animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms living in a
+state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic
+enquiry, I happened to read for amusement &lsquo;Malthus on Population,&rsquo;
+and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which
+everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and
+plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable
+variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed.
+The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at
+last got a theory by which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice,
+that I determined not for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it. In
+June 1842 I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief
+abstract of my theory in pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the
+summer of 1844 into one of 230 pages, which I had fairly copied out and still
+possess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is
+astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg, how I could
+have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the tendency in organic
+beings descended from the same stock to diverge in character as they become
+modified. That they have diverged greatly is obvious from the manner in which
+species of all kinds can be classed under genera, genera under families,
+families under sub-orders and so forth; and I can remember the very spot in the
+road, whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me; and
+this was long after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the
+modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become adapted
+to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty fully, and I began
+at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as that which was
+afterwards followed in my &lsquo;Origin of Species;&rsquo; yet it was only an
+abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got through about half
+the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, for early in the summer
+of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay archipelago, sent me an essay
+&ldquo;On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original
+Type;&rdquo; and this essay contained exactly the same theory as mine. Mr.
+Wallace expressed the wish that if I thought well of his essay, I should sent
+it to Lyell for perusal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell and Hooker to
+allow of an abstract from my MS., together with a letter to Asa Gray, dated
+September 5, 1857, to be published at the same time with Wallace&rsquo;s Essay,
+are given in the &lsquo;Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean
+Society,&rsquo; 1858, page 45. I was at first very unwilling to consent, as I
+thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I did not
+then know how generous and noble was his disposition. The extract from my MS.
+and the letter to Asa Gray had neither been intended for publication, and were
+badly written. Mr. Wallace&rsquo;s essay, on the other hand, was admirably
+expressed and quite clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very
+little attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember
+was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was new in
+them was false, and what was true was old. This shows how necessary it is that
+any new view should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse
+public attention.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and Hooker to
+prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was often interrupted by
+ill-health, and short visits to Dr. Lane&rsquo;s delightful hydropathic
+establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the MS. begun on a much larger scale
+in 1856, and completed the volume on the same reduced scale. It cost me
+thirteen months and ten days&rsquo; hard labour. It was published under the
+title of the &lsquo;Origin of Species,&rsquo; in November 1859. Though
+considerably added to and corrected in the later editions, it has remained
+substantially the same book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly
+successful. The first small edition of 1250 copies was sold on the day of
+publication, and a second edition of 3000 copies soon afterwards. Sixteen
+thousand copies have now (1876) been sold in England; and considering how stiff
+a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been translated into almost every
+European tongue, even into such languages as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and
+Russian. It has also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese
+(Miss Bird is mistaken, as I learn from Prof. Mitsukuri.&mdash;F.D.), and is
+there much studied. Even an essay in Hebrew has appeared on it, showing that
+the theory is contained in the Old Testament! The reviews were very numerous;
+for some time I collected all that appeared on the &lsquo;Origin&rsquo; and on
+my related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper reviews) to 265; but
+after a time I gave up the attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books
+on the subject have appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on
+&ldquo;Darwinismus&rdquo; has appeared every year or two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The success of the &lsquo;Origin&rsquo; may, I think, be attributed in large
+part to my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having
+finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an abstract. By
+this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts and conclusions. I
+had, also, during many years followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a
+published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed
+to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for
+I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to
+escape from the memory than favourable ones. Owing to this habit, very few
+objections were raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and
+attempted to answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has sometimes been said that the success of the &lsquo;Origin&rsquo; proved
+&ldquo;that the subject was in the air,&rdquo; or &ldquo;that men&rsquo;s minds
+were prepared for it.&rdquo; I do not think that this is strictly true, for I
+occasionally sounded not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a
+single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and
+Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to agree. I
+tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by Natural Selection,
+but signally failed. What I believe was strictly true is that innumerable
+well-observed facts were stored in the minds of naturalists ready to take their
+proper places as soon as any theory which would receive them was sufficiently
+explained. Another element in the success of the book was its moderate size;
+and this I owe to the appearance of Mr. Wallace&rsquo;s essay; had I published
+on the scale in which I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four
+or five times as large as the &lsquo;Origin,&rsquo; and very few would have had
+the patience to read it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the theory was
+clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I cared very little
+whether men attributed most originality to me or Wallace; and his essay no
+doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I was forestalled in only one
+important point, which my vanity has always made me regret, namely, the
+explanation by means of the Glacial period of the presence of the same species
+of plants and of some few animals on distant mountain summits and in the arctic
+regions. This view pleased me so much that I wrote it out in extenso, and I
+believe that it was read by Hooker some years before E. Forbes published his
+celebrated memoir (&lsquo;Geolog. Survey Mem.,&rsquo; 1846.) on the subject. In
+the very few points in which we differed, I still think that I was in the
+right. I have never, of course, alluded in print to my having independently
+worked out this view.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work on the
+&lsquo;Origin,&rsquo; as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes
+between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of the
+embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as far as I
+remember, in the early reviews of the &lsquo;Origin,&rsquo; and I recollect
+expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late years
+several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Muller and Hackel, who
+undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully, and in some respects more
+correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter on the subject, and I
+ought to have made the discussion longer; for it is clear that I failed to
+impress my readers; and he who succeeds in doing so deserves, in my opinion,
+all the credit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated honestly by my
+reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as not worthy of
+notice. My views have often been grossly misrepresented, bitterly opposed and
+ridiculed, but this has been generally done, as I believe, in good faith. On
+the whole I do not doubt that my works have been over and over again greatly
+overpraised. I rejoice that I have avoided controversies, and this I owe to
+Lyell, who many years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly
+advised me never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good
+and caused a miserable loss of time and temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has been
+imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even when I have
+been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been my greatest
+comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that &ldquo;I have worked as hard
+and as well as I could, and no man can do more than this.&rdquo; I remember
+when in Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego, thinking (and, I believe, that I
+wrote home to the effect) that I could not employ my life better than in adding
+a little to Natural Science. This I have done to the best of my abilities, and
+critics may say what they like, but they cannot destroy this conviction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the two last months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a second
+edition of the &lsquo;Origin,&rsquo; and by an enormous correspondence. On
+January 1st, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the
+&lsquo;Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication;&rsquo; but it was
+not published until the beginning of 1868; the delay having been caused partly
+by frequent illnesses, one of which lasted seven months, and partly by being
+tempted to publish on other subjects which at the time interested me more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On May 15th, 1862, my little book on the &lsquo;Fertilisation of
+Orchids,&rsquo; which cost me ten months&rsquo; work, was published: most of
+the facts had been slowly accumulated during several previous years. During the
+summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend
+to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come
+to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that crossing
+played an important part in keeping specific forms constant. I attended to the
+subject more or less during every subsequent summer; and my interest in it was
+greatly enhanced by having procured and read in November 1841, through the
+advice of Robert Brown, a copy of C.K. Sprengel&rsquo;s wonderful book,
+&lsquo;Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur.&rsquo; For some years before 1862 I
+had specially attended to the fertilisation of our British orchids; and it
+seemed to me the best plan to prepare as complete a treatise on this group of
+plants as well as I could, rather than to utilise the great mass of matter
+which I had slowly collected with respect to other plants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My resolve proved a wise one; for since the appearance of my book, a surprising
+number of papers and separate works on the fertilisation of all kinds of
+flowers have appeared: and these are far better done than I could possibly have
+effected. The merits of poor old Sprengel, so long overlooked, are now fully
+recognised many years after his death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the same year I published in the &lsquo;Journal of the Linnean
+Society&rsquo; a paper &ldquo;On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition of
+Primula,&rdquo; and during the next five years, five other papers on dimorphic
+and trimorphic plants. I do not think anything in my scientific life has given
+me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the structure of these
+plants. I had noticed in 1838 or 1839 the dimorphism of Linum flavum, and had
+at first thought that it was merely a case of unmeaning variability. But on
+examining the common species of Primula I found that the two forms were much
+too regular and constant to be thus viewed. I therefore became almost convinced
+that the common cowslip and primrose were on the high road to become
+dioecious;&mdash;that the short pistil in the one form, and the short stamens
+in the other form were tending towards abortion. The plants were therefore
+subjected under this point of view to trial; but as soon as the flowers with
+short pistils fertilised with pollen from the short stamens, were found to
+yield more seeds than any other of the four possible unions, the
+abortion-theory was knocked on the head. After some additional experiment, it
+became evident that the two forms, though both were perfect hermaphrodites,
+bore almost the same relation to one another as do the two sexes of an ordinary
+animal. With Lythrum we have the still more wonderful case of three forms
+standing in a similar relation to one another. I afterwards found that the
+offspring from the union of two plants belonging to the same forms presented a
+close and curious analogy with hybrids from the union of two distinct species.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the autumn of 1864 I finished a long paper on &lsquo;Climbing Plants,&rsquo;
+and sent it to the Linnean Society. The writing of this paper cost me four
+months; but I was so unwell when I received the proof-sheets that I was forced
+to leave them very badly and often obscurely expressed. The paper was little
+noticed, but when in 1875 it was corrected and published as a separate book it
+sold well. I was led to take up this subject by reading a short paper by Asa
+Gray, published in 1858. He sent me seeds, and on raising some plants I was so
+much fascinated and perplexed by the revolving movements of the tendrils and
+stems, which movements are really very simple, though appearing at first sight
+very complex, that I procured various other kinds of climbing plants, and
+studied the whole subject. I was all the more attracted to it, from not being
+at all satisfied with the explanation which Henslow gave us in his lectures,
+about twining plants, namely, that they had a natural tendency to grow up in a
+spire. This explanation proved quite erroneous. Some of the adaptations
+displayed by Climbing Plants are as beautiful as those of Orchids for ensuring
+cross-fertilisation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My &lsquo;Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication&rsquo; was begun,
+as already stated, in the beginning of 1860, but was not published until the
+beginning of 1868. It was a big book, and cost me four years and two
+months&rsquo; hard labour. It gives all my observations and an immense number
+of facts collected from various sources, about our domestic productions. In the
+second volume the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, etc., are
+discussed as far as our present state of knowledge permits. Towards the end of
+the work I give my well-abused hypothesis of Pangenesis. An unverified
+hypothesis is of little or no value; but if anyone should hereafter be led to
+make observations by which some such hypothesis could be established, I shall
+have done good service, as an astonishing number of isolated facts can be thus
+connected together and rendered intelligible. In 1875 a second and largely
+corrected edition, which cost me a good deal of labour, was brought out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My &lsquo;Descent of Man&rsquo; was published in February, 1871. As soon as I
+had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable
+productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same
+law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own satisfaction, and
+not for a long time with any intention of publishing. Although in the
+&lsquo;Origin of Species&rsquo; the derivation of any particular species is
+never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should
+accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by the work &ldquo;light would be
+thrown on the origin of man and his history.&rdquo; It would have been useless
+and injurious to the success of the book to have paraded, without giving any
+evidence, my conviction with respect to his origin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of the
+evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such notes as I
+possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of man. I was the
+more glad to do so, as it gave me an opportunity of fully discussing sexual
+selection&mdash;a subject which had always greatly interested me. This subject,
+and that of the variation of our domestic productions, together with the causes
+and laws of variation, inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the
+sole subjects which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all
+the materials which I have collected. The &lsquo;Descent of Man&rsquo; took me
+three years to write, but then as usual some of this time was lost by ill
+health, and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other minor works.
+A second and largely corrected edition of the &lsquo;Descent&rsquo; appeared in
+1874.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My book on the &lsquo;Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals&rsquo; was
+published in the autumn of 1872. I had intended to give only a chapter on the
+subject in the &lsquo;Descent of Man,&rsquo; but as soon as I began to put my
+notes together, I saw that it would require a separate treatise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced to make
+notes on the first dawn of the various expressions which he exhibited, for I
+felt convinced, even at this early period, that the most complex and fine
+shades of expression must all have had a gradual and natural origin. During the
+summer of the following year, 1840, I read Sir C. Bell&rsquo;s admirable work
+on expression, and this greatly increased the interest which I felt in the
+subject, though I could not at all agree with his belief that various muscles
+had been specially created for the sake of expression. From this time forward I
+occasionally attended to the subject, both with respect to man and our
+domesticated animals. My book sold largely; 5267 copies having been disposed of
+on the day of publication.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the summer of 1860 I was idling and resting near Hartfield, where two
+species of Drosera abound; and I noticed that numerous insects had been
+entrapped by the leaves. I carried home some plants, and on giving them insects
+saw the movements of the tentacles, and this made me think it probable that the
+insects were caught for some special purpose. Fortunately a crucial test
+occurred to me, that of placing a large number of leaves in various nitrogenous
+and non-nitrogenous fluids of equal density; and as soon as I found that the
+former alone excited energetic movements, it was obvious that here was a fine
+new field for investigation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my experiments, and
+my book on &lsquo;Insectivorous Plants&rsquo; was published in July
+1875&mdash;that is, sixteen years after my first observations. The delay in
+this case, as with all my other books, has been a great advantage to me; for a
+man after a long interval can criticise his own work, almost as well as if it
+were that of another person. The fact that a plant should secrete, when
+properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferment, closely analogous to
+the digestive fluid of an animal, was certainly a remarkable discovery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the &lsquo;Effects of Cross and
+Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.&rsquo; This book will form a
+complement to that on the &lsquo;Fertilisation of Orchids,&rsquo; in which I
+showed how perfect were the means for cross-fertilisation, and here I shall
+show how important are the results. I was led to make, during eleven years, the
+numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere accidental observation;
+and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before my attention was
+thoroughly aroused to the remarkable fact that seedlings of self-fertilised
+parentage are inferior, even in the first generation, in height and vigour to
+seedlings of cross-fertilised parentage. I hope also to republish a revised
+edition of my book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants, together with some additional observations on allied points
+which I never have had time to arrange. My strength will then probably be
+exhausted, and I shall be ready to exclaim &ldquo;Nunc dimittis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"></a>
+WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.</h2>
+
+<p>
+&lsquo;The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation&rsquo; was published in the
+autumn of 1876; and the results there arrived at explain, as I believe, the
+endless and wonderful contrivances for the transportal of pollen from one plant
+to another of the same species. I now believe, however, chiefly from the
+observations of Hermann Muller, that I ought to have insisted more strongly
+than I did on the many adaptations for self-fertilisation; though I was well
+aware of many such adaptations. A much enlarged edition of my
+&lsquo;Fertilisation of Orchids&rsquo; was published in 1877.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this same year &lsquo;The Different Forms of Flowers, etc.,&rsquo; appeared,
+and in 1880 a second edition. This book consists chiefly of the several papers
+on Heterostyled flowers originally published by the Linnean Society, corrected,
+with much new matter added, together with observations on some other cases in
+which the same plant bears two kinds of flowers. As before remarked, no little
+discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the making out the meaning
+of heterostyled flowers. The results of crossing such flowers in an
+illegitimate manner, I believe to be very important, as bearing on the
+sterility of hybrids; although these results have been noticed by only a few
+persons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause&rsquo;s &lsquo;Life of Erasmus
+Darwin&rsquo; published, and I added a sketch of his character and habits from
+material in my possession. Many persons have been much interested by this
+little life, and I am surprised that only 800 or 900 copies were sold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank&rsquo;s assistance, our &lsquo;Power
+of Movement in Plants.&rsquo; This was a tough piece of work. The book bears
+somewhat the same relation to my little book on &lsquo;Climbing Plants,&rsquo;
+which &lsquo;Cross-Fertilisation&rsquo; did to the &lsquo;Fertilisation of
+Orchids;&rsquo; for in accordance with the principle of evolution it was
+impossible to account for climbing plants having been developed in so many
+widely different groups unless all kinds of plants possess some slight power of
+movement of an analogous kind. This I proved to be the case; and I was further
+led to a rather wide generalisation, viz. that the great and important classes
+of movements, excited by light, the attraction of gravity, etc., are all
+modified forms of the fundamental movement of circumnutation. It has always
+pleased me to exalt plants in the scale of organised beings; and I therefore
+felt an especial pleasure in showing how many and what admirably well adapted
+movements the tip of a root possesses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS. of a little book on
+&lsquo;The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms.&rsquo;
+This is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it will
+interest any readers (Between November 1881 and February 1884, 8500 copies have
+been sold.), but it has interested me. It is the completion of a short paper
+read before the Geological Society more than forty years ago, and has revived
+old geological thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and these have been
+the milestones in my life, so that little remains to be said. I am not
+conscious of any change in my mind during the last thirty years, excepting in
+one point presently to be mentioned; nor, indeed, could any change have been
+expected unless one of general deterioration. But my father lived to his
+eighty-third year with his mind as lively as ever it was, and all his faculties
+undimmed; and I hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible extent.
+I think that I have become a little more skilful in guessing right explanations
+and in devising experimental tests; but this may probably be the result of mere
+practice, and of a larger store of knowledge. I have as much difficulty as ever
+in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty has caused me a
+very great loss of time; but it has had the compensating advantage of forcing
+me to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus I have been led to
+see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at first my
+statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. Formerly I used to think
+about my sentences before writing them down; but for several years I have found
+that it saves time to scribble in a vile hand whole pages as quickly as I
+possibly can, contracting half the words; and then correct deliberately.
+Sentences thus scribbled down are often better ones than I could have written
+deliberately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will add that with my large
+books I spend a good deal of time over the general arrangement of the matter. I
+first make the rudest outline in two or three pages, and then a larger one in
+several pages, a few words or one word standing for a whole discussion or
+series of facts. Each one of these headings is again enlarged and often
+transferred before I begin to write in extenso. As in several of my books facts
+observed by others have been very extensively used, and as I have always had
+several quite distinct subjects in hand at the same time, I may mention that I
+keep from thirty to forty large portfolios, in cabinets with labelled shelves,
+into which I can at once put a detached reference or memorandum. I have bought
+many books, and at their ends I make an index of all the facts that concern my
+work; or, if the book is not my own, write out a separate abstract, and of such
+abstracts I have a large drawer full. Before beginning on any subject I look to
+all the short indexes and make a general and classified index, and by taking
+the one or more proper portfolios I have all the information collected during
+my life ready for use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during the last twenty or
+thirty years. Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds, such
+as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, gave
+me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in
+Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays. I have also said that formerly
+pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many
+years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read
+Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also
+almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking
+too energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me
+pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the
+exquisite delight which it formerly did. On the other hand, novels which are
+works of the imagination, though not of a very high order, have been for years
+a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often bless all novelists. A
+surprising number have been read aloud to me, and I like all if moderately
+good, and if they do not end unhappily&mdash;against which a law ought to be
+passed. A novel, according to my taste, does not come into the first class
+unless it contains some person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty
+woman all the better.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes is all the
+odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels (independently of any
+scientific facts which they may contain), and essays on all sorts of subjects
+interest me as much as ever they did. My mind seems to have become a kind of
+machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why
+this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which
+the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly
+organised or better constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus
+suffered; and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read
+some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the
+parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use.
+The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious
+to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the
+emotional part of our nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into many
+languages, and passed through several editions in foreign countries. I have
+heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test of its
+enduring value. I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but judged by this
+standard my name ought to last for a few years. Therefore it may be worth while
+to try to analyse the mental qualities and the conditions on which my success
+has depended; though I am aware that no man can do this correctly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some
+clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic: a paper or
+book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and it is only after
+considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to follow a
+long and purely abstract train of thought is very limited; and therefore I
+could never have succeeded with metaphysics or mathematics. My memory is
+extensive, yet hazy: it suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that
+I have observed or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing,
+or on the other hand in favour of it; and after a time I can generally
+recollect where to search for my authority. So poor in one sense is my memory,
+that I have never been able to remember for more than a few days a single date
+or a line of poetry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of my critics have said, &ldquo;Oh, he is a good observer, but he has no
+power of reasoning!&rdquo; I do not think that this can be true, for the
+&lsquo;Origin of Species&rsquo; is one long argument from the beginning to the
+end, and it has convinced not a few able men. No one could have written it
+without having some power of reasoning. I have a fair share of invention, and
+of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor
+must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am superior to the common
+run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing
+them carefully. My industry has been nearly as great as it could have been in
+the observation and collection of facts. What is far more important, my love of
+natural science has been steady and ardent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This pure love has, however, been much aided by the ambition to be esteemed by
+my fellow naturalists. From my early youth I have had the strongest desire to
+understand or explain whatever I observed,&mdash;that is, to group all facts
+under some general laws. These causes combined have given me the patience to
+reflect or ponder for any number of years over any unexplained problem. As far
+as I can judge, I am not apt to follow blindly the lead of other men. I have
+steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis,
+however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as
+soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it. Indeed, I have had no choice but
+to act in this manner, for with the exception of the Coral Reefs, I cannot
+remember a single first-formed hypothesis which had not after a time to be
+given up or greatly modified. This has naturally led me to distrust greatly
+deductive reasoning in the mixed sciences. On the other hand, I am not very
+sceptical,&mdash;a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the
+progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable
+to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few men, who, I feel
+sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or observations, which
+would have proved directly or indirectly serviceable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have known. A gentleman
+(who, as I afterwards heard, is a good local botanist) wrote to me from the
+Eastern counties that the seed or beans of the common field-bean had this year
+everywhere grown on the wrong side of the pod. I wrote back, asking for further
+information, as I did not understand what was meant; but I did not receive any
+answer for a very long time. I then saw in two newspapers, one published in
+Kent and the other in Yorkshire, paragraphs stating that it was a most
+remarkable fact that &ldquo;the beans this year had all grown on the wrong
+side.&rdquo; So I thought there must be some foundation for so general a
+statement. Accordingly, I went to my gardener, an old Kentish man, and asked
+him whether he had heard anything about it, and he answered, &ldquo;Oh, no,
+sir, it must be a mistake, for the beans grow on the wrong side only on
+leap-year, and this is not leap-year.&rdquo; I then asked him how they grew in
+common years and how on leap-years, but soon found that he knew absolutely
+nothing of how they grew at any time, but he stuck to his belief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time I heard from my first informant, who, with many apologies, said
+that he should not have written to me had he not heard the statement from
+several intelligent farmers; but that he had since spoken again to every one of
+them, and not one knew in the least what he had himself meant. So that here a
+belief&mdash;if indeed a statement with no definite idea attached to it can be
+called a belief&mdash;had spread over almost the whole of England without any
+vestige of evidence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have known in the course of my life only three intentionally falsified
+statements, and one of these may have been a hoax (and there have been several
+scientific hoaxes) which, however, took in an American Agricultural Journal. It
+related to the formation in Holland of a new breed of oxen by the crossing of
+distinct species of Bos (some of which I happen to know are sterile together),
+and the author had the impudence to state that he had corresponded with me, and
+that I had been deeply impressed with the importance of his result. The article
+was sent to me by the editor of an English Agricultural Journal, asking for my
+opinion before republishing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second case was an account of several varieties, raised by the author from
+several species of Primula, which had spontaneously yielded a full complement
+of seed, although the parent plants had been carefully protected from the
+access of insects. This account was published before I had discovered the
+meaning of heterostylism, and the whole statement must have been fraudulent, or
+there was neglect in excluding insects so gross as to be scarcely credible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third case was more curious: Mr. Huth published in his book on
+&lsquo;Consanguineous Marriage&rsquo; some long extracts from a Belgian author,
+who stated that he had interbred rabbits in the closest manner for very many
+generations, without the least injurious effects. The account was published in
+a most respectable Journal, that of the Royal Society of Belgium; but I could
+not avoid feeling doubts&mdash;I hardly know why, except that there were no
+accidents of any kind, and my experience in breeding animals made me think this
+very improbable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Beneden, asking him whether
+the author was a trustworthy man. I soon heard in answer that the Society had
+been greatly shocked by discovering that the whole account was a fraud. (The
+falseness of the published statements on which Mr. Huth relied has been pointed
+out by himself in a slip inserted in all the copies of his book which then
+remained unsold.) The writer had been publicly challenged in the Journal to say
+where he had resided and kept his large stock of rabbits while carrying on his
+experiments, which must have consumed several years, and no answer could be
+extracted from him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little use for my
+particular line of work. Lastly, I have had ample leisure from not having to
+earn my own bread. Even ill-health, though it has annihilated several years of
+my life, has saved me from the distractions of society and amusement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to,
+has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental
+qualities and conditions. Of these, the most important have been&mdash;the love
+of science&mdash;unbounded patience in long reflecting over any
+subject&mdash;industry in observing and collecting facts&mdash;and a fair share
+of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities as I
+possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a considerable
+extent the belief of scientific men on some important points.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DARWIN ***</div>
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+Project Gutenberg's The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, by Charles Darwin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
+       From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
+
+Author: Charles Darwin
+
+Editor: [Charles Darwin's son] Francis Darwin
+
+Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #2010]
+Release Date: December, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DARWIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sue Asscher
+
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DARWIN
+
+From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
+
+By Charles Darwin
+
+Edited by his Son Francis Darwin
+
+
+
+[My father's autobiographical recollections, given in the present
+chapter, were written for his children,--and written without any
+thought that they would ever be published. To many this may seem an
+impossibility; but those who knew my father will understand how it was
+not only possible, but natural. The autobiography bears the heading,
+'Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character,' and end
+with the following note:--"Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch of my life was
+begun about May 28th at Hopedene (Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in
+Surrey.), and since then I have written for nearly an hour on most
+afternoons." It will easily be understood that, in a narrative of a
+personal and intimate kind written for his wife and children, passages
+should occur which must here be omitted; and I have not thought it
+necessary to indicate where such omissions are made. It has been found
+necessary to make a few corrections of obvious verbal slips, but the
+number of such alterations has been kept down to the minimum.--F.D.]
+
+
+
+A German Editor having written to me for an account of the development
+of my mind and character with some sketch of my autobiography, I have
+thought that the attempt would amuse me, and might possibly interest
+my children or their children. I know that it would have interested me
+greatly to have read even so short and dull a sketch of the mind of my
+grandfather, written by himself, and what he thought and did, and how he
+worked. I have attempted to write the following account of myself, as if
+I were a dead man in another world looking back at my own life. Nor have
+I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with me. I have taken no
+pains about my style of writing.
+
+I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and my earliest
+recollection goes back only to when I was a few months over four years
+old, when we went to near Abergele for sea-bathing, and I recollect some
+events and places there with some little distinctness.
+
+My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old,
+and it is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her except
+her death-bed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed
+work-table. In the spring of this same year I was sent to a day-school
+in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year. I have been told that I was much
+slower in learning than my younger sister Catherine, and I believe that
+I was in many ways a naughty boy.
+
+By the time I went to this day-school (Kept by Rev. G. Case, minister of
+the Unitarian Chapel in the High Street. Mrs. Darwin was a Unitarian
+and attended Mr. Case's chapel, and my father as a little boy went there
+with his elder sisters. But both he and his brother were christened and
+intended to belong to the Church of England; and after his early boyhood
+he seems usually to have gone to church and not to Mr. Case's. It
+appears ("St. James' Gazette", Dec. 15, 1883) that a mural tablet has
+been erected to his memory in the chapel, which is now known as the
+'Free Christian Church.') my taste for natural history, and more
+especially for collecting, was well developed. I tried to make out
+the names of plants (Rev. W.A. Leighton, who was a schoolfellow of my
+father's at Mr. Case's school, remembers his bringing a flower to school
+and saying that his mother had taught him how by looking at the inside
+of the blossom the name of the plant could be discovered. Mr. Leighton
+goes on, "This greatly roused my attention and curiosity, and I enquired
+of him repeatedly how this could be done?"--but his lesson was naturally
+enough not transmissible.--F.D.), and collected all sorts of things,
+shells, seals, franks, coins, and minerals. The passion for collecting
+which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso, or a miser,
+was very strong in me, and was clearly innate, as none of my sisters or
+brother ever had this taste.
+
+One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in my
+mind, and I hope that it has done so from my conscience having been
+afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing that
+apparently I was interested at this early age in the variability of
+plants! I told another little boy (I believe it was Leighton, who
+afterwards became a well-known lichenologist and botanist), that I could
+produce variously coloured polyanthuses and primroses by watering them
+with certain coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous fable, and
+had never been tried by me. I may here also confess that as a little boy
+I was much given to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was always
+done for the sake of causing excitement. For instance, I once gathered
+much valuable fruit from my father's trees and hid it in the shrubbery,
+and then ran in breathless haste to spread the news that I had
+discovered a hoard of stolen fruit.
+
+I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first went to the
+school. A boy of the name of Garnett took me into a cake shop one day,
+and bought some cakes for which he did not pay, as the shopman trusted
+him. When we came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he
+instantly answered, "Why, do you not know that my uncle left a great
+sum of money to the town on condition that every tradesman should give
+whatever was wanted without payment to any one who wore his old hat and
+moved [it] in a particular manner?" and he then showed me how it was
+moved. He then went into another shop where he was trusted, and asked
+for some small article, moving his hat in the proper manner, and of
+course obtained it without payment. When we came out he said, "Now if
+you like to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well I remember its
+exact position) I will lend you my hat, and you can get whatever you
+like if you move the hat on your head properly." I gladly accepted the
+generous offer, and went in and asked for some cakes, moved the old hat
+and was walking out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so
+I dropped the cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being
+greeted with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett.
+
+I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this
+entirely to the instruction and example of my sisters. I doubt indeed
+whether humanity is a natural or innate quality. I was very fond of
+collecting eggs, but I never took more than a single egg out of a bird's
+nest, except on one single occasion, when I took all, not for their
+value, but from a sort of bravado.
+
+I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of hours
+on the bank of a river or pond watching the float; when at Maer (The
+house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.) I was told that I could kill the
+worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted a living
+worm, though at the expense probably of some loss of success.
+
+Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time,
+I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply from enjoying
+the sense of power; but the beating could not have been severe, for
+the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure, as the spot was near
+the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my
+remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It probably
+lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and for a long time
+afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an adept in
+robbing their love from their masters.
+
+I remember clearly only one other incident during this year whilst at
+Mr. Case's daily school,--namely, the burial of a dragoon soldier; and
+it is surprising how clearly I can still see the horse with the man's
+empty boots and carbine suspended to the saddle, and the firing over the
+grave. This scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was in me.
+
+In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler's great school in Shrewsbury,
+and remained there for seven years still Midsummer 1825, when I was
+sixteen years old. I boarded at this school, so that I had the great
+advantage of living the life of a true schoolboy; but as the distance
+was hardly more than a mile to my home, I very often ran there in the
+longer intervals between the callings over and before locking up at
+night. This, I think, was in many ways advantageous to me by keeping up
+home affections and interests. I remember in the early part of my school
+life that I often had to run very quickly to be in time, and from being
+a fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt I prayed
+earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I attributed my
+success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and marvelled how
+generally I was aided.
+
+I have heard my father and elder sister say that I had, as a very young
+boy, a strong taste for long solitary walks; but what I thought about I
+know not. I often became quite absorbed, and once, whilst returning to
+school on the summit of the old fortifications round Shrewsbury, which
+had been converted into a public foot-path with no parapet on one side,
+I walked off and fell to the ground, but the height was only seven or
+eight feet. Nevertheless the number of thoughts which passed through my
+mind during this very short, but sudden and wholly unexpected fall, was
+astonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what physiologists have, I
+believe, proved about each thought requiring quite an appreciable amount
+of time.
+
+Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than
+Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being
+taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a
+means of education to me was simply a blank. During my whole life I have
+been singularly incapable of mastering any language. Especial attention
+was paid to verse-making, and this I could never do well. I had many
+friends, and got together a good collection of old verses, which by
+patching together, sometimes aided by other boys, I could work into any
+subject. Much attention was paid to learning by heart the lessons of the
+previous day; this I could effect with great facility, learning forty or
+fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was in morning chapel; but
+this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse was forgotten
+in forty-eight hours. I was not idle, and with the exception of
+versification, generally worked conscientiously at my classics, not
+using cribs. The sole pleasure I ever received from such studies, was
+from some of the odes of Horace, which I admired greatly.
+
+When I left the school I was for my age neither high nor low in it; and
+I believe that I was considered by all my masters and by my father as a
+very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect. To my
+deep mortification my father once said to me, "You care for nothing but
+shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself
+and all your family." But my father, who was the kindest man I ever
+knew and whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been angry and
+somewhat unjust when he used such words.
+
+Looking back as well as I can at my character during my school life, the
+only qualities which at this period promised well for the future,
+were, that I had strong and diversified tastes, much zeal for whatever
+interested me, and a keen pleasure in understanding any complex subject
+or thing. I was taught Euclid by a private tutor, and I distinctly
+remember the intense satisfaction which the clear geometrical proofs
+gave me. I remember, with equal distinctness, the delight which my uncle
+gave me (the father of Francis Galton) by explaining the principle
+of the vernier of a barometer with respect to diversified tastes,
+independently of science, I was fond of reading various books, and
+I used to sit for hours reading the historical plays of Shakespeare,
+generally in an old window in the thick walls of the school. I read also
+other poetry, such as Thomson's 'Seasons,' and the recently published
+poems of Byron and Scott. I mention this because later in life I
+wholly lost, to my great regret, all pleasure from poetry of any kind,
+including Shakespeare. In connection with pleasure from poetry, I may
+add that in 1822 a vivid delight in scenery was first awakened in my
+mind, during a riding tour on the borders of Wales, and this has lasted
+longer than any other aesthetic pleasure.
+
+Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the 'Wonders of the World,'
+which I often read, and disputed with other boys about the veracity of
+some of the statements; and I believe that this book first gave me a
+wish to travel in remote countries, which was ultimately fulfilled
+by the voyage of the "Beagle". In the latter part of my school life
+I became passionately fond of shooting; I do not believe that any
+one could have shown more zeal for the most holy cause than I did for
+shooting birds. How well I remember killing my first snipe, and my
+excitement was so great that I had much difficulty in reloading my gun
+from the trembling of my hands. This taste long continued, and I became
+a very good shot. When at Cambridge I used to practise throwing up my
+gun to my shoulder before a looking-glass to see that I threw it up
+straight. Another and better plan was to get a friend to wave about a
+lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on the nipple, and if
+the aim was accurate the little puff of air would blow out the candle.
+The explosion of the cap caused a sharp crack, and I was told that the
+tutor of the college remarked, "What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr.
+Darwin seems to spend hours in cracking a horse-whip in his room, for I
+often hear the crack when I pass under his windows."
+
+I had many friends amongst the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly, and I
+think that my disposition was then very affectionate.
+
+With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with much zeal,
+but quite unscientifically--all that I cared about was a new-_named_
+mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them. I must have observed
+insects with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for
+three weeks to Plas Edwards on the sea-coast in Wales, I was very much
+interested and surprised at seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous
+insect, many moths (Zygaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in
+Shropshire. I almost made up my mind to begin collecting all the insects
+which I could find dead, for on consulting my sister I concluded that it
+was not right to kill insects for the sake of making a collection. From
+reading White's 'Selborne,' I took much pleasure in watching the
+habits of birds, and even made notes on the subject. In my simplicity I
+remember wondering why every gentleman did not become an ornithologist.
+
+Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at
+chemistry, and made a fair laboratory with proper apparatus in the
+tool-house in the garden, and I was allowed to aid him as a servant in
+most of his experiments. He made all the gases and many compounds, and
+I read with great care several books on chemistry, such as Henry and
+Parkes' 'Chemical Catechism.' The subject interested me greatly, and we
+often used to go on working till rather late at night. This was the best
+part of my education at school, for it showed me practically the meaning
+of experimental science. The fact that we worked at chemistry somehow
+got known at school, and as it was an unprecedented fact, I was
+nicknamed "Gas." I was also once publicly rebuked by the head-master,
+Dr. Butler, for thus wasting my time on such useless subjects; and he
+called me very unjustly a "poco curante," and as I did not understand
+what he meant, it seemed to me a fearful reproach.
+
+As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away at a
+rather earlier age than usual, and sent me (Oct. 1825) to Edinburgh
+University with my brother, where I stayed for two years or sessions. My
+brother was completing his medical studies, though I do not believe he
+ever really intended to practise, and I was sent there to commence
+them. But soon after this period I became convinced from various small
+circumstances that my father would leave me property enough to subsist
+on with some comfort, though I never imagined that I should be so rich a
+man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any strenuous efforts
+to learn medicine.
+
+The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and these were
+intolerably dull, with the exception of those on chemistry by Hope; but
+to my mind there are no advantages and many disadvantages in lectures
+compared with reading. Dr. Duncan's lectures on Materia Medica at 8
+o'clock on a winter's morning are something fearful to remember. Dr.----
+made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself, and the
+subject disgusted me. It has proved one of the greatest evils in my life
+that I was not urged to practise dissection, for I should soon have got
+over my disgust; and the practice would have been invaluable for all
+my future work. This has been an irremediable evil, as well as my
+incapacity to draw. I also attended regularly the clinical wards in the
+hospital. Some of the cases distressed me a good deal, and I still have
+vivid pictures before me of some of them; but I was not so foolish as to
+allow this to lessen my attendance. I cannot understand why this part
+of my medical course did not interest me in a greater degree; for during
+the summer before coming to Edinburgh I began attending some of the poor
+people, chiefly children and women in Shrewsbury: I wrote down as full
+an account as I could of the case with all the symptoms, and read them
+aloud to my father, who suggested further inquiries and advised me what
+medicines to give, which I made up myself. At one time I had at least a
+dozen patients, and I felt a keen interest in the work. My father, who
+was by far the best judge of character whom I ever knew, declared that
+I should make a successful physician,--meaning by this one who would
+get many patients. He maintained that the chief element of success was
+exciting confidence; but what he saw in me which convinced him that I
+should create confidence I know not. I also attended on two occasions
+the operating theatre in the hospital at Edinburgh, and saw two very
+bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they were
+completed. Nor did I ever attend again, for hardly any inducement would
+have been strong enough to make me do so; this being long before the
+blessed days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a
+long year.
+
+My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during the
+second year I was left to my own resources; and this was an advantage,
+for I became well acquainted with several young men fond of natural
+science. One of these was Ainsworth, who afterwards published his
+travels in Assyria; he was a Wernerian geologist, and knew a little
+about many subjects. Dr. Coldstream was a very different young man,
+prim, formal, highly religious, and most kind-hearted; he afterwards
+published some good zoological articles. A third young man was Hardie,
+who would, I think, have made a good botanist, but died early in
+India. Lastly, Dr. Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became
+acquainted with him I cannot remember; he published some first-rate
+zoological papers, but after coming to London as Professor in University
+College, he did nothing more in science, a fact which has always been
+inexplicable to me. I knew him well; he was dry and formal in manner,
+with much enthusiasm beneath this outer crust. He one day, when we were
+walking together, burst forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his
+views on evolution. I listened in silent astonishment, and as far as
+I can judge without any effect on my mind. I had previously read the
+'Zoonomia' of my grandfather, in which similar views are maintained, but
+without producing any effect on me. Nevertheless it is probable that the
+hearing rather early in life such views maintained and praised may
+have favoured my upholding them under a different form in my 'Origin of
+Species.' At this time I admired greatly the 'Zoonomia;' but on reading
+it a second time after an interval of ten or fifteen years, I was much
+disappointed; the proportion of speculation being so large to the facts
+given.
+
+Drs. Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology, and I often
+accompanied the former to collect animals in the tidal pools, which I
+dissected as well as I could. I also became friends with some of the
+Newhaven fishermen, and sometimes accompanied them when they trawled
+for oysters, and thus got many specimens. But from not having had any
+regular practice in dissection, and from possessing only a wretched
+microscope, my attempts were very poor. Nevertheless I made one
+interesting little discovery, and read, about the beginning of the year
+1826, a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society. This was
+that the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement
+by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae. In another short paper I
+showed that the little globular bodies which had been supposed to be
+the young state of Fucus loreus were the egg-cases of the wormlike
+Pontobdella muricata.
+
+The Plinian Society was encouraged and, I believe, founded by Professor
+Jameson: it consisted of students and met in an underground room in
+the University for the sake of reading papers on natural science and
+discussing them. I used regularly to attend, and the meetings had a
+good effect on me in stimulating my zeal and giving me new congenial
+acquaintances. One evening a poor young man got up, and after stammering
+for a prodigious length of time, blushing crimson, he at last slowly
+got out the words, "Mr. President, I have forgotten what I was going to
+say." The poor fellow looked quite overwhelmed, and all the members
+were so surprised that no one could think of a word to say to cover his
+confusion. The papers which were read to our little society were not
+printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of seeing my paper in print;
+but I believe Dr. Grant noticed my small discovery in his excellent
+memoir on Flustra.
+
+I was also a member of the Royal Medical Society, and attended pretty
+regularly; but as the subjects were exclusively medical, I did not much
+care about them. Much rubbish was talked there, but there were some good
+speakers, of whom the best was the present Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth. Dr.
+Grant took me occasionally to the meetings of the Wernerian Society,
+where various papers on natural history were read, discussed, and
+afterwards published in the 'Transactions.' I heard Audubon deliver
+there some interesting discourses on the habits of N. American birds,
+sneering somewhat unjustly at Waterton. By the way, a negro lived in
+Edinburgh, who had travelled with Waterton, and gained his livelihood
+by stuffing birds, which he did excellently: he gave me lessons for
+payment, and I used often to sit with him, for he was a very pleasant
+and intelligent man.
+
+Mr. Leonard Horner also took me once to a meeting of the Royal Society
+of Edinburgh, where I saw Sir Walter Scott in the chair as President,
+and he apologised to the meeting as not feeling fitted for such a
+position. I looked at him and at the whole scene with some awe and
+reverence, and I think it was owing to this visit during my youth, and
+to my having attended the Royal Medical Society, that I felt the honour
+of being elected a few years ago an honorary member of both these
+Societies, more than any other similar honour. If I had been told at
+that time that I should one day have been thus honoured, I declare that
+I should have thought it as ridiculous and improbable, as if I had been
+told that I should be elected King of England.
+
+During my second year at Edinburgh I attended ----'s lectures on
+Geology and Zoology, but they were incredibly dull. The sole effect they
+produced on me was the determination never as long as I lived to read
+a book on Geology, or in any way to study the science. Yet I feel sure
+that I was prepared for a philosophical treatment of the subject; for
+an old Mr. Cotton in Shropshire, who knew a good deal about rocks,
+had pointed out to me two or three years previously a well-known large
+erratic boulder in the town of Shrewsbury, called the "bell-stone"; he
+told me that there was no rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland
+or Scotland, and he solemnly assured me that the world would come to an
+end before any one would be able to explain how this stone came where
+it now lay. This produced a deep impression on me, and I meditated over
+this wonderful stone. So that I felt the keenest delight when I first
+read of the action of icebergs in transporting boulders, and I gloried
+in the progress of Geology. Equally striking is the fact that I, though
+now only sixty-seven years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture
+at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke, with amygdaloidal
+margins and the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all
+around us, say that it was a fissure filled with sediment from above,
+adding with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it had
+been injected from beneath in a molten condition. When I think of this
+lecture, I do not wonder that I determined never to attend to Geology.
+
+From attending ----'s lectures, I became acquainted with the curator
+of the museum, Mr. Macgillivray, who afterwards published a large
+and excellent book on the birds of Scotland. I had much interesting
+natural-history talk with him, and he was very kind to me. He gave me
+some rare shells, for I at that time collected marine mollusca, but with
+no great zeal.
+
+My summer vacations during these two years were wholly given up to
+amusements, though I always had some book in hand, which I read with
+interest. During the summer of 1826 I took a long walking tour with
+two friends with knapsacks on our backs through North wales. We walked
+thirty miles most days, including one day the ascent of Snowdon. I
+also went with my sister a riding tour in North Wales, a servant with
+saddle-bags carrying our clothes. The autumns were devoted to shooting
+chiefly at Mr. Owen's, at Woodhouse, and at my Uncle Jos's (Josiah
+Wedgwood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works.) at Maer. My zeal
+was so great that I used to place my shooting-boots open by my bed-side
+when I went to bed, so as not to lose half a minute in putting them on
+in the morning; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of the Maer
+estate, on the 20th of August for black-game shooting, before I could
+see: I then toiled on with the game-keeper the whole day through thick
+heath and young Scotch firs.
+
+I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the whole
+season. One day when shooting at Woodhouse with Captain Owen, the eldest
+son, and Major Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord Berwick, both of whom I
+liked very much, I thought myself shamefully used, for every time after
+I had fired and thought that I had killed a bird, one of the two acted
+as if loading his gun, and cried out, "You must not count that bird,
+for I fired at the same time," and the gamekeeper, perceiving the joke,
+backed them up. After some hours they told me the joke, but it was no
+joke to me, for I had shot a large number of birds, but did not know how
+many, and could not add them to my list, which I used to do by making a
+knot in a piece of string tied to a button-hole. This my wicked friends
+had perceived.
+
+How I did enjoy shooting! But I think that I must have been
+half-consciously ashamed of my zeal, for I tried to persuade myself
+that shooting was almost an intellectual employment; it required so much
+skill to judge where to find most game and to hunt the dogs well.
+
+One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting
+there Sir J. Mackintosh, who was the best converser I ever listened
+to. I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, "There
+is something in that young man that interests me." This must have been
+chiefly due to his perceiving that I listened with much interest to
+everything which he said, for I was as ignorant as a pig about his
+subjects of history, politics, and moral philosophy. To hear of praise
+from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or certain to excite vanity,
+is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in the right
+course.
+
+My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite
+delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting. Life there was
+perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding;
+and in the evening there was much very agreeable conversation, not
+so personal as it generally is in large family parties, together with
+music. In the summer the whole family used often to sit on the steps
+of the old portico, with the flower-garden in front, and with the steep
+wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake, with here and
+there a fish rising or a water-bird paddling about. Nothing has left a
+more vivid picture on my mind than these evenings at Maer. I was
+also attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and
+reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes talked openly
+with me. He was the very type of an upright man, with the clearest
+judgment. I do not believe that any power on earth could have made him
+swerve an inch from what he considered the right course. I used to apply
+to him in my mind the well-known ode of Horace, now forgotten by me, in
+which the words "nec vultus tyranni, etc.," come in.
+
+     (Justum et tenacem propositi virum
+     Non civium ardor prava jubentium
+     Non vultus instantis tyranni
+     Mente quatit solida.)
+
+
+
+
+CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.
+
+After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or
+he heard from my sisters, that I did not like the thought of being a
+physician, so he proposed that I should become a clergyman. He was very
+properly vehement against my turning into an idle sporting man, which
+then seemed my probable destination. I asked for some time to consider,
+as from what little I had heard or thought on the subject I had scruples
+about declaring my belief in all the dogmas of the Church of England;
+though otherwise I liked the thought of being a country clergyman.
+Accordingly I read with care 'Pearson on the Creed,' and a few other
+books on divinity; and as I did not then in the least doubt the strict
+and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself
+that our Creed must be fully accepted.
+
+Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it seems
+ludicrous that I once intended to be a clergyman. Nor was this intention
+and my father's wish ever formerly given up, but died a natural death
+when, on leaving Cambridge, I joined the "Beagle" as naturalist. If the
+phrenologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted in one respect to be
+a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a German psychological
+society asked me earnestly by letter for a photograph of myself; and
+some time afterwards I received the proceedings of one of the meetings,
+in which it seemed that the shape of my head had been the subject of a
+public discussion, and one of the speakers declared that I had the bump
+of reverence developed enough for ten priests.
+
+As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was necessary that I
+should go to one of the English universities and take a degree; but as
+I had never opened a classical book since leaving school, I found to
+my dismay, that in the two intervening years I had actually forgotten,
+incredible as it may appear, almost everything which I had learnt,
+even to some few of the Greek letters. I did not therefore proceed to
+Cambridge at the usual time in October, but worked with a private tutor
+in Shrewsbury, and went to Cambridge after the Christmas vacation, early
+in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard of knowledge, and could
+translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek Testament, with
+moderate facility.
+
+During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was wasted,
+as far as the academical studies were concerned, as completely as at
+Edinburgh and at school. I attempted mathematics, and even went during
+the summer of 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth,
+but I got on very slowly. The work was repugnant to me, chiefly from my
+not being able to see any meaning in the early steps in algebra. This
+impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply regretted
+that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand something of
+the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem
+to have an extra sense. But I do not believe that I should ever have
+succeeded beyond a very low grade. With respect to Classics I did
+nothing except attend a few compulsory college lectures, and the
+attendance was almost nominal. In my second year I had to work for a
+month or two to pass the Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my
+last year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of B.A.,
+and brushed up my Classics, together with a little Algebra and Euclid,
+which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did at school. In order to
+pass the B.A. examination, it was also necessary to get up Paley's
+'Evidences of Christianity,' and his 'Moral Philosophy.' This was done
+in a thorough manner, and I am convinced that I could have written out
+the whole of the 'Evidences' with perfect correctness, but not of course
+in the clear language of Paley. The logic of this book and, as I may
+add, of his 'Natural Theology,' gave me as much delight as did Euclid.
+The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part
+by rote, was the only part of the academical course which, as I then
+felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education
+of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about Paley's
+premises; and taking these on trust, I was charmed and convinced by the
+long line of argumentation. By answering well the examination questions
+in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in
+Classics, I gained a good place among the oi polloi or crowd of men who
+do not go in for honours. Oddly enough, I cannot remember how high I
+stood, and my memory fluctuates between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth,
+name on the list. (Tenth in the list of January 1831.)
+
+Public lectures on several branches were given in the University,
+attendance being quite voluntary; but I was so sickened with lectures at
+Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting
+lectures. Had I done so I should probably have become a geologist
+earlier than I did. I attended, however, Henslow's lectures on Botany,
+and liked them much for their extreme clearness, and the admirable
+illustrations; but I did not study botany. Henslow used to take his
+pupils, including several of the older members of the University, field
+excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge
+down the river, and lectured on the rarer plants and animals which were
+observed. These excursions were delightful.
+
+Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming features
+in my life at Cambridge, my time was sadly wasted there, and worse than
+wasted. From my passion for shooting and for hunting, and, when this
+failed, for riding across country, I got into a sporting set, including
+some dissipated low-minded young men. We used often to dine together in
+the evening, though these dinners often included men of a higher stamp,
+and we sometimes drank too much, with jolly singing and playing at cards
+afterwards. I know that I ought to feel ashamed of days and evenings
+thus spent, but as some of my friends were very pleasant, and we were
+all in the highest spirits, I cannot help looking back to these times
+with much pleasure.
+
+But I am glad to think that I had many other friends of a widely
+different nature. I was very intimate with Whitley (Rev. C. Whitley,
+Hon. Canon of Durham, formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy in
+Durham University.), who was afterwards Senior Wrangler, and we used
+continually to take long walks together. He inoculated me with a taste
+for pictures and good engravings, of which I bought some. I frequently
+went to the Fitzwilliam Gallery, and my taste must have been fairly
+good, for I certainly admired the best pictures, which I discussed with
+the old curator. I read also with much interest Sir Joshua Reynolds'
+book. This taste, though not natural to me, lasted for several years,
+and many of the pictures in the National Gallery in London gave me
+much pleasure; that of Sebastian del Piombo exciting in me a sense of
+sublimity.
+
+I also got into a musical set, I believe by means of my warm-hearted
+friend, Herbert (The late John Maurice Herbert, County Court Judge of
+Cardiff and the Monmouth Circuit.), who took a high wrangler's degree.
+From associating with these men, and hearing them play, I acquired a
+strong taste for music, and used very often to time my walks so as to
+hear on week days the anthem in King's College Chapel. This gave me
+intense pleasure, so that my backbone would sometimes shiver. I am sure
+that there was no affectation or mere imitation in this taste, for I
+used generally to go by myself to King's College, and I sometimes hired
+the chorister boys to sing in my rooms. Nevertheless I am so utterly
+destitute of an ear, that I cannot perceive a discord, or keep time
+and hum a tune correctly; and it is a mystery how I could possibly have
+derived pleasure from music.
+
+My musical friends soon perceived my state, and sometimes amused
+themselves by making me pass an examination, which consisted in
+ascertaining how many tunes I could recognise when they were played
+rather more quickly or slowly than usual. 'God save the King,' when thus
+played, was a sore puzzle. There was another man with almost as bad an
+ear as I had, and strange to say he played a little on the flute. Once I
+had the triumph of beating him in one of our musical examinations.
+
+But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness
+or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere
+passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared
+their external characters with published descriptions, but got them
+named anyhow. 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 was the third one.
+
+I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods; I
+employed a labourer to scrape during the winter, moss off old trees
+and place it in a large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the
+bottom of the barges in which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus
+I got some very rare species. No poet ever felt more delighted at
+seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephens'
+'Illustrations of British Insects,' the magic words, "captured by C.
+Darwin, Esq." I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin W.
+Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's
+College, and with whom I became extremely intimate. Afterwards I became
+well acquainted, and went out collecting, with Albert Way of Trinity,
+who in after years became a well-known archaeologist; also with H.
+Thompson of the same College, afterwards a leading agriculturist,
+chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parliament. It seems
+therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of
+future success in life!
+
+I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles which
+I caught at Cambridge have left on my mind. I can remember the exact
+appearance of certain posts, old trees and banks where I made a good
+capture. The pretty Panagaeus crux-major was a treasure in those days,
+and here at Down I saw a beetle running across a walk, and on picking it
+up instantly perceived that it differed slightly from P. crux-major,
+and it turned out to be P. quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or
+closely allied species, differing from it very slightly in outline. I
+had never seen in those old days Licinus alive, which to an uneducated
+eye hardly differs from many of the black Carabidous beetles; but my
+sons found here a specimen, and I instantly recognised that it was new
+to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for the last twenty
+years.
+
+I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole
+career more than any other. This was my friendship with Professor
+Henslow. Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my
+brother as a man who knew every branch of science, and I was accordingly
+prepared to reverence him. He kept open house once every week when
+all undergraduates, and some older members of the University, who were
+attached to science, used to meet in the evening. I soon got, through
+Fox, an invitation, and went there regularly. Before long I became
+well acquainted with Henslow, and during the latter half of my time at
+Cambridge took long walks with him on most days; so that I was called by
+some of the dons "the man who walks with Henslow;" and in the evening I
+was very often asked to join his family dinner. His knowledge was great
+in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. His strongest
+taste was to draw conclusions from long-continued minute observations.
+His judgment was excellent, and his whole mind well balanced; but I
+do not suppose that any one would say that he possessed much original
+genius. He was deeply religious, and so orthodox that he told me one day
+he should be grieved if a single word of the Thirty-nine Articles were
+altered. His moral qualities were in every way admirable. He was free
+from every tinge of vanity or other petty feeling; and I never saw a man
+who thought so little about himself or his own concerns. His temper was
+imperturbably good, with the most winning and courteous manners; yet,
+as I have seen, he could be roused by any bad action to the warmest
+indignation and prompt action.
+
+I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as horrid
+a scene as could have been witnessed during the French Revolution. Two
+body-snatchers had been arrested, and whilst being taken to prison had
+been torn from the constable by a crowd of the roughest men, who dragged
+them by their legs along the muddy and stony road. They were covered
+from head to foot with mud, and their faces were bleeding either from
+having been kicked or from the stones; they looked like corpses, but
+the crowd was so dense that I got only a few momentary glimpses of the
+wretched creatures. Never in my life have I seen such wrath painted on
+a man's face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid scene. He tried
+repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it was simply impossible. He then
+rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to follow him, but to get more
+policemen. I forget the issue, except that the two men were got into the
+prison without being killed.
+
+Henslow's benevolence was unbounded, as he proved by his many excellent
+schemes for his poor parishioners, when in after years he held the
+living of Hitcham. My intimacy with such a man ought to have been, and I
+hope was, an inestimable benefit. I cannot resist mentioning a trifling
+incident, which showed his kind consideration. Whilst examining some
+pollen-grains on a damp surface, I saw the tubes exserted, and instantly
+rushed off to communicate my surprising discovery to him. Now I do not
+suppose any other professor of botany could have helped laughing at my
+coming in such a hurry to make such a communication. But he agreed how
+interesting the phenomenon was, and explained its meaning, but made me
+clearly understand how well it was known; so I left him not in the
+least mortified, but well pleased at having discovered for myself so
+remarkable a fact, but determined not to be in such a hurry again to
+communicate my discoveries.
+
+Dr. Whewell was one of the older and distinguished men who sometimes
+visited Henslow, and on several occasions I walked home with him at
+night. Next to Sir J. Mackintosh he was the best converser on grave
+subjects to whom I ever listened. Leonard Jenyns (The well-known Soame
+Jenyns was cousin to Mr. Jenyns' father.), who afterwards published some
+good essays in Natural History (Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield) described
+the fish for the Zoology of the "Beagle"; and is author of a long series
+of papers, chiefly Zoological.), often stayed with Henslow, who was his
+brother-in-law. I visited him at his parsonage on the borders of the
+Fens [Swaffham Bulbeck], and had many a good walk and talk with him
+about Natural History. I became also acquainted with several other men
+older than me, who did not care much about science, but were friends of
+Henslow. One was a Scotchman, brother of Sir Alexander Ramsay, and tutor
+of Jesus College: he was a delightful man, but did not live for many
+years. Another was Mr. Dawes, afterwards Dean of Hereford, and famous
+for his success in the education of the poor. These men and others of
+the same standing, together with Henslow, used sometimes to take distant
+excursions into the country, which I was allowed to join, and they were
+most agreeable.
+
+Looking back, I infer that there must have been something in me a little
+superior to the common run of youths, otherwise the above-mentioned men,
+so much older than me and higher in academical position, would never
+have allowed me to associate with them. Certainly I was not aware of any
+such superiority, and I remember one of my sporting friends, Turner,
+who saw me at work with my beetles, saying that I should some day be a
+Fellow of the Royal Society, and the notion seemed to me preposterous.
+
+During my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound interest
+Humboldt's 'Personal Narrative.' This work, and Sir J. Herschel's
+'Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,' stirred up in me
+a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble
+structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen other books influenced
+me nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt long passages
+about Teneriffe, and read them aloud on one of the above-mentioned
+excursions, to (I think) Henslow, Ramsay, and Dawes, for on a previous
+occasion I had talked about the glories of Teneriffe, and some of the
+party declared they would endeavour to go there; but I think that they
+were only half in earnest. I was, however, quite in earnest, and got
+an introduction to a merchant in London to enquire about ships; but
+the scheme was, of course, knocked on the head by the voyage of the
+"Beagle".
+
+My summer vacations were given up to collecting beetles, to some
+reading, and short tours. In the autumn my whole time was devoted to
+shooting, chiefly at Woodhouse and Maer, and sometimes with young Eyton
+of Eyton. Upon the whole the three years which I spent at Cambridge were
+the most joyful in my happy life; for I was then in excellent health,
+and almost always in high spirits.
+
+As I had at first come up to Cambridge at Christmas, I was forced to
+keep two terms after passing my final examination, at the commencement
+of 1831; and Henslow then persuaded me to begin the study of geology.
+Therefore on my return to Shropshire I examined sections, and coloured
+a map of parts round Shrewsbury. Professor Sedgwick intended to visit
+North Wales in the beginning of August to pursue his famous geological
+investigations amongst the older rocks, and Henslow asked him to allow
+me to accompany him. (In connection with this tour my father used
+to tell a story about Sedgwick: they had started from their inn one
+morning, and had walked a mile or two, when Sedgwick suddenly stopped,
+and vowed that he would return, being certain "that damned scoundrel"
+(the waiter) had not given the chambermaid the sixpence intrusted to
+him for the purpose. He was ultimately persuaded to give up the project,
+seeing that there was no reason for suspecting the waiter of especial
+perfidy.--F.D.) Accordingly he came and slept at my father's house.
+
+A short conversation with him during this evening produced a strong
+impression on my mind. Whilst examining an old gravel-pit near
+Shrewsbury, a labourer told me that he had found in it a large worn
+tropical Volute shell, such as may be seen on the chimney-pieces of
+cottages; and as he would not sell the shell, I was convinced that he
+had really found it in the pit. I told Sedgwick of the fact, and he at
+once said (no doubt truly) that it must have been thrown away by some
+one into the pit; but then added, if really embedded there it would be
+the greatest misfortune to geology, as it would overthrow all that
+we know about the superficial deposits of the Midland Counties. These
+gravel-beds belong in fact to the glacial period, and in after years I
+found in them broken arctic shells. But I was then utterly astonished at
+Sedgwick not being delighted at so wonderful a fact as a tropical shell
+being found near the surface in the middle of England. Nothing
+before had ever made me thoroughly realise, though I had read various
+scientific books, that science consists in grouping facts so that
+general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
+
+Next morning we started for Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig.
+This tour was of decided use in teaching me a little how to make out the
+geology of a country. Sedgwick often sent me on a line parallel to
+his, telling me to bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the
+stratification on a map. I have little doubt that he did this for my
+good, as I was too ignorant to have aided him. On this tour I had a
+striking instance of how easy it is to overlook phenomena, however
+conspicuous, before they have been observed by any one. We spent many
+hours in Cwm Idwal, examining all the rocks with extreme care, as
+Sedgwick was anxious to find fossils in them; but neither of us saw
+a trace of the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not
+notice the plainly scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral and
+terminal moraines. Yet these phenomena are so conspicuous that, as
+I declared in a paper published many years afterwards in the
+'Philosophical Magazine' ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.), a house
+burnt down by fire did not tell its story more plainly than did this
+valley. If it had still been filled by a glacier, the phenomena would
+have been less distinct than they now are.
+
+At Capel Curig I left Sedgwick and went in a straight line by compass
+and map across the mountains to Barmouth, never following any track
+unless it coincided with my course. I thus came on some strange wild
+places, and enjoyed much this manner of travelling. I visited Barmouth
+to see some Cambridge friends who were reading there, and thence
+returned to Shrewsbury and to Maer for shooting; for at that time
+I should have thought myself mad to give up the first days of
+partridge-shooting for geology or any other science.
+
+
+
+
+"VOYAGE OF THE 'BEAGLE' FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2, 1836."
+
+On returning home from my short geological tour in North Wales, I found
+a letter from Henslow, informing me that Captain Fitz-Roy was willing to
+give up part of his own cabin to any young man who would volunteer to go
+with him without pay as naturalist to the Voyage of the "Beagle". I
+have given, as I believe, in my MS. Journal an account of all the
+circumstances which then occurred; I will here only say that I was
+instantly eager to accept the offer, but my father strongly objected,
+adding the words, fortunate for me, "If you can find any man of common
+sense who advises you to go I will give my consent." So I wrote that
+evening and refused the offer. On the next morning I went to Maer to
+be ready for September 1st, and, whilst out shooting, my uncle (Josiah
+Wedgwood.) sent for me, offering to drive me over to Shrewsbury and talk
+with my father, as my uncle thought it would be wise in me to accept the
+offer. My father always maintained that he was one of the most sensible
+men in the world, and he at once consented in the kindest manner. I had
+been rather extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my father, said,
+"that I should be deuced clever to spend more than my allowance whilst
+on board the 'Beagle';" but he answered with a smile, "But they tell me
+you are very clever."
+
+Next day I started for Cambridge to see Henslow, and thence to London
+to see Fitz-Roy, and all was soon arranged. Afterwards, on becoming very
+intimate with Fitz-Roy, I heard that I had run a very narrow risk of
+being rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent
+disciple of Lavater, and was convinced that he could judge of a man's
+character by the outline of his features; and he doubted whether any one
+with my nose could possess sufficient energy and determination for the
+voyage. But I think he was afterwards well satisfied that my nose had
+spoken falsely.
+
+Fitz-Roy's character was a singular one, with very many noble features:
+he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, and
+indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway. He
+would undertake any sort of trouble to assist those whom he thought
+deserved assistance. He was a handsome man, strikingly like a gentleman,
+with highly courteous manners, which resembled those of his maternal
+uncle, the famous Lord Castlereagh, as I was told by the Minister at
+Rio. Nevertheless he must have inherited much in his appearance from
+Charles II., for Dr. Wallich gave me a collection of photographs which
+he had made, and I was struck with the resemblance of one to Fitz-Roy;
+and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E. Sobieski Stuart, Count
+d'Albanie, a descendant of the same monarch.
+
+Fitz-Roy's temper was a most unfortunate one. It was usually worst in
+the early morning, and with his eagle eye he could generally detect
+something amiss about the ship, and was then unsparing in his blame. He
+was very kind to me, but was a man very difficult to live with on the
+intimate terms which necessarily followed from our messing by ourselves
+in the same cabin. We had several quarrels; for instance, early in the
+voyage at Bahia, in Brazil, he defended and praised slavery, which I
+abominated, and told me that he had just visited a great slave-owner,
+who had called up many of his slaves and asked them whether they were
+happy, and whether they wished to be free, and all answered "No." I then
+asked him, perhaps with a sneer, whether he thought that the answer of
+slaves in the presence of their master was worth anything? This made him
+excessively angry, and he said that as I doubted his word we could not
+live any longer together. I thought that I should have been compelled to
+leave the ship; but as soon as the news spread, which it did quickly,
+as the captain sent for the first lieutenant to assuage his anger by
+abusing me, I was deeply gratified by receiving an invitation from all
+the gun-room officers to mess with them. But after a few hours Fitz-Roy
+showed his usual magnanimity by sending an officer to me with an apology
+and a request that I would continue to live with him.
+
+His character was in several respects one of the most noble which I have
+ever known.
+
+The voyage of the "Beagle" has been by far the most important event in
+my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so
+small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to
+Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as
+the shape of my nose. I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the
+first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend
+closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of
+observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed.
+
+The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more
+important, as reasoning here comes into play. On first examining a new
+district nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but
+by recording the stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils
+at many points, always reasoning and predicting what will be found
+elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure
+of the whole becomes more or less intelligible. I had brought with me
+the first volume of Lyell's 'Principles of Geology,' which I studied
+attentively; and the book was of the highest service to me in many ways.
+The very first place which I examined, namely St. Jago in the Cape de
+Verde islands, showed me clearly the wonderful superiority of Lyell's
+manner of treating geology, compared with that of any other author,
+whose works I had with me or ever afterwards read.
+
+Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes, briefly
+describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine ones; but from not
+being able to draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical knowledge,
+a great pile of MS. which I made during the voyage has proved almost
+useless. I thus lost much time, with the exception of that spent in
+acquiring some knowledge of the Crustaceans, as this was of service when
+in after years I undertook a monograph of the Cirripedia.
+
+During some part of the day I wrote my Journal, and took much pains in
+describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen; and this was good
+practice. My Journal served also, in part, as letters to my home, and
+portions were sent to England whenever there was an opportunity.
+
+The above various special studies were, however, of no importance
+compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated
+attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired.
+Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly
+on what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit of mind was
+continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it
+was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in
+science.
+
+Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually
+preponderated over every other taste. During the first two years my old
+passion for shooting survived in nearly full force, and I shot myself
+all the birds and animals for my collection; but gradually I gave up my
+gun more and more, and finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting
+interfered with my work, more especially with making out the geological
+structure of a country. I discovered, though unconsciously and
+insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much
+higher one than that of skill and sport. That my mind became developed
+through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by a remark
+made by my father, who was the most acute observer whom I ever saw, of a
+sceptical disposition, and far from being a believer in phrenology; for
+on first seeing me after the voyage, he turned round to my sisters, and
+exclaimed, "Why, the shape of his head is quite altered."
+
+To return to the voyage. On September 11th (1831), I paid a flying visit
+with Fitz-Roy to the "Beagle" at Plymouth. Thence to Shrewsbury to wish
+my father and sisters a long farewell. On October 24th I took up my
+residence at Plymouth, and remained there until December 27th, when the
+"Beagle" finally left the shores of England for her circumnavigation of
+the world. We made two earlier attempts to sail, but were driven back
+each time by heavy gales. These two months at Plymouth were the most
+miserable which I ever spent, though I exerted myself in various ways.
+I was out of spirits at the thought of leaving all my family and friends
+for so long a time, and the weather seemed to me inexpressibly gloomy.
+I was also troubled with palpitation and pain about the heart, and like
+many a young ignorant man, especially one with a smattering of medical
+knowledge, was convinced that I had heart disease. I did not consult any
+doctor, as I fully expected to hear the verdict that I was not fit for
+the voyage, and I was resolved to go at all hazards.
+
+I need not here refer to the events of the voyage--where we went and
+what we did--as I have given a sufficiently full account in my published
+Journal. The glories of the vegetation of the Tropics rise before my
+mind at the present time more vividly than anything else; though
+the sense of sublimity, which the great deserts of Patagonia and the
+forest-clad mountains of Tierra del Fuego excited in me, has left an
+indelible impression on my mind. The sight of a naked savage in his
+native land is an event which can never be forgotten. Many of my
+excursions on horseback through wild countries, or in the boats, some
+of which lasted several weeks, were deeply interesting: their discomfort
+and some degree of danger were at that time hardly a drawback, and none
+at all afterwards. I also reflect with high satisfaction on some of
+my scientific work, such as solving the problem of coral islands, and
+making out the geological structure of certain islands, for instance,
+St. Helena. Nor must I pass over the discovery of the singular relations
+of the animals and plants inhabiting the several islands of the
+Galapagos archipelago, and of all of them to the inhabitants of South
+America.
+
+As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during the
+voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong
+desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural
+Science. But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific
+men,--whether more ambitious or less so than most of my fellow-workers,
+I can form no opinion.
+
+The geology of St. Jago is very striking, yet simple: a stream of lava
+formerly flowed over the bed of the sea, formed of triturated recent
+shells and corals, which it has baked into a hard white rock. Since then
+the whole island has been upheaved. But the line of white rock revealed
+to me a new and important fact, namely, that there had been afterwards
+subsidence round the craters, which had since been in action, and had
+poured forth lava. It then first dawned on me that I might perhaps write
+a book on the geology of the various countries visited, and this made me
+thrill with delight. That was a memorable hour to me, and how distinctly
+I can call to mind the low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with
+the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert plants growing near, and
+with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet. Later in the voyage,
+Fitz-Roy asked me to read some of my Journal, and declared it would be
+worth publishing; so here was a second book in prospect!
+
+Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at Ascension,
+in which my sisters told me that Sedgwick had called on my father, and
+said that I should take a place among the leading scientific men. I
+could not at the time understand how he could have learnt anything of
+my proceedings, but I heard (I believe afterwards) that Henslow had
+read some of the letters which I wrote to him before the Philosophical
+Society of Cambridge (Read at the meeting held November 16, 1835, and
+printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for distribution among the members
+of the Society.), and had printed them for private distribution. My
+collection of fossil bones, which had been sent to Henslow, also excited
+considerable attention amongst palaeontologists. After reading this
+letter, I clambered over the mountains of Ascension with a bounding
+step, and made the volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer.
+All this shows how ambitious I was; but I think that I can say with
+truth that in after years, though I cared in the highest degree for the
+approbation of such men as Lyell and Hooker, who were my friends, I
+did not care much about the general public. I do not mean to say that a
+favourable review or a large sale of my books did not please me greatly,
+but the pleasure was a fleeting one, and I am sure that I have never
+turned one inch out of my course to gain fame.
+
+
+
+
+FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE (JANUARY 29,
+1839.)
+
+These two years and three months were the most active ones which I ever
+spent, though I was occasionally unwell, and so lost some time. After
+going backwards and forwards several times between Shrewsbury,
+Maer, Cambridge, and London, I settled in lodgings at Cambridge (In
+Fitzwilliam Street.) on December 13th, where all my collections were
+under the care of Henslow. I stayed here three months, and got my
+minerals and rocks examined by the aid of Professor Miller.
+
+I began preparing my 'Journal of Travels,' which was not hard work,
+as my MS. Journal had been written with care, and my chief labour was
+making an abstract of my more interesting scientific results. I sent
+also, at the request of Lyell, a short account of my observations on
+the elevation of the coast of Chile to the Geological Society. ('Geolog.
+Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pages 446-449.)
+
+On March 7th, 1837, I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street in
+London, and remained there for nearly two years, until I was married.
+During these two years I finished my Journal, read several papers before
+the Geological Society, began preparing the MS. for my 'Geological
+Observations,' and arranged for the publication of the 'Zoology of the
+Voyage of the "Beagle".' In July I opened my first note-book for facts
+in relation to the Origin of Species, about which I had long reflected,
+and never ceased working for the next twenty years.
+
+During these two years I also went a little into society, and acted as
+one of the honorary secretaries of the Geological Society. I saw a great
+deal of Lyell. One of his chief characteristics was his sympathy with
+the work of others, and I was as much astonished as delighted at the
+interest which he showed when, on my return to England, I explained to
+him my views on coral reefs. This encouraged me greatly, and his advice
+and example had much influence on me. During this time I saw also a good
+deal of Robert Brown; I used often to call and sit with him during his
+breakfast on Sunday mornings, and he poured forth a rich treasure of
+curious observations and acute remarks, but they almost always related
+to minute points, and he never with me discussed large or general
+questions in science.
+
+During these two years I took several short excursions as a relaxation,
+and one longer one to the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, an account of
+which was published in the 'Philosophical Transactions.' (1839, pages
+39-82.) This paper was a great failure, and I am ashamed of it. Having
+been deeply impressed with what I had seen of the elevation of the land
+of South America, I attributed the parallel lines to the action of
+the sea; but I had to give up this view when Agassiz propounded his
+glacier-lake theory. Because no other explanation was possible under our
+then state of knowledge, I argued in favour of sea-action; and my error
+has been a good lesson to me never to trust in science to the principle
+of exclusion.
+
+As I was not able to work all day at science, I read a good deal during
+these two years on various subjects, including some metaphysical books;
+but I was not well fitted for such studies. About this time I took much
+delight in Wordsworth's and Coleridge's poetry; and can boast that I
+read the 'Excursion' twice through. Formerly Milton's 'Paradise Lost'
+had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of
+the "Beagle", when I could take only a single volume, I always chose
+Milton.
+
+
+
+
+FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER STREET,
+TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14, 1842.
+
+(After speaking of his happy married life, and of his children, he
+continues:--)
+
+During the three years and eight months whilst we resided in London, I
+did less scientific work, though I worked as hard as I possibly could,
+than during any other equal length of time in my life. This was owing
+to frequently recurring unwellness, and to one long and serious illness.
+The greater part of my time, when I could do anything, was devoted to
+my work on 'Coral Reefs,' which I had begun before my marriage, and of
+which the last proof-sheet was corrected on May 6th, 1842. This book,
+though a small one, cost me twenty months of hard work, as I had to read
+every work on the islands of the Pacific and to consult many charts. It
+was thought highly of by scientific men, and the theory therein given
+is, I think, now well established.
+
+No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for
+the whole theory was thought out on the west coast of South America,
+before I had seen a true coral reef. I had therefore only to verify and
+extend my views by a careful examination of living reefs. But it should
+be observed that I had during the two previous years been incessantly
+attending to the effects on the shores of South America of the
+intermittent elevation of the land, together with denudation and the
+deposition of sediment. This necessarily led me to reflect much on the
+effects of subsidence, and it was easy to replace in imagination the
+continued deposition of sediment by the upward growth of corals. To do
+this was to form my theory of the formation of barrier-reefs and atolls.
+
+Besides my work on coral-reefs, during my residence in London, I read
+before the Geological Society papers on the Erratic Boulders of South
+America ('Geolog. Soc. Proc.' iii. 1842.), on Earthquakes ('Geolog.
+Trans. v. 1840.), and on the Formation by the Agency of Earth-worms of
+Mould. ('Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838.) I also continued to superintend
+the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle".' Nor did
+I ever intermit collecting facts bearing on the origin of species; and I
+could sometimes do this when I could do nothing else from illness.
+
+In the summer of 1842 I was stronger than I had been for some time, and
+took a little tour by myself in North Wales, for the sake of observing
+the effects of the old glaciers which formerly filled all the larger
+valleys. I published a short account of what I saw in the 'Philosophical
+Magazine.' ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.) This excursion interested
+me greatly, and it was the last time I was ever strong enough to climb
+mountains or to take long walks such as are necessary for geological
+work.
+
+During the early part of our life in London, I was strong enough to go
+into general society, and saw a good deal of several scientific men, and
+other more or less distinguished men. I will give my impressions with
+respect to some of them, though I have little to say worth saying.
+
+I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after
+my marriage. His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me, by
+clearness, caution, sound judgment, and a good deal of originality. When
+I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw the
+whole case clearly, and often made me see it more clearly than I had
+done before. He would advance all possible objections to my suggestion,
+and even after these were exhausted would long remain dubious. A second
+characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific
+men. (The slight repetition here observable is accounted for by the
+notes on Lyell, etc., having been added in April, 1881, a few years
+after the rest of the 'Recollections' were written.)
+
+On my return from the voyage of the "Beagle", I explained to him
+my views on coral-reefs, which differed from his, and I was greatly
+surprised and encouraged by the vivid interest which he showed. His
+delight in science was ardent, and he felt the keenest interest in the
+future progress of mankind. He was very kind-hearted, and thoroughly
+liberal in his religious beliefs, or rather disbeliefs; but he was a
+strong theist. His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by
+becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much
+fame by opposing Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old. He
+reminded me that I had many years before said to him, when discussing
+the opposition of the old school of geologists to his new views, "What
+a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die when sixty
+years old, as afterwards he would be sure to oppose all new doctrines."
+But he hoped that now he might be allowed to live.
+
+The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyell--more so, as I
+believe, than to any other man who ever lived. When [I was] starting on
+the voyage of the "Beagle", the sagacious Henslow, who, like all other
+geologists, believed at that time in successive cataclysms, advised me
+to get and study the first volume of the 'Principles,' which had then
+just been published, but on no account to accept the views therein
+advocated. How differently would anyone now speak of the 'Principles'! I
+am proud to remember that the first place, namely, St. Jago, in the
+Cape de Verde archipelago, in which I geologised, convinced me of the
+infinite superiority of Lyell's views over those advocated in any other
+work known to me.
+
+The powerful effects of Lyell's works could formerly be plainly seen in
+the different progress of the science in France and England. The present
+total oblivion of Elie de Beaumont's wild hypotheses, such as his
+'Craters of Elevation' and 'Lines of Elevation' (which latter hypothesis
+I heard Sedgwick at the Geological Society lauding to the skies), may be
+largely attributed to Lyell.
+
+I saw a good deal of Robert Brown, "facile Princeps Botanicorum," as he
+was called by Humboldt. He seemed to me to be chiefly remarkable for
+the minuteness of his observations, and their perfect accuracy. His
+knowledge was extraordinarily great, and much died with him, owing to
+his excessive fear of ever making a mistake. He poured out his knowledge
+to me in the most unreserved manner, yet was strangely jealous on some
+points. I called on him two or three times before the voyage of the
+"Beagle", and on one occasion he asked me to look through a microscope
+and describe what I saw. This I did, and believe now that it was the
+marvellous currents of protoplasm in some vegetable cell. I then asked
+him what I had seen; but he answered me, "That is my little secret."
+
+He was capable of the most generous actions. When old, much out of
+health, and quite unfit for any exertion, he daily visited (as Hooker
+told me) an old man-servant, who lived at a distance (and whom he
+supported), and read aloud to him. This is enough to make up for any
+degree of scientific penuriousness or jealousy.
+
+I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I have occasionally
+seen, but I have little to say about them worth saying. I felt a high
+reverence for Sir J. Herschel, and was delighted to dine with him at his
+charming house at the Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards at his London
+house. I saw him, also, on a few other occasions. He never talked much,
+but every word which he uttered was worth listening to.
+
+I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison's house the illustrious
+Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing a wish to see me. I was a little
+disappointed with the great man, but my anticipations probably were too
+high. I can remember nothing distinctly about our interview, except that
+Humboldt was very cheerful and talked much.
+
+--reminds me of Buckle whom I once met at Hensleigh Wedgwood's. I was
+very glad to learn from him his system of collecting facts. He told me
+that he bought all the books which he read, and made a full index, to
+each, of the facts which he thought might prove serviceable to him, and
+that he could always remember in what book he had read anything, for his
+memory was wonderful. I asked him how at first he could judge what facts
+would be serviceable, and he answered that he did not know, but that a
+sort of instinct guided him. From this habit of making indices, he was
+enabled to give the astonishing number of references on all sorts of
+subjects, which may be found in his 'History of Civilisation.' This book
+I thought most interesting, and read it twice, but I doubt whether his
+generalisations are worth anything. Buckle was a great talker, and I
+listened to him saying hardly a word, nor indeed could I have done so
+for he left no gaps. When Mrs. Farrer began to sing, I jumped up and
+said that I must listen to her; after I had moved away he turned around
+to a friend and said (as was overheard by my brother), "Well, Mr.
+Darwin's books are much better than his conversation."
+
+Of other great literary men, I once met Sydney Smith at Dean Milman's
+house. There was something inexplicably amusing in every word which he
+uttered. Perhaps this was partly due to the expectation of being amused.
+He was talking about Lady Cork, who was then extremely old. This was the
+lady who, as he said, was once so much affected by one of his charity
+sermons, that she _borrowed_ a guinea from a friend to put in the plate.
+He now said "It is generally believed that my dear old friend Lady Cork
+has been overlooked," and he said this in such a manner that no one
+could for a moment doubt that he meant that his dear old friend had been
+overlooked by the devil. How he managed to express this I know not.
+
+I likewise once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope's (the historian's) house,
+and as there was only one other man at dinner, I had a grand opportunity
+of hearing him converse, and he was very agreeable. He did not talk at
+all too much; nor indeed could such a man talk too much, as long as he
+allowed others to turn the stream of his conversation, and this he did
+allow.
+
+Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy and
+fulness of Macaulay's memory: many historians used often to meet at
+Lord Stanhope's house, and in discussing various subjects they would
+sometimes differ from Macaulay, and formerly they often referred to some
+book to see who was right; but latterly, as Lord Stanhope noticed, no
+historian ever took this trouble, and whatever Macaulay said was final.
+
+On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope's house, one of his parties
+of historians and other literary men, and amongst them were Motley and
+Grote. After luncheon I walked about Chevening Park for nearly an hour
+with Grote, and was much interested by his conversation and pleased by
+the simplicity and absence of all pretension in his manners.
+
+Long ago I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of the
+historian; he was a strange man, but what little I knew of him I
+liked much. He was frank, genial, and pleasant. He had strongly marked
+features, with a brown complexion, and his clothes, when I saw him,
+were all brown. He seemed to believe in everything which was to others
+utterly incredible. He said one day to me, "Why don't you give up your
+fiddle-faddle of geology and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences!"
+The historian, then Lord Mahon, seemed shocked at such a speech to me,
+and his charming wife much amused.
+
+The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several times at
+my brother's house, and two or three times at my own house. His talk was
+very racy and interesting, just like his writings, but he sometimes
+went on too long on the same subject. I remember a funny dinner at my
+brother's, where, amongst a few others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of
+whom liked to talk. Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing
+during the whole dinner on the advantages of silence. After dinner
+Babbage, in his grimmest manner, thanked Carlyle for his very
+interesting lecture on silence.
+
+Carlyle sneered at almost every one: one day in my house he called
+Grote's 'History' "a fetid quagmire, with nothing spiritual about it." I
+always thought, until his 'Reminiscences' appeared, that his sneers were
+partly jokes, but this now seems rather doubtful. His expression was
+that of a depressed, almost despondent yet benevolent man; and it is
+notorious how heartily he laughed. I believe that his benevolence was
+real, though stained by not a little jealousy. No one can doubt about
+his extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things and men--far more
+vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay. Whether his
+pictures of men were true ones is another question.
+
+He has been all-powerful in impressing some grand moral truths on the
+minds of men. On the other hand, his views about slavery were revolting.
+In his eyes might was right. His mind seemed to me a very narrow one;
+even if all branches of science, which he despised, are excluded. It is
+astonishing to me that Kingsley should have spoken of him as a man
+well fitted to advance science. He laughed to scorn the idea that a
+mathematician, such as Whewell, could judge, as I maintained he could,
+of Goethe's views on light. He thought it a most ridiculous thing that
+any one should care whether a glacier moved a little quicker or a little
+slower, or moved at all. As far as I could judge, I never met a man with
+a mind so ill adapted for scientific research.
+
+Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the
+meetings of several scientific societies, and acted as secretary to the
+Geological Society. But such attendance, and ordinary society, suited my
+health so badly that we resolved to live in the country, which we both
+preferred and have never repented of.
+
+
+
+
+RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1876.
+
+After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we found this
+house and purchased it. I was pleased with the diversified appearance
+of vegetation proper to a chalk district, and so unlike what I had been
+accustomed to in the Midland counties; and still more pleased with the
+extreme quietness and rusticity of the place. It is not, however, quite
+so retired a place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who
+says that my house can be approached only by a mule-track! Our fixing
+ourselves here has answered admirably in one way, which we did not
+anticipate, namely, by being very convenient for frequent visits from
+our children.
+
+Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done.
+Besides short visits to the houses of relations, and occasionally to the
+seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere. During the first part of
+our residence we went a little into society, and received a few friends
+here; but my health almost always suffered from the excitement, violent
+shivering and vomiting attacks being thus brought on. I have therefore
+been compelled for many years to give up all dinner-parties; and this
+has been somewhat of a deprivation to me, as such parties always put me
+into high spirits. From the same cause I have been able to invite here
+very few scientific acquaintances.
+
+My chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life has been
+scientific work; and the excitement from such work makes me for the
+time forget, or drives quite away, my daily discomfort. I have therefore
+nothing to record during the rest of my life, except the publication
+of my several books. Perhaps a few details how they arose may be worth
+giving.
+
+
+
+
+MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.
+
+In the early part of 1844, my observations on the volcanic islands
+visited during the voyage of the "Beagle" were published. In 1845,
+I took much pains in correcting a new edition of my 'Journal of
+Researches,' which was originally published in 1839 as part of
+Fitz-Roy's work. The success of this, my first literary child, always
+tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books. Even to this
+day it sells steadily in England and the United States, and has been
+translated for the second time into German, and into French and other
+languages. This success of a book of travels, especially of a scientific
+one, so many years after its first publication, is surprising. Ten
+thousand copies have been sold in England of the second edition. In 1846
+my 'Geological Observations on South America' were published. I record
+in a little diary, which I have always kept, that my three geological
+books ('Coral Reefs' included) consumed four and a half years' steady
+work; "and now it is ten years since my return to England. How much time
+have I lost by illness?" I have nothing to say about these three books
+except that to my surprise new editions have lately been called for.
+('Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit.1876. 'Coral Reefs,' 2nd Edit.
+1874.)
+
+In October, 1846, I began to work on 'Cirripedia.' When on the coast of
+Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into the shells of
+Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that
+I had to form a new sub-order for its sole reception. Lately an allied
+burrowing genus has been found on the shores of Portugal. To understand
+the structure of my new Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many
+of the common forms; and this gradually led me on to take up the whole
+group. I worked steadily on this subject for the next eight years, and
+ultimately published two thick volumes (Published by the Ray Society.),
+describing all the known living species, and two thin quartos on the
+extinct species. I do not doubt that Sir E. Lytton Bulwer had me in his
+mind when he introduced in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had
+written two huge volumes on limpets.
+
+Although I was employed during eight years on this work, yet I record in
+my diary that about two years out of this time was lost by illness. On
+this account I went in 1848 for some months to Malvern for hydropathic
+treatment, which did me much good, so that on my return home I was able
+to resume work. So much was I out of health that when my dear father
+died on November 13th, 1848, I was unable to attend his funeral or to
+act as one of his executors.
+
+My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as
+besides describing several new and remarkable forms, I made out the
+homologies of the various parts--I discovered the cementing apparatus,
+though I blundered dreadfully about the cement glands--and lastly I
+proved the existence in certain genera of minute males complemental to
+and parasitic on the hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has at last
+been fully confirmed; though at one time a German writer was pleased to
+attribute the whole account to my fertile imagination. The Cirripedes
+form a highly varying and difficult group of species to class; and my
+work was of considerable use to me, when I had to discuss in the 'Origin
+of Species' the principles of a natural classification. Nevertheless, I
+doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of so much time.
+
+From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge
+pile of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to the
+transmutation of species. During the voyage of the "Beagle" I had been
+deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil
+animals covered with armour like that on the existing armadillos;
+secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one
+another in proceeding southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by
+the South American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos
+archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ
+slightly on each island of the group; none of the islands appearing to
+be very ancient in a geological sense.
+
+It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could
+only be explained on the supposition that species gradually become
+modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that
+neither the action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the
+organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the
+innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully
+adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a
+tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I
+had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could
+be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by
+indirect evidence that species have been modified.
+
+After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the
+example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in
+any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and
+nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My
+first note-book was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian
+principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale,
+more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed
+enquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by
+extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which
+I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals and
+Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that
+selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of
+animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms
+living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me.
+
+In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic
+enquiry, I happened to read for amusement 'Malthus on Population,'
+and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which
+everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of
+animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances
+favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable
+ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new
+species. Here then I had at last got a theory by which to work; but I
+was so anxious to avoid prejudice, that I determined not for some time
+to write even the briefest sketch of it. In June 1842 I first allowed
+myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my theory in
+pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the summer of 1844 into
+one of 230 pages, which I had fairly copied out and still possess.
+
+But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is
+astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg,
+how I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the
+tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in
+character as they become modified. That they have diverged greatly is
+obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed
+under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and
+so forth; and I can remember the very spot in the road, whilst in my
+carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me; and this was
+long after I had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the
+modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become
+adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.
+
+Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty fully, and
+I began at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as
+that which was afterwards followed in my 'Origin of Species;' yet it
+was only an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got
+through about half the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown,
+for early in the summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay
+archipelago, sent me an essay "On the Tendency of Varieties to depart
+indefinitely from the Original Type;" and this essay contained exactly
+the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if I
+thought well of his essay, I should sent it to Lyell for perusal.
+
+The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell and
+Hooker to allow of an abstract from my MS., together with a letter to
+Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same time with
+Wallace's Essay, are given in the 'Journal of the Proceedings of the
+Linnean Society,' 1858, page 45. I was at first very unwilling
+to consent, as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so
+unjustifiable, for I did not then know how generous and noble was his
+disposition. The extract from my MS. and the letter to Asa Gray had
+neither been intended for publication, and were badly written. Mr.
+Wallace's essay, on the other hand, was admirably expressed and
+quite clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little
+attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember
+was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that
+was new in them was false, and what was true was old. This shows how
+necessary it is that any new view should be explained at considerable
+length in order to arouse public attention.
+
+In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and Hooker
+to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was often
+interrupted by ill-health, and short visits to Dr. Lane's delightful
+hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the MS. begun on a
+much larger scale in 1856, and completed the volume on the same reduced
+scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten days' hard labour. It was
+published under the title of the 'Origin of Species,' in November 1859.
+Though considerably added to and corrected in the later editions, it has
+remained substantially the same book.
+
+It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly
+successful. The first small edition of 1250 copies was sold on the day
+of publication, and a second edition of 3000 copies soon afterwards.
+Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold in England; and
+considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been
+translated into almost every European tongue, even into such languages
+as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has also, according to
+Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese (Miss Bird is mistaken, as I
+learn from Prof. Mitsukuri.--F.D.), and is there much studied. Even an
+essay in Hebrew has appeared on it, showing that the theory is contained
+in the Old Testament! The reviews were very numerous; for some time I
+collected all that appeared on the 'Origin' and on my related books, and
+these amount (excluding newspaper reviews) to 265; but after a time I
+gave up the attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books on the
+subject have appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on
+"Darwinismus" has appeared every year or two.
+
+The success of the 'Origin' may, I think, be attributed in large part to
+my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having
+finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an
+abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts
+and conclusions. I had, also, during many years followed a golden rule,
+namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought
+came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a
+memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience
+that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory
+than favourable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were
+raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted
+to answer.
+
+It has sometimes been said that the success of the 'Origin' proved "that
+the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it."
+I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded
+not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one
+who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and
+Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to
+agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by
+Natural Selection, but signally failed. What I believe was strictly
+true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds
+of naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory
+which would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element
+in the success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the
+appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale in which
+I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as
+large as the 'Origin,' and very few would have had the patience to read
+it.
+
+I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the theory
+was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I cared
+very little whether men attributed most originality to me or Wallace;
+and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I was
+forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always made
+me regret, namely, the explanation by means of the Glacial period of
+the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on
+distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view pleased me
+so much that I wrote it out in extenso, and I believe that it was read
+by Hooker some years before E. Forbes published his celebrated memoir
+('Geolog. Survey Mem.,' 1846.) on the subject. In the very few points in
+which we differed, I still think that I was in the right. I have never,
+of course, alluded in print to my having independently worked out this
+view.
+
+Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work on
+the 'Origin,' as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes
+between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of
+the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as
+far as I remember, in the early reviews of the 'Origin,' and I recollect
+expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late
+years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Muller and
+Hackel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully, and in some
+respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter
+on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it
+is clear that I failed to impress my readers; and he who succeeds in
+doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit.
+
+This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated honestly
+by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as
+not worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly misrepresented,
+bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been generally done, as I
+believe, in good faith. On the whole I do not doubt that my works have
+been over and over again greatly overpraised. I rejoice that I have
+avoided controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many years ago,
+in reference to my geological works, strongly advised me never to get
+entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and caused a
+miserable loss of time and temper.
+
+Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has
+been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even
+when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has
+been my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I
+have worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more
+than this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego,
+thinking (and, I believe, that I wrote home to the effect) that I could
+not employ my life better than in adding a little to Natural Science.
+This I have done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what
+they like, but they cannot destroy this conviction.
+
+During the two last months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a
+second edition of the 'Origin,' and by an enormous correspondence.
+On January 1st, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the
+'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication;' but it was not
+published until the beginning of 1868; the delay having been caused
+partly by frequent illnesses, one of which lasted seven months, and
+partly by being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the time
+interested me more.
+
+On May 15th, 1862, my little book on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,'
+which cost me ten months' work, was published: most of the facts had
+been slowly accumulated during several previous years. During the summer
+of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend
+to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having
+come to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that
+crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms constant. I
+attended to the subject more or less during every subsequent summer; and
+my interest in it was greatly enhanced by having procured and read
+in November 1841, through the advice of Robert Brown, a copy of C.K.
+Sprengel's wonderful book, 'Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur.' For
+some years before 1862 I had specially attended to the fertilisation
+of our British orchids; and it seemed to me the best plan to prepare as
+complete a treatise on this group of plants as well as I could, rather
+than to utilise the great mass of matter which I had slowly collected
+with respect to other plants.
+
+My resolve proved a wise one; for since the appearance of my book, a
+surprising number of papers and separate works on the fertilisation of
+all kinds of flowers have appeared: and these are far better done than
+I could possibly have effected. The merits of poor old Sprengel, so long
+overlooked, are now fully recognised many years after his death.
+
+During the same year I published in the 'Journal of the Linnean Society'
+a paper "On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition of Primula,"
+and during the next five years, five other papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants. I do not think anything in my scientific life has
+given me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the structure
+of these plants. I had noticed in 1838 or 1839 the dimorphism of Linum
+flavum, and had at first thought that it was merely a case of unmeaning
+variability. But on examining the common species of Primula I found that
+the two forms were much too regular and constant to be thus viewed. I
+therefore became almost convinced that the common cowslip and primrose
+were on the high road to become dioecious;--that the short pistil in the
+one form, and the short stamens in the other form were tending towards
+abortion. The plants were therefore subjected under this point of view
+to trial; but as soon as the flowers with short pistils fertilised with
+pollen from the short stamens, were found to yield more seeds than any
+other of the four possible unions, the abortion-theory was knocked on
+the head. After some additional experiment, it became evident that the
+two forms, though both were perfect hermaphrodites, bore almost the same
+relation to one another as do the two sexes of an ordinary animal. With
+Lythrum we have the still more wonderful case of three forms standing in
+a similar relation to one another. I afterwards found that the offspring
+from the union of two plants belonging to the same forms presented a
+close and curious analogy with hybrids from the union of two distinct
+species.
+
+In the autumn of 1864 I finished a long paper on 'Climbing Plants,' and
+sent it to the Linnean Society. The writing of this paper cost me four
+months; but I was so unwell when I received the proof-sheets that I was
+forced to leave them very badly and often obscurely expressed. The paper
+was little noticed, but when in 1875 it was corrected and published as a
+separate book it sold well. I was led to take up this subject by reading
+a short paper by Asa Gray, published in 1858. He sent me seeds, and
+on raising some plants I was so much fascinated and perplexed by the
+revolving movements of the tendrils and stems, which movements are
+really very simple, though appearing at first sight very complex, that
+I procured various other kinds of climbing plants, and studied the
+whole subject. I was all the more attracted to it, from not being at all
+satisfied with the explanation which Henslow gave us in his lectures,
+about twining plants, namely, that they had a natural tendency to grow
+up in a spire. This explanation proved quite erroneous. Some of the
+adaptations displayed by Climbing Plants are as beautiful as those of
+Orchids for ensuring cross-fertilisation.
+
+My 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication' was begun, as
+already stated, in the beginning of 1860, but was not published until
+the beginning of 1868. It was a big book, and cost me four years and two
+months' hard labour. It gives all my observations and an immense number
+of facts collected from various sources, about our domestic productions.
+In the second volume the causes and laws of variation, inheritance,
+etc., are discussed as far as our present state of knowledge permits.
+Towards the end of the work I give my well-abused hypothesis of
+Pangenesis. An unverified hypothesis is of little or no value; but if
+anyone should hereafter be led to make observations by which some such
+hypothesis could be established, I shall have done good service, as an
+astonishing number of isolated facts can be thus connected together and
+rendered intelligible. In 1875 a second and largely corrected edition,
+which cost me a good deal of labour, was brought out.
+
+My 'Descent of Man' was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had
+become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable
+productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under
+the same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own
+satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing.
+Although in the 'Origin of Species' the derivation of any particular
+species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no
+honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by
+the work "light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history."
+It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the book to
+have paraded, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect to
+his origin.
+
+But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of
+the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such
+notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of
+man. I was the more glad to do so, as it gave me an opportunity of
+fully discussing sexual selection--a subject which had always greatly
+interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our
+domestic productions, together with the causes and laws of variation,
+inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects
+which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the
+materials which I have collected. The 'Descent of Man' took me three
+years to write, but then as usual some of this time was lost by ill
+health, and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other minor
+works. A second and largely corrected edition of the 'Descent' appeared
+in 1874.
+
+My book on the 'Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals' was
+published in the autumn of 1872. I had intended to give only a chapter
+on the subject in the 'Descent of Man,' but as soon as I began to put my
+notes together, I saw that it would require a separate treatise.
+
+My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced
+to make notes on the first dawn of the various expressions which he
+exhibited, for I felt convinced, even at this early period, that the
+most complex and fine shades of expression must all have had a gradual
+and natural origin. During the summer of the following year, 1840,
+I read Sir C. Bell's admirable work on expression, and this greatly
+increased the interest which I felt in the subject, though I could not
+at all agree with his belief that various muscles had been specially
+created for the sake of expression. From this time forward I
+occasionally attended to the subject, both with respect to man and our
+domesticated animals. My book sold largely; 5267 copies having been
+disposed of on the day of publication.
+
+In the summer of 1860 I was idling and resting near Hartfield, where two
+species of Drosera abound; and I noticed that numerous insects had been
+entrapped by the leaves. I carried home some plants, and on giving them
+insects saw the movements of the tentacles, and this made me think
+it probable that the insects were caught for some special purpose.
+Fortunately a crucial test occurred to me, that of placing a large
+number of leaves in various nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous fluids of
+equal density; and as soon as I found that the former alone excited
+energetic movements, it was obvious that here was a fine new field for
+investigation.
+
+During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my
+experiments, and my book on 'Insectivorous Plants' was published in July
+1875--that is, sixteen years after my first observations. The delay in
+this case, as with all my other books, has been a great advantage to me;
+for a man after a long interval can criticise his own work, almost as
+well as if it were that of another person. The fact that a plant should
+secrete, when properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferment,
+closely analogous to the digestive fluid of an animal, was certainly a
+remarkable discovery.
+
+During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the 'Effects of Cross
+and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.' This book will form a
+complement to that on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' in which I showed
+how perfect were the means for cross-fertilisation, and here I shall
+show how important are the results. I was led to make, during eleven
+years, the numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere
+accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be
+repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable
+fact that seedlings of self-fertilised parentage are inferior, even
+in the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of
+cross-fertilised parentage. I hope also to republish a revised edition
+of my book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants, together with some additional observations on allied
+points which I never have had time to arrange. My strength will then
+probably be exhausted, and I shall be ready to exclaim "Nunc dimittis."
+
+
+
+
+WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.
+
+'The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation' was published in the
+autumn of 1876; and the results there arrived at explain, as I believe,
+the endless and wonderful contrivances for the transportal of pollen
+from one plant to another of the same species. I now believe, however,
+chiefly from the observations of Hermann Muller, that I ought to
+have insisted more strongly than I did on the many adaptations for
+self-fertilisation; though I was well aware of many such adaptations. A
+much enlarged edition of my 'Fertilisation of Orchids' was published in
+1877.
+
+In this same year 'The Different Forms of Flowers, etc.,' appeared,
+and in 1880 a second edition. This book consists chiefly of the several
+papers on Heterostyled flowers originally published by the Linnean
+Society, corrected, with much new matter added, together with
+observations on some other cases in which the same plant bears two kinds
+of flowers. As before remarked, no little discovery of mine ever gave me
+so much pleasure as the making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers.
+The results of crossing such flowers in an illegitimate manner, I
+believe to be very important, as bearing on the sterility of hybrids;
+although these results have been noticed by only a few persons.
+
+In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause's 'Life of Erasmus
+Darwin' published, and I added a sketch of his character and habits from
+material in my possession. Many persons have been much interested by
+this little life, and I am surprised that only 800 or 900 copies were
+sold.
+
+In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank's assistance, our 'Power of
+Movement in Plants.' This was a tough piece of work. The book bears
+somewhat the same relation to my little book on 'Climbing Plants,' which
+'Cross-Fertilisation' did to the 'Fertilisation of Orchids;' for in
+accordance with the principle of evolution it was impossible to account
+for climbing plants having been developed in so many widely different
+groups unless all kinds of plants possess some slight power of movement
+of an analogous kind. This I proved to be the case; and I was further
+led to a rather wide generalisation, viz. that the great and important
+classes of movements, excited by light, the attraction of gravity, etc.,
+are all modified forms of the fundamental movement of circumnutation. It
+has always pleased me to exalt plants in the scale of organised beings;
+and I therefore felt an especial pleasure in showing how many and what
+admirably well adapted movements the tip of a root possesses.
+
+I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS. of a little book
+on 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms.' This
+is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it will
+interest any readers (Between November 1881 and February 1884, 8500
+copies have been sold.), but it has interested me. It is the completion
+of a short paper read before the Geological Society more than forty
+years ago, and has revived old geological thoughts.
+
+I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and these
+have been the milestones in my life, so that little remains to be said.
+I am not conscious of any change in my mind during the last thirty
+years, excepting in one point presently to be mentioned; nor, indeed,
+could any change have been expected unless one of general deterioration.
+But my father lived to his eighty-third year with his mind as lively as
+ever it was, and all his faculties undimmed; and I hope that I may die
+before my mind fails to a sensible extent. I think that I have become
+a little more skilful in guessing right explanations and in devising
+experimental tests; but this may probably be the result of mere
+practice, and of a larger store of knowledge. I have as much difficulty
+as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty
+has caused me a very great loss of time; but it has had the compensating
+advantage of forcing me to think long and intently about every sentence,
+and thus I have been led to see errors in reasoning and in my own
+observations or those of others.
+
+There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at
+first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. Formerly
+I used to think about my sentences before writing them down; but for
+several years I have found that it saves time to scribble in a vile hand
+whole pages as quickly as I possibly can, contracting half the words;
+and then correct deliberately. Sentences thus scribbled down are often
+better ones than I could have written deliberately.
+
+Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will add that with
+my large books I spend a good deal of time over the general arrangement
+of the matter. I first make the rudest outline in two or three pages,
+and then a larger one in several pages, a few words or one word standing
+for a whole discussion or series of facts. Each one of these headings is
+again enlarged and often transferred before I begin to write in extenso.
+As in several of my books facts observed by others have been very
+extensively used, and as I have always had several quite distinct
+subjects in hand at the same time, I may mention that I keep from thirty
+to forty large portfolios, in cabinets with labelled shelves, into which
+I can at once put a detached reference or memorandum. I have bought many
+books, and at their ends I make an index of all the facts that concern
+my work; or, if the book is not my own, write out a separate abstract,
+and of such abstracts I have a large drawer full. Before beginning
+on any subject I look to all the short indexes and make a general and
+classified index, and by taking the one or more proper portfolios I have
+all the information collected during my life ready for use.
+
+I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during the last
+twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry
+of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth,
+Coleridge, and Shelley, gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy
+I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical
+plays. I have also said that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and
+music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read
+a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found
+it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost
+my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking too
+energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me
+pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me
+the exquisite delight which it formerly did. On the other hand, novels
+which are works of the imagination, though not of a very high order,
+have been for years a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often
+bless all novelists. A surprising number have been read aloud to me, and
+I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily--against
+which a law ought to be passed. A novel, according to my taste, does not
+come into the first class unless it contains some person whom one can
+thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman all the better.
+
+This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes is all
+the odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels (independently
+of any scientific facts which they may contain), and essays on all sorts
+of subjects interest me as much as ever they did. My mind seems to
+have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large
+collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of
+that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I
+cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly organised or better
+constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered; and
+if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some
+poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps
+the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active
+through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may
+possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
+character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.
+
+My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into many
+languages, and passed through several editions in foreign countries. I
+have heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test
+of its enduring value. I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but
+judged by this standard my name ought to last for a few years. Therefore
+it may be worth while to try to analyse the mental qualities and the
+conditions on which my success has depended; though I am aware that no
+man can do this correctly.
+
+I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable
+in some clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic:
+a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration,
+and it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak
+points. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought
+is very limited; and therefore I could never have succeeded with
+metaphysics or mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet hazy: it
+suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have observed
+or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing, or
+on the other hand in favour of it; and after a time I can generally
+recollect where to search for my authority. So poor in one sense is my
+memory, that I have never been able to remember for more than a few days
+a single date or a line of poetry.
+
+Some of my critics have said, "Oh, he is a good observer, but he has
+no power of reasoning!" I do not think that this can be true, for the
+'Origin of Species' is one long argument from the beginning to the end,
+and it has convinced not a few able men. No one could have written
+it without having some power of reasoning. I have a fair share of
+invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly
+successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher
+degree.
+
+On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am superior to the
+common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and
+in observing them carefully. My industry has been nearly as great as it
+could have been in the observation and collection of facts. What is far
+more important, my love of natural science has been steady and ardent.
+
+This pure love has, however, been much aided by the ambition to be
+esteemed by my fellow naturalists. From my early youth I have had the
+strongest desire to understand or explain whatever I observed,--that is,
+to group all facts under some general laws. These causes combined have
+given me the patience to reflect or ponder for any number of years over
+any unexplained problem. As far as I can judge, I am not apt to follow
+blindly the lead of other men. I have steadily endeavoured to keep my
+mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I
+cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown
+to be opposed to it. Indeed, I have had no choice but to act in this
+manner, for with the exception of the Coral Reefs, I cannot remember a
+single first-formed hypothesis which had not after a time to be given
+up or greatly modified. This has naturally led me to distrust greatly
+deductive reasoning in the mixed sciences. On the other hand, I am not
+very sceptical,--a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the
+progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is
+advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few
+men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment
+or observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly
+serviceable.
+
+In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have known. A
+gentleman (who, as I afterwards heard, is a good local botanist) wrote
+to me from the Eastern counties that the seed or beans of the common
+field-bean had this year everywhere grown on the wrong side of the pod.
+I wrote back, asking for further information, as I did not understand
+what was meant; but I did not receive any answer for a very long time.
+I then saw in two newspapers, one published in Kent and the other in
+Yorkshire, paragraphs stating that it was a most remarkable fact that
+"the beans this year had all grown on the wrong side." So I thought
+there must be some foundation for so general a statement. Accordingly,
+I went to my gardener, an old Kentish man, and asked him whether he had
+heard anything about it, and he answered, "Oh, no, sir, it must be a
+mistake, for the beans grow on the wrong side only on leap-year, and
+this is not leap-year." I then asked him how they grew in common years
+and how on leap-years, but soon found that he knew absolutely nothing of
+how they grew at any time, but he stuck to his belief.
+
+After a time I heard from my first informant, who, with many apologies,
+said that he should not have written to me had he not heard the
+statement from several intelligent farmers; but that he had since spoken
+again to every one of them, and not one knew in the least what he had
+himself meant. So that here a belief--if indeed a statement with no
+definite idea attached to it can be called a belief--had spread over
+almost the whole of England without any vestige of evidence.
+
+I have known in the course of my life only three intentionally falsified
+statements, and one of these may have been a hoax (and there have
+been several scientific hoaxes) which, however, took in an American
+Agricultural Journal. It related to the formation in Holland of a new
+breed of oxen by the crossing of distinct species of Bos (some of which
+I happen to know are sterile together), and the author had the impudence
+to state that he had corresponded with me, and that I had been deeply
+impressed with the importance of his result. The article was sent to me
+by the editor of an English Agricultural Journal, asking for my opinion
+before republishing it.
+
+A second case was an account of several varieties, raised by the author
+from several species of Primula, which had spontaneously yielded a
+full complement of seed, although the parent plants had been carefully
+protected from the access of insects. This account was published before
+I had discovered the meaning of heterostylism, and the whole statement
+must have been fraudulent, or there was neglect in excluding insects so
+gross as to be scarcely credible.
+
+The third case was more curious: Mr. Huth published in his book on
+'Consanguineous Marriage' some long extracts from a Belgian author, who
+stated that he had interbred rabbits in the closest manner for very
+many generations, without the least injurious effects. The account was
+published in a most respectable Journal, that of the Royal Society of
+Belgium; but I could not avoid feeling doubts--I hardly know why, except
+that there were no accidents of any kind, and my experience in breeding
+animals made me think this very improbable.
+
+So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Beneden, asking him
+whether the author was a trustworthy man. I soon heard in answer that
+the Society had been greatly shocked by discovering that the whole
+account was a fraud. (The falseness of the published statements on which
+Mr. Huth relied has been pointed out by himself in a slip inserted in
+all the copies of his book which then remained unsold.) The writer had
+been publicly challenged in the Journal to say where he had resided and
+kept his large stock of rabbits while carrying on his experiments, which
+must have consumed several years, and no answer could be extracted from
+him.
+
+My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little use for
+my particular line of work. Lastly, I have had ample leisure from not
+having to earn my own bread. Even ill-health, though it has annihilated
+several years of my life, has saved me from the distractions of society
+and amusement.
+
+Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have
+amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex
+and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most
+important have been--the love of science--unbounded patience in long
+reflecting over any subject--industry in observing and collecting
+facts--and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With
+such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I
+should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific
+men on some important points.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, by 
+Charles Darwin
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diff --git a/old/2010.zip b/old/2010.zip
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
+#6 in our series by Charles Darwin
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+The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
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+From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
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+Edited by Francis Darwin [Charles' son]
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+December, 1999 [Etext #2010]
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+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher  <asschers@aia.net.au>
+
+
+
+
+
+The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
+
+From The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
+
+Edited by his Son
+
+Francis Darwin
+
+
+
+[My father's autobiographical recollections, given in the present
+chapter, were written for his children,--and written without any
+thought that they would ever be published.  To many this may seem
+an impossibility; but those who knew my father will understand
+how it was not only possible, but natural.  The autobiography
+bears the heading, 'Recollections of the Development of my Mind
+and Character,' and end with the following note:--"Aug. 3, 1876. 
+This sketch of my life was begun about May 28th at Hopedene (Mr.
+Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.), and since then I have
+written for nearly an hour on most afternoons."  It will easily
+be understood that, in a narrative of a personal and intimate
+kind written for his wife and children, passages should occur
+which must here be omitted; and I have not thought it necessary
+to indicate where such omissions are made.  It has been found
+necessary to make a few corrections of obvious verbal slips, but
+the number of such alterations has been kept down to the
+minimum.--F.D.]
+
+
+A German Editor having written to me for an account of the
+development of my mind and character with some sketch of my
+autobiography, I have thought that the attempt would amuse me,
+and might possibly interest my children or their children.  I
+know that it would have interested me greatly to have read even
+so short and dull a sketch of the mind of my grandfather, written
+by himself, and what he thought and did, and how he worked.  I
+have attempted to write the following account of myself, as if I
+were a dead man in another world looking back at my own life. 
+Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with me. 
+I have taken no pains about my style of writing.
+
+I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and my earliest
+recollection goes back only to when I was a few months over four
+years old, when we went to near Abergele for sea-bathing, and I
+recollect some events and places there with some little
+distinctness.
+
+My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years
+old, and it is odd that I can remember hardly anything about her
+except her death-bed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously
+constructed work-table.  In the spring of this same year I was
+sent to a day-school in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year.  I
+have been told that I was much slower in learning than my younger
+sister Catherine, and I believe that I was in many ways a naughty
+boy.
+
+By the time I went to this day-school (Kept by Rev. G. Case,
+minister of the Unitarian Chapel in the High Street.  Mrs. Darwin
+was a Unitarian and attended Mr. Case's chapel, and my father as
+a little boy went there with his elder sisters.  But both he and
+his brother were christened and intended to belong to the Church
+of England; and after his early boyhood he seems usually to have
+gone to church and not to Mr. Case's.  It appears ("St. James'
+Gazette", Dec. 15, 1883) that a mural tablet has been erected to
+his memory in the chapel, which is now known as the 'Free
+Christian Church.') my taste for natural history, and more
+especially for collecting, was well developed.  I tried to make
+out the names of plants (Rev. W.A. Leighton, who was a
+schoolfellow of my father's at Mr. Case's school, remembers his
+bringing a flower to school and saying that his mother had taught
+him how by looking at the inside of the blossom the name of the
+plant could be discovered.  Mr. Leighton goes on, "This greatly
+roused my attention and curiosity, and I enquired of him
+repeatedly how this could be done?"--but his lesson was naturally
+enough not transmissible.--F.D.), and collected all sorts of
+things, shells, seals, franks, coins, and minerals.  The passion
+for collecting which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist, a
+virtuoso, or a miser, was very strong in me, and was clearly
+innate, as none of my sisters or brother ever had this taste.
+
+One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in
+my mind, and I hope that it has done so from my conscience having
+been afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing
+that apparently I was interested at this early age in the
+variability of plants!  I told another little boy (I believe it
+was Leighton, who afterwards became a well-known lichenologist
+and botanist), that I could produce variously coloured
+polyanthuses and primroses by watering them with certain coloured
+fluids, which was of course a monstrous fable, and had never been
+tried by me.  I may here also confess that as a little boy I was
+much given to inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was
+always done for the sake of causing excitement.  For instance, I
+once gathered much valuable fruit from my father's trees and hid
+it in the shrubbery, and then ran in breathless haste to spread
+the news that I had discovered a hoard of stolen fruit.
+
+I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first went to
+the school.  A boy of the name of Garnett took me into a cake
+shop one day, and bought some cakes for which he did not pay, as
+the shopman trusted him.  When we came out I asked him why he did
+not pay for them, and he instantly answered, "Why, do you not
+know that my uncle left a great sum of money to the town on
+condition that every tradesman should give whatever was wanted
+without payment to any one who wore his old hat and moved [it] in
+a particular manner?" and he then showed me how it was moved.  He
+then went into another shop where he was trusted, and asked for
+some small article, moving his hat in the proper manner, and of
+course obtained it without payment.  When we came out he said,
+"Now if you like to go by yourself into that cake-shop (how well
+I remember its exact position) I will lend you my hat, and you
+can get whatever you like if you move the hat on your head
+properly."  I gladly accepted the generous offer, and went in and
+asked for some cakes, moved the old hat and was walking out of
+the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so I dropped the
+cakes and ran for dear life, and was astonished by being greeted
+with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett.
+
+I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed
+this entirely to the instruction and example of my sisters.  I
+doubt indeed whether humanity is a natural or innate quality.  I
+was very fond of collecting eggs, but I never took more than a
+single egg out of a bird's nest, except on one single occasion,
+when I took all, not for their value, but from a sort of bravado.
+
+I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of
+hours on the bank of a river or pond watching the float; when at
+Maer (The house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.) I was told that I
+could kill the worms with salt and water, and from that day I
+never spitted a living worm, though at the expense probably of
+some loss of success.
+
+Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before
+that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply
+from enjoying the sense of power; but the beating could not have
+been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure, as
+the spot was near the house.  This act lay heavily on my
+conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where
+the crime was committed.  It probably lay all the heavier from my
+love of dogs being then, and for a long time afterwards, a
+passion.  Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an adept in robbing
+their love from their masters.
+
+I remember clearly only one other incident during this year
+whilst at Mr. Case's daily school,--namely, the burial of a
+dragoon soldier; and it is surprising how clearly I can still see
+the horse with the man's empty boots and carbine suspended to the
+saddle, and the firing over the grave.  This scene deeply stirred
+whatever poetic fancy there was in me.
+
+In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler's great school in
+Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years still Midsummer
+1825, when I was sixteen years old.  I boarded at this school, so
+that I had the great advantage of living the life of a true
+schoolboy; but as the distance was hardly more than a mile to my
+home, I very often ran there in the longer intervals between the
+callings over and before locking up at night.  This, I think, was
+in many ways advantageous to me by keeping up home affections and
+interests.  I remember in the early part of my school life that I
+often had to run very quickly to be in time, and from being a
+fleet runner was generally successful; but when in doubt I prayed
+earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I
+attributed my success to the prayers and not to my quick running,
+and marvelled how generally I was aided.
+
+I have heard my father and elder sister say that I had, as a very
+young boy, a strong taste for long solitary walks; but what I
+thought about I know not.  I often became quite absorbed, and
+once, whilst returning to school on the summit of the old
+fortifications round Shrewsbury, which had been converted into a
+public foot-path with no parapet on one side, I walked off and
+fell to the ground, but the height was only seven or eight feet. 
+Nevertheless the number of thoughts which passed through my mind
+during this very short, but sudden and wholly unexpected fall,
+was astonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what
+physiologists have, I believe, proved about each thought
+requiring quite an appreciable amount of time.
+
+Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than
+Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else
+being taught, except a little ancient geography and history.  The
+school as a means of education to me was simply a blank.  During
+my whole life I have been singularly incapable of mastering any
+language.  Especial attention was paid to verse-making, and this
+I could never do well.  I had many friends, and got together a
+good collection of old verses, which by patching together,
+sometimes aided by other boys, I could work into any subject. 
+Much attention was paid to learning by heart the lessons of the
+previous day; this I could effect with great facility, learning
+forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was in morning
+chapel; but this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse
+was forgotten in forty-eight hours.  I was not idle, and with the
+exception of versification, generally worked conscientiously at
+my classics, not using cribs.  The sole pleasure I ever received
+from such studies, was from some of the odes of Horace, which I
+admired greatly.
+
+When I left the school I was for my age neither high nor low in
+it; and I believe that I was considered by all my masters and by
+my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the common
+standard in intellect.  To my deep mortification my father once
+said to me, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-
+catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your
+family."  But my father, who was the kindest man I ever knew and
+whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been angry and
+somewhat unjust when he used such words.
+
+Looking back as well as I can at my character during my school
+life, the only qualities which at this period promised well for
+the future, were, that I had strong and diversified tastes, much
+zeal for whatever interested me, and a keen pleasure in
+understanding any complex subject or thing.  I was taught Euclid
+by a private tutor, and I distinctly remember the intense
+satisfaction which the clear geometrical proofs gave me.  I
+remember, with equal distinctness, the delight which my uncle
+gave me (the father of Francis Galton) by explaining the
+principle of the vernier of a barometer.  with respect to
+diversified tastes, independently of science, I was fond of
+reading various books, and I used to sit for hours reading the
+historical plays of Shakespeare, generally in an old window in
+the thick walls of the school.  I read also other poetry, such as
+Thomson's 'Seasons,' and the recently published poems of Byron
+and Scott.  I mention this because later in life I wholly lost,
+to my great regret, all pleasure from poetry of any kind,
+including Shakespeare.  In connection with pleasure from poetry,
+I may add that in 1822 a vivid delight in scenery was first
+awakened in my mind, during a riding tour on the borders of
+Wales, and this has lasted longer than any other aesthetic
+pleasure.
+
+Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the 'Wonders of the
+World,' which I often read, and disputed with other boys about
+the veracity of some of the statements; and I believe that this
+book first gave me a wish to travel in remote countries, which
+was ultimately fulfilled by the voyage of the "Beagle".  In the
+latter part of my school life I became passionately fond of
+shooting; I do not believe that any one could have shown more
+zeal for the most holy cause than I did for shooting birds.  How
+well I remember killing my first snipe, and my excitement was so
+great that I had much difficulty in reloading my gun from the
+trembling of my hands.  This taste long continued, and I became a
+very good shot.  When at Cambridge I used to practise throwing up
+my gun to my shoulder before a looking-glass to see that I threw
+it up straight.  Another and better plan was to get a friend to
+wave about a lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on
+the nipple, and if the aim was accurate the little puff of air
+would blow out the candle.  The explosion of the cap caused a
+sharp crack, and I was told that the tutor of the college
+remarked, "What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr. Darwin seems to
+spend hours in cracking a horse-whip in his room, for I often
+hear the crack when I pass under his windows."
+
+I had many friends amongst the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly,
+and I think that my disposition was then very affectionate.
+
+With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with
+much zeal, but quite unscientifically--all that I cared about was
+a new-NAMED mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them.  I
+must have observed insects with some little care, for when ten
+years old (1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the
+sea-coast in Wales, I was very much interested and surprised at
+seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous insect, many moths
+(Zygaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshire.  I
+almost made up my mind to begin collecting all the insects which
+I could find dead, for on consulting my sister I concluded that
+it was not right to kill insects for the sake of making a
+collection.  From reading White's 'Selborne,' I took much
+pleasure in watching the habits of birds, and even made notes on
+the subject.  In my simplicity I remember wondering why every
+gentleman did not become an ornithologist.
+
+Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at
+chemistry, and made a fair laboratory with proper apparatus in
+the tool-house in the garden, and I was allowed to aid him as a
+servant in most of his experiments.  He made all the gases and
+many compounds, and I read with great care several books on
+chemistry, such as Henry and Parkes' 'Chemical Catechism.'  The
+subject interested me greatly, and we often used to go on working
+till rather late at night.  This was the best part of my
+education at school, for it showed me practically the meaning of
+experimental science.  The fact that we worked at chemistry
+somehow got known at school, and as it was an unprecedented fact,
+I was nicknamed "Gas."  I was also once publicly rebuked by the
+head-master, Dr. Butler, for thus wasting my time on such useless
+subjects; and he called me very unjustly a "poco curante," and as
+I did not understand what he meant, it seemed to me a fearful
+reproach.
+
+As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away
+at a rather earlier age than usual, and sent me (Oct. 1825) to
+Edinburgh University with my brother, where I stayed for two
+years or sessions.  My brother was completing his medical
+studies, though I do not believe he ever really intended to
+practise, and I was sent there to commence them.  But soon after
+this period I became convinced from various small circumstances
+that my father would leave me property enough to subsist on with
+some comfort, though I never imagined that I should be so rich a
+man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any strenuous
+efforts to learn medicine.
+
+The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and
+these were intolerably dull, with the exception of those on
+chemistry by Hope; but to my mind there are no advantages and
+many disadvantages in lectures compared with reading.  Dr.
+Duncan's lectures on Materia Medica at 8 o'clock on a winter's
+morning are something fearful to remember.  Dr.-- made his
+lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself, and the
+subject disgusted me.  It has proved one of the greatest evils in
+my life that I was not urged to practise dissection, for I should
+soon have got over my disgust; and the practice would have been
+invaluable for all my future work.  This has been an irremediable
+evil, as well as my incapacity to draw.  I also attended
+regularly the clinical wards in the hospital.  Some of the cases
+distressed me a good deal, and I still have vivid pictures before
+me of some of them; but I was not so foolish as to allow this to
+lessen my attendance.  I cannot understand why this part of my
+medical course did not interest me in a greater degree; for
+during the summer before coming to Edinburgh I began attending
+some of the poor people, chiefly children and women in
+Shrewsbury:  I wrote down as full an account as I could of the
+case with all the symptoms, and read them aloud to my father, who
+suggested further inquiries and advised me what medicines to
+give, which I made up myself.  At one time I had at least a dozen
+patients, and I felt a keen interest in the work.  My father, who
+was by far the best judge of character whom I ever knew, declared
+that I should make a successful physician,--meaning by this one
+who would get many patients.  He maintained that the chief
+element of success was exciting confidence; but what he saw in me
+which convinced him that I should create confidence I know not. 
+I also attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the
+hospital at Edinburgh, and saw two very bad operations, one on a
+child, but I rushed away before they were completed.  Nor did I
+ever attend again, for hardly any inducement would have been
+strong enough to make me do so; this being long before the
+blessed days of chloroform.  The two cases fairly haunted me for
+many a long year.
+
+My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during
+the second year I was left to my own resources; and this was an
+advantage, for I became well acquainted with several young men
+fond of natural science.  One of these was Ainsworth, who
+afterwards published his travels in Assyria; he was a Wernerian
+geologist, and knew a little about many subjects.  Dr. Coldstream
+was a very different young man, prim, formal, highly religious,
+and most kind-hearted; he afterwards published some good
+zoological articles.  A third young man was Hardie, who would, I
+think, have made a good botanist, but died early in India. 
+Lastly, Dr. Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became
+acquainted with him I cannot remember; he published some first-
+rate zoological papers, but after coming to London as Professor
+in University College, he did nothing more in science, a fact
+which has always been inexplicable to me.  I knew him well; he
+was dry and formal in manner, with much enthusiasm beneath this
+outer crust.  He one day, when we were walking together, burst
+forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution. 
+I listened in silent astonishment, and as far as I can judge
+without any effect on my mind.  I had previously read the
+'Zoonomia' of my grandfather, in which similar views are
+maintained, but without producing any effect on me.  Nevertheless
+it is probable that the hearing rather early in life such views
+maintained and praised may have favoured my upholding them under
+a different form in my 'Origin of Species.'  At this time I
+admired greatly the 'Zoonomia;' but on reading it a second time
+after an interval of ten or fifteen years, I was much
+disappointed; the proportion of speculation being so large to the
+facts given.
+
+Drs. Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology, and I
+often accompanied the former to collect animals in the tidal
+pools, which I dissected as well as I could.  I also became
+friends with some of the Newhaven fishermen, and sometimes
+accompanied them when they trawled for oysters, and thus got many
+specimens.  But from not having had any regular practice in
+dissection, and from possessing only a wretched microscope, my
+attempts were very poor.  Nevertheless I made one interesting
+little discovery, and read, about the beginning of the year 1826,
+a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society.  This
+was that the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of
+independent movement by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae. 
+In another short paper I showed that the little globular bodies
+which had been supposed to be the young state of Fucus loreus
+were the egg-cases of the wormlike Pontobdella muricata.
+
+The Plinian Society was encouraged and, I believe, founded by
+Professor Jameson:  it consisted of students and met in an
+underground room in the University for the sake of reading papers
+on natural science and discussing them.  I used regularly to
+attend, and the meetings had a good effect on me in stimulating
+my zeal and giving me new congenial acquaintances.  One evening a
+poor young man got up, and after stammering for a prodigious
+length of time, blushing crimson, he at last slowly got out the
+words, "Mr. President, I have forgotten what I was going to say." 
+The poor fellow looked quite overwhelmed, and all the members
+were so surprised that no one could think of a word to say to
+cover his confusion.  The papers which were read to our little
+society were not printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of
+seeing my paper in print; but I believe Dr. Grant noticed my
+small discovery in his excellent memoir on Flustra.
+
+I was also a member of the Royal Medical Society, and attended
+pretty regularly; but as the subjects were exclusively medical, I
+did not much care about them.  Much rubbish was talked there, but
+there were some good speakers, of whom the best was the present
+Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth.  Dr. Grant took me occasionally to the
+meetings of the Wernerian Society, where various papers on
+natural history were read, discussed, and afterwards published in
+the 'Transactions.'  I heard Audubon deliver there some
+interesting discourses on the habits of N. American birds,
+sneering somewhat unjustly at Waterton.  By the way, a negro
+lived in Edinburgh, who had travelled with Waterton, and gained
+his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did excellently:  he
+gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him,
+for he was a very pleasant and intelligent man.
+
+Mr. Leonard Horner also took me once to a meeting of the Royal
+Society of Edinburgh, where I saw Sir Walter Scott in the chair
+as President, and he apologised to the meeting as not feeling
+fitted for such a position.  I looked at him and at the whole
+scene with some awe and reverence, and I think it was owing to
+this visit during my youth, and to my having attended the Royal
+Medical Society, that I felt the honour of being elected a few
+years ago an honorary member of both these Societies, more than
+any other similar honour.  If I had been told at that time that I
+should one day have been thus honoured, I declare that I should
+have thought it as ridiculous and improbable, as if I had been
+told that I should be elected King of England.
+
+During my second year at Edinburgh I attended --'s lectures on
+Geology and Zoology, but they were incredibly dull.  The sole
+effect they produced on me was the determination never as long as
+I lived to read a book on Geology, or in any way to study the
+science.  Yet I feel sure that I was prepared for a philosophical
+treatment of the subject; for an old Mr. Cotton in Shropshire,
+who knew a good deal about rocks, had pointed out to me two or
+three years previously a well-known large erratic boulder in the
+town of Shrewsbury, called the "bell-stone"; he told me that
+there was no rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland or
+Scotland, and he solemnly assured me that the world would come to
+an end before any one would be able to explain how this stone
+came where it now lay.  This produced a deep impression on me,
+and I meditated over this wonderful stone.  So that I felt the
+keenest delight when I first read of the action of icebergs in
+transporting boulders, and I gloried in the progress of Geology. 
+Equally striking is the fact that I, though now only sixty-seven
+years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture at Salisbury
+Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke, with amygdaloidal margins and
+the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all around
+us, say that it was a fissure filled with sediment from above,
+adding with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it
+had been injected from beneath in a molten condition.  When I
+think of this lecture, I do not wonder that I determined never to
+attend to Geology.
+
+>From attending --'s lectures, I became acquainted with the
+curator of the museum, Mr. Macgillivray, who afterwards published
+a large and excellent book on the birds of Scotland.  I had much
+interesting natural-history talk with him, and he was very kind
+to me.  He gave me some rare shells, for I at that time collected
+marine mollusca, but with no great zeal.
+
+My summer vacations during these two years were wholly given up
+to amusements, though I always had some book in hand, which I
+read with interest.  During the summer of 1826 I took a long
+walking tour with two friends with knapsacks on our backs through
+North wales.  We walked thirty miles most days, including one day
+the ascent of Snowdon.  I also went with my sister a riding tour
+in North Wales, a servant with saddle-bags carrying our clothes. 
+The autumns were devoted to shooting chiefly at Mr. Owen's, at
+Woodhouse, and at my Uncle Jos's (Josiah Wedgwood, the son of the
+founder of the Etruria Works.) at Maer.  My zeal was so great
+that I used to place my shooting-boots open by my bed-side when I
+went to bed, so as not to lose half a minute in putting them on
+in the morning; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of
+the Maer estate, on the 20th of August for black-game shooting,
+before I could see:  I then toiled on with the game-keeper the
+whole day through thick heath and young Scotch firs.
+
+I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the
+whole season.  One day when shooting at Woodhouse with Captain
+Owen, the eldest son, and Major Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord
+Berwick, both of whom I liked very much, I thought myself
+shamefully used, for every time after I had fired and thought
+that I had killed a bird, one of the two acted as if loading his
+gun, and cried out, "You must not count that bird, for I fired at
+the same time," and the gamekeeper, perceiving the joke, backed
+them up.  After some hours they told me the joke, but it was no
+joke to me, for I had shot a large number of birds, but did not
+know how many, and could not add them to my list, which I used to
+do by making a knot in a piece of string tied to a button-hole. 
+This my wicked friends had perceived.
+
+How I did enjoy shooting!  But I think that I must have been
+half-consciously ashamed of my zeal, for I tried to persuade
+myself that shooting was almost an intellectual employment; it
+required so much skill to judge where to find most game and to
+hunt the dogs well.
+
+One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from
+meeting there Sir J. Mackintosh, who was the best converser I
+ever listened to.  I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that
+he had said, "There is something in that young man that interests
+me."  This must have been chiefly due to his perceiving that I
+listened with much interest to everything which he said, for I
+was as ignorant as a pig about his subjects of history, politics,
+and moral philosophy.  To hear of praise from an eminent person,
+though no doubt apt or certain to excite vanity, is, I think,
+good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in the right
+course.
+
+My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were
+quite delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting.  Life
+there was perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for
+walking or riding; and in the evening there was much very
+agreeable conversation, not so personal as it generally is in
+large family parties, together with music.  In the summer the
+whole family used often to sit on the steps of the old portico,
+with the flower-garden in front, and with the steep wooded bank
+opposite the house reflected in the lake, with here and there a
+fish rising or a water-bird paddling about.  Nothing has left a
+more vivid picture on my mind than these evenings at Maer.  I was
+also attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent
+and reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes
+talked openly with me.  He was the very type of an upright man,
+with the clearest judgment.  I do not believe that any power on
+earth could have made him swerve an inch from what he considered
+the right course.  I used to apply to him in my mind the well-
+known ode of Horace, now forgotten by me, in which the words "nec
+vultus tyranni, etc.," come in.
+(Justum et tenacem propositi virum
+Non civium ardor prava jubentium
+Non vultus instantis tyranni
+Mente quatit solida.)
+
+CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831.
+
+After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father
+perceived, or he heard from my sisters, that I did not like the
+thought of being a physician, so he proposed that I should become
+a clergyman.  He was very properly vehement against my turning
+into an idle sporting man, which then seemed my probable
+destination.  I asked for some time to consider, as from what
+little I had heard or thought on the subject I had scruples about
+declaring my belief in all the dogmas of the Church of England;
+though otherwise I liked the thought of being a country
+clergyman.  Accordingly I read with care 'Pearson on the Creed,'
+and a few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the
+least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the
+Bible, I soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully
+accepted.
+
+Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it
+seems ludicrous that I once intended to be a clergyman.  Nor was
+this intention and my father's wish ever formerly given up, but
+died a natural death when, on leaving Cambridge, I joined the
+"Beagle" as naturalist.  If the phrenologists are to be trusted,
+I was well fitted in one respect to be a clergyman.  A few years
+ago the secretaries of a German psychological society asked me
+earnestly by letter for a photograph of myself; and some time
+afterwards I received the proceedings of one of the meetings, in
+which it seemed that the shape of my head had been the subject of
+a public discussion, and one of the speakers declared that I had
+the bump of reverence developed enough for ten priests.
+
+As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was necessary
+that I should go to one of the English universities and take a
+degree; but as I had never opened a classical book since leaving
+school, I found to my dismay, that in the two intervening years I
+had actually forgotten, incredible as it may appear, almost
+everything which I had learnt, even to some few of the Greek
+letters.  I did not therefore proceed to Cambridge at the usual
+time in October, but worked with a private tutor in Shrewsbury,
+and went to Cambridge after the Christmas vacation, early in
+1828.  I soon recovered my school standard of knowledge, and
+could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek
+Testament, with moderate facility.
+
+During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was
+wasted, as far as the academical studies were concerned, as
+completely as at Edinburgh and at school.  I attempted
+mathematics, and even went during the summer of 1828 with a
+private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth, but I got on very
+slowly.  The work was repugnant to me, chiefly from my not being
+able to see any meaning in the early steps in algebra.  This
+impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply
+regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to
+understand something of the great leading principles of
+mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to have an extra sense. 
+But I do not believe that I should ever have succeeded beyond a
+very low grade.  With respect to Classics I did nothing except
+attend a few compulsory college lectures, and the attendance was
+almost nominal.  In my second year I had to work for a month or
+two to pass the Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my last
+year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of B.A.,
+and brushed up my Classics, together with a little Algebra and
+Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did at school. 
+In order to pass the B.A. examination, it was also necessary to
+get up Paley's 'Evidences of Christianity,' and his 'Moral
+Philosophy.'  This was done in a thorough manner, and I am
+convinced that I could have written out the whole of the
+'Evidences' with perfect correctness, but not of course in the
+clear language of Paley.  The logic of this book and, as I may
+add, of his 'Natural Theology,' gave me as much delight as did
+Euclid.  The careful study of these works, without attempting to
+learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical
+course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the
+least use to me in the education of my mind.  I did not at that
+time trouble myself about Paley's premises; and taking these on
+trust, I was charmed and convinced by the long line of
+argumentation.  By answering well the examination questions in
+Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in
+Classics, I gained a good place among the oi polloi or crowd of
+men who do not go in for honours.  Oddly enough, I cannot
+remember how high I stood, and my memory fluctuates between the
+fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list.  (Tenth in the list
+of January 1831.)
+
+Public lectures on several branches were given in the University,
+attendance being quite voluntary; but I was so sickened with
+lectures at Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick's
+eloquent and interesting lectures.  Had I done so I should
+probably have become a geologist earlier than I did.  I attended,
+however, Henslow's lectures on Botany, and liked them much for
+their extreme clearness, and the admirable illustrations; but I
+did not study botany.  Henslow used to take his pupils, including
+several of the older members of the University, field excursions,
+on foot or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge down the
+river, and lectured on the rarer plants and animals which were
+observed.  These excursions were delightful.
+
+Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming
+features in my life at Cambridge, my time was sadly wasted there,
+and worse than wasted.  From my passion for shooting and for
+hunting, and, when this failed, for riding across country, I got
+into a sporting set, including some dissipated low-minded young
+men.  We used often to dine together in the evening, though these
+dinners often included men of a higher stamp, and we sometimes
+drank too much, with jolly singing and playing at cards
+afterwards.  I know that I ought to feel ashamed of days and
+evenings thus spent, but as some of my friends were very
+pleasant, and we were all in the highest spirits, I cannot help
+looking back to these times with much pleasure.
+
+But I am glad to think that I had many other friends of a widely
+different nature.  I was very intimate with Whitley (Rev. C.
+Whitley, Hon. Canon of Durham, formerly Reader in Natural
+Philosophy in Durham University.), who was afterwards Senior
+Wrangler, and we used continually to take long walks together. 
+He inoculated me with a taste for pictures and good engravings,
+of which I bought some.  I frequently went to the Fitzwilliam
+Gallery, and my taste must have been fairly good, for I certainly
+admired the best pictures, which I discussed with the old
+curator.  I read also with much interest Sir Joshua Reynolds'
+book.  This taste, though not natural to me, lasted for several
+years, and many of the pictures in the National Gallery in London
+gave me much pleasure; that of Sebastian del Piombo exciting in
+me a sense of sublimity.
+
+I also got into a musical set, I believe by means of my warm-
+hearted friend, Herbert (The late John Maurice Herbert, County
+Court Judge of Cardiff and the Monmouth Circuit.), who took a
+high wrangler's degree.  From associating with these men, and
+hearing them play, I acquired a strong taste for music, and used
+very often to time my walks so as to hear on week days the anthem
+in King's College Chapel.  This gave me intense pleasure, so that
+my backbone would sometimes shiver.  I am sure that there was no
+affectation or mere imitation in this taste, for I used generally
+to go by myself to King's College, and I sometimes hired the
+chorister boys to sing in my rooms.  Nevertheless I am so utterly
+destitute of an ear, that I cannot perceive a discord, or keep
+time and hum a tune correctly; and it is a mystery how I could
+possibly have derived pleasure from music.
+
+My musical friends soon perceived my state, and sometimes amused
+themselves by making me pass an examination, which consisted in
+ascertaining how many tunes I could recognise when they were
+played rather more quickly or slowly than usual.  'God save the
+King,' when thus played, was a sore puzzle.  There was another
+man with almost as bad an ear as I had, and strange to say he
+played a little on the flute.  Once I had the triumph of beating
+him in one of our musical examinations.
+
+But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much
+eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles.  It
+was the mere passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them,
+and rarely compared their external characters with published
+descriptions, but got them named anyhow.  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 was the third
+one.
+
+I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new
+methods; I employed a labourer to scrape during the winter, moss
+off old trees and place it in a large bag, and likewise to
+collect the rubbish at the bottom of the barges in which reeds
+are brought from the fens, and thus I got some very rare species. 
+No poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem
+published than I did at seeing, in Stephens' 'Illustrations of
+British Insects,' the magic words, "captured by C. Darwin, Esq." 
+I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin W. Darwin Fox,
+a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College,
+and with whom I became extremely intimate.  Afterwards I became
+well acquainted, and went out collecting, with Albert Way of
+Trinity, who in after years became a well-known archaeologist;
+also with H. Thompson of the same College, afterwards a leading
+agriculturist, chairman of a great railway, and Member of
+Parliament.  It seems therefore that a taste for collecting
+beetles is some indication of future success in life!
+
+I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles
+which I caught at Cambridge have left on my mind.  I can remember
+the exact appearance of certain posts, old trees and banks where
+I made a good capture.  The pretty Panagaeus crux-major was a
+treasure in those days, and here at Down I saw a beetle running
+across a walk, and on picking it up instantly perceived that it
+differed slightly from P. crux-major, and it turned out to be P.
+quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or closely allied
+species, differing from it very slightly in outline.  I had never
+seen in those old days Licinus alive, which to an uneducated eye
+hardly differs from many of the black Carabidous beetles; but my
+sons found here a specimen, and I instantly recognised that it
+was new to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for the
+last twenty years.
+
+I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my
+whole career more than any other.  This was my friendship with
+Professor Henslow.  Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of
+him from my brother as a man who knew every branch of science,
+and I was accordingly prepared to reverence him.  He kept open
+house once every week when all undergraduates, and some older
+members of the University, who were attached to science, used to
+meet in the evening.  I soon got, through Fox, an invitation, and
+went there regularly.  Before long I became well acquainted with
+Henslow, and during the latter half of my time at Cambridge took
+long walks with him on most days; so that I was called by some of
+the dons "the man who walks with Henslow;" and in the evening I
+was very often asked to join his family dinner.  His knowledge
+was great in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and
+geology.  His strongest taste was to draw conclusions from long-
+continued minute observations.  His judgment was excellent, and
+his whole mind well balanced; but I do not suppose that any one
+would say that he possessed much original genius.  He was deeply
+religious, and so orthodox that he told me one day he should be
+grieved if a single word of the Thirty-nine Articles were
+altered.  His moral qualities were in every way admirable.  He
+was free from every tinge of vanity or other petty feeling; and I
+never saw a man who thought so little about himself or his own
+concerns.  His temper was imperturbably good, with the most
+winning and courteous manners; yet, as I have seen, he could be
+roused by any bad action to the warmest indignation and prompt
+action.
+
+I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as
+horrid a scene as could have been witnessed during the French
+Revolution.  Two body-snatchers had been arrested, and whilst
+being taken to prison had been torn from the constable by a crowd
+of the roughest men, who dragged them by their legs along the
+muddy and stony road.  They were covered from head to foot with
+mud, and their faces were bleeding either from having been kicked
+or from the stones; they looked like corpses, but the crowd was
+so dense that I got only a few momentary glimpses of the wretched
+creatures.  Never in my life have I seen such wrath painted on a
+man's face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid scene.  He
+tried repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it was simply
+impossible.  He then rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to
+follow him, but to get more policemen.  I forget the issue,
+except that the two men were got into the prison without being
+killed.
+
+Henslow's benevolence was unbounded, as he proved by his many
+excellent schemes for his poor parishioners, when in after years
+he held the living of Hitcham.  My intimacy with such a man ought
+to have been, and I hope was, an inestimable benefit.  I cannot
+resist mentioning a trifling incident, which showed his kind
+consideration.  Whilst examining some pollen-grains on a damp
+surface, I saw the tubes exserted, and instantly rushed off to
+communicate my surprising discovery to him.  Now I do not suppose
+any other professor of botany could have helped laughing at my
+coming in such a hurry to make such a communication.  But he
+agreed how interesting the phenomenon was, and explained its
+meaning, but made me clearly understand how well it was known; so
+I left him not in the least mortified, but well pleased at having
+discovered for myself so remarkable a fact, but determined not to
+be in such a hurry again to communicate my discoveries.
+
+Dr. Whewell was one of the older and distinguished men who
+sometimes visited Henslow, and on several occasions I walked home
+with him at night.  Next to Sir J. Mackintosh he was the best
+converser on grave subjects to whom I ever listened.  Leonard
+Jenyns (The well-known Soame Jenyns was cousin to Mr. Jenyns'
+father.), who afterwards published some good essays in Natural
+History (Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield) described the fish for the
+Zoology of the "Beagle"; and is author of a long series of
+papers, chiefly Zoological.), often stayed with Henslow, who was
+his brother-in-law.  I visited him at his parsonage on the
+borders of the Fens [Swaffham Bulbeck], and had many a good walk
+and talk with him about Natural History.  I became also
+acquainted with several other men older than me, who did not care
+much about science, but were friends of Henslow.  One was a
+Scotchman, brother of Sir Alexander Ramsay, and tutor of Jesus
+College:  he was a delightful man, but did not live for many
+years.  Another was Mr. Dawes, afterwards Dean of Hereford, and
+famous for his success in the education of the poor.  These men
+and others of the same standing, together with Henslow, used
+sometimes to take distant excursions into the country, which I
+was allowed to join, and they were most agreeable.
+
+Looking back, I infer that there must have been something in me a
+little superior to the common run of youths, otherwise the above-
+mentioned men, so much older than me and higher in academical
+position, would never have allowed me to associate with them. 
+Certainly I was not aware of any such superiority, and I remember
+one of my sporting friends, Turner, who saw me at work with my
+beetles, saying that I should some day be a Fellow of the Royal
+Society, and the notion seemed to me preposterous.
+
+During my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound
+interest Humboldt's 'Personal Narrative.'  This work, and Sir J.
+Herschel's 'Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,'
+stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble
+contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science.  No one
+or a dozen other books influenced me nearly so much as these two. 
+I copied out from Humboldt long passages about Teneriffe, and
+read them aloud on one of the above-mentioned excursions, to (I
+think) Henslow, Ramsay, and Dawes, for on a previous occasion I
+had talked about the glories of Teneriffe, and some of the party
+declared they would endeavour to go there; but I think that they
+were only half in earnest.  I was, however, quite in earnest, and
+got an introduction to a merchant in London to enquire about
+ships; but the scheme was, of course, knocked on the head by the
+voyage of the "Beagle".
+
+My summer vacations were given up to collecting beetles, to some
+reading, and short tours.  In the autumn my whole time was
+devoted to shooting, chiefly at Woodhouse and Maer, and sometimes
+with young Eyton of Eyton.  Upon the whole the three years which
+I spent at Cambridge were the most joyful in my happy life; for I
+was then in excellent health, and almost always in high spirits.
+
+As I had at first come up to Cambridge at Christmas, I was forced
+to keep two terms after passing my final examination, at the
+commencement of 1831; and Henslow then persuaded me to begin the
+study of geology.  Therefore on my return to Shropshire I
+examined sections, and coloured a map of parts round Shrewsbury. 
+Professor Sedgwick intended to visit North Wales in the beginning
+of August to pursue his famous geological investigations amongst
+the older rocks, and Henslow asked him to allow me to accompany
+him.  (In connection with this tour my father used to tell a
+story about Sedgwick:  they had started from their inn one
+morning, and had walked a mile or two, when Sedgwick suddenly
+stopped, and vowed that he would return, being certain "that
+damned scoundrel" (the waiter) had not given the chambermaid the
+sixpence intrusted to him for the purpose.  He was ultimately
+persuaded to give up the project, seeing that there was no reason
+for suspecting the waiter of especial perfidy.--F.D.) 
+Accordingly he came and slept at my father's house.
+
+A short conversation with him during this evening produced a
+strong impression on my mind.  Whilst examining an old gravel-pit
+near Shrewsbury, a labourer told me that he had found in it a
+large worn tropical Volute shell, such as may be seen on the
+chimney-pieces of cottages; and as he would not sell the shell, I
+was convinced that he had really found it in the pit.  I told
+Sedgwick of the fact, and he at once said (no doubt truly) that
+it must have been thrown away by some one into the pit; but then
+added, if really embedded there it would be the greatest
+misfortune to geology, as it would overthrow all that we know
+about the superficial deposits of the Midland Counties.  These
+gravel-beds belong in fact to the glacial period, and in after
+years I found in them broken arctic shells.  But I was then
+utterly astonished at Sedgwick not being delighted at so
+wonderful a fact as a tropical shell being found near the surface
+in the middle of England.  Nothing before had ever made me
+thoroughly realise, though I had read various scientific books,
+that science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or
+conclusions may be drawn from them.
+
+Next morning we started for Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel
+Curig.  This tour was of decided use in teaching me a little how
+to make out the geology of a country.  Sedgwick often sent me on
+a line parallel to his, telling me to bring back specimens of the
+rocks and to mark the stratification on a map.  I have little
+doubt that he did this for my good, as I was too ignorant to have
+aided him.  On this tour I had a striking instance of how easy it
+is to overlook phenomena, however conspicuous, before they have
+been observed by any one.  We spent many hours in Cwm Idwal,
+examining all the rocks with extreme care, as Sedgwick was
+anxious to find fossils in them; but neither of us saw a trace of
+the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not notice
+the plainly scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral and
+terminal moraines.  Yet these phenomena are so conspicuous that,
+as I declared in a paper published many years afterwards in the
+'Philosophical Magazine' ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.), a
+house burnt down by fire did not tell its story more plainly than
+did this valley.  If it had still been filled by a glacier, the
+phenomena would have been less distinct than they now are.
+
+At Capel Curig I left Sedgwick and went in a straight line by
+compass and map across the mountains to Barmouth, never following
+any track unless it coincided with my course.  I thus came on
+some strange wild places, and enjoyed much this manner of
+travelling.  I visited Barmouth to see some Cambridge friends who
+were reading there, and thence returned to Shrewsbury and to Maer
+for shooting; for at that time I should have thought myself mad
+to give up the first days of partridge-shooting for geology or
+any other science.
+
+"VOYAGE OF THE 'BEAGLE' FROM DECEMBER 27, 1831, TO OCTOBER 2,
+1836."
+
+On returning home from my short geological tour in North Wales, I
+found a letter from Henslow, informing me that Captain Fitz-Roy
+was willing to give up part of his own cabin to any young man who
+would volunteer to go with him without pay as naturalist to the
+Voyage of the "Beagle".  I have given, as I believe, in my MS.
+Journal an account of all the circumstances which then occurred;
+I will here only say that I was instantly eager to accept the
+offer, but my father strongly objected, adding the words,
+fortunate for me, "If you can find any man of common sense who
+advises you to go I will give my consent."  So I wrote that
+evening and refused the offer.  On the next morning I went to
+Maer to be ready for September 1st, and, whilst out shooting, my
+uncle (Josiah Wedgwood.) sent for me, offering to drive me over
+to Shrewsbury and talk with my father, as my uncle thought it
+would be wise in me to accept the offer.  My father always
+maintained that he was one of the most sensible men in the world,
+and he at once consented in the kindest manner.  I had been
+rather extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my father, said,
+"that I should be deuced clever to spend more than my allowance
+whilst on board the 'Beagle';" but he answered with a smile, "But
+they tell me you are very clever."
+
+Next day I started for Cambridge to see Henslow, and thence to
+London to see Fitz-Roy, and all was soon arranged.  Afterwards,
+on becoming very intimate with Fitz-Roy, I heard that I had run a
+very narrow risk of being rejected, on account of the shape of my
+nose!  He was an ardent disciple of Lavater, and was convinced
+that he could judge of a man's character by the outline of his
+features; and he doubted whether any one with my nose could
+possess sufficient energy and determination for the voyage.  But
+I think he was afterwards well satisfied that my nose had spoken
+falsely.
+
+Fitz-Roy's character was a singular one, with very many noble
+features:  he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold,
+determined, and indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to
+all under his sway.  He would undertake any sort of trouble to
+assist those whom he thought deserved assistance.  He was a
+handsome man, strikingly like a gentleman, with highly courteous
+manners, which resembled those of his maternal uncle, the famous
+Lord Castlereagh, as I was told by the Minister at Rio. 
+Nevertheless he must have inherited much in his appearance from
+Charles II., for Dr. Wallich gave me a collection of photographs
+which he had made, and I was struck with the resemblance of one
+to Fitz-Roy; and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E.
+Sobieski Stuart, Count d'Albanie, a descendant of the same
+monarch.
+
+Fitz-Roy's temper was a most unfortunate one.  It was usually
+worst in the early morning, and with his eagle eye he could
+generally detect something amiss about the ship, and was then
+unsparing in his blame.  He was very kind to me, but was a man
+very difficult to live with on the intimate terms which
+necessarily followed from our messing by ourselves in the same
+cabin.  We had several quarrels; for instance, early in the
+voyage at Bahia, in Brazil, he defended and praised slavery,
+which I abominated, and told me that he had just visited a great
+slave-owner, who had called up many of his slaves and asked them
+whether they were happy, and whether they wished to be free, and
+all answered "No."  I then asked him, perhaps with a sneer,
+whether he thought that the answer of slaves in the presence of
+their master was worth anything?  This made him excessively
+angry, and he said that as I doubted his word we could not live
+any longer together.  I thought that I should have been compelled
+to leave the ship; but as soon as the news spread, which it did
+quickly, as the captain sent for the first lieutenant to assuage
+his anger by abusing me, I was deeply gratified by receiving an
+invitation from all the gun-room officers to mess with them. But
+after a few hours Fitz-Roy showed his usual magnanimity by
+sending an officer to me with an apology and a request that I
+would continue to live with him.
+
+His character was in several respects one of the most noble which
+I have ever known.
+
+The voyage of the "Beagle" has been by far the most important
+event in my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it
+depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive
+me thirty miles to Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done,
+and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose.  I have always felt
+that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of
+my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of
+natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved,
+though they were always fairly developed.
+
+The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was
+far more important, as reasoning here comes into play.  On first
+examining a new district nothing can appear more hopeless than
+the chaos of rocks; but by recording the stratification and
+nature of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reasoning
+and predicting what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to
+dawn on the district, and the structure of the whole becomes more
+or less intelligible.  I had brought with me the first volume of
+Lyell's 'Principles of Geology,' which I studied attentively; and
+the book was of the highest service to me in many ways.  The very
+first place which I examined, namely St. Jago in the Cape de
+Verde islands, showed me clearly the wonderful superiority of
+Lyell's manner of treating geology, compared with that of any
+other author, whose works I had with me or ever afterwards read.
+
+Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes,
+briefly describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine
+ones; but from not being able to draw, and from not having
+sufficient anatomical knowledge, a great pile of MS. which I made
+during the voyage has proved almost useless.  I thus lost much
+time, with the exception of that spent in acquiring some
+knowledge of the Crustaceans, as this was of service when in
+after years I undertook a monograph of the Cirripedia.
+
+During some part of the day I wrote my Journal, and took much
+pains in describing carefully and vividly all that I had seen;
+and this was good practice.  My Journal served also, in part, as
+letters to my home, and portions were sent to England whenever
+there was an opportunity.
+
+The above various special studies were, however, of no importance
+compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated
+attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired. 
+Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear
+directly on what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit
+of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage.  I
+feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do
+whatever I have done in science.
+
+Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science
+gradually preponderated over every other taste.  During the first
+two years my old passion for shooting survived in nearly full
+force, and I shot myself all the birds and animals for my
+collection; but gradually I gave up my gun more and more, and
+finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my
+work, more especially with making out the geological structure of
+a country.  I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly,
+that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher
+one than that of skill and sport.  That my mind became developed
+through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by a
+remark made by my father, who was the most acute observer whom I
+ever saw, of a sceptical disposition, and far from being a
+believer in phrenology; for on first seeing me after the voyage,
+he turned round to my sisters, and exclaimed, "Why, the shape of
+his head is quite altered."
+
+To return to the voyage.  On September 11th (1831), I paid a
+flying visit with Fitz-Roy to the "Beagle" at Plymouth.  Thence
+to Shrewsbury to wish my father and sisters a long farewell.  On
+October 24th I took up my residence at Plymouth, and remained
+there until December 27th, when the "Beagle" finally left the
+shores of England for her circumnavigation of the world.  We made
+two earlier attempts to sail, but were driven back each time by
+heavy gales.  These two months at Plymouth were the most
+miserable which I ever spent, though I exerted myself in various
+ways.  I was out of spirits at the thought of leaving all my
+family and friends for so long a time, and the weather seemed to
+me inexpressibly gloomy.  I was also troubled with palpitation
+and pain about the heart, and like many a young ignorant man,
+especially one with a smattering of medical knowledge, was
+convinced that I had heart disease.  I did not consult any
+doctor, as I fully expected to hear the verdict that I was not
+fit for the voyage, and I was resolved to go at all hazards.
+
+I need not here refer to the events of the voyage--where we went
+and what we did--as I have given a sufficiently full account in
+my published Journal.  The glories of the vegetation of the
+Tropics rise before my mind at the present time more vividly than
+anything else; though the sense of sublimity, which the great
+deserts of Patagonia and the forest-clad mountains of Tierra del
+Fuego excited in me, has left an indelible impression on my mind. 
+The sight of a naked savage in his native land is an event which
+can never be forgotten.  Many of my excursions on horseback
+through wild countries, or in the boats, some of which lasted
+several weeks, were deeply interesting:  their discomfort and
+some degree of danger were at that time hardly a drawback, and
+none at all afterwards.  I also reflect with high satisfaction on
+some of my scientific work, such as solving the problem of coral
+islands, and making out the geological structure of certain
+islands, for instance, St. Helena.  Nor must I pass over the
+discovery of the singular relations of the animals and plants
+inhabiting the several islands of the Galapagos archipelago, and
+of all of them to the inhabitants of South America.
+
+As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during
+the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my
+strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in
+Natural Science.  But I was also ambitious to take a fair place
+among scientific men,--whether more ambitious or less so than
+most of my fellow-workers, I can form no opinion.
+
+The geology of St. Jago is very striking, yet simple:  a stream
+of lava formerly flowed over the bed of the sea, formed of
+triturated recent shells and corals, which it has baked into a
+hard white rock.  Since then the whole island has been upheaved. 
+But the line of white rock revealed to me a new and important
+fact, namely, that there had been afterwards subsidence round the
+craters, which had since been in action, and had poured forth
+lava.  It then first dawned on me that I might perhaps write a
+book on the geology of the various countries visited, and this
+made me thrill with delight.  That was a memorable hour to me,
+and how distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff of lava
+beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange
+desert plants growing near, and with living corals in the tidal
+pools at my feet.  Later in the voyage, Fitz-Roy asked me to read
+some of my Journal, and declared it would be worth publishing; so
+here was a second book in prospect!
+
+Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at
+Ascension, in which my sisters told me that Sedgwick had called
+on my father, and said that I should take a place among the
+leading scientific men.  I could not at the time understand how
+he could have learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I
+believe afterwards) that Henslow had read some of the letters
+which I wrote to him before the Philosophical Society of
+Cambridge (Read at the meeting held November 16, 1835, and
+printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for distribution among the
+members of the Society.), and had printed them for private
+distribution.  My collection of fossil bones, which had been sent
+to Henslow, also excited considerable attention amongst
+palaeontologists.  After reading this letter, I clambered over
+the mountains of Ascension with a bounding step, and made the
+volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer.  All this
+shows how ambitious I was; but I think that I can say with truth
+that in after years, though I cared in the highest degree for the
+approbation of such men as Lyell and Hooker, who were my friends,
+I did not care much about the general public.  I do not mean to
+say that a favourable review or a large sale of my books did not
+please me greatly, but the pleasure was a fleeting one, and I am
+sure that I have never turned one inch out of my course to gain
+fame.
+
+FROM MY RETURN TO ENGLAND (OCTOBER 2, 1836) TO MY MARRIAGE
+(JANUARY 29, 1839.)
+
+These two years and three months were the most active ones which
+I ever spent, though I was occasionally unwell, and so lost some
+time.  After going backwards and forwards several times between
+Shrewsbury, Maer, Cambridge, and London, I settled in lodgings at
+Cambridge (In Fitzwilliam Street.) on December 13th, where all my
+collections were under the care of Henslow.  I stayed here three
+months, and got my minerals and rocks examined by the aid of
+Professor Miller.
+
+I began preparing my 'Journal of Travels,' which was not hard
+work, as my MS. Journal had been written with care, and my chief
+labour was making an abstract of my more interesting scientific
+results.  I sent also, at the request of Lyell, a short account
+of my observations on the elevation of the coast of Chile to the
+Geological Society.  ('Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pages 446-
+449.)
+
+On March 7th, 1837, I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street
+in London, and remained there for nearly two years, until I was
+married.  During these two years I finished my Journal, read
+several papers before the Geological Society, began preparing the
+MS. for my 'Geological Observations,' and arranged for the
+publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle".'  In
+July I opened my first note-book for facts in relation to the
+Origin of Species, about which I had long reflected, and never
+ceased working for the next twenty years.
+
+During these two years I also went a little into society, and
+acted as one of the honorary secretaries of the Geological
+Society.  I saw a great deal of Lyell.  One of his chief
+characteristics was his sympathy with the work of others, and I
+was as much astonished as delighted at the interest which he
+showed when, on my return to England, I explained to him my views
+on coral reefs.  This encouraged me greatly, and his advice and
+example had much influence on me.  During this time I saw also a
+good deal of Robert Brown; I used often to call and sit with him
+during his breakfast on Sunday mornings, and he poured forth a
+rich treasure of curious observations and acute remarks, but they
+almost always related to minute points, and he never with me
+discussed large or general questions in science.
+
+During these two years I took several short excursions as a
+relaxation, and one longer one to the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy,
+an account of which was published in the 'Philosophical
+Transactions.'  (1839, pages 39-82.)  This paper was a great
+failure, and I am ashamed of it.  Having been deeply impressed
+with what I had seen of the elevation of the land of South
+America, I attributed the parallel lines to the action of the
+sea; but I had to give up this view when Agassiz propounded his
+glacier-lake theory.  Because no other explanation was possible
+under our then state of knowledge, I argued in favour of sea-
+action; and my error has been a good lesson to me never to trust
+in science to the principle of exclusion.
+
+As I was not able to work all day at science, I read a good deal
+during these two years on various subjects, including some
+metaphysical books; but I was not well fitted for such studies. 
+About this time I took much delight in Wordsworth's and
+Coleridge's poetry; and can boast that I read the 'Excursion'
+twice through.  Formerly Milton's 'Paradise Lost' had been my
+chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the
+"Beagle", when I could take only a single volume, I always chose
+Milton.
+
+FROM MY MARRIAGE, JANUARY 29, 1839, AND RESIDENCE IN UPPER GOWER
+STREET, TO OUR LEAVING LONDON AND SETTLING AT DOWN, SEPTEMBER 14,
+1842.
+
+(After speaking of his happy married life, and of his children,
+he continues:--)
+
+During the three years and eight months whilst we resided in
+London, I did less scientific work, though I worked as hard as I
+possibly could, than during any other equal length of time in my
+life.  This was owing to frequently recurring unwellness, and to
+one long and serious illness.  The greater part of my time, when
+I could do anything, was devoted to my work on 'Coral Reefs,'
+which I had begun before my marriage, and of which the last
+proof-sheet was corrected on May 6th, 1842.  This book, though a
+small one, cost me twenty months of hard work, as I had to read
+every work on the islands of the Pacific and to consult many
+charts.  It was thought highly of by scientific men, and the
+theory therein given is, I think, now well established.
+
+No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this,
+for the whole theory was thought out on the west coast of South
+America, before I had seen a true coral reef.  I had therefore
+only to verify and extend my views by a careful examination of
+living reefs.  But it should be observed that I had during the
+two previous years been incessantly attending to the effects on
+the shores of South America of the intermittent elevation of the
+land, together with denudation and the deposition of sediment. 
+This necessarily led me to reflect much on the effects of
+subsidence, and it was easy to replace in imagination the
+continued deposition of sediment by the upward growth of corals. 
+To do this was to form my theory of the formation of barrier-
+reefs and atolls.
+
+Besides my work on coral-reefs, during my residence in London, I
+read before the Geological Society papers on the Erratic Boulders
+of South America ('Geolog. Soc. Proc.' iii. 1842.), on
+Earthquakes ('Geolog. Trans. v. 1840.), and on the Formation by
+the Agency of Earth-worms of Mould.  ('Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii.
+1838.)  I also continued to superintend the publication of the
+'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle".'  Nor did I ever intermit
+collecting facts bearing on the origin of species; and I could
+sometimes do this when I could do nothing else from illness.
+
+In the summer of 1842 I was stronger than I had been for some
+time, and took a little tour by myself in North Wales, for the
+sake of observing the effects of the old glaciers which formerly
+filled all the larger valleys.  I published a short account of
+what I saw in the 'Philosophical Magazine.'  ('Philosophical
+Magazine,' 1842.)  This excursion interested me greatly, and it
+was the last time I was ever strong enough to climb mountains or
+to take long walks such as are necessary for geological work.
+
+During the early part of our life in London, I was strong enough
+to go into general society, and saw a good deal of several
+scientific men, and other more or less distinguished men.  I will
+give my impressions with respect to some of them, though I have
+little to say worth saying.
+
+I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after
+my marriage.  His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me,
+by clearness, caution, sound judgment, and a good deal of
+originality.  When I made any remark to him on Geology, he never
+rested until he saw the whole case clearly, and often made me see
+it more clearly than I had done before.  He would advance all
+possible objections to my suggestion, and even after these were
+exhausted would long remain dubious.  A second characteristic was
+his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific men.  (The
+slight repetition here observable is accounted for by the notes
+on Lyell, etc., having been added in April, 1881, a few years
+after the rest of the 'Recollections' were written.)
+
+On my return from the voyage of the "Beagle", I explained to him
+my views on coral-reefs, which differed from his, and I was
+greatly surprised and encouraged by the vivid interest which he
+showed.  His delight in science was ardent, and he felt the
+keenest interest in the future progress of mankind.  He was very
+kind-hearted, and thoroughly liberal in his religious beliefs, or
+rather disbeliefs; but he was a strong theist.  His candour was
+highly remarkable.  He exhibited this by becoming a convert to
+the Descent theory, though he had gained much fame by opposing
+Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old.  He reminded me
+that I had many years before said to him, when discussing the
+opposition of the old school of geologists to his new views,
+"What a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die
+when sixty years old, as afterwards he would be sure to oppose
+all new doctrines."  But he hoped that now he might be allowed to
+live.
+
+The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyell--more so,
+as I believe, than to any other man who ever lived.  When [I was]
+starting on the voyage of the "Beagle", the sagacious Henslow,
+who, like all other geologists, believed at that time in
+successive cataclysms, advised me to get and study the first
+volume of the 'Principles,' which had then just been published,
+but on no account to accept the views therein advocated.  How
+differently would anyone now speak of the 'Principles'!  I am
+proud to remember that the first place, namely, St. Jago, in the
+Cape de Verde archipelago, in which I geologised, convinced me of
+the infinite superiority of Lyell's views over those advocated in
+any other work known to me.
+
+The powerful effects of Lyell's works could formerly be plainly
+seen in the different progress of the science in France and
+England.  The present total oblivion of Elie de Beaumont's wild
+hypotheses, such as his 'Craters of Elevation' and 'Lines of
+Elevation' (which latter hypothesis I heard Sedgwick at the
+Geological Society lauding to the skies), may be largely
+attributed to Lyell.
+
+I saw a good deal of Robert Brown, "facile Princeps Botanicorum,"
+as he was called by Humboldt.  He seemed to me to be chiefly
+remarkable for the minuteness of his observations, and their
+perfect accuracy.  His knowledge was extraordinarily great, and
+much died with him, owing to his excessive fear of ever making a
+mistake.  He poured out his knowledge to me in the most
+unreserved manner, yet was strangely jealous on some points.  I
+called on him two or three times before the voyage of the
+"Beagle", and on one occasion he asked me to look through a
+microscope and describe what I saw.  This I did, and believe now
+that it was the marvellous currents of protoplasm in some
+vegetable cell.  I then asked him what I had seen; but he
+answered me, "That is my little secret."
+
+He was capable of the most generous actions.  When old, much out
+of health, and quite unfit for any exertion, he daily visited (as
+Hooker told me) an old man-servant, who lived at a distance (and
+whom he supported), and read aloud to him.  This is enough to
+make up for any degree of scientific penuriousness or jealousy.
+
+I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I have
+occasionally seen, but I have little to say about them worth
+saying.  I felt a high reverence for Sir J. Herschel, and was
+delighted to dine with him at his charming house at the Cape of
+Good Hope, and afterwards at his London house.  I saw him, also,
+on a few other occasions.  He never talked much, but every word
+which he uttered was worth listening to.
+
+I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison's house the
+illustrious Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing a wish to see
+me.  I was a little disappointed with the great man, but my
+anticipations probably were too high.  I can remember nothing
+distinctly about our interview, except that Humboldt was very
+cheerful and talked much.
+
+-- reminds me of Buckle whom I once met at Hensleigh Wedgwood's. 
+I was very glad to learn from him his system of collecting facts. 
+He told me that he bought all the books which he read, and made a
+full index, to each, of the facts which he thought might prove
+serviceable to him, and that he could always remember in what
+book he had read anything, for his memory was wonderful.  I asked
+him how at first he could judge what facts would be serviceable,
+and he answered that he did not know, but that a sort of instinct
+guided him.  From this habit of making indices, he was enabled to
+give the astonishing number of references on all sorts of
+subjects, which may be found in his 'History of Civilisation.' 
+This book I thought most interesting, and read it twice, but I
+doubt whether his generalisations are worth anything.  Buckle was
+a great talker, and I listened to him saying hardly a word, nor
+indeed could I have done so for he left no gaps.  When Mrs.
+Farrer began to sing, I jumped up and said that I must listen to
+her; after I had moved away he turned around to a friend and said
+(as was overheard by my brother), "Well, Mr. Darwin's books are
+much better than his conversation."
+
+Of other great literary men, I once met Sydney Smith at Dean
+Milman's house.  There was something inexplicably amusing in
+every word which he uttered.  Perhaps this was partly due to the
+expectation of being amused.  He was talking about Lady Cork, who
+was then extremely old.  This was the lady who, as he said, was
+once so much affected by one of his charity sermons, that she
+BORROWED a guinea from a friend to put in the plate.  He now said
+"It is generally believed that my dear old friend Lady Cork has
+been overlooked," and he said this in such a manner that no one
+could for a moment doubt that he meant that his dear old friend
+had been overlooked by the devil.  How he managed to express this
+I know not.
+
+I likewise once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope's (the historian's)
+house, and as there was only one other man at dinner, I had a
+grand opportunity of hearing him converse, and he was very
+agreeable.  He did not talk at all too much; nor indeed could
+such a man talk too much, as long as he allowed others to turn
+the stream of his conversation, and this he did allow.
+
+Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy
+and fulness of Macaulay's memory:  many historians used often to
+meet at Lord Stanhope's house, and in discussing various subjects
+they would sometimes differ from Macaulay, and formerly they
+often referred to some book to see who was right; but latterly,
+as Lord Stanhope noticed, no historian ever took this trouble,
+and whatever Macaulay said was final.
+
+On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope's house, one of his
+parties of historians and other literary men, and amongst them
+were Motley and Grote.  After luncheon I walked about Chevening
+Park for nearly an hour with Grote, and was much interested by
+his conversation and pleased by the simplicity and absence of all
+pretension in his manners.
+
+Long ago I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of
+the historian; he was a strange man, but what little I knew of
+him I liked much.  He was frank, genial, and pleasant.  He had
+strongly marked features, with a brown complexion, and his
+clothes, when I saw him, were all brown.  He seemed to believe in
+everything which was to others utterly incredible.  He said one
+day to me, "Why don't you give up your fiddle-faddle of geology
+and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences!"  The historian,
+then Lord Mahon, seemed shocked at such a speech to me, and his
+charming wife much amused.
+
+The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several
+times at my brother's house, and two or three times at my own
+house.  His talk was very racy and interesting, just like his
+writings, but he sometimes went on too long on the same subject. 
+I remember a funny dinner at my brother's, where, amongst a few
+others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of whom liked to talk. 
+Carlyle, however, silenced every one by haranguing during the
+whole dinner on the advantages of silence.  After dinner Babbage,
+in his grimmest manner, thanked Carlyle for his very interesting
+lecture on silence.
+
+Carlyle sneered at almost every one:  one day in my house he
+called Grote's 'History' "a fetid quagmire, with nothing
+spiritual about it."  I always thought, until his 'Reminiscences'
+appeared, that his sneers were partly jokes, but this now seems
+rather doubtful.  His expression was that of a depressed, almost
+despondent yet benevolent man; and it is notorious how heartily
+he laughed.  I believe that his benevolence was real, though
+stained by not a little jealousy.  No one can doubt about his
+extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things and men--far
+more vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay. 
+Whether his pictures of men were true ones is another question.
+
+He has been all-powerful in impressing some grand moral truths on
+the minds of men.  On the other hand, his views about slavery
+were revolting.  In his eyes might was right.  His mind seemed to
+me a very narrow one; even if all branches of science, which he
+despised, are excluded.  It is astonishing to me that Kingsley
+should have spoken of him as a man well fitted to advance
+science.  He laughed to scorn the idea that a mathematician, such
+as Whewell, could judge, as I maintained he could, of Goethe's
+views on light.  He thought it a most ridiculous thing that any
+one should care whether a glacier moved a little quicker or a
+little slower, or moved at all.  As far as I could judge, I never
+met a man with a mind so ill adapted for scientific research.
+
+Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the
+meetings of several scientific societies, and acted as secretary
+to the Geological Society.  But such attendance, and ordinary
+society, suited my health so badly that we resolved to live in
+the country, which we both preferred and have never repented of.
+
+RESIDENCE AT DOWN FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 1842, TO THE PRESENT TIME,
+1876.
+
+After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we
+found this house and purchased it.  I was pleased with the
+diversified appearance of vegetation proper to a chalk district,
+and so unlike what I had been accustomed to in the Midland
+counties; and still more pleased with the extreme quietness and
+rusticity of the place.  It is not, however, quite so retired a
+place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who says that
+my house can be approached only by a mule-track!  Our fixing
+ourselves here has answered admirably in one way, which we did
+not anticipate, namely, by being very convenient for frequent
+visits from our children.
+
+Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done. 
+Besides short visits to the houses of relations, and occasionally
+to the seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere.  During the
+first part of our residence we went a little into society, and
+received a few friends here; but my health almost always suffered
+from the excitement, violent shivering and vomiting attacks being
+thus brought on.  I have therefore been compelled for many years
+to give up all dinner-parties; and this has been somewhat of a
+deprivation to me, as such parties always put me into high
+spirits.  From the same cause I have been able to invite here
+very few scientific acquaintances.
+
+My chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life has been
+scientific work; and the excitement from such work makes me for
+the time forget, or drives quite away, my daily discomfort.  I
+have therefore nothing to record during the rest of my life,
+except the publication of my several books.  Perhaps a few
+details how they arose may be worth giving.
+
+MY SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS.
+
+In the early part of 1844, my observations on the volcanic
+islands visited during the voyage of the "Beagle" were published. 
+In 1845, I took much pains in correcting a new edition of my
+'Journal of Researches,' which was originally published in 1839
+as part of Fitz-Roy's work.  The success of this, my first
+literary child, always tickles my vanity more than that of any of
+my other books.  Even to this day it sells steadily in England
+and the United States, and has been translated for the second
+time into German, and into French and other languages.  This
+success of a book of travels, especially of a scientific one, so
+many years after its first publication, is surprising.  Ten
+thousand copies have been sold in England of the second edition. 
+In 1846 my 'Geological Observations on South America' were
+published.  I record in a little diary, which I have always kept,
+that my three geological books ('Coral Reefs' included) consumed
+four and a half years' steady work; "and now it is ten years
+since my return to England.  How much time have I lost by
+illness?"  I have nothing to say about these three books except
+that to my surprise new editions have lately been called for. 
+('Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit.1876.  'Coral Reefs,' 2nd
+Edit. 1874.)
+
+In October, 1846, I began to work on 'Cirripedia.'  When on the
+coast of Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into
+the shells of Concholepas, and which differed so much from all
+other Cirripedes that I had to form a new sub-order for its sole
+reception.  Lately an allied burrowing genus has been found on
+the shores of Portugal.  To understand the structure of my new
+Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many of the common forms;
+and this gradually led me on to take up the whole group.  I
+worked steadily on this subject for the next eight years, and
+ultimately published two thick volumes (Published by the Ray
+Society.), describing all the known living species, and two thin
+quartos on the extinct species.  I do not doubt that Sir E.
+Lytton Bulwer had me in his mind when he introduced in one of his
+novels a Professor Long, who had written two huge volumes on
+limpets.
+
+Although I was employed during eight years on this work, yet I
+record in my diary that about two years out of this time was lost
+by illness.  On this account I went in 1848 for some months to
+Malvern for hydropathic treatment, which did me much good, so
+that on my return home I was able to resume work.  So much was I
+out of health that when my dear father died on November 13th,
+1848, I was unable to attend his funeral or to act as one of his
+executors.
+
+My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value,
+as besides describing several new and remarkable forms, I made
+out the homologies of the various parts--I discovered the
+cementing apparatus, though I blundered dreadfully about the
+cement glands--and lastly I proved the existence in certain
+genera of minute males complemental to and parasitic on the
+hermaphrodites.  This latter discovery has at last been fully
+confirmed; though at one time a German writer was pleased to
+attribute the whole account to my fertile imagination.  The
+Cirripedes form a highly varying and difficult group of species
+to class; and my work was of considerable use to me, when I had
+to discuss in the 'Origin of Species' the principles of a natural
+classification.  Nevertheless, I doubt whether the work was worth
+the consumption of so much time.
+
+>From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge
+pile of notes, to observing, and to experimenting in relation to
+the transmutation of species.  During the voyage of the "Beagle"
+I had been deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean
+formation great fossil animals covered with armour like that on
+the existing armadillos; secondly, by the manner in which closely
+allied animals replace one another in proceeding southwards over
+the Continent; and thirdly, by the South American character of
+most of the productions of the Galapagos archipelago, and more
+especially by the manner in which they differ slightly on each
+island of the group; none of the islands appearing to be very
+ancient in a geological sense.
+
+It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others,
+could only be explained on the supposition that species gradually
+become modified; and the subject haunted me.  But it was equally
+evident that neither the action of the surrounding conditions,
+nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case of plants)
+could account for the innumerable cases in which organisms of
+every kind are beautifully adapted to their habits of life--for
+instance, a woodpecker or a tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed
+for dispersal by hooks or plumes.  I had always been much struck
+by such adaptations, and until these could be explained it seemed
+to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by indirect evidence
+that species have been modified.
+
+After my return to England it appeared to me that by following
+the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts
+which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants
+under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be
+thrown on the whole subject.  My first note-book was opened in
+July 1837.  I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any
+theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with
+respect to domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by
+conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by
+extensive reading.  When I see the list of books of all kinds
+which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals
+and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry.  I soon
+perceived that selection was the keystone of man's success in
+making useful races of animals and plants.  But how selection
+could be applied to organisms living in a state of nature
+remained for some time a mystery to me.
+
+In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my
+systematic enquiry, I happened to read for amusement 'Malthus on
+Population,' and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle
+for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued
+observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once
+struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations
+would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be
+destroyed.  The result of this would be the formation of new
+species.  Here then I had at last got a theory by which to work;
+but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice, that I determined not
+for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it.  In June
+1842 I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very
+brief abstract of my theory in pencil in 35 pages; and this was
+enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of 230 pages, which I
+had fairly copied out and still possess.
+
+But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance;
+and it is astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus
+and his egg, how I could have overlooked it and its solution. 
+This problem is the tendency in organic beings descended from the
+same stock to diverge in character as they become modified.  That
+they have diverged greatly is obvious from the manner in which
+species of all kinds can be classed under genera, genera under
+families, families under sub-orders and so forth; and I can
+remember the very spot in the road, whilst in my carriage, when
+to my joy the solution occurred to me; and this was long after I
+had come to Down.  The solution, as I believe, is that the
+modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to
+become adapted to many and highly diversified places in the
+economy of nature.
+
+Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty
+fully, and I began at once to do so on a scale three or four
+times as extensive as that which was afterwards followed in my
+'Origin of Species;' yet it was only an abstract of the materials
+which I had collected, and I got through about half the work on
+this scale.  But my plans were overthrown, for early in the
+summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay
+archipelago, sent me an essay "On the Tendency of Varieties to
+depart indefinitely from the Original Type;" and this essay
+contained exactly the same theory as mine.  Mr. Wallace expressed
+the wish that if I thought well of his essay, I should sent it to
+Lyell for perusal.
+
+The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell
+and Hooker to allow of an abstract from my MS., together with a
+letter to Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at
+the same time with Wallace's Essay, are given in the 'Journal of
+the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' 1858, page 45.  I was at
+first very unwilling to consent, as I thought Mr. Wallace might
+consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I did not then know how
+generous and noble was his disposition.  The extract from my MS.
+and the letter to Asa Gray had neither been intended for
+publication, and were badly written.  Mr. Wallace's essay, on the
+other hand, was admirably expressed and quite clear. 
+Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little
+attention, and the only published notice of them which I can
+remember was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was
+that all that was new in them was false, and what was true was
+old.  This shows how necessary it is that any new view should be
+explained at considerable length in order to arouse public
+attention.
+
+In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and
+Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but
+was often interrupted by ill-health, and short visits to Dr.
+Lane's delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park.  I
+abstracted the MS. begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and
+completed the volume on the same reduced scale.  It cost me
+thirteen months and ten days' hard labour.  It was published
+under the title of the 'Origin of Species,' in November 1859. 
+Though considerably added to and corrected in the later editions,
+it has remained substantially the same book.
+
+It is no doubt the chief work of my life.  It was from the first
+highly successful.  The first small edition of 1250 copies was
+sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of 3000
+copies soon afterwards.  Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876)
+been sold in England; and considering how stiff a book it is,
+this is a large sale.  It has been translated into almost every
+European tongue, even into such languages as Spanish, Bohemian,
+Polish, and Russian.  It has also, according to Miss Bird, been
+translated into Japanese (Miss Bird is mistaken, as I learn from
+Prof. Mitsukuri.--F.D.), and is there much studied.  Even an
+essay in Hebrew has appeared on it, showing that the theory is
+contained in the Old Testament!  The reviews were very numerous;
+for some time I collected all that appeared on the 'Origin' and
+on my related books, and these amount (excluding newspaper
+reviews) to 265; but after a time I gave up the attempt in
+despair.  Many separate essays and books on the subject have
+appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on
+"Darwinismus" has appeared every year or two.
+
+The success of the 'Origin' may, I think, be attributed in large
+part to my having long before written two condensed sketches, and
+to my having finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which
+was itself an abstract.  By this means I was enabled to select
+the more striking facts and conclusions.  I had, also, during
+many years followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a
+published fact, a new observation or thought came across me,
+which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of
+it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that
+such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the
+memory than favourable ones.  Owing to this habit, very few
+objections were raised against my views which I had not at least
+noticed and attempted to answer.
+
+It has sometimes been said that the success of the 'Origin'
+proved "that the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds
+were prepared for it."  I do not think that this is strictly
+true, for I occasionally sounded not a few naturalists, and never
+happened to come across a single one who seemed to doubt about
+the permanence of species.  Even Lyell and Hooker, though they
+would listen with interest to me, never seemed to agree.  I tried
+once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by Natural
+Selection, but signally failed.  What I believe was strictly true
+is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds
+of naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any
+theory which would receive them was sufficiently explained. 
+Another element in the success of the book was its moderate size;
+and this I owe to the appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I
+published on the scale in which I began to write in 1856, the
+book would have been four or five times as large as the 'Origin,'
+and very few would have had the patience to read it.
+
+I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the
+theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it,
+for I cared very little whether men attributed most originality
+to me or Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception
+of the theory.  I was forestalled in only one important point,
+which my vanity has always made me regret, namely, the
+explanation by means of the Glacial period of the presence of the
+same species of plants and of some few animals on distant
+mountain summits and in the arctic regions.  This view pleased me
+so much that I wrote it out in extenso, and I believe that it was
+read by Hooker some years before E. Forbes published his
+celebrated memoir ('Geolog. Survey Mem.,' 1846.) on the subject. 
+In the very few points in which we differed, I still think that I
+was in the right.  I have never, of course, alluded in print to
+my having independently worked out this view.
+
+Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work
+on the 'Origin,' as the explanation of the wide difference in
+many classes between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the
+close resemblance of the embryos within the same class.  No
+notice of this point was taken, as far as I remember, in the
+early reviews of the 'Origin,' and I recollect expressing my
+surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray.  Within late years
+several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Muller and
+Hackel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully, and
+in some respects more correctly than I did.  I had materials for
+a whole chapter on the subject, and I ought to have made the
+discussion longer; for it is clear that I failed to impress my
+readers; and he who succeeds in doing so deserves, in my opinion,
+all the credit.
+
+This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated
+honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific
+knowledge as not worthy of notice.  My views have often been
+grossly misrepresented, bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this
+has been generally done, as I believe, in good faith.  On the
+whole I do not doubt that my works have been over and over again
+greatly overpraised.  I rejoice that I have avoided
+controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many years ago, in
+reference to my geological works, strongly advised me never to
+get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and
+caused a miserable loss of time and temper.
+
+Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work
+has been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously
+criticised, and even when I have been overpraised, so that I have
+felt mortified, it has been my greatest comfort to say hundreds
+of times to myself that "I have worked as hard and as well as I
+could, and no man can do more than this."  I remember when in
+Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego, thinking (and, I believe,
+that I wrote home to the effect) that I could not employ my life
+better than in adding a little to Natural Science.  This I have
+done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what they
+like, but they cannot destroy this conviction.
+
+During the two last months of 1859 I was fully occupied in
+preparing a second edition of the 'Origin,' and by an enormous
+correspondence.  On January 1st, 1860, I began arranging my notes
+for my work on the 'Variation of Animals and Plants under
+Domestication;' but it was not published until the beginning of
+1868; the delay having been caused partly by frequent illnesses,
+one of which lasted seven months, and partly by being tempted to
+publish on other subjects which at the time interested me more.
+
+On May 15th, 1862, my little book on the 'Fertilisation of
+Orchids,' which cost me ten months' work, was published:  most of
+the facts had been slowly accumulated during several previous
+years.  During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the
+previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation
+of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the
+conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that
+crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms
+constant.  I attended to the subject more or less during every
+subsequent summer; and my interest in it was greatly enhanced by
+having procured and read in November 1841, through the advice of
+Robert Brown, a copy of C.K. Sprengel's wonderful book, 'Das
+entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur.'  For some years before 1862 I
+had specially attended to the fertilisation of our British
+orchids; and it seemed to me the best plan to prepare as complete
+a treatise on this group of plants as well as I could, rather
+than to utilise the great mass of matter which I had slowly
+collected with respect to other plants.
+
+My resolve proved a wise one; for since the appearance of my
+book, a surprising number of papers and separate works on the
+fertilisation of all kinds of flowers have appeared:  and these
+are far better done than I could possibly have effected.  The
+merits of poor old Sprengel, so long overlooked, are now fully
+recognised many years after his death.
+
+During the same year I published in the 'Journal of the Linnean
+Society' a paper "On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition of
+Primula," and during the next five years, five other papers on
+dimorphic and trimorphic plants.  I do not think anything in my
+scientific life has given me so much satisfaction as making out
+the meaning of the structure of these plants.  I had noticed in
+1838 or 1839 the dimorphism of Linum flavum, and had at first
+thought that it was merely a case of unmeaning variability.  But
+on examining the common species of Primula I found that the two
+forms were much too regular and constant to be thus viewed.  I
+therefore became almost convinced that the common cowslip and
+primrose were on the high road to become dioecious;--that the
+short pistil in the one form, and the short stamens in the other
+form were tending towards abortion.  The plants were therefore
+subjected under this point of view to trial; but as soon as the
+flowers with short pistils fertilised with pollen from the short
+stamens, were found to yield more seeds than any other of the
+four possible unions, the abortion-theory was knocked on the
+head.  After some additional experiment, it became evident that
+the two forms, though both were perfect hermaphrodites, bore
+almost the same relation to one another as do the two sexes of an
+ordinary animal.  With Lythrum we have the still more wonderful
+case of three forms standing in a similar relation to one
+another.  I afterwards found that the offspring from the union of
+two plants belonging to the same forms presented a close and
+curious analogy with hybrids from the union of two distinct
+species.
+
+In the autumn of 1864 I finished a long paper on 'Climbing
+Plants,' and sent it to the Linnean Society.  The writing of this
+paper cost me four months; but I was so unwell when I received
+the proof-sheets that I was forced to leave them very badly and
+often obscurely expressed.  The paper was little noticed, but
+when in 1875 it was corrected and published as a separate book it
+sold well.  I was led to take up this subject by reading a short
+paper by Asa Gray, published in 1858.  He sent me seeds, and on
+raising some plants I was so much fascinated and perplexed by the
+revolving movements of the tendrils and stems, which movements
+are really very simple, though appearing at first sight very
+complex, that I procured various other kinds of climbing plants,
+and studied the whole subject.  I was all the more attracted to
+it, from not being at all satisfied with the explanation which
+Henslow gave us in his lectures, about twining plants, namely,
+that they had a natural tendency to grow up in a spire.  This
+explanation proved quite erroneous.  Some of the adaptations
+displayed by Climbing Plants are as beautiful as those of Orchids
+for ensuring cross-fertilisation.
+
+My 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication' was
+begun, as already stated, in the beginning of 1860, but was not
+published until the beginning of 1868.  It was a big book, and
+cost me four years and two months' hard labour.  It gives all my
+observations and an immense number of facts collected from
+various sources, about our domestic productions.  In the second
+volume the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, etc., are
+discussed as far as our present state of knowledge permits. 
+Towards the end of the work I give my well-abused hypothesis of
+Pangenesis.  An unverified hypothesis is of little or no value;
+but if anyone should hereafter be led to make observations by
+which some such hypothesis could be established, I shall have
+done good service, as an astonishing number of isolated facts can
+be thus connected together and rendered intelligible.  In 1875 a
+second and largely corrected edition, which cost me a good deal
+of labour, was brought out.
+
+My 'Descent of Man' was published in February, 1871.  As soon as
+I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species
+were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that man
+must come under the same law.  Accordingly I collected notes on
+the subject for my own satisfaction, and not for a long time with
+any intention of publishing.  Although in the 'Origin of Species'
+the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet
+I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse
+me of concealing my views, to add that by the work "light would
+be thrown on the origin of man and his history."  It would have
+been useless and injurious to the success of the book to have
+paraded, without giving any evidence, my conviction with respect
+to his origin.
+
+But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the
+doctrine of the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable
+to work up such notes as I possessed, and to publish a special
+treatise on the origin of man.  I was the more glad to do so, as
+it gave me an opportunity of fully discussing sexual selection--a
+subject which had always greatly interested me.  This subject,
+and that of the variation of our domestic productions, together
+with the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, and the
+intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects which I have been
+able to write about in full, so as to use all the materials which
+I have collected.  The 'Descent of Man' took me three years to
+write, but then as usual some of this time was lost by ill
+health, and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other
+minor works.  A second and largely corrected edition of the
+'Descent' appeared in 1874.
+
+My book on the 'Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals'
+was published in the autumn of 1872.  I had intended to give only
+a chapter on the subject in the 'Descent of Man,' but as soon as
+I began to put my notes together, I saw that it would require a
+separate treatise.
+
+My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once
+commenced to make notes on the first dawn of the various
+expressions which he exhibited, for I felt convinced, even at
+this early period, that the most complex and fine shades of
+expression must all have had a gradual and natural origin. 
+During the summer of the following year, 1840, I read Sir C.
+Bell's admirable work on expression, and this greatly increased
+the interest which I felt in the subject, though I could not at
+all agree with his belief that various muscles had been specially
+created for the sake of expression.  From this time forward I
+occasionally attended to the subject, both with respect to man
+and our domesticated animals.  My book sold largely; 5267 copies
+having been disposed of on the day of publication.
+
+In the summer of 1860 I was idling and resting near Hartfield,
+where two species of Drosera abound; and I noticed that numerous
+insects had been entrapped by the leaves.  I carried home some
+plants, and on giving them insects saw the movements of the
+tentacles, and this made me think it probable that the insects
+were caught for some special purpose.  Fortunately a crucial test
+occurred to me, that of placing a large number of leaves in
+various nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous fluids of equal density;
+and as soon as I found that the former alone excited energetic
+movements, it was obvious that here was a fine new field for
+investigation.
+
+During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my
+experiments, and my book on 'Insectivorous Plants' was published
+in July 1875--that is, sixteen years after my first observations. 
+The delay in this case, as with all my other books, has been a
+great advantage to me; for a man after a long interval can
+criticise his own work, almost as well as if it were that of
+another person.  The fact that a plant should secrete, when
+properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferment, closely
+analogous to the digestive fluid of an animal, was certainly a
+remarkable discovery.
+
+During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the 'Effects of
+Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.'  This
+book will form a complement to that on the 'Fertilisation of
+Orchids,' in which I showed how perfect were the means for cross-
+fertilisation, and here I shall show how important are the
+results.  I was led to make, during eleven years, the numerous
+experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere accidental
+observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated
+before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable fact
+that seedlings of self-fertilised parentage are inferior, even in
+the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of cross-
+fertilised parentage.  I hope also to republish a revised edition
+of my book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and
+trimorphic plants, together with some additional observations on
+allied points which I never have had time to arrange.  My
+strength will then probably be exhausted, and I shall be ready to
+exclaim "Nunc dimittis."
+
+WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881.
+
+'The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation' was published in
+the autumn of 1876; and the results there arrived at explain, as
+I believe, the endless and wonderful contrivances for the
+transportal of pollen from one plant to another of the same
+species.  I now believe, however, chiefly from the observations
+of Hermann Muller, that I ought to have insisted more strongly
+than I did on the many adaptations for self-fertilisation; though
+I was well aware of many such adaptations.  A much enlarged
+edition of my 'Fertilisation of Orchids' was published in 1877.
+
+In this same year 'The Different Forms of Flowers, etc.,'
+appeared, and in 1880 a second edition.  This book consists
+chiefly of the several papers on Heterostyled flowers originally
+published by the Linnean Society, corrected, with much new matter
+added, together with observations on some other cases in which
+the same plant bears two kinds of flowers.  As before remarked,
+no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the
+making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers.  The results of
+crossing such flowers in an illegitimate manner, I believe to be
+very important, as bearing on the sterility of hybrids; although
+these results have been noticed by only a few persons.
+
+In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause's 'Life of
+Erasmus Darwin' published, and I added a sketch of his character
+and habits from material in my possession.  Many persons have
+been much interested by this little life, and I am surprised that
+only 800 or 900 copies were sold.
+
+In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank's assistance, our 'Power
+of Movement in Plants.'  This was a tough piece of work.  The
+book bears somewhat the same relation to my little book on
+'Climbing Plants,' which 'Cross-Fertilisation' did to the
+'Fertilisation of Orchids;' for in accordance with the principle
+of evolution it was impossible to account for climbing plants
+having been developed in so many widely different groups unless
+all kinds of plants possess some slight power of movement of an
+analogous kind.  This I proved to be the case; and I was further
+led to a rather wide generalisation, viz. that the great and
+important classes of movements, excited by light, the attraction
+of gravity, etc., are all modified forms of the fundamental
+movement of circumnutation.  It has always pleased me to exalt
+plants in the scale of organised beings; and I therefore felt an
+especial pleasure in showing how many and what admirably well
+adapted movements the tip of a root possesses.
+
+I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS. of a little
+book on 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of
+Worms.'  This is a subject of but small importance; and I know
+not whether it will interest any readers (Between November 1881
+and February 1884, 8500 copies have been sold.), but it has
+interested me.  It is the completion of a short paper read before
+the Geological Society more than forty years ago, and has revived
+old geological thoughts.
+
+I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and
+these have been the milestones in my life, so that little remains
+to be said.  I am not conscious of any change in my mind during
+the last thirty years, excepting in one point presently to be
+mentioned; nor, indeed, could any change have been expected
+unless one of general deterioration.  But my father lived to his
+eighty-third year with his mind as lively as ever it was, and all
+his faculties undimmed; and I hope that I may die before my mind
+fails to a sensible extent.  I think that I have become a little
+more skilful in guessing right explanations and in devising
+experimental tests; but this may probably be the result of mere
+practice, and of a larger store of knowledge.  I have as much
+difficulty as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely;
+and this difficulty has caused me a very great loss of time; but
+it has had the compensating advantage of forcing me to think long
+and intently about every sentence, and thus I have been led to
+see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of
+others.
+
+There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put
+at first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. 
+Formerly I used to think about my sentences before writing them
+down; but for several years I have found that it saves time to
+scribble in a vile hand whole pages as quickly as I possibly can,
+contracting half the words; and then correct deliberately. 
+Sentences thus scribbled down are often better ones than I could
+have written deliberately.
+
+Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will add that
+with my large books I spend a good deal of time over the general
+arrangement of the matter.  I first make the rudest outline in
+two or three pages, and then a larger one in several pages, a few
+words or one word standing for a whole discussion or series of
+facts.  Each one of these headings is again enlarged and often
+transferred before I begin to write in extenso.  As in several of
+my books facts observed by others have been very extensively
+used, and as I have always had several quite distinct subjects in
+hand at the same time, I may mention that I keep from thirty to
+forty large portfolios, in cabinets with labelled shelves, into
+which I can at once put a detached reference or memorandum.  I
+have bought many books, and at their ends I make an index of all
+the facts that concern my work; or, if the book is not my own,
+write out a separate abstract, and of such abstracts I have a
+large drawer full.  Before beginning on any subject I look to all
+the short indexes and make a general and classified index, and by
+taking the one or more proper portfolios I have all the
+information collected during my life ready for use.
+
+I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during the
+last twenty or thirty years.  Up to the age of thirty, or beyond
+it, poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray,
+Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, gave me great
+pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in
+Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays.  I have also
+said that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very
+great delight.  But now for many years I cannot endure to read a
+line of poetry:  I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and
+found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me.  I have also
+almost lost my taste for pictures or music.  Music generally sets
+me thinking too energetically on what I have been at work on,
+instead of giving me pleasure.  I retain some taste for fine
+scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it
+formerly did.  On the other hand, novels which are works of the
+imagination, though not of a very high order, have been for years
+a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often bless all
+novelists.  A surprising number have been read aloud to me, and I
+like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily--
+against which a law ought to be passed.  A novel, according to my
+taste, does not come into the first class unless it contains some
+person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman all
+the better.
+
+This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes
+is all the odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels
+(independently of any scientific facts which they may contain),
+and essays on all sorts of subjects interest me as much as ever
+they did.  My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for
+grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why
+this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain
+alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive.  A
+man with a mind more highly organised or better constituted than
+mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to
+live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry
+and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps
+the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept
+active through use.  The loss of these tastes is a loss of
+happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and
+more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional
+part of our nature.
+
+My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into
+many languages, and passed through several editions in foreign
+countries.  I have heard it said that the success of a work
+abroad is the best test of its enduring value.  I doubt whether
+this is at all trustworthy; but judged by this standard my name
+ought to last for a few years.  Therefore it may be worth while
+to try to analyse the mental qualities and the conditions on
+which my success has depended; though I am aware that no man can
+do this correctly.
+
+I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so
+remarkable in some clever men, for instance, Huxley.  I am
+therefore a poor critic:  a paper or book, when first read,
+generally excites my admiration, and it is only after
+considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points.  My
+power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought is
+very limited; and therefore I could never have succeeded with
+metaphysics or mathematics.  My memory is extensive, yet hazy: 
+it suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have
+observed or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am
+drawing, or on the other hand in favour of it; and after a time I
+can generally recollect where to search for my authority.  So
+poor in one sense is my memory, that I have never been able to
+remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of
+poetry.
+
+Some of my critics have said, "Oh, he is a good observer, but he
+has no power of reasoning!"  I do not think that this can be
+true, for the 'Origin of Species' is one long argument from the
+beginning to the end, and it has convinced not a few able men. 
+No one could have written it without having some power of
+reasoning.  I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense
+or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor
+must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree.
+
+On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am superior
+to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape
+attention, and in observing them carefully.  My industry has been
+nearly as great as it could have been in the observation and
+collection of facts.  What is far more important, my love of
+natural science has been steady and ardent.
+
+This pure love has, however, been much aided by the ambition to
+be esteemed by my fellow naturalists.  From my early youth I have
+had the strongest desire to understand or explain whatever I
+observed,--that is, to group all facts under some general laws. 
+These causes combined have given me the patience to reflect or
+ponder for any number of years over any unexplained problem.  As
+far as I can judge, I am not apt to follow blindly the lead of
+other men.  I have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so
+as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot
+resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown
+to be opposed to it.  Indeed, I have had no choice but to act in
+this manner, for with the exception of the Coral Reefs, I cannot
+remember a single first-formed hypothesis which had not after a
+time to be given up or greatly modified.  This has naturally led
+me to distrust greatly deductive reasoning in the mixed sciences. 
+On the other hand, I am not very sceptical,--a frame of mind
+which I believe to be injurious to the progress of science.  A
+good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid
+much loss of time, but I have met with not a few men, who, I feel
+sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or
+observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly
+serviceable.
+
+In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have known. 
+A gentleman (who, as I afterwards heard, is a good local
+botanist) wrote to me from the Eastern counties that the seed or
+beans of the common field-bean had this year everywhere grown on
+the wrong side of the pod.  I wrote back, asking for further
+information, as I did not understand what was meant; but I did
+not receive any answer for a very long time.  I then saw in two
+newspapers, one published in Kent and the other in Yorkshire,
+paragraphs stating that it was a most remarkable fact that "the
+beans this year had all grown on the wrong side."  So I thought
+there must be some foundation for so general a statement. 
+Accordingly, I went to my gardener, an old Kentish man, and asked
+him whether he had heard anything about it, and he answered, "Oh,
+no, sir, it must be a mistake, for the beans grow on the wrong
+side only on leap-year, and this is not leap-year."  I then asked
+him how they grew in common years and how on leap-years, but soon
+found that he knew absolutely nothing of how they grew at any
+time, but he stuck to his belief.
+
+After a time I heard from my first informant, who, with many
+apologies, said that he should not have written to me had he not
+heard the statement from several intelligent farmers; but that he
+had since spoken again to every one of them, and not one knew in
+the least what he had himself meant.  So that here a belief--if
+indeed a statement with no definite idea attached to it can be
+called a belief--had spread over almost the whole of England
+without any vestige of evidence.
+
+I have known in the course of my life only three intentionally
+falsified statements, and one of these may have been a hoax (and
+there have been several scientific hoaxes) which, however, took
+in an American Agricultural Journal.  It related to the formation
+in Holland of a new breed of oxen by the crossing of distinct
+species of Bos (some of which I happen to know are sterile
+together), and the author had the impudence to state that he had
+corresponded with me, and that I had been deeply impressed with
+the importance of his result.  The article was sent to me by the
+editor of an English Agricultural Journal, asking for my opinion
+before republishing it.
+
+A second case was an account of several varieties, raised by the
+author from several species of Primula, which had spontaneously
+yielded a full complement of seed, although the parent plants had
+been carefully protected from the access of insects.  This
+account was published before I had discovered the meaning of
+heterostylism, and the whole statement must have been fraudulent,
+or there was neglect in excluding insects so gross as to be
+scarcely credible.
+
+The third case was more curious:  Mr. Huth published in his book
+on 'Consanguineous Marriage' some long extracts from a Belgian
+author, who stated that he had interbred rabbits in the closest
+manner for very many generations, without the least injurious
+effects.  The account was published in a most respectable
+Journal, that of the Royal Society of Belgium; but I could not
+avoid feeling doubts--I hardly know why, except that there were
+no accidents of any kind, and my experience in breeding animals
+made me think this very improbable.
+
+So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Beneden, asking
+him whether the author was a trustworthy man.  I soon heard in
+answer that the Society had been greatly shocked by discovering
+that the whole account was a fraud.  (The falseness of the
+published statements on which Mr. Huth relied has been pointed
+out by himself in a slip inserted in all the copies of his book
+which then remained unsold.)  The writer had been publicly
+challenged in the Journal to say where he had resided and kept
+his large stock of rabbits while carrying on his experiments,
+which must have consumed several years, and no answer could be
+extracted from him.
+
+My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little use
+for my particular line of work.  Lastly, I have had ample leisure
+from not having to earn my own bread.  Even ill-health, though it
+has annihilated several years of my life, has saved me from the
+distractions of society and amusement.
+
+Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have
+amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by
+complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions.  Of
+these, the most important have been--the love of science--
+unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject--industry
+in observing and collecting facts--and a fair share of invention
+as well as of common sense.  With such moderate abilities as I
+possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to
+a considerable extent the belief of scientific men on some
+important points.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
+
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