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diff --git a/old/1999-02-1llcd10.txt b/old/1999-02-1llcd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d975d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1999-02-1llcd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19222 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I +#7 in our series by or about Charles Darwin + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher <asschers@aia.net.au> + + + + + +THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN + +INCLUDING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTER + +EDITED BY HIS SON + +FRANCIS DARWIN + + + + +VOLUME I + + + +PREFACE + +In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish +to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so +essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written +without following closely the career of the author. Thus it comes about +that the chief part of the book falls into chapters whose titles correspond +to the names of his books. + +In arranging the letters I have adhered as far as possible to chronological +sequence, but the character and variety of his researches make a strictly +chronological order an impossibility. It was his habit to work more or +less simultaneously at several subjects. Experimental work was often +carried on as a refreshment or variety, while books entailing reasoning and +the marshalling of large bodies of facts were being written. Moreover, +many of his researches were allowed to drop, and only resumed after an +interval of years. Thus a rigidly chronological series of letters would +present a patchwork of subjects, each of which would be difficult to +follow. The Table of Contents will show in what way I have attempted to +avoid this result. + +In printing the letters I have followed (except in a few cases) the usual +plan of indicating the existence of omissions or insertions. My father's +letters give frequent evidence of having been written when he was tired or +hurried, and they bear the marks of this circumstance. In writing to a +friend, or to one of his family, he frequently omitted the articles: these +have been inserted without the usual indications, except in a few +instances, where it is of special interest to preserve intact the hurried +character of the letter. Other small words, such as "of", "to", etc., have +been inserted usually within brackets. I have not followed the originals +as regards the spelling of names, the use of capitals, or in the matter of +punctuation. My father underlined many words in his letters; these have +not always been given in italics,--a rendering which would unfairly +exaggerate their effect. + +The Diary or Pocket-book, from which quotations occur in the following +pages, has been of value as supplying a frame-work of facts round which +letters may be grouped. It is unfortunately written with great brevity, +the history of a year being compressed into a page or less; and contains +little more than the dates of the principal events of his life, together +with entries as to his work, and as to the duration of his more serious +illnesses. He rarely dated his letters, so that but for the Diary it would +have been all but impossible to unravel the history of his books. It has +also enabled me to assign dates to many letters which would otherwise have +been shorn of half their value. + +Of letters addressed to my father I have not made much use. It was his +custom to file all letters received, and when his slender stock of files +("spits" as he called them) was exhausted, he would burn the letters of +several years, in order that he might make use of the liberated "spits." +This process, carried on for years, destroyed nearly all letters received +before 1862. After that date he was persuaded to keep the more interesting +letters, and these are preserved in an accessible form. + +I have attempted to give, in Chapter III., some account of his manner of +working. During the last eight years of his life I acted as his assistant, +and thus had an opportunity of knowing something of his habits and methods. + +I have received much help from my friends in the course of my work. To +some I am indebted for reminiscences of my father, to others for +information, criticisms, and advice. To all these kind coadjutors I gladly +acknowledge my indebtedness. The names of some occur in connection with +their contributions, but I do not name those to whom I am indebted for +criticisms or corrections, because I should wish to bear alone the load of +my short-comings, rather than to let any of it fall on those who have done +their best to lighten it. + +It will be seen how largely I am indebted to Sir Joseph Hooker for the +means of illustrating my father's life. The readers of these pages will, I +think, be grateful to Sir Joseph for the care with which he has preserved +his valuable collection of letters, and I should wish to add my +acknowledgment of the generosity with which he has placed it at my +disposal, and for the kindly encouragement given throughout my work. + +To Mr. Huxley I owe a debt of thanks, not only for much kind help, but for +his willing compliance with my request that he should contribute a chapter +on the reception of the 'Origin of Species.' + +Finally, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the courtesy of the publishers of +the 'Century Magazine' who have freely given me the use of their +illustrations. To Messrs. Maull and Fox and Messrs. Elliott and Fry I am +also indebted for their kindness in allowing me the use of reproductions of +their photographs. + +FRANCIS DARWIN. + +Cambridge, +October, 1887. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + +VOLUME I. + + +CHAPTER 1.I.--The Darwin Family. + +CHAPTER 1.II.--Autobiography. + +CHAPTER 1.III.--Reminiscences. + + +LETTERS. + +CHAPTER 1.IV.--Cambridge Life--1828-1831. + +CHAPTER 1.V.--The Appointment to the 'Beagle'--1831. + +CHAPTER 1.VI.--The Voyage--1831-1836. + +CHAPTER 1.VII.--London and Cambridge--1836-1842. + +CHAPTER 1.VIII.--Religion. + +CHAPTER 1.IX.--Life at Down--1842-1854. + +CHAPTER 1.X.--The Growth of the 'Origin of Species.' + +CHAPTER 1.XI.--The Growth of the 'Origin of Species'--Letters--1843-1856. + +CHAPTER 1.XII.--The Unfinished Book--May 1856-June 1858. + +CHAPTER 1.XIII.--The Writing of the 'Origin of Species'--June 18, 1858- +November 1859. + +CHAPTER 1.XIV.--Professor Huxley on the Reception of the 'Origin of +Species.' + + + + +LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. + + + +VOLUME I. + + +CHAPTER 1.I. + +THE DARWIN FAMILY. + +The earliest records of the family show the Darwins to have been +substantial yeomen residing on the northern borders of Lincolnshire, close +to Yorkshire. The name is now very unusual in England, but I believe that +it is not unknown in the neighbourhood of Sheffield and in Lancashire. +Down to the year 1600 we find the name spelt in a variety of ways--Derwent, +Darwen, Darwynne, etc. It is possible, therefore, that the family migrated +at some unknown date from Yorkshire, Cumberland, or Derbyshire, where +Derwent occurs as the name of a river. + +The first ancestor of whom we know was one William Darwin, who lived, about +the year 1500, at Marton, near Gainsborough. His great grandson, Richard +Darwyn, inherited land at Marton and elsewhere, and in his will, dated +1584, "bequeathed the sum of 3s. 4d. towards the settynge up of the +Queene's Majestie's armes over the quearie (choir) doore in the parishe +churche of Marton." (We owe a knowledge of these earlier members of the +family to researches amongst the wills at Lincoln, made by the well-known +genealogist, Colonel Chester.) + +The son of this Richard, named William Darwin, and described as +"gentleman," appears to have been a successful man. Whilst retaining his +ancestral land at Marton, he acquired through his wife and by purchase an +estate at Cleatham, in the parish of Manton, near Kirton Lindsey, and fixed +his residence there. This estate remained in the family down to the year +1760. A cottage with thick walls, some fish-ponds and old trees, now alone +show where the "Old Hall" once stood, and a field is still locally known as +the "Darwin Charity," from being subject to a charge in favour of the poor +of Marton. William Darwin must, at least in part, have owed his rise in +station to his appointment in 1613 by James I. to the post of Yeoman of the +Royal Armoury of Greenwich. The office appears to have been worth only 33 +pounds a year, and the duties were probably almost nominal; he held the +post down to his death during the Civil Wars. + +The fact that this William was a royal servant may explain why his son, +also named William, served when almost a boy for the King, as "Captain- +Lieutenant" in Sir William Pelham's troop of horse. On the partial +dispersion of the royal armies, and the retreat of the remainder to +Scotland, the boy's estates were sequestrated by the Parliament, but they +were redeemed on his signing the Solemn League and Covenant, and on his +paying a fine which must have struck his finances severely; for in a +petition to Charles II. he speaks of his almost utter ruin from having +adhered to the royal cause. + +During the Commonwealth, William Darwin became a barrister of Lincoln's +Inn, and this circumstance probably led to his marriage with the daughter +of Erasmus Earle, serjeant-at-law; hence his great-grandson, Erasmus +Darwin, the Poet, derived his Christian name. He ultimately became +Recorder of the city of Lincoln. + +The eldest son of the Recorder, again called William, was born in 1655, and +married the heiress of Robert Waring, a member of a good Staffordshire +family. This lady inherited from the family of Lassells, or Lascelles, the +manor and hall of Elston, near Newark, which has remained ever since in the +family. (Captain Lassells, or Lascelles, of Elston was military secretary +to Monk, Duke of Albemarle, during the Civil Wars. A large volume of +account books, countersigned in many places by Monk, are now in the +possession of my cousin Francis Darwin. The accounts might possibly prove +of interest to the antiquarian or historian. A portrait of Captain +Lassells in armour, although used at one time as an archery-target by some +small boys of our name, was not irretrievably ruined.) A portrait of this +William Darwin at Elston shows him as a good-looking young man in a full- +bottomed wig. + +This third William had two sons, William, and Robert who was educated as a +barrister. The Cleatham property was left to William, but on the +termination of his line in daughters reverted to the younger brother, who +had received Elston. On his mother's death Robert gave up his profession +and resided ever afterwards at Elston Hall. Of this Robert, Charles Darwin +writes (What follows is quoted from Charles Darwin's biography of his +grandfather, forming the preliminary notice to Ernst Krause's interesting +essay, 'Erasmus Darwin,' London, 1879, page 4.):-- + +"He seems to have had some taste for science, for he was an early member of +the well-known Spalding Club; and the celebrated antiquary Dr. Stukeley, in +'An Account of the almost entire Sceleton of a large Animal,' etc., +published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' April and May 1719, begins +the paper as follows: 'Having an account from my friend Robert Darwin, +Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, a person of curiosity, of a human sceleton +impressed in stone, found lately by the rector of Elston,' etc. Stukeley +then speaks of it as a great rarity, 'the like whereof has not been +observed before in this island to my knowledge.' Judging from a sort of +litany written by Robert, and handed down in the family, he was a strong +advocate of temperance, which his son ever afterwards so strongly +advocated:-- + + From a morning that doth shine, + From a boy that drinketh wine, + From a wife that talketh Latine, + Good Lord deliver me! + +"It is suspected that the third line may be accounted for by his wife, the +mother of Erasmus, having been a very learned lady. The eldest son of +Robert, christened Robert Waring, succeeded to the estate of Elston, and +died there at the age of ninety-two, a bachelor. He had a strong taste for +poetry, like his youngest brother Erasmus. Robert also cultivated botany, +and, when an oldish man, he published his 'Principia Botanica.' This book +in MS. was beautifully written, and my father [Dr. R.W. Darwin] declared +that he believed it was published because his old uncle could not endure +that such fine caligraphy should be wasted. But this was hardly just, as +the work contains many curious notes on biology--a subject wholly neglected +in England in the last century. The public, moreover, appreciated the +book, as the copy in my possession is the third edition." + +The second son, William Alvey, inherited Elston, and transmitted it to his +granddaughter, the late Mrs. Darwin, of Elston and Creskeld. A third son, +John, became rector of Elston, the living being in the gift of the family. +The fourth son, the youngest child, was Erasmus Darwin, the poet and +philosopher. + +TABLE OF RELATIONSHIP. (An incomplete list of family members.) + +ROBERT DARWIN of Elston, 1682-1754, had three sons, William Alvey Darwin, +1726-1783, Robert Waring Darwin, 1724-1816, and Erasmus Darwin, 1731-1802. + +William Alvey Darwin, 1726-1783, had a son, William Brown Darwin, 1774- +1841, and a daughter, Anne Darwin. + +William Brown Darwin, 1774-1841, had two daughters, Charlotte Darwin and +Sarah Darwin. + +Charlotte Darwin married Francis Rhodes, now Francis Darwin of Creskeld and +Elston. + +Sarah Darwin married Edward Noel. + +Anne Darwin married Samuel Fox and had a son, William Darwin Fox. + +ERASMUS DARWIN, 1731-1802, married (1) MARY HOWARD, 1740-1770, with whom he +had two sons, Charles Darwin, 1758-1778, and ROBERT WARING DARWIN, and (2) +Eliz. Chandos-Pole, 1747-1832, with whom he had a daughter, Violetta +Darwin, and a son, Francis Sacheverel Darwin. + +ROBERT WARING DARWIN, 1767-1848, married SUSANNAH WEDGWOOD and had a son, +CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN, b. February 12, 1809, d. April 19, 1882. + +Violetta Darwin married Samuel Tertius Galton and had a son, Francis +Galton. + +Francis Sacheverel Darwin, 1786-1859, had two sons, Reginald Darwin and +Edward Darwin, "High Elms." + +The table above shows Charles Darwin's descent from Robert, and his +relationship to some other members of the family, whose names occur in his +correspondence. Among these are included William Darwin Fox, one of his +earliest correspondents, and Francis Galton, with whom he maintained a warm +friendship for many years. Here also occurs the name of Francis Sacheverel +Darwin, who inherited a love of natural history from Erasmus, and +transmitted it to his son Edward Darwin, author (under the name of "High +Elms") of a 'Gamekeeper's Manual' (4th Edition 1863), which shows keen +observation of the habits of various animals. + +It is always interesting to see how far a man's personal characteristics +can be traced in his forefathers. Charles Darwin inherited the tall +stature, but not the bulky figure of Erasmus; but in his features there is +no traceable resemblance to those of his grandfather. Nor, it appears, had +Erasmus the love of exercise and of field-sports, so characteristic of +Charles Darwin as a young man, though he had, like his grandson, an +indomitable love of hard mental work. Benevolence and sympathy with +others, and a great personal charm of manner, were common to the two. +Charles Darwin possessed, in the highest degree, that "vividness of +imagination" of which he speaks as strongly characteristic of Erasmus, and +as leading "to his overpowering tendency to theorise and generalise." This +tendency, in the case of Charles Darwin, was fully kept in check by the +determination to test his theories to the utmost. Erasmus had a strong +love of all kinds of mechanism, for which Charles Darwin had no taste. +Neither had Charles Darwin the literary temperament which made Erasmus a +poet as well as a philosopher. He writes of Erasmus ('Life of Erasmus +Darwin,' page 68.): "Throughout his letters I have been struck with his +indifference to fame, and the complete absence of all signs of any over- +estimation of his own abilities, or of the success of his works." These, +indeed, seem indications of traits most strikingly prominent in his own +character. Yet we get no evidence in Erasmus of the intense modesty and +simplicity that marked Charles Darwin's whole nature. But by the quick +bursts of anger provoked in Erasmus, at the sight of any inhumanity or +injustice, we are again reminded of him. + +On the whole, however, it seems to me that we do not know enough of the +essential personal tone of Erasmus Darwin's character to attempt more than +a superficial comparison; and I am left with an impression that, in spite +of many resemblances, the two men were of a different type. It has been +shown that Miss Seward and Mrs. Schimmelpenninck have misrepresented +Erasmus Darwin's character. (Ibid., pages 77, 79, etc.) It is, however, +extremely probable that the faults which they exaggerate were to some +extent characteristic of the man; and this leads me to think that Erasmus +had a certain acerbity or severity of temper which did not exist in his +grandson. + +The sons of Erasmus Darwin inherited in some degree his intellectual +tastes, for Charles Darwin writes of them as follows: + +"His eldest son, Charles (born September 3, 1758), was a young man of +extraordinary promise, but died (May 15, 1778) before he was twenty-one +years old, from the effects of a wound received whilst dissecting the brain +of a child. He inherited from his father a strong taste for various +branches of science, for writing verses, and for mechanics...He also +inherited stammering. With the hope of curing him, his father sent him to +France, when about eight years old (1766-'67), with a private tutor, +thinking that if he was not allowed to speak English for a time, the habit +of stammering might be lost; and it is a curious fact, that in after years, +when speaking French, he never stammered. At a very early age he collected +specimens of all kinds. When sixteen years old he was sent for a year to +[Christ Church] Oxford, but he did not like the place, and thought (in the +words of his father) that the 'vigour of his mind languished in the pursuit +of classical elegance like Hercules at the distaff, and sighed to be +removed to the robuster exercise of the medical school of Edinburgh.' He +stayed three years at Edinburgh, working hard at his medical studies, and +attending 'with diligence all the sick poor of the parish of Waterleith, +and supplying them with the necessary medicines.' The Aesculapian Society +awarded him its first gold medal for an experimental inquiry on pus and +mucus. Notices of him appeared in various journals; and all the writers +agree about his uncommon energy and abilities. He seems like his father to +have excited the warm affection of his friends. Professor Andrew Duncan... +spoke...about him with the warmest affection forty-seven years after his +death when I was a young medical student at Edinburgh... + +"About the character of his second son, Erasmus (born 1759), I have little +to say, for though he wrote poetry, he seems to have had none of the other +tastes of his father. He had, however, his own peculiar tastes, viz., +genealogy, the collecting of coins, and statistics. When a boy he counted +all the houses in the city of Lichfield, and found out the number of +inhabitants in as many as he could; he thus made a census, and when a real +one was first made, his estimate was found to be nearly accurate. His +disposition was quiet and retiring. My father had a very high opinion of +his abilities, and this was probably just, for he would not otherwise have +been invited to travel with, and pay long visits to, men so distinguished +in different ways as Boulton the engineer, and Day the moralist and +novelist." His death by suicide, in 1799, seems to have taken place in a +state of incipient insanity. + +Robert Waring, the father of Charles Darwin, was born May 30, 1766, and +entered the medical profession like his father. He studied for a few +months at Leyden, and took his M.D. (I owe this information to the kindness +of Professor Rauwenhoff, Director of the Archives at Leyden. He quotes +from the catalogue of doctors that "Robertus Waring Darwin, Anglo- +britannus," defended (February 26, 1785) in the Senate a Dissertation on +the coloured images seen after looking at a bright object, and "Medicinae +Doctor creatus est a clar. Paradijs." The archives of Leyden University +are so complete that Professor Rauwenhoff is able to tell me that my +grandfather lived together with a certain "Petrus Crompton, Anglus," in +lodgings in the Apothekersdijk. Dr. Darwin's Leyden dissertation was +published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' and my father used to say +that the work was in fact due to Erasmus Darwin.--F.D.) at that University +on February 26, 1785. "His father" (Erasmus) "brought ('Life of Erasmus +Darwin,' page 85.) him to Shrewsbury before he was twenty-one years old +(1787), and left him 20 pounds, saying, 'Let me know when you want more, +and I will send it you.' His uncle, the rector of Elston, afterwards also +sent him 20 pounds, and this was the sole pecuniary aid which he ever +received...Erasmus tells Mr. Edgeworth that his son Robert, after being +settled in Shrewsbury for only six months, 'already had between forty and +fifty patients.' By the second year he was in considerable, and ever +afterwards in very large, practice." + +Robert Waring Darwin married (April 18, 1796) Susannah, the daughter of his +father's friend, Josiah Wedgwood, of Etruria, then in her thirty-second +year. We have a miniature of her, with a remarkably sweet and happy face, +bearing some resemblance to the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of her +father; a countenance expressive of the gentle and sympathetic nature which +Miss Meteyard ascribes to her. ('A Group of Englishmen,' by Miss Meteyard, +1871.) She died July 15, 1817, thirty-two years before her husband, whose +death occurred on November 13, 1848. Dr. Darwin lived before his marriage +for two or three years on St. John's Hill; afterwards at the Crescent, +where his eldest daughter Marianne was born; lastly at the "Mount," in the +part of Shrewsbury known as Frankwell, where the other children were born. +This house was built by Dr. Darwin about 1800, it is now in the possession +of Mr. Spencer Phillips, and has undergone but little alteration. It is a +large, plain, square, red-brick house, of which the most attractive feature +is the pretty green-house, opening out of the morning-room. + +The house is charmingly placed, on the top of a steep bank leading down to +the Severn. The terraced bank is traversed by a long walk, leading from +end to end, still called "the Doctor's Walk." At one point in this walk +grows a Spanish chestnut, the branches of which bend back parallel to +themselves in a curious manner, and this was Charles Darwin's favourite +tree as a boy, where he and his sister Catherine had each their special +seat. + +The Doctor took a great pleasure in his garden, planting it with ornamental +trees and shrubs, and being especially successful in fruit-trees; and this +love of plants was, I think, the only taste kindred to natural history +which he possessed. Of the "Mount pigeons," which Miss Meteyard describes +as illustrating Dr. Darwin's natural-history taste, I have not been able to +hear from those most capable of knowing. Miss Meteyard's account of him is +not quite accurate in a few points. For instance, it is incorrect to +describe Dr. Darwin as having a philosophical mind; his was a mind +especially given to detail, and not to generalising. Again, those who knew +him intimately describe him as eating remarkably little, so that he was not +"a great feeder, eating a goose for his dinner, as easily as other men do a +partridge." ('A Group of Englishmen,' page 263.) In the matter of dress +he was conservative, and wore to the end of his life knee-breeches and drab +gaiters, which, however, certainly did not, as Miss Meteyard says, button +above the knee--a form of costume chiefly known to us in grenadiers of +Queen Anne's day, and in modern wood-cutters and ploughboys. + +Charles Darwin had the strongest feeling of love and respect for his +father's memory. His recollection of everything that was connected with +him was peculiarly distinct, and he spoke of him frequently; generally +prefacing an anecdote with some such phrase as, "My father, who was the +wisest man I ever knew, etc..." It was astonishing how clearly he +remembered his father's opinions, so that he was able to quote some maxims +or hint of his in most cases of illness. As a rule, he put small faith in +doctors, and thus his unlimited belief in Dr. Darwin's medical instinct and +methods of treatment was all the more striking. + +His reverence for him was boundless and most touching. He would have +wished to judge everything else in the world dispassionately, but anything +his father had said was received with almost implicit faith. His daughter +Mrs. Litchfield remembers him saying that he hoped none of his sons would +ever believe anything because he said it, unless they were themselves +convinced of its truth,--a feeling in striking contrast with his own manner +of faith. + +A visit which Charles Darwin made to Shrewsbury in 1869 left on the mind of +his daughter who accompanied him a strong impression of his love for his +old home. The then tenant of the Mount showed them over the house, etc., +and with mistaken hospitality remained with the party during the whole +visit. As they were leaving, Charles Darwin said, with a pathetic look of +regret, "If I could have been left alone in that green-house for five +minutes, I know I should have been able to see my father in his wheel-chair +as vividly as if he had been there before me." + +Perhaps this incident shows what I think is the truth, that the memory of +his father he loved the best, was that of him as an old man. Mrs. +Litchfield has noted down a few words which illustrate well his feeling +towards his father. She describes him as saying with the most tender +respect, "I think my father was a little unjust to me when I was young, but +afterwards I am thankful to think I became a prime favourite with him." +She has a vivid recollection of the expression of happy reverie that +accompanied these words, as if he were reviewing the whole relation, and +the remembrance left a deep sense of peace and gratitude. + +What follows was added by Charles Darwin to his autobiographical +'Recollections,' and was written about 1877 or 1878. + +"I may here add a few pages about my father, who was in many ways a +remarkable man. + +"He was about 6 feet 2 inches in height, with broad shoulders, and very +corpulent, so that he was the largest man whom I ever saw. When he last +weighed himself, he was 24 stone, but afterwards increased much in weight. +His chief mental characteristics were his powers of observation and his +sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen exceeded or even equalled. His +sympathy was not only with the distresses of others, but in a greater +degree with the pleasures of all around him. This led him to be always +scheming to give pleasure to others, and, though hating extravagance, to +perform many generous actions. For instance, Mr. B--, a small manufacturer +in Shrewsbury, came to him one day, and said he should be bankrupt unless +he could at once borrow 10,000 pounds, but that he was unable to give any +legal security. My father heard his reasons for believing that he could +ultimately repay the money, and from [his] intuitive perception of +character felt sure that he was to be trusted. So he advanced this sum, +which was a very large one for him while young, and was after a time +repaid. + +"I suppose that it was his sympathy which gave him unbounded power of +winning confidence, and as a consequence made him highly successful as a +physician. He began to practise before he was twenty-one years old, and +his fees during the first year paid for the keep of two horses and a +servant. On the following year his practice was large, and so continued +for about sixty years, when he ceased to attend on any one. His great +success as a doctor was the more remarkable, as he told me that he at first +hated his profession so much that if he had been sure of the smallest +pittance, or if his father had given him any choice, nothing should have +induced him to follow it. To the end of his life, the thought of an +operation almost sickened him, and he could scarcely endure to see a person +bled--a horror which he has transmitted to me--and I remember the horror +which I felt as a schoolboy in reading about Pliny (I think) bleeding to +death in a warm bath... + +"Owing to my father's power of winning confidence, many patients, +especially ladies, consulted him when suffering from any misery, as a sort +of Father-Confessor. He told me that they always began by complaining in a +vague manner about their health, and by practice he soon guessed what was +really the matter. He then suggested that they had been suffering in their +minds, and now they would pour out their troubles, and he heard nothing +more about the body...Owing to my father's skill in winning confidence he +received many strange confessions of misery and guilt. He often remarked +how many miserable wives he had known. In several instances husbands and +wives had gone on pretty well together for between twenty and thirty years, +and then hated each other bitterly; this he attributed to their having lost +a common bond in their young children having grown up. + +"But the most remarkable power which my father possessed was that of +reading the characters, and even the thoughts of those whom he saw even for +a short time. We had many instances of the power, some of which seemed +almost supernatural. It saved my father from ever making (with one +exception, and the character of this man was soon discovered) an unworthy +friend. A strange clergyman came to Shrewsbury, and seemed to be a rich +man; everybody called on him, and he was invited to many houses. My father +called, and on his return home told my sisters on no account to invite him +or his family to our house; for he felt sure that the man was not to be +trusted. After a few months he suddenly bolted, being heavily in debt, and +was found out to be little better than an habitual swindler. Here is a +case of trustfulness which not many men would have ventured on. An Irish +gentleman, a complete stranger, called on my father one day, and said that +he had lost his purse, and that it would be a serious inconvenience to him +to wait in Shrewsbury until he could receive a remittance from Ireland. He +then asked my father to lend him 20 pounds, which was immediately done, as +my father felt certain that the story was a true one. As soon as a letter +could arrive from Ireland, one came with the most profuse thanks, and +enclosing, as he said, a 20 pound Bank of England note, but no note was +enclosed. I asked my father whether this did not stagger him, but he +answered 'not in the least.' On the next day another letter came with many +apologies for having forgotten (like a true Irishman) to put the note into +his letter of the day before...(A gentleman) brought his nephew, who was +insane but quite gentle, to my father; and the young man's insanity led him +to accuse himself of all the crimes under heaven. When my father +afterwards talked over the matter with the uncle, he said, 'I am sure that +your nephew is really guilty of...a heinous crime.' Whereupon [the +gentleman] said, 'Good God, Dr. Darwin, who told you; we thought that no +human being knew the fact except ourselves!' My father told me the story +many years after the event, and I asked him how he distinguished the true +from the false self-accusations; and it was very characteristic of my +father that he said he could not explain how it was. + +"The following story shows what good guesses my father could make. Lord +Shelburne, afterwards the first Marquis of Lansdowne, was famous (as +Macaulay somewhere remarks) for his knowledge of the affairs of Europe, on +which he greatly prided himself. He consulted my father medically, and +afterwards harangued him on the state of Holland. My father had studied +medicine at Leyden, and one day [while there] went a long walk into the +country with a friend who took him to the house of a clergyman (we will say +the Rev. Mr. A--, for I have forgotten his name), who had married an +Englishwoman. My father was very hungry, and there was little for luncheon +except cheese, which he could never eat. The old lady was surprised and +grieved at this, and assured my father that it was an excellent cheese, and +had been sent her from Bowood, the seat of Lord Shelburne. My father +wondered why a cheese should be sent her from Bowood, but thought nothing +more about it until it flashed across his mind many years afterwards, +whilst Lord Shelburne was talking about Holland. So he answered, 'I should +think from what I saw of the Rev. Mr. A--, that he was a very able man, and +well acquainted with the state of Holland.' My father saw that the Earl, +who immediately changed the conversation was much startled. On the next +morning my father received a note from the Earl, saying that he had delayed +starting on his journey, and wished particularly to see my father. When he +called, the Earl said, 'Dr. Darwin, it is of the utmost importance to me +and to the Rev. Mr. A-- to learn how you have discovered that he is the +source of my information about Holland.' So my father had to explain the +state of the case, and he supposed that Lord Shelburne was much struck with +his diplomatic skill in guessing, for during many years afterwards he +received many kind messages from him through various friends. I think that +he must have told the story to his children; for Sir C. Lyell asked me many +years ago why the Marquis of Lansdowne (the son or grand-son of the first +marquis) felt so much interest about me, whom he had never seen, and my +family. When forty new members (the forty thieves as they were then +called) were added to the Athenaeum Club, there was much canvassing to be +one of them; and without my having asked any one, Lord Lansdowne proposed +me and got me elected. If I am right in my supposition, it was a queer +concatenation of events that my father not eating cheese half-a-century +before in Holland led to my election as a member of the Athenaeum. + +"The sharpness of his observation led him to predict with remarkable skill +the course of any illness, and he suggested endless small details of +relief. I was told that a young doctor in Shrewsbury, who disliked my +father, used to say that he was wholly unscientific, but owned that his +power of predicting the end of an illness was unparalleled. Formerly when +he thought that I should be a doctor, he talked much to me about his +patients. In the old days the practice of bleeding largely was universal, +but my father maintained that far more evil was thus caused than good done; +and he advised me if ever I was myself ill not to allow any doctor to take +more than an extremely small quantity of blood. Long before typhoid fever +was recognised as distinct, my father told me that two utterly distinct +kinds of illness were confounded under the name of typhus fever. He was +vehement against drinking, and was convinced of both the direct and +inherited evil effects of alcohol when habitually taken even in moderate +quantity in a very large majority of cases. But he admitted and advanced +instances of certain persons who could drink largely during their whole +lives without apparently suffering any evil effects, and he believed that +he could often beforehand tell who would thus not suffer. He himself never +drank a drop of any alcoholic fluid. This remark reminds me of a case +showing how a witness under the most favourable circumstances may be +utterly mistaken. A gentleman-farmer was strongly urged by my father not +to drink, and was encouraged by being told that he himself never touched +any spirituous liquor. Whereupon the gentleman said, 'Come, come, Doctor, +this won't do--though it is very kind of you to say so for my sake--for I +know that you take a very large glass of hot gin and water every evening +after your dinner.' (This belief still survives, and was mentioned to my +brother in 1884 by an old inhabitant of Shrewsbury.--F.D.) So my father +asked him how he knew this. The man answered, 'My cook was your kitchen- +maid for two or three years, and she saw the butler every day prepare and +take to you the gin and water.' The explanation was that my father had the +odd habit of drinking hot water in a very tall and large glass after his +dinner; and the butler used first to put some cold water in the glass, +which the girl mistook for gin, and then filled it up with boiling water +from the kitchen boiler. + +"My father used to tell me many little things which he had found useful in +his medical practice. Thus ladies often cried much while telling him their +troubles, and thus caused much loss of his precious time. He soon found +that begging them to command and restrain themselves, always made them weep +the more, so that afterwards he always encouraged them to go on crying, +saying that this would relieve them more than anything else, and with the +invariable result that they soon ceased to cry, and he could hear what they +had to say and give his advice. When patients who were very ill craved for +some strange and unnatural food, my father asked them what had put such an +idea into their heads; if they answered that they did not know, he would +allow them to try the food, and often with success, as he trusted to their +having a kind of instinctive desire; but if they answered that they had +heard that the food in question had done good to some one else, he firmly +refused his assent. + +"He gave one day an odd little specimen of human nature. When a very young +man he was called in to consult with the family physician in the case of a +gentleman of much distinction in Shropshire. The old doctor told the wife +that the illness was of such a nature that it must end fatally. My father +took a different view and maintained that the gentleman would recover: he +was proved quite wrong in all respects (I think by autopsy) and he owned +his error. He was then convinced that he should never again be consulted +by this family; but after a few months the widow sent for him, having +dismissed the old family doctor. My father was so much surprised at this, +that he asked a friend of the widow to find out why he was again consulted. +The widow answered her friend, that 'she would never again see the odious +old doctor who said from the first that her husband would die, while Dr. +Darwin always maintained that he would recover!' In another case my father +told a lady that her husband would certainly die. Some months afterwards +he saw the widow, who was a very sensible woman, and she said, 'You are a +very young man, and allow me to advise you always to give, as long as you +possibly can, hope to any near relative nursing a patient. You made me +despair, and from that moment I lost strength.' My father said that he had +often since seen the paramount importance, for the sake of the patient, of +keeping up the hope and with it the strength of the nurse in charge. This +he sometimes found difficult to do compatibly with truth. One old +gentleman, however, caused him no such perplexity. He was sent for by +Mr.P--, who said, 'From all that I have seen and heard of you I believe +that you are the sort of man who will speak the truth, and if I ask, you +will tell me when I am dying. Now I much desire that you should attend me, +if you will promise, whatever I may say, always to declare that I am not +going to die.' My father acquiesced on the understanding that his words +should in fact have no meaning. + +"My father possessed an extraordinary memory, especially for dates, so that +he knew, when he was very old, the day of the birth, marriage, and death of +a multitude of persons in Shropshire; and he once told me that this power +annoyed him; for if he once heard a date, he could not forget it; and thus +the deaths of many friends were often recalled to his mind. Owing to his +strong memory he knew an extraordinary number of curious stories, which he +liked to tell, as he was a great talker. He was generally in high spirits, +and laughed and joked with every one--often with his servants--with the +utmost freedom; yet he had the art of making every one obey him to the +letter. Many persons were much afraid of him. I remember my father +telling us one day, with a laugh, that several persons had asked him +whether Miss --, a grand old lady in Shropshire, had called on him, so that +at last he enquired why they asked him; and he was told that Miss --, whom +my father had somehow mortally offended, was telling everybody that she +would call and tell 'that fat old doctor very plainly what she thought of +him.' She had already called, but her courage had failed, and no one could +have been more courteous and friendly. As a boy, I went to stay at the +house of --, whose wife was insane; and the poor creature, as soon as she +saw me, was in the most abject state of terror that I ever saw, weeping +bitterly and asking me over and over again, 'Is your father coming?' but +was soon pacified. On my return home, I asked my father why she was so +frightened, and he answered he was very glad to hear it, as he had +frightened her on purpose, feeling sure that she would be kept in safety +and much happier without any restraint, if her husband could influence her, +whenever she became at all violent, by proposing to send for Dr. Darwin; +and these words succeeded perfectly during the rest of her long life. + +"My father was very sensitive, so that many small events annoyed him or +pained him much. I once asked him, when he was old and could not walk, why +he did not drive out for exercise; and he answered, 'Every road out of +Shrewsbury is associated in my mind with some painful event.' Yet he was +generally in high spirits. He was easily made very angry, but his kindness +was unbounded. He was widely and deeply loved. + +"He was a cautious and good man of business, so that he hardly ever lost +money by an investment, and left to his children a very large property. I +remember a story showing how easily utterly false beliefs originate and +spread. Mr. E --, a squire of one of the oldest families in Shropshire, +and head partner in a bank, committed suicide. My father was sent for as a +matter of form, and found him dead. I may mention, by the way, to show how +matters were managed in those old days, that because Mr. E -- was a rather +great man, and universally respected, no inquest was held over his body. +My father, in returning home, thought it proper to call at the bank (where +he had an account) to tell the managing partners of the event, as it was +not improbable that it would cause a run on the bank. Well, the story was +spread far and wide, that my father went into the bank, drew out all his +money, left the bank, came back again, and said, 'I may just tell you that +Mr. E -- has killed himself,' and then departed. It seems that it was then +a common belief that money withdrawn from a bank was not safe until the +person had passed out through the door of the bank. My father did not hear +this story till some little time afterwards, when the managing partner said +that he had departed from his invariable rule of never allowing any one to +see the account of another man, by having shown the ledger with my father's +account to several persons, as this proved that my father had not drawn out +a penny on that day. It would have been dishonourable in my father to have +used his professional knowledge for his private advantage. Nevertheless, +the supposed act was greatly admired by some persons; and many years +afterwards, a gentleman remarked, 'Ah, Doctor, what a splendid man of +business you were in so cleverly getting all your money safe out of that +bank!' + +"My father's mind was not scientific, and he did not try to generalize his +knowledge under general laws; yet he formed a theory for almost everything +which occurred. I do not think I gained much from him intellectually; but +his example ought to have been of much moral service to all his children. +One of his golden rules (a hard one to follow) was, 'Never become the +friend of any one whom you cannot respect.'" + +Dr. Darwin had six children (Of these Mrs. Wedgwood is now the sole +survivor.): Marianne, married Dr. Henry Parker; Caroline, married Josiah +Wedgwood; Erasmus Alvey; Susan, died unmarried; Charles Robert; Catherine, +married Rev. Charles Langton. + +The elder son, Erasmus, was born in 1804, and died unmarried at the age of +seventy-seven. + +He, like his brother, was educated at Shrewsbury School and at Christ's +College, Cambridge. He studied medicine at Edinburgh and in London, and +took the degree of Bachelor of Medicine at Cambridge. He never made any +pretence of practising as a doctor, and, after leaving Cambridge, lived a +quiet life in London. + +There was something pathetic in Charles Darwin's affection for his brother +Erasmus, as if he always recollected his solitary life, and the touching +patience and sweetness of his nature. He often spoke of him as "Poor old +Ras," or "Poor dear old Philos"--I imagine Philos (Philosopher) was a relic +of the days when they worked at chemistry in the tool-house at Shrewsbury-- +a time of which he always preserved a pleasant memory. Erasmus being +rather more than four years older than Charles Darwin, they were not long +together at Cambridge, but previously at Edinburgh they lived in the same +lodgings, and after the Voyage they lived for a time together in Erasmus' +house in Great Marlborough Street. At this time also he often speaks with +much affection of Erasmus in his letters to Fox, using words such as "my +dear good old brother." In later years Erasmus Darwin came to Down +occasionally, or joined his brother's family in a summer holiday. But +gradually it came about that he could not, through ill health, make up his +mind to leave London, and then they only saw each other when Charles Darwin +went for a week at a time to his brother's house in Queen Anne Street. + +The following note on his brother's character was written by Charles Darwin +at about the same time that the sketch of his father was added to the +'Recollections.':-- + +"My brother Erasmus possessed a remarkably clear mind with extensive and +diversified tastes and knowledge in literature, art, and even in science. +For a short time he collected and dried plants, and during a somewhat +longer time experimented in chemistry. He was extremely agreeable, and his +wit often reminded me of that in the letters and works of Charles Lamb. He +was very kind-hearted...His health from his boyhood had been weak, and as a +consequence he failed in energy. His spirits were not high, sometimes low, +more especially during early and middle manhood. He read much, even whilst +a boy, and at school encouraged me to read, lending me books. Our minds +and tastes were, however, so different, that I do not think I owe much to +him intellectually. I am inclined to agree with Francis Galton in +believing that education and environment produce only a small effect on the +mind of any one, and that most of our qualities are innate." + +Erasmus Darwin's name, though not known to the general public, may be +remembered from the sketch of his character in Carlyle's 'Reminiscences,' +which I here reproduce in part:-- + +"Erasmus Darwin, a most diverse kind of mortal, came to seek us out very +soon ('had heard of Carlyle in Germany, etc.') and continues ever since to +be a quiet house-friend, honestly attached; though his visits latterly have +been rarer and rarer, health so poor, I so occupied, etc., etc. He had +something of original and sarcastically ingenious in him, one of the +sincerest, naturally truest, and most modest of men; elder brother of +Charles Darwin (the famed Darwin on Species of these days) to whom I rather +prefer him for intellect, had not his health quite doomed him to silence +and patient idleness...My dear one had a great favour for this honest +Darwin always; many a road, to shops and the like, he drove her in his cab +(Darwingium Cabbum comparable to Georgium Sidus) in those early days when +even the charge of omnibuses was a consideration, and his sparse +utterances, sardonic often, were a great amusement to her. 'A perfect +gentleman,' she at once discerned him to be, and of sound worth and +kindliness in the most unaffected form." (Carlyle's 'Reminiscences,' vol. +ii. page 208.) + +Charles Darwin did not appreciate this sketch of his brother; he thought +Carlyle had missed the essence of his most lovable nature. + +I am tempted by the wish of illustrating further the character of one so +sincerely beloved by all Charles Darwin's children, to reproduce a letter +to the "Spectator" (September 3, 1881) by his cousin Miss Julia Wedgwood. + +"A portrait from Mr. Carlyle's portfolio not regretted by any who loved the +original, surely confers sufficient distinction to warrant a few words of +notice, when the character it depicts is withdrawn from mortal gaze. +Erasmus, the only brother of Charles Darwin, and the faithful and +affectionate old friend of both the Carlyles, has left a circle of mourners +who need no tribute from illustrious pen to embalm the memory so dear to +their hearts; but a wider circle must have felt some interest excited by +that tribute, and may receive with a certain attention the record of a +unique and indelible impression, even though it be made only on the hearts +of those who cannot bequeath it, and with whom, therefore, it must speedily +pass away. They remember it with the same distinctness as they remember a +creation of genius; it has in like manner enriched and sweetened life, +formed a common meeting-point for those who had no other; and, in its +strong fragrance of individuality, enforced that respect for the +idiosyncracies of human character without which moral judgment is always +hard and shallow, and often unjust. Carlyle was one to find a peculiar +enjoyment in the combination of liveliness and repose which gave his +friend's society an influence at once stimulating and soothing, and the +warmth of his appreciation was not made known first in its posthumous +expression; his letters of anxiety nearly thirty years ago, when the frail +life which has been prolonged to old age was threatened by serious illness, +are still fresh in my memory. The friendship was equally warm with both +husband and wife. I remember well a pathetic little remonstrance from her +elicited by an avowal from Erasmus Darwin, that he preferred cats to dogs, +which she felt a slur on her little 'Nero;' and the tones in which she +said, 'Oh, but you are fond of dogs! you are too kind not to be,' spoke of +a long vista of small, gracious kindnesses, remembered with a tender +gratitude. He was intimate also with a person whose friends, like those of +Mr. Carlyle, have not always had cause to congratulate themselves on their +place in her gallery,--Harriet Martineau. I have heard him more than once +call her a faithful friend, and it always seemed to me a curious tribute to +something in the friendship that he alone supplied; but if she had written +of him at all, I believe the mention, in its heartiness of appreciation, +would have afforded a rare and curious meeting-point with the other +'Reminiscences,' so like and yet so unlike. It is not possible to transfer +the impression of a character; we can only suggest it by means of some +resemblance; and it is a singular illustration of that irony which checks +or directs our sympathies, that in trying to give some notion of the man +whom, among those who were not his kindred, Carlyle appears to have most +loved, I can say nothing more descriptive than that he seems to me to have +had something in common with the man whom Carlyle least appreciated. The +society of Erasmus Darwin had, to my mind, much the same charm as the +writings of Charles Lamb. There was the same kind of playfulness, the same +lightness of touch, the same tenderness, perhaps the same limitations. On +another side of his nature, I have often been reminded of him by the +quaint, delicate humour, the superficial intolerance, the deep springs of +pity, the peculiar mixture of something pathetic with a sort of gay scorn, +entirely remote from contempt, which distinguish the Ellesmere of Sir +Arthur Helps' earlier dialogues. Perhaps we recall such natures most +distinctly, when such a resemblance is all that is left of them. The +character is not merged in the creation; and what we lose in the power to +communicate our impression, we seem to gain in its vividness. Erasmus +Darwin has passed away in old age, yet his memory retains something of a +youthful fragrance; his influence gave much happiness, of a kind usually +associated with youth, to many lives besides the illustrious one whose +records justify, though certainly they do not inspire, the wish to place +this fading chaplet on his grave." + +The foregoing pages give, in a fragmentary manner, as much perhaps as need +be told of the family from which Charles Darwin came, and may serve as an +introduction to the autobiographical chapter which follows. + + +CHAPTER 1.II. + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY. + +[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 any one 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 any one 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. + + +CHAPTER 1.III. + +REMINISCENCES OF MY FATHER'S EVERYDAY LIFE. + +It is my wish in the present chapter to give some idea of my father's +everyday life. It has seemed to me that I might carry out this object in +the form of a rough sketch of a day's life at Down, interspersed with such +recollections as are called up by the record. Many of these recollections, +which have a meaning for those who knew my father, will seem colourless or +trifling to strangers. Nevertheless, I give them in the hope that they may +help to preserve that impression of his personality which remains on the +minds of those who knew and loved him--an impression at once so vivid and +so untranslatable into words. + +Of his personal appearance (in these days of multiplied photographs) it is +hardly necessary to say much. He was about six feet in height, but +scarcely looked so tall, as he stooped a good deal; in later days he +yielded to the stoop; but I can remember seeing him long ago swinging his +arms back to open out his chest, and holding himself upright with a jerk. +He gave one the idea that he had been active rather than strong; his +shoulders were not broad for his height, though certainly not narrow. As a +young man he must have had much endurance, for on one of the shore +excursions from the "Beagle", when all were suffering from want of water, +he was one of the two who were better able than the rest to struggle on in +search of it. As a boy he was active, and could jump a bar placed at the +height of the "Adam's apple" in his neck. + +He walked with a swinging action, using a stick heavily shod with iron, +which he struck loudly against the ground, producing as he went round the +"Sand-walk" at Down, a rhythmical click which is with all of us a very +distinct remembrance. As he returned from the midday walk, often carrying +the waterproof or cloak which had proved too hot, one could see that the +swinging step was kept up by something of an effort. Indoors his step was +often slow and laboured, and as he went upstairs in the afternoon he might +be heard mounting the stairs with a heavy footfall, as if each step were an +effort. When interested in his work he moved about quickly and easily +enough, and often in the middle of dictating he went eagerly into the hall +to get a pinch of snuff, leaving the study door open, and calling out the +last words of his sentence as he went. Indoors he sometimes used an oak +stick like a little alpenstock, and this was a sign that he felt giddiness. + +In spite of his strength and activity, I think he must always have had a +clumsiness of movement. He was naturally awkward with his hands, and was +unable to draw at all well. (The figure representing the aggregated cell- +contents in 'Insectivorous Plants' was drawn by him.) This he always +regretted much, and he frequently urged the paramount necessity of a young +naturalist making himself a good draughtsman. + +He could dissect well under the simple microscope, but I think it was by +dint of his great patience and carefulness. It was characteristic of him +that he thought many little bits of skilful dissection something almost +superhuman. He used to speak with admiration of the skill with which he +saw Newport dissect a humble bee, getting out the nervous system with a few +cuts of a fine pair of scissors, held, as my father used to show, with the +elbow raised, and in an attitude which certainly would render great +steadiness necessary. He used to consider cutting sections a great feat, +and in the last year of his life, with wonderful energy, took the pains to +learn to cut sections of roots and leaves. His hand was not steady enough +to hold the object to be cut, and he employed a common microtome, in which +the pith for holding the object was clamped, and the razor slid on a glass +surface in making the sections. He used to laugh at himself, and at his +own skill in section-cutting, at which he would say he was "speechless with +admiration." On the other hand, he must have had accuracy of eye and power +of co-ordinating his movements, since he was a good shot with a gun as a +young man, and as a boy was skilful in throwing. He once killed a hare +sitting in the flower-garden at Shrewsbury by throwing a marble at it, and, +as a man, he once killed a cross-beak with a stone. He was so unhappy at +having uselessly killed the cross-beak that he did not mention it for +years, and then explained that he should never have thrown at it if he had +not felt sure that his old skill had gone from him. + +When walking he had a fidgetting movement with his fingers, which he has +described in one of his books as the habit of an old man. When he sat +still he often took hold of one wrist with the other hand; he sat with his +legs crossed, and from being so thin they could be crossed very far, as may +be seen in one of the photographs. He had his chair in the study and in +the drawing-room raised so as to be much higher than ordinary chairs; this +was done because sitting on a low or even an ordinary chair caused him some +discomfort. We used to laugh at him for making his tall drawing-room chair +still higher by putting footstools on it, and then neutralising the result +by resting his feet on another chair. + +His beard was full and almost untrimmed, the hair being grey and white, +fine rather than coarse, and wavy or frizzled. His moustache was somewhat +disfigured by being cut short and square across. He became very bald, +having only a fringe of dark hair behind. + +His face was ruddy in colour, and this perhaps made people think him less +of an invalid than he was. He wrote to Dr. Hooker (June 13, 1849), "Every +one tells me that I look quite blooming and beautiful; and most think I am +shamming, but you have never been one of those." And it must be remembered +that at this time he was miserably ill, far worse than in later years. His +eyes were bluish grey under deep overhanging brows, with thick bushy +projecting eyebrows. His high forehead was much wrinkled, but otherwise +his face was not much marked or lined. His expression showed no signs of +the continual discomfort he suffered. + +When he was excited with pleasant talk his whole manner was wonderfully +bright and animated, and his face shared to the full in the general +animation. His laugh was a free and sounding peal, like that of a man who +gives himself sympathetically and with enjoyment to the person and the +thing which have amused him. He often used some sort of gesture with his +laugh, lifting up his hands or bringing one down with a slap. I think, +generally speaking, he was given to gesture, and often used his hands in +explaining anything (e.g. the fertilisation of a flower) in a way that +seemed rather an aid to himself than to the listener. He did this on +occasions when most people would illustrate their explanations by means of +a rough pencil sketch. + +He wore dark clothes, of a loose and easy fit. Of late years he gave up +the tall hat even in London, and wore a soft black one in winter, and a big +straw hat in summer. His usual out-of-doors dress was the short cloak in +which Elliot and Fry's photograph represents him leaning against the pillar +of the verandah. Two peculiarities of his indoor dress were that he almost +always wore a shawl over his shoulders, and that he had great loose cloth +boots lined with fur which he could slip on over his indoor shoes. Like +most delicate people he suffered from heat as well as from chilliness; it +was as if he could not hit the balance between too hot and too cold; often +a mental cause would make him too hot, so that he would take off his coat +if anything went wrong in the course of his work. + +He rose early, chiefly because he could not lie in bed, and I think he +would have liked to get up earlier than he did. He took a short turn +before breakfast, a habit which began when he went for the first time to a +water-cure establishment. This habit he kept up till almost the end of his +life. I used, as a little boy, to like going out with him, and I have a +vague sense of the red of the winter sunrise, and a recollection of the +pleasant companionship, and a certain honour and glory in it. He used to +delight me as a boy by telling me how, in still earlier walks, on dark +winter mornings, he had once or twice met foxes trotting home at the +dawning. + +After breakfasting alone about 7.45, he went to work at once, considering +the 1 1/2 hour between 8 and 9.30 one of his best working times. At 9.30 +he came into the drawing-room for his letters--rejoicing if the post was a +light one and being sometimes much worried if it was not. He would then +hear any family letters read aloud as he lay on the sofa. + +The reading aloud, which also included part of a novel, lasted till about +half-past ten, when he went back to work till twelve or a quarter past. By +this time he considered his day's work over, and would often say, in a +satisfied voice, "I'VE done a good day's work." He then went out of doors +whether it was wet or fine; Polly, his white terrier, went with him in fair +weather, but in rain she refused or might be seen hesitating in the +verandah, with a mixed expression of disgust and shame at her own want of +courage; generally, however, her conscience carried the day, and as soon as +he was evidently gone she could not bear to stay behind. + +My father was always fond of dogs, and as a young man had the power of +stealing away the affections of his sister's pets; at Cambridge, he won the +love of his cousin W.D. Fox's dog, and this may perhaps have been the +little beast which used to creep down inside his bed and sleep at the foot +every night. My father had a surly dog, who was devoted to him, but +unfriendly to every one else, and when he came back from the "Beagle" +voyage, the dog remembered him, but in a curious way, which my father was +fond of telling. He went into the yard and shouted in his old manner; the +dog rushed out and set off with him on his walk, showing no more emotion or +excitement than if the same thing had happened the day before, instead of +five years ago. This story is made use of in the 'Descent of Man,' 2nd +Edition, page 74. + +In my memory there were only two dogs which had much connection with my +father. One was a large black and white half-bred retriever, called Bob, +to which we, as children, were much devoted. He was the dog of whom the +story of the "hot-house face" is told in the 'Expression of the Emotions.' + +But the dog most closely associated with my father was the above-mentioned +Polly, a rough, white fox-terrier. She was a sharp-witted, affectionate +dog; when her master was going away on a journey, she always discovered the +fact by the signs of packing going on in the study, and became low-spirited +accordingly. She began, too, to be excited by seeing the study prepared +for his return home. She was a cunning little creature, and used to +tremble or put on an air of misery when my father passed, while she was +waiting for dinner, just as if she knew that he would say (as he did often +say) that "she was famishing." My father used to make her catch biscuits +off her nose, and had an affectionate and mock-solemn way of explaining to +her before-hand that she must "be a very good girl." She had a mark on her +back where she had been burnt, and where the hair had re-grown red instead +of white, and my father used to commend her for this tuft of hair as being +in accordance with his theory of pangenesis; her father had been a red +bull-terrier, thus the red hair appearing after the burn showed the +presence of latent red gemmules. He was delightfully tender to Polly, and +never showed any impatience at the attentions she required, such as to be +let in at the door, or out at the verandah window, to bark at "naughty +people," a self-imposed duty she much enjoyed. She died, or rather had to +be killed, a few days after his death. (The basket in which she usually +lay curled up near the fire in his study is faithfully represented in Mr. +Parson's drawing, "The Study at Down.") + +My father's midday walk generally began by a call at the greenhouse, where +he looked at any germinating seeds or experimental plants which required a +casual examination, but he hardly ever did any serious observing at this +time. Then he went on for his constitutional--either round the "Sand- +walk," or outside his own grounds in the immediate neighbourhood of the +house. The "Sand-walk" was a narrow strip of land 1 1/2 acres in extent, +with a gravel-walk round it. On one side of it was a broad old shaw with +fair-sized oaks in it, which made a sheltered shady walk; the other side +was separated from a neighbouring grass field by a low quickset hedge, over +which you could look at what view there was, a quiet little valley losing +itself in the upland country towards the edge of the Westerham hill, with +hazel coppice and larch wood, the remnants of what was once a large wood, +stretching away to the Westerham road. I have heard my father say that the +charm of this simple little valley helped to make him settle at Down. + +The Sand-walk was planted by my father with a variety of trees, such as +hazel, alder, lime, hornbeam, birch, privet, and dogwood, and with a long +line of hollies all down the exposed side. In earlier times he took a +certain number of turns every day, and used to count them by means of a +heap of flints, one of which he kicked out on the path each time he passed. +Of late years I think he did not keep to any fixed number of turns, but +took as many as he felt strength for. The Sand-walk was our play-ground as +children, and here we continually saw my father as he walked round. He +liked to see what we were doing, and was ever ready to sympathize in any +fun that was going on. It is curious to think how, with regard to the +Sand-walk in connection with my father, my earliest recollections coincide +with my latest; it shows how unvarying his habits have been. + +Sometimes when alone he stood still or walked stealthily to observe birds +or beasts. It was on one of these occasions that some young squirrels ran +up his back and legs, while their mother barked at them in an agony from +the tree. He always found birds' nests even up to the last years of his +life, and we, as children, considered that he had a special genius in this +direction. In his quiet prowls he came across the less common birds, but I +fancy he used to conceal it from me, as a little boy, because he observed +the agony of mind which I endured at not having seen the siskin or +goldfinch, or whatever it might have been. He used to tell us how, when he +was creeping noiselessly along in the "Big-Woods," he came upon a fox +asleep in the daytime, which was so much astonished that it took a good +stare at him before it ran off. A Spitz dog which accompanied him showed +no sign of excitement at the fox, and he used to end the story by wondering +how the dog could have been so faint-hearted. + +Another favourite place was "Orchis Bank," above the quiet Cudham valley, +where fly- and musk-orchis grew among the junipers, and Cephalanthera and +Neottia under the beech boughs; the little wood "Hangrove," just above +this, he was also fond of, and here I remember his collecting grasses, when +he took a fancy to make out the names of all the common kinds. He was fond +of quoting the saying of one of his little boys, who, having found a grass +that his father had not seen before, had it laid by his own plate during +dinner, remarking, "I are an extraordinary grass-finder!" + +My father much enjoyed wandering slowly in the garden with my mother or +some of his children, or making one of a party, sitting out on a bench on +the lawn; he generally sat, however, on the grass, and I remember him often +lying under one of the big lime-trees, with his head on the green mound at +its foot. In dry summer weather, when we often sat out, the big fly-wheel +of the well was commonly heard spinning round, and so the sound became +associated with those pleasant days. He used to like to watch us playing +at lawn-tennis, and often knocked up a stray ball for us with the curved +handle of his stick. + +Though he took no personal share in the management of the garden, he had +great delight in the beauty of flowers--for instance, in the mass of +Azaleas which generally stood in the drawing-room. I think he sometimes +fused together his admiration of the structure of a flower and of its +intrinsic beauty; for instance, in the case of the big pendulous pink and +white flowers of Dielytra. In the same way he had an affection, half- +artistic, half-botanical, for the little blue Lobelia. In admiring +flowers, he would often laugh at the dingy high-art colours, and contrast +them with the bright tints of nature. I used to like to hear him admire +the beauty of a flower; it was a kind of gratitude to the flower itself, +and a personal love for its delicate form and colour. I seem to remember +him gently touching a flower he delighted in; it was the same simple +admiration that a child might have. + +He could not help personifying natural things. This feeling came out in +abuse as well as in praise--e.g. of some seedlings--"The little beggars are +doing just what I don't want them to." He would speak in a half-provoked, +half-admiring way of the ingenuity of a Mimosa leaf in screwing itself out +of a basin of water in which he had tried to fix it. One must see the same +spirit in his way of speaking of Sundew, earth-worms, etc. (Cf. Leslie +Stephen's 'Swift,' 1882, page 200, where Swift's inspection of the manners +and customs of servants are compared to my father's observations on worms, +"The difference is," says Mr. Stephen, "that Darwin had none but kindly +feelings for worms.") + +Within my memory, his only outdoor recreation, besides walking, was riding, +which he took to on the recommendation of Dr. Bence Jones, and we had the +luck to find for him the easiest and quietest cob in the world, named +"Tommy." He enjoyed these rides extremely, and devised a number of short +rounds which brought him home in time for lunch. Our country is good for +this purpose, owing to the number of small valleys which give a variety to +what in a flat country would be a dull loop of road. He was not, I think, +naturally fond of horses, nor had he a high opinion of their intelligence, +and Tommy was often laughed at for the alarm he showed at passing and +repassing the same heap of hedge-clippings as he went round the field. I +think he used to feel surprised at himself, when he remembered how bold a +rider he had been, and how utterly old age and bad health had taken away +his nerve. He would say that riding prevented him thinking much more +effectually than walking--that having to attend to the horse gave him +occupation sufficient to prevent any really hard thinking. And the change +of scene which it gave him was good for spirits and health. + +Unluckily, Tommy one day fell heavily with him on Keston common. This, and +an accident with another horse, upset his nerves, and he was advised to +give up riding. + +If I go beyond my own experience, and recall what I have heard him say of +his love for sport, etc., I can think of a good deal, but much of it would +be a repetition of what is contained in his 'Recollections.' At school he +was fond of bat-fives, and this was the only game at which he was skilful. +He was fond of his gun as quite a boy, and became a good shot; he used to +tell how in South America he killed twenty-three snipe in twenty-four +shots. In telling the story he was careful to add that he thought they +were not quite so wild as English snipe. + +Luncheon at Down came after his midday walk; and here I may say a word or +two about his meals generally. He had a boy-like love of sweets, unluckily +for himself, since he was constantly forbidden to take them. He was not +particularly successful in keeping the "vows," as he called them, which he +made against eating sweets, and never considered them binding unless he +made them aloud. + +He drank very little wine, but enjoyed, and was revived by, the little he +did drink. He had a horror of drinking, and constantly warned his boys +that any one might be led into drinking too much. I remember, in my +innocence as a small boy, asking him if he had been ever tipsy; and he +answered very gravely that he was ashamed to say he had once drunk too much +at Cambridge. I was much impressed, so that I know now the place where the +question was asked. + +After his lunch, he read the newspaper, lying on the sofa in the drawing- +room. I think the paper was the only non-scientific matter which he read +to himself. Everything else, novels, travels, history, was read aloud to +him. He took so wide an interest in life, that there was much to occupy +him in newspapers, though he laughed at the wordiness of the debates; +reading them, I think, only in abstract. His interest in politics was +considerable, but his opinion on these matters was formed rather by the way +than with any serious amount of thought. + +After he read his paper, came his time for writing letters. These, as well +as the MS. of his books, were written by him as he sat in a huge horse-hair +chair by the fire, his paper supported on a board resting on the arms of +the chair. When he had many or long letters to write, he would dictate +them from a rough copy; these rough copies were written on the backs of +manuscript or of proof-sheets, and were almost illegible, sometimes even to +himself. He made a rule of keeping ALL letters that he received; this was +a habit which he learnt from his father, and which he said had been of +great use to him. + +He received many letters from foolish, unscrupulous people, and all of +these received replies. He used to say that if he did not answer them, he +had it on his conscience afterwards, and no doubt it was in great measure +the courtesy with which he answered every one, which produced the universal +and widespread sense of his kindness of nature, which was so evident on his +death. + +He was considerate to his correspondents in other and lesser things, for +instance when dictating a letter to a foreigner he hardly ever failed to +say to me, "You'd better try and write well, as it's to a foreigner." His +letters were generally written on the assumption that they would be +carelessly read; thus, when he was dictating, he was careful to tell me to +make an important clause begin with an obvious paragraph "to catch his +eye," as he often said. How much he thought of the trouble he gave others +by asking questions, will be well enough shown by his letters. It is +difficult to say anything about the general tone of his letters, they will +speak for themselves. The unvarying courtesy of them is very striking. I +had a proof of this quality in the feeling with which Mr. Hacon, his +solicitor, regarded him. He had never seen my father, yet had a sincere +feeling of friendship for him, and spoke especially of his letters as being +such as a man seldom receives in the way of business:--"Everything I did +was right, and everything was profusely thanked for." + +He had a printed form to be used in replying to troublesome correspondents, +but he hardly ever used it; I suppose he never found an occasion that +seemed exactly suitable. I remember an occasion on which it might have +been used with advantage. He received a letter from a stranger stating +that the writer had undertaken to uphold Evolution at a debating society, +and that being a busy young man, without time for reading, he wished to +have a sketch of my father's views. Even this wonderful young man got a +civil answer, though I think he did not get much material for his speech. +His rule was to thank the donors of books, but not of pamphlets. He +sometimes expressed surprise that so few people thanked him for his books +which he gave away liberally; the letters that he did receive gave him much +pleasure, because he habitually formed so humble an estimate of the value +of all his works, that he was generally surprised at the interest which +they excited. + +In money and business matters he was remarkably careful and exact. He kept +accounts with great care, classifying them, and balancing at the end of the +year like a merchant. I remember the quick way in which he would reach out +for his account-book to enter each cheque paid, as though he were in a +hurry to get it entered before he had forgotten it. His father must have +allowed him to believe that he would be poorer than he really was, for some +of the difficulty experienced in finding a house in the country must have +arisen from the modest sum he felt prepared to give. Yet he knew, of +course, that he would be in easy circumstances, for in his 'Recollections' +he mentions this as one of the reasons for his not having worked at +medicine with so much zeal as he would have done if he had been obliged to +gain his living. + +He had a pet economy in paper, but it was rather a hobby than a real +economy. All the blank sheets of letters received were kept in a portfolio +to be used in making notes; it was his respect for paper that made him +write so much on the backs of his old MS., and in this way, unfortunately, +he destroyed large parts of the original MS. of his books. His feeling +about paper extended to waste paper, and he objected, half in fun, to the +careless custom of throwing a spill into the fire after it had been used +for lighting a candle. + +My father was wonderfully liberal and generous to all his children in the +matter of money, and I have special cause to remember his kindness when I +think of the way in which he paid some Cambridge debts of mine--making it +almost seem a virtue in me to have told him of them. In his later years he +had the kind and generous plan of dividing his surplus at the year's end +among his children. + +He had a great respect for pure business capacity, and often spoke with +admiration of a relative who had doubled his fortune. And of himself would +often say in fun that what he really WAS proud of was the money he had +saved. He also felt satisfaction in the money he made by his books. His +anxiety to save came in a great measure from his fears that his children +would not have health enough to earn their own livings, a foreboding which +fairly haunted him for many years. And I have a dim recollection of his +saying, "Thank God, you'll have bread and cheese," when I was so young that +I was rather inclined to take it literally. + +When letters were finished, about three in the afternoon, he rested in his +bedroom, lying on the sofa and smoking a cigarette, and listening to a +novel or other book not scientific. He only smoked when resting, whereas +snuff was a stimulant, and was taken during working hours. He took snuff +for many years of his life, having learnt the habit at Edinburgh as a +student. He had a nice silver snuff-box given him by Mrs. Wedgwood of +Maer, which he valued much--but he rarely carried it, because it tempted +him to take too many pinches. In one of his early letters he speaks of +having given up snuff for a month, and describes himself as feeling "most +lethargic, stupid, and melancholy." Our former neighbour and clergyman, +Mr. Brodie Innes, tells me that at one time my father made a resolve not to +take snuff except away from home, "a most satisfactory arrangement for me," +he adds, "as I kept a box in my study to which there was access from the +garden without summoning servants, and I had more frequently, than might +have been otherwise the case, the privilege of a few minutes' conversation +with my dear friend." He generally took snuff from a jar on the hall +table, because having to go this distance for a pinch was a slight check; +the clink of the lid of the snuff jar was a very familiar sound. Sometimes +when he was in the drawing-room, it would occur to him that the study fire +must be burning low, and when some of us offered to see after it, it would +turn out that he also wished to get a pinch of snuff. + +Smoking he only took to permanently of late years, though on his Pampas +rides he learned to smoke with the Gauchos, and I have heard him speak of +the great comfort of a cup of mate and a cigarette when he halted after a +long ride and was unable to get food for some time. + +The reading aloud often sent him to sleep, and he used to regret losing +parts of a novel, for my mother went steadily on lest the cessation of the +sound might wake him. He came down at four o'clock to dress for his walk, +and he was so regular that one might be quite certain it was within a few +minutes of four when his descending steps were heard. + +>From about half-past four to half-past five he worked; then he came to the +drawing-room, and was idle till it was time (about six) to go up for +another rest with novel-reading and a cigarette. + +Latterly he gave up late dinner, and had a simple tea at half-past seven +(while we had dinner), with an egg or a small piece of meat. After dinner +he never stayed in the room, and used to apologise by saying he was an old +woman, who must be allowed to leave with the ladies. This was one of the +many signs and results of his constant weakness and ill-health. Half an +hour more or less conversation would make to him the difference of a +sleepless night, and of the loss perhaps of half the next day's work. + +After dinner he played backgammon with my mother, two games being played +every night; for many years a score of the games which each won was kept, +and in this score he took the greatest interest. He became extremely +animated over these games, bitterly lamenting his bad luck and exploding +with exaggerated mock-anger at my mother's good fortune. + +After backgammon he read some scientific book to himself, either in the +drawing-room, or, if much talking was going on, in the study. + +In the evening, that is, after he had read as much as his strength would +allow, and before the reading aloud began, he would often lie on the sofa +and listen to my mother playing the piano. He had not a good ear, yet in +spite of this he had a true love of fine music. He used to lament that his +enjoyment of music had become dulled with age, yet within my recollection, +his love of a good tune was strong. I never heard him hum more than one +tune, the Welsh song "Ar hyd y nos," which he went through correctly; he +used also, I believe, to hum a little Otaheitan song. From his want of ear +he was unable to recognize a tune when he heard it again, but he remained +constant to what he liked, and would often say, when an old favourite was +played, "That's a fine thing; what is it?" He liked especially parts of +Beethoven's symphonies, and bits of Handel. He made a little list of all +the pieces which he especially liked among those which my mother played-- +giving in a few words the impression that each one made on him--but these +notes are unfortunately lost. He was sensitive to differences in style, +and enjoyed the late Mrs. Vernon Lushington's playing intensely, and in +June 1881, when Hans Richter paid a visit at Down, he was roused to strong +enthusiasm by his magnificent performance on the piano. He much enjoyed +good singing, and was moved almost to tears by grand or pathetic songs. +His niece Lady Farrer's singing of Sullivan's "Will he come" was a never- +failing enjoyment to him. He was humble in the extreme about his own +taste, and correspondingly pleased when he found that others agreed with +him. + +He became much tired in the evenings, especially of late years, when he +left the drawing-room about ten, going to bed at half-past ten. His nights +were generally bad, and he often lay awake or sat up in bed for hours, +suffering much discomfort. He was troubled at night by the activity of his +thoughts, and would become exhausted by his mind working at some problem +which he would willingly have dismissed. At night, too, anything which had +vexed or troubled him in the day would haunt him, and I think it was then +that he suffered if he had not answered some troublesome person's letter. + +The regular readings, which I have mentioned, continued for so many years, +enabled him to get through a great deal of lighter kinds of literature. He +was extremely fond of novels, and I remember well the way in which he would +anticipate the pleasure of having a novel read to him, as he lay down, or +lighted his cigarette. He took a vivid interest both in plot and +characters, and would on no account know beforehand, how a story finished; +he considered looking at the end of a novel as a feminine vice. He could +not enjoy any story with a tragical end, for this reason he did not keenly +appreciate George Eliot, though he often spoke warmly in praise of 'Silas +Marner.' Walter Scott, Miss Austen, and Mrs. Gaskell, were read and re- +read till they could be read no more. He had two or three books in hand at +the same time--a novel and perhaps a biography and a book of travels. He +did not often read out-of-the-way or old standard books, but generally kept +to the books of the day obtained from a circulating library. + +I do not think that his literary tastes and opinions were on a level with +the rest of his mind. He himself, though he was clear as to what he +thought good, considered that in matters of literary taste, he was quite +outside the pale, and often spoke of what those within it liked or +disliked, as if they formed a class to which he had no claim to belong. + +In all matters of art he was inclined to laugh at professed critics, and +say that their opinions were formed by fashion. Thus in painting, he would +say how in his day every one admired masters who are now neglected. His +love of pictures as a young man is almost a proof that he must have had an +appreciation of a portrait as a work of art, not as a likeness. Yet he +often talked laughingly of the small worth of portraits, and said that a +photograph was worth any number of pictures, as if he were blind to the +artistic quality in a painted portrait. But this was generally said in his +attempts to persuade us to give up the idea of having his portrait painted, +an operation very irksome to him. + +This way of looking at himself as an ignoramus in all matters of art, was +strengthened by the absence of pretence, which was part of his character. +With regard to questions of taste, as well as to more serious things, he +always had the courage of his opinions. I remember, however, an instance +that sounds like a contradiction to this: when he was looking at the +Turners in Mr. Ruskin's bedroom, he did not confess, as he did afterwards, +that he could make out absolutely nothing of what Mr. Ruskin saw in them. +But this little pretence was not for his own sake, but for the sake of +courtesy to his host. He was pleased and amused when subsequently Mr. +Ruskin brought him some photographs of pictures (I think Vandyke +portraits), and courteously seemed to value my father's opinion about them. + +Much of his scientific reading was in German, and this was a great labour +to him; in reading a book after him, I was often struck at seeing, from the +pencil-marks made each day where he left off, how little he could read at a +time. He used to call German the "Verdammte," pronounced as if in English. +He was especially indignant with Germans, because he was convinced that +they could write simply if they chose, and often praised Dr. F. Hildebrand +for writing German which was as clear as French. He sometimes gave a +German sentence to a friend, a patriotic German lady, and used to laugh at +her if she did not translate it fluently. He himself learnt German simply +by hammering away with a dictionary; he would say that his only way was to +read a sentence a great many times over, and at last the meaning occurred +to him. When he began German long ago, he boasted of the fact (as he used +to tell) to Sir J. Hooker, who replied, "Ah, my dear fellow, that's +nothing; I've begun it many times." + +In spite of his want of grammar, he managed to get on wonderfully with +German, and the sentences that he failed to make out were generally really +difficult ones. He never attempted to speak German correctly, but +pronounced the words as though they were English; and this made it not a +little difficult to help him, when he read out a German sentence and asked +for a translation. He certainly had a bad ear for vocal sounds, so that he +found it impossible to perceive small differences in pronunciation. + +His wide interest in branches of science that were not specially his own +was remarkable. In the biological sciences his doctrines make themselves +felt so widely that there was something interesting to him in most +departments of it. He read a good deal of many quite special works, and +large parts of text books, such as Huxley's 'Invertebrate Anatomy,' or such +a book as Balfour's 'Embryology,' where the detail, at any rate, was not +specially in his own line. And in the case of elaborate books of the +monograph type, though he did not make a study of them, yet he felt the +strongest admiration for them. + +In the non-biological sciences he felt keen sympathy with work of which he +could not really judge. For instance, he used to read nearly the whole of +'Nature,' though so much of it deals with mathematics and physics. I have +often heard him say that he got a kind of satisfaction in reading articles +which (according to himself) he could not understand. I wish I could +reproduce the manner in which he would laugh at himself for it. + +It was remarkable, too, how he kept up his interest in subjects at which he +had formerly worked. This was strikingly the case with geology. In one of +his letters to Mr. Judd he begs him to pay him a visit, saying that since +Lyell's death he hardly ever gets a geological talk. His observations, +made only a few years before his death, on the upright pebbles in the drift +at Southampton, and discussed in a letter to Mr. Geikie, afford another +instance. Again, in the letters to Dr. Dohrn, he shows how his interest in +barnacles remained alive. I think it was all due to the vitality and +persistence of his mind--a quality I have heard him speak of as if he felt +that he was strongly gifted in that respect. Not that he used any such +phrases as these about himself, but he would say that he had the power of +keeping a subject or question more or less before him for a great many +years. The extent to which he possessed this power appears when we +consider the number of different problems which he solved, and the early +period at which some of them began to occupy him. + +It was a sure sign that he was not well when he was idle at any times other +than his regular resting hours; for, as long as he remained moderately +well, there was no break in the regularity of his life. Week-days and +Sundays passed by alike, each with their stated intervals of work and rest. +It is almost impossible, except for those who watched his daily life, to +realise how essential to his well-being was the regular routine that I have +sketched: and with what pain and difficulty anything beyond it was +attempted. Any public appearance, even of the most modest kind, was an +effort to him. In 1871 he went to the little village church for the +wedding of his elder daughter, but he could hardly bear the fatigue of +being present through the short service. The same may be said of the few +other occasions on which he was present at similar ceremonies. + +I remember him many years ago at a christening; a memory which has remained +with me, because to us children it seemed an extraordinary and abnormal +occurrence. I remember his look most distinctly at his brother Erasmus's +funeral, as he stood in the scattering of snow, wrapped in a long black +funeral cloak, with a grave look of sad reverie. + +When, after an interval of many years, he again attended a meeting of the +Linnean Society, it was felt to be, and was in fact, a serious undertaking; +one not to be determined on without much sinking of heart, and hardly to be +carried into effect without paying a penalty of subsequent suffering. In +the same way a breakfast-party at Sir James Paget's, with some of the +distinguished visitors to the Medical Congress (1881), was to him a severe +exertion. + +The early morning was the only time at which he could make any effort of +the kind, with comparative impunity. Thus it came about that the visits he +paid to his scientific friends in London were by preference made as early +as ten in the morning. For the same reason he started on his journeys by +the earliest possible train, and used to arrive at the houses of relatives +in London when they were beginning their day. + +He kept an accurate journal of the days on which he worked and those on +which his ill health prevented him from working, so that it would be +possible to tell how many were idle days in any given year. In this +journal--a little yellow Lett's Diary, which lay open on his mantel-piece, +piled on the diaries of previous years--he also entered the day on which he +started for a holiday and that of his return. + +The most frequent holidays were visits of a week to London, either to his +brother's house (6 Queen Anne Street), or to his daughter's (4 Bryanston +Street). He was generally persuaded by my mother to take these short +holidays, when it became clear from the frequency of "bad days," or from +the swimming of his head, that he was being overworked. He went +unwillingly, and tried to drive hard bargains, stipulating, for instance, +that he should come home in five days instead of six. Even if he were +leaving home for no more than a week, the packing had to be begun early on +the previous day, and the chief part of it he would do himself. The +discomfort of a journey to him was, at least latterly, chiefly in the +anticipation, and in the miserable sinking feeling from which he suffered +immediately before the start; even a fairly long journey, such as that to +Coniston, tired him wonderfully little, considering how much an invalid he +was; and he certainly enjoyed it in an almost boyish way, and to a curious +extent. + +Although, as he has said, some of his aesthetic tastes had suffered a +gradual decay, his love of scenery remained fresh and strong. Every walk +at Coniston was a fresh delight, and he was never tired of praising the +beauty of the broken hilly country at the head of the lake. + +One of the happy memories of this time [1879] is that of a delightful visit +to Grasmere: "The perfect day," my sister writes, "and my father's vivid +enjoyment and flow of spirits, form a picture in my mind that I like to +think of. He could hardly sit still in the carriage for turning round and +getting up to admire the view from each fresh point, and even in returning +he was full of the beauty of Rydal Water, though he would not allow that +Grasmere at all equalled his beloved Coniston." + +Besides these longer holidays, there were shorter visits to various +relatives--to his brother-in-law's house, close to Leith Hill, and to his +son near Southampton. He always particularly enjoyed rambling over rough +open country, such as the commons near Leith Hill and Southampton, the +heath-covered wastes of Ashdown Forest, or the delightful "Rough" near the +house of his friend Sir Thomas Farrer. He never was quite idle even on +these holidays, and found things to observe. At Hartfield he watched +Drosera catching insects, etc.; at Torquay he observed the fertilisation of +an orchid (Spiranthes), and also made out the relations of the sexes in +Thyme. + +He was always rejoiced to get home after his holidays; he used greatly to +enjoy the welcome he got from his dog Polly, who would get wild with +excitement, panting, squeaking, rushing round the room, and jumping on and +off the chairs; and he used to stoop down, pressing her face to his, +letting her lick him, and speaking to her with a peculiarly tender, +caressing voice. + +My father had the power of giving to these summer holidays a charm which +was strongly felt by all his family. The pressure of his work at home kept +him at the utmost stretch of his powers of endurance, and when released +from it, he entered on a holiday with a youthfulness of enjoyment that made +his companionship delightful; we felt that we saw more of him in a week's +holiday than in a month at home. + +Some of these absences from home, however, had a depressing effect on him; +when he had been previously much overworked it seemed as though the absence +of the customary strain allowed him to fall into a peculiar condition of +miserable health. + +Besides the holidays which I have mentioned, there were his visits to +water-cure establishments. In 1849, when very ill, suffering from constant +sickness, he was urged by a friend to try the water-cure, and at last +agreed to go to Dr. Gully's establishment at Malvern. His letters to Mr. +Fox show how much good the treatment did him; he seems to have thought that +he had found a cure for his troubles, but, like all other remedies, it had +only a transient effect on him. However, he found it, at first, so good +for him that when he came home he built himself a douche-bath, and the +butler learnt to be his bathman. + +He paid many visits to Moor Park, Dr. Lane's water-cure establishment in +Surrey, not far from Aldershot. These visits were pleasant ones, and he +always looked back to them with pleasure. Dr. Lane has given his +recollections of my father in Dr. Richardson's 'Lecture on Charles Darwin,' +October 22, 1882, from which I quote:-- + +"In a public institution like mine, he was surrounded, of course, by +multifarious types of character, by persons of both sexes, mostly very +different from himself--commonplace people, in short, as the majority are +everywhere, but like to him at least in this, that they were fellow- +creatures and fellow-patients. And never was any one more genial, more +considerate, more friendly, more altogether charming than he universally +was."...He "never aimed, as too often happens with good talkers, at +monopolising the conversation. It was his pleasure rather to give and +take, and he was as good a listener as a speaker. He never preached nor +prosed, but his talk, whether grave or gay (and it was each by turns), was +full of life and salt--racy, bright, and animated." + +Some idea of his relation to his family and his friends may be gathered +from what has gone before; it would be impossible to attempt a complete +account of these relationships, but a slightly fuller outline may not be +out of place. Of his married life I cannot speak, save in the briefest +manner. In his relationship towards my mother, his tender and sympathetic +nature was shown in its most beautiful aspect. In her presence he found +his happiness, and through her, his life,--which might have been +overshadowed by gloom,--became one of content and quiet gladness. + +The 'Expression of the Emotions' shows how closely he watched his children; +it was characteristic of him that (as I have heard him tell), although he +was so anxious to observe accurately the expression of a crying child, his +sympathy with the grief spoiled his observation. His note-book, in which +are recorded sayings of his young children, shows his pleasure in them. He +seemed to retain a sort of regretful memory of the childhoods which had +faded away, and thus he wrote in his 'Recollections':--"When you were very +young it was my delight to play with you all, and I think with a sigh that +such days can never return." + +I may quote, as showing the tenderness of his nature, some sentences from +an account of his little daughter Annie, written a few days after her +death:-- + +"Our poor child, Annie, was born in Gower Street, on March 2, 1841, and +expired at Malvern at mid-day on the 23rd of April, 1851. + +"I write these few pages, as I think in after years, if we live, the +impressions now put down will recall more vividly her chief +characteristics. From whatever point I look back at her, the main feature +in her disposition which at once rises before me, is her buoyant +joyousness, tempered by two other characteristics, namely, her +sensitiveness, which might easily have been overlooked by a stranger, and +her strong affection. Her joyousness and animal spirits radiated from her +whole countenance, and rendered every movement elastic and full of life and +vigour. It was delightful and cheerful to behold her. Her dear face now +rises before me, as she used sometimes to come running downstairs with a +stolen pinch of snuff for me her whole form radiant with the pleasure of +giving pleasure. Even when playing with her cousins, when her joyousness +almost passed into boisterousness, a single glance of my eye, not of +displeasure (for I thank God I hardly ever cast one on her), but of want of +sympathy, would for some minutes alter her whole countenance. + +"The other point in her character, which made her joyousness and spirits so +delightful, was her strong affection, which was of a most clinging, +fondling nature. When quite a baby, this showed itself in never being easy +without touching her mother, when in bed with her; and quite lately she +would, when poorly, fondle for any length of time one of her mother's arms. +When very unwell, her mother lying down beside her seemed to soothe her in +a manner quite different from what it would have done to any of our other +children. So, again, she would at almost any time spend half an hour in +arranging my hair, 'making it,' as she called it, 'beautiful,' or in +smoothing, the poor dear darling, my collar or cuffs--in short, in fondling +me. + +"Beside her joyousness thus tempered, she was in her manners remarkably +cordial, frank, open, straightforward, natural, and without any shade of +reserve. Her whole mind was pure and transparent. One felt one knew her +thoroughly and could trust her. I always thought, that come what might, we +should have had in our old age at least one loving soul which nothing could +have changed. All her movements were vigorous, active, and usually +graceful. When going round the Sand-walk with me, although I walked fast, +yet she often used to go before, pirouetting in the most elegant way, her +dear face bright all the time with the sweetest smiles. Occasionally she +had a pretty coquettish manner towards me, the memory of which is charming. +She often used exaggerated language, and when I quizzed her by exaggerating +what she had said, how clearly can I now see the little toss of the head, +and exclamation of 'Oh, papa what a shame of you!' In the last short +illness her conduct in simple truth was angelic. She never once +complained; never became fretful; was ever considerate of others, and was +thankful in the most gentle, pathetic manner for everything done for her. +When so exhausted that she could hardly speak, she praised everything that +was given her, and said some tea 'was beautifully good.' When I gave her +some water she said, 'I quite thank you;' and these, I believe, were the +last precious words ever addressed by her dear lips to me. + +"We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace of our old age. She +must have known how we loved her. Oh, that she could now know how deeply, +how tenderly, we do still and shall ever love her dear joyous face! +Blessings on her! + +"April 30, 1851." + +We his children all took especial pleasure in the games he played at with +us, but I do not think he romped much with us; I suppose his health +prevented any rough play. He used sometimes to tell us stories, which were +considered especially delightful, partly on account of their rarity. + +The way he brought us up is shown by a little story about my brother +Leonard, which my father was fond of telling. He came into the drawing- +room and found Leonard dancing about on the sofa, which was forbidden, for +the sake of the springs, and said, "Oh, Lenny, Lenny, that's against all +rules," and received for answer, "Then I think you'd better go out of the +room." I do not believe he ever spoke an angry word to any of his children +in his life; but I am certain that it never entered our heads to disobey +him. I well remember one occasion when my father reproved me for a piece +of carelessness; and I can still recall the feeling of depression which +came over me, and the care which he took to disperse it by speaking to me +soon afterwards with especial kindness. He kept up his delightful, +affectionate manner towards us all his life. I sometimes wonder that he +could do so, with such an undemonstrative race as we are; but I hope he +knew how much we delighted in his loving words and manner. How often, when +a man, I have wished when my father was behind my chair, that he would pass +his hand over my hair, as he used to do when I was a boy. He allowed his +grown-up children to laugh with and at him, and was, generally speaking, on +terms of perfect equality with us. + +He was always full of interest about each one's plans or successes. We +used to laugh at him, and say he would not believe in his sons, because, +for instance, he would be a little doubtful about their taking some bit of +work for which he did not feel sure that they had knowledge enough. On the +other hand, he was only too much inclined to take a favourable view of our +work. When I thought he had set too high a value on anything that I had +done, he used to be indignant and inclined to explode in mock anger. His +doubts were part of his humility concerning what was in any way connected +with himself; his too favourable view of our work was due to his +sympathetic nature, which made him lenient to every one. + +He kept up towards his children his delightful manner of expressing his +thanks; and I never wrote a letter, or read a page aloud to him, without +receiving a few kind words of recognition. His love and goodness towards +his little grandson Bernard were great; and he often spoke of the pleasure +it was to him to see "his little face opposite to him" at luncheon. He and +Bernard used to compare their tastes; e.g., in liking brown sugar better +than white, etc.; the result being, "We always agree, don't we?" + +My sister writes:-- + +"My first remembrances of my father are of the delights of his playing with +us. He was passionately attached to his own children, although he was not +an indiscriminate child-lover. To all of us he was the most delightful +play-fellow, and the most perfect sympathiser. Indeed it is impossible +adequately to describe how delightful a relation his was to his family, +whether as children or in their later life. + +"It is a proof of the terms on which we were, and also of how much he was +valued as a play-fellow, that one of his sons when about four years old +tried to bribe him with sixpence to come and play in working hours. We all +knew the sacredness of working-time, but that any one should resist +sixpence seemed an impossibility. + +"He must have been the most patient and delightful of nurses. I remember +the haven of peace and comfort it seemed to me when I was unwell, to be +tucked up on the study sofa, idly considering the old geological map hung +on the wall. This must have been in his working hours, for I always +picture him sitting in the horsehair arm-chair by the corner of the fire. + +"Another mark of his unbounded patience was the way in which we were +suffered to make raids into the study when we had an absolute need of +sticking-plaster, string, pins, scissors, stamps, foot-rule, or hammer. +These and other such necessaries were always to be found in the study, and +it was the only place where this was a certainty. We used to feel it wrong +to go in during work-time; still, when the necessity was great we did so. +I remember his patient look when he said once, 'Don't you think you could +not come in again, I have been interrupted very often.' We used to dread +going in for sticking-plaster, because he disliked to see that we had cut +ourselves, both for our sakes and on account of his acute sensitiveness to +the sight of blood. I well remember lurking about the passage till he was +safe away, and then stealing in for the plaster. + +"Life seems to me, as I look back upon it, to have been very regular in +those early days, and except relations (and a few intimate friends), I do +not think any one came to the house. After lessons, we were always free to +go where we would, and that was chiefly in the drawing-room and about the +garden, so that we were very much with both my father and mother. We used +to think it most delightful when he told us any stories about the 'Beagle', +or about early Shrewsbury days--little bits about school-life and his +boyish tastes. Sometimes too he read aloud to his children such books as +Scott's novels, and I remember a few little lectures on the steam-engine. + +"I was more or less ill during the five years between my thirteenth and +eighteenth years, and for a long time (years it seems to me) he used to +play a couple of games of backgammon with me every afternoon. He played +them with the greatest spirit, and I remember we used at one time to keep +account of the games, and as this record came out in favour of him, we kept +a list of the doublets thrown by each, as I was convinced that he threw +better than myself. + +"His patience and sympathy were boundless during this weary illness, and +sometimes when most miserable I felt his sympathy to be almost too keen. +When at my worst, we went to my aunt's house at Hartfield, in Sussex, and +as soon as we had made the move safely he went on to Moor Park for a +fortnight's water-cure. I can recall now how on his return I could hardly +bear to have him in the room, the expression of tender sympathy and emotion +in his face was too agitating, coming fresh upon me after his little +absence. + +"He cared for all our pursuits and interests, and lived our lives with us +in a way that very few fathers do. But I am certain that none of us felt +that this intimacy interfered the least with our respect or obedience. +Whatever he said was absolute truth and law to us. He always put his whole +mind into answering any of our questions. One trifling instance makes me +feel how he cared for what we cared for. He had no special taste for cats, +though he admired the pretty ways of a kitten. But yet he knew and +remembered the individualities of my many cats, and would talk about the +habits and characters of the more remarkable ones years after they had +died. + +"Another characteristic of his treatment of his children was his respect +for their liberty, and for their personality. Even as quite a girl, I +remember rejoicing in this sense of freedom. Our father and mother would +not even wish to know what we were doing or thinking unless we wished to +tell. He always made us feel that we were each of us creatures whose +opinions and thoughts were valuable to him, so that whatever there was best +in us came out in the sunshine of his presence. + +"I do not think his exaggerated sense of our good qualities, intellectual +or moral, made us conceited, as might perhaps have been expected, but +rather more humble and grateful to him. The reason being no doubt that the +influence of his character, of his sincerity and greatness of nature, had a +much deeper and more lasting effect than any small exaltation which his +praises or admiration may have caused to our vanity." + +As head of a household he was much loved and respected; he always spoke to +servants with politeness, using the expression, "would you be so good," in +asking for anything. He was hardly ever angry with his servants; it shows +how seldom this occurred, that when, as a small boy, I overheard a servant +being scolded, and my father speaking angrily, it impressed me as an +appalling circumstance, and I remember running up stairs out of a general +sense of awe. He did not trouble himself about the management of the +garden, cows, etc. He considered the horses so little his concern, that he +used to ask doubtfully whether he might have a horse and cart to send to +Keston for Drosera, or to the Westerham nurseries for plants, or the like. + +As a host my father had a peculiar charm: the presence of visitors excited +him, and made him appear to his best advantage. At Shrewsbury, he used to +say, it was his father's wish that the guests should be attended to +constantly, and in one of the letters to Fox he speaks of the impossibility +of writing a letter while the house was full of company. I think he always +felt uneasy at not doing more for the entertainment of his guests, but the +result was successful; and, to make up for any loss, there was the gain +that the guests felt perfectly free to do as they liked. The most usual +visitors were those who stayed from Saturday till Monday; those who +remained longer were generally relatives, and were considered to be rather +more my mother's affair than his. + +Besides these visitors, there were foreigners and other strangers, who came +down for luncheon and went away in the afternoon. He used conscientiously +to represent to them the enormous distance of Down from London, and the +labour it would be to come there, unconsciously taking for granted that +they would find the journey as toilsome as he did himself. If, however, +they were not deterred, he used to arrange their journeys for them, telling +them when to come, and practically when to go. It was pleasant to see the +way in which he shook hands with a guest who was being welcomed for the +first time; his hand used to shoot out in a way that gave one the feeling +that it was hastening to meet the guest's hands. With old friends his hand +came down with a hearty swing into the other hand in a way I always had +satisfaction in seeing. His good-bye was chiefly characterised by the +pleasant way in which he thanked his guests, as he stood at the door, for +having come to see him. + +These luncheons were very successful entertainments, there was no drag or +flagging about them, my father was bright and excited throughout the whole +visit. Professor De Candolle has described a visit to Down, in his +admirable and sympathetic sketch of my father. ('Darwin considere au point +de vue des causes de son succes.'--Geneva, 1882.) He speaks of his manner +as resembling that of a "savant" of Oxford or Cambridge. This does not +strike me as quite a good comparison; in his ease and naturalness there was +more of the manner of some soldiers; a manner arising from total absence of +pretence or affectation. It was this absence of pose, and the natural and +simple way in which he began talking to his guests, so as to get them on +their own lines, which made him so charming a host to a stranger. His +happy choice of matter for talk seemed to flow out of his sympathetic +nature, and humble, vivid interest in other people's work. + +To some, I think, he caused actual pain by his modesty; I have seen the +late Francis Balfour quite discomposed by having knowledge ascribed to +himself on a point about which my father claimed to be utterly ignorant. + +It is difficult to seize on the characteristics of my father's +conversation. + +He had more dread than have most people of repeating his stories, and +continually said, "You must have heard me tell," or "I dare say I've told +you." One peculiarity he had, which gave a curious effect to his +conversation. The first few words of a sentence would often remind him of +some exception to, or some reason against, what he was going to say; and +this again brought up some other point, so that the sentence would become a +system of parenthesis within parenthesis, and it was often impossible to +understand the drift of what he was saying until he came to the end of his +sentence. He used to say of himself that he was not quick enough to hold +an argument with any one, and I think this was true. Unless it was a +subject on which he was just then at work, he could not get the train of +argument into working order quickly enough. This is shown even in his +letters; thus, in the case of two letters to Prof. Semper about the effect +of isolation, he did not recall the series of facts he wanted until some +days after the first letter had been sent off. + +When puzzled in talking, he had a peculiar stammer on the first word of a +sentence. I only recall this occurring with words beginning with w; +possibly he had a special difficulty with this letter, for I have heard him +say that as a boy he could not pronounce w, and that sixpence was offered +him if he could say "white wine," which he pronounced "rite rine." +Possibly he may have inherited this tendency from Erasmus Darwin, who +stammered. (My father related a Johnsonian answer of Erasmus Darwin's: +"Don't you find it very inconvenient stammering, Dr. Darwin?" "No, sir, +because I have time to think before I speak, and don't ask impertinent +questions.") + +He sometimes combined his metaphors in a curious way, using such a phrase +as "holding on like life,"--a mixture of "holding on for his life," and +"holding on like grim death." It came from his eager way of putting +emphasis into what he was saying. This sometimes gave an air of +exaggeration where it was not intended; but it gave, too, a noble air of +strong and generous conviction; as, for instance, when he gave his evidence +before the Royal Commission on vivisection and came out with his words +about cruelty, "It deserves detestation and abhorrence." When he felt +strongly about any similar question, he could hardly trust himself to +speak, as he then easily became angry, a thing which he disliked +excessively. He was conscious that his anger had a tendency to multiply +itself in the utterance, and for this reason dreaded (for example) having +to scold a servant. + +It was a great proof of the modesty of his style of talking, that, when, +for instance, a number of visitors came over from Sir John Lubbock's for a +Sunday afternoon call he never seemed to be preaching or lecturing, +although he had so much of the talk to himself. He was particularly +charming when "chaffing" any one, and in high spirits over it. His manner +at such times was light-hearted and boyish, and his refinement of nature +came out most strongly. So, when he was talking to a lady who pleased and +amused him, the combination of raillery and deference in his manner was +delightful to see. + +When my father had several guests he managed them well, getting a talk with +each, or bringing two or three together round his chair. In these +conversations there was always a good deal of fun, and, speaking generally, +there was either a humorous turn in his talk, or a sunny geniality which +served instead. Perhaps my recollection of a pervading element of humour +is the more vivid, because the best talks were with Mr. Huxley, in whom +there is the aptness which is akin to humour, even when humour itself is +not there. My father enjoyed Mr. Huxley's humour exceedingly, and would +often say, "What splendid fun Huxley is!" I think he probably had more +scientific argument (of the nature of a fight) with Lyell and Sir Joseph +Hooker. + +He used to say that it grieved him to find that for the friends of his +later life he had not the warm affection of his youth. Certainly in his +early letters from Cambridge he gives proofs of very strong friendship for +Herbert and Fox; but no one except himself would have said that his +affection for his friends was not, throughout life, of the warmest possible +kind. In serving a friend he would not spare himself, and precious time +and strength were willingly given. He undoubtedly had, to an unusual +degree, the power of attaching his friends to him. He had many warm +friendships, but to Sir Joseph Hooker he was bound by ties of affection +stronger than we often see among men. He wrote in his 'Recollections,' "I +have known hardly any man more lovable than Hooker." + +His relationship to the village people was a pleasant one; he treated them, +one and all, with courtesy, when he came in contact with them, and took an +interest in all relating to their welfare. Some time after he came to live +at Down he helped to found a Friendly Club, and served as treasurer for +thirty years. He took much trouble about the club, keeping its accounts +with minute and scrupulous exactness, and taking pleasure in its prosperous +condition. Every Whit-Monday the club used to march round with band and +banner, and paraded on the lawn in front of the house. There he met them, +and explained to them their financial position in a little speech seasoned +with a few well worn jokes. He was often unwell enough to make even this +little ceremony an exertion, but I think he never failed to meet them. + +He was also treasurer of the Coal Club, which gave him some work, and he +acted for some years as a County Magistrate. + +With regard to my father's interest in the affairs of the village, Mr. +Brodie Innes has been so good as to give me his recollections:-- + +"On my becoming Vicar of Down in 1846, we became friends, and so continued +till his death. His conduct towards me and my family was one of unvarying +kindness, and we repaid it by warm affection. + +"In all parish matters he was an active assistant; in matters connected +with the schools, charities, and other business, his liberal contribution +was ever ready, and in the differences which at times occurred in that, as +in other parishes, I was always sure of his support. He held that where +there was really no important objection, his assistance should be given to +the clergyman, who ought to know the circumstances best, and was chiefly +responsible." + +His intercourse with strangers was marked with scrupulous and rather formal +politeness, but in fact he had few opportunities of meeting strangers. + +Dr. Lane has described (Lecture by Dr. B.W. Richardson, in St. George's +Hall, October 22, 1882.) how, on the rare occasion of my father attending a +lecture (Dr. Sanderson's) at the Royal Institution, "the whole +assembly...rose to their feet to welcome him," while he seemed "scarcely +conscious that such an outburst of applause could possibly be intended for +himself." The quiet life he led at Down made him feel confused in a large +society; for instance, at the Royal Society's soirees he felt oppressed by +the numbers. The feeling that he ought to know people, and the difficulty +he had in remembering faces in his latter years, also added to his +discomfort on such occasions. He did not realise that he would be +recognised from his photographs, and I remember his being uneasy at being +obviously recognised by a stranger at the Crystal Palace Aquarium. + +I must say something of his manner of working: one characteristic of it +was his respect for time; he never forgot how precious it was. This was +shown, for instance, in the way in which he tried to curtail his holidays; +also, and more clearly, with respect to shorter periods. He would often +say, that saving the minutes was the way to get work done; he showed his +love of saving the minutes in the difference he felt between a quarter of +an hour and ten minutes' work; he never wasted a few spare minutes from +thinking that it was not worth while to set to work. I was often struck by +his way of working up to the very limit of his strength, so that he +suddenly stopped in dictating, with the words, "I believe I mustn't do any +more." The same eager desire not to lose time was seen in his quick +movements when at work. I particularly remember noticing this when he was +making an experiment on the roots of beans, which required some care in +manipulation; fastening the little bits of card upon the roots was done +carefully and necessarily slowly, but the intermediate movements were all +quick; taking a fresh bean, seeing that the root was healthy, impaling it +on a pin, fixing it on a cork, and seeing that it was vertical, etc; all +these processes were performed with a kind of restrained eagerness. He +always gave one the impression of working with pleasure, and not with any +drag. I have an image, too, of him as he recorded the result of some +experiment, looking eagerly at each root, etc., and then writing with equal +eagerness. I remember the quick movement of his head up and down as he +looked from the object to the notes. + +He saved a great deal of time through not having to do things twice. +Although he would patiently go on repeating experiments where there was any +good to be gained, he could not endure having to repeat an experiment which +ought, if complete care had been taken, to have succeeded the first time-- +and this gave him a continual anxiety that the experiment should not be +wasted; he felt the experiment to be sacred, however slight a one it was. +He wished to learn as much as possible from an experiment, so that he did +not confine himself to observing the single point to which the experiment +was directed, and his power of seeing a number of other things was +wonderful. I do not think he cared for preliminary or rough observation +intended to serve as guides and to be repeated. Any experiment done was to +be of some use, and in this connection I remember how strongly he urged the +necessity of keeping the notes of experiments which failed, and to this +rule he always adhered. + +In the literary part of his work he had the same horror of losing time, and +the same zeal in what he was doing at the moment, and this made him careful +not to be obliged unnecessarily to read anything a second time. + +His natural tendency was to use simple methods and few instruments. The +use of the compound microscope has much increased since his youth, and this +at the expense of the simple one. It strikes us nowadays as extraordinary +that he should have had no compound microscope when he went his "Beagle" +voyage; but in this he followed the advice of Robt. Brown, who was an +authority in such matters. He always had a great liking for the simple +microscope, and maintained that nowadays it was too much neglected, and +that one ought always to see as much as possible with the simple before +taking to the compound microscope. In one of his letters he speaks on this +point, and remarks that he always suspects the work of a man who never uses +the simple microscope. + +His dissecting table was a thick board, let into a window of the study; it +was lower than an ordinary table, so that he could not have worked at it +standing; but this, from wishing to save his strength, he would not have +done in any case. He sat at his dissecting-table on a curious low stool +which had belonged to his father, with a seat revolving on a vertical +spindle, and mounted on large castors, so that he could turn easily from +side to side. His ordinary tools, etc., were lying about on the table, but +besides these a number of odds and ends were kept in a round table full of +radiating drawers, and turning on a vertical axis, which stood close by his +left side, as he sat at his microscope-table. The drawers were labelled, +"best tools," "rough tools," "specimens," "preparations for specimens," +etc. The most marked peculiarity of the contents of these drawers was the +care with which little scraps and almost useless things were preserved; he +held the well-known belief, that if you threw a thing away you were sure to +want it directly--and so things accumulated. + +If any one had looked at his tools, etc., lying on the table, he would have +been struck by an air of simpleness, make-shift, and oddness. + +At his right hand were shelves, with a number of other odds and ends, +glasses, saucers, tin biscuit boxes for germinating seeds, zinc labels, +saucers full of sand, etc., etc. Considering how tidy and methodical he +was in essential things, it is curious that he bore with so many make- +shifts: for instance, instead of having a box made of a desired shape, and +stained black inside, he would hunt up something like what he wanted and +get it darkened inside with shoe-blacking; he did not care to have glass +covers made for tumblers in which he germinated seeds, but used broken bits +of irregular shape, with perhaps a narrow angle sticking uselessly out on +one side. But so much of his experimenting was of a simple kind, that he +had no need for any elaboration, and I think his habit in this respect was +in great measure due to his desire to husband his strength, and not waste +it on inessential things. + +His way of marking objects may here be mentioned. If he had a number of +things to distinguish, such as leaves, flowers, etc., he tied threads of +different colours round them. In particular he used this method when he +had only two classes of objects to distinguish; thus in the case of crossed +and self-fertilised flowers, one set would be marked with black and one +with white thread, tied round the stalk of the flower. I remember well the +look of two sets of capsules, gathered and waiting to be weighed, counted, +etc., with pieces of black and of white thread to distinguish the trays in +which they lay. When he had to compare two sets of seedlings, sowed in the +same pot, he separated them by a partition of zinc-plate; and the zinc +label, which gave the necessary details about the experiment, was always +placed on a certain side, so that it became instinctive with him to know +without reading the label which were the "crossed" and which were the +"self-fertilised." + +His love of each particular experiment, and his eager zeal not to lose the +fruit of it, came out markedly in these crossing experiments--in the +elaborate care he took not to make any confusion in putting capsules into +wrong trays, etc., etc. I can recall his appearance as he counted seeds +under the simple microscope with an alertness not usually characterising +such mechanical work as counting. I think he personified each seed as a +small demon trying to elude him by getting into the wrong heap, or jumping +away altogether; and this gave to the work the excitement of a game. He +had great faith in instruments, and I do not think it naturally occurred to +him to doubt the accuracy of a scale or measuring glass, etc. He was +astonished when we found that one of his micrometers differed from the +other. He did not require any great accuracy in most of his measurements, +and had not good scales; he had an old three-foot rule, which was the +common property of the household, and was constantly being borrowed, +because it was the only one which was certain to be in its place--unless, +indeed, the last borrower had forgotten to put it back. For measuring the +height of plants he had a seven-foot deal rod, graduated by the village +carpenter. Latterly he took to using paper scales graduated to +millimeters. For small objects he used a pair of compasses and an ivory +protractor. It was characteristic of him that he took scrupulous pains in +making measurements with his somewhat rough scales. A trifling example of +his faith in authority is that he took his "inch in terms of millimeters" +from an old book, in which it turned out to be inaccurately given. He had +a chemical balance which dated from the days when he worked at chemistry +with his brother Erasmus. Measurements of capacity were made with an +apothecary's measuring glass: I remember well its rough look and bad +graduation. With this, too, I remember the great care he took in getting +the fluid-line on to the graduation. I do not mean by this account of his +instruments that any of his experiments suffered from want of accuracy in +measurement, I give them as examples of his simple methods and faith in +others--faith at least in instrument-makers, whose whole trade was a +mystery to him. + +A few of his mental characteristics, bearing especially on his mode of +working, occur to me. There was one quality of mind which seemed to be of +special and extreme advantage in leading him to make discoveries. It was +the power of never letting exceptions pass unnoticed. Everybody notices a +fact as an exception when it is striking or frequent, but he had a special +instinct for arresting an exception. A point apparently slight and +unconnected with his present work is passed over by many a man almost +unconsciously with some half-considered explanation, which is in fact no +explanation. It was just these things that he seized on to make a start +from. In a certain sense there is nothing special in this procedure, many +discoveries being made by means of it. I only mention it because, as I +watched him at work, the value of this power to an experimenter was so +strongly impressed upon me. + +Another quality which was shown in his experimental works was his power of +sticking to a subject; he used almost to apologise for his patience, saying +that he could not bear to be beaten, as if this were rather a sign of +weakness on his part. He often quoted the saying, "It's dogged as does +it;" and I think doggedness expresses his frame of mind almost better than +perseverance. Perseverance seems hardly to express his almost fierce +desire to force the truth to reveal itself. He often said that it was +important that a man should know the right point at which to give up an +inquiry. And I think it was his tendency to pass this point that inclined +him to apologise for his perseverance, and gave the air of doggedness to +his work. + +He often said that no one could be a good observer unless he was an active +theoriser. This brings me back to what I said about his instinct for +arresting exceptions: it was as though he were charged with theorising +power ready to flow into any channel on the slightest disturbance, so that +no fact, however small, could avoid releasing a stream of theory, and thus +the fact became magnified into importance. In this way it naturally +happened that many untenable theories occurred to him; but fortunately his +richness of imagination was equalled by his power of judging and condemning +the thoughts that occurred to him. He was just to his theories, and did +not condemn them unheard; and so it happened that he was willing to test +what would seem to most people not at all worth testing. These rather wild +trials he called "fool's experiments," and enjoyed extremely. As an +example I may mention that finding the cotyledons of Biophytum to be highly +sensitive to vibrations of the table, he fancied that they might perceive +the vibrations of sound, and therefore made me play my bassoon close to a +plant. (This is not so much an example of superabundant theorising from a +small cause, but only of his wish to test the most improbable ideas.) + +The love of experiment was very strong in him, and I can remember the way +he would say, "I shan't be easy till I have tried it," as if an outside +force were driving him. He enjoyed experimenting much more than work which +only entailed reasoning, and when he was engaged on one of his books which +required argument and the marshalling of facts, he felt experimental work +to be a rest or holiday. Thus, while working upon the 'Variations of +Animals and Plants,' in 1860-61, he made out the fertilisation of Orchids, +and thought himself idle for giving so much time to them. It is +interesting to think that so important a piece of research should have been +undertaken and largely worked out as a pastime in place of more serious +work. The letters to Hooker of this period contain expressions such as, +"God forgive me for being so idle; I am quite sillily interested in this +work." The intense pleasure he took in understanding the adaptations for +fertilisation is strongly shown in these letters. He speaks in one of his +letters of his intention of working at Drosera as a rest from the 'Descent +of Man.' He has described in his 'Recollections' the strong satisfaction +he felt in solving the problem of heterostylism. And I have heard him +mention that the Geology of South America gave him almost more pleasure +than anything else. It was perhaps this delight in work requiring keen +observation that made him value praise given to his observing powers almost +more than appreciation of his other qualities. + +For books he had no respect, but merely considered them as tools to be +worked with. Thus he did not bind them, and even when a paper book fell to +pieces from use, as happened to Muller's 'Befruchtung,' he preserved it +from complete dissolution by putting a metal clip over its back. In the +same way he would cut a heavy book in half, to make it more convenient to +hold. He used to boast that he made Lyell publish the second edition of +one of his books in two volumes instead of one, by telling him how he had +been obliged to cut it in half. Pamphlets were often treated even more +severely than books, for he would tear out, for the sake of saving room, +all the pages except the one that interested him. The consequence of all +this was, that his library was not ornamental, but was striking from being +so evidently a working collection of books. + +He was methodical in his manner of reading books and pamphlets bearing on +his own work. He had one shelf on which were piled up the books he had not +yet read, and another to which they were transferred after having been +read, and before being catalogued. He would often groan over his unread +books, because there were so many which he knew he should never read. Many +a book was at once transferred to the other heap, either marked with a +cypher at the end, to show that it contained no marked passages, or +inscribed, perhaps, "not read," or "only skimmed." The books accumulated +in the "read" heap until the shelves overflowed, and then, with much +lamenting, a day was given up to the cataloguing. He disliked this work, +and as the necessity of undertaking the work became imperative, would often +say, in a voice of despair, "We really must do these books soon." + +In each book, as he read it, he marked passages bearing on his work. In +reading a book or pamphlet, etc., he made pencil-lines at the side of the +page, often adding short remarks, and at the end made a list of the pages +marked. When it was to be catalogued and put away, the marked pages were +looked at, and so a rough abstract of the book was made. This abstract +would perhaps be written under three or four headings on different sheets, +the facts being sorted out and added to the previously collected facts in +different subjects. He had other sets of abstracts arranged, not according +to subject, but according to periodical. When collecting facts on a large +scale, in earlier years, he used to read through, and make abstracts, in +this way, of whole series of periodicals. + +In some of his early letters he speaks of filling several note-books with +facts for his book on species; but it was certainly early that he adopted +his plan of using portfolios as described in the 'Recollections.' (The +racks on which the portfolios were placed are shown in the illustration, +"The Study at Down," in the recess at the right-hand side of the fire- +place.) My father and M. de Candolle were mutually pleased to discover +that they had adopted the same plan of classifying facts. De Candolle +describes the method in his 'Phytologie,' and in his sketch of my father +mentions the satisfaction he felt in seeing it in action at Down. + +Besides these portfolios, of which there are some dozens full of notes, +there are large bundles of MS. marked "used" and put away. He felt the +value of his notes, and had a horror of their destruction by fire. I +remember, when some alarm of fire had happened, his begging me to be +especially careful, adding very earnestly, that the rest of his life would +be miserable if his notes and books were to be destroyed. + +He shows the same feeling in writing about the loss of a manuscript, the +purport of his words being, "I have a copy, or the loss would have killed +me." In writing a book he would spend much time and labour in making a +skeleton or plan of the whole, and in enlarging and sub-classing each +heading, as described in his 'Recollections.' I think this careful +arrangement of the plan was not at all essential to the building up of his +argument, but for its presentment, and for the arrangement of his facts. +In his 'Life of Erasmus Darwin,' as it was first printed in slips, the +growth of the book from a skeleton was plainly visible. The arrangement +was altered afterwards, because it was too formal and categorical, and +seemed to give the character of his grandfather rather by means of a list +of qualities than as a complete picture. + +It was only within the last few years that he adopted a plan of writing +which he was convinced suited him best, and which is described in the +'Recollections;' namely, writing a rough copy straight off without the +slightest attention to style. It was characteristic of him that he felt +unable to write with sufficient want of care if he used his best paper, and +thus it was that he wrote on the backs of old proofs or manuscript. The +rough copy was then reconsidered, and a fair copy was made. For this +purpose he had foolscap paper ruled at wide intervals, the lines being +needed to prevent him writing so closely that correction became difficult. +The fair copy was then corrected, and was recopied before being sent to the +printers. The copying was done by Mr. E. Norman, who began this work many +years ago when village schoolmaster at Down. My father became so used to +Mr. Norman's hand-writing, that he could not correct manuscript, even when +clearly written out by one of his children, until it had been recopied by +Mr. Norman. The MS., on returning from Mr. Norman was once more corrected, +and then sent off to the printers. Then came the work of revising and +correcting the proofs, which my father found especially wearisome. + +It was at this stage that he first seriously considered the style of what +he had written. When this was going on he usually started some other piece +of work as a relief. The correction of slips consisted in fact of two +processes, for the corrections were first written in pencil, and then re- +considered and written in ink. + +When the book was passing through the "slip" stage he was glad to have +corrections and suggestions from others. Thus my mother looked over the +proofs of the 'Origin.' In some of the later works my sister, Mrs. +Litchfield, did much of the correction. After my sister's marriage perhaps +most of the work fell to my share. + +My sister, Mrs. Litchfield, writes:-- + +"This work was very interesting in itself, and it was inexpressibly +exhilarating to work for him. He was always so ready to be convinced that +any suggested alteration was an improvement, and so full of gratitude for +the trouble taken. I do not think that he ever used to forget to tell me +what improvement he thought that I had made, and he used almost to excuse +himself if he did not agree with any correction. I think I felt the +singular modesty and graciousness of his nature through thus working for +him in a way I never should otherwise have done. + +"He did not write with ease, and was apt to invert his sentences both in +writing and speaking, putting the qualifying clause before it was clear +what it was to qualify. He corrected a great deal, and was eager to +express himself as well as he possibly could." + +Perhaps the commonest corrections needed were of obscurities due to the +omission of a necessary link in the reasoning, something which he had +evidently omitted through familiarity with the subject. Not that there was +any fault in the sequence of the thoughts, but that from familiarity with +his argument he did not notice when the words failed to reproduce his +thought. He also frequently put too much matter into one sentence, so that +it had to be cut up into two. + +On the whole, I think the pains which my father took over the literary part +of the work was very remarkable. He often laughed or grumbled at himself +for the difficulty which he found in writing English, saying, for instance, +that if a bad arrangement of a sentence was possible, he should be sure to +adopt it. He once got much amusement and satisfaction out of the +difficulty which one of the family found in writing a short circular. He +had the pleasure of correcting and laughing at obscurities, involved +sentences, and other defects, and thus took his revenge for all the +criticism he had himself to bear with. He used to quote with astonishment +Miss Martineau's advice to young authors, to write straight off and send +the MS. to the printer without correction. But in some cases he acted in a +somewhat similar manner. When a sentence got hopelessly involved, he would +ask himself, "now what DO you want to say?" and his answer written down, +would often disentangle the confusion. + +His style has been much praised; on the other hand, at least one good judge +has remarked to me that it is not a good style. It is, above all things, +direct and clear; and it is characteristic of himself in its simplicity, +bordering on naivete, and in its absence of pretence. He had the strongest +disbelief in the common idea that a classical scholar must write good +English; indeed, he thought that the contrary was the case. In writing, he +sometimes showed the same tendency to strong expressions as he did in +conversation. Thus in the 'Origin,' page 440, there is a description of a +larval cirripede, "with six pairs of beautifully constructed natatory legs, +a pair of magnificent compound eyes, and extremely complex antennae." We +used to laugh at him for this sentence, which we compared to an +advertisement. This tendency to give himself up to the enthusiastic turn +of his thought, without fear of being ludicrous, appears elsewhere in his +writings. + +His courteous and conciliatory tone towards his reader is remarkable, and +it must be partly this quality which revealed his personal sweetness of +character to so many who had never seen him. I have always felt it to be a +curious fact, that he who had altered the face of Biological Science, and +is in this respect the chief of the moderns, should have written and worked +in so essentially a non-modern spirit and manner. In reading his books one +is reminded of the older naturalists rather than of the modern school of +writers. He was a Naturalist in the old sense of the word, that is, a man +who works at many branches of the science, not merely a specialist in one. +Thus it is, that, though he founded whole new divisions of special +subjects--such as the fertilisation of flowers, insectivorous plants, +dimorphism, etc.--yet even in treating these very subjects he does not +strike the reader as a specialist. The reader feels like a friend who is +being talked to by a courteous gentleman, not like a pupil being lectured +by a professor. The tone of such a book as the 'Origin' is charming, and +almost pathetic; it is the tone of a man who, convinced of the truth of his +own views, hardly expects to convince others; it is just the reverse of the +style of a fanatic, who wants to force people to believe. The reader is +never scorned for any amount of doubt which he may be imagined to feel, and +his scepticism is treated with patient respect. A sceptical reader, or +perhaps even an unreasonable reader, seems to have been generally present +to his thoughts. It was in consequence of this feeling, perhaps, that he +took much trouble over points which he imagined would strike the reader, or +save him trouble, and so tempt him to read. + +For the same reason he took much interest in the illustrations of his +books, and I think rated rather too highly their value. The illustrations +for his earlier books were drawn by professional artists. This was the +case in 'Animals and Plants,' the 'Descent of Man,' and the 'Expression of +the Emotions.' On the other hand, 'Climbing Plants,' 'Insectivorous +Plants,' the 'Movements of Plants,' and 'Forms of Flowers,' were, to a +large extent, illustrated by some of his children--my brother George having +drawn by far the most. It was delightful to draw for him, as he was +enthusiastic in his praise of very moderate performances. I remember well +his charming manner of receiving the drawings of one of his daughters-in- +law, and how he would finish his words of praise by saying, "Tell A--, +Michael Angelo is nothing to it." Though he praised so generously, he +always looked closely at the drawing, and easily detected mistakes or +carelessness. + +He had a horror of being lengthy, and seems to have been really much +annoyed and distressed when he found how the 'Variations of Animals and +Plants' was growing under his hands. I remember his cordially agreeing +with 'Tristram Shandy's' words, "Let no man say, 'Come, I'll write a +duodecimo.'" + +His consideration for other authors was as marked a characteristic as his +tone towards his reader. He speaks of all other authors as persons +deserving of respect. In cases where, as in the case of --'s experiments +on Drosera, he thought lightly of the author, he speaks of him in such a +way that no one would suspect it. In other cases he treats the confused +writings of ignorant persons as though the fault lay with himself for not +appreciating or understanding them. Besides this general tone of respect, +he had a pleasant way of expressing his opinion on the value of a quoted +work, or his obligation for a piece of private information. + +His respectful feeling was not only morally beautiful, but was I think of +practical use in making him ready to consider the ideas and observations of +all manner of people. He used almost to apologise for this, and would say +that he was at first inclined to rate everything too highly. + +It was a great merit in his mind that, in spite of having so strong a +respectful feeling towards what he read, he had the keenest of instincts as +to whether a man was trustworthy or not. He seemed to form a very definite +opinion as to the accuracy of the men whose books he read; and made use of +this judgment in his choice of facts for use in argument or as +illustrations. I gained the impression that he felt this power of judging +of a man's trustworthiness to be of much value. + +He had a keen feeling of the sense of honour that ought to reign among +authors, and had a horror of any kind of laxness in quoting. He had a +contempt for the love of honour and glory, and in his letters often blames +himself for the pleasure he took in the success of his books, as though he +were departing from his ideal--a love of truth and carelessness about fame. +Often, when writing to Sir J. Hooker what he calls a boasting letter, he +laughs at himself for his conceit and want of modesty. There is a +wonderfully interesting letter which he wrote to my mother bequeathing to +her, in case of his death, the care of publishing the manuscript of his +first essay on evolution. This letter seems to me full of the intense +desire that his theory should succeed as a contribution to knowledge, and +apart from any desire for personal fame. He certainly had the healthy +desire for success which a man of strong feelings ought to have. But at +the time of the publication of the 'Origin' it is evident that he was +overwhelmingly satisfied with the adherence of such men as Lyell, Hooker, +Huxley, and Asa Gray, and did not dream of or desire any such wide and +general fame as he attained to. + +Connected with his contempt for the undue love of fame, was an equally +strong dislike of all questions of priority. The letters to Lyell, at the +time of the 'Origin,' show the anger he felt with himself for not being +able to repress a feeling of disappointment at what he thought was Mr. +Wallace's forestalling of all his years of work. His sense of literary +honour comes out strongly in these letters; and his feeling about priority +is again shown in the admiration expressed in his 'Recollections' of Mr. +Wallace's self-annihilation. + +His feeling about reclamations, including answers to attacks and all kinds +of discussions, was strong. It is simply expressed in a letter to Falconer +(1863?), "If I ever felt angry towards you, for whom I have a sincere +friendship, I should begin to suspect that I was a little mad. I was very +sorry about your reclamation, as I think it is in every case a mistake and +should be left to others. Whether I should so act myself under provocation +is a different question." It was a feeling partly dictated by instinctive +delicacy, and partly by a strong sense of the waste of time, energy, and +temper thus caused. He said that he owed his determination not to get into +discussions (He departed from his rule in his "Note on the Habits of the +Pampas Woodpecker, Colaptes campestris," 'Proc. Zool. Soc.,' 1870, page +705: also in a letter published in the 'Athenaeum' (1863, page 554), in +which case he afterwards regretted that he had not remained silent. His +replies to criticisms, in the later editions of the 'Origin,' can hardly be +classed as infractions of his rule.) to the advice of Lyell,--advice which +he transmitted to those among his friends who were given to paper warfare. + +If the character of my father's working life is to be understood, the +conditions of ill-health, under which he worked, must be constantly borne +in mind. He bore his illness with such uncomplaining patience, that even +his children can hardly, I believe, realise the extent of his habitual +suffering. In their case the difficulty is heightened by the fact that, +from the days of their earliest recollections, they saw him in constant +ill-health,--and saw him, in spite of it, full of pleasure in what pleased +them. Thus, in later life, their perception of what he endured had to be +disentangled from the impression produced in childhood by constant genial +kindness under conditions of unrecognised difficulty. No one indeed, +except my mother, knows the full amount of suffering he endured, or the +full amount of his wonderful patience. For all the latter years of his +life she never left him for a night; and her days were so planned that all +his resting hours might be shared with her. She shielded him from every +avoidable annoyance, and omitted nothing that might save him trouble, or +prevent him becoming overtired, or that might alleviate the many +discomforts of his ill-health. I hesitate to speak thus freely of a thing +so sacred as the life-long devotion which prompted all this constant and +tender care. But it is, I repeat, a principal feature of his life, that +for nearly forty years he never knew one day of the health of ordinary men, +and that thus his life was one long struggle against the weariness and +strain of sickness. And this cannot be told without speaking of the one +condition which enabled him to bear the strain and fight out the struggle +to the end. + + +LETTERS. + +The earliest letters to which I have access are those written by my father +when an undergraduate at Cambridge. + +The history of his life, as told in his correspondence, must therefore +begin with this period. + + +CHAPTER 1.IV. + +CAMBRIDGE LIFE. + +[My father's Cambridge life comprises the time between the Lent Term, 1828, +when he came up as a Freshman, and the end of the May Term, 1831, when he +took his degree and left the University. + +It appears from the College books, that my father "admissus est +pensionarius minor sub Magistro Shaw" on October 15, 1827. He did not come +into residence till the Lent Term, 1828, so that, although he passed his +examination in due season, he was unable to take his degree at the usual +time,--the beginning of the Lent Term, 1831. In such a case a man usually +took his degree before Ash-Wednesday, when he was called "Baccalaureus ad +Diem Cinerum," and ranked with the B.A.'s of the year. My father's name, +however, occurs in the list of Bachelors "ad Baptistam," or those admitted +between Ash-Wednesday and St. John Baptist's Day (June 24th); ("On Tuesday +last Charles Darwin, of Christ's College, was admitted B.A."--"Cambridge +Chronicle", Friday, April 29, 1831.) he therefore took rank among the +Bachelors of 1832. + +He "kept" for a term or two in lodgings, over Bacon the tobacconist's; not, +however, over the shop in the Market Place, now so well known to Cambridge +men, but in Sidney Street. For the rest of his time he had pleasant rooms +on the south side of the first court of Christ's. (The rooms are on the +first floor, on the west side of the middle staircase. A medallion (given +by my brother) has recently been let into the wall of the sitting-room.) + +What determined the choice of this college for his brother Erasmus and +himself I have no means of knowing. Erasmus the elder, their grandfather, +had been at St. John's, and this college might have been reasonably +selected for them, being connected with Shrewsbury School. But the life of +an under-graduate at St. John's seems, in those days, to have been a +troubled one, if I may judge from the fact that a relative of mine migrated +thence to Christ's to escape the harassing discipline of the place. A +story told by Mr. Herbert illustrates the same state of things:-- + +"In the beginning of the October Term of 1830, an incident occurred which +was attended with somewhat disagreeable, though ludicrous consequences to +myself. Darwin asked me to take a long walk with him in the Fens, to +search for some natural objects he was desirous of having. After a very +long, fatiguing day's work, we dined together, late in the evening, at his +rooms in Christ's College; and as soon as our dinner was over we threw +ourselves into easy chairs and fell sound asleep. I was first to awake, +about three in the morning, when, having looked at my watch, and knowing +the strict rule of St. John's, which required men in statu pupillari to +come into college before midnight, I rushed homeward at the utmost speed, +in fear of the consequences, but hoping that the Dean would accept the +excuse as sufficient when I told him the real facts. He, however, was +inexorable, and refused to receive my explanations, or any evidence I could +bring; and although during my undergraduateship I had never been reported +for coming late into College, now, when I was a hard-working B.A., and had +five or six pupils, he sentenced me to confinement to the College walls for +the rest of the term. Darwin's indignation knew no bounds, and the stupid +injustice and tyranny of the Dean raised not only a perfect ferment among +my friends, but was the subject of expostulation from some of the leading +members of the University." + +My father seems to have found no difficulty in living at peace with all men +in and out of office at Lady Margaret's other foundation. The impression +of a contemporary of my father's is that Christ's in their day was a +pleasant, fairly quiet college, with some tendency towards "horsiness"; +many of the men made a custom of going to Newmarket during the races, +though betting was not a regular practice. In this they were by no means +discouraged by the Senior Tutor, Mr. Shaw, who was himself generally to be +seen on the Heath on these occasions. There was a somewhat high proportion +of Fellow-Commoners,--eight or nine, to sixty or seventy Pensioners, and +this would indicate that it was not an unpleasant college for men with +money to spend and with no great love of strict discipline. + +The way in which the service was conducted in chapel shows that the Dean, +at least, was not over zealous. I have heard my father tell how at evening +chapel the Dean used to read alternate verses of the Psalms, without making +even a pretence of waiting for the congregation to take their share. And +when the Lesson was a lengthy one, he would rise and go on with the +Canticles after the scholar had read fifteen or twenty verses. + +It is curious that my father often spoke of his Cambridge life as if it had +been so much time wasted, forgetting that, although the set studies of the +place were barren enough for him, he yet gained in the highest degree the +best advantages of a University life--the contact with men and an +opportunity for his mind to grow vigorously. It is true that he valued at +its highest the advantages which he gained from associating with Professor +Henslow and some others, but he seemed to consider this as a chance outcome +of his life at Cambridge, not an advantage for which Alma Mater could claim +any credit. One of my father's Cambridge friends was the late Mr. J.M. +Herbert, County Court Judge for South Wales, from whom I was fortunate +enough to obtain some notes which help us to gain an idea of how my father +impressed his contemporaries. Mr. Herbert writes: "I think it was in the +spring of 1828 that I first met Darwin, either at my cousin Whitley's rooms +in St. John's, or at the rooms of some other of his old Shrewsbury +schoolfellows, with many of whom I was on terms of great intimacy. But it +certainly was in the summer of that year that our acquaintance ripened into +intimacy, when we happened to be together at Barmouth, for the Long +Vacation, reading with private tutors,--he with Batterton of St. John's, +his Classical and Mathematical Tutor, and I with Yate of St. John's." + +The intercourse between them practically ceased in 1831, when my father +said goodbye to Herbert at Cambridge, on starting on his "Beagle" voyage. +I once met Mr. Herbert, then almost an old man, and I was much struck by +the evident warmth and freshness of the affection with which he remembered +my father. The notes from which I quote end with this warm-hearted +eulogium: "It would be idle for me to speak of his vast intellectual +powers...but I cannot end this cursory and rambling sketch without +testifying, and I doubt not all his surviving college friends would concur +with me, that he was the most genial, warm-hearted, generous, and +affectionate of friends; that his sympathies were with all that was good +and true; and that he had a cordial hatred for everything false, or vile, +or cruel, or mean, or dishonourable. He was not only great, but pre- +eminently good, and just, and loveable." + +Two anecdotes told by Mr. Herbert show that my father's feeling for +suffering, whether of man or beast, was as strong in him as a young man as +it was in later years: "Before he left Cambridge he told me that he had +made up his mind not to shoot any more; that he had had two days' shooting +at his friend's, Mr. Owen of Woodhouse; and that on the second day, when +going over some of the ground they had beaten on the day before, he picked +up a bird not quite dead, but lingering from a shot it had received on the +previous day; and that it had made and left such a painful impression on +his mind, that he could not reconcile it to his conscience to continue to +derive pleasure from a sport which inflicted such cruel suffering." + +To realise the strength of the feeling that led to this resolve, we must +remember how passionate was his love of sport. We must recall the boy +shooting his first snipe ('Recollections.'), and trembling with excitement +so that he could hardly reload his gun. Or think of such a sentence as, +"Upon my soul, it is only about a fortnight to the 'First,' then if there +is a bliss on earth that is it." (Letter from C. Darwin to W.D. Fox.) + +Another anecdote told by Mr. Herbert illustrates again his tenderness of +heart:-- + +"When at Barmouth he and I went to an exhibition of 'learned dogs.' In the +middle of the entertainment one of the dogs failed in performing the trick +his master told him to do. On the man reproving him, the dog put on a most +piteous expression, as if in fear of the whip. Darwin seeing it, asked me +to leave with him, saying, 'Come along, I can't stand this any longer; how +those poor dogs must have been licked.'" + +It is curious that the same feeling recurred to my father more than fifty +years afterwards, on seeing some performing dogs at the Westminster +Aquarium; on this occasion he was reassured by the manager telling him that +the dogs were taught more by reward than by punishment. Mr. Herbert goes +on:--"It stirred one's inmost depth of feeling to hear him descant upon, +and groan over, the horrors of the slave-trade, or the cruelties to which +the suffering Poles were subjected at Warsaw...These, and other like proofs +have left on my mind the conviction that a more humane or tender-hearted +man never lived." + +His old college friends agree in speaking with affectionate warmth of his +pleasant, genial temper as a young man. From what they have been able to +tell me, I gain the impression of a young man overflowing with animal +spirits--leading a varied healthy life--not over-industrious in the set of +studies of the place, but full of other pursuits, which were followed with +a rejoicing enthusiasm. Entomology, riding, shooting in the fens, suppers +and card-playing, music at King's Chapel, engravings at the Fitzwilliam +Museum, walks with Professor Henslow--all combined to fill up a happy life. +He seems to have infected others with his enthusiasm. Mr. Herbert relates +how, during the same Barmouth summer, he was pressed into the service of +"the science"--as my father called collecting beetles. They took their +daily walks together among the hills behind Barmouth, or boated in the +Mawddach estuary, or sailed to Sarn Badrig to land there at low water, or +went fly-fishing in the Cors-y-gedol lakes. "On these occasions Darwin +entomologized most industriously, picking up creatures as he walked along, +and bagging everything which seemed worthy of being pursued, or of further +examination. And very soon he armed me with a bottle of alcohol, in which +I had to drop any beetle which struck me as not of a common kind. I +performed this duty with some diligence in my constitutional walks; but +alas! my powers of discrimination seldom enabled me to secure a prize--the +usual result, on his examining the contents of my bottle, being an +exclamation, 'Well, old Cherbury' (No doubt in allusion to the title of +Lord Herbert of Cherbury.) (the nickname he gave me, and by which he +usually addressed me), 'none of these will do.'" Again, the Rev. T. +Butler, who was one of the Barmouth reading-party in 1828, says: "He +inoculated me with a taste for Botany which has stuck by me all my life." + +Archdeacon Watkins, another old college friend of my father's, remembers +him unearthing beetles in the willows between Cambridge and Grantchester, +and speaks of a certain beetle the remembrance of whose name is "Crux +major." (Panagaeus crux-major.) How enthusiastically must my father have +exulted over this beetle to have impressed its name on a companion so that +he remembers it after half a century! Archdeacon Watkins goes on: "I do +not forget the long and very interesting conversations that we had about +Brazilian scenery and tropical vegetation of all sorts. Nor do I forget +the way and the vehemence with which he rubbed his chin when he got excited +on such subjects, and discoursed eloquently of lianas, orchids, etc." + +He became intimate with Henslow, the Professor of Botany, and through him +with some other older members of the University. "But," Mr. Herbert +writes, "he always kept up the closest connection with the friends of his +own standing; and at our frequent social gatherings--at breakfast, wine or +supper parties--he was ever one of the most cheerful, the most popular, and +the most welcome." + +My father formed one of a club for dining once a week, called the Gourmet +(Mr. Herbert mentions the name as 'The Glutton Club.') Club, the members, +besides himself and Mr. Herbert (from whom I quote), being Whitley of St. +John's, now Honorary Canon of Durham (Formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy +at Durham University.); Heaviside of Sidney, now Canon of Norwich; Lovett +Cameron of Trinity, now vicar of Shoreham; Blane of Trinity, who held a +high post during the Crimean war; H. Lowe (Brother of Lord Sherbrooke.) +(Now Sherbrooke) of Trinity Hall; and Watkins of Emmanuel, now Archdeacon +of York. The origin of the club's name seems already to have become +involved in obscurity. Mr. Herbert says that it was chosen in derision of +another "set of men who called themselves by a long Greek name signifying +'fond of dainties,' but who falsified their claim to such a designation by +their weekly practice of dining at some roadside inn, six miles from +Cambridge, on mutton chops or beans and bacon." Another old member of the +club tells me that the name arose because the members were given to making +experiments on "birds and beasts which were before unknown to human +palate." He says that hawk and bittern were tried, and that their zeal +broke down over an old brown owl, "which was indescribable." At any rate, +the meetings seemed to have been successful, and to have ended with "a game +of mild vingt-et-un." + +Mr. Herbert gives an amusing account of the musical examinations described +by my father in his 'Recollections." Mr. Herbert speaks strongly of his +love of music, and adds, "What gave him the greatest delight was some grand +symphony or overture of Mozart's or Beethoven's, with their full +harmonies.' On one occasion Herbert remembers "accompanying him to the +afternoon service at King's, when we heard a very beautiful anthem. At the +end of one of the parts, which was exceedingly impressive, he turned round +to me and said, with a deep sigh, 'How's your backbone?'" He often spoke +of a feeling of coldness or shivering in his back on hearing beautiful +music. + +Besides a love of music, he had certainly at this time a love of fine +literature; and Mr. Cameron tells me that he used to read Shakespeare to my +father in his rooms at Christ's, who took much pleasure in it. He also +speaks of his "great liking for first-class line engravings, especially +those of Raphael Morghen and Muller; and he spent hours in the Fitzwilliam +Museum in looking over the prints in that collection." + +My father's letters to Fox show how sorely oppressed he felt by the reading +of an examination: "I am reading very hard, and have spirits for nothing. +I actually have not stuck a beetle this term." His despair over +mathematics must have been profound, when he expressed a hope that Fox's +silence is due to "your being ten fathoms deep in the Mathematics; and if +you are, God help you, for so am I, only with this difference, I stick fast +in the mud at the bottom, and there I shall remain." Mr. Herbert says: +"He had, I imagine, no natural turn for mathematics, and he gave up his +mathematical reading before he had mastered the first part of Algebra, +having had a special quarrel with Surds and the Binomial Theorem." + +We get some evidence from his letters to Fox of my father's intention of +going into the Church. "I am glad," he writes (March 18, 1829.), "to hear +that you are reading divinity. I should like to know what books you are +reading, and your opinions about them; you need not be afraid of preaching +to me prematurely." Mr. Herbert's sketch shows how doubts arose in my +father's mind as to the possibility of his taking Orders. He writes, "We +had an earnest conversation about going into Holy Orders; and I remember +his asking me, with reference to the question put by the Bishop in the +ordination service, 'Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy +Spirit, etc.,' whether I could answer in the affirmative, and on my saying +I could not, he said, 'Neither can I, and therefore I cannot take orders.'" +This conversation appears to have taken place in 1829, and if so, the +doubts here expressed must have been quieted, for in May 1830, he speaks of +having some thoughts of reading divinity with Henslow. + +The greater number of the following letters are addressed by my father to +his cousin, William Darwin Fox. Mr. Fox's relationship to my father is +shown in the pedigree given in Chapter I. The degree of kinship appears to +have remained a problem to my father, as he signs himself in one letter +"cousin/n to the power 2." Their friendship was, in fact, due to their +being undergraduates together. My father's letters show clearly enough how +genuine the friendship was. In after years, distance, large families, and +ill-health on both sides, checked the intercourse; but a warm feeling of +friendship remained. The correspondence was never quite dropped and +continued till Mr. Fox's death in 1880. Mr. Fox took orders, and worked as +a country clergyman until forced by ill-health to leave his living in +Delamare Forest. His love of natural history remained strong, and he +became a skilled fancier of many kinds of birds, etc. The index to +'Animals and Plants,' and my father's later correspondence, show how much +help he received from his old College friend.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. HERBERT. +Saturday Evening +[September 14, 1828]. (The postmark being Derby seems to show that the +letter was written from his cousin, W.D. Fox's house, Osmaston, near +Derby.) + +My dear old Cherbury, + +I am about to fulfil my promise of writing to you, but I am sorry to add +there is a very selfish motive at the bottom. I am going to ask you a +great favour, and you cannot imagine how much you will oblige me by +procuring some more specimens of some insects which I dare say I can +describe. In the first place, I must inform you that I have taken some of +the rarest of the British Insects, and their being found near Barmouth, is +quite unknown to the Entomological world: I think I shall write and inform +some of the crack entomologists. + +But now for business. SEVERAL more specimens, if you can procure them +without much trouble, of the following insects:--The violet-black coloured +beetle, found on Craig Storm (The top of the hill immediately behind +Barmouth was called Craig-Storm, a hybrid Cambro-English word.), under +stones, also a large smooth black one very like it; a bluish metallic- +coloured dung-beetle, which is VERY common on the hill-sides; also, if you +WOULD be so very kind as to cross the ferry, and you will find a great +number under the stones on the waste land of a long, smooth, jet-black +beetle (a great many of these); also, in the same situation, a very small +pinkish insect, with black spots, with a curved thorax projecting beyond +the head; also, upon the marshy land over the ferry, near the sea, under +old sea-weed, stones, etc., you will find a small yellowish transparent +beetle, with two or four blackish marks on the back. Under these stones +there are two sorts, one much darker than the other; the lighter-coloured +is that which I want. These last two insects are EXCESSIVELY RARE, and you +will really EXTREMELY oblige me by taking all this trouble pretty soon. +remember me most kindly to Butler, tell him of my success, and I dare say +both of you will easily recognise these insects. I hope his caterpillars +go on well. I think many of the Chrysalises are well worth keeping. I +really am quite ashamed [of] so long a letter all about my own concerns; +but do return good for evil, and send me a long account of all your +proceedings. + +In the first week I killed seventy-five head of game--a very contemptible +number--but there are very few birds. I killed, however, a brace of black +game. Since then I have been staying at the Fox's, near Derby; it is a +very pleasant house, and the music meeting went off very well. I want to +hear how Yates likes his gun, and what use he has made of it. + +If the bottle is not large you can buy another for me, and when you pass +through Shrewsbury you can leave these treasures, and I hope, if you +possibly can, you will stay a day or two with me, as I hope I need not say +how glad I shall be to see you again. Fox remarked what deuced good- +natured fellows your friends at Barmouth must be; and if I did not know how +you and Butler were so, I would not think of giving you so much trouble. + +Believe me, my dear Herbert, +Yours, most sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. +Remember me to all friends. + + +[In the following January we find him looking forward with pleasure to the +beginning of another year of his Cambridge life: he writes to Fox-- + +"I waited till to-day for the chance of a letter, but I will wait no +longer. I must most sincerely and cordially congratulate you on having +finished all your labours. I think your place a VERY GOOD one considering +by how much you have beaten many men who had the start of you in reading. +I do so wish I were now in Cambridge (a very selfish wish, however, as I +was not with you in all your troubles and misery), to join in all the glory +and happiness, which dangers gone by can give. How we would talk, walk, +and entomologise! Sappho should be the best of bitches, and Dash, of dogs: +then should be 'peace on earth, good will to men,'--which, by the way, I +always think the most perfect description of happiness that words can +give."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Cambridge, Thursday [February 26, 1829]. + +My dear Fox, + +When I arrived here on Tuesday I found to my great grief and surprise, a +letter on my table which I had written to you about a fortnight ago, the +stupid porter never took the trouble of getting the letter forwarded. I +suppose you have been abusing me for a most ungrateful wretch; but I am +sure you will pity me now, as nothing is so vexatious as having written a +letter in vain. + +Last Thursday I left Shrewsbury for London, and stayed there till Tuesday, +on which I came down here by the 'Times.' The first two days I spent +entirely with Mr. Hope (Founder of the Chair of Zoology at Oxford.), and +did little else but talk about and look at insects; his collection is most +magnificent, and he himself is the most generous of entomologists; he has +given me about 160 new species, and actually often wanted to give me the +rarest insects of which he had only two specimens. He made many civil +speeches, and hoped you will call on him some time with me, whenever we +should happen to be in London. He greatly compliments our exertions in +Entomology, and says we have taken a wonderfully great number of good +insects. On Sunday I spent the day with Holland, who lent me a horse to +ride in the Park with. + +On Monday evening I drank tea with Stephens (J.F. Stephens, author of 'A +Manual of British Coleoptera,' 1839, and other works.); his cabinet is more +magnificent than the most zealous entomologist could dream of; he appears +to be a very good-humoured pleasant little man. Whilst in town I went to +the Royal Institution, Linnean Society, and Zoological Gardens, and many +other places where naturalists are gregarious. If you had been with me, I +think London would be a very delightful place; as things were, it was much +pleasanter than I could have supposed such a dreary wilderness of houses to +be. + +I shot whilst in Shrewsbury a Dundiver (female Goosander, as I suppose you +know). Shaw has stuffed it, and when I have an opportunity I will send it +to Osmaston. There have been shot also five Waxen Chatterers, three of +which Shaw has for sale; would you like to purchase a specimen? I have not +yet thanked you for your last very long and agreeable letter. It would +have been still more agreeable had it contained the joyful intelligence +that you were coming up here; my two solitary breakfasts have already made +me aware how very very much I shall miss you. + +... + +Believe me, +My dear old Fox, +Most sincerely yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[Later on in the Lent term he writes to Fox:-- + +"I am leading a quiet everyday sort of a life; a little of Gibbon's History +in the morning, and a good deal of "Van John" in the evening; this, with an +occasional ride with Simcox and constitutional with Whitley, makes up the +regular routine of my days. I see a good deal both of Herbert and Whitley, +and the more I see of them increases every day the respect I have for their +excellent understandings and dispositions. They have been giving some very +gay parties, nearly sixty men there both evenings."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Christ's College [Cambridge], April 1 [1829]. + +My dear Fox, + +In your letter to Holden you are pleased to observe "that of all the +blackguards you ever met with I am the greatest." Upon this observation I +shall make no remarks, excepting that I must give you all due credit for +acting on it most rigidly. And now I should like to know in what one +particular are you less of a blackguard than I am? You idle old wretch, +why have you not answered my last letter, which I am sure I forwarded to +Clifton nearly three weeks ago? If I was not really very anxious to hear +what you are doing, I should have allowed you to remain till you thought it +worth while to treat me like a gentleman. And now having vented my spleen +in scolding you, and having told you, what you must know, how very much and +how anxiously I want to hear how you and your family are getting on at +Clifton, the purport of this letter is finished. If you did but know how +often I think of you, and how often I regret your absence, I am sure I +should have heard from you long enough ago. + +I find Cambridge rather stupid, and as I know scarcely any one that walks, +and this joined with my lips not being quite so well, has reduced me to a +sort of hybernation...I have caught Mr. Harbour letting -- have the first +pick of the beetles; accordingly we have made our final adieus, my part in +the affecting scene consisted in telling him he was a d--d rascal, and +signifying I should kick him down the stairs if ever he appeared in my +rooms again. It seemed altogether mightily to surprise the young +gentleman. I have no news to tell you; indeed, when a correspondence has +been broken off like ours has been, it is difficult to make the first start +again. Last night there was a terrible fire at Linton, eleven miles from +Cambridge. Seeing the reflection so plainly in the sky, Hall, Woodyeare, +Turner, and myself thought we would ride and see it. We set out at half- +past nine, and rode like incarnate devils there, and did not return till +two in the morning. Altogether it was a most awful sight. I cannot +conclude without telling you, that of all the blackguards I ever met with, +you are the greatest and the best. + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +[Cambridge, Thursday, April 23, 1829.] + +My dear Fox, + +I have delayed answering your last letter for these few days, as I thought +that under such melancholy circumstances my writing to you would be +probably only giving you trouble. This morning I received a letter from +Catherine informing me of that event (The death of Fox's sister, Mrs. +Bristowe.), which, indeed, from your letter, I had hardly dared to hope +would have happened otherwise. I feel most sincerely and deeply for you +and all your family; but at the same time, as far as any one can, by his +own good principles and religion, be supported under such a misfortune, +you, I am assured, will know where to look for such support. And after so +pure and holy a comfort as the Bible affords, I am equally assured how +useless the sympathy of all friends must appear, although it be as +heartfelt and sincere, as I hope you believe me capable of feeling. At +such a time of deep distress I will say nothing more, excepting that I +trust your father and Mrs. Fox bear this blow as well as, under such +circumstances, can be hoped for. + +I am afraid it will be a long time, my dear Fox, before we meet; till then, +believe me at all times, + +Yours most affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Shrewsbury, Friday [July 4, 1829]. + +My dear Fox, + +I should have written to you before only that whilst our expedition lasted +I was too much engaged, and the conclusion was so unfortunate, that I was +too unhappy to write to you till this week's quiet at home. The thoughts +of Woodhouse next week has at last given me courage to relate my +unfortunate case. + +I started from this place about a fortnight ago to take an entomological +trip with Mr. Hope through all North Wales; and Barmouth was our first +destination. The two first days I went on pretty well, taking several good +insects; but for the rest of that week my lips became suddenly so bad +(Probably with eczema, from which he often suffered.), and I myself not +very well, that I was unable to leave the room, and on the Monday I +retreated with grief and sorrow back again to Shrewsbury. The first two +days I took some good insects...But the days that I was unable to go out, +Mr. Hope did wonders...and to-day I have received another parcel of insects +from him, such Colymbetes, such Carabi, and such magnificent Elaters (two +species of the bright scarlet sort). I am sure you will properly +sympathise with my unfortunate situation: I am determined I will go over +the same ground that he does before autumn comes, and if working hard will +procure insects I will bring home a glorious stock. + +... + +My dear Fox, +Yours most sincerely, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Shrewsbury, July 18, 1829. + +I am going to Maer next week in order to entomologise, and shall stay there +a week, and for the rest of this summer I intend to lead a perfectly idle +and wandering life...You see I am much in the same state that you are, with +this difference, you make good resolutions and never keep them; I never +make them, so cannot keep them; it is all very well writing in this manner, +but I must read for my Little-go. Graham smiled and bowed so very civilly, +when he told me that he was one of the six appointed to make the +examination stricter, and that they were determined this would make it a +very different thing from any previous examination, that from all this I am +sure it will be the very devil to pay amongst all idle men and +entomologists. Erasmus, we expect home in a few weeks' time: he intends +passing next winter in Paris. Be sure you order the two lists of insects +published by Stephens, one printed on both sides, and the other only on +one; you will find them very useful in many points of view. + +Dear old Fox, yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Christ's College, Thursday [October 16, 1829]. + +My dear Fox, + +I am afraid you will be very angry with me for not having written during +the Music Meeting, but really I was worked so hard that I had no time; I +arrived here on Monday and found my rooms in dreadful confusion, as they +have been taking up the floor, and you may suppose that I have had plenty +to do for these two days. The Music Meeting (At Birmingham.) was the most +glorious thing I ever experienced; and as for Malibran, words cannot praise +her enough, she is quite the most charming person I ever saw. We had +extracts out of several of the best operas, acted in character, and you +cannot imagine how very superior it made the concerts to any I ever heard +before. J. de Begnis (De Begnis's Christian name was Giuseppe.) acted 'Il +Fanatico' in character; being dressed up an extraordinary figure gives a +much greater effect to his acting. He kept the whole theatre in roars of +laughter. I liked Madame Blasis very much, but nothing will do after +Malibran, who sung some comic songs, and [a] person's heart must have been +made of stone not to have lost it to her. I lodged very near the +Wedgwoods, and lived entirely with them, which was very pleasant, and had +you been there it would have been quite perfect. It knocked me up most +dreadfully, and I will never attempt again to do two things the same day. + +... + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +[Cambridge] Thursday [March, 1830]. + +My dear Fox, + +I am through my Little-Go!!! I am too much exalted to humble myself by +apologising for not having written before. But I assure you before I went +in, and when my nerves were in a shattered and weak condition, your injured +person often rose before my eyes and taunted me with my idleness. But I am +through, through, through. I could write the whole sheet full with this +delightful word. I went in yesterday, and have just heard the joyful news. +I shall not know for a week which class I am in. The whole examination is +carried on in a different system. It has one grand advantage--being over +in one day. They are rather strict, and ask a wonderful number of +questions. + +And now I want to know something about your plans; of course you intend +coming up here: what fun we will have together; what beetles we will +catch; it will do my heart good to go once more together to some of our old +haunts. I have two very promising pupils in Entomology, and we will make +regular campaigns into the Fens. Heaven protect the beetles and Mr. +Jenyns, for we won't leave him a pair in the whole country. My new Cabinet +is come down, and a gay little affair it is. + +And now for the time--I think I shall go for a few days to town to hear an +opera and see Mr. Hope; not to mention my brother also, whom I should have +no objection to see. If I go pretty soon, you can come afterwards, but if +you will settle your plans definitely, I will arrange mine, so send me a +letter by return of post. And I charge you let it be favourable--that is +to say, come directly. Holden has been ordained, and drove the Coach out +on the Monday. I do not think he is looking very well. Chapman wants you +and myself to pay him a visit when you come up, and begs to be remembered +to you. You must excuse this short letter, as I have no end more to send +off by this day's post. I long to see you again, and till then, + +My dear good old Fox, +Yours most sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In August he was in North Wales and wrote to Fox:-- + +"I have been intending to write every hour for the last fortnight, but +REALLY have had no time. I left Shrewsbury this day fortnight ago, and +have since that time been working from morning to night in catching fish or +beetles. This is literally the first idle day I have had to myself; for on +the rainy days I go fishing, on the good ones entomologising. You may +recollect that for the fortnight previous to all this, you told me not to +write, so that I hope I have made out some sort of defence for not having +sooner answered your two long and very agreeable letters."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +[Cambridge, November 5, 1830.] + +My dear Fox, + +I have so little time at present, and am so disgusted by reading that I +have not the heart to write to anybody. I have only written once home +since I came up. This must excuse me for not having answered your three +letters, for which I am really very much obliged... + +I have not stuck an insect this term, and scarcely opened a case. If I had +time I would have sent you the insects which I have so long promised; but +really I have not spirits or time to do anything. Reading makes me quite +desperate; the plague of getting up all my subjects is next thing to +intolerable. Henslow is my tutor, and a most ADMIRABLE one he makes; the +hour with him is the pleasantest in the whole day. I think he is quite the +most perfect man I ever met with. I have been to some very pleasant +parties there this term. His good-nature is unbounded. + +I am sure you will be sorry to hear poor old Whitley's father is dead. In +a worldly point of view it is of great consequence to him, as it will +prevent him going to the Bar for some time.--(Be sure answer this:) What +did you pay for the iron hoop you had made in Shrewsbury? Because I do not +mean to pay the whole of the Cambridge man's bill. You need not trouble +yourself about the Phallus, as I have bought up both species. I have heard +men say that Henslow has some curious religious opinions. I never +perceived anything of it, have you? I am very glad to hear, after all your +delays, you have heard of a curacy where you may read all the commandments +without endangering your throat. I am also still more glad to hear that +your mother continues steadily to improve. I do trust that you will have +no further cause for uneasiness. With every wish for your happiness, my +dear old Fox, + +Believe me yours most sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Cambridge, Sunday, January 23, 1831. + +My dear Fox, + +I do hope you will excuse my not writing before I took my degree. I felt a +quite inexplicable aversion to write to anybody. But now I do most +heartily congratulate you upon passing your examination, and hope you find +your curacy comfortable. If it is my last shilling (I have not many), I +will come and pay you a visit. + +I do not know why the degree should make one so miserable, both before and +afterwards. I recollect you were sufficiently wretched before, and I can +assure [you] I am now, and what makes it the more ridiculous is, I know not +what about. I believe it is a beautiful provision of nature to make one +regret the less leaving so pleasant a place as Cambridge; and amongst all +its pleasures--I say it for once and for all--none so great as my +friendship with you. I sent you a newspaper yesterday, in which you will +see what a good place [10th] I have got in the Poll. As for Christ's, did +you ever see such a college for producing Captains and Apostles? (The +"Captain" is at the head of the "Poll": the "Apostles" are the last twelve +in the Mathematical Tripos.) There are no men either at Emmanuel or +Christ's plucked. Cameron is gulfed, together with other three Trinity +scholars! My plans are not at all settled. I think I shall keep this +term, and then go and economise at Shrewsbury, return and take my degree. + +A man may be excused for writing so much about himself when he has just +passed the examination; so you must excuse [me]. And on the same principle +do you write a letter brimful of yourself and plans. I want to know +something about your examination. Tell me about the state of your nerves; +what books you got up, and how perfect. I take an interest about that sort +of thing, as the time will come when I must suffer. Your tutor, Thompson, +begged to be remembered to you, and so does Whitley. If you will answer +this, I will send as many stupid answers as you can desire. + +Believe me, dear Fox, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 1.V. + +THE APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' + +[In a letter addressed to Captain Fitz-Roy, before the "Beagle" sailed, my +father wrote, "What a glorious day the 4th of November (The "Beagle" did +not however make her final and successful start until December 27.) will be +to me--my second life will then commence, and it shall be as a birthday for +the rest of my life." + +The circumstances which led to this second birth--so much more important +than my father then imagined--are connected with his Cambridge life, but +may be more appropriately told in the present chapter. Foremost in the +chain of circumstances which lead to his appointment to the "Beagle", was +my father's friendship with Professor Henslow. He wrote in a pocket-book +or diary, which contain a brief record of dates, etc., throughout his +life:-- + +"1831. CHRISTMAS.--Passed my examination for B.A. degree and kept the two +following terms. + +"During these months lived much with Professor Henslow, often dining with +him and walking with him; became slightly acquainted with several of the +learned men in Cambridge, which much quickened the zeal which dinner +parties and hunting had not destroyed. + +"In the spring paid Mr. Dawes a visit with Ramsay and Kirby, and talked +over an excursion to Teneriffe. In the spring Henslow persuaded me to +think of Geology, and introduced me to Sedgwick. During Midsummer +geologised a little in Shropshire. + +"AUGUST.--Went on Geological tour (Mentioned by Sedgwick in his preface to +Salter's 'Catalogue of Cambrian and Silurian Fossils,' 1873.) by +Llangollen, Ruthin, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig, where I left Professor +Sedgwick, and crossed the mountain to Barmouth." + +In a letter to Fox (May, 1831), my father writes:--"I am very busy...and +see a great deal of Henslow, whom I do not know whether I love or respect +most." His feeling for this admirable man is finely expressed in a letter +which he wrote to Rev. L. Blomefield (then Rev. L. Jenyns), when the latter +was engaged in his 'Memoir of Professor Henslow' (published 1862). The +passage ('Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, M.A.,' by the Rev. +Leonard Jenyns. 8vo. London, 1862, page 51.) has been made use of in the +first of the memorial notices written for 'Nature,' and Mr. Romanes points +out that my father, "while describing the character of another, is +unconsciously giving a most accurate description of his own":-- + +"I went to Cambridge early in the year 1828, and soon became acquainted, +through some of my brother entomologists, with Professor Henslow, for all +who cared for any branch of natural history were equally encouraged by him. +Nothing could be more simple, cordial, and unpretending than the +encouragement which he afforded to all young naturalists. I soon became +intimate with him, for he had a remarkable power of making the young feel +completely at ease with him; though we were all awe-struck with the amount +of his knowledge. Before I saw him, I heard one young man sum up his +attainments by simply saying that he knew everything. When I reflect how +immediately we felt at perfect ease with a man older, and in every way so +immensely our superior, I think it was as much owing to the transparent +sincerity of his character as to his kindness of heart; and, perhaps, even +still more, to a highly remarkable absence in him of all self- +consciousness. One perceived at once that he never thought of his own +varied knowledge or clear intellect, but solely on the subject in hand. +Another charm, which must have struck every one, was that his manner to old +and distinguished persons and to the youngest student was exactly the same: +and to all he showed the same winning courtesy. He would receive with +interest the most trifling observation in any branch of natural history; +and however absurd a blunder one might make, he pointed it out so clearly +and kindly, that one left him no way disheartened, but only determined to +be more accurate the next time. In short, no man could be better formed to +win the entire confidence of the young, and to encourage them in their +pursuits. + +"His lectures on Botany were universally popular, and as clear as daylight. +So popular were they, that several of the older members of the University +attended successive courses. Once every week he kept open house in the +evening, and all who cared for natural history attended these parties, +which, by thus favouring inter-communication, did the same good in +Cambridge, in a very pleasant manner, as the Scientific Societies do in +London. At these parties many of the most distinguished members of the +University occasionally attended; and when only a few were present, I have +listened to the great men of those days, conversing on all sorts of +subjects, with the most varied and brilliant powers. This was no small +advantage to some of the younger men, as it stimulated their mental +activity and ambition. Two or three times in each session he took +excursions with his botanical class; either a long walk to the habitat of +some rare plant, or in a barge down the river to the fens, or in coaches to +some more distant place, as to Gamlingay, to see the wild lily of the +valley, and to catch on the heath the rare natter-jack. These excursions +have left a delightful impression on my mind. He was, on such occasions, +in as good spirits as a boy, and laughed as heartily as a boy at the +misadventures of those who chased the splendid swallow-tail butterflies +across the broken and treacherous fens. He used to pause every now and +then to lecture on some plant or other object; and something he could tell +us on every insect, shell, or fossil collected, for he had attended to +every branch of natural history. After our day's work we used to dine at +some inn or house, and most jovial we then were. I believe all who joined +these excursions will agree with me that they have left an enduring +impression of delight on our minds. + +"As time passed on at Cambridge I became very intimate with Professor +Henslow, and his kindness was unbounded; he continually asked me to his +house, and allowed me to accompany him in his walks. He talked on all +subjects, including his deep sense of religion, and was entirely open. I +own more than I can express to this excellent man... + +"During the years when I associated so much with Professor Henslow, I never +once saw his temper even ruffled. He never took an ill-natured view of any +one's character, though very far from blind to the foibles of others. It +always struck me that his mind could not be even touched by any paltry +feeling of vanity, envy, or jealousy. With all this equability of temper +and remarkable benevolence, there was no insipidity of character. A man +must have been blind not to have perceived that beneath this placid +exterior there was a vigorous and determined will. When principle came +into play, no power on earth could have turned him one hair's-breadth... + +"Reflecting over his character with gratitude and reverence, his moral +attributes rise, as they should do in the highest character, in pre- +eminence over his intellect." + +In a letter to Rev. L. Blomefield (Jenyns), May 24, 1862, my father wrote +with the same feelings that he had expressed in his letters thirty years +before:-- + +"I thank you most sincerely for your kind present of your Memoir of +Henslow. I have read about half, and it has interested me much. I do not +think that I could have venerated him more than I did; but your book has +even exalted his character in my eyes. From turning over the pages of the +latter half, I should think your account would be invaluable to any +clergyman who wished to follow poor dear Henslow's noble example. What an +admirable man he was." + +The geological work mentioned in the quotation from my father's pocket-book +was doubtless of importance as giving him some practical experience, and +perhaps of more importance in helping to give him some confidence in +himself. In July of the same year, 1831, he was "working like a tiger" at +Geology, and trying to make a map of Shropshire, but not finding it "as +easy as I expected." + +In writing to Henslow about the same time, he gives some account of his +work:-- + +"I should have written to you some time ago, only I was determined to wait +for the clinometer, and I am very glad to say I think it will answer +admirably. I put all the tables in my bedroom at every conceivable angle +and direction. I will venture to say I have measured them as accurately as +any geologist going could do...I have been working at so many things that I +have not got on much with geology. I suspect the first expedition I take, +clinometer and hammer in hand, will send me back very little wiser and a +good deal more puzzled than when I started. As yet I have only indulged in +hypotheses, but they are such powerful ones that I suppose, if they were +put into action for but one day, the world would come to an end." + +He was evidently most keen to get to work with Sedgwick, for he wrote to +Henslow: "I have not heard from Professor Sedgwick, so I am afraid he will +not pay the Severn formations a visit. I hope and trust you did your best +to urge him." + +My father has given in his Recollections some account of this Tour. + +There too we read of the projected excursion to the Canaries, of which +slight mention occurs in letters to Fox and Henslow. + +In April 1831 he writes to Fox: "At present I talk, think, and dream of a +scheme I have almost hatched of going to the Canary Islands. I have long +had a wish of seeing tropical scenery and vegetation, and, according to +Humboldt, Teneriffe is a very pretty specimen." And again in May: "As for +my Canary scheme, it is rash of you to ask questions; my other friends most +sincerely wish me there, I plague them so with talking about tropical +scenery, etc. Eyton will go next summer, and I am learning Spanish." + +Later on in the summer the scheme took more definite form, and the date +seems to have been fixed for June, 1832. He got information in London +about passage-money, and in July was working at Spanish and calling Fox "un +grandisimo lebron," in proof of his knowledge of the language; which, +however, he found "intensely stupid." But even then he seems to have had +some doubts about his companions' zeal, for he writes to Henslow (July 27, +1831): "I hope you continue to fan your Canary ardour. I read and re-read +Humboldt; do you do the same? I am sure nothing will prevent us seeing the +Great Dragon Tree." + +Geological work and Teneriffe dreams carried him through the summer, till +on returning from Barmouth for the sacred 1st of September, he received the +offer of appointment as Naturalist to the "Beagle". + +The following extract from the pocket-book will be a help in reading the +letters:-- + +"Returned to Shrewsbury at end of August. Refused offer of voyage. + +"September.--Went to Maer, returned with Uncle Jos. to Shrewsbury, thence +to Cambridge. London. + +"11th.--Went with Captain Fitz-Roy in steamer to Plymouth to see the +"Beagle". + +"22nd.--Returned to Shrewsbury, passing through Cambridge. + +"October 2nd.--Took leave of my home. Stayed in London. + +"24th--Reached Plymouth. + +"October and November.--These months very miserable. + +"December 10th.--Sailed, but were obliged to put back. + +"21st.--Put to sea again, and were driven back. + +"27th.--Sailed from England on our Circumnavigation." + + +GEORGE PEACOCK (Formerly Dean of Ely, and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy +at Cambridge.) TO J.S. HENSLOW. +7 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East. +[1831.] + +My dear Henslow, + +Captain Fitz-Roy is going out to survey the southern coast of Tierra del +Fuego, and afterwards to visit many of the South Sea Islands, and to return +by the Indian Archipelago. The vessel is fitted out expressly for +scientific purposes, combined with the survey; it will furnish, therefore, +a rare opportunity for a naturalist, and it would be a great misfortune +that it should be lost. + +An offer has been made to me to recommend a proper person to go out as a +naturalist with this expedition; he will be treated with every +consideration. The Captain is a young man of very pleasing manners (a +nephew of the Duke of Grafton), of great zeal in his profession, and who is +very highly spoken of; if Leonard Jenyns could go, what treasures he might +bring home with him, as the ship would be placed at his disposal whenever +his inquiries made it necessary or desirable. In the absence of so +accomplished a naturalist, is there any person whom you could strongly +recommend? he must be such a person as would do credit to our +recommendation. Do think of this subject, it would be a serious loss to +the cause of natural science if this fine opportunity was lost. + +... + +The ship sails about the end of September. + +Write immediately, and tell me what can be done. + +Believe me, +My dear Henslow, +Most truly yours, +GEORGE PEACOCK. + + +J.S. HENSLOW TO C. DARWIN. +Cambridge, August 24, 1831. + +My dear Darwin, + +Before I enter upon the immediate business of this letter, let us condole +together upon the loss of our inestimable friend poor Ramsay, of whose +death you have undoubtedly heard long before this. + +I will not now dwell upon this painful subject, as I shall hope to see you +shortly, fully expecting that you will eagerly catch at the offer which is +likely to be made you of a trip to Tierra del Fuego, and home by the East +Indies. I have been asked by Peacock, who will read and forward this to +you from London, to recommend him a Naturalist as companion to Captain +Fitz-Roy, employed by Government to survey the southern extremity of +America. I have stated that I consider you to be the best qualified person +I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation. I state this not in +the supposition of your being a FINISHED naturalist, but as amply qualified +for collecting, observing, and noting, anything worthy to be noted in +Natural History. Peacock has the appointment at his disposal, and if he +cannot find a man willing to take the office, the opportunity will probably +be lost. Captain Fitz-Roy wants a man (I understand) more as a companion +than a mere collector, and would not take any one, however good a +naturalist, who was not recommended to him likewise as a GENTLEMAN. +Particulars of salary, etc., I know nothing. The voyage is to last two +years, and if you take plenty of books with you, anything you please may be +done. You will have ample opportunities at command. In short, I suppose +there never was a finer chance for a man of zeal and spirit; Captain Fitz- +Roy is a young man. What I wish you to do is instantly to come and consult +with Peacock (at No. 7 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East, or else at the +University Club), and learn further particulars. Don't put on any modest +doubts or fears about your disqualifications, for I assure you I think you +are the very man they are in search of; so conceive yourself to be tapped +on the shoulder by your bum-bailiff and affectionate friend, + +J.S. HENSLOW. + +The expedition is to sail on 25th September (at earliest), so there is no +time to be lost. + + +G. PEACOCK TO C. DARWIN. +[1831.] + +My dear Sir, + +I received Henslow's letter last night too late to forward it to you by the +post; a circumstance which I do not regret, as it has given me an +opportunity of seeing Captain Beaufort at the Admiralty (the Hydrographer), +and of stating to him the offer which I have to make to you. He entirely +approves of it, and you may consider the situation as at your absolute +disposal. I trust that you will accept it, as it is an opportunity which +should not be lost, and I look forward with great interest to the benefit +which our collections of Natural History may receive from your labours. + +The circumstances are these;-- + +Captain Fitz-Roy (a nephew of the Duke of Grafton) sails at the end of +September, in a ship to survey, in the first instance, the South Coast of +Tierra del Fuego, afterwards to visit the South Sea Islands, and to return +by the Indian Archipelago to England. The expedition is entirely for +scientific purposes, and the ship will generally wait your leisure for +researches in Natural History, etc. Captain Fitz-Roy is a public-spirited +and zealous officer, of delightful manners, and greatly beloved by all his +brother officers. He went with Captain Beechey (For 'Beechey' read 'King.' +I do not find the name Fitz-Roy in the list of Beechey's officers. The +Fuegians were brought back from Captain King's voyage.), and spent 1500 +pounds in bringing over and educating at his own charge three natives of +Patagonia. He engages at his own expense an artist at 200 pounds a year to +go with him. You may be sure, therefore, of having a very pleasant +companion, who will enter heartily into all your views. + +The ship sails about the end of September, and you must lose no time in +making known your acceptance to Captain Beaufort, Admiralty Hydrographer. +I have had a good deal of correspondence about this matter [with Henslow?], +who feels, in common with myself, the greatest anxiety that you should go. +I hope that no other arrangements are likely to interfere with it. + +... + +The Admiralty are not disposed to give a salary, though they will furnish +you with an official appointment, and every accommodation. If a salary +should be required, however, I am inclined to think that it would be +granted. + +Believe me, my dear Sir, +Very truly yours, +GEORGE PEACOCK. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Shrewsbury, Tuesday [August 30?, 1831]. + +My dear Sir, + +Mr. Peacock's letter arrived on Saturday, and I received it late yesterday +evening. As far as my own mind is concerned, I should, I think CERTAINLY, +most gladly have accepted the opportunity which you so kindly have offered +me. But my father, although he does not decidedly refuse me, gives such +strong advice against going, that I should not be comfortable if I did not +follow it. + +My father's objections are these: the unfitting me to settle down as a +Clergyman, my little habit of seafaring, THE SHORTNESS OF THE TIME, and the +chance of my not suiting Captain Fitz-Roy. It is certainly a very serious +objection, the very short time for all my preparations, as not only body +but mind wants making up for such an undertaking. But if it had not been +for my father I would have taken all risks. What was the reason that a +Naturalist was not long ago fixed upon? I am very much obliged for the +trouble you have had about it; there certainly could not have been a better +opportunity. + +... + +My trip with Sedgwick answered most perfectly. I did not hear of poor Mr. +Ramsay's loss till a few days before your letter. I have been lucky +hitherto in never losing any person for whom I had any esteem or affection. +My acquaintance, although very short, was sufficient to give me those +feelings in a great degree. I can hardly make myself believe he is no +more. He was the finest character I ever knew. + +Yours most sincerely, +My dear Sir, +CH. DARWIN. + +I have written to Mr. Peacock, and I mentioned that I have asked you to +send one line in the chance of his not getting my letter. I have also +asked him to communicate with Captain Fitz-Roy. Even if I was to go, my +father disliking would take away all energy, and I should want a good stock +of that. Again I must thank you, it adds a little to the heavy but +pleasant load of gratitude which I owe to you. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO R.W. DARWIN. +[Maer] August 31, [1831]. + +My dear Father, + +I am afraid I am going to make you again very uncomfortable. But, upon +consideration, I think you will excuse me once again, stating my opinions +on the offer of the voyage. My excuse and reason is the different way all +the Wedgwoods view the subject from what you and my sisters do. + +I have given Uncle Jos (Josiah Wedgwood.) what I fervently trust is an +accurate and full list of your objections, and he is kind enough to give +his opinions on all. The list and his answers will be enclosed. But may I +beg of you one favour, it will be doing me the greatest kindness, if you +will send me a decided answer, yes or no? If the latter, I should be most +ungrateful if I did not implicitly yield to your better judgment, and to +the kindest indulgence you have shown me all through my life; and you may +rely upon it I will never mention the subject again. If your answer should +be yes; I will go directly to Henslow and consult deliberately with him, +and then come to Shrewsbury. + +The danger appears to me and all the Wedgwoods not great. The expense +cannot be serious, and the time I do not think, anyhow, would be more +thrown away then if I stayed at home. But pray do not consider that I am +so bent on going that I would for one SINGLE MOMENT hesitate, if you +thought that after a short period you should continue uncomfortable. + +I must again state I cannot think it would unfit me hereafter for a steady +life. I do hope this letter will not give you much uneasiness. I send it +by the car to-morrow morning; if you make up your mind directly will you +send me an answer on the following day by the same means? If this letter +should not find you at home, I hope you will answer as soon as you +conveniently can. + +I do not know what to say about Uncle Jos' kindness; I never can forget how +he interests himself about me. + +Believe me, my dear father, +Your affectionate son, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[Here follows the list of objections which are referred to in the following +letter:-- + +1. Disreputable to my character as a Clergyman hereafter. + +2. A wild scheme. + +3. That they must have offered to many others before me the place of +Naturalist. + +4. And from its not being accepted there must be some serious objection to +the vessel or expedition. + +5. That I should never settle down to a steady life hereafter. + +6. That my accommodations would be most uncomfortable. + +7. That you [i.e. Dr. Darwin] should consider it as again changing my +profession. + +8. That it would be a useless undertaking.] + + +JOSIAH WEDGWOOD TO R.W. DARWIN. +Maer, August 31, 1831. +[Read this last.] (In C. Darwin's writing.) + +My dear Doctor, + +I feel the responsibility of your application to me on the offer that has +been made to Charles as being weighty, but as you have desired Charles to +consult me, I cannot refuse to give the result of such consideration as I +have been able to [give?] it. + +Charles has put down what he conceives to be your principal objections, and +I think the best course I can take will be to state what occurs to me upon +each of them. + +1. I should not think that it would be in any degree disreputable to his +character as a Clergyman. I should on the contrary think the offer +honourable to him; and the pursuit of Natural History, though certainly not +professional, is very suitable to a clergyman. + +2. I hardly know how to meet this objection, but he would have definite +objects upon which to employ himself, and might acquire and strengthen +habits of application, and I should think would be as likely to do so as in +any way in which he is likely to pass the next two years at home. + +3. The notion did not occur to me in reading the letters; and on reading +them again with that object in my mind I see no ground for it. + +4. I cannot conceive that the Admiralty would send out a bad vessel on +such a service. As to objections to the expedition, they will differ in +each man's case, and nothing would, I think, be inferred in Charles's case, +if it were known that others had objected. + +5. You are a much better judge of Charles's character than I can be. If +on comparing this mode of spending the next two years with the way in which +he will probably spend them, if he does not accept this offer, you think +him more likely to be rendered unsteady and unable to settle, it is +undoubtedly a weighty objection. Is it not the case that sailors are prone +to settle in domestic and quiet habits? + +6. I can form no opinion on this further than that if appointed by the +Admiralty he will have a claim to be as well accommodated as the vessel +will allow. + +7. If I saw Charles now absorbed in professional studies I should probably +think it would not be advisable to interrupt them; but this is not, and, I +think, will not be the case with him. His present pursuit of knowledge is +in the same track as he would have to follow in the expedition. + +8. The undertaking would be useless as regards his profession, but looking +upon him as a man of enlarged curiosity, it affords him such an opportunity +of seeing men and things as happens to few. + +You will bear in mind that I have had very little time for consideration, +and that you and Charles are the persons who must decide. + +I am, +My dear Doctor, +Affectionately yours, +JOSIAH WEDGWOOD. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Cambridge, Red Lion [September 2], 1831. + +My dear Sir, + +I am just arrived; you will guess the reason. My father has changed his +mind. I trust the place is not given away. + +I am very much fatigued, and am going to bed. + +I dare say you have not yet got my second letter. + +How soon shall I come to you in the morning? Send a verbal answer. + +Good-night, +Yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS SUSAN DARWIN. +Cambridge, Sunday Morning [September 4]. + +My dear Susan, + +As a letter would not have gone yesterday, I put off writing till to-day. +I had rather a wearisome journey, but got into Cambridge very fresh. The +whole of yesterday I spent with Henslow, thinking of what is to be done, +and that I find is a great deal. By great good luck I know a man of the +name of Wood, nephew of Lord Londonderry. He is a great friend of Captain +Fitz-Roy, and has written to him about me. I heard a part of Captain Fitz- +Roy's letter, dated some time ago, in which he says: "I have a right good +set of officers, and most of my men have been there before." It seems he +has been there for the last few years; he was then second in command with +the same vessel that he has now chosen. He is only twenty-three years old, +but [has] seen a deal of service, and won the gold medal at Portsmouth. +The Admiralty say his maps are most perfect. He had choice of two vessels, +and he chose the smallest. Henslow will give me letters to all travellers +in town whom he thinks may assist me. + +Peacock has sole appointment of Naturalist. The first person offered was +Leonard Jenyns, who was so near accepting it that he packed up his clothes. +But having [a] living, he did not think it right to leave it--to the great +regret of all his family. Henslow himself was not very far from accepting +it, for Mrs. Henslow most generously, and without being asked, gave her +consent; but she looked so miserable that Henslow at once settled the +point. + +... + +I am afraid there will be a good deal of expense at first. Henslow is much +against taking many things; it is [the] mistake all young travellers fall +into. I write as if it was settled, but Henslow tells me BY NO MEANS to +make up my mind till I have had long conversations with Captains Beaufort +and Fitz-Roy. Good-bye. You will hear from me constantly. Direct 17 +Spring Gardens. TELL NOBODY in Shropshire yet. Be sure not. + +C. DARWIN. + +I was so tired that evening I was in Shrewsbury that I thanked none of you +for your kindness half so much as I felt. + +Love to my father. + +The reason I don't want people told in Shropshire: in case I should not +go, it will make it more flat. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS S. DARWIN. +17 Spring Gardens, Monday +[September 5, 1831]. + +I have so little time to spare that I have none to waste in re-writing +letters, so that you must excuse my bringing up the other with me and +altering it. The last letter was written in the morning. In [the] middle +of [the] day, Wood received a letter from Captain Fitz-Roy, which I must +say was MOST straightforward and GENTLEMANLIKE, but so much against my +going, that I immediately gave up the scheme; and Henslow did the same, +saying that he thought Peacock had acted VERY WRONG in misrepresenting +things so much. + +I scarcely thought of going to town, but here I am; and now for more +details, and much more promising ones. Captain Fitz-Roy is [in] town, and +I have seen him; it is no use attempting to praise him as much as I feel +inclined to do, for you would not believe me. One thing I am certain, +nothing could be more open and kind than he was to me. It seems he had +promised to take a friend with him, who is in office and cannot go, and he +only received the letter five minutes before I came in; and this makes +things much better for me, as want of room was one of Fitz-Roy's greatest +objections. He offers me to go share in everything in his cabin if I like +to come, and every sort of accommodation that I can have, but they will not +be numerous. He says nothing would be so miserable for him as having me +with him if I was uncomfortable, as in a small vessel we must be thrown +together, and thought it his duty to state everything in the worst point of +view. I think I shall go on Sunday to Plymouth to see the vessel. + +There is something most extremely attractive in his manners and way of +coming straight to the point. If I live with him, he says I must live +poorly--no wine, and the plainest dinners. The scheme is not certainly so +good as Peacock describes. Captain Fitz-Roy advises me not [to] make up my +mind quite yet, but that, seriously, he thinks it will have much more +pleasure than pain for me. The vessel does not sail till the 10th of +October. It contains sixty men, five or six officers, etc., but is a small +vessel. It will probably be out nearly three years. I shall pay to the +mess the same as [the] Captain does himself, 30 pounds per annum; and Fitz- +Roy says if I spend, including my outfitting, 500 pounds, it will be beyond +the extreme. But now for still worse news. The round the world is not +CERTAIN, but the chance most excellent. Till that point is decided, I will +not be so. And you may believe, after the many changes I have made, that +nothing but my reason shall decide me. + +Fitz-Roy says the stormy sea is exaggerated; that if I do not choose to +remain with them, I can at any time get home to England, so many vessels +sail that way, and that during bad weather (probably two months), if I like +I shall be left in some healthy, safe and nice country; that I shall always +have assistance; that he has many books, all instruments, guns, at my +service; that the fewer and cheaper clothes I take the better. The manner +of proceeding will just suit me. They anchor the ship, and then remain for +a fortnight at a place. I have made Captain Beaufort perfectly understand +me. He says if I start and do not go round the world, I shall have good +reason to think myself deceived. I am to call the day after to-morrow, +and, if possible, to receive more certain instructions. The want of room +is decidedly the most serious objection; but Captain Fitz-Roy (probably +owing to Wood's letter) seems determined to make me [as] comfortable as he +possibly can. I like his manner of proceeding. He asked me at once, +"Shall you bear being told that I want the cabin to myself--when I want to +be alone? If we treat each other this way, I hope we shall suit; if not, +probably we should wish each other at the devil." + +We stop a week at [the] Madeira Islands, and shall see most of [the] big +cities in South America. Captain Beaufort is drawing up the track through +the South Sea. I am writing in [a] great hurry; I do not know whether you +take interest enough to excuse treble postage. I hope I am judging +reasonably, and not through prejudice, about Captain Fitz-Roy; if so, I am +sure we shall suit. I dine with him to-day. I could write [a] great deal +more if I thought you liked it, and I had at present time. There is indeed +a tide in the affairs of man, and I have experienced it, and I had ENTIRELY +given it up till one to-day. + +Love to my father. Dearest Susan, good-bye. + +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +London, Monday, [September 5, 1831]. + +My dear Sir, + +Gloria in excelsis is the most moderate beginning I can think of. Things +are more prosperous than I should have thought possible. Captain Fitz-Roy +is everything that is delightful. If I was to praise half so much as I +feel inclined, you would say it was absurd, only once seeing him. I think +he really wishes to have me. He offers me to mess with him, and he will +take care I have such room as is possible. But about the cases he says I +must limit myself; but then he thinks like a sailor about size. Captain +Beaufort says I shall be upon the Boards, and then it will only cost me +like other officers. Ship sails 10th of October. Spends a week at Madeira +Islands; and then Rio de Janeiro. They all think most extremely probable, +home by the Indian archipelago; but till that is decided, I will not be so. + +What has induced Captain Fitz-Roy to take a better view of the case is, +that Mr. Chester, who was going as a friend, cannot go, so that I shall +have his place in every respect. + +Captain Fitz-Roy has [a] good stock of books, many of which were in my +list, and rifles, etc., so that the outfit will be much less expensive than +I supposed. + +The vessel will be out three years. I do not object so that my father does +not. On Wednesday I have another interview with Captain Beaufort, and on +Sunday most likely go with Captain Fitz-Roy to Plymouth. So I hope you +will keep on thinking on the subject, and just keep memoranda of what may +strike you. I will call most probably on Mr. Burchell and introduce +myself. I am in lodgings at 17 Spring Gardens. You cannot imagine +anything more pleasant, kind, and open than Captain Fitz-Roy's manners were +to me. I am sure it will be my fault if we do not suit. + +What changes I have had. Till one to-day I was building castles in the air +about hunting foxes the Shropshire, now llamas in South America. + +There is indeed a tide in the affairs of men. If you see Mr. Wood, +remember me very kindly to him. + +Good-bye. +My dear Henslow, +Your most sincere friend, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +Excuse this letter in such a hurry. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +17 Spring Gardens, London, +September 6, 1831. + +... + +Your letter gave me great pleasure. You cannot imagine how much your +former letter annoyed and hurt me. (He had misunderstood a letter of Fox's +as implying a charge of falsehood.) But, thank heaven, I firmly believe +that it was my OWN ENTIRE fault in so interpreting your letter. I lost a +friend the other day, and I doubt whether the moral death (as I then +wickedly supposed) of our friendship did not grieve me as much as the real +and sudden death of poor Ramsay. We have known each other too long to +need, I trust, any more explanations. But I will mention just one thing-- +that on my death-bed, I think I could say I never uttered one insincere +(which at the time I did not fully feel) expression about my regard for +you. One thing more--the sending IMMEDIATELY the insects, on my honour, +was an unfortunate coincidence. I forgot how you naturally would take +them. When you look at them now, I hope no unkindly feelings will rise in +your mind, and that you will believe that you have always had in me a +sincere, and I will add, an obliged friend. The very many pleasant minutes +that we spent together in Cambridge rose like departed spirits in judgment +against me. May we have many more such, will be one of my last wishes in +leaving England. God bless you, dear old Fox. May you always be happy. + +Yours truly, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +I have left your letter behind, so do not know whether I direct right. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS SUSAN DARWIN. +17 Spring Gardens, Tuesday, +[September 6, 1831.] + +My dear Susan, + +Again I am going to trouble you. I suspect, if I keep on at this rate, you +will sincerely wish me at Tierra del Fuego, or any other Terra, but +England. First I will give my commissions. Tell Nancy to make me some +twelve instead of eight shirts. Tell Edward to send me up in my carpet-bag +(he can slip the key in the bag tied to some string), my slippers, a pair +of lightish walking-shoes, my Spanish books, my new microscope (about six +inches long and three or four deep), which must have cotton stuffed inside; +my geological compass; my father knows that; a little book, if I have got +it in my bedroom--'Taxidermy.' Ask my father if he thinks there would be +any objection to my taking arsenic for a little time, as my hands are not +quite well, and I have always observed that if I once get them well, and +change my manner of living about the same time, they will generally remain +well. What is the dose? Tell Edward my gun is dirty. What is Erasmus's +direction? Tell me if you think there is time to write and receive an +answer before I start, as I should like particularly to know what he thinks +about it. I suppose you do not know Sir J. Mackintosh's direction? + +I write all this as if it was settled, but it is not more than it was, +excepting that from Captain Fitz-Roy wishing me so much to go, and from his +kindness, I feel a predestination I shall start. I spent a very pleasant +evening with him yesterday. He must be more than twenty-three years old; +he is of a slight figure, and a dark but handsome edition of Mr. Kynaston, +and, according to my notions, pre-eminently good manners. He is all for +economy, excepting on one point--viz., fire-arms. He recommends me +strongly to get a case of pistols like his, which cost 60 pounds!! and +never to go on shore anywhere without loaded ones, and he is doubting about +a rifle; he says I cannot appreciate the luxury of fresh meat here. Of +course I shall buy nothing till everything is settled; but I work all day +long at my lists, putting in and striking out articles. This is the first +really cheerful day I have spent since I received the letter, and it all is +owing to the sort of involuntary confidence I place in my beau ideal of a +Captain. + +We stop at Teneriffe. His object is to stop at as many places as possible. +He takes out twenty chronometers, and it will be a "sin" not to settle the +longitude. He tells me to get it down in writing at the Admiralty that I +have the free choice to leave as soon and whenever I like. I dare say you +expect I shall turn back at the Madeira; if I have a morsel of stomach +left, I won't give up. Excuse my so often troubling and writing: the one +is of great utility, the other a great amusement to me. Most likely I +shall write to-morrow. Answer by return of post. Love to my father, +dearest Susan. + +C. DARWIN. + +As my instruments want altering, send my things by the 'Oxonian' the same +night. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS SUSAN DARWIN. +London, Friday Morning, September 9, 1831. + +My dear Susan, + +I have just received the parcel. I suppose it was not delivered yesterday +owing to the Coronation. I am very much obliged to my father, and +everybody else. Everything is done quite right. I suppose by this time +you have received my letter written next day, and I hope will send off the +things. My affairs remain in statu quo. Captain Beaufort says I am on the +books for victuals, and he thinks I shall have no difficulty about my +collections when I come home. But he is too deep a fish for me to make him +out. The only thing that now prevents me finally making up my mind, is the +want of certainty about the South Sea Islands; although morally I have no +doubt we should go there whether or no it is put in the instructions. +Captain Fitz-Roy says I do good by plaguing Captain Beaufort, it stirs him +up with a long pole. Captain Fitz-Roy says he is sure he has interest +enough (particularly if this Administration is not everlasting--I shall +soon turn Tory!), anyhow, even when out, to get the ship ordered home by +whatever track he likes. From what Wood says, I presume the Dukes of +Grafton and Richmond interest themselves about him. By the way, Wood has +been of the greatest use to me; and I am sure his personal introduction of +me inclined Captain Fitz-Roy to have me. + +To explain things from the very beginning: Captain Fitz-Roy first wished +to have a Naturalist, and then he seems to have taken a sudden horror of +the chances of having somebody he should not like on board the vessel. He +confesses his letter to Cambridge was to throw cold water on the scheme. I +don't think we shall quarrel about politics, although Wood (as might be +expected from a Londonderry) solemnly warned Fitz-Roy that I was a Whig. +Captain Fitz-Roy was before Uncle Jos., he said, "now your friends will +tell you a sea-captain is the greatest brute on the face of the creation. +I do not know how to help you in this case, except by hoping you will give +me a trial." How one does change! I actually now wish the voyage was +longer before we touch land. I feel my blood run cold at the quantity I +have to do. Everybody seems ready to assist me. The Zoological want to +make me a corresponding member. All this I can construct without crossing +the Equator. But one friend is quite invaluable, viz., a Mr. Yarrell, a +stationer, and excellent naturalist. (William Yarrell, well-known for his +'History of British Birds' and 'History of British Fishes,' was born in +1784. He inherited from his father a newsagent's business, to which he +steadily adhered up to his death, "in his 73rd year." He was a man of a +thoroughly amiable and honourable character, and was a valued office-bearer +of several of the learned Societies.) He goes to the shops with me and +bullies about prices (not that I yet buy): hang me if I give 60 pounds for +pistols. + +Yesterday all the shops were shut, so that I could do nothing; and I was +child enough to give 1 pound 1 shilling for an excellent seat to see the +Procession. (The Coronation of William IV.) And it certainly was very +well worth seeing. I was surprised that any quantity of gold could make a +long row of people quite glitter. It was like only what one sees in +picture-books of Eastern processions. The King looked very well, and +seemed popular, but there was very little enthusiasm; so little that I can +hardly think there will be a coronation this time fifty years. + +The Life Guards pleased me as much as anything--they are quite magnificent; +and it is beautiful to see them clear a crowd. You think that they must +kill a score at least, and apparently they really hurt nobody, but most +deucedly frighten them. Whenever a crowd was so dense that the people were +forced off the causeway, one of these six-feet gentlemen, on a black horse, +rode straight at the place, making his horse rear very high, and fall on +the thickest spot. You would suppose men were made of sponge to see them +shrink away. + +In the evening there was an illumination, and much grander than the one on +the Reform Bill. All the principal streets were crowded just like a race- +ground. Carriages generally being six abreast, and I will venture to say +not going one mile an hour. The Duke of Northumberland learnt a lesson +last time, for his house was very grand; much more so than the other great +nobility, and in much better taste; every window in his house was full of +straight lines of brilliant lights, and from their extreme regularity and +number had a beautiful effect. The paucity of invention was very striking, +crowns, anchors, and "W.R.'s" were repeated in endless succession. The +prettiest were gas-pipes with small holes; they were almost painfully +brilliant. I have written so much about the Coronation, that I think you +will have no occasion to read the "Morning Herald". + +For about the first time in my life I find London very pleasant; hurry, +bustle, and noise are all in unison with my feelings. And I have plenty to +do in spare moments. I work at Astronomy, as I suppose it would astound a +sailor if one did not know how to find Latitude and Longitude. I am now +going to Captain Fitz-Roy, and will keep [this] letter open till evening +for anything that may occur. I will give you one proof of Fitz-Roy being a +good officer--all the officers are the same as before; two-thirds of his +crew and [the] eight marines who went before all offered to come again, so +the service cannot be so very bad. The Admiralty have just issued orders +for a large stock of canister-meat and lemon-juice, etc. etc. I have just +returned from spending a long day with Captain Fitz-Roy, driving about in +his gig, and shopping. This letter is too late for to-day's post. You may +consider it settled that I go. Yet there is room for change if any +untoward accident should happen; this I can see no reason to expect. I +feel convinced nothing else will alter my wish of going. I have begun to +order things. I have procured a case of good strong pistols and an +excellent rifle for 50 pounds, there is a saving; a good telescope, with +compass, 5 pounds, and these are nearly the only expensive instruments I +shall want. Captain Fitz-Roy has everything. I never saw so (what I +should call, he says not) extravagant a man, as regards himself, but as +economical towards me. How he did order things! His fire-arms will cost +400 pounds at least. I found the carpet bag when I arrived all right, and +much obliged. I do not think I shall take any arsenic; shall send +partridges to Mr. Yarrell; much obliged. Ask Edward to BARGAIN WITH +Clemson to make for my gun--TWO SPARE hammers or cocks, two main-springs, +two sere-springs, four nipples or plugs--I mean one for each barrel, except +nipples, of which there must be two for each, all of excellent quality, and +set about them immediately; tell Edward to make inquiries about prices. I +go on Sunday per packet to Plymouth, shall stay one or two days, then +return, and hope to find a letter from you; a few days in London; then +Cambridge, Shrewsbury, London, Plymouth, Madeira, is my route. It is a +great bore my writing so much about the Coronation; I could fill another +sheet. I have just been with Captain King, Fitz-Roy's senior officer last +expedition; he thinks that the expedition will suit me. Unasked, he said +Fitz-Roy's temper was perfect. He sends his own son with him as +midshipman. The key of my microscope was forgotten; it is of no +consequence. Love to all. + +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +17 Spring Gardens (and here I shall remain till I start) +[September 19, 1831]. + +My dear Fox, + +I returned from my expedition to see the "Beagle" at Plymouth on Saturday, +and found your most welcome letter on my table. It is quite ridiculous +what a very long period these last twenty days have appeared to me, +certainly much more than as many weeks on ordinary occasions; this will +account for my not recollecting how much I told you of my plans. + +... + +But on the whole it is a grand and fortunate opportunity; there will be so +many things to interest me--fine scenery and an endless occupation and +amusement in the different branches of Natural History; then again +navigation and meteorology will amuse me on the voyage, joined to the grand +requisite of there being a pleasant set of officers, and, as far as I can +judge, this is certain. On the other hand there is very considerable risk +to one's life and health, and the leaving for so very long a time so many +people whom I dearly love, is oftentimes a feeling so painful that it +requires all my resolution to overcome it. But everything is now settled, +and before the 20th of October I trust to be on the broad sea. My +objection to the vessel is its smallness, which cramps one so for room for +packing my own body and all my cases, etc., etc. As to its safety, I hope +the Admiralty are the best judges; to a landsman's eye she looks very +small. She is a ten-gun three-masted brig, but, I believe, an excellent +vessel. So much for my future plans, and now for my present. I go to- +night by the mail to Cambridge, and from thence, after settling my affairs, +proceed to Shrewsbury (most likely on Friday 23rd, or perhaps before); +there I shall stay a few days, and be in London by the 1st of October, and +start for Plymouth on the 9th. + +And now for the principal part of my letter. I do not know how to tell you +how very kind I feel your offer of coming to see me before I leave England. +Indeed I should like it very much; but I must tell you decidedly that I +shall have very little time to spare, and that little time will be almost +spoilt by my having so much to think about; and secondly, I can hardly +think it worth your while to leave your parish for such a cause. But I +shall never forget such generous kindness. Now I know you will act just as +you think right; but do not come up for my sake. Any time is the same for +me. I think from this letter you will know as much of my plans as I do +myself, and will judge accordingly the where and when to write to me. +Every now and then I have moments of glorious enthusiasm, when I think of +the date and cocoa-trees, the palms and ferns so lofty and beautiful, +everything new, everything sublime. And if I live to see years in after +life, how grand must such recollections be! Do you know Humboldt? (If you +don't, do so directly.) With what intense pleasure he appears always to +look back on the days spent in the tropical countries. I hope when you +next write to Osmaston, [you will] tell them my scheme, and give them my +kindest regards and farewells. + +Good-bye, my dear Fox, +Yours ever sincerely, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO R. FITZ-ROY. +17 Spring Gardens [October 17? 1831]. + +Dear Fitz-Roy, + +Very many thanks for your letter; it has made me most comfortable, for it +would have been heart-breaking to have left anything quite behind, and I +never should have thought of sending things by some other vessel. This +letter will, I trust, accompany some talc. I read your letter without +attending to the name. But I have now procured some from Jones, which +appears very good, and I will send it this evening by the mail. You will +be surprised at not seeing me propria persona instead of my handwriting. +But I had just found out that the large steam-packet did not intend to sail +on Sunday, and I was picturing to myself a small, dirty cabin, with the +proportion of 39-40ths of the passengers very sick, when Mr. Earl came in +and told me the "Beagle" would not sail till the beginning of November. +This, of course, settled the point; so that I remain in London one week +more. I shall then send heavy goods by steamer and start myself by the +coach on Sunday evening. + +Have you a good set of mountain barometers? Several great guns in the +scientific world have told me some points in geology to ascertain which +entirely depend on their relative height. If you have not a good stock, I +will add one more to the list. I ought to be ashamed to trouble you so +much, but will you SEND ONE LINE to inform me? I am daily becoming more +anxious to be off, and, if I am so, you must be in a perfect fever. What a +glorious day the 4th of November will be to me! My second life will then +commence, and it shall be as a birthday for the rest of my life. + +Believe me, dear Fitz-Roy, +Yours most sincerely, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +MONDAY.--I hope I have not put you to much inconvenience by ordering the +room in readiness. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Devonport, November 15, 1831. + +My dear Henslow, + +The orders are come down from the Admiralty, and everything is finally +settled. We positively sail the last day of this month, and I think before +that time the vessel will be ready. She looks most beautiful, even a +landsman must admire her. WE all think her the most perfect vessel ever +turned out of the Dockyard. One thing is certain, no vessel has been +fitted out so expensively, and with so much care. Everything that can be +made so is of mahogany, and nothing can exceed the neatness and beauty of +all the accommodations. The instructions are very general, and leave a +great deal to the Captain's discretion and judgment, paying a substantial +as well as a verbal compliment to him. + +... + +No vessel ever left England with such a set of Chronometers, viz., twenty- +four, all very good ones. In short, everything is well, and I have only +now to pray for the sickness to moderate its fierceness, and I shall do +very well. Yet I should not call it one of the very best opportunities for +natural history that has ever occurred. The absolute want of room is an +evil that nothing can surmount. I think L. Jenyns did very wisely in not +coming, that is judging from my own feelings, for I am sure if I had left +college some few years, or been those years older, I NEVER could have +endured it. The officers (excepting the Captain) are like the freshest +freshmen, that is in their manners, in everything else widely different. +Remember me most kindly to him, and tell him if ever he dreams in the night +of palm-trees, he may in the morning comfort himself with the assurance +that the voyage would not have suited him. + +I am much obliged for your advice, de Mathematicis. I suspect when I am +struggling with a triangle, I shall often wish myself in your room, and as +for those wicked sulky surds, I do not know what I shall do without you to +conjure them. My time passes away very pleasantly. I know one or two +pleasant people, foremost of whom is Mr. Thunder-and-lightning Harris +(William Snow Harris, the Electrician.), whom I dare say you have heard of. +My chief employment is to go on board the "Beagle", and try to look as much +like a sailor as I can. I have no evidence of having taken in man, woman +or child. + +I am going to ask you to do one more commission, and I trust it will be the +last. When I was in Cambridge, I wrote to Mr. Ash, asking him to send my +College account to my father, after having subtracted about 30 pounds for +my furniture. This he has forgotten to do, and my father has paid the +bill, and I want to have the furniture-money transmitted to my father. +Perhaps you would be kind enough to speak to Mr. Ash. I have cost my +father so much money, I am quite ashamed of myself. + +I will write once again before sailing, and perhaps you will write to me +before then. + +Remember me to Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Peacock. + +Believe me, yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Devonport, December 3, 1831. + +My dear Henslow, + +It is now late in the evening, and to-night I am going to sleep on board. +On Monday we most certainly sail, so you may guess what a desperate state +of confusion we are all in. If you were to hear the various exclamations +of the officers, you would suppose we had scarcely had a week's notice. I +am just in the same way taken all ABACK, and in such a bustle I hardly know +what to do. The number of things to be done is infinite. I look forward +even to sea-sickness with something like satisfaction, anything must be +better than this state of anxiety. I am very much obliged for your last +kind and affectionate letter. I always like advice from you, and no one +whom I have the luck to know is more capable of giving it than yourself. +Recollect, when you write, that I am a sort of protege of yours, and that +it is your bounden duty to lecture me. + +I will now give you my direction; it is at first, Rio; but if you will send +me a letter on the first Tuesday (when the packet sails) in February, +directed to Monte Video, it will give me very great pleasure; I shall so +much enjoy hearing a little Cambridge news. Poor dear old Alma Mater! I +am a very worthy son in as far as affection goes. I have little more to +write about...I cannot end this without telling you how cordially I feel +grateful for the kindness you have shown me during my Cambridge life. Much +of the pleasure and utility which I may have derived from it is owing to +you. I long for the time when we shall again meet, and till then believe +me, my dear Henslow, + +Your affectionate and obliged friend, +CH. DARWIN. + +Remember me most kindly to those who take any interest in me. + + +CHAPTER 1.VI. + +THE VOYAGE. + +"There is a natural good-humoured energy in his letters just like +himself."--From a letter of Dr. R.W. Darwin's to Prof. Henslow. + +[The object of the "Beagle" voyage is briefly described in my father's +'Journal of Researches,' page 1, as being "to complete the Survey of +Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to +1830; to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and some island in the Pacific; +and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the world." + +The "Beagle" is described as a well-built little vessel, of 235 tons, +rigged as a barque, and carrying six guns. She belonged to the old class +of ten-gun brigs, which were nicknamed "coffins," from their liability to +go down in severe weather. They were very "deep-waisted," that is, their +bulwarks were high in proportion to their size, so that a heavy sea +breaking over them might be highly dangerous. Nevertheless, she lived +through the five years' work, in the most stormy regions in the world, +under Commanders Stokes and Fitz-Roy, without a serious accident. When re- +commissioned in 1831 for her second voyage, she was found (as I learn from +Admiral Sir James Sulivan) to be so rotten that she had practically to be +rebuilt, and it was this that caused the long delay in refitting. The +upper deck was raised, making her much safer in heavy weather, and giving +her far more comfortable accommodation below. By these alterations and by +the strong sheathing added to her bottom she was brought up to 242 tons +burthen. It is a proof of the splendid seamanship of Captain Fitz-Roy and +his officers that she returned without having carried away a spar, and that +in only one of the heavy storms that she encountered was she in great +danger. + +She was fitted out for the expedition with all possible care, being +supplied with carefully chosen spars and ropes, six boats, and a "dinghy;" +lightning conductors, "invented by Mr. Harris, were fixed in all the masts, +the bowsprits, and even in the flying jib-boom." To quote my father's +description, written from Devonport, November 17, 1831: "Everybody, who +can judge, says it is one of the grandest voyages that has almost ever been +sent out. Everything is on a grand scale. Twenty-four chronometers. The +whole ship is fitted up with mahogany; she is the admiration of the whole +place. In short, everything is as prosperous as human means can make it." + +Owing to the smallness of the vessel, every one on board was cramped for +room, and my father's accommodation seems to have been small enough: "I +have just room to turn round," he writes to Henslow, "and that is all." +Admiral Sir James Sulivan writes to me: "The narrow space at the end of +the chart-table was his only accommodation for working, dressing, and +sleeping; the hammock being left hanging over his head by day, when the sea +was at all rough, that he might lie on it with a book in his hand when he +could not any longer sit at the table. His only stowage for clothes being +several small drawers in the corner, reaching from deck to deck; the top +one being taken out when the hammock was hung up, without which there was +not length for it, so then the foot-clews took the place of the top drawer. +For specimens he had a very small cabin under the forecastle." + +Yet of this narrow room he wrote enthusiastically, September 17, 1831:-- +"When I wrote last I was in great alarm about my cabin. The cabins were +not then marked out, but when I left they were, and mine is a capital one, +certainly next best to the Captain's and remarkably light. My companion +most luckily, I think, will turn out to be the officer whom I shall like +best. Captain Fitz-Roy says he will take care that one corner is so fitted +up that I shall be comfortable in it and shall consider it my home, but +that also I shall have the run of his. My cabin is the drawing one; and in +the middle is a large table, on which we two sleep in hammocks. But for +the first two months there will be no drawing to be done, so that it will +be quite a luxurious room, and good deal larger than the Captain's cabin." + +My father used to say that it was the absolute necessity of tidiness in the +cramped space of the "Beagle" that helped 'to give him his methodical +habits of working.' On the "Beagle", too, he would say, that he learned +what he considered the golden rule for saving time; i.e., taking care of +the minutes. + +Sir James Sulivan tells me that the chief fault in the outfit of the +expedition was the want of a second smaller vessel to act as tender. This +want was so much felt by Captain Fitz-Roy that he hired two decked boats to +survey the coast of Patagonia, at a cost of 1100 pounds, a sum which he had +to supply, although the boats saved several thousand pounds to the country. +He afterwards bought a schooner to act as a tender, thus saving the country +a further large amount. He was ultimately ordered to sell the schooner, +and was compelled to bear the loss himself, and it was only after his death +that some inadequate compensation was made for all the losses which he +suffered through his zeal. + +For want of a proper tender, much of the work had to be done in small open +whale boats, which were sent away from the ship for weeks together, and +this in a climate, where the crews were exposed to severe hardships from +the almost constant rains, which sometimes continued for weeks together. +The completeness of the equipment was also in other respects largely due to +the public spirit of Captain Fitz-Roy. He provided at his own cost an +artist, and a skilled instrument-maker to look after the chronometers. +(Either one or both were on the books for victuals.) Captain Fitz-Roy's +wish was to take "some well-educated and scientific person" as his private +guest, but this generous offer was only accepted by my father on condition +of being allowed to pay a fair share of the expense of the Captain's table; +he was, moreover, on the ship's books for victuals. + +In a letter to his sister (July 1832) he writes contentedly of his manner +of life at sea:--"I do not think I have ever given you an account of how +the day passes. We breakfast at eight o'clock. The invariable maxim is to +throw away all politeness--that is, never to wait for each other, and bolt +off the minute one has done eating, etc. At sea, when the weather is calm, +I work at marine animals, with which the whole ocean abounds. If there is +any sea up I am either sick or contrive to read some voyage or travels. At +one we dine. You shore-going people are lamentably mistaken about the +manner of living on board. We have never yet (nor shall we) dined off salt +meat. Rice and peas and calavanses are excellent vegetables, and, with +good bread, who could want more? Judge Alderson could not be more +temperate, as nothing but water comes on the table. At five we have tea. +The midshipmen's berth have all their meals an hour before us, and the gun- +room an hour afterwards." + +The crew of the "Beagle" consisted of Captain Fitz-Roy, "Commander and +Surveyor," two lieutenants, one of whom (the first lieutenant) was the late +Captain Wickham, Governor of Queensland; the present Admiral Sir James +Sulivan, K.C.B., was the second lieutenant. Besides the master and two +mates, there was an assistant-surveyor, the present Admiral Lort Stokes. +There were also a surgeon, assistant-surgeon, two midshipmen, master's +mate, a volunteer (1st class), purser, carpenter, clerk, boatswain, eight +marines, thirty-four seamen, and six boys. + +There are not now (1882) many survivors of my father's old ship-mates. +Admiral Mellersh, Mr. Hammond, and Mr. Philip King, of the Legislative +Council of Sydney, and Mr. Usborne, are among the number. Admiral Johnson +died almost at the same time as my father. + +He retained to the last a most pleasant recollection of the voyage of the +"Beagle", and of the friends he made on board her. To his children their +names were familiar, from his many stories of the voyage, and we caught his +feeling of friendship for many who were to us nothing more than names. + +It is pleasant to know how affectionately his old companions remembered +him. + +Sir James Sulivan remained, throughout my father's lifetime, one of his +best and truest friends. He writes:--"I can confidently express my belief +that during the five years in the "Beagle", he was never known to be out of +temper, or to say one unkind or hasty word OF or TO any one. You will +therefore readily understand how this, combined with the admiration of his +energy and ability, led to our giving him the name of 'the dear old +Philosopher.'" (His other nickname was "The Flycatcher." I have heard my +father tell how he overheard the boatswain of the "Beagle" showing another +boatswain over the ship, and pointing out the officers: "That's our first +lieutenant; that's our doctor; that's our flycatcher.") Admiral Mellersh +writes to me:--"Your father is as vividly in my mind's eye as if it was +only a week ago that I was in the "Beagle" with him; his genial smile and +conversation can never be forgotten by any who saw them and heard them. I +was sent on two or three occasions away in a boat with him on some of his +scientific excursions, and always looked forward to these trips with great +pleasure, an anticipation that, unlike many others, was always realised. I +think he was the only man I ever knew against whom I never heard a word +said; and as people when shut up in a ship for five years are apt to get +cross with each other, that is saying a good deal. Certainly we were +always so hard at work, we had no time to quarrel, but if we had done so, I +feel sure your father would have tried (and have been successful) to throw +oil on the troubled waters." + +Admiral Stokes, Mr. King, Mr. Usborne, and Mr. Hamond, all speak of their +friendship with him in the same warm-hearted way. + +Of the life on board and on shore his letters give some idea. Captain +Fitz-Roy was a strict officer, and made himself thoroughly respected both +by officers and men. The occasional severity of his manner was borne with +because every one on board knew that his first thought was his duty, and +that he would sacrifice anything to the real welfare of the ship. My +father writes, July 1834, "We all jog on very well together, there is no +quarrelling on board, which is something to say. The Captain keeps all +smooth by rowing every one in turn." The best proof that Fitz-Roy was +valued as a commander is given by the fact that many ('Voyage of the +"Adventure" and "Beagle",' vol. ii. page 21.) of the crew had sailed with +him in the "Beagle's" former voyage, and there were a few officers as well +as seamen and marines, who had served in the "Adventure" or "Beagle" during +the whole of that expedition. + +My father speaks of the officers as a fine determined set of men, and +especially of Wickham, the first lieutenant, as a "glorious fellow." The +latter being responsible for the smartness and appearance of the ship +strongly objected to his littering the decks, and spoke of specimens as +"d--d beastly devilment," and used to add, "If I were skipper, I would soon +have you and all your d--d mess out of the place." + +A sort of halo of sanctity was given to my father by the fact of his dining +in the Captain's cabin, so that the midshipmen used at first to call him +"Sir," a formality, however, which did not prevent his becoming fast +friends with the younger officers. He wrote about the year 1861 or 1862 to +Mr. P.G. King, M.L.C., Sydney, who, as before stated, was a midshipman on +board the "Beagle":--"The remembrance of old days, when we used to sit and +talk on the booms of the "Beagle", will always, to the day of my death, +make me glad to hear of your happiness and prosperity." Mr. King describes +the pleasure my father seemed to take "in pointing out to me as a youngster +the delights of the tropical nights, with their balmy breezes eddying out +of the sails above us, and the sea lighted up by the passage of the ship +through the never-ending streams of phosphorescent animalculae." + +It has been assumed that his ill-health in later years was due to his +having suffered so much from sea-sickness. This he did not himself +believe, but rather ascribed his bad health to the hereditary fault which +came out as gout in some of the past generations. I am not quite clear as +to how much he actually suffered from sea-sickness; my impression is +distinct that, according to his own memory, he was not actually ill after +the first three weeks, but constantly uncomfortable when the vessel pitched +at all heavily. But, judging from his letters, and from the evidence of +some of the officers, it would seem that in later years he forgot the +extent of the discomfort from which he suffered. Writing June 3, 1836, +from the Cape of Good Hope, he says: "It is a lucky thing for me that the +voyage is drawing to its close, for I positively suffer more from sea- +sickness now than three years ago." Admiral Lort Stokes wrote to the +"Times", April 25, 1883:-- + +"May I beg a corner for my feeble testimony to the marvellous persevering +endurance in the cause of science of that great naturalist, my old and lost +friend, Mr. Charles Darwin, whose remains are so very justly to be honoured +with a resting-place in Westminster Abbey? + +"Perhaps no one can better testify to his early and most trying labours +than myself. We worked together for several years at the same table in the +poop cabin of the 'Beagle' during her celebrated voyage, he with his +microscope and myself at the charts. It was often a very lively end of the +little craft, and distressingly so to my old friend, who suffered greatly +from sea-sickness. After perhaps an hour's work he would say to me, 'Old +fellow, I must take the horizontal for it,' that being the best relief +position from ship motion; a stretch out on one side of the table for some +time would enable him to resume his labours for a while, when he had again +to lie down. + +"It was distressing to witness this early sacrifice of Mr. Darwin's health, +who ever afterwards seriously felt the ill-effects of the 'Beagle's' +voyage." + +Mr. A.B. Usborne writes, "He was a dreadful sufferer from sea-sickness, and +at times, when I have been officer of the watch, and reduced the sails, +making the ship more easy, and thus relieving him, I have been pronounced +by him to be 'a good officer,' and he would resume his microscopic +observations in the poop cabin." The amount of work that he got through on +the "Beagle" shows that he was habitually in full vigour; he had, however, +one severe illness, in South America, when he was received into the house +of an Englishman, Mr. Corfield, who tended him with careful kindness. I +have heard him say that in this illness every secretion of the body was +affected, and that when he described the symptoms to his father Dr. Darwin +could make no guess as to the nature of the disease. My father was +sometimes inclined to think that the breaking up of his health was to some +extent due to this attack. + +The "Beagle" letters give ample proof of his strong love of home, and all +connected with it, from his father down to Nancy, his old nurse, to whom he +sometimes sends his love. + +His delight in home-letters is shown in such passages as:--"But if you knew +the glowing, unspeakable delight, which I felt at being certain that my +father and all of you were well, only four months ago, you would not grudge +the labour lost in keeping up the regular series of letters." + +Or again--his longing to return in words like these:--"It is too delightful +to think that I shall see the leaves fall and hear the robin sing next +autumn at Shrewsbury. My feelings are those of a schoolboy to the smallest +point; I doubt whether ever boy longed for his holidays as much as I do to +see you all again. I am at present, although nearly half the world is +between me and home, beginning to arrange what I shall do, where I shall go +during the first week." + +Another feature in his letters is the surprise and delight with which he +hears of his collections and observations being of some use. It seems only +to have gradually occurred to him that he would ever be more than collector +of specimens and facts, of which the great men were to make use. And even +as to the value of his collections he seems to have had much doubt, for he +wrote to Henslow in 1834:--"I really began to think that my collections +were so poor that you were puzzled what to say; the case is now quite on +the opposite tack, for you are guilty of exciting all my vain feelings to a +most comfortable pitch; if hard work will atone for these thoughts, I vow +it shall not be spared." + +After his return and settlement in London, he began to realise the value of +what he had done, and wrote to Captain Fitz-Roy--"However others may look +back to the 'Beagle's' voyage, now that the small disagreeable parts are +well-nigh forgotten, I think it far the MOST FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE IN MY +LIFE that the chance afforded by your offer of taking a Naturalist fell on +me. I often have the most vivid and delightful pictures of what I saw on +board the 'Beagle' pass before my eyes. These recollections, and what I +learnt on Natural History, I would not exchange for twice ten thousand a +year." + +In selecting the following series of letters, I have been guided by the +wish to give as much personal detail as possible. I have given only a few +scientific letters, to illustrate the way in which he worked, and how he +regarded his own results. In his 'Journal of Researches' he gives +incidentally some idea of his personal character; the letters given in the +present chapter serve to amplify in fresher and more spontaneous words that +impression of his personality which the 'Journal' has given to so many +readers.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO R.W. DARWIN. +Bahia, or San Salvador, Brazils +[February 8, 1832]. + +I find after the first page I have been writing to my sisters. + +My dear Father, + +I am writing this on the 8th of February, one day's sail past St. Jago +(Cape de Verd), and intend taking the chance of meeting with a homeward- +bound vessel somewhere about the equator. The date, however, will tell +this whenever the opportunity occurs. I will now begin from the day of +leaving England, and give a short account of our progress. We sailed, as +you know, on the 27th of December, and have been fortunate enough to have +had from that time to the present a fair and moderate breeze. It +afterwards proved that we had escaped a heavy gale in the Channel, another +at Madeira, and another on [the] Coast of Africa. But in escaping the +gale, we felt its consequences--a heavy sea. In the Bay of Biscay there +was a long and continuous swell, and the misery I endured from sea-sickness +is far beyond what I ever guessed at. I believe you are curious about it. +I will give you all my dear-bought experience. Nobody who has only been to +sea for twenty-four hours has a right to say that sea-sickness is even +uncomfortable. The real misery only begins when you are so exhausted that +a little exertion makes a feeling of faintness come on. I found nothing +but lying in my hammock did me any good. I must especially except your +receipt of raisins, which is the only food that the stomach will bear. + +On the 4th of January we were not many miles from Madeira, but as there was +a heavy sea running, and the island lay to windward, it was not thought +worth while to beat up to it. It afterwards has turned out it was lucky we +saved ourselves the trouble. I was much too sick even to get up to see the +distant outline. On the 6th, in the evening, we sailed into the harbour of +Santa Cruz. I now first felt even moderately well, and I was picturing to +myself all the delights of fresh fruits growing in beautiful valleys, and +reading Humboldt's descriptions of the island's glorious views, when +perhaps you may nearly guess at our disappointment, when a small pale man +informed us we must perform a strict quarantine of twelve days. There was +a death-like stillness in the ship till the Captain cried "up jib," and we +left this long-wished for place. + +We were becalmed for a day between Teneriffe and the Grand Canary, and here +I first experienced any enjoyment. The view was glorious. The Peak of +Teneriffe was seen amongst the clouds like another world. Our only +drawback was the extreme wish of visiting this glorious island. TELL EYTON +NEVER TO FORGET EITHER THE CANARY ISLANDS OR SOUTH AMERICA; that I am sure +it will well repay the necessary trouble, but that he must make up his mind +to find a good deal of the latter. I feel certain he will regret it if he +does not make the attempt. From Teneriffe to St. Jago the voyage was +extremely pleasant. I had a net astern the vessel which caught great +numbers of curious animals, and fully occupied my time in my cabin, and on +deck the weather was so delightful and clear, that the sky and water +together made a picture. On the 16th we arrived at Port Praya, the capital +of the Cape de Verds, and there we remained twenty-three days, viz., till +yesterday, the 7th of February. The time has flown away most delightfully, +indeed nothing can be pleasanter; exceedingly busy, and that business both +a duty and a great delight. I do not believe I have spent one half-hour +idly since leaving Teneriffe. St. Jago has afforded me an exceedingly rich +harvest in several branches of Natural History. I find the descriptions +scarcely worth anything of many of the commoner animals that inhabit the +Tropics. I allude, of course, to those of the lower classes. + +Geologising in a volcanic country is most delightful; besides the interest +attached to itself, it leads you into most beautiful and retired spots. +Nobody but a person fond of Natural History can imagine the pleasure of +strolling under cocoa-nuts in a thicket of bananas and coffee-plants, and +an endless number of wild flowers. And this island, that has given me so +much instruction and delight, is reckoned the most uninteresting place that +we perhaps shall touch at during our voyage. It certainly is generally +very barren, but the valleys are more exquisitely beautiful, from the very +contrast. It is utterly useless to say anything about the scenery; it +would be as profitable to explain to a blind man colours, as to a person +who has not been out of Europe, the total dissimilarity of a tropical view. +Whenever I enjoy anything, I always either look forward to writing it down, +either in my log-book (which increases in bulk), or in a letter; so you +must excuse raptures, and those raptures badly expressed. I find my +collections are increasing wonderfully, and from Rio I think I shall be +obliged to send a cargo home. + +All the endless delays which we experienced at Plymouth have been most +fortunate, as I verily believe no person ever went out better provided for +collecting and observing in the different branches of Natural History. In +a multitude of counsellors I certainly found good. I find to my great +surprise that a ship is singularly comfortable for all sorts of work. +Everything is so close at hand, and being cramped makes one so methodical, +that in the end I have been a gainer. I already have got to look at going +to sea as a regular quiet place, like going back to home after staying away +from it. In short, I find a ship a very comfortable house, with everything +you want, and if it was not for sea-sickness the whole world would be +sailors. I do not think there is much danger of Erasmus setting the +example, but in case there should be, he may rely upon it he does not know +one-tenth of the sufferings of sea-sickness. + +I like the officers much more than I did at first, especially Wickham, and +young King and Stokes, and indeed all of them. The Captain continues +steadily very kind, and does everything in his power to assist me. We see +very little of each other when in harbour, our pursuits lead us in such +different tracks. I never in my life met with a man who could endure +nearly so great a share of fatigue. He works incessantly, and when +apparently not employed, he is thinking. If he does not kill himself, he +will during this voyage do a wonderful quantity of work. I find I am very +well, and stand the little heat we have had as yet as well as anybody. We +shall soon have it in real earnest. We are now sailing for Fernando +Noronha, off the coast of Brazil, where we shall not stay very long, and +then examine the shoals between there and Rio, touching perhaps at Bahia. +I will finish this letter when an opportunity of sending it occurs. + +FEBRUARY 26TH. + +About 280 miles from Bahia. On the 10th we spoke the packet "Lyra", on her +voyage to Rio. I sent a short letter by her, to be sent to England on +[the] first opportunity. We have been singularly unlucky in not meeting +with any homeward-bound vessels, but I suppose [at] Bahia we certainly +shall be able to write to England. Since writing the first part of [this] +letter nothing has occurred except crossing the Equator, and being shaved. +This most disagreeable operation consists in having your face rubbed with +paint and tar, which forms a lather for a saw which represents the razor, +and then being half drowned in a sail filled with salt water. About 50 +miles north of the line we touched at the rocks of St. Paul; this little +speck (about 1/4 of a mile across) in the Atlantic has seldom been visited. +It is totally barren, but is covered by hosts of birds; they were so unused +to men that we found we could kill plenty with stones and sticks. After +remaining some hours on the island, we returned on board with the boat +loaded with our prey. From this we went to Fernando Noronha, a small +island where the [Brazilians] send their exiles. The landing there was +attended with so much difficulty owing [to] a heavy surf that the Captain +determined to sail the next day after arriving. My one day on shore was +exceedingly interesting, the whole island is one single wood so matted +together by creepers that it is very difficult to move out of the beaten +path. I find the Natural History of all these unfrequented spots most +exceedingly interesting, especially the geology. I have written this much +in order to save time at Bahia. + +Decidedly the most striking thing in the Tropics is the novelty of the +vegetable forms. Cocoa-nuts could well be imagined from drawings, if you +add to them a graceful lightness which no European tree partakes of. +Bananas and plantains are exactly the same as those in hothouses, the +acacias or tamarinds are striking from the blueness of their foliage; but +of the glorious orange trees, no description, no drawings, will give any +just idea; instead of the sickly green of our oranges, the native ones +exceed the Portugal laurel in the darkness of their tint, and infinitely +exceed it in beauty of form. Cocoa-nuts, papaws, the light green bananas, +and oranges, loaded with fruit, generally surround the more luxuriant +villages. Whilst viewing such scenes, one feels the impossibility that any +description would come near the mark, much less be overdrawn. + +MARCH 1ST. + +Bahia, or San Salvador. I arrived at this place on the 28th of February, +and am now writing this letter after having in real earnest strolled in the +forests of the new world. No person could imagine anything so beautiful as +the ancient town of Bahia, it is fairly embosomed in a luxuriant wood of +beautiful trees, and situated on a steep bank, and overlooks the calm +waters of the great bay of All Saints. The houses are white and lofty, +and, from the windows being narrow and long, have a very light and elegant +appearance. Convents, porticos, and public buildings, vary the uniformity +of the houses; the bay is scattered over with large ships; in short, and +what can be said more, it is one of the finest views in the Brazils. But +the exquisite glorious pleasure of walking amongst such flowers, and such +trees, cannot be comprehended but by those who have experienced it. +Although in so low a latitude the locality is not disagreeably hot, but at +present it is very damp, for it is the rainy season. I find the climate as +yet agrees admirably with me; it makes me long to live quietly for some +time in such a country. If you really want to have [an idea] of tropical +countries, study Humboldt. Skip the scientific parts, and commence after +leaving Teneriffe. My feelings amount to admiration the more I read him. +Tell Eyton (I find I am writing to my sisters!) how exceedingly I enjoy +America, and that I am sure it will be a great pity if he does not make a +start. + +This letter will go on the 5th, and I am afraid will be some time before it +reaches you; it must be a warning how in other parts of the world you may +be a long time without hearing. A year might by accident thus pass. About +the 12th we start for Rio, but we remain some time on the way in sounding +the Albrolhos shoals. Tell Eyton as far as my experience goes let him +study Spanish, French, drawing, and Humboldt. I do sincerely hope to hear +of (if not to see him) in South America. I look forward to the letters in +Rio--till each one is acknowledged, mention its date in the next. + +We have beat all the ships in manoeuvring, so much so that the commanding +officer says, we need not follow his example; because we do everything +better than his great ship. I begin to take great interest in naval +points, more especially now, as I find they all say we are the No. 1 in +South America. I suppose the Captain is a most excellent officer. It was +quite glorious to-day how we beat the "Samarang" in furling sails. It is +quite a new thing for a "sounding ship" to beat a regular man-of-war; and +yet the "Beagle" is not at all a particular ship. Erasmus will clearly +perceive it when he hears that in the night I have actually sat down in the +sacred precincts of the quarter deck. You must excuse these queer letters, +and recollect they are generally written in the evening after my day's +work. I take more pains over my log-book, so that eventually you will have +a good account of all the places I visit. Hitherto the voyage has answered +ADMIRABLY to me, and yet I am now more fully aware of your wisdom in +throwing cold water on the whole scheme; the chances are so numerous of +turning out quite the reverse; to such an extent do I feel this, that if my +advice was asked by any person on a similar occasion, I should be very +cautious in encouraging him. I have not time to write to anybody else, so +send to Maer to let them know, that in the midst of the glorious tropical +scenery, I do not forget how instrumental they were in placing me there. I +will not rapturise again, but I give myself great credit in not being crazy +out of pure delight. + +Give my love to every soul at home, and to the Owens. + +I think one's affections, like other good things, flourish and increase in +these tropical regions. + +The conviction that I am walking in the New World is even yet marvellous in +my own eyes, and I dare say it is little less so to you, the receiving a +letter from a son of yours in such a quarter. + +Believe me, my dear Father, +Your most affectionate son, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Botofogo Bay, near Rio de Janeiro, +May, 1832. + +My dear Fox, + +I have delayed writing to you and all my other friends till I arrived here +and had some little spare time. My mind has been, since leaving England, +in a perfect HURRICANE of delight and astonishment, and to this hour +scarcely a minute has passed in idleness... + +At St. Jago my natural history and most delightful labours commenced. +During the three weeks I collected a host of marine animals, and enjoyed +many a good geological walk. Touching at some islands, we sailed to Bahia, +and from thence to Rio, where I have already been some weeks. My +collections go on admirably in almost every branch. As for insects, I +trust I shall send a host of undescribed species to England. I believe +they have no small ones in the collections, and here this morning I have +taken minute Hydropori, Noterus, Colymbetes, Hydrophilus, Hydrobius, +Gromius, etc., etc., as specimens of fresh-water beetles. I am entirely +occupied with land animals, as the beach is only sand. Spiders and the +adjoining tribes have perhaps given me, from their novelty, the most +pleasure. I think I have already taken several new genera. + +But Geology carries the day: it is like the pleasure of gambling. +Speculating, on first arriving, what the rocks may be, I often mentally cry +out 3 to 1 tertiary against primitive; but the latter have hitherto won all +the bets. So much for the grand end of my voyage; in other respects things +are equally flourishing. My life, when at sea, is so quiet, that to a +person who can employ himself, nothing can be pleasanter; the beauty of the +sky and brilliancy of the ocean together make a picture. But when on +shore, and wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more +gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but +those who have experienced it can understand. If it is to be done, it must +be by studying Humboldt. At our ancient snug breakfasts, at Cambridge, I +little thought that the wide Atlantic would ever separate us; but it is a +rare privilege that with the body, the feelings and memory are not divided. +On the contrary, the pleasantest scenes in my life, many of which have been +in Cambridge, rise from the contrast of the present, the more vividly in my +imagination. Do you think any diamond beetle will ever give me so much +pleasure as our old friend crux major?...It is one of my most constant +amusements to draw pictures of the past; and in them I often see you and +poor little Fran. Oh, Lord, and then old Dash, poor thing! Do you +recollect how you all tormented me about his beautiful tail? + +...Think when you are picking insects off a hawthorn-hedge on a fine May +day (wretchedly cold, I have no doubt), think of me collecting amongst +pine-apples and orange-trees; whilst staining your fingers with dirty +blackberries, think and be envious of ripe oranges. This is a proper piece +of bravado, for I would walk through many a mile of sleet, snow, or rain to +shake you by the hand. My dear old Fox, God bless you. Believe me, + +Yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Rio de Janeiro, May 18, 1832. + +My dear Henslow, + +... + +Till arriving at Teneriffe (we did not touch at Madeira) I was scarcely out +of my hammock, and really suffered more than you can well imagine from such +a cause. At Santa Cruz, whilst looking amongst the clouds for the Peak, +and repeating to myself Humboldt's sublime descriptions, it was announced +we must perform twelve days' strict quarantine. We had made a short +passage, so "Up jib," and away for St. Jago. You will say all this sounds +very bad, and so it was; but from that to the present time it has been +nearly one scene of continual enjoyment. A net over the stern kept me at +full work till we arrived at St. Jago. Here we spent three most delightful +weeks. The geology was pre-eminently interesting, and I believe quite new; +there are some facts on a large scale of upraised coast (which is an +excellent epoch for all the volcanic rocks to date from), that would +interest Mr. Lyell. + +One great source of perplexity to me is an utter ignorance whether I note +the right facts, and whether they are of sufficient importance to interest +others. In the one thing collecting I cannot go wrong. St. Jago is +singularly barren, and produces few plants or insects, so that my hammer +was my usual companion, and in its company most delightful hours I spent. +On the coast I collected many marine animals, chiefly gasteropodous (I +think some new). I examined pretty accurately a Caryopyllia, and, if my +eyes are not bewitched, former descriptions have not the slightest +resemblance to the animal. I took several specimens of an Octopus which +possessed a most marvellous power of changing its colours, equalling any +chameleon, and evidently accommodating the changes to the colour of the +ground which it passed over. Yellowish green, dark brown, and red, were +the prevailing colours; this fact appears to be new, as far as I can find +out. Geology and the invertebrate animals will be my chief object of +pursuit through the whole voyage. + +We then sailed for Bahia, and touched at the rock of St. Paul. This is a +serpentine formation. Is it not the only island in the Atlantic which is +not volcanic? We likewise stayed a few hours at Fernando Noronha; a +tremendous surf was running so that a boat was swamped, and the Captain +would not wait. I find my life on board when we are on blue water most +delightful, so very comfortable and quiet--it is almost impossible to be +idle, and that for me is saying a good deal. Nobody could possibly be +better fitted in every respect for collecting than I am; many cooks have +not spoiled the broth this time. Mr. Brown's little hints about +microscopes, etc., have been invaluable. I am well off in books, the +'Dictionnaire Classique' IS MOST USEFUL. If you should think of any thing +or book that would be useful to me, if you would write one line, E. Darwin, +Wyndham Club, St. James's Street, he will procure them, and send them with +some other things to Monte Video, which for the next year will be my +headquarters. + +Touching at the Abrolhos, we arrived here on April 4th, when amongst others +I received your most kind letter. You may rely on it during the evening I +thought of the many most happy hours I have spent with you in Cambridge. I +am now living at Botofogo, a village about a league from the city, and +shall be able to remain a month longer. The "Beagle" has gone back to +Bahia, and will pick me up on its return. There is a most important error +in the longitude of South America, to settle which this second trip has +been undertaken. Our chronometers, at least sixteen of them, are going +superbly; none on record have ever gone at all like them. + +A few days after arriving I started on an expedition of 150 miles to Rio +Macao, which lasted eighteen days. Here I first saw a tropical forest in +all its sublime grander--nothing but the reality can give any idea how +wonderful, how magnificent the scene is. If I was to specify any one thing +I should give the pre-eminence to the host of parasitical plants. Your +engraving is exactly true, but underrates rather than exaggerates the +luxuriance. I never experienced such intense delight. I formerly admired +Humboldt, I now almost adore him; he alone gives any notion of the feelings +which are raised in the mind on first entering the Tropics. I am now +collecting fresh-water and land animals; if what was told me in London is +true, viz., that there are no small insects in the collections from the +Tropics, I tell Entomologists to look out and have their pens ready for +describing. I have taken as minute (if not more so) as in England, +Hydropori, Hygroti, Hydrobii, Pselaphi, Staphylini, Curculio, etc. etc. It +is exceedingly interesting observing the difference of genera and species +from those which I know, it is however much less than I had expected. I am +at present red-hot with spiders; they are very interesting, and if I am not +mistaken I have already taken some new genera. I shall have a large box to +send very soon to Cambridge, and with that I will mention some more natural +history particulars. + +The Captain does everything in his power to assist me, and we get on very +well, but I thank my better fortune he has not made me a renegade to Whig +principles. I would not be a Tory, if it was merely on account of their +cold hearts about that scandal to Christian nations--Slavery. I am very +good friends with all the officers. + +I have just returned from a walk, and as a specimen, how little the insects +are known. Noterus, according to the 'Dictionary Classique,' contains +solely three European species. I in one haul of my net took five distinct +species; is this not quite extraordinary?... + +Tell Professor Sedgwick he does not know how much I am indebted to him for +the Welsh Expedition; it has given me an interest in Geology which I would +not give up for any consideration. I do not think I ever spent a more +delightful three weeks than pounding the North-west Mountains. I look +forward to the geology about Monte Video as I hear there are slates there, +so I presume in that district I shall find the junctions of the Pampas, and +the enormous granite formation of Brazils. At Bahia the pegmatite and +gneiss in beds had the same direction, as observed by Humboldt, prevailing +over Columbia, distant 1300 miles--is it not wonderful? Monte Video will +be for a long time my direction. I hope you will write again to me, there +is nobody from whom I like receiving advice so much as from you...Excuse +this almost unintelligible letter, and believe me, my dear Henslow, with +the warmest feelings of respect and friendship, + +Yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. HERBERT. +Botofogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro, +June 1832. + +My dear old Herbert, + +Your letter arrived here when I had given up all hopes of receiving +another, it gave me, therefore, an additional degree of pleasure. At such +an interval of time and space one does learn to feel truly obliged to those +who do not forget one. The memory when recalling scenes past by, affords +to us EXILES one of the greatest pleasures. Often and often whilst +wandering amongst these hills do I think of Barmouth, and, I may add, as +often wish for such a companion. What a contrast does a walk in these two +places afford; here abrupt and stony peaks are to the very summit enclosed +by luxuriant woods; the whole surface of the country, excepting where +cleared by man, is one impenetrable forest. How different from Wales, with +its sloping hills covered with turf, and its open valleys. I was not +previously aware how intimately what may be called the moral part is +connected with the enjoyment of scenery. I mean such ideas, as the history +of the country, the utility of the produce, and more especially the +happiness of the people living with them. Change the English labourer into +a poor slave, working for another, and you will hardly recognise the same +view. I am sure you will be glad to hear how very well every part (Heaven +forefend, except sea-sickness) of the expedition has answered. We have +already seen Teneriffe and the Great Canary; St. Jago where I spent three +most delightful weeks, revelling in the delights of first naturalising a +tropical volcanic island, and besides other islands, the two celebrated +ports in the Brazils, viz. Bahia and Rio. + +I was in my hammock till we arrived at the Canaries, and I shall never +forget the sublime impression the first view of Teneriffe made on my mind. +The first arriving into warm weather was most luxuriously pleasant; the +clear blue sky of the Tropics was no common change after those accursed +south-west gales at Plymouth. About the Line it became weltering hot. We +spent one day at St. Paul's, a little group of rocks about a quarter of a +mile in circumference, peeping up in the midst of the Atlantic. There was +such a scene here. Wickham (1st Lieutenant) and I were the only two who +landed with guns and geological hammers, etc. The birds by myriads were +too close to shoot; we then tried stones, but at last, proh pudor! my +geological hammer was the instrument of death. We soon loaded the boat +with birds and eggs. Whilst we were so engaged, the men in the boat were +fairly fighting with the sharks for such magnificent fish as you could not +see in the London market. Our boat would have made a fine subject for +Snyders, such a medley of game it contained. We have been here ten weeks, +and shall now start for Monte Video, when I look forward to many a gallop +over the Pampas. I am ashamed of sending such a scrambling letter, but if +you were to see the heap of letters on my table you would understand the +reason... + +I am glad to hear music flourishes so well in Cambridge; but it [is] as +barbarous to talk to me of "celestial concerts" as to a person in Arabia of +cold water. In a voyage of this sort, if one gains many new and great +pleasures, on the other side the loss is not inconsiderable. How should +you like to be suddenly debarred from seeing every person and place, which +you have ever known and loved, for five years? I do assure you I am +occasionally "taken aback" by this reflection; and then for man or ship it +is not so easy to right again. Remember me most sincerely to the remnant +of most excellent fellows whom I have the good luck to know in Cambridge--I +mean Whitley and Watkins. Tell Lowe I am even beneath his contempt. I can +eat salt beef and musty biscuits for dinner. See what a fall man may come +to! + +My direction for the next year and a half will be Monte Video. + +God bless you, my very dear old Herbert. May you always be happy and +prosperous is my most cordial wish. + +Yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. WATKINS. +Monte Video, River Plata, +August 18, 1832. + +My dear Watkins, + +I do not feel very sure you will think a letter from one so far distant +will be worth having; I write therefore on the selfish principle of getting +an answer. In the different countries we visit the entire newness and +difference from England only serves to make more keen the recollection of +its scenes and delights. In consequence the pleasure of thinking of, and +hearing from one's former friends, does indeed become great. Recollect +this, and some long winter's evening sit down and send me a long account of +yourself and our friends; both what you have, and what [you] intend doing; +otherwise in three or four more years when I return you will be all +strangers to me. Considering how many months have passed, we have not in +the "Beagle" made much way round the world. Hitherto everything has well +repaid the necessary trouble and loss of comfort. We stayed three weeks at +the Cape de Verds; it was no ordinary pleasure rambling over the plains of +lava under a tropical sun, but when I first entered on and beheld the +luxuriant vegetation in Brazil, it was realizing the visions in the +'Arabian Nights.' The brilliancy of the scenery throws one into a delirium +of delight, and a beetle hunter is not likely soon to awaken from it, when +whichever way he turns fresh treasures meet his eye. At Rio de Janeiro +three months passed away like so many weeks. I made a most delightful +excursion during this time of 150 miles into the country. I stayed at an +estate which is the last of the cleared ground, behind is one vast +impenetrable forest. It is almost impossible to imagine the quietude of +such a life. Not a human being within some miles interrupts the solitude. +To seat oneself amidst the gloom of such a forest on a decaying trunk, and +then think of home, is a pleasure worth taking some trouble for. + +We are at present in a much less interesting country. One single walk over +the undulatory turf plain shows everything which is to be seen. It is not +at all unlike Cambridgeshire, only that every hedge, tree and hill must be +leveled, and arable land turned into pasture. All South America is in such +an unsettled state that we have not entered one port without some sort of +disturbance. At Buenos Ayres a shot came whistling over our heads; it is a +noise I had never before heard, but I found I had an instinctive knowledge +of what it meant. The other day we landed our men here, and took +possession, at the request of the inhabitants, of the central fort. We +philosophers do not bargain for this sort of work, and I hope there will be +no more. We sail in the course of a day or two to survey the coast of +Patagonia; as it is entirely unknown, I expect a good deal of interest. +But already do I perceive the grievous difference between sailing on these +seas and the Equinoctial ocean. In the "Ladies' Gulf," as the Spaniard's +call it, it is so luxurious to sit on deck and enjoy the coolness of the +night, and admire the new constellations of the South...I wonder when we +shall ever meet again; but be it when it may, few things will give me +greater pleasure than to see you again, and talk over the long time we have +passed together. + +If you were to meet me at present I certainly should be looked at like a +wild beast, a great grizzly beard and flushing jacket would disfigure an +angel. Believe me, my dear Watkins, with the warmest feelings of +friendship. + +Ever yours, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +April 11, 1833. + +My dear Henslow, + +We are now running up from the Falkland Islands to the Rio Negro (or +Colorado). The "Beagle" will proceed to Monte Video; but if it can be +managed I intend staying at the former place. It is now some months since +we have been at a civilised port; nearly all this time has been spent in +the most southern part of Tierra del Fuego. It is a detestable place; +gales succeed gales with such short intervals that it is difficult to do +anything. We were twenty-three days off Cape Horn, and could by no means +get to the westward. The last and final gale before we gave up the attempt +was unusually severe. A sea stove one of the boats, and there was so much +water on the decks that every place was afloat; nearly all the paper for +drying plants is spoiled, and half of this curious collection. + +We at last ran into harbour, and in the boats got to the west by the inland +channels. As I was one of this party I was very glad of it. With two +boats we went about 300 miles, and thus I had an excellent opportunity of +geologising and seeing much of the savages. The Fuegians are in a more +miserable state of barbarism than I had expected ever to have seen a human +being. In this inclement country they are absolutely naked, and their +temporary houses are like what children make in summer with boughs of +trees. I do not think any spectacle can be more interesting than the first +sight of man in his primitive wildness. It is an interest which cannot +well be imagined until it is experienced. I shall never forget this when +entering Good Success Bay--the yell with which a party received us. They +were seated on a rocky point, surrounded by the dark forest of beech; as +they threw their arms wildly round their heads, and their long hair +streaming, they seemed the troubled spirits of another world. The climate +in some respects is a curious mixture of severity and mildness; as far as +regards the animal kingdom, the former character prevails; I have in +consequence not added much to my collections. + +The Geology of this part of Tierra del Fuego was, as indeed every place is, +to me very interesting. The country is non-fossiliferous, and a common- +place succession of granitic rocks and slates; attempting to make out the +relation of cleavage, strata, etc., etc., was my chief amusement. The +mineralogy, however, of some of the rocks will, I think, be curious from +their resemblance to those of volcanic origin. + +... + +After leaving Tierra del Fuego we sailed to the Falklands. I forgot to +mention the fate of the Fuegians whom we took back to their country. They +had become entirely European in their habits and wishes, so much so that +the younger one had forgotten his own language, and their countrymen paid +but very little attention to them. We built houses for them and planted +gardens, but by the time we return again on our passage round the Horn, I +think it will be very doubtful how much of their property will be left +unstolen. + +...When I am sea-sick and miserable, it is one of my highest consolations +to picture the future when we again shall be pacing together the roads +round Cambridge. That day is a weary long way off. We have another cruise +to make to Tierra del Fuego next summer, and then our voyage round the +world will really commence. Captain Fitz-Roy has purchased a large +schooner of 170 tons. In many respects it will be a great advantage having +a consort--perhaps it may somewhat shorten our cruise, which I most +cordially hope it may. I trust, however, that the Coral Reefs and various +animals of the Pacific may keep up my resolution. Remember me most kindly +to Mrs. Henslow and all other friends; I am a true lover of Alma Mater and +all its inhabitants. + +Believe me, my dear Henslow, +Your affectionate and most obliged friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS C. DARWIN. +Maldonado, Rio Plata, May 22, 1833. + +...The following business piece is to my father. Having a servant of my +own would be a really great addition to my comfort. For these two reasons: +as at present the Captain has appointed one of the men always to be with +me, but I do not think it just thus to take a seaman out of the ship; and, +secondly, when at sea I am rather badly off for any one to wait on me. The +man is willing to be my servant, and all the expenses would be under 60 +pounds per annum. I have taught him to shoot and skin birds, so that in my +main object he is very useful. I have now left England nearly a year and a +half, and I find my expenses are not above 200 pounds per annum; so that, +it being hopeless (from time) to write for permission, I have come to the +conclusion that you would allow me this expense. But I have not yet +resolved to ask the Captain, and the chances are even that he would not be +willing to have an additional man in the ship. I have mentioned this +because for a long time I have been thinking about it. + +JUNE. + +I have just received a bundle more letters. I do not know how to thank you +all sufficiently. One from Catherine, February 8th, another from Susan, +March 3rd, together with notes from Caroline and from my father; give my +best love to my father. I almost cried for pleasure at receiving it; it +was very kind thinking of writing to me. My letters are both few, short, +and stupid in return for all yours; but I always ease my conscience by +considering the Journal as a long letter. If I can manage it, I will, +before doubling the Horn, send the rest. I am quite delighted to find the +hide of the Megatherium has given you all some little interest in my +employments. These fragments are not, however, by any means the most +valuable of the geological relics. I trust and believe that the time spent +in this voyage, if thrown away for all other respects, will produce its +full worth in Natural History; and it appears to me the doing what LITTLE +we can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an +object of life as one can in any likelihood pursue. It is more the result +of such reflections (as I have already said) than much immediate pleasure +which now makes me continue the voyage, together with the glorious prospect +of the future, when passing the Straits of Magellan, we have in truth the +world before us. Think of the Andes, the luxuriant forest of Guayaquil, +the islands of the South Sea, and New South Wales. How many magnificent +and characteristic views, how many and curious tribes of men we shall see! +What fine opportunities for geology and for studying the infinite host of +living beings! Is not this a prospect to keep up the most flagging spirit? +If I was to throw it away, I don't think I should ever rest quiet in my +grave. I certainly should be a ghost and haunt the British Museum. + +How famously the Ministers appear to be going on. I always much enjoy +political gossip and what you at home think will, etc., etc., take place. +I steadily read up the weekly paper, but it is not sufficient to guide +one's opinion; and I find it a very painful state not to be as obstinate as +a pig in politics. I have watched how steadily the general feeling, as +shown at elections, has been rising against Slavery. What a proud thing +for England if she is the first European nation which utterly abolishes it! +I was told before leaving England that after living in slave countries all +my opinions would be altered; the only alteration I am aware of is forming +a much higher estimate of the negro character. It is impossible to see a +negro and not feel kindly towards him; such cheerful, open, honest +expressions and such fine muscular bodies. I never saw any of the +diminutive Portuguese, with their murderous countenances, without almost +wishing for Brazil to follow the example of Hayti; and, considering the +enormous healthy-looking black population, it will be wonderful if, at some +future day, it does not take place. There is at Rio a man (I know not his +title) who has a large salary to prevent (I believe) the landing of slaves; +he lives at Botofogo, and yet that was the bay where, during my residence, +the greater number of smuggled slaves were landed. Some of the Anti- +Slavery people ought to question about his office; it was the subject of +conversation at Rio amongst the lower English... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. HERBERT. +Maldonado, Rio Plata, June 2, 1833. + +My dear Herbert, + +I have been confined for the last three days to a miserable dark room, in +an old Spanish house, from the torrents of rain; I am not, therefore, in +very good trim for writing; but, defying the blue devils, I will send you a +few lines, if it is merely to thank you very sincerely for writing to me. +I received your letter, dated December 1st, a short time since. We are now +passing part of the winter in the Rio Plata, after having had a hard +summer's work to the south. Tierra del Fuego is indeed a miserable place; +the ceaseless fury of the gales is quite tremendous. One evening we saw +old Cape Horn, and three weeks afterwards we were only thirty miles to +windward of it. It is a grand spectacle to see all nature thus raging; but +Heaven knows every one in the "Beagle" has seen enough in this one summer +to last them their natural lives. + +The first place we landed at was Good Success Bay. It was here Banks and +Solander met such disasters on ascending one of the mountains. The weather +was tolerably fine, and I enjoyed some walks in a wild country, like that +behind Barmouth. The valleys are impenetrable from the entangled woods, +but the higher parts, near the limits of perpetual snow, are bare. From +some of these hills the scenery, from its savage, solitary character, was +most sublime. The only inhabitant of these heights is the guanaco, and +with its shrill neighing it often breaks the stillness. The consciousness +that no European foot had ever trod much of this ground added to the +delight of these rambles. How often and how vividly have many of the hours +spent at Barmouth come before my mind! I look back to that time with no +common pleasure; at this moment I can see you seated on the hill behind the +inn, almost as plainly as if you were really there. It is necessary to be +separated from all which one has been accustomed to, to know how properly +to treasure up such recollections, and at this distance, I may add, how +properly to esteem such as yourself, my dear old Herbert. I wonder when I +shall ever see you again. I hope it may be, as you say, surrounded with +heaps of parchment; but then there must be, sooner or later, a dear little +lady to take care of you and your house. Such a delightful vision makes me +quite envious. This is a curious life for a regular shore-going person +such as myself; the worst part of it is its extreme length. There is +certainly a great deal of high enjoyment, and on the contrary a tolerable +share of vexation of spirit. Everything, however, shall bend to the +pleasure of grubbing up old bones, and captivating new animals. By the +way, you rank my Natural History labours far too high. I am nothing more +than a lions' provider: I do not feel at all sure that they will not growl +and finally destroy me. + +It does one's heart good to hear how things are going on in England. +Hurrah for the honest Whigs! I trust they will soon attack that monstrous +stain on our boasted liberty, Colonial Slavery. I have seen enough of +Slavery and the dispositions of the negroes, to be thoroughly disgusted +with the lies and nonsense one hears on the subject in England. Thank God, +the cold-hearted Tories, who, as J. Mackintosh used to say, have no +enthusiasm, except against enthusiasm, have for the present run their race. +I am sorry, by your letter, to hear you have not been well, and that you +partly attribute it to want of exercise. I wish you were here amongst the +green plains; we would take walks which would rival the Dolgelly ones, and +you should tell stories, which I would believe, even to a CUBIC FATHOM OF +PUDDING. Instead I must take my solitary ramble, think of Cambridge days, +and pick up snakes, beetles and toads. Excuse this short letter (you know +I never studied 'The Complete Letter-writer'), and believe me, my dear +Herbert, + +Your affectionate friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +East Falkland Island, March, 1834. + +...I am quite charmed with Geology, but like the wise animal between two +bundles of hay, I do not know which to like the best; the old crystalline +group of rocks, or the softer and fossiliferous beds. When puzzling about +stratifications, etc., I feel inclined to cry "a fig for your big oysters, +and your bigger megatheriums." But then when digging out some fine bones, +I wonder how any man can tire his arms with hammering granite. By the way +I have not one clear idea about cleavage, stratification, lines of +upheaval. I have no books which tell me much, and what they do I cannot +apply to what I see. In consequence I draw my own conclusions, and most +gloriously ridiculous ones they are, I sometimes fancy...Can you throw any +light into my mind by telling me what relation cleavage and planes of +deposition bear to each other? + +And now for my second SECTION, Zoology. I have chiefly been employed in +preparing myself for the South Sea by examining the polypi of the smaller +Corallines in these latitudes. Many in themselves are very curious, and I +think are quite undescribed; there was one appalling one, allied to a +Flustra, which I dare say I mentioned having found to the northward, where +the cells have a movable organ (like a vulture's head, with a dilatable +beak), fixed on the edge. But what is of more general interest is the +unquestionable (as it appears to me) existence of another species of +ostrich, besides the Struthio rhea. All the Gauchos and Indians state it +is the case, and I place the greatest faith in their observations. I have +the head, neck, piece of skin, feathers, and legs of one. The differences +are chiefly in the colour of the feathers and scales on legs, being +feathered below the knees, nidification, and geographical distribution. So +much for what I have lately done; the prospect before me is full of +sunshine, fine weather, glorious scenery, the geology of the Andes, plains +abounding with organic remains (which perhaps I may have the good luck to +catch in the very act of moving), and lastly, an ocean, its shores +abounding with life, so that, if nothing unforeseen happens, I will stick +to the voyage, although for what I can see this may last till we return a +fine set of white-headed old gentlemen. I have to thank you most cordially +for sending me the books. I am now reading the Oxford 'Report' (The second +meeting of the British Association was held at Oxford in 1832, the +following year it was at Cambridge.); the whole account of your proceedings +is most glorious; you remaining in England cannot well imagine how +excessively interesting I find the reports. I am sure from my own +thrilling sensations when reading them, that they cannot fail to have an +excellent effect upon all those residing in distant colonies, and who have +little opportunity of seeing the periodicals. My hammer has flown with +redoubled force on the devoted blocks; as I thought over the eloquence of +the Cambridge President, I hit harder and harder blows. I hope to give my +arms strength for the Cordilleras. You will send me through Capt. Beaufort +a copy of the Cambridge 'Report.' + +I have forgotten to mention that for some time past, and for the future, I +will put a pencil cross on the pill-boxes containing insects, as these +alone will require being kept particularly dry; it may perhaps save you +some trouble. When this letter will go I do not know, as this little seat +of discord has lately been embroiled by a dreadful scene of murder, and at +present there are more prisoners than inhabitants. If a merchant vessel is +chartered to take them to Rio, I will send some specimens (especially my +few plants and seeds). Remember me to all my Cambridge friends. I love +and treasure up every recollection of dear old Cambridge. I am much +obliged to you for putting my name down to poor Ramsay's monument; I never +think of him without the warmest admiration. Farewell, my dear Henslow. + +Believe me your most obliged and affectionate friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS C. DARWIN. +East Falkland Island, April 6, 1834. + +My dear Catherine, + +When this letter will reach you I know not, but probably some man-of-war +will call here before, in the common course of events, I should have +another opportunity of writing. + +... + +After visiting some of the southern islands, we beat up through the +magnificent scenery of the Beagle Channel to Jemmy Button's country. +(Jemmy Button, York Minster, and Fuegia Basket, were natives of Tierra del +Fuego, brought to England by Captain Fitz-Roy in his former voyage, and +restored to their country by him in 1832.) We could hardly recognise poor +Jemmy. Instead of the clean, well-dressed stout lad we left him, we found +him a naked, thin, squalid savage. York and Fuegia had moved to their own +country some months ago, the former having stolen all Jemmy's clothes. Now +he had nothing except a bit of blanket round his waist. Poor Jemmy was +very glad to see us, and, with his usual good feeling, brought several +presents (otter-skins, which are most valuable to themselves) for his old +friends. The Captain offered to take him to England, but this, to our +surprise, he at once refused. In the evening his young wife came alongside +and showed us the reason. He was quite contented. Last year, in the +height of his indignation, he said "his country people no sabe nothing-- +damned fools"--now they were very good people, with TOO much to eat, and +all the luxuries of life. Jemmy and his wife paddled away in their canoe +loaded with presents, and very happy. The most curious thing is, that +Jemmy, instead of recovering his own language, has taught all his friends a +little English. "J. Button's canoe" and "Jemmy's wife come," "Give me +knife," etc., was said by several of them. + +We then bore away for this island--this little miserable seat of discord. +We found that the Gauchos, under pretence of a revolution, had murdered and +plundered all the Englishmen whom they could catch, and some of their own +countrymen. All the economy at home makes the foreign movements of England +most contemptible. How different from old Spain. Here we, dog-in-the- +manger fashion, seize an island, and leave to protect it a Union Jack; the +possessor has, of course, been murdered; we now send a lieutenant with four +sailors, without authority or instructions. A man-of-war, however, +ventured to leave a party of marines, and by their assistance, and the +treachery of some of the party, the murderers have all been taken, there +being now as many prisoners as inhabitants. This island must some day +become a very important halting-place in the most turbulent sea in the +world. It is mid-way between Australia and the South Sea to England; +between Chili, Peru, etc., and the Rio Plata and the Rio de Janeiro. There +are fine harbours, plenty of fresh water, and good beef. It would +doubtless produce the coarser vegetables. In other respects it is a +wretched place. A little time since, I rode across the island, and +returned in four days. My excursion would have been longer, but during the +whole time it blew a gale of wind, with hail and snow. There is no +firewood bigger than heath, and the whole country is, more or less an +elastic peat-bog. Sleeping out at night was too miserable work to endure +it for all the rocks in South America. + +We shall leave this scene of iniquity in two or three days, and go to the +Rio de la Sta. Cruz. One of the objects is to look at the ship's bottom. +We struck heavily on an unknown rock off Port Desire, and some of her +copper is torn off. After this is repaired the Captain has a glorious +scheme; it is to go to the very head of this river, that is probably to the +Andes. It is quite unknown; the Indians tell us it is two or three hundred +yards broad, and horses can nowhere ford it. I cannot imagine anything +more interesting. Our plans then are to go to Fort Famine, and there we +meet the "Adventure", who is employed in making the Chart of the Falklands. +This will be in the middle of winter, so I shall see Tierra del Fuego in +her white drapery. We leave the straits to enter the Pacific by the +Barbara Channel, one very little known, and which passes close to the foot +of Mount Sarmiento (the highest mountain in the south, excepting Mt.!! +Darwin!!). We then shall scud away for Concepcion in Chili. I believe the +ship must once again steer southward, but if any one catches me there +again, I will give him leave to hang me up as a scarecrow for all future +naturalists. I long to be at work in the Cordilleras, the geology of this +side, which I understand pretty well is so intimately connected with +periods of violence in that great chain of mountains. The future is, +indeed, to me a brilliant prospect. You say its very brilliancy frightens +you; but really I am very careful; I may mention as a proof, in all my +rambles I have never had any one accident or scrape...Continue in your good +custom of writing plenty of gossip; I much like hearing all about all +things. Remember me most kindly to Uncle Jos, and to all the Wedgwoods. +Tell Charlotte (their married names sound downright unnatural) I should +like to have written to her, to have told her how well everything is going +on; but it would only have been a transcript of this letter, and I have a +host of animals at this minute surrounding me which all require embalming +and numbering. I have not forgotten the comfort I received that day at +Maer, when my mind was like a swinging pendulum. Give my best love to my +father. I hope he will forgive all my extravagance, but not as a +Christian, for then I suppose he would send me no more money. + +Good-bye, dear, to you, and all your goodly sisterhood. + +Your affectionate brother, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +My love to Nancy (His old nurse.); tell her, if she was now to see me with +my great beard, she would think I was some worthy Solomon, come to sell the +trinkets. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. WHITLEY. +Valparaiso, July 23, 1834. + +My dear Whitley, + +I have long intended writing, just to put you in mind that there is a +certain hunter of beetles, and pounder of rocks still in existence. Why I +have not done so before I know not, but it will serve me right if you have +quite forgotten me. It is a very long time since I have heard any +Cambridge news; I neither know where you are living or what you are doing. +I saw your name down as one of the indefatigable guardians of the eighteen +hundred philosophers. I was delighted to see this, for when we last left +Cambridge you were at sad variance with poor science; you seemed to think +her a public prostitute working for popularity. If your opinions are the +same as formerly, you would agree most admirably with Captain Fitz-Roy,-- +the object of his most devout abhorrence is one of the d--d scientific +Whigs. As captains of men-of-war are the greatest men going, far greater +than kings or schoolmasters, I am obliged to tell him everything in my own +favour. I have often said I once had a very good friend, an out-and-out +Tory, and we managed to get on very well together. But he is very much +inclined to doubt if ever I really was so much honoured; at present we hear +scarcely anything about politics; this saves a great deal of trouble, for +we all stick to our former opinions rather more obstinately than before, +and can give rather fewer reasons for doing so. + +I do hope you will write to me: ('H.M.S. "Beagle", S. American Station' +will find me). I should much like to hear in what state you are both in +body and mind. ?Quien Sabe? as the people say here (and God knows they +well may, for they do know little enough), if you are not a married man, +and may be nursing, as Miss Austen says, little olive branches, little +pledges of mutual affection. Eheu! Eheu! this puts me in mind of former +visions of glimpses into futurity, where I fancied I saw retirement, green +cottages, and white petticoats. What will become of me hereafter I know +not; I feel like a ruined man, who does not see or care how to extricate +himself. That this voyage must come to a conclusion my reason tells me, +but otherwise I see no end to it. It is impossible not bitterly to regret +the friends and other sources of pleasure one leaves behind in England; in +place of it there is much solid enjoyment, some present, but more in +anticipation, when the ideas gained during the voyage can be compared to +fresh ones. I find in Geology a never-failing interest, as it has been +remarked, it creates the same grand ideas respecting this world which +Astronomy does for the universe. We have seen much fine scenery; that of +the Tropics in its glory and luxuriance exceeds even the language of +Humboldt to describe. A Persian writer could alone do justice to it, and +if he succeeded he would in England be called the 'Grandfather of all +liars.'" + +But I have seen nothing which more completely astonished me than the first +sight of a savage. It was a naked Fuegian, his long hair blowing about, +his face besmeared with paint. There is in their countenances an +expression which I believe, to those who have not seen it, must be +inconceivably wild. Standing on a rock he uttered tones and made +gesticulations, than which the cries of domestic animals are far more +intelligible. + +When I return to England, you must take me in hand with respect to the fine +arts. I yet recollect there was a man called Raffaelle Sanctus. How +delightful it will be once again to see, in the Fitzwilliam, Titian's +Venus. How much more than delightful to go to some good concert or fine +opera. These recollections will not do. I shall not be able to-morrow to +pick out the entrails of some small animal with half my usual gusto. Pray +tell me some news about Cameron, Watkins, Marindin, the two Thompsons of +Trinity, Lowe, Heaviside, Matthew. Herbert I have heard from. How is +Henslow getting on? and all other good friends of dear Cambridge? Often +and often do I think over those past hours, so many of which have been +passed in your company. Such can never return, but their recollection can +never die away. + +God bless you, my dear Whitley, +Believe me, your most sincere friend, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS C. DARWIN. +Valparaiso, November 8, 1834. + +My dear Catherine, + +My last letter was rather a gloomy one, for I was not very well when I +wrote it. Now everything is as bright as sunshine. I am quite well again +after being a second time in bed for a fortnight. Captain Fitz-Roy very +generously has delayed the ship ten days on my account, and without at the +time telling me for what reason. + +We have had some strange proceedings on board the "Beagle", but which have +ended most capitally for all hands. Captain Fitz-Roy has for the last two +months been working EXTREMELY hard, and at the same time constantly annoyed +by interruptions from officers of other ships; the selling the schooner and +its consequences were very vexatious; the cold manner the Admiralty (solely +I believe because he is a Tory) have treated him, and a thousand other, +etc. etc.'s, has made him very thin and unwell. This was accompanied by a +morbid depression of spirits, and a loss of all decision and resolution... +All that Bynoe [the Surgeon] could say, that it was merely the effect of +bodily health and exhaustion after such application, would not do; he +invalided, and Wickham was appointed to the command. By the instructions +Wickham could only finish the survey of the southern part, and would then +have been obliged to return direct to England. The grief on board the +"Beagle" about the Captain's decision was universal and deeply felt; one +great source of his annoyment was the feeling it impossible to fulfil the +whole instructions; from his state of mind it never occurred to him that +the very instructions ordered him to do as much of the West coast AS HE HAS +TIME FOR, and then proceed across the Pacific. + +Wickham (very disinterestedly giving up his own promotion) urged this most +strongly, stated that when he took the command nothing should induce him to +go to Tierra del Fuego again; and then asked the Captain what would be +gained by his resignation? why not do the more useful part, and return as +commanded by the Pacific. The Captain at last, to every one's joy, +consented, and the resignation was withdrawn. + +Hurrah! hurrah! it is fixed the "Beagle" shall not go one mile south of +Cape Tres Montes (about 200 miles south of Chiloe), and from that point to +Valparaiso will be finished in about five months. We shall examine the +Chonos Archipelago, entirely unknown, and the curious inland sea behind +Chiloe. For me it is glorious. Cape Tres Montes is the most southern +point where there is much geological interest, as there the modern beds +end. The Captain then talks of crossing the Pacific; but I think we shall +persuade him to finish the Coast of Peru, where the climate is delightful, +the country hideously sterile, but abounding with the highest interest to a +geologist. For the first time since leaving England I now see a clear and +not so distant prospect of returning to you all: crossing the Pacific, and +from Sydney home, will not take much time. + +As soon as the Captain invalided I at once determined to leave the +"Beagle", but it was quite absurd what a revolution in five minutes was +effected in all my feelings. I have long been grieved and most sorry at +the interminable length of the voyage (although I never would have quitted +it); but the minute it was all over, I could not make up my mind to return. +I could not give up all the geological castles in the air which I had been +building up for the last two years. One whole night I tried to think over +the pleasure of seeing Shrewsbury again, but the barren plains of Peru +gained the day. I made the following scheme (I know you will abuse me, and +perhaps if I had put it in execution, my father would have sent a mandamus +after me); it was to examine the Cordilleras of Chili during this summer, +and in winter go from port to port on the coast of Peru to Lima, returning +this time next year to Valparaiso, cross the Cordilleras to Buenos Ayres, +and take ship to England. Would not this have been a fine excursion, and +in sixteen months I should have been with you all? To have endured Tierra +del Fuego and not seen the Pacific would have been miserable... + +I go on board to-morrow; I have been for the last six weeks in Corfield's +house. You cannot imagine what a kind friend I have found him. He is +universally liked, and respected by the natives and foreigners. Several +Chileno Signoritas are very obligingly anxious to become the signoras of +this house. Tell my father I have kept my promise of being extravagant in +Chili. I have drawn a bill of 100 pounds (had it not better be notified to +Messrs. Robarts & Co.); 50 pounds goes to the Captain for the ensuing year, +and 30 pounds I take to sea for the small ports; so that bona fide I have +not spent 180 pounds during these last four months. I hope not to draw +another bill for six months. All the foregoing particulars were only +settled yesterday. It has done me more good than a pint of medicine, and I +have not been so happy for the last year. If it had not been for my +illness, these four months in Chili would have been very pleasant. I have +had ill luck, however, in only one little earthquake having happened. I +was lying in bed when there was a party at dinner in the house; on a sudden +I heard such a hubbub in the dining-room; without a word being spoken, it +was devil take the hindmost who should get out first; at the same moment I +felt my bed SLIGHTLY vibrate in a lateral direction. The party were old +stagers, and heard the noise which always precedes a shock; and no old +stager looks at an earthquake with philosophical eyes... + +Good-bye to you all; you will not have another letter for some time. + +My dear Catherine, +Yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +My best love to my father, and all of you. Love to Nancy. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS S. DARWIN. +Valparaiso, April 23, 1835. + +My dear Susan, + +I received, a few days since, your letter of November; the three letters +which I before mentioned are yet missing, but I do not doubt they will come +to life. I returned a week ago from my excursion across the Andes to +Mendoza. Since leaving England I have never made so successful a journey; +it has, however, been very expensive. I am sure my father would not regret +it, if he could know how deeply I have enjoyed it: it was something more +than enjoyment; I cannot express the delight which I felt at such a famous +winding-up of all my geology in South America. I literally could hardly +sleep at nights for thinking over my day's work. The scenery was so new, +and so majestic; everything at an elevation of 12,000 feet bears so +different an aspect from that in a lower country. I have seen many views +more beautiful, but none with so strongly marked a character. To a +geologist, also, there are such manifest proofs of excessive violence; the +strata of the highest pinnacles are tossed about like the crust of a broken +pie. + +I crossed by the Portillo Pass, which at this time of the year is apt to be +dangerous, so could not afford to delay there. After staying a day in the +stupid town of Mendoza, I began my return by Uspallate, which I did very +leisurely. My whole trip only took up twenty-two days. I travelled with, +for me, uncommon comfort, as I carried a BED! My party consisted of two +Peons and ten mules, two of which were with baggage, or rather food, in +case of being snowed up. Everything, however, favoured me; not even a +speck of this year's snow had fallen on the road. I do not suppose any of +you can be much interested in geological details, but I will just mention +my principal results:--Besides understanding to a certain extent the +description and manner of the force which has elevated this great line of +mountains, I can clearly demonstrate that one part of the double line is of +an age long posterior to the other. In the more ancient line, which is the +true chain of the Andes, I can describe the sort and order of the rocks +which compose it. These are chiefly remarkable by containing a bed of +gypsum nearly 2000 feet thick--a quantity of this substance I should think +unparalleled in the world. What is of much greater consequence, I have +procured fossil shells (from an elevation of 12,000 feet). I think an +examination of these will give an approximate age to these mountains, as +compared to the strata of Europe. In the other line of the Cordilleras +there is a strong presumption (in my own mind, conviction) that the +enormous mass of mountains, the peaks of which rise to 13,000 and 14,000 +feet, are so very modern as to be contemporaneous with the plains of +Patagonia (or about with the UPPER strata of the Isle of Wight). If this +result shall be considered as proved (The importance of these results has +been fully recognised by geologists.), it is a very important fact in the +theory of the formation of the world; because, if such wonderful changes +have taken place so recently in the crust of the globe, there can be no +reason for supposing former epochs of excessive violence. These modern +strata are very remarkable by being threaded with metallic veins of silver, +gold, copper, etc.; hitherto these have been considered as appertaining to +older formations. In these same beds, and close to a goldmine, I found a +clump of petrified trees, standing up right, with layers of fine sandstone +deposited round them, bearing the impression of their bark. These trees +are covered by other sandstones and streams of lava to the thickness of +several thousand feet. These rocks have been deposited beneath water; yet +it is clear the spot where the trees grew must once have been above the +level of the sea, so that it is certain the land must have been depressed +by at least as many thousand feet as the superincumbent subaqueous deposits +are thick. But I am afraid you will tell me I am prosy with my geological +descriptions and theories... + +Your account of Erasmus' visit to Cambridge has made me long to be back +there. I cannot fancy anything more delightful than his Sunday round of +King's, Trinity, and those talking giants, Whewell and Sedgwick; I hope +your musical tastes continue in due force. I shall be ravenous for the +pianoforte... + +I have not quite determined whether I will sleep at the 'Lion' the first +night when I arrive per 'Wonder,' or disturb you all in the dead of night; +everything short of that is absolutely planned. Everything about +Shrewsbury is growing in my mind bigger and more beautiful; I am certain +the acacia and copper beech are two superb trees; I shall know every bush, +and I will trouble you young ladies, when each of you cut down your tree, +to spare a few. As for the view behind the house, I have seen nothing like +it. It is the same with North Wales; Snowdon, to my mind, looks much +higher and much more beautiful than any peak in the Cordilleras. So you +will say, with my benighted faculties, it is time to return, and so it is, +and I long to be with you. Whatever the trees are, I know what I shall +find all you. I am writing nonsense, so farewell. My most affectionate +love to all, and I pray forgiveness from my father. + +Yours most affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Lima, July, 1835. + +My dear Fox, + +I have lately received two of your letters, one dated June and the other +November, 1834 (they reached me, however, in an inverted order). I was +very glad to receive a history of this most important year in your life. +Previously I had only heard the plain fact that you were married. You are +a true Christian and return good for evil, to send two such letters to so +bad a correspondent as I have been. God bless you for writing so kindly +and affectionately; if it is a pleasure to have friends in England, it is +doubly so to think and know that one is not forgotten because absent. This +voyage is terribly long. I do so earnestly desire to return, yet I dare +hardly look forward to the future, for I do not know what will become of +me. Your situation is above envy: I do not venture even to frame such +happy visions. To a person fit to take the office, the life of a clergyman +is a type of all that is respectable and happy. You tempt me by talking of +your fireside, whereas it is a sort of scene I never ought to think about. +I saw the other day a vessel sail for England; it was quite dangerous to +know how easily I might turn deserter. As for an English lady, I have +almost forgotten what she is--something very angelic and good. As for the +women in these countries, they wear caps and petticoats, and a very few +have pretty faces, and then all is said. But if we are not wrecked on some +unlucky reef, I will sit by that same fireside in Vale Cottage and tell +some of the wonderful stories, which you seem to anticipate and, I presume, +are not very ready to believe. Gracias a dios, the prospect of such times +is rather shorter than formerly. + +>From this most wretched 'City of the Kings' we sail in a fortnight, from +thence to Guayaquil, Galapagos, Marquesas, Society Islands, etc., etc. I +look forward to the Galapagos with more interest than any other part of the +voyage. They abound with active volcanoes, and, I should hope, contain +Tertiary strata. I am glad to hear you have some thoughts of beginning +Geology. I hope you will; there is so much larger a field for thought than +in the other branches of Natural History. I am become a zealous disciple +of Mr. Lyell's views, as known in his admirable book. Geologising in South +America, I am tempted to carry parts to a greater extent even than he does. +Geology is a capital science to begin, as it requires nothing but a little +reading, thinking, and hammering. I have a considerable body of notes +together; but it is a constant subject of perplexity to me, whether they +are of sufficient value for all the time I have spent about them, or +whether animals would not have been of more certain value. + +I shall indeed be glad once again to see you and tell you how grateful I +feel for your steady friendship. God bless you, my very dear Fox. + +Believe me, +Yours affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Sydney, January, 1836. + +My dear Henslow, + +This is the last opportunity of communicating with you before that joyful +day when I shall reach Cambridge. I have very little to say: but I must +write if it is only to express my joy that the last year is concluded, and +that the present one, in which the "Beagle" will return, is gliding +onwards. We have all been disappointed here in not finding even a single +letter; we are, indeed, rather before our expected time, otherwise, I dare +say, I should have seen your handwriting. I must feed upon the future, and +it is beyond bounds delightful to feel the certainty that within eight +months I shall be residing once again most quietly in Cambridge. +Certainly, I never was intended for a traveller; my thoughts are always +rambling over past or future scenes; I cannot enjoy the present happiness +for anticipating the future, which is about as foolish as the dog who +dropped the real bone for its shadow. + +... + +In our passage across the Pacific we only touched at Tahiti and New +Zealand; at neither of these places or at sea had I much opportunity of +working. Tahiti is a most charming spot. Everything which former +navigators have written is true. 'A new Cytheraea has risen from the +ocean.' Delicious scenery, climate, manners of the people are all in +harmony. It is, moreover, admirable to behold what the missionaries both +here and at New Zealand have effected. I firmly believe they are good men +working for the sake of a good cause. I much suspect that those who have +abused or sneered at the missionaries have generally been such as were not +very anxious to find the natives moral and intelligent beings. During the +remainder of our voyage we shall only visit places generally acknowledged +as civilised, and nearly all under the British flag. These will be a poor +field for Natural History, and without it I have lately discovered that the +pleasure of seeing new places is as nothing. I must return to my old +resource and think of the future, but that I may not become more prosy, I +will say farewell till the day arrives, when I shall see my Master in +Natural History, and can tell him how grateful I feel for his kindness and +friendship. + +Believe me, dear Henslow, +Ever yours, most faithfully, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS S. DARWIN. +Bahia, Brazil, August 4 [1836]. + +My dear Susan, + +I will just write a few lines to explain the cause of this letter being +dated on the coast of South America. Some singular disagreements in the +longitudes made Captain Fitz-Roy anxious to complete the circle in the +southern hemisphere, and then retrace our steps by our first line to +England. This zigzag manner of proceeding is very grievous; it has put the +finishing stroke to my feelings. I loathe, I abhor the sea and all ships +which sail on it. But I yet believe we shall reach England in the latter +half of October. At Ascension I received Catherine's letter of October, +and yours of November; the letter at the Cape was of a later date, but +letters of all sorts are inestimable treasures, and I thank you both for +them. The desert, volcanic rocks, and wild sea of Ascension, as soon as I +knew there was news from home, suddenly wore a pleasing aspect, and I set +to work with a good-will at my old work of Geology. You would be surprised +to know how entirely the pleasure in arriving at a new place depends on +letters. We only stayed four days at Ascension, and then made a very good +passage to Bahia. + +I little thought to have put my foot on South American coast again. It has +been almost painful to find how much good enthusiasm has been evaporated +during the last four years. I can now walk soberly through a Brazilian +forest; not but what it is exquisitely beautiful, but now, instead of +seeking for splendid contrasts, I compare the stately mango trees with the +horse-chestnuts of England. Although this zigzag has lost us at least a +fortnight, in some respects I am glad of it. I think I shall be able to +carry away one vivid picture of inter-tropical scenery. We go from hence +to the Cape de Verds; that is, if the winds or the Equatorial calms will +allow us. I have some faint hopes that a steady foul wind might induce the +Captain to proceed direct to the Azores. For which most untoward event I +heartily pray. + +Both your letters were full of good news; especially the expressions which +you tell me Professor Sedgwick used about my collections. I confess they +are deeply gratifying--I trust one part at least will turn out true, and +that I shall act as I now think--as a man who dares to waste one hour of +time has not discovered the value of life. Professor Sedgwick mentioning +my name at all gives me hopes that he will assist me with his advice, of +which, in my geological questions, I stand much in need. It is useless to +tell you from the shameful state of this scribble that I am writing against +time, having been out all morning, and now there are some strangers on +board to whom I must go down and talk civility. Moreover, as this letter +goes by a foreign ship, it is doubtful whether it will ever arrive. +Farewell, my very dear Susan and all of you. Good-bye. + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +St. Helena, July 9, 1836. + +My dear Henslow, + +I am going to ask you to do me a favour. I am very anxious to belong to +the Geological Society. I do not know, but I suppose it is necessary to be +proposed some time before being ballotted for; if such is the case, would +you be good enough to take the proper preparatory steps? Professor +Sedgwick very kindly offered to propose me before leaving England, if he +should happen to be in London. I dare say he would yet do so. + +I have very little to write about. We have neither seen, done, or heard of +anything particular for a long time past; and indeed if at present the +wonders of another planet could be displayed before us, I believe we should +unanimously exclaim, what a consummate plague. No schoolboys ever sung the +half sentimental and half jovial strain of 'dulce domum' with more fervour, +than we all feel inclined to do. But the whole subject of 'dulce domum,' +and the delight of seeing one's friends, is most dangerous, it must +infallibly make one very prosy or very boisterous. Oh, the degree to which +I long to be once again living quietly with not one single novel object +near me! No one can imagine it till he has been whirled round the world +during five long years in a ten-gun-brig. I am at present living in a +small house (amongst the clouds) in the centre of the island, and within +stone's throw of Napoleon's tomb. It is blowing a gale of wind with heavy +rain and wretchedly cold; if Napoleon's ghost haunts his dreary place of +confinement, this would be a most excellent night for such wandering +spirits. If the weather chooses to permit me, I hope to see a little of +the Geology (so often partially described) of the island. I suspect that +differently from most volcanic islands its structure is rather complicated. +It seems strange that this little centre of a distinct creation should, as +is asserted, bear marks of recent elevation. + +The "Beagle" proceeds from this place to Ascension, then to the Cape de +Verds (what miserable places!) to the Azores to Plymouth, and then to home. +That most glorious of all days in my life will not, however, arrive till +the middle of October. Some time in that month you will see me at +Cambridge, where I must directly come to report myself to you, as my first +Lord of the Admiralty. At the Cape of Good Hope we all on board suffered a +bitter disappointment in missing nine months' letters, which are chasing us +from one side of the globe to the other. I dare say amongst them there was +a letter from you; it is long since I have seen your handwriting, but I +shall soon see you yourself, which is far better. As I am your pupil, you +are bound to undertake the task of criticising and scolding me for all the +things ill done and not done at all, which I fear I shall need much; but I +hope for the best, and I am sure I have a good if not too easy taskmaster. + +At the Cape Captain Fitz-Roy and myself enjoyed a memorable piece of good +fortune in meeting Sir J. Herschel. We dined at his house and saw him a +few times besides. He was exceedingly good natured, but his manners at +first appeared to me rather awful. He is living in a very comfortable +country house, surrounded by fir and oak trees, which alone in so open a +country, give a most charming air of seclusion and comfort. He appears to +find time for everything; he showed us a pretty garden full of Cape bulbs +of his own collecting, and I afterwards understood that everything was the +work of his own hands...I am very stupid, and I have nothing more to say; +the wind is whistling so mournfully over the bleak hills, that I shall go +to bed and dream of England. + +Goodnight, my dear Henslow, +Yours most truly obliged and affectionately, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Shrewsbury, Thursday, October 6, [1836]. + +My dear Henslow, + +I am sure you will congratulate me on the delight of once again being home. +The "Beagle" arrived at Falmouth on Sunday evening, and I reached +Shrewsbury yesterday morning. I am exceedingly anxious to see you, and as +it will be necessary in four or five days to return to London to get my +goods and chattels out of the "Beagle", it appears to me my best plan to +pass through Cambridge. I want your advice on many points; indeed I am in +the clouds, and neither know what to do or where to go. My chief puzzle is +about the geological specimens--who will have the charity to help me in +describing their mineralogical nature? Will you be kind enough to write to +me one line by RETURN OF POST, saying whether you are now at Cambridge? I +am doubtful till I hear from Captain Fitz-Roy whether I shall not be +obliged to start before the answer can arrive, but pray try the chance. My +dear Henslow, I do long to see you; you have been the kindest friend to me +that ever man possessed. I can write no more, for I am giddy with joy and +confusion. + +Farewell for the present, +Yours most truly obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO R. FITZ-ROY. +Shrewsbury, Thursday morning, October 6, [1836]. + +My dear Fitz-Roy, + +I arrived here yesterday morning at breakfast time, and, thank God, found +all my dear good sisters and father quite well. My father appears more +cheerful and very little older than when I left. My sisters assure me I do +not look the least different, and I am able to return the compliment. +Indeed, all England appears changed excepting the good old town of +Shrewsbury and its inhabitants, which, for all I can see to the contrary, +may go on as they now are to Doomsday. I wish with all my heart I was +writing to you amongst your friends instead of at that horrid Plymouth. +But the day will soon come, and you will be as happy as I now am. I do +assure you I am a very great man at home; the five years' voyage has +certainly raised me a hundred per cent. I fear such greatness must +experience a fall. + +I am thoroughly ashamed of myself in what a dead-and-half-alive state I +spent the few last days on board; my only excuse is that certainly I was +not quite well. The first day in the mail tired me, but as I drew nearer +to Shrewsbury everything looked more beautiful and cheerful. In passing +Gloucestershire and Worcestershire I wished much for you to admire the +fields, woods, and orchards. The stupid people on the coach did not seem +to think the fields one bit greener than usual; but I am sure we should +have thoroughly agreed that the wide world does not contain so happy a +prospect as the rich cultivated land of England. + +I hope you will not forget to send me a note telling me how you go on. I +do indeed hope all your vexations and trouble with respect to our voyage, +which we now know HAS an end, have come to a close. If you do not receive +much satisfaction for all the mental and bodily energy you have expended in +His Majesty's service, you will be most hardly treated. I put my radical +sisters into an uproar at some of the prudent (if they were not honest +Whigs, I would say shabby) proceedings of our Government. By the way, I +must tell you for the honour and glory of the family that my father has a +large engraving of King George IV. put up in his sitting-room. But I am no +renegade, and by the time we meet my politics will be as firmly fixed and +as wisely founded as ever they were. + +I thought when I began this letter I would convince you what a steady and +sober frame of mind I was in. But I find I am writing most precious +nonsense. Two or three of our labourers yesterday immediately set to work +and got most excessively drunk in honour of the arrival of Master Charles. +Who then shall gainsay if Master Charles himself chooses to make himself a +fool. Good-bye. God bless you! I hope you are as happy, but much wiser, +than your most sincere but unworthy philosopher, + +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 1.VII. + +LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. + +1836-1842. + +[The period illustrated by the following letters includes the years between +my father's return from the voyage of the "Beagle" and his settling at +Down. It is marked by the gradual appearance of that weakness of health +which ultimately forced him to leave London and take up his abode for the +rest of his life in a quiet country house. In June, 1841, he writes to +Lyell: "My father scarcely seems to expect that I shall become strong for +some years; it has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the +conclusion that the 'race is for the strong,' and that I shall probably do +little more but be content to admire the strides others make in science." + +There is no evidence of any intention of entering a profession after his +return from the voyage, and early in 1840 he wrote to Fitz-Roy: "I have +nothing to wish for, excepting stronger health to go on with the subjects +to which I have joyfully determined to devote my life." + +These two conditions--permanent ill-health and a passionate love of +scientific work for its own sake--determined thus early in his career, the +character of his whole future life. They impelled him to lead a retired +life of constant labour, carried on to the utmost limits of his physical +power, a life which signally falsified his melancholy prophecy. + +The end of the last chapter saw my father safely arrived at Shrewsbury on +October 4, 1836, "after an absence of five years and two days." He wrote +to Fox: "You cannot imagine how gloriously delightful my first visit was +at home; it was worth the banishment." But it was a pleasure that he could +not long enjoy, for in the last days of October he was at Greenwich +unpacking specimens from the "Beagle". As to the destination of the +collections he writes, somewhat despondingly, to Henslow:-- + +"I have not made much progress with the great men. I find, as you told me, +that they are all overwhelmed with their own business. Mr. Lyell has +entered, in the MOST good-natured manner, and almost without being asked, +into all my plans. He tells me, however, the same story, that I must do +all myself. Mr. Owen seems anxious to dissect some of the animals in +spirits, and, besides these two, I have scarcely met any one who seems to +wish to possess any of my specimens. I must except Dr. Grant, who is +willing to examine some of the corallines. I see it is quite unreasonable +to hope for a minute that any man will undertake the examination of a whole +order. It is clear the collectors so much outnumber the real naturalists +that the latter have no time to spare. + +"I do not even find that the Collections care for receiving the unnamed +specimens. The Zoological Museum (The Museum of the Zoological Society, +then at 33 Bruton Street. The collection was some years later broken up +and dispersed.) is nearly full, and upwards of a thousand specimens remain +unmounted. I dare say the British Museum would receive them, but I cannot +feel, from all I hear, any great respect even for the present state of that +establishment. Your plan will be not only the best, but the only one, +namely, to come down to Cambridge, arrange and group together the different +families, and then wait till people, who are already working in different +branches, may want specimens. But it appears to me [that] to do this it +will be almost necessary to reside in London. As far as I can yet see my +best plan will be to spend several months in Cambridge, and then when, by +your assistance, I know on what ground I stand, to emigrate to London, +where I can complete my Geology and try to push on the Zoology. I assure +you I grieve to find how many things make me see the necessity of living +for some time in this dirty, odious London. For even in Geology I suspect +much assistance and communication will be necessary in this quarter, for +instance, in fossil bones, of which none excepting the fragments of +Megatherium have been looked at, and I clearly see that without my presence +they never would be... + +"I only wish I had known the Botanists cared so much for specimens (A +passage in a subsequent letter shows that his plants also gave him some +anxiety. "I met Mr. Brown a few days after you had called on him; he asked +me in rather an ominous manner what I meant to do with my plants. In the +course of conversation Mr. Broderip, who was present, remarked to him, 'You +forget how long it is since Captain King's expedition.' He answered, +'Indeed, I have something in the shape of Captain King's undescribed plants +to make me recollect it.' Could a better reason be given, if I had been +asked, by me, for not giving the plants to the British Museum?") and the +Zoologists so little; the proportional number of specimens in the two +branches should have had a very different appearance. I am out of patience +with the Zoologists, not because they are overworked, but for their mean, +quarrelsome spirit. I went the other evening to the Zoological Society, +where the speakers were snarling at each other in a manner anything but +like that of gentlemen. Thank Heavens! as long as I remain in Cambridge +there will not be any danger of falling into any such contemptible +quarrels, whilst in London I do not see how it is to be avoided. Of the +Naturalists, F. Hope is out of London; Westwood I have not seen, so about +my insects I know nothing. I have seen Mr. Yarrell twice, but he is so +evidently oppressed with business that it is too selfish to plague him with +my concerns. He has asked me to dine with the Linnean on Tuesday, and on +Wednesday I dine with the Geological, so that I shall see all the great +men. Mr. Bell, I hear, is so much occupied that there is no chance of his +wishing for specimens of reptiles. I have forgotten to mention Mr. +Lonsdale (William Lonsdale, 1794-1871, was originally in the army, and +served at the battles of Salamanca and Waterloo. After the war he left the +service and gave himself up to science. He acted as assistant secretary to +the Geological Society from 1829-42, when he resigned, owing to ill +health.), who gave me a most cordial reception, and with whom I had much +most interesting conversation. If I was not much more inclined for geology +than the other branches of Natural History, I am sure Mr. Lyell's and +Lonsdale's kindness ought to fix me. You cannot conceive anything more +thoroughly good-natured than the heart-and-soul manner in which he put +himself in my place and thought what would be best to do. At first he was +all for London versus Cambridge, but at last I made him confess that, for +some time at least, the latter would be for me much the best. There is not +another soul whom I could ask, excepting yourself, to wade through and +criticise some of those papers which I have left with you. Mr. Lyell owned +that, second to London, there was no place in England so good for a +Naturalist as Cambridge. Upon my word I am ashamed of writing so many +foolish details, no young lady ever described her first ball with more +particularity." + +A few days later he writes more cheerfully: "I became acquainted with Mr. +Bell (T. Bell, F.R.S., formerly Prof. of Zoology in King's College, London, +and some time secretary to the Royal Society. He afterwards described the +reptiles for the zoology of the voyage of the "Beagle".) who to my surprise +expressed a good deal of interest about my crustacea and reptiles, and +seems willing to work at them. I also heard that Mr. Broderip would be +glad to look over the South American shells, so that things flourish well +with me." + +About his plants he writes with characteristic openness as to his own +ignorance: "You have made me known amongst the botanists, but I felt very +foolish when Mr. Don remarked on the beautiful appearance of some plant +with an astounding long name, and asked me about its habitation. Some one +else seemed quite surprised that I knew nothing about a Carex from I do not +know where. I was at last forced to plead most entire innocence, and that +I knew no more about the plants which I had collected than the man in the +moon." + +As to part of his Geological Collection he was soon able to write: "I +[have] disposed of the most important part [of] my collections, by giving +all the fossil bones to the College of Surgeons, casts of them will be +distributed, and descriptions published. They are very curious and +valuable; one head belonged to some gnawing animal, but of the size of a +Hippopotamus! Another to an ant-eater of the size of a horse!" + +It is worth noting that at this time the only extinct mammalia from South +America, which had been described, were Mastodon (three species) and +Megatherium. The remains of the other extinct Edentata from Sir Woodbine +Parish's collection had not been described. My father's specimens included +(besides the above-mentioned Toxodon and Scelidotherium) the remains of +Mylodon, Glossotherium, another gigantic animal allied to the ant-eater, +and Macrauchenia. His discovery of these remains is a matter of interest +in itself, but it has a special importance as a point in his own life, +since it was the vivid impression produced by excavating them with his own +hands (I have often heard him speak of the despair with which he had to +break off the projecting extremity of a huge, partly excavated bone, when +the boat waiting for him would wait no longer.) that formed one of the +chief starting-points of his speculation on the origin of species. This is +shown in the following extract from his Pocket Book for this year (1837): +"In July opened first note-book on Transmutation of Species. Had been +greatly struck from about the month of previous March on character of South +American fossils, and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These facts +(especially latter), origin of all my views."] + + +1836-1837. + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +43 Great Marlborough Street, +November 6th [1836]. + +My dear Fox, + +I have taken a shamefully long time in answering your letter. But the +busiest time of the whole voyage has been tranquillity itself to this last +month. After paying Henslow a short but very pleasant visit, I came up to +town to wait for the "Beagle's" arrival. At last I have removed all my +property from on board, and sent the specimens of Natural History to +Cambridge, so that I am now a free man. My London visit has been quite +idle as far as Natural History goes, but has been passed in most exciting +dissipation amongst the Dons in science. All my affairs, indeed, are most +prosperous; I find there are plenty who will undertake the description of +whole tribes of animals, of which I know nothing. So that about this day +month I hope to set to work tooth and nail at the Geology, which I shall +publish by itself. + +It is quite ridiculous what an immensely long period it appears to me since +landing at Falmouth. The fact is I have talked and laughed enough for +years instead of weeks, so [that] my memory is quite confounded with the +noise. I am delighted to hear you are turned geologist: when I pay the +Isle of Wight a visit, which I am determined shall somehow come to pass, +you will be a capital cicerone to the famous line of dislocation. I really +suppose there are few parts of the world more interesting to a geologist +than your island. Amongst the great scientific men, no one has been nearly +so friendly and kind as Lyell. I have seen him several times, and feel +inclined to like him much. You cannot imagine how good-naturedly he +entered into all my plans. I speak now only of the London men, for Henslow +was just like his former self, and therefore a most cordial and +affectionate friend. When you pay London a visit I shall be very proud to +take you to the Geological Society, for be it known, I was proposed to be a +F.G.S. last Tuesday. It is, however, a great pity that these and the other +letters, especially F.R.S., are so very expensive. + +I do not scruple to ask you to write to me in a week's time in Shrewsbury, +for you are a good letter writer, and if people will have such good +characters they must pay the penalty. Good-bye, dear Fox. + +Yours, +C.D. + + +[His affairs being thus so far prosperously managed he was able to put into +execution his plan of living at Cambridge, where he settled on December +10th, 1836. He was at first a guest in the comfortable home of the +Henslows, but afterwards, for the sake of undisturbed work, he moved into +lodgings. He thus writes to Fox, March 13th, 1837, from London:-- + +"My residence at Cambridge was rather longer than I expected, owing to a +job which I determined to finish there, namely, looking over all my +geological specimens. Cambridge yet continues a very pleasant, but not +half so merry a place as before. To walk through the courts of Christ's +College, and not know an inhabitant of a single room, gave one a feeling +half melancholy. The only evil I found in Cambridge was its being too +pleasant: there was some agreeable party or another every evening, and one +cannot say one is engaged with so much impunity there as in this great +city." + +A trifling record of my father's presence in Cambridge occurs in the book +kept in Christ's College combination-room, where fines and bets were +recorded, the earlier entries giving a curious impression of the after- +dinner frame of mind of the fellows. The bets were not allowed to be made +in money, but were, like the fines, paid in wine. The bet which my father +made and lost is thus recorded:-- + +"FEBRUARY 23, 1837. + +Mr. Darwin v. Mr. Baines, that the combination-room measures from the +ceiling to the floor more than (x) feet. 1 Bottle paid same day. + +"N.B. Mr. Darwin may measure at any part of the room he pleases." + +Besides arranging the geological and mineralogical specimens, he had his +'Journal of Researches' to work at, which occupied his evenings at +Cambridge. He also read a short paper at the Zoological Society ("Notes +upon Rhea Americana," 'Zool. Soc. Proc.' v. 1837, pages 35, 36.), and +another at the Geological Society ('Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages 446- +449.), on the recent elevation of the coast of Chile. + +Early in the spring of 1837 (March 6th) he left Cambridge for London, and a +week later he was settled in lodgings at 36 Great Marlborough Street; and +except for a "short visit to Shrewsbury" in June, he worked on till +September, being almost entirely employed on his 'Journal.' He found time, +however, for two papers at the Geological Society. ("A sketch of the +deposits containing extinct mammalia in the neighbourhood of the Plata," +'Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages 542-544; and 'On certain areas of +elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian oceans, as deduced from +the study of coral formations." 'Geol. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838, pages 552- +554.) + +He writes of his work to Fox (March, 1837):-- + +"In your last letter you urge me to get ready THE book. I am now hard at +work and give up everything else for it. Our plan is as follows: Captain +Fitz-Roy writes two volumes out of the materials collected during the last +voyage under Capt. King to Tierra del Fuego, and during our +circumnavigation. I am to have the third volume, in which I intend giving +a kind of journal of a naturalist, not following, however, always the order +of time, but rather the order of position. The habits of animals will +occupy a large portion, sketches of the geology, the appearance of the +country, and personal details will make the hodge-podge complete. +Afterwards I shall write an account of the geology in detail, and draw up +some zoological papers. So that I have plenty of work for the next year or +two, and till that is finished I will have no holidays." + +Another letter to Fox (July) gives an account of the progress of his +work:-- + +"I gave myself a holiday and a visit to Shrewsbury [in June], as I had +finished my Journal. I shall now be very busy in filling up gaps and +getting it quite ready for the press by the first of August. I shall +always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it +may, for I had no idea of the trouble which trying to write common English +could cost one. And, alas, there yet remains the worst part of all, +correcting the press. As soon as ever that is done I must put my shoulder +to the wheel and commence at the Geology. I have read some short papers to +the Geological Society, and they were favourably received by the great +guns, and this gives me much confidence, and I hope not a very great deal +of vanity, though I confess I feel too often like a peacock admiring his +tail. I never expected that my Geology would ever have been worth the +consideration of such men as Lyell, who has been to me, since my return, a +most active friend. My life is a very busy one at present, and I hope may +ever remain so; though Heaven knows there are many serious drawbacks to +such a life, and chief amongst them is the little time it allows one for +seeing one's natural friends. For the last three years, I have been +longing and longing to be living at Shrewsbury, and after all now in the +course of several months, I see my dear good people at Shrewsbury for a +week. Susan and Catherine have, however, been staying with my brother here +for some weeks, but they had returned home before my visit." + +Besides the work already mentioned he had much to busy him in making +arrangements for the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the +"Beagle".' The following letters illustrate this subject.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS. (Now Rev L. Blomefield.) +36 Great Marlborough Street, +April 10th, 1837. + +Dear Jenyns, + +During the last week several of the zoologists of this place have been +urging me to consider the possibility of publishing the 'Zoology of the +"Beagle's" Voyage' on some uniform plan. Mr. Macleay (William Sharp +Macleay was the son of Alexander Macleay, formerly Colonial Secretary of +New South Wales, and for many years Secretary of the Linnean Society. The +son, who was a most zealous Naturalist, and had inherited from his father a +very large general collection of insects, made Entomology his chief study, +and gained great notoriety by his now forgotten "Quinary System", set forth +in the Second Part of his 'Horae Entomologicae,' published in 1821.--[I am +indebted to Rev. L. Blomefield for the foregoing note.] has taken a great +deal of interest in the subject, and maintains that such a publication is +very desirable, because it keeps together a series of observations made +respecting animals inhabiting the same part of the world, and allows any +future traveller taking them with him. How far this facility of reference +is of any consequence I am very doubtful; but if such is the case, it would +be more satisfactory to myself to see the gleanings of my hands, after +having passed through the brains of other naturalists, collected together +in one work. But such considerations ought not to have much weight. The +whole scheme is at present merely floating in the air; but I was determined +to let you know, as I should much like to know what you think about it, and +whether you would object to supply descriptions of the fish to such a work +instead of to 'Transactions.' I apprehend the whole will be impracticable, +without Government will aid in engraving the plates, and this I fear is a +mere chance, only I think I can put in a strong claim, and get myself well +backed by the naturalists of this place, who nearly all take a good deal of +interest in my collections. I mean to-morrow to see Mr. Yarrell; if he +approves, I shall begin and take more active steps; for I hear he is most +prudent and most wise. It is scarcely any use speculating about any plan, +but I thought of getting subscribers and publishing the work in parts (as +long as funds would last, for I myself will not lose money by it). In such +case, whoever had his own part ready on any order might publish it +separately (and ultimately the parts might be sold separately), so that no +one should be delayed by the other. The plan would resemble, on a humble +scale, Ruppel's 'Atlas,' or Humboldt's 'Zoologie,' where Latreille, Cuvier, +etc., wrote different parts. I myself should have little to do with it; +excepting in some orders adding habits and ranges, etc., and geographical +sketches, and perhaps afterwards some descriptions of invertebrate +animals... + +I am working at my Journal; it gets on slowly, though I am not idle. I +thought Cambridge a bad place from good dinners and other temptations, but +I find London no better, and I fear it may grow worse. I have a capital +friend in Lyell, and see a great deal of him, which is very advantageous to +me in discussing much South American geology. I miss a walk in the country +very much; this London is a vile smoky place, where a man loses a great +part of the best enjoyments in life. But I see no chance of escaping, even +for a week, from this prison for a long time to come. I fear it will be +some time before we shall meet; for I suppose you will not come up here +during the spring, and I do not think I shall be able to go down to +Cambridge. How I should like to have a good walk along the Newmarket road +to-morrow, but Oxford Street must do instead. I do hate the streets of +London. Will you tell Henslow to be careful with the EDIBLE fungi from +Tierra del Fuego, for I shall want some specimens for Mr. Brown, who seems +PARTICULARLY interested about them. Tell Henslow, I think my silicified +wood has unflintified Mr. Brown's heart, for he was very gracious to me, +and talked about the Galapagos plants; but before he never would say a +word. It is just striking twelve o'clock; so I will wish you a very good +night. + +My dear Jenyns, +Yours most truly, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +[A few weeks later the plan seems to have been matured, and the idea of +seeking Government aid to have been adopted.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +36 Great Marlborough Street, +[18th May, 1837]. + +My dear Henslow, + +I was very glad to receive your letter. I wanted much to hear how you were +getting on with your manifold labours. Indeed I do not wonder your head +began to ache; it is almost a wonder you have any head left. Your account +of the Gamlingay expedition was cruelly tempting, but I cannot anyhow leave +London. I wanted to pay my good, dear people at Shrewsbury a visit of a +few days, but I found I could not manage it; at present I am waiting for +the signatures of the Duke of Somerset, as President of the Linnean, and of +Lord Derby and Whewell, to a statement of the value of my collection; the +instant I get this I shall apply to Government for assistance in engraving, +and so publish the 'Zoology' on some uniform plan. It is quite ridiculous +the time any operation requires which depends on many people. + +I have been working very steadily, but have only got two-thirds through the +Journal part alone. I find, though I remain daily many hours at work, the +progress is very slow: it is an awful thing to say to oneself, every fool +and every clever man in England, if he chooses, may make as many ill- +natured remarks as he likes on this unfortunate sentence. + +... + + +[In August he writes to Henslow to announce the success of the scheme for +the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle",' through the +promise of a grant of 1000 pounds from the Treasury: "I have delayed +writing to you, to thank you most sincerely for having so effectually +managed my affair. I waited till I had an interview with the Chancellor of +the Exchequer (T. Spring Rice.). He appointed to see me this morning, and +I had a long conversation with him, Mr. Peacock being present. Nothing +could be more thoroughly obliging and kind than his whole manner. He made +no sort of restriction, but only told me to make the most of [the] money, +which of course I am right willing to do. + +"I expected rather an awful interview, but I never found anything less so +in my life. It will be my fault if I do not make a good work; but I +sometimes take an awful fright that I have not materials enough. It will +be excessively satisfactory at the end of some two years to find all +materials made the most they were capable of." + +Later in the autumn he wrote to Henslow: "I have not been very well of +late, with an uncomfortable palpitation of the heart, and my doctors urge +me STRONGLY to knock off all work, and go and live in the country for a few +weeks." He accordingly took a holiday of about a month at Shrewsbury and +Maer, and paid a visit in the Isle of Wight. It was, I believe, during +this visit, at Mr. Wedgwood's house at Maer, that he made his first +observations on the work done by earthworms, and late in the autumn he read +a paper on the subject at the Geological Society. ("On the formation of +mould," 'Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages 574-576.) During these two +months he was also busy preparing the scheme of the 'Zoology of the Voyage +of the "Beagle",' and in beginning to put together the Geological results +of his travels. + +The following letter refers to the proposal that he should take the +Secretaryship of the Geological Society.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +October 14th, [1837]. + +My dear Henslow, + +...I am much obliged to you for your message about the Secretaryship. I am +exceedingly anxious for you to hear my side of the question, and will you +be so kind as afterwards to give me your fair judgment. The subject has +haunted me all summer. I am unwilling to undertake the office for the +following reasons: First, my entire ignorance of English Geology, a +knowledge of which would be almost necessary in order to shorten many of +the papers before reading them before the Society, or rather to know what +parts to skip. Again, my ignorance of all languages, and not knowing how +to pronounce a SINGLE word of French--a language so perpetually quoted. It +would be disgraceful to the Society to have a Secretary who could not read +French. Secondly, the loss of time; pray consider that I should have to +look after the artists, superintend and furnish materials for the +Government work, which will come out in parts, and which must appear +regularly. All my Geological notes are in a very rough state; none of my +fossil shells worked up; and I have much to read. I have had hopes, by +giving up society and not wasting an hour, that I should finish my Geology +in a year and a half, by which time the description of the higher animals +by others would be completed, and my whole time would then necessarily be +required to complete myself the description of the invertebrate ones. If +this plan fails, as the Government work must go on, the Geology would +necessarily be deferred till probably at least three years from this time. +In the present state of the science, a great part of the utility of the +little I have done would be lost, and all freshness and pleasure quite +taken from me. + +I know from experience the time required to make abstracts EVEN of my own +papers for the 'Proceedings.' If I was Secretary, and had to make double +abstracts of each paper, studying them before reading, and attendance would +AT LEAST cost me three days (and often more) in the fortnight. There are +likewise other accidental and contingent losses of time; I know Dr. Royle +found the office consumed much of his time. If by merely giving up any +amusement, or by working harder than I have done, I could save time, I +would undertake the Secretaryship; but I appeal to you whether, with my +slow manner of writing, with two works in hand, and with the certainty, if +I cannot complete the Geological part within a fixed period, that its +publication must be retarded for a very long time,--whether any Society +whatever has any claim on me for three days' disagreeable work every +fortnight. I cannot agree that it is a duty on my part, as a follower of +science, as long as I devote myself to the completion of the work I have in +hand, to delay that, by undertaking what may be done by any person who +happens to have more spare time than I have at present. Moreover, so early +in my scientific life, with so very much as I have to learn, the office, +though no doubt a great honour, etc., for me, would be the more burdensome. +Mr. Whewell (I know very well), judging from himself, will think I +exaggerate the time the Secretaryship would require; but I absolutely know +the time which with me the simplest writing consumes. I do not at all like +appearing so selfish as to refuse Mr. Whewell, more especially as he has +always shown, in the kindest manner, an interest in my affairs. But I +cannot look forward with even tolerable comfort to undertaking an office +without entering on it heart and soul, and that would be impossible with +the Government work and the Geology in hand. + +My last objection is, that I doubt how far my health will stand the +confinement of what I have to do, without any additional work. I merely +repeat, that you may know I am not speaking idly, that when I consulted Dr. +Clark in town, he at first urged me to give up entirely all writing and +even correcting press for some weeks. Of late anything which flurries me +completely knocks me up afterwards, and brings on a violent palpitation of +the heart. Now the Secretaryship would be a periodical source of more +annoying trouble to me than all the rest of the fortnight put together. In +fact, till I return to town, and see how I get on, if I wished the office +ever so much, I COULD not say I would positively undertake it. I beg of +you to excuse this very long prose all about myself, but the point is one +of great interest. I can neither bear to think myself very selfish and +sulky, nor can I see the possibility of my taking the Secretaryship without +making a sacrifice of all my plans and a good deal of comfort. + +If you see Whewell, would you tell him the substance of this letter; or, if +he will take the trouble, he may read it. My dear Henslow, I appeal to you +in loco parentis. Pray tell me what you think? But do not judge me by the +activity of mind which you and a few others possess, for in that case the +more difficult things in hand the pleasanter the work; but, though I hope I +never shall be idle, such is not the case with me. + +Ever, dear Henslow, +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +[He ultimately accepted the post, and held it for three years--from +February 16, 1838, to February 19, 1841. + + +After being assured of the Grant for the publication of the 'Zoology of the +Voyage of the "Beagle",' there was much to be done in arranging the scheme +of publication, and this occupied him during part of October and November.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +[4th November, 1837.] + +My dear Henslow, + +...Pray tell Leonard (Rev. L. Jenyns.) that my Government work is going on +smoothly, and I hope will be prosperous. He will see in the Prospectus his +name attached to the fish; I set my shoulders to the work with a good +heart. I am very much better than I was during the last month before my +Shrewsbury visit. I fear the Geology will take me a great deal of time; I +was looking over one set of notes, and the quantity I found I had to read, +for that one place was frightful. If I live till I am eighty years old I +shall not cease to marvel at finding myself an author; in the summer before +I started, if any one had told me that I should have been an angel by this +time, I should have thought it an equal impossibility. This marvellous +transformation is all owing to you. + +I am sorry to find that a good many errata are left in the part of my +volume, which is printed. During my absence Mr. Colburn employed some +goose to revise, and he has multiplied, instead of diminishing my +oversights; but for all that, the smooth paper and clear type has a +charming appearance, and I sat the other evening gazing in silent +admiration at the first page of my own volume, when I received it from the +printers! + +Good-bye, my dear Henslow, +C. DARWIN. + + +1838. + +[From the beginning of this year to nearly the end of June, he was busily +employed on the zoological and geological results of his voyage. This +spell of work was interrupted only by a visit of three days to Cambridge, +in May; and even this short holiday was taken in consequence of failing +health, as we may assume from the entry in his diary: "May 1st, unwell," +and from a letter to his sister (May 16, 1838), when he wrote:-- + +"My trip of three days to Cambridge has done me such wonderful good, and +filled my limbs with such elasticity, that I must get a little work out of +my body before another holiday." This holiday seems to have been +thoroughly enjoyed; he wrote to his sister:-- + +"Now for Cambridge: I stayed at Henslow's house and enjoyed my visit +extremely. My friends gave me a most cordial welcome. Indeed, I was quite +a lion there. Mrs. Henslow unfortunately was obliged to go on Friday for a +visit in the country. That evening we had at Henslow's a brilliant party +of all the geniuses in Cambridge, and a most remarkable set of men they +most assuredly are. On Saturday I rode over to L. Jenyns', and spent the +morning with him. I found him very cheerful, but bitterly complaining of +his solitude. On Saturday evening dined at one of the Colleges, played at +bowls on the College Green after dinner, and was deafened with nightingales +singing. Sunday, dined in Trinity; capital dinner, and was very glad to +sit by Professor Lee (Samuel Lee, of Queens', was Professor of Arabic from +1819 to 1831, and Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1831 to 1848.)...; I find +him a very pleasant chatting man, and in high spirits like a boy, at having +lately returned from a living or a curacy, for seven years in +Somersetshire, to civilised society and oriental manuscripts. He had +exchanged his living to one within fourteen miles of Cambridge, and seemed +perfectly happy. In the evening attended Trinity Chapel, and heard 'The +Heavens are telling the Glory of God,' in magnificent style; the last +chorus seemed to shake the very walls of the College. After chapel a large +party in Sedgwick's rooms. So much for my Annals." + +He started, towards the end of June, on his expedition to Glen Roy, of +which he writes to Fox: "I have not been very well of late, which has +suddenly determined me to leave London earlier than I had anticipated. I +go by the steam-packet to Edinburgh,--take a solitary walk on Salisbury +Craigs, and call up old thoughts of former times, then go on to Glasgow and +the great valley of Inverness, near which I intend stopping a week to +geologise the parallel roads of Glen Roy, thence to Shrewsbury, Maer for +one day, and London for smoke, ill-health and hard work." + +He spent "eight good days" over the Parallel Roads. His Essay on this +subject was written out during the same summer, and published by the Royal +Society. ('Phil. Trans.' 1839, pages 39-82.) He wrote in his Pocket Book: +"September 6 [1838]. Finished the paper on 'Glen Roy,' one of the most +difficult and instructive tasks I was ever engaged on." It will be +remembered that in his 'Recollections' he speaks of this paper as a +failure, of which he was ashamed. + +At the time at which he wrote, the latest theory of the formation of the +Parallel Roads was that of Sir Lauder Dick and Dr. Macculloch, who believed +that lakes had anciently existed in Glen Roy, caused by dams of rock or +alluvium. In arguing against this theory he conceived that he had +disproved the admissibility of any lake theory, but in this point he was +mistaken. He wrote (Glen Roy paper, page 49) "the conclusion is +inevitable, that no hypothesis founded on the supposed existence of a sheet +of water confined by BARRIERS, that is a lake, can be admitted as solving +the problematical origin of the parallel roads of Lochaber." + +Mr. Archibald Geikie has been so good as to allow me to quote a passage +from a letter addressed to me (November 19, 1884) in compliance with my +request for his opinion on the character of my father's Glen Roy work:-- + +"Mr. Darwin's 'Glen Roy' paper, I need not say, is marked by all his +characteristic acuteness of observation and determination to consider all +possible objections. It is a curious example, however, of the danger of +reasoning by a method of exclusion in Natural Science. Finding that the +waters which formed the terraces in the Glen Roy region could not possibly +have been dammed back by barriers of rock or of detritus, he saw no +alternative but to regard them as the work of the sea. Had the idea of +transient barriers of glacier-ice occurred to him, he would have found the +difficulties vanish from the lake-theory which he opposed, and he would not +have been unconsciously led to minimise the altogether overwhelming +objections to the supposition that the terraces are of marine origin." + +It may be added that the idea of the barriers being formed by glaciers +could hardly have occurred to him, considering what was the state of +knowledge at the time, and bearing in mind his want of opportunities of +observing glacial action on a large scale. + +The latter half of July was passed at Shrewsbury and Maer. The only entry +of any interest is one of being "very idle" at Shrewsbury, and of opening +"a note-book connected with metaphysical inquiries." In August he records +that he read "a good deal of various amusing books, and paid some attention +to metaphysical subjects." + +The work done during the remainder of the year comprises the book on coral +reefs (begun in October), and some work on the phenomena of elevation in S. +America.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +36 Great Marlborough Street, +August 9th [1838]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I do not write to you at Norwich, for I thought I should have more to say, +if I waited a few more days. Very many thanks for the present of your +'Elements,' which I received (and I believe the VERY FIRST copy +distributed) together with your note. I have read it through every word, +and am full of admiration of it, and, as I now see no geologist, I must +talk to you about it. There is no pleasure in reading a book if one cannot +have a good talk over it; I repeat, I am full of admiration of it, it is as +clear as daylight, in fact I felt in many parts some mortification at +thinking how geologists have laboured and struggled at proving what seems, +as you have put it, so evidently probable. I read with much interest your +sketch of the secondary deposits; you have contrived to make it quite +"juicy," as we used to say as children of a good story. There was also +much new to me, and I have to copy out some fifty notes and references. It +must do good, the heretics against common sense must yield...By the way, do +you recollect my telling you how much I disliked the manner -- referred to +his other works, as much as to say, "You must, ought, and shall buy +everything I have written." To my mind, you have somehow quite avoided +this; your references only seem to say, "I can't tell you all in this work, +else I would, so you must go to the 'Principles'"; and many a one, I trust, +you will send there, and make them, like me, adorers of the good science of +rock-breaking. You will see I am in a fit of enthusiasm, and good cause I +have to be, when I find you have made such infinitely more use of my +Journal than I could have anticipated. I will say no more about the book, +for it is all praise. I must, however, admire the elaborate honesty with +which you quote the words of all living and dead geologists. + +My Scotch expedition answered brilliantly; my trip in the steam-packet was +absolutely pleasant, and I enjoyed the spectacle, wretch that I am, of two +ladies, and some small children quite sea-sick, I being well. Moreover, on +my return from Glasgow to Liverpool, I triumphed in a similar manner over +some full-grown men. I stayed one whole day in Edinburgh, or more truly on +Salisbury Craigs; I want to hear some day what you think about that +classical ground,--the structure was to me new and rather curious,--that +is, if I understand it right. I crossed from Edinburgh in gigs and carts +(and carts without springs, as I never shall forget) to Loch Leven. I was +disappointed in the scenery, and reached Glen Roy on Saturday evening, one +week after leaving Marlborough Street. Here I enjoyed five [?] days of the +most beautiful weather with gorgeous sunsets, and all nature looking as +happy as I felt. I wandered over the mountains in all directions, and +examined that most extraordinary district. I think, without any +exceptions, not even the first volcanic island, the first elevated beach, +or the passage of the Cordillera, was so interesting to me as this week. +It is far the most remarkable area I ever examined. I have fully convinced +myself (after some doubting at first) that the shelves are sea-beaches, +although I could not find a trace of a shell; and I think I can explain +away most, if not all, the difficulties. I found a piece of a road in +another valley, not hitherto observed, which is important; and I have some +curious facts about erratic blocks, one of which was perched up on a peak +2200 feet above the sea. I am now employed in writing a paper on the +subject, which I find very amusing work, excepting that I cannot anyhow +condense it into reasonable limits. At some future day I hope to talk over +some of the conclusions with you, which the examination of Glen Roy has led +me to. Now I have had my talk out, I am much easier, for I can assure you +Glen Roy has astonished me. + +I am living very quietly, and therefore pleasantly, and am crawling on +slowly but steadily with my work. I have come to one conclusion, which you +will think proves me to be a very sensible man, namely, that whatever you +say proves right; and as a proof of this, I am coming into your way of only +working about two hours at a spell; I then go out and do my business in the +streets, return and set to work again, and thus make two separate days out +of one. The new plan answers capitally; after the second half day is +finished I go and dine at the Athenaeum like a gentleman, or rather like a +lord, for I am sure the first evening I sat in that great drawing-room, all +on a sofa by myself, I felt just like a duke. I am full of admiration at +the Athenaeum, one meets so many people there that one likes to see. The +very first time I dined there (i.e. last week) I met Dr. Fitton (W.H. +Fitton (1780-1861) was a physician and geologist, and sometime president of +the Geological Society. He established the 'Proceedings,' a mode of +publication afterwards adopted by other societies.) at the door, and he got +together quite a party--Robert Brown, who is gone to Paris and Auvergne, +Macleay [?] and Dr. Boott. (Francis Boott (1792-1863) is chiefly known as +a botanist through his work on the genus Carex. He was also well-known in +connection with the Linnean Society of which he was for many years an +office-bearer. He is described (in a biographical sketch published in the +"Gardener's Chronicle", 1864) as having been one of the first physicians in +London who gave up the customary black coat, knee-breeches and silk +stockings, and adopted the ordinary dress of the period, a blue coat with +brass buttons, and a buff waiscoat, a costume which he continued to wear to +the last. After giving up practice, which he did early in life, he spent +much of his time in acts of unpretending philanthropy.) Your helping me +into the Athenaeum has not been thrown away, and I enjoy it the more +because I fully expected to detest it. + +I am writing you a most unmerciful letter, but I shall get Owen to take it +to Newcastle. If you have a mind to be a very generous man you will write +to me from Kinnordy (The house of Lyell's father.), and tell me some +Newcastle news, as well as about the Craig, and about yourself and Mrs. +Lyell, and everything else in the world. I will send by Hall the +'Entomological Transactions,' which I have borrowed for you; you will be +disappointed in --'s papers, that is if you suppose my dear friend has a +single clear idea upon any one subject. He has so involved recent insects +and true fossil insects in one table that I fear you will not make much out +of it, though it is a subject which ought I should think to come into the +'Principles.' You will be amused at some of the ridiculo-sublime passages +in the papers, and no doubt will feel acutely a sneer there is at yourself. +I have heard from more than one quarter that quarrelling is expected at +Newcastle (At the meeting of the British Association.); I am sorry to hear +it. I met old -- this evening at the Athenaeum, and he muttered something +about writing to you or some one on the subject; I am however all in the +dark. I suppose, however, I shall be illuminated, for I am going to dine +with him in a few days, as my inventive powers failed in making any excuse. +A friend of mine dined with him the other day, a party of four, and they +finished ten bottles of wine--a pleasant prospect for me; but I am +determined not even to taste his wine, partly for the fun of seeing his +infinite disgust and surprise... + +I pity you the infliction of this most unmerciful letter. Pray remember me +most kindly to Mrs. Lyell when you arrive at Kinnordy. I saw her name in +the landlord's book of Inverorum. Tell Mrs. Lyell to read the second +series of 'Mr. Slick of Slickville's Sayings.'...He almost beats "Samivel," +that prince of heroes. Goodnight, my dear Lyell; you will think I have +been drinking some strong drink to write so much nonsense, but I did not +even taste Minerva's small beer to-day. + +Yours most sincerely, +CHAS. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Friday night, September 13th [1838]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I was astonished and delighted at your gloriously long letter, and I am +sure I am very much obliged to Mrs. Lyell for having taken the trouble to +write so much. (Lyell dictated much of his correspondence.) I mean to +have a good hour's enjoyment and scribble away to you, who have so much +geological sympathy that I do not care how egotistically I write... + +I have got so much to say about all sorts of trifling things that I hardly +know what to begin about. I need not say how pleased I am to hear that Mr. +Lyell (Father of the geologist.) likes my Journal. To hear such tidings is +a kind of resurrection, for I feel towards my first-born child as if it had +long since been dead, buried, and forgotten; but the past is nothing and +the future everything to us geologists, as you show in your capital motto +to the 'Elements.' By the way, have you read the article, in the +'Edinburgh Review,' on M. Comte, 'Cours de la Philosophie' (or some such +title)? It is capital; there are some fine sentences about the very +essence of science being prediction, which reminded me of "its law being +progress." + +I will now begin and go through your letter seriatim. I dare say your plan +of putting the Elie de Beaumont's chapter separately and early will be very +good; anyhow, it is showing a bold front in the first edition which is to +be translated into French. It will be a curious point to geologists +hereafter to note how long a man's name will support a theory so completely +exposed as that of De Beaumont's has been by you; you say you "begin to +hope that the great principles there insisted on will stand the test of +time." BEGIN TO HOPE: why, the POSSIBILITY of a doubt has never crossed +my mind for many a day. This may be very unphilosophical, but my +geological salvation is staked on it. After having just come back from +Glen Roy, and found how difficulties smooth away under your principles, it +makes me quite indignant that you should talk of HOPING. With respect to +the question, how far my coral theory bears on De Beaumont's theory, I +think it would be prudent to quote me with great caution until my whole +account is published, and then you (and others) can judge how far there is +foundation for such generalisation. Mind, I do not doubt its truth; but +the extension of any view over such large spaces, from comparatively few +facts, must be received with much caution. I do not myself the least doubt +that within the recent (or as you, much to my annoyment, would call it, +"New Pliocene") period, tortuous bands--not all the bands parallel to each +other--have been elevated and corresponding ones subsided, though within +the same period some parts probably remained for a time stationary, or even +subsided. I do not believe a more utterly false view could have been +invented than great straight lines being suddenly thrown up. + +When my book on Volcanoes and Coral Reefs will be published I hardly know; +I fear it will be at least four or five months; though, mind, the greater +part is written. I find so much time is lost in correcting details and +ascertaining their accuracy. The Government Zoological work is a millstone +round my neck, and the Glen Roy paper has lost me six weeks. I will not, +however, say lost; for, supposing I can prove to others' satisfaction what +I have convinced myself is the case, the inference I think you will allow +to be important. I cannot doubt that the molten matter beneath the earth's +crust possesses a high degree of fluidity, almost like the sea beneath the +block ice. By the way, I hope you will give me some Swedish case to quote, +of shells being preserved on the surface, but not in contemporaneous beds +of gravel... + +Remember what I have often heard you say: the country is very bad for the +intellects; the Scotch mists will put out some volcanic speculations. You +see I am affecting to become very Cockneyfied, and to despise the poor +country-folk, who breath fresh air instead of smoke, and see the goodly +fields instead of the brick houses in Marlborough Street, the very sight of +which I confess I abhor. I am glad to hear what a favourable report you +give of the British Association. I am the more pleased because I have been +fighting its battles with Basil Hall, Stokes, and several others, having +made up my mind, from the report in the "Athenaeum", that it must have been +an excellent meeting. I have been much amused with an account I have +received of the wars of Don Roderick (Murchison.) and Babbage. What a +grievous pity it is that the latter should be so implacable...This is a +most rigmarole letter, for after each sentence I take breath, and you will +have need of it in reading it... + +I wish with all my heart that my Geological book was out. I have every +motive to work hard, and will, following your steps, work just that degree +of hardness to keep well. I should like my volume to be out before your +new edition of 'Principles' appears. Besides the Coral theory, the +volcanic chapters will, I think, contain some new facts. I have lately +been sadly tempted to be idle--that is, as far as pure geology is +concerned--by the delightful number of new views which have been coming in +thickly and steadily,--on the classification and affinities and instincts +of animals--bearing on the question of species. Note-book after note-book +has been filled with facts which begin to group themselves CLEARLY under sub-laws. + +Good night, my dear Lyell. I have filled my letter and enjoyed my talk to +you as much as I can without having you in propria persona. Think of the +bad effects of the country--so once more good night. + +Ever yours, +CHAS. DARWIN. + +Pray again give my best thanks to Mrs. Lyell. + + +[The record of what he wrote during the year does not give a true index of +the most important work that was in progress,--the laying of the +foundation-stones of what was to be the achievement of his life. This is +shown in the foregoing letter to Lyell, where he speaks of being "idle," +and the following extract from a letter to Fox, written in June, is of +interest in this point of view: + +"I am delighted to hear you are such a good man as not to have forgotten my +questions about the crossing of animals. It is my prime hobby, and I +really think some day I shall be able to do something in that most +intricate subject, species and varieties."] + + +1839-1841. + +[In the winter of 1839 {January 29) my father was married to his cousin, +Emma Wedgwood. (Daughter of Josiah Wedgwood of Maer, and grand-daughter of +the founder of the Etruria Pottery Works.) The house in which they lived +for the first few years of their married life, No. 12 Upper Gower Street, +was a small common-place London house, with a drawing-room in front, and a +small room behind, in which they lived for the sake of quietness. In later +years my father used to laugh over the surpassing ugliness of the +furniture, carpets, etc., of the Gower Street house. The only redeeming +feature was a better garden than most London houses have, a strip as wide +as the house, and thirty yards long. Even this small space of dingy grass +made their London house more tolerable to its two country-bred inhabitants. + +Of his life in London he writes to Fox (October 1839): "We are living a +life of extreme quietness; Delamere itself, which you describe as so +secluded a spot, is, I will answer for it, quite dissipated compared with +Gower Street. We have given up all parties, for they agree with neither of +us; and if one is quiet in London, there is nothing like its quietness-- +there is a grandeur about its smoky fogs, and the dull distant sounds of +cabs and coaches; in fact you may perceive I am becoming a thorough-paced +Cockney, and I glory in thoughts that I shall be here for the next six +months." + +The entries of ill health in the Diary increase in number during these +years, and as a consequence the holidays become longer and more frequent. +>From April 26 to May 13, 1839, he was at Maer and Shrewsbury. Again, from +August 23 to October 2 he was away from London at Maer, Shrewsbury, and at +Birmingham for the meeting of the British Association. + +The entry under August 1839 is: "During my visit to Maer, read a little, +was much unwell and scandalously idle. I have derived this much good, that +NOTHING is so intolerable as idleness." + +At the end of 1839 his eldest child was born, and it was then that he began +his observations ultimately published in the 'Expression of the Emotions.' +His book on this subject, and the short paper published in 'Mind,' (July +1877.) show how closely he observed his child. He seems to have been +surprised at his own feelings for a young baby, for he wrote to Fox (July +1840): "He [i.e. the baby] is so charming that I cannot pretend to any +modesty. I defy anybody to flatter us on our baby, for I defy any one to +say anything in its praise of which we are not fully conscious...I had not +the smallest conception there was so much in a five-month baby. You will +perceive by this that I have a fine degree of paternal fervour." + +During these years he worked intermittently at 'Coral Reefs,' being +constantly interrupted by ill health. Thus he speaks of "recommencing" the +subject in February 1839, and again in the October of the same year, and +once more in July 1841, "after more than thirteen months' interval." His +other scientific work consisted of a contribution to the Geological Society +('Geol. Soc. Proc.' iii. 1842, and 'Geol. Soc. Trans.' vi), on the boulders +and "till" of South America, as well as a few other minor papers on +geological subjects. He also worked busily at the ornithological part of +the Zoology of the "Beagle", i.e. the notice of the habits and ranges of +the birds which were described by Gould.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Wednesday morning [February 1840]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Many thanks for your kind note. I will send for the "Scotsman". Dr. +Holland thinks he has found out what is the matter with me, and now hopes +he shall be able to set me going again. Is it not mortifying, it is now +nine weeks since I have done a whole day's work, and not more than four +half days. But I won't grumble any more, though it is hard work to prevent +doing so. Since receiving your note I have read over my chapter on Coral, +and find I am prepared to stand by almost everything; it is much more +cautiously and accurately written than I thought. I had set my heart upon +having my volume completed before your new edition, but not, you may +believe me, for you to notice anything new in it (for there is very little +besides details), but you are the one man in Europe whose opinion of the +general truth of a toughish argument I should be always most anxious to +hear. My MS. is in such confusion, otherwise I am sure you should most +willingly if it had been worth your while, have looked at any part you +choose. + +... + +[In a letter to Fox (January 1841) he shows that his "Species work" was +still occupying his mind:-- + +"If you attend at all to Natural History I send you this P.S. as a memento, +that I continue to collect all kinds of facts about 'Varieties and +Species,' for my some-day work to be so entitled; the smallest +contributions thankfully accepted; descriptions of offspring of all crosses +between all domestic birds and animals, dogs, cats, etc., etc., very +valuable. Don't forget, if your half-bred African cat should die that I +should be very much obliged for its carcase sent up in a little hamper for +the skeleton; it, or any cross-bred pigeons, fowl, duck, etc., etc., will +be more acceptable than the finest haunch of venison, or the finest +turtle." + +Later in the year (September) he writes to Fox about his health, and also +with reference to his plan of moving into the country:-- + +"I have steadily been gaining ground, and really believe now I shall some +day be quite strong. I write daily for a couple of hours on my Coral +volume, and take a little walk or ride every day. I grow very tired in the +evenings, and am not able to go out at that time, or hardly to receive my +nearest relations; but my life ceases to be burdensome now that I can do +something. We are taking steps to leave London, and live about twenty +miles from it on some railway."] + + +1842. + +[The record of work includes his volume on 'Coral Reefs' (A notice of the +Coral Reef work appeared in the Geograph. Soc. Journal, xii., page 115.), +the manuscript of which was at last sent to the printers in January of this +year, and the last proof corrected in May. He thus writes of the work in +his diary:-- + +"I commenced this work three years and seven months ago. Out of this +period about twenty months (besides work during "Beagle's" voyage) has been +spent on it, and besides it, I have only compiled the Bird part of Zoology; +Appendix to Journal, paper on Boulders, and corrected papers on Glen Roy +and earthquakes, reading on species, and rest all lost by illness." + +In May and June he was at Shrewsbury and Maer, whence he went on to make +the little tour in Wales, of which he spoke in his 'Recollections,' and of +which the results were published as "Notes on the effects produced by the +ancient glaciers of Caernarvonshire, and on the Boulders transported by +floating Ice." ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842, page 352.) + +Mr. Archibald Geikie speaks of this paper as standing "almost at the top of +the long list of English contributions to the history of the Ice Age." +Charles Darwin, 'Nature' Series, page 23.) + +The latter part of this year belongs to the period including the settlement +at Down, and is therefore dealt with in another chapter.] + + +CHAPTER 1.VIII. + +RELIGION. + +[The history of this part of my father's life may justly include some +mention of his religious views. For although, as he points out, he did not +give continuous systematic thought to religious questions, yet we know from +his own words that about this time (1836-39) the subject was much before +his mind. + +In his published works he was reticent on the matter of religion, and what +he has left on the subject was not written with a view to publication. (As +an exception may be mentioned, a few words of concurrence with Dr. Abbot's +'Truths for the Times,' which my father allowed to be published in the +"Index".) + +I believe that his reticence arose from several causes. He felt strongly +that a man's religion is an essentially private matter, and one concerning +himself alone. This is indicated by the following extract from a letter of +1879:--(Addressed to Mr. J. Fordyce, and published by him in his 'Aspects +of Scepticism,' 1883.) + +"What my own views may be is a question of no consequence to any one but +myself. But, as you ask, I may state that my judgment often +fluctuates...In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist +in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally +(and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an Agnostic would +be the more correct description of my state of mind." + +He naturally shrank from wounding the sensibilities of others in religious +matters, and he was also influenced by the consciousness that a man ought +not to publish on a subject to which he has not given special and +continuous thought. That he felt this caution to apply to himself in the +matter of religion is shown in a letter to Dr. F.E. Abbot, of Cambridge, +U.S. (September 6, 1871). After explaining that the weakness arising from +his bad health prevented him from feeling "equal to deep reflection, on the +deepest subject which can fill a man's mind," he goes on to say: "With +respect to my former notes to you, I quite forget their contents. I have +to write many letters, and can reflect but little on what I write; but I +fully believe and hope that I have never written a word, which at the time +I did not think; but I think you will agree with me, that anything which is +to be given to the public ought to be maturely weighed and cautiously put. +It never occurred to me that you would wish to print any extract from my +notes: if it had, I would have kept a copy. I put 'private' from habit, +only as yet partially acquired, from some hasty notes of mine having been +printed, which were not in the least degree worth printing, though +otherwise unobjectionable. It is simply ridiculous to suppose that my +former note to you would be worth sending to me, with any part marked which +you desire to print; but if you like to do so, I will at once say whether I +should have any objection. I feel in some degree unwilling to express +myself publicly on religious subjects, as I do not feel that I have thought +deeply enough to justify any publicity." + +I may also quote from another letter to Dr. Abbot (November 16, 1871), in +which my father gives more fully his reasons for not feeling competent to +write on religious and moral subjects:-- + +"I can say with entire truth that I feel honoured by your request that I +should become a contributor to the "Index", and am much obliged for the +draft. I fully, also, subscribe to the proposition that it is the duty of +every one to spread what he believes to be the truth; and I honour you for +doing so, with so much devotion and zeal. But I cannot comply with your +request for the following reasons; and excuse me for giving them in some +detail, as I should be very sorry to appear in your eyes ungracious. My +health is very weak: I NEVER pass 24 hours without many hours of +discomfort, when I can do nothing whatever. I have thus, also, lost two +whole consecutive months this season. Owing to this weakness, and my head +being often giddy, I am unable to master new subjects requiring much +thought, and can deal only with old materials. At no time am I a quick +thinker or writer: whatever I have done in science has solely been by long +pondering, patience and industry. + +"Now I have never systematically thought much on religion in relation to +science, or on morals in relation to society; and without steadily keeping +my mind on such subjects for a LONG period, I am really incapable of +writing anything worth sending to the 'Index'." + +He was more than once asked to give his views on religion, and he had, as a +rule, no objection to doing so in a private letter. Thus in answer to a +Dutch student he wrote (April 2, 1873):-- + +"I am sure you will excuse my writing at length, when I tell you that I +have long been much out of health, and am now staying away from my home for +rest. + +"It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am not sure that I +could do so, even if I wrote at some length. But I may say that the +impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our +conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for +the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have +never been able to decide. I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the +mind still craves to know whence it came, and how it arose. Nor can I +overlook the difficulty from the immense amount of suffering through the +world. I am, also, induced to defer to a certain extent to the judgment of +the many able men who have fully believed in God; but here again I see how +poor an argument this is. The safest conclusion seems to me that the whole +subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do his duty." + +Again in 1879 he was applied to by a German student, in a similar manner. +The letter was answered by a member of my father's family, who wrote:-- + +"Mr. Darwin begs me to say that he receives so many letters, that he cannot +answer them all. + +"He considers that the theory of Evolution is quite compatible with the +belief in a God; but that you must remember that different persons have +different definitions of what they mean by God." + +This, however, did not satisfy the German youth, who again wrote to my +father, and received from him the following reply:-- + +"I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and I cannot spare time +to answer your questions fully,--nor indeed can they be answered. Science +has nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific +research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I do not +believe that there ever has been any revelation. As for a future life, +every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities." + +The passages which here follow are extracts, somewhat abbreviated, from a +part of the Autobiography, written in 1876, in which my father gives the +history of his religious views:-- + +"During these two years (October 1836 to January 1839.) I was led to think +much about religion. Whilst on board the 'Beagle' I was quite orthodox, +and I remember being heartily laughed at by several of the officers (though +themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable authority on +some point of morality. I suppose it was the novelty of the argument that +amused them. But I had gradually come by this time, i.e. 1836 to 1839, to +see that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books +of the Hindoos. The question then continually rose before my mind and +would not be banished,--is it credible that if God were now to make a +revelation to the Hindoos, he would permit it to be connected with the +belief in Vishnu, Siva, etc., as Christianity is connected with the Old +Testament? This appeared to me utterly incredible. + +"By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be requisite to +make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is +supported,--and that the more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more +incredible do miracles become,--that the men at that time were ignorant and +credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us,--that the Gospels +cannot be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events,--that +they differ in many important details, far too important, as it seemed to +me, to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eye-witnesses;--by such +reflections as these, which I give not as having the least novelty or +value, but as they influenced me, I gradually came to disbelieve in +Christianity as a divine revelation. The fact that many false religions +have spread over large portions of the earth like wild-fire had some weight +with me. + +"But I was very unwilling to give up my belief; I feel sure of this, for I +can well remember often and often inventing day-dreams of old letters +between distinguished Romans, and manuscripts being discovered at Pompeii +or elsewhere, which confirmed in the most striking manner all that was +written in the Gospels. But I found it more and more difficult, with free +scope given to my imagination, to invent evidence which would suffice to +convince me. Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at +last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress. + +"Although I did not think much about the existence of a personal God until +a considerably later period of my life, I will here give the vague +conclusions to which I have been driven. The old argument from design in +Nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, +fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can +no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell +must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by +man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic +beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which +the wind blows. But I have discussed this subject at the end of my book on +the 'Variations of Domesticated Animals and Plants' (My father asks whether +we are to believe that the forms are preordained of the broken fragments of +rock tumbled from a precipice which are fitted together by man to build his +houses. If not, why should we believe that the variations of domestic +animals or plants are preordained for the sake of the breeder? "But if we +give up the principle in one case,...no shadow of reason can be assigned +for the belief that variations, alike in nature and the result of the same +general laws, which have been the groundwork through natural selection of +the formation of the most perfectly adapted animals in the world, man +included, were intentionally and specially guided."--'The Variation of +Animals and Plants,' 1st Edition volume ii. page 431.--F.D.), and the +argument there given has never, as far as I can see, been answered. + +"But passing over the endless beautiful adaptations which we everywhere +meet with, it may be asked how can the generally beneficent arrangement of +the world be accounted for? Some writers indeed are so much impressed with +the amount of suffering in the world, that they doubt, if we look to all +sentient beings, whether there is more of misery or of happiness; whether +the world as a whole is a good or bad one. According to my judgment +happiness decidedly prevails, though this would be very difficult to prove. +If the truth of this conclusion be granted, it harmonises well with the +effects which we might expect from natural selection. If all the +individuals of any species were habitually to suffer to an extreme degree, +they would neglect to propagate their kind; but we have no reason to +believe that this has ever, or at least often occurred. Some other +considerations, moreover, lead to the belief that all sentient beings have +been formed so as to enjoy, as a general rule, happiness. + +"Everyone who believes, as I do, that all the corporeal and mental organs +(excepting those which are neither advantageous nor disadvantageous to the +possessor) of all beings have been developed through natural selection, or +the survival of the fittest, together with use or habit, will admit that +these organs have been formed so that their possessors may compete +successfully with other beings, and thus increase in number. Now an animal +may be led to pursue that course of action which is most beneficial to the +species by suffering, such as pain, hunger, thirst, and fear; or by +pleasure, as in eating and drinking, and in the propagation of the species, +etc.; or by both means combined, as in the search for food. But pain or +suffering of any kind, if long continued, causes depression and lessens the +power of action, yet is well adapted to make a creature guard itself +against any great or sudden evil. Pleasurable sensations, on the other +hand, may be long continued without any depressing effect; on the contrary, +they stimulate the whole system to increased action. Hence it has come to +pass that most or all sentient beings have been developed in such a manner, +through natural selection, that pleasurable sensations serve as their +habitual guides. We see this in the pleasure from exertion, even +occasionally from great exertion of the body or mind,--in the pleasure of +our daily meals, and especially in the pleasure derived from sociability, +and from loving our families. The sum of such pleasures as these, which +are habitual or frequently recurrent, give, as I can hardly doubt, to most +sentient beings an excess of happiness over misery, although many +occasionally suffer much. Such suffering is quite compatible with the +belief in Natural Selection, which is not perfect in its action, but tends +only to render each species as successful as possible in the battle for +life with other species, in wonderfully complex and changing circumstances. + +"That there is much suffering in the world no one disputes. Some have +attempted to explain this with reference to man by imagining that it serves +for his moral improvement. But the number of men in the world is as +nothing compared with that of all other sentient beings, and they often +suffer greatly without any moral improvement. This very old argument from +the existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent First +Cause seems to me a strong one; whereas, as just remarked, the presence of +much suffering agrees well with the view that all organic beings have been +developed through variation and natural selection. + +"At the present day the most usual argument for the existence of an +intelligent God is drawn from the deep inward conviction and feelings which +are experienced by most persons. + +"Formerly I was led by feelings such as those just referred to (although I +do not think that the religious sentiment was ever strongly developed in +me), to the firm conviction of the existence of God, and of the immortality +of the soul. In my Journal I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of +the grandeur of a Brazilian forest, "it is not possible to give an adequate +idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion, which fill +and elevate the mind." I well remember my conviction that there is more in +man than the mere breath of his body. But now the grandest scenes would +not cause any such convictions and feelings to rise in my mind. It may be +truly said that I am like a man who has become colour-blind, and the +universal belief by men of the existence of redness makes my present loss +of perception of not the least value as evidence. This argument would be a +valid one if all men of all races had the same inward conviction of the +existence of one God; but we know that this is very far from being the +case. Therefore I cannot see that such inward convictions and feelings are +of any weight as evidence of what really exists. The state of mind which +grand scenes formerly excited in me, and which was intimately connected +with a belief in God, did not essentially differ from that which is often +called the sense of sublimity; and however difficult it may be to explain +the genesis of this sense, it can hardly be advanced as an argument for the +existence of God, any more than the powerful though vague and similar +feelings excited by music. + +"With respect to immortality, nothing shows me [so clearly] how strong and +almost instinctive a belief it is, as the consideration of the view now +held by most physicists, namely, that the sun with all the planets will in +time grow too cold for life, unless indeed some great body dashes into the +sun, and thus gives it fresh life. Believing as I do that man in the +distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an +intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to +complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those +who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our +world will not appear so dreadful. + +"Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the +reason, and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. +This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of +conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his +capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of +blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look +to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to +that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. This conclusion was +strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote +the 'Origin of Species;' and it is since that time that it has very +gradually, with many fluctuations, become weaker. But then arises the +doubt, can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed +from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when +it draws such grand conclusions? + +"I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The +mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one +must be content to remain an Agnostic." + +The following letters repeat to some extent what has been given from the +Autobiography. The first one refers to 'The Boundaries of Science, a +Dialogue,' published in 'Macmillan's Magazine,' for July 1861.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS JULIA WEDGWOOD. +July 11 [1861]. + +Some one has sent us 'Macmillan'; and I must tell you how much I admire +your Article; though at the same time I must confess that I could not +clearly follow you in some parts, which probably is in main part due to my +not being at all accustomed to metaphysical trains of thought. I think +that you understand my book (The 'Origin of Species.') perfectly, and that +I find a very rare event with my critics. The ideas in the last page have +several times vaguely crossed my mind. Owing to several correspondents I +have been led lately to think, or rather to try to think over some of the +chief points discussed by you. But the result has been with me a maze-- +something like thinking on the origin of evil, to which you allude. The +mind refuses to look at this universe, being what it is, without having +been designed; yet, where one would most expect design, viz. in the +structure of a sentient being, the more I think on the subject, the less I +can see proof of design. Asa Gray and some others look at each variation, +or at least at each beneficial variation (which A. Gray would compare with +the rain drops (Dr. Gray's rain-drop metaphor occurs in the Essay 'Darwin +and his Reviewers' ('Darwiniana,' page 157): "The whole animate life of a +country depends absolutely upon the vegetation, the vegetation upon the +rain. The moisture is furnished by the ocean, is raised by the sun's heat +from the ocean's surface, and is wafted inland by the winds. But what +multitudes of rain-drops fall back into the ocean--are as much without a +final cause as the incipient varieties which come to nothing! Does it +therefore follow that the rains which are bestowed upon the soil with such +rule and average regularity were not designed to support vegetable and +animal life?") which do not fall on the sea, but on to the land to +fertilize it) as having been providentially designed. Yet when I ask him +whether he looks at each variation in the rock-pigeon, by which man has +made by accumulation a pouter or fantail pigeon, as providentially designed +for man's amusement, he does not know what to answer; and if he, or any +one, admits [that] these variations are accidental, as far as purpose is +concerned (of course not accidental as to their cause or origin); then I +can see no reason why he should rank the accumulated variations by which +the beautifully adapted woodpecker has been formed, as providentially +designed. For it would be easy to imagine the enlarged crop of the pouter, +or tail of the fantail, as of some use to birds, in a state of nature, +having peculiar habits of life. These are the considerations which perplex +me about design; but whether you will care to hear them, I know not. + +... + +[On the subject of design, he wrote (July 1860) to Dr. Gray: + +"One word more on 'designed laws' and 'undesigned results.' I see a bird +which I want for food, take my gun and kill it, I do this DESIGNEDLY. An +innocent and good man stands under a tree and is killed by a flash of +lightning. Do you believe (and I really should like to hear) that God +DESIGNEDLY killed this man? Many or most persons do believe this; I can't +and don't. If you believe so, do you believe that when a swallow snaps up +a gnat that God designed that that particular swallow should snap up that +particular gnat at that particular instant? I believe that the man and the +gnat are in the same predicament. If the death of neither man nor gnat are +designed, I see no good reason to believe that their FIRST birth or +production should be necessarily designed."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. GRAHAM. +Down, July 3rd, 1881. + +Dear Sir, + +I hope that you will not think it intrusive on my part to thank you +heartily for the pleasure which I have derived from reading your admirably +written 'Creed of Science,' though I have not yet quite finished it, as now +that I am old I read very slowly. It is a very long time since any other +book has interested me so much. The work must have cost you several years +and much hard labour with full leisure for work. You would not probably +expect any one fully to agree with you on so many abstruse subjects; and +there are some points in your book which I cannot digest. The chief one is +that the existence of so-called natural laws implies purpose. I cannot see +this. Not to mention that many expect that the several great laws will +some day be found to follow inevitably from some one single law, yet taking +the laws as we now know them, and look at the moon, where the law of +gravitation--and no doubt of the conservation of energy--of the atomic +theory, etc. etc., hold good, and I cannot see that there is then +necessarily any purpose. Would there be purpose if the lowest organisms +alone, destitute of consciousness existed in the moon? But I have had no +practice in abstract reasoning, and I may be all astray. Nevertheless you +have expressed my inward conviction, though far more vividly and clearly +than I could have done, that the Universe is not the result of chance. +(The Duke of Argyll ('Good Words,' Ap. 1885, page 244) has recorded a few +words on this subject, spoken by my father in the last year of his life. +"...in the course of that conversation I said to Mr. Darwin, with reference +to some of his own remarkable works on the 'Fertilization of Orchids,' and +upon 'The Earthworms,' and various other observations he made of the +wonderful contrivances for certain purposes in nature--I said it was +impossible to look at these without seeing that they were the effect and +the expression of mind. I shall never forget Mr. Darwin's answer. He +looked at me very hard and said, 'Well, that often comes over me with +overwhelming force; but at other times,' and he shook his head vaguely, +adding, 'it seems to go away.'") But then with me the horrid doubt always +arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from +the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. +Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any +convictions in such a mind? Secondly, I think that I could make somewhat +of a case against the enormous importance which you attribute to our +greatest men; I have been accustomed to think, second, third, and fourth +rate men of very high importance, at least in the case of Science. Lastly, +I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the +progress of civilization than you seem inclined to admit. Remember what +risk the nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago of being +overwhelmed by the Turks, and how ridiculous such an idea now is! The more +civilised so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the +struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what +an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the +higher civilized races throughout the world. But I will write no more, and +not even mention the many points in your work which have much interested +me. I have indeed cause to apologise for troubling you with my +impressions, and my sole excuse is the excitement in my mind which your +book has aroused. + +I beg leave to remain, +Dear Sir, +Yours faithfully and obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[My father spoke little on these subjects, and I can contribute nothing +from my own recollection of his conversation which can add to the +impression here given of his attitude towards Religion. Some further idea +of his views may, however, be gathered from occasional remarks in his +letters.] (Dr. Aveling has published an account of a conversation with my +father. I think that the readers of this pamphlet ('The Religious Views of +Charles Darwin,' Free Thought Publishing Company, 1883) may be misled into +seeing more resemblance than really existed between the positions of my +father and Dr. Aveling: and I say this in spite of my conviction that Dr. +Aveling gives quite fairly his impressions of my father's views. Dr. +Aveling tried to show that the terms "Agnostic" and "Atheist" were +practically equivalent--that an atheist is one who, without denying the +existence of God, is without God, inasmuch as he is unconvinced of the +existence of a Deity. My father's replies implied his preference for the +unaggressive attitude of an Agnostic. Dr. Aveling seems (page 5) to regard +the absence of aggressiveness in my father's views as distinguishing them +in an unessential manner from his own. But, in my judgment, it is +precisely differences of this kind which distinguish him so completely from +the class of thinkers to which Dr. Aveling belongs.) + + +CHAPTER 1.IX. + +LIFE AT DOWN. + +1842-1854. + +"My life goes on like clockwork, and I am fixed on the spot where I shall +end it." + +Letter to Captain Fitz-Roy, October, 1846. + +[With the view of giving in the following chapters a connected account of +the growth of the 'Origin of Species,' I have taken the more important +letters bearing on that subject out of their proper chronological position +here, and placed them with the rest of the correspondence bearing on the +same subject; so that in the present group of letters we only get +occasional hints of the growth of my father's views, and we may suppose +ourselves to be looking at his life, as it might have been looked at by +those who had no knowledge of the quiet development of his theory of +evolution during this period. + +On September 14, 1842, my father left London with his family and settled at +Down. (I must not omit to mention a member of the household who +accompanied him. This was his butler, Joseph Parslow, who remained in the +family, a valued friend and servant, for forty years, and became as Sir +Joseph Hooker once remarked to me, "an integral part of the family, and +felt to be such by all visitors at the house.") In the Autobiographical +chapter, his motives for taking this step in the country are briefly given. +He speaks of the attendance at scientific societies, and ordinary social +duties, as suiting his health so "badly that we resolved to live in the +country, which we both preferred and have never repented of." His +intention of keeping up with scientific life in London is expressed in a +letter to Fox (December, 1842):-- + +"I hope by going up to town for a night every fortnight or three weeks, to +keep up my communication with scientific men and my own zeal, and so not to +turn into a complete Kentish hog." + +Visits to London of this kind were kept up for some years at the cost of +much exertion on his part. I have often heard him speak of the wearisome +drives of ten miles to or from Croydon or Sydenham--the nearest stations-- +with an old gardener acting as coachman, who drove with great caution and +slowness up and down the many hills. In later years, all regular +scientific intercourse with London became, as before mentioned, an +impossibility. + +The choice of Down was rather the result of despair than of actual +preference; my father and mother were weary of house-hunting, and the +attractive points about the place thus seemed to them to counterbalance its +somewhat more obvious faults. It had at least one desideratum, namely +quietness. Indeed it would have been difficult to find a more retired +place so near to London. In 1842 a coach drive of some twenty miles was +the only means of access to Down; and even now that railways have crept +closer to it, it is singularly out of the world, with nothing to suggest +the neighbourhood of London, unless it be the dull haze of smoke that +sometimes clouds the sky. The village stands in an angle between two of +the larger high-roads of the country, one leading to Tunbridge and the +other to Westerham and Edenbridge. It is cut off from the Weald by a line +of steep chalk hills on the south, and an abrupt hill, now smoothed down by +a cutting and embankment, must formerly have been something of a barrier +against encroachments from the side of London. In such a situation, a +village, communicating with the main lines of traffic, only by stony +tortuous lanes, may well have been enabled to preserve its retired +character. Nor is it hard to believe in the smugglers and their strings of +pack-horses making their way up from the lawless old villages of the Weald, +of which the memory still existed when my father settled in Down. The +village stands on solitary upland country, 500 to 600 feet above the sea,-- +a country with little natural beauty, but possessing a certain charm in the +shaws, or straggling strips of wood, capping the chalky banks and looking +down upon the quiet ploughed lands of the valleys. The village, of three +or four hundred inhabitants, consists of three small streets of cottages +meeting in front of the little flint-built church. It is a place where +new-comers are seldom seen, and the names occurring far back in the old +church registers are still well-known in the village. The smock-frock is +not yet quite extinct, though chiefly used as a ceremonial dress by the +"bearers" at funerals: but as a boy I remember the purple or green smocks +of the men at church. + +The house stands a quarter of a mile from the village, and is built, like +so many houses of the last century, as near as possible to the road--a +narrow lane winding away to the Westerham high-road. In 1842, it was dull +and unattractive enough: a square brick building of three storeys, covered +with shabby whitewash and hanging tiles. The garden had none of the +shrubberies or walls that now give shelter; it was overlooked from the +lane, and was open, bleak, and desolate. One of my father's first +undertakings was to lower the lane by about two feet, and to build a flint +wall along that part of it which bordered the garden. The earth thus +excavated was used in making banks and mounds round the lawn: these were +planted with evergreens, which now give to the garden its retired and +sheltered character. + +The house was made to look neater by being covered with stucco, but the +chief improvement effected was the building of a large bow extending up +through three storeys. This bow became covered with a tangle of creepers, +and pleasantly varied the south side of the house. The drawing-room, with +its verandah opening into the garden, as well as the study in which my +father worked during the later years of his life, were added at subsequent +dates. + +Eighteen acres of land were sold with the house, of which twelve acres on +the south side of the house formed a pleasant field, scattered with fair- +sized oaks and ashes. From this field a strip was cut off and converted +into a kitchen garden, in which the experimental plot of ground was +situated, and where the greenhouses were ultimately put up. + +The following letter to Mr. Fox (March 28th, 1843) gives among other things +my father's early impressions of Down:-- + +"I will tell you all the trifling particulars about myself that I can think +of. We are now exceedingly busy with the first brick laid down yesterday +to an addition to our house; with this, with almost making a new kitchen +garden and sundry other projected schemes, my days are very full. I find +all this very bad for geology, but I am very slowly progressing with a +volume, or rather pamphlet, on the volcanic islands which we visited: I +manage only a couple of hours per day and that not very regularly. It is +uphill work writing books, which cost money in publishing, and which are +not read even by geologists. I forget whether I ever described this place: +it is a good, very ugly house with 18 acres, situated on a chalk flat, 560 +feet above sea. There are peeps of far distant country and the scenery is +moderately pretty: its chief merit is its extreme rurality. I think I was +never in a more perfectly quiet country. Three miles south of us the great +chalk escarpment quite cuts us off from the low country of Kent, and +between us and the escarpment there is not a village or gentleman's house, +but only great woods and arable fields (the latter in sadly preponderant +numbers) so that we are absolutely at the extreme verge of the world. The +whole country is intersected by foot-paths; but the surface over the chalk +is clayey and sticky, which is the worst feature in our purchase. The +dingles and banks often remind me of Cambridgeshire and walks with you to +Cherry Hinton, and other places, though the general aspect of the country +is very different. I was looking over my arranged cabinet (the only +remnant I have preserved of all my English insects), and was admiring +Panagaeus Crux-major: it is curious the vivid manner in which this insect +calls up in my mind your appearance, with little Fan trotting after, when I +was first introduced to you. Those entomological days were very pleasant +ones. I am VERY much stronger corporeally, but am little better in being +able to stand mental fatigue, or rather excitement, so that I cannot dine +out or receive visitors, except relations with whom I can pass some time +after dinner in silence." + +I could have wished to give here some idea of the position which, at this +period of his life, my father occupied among scientific men and the reading +public generally. But contemporary notices are few and of no particular +value for my purpose,--which therefore must, in spite of a good deal of +pains, remain unfulfilled. + +His 'Journal of Researches' was then the only one of his books which had +any chance of being commonly known. But the fact that it was published +with the 'Voyages' of Captains King and Fitz-Roy probably interfered with +its general popularity. Thus Lyell wrote to him in 1838 ('Lyell's Life,' +ii. page 43), "I assure you my father is quite enthusiastic about your +journal...and he agrees with me that it would have a large sale if +published separately. He was disappointed at hearing that it was to be +fettered by the other volumes, for, although he should equally buy it, he +feared so many of the public would be checked from doing so." In a notice +of the three voyages in the 'Edinburgh Review' (July, 1839), there is +nothing leading a reader to believe that he would find it more attractive +than its fellow-volumes. And, as a fact, it did not become widely known +until it was separately published in 1845. It may be noted, however, that +the 'Quarterly Review' (December, 1839) called the attention of its readers +to the merits of the 'Journal' as a book of travels. The reviewer speaks +of the "charm arising from the freshness of heart which is thrown over +these virgin pages of a strong intellectual man and an acute and deep +observer." + +The German translation (1844) of the 'Journal' received a favourable notice +in No. 12 of the 'Heidelberger Jahrbucher der Literatur,' 1847--where the +Reviewer speaks of the author's "varied canvas, on which he sketches in +lively colours the strange customs of those distant regions with their +remarkable fauna, flora and geological peculiarities." Alluding to the +translation, my father writes--"Dr. Dieffenbach...has translated my +'Journal' into German, and I must, with unpardonable vanity, boast that it +was at the instigation of Liebig and Humboldt." + +The geological work of which he speaks in the above letter to Mr. Fox +occupied him for the whole of 1843, and was published in the spring of the +following year. It was entitled 'Geological Observations on the Volcanic +Islands, visited during the voyage of H.M.S. "Beagle", together with some +brief notices on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope': it +formed the second part of the 'Geology of the Voyage of the "Beagle",' +published "with the Approval of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's +Treasury." The volume on 'Coral Reefs' forms Part I. of the series, and +was published, as we have seen, in 1842. For the sake of the non- +geological reader, I may here quote Professor Geikie's words (Charles +Darwin, 'Nature' Series, 1882.) on these two volumes--which were up to this +time my father's chief geological works. Speaking of the 'Coral Reefs,' he +says:--page 17, "This well-known treatise, the most original of all its +author's geological memoirs, has become one of the classics of geological +literature. The origin of those remarkable rings of coral-rock in mid- +ocean has given rise to much speculation, but no satisfactory solution of +the problem has been proposed. After visiting many of them, and examining +also coral reefs that fringe islands and continents, he offered a theory +which for simplicity and grandeur strikes every reader with astonishment. +It is pleasant, after the lapse of many years, to recall the delight with +which one first read the 'Coral Reefs'; how one watched the facts being +marshalled into their places, nothing being ignored or passed lightly over; +and how, step by step, one was led to the grand conclusion of wide oceanic +subsidence. No more admirable example of scientific method was ever given +to the world, and even if he had written nothing else, the treatise alone +would have placed Darwin in the very front of investigators of nature." + +It is interesting to see in the following extract from one of Lyell's +letters (To Sir John Herschel, May 24, 1837. 'Life of Sir Charles Lyell,' +vol. ii. page 12.) how warmly and readily he embraced the theory. The +extract also gives incidentally some idea of the theory itself. + +"I am very full of Darwin's new theory of Coral Islands, and have urged +Whewell to make him read it at our next meeting. I must give up my +volcanic crater theory for ever, though it cost me a pang at first, for it +accounted for so much, the annular form, the central lagoon, the sudden +rising of an isolated mountain in a deep sea; all went so well with the +notion of submerged, crateriform, and conical volcanoes,...and then the +fact that in the South Pacific we had scarcely any rocks in the regions of +coral islands, save two kinds, coral limestone and volcanic! Yet spite of +all this, the whole theory is knocked on the head, and the annular shape +and central lagoon have nothing to do with volcanoes, nor even with a +crateriform bottom. Perhaps Darwin told you when at the Cape what he +considers the true cause? Let any mountain be submerged gradually, and +coral grow in the sea in which it is sinking, and there will be a ring of +coral, and finally only a lagoon in the centre. Why? For the same reason +that a barrier reef of coral grows along certain coasts: Australia, etc. +Coral islands are the last efforts of drowning continents to lift their +heads above water. Regions of elevation and subsidence in the ocean may be +traced by the state of the coral reefs." There is little to be said as to +published contemporary criticism. The book was not reviewed in the +'Quarterly Review' till 1847, when a favourable notice was given. The +reviewer speaks of the "bold and startling" character of the work, but +seems to recognize the fact that the views are generally accepted by +geologists. By that time the minds of men were becoming more ready to +receive geology of this type. Even ten years before, in 1837, Lyell ('Life +of Sir Charles Lyell,' vol. ii. page 6.) says, "people are now much better +prepared to believe Darwin when he advances proofs of the slow rise of the +Andes, than they were in 1830, when I first startled them with that +doctrine." This sentence refers to the theory elaborated in my father's +geological observations on South America (1846), but the gradual change in +receptivity of the geological mind must have been favourable to all his +geological work. Nevertheless, Lyell seems at first not to have expected +any ready acceptance of the Coral theory; thus he wrote to my father in +1837:--"I could think of nothing for days after your lesson on coral reefs, +but of the tops of submerged continents. It is all true, but do not +flatter yourself that you will be believed till you are growing bald like +me, with hard work and vexation at the incredulity of the world." + +The second part of the 'Geology of the Voyage of the "Beagle",' i.e. the +volume on Volcanic Islands, which specially concerns us now, cannot be +better described than by again quoting from Professor Geikie (page 18):-- + +"Full of detailed observations, this work still remains the best authority +on the general geological structure of most of the regions it describes. +At the time it was written the 'crater of elevation theory,' though opposed +by Constant Prevost, Scrope, and Lyell, was generally accepted, at least on +the Continent. Darwin, however, could not receive it as a valid +explanation of the facts; and though he did not share the view of its chief +opponents, but ventured to propose a hypothesis of his own, the +observations impartially made and described by him in this volume must be +regarded as having contributed towards the final solution of the +difficulty." Professor Geikie continues (page 21): "He is one of the +earliest writers to recognize the magnitude of the denudation to which even +recent geological accumulations have been subjected. One of the most +impressive lessons to be learnt from his account of 'Volcanic Islands' is +the prodigious extent to which they have been denuded...He was disposed to +attribute more of this work to the sea than most geologists would now +admit; but he lived himself to modify his original views, and on this +subject his latest utterances are quite abreast of the time." + +An extract from a letter of my father's to Lyell shows his estimate of his +own work. "You have pleased me much by saying that you intend looking +through my 'Volcanic Islands': it cost me eighteen months!!! and I have +heard of very few who have read it. Now I shall feel, whatever little (and +little it is) there is confirmatory of old work, or new, will work its +effect and not be lost." + +The third of his geological books, 'Geological Observations on South +America,' may be mentioned here, although it was not published until 1846. +"In this work the author embodied all the materials collected by him for +the illustration of South American Geology, save some which have been +published elsewhere. One of the most important features of the book was +the evidence which it brought forward to prove the slow interrupted +elevation of the South American Continent during a recent geological +period." (Geikie, loc. cit.) + +Of this book my father wrote to Lyell:--"My volume will be about 240 pages, +dreadfully dull, yet much condensed. I think whenever you have time to +look through it, you will think the collection of facts on the elevation of +the land and on the formation of terraces pretty good." + +Of his special geological work as a whole, Professor Geikie, while pointing +out that it was not "of the same epoch-making kind as his biological +researches," remarks that he "gave a powerful impulse to" the general +reception of Lyell's teaching "by the way in which he gathered from all +parts of the world facts in its support." + + +WORK OF THE PERIOD 1842 TO 1854. + +The work of these years may be roughly divided into a period of geology +from 1842 to 1846, and one of zoology from 1846 onwards. + +I extract from his diary notices of the time spent on his geological books +and on his 'Journal.' + +'Volcanic Islands.' Summer of 1842 to January, 1844. + +'Geology of South America.' July, 1844, to April, 1845. + +Second Edition of 'The Journal,' October, 1845, to October, 1846. + +The time between October, 1846, and October, 1854, was practically given up +to working at the Cirripedia (Barnacles); the results were published in two +volumes by the Ray Society in 1851 and 1854. His volumes on the Fossil +Cirripedes were published by the Palaeontographical Society in 1851 and +1854. + +Some account of these volumes will be given later. + +The minor works may be placed together, independently of subject matter. + +"Observations on the Structure, etc., of the genus Sagitta," Ann. Nat. +Hist. xiii., 1844, pages 1-6. + +"Brief descriptions of several Terrestrial Planariae, etc.," Ann. Nat. +Hist. xiv., 1844, pages 241-251. + +"An Account of the Fine Dust (A sentence occurs in this paper of interest, +as showing that the author was alive to the importance of all means of +distribution:--"The fact that particles of this size have been brought at +least 330 miles from the land is interesting as bearing on the distribution +of Cryptogamic plants.") which often Falls on Vessels in the Atlantic +Ocean," Geol. Soc. Journ. ii., 1846, pages 26-30. + +"On the Geology of the Falkland Islands," Geol. Soc. Journ. ii., 1846, +pages 267-274. + +"On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders, etc.," Geol. Soc. Journ. iv., +1848, pages 315-323. (An extract from a letter to Lyell, 1847, is of +interest in connection with this essay:--"Would you be so good (if you know +it) as to put Maclaren's address on the enclosed letter and post it. It is +chiefly to enquire in what paper he has described the Boulders on Arthur's +Seat. Mr. D. Milne in the last Edinburgh 'New Phil. Journal' [1847], has a +long paper on it. He says: 'Some glacialists have ventured to explain the +transportation of boulders even in the situation of those now referred to, +by imagining that they were transported on ice floes,' etc. He treats this +view, and the scratching of rocks by icebergs, as almost absurd...he has +finally stirred me up so, that (without you would answer him) I think I +will send a paper in opposition to the same Journal. I can thus introduce +some old remarks of mine, and some new, and will insist on your capital +observations in N. America. It is a bore to stop one's work, but he has +made me quite wroth.") + +The article "Geology," in the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry +(1849), pages 156-195. This was written in the spring of 1848. + +"On British Fossil Lepadidae," 'Geol. Soc. Journ.' vi., 1850, pages 439- +440. + +"Analogy of the structure of some Volcanic Rocks with that of Glaciers," +'Edin. Roy. Soc. Proc.' ii., 1851, pages 17-18. + +Professor Geikie has been so good as to give me (in a letter dated November +1885) his impressions of my father's article in the 'Admiralty Manual.' He +mentions the following points as characteristic of the work:-- + +"1. Great breadth of view. No one who had not practically studied and +profoundly reflected on the questions discussed could have written it. + +"2. The insight so remarkable in all that Mr. Darwin ever did. The way in +which he points out lines of enquiry that would elucidate geological +problems is eminently typical of him. Some of these lines have never yet +been adequately followed; so with regard to them he was in advance of his +time. + +"3. Interesting and sympathetic treatment. The author at once puts his +readers into harmony with him. He gives them enough of information to show +how delightful the field is to which he invites them, and how much they +might accomplish in it. There is a broad sketch of the subject which +everybody can follow, and there is enough of detail to instruct and guide a +beginner and start him on the right track. + +"Of course, geology has made great strides since 1849, and the article, if +written now, would need to take notice of other branches of inquiry, and to +modify statements which are not now quite accurate; but most of the advice +Mr. Darwin gives is as needful and valuable now as when it was given. It +is curious to see with what unerring instinct he seems to have fastened on +the principles that would stand the test of time." + +In a letter to Lyell (1853) my father wrote, "I went up for a paper by the +Arctic Dr. Sutherland, on ice action, read only in abstract, but I should +think with much good matter. It was very pleasant to hear that it was +written owing to the Admiralty Manual." + +To give some idea of the retired life which now began for my father at +Down, I have noted from his diary the short periods during which he was +away from home between the autumn of 1842, when he came to Down, and the +end of 1854. + +1843 July.--Week at Maer and Shrewsbury. + October.--Twelve days at Shrewsbury. + +1844 April.--Week at Maer and Shrewsbury. + July.--Twelve days at Shrewsbury. + +1845 September 15.--Six weeks, "Shrewsbury, Lincolnshire, York, + the Dean of Manchester, Waterton, Chatsworth." + +1846 February.--Eleven days at Shrewsbury. + July.--Ten days at Shrewsbury. + September.--Ten days at Southampton, etc., for the British + Association. + +1847 February.--Twelve days at Shrewsbury. + June.--Ten days at Oxford, etc., for the British Association. + October.--Fortnight at Shrewsbury. + +1848 May.--Fortnight at Shrewsbury. + July.--Week at Swanage. + October.--Fortnight at Shrewsbury. + November.--Eleven days at Shrewsbury. + +1849 March to June.--Sixteen weeks at Malvern. + September.--Eleven days at Birmingham for the British Association. + +1850 June.--Week at Malvern. + August.--Week at Leith Hill, the house of a relative. + October.--Week at the house of another relative. + +1851 March.--Week at Malvern. + April.--Nine days at Malvern. + July.--Twelve days in London. + +1852 March.--Week at Rugby and Shrewsbury. + September.--Six days at the house of a relative. + +1853 July.--Three weeks at Eastbourne. + August.--Five days at the military Camp at Chobham. + +1854 March.--Five days at the house of a relative. + July.--Three days at the house of a relative. + October.--Six days at the house of a relative. + +It will be seen that he was absent from home sixty weeks in twelve years. +But it must be remembered that much of the remaining time spent at Down was +lost through ill-health.] + + +LETTERS. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO R. FITZ-ROY. +Down [March 31st, 1843]. + +Dear Fitz-Roy, + +I read yesterday with surprise and the greatest interest, your appointment +as Governor of New Zealand. I do not know whether to congratulate you on +it, but I am sure I may the Colony, on possessing your zeal and energy. I +am most anxious to know whether the report is true, for I cannot bear the +thoughts of your leaving the country without seeing you once again; the +past is often in my memory, and I feel that I owe to you much bygone +enjoyment, and the whole destiny of my life, which (had my health been +stronger) would have been one full of satisfaction to me. During the last +three months I have never once gone up to London without intending to call +in the hopes of seeing Mrs. Fitz-Roy and yourself; but I find, most +unfortunately for myself, that the little excitement of breaking out of my +most quiet routine so generally knocks me up, that I am able to do scarcely +anything when in London, and I have not even been able to attend one +evening meeting of the Geological Society. Otherwise, I am very well, as +are, thank God, my wife and two children. The extreme retirement of this +place suits us all very well, and we enjoy our country life much. But I am +writing trifles about myself, when your mind and time must be fully +occupied. My object in writing is to beg of you or Mrs. Fitz-Roy to have +the kindness to send me one line to say whether it is true, and whether you +sail soon. I shall come up next week for one or two days; could you see me +for even five minutes, if I called early on Thursday morning, viz. at nine +or ten o'clock, or at whatever hour (if you keep early ship hours) you +finish your breakfast. Pray remember me very kindly to Mrs. Fitz-Roy, who +I trust is able to look at her long voyage with boldness. + +Believe me, dear Fitz-Roy, +Your ever truly obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[A quotation from another letter (1846) to Fitz-Roy may be worth giving, as +showing my father's affectionate remembrance of his old Captain. + +"Farewell, dear Fitz-Roy, I often think of your many acts of kindness to +me, and not seldomest on the time, no doubt quite forgotten by you, when, +before making Madeira, you came and arranged my hammock with your own +hands, and which, as I afterwards heard, brought tears into my father's +eyes."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +[Down, September 5, 1843.] +Monday morning. + +My dear Fox, + +When I sent off the glacier paper, I was just going out and so had no time +to write. I hope your friend will enjoy (and I wish you were going there +with him) his tour as much as I did. It was a kind of geological novel. +But your friend must have patience, for he will not get a good GLACIAL EYE +for a few days. Murchison and Count Keyserling RUSHED through North Wales +the same autumn and could see nothing except the effects of rain trickling +over the rocks! I cross-examined Murchison a little, and evidently saw he +had looked carefully at nothing. I feel CERTAIN about the glacier-effects +in North Wales. Get up your steam, if this weather lasts, and have a +ramble in Wales; its glorious scenery must do every one's heart and body +good. I wish I had energy to come to Delamere and go with you; but as you +observe, you might as well ask St. Paul's. Whenever I give myself a trip, +it shall be, I think, to Scotland, to hunt for more parallel roads. My +marine theory for these roads was for a time knocked on the head by Agassiz +ice-work, but it is now reviving again... + +Farewell,--we are getting nearly finished--almost all the workmen gone, and +the gravel laying down on the walks. Ave Maria! how the money does go. +There are twice as many temptations to extravagance in the country compared +with London. Adios. + +Yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [1844?]. + +...I have also read the 'Vestiges,' ('The Vestiges of the Natural History +of Creation' was published anonymously in 1844, and is confidently believed +to have been written by the late Robert Chambers. My father's copy gives +signs of having been carefully read, a long list of marked passages being +pinned in at the end. One useful lesson he seems to have learned from it. +He writes: "The idea of a fish passing into a reptile, monstrous. I will +not specify any genealogies--much too little known at present." He refers +again to the book in a letter to Fox, February, 1845: "Have you read that +strange, unphilosophical but capitally-written book, the 'Vestiges': it +has made more talk than any work of late, and has been by some attributed +to me--at which I ought to be much flattered and unflattered."), but have +been somewhat less amused at it than you appear to have been: the writing +and arrangement are certainly admirable, but his geology strikes me as bad, +and his zoology far worse. I should be very much obliged, if at any future +or leisure time you could tell me on what you ground your doubtful belief +in imagination of a mother affecting her offspring. (This refers to the +case of a relative of Sir J. Hooker's, who insisted that a mole, which +appeared on one of her children, was the effect of fright upon herself on +having, before the birth of the child, blotted with sepia a copy of +Turner's 'Liber Studiorum' that had been lent to her with special +injunctions to be careful.) I have attended to the several statements +scattered about, but do not believe in more than accidental coincidences. +W. Hunter told my father, then in a lying-in hospital, that in many +thousand cases, he had asked the mother, BEFORE HER CONFINEMENT, whether +anything had affected her imagination, and recorded the answers; and +absolutely not one case came right, though, when the child was anything +remarkable, they afterwards made the cap to fit. Reproduction seems +governed by such similar laws in the whole animal kingdom, that I am most +loth [to believe]... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. HERBERT. +Down [1844 or 1845]. + +My dear Herbert, + +I was very glad to see your handwriting and hear a bit of news about you. +Though you cannot come here this autumn, I do hope you and Mrs. Herbert +will come in the winter, and we will have lots of talk of old times, and +lots of Beethoven. + +I have little or rather nothing to say about myself; we live like clock- +work, and in what most people would consider the dullest possible manner. +I have of late been slaving extra hard, to the great discomfiture of +wretched digestive organs, at South America, and thank all the fates, I +have done three-fourths of it. Writing plain English grows with me more +and more difficult, and never attainable. As for your pretending that you +will read anything so dull as my pure geological descriptions, lay not such +a flattering unction on my soul (On the same subject he wrote to Fitz-Roy: +"I have sent my 'South American Geology' to Dover Street, and you will get +it, no doubt, in the course of time. You do not know what you threaten +when you propose to read it--it is purely geological. I said to my +brother, 'You will of course read it,' and his answer was, 'Upon my life, I +would sooner even buy it.'") for it is incredible. I have long discovered +that geologists never read each other's works, and that the only object in +writing a book is a proof of earnestness, and that you do not form your +opinions without undergoing labour of some kind. Geology is at present +very oral, and what I here say is to a great extent quite true. But I am +giving you a discussion as long as a chapter in the odious book itself. + +I have lately been to Shrewsbury, and found my father surprisingly well and +cheerful. + +Believe me, my dear old friend, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Monday [February 10th, 1845]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am much obliged for your very agreeable letter; it was very good-natured, +in the midst of your scientific and theatrical dissipation, to think of +writing so long a letter to me. I am astonished at your news, and I must +condole with you in your PRESENT view of the Professorship (Sir J.D. Hooker +was a candidate for the Professorship of Botany at Edinburgh University.), +and most heartily deplore it on my own account. There is something so +chilling in a separation of so many hundred miles, though we did not see +much of each other when nearer. You will hardly believe how deeply I +regret for MYSELF your present prospects. I had looked forward to [our] +seeing much of each other during our lives. It is a heavy disappointment; +and in a mere selfish point of view, as aiding me in my work, your loss is +indeed irreparable. But, on the other hand, I cannot doubt that you take +at present a desponding, instead of bright, view of your prospects: surely +there are great advantages, as well as disadvantages. The place is one of +eminence; and really it appears to me there are so many indifferent +workers, and so few readers, that it is a high advantage, in a purely +scientific point of view, for a good worker to hold a position which leads +others to attend to his work. I forget whether you attended Edinburgh, as +a student, but in my time there was a knot of men who were far from being +the indifferent and dull listeners which you expect for your audience. +Reflect what a satisfaction and honour it would be to MAKE a good botanist +--with your disposition you will be to many what Henslow was at Cambridge +to me and others, a most kind friend and guide. Then what a fine garden, +and how good a Public Library! why, Forbes always regrets the advantages of +Edinburgh for work: think of the inestimable advantage of getting within a +short walk of those noble rocks and hills and sandy shores near Edinburgh! +Indeed, I cannot pity you much, though I pity myself exceedingly in your +loss. Surely lecturing will, in a year or two, with your GREAT capacity +for work (whatever you may be pleased to say to the contrary) become easy, +and you will have a fair time for your Antarctic Flora and general views of +distribution. If I thought your Professorship would stop your work, I +should wish it and all the good worldly consequences at el Diavolo. I know +I shall live to see you the first authority in Europe on that grand +subject, that almost keystone of the laws of creation, Geographical +Distribution. Well, there is one comfort, you will be at Kew, no doubt, +every year, so I shall finish by forcing down your throat my sincere +congratulations. Thanks for all your news. I grieve to hear Humboldt is +failing; one cannot help feeling, though unrightly, that such an end is +humiliating: even when I saw him he talked beyond all reason. If you see +him again, pray give him my most respectful and kind compliments, and say +that I never forget that my whole course of life is due to having read and +re-read as a youth his 'Personal Narrative.' How true and pleasing are all +your remarks on his kindness; think how many opportunities you will have, +in your new place, of being a Humboldt to others. Ask him about the river +in N.E. Europe, with the Flora very different on its opposite banks. I +have got and read your Wilkes; what a feeble book in matter and style, and +how splendidly got up! Do write me a line from Berlin. Also thanks for +the proof-sheets. I do not, however, mean proof plates; I value them, as +saving me copying extracts. Farewell, my dear Hooker, with a heavy heart I +wish you joy of your prospects. + +Your sincere friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The second edition of the 'Journal,' to which the following letter refers, +was completed between April 25th and August 25th. It was published by Mr. +Murray in the 'Colonial and Home Library,' and in this more accessible form +soon had a large sale. + +Up to the time of his first negotiations with Mr. Murray for its +publication in this form, he had received payment only in the form of a +large number of presentation copies, and he seems to have been glad to sell +the copyright of the second edition to Mr. Murray for 150 pounds. + +The points of difference between it and the first edition are of interest +chiefly in connection with the growth of the author's views on evolution, +and will be considered later.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down [July, 1845]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I send you the first part (No doubt proof-sheets.) of the new edition [of +the 'Journal of Researches'], which I so entirely owe to you. You will see +that I have ventured to dedicate it to you (The dedication of the second +edition of the 'Journal of Researches,' is as follows:--"To Charles Lyell, +Esq., F.R.S., this second edition is dedicated with grateful pleasure--as +an acknowledgment that the chief part of whatever scientific merit this +Journal and the other works of the Author may possess, has been derived +from studying the well-known and admirable 'Principles of Geology.'"), and +I trust that this cannot be disagreeable. I have long wished, not so much +for your sake, as for my own feelings of honesty, to acknowledge more +plainly than by mere reference, how much I geologically owe you. Those +authors, however, who like you, educate people's minds as well as teach +them special facts, can never, I should think, have full justice done them +except by posterity, for the mind thus insensibly improved can hardly +perceive its own upward ascent. I had intended putting in the present +acknowledgment in the third part of my Geology, but its sale is so +exceedingly small that I should not have had the satisfaction of thinking +that as far as lay in my power I had owned, though imperfectly, my debt. +Pray do not think that I am so silly, as to suppose that my dedication can +any ways gratify you, except so far as I trust you will receive it, as a +most sincere mark of my gratitude and friendship. I think I have improved +this edition, especially the second part, which I have just finished. I +have added a good deal about the Fuegians, and cut down into half the +mercilessly long discussion on climate and glaciers, etc. I do not +recollect anything added to the first part, long enough to call your +attention to; there is a page of description of a very curious breed of +oxen in Banda Oriental. I should like you to read the few last pages; +there is a little discussion on extinction, which will not perhaps strike +you as new, though it has so struck me, and has placed in my mind all the +difficulties with respect to the causes of extinction, in the same class +with other difficulties which are generally quite overlooked and +undervalued by naturalists; I ought, however, to have made my discussion +longer and shewn by facts, as I easily could, how steadily every species +must be checked in its numbers. + +I received your Travels ('Travels in North America,' 2 volumes, 1845.) +yesterday; and I like exceedingly its external and internal appearance; I +read only about a dozen pages last night (for I was tired with hay-making), +but I saw quite enough to perceive how VERY much it will interest me, and +how many passages will be scored. I am pleased to find a good sprinkling +of Natural History; I shall be astonished if it does not sell very +largely... + +How sorry I am to think that we shall not see you here again for so long; I +wish you may knock yourself a little bit up before you start and require a +day's fresh air, before the ocean breezes blow on you... + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, Saturday [August 1st, 1845]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been wishing to write to you for a week past, but every five +minutes' worth of strength has been expended in getting out my second part. +(Of the second edition of the 'Journal of Researches.') Your note pleased +me a good deal more I dare say than my dedication did you, and I thank you +much for it. Your work has interested me much, and I will give you my +impressions, though, as I never thought you would care to hear what I +thought of the non-scientific parts, I made no notes, nor took pains to +remember any particular impression of two-thirds of the first volume. The +first impression I should say would be with most (though I have literally +seen not one soul since reading it) regret at there not being more of the +non-scientific [parts]. I am not a good judge, for I have read nothing, +i.e. non-scientific about North America, but the whole struck me as very +new, fresh, and interesting. Your discussions bore to my mind the evident +stamp of matured thought, and of conclusions drawn from facts observed by +yourself, and not from the opinions of the people whom you met; and this I +suspect is comparatively rare. + +Your slave discussion disturbed me much; but as you would care no more for +my opinion on this head than for the ashes of this letter, I will say +nothing except that it gave me some sleepless, most uncomfortable hours. +Your account of the religious state of the States particularly interested +me; I am surprised throughout at your very proper boldness against the +Clergy. In your University chapter the Clergy, and not the State of +Education, are most severely and justly handled, and this I think is very +bold, for I conceive you might crush a leaden-headed old Don, as a Don, +with more safety, than touch the finger of that Corporate Animal, the +Clergy. What a contrast in Education does England show itself! Your +apology (using the term, like the old religionists who meant anything but +an apology) for lectures, struck me as very clever; but all the arguments +in the world on your side, are not equal to one course of Jamieson's +Lectures on the other side, which I formerly for my sins experienced. +Although I had read about the 'Coalfields in North America,' I never in the +smallest degree really comprehended their area, their thickness and +favourable position; nothing hardly astounded me more in your book. + +Some few parts struck me as rather heterogeneous, but I do not know whether +to an extent that at all signified. I missed however, a good deal, some +general heading to the chapters, such as the two or three principal places +visited. One has no right to expect an author to write down to the zero of +geographical ignorance of the reader; but I not knowing a single place, was +occasionally rather plagued in tracing your course. Sometimes in the +beginning of a chapter, in one paragraph your course was traced through a +half dozen places; anyone, as ignorant as myself, if he could be found, +would prefer such a disturbing paragraph left out. I cut your map loose, +and I found that a great comfort; I could not follow your engraved track. +I think in a second edition, interspaces here and there of one line open, +would be an improvement. By the way, I take credit to myself in giving my +Journal a less scientific air in having printed all names of species and +genera in Romans; the printing looks, also, better. All the illustrations +strike me as capital, and the map is an admirable volume in itself. If +your 'Principles' had not met with such universal admiration, I should have +feared there would have been too much geology in this for the general +reader; certainly all that the most clear and light style could do, has +been done. To myself the geology was an excellent, well-condensed, well- +digested resume of all that has been made out in North America, and every +geologist ought to be grateful to you. The summing up of the Niagara +chapter appeared to me the grandest part; I was also deeply interested by +your discussion on the origin of the Silurian formations. I have made +scores of SCORES marking passages hereafter useful to me. + +All the coal theory appeared to me very good; but it is no use going on +enumerating in this manner. I wish there had been more Natural History; I +liked ALL the scattered fragments. I have now given you an exact +transcript of my thoughts, but they are hardly worth your reading... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, August 25th [1845]. + +My dear Lyell, + +This is literally the first day on which I have had any time to spare; and +I will amuse myself by beginning a letter to you... + +I was delighted with your letter in which you touch on Slavery; I wish the +same feelings had been apparent in your published discussion. But I will +not write on this subject, I should perhaps annoy you, and most certainly +myself. I have exhaled myself with a paragraph or two in my Journal on the +sin of Brazilian slavery; you perhaps will think that it is in answer to +you; but such is not the case. I have remarked on nothing which I did not +hear on the coast of South America. My few sentences, however, are merely +an explosion of feeling. How could you relate so placidly that atrocious +sentiment (In the passage referred to, Lyell does not give his own views, +but those of a planter.) about separating children from their parents; and +in the next page speak of being distressed at the whites not having +prospered; I assure you the contrast made me exclaim out. But I have +broken my intention, and so no more on this odious deadly subject. + +There is a favourable, but not strong enough review on you, in the +"Gardeners' Chronicle". I am sorry to see that Lindley abides by the +carbonic acid gas theory. By the way, I was much pleased by Lindley +picking out my extinction paragraphs and giving them uncurtailed. To my +mind, putting the comparative rarity of existing species in the same +category with extinction has removed a great weight; though of course it +does not explain anything, it shows that until we can explain comparative +rarity, we ought not to feel any surprise at not explaining extinction... + +I am much pleased to hear of the call for a new edition of the +'Principles': what glorious good that work has done. I fear this time you +will not be amongst the old rocks; how I shall rejoice to live to see you +publish and discover another stage below the Silurian--it would be the +grandest step possible, I think. I am very glad to hear what progress +Bunbury is making in fossil Botany; there is a fine hiatus for him to fill +up in this country. I will certainly call on him this winter...From what +little I saw of him, I can quite believe everything which you say of his +talents... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Shrewsbury [1845?]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just received your note, which has astonished me, and has most truly +grieved me. I never for one minute doubted of your success, for I most +erroneously imagined, that merit was sure to gain the day. I feel most +sure that the day will come soon, when those who have voted against you, if +they have any shame or conscience in them, will be ashamed at having +allowed politics to blind their eyes to your qualifications, and those +qualifications vouched for by Humboldt and Brown! Well, those testimonials +must be a consolation to you. Proh pudor! I am vexed and indignant by +turns. I cannot even take comfort in thinking that I shall see more of +you, and extract more knowledge from your well-arranged stock. I am +pleased to think, that after having read a few of your letters, I never +once doubted the position you will ultimately hold amongst European +Botanists. I can think about nothing else, otherwise I should like [to] +discuss 'Cosmos' (A translation of Humboldt's 'Kosmos.') with you. I trust +you will pay me and my wife a visit this autumn at Down. I shall be at +Down on the 24th, and till then moving about. + +My dear Hooker, allow me to call myself +Your very true friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +October 8th [1845], Shrewsbury. + +...I have lately been taking a little tour to see a farm I have purchased +in Lincolnshire (He speaks of his Lincolnshire farm in a letter to Henslow +(July 4th):--"I have bought a farm in Lincolnshire, and when I go there +this autumn, I mean to see what I can do in providing any cottage on my +small estate with gardens. It is a hopeless thing to look to, but I +believe few things would do this country more good in future ages than the +destruction of primogeniture, so as to lessen the difference in land- +wealth, and make more small freeholders. How atrociously unjust are the +stamp laws, which render it so expensive for the poor man to buy his +quarter of an acre; it makes one's blood burn with indignation.") and then +to York, where I visited the Dean of Manchester (Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert. +The visit is mentioned in a letter to Dr. Hooker:--"I have been taking a +little tour, partly on business, and visited the Dean of Manchester, and +had very much interesting talk with him on hybrids, sterility, and +variation, etc., etc. He is full of self-gained knowledge, but knows +surprisingly little what others have done on the same subjects. He is very +heterodox on 'species': not much better as most naturalists would esteem +it, than poor Mr. Vestiges.") the great maker of Hybrids, who gave me much +curious information. I also visited Waterton at Walton Hall, and was +extremely amused with my visit there. He is an amusing strange fellow; at +our early dinner, our party consisted of two Catholic priests and two +Mulattresses! He is past sixty years old, and the day before ran down and +caught a leveret in a turnip-field. It is a fine old house, and the lake +swarms with water-fowl. I then saw Chatsworth, and was in transport with +the great hothouse; it is a perfect fragment of a tropical forest, and the +sight made me think with delight of old recollections. My little ten-day +tour made me feel wonderfully strong at the time, but the good effects did +not last. My wife, I am sorry to say, does not get very strong, and the +children are the hope of the family, for they are all happy, life, and +spirits. I have been much interested with Sedgwick's review (Sedgwick's +review of the 'Vestiges of Creation' in the 'Edinburgh Review,' July, +1845.) though I find it far from popular with our scientific readers. I +think some few passages savour of the dogmatism of the pulpit, rather than +of the philosophy of the Professor's Chair; and some of the wit strikes me +as only worthy of -- in the 'Quarterly.' Nevertheless, it is a grand piece +of argument against mutability of species, and I read it with fear and +trembling, but was well pleased to find that I had not overlooked any of +the arguments, though I had put them to myself as feebly as milk and water. +Have you read 'Cosmos' yet? The English translation is wretched, and the +semi-metaphysico-politico descriptions in the first part are barely +intelligible; but I think the volcanic discussion well worth your +attention, it has astonished me by its vigour and information. I grieve to +find Humboldt an adorer of Von Buch, with his classification of volcanos, +craters of elevation, etc., etc., and carbonic acid gas atmosphere. He is +indeed a wonderful man. + +I hope to get home in a fortnight and stick to my wearyful South America +till I finish it. I shall be very anxious to hear how you get on from the +Horners, but you must not think of wasting your time by writing to me. We +shall miss, indeed, your visits to Down, and I shall feel a lost man in +London without my morning "house of call" at Hart Street... + +Believe me, my dear Lyell, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Farnborough, Kent. +Thursday, September, 1846. + +My dear Hooker, + +I hope this letter will catch you at Clifton, but I have been prevented +writing by being unwell, and having had the Horners here as visitors, +which, with my abominable press-work, has fully occupied my time. It is, +indeed, a long time since we wrote to each other; though, I beg to tell +you, that I wrote last, but what about I cannot remember, except, I know, +it was after reading your last numbers (Sir J.D. Hooker's Antarctic +Botany.), and I send you a uniquely laudatory epistle, considering it was +from a man who hardly knows a Daisy from a Dandelion to a professed +Botanist... + +I cannot remember what papers have given me the impression, but I have +that, which you state to be the case, firmly fixed on my mind, namely, the +little chemical importance of the soil to its vegetation. What a strong +fact it is, as R. Brown once remarked to me, of certain plants being +calcareous ones here, which are not so under a more favourable climate on +the Continent, or the reverse, for I forget which; but you, no doubt, will +know to what I refer. By-the-way, there are some such cases in Herbert's +paper in the 'Horticultural Journal.' ('Journal of the Horticultural +Society,' 1846.) Have you read it: it struck me as extremely original, +and bears DIRECTLY on your present researches. (Sir J.D. Hooker was at +this time attending to polymorphism, variability, etc.) To a NON-BOTANIST +the chalk has the most peculiar aspect of any flora in England; why will +you not come here to make your observations? WE go to Southampton, if my +courage and stomach do not fail, for the Brit. Assoc. (Do you not consider +it your duty to be there?) And why cannot you come here afterward and +WORK?... + + +THE MONOGRAPH OF THE CIRRIPEDIA, + +October 1846 to October 1854. + +[Writing to Sir J.D. Hooker in 1845, my father says: "I hope this next +summer to finish my South American Geology, then to get out a little +Zoology, and hurrah for my species work..." This passage serves to show +that he had at this time no intention of making an exhaustive study of the +Cirripedes. Indeed it would seem that his original intention was, as I +learn from Sir J.D. Hooker, merely to work out one special problem. This +is quite in keeping with the following passage in the Autobiography: "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...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." In +later years he seems to have felt some doubt as to the value of these eight +years of work,--for instance when he wrote in his Autobiography--"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." Yet I learn +from Sir J.D. Hooker that he certainly recognised at the time its value to +himself as systematic training. Sir Joseph writes to me: "Your father +recognised three stages in his career as a biologist: the mere collector +at Cambridge; the collector and observer in the "Beagle", and for some +years afterwards; and the trained naturalist after, and only after the +Cirripede work. That he was a thinker all along is true enough, and there +is a vast deal in his writings previous to the Cirripedes that a trained +naturalist could but emulate...He often alluded to it as a valued +discipline, and added that even the 'hateful' work of digging out synonyms, +and of describing, not only improved his methods but opened his eyes to the +difficulties and merits of the works of the dullest of cataloguers. One +result was that he would never allow a depreciatory remark to pass +unchallenged on the poorest class of scientific workers, provided that +their work was honest, and good of its kind. I have always regarded it as +one of the finest traits of his character,--this generous appreciation of +the hod-men of science, and of their labours...and it was monographing the +Barnacles that brought it about." + +Professor Huxley allows me to quote his opinion as to the value of the +eight years given to the Cirripedes:-- + +"In my opinion your sagacious father never did a wiser thing than when he +devoted himself to the years of patient toil which the Cirripede-book cost +him. + +"Like the rest of us, he had no proper training in biological science, and +it has always struck me as a remarkable instance of his scientific insight, +that he saw the necessity of giving himself such training, and of his +courage, that he did not shirk the labour of obtaining it. + +"The great danger which besets all men of large speculative faculty, is the +temptation to deal with the accepted statements of facts in natural +science, as if they were not only correct, but exhaustive; as if they might +be dealt with deductively, in the same way as propositions in Euclid may be +dealt with. In reality, every such statement, however true it may be, is +true only relatively to the means of observation and the point of view of +those who have enunciated it. So far it may be depended upon. But whether +it will bear every speculative conclusion that may be logically deduced +from it, is quite another question. + +"Your father was building a vast superstructure upon the foundations +furnished by the recognised facts of geological and biological science. In +Physical Geography, in Geology proper, in Geographical Distribution, and in +Palaeontology, he had acquired an extensive practical training during the +voyage of the "Beagle". He knew of his own knowledge the way in which the +raw materials of these branches of science are acquired, and was therefore +a most competent judge of the speculative strain they would bear. That +which he needed, after his return to England, was a corresponding +acquaintance with Anatomy and Development, and their relation to Taxonomy-- +and he acquired this by his Cirripede work. + +"Thus, in my apprehension, the value of the Cirripede monograph lies not +merely in the fact that it is a very admirable piece of work, and +constituted a great addition to positive knowledge, but still more in the +circumstance that it was a piece of critical self-discipline, the effect of +which manifested itself in everything your father wrote afterwards, and +saved him from endless errors of detail. + +"So far from such work being a loss of time, I believe it would have been +well worth his while, had it been practicable, to have supplemented it by a +special study of embryology and physiology. His hands would have been +greatly strengthened thereby when he came to write out sundry chapters of +the 'Origin of Species.' But of course in those days it was almost +impossible for him to find facilities for such work." + +No one can look a the two volumes on the recent Cirripedes, of 399 and 684 +pages respectively (not to speak of the volumes on the fossil species), +without being struck by the immense amount of detailed work which they +contain. The forty plates, some of them with thirty figures, and the +fourteen pages of index in the two volumes together, give some rough idea +of the labour spent on the work. (The reader unacquainted with Zoology +will find some account of the more interesting results in Mr. Romanes' +article on "Charles Darwin" ('Nature' Series, 1882).) The state of +knowledge, as regards the Cirripedes, was most unsatisfactory at the time +that my father began to work at them. As an illustration of this fact, it +may be mentioned that he had even to re-organise the nomenclature of the +group, or, as he expressed it, he "unwillingly found it indispensable to +give names to several valves, and to some few of the softer parts of +Cirripedes." (Vol. i. page 3.) It is interesting to learn from his diary +the amount of time which he gave to different genera. Thus the genus +Chthamalus, the description of which occupies twenty-two pages, occupied +him for thirty-six days; Coronula took nineteen days, and is described in +twenty-seven pages. Writing to Fitz-Roy, he speaks of being "for the last +half-month daily hard at work in dissecting a little animal about the size +of a pin's head, from the Chonos archipelago, and I could spend another +month, and daily see more beautiful structure." + +Though he became excessively weary of the work before the end of the eight +years, he had much keen enjoyment in the course of it. Thus he wrote to +Sir J.D. Hooker (1847?):--"As you say, there is an extraordinary pleasure +in pure observation; not but what I suspect the pleasure in this case is +rather derived from comparisons forming in one's mind with allied +structures. After having been so long employed in writing my old +geological observations, it is delightful to use one's eyes and fingers +again." It was, in fact, a return to the work which occupied so much of +his time when at sea during his voyage. His zoological notes of that +period give an impression of vigorous work, hampered by ignorance and want +of appliances. And his untiring industry in the dissection of marine +animals, especially of Crustacea, must have been of value to him as +training for his Cirripede work. Most of his work was done with the simple +dissecting microscope--but it was the need which he found for higher powers +that induced him, in 1846, to buy a compound microscope. He wrote to +Hooker:--"When I was drawing with L., I was so delighted with the +appearance of the objects, especially with their perspective, as seen +through the weak powers of a good compound microscope, that I am going to +order one; indeed, I often have structures in which the 1/30 is not power +enough." + +During part of the time covered by the present chapter, my father suffered +perhaps more from ill-health than at any other time of his life. He felt +severely the depressing influence of these long years of illness; thus as +early as 1840 he wrote to Fox: "I am grown a dull, old, spiritless dog to +what I used to be. One gets stupider as one grows older I think." It is +not wonderful that he should so have written, it is rather to be wondered +at that his spirit withstood so great and constant a strain. He wrote to +Sir J.D. Hooker in 1845: "You are very kind in your enquiries about my +health; I have nothing to say about it, being always much the same, some +days better and some worse. I believe I have not had one whole day, or +rather night, without my stomach having been greatly disordered, during the +last three years, and most days great prostration of strength: thank you +for your kindness; many of my friends, I believe, think me a +hypochondriac." + +Again, in 1849, he notes in his diary:--"January 1st to March 10th.--Health +very bad, with much sickness and failure of power. Worked on all well +days." This was written just before his first visit to Dr. Gully's Water- +Cure Establishment at Malvern. In April of the same year he wrote:--"I +believe I am going on very well, but I am rather weary of my present +inactive life, and the water-cure has the most extraordinary effect in +producing indolence and stagnation of mind: till experiencing it, I could +not have believed it possible. I now increase in weight, have escaped +sickness for thirty days." He returned in June, after sixteen weeks' +absence, much improved in health, and, as already described, continued the +water-cure at home for some time.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [October, 1846]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have not heard from Sulivan (Admiral Sir B.J. Sulivan, formerly an +officer of the "Beagle".) lately; when he last wrote he named from 8th to +10th as the most likely time. Immediately that I hear, I will fly you a +line, for the chance of your being able to come. I forget whether you know +him, but I suppose so; he is a real good fellow. Anyhow, if you do not +come then, I am very glad that you propose coming soon after... + +I am going to begin some papers on the lower marine animals, which will +last me some months, perhaps a year, and then I shall begin looking over my +ten-year-long accumulation of notes on species and varieties, which, with +writing, I dare say will take me five years, and then, when published, I +dare say I shall stand infinitely low in the opinion of all sound +Naturalists--so this is my prospect for the future. + +Are you a good hand at inventing names. I have a quite new and curious +genus of Barnacle, which I want to name, and how to invent a name +completely puzzles me. + +By the way, I have told you nothing about Southampton. We enjoyed (wife +and myself) our week beyond measure: the papers were all dull, but I met +so many friends and made so many new acquaintances (especially some of the +Irish Naturalists), and took so many pleasant excursions. I wish you had +been there. On Sunday we had so pleasant an excursion to Winchester with +Falconer (Hugh Falconer, 1809-1865. Chiefly known as a palaeontologist, +although employed as a botanist during his whole career in India, where he +was also a medical officer in the H.E.I.C. Service; he was superintendent +of the Company's garden, first at Saharunpore, and then at Calcutta. He +was one of the first botanical explorers of Kashmir. Falconer's +discoveries of Miocene mammalian remains in the Sewalik Hills, were, at the +time, perhaps the greatest "finds" which had been made. His book on the +subject, 'Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis,' remained unfinished at the time of his +death.), Colonel Sabine (The late Sir Edward Sabine, formerly President of +the Royal Society, and author of a long series of memoirs on Terrestrial +Magnetism.), and Dr. Robinson (The late Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson, of the +Armagh Observatory.), and others. I never enjoyed a day more in my life. +I missed having a look at H. Watson. (The late Hewett Cottrell Watson, +author of the 'Cybele Britannica,' one of a most valuable series of works +on the topography and geographical distribution of the plants of the +British Islands.) I suppose you heard that he met Forbes and told him he +had a severe article in the Press. I understood that Forbes explained to +him that he had no cause to complain, but as the article was printed, he +would not withdraw it, but offered it to Forbes for him to append notes to +it, which Forbes naturally declined... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, April 7th [1847?}. + +My dear Hooker, + +I should have written before now, had I not been almost continually unwell, +and at present I am suffering from four boils and swellings, one of which +hardly allows me the use of my right arm, and has stopped all my work, and +damped all my spirits. I was much disappointed at missing my trip to Kew, +and the more so, as I had forgotten you would be away all this month; but I +had no choice, and was in bed nearly all Friday and Saturday. I +congratulate you over your improved prospects about India (Sir J. Hooker +left England on November 11, 1847, for his Himalayan and Tibetan journey. +The expedition was supported by a small grant from the Treasury, and thus +assumed the character of a Government mission.), but at the same time must +sincerely groan over it. I shall feel quite lost without you to discuss +many points with, and to point out (ill-luck to you) difficulties and +objections to my species hypotheses. It will be a horrid shame if money +stops your expedition; but Government will surely help you to some +extent...Your present trip, with your new views, amongst the coal-plants, +will be very interesting. If you have spare time, BUT NOT WITHOUT, I +should enjoy having some news of your progress. Your present trip will +work well in, if you go to any of the coal districts in India. Would this +not be a good object to parade before Government; the utilitarian souls +would comprehend this. By the way, I will get some work out of you, about +the domestic races of animals in India... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS (BLOMEFIELD). +Down [1847]. + +Dear Jenyns, + +("This letter relates to a small Almanack first published in 1843, under +the name of 'The Naturalists' Pocket Almanack,' by Mr. Van Voorst, and +which I edited for him. It was intended especially for those who interest +themselves in the periodic phenomena of animals and plants, of which a +select list was given under each month of the year. + +"The Pocket Almanack contained, moreover, miscellaneous information +relating to Zoology and Botany; to Natural History and other scientific +societies; to public Museums and Gardens, in addition to the ordinary +celestial phenomena found in most other Almanacks. It continued to be +issued till 1847, after which year the publication was abandoned."--From a +letter from Rev. L. Blomefield to F. Darwin.) + +I am very much obliged for the capital little Almanack; it so happened that +I was wishing for one to keep in my portfolio. I had never seen this kind +before, and shall certainly get one for the future. I think it is very +amusing to have a list before one's eyes of the order of appearance of the +plants and animals around one; it gives a fresh interest to each fine day. +There is one point I should like to see a little improved, viz., the +correction for the clock at shorter intervals. Most people, I suspect, who +like myself have dials, will wish to be more precise than with a margin of +three minutes. I always buy a shilling almanack for this SOLE end. By the +way, YOURS, i.e., Van Voorst's Almanack, is very dear; it ought, at least, +to be advertised post-free for the shilling. Do you not think a table (not +rules) of conversion of French into English measures, and perhaps weights, +would be exceedingly useful; also centigrade into Fahrenheit,--magnifying +powers according to focal distances?--in fact you might make it the more +useful publication of the age. I know what I should like best of all, +namely, current meteorological remarks for each month, with statement of +average course of winds and prediction of weather, in accordance with +movements of barometer. People, I think, are always amused at knowing the +extremes and means of temperature for corresponding times in other years. + +I hope you will go on with it another year. With many thanks, my dear +Jenyns, + +Yours very truly, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Sunday [April 18th, 1847]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I return with many thanks Watson's letter, which I have had copied. It is +a capital one, and I am extremely obliged to you for obtaining me such +valuable information. Surely he is rather in a hurry when he says +intermediate varieties must almost be necessarily rare, otherwise they +would be taken as the types of the species; for he overlooks numerical +frequency as an element. Surely if A, B, C were three varieties, and if A +were a good deal the commonest (therefore, also, first known), it would be +taken as the type, without regarding whether B was quite intermediate or +not, or whether it was rare or not. What capital essays W would write; but +I suppose he has written a good deal in the 'Phytologist.' You ought to +encourage him to publish on variation; it is a shame that such facts as +those in his letter should remain unpublished. I must get you to introduce +me to him; would he be a good and sociable man for Dropmore? (A much +enjoyed expedition made from Oxford--when the British Association met there +in 1847.) though if he comes, Forbes must not (and I think you talked of +inviting Forbes), or we shall have a glorious battle. I should like to see +sometime the war correspondence. Have you the 'Phytologist,' and could you +sometime spare it? I would go through it quickly...I have read your last +five numbers (Of the Botany of Hooker's 'Antarctic Voyage.'), and as usual +have been much interested in several points, especially with your +discussions on the beech and potato. I see you have introduced several +sentences against us Transmutationists. I have also been looking through +the latter volumes of the 'Annals of Natural History,' and have read two +such soulless, pompous papers of --, quite worthy of the author...The +contrast of the papers in the "Annals" with those in the "Annales" is +rather humiliating; so many papers in the former, with short descriptions +of species, without one word on their affinities, internal structure, range +or habits. I am now reading --, and I have picked out some things which +have interested me; but he strikes me as rather dullish, and with all his +Materia Medica smells of the doctor's shop. I shall ever hate the name of +the Materia Medica, since hearing Duncan's lectures at eight o'clock on a +winter's morning--a whole, cold breakfastless hour on the properties of +rhubarb! + +I hope your journey will be very prosperous. Believe me, my dear Hooker, + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I think I have only made one new acquaintance of late, that is R. +Chambers; and I have just received a presentation copy of the sixth edition +of the 'Vestiges.' Somehow I now feel perfectly convinced he is the +author. He is in France, and has written to me thence. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [1847?]. + +...I am delighted to hear that Brongniart thought Sigillaria aquatic, and +that Binney considers coal a sort of submarine peat. I would bet 5 to 1 +that in twenty years this will be generally admitted (An unfulfilled +prophecy.); and I do not care for whatever the botanical difficulties or +impossibilities may be. If I could but persuade myself that Sigillaria and +Co. had a good range of depth, i.e., could live from 5 to 100 fathoms under +water, all difficulties of nearly all kinds would be removed (for the +simple fact of muddy ordinary shallow sea implies proximity of land). +[N.B.--I am chuckling to think how you are sneering all this time.] It is +not much of a difficulty, there not being shells with the coal, considering +how unfavourable deep mud is for most Mollusca, and that shells would +probably decay from the humic acid, as seems to take place in peat and in +the BLACK moulds (as Lyell tells me) of the Mississippi. So coal question +settled--Q.E.D. Sneer away! + +Many thanks for your welcome note from Cambridge, and I am glad you like my +alma mater, which I despise heartily as a place of education, but love from +many most pleasant recollections... + +Thanks for your offer of the 'Phytologist;' I shall be very much obliged +for it, for I do not suppose I should be able to borrow it from any other +quarter. I will not be set up too much by your praise, but I do not +believe I ever lost a book or forgot to return it during a long lapse of +time. Your 'Webb' is well wrapped up, and with your name in large letters +OUTSIDE. + +My new microscope is come home (a "splendid plaything," as old R. Brown +called it), and I am delighted with it; it really is a splendid plaything. +I have been in London for three days, and saw many of our friends. I was +extremely sorry to hear a not very good account of Sir William. Farewell, +my dear Hooker, and be a good boy, and make Sigillaria a submarine sea- +weed. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [May 6th, 1847]. + +My dear Hooker, + +You have made a savage onslaught, and I must try to defend myself. But, +first, let me say that I never write to you except for my own good +pleasure; now I fear that you answer me when busy and without inclination +(and I am sure I should have none if I was as busy as you). Pray do not do +so, and if I thought my writing entailed an answer from you nolens volens, +it would destroy all my pleasure in writing. Firstly, I did not consider +my letter as REASONING, or even as SPECULATION, but simply as mental +rioting; and as I was sending Binney's paper, I poured out to you the +result of reading it. Secondly, you are right, indeed, in thinking me mad, +if you suppose that I would class any ferns as marine plants; but surely +there is a wide distinction between the plants found upright in the coal- +beds and those not upright, and which might have been drifted. Is it not +possible that the same circumstances which have preserved the vegetation in +situ, should have preserved drifted plants? I know Calamites is found +upright; but I fancied its affinities were very obscure, like Sigillaria. +As for Lepidodendron, I forgot its existence, as happens when one goes +riot, and now know neither what it is, or whether upright. If these +plants, i.e. Calamites and Lepidodendron, have VERY CLEAR RELATIONS to +terrestrial vegetables, like the ferns have, and are found upright in situ, +of course I must give up the ghost. But surely Sigillaria is the main +upright plant, and on its obscure affinities I have heard you enlarge. + +Thirdly, it never entered my head to undervalue botanical relatively to +zoological evidence; except in so far as I thought it was admitted that the +vegetative structure seldom yielded any evidence of affinity nearer than +that of families, and not always so much. And is it not in plants, as +certainly it is in animals, dangerous to judge of habits without very near +affinity. Could a Botanist tell from structure alone that the Mangrove +family, almost or quite alone in Dicotyledons, could live in the sea, and +the Zostera family almost alone among the Monocotyledons? Is it a safe +argument, that because algae are almost the only, or the only submerged +sea-plants, that formerly other groups had not members with such habits? +With animals such an argument would not be conclusive, as I could +illustrate by many examples; but I am forgetting myself; I want only to +some degree to defend myself, and not burn my fingers by attacking you. +The foundation of my letter, and what is my deliberate opinion, though I +dare say you will think it absurd, is that I would rather trust, caeteris +paribus, pure geological evidence than either zoological or botanical +evidence. I do not say that I would sooner trust POOR geological evidence +than GOOD organic. I think the basis of pure geological reasoning is +simpler (consisting chiefly of the action of water on the crust of the +earth, and its up and down movements) than a basis drawn from the difficult +subject of affinities and of structure in relation to habits. I can hardly +analyze the facts on which I have come to this conclusion; but I can +illustrate it. Pallas's account would lead any one to suppose that the +Siberian strata, with the frozen carcasses, had been quickly deposited, and +hence that the embedded animals had lived in the neighbourhood; but our +zoological knowledge of thirty years ago led every one falsely to reject +this conclusion. + +Tell me that an upright fern in situ occurs with Sigillaria and Stigmaria, +or that the affinities of Calamites and Lepidodendron (supposing that they +are found in situ with Sigillaria) are so CLEAR, that they could not have +been marine, like, but in a greater degree, than the mangrove and sea- +wrack, and I will humbly apologise to you and all Botanists for having let +my mind run riot on a subject on which assuredly I know nothing. But till +I hear this, I shall keep privately to my own opinion with the same +pertinacity and, as you will think, with the same philosophical spirit with +which Koenig maintains that Cheirotherium-footsteps are fuci. + +Whether this letter will sink me lower in your opinion, or put me a little +right, I know not, but hope the latter. Anyhow, I have revenged myself +with boring you with a very long epistle. Farewell, and be forgiving. +Ever yours, + +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--When will you return to Kew? I have forgotten one main object of my +letter, to thank you MUCH for your offer of the 'Hort. Journal,' but I have +ordered the two numbers. + + +[The two following extracts [1847] give the continuation and conclusion of +the coal battle. + +"By the way, as submarine coal made you so wrath, I thought I would +experimentise on Falconer and Bunbury (The late Sir C. Bunbury, well-known +as a palaeobotanist.) together, and it made [them] even more savage; 'such +infernal nonsense ought to be thrashed out of me.' Bunbury was more polite +and contemptuous. So I now know how to stir up and show off any Botanist. +I wonder whether Zoologists and Geologists have got their tender points; I +wish I could find out." + +"I cannot resist thanking you for your most kind note. Pray do not think +that I was annoyed by your letter: I perceived that you had been thinking +with animation, and accordingly expressed yourself strongly, and so I +understood it. Forfend me from a man who weighs every expression with +Scotch prudence. I heartily wish you all success in your noble problem, +and I shall be very curious to have some talk with you and hear your +ultimatum."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. (Parts of two letters.) +Down [October, 1847]. + +I congratulate you heartily on your arrangements being completed, with some +prospect for the future. It will be a noble voyage and journey, but I wish +it was over, I shall miss you selfishly and all ways to a dreadful extent +...I am in great perplexity how we are to meet...I can well understand how +dreadfully busy you must be. If you CANNOT come here, you MUST let me come +to you for a night; for I must have one more chat and one more quarrel with +you over the coal. + +By the way, I endeavoured to stir up Lyell (who has been staying here some +days with me) to theorise on the coal: his oolitic UPRIGHT Equisetums are +dreadful for my submarine flora. I should die much easier if some one +would solve me the coal question. I sometimes think it could not have been +formed at all. Old Sir Anthony Carlisle once said to me gravely, that he +supposed Megatherium and such cattle were just sent down from heaven to see +whether the earth would support them; and I suppose the coal was rained +down to puzzle mortals. You must work the coal well in India. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[November 6th, 1847.] + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just received your note with sincere grief: there is no help for +it. I shall always look at your intention of coming here, under such +circumstances, as the greatest proof of friendship I ever received from +mortal man. My conscience would have upbraided me in not having come to +you on Thursday, but, as it turned out, I could not, for I was quite unable +to leave Shrewsbury before that day, and I reached home only last night, +much knocked up. Without I hear to-morrow (which is hardly possible), and +if I am feeling pretty well, I will drive over to Kew on Monday morning, +just to say farewell. I will stay only an hour... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[November, 1847.] + +My dear Hooker, + +I am very unwell, and incapable of doing anything. I do hope I have not +inconvenienced you. I was so unwell all yesterday, that I was rejoicing +you were not here; for it would have been a bitter mortification to me to +have had you here and not enjoyed your last day. I shall not now see you. +Farewell, and God bless you. + +Your affectionate friend, +C. DARWIN. + +I will write to you in India. + + +[In 1847 appeared a paper by Mr. D. Milne (Now Mr. Milne Home. The essay +was published in Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society, vol. xvi.), +in which my father's Glen Roy work is criticised, and which is referred to +in the following characteristic extract from a letter to Sir J. Hooker:] +"I have been bad enough for these few last days, having had to think and +write too much about Glen Roy...Mr. Milne having attacked my theory, which +made me horribly sick." I have not been able to find any published reply +to Mr. Milne, so that I imagine the "writing" mentioned was confined to +letters. Mr. Milne's paper was not destructive to the Glen Roy paper, and +this my father recognises in the following extract from a letter to Lyell +(March, 1847). The reference to Chambers is explained by the fact that he +accompanied Mr. Milne in his visit to Glen Roy. "I got R. Chambers to give +me a sketch of Milne's Glen Roy views, and I have re-read my paper, and am, +now that I have heard what is to be said, not even staggered. It is +provoking and humiliating to find that Chambers not only had not read with +any care my paper on this subject, or even looked at the coloured map, so +that the new shelf described by me had not been searched for, and my +arguments and facts of detail not in the least attended to. I entirely +gave up the ghost, and was quite chicken-hearted at the Geological Society, +till you reassured and reminded me of the main facts in the whole case." + + +The two following letters to Lyell, though of later date (June, 1848), bear +on the same subject:-- + +"I was at the evening meeting [of the Geological Society], but did not get +within hail of you. What a fool (though I must say a very amusing one) -- +did make of himself. Your speech was refreshing after it, and was well +characterized by Fox (my cousin) in three words--'What a contrast!' That +struck me as a capital speculation about the Wealden Continent going down. +I did not hear what you settled at the Council; I was quite wearied out and +bewildered. I find Smith, of Jordan Hill, has a much worse opinion of R. +Chambers's book than even I have. Chambers has piqued me a little +('Ancient Sea Margins, 1848.' The words quoted by my father should be "the +mobility of the land was an ascendant idea."); he says I 'propound' and +'profess my belief' that Glen Roy is marine, and that the idea was accepted +because the 'mobility of the land was the ascendant idea of the day.' He +adds some very faint UPPER lines in Glen Spean (seen, by the way, by +Agassiz), and has shown that Milne and Kemp are right in there being +horizontal aqueous markings (NOT at coincident levels with those of Glen +Roy) in other parts of Scotland at great heights, and he adds several other +cases. This is the whole of his addition to the data. He not only takes +my line of argument from the buttresses and terraces below the lower shelf +and some other arguments (without acknowledgment), but he sneers at all his +predecessors not having perceived the importance of the short portions of +lines intermediate between the chief ones in Glen Roy; whereas I commence +the description of them with saying, that 'perceiving their importance, I +examined them with scrupulous care,' and expatiate at considerable length +on them. I have indirectly told him I do not think he has quite claims to +consider that he alone (which he pretty directly asserts) has solved the +problem of Glen Roy. With respect to the terraces at lower levels +coincident in height all round Scotland and England, I am inclined to +believe he shows some little probability of there being some leading ones +coincident, but much more exact evidence is required. Would you believe it +credible? he advances as a probable solution to account for the rise of +Great Britain that in some great ocean one-twentieth of the bottom of the +whole aqueous surface of the globe has sunk in (he does not say where he +puts it) for a thickness of half a mile, and this he has calculated would +make an apparent rise of 130 feet." + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down [June, 1848]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Out of justice to Chambers I must trouble you with one line to say, as far +as I am personally concerned in Glen Roy, he has made the amende honorable, +and pleads guilty through inadvertency of taking my two lines of arguments +and facts without acknowledgment. He concluded by saying he "came to the +same point by an independent course of inquiry, which in a small degree +excuses this inadvertency." His letter altogether shows a very good +disposition, and says he is "much gratified with the MEASURED approbation +which you bestow, etc." I am heartily glad I was able to say in truth that +I thought he had done good service in calling more attention to the subject +of the terraces. He protests it is unfair to call the sinking of the sea +his theory, for that he with care always speaks of mere change of level, +and this is quite true; but the one section in which he shows how he +conceives the sea might sink is so astonishing, that I believe it will with +others, as with me, more than counterbalance his previous caution. I hope +that you may think better of the book than I do. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +October 6th, 1848. + +...I have lately been trying to get up an agitation (but I shall not +succeed, and indeed doubt whether I have time and strength to go on with +it), against the practice of Naturalists appending for perpetuity the name +of the FIRST describer to species. I look at this as a direct premium to +hasty work, to NAMING instead of DESCRIBING. A species ought to have a +name so well known that the addition of the author's name would be +superfluous, and a [piece] of empty vanity. (His contempt for the self- +regarding spirit in a naturalist is illustrated by an anecdote, for which I +am indebted to Rev. L. Blomefield. After speaking of my father's love of +Entomology at Cambridge, Mr. Blomefield continues:--"He occasionally came +over from Cambridge to my Vicarage at Swaffham Bulbeck, and we went out +together to collect insects in the woods at Bottisham Hall, close at hand, +or made longer excursions in the Fens. On one occasion he captured in a +large bag net, with which he used vigorously to sweep the weeds and long +grass, a rare coleopterous insect, one of the Lepturidae, which I myself +had never taken in Cambridgeshire. He was pleased with his capture, and of +course carried it home in triumph. Some years afterwards, the voyage of +the 'Beagle' having been made in the interim, talking over old times with +him, I reverted to this circumstance, and asked if he remembered it. 'Oh, +yes,' (he said,) 'I remember it well; and I was selfish enough to keep the +specimen, when you were collecting materials for a Fauna of Cambridgeshire, +and for a local museum in the Philosophical Society.' He followed this up +with some remarks on the pettiness of collectors, who aimed at nothing +beyond filling their cabinets with rare things.") At present, it would not +do to give mere specific names; but I think Zoologists might open the road +to the omission, by referring to good systematic writers instead of to +first describers. Botany, I fancy, has not suffered so much as Zoology +from mere NAMING; the characters, fortunately, are more obscure. Have you +ever thought on this point? Why should Naturalists append their own names +to new species, when Mineralogists and Chemists do not do so to new +substances? When you write to Falconer pray remember me affectionately to +him. I grieve most sincerely to hear that he has been ill, my dear Hooker, +God bless you, and fare you well. + +Your sincere friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HUGH STRICKLAND. (Hugh Edwin Strickland, M.A., F.R.S., +was born 2nd of March, 1811, and educated at Rugby, under Arnold, and at +Oriel College, Oxford. In 1835 and 1836 he travelled through Europe to the +Levant with W.J. Hamilton, the geologist, wintering in Asia Minor. In 1841 +he brought the subject of Natural History Nomenclature before the British +Association, and prepared the Code of Rules for Zoological Nomenclature, +now known by his name--the principles of which are very generally adopted. +In 1843 he was one of the founders (if not the original projector) of the +Ray Society. In 1845 he married the second daughter of Sir William +Jardine, Bart. In 1850 he was appointed, in consequence of Buckland's +illness, Deputy Reader in Geology at Oxford. His promising career was +suddenly cut short on September 14, 1853, when, while geologizing in a +railway cutting between Retford and Gainsborough, he was run over by a +train and instantly killed. A memoir of him and a reprint of his principal +contributions to journals was published by Sir William Jardine in 1858; but +he was also the author of 'The Dodo and its Kindred' (1848); 'Bibliographia +Zoologiae' (the latter in conjunction with Louis Agassiz, and issued by the +Ray Society); 'Ornithological Synonyms' (one volume only published, and +that posthumously). A catalogue of his ornithological collection, given by +his widow to the University of Cambridge, was compiled by Mr. Salvin, and +published in 1882. (I am indebted to Prof. Newton for the above note.)) +Down, January 29th [1849]. + +...What a labour you have undertaken; I do HONOUR your devoted zeal in the +good cause of Natural Science. Do you happen to have a SPARE copy of the +Nomenclature rules published in the 'British Association Transactions?' if +you have, and would give it to me, I should be truly obliged, for I grudge +buying the volume for it. I have found the rules very useful, it is quite +a comfort to have something to rest on in the turbulent ocean of +nomenclature (and am accordingly grateful to you), though I find it very +difficult to obey always. Here is a case (and I think it should have been +noticed in the rules), Coronula, Cineras and Otion, are names adopted by +Cuvier, Lamarck, Owen, and almost EVERY well-known writer, but I find that +all three names were anticipated by a German: now I believe if I were to +follow the strict rule of priority, more harm would be done than good, and +more especially as I feel sure that the newly fished-up names would not be +adopted. I have almost made up my mind to reject the rule of priority in +this case; would you grudge the trouble to send me your opinion? I have +been led of late to reflect much on the subject of naming, and I have come +to a fixed opinion that the plan of the first describer's name, being +appended for perpetuity to a species, had been the greatest curse to +Natural History. Some months since, I wrote out the enclosed badly drawn- +up paper, thinking that perhaps I would agitate the subject; but the fit +has passed, and I do not suppose I ever shall; I send it you for the CHANCE +of your caring to see my notions. I have been surprised to find in +conversation that several naturalists were of nearly my way of thinking. I +feel sure as long as species-mongers have their vanity tickled by seeing +their own names appended to a species, because they miserably described it +in two or three lines, we shall have the same VAST amount of bad work as at +present, and which is enough to dishearten any man who is willing to work +out any branch with care and time. I find every genus of Cirripedia has +half-a-dozen names, and not one careful description of any one species in +any one genus. I do not believe that this would have been the case if each +man knew that the memory of his own name depended on his doing his work +well, and not upon merely appending a name with a few wretched lines +indicating only a few prominent external characters. But I will not weary +you with any longer tirade. Read my paper or NOT, just as you like, and +return it whenever you please. + +Yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +HUGH STRICKLAND TO CHARLES DARWIN. +The Lodge, Tewkesbury, January 31st, 1849. + +...I have next to notice your second objection--that retaining the name of +the FIRST describer in perpetuum along with that of the species, is a +premium on hasty and careless work. This is quite a different question +from that of the law of priority itself, and it never occurred to me +before, though it seems highly probable that the general recognition of +that law may produce such a result. We must try to counteract this evil in +some other way. + +The object of appending the name of a man to the name of a species is not +to gratify the vanity of the man, but to indicate more precisely the +species. Sometimes two men will, by accident, give the same name +(independently) to two species of the same genus. More frequently a later +author will misapply the specific name of an older one. Thus the Helix +putris of Montagu is not H. putris of Linnaeus, though Montague supposed it +to be so. In such a case we cannot define the species by Helix putris +alone, but must append the name of the author whom we quote. But when a +species has never borne but one name (as Corvus frugilegus), and no other +species of Corvus has borne the same name, it is, of course, unnecessary to +add the author's name. Yet even here I like the form Corvus frugilegus, +Linn., as it reminds us that this is one of the old species, long known, +and to be found in the 'Systema Naturae,' etc. I fear, therefore, that (at +least until our nomenclature is more definitely settled) it will be +impossible to indicate species with scientific accuracy, without adding the +name of their first author. You may, indeed, do it as you propose, by +saying in Lam. An. Invert., etc., but then this would be incompatible with +the law of priority, for where Lamarck has violated that low, one cannot +adopt his name. It is, nevertheless, highly conducive to accurate +indication to append to the (oldest) specific name ONE good reference to a +standard work, especially to a FIGURE, with an accompanying synonym if +necessary. This method may be cumbrous, but cumbrousness is a far less +evil than uncertainty. + +It, moreover, seems hardly possible to carry out the PRIORITY principle, +without the historical aid afforded by appending the author's name to the +specific one. If I, a PRIORITY MAN, called a species C.D., it implies that +C.D. is the oldest name that I know of; but in order that you and others +may judge of the propriety of that name, you must ascertain when, and by +whom, the name was first coined. Now, if to the specific name C.D., I +append the name A.B., of its first describer, I at once furnish you with +the clue to the dates when, and the book in which, this description was +given, and I thus assist you in determining whether C.D. be really the +oldest, and therefore the correct, designation. + +I do, however, admit that the priority principle (excellent as it is) has a +tendency, when the author's name is added, to encourage vanity and slovenly +work. I think, however, that much might be done to discourage those +obscure and unsatisfactory definitions of which you so justly complain, by +WRITING DOWN the practice. Let the better disposed naturalists combine to +make a formal protest against all vague, loose, and inadequate definitions +of (supposed) new species. Let a committee (say of the British +Association) be appointed to prepare a sort of CLASS LIST of the various +modern works in which new species are described, arranged in order of +merit. The lowest class would contain the worst examples of the kind, and +their authors would thus be exposed to the obloquy which they deserve, and +be gibbeted in terrorem for the edification of those who may come after. + +I have thus candidly stated my views (I hope intelligibly) of what seems +best to be done in the present transitional and dangerous state of +systematic zoology. Innumerable labourers, many of them crotchety and +half-educated, are rushing into the field, and it depends, I think, on the +present generation whether the science is to descend to posterity a chaotic +mass, or possessed of some traces of law and organisation. If we could +only get a congress of deputies from the chief scientific bodies of Europe +and America, something might be done, but, as the case stands, I confess I +do not clearly see my way, beyond humbly endeavouring to reform NUMBER ONE. + +Yours ever, +H.E. STRICKLAND. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HUGH STRICKLAND. +Down, Sunday [February 4th, 1849]. + +My dear Strickland, + +I am, in truth, GREATLY obliged to you for your long, most interesting, and +clear letter, and the Report. I will consider your arguments, which are of +the greatest weight, but I confess I cannot yet bring myself to reject very +WELL-KNOWN names, not in ONE country, but over the world, for obscure +ones,--simply on the ground that I do not believe I should be followed. +Pray believe that I should break the law of priority only in rare cases; +will you read the enclosed (and return it), and tell me whether it does not +stagger you? (N.B. I PROMISE that I will not give you any more trouble.) +I want simple answers, and not for you to waste your time in reasons; I am +curious for your answer in regard to Balanus. I put the case of Otion, +etc., to W. Thompson, who is fierce for the law of priority, and he gave it +up in such well-known names. I am in a perfect maze of doubt on +nomenclature. In not one large genus of Cirripedia has ANY ONE species +been correctly defined; it is pure guesswork (being guided by range and +commonness and habits) to recognise any species: thus I can make out, from +plates or descriptions, hardly any of the British sessile cirripedes. I +cannot bear to give new names to all the species, and yet I shall perhaps +do wrong to attach old names by little better than guess; I cannot at +present tell the least which of two species all writers have meant by the +common Anatifera laevis; I have, therefore, given that name to the one +which is rather the commonest. Literally, not one species is properly +defined; not one naturalist has ever taken the trouble to open the shell of +any species to describe it scientifically, and yet all the genera have +half-a-dozen synonyms. For ARGUMENT'S sake, suppose I do my work +thoroughly well, any one who happens to have the original specimens named, +I will say by Chenu, who has figured and named hundreds of species, will be +able to upset all my names according to the law of priority (for he may +maintain his descriptions are sufficient), do you think it advantageous to +science that this should be done: I think not, and that convenience and +high merit (here put as mere argument) had better come into some play. The +subject is heart-breaking. + +I hope you will occasionally turn in your mind my argument of the evil done +by the "mihi" attached to specific names; I can most clearly see the +EXCESSIVE evil it has caused; in mineralogy I have myself found there is no +rage to merely name; a person does not take up the subject without he +intends to work it out, as he knows that his ONLY claim to merit rests on +his work being ably done, and has no relation whatever to NAMING. I give +up one point, and grant that reference to first describer's name should be +given in all systematic works, but I think something would be gained if a +reference was given without the author's name being actually appended as +part of the binomial name, and I think, except in systematic works, a +reference, such as I propose, would damp vanity much. I think a very wrong +spirit runs through all Natural History, as if some merit was due to a man +for merely naming and defining a species; I think scarcely any, or none, is +due; if he works out MINUTELY and anatomically any one species, or +systematically a whole group, credit is due, but I must think the mere +defining a species is nothing, and that no INJUSTICE is done him if it be +overlooked, though a great inconvenience to Natural History is thus caused. +I do not think more credit is due to a man for defining a species, than to +a carpenter for making a box. But I am foolish and rabid against species- +mongers, or rather against their vanity; it is useful and necessary work +which must be done; but they act as if they had actually made the species, +and it was their own property. + +I use Agassiz's nomenclator; at least two-thirds of the dates in the +Cirripedia are grossly wrong. + +I shall do what I can in fossil Cirripedia, and should be very grateful for +specimens; but I do not believe that species (and hardly genera) can be +defined by single valves; as in every recent species yet examined their +forms vary greatly: to describe a species by valves alone, is the same as +to describe a crab from SMALL portions of its carapace alone, these +portions being highly variable, and not, as in Crustacea, modelled over +viscera. I sincerely apologise for the trouble which I have given you, but +indeed I will give no more. + +Yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--In conversation I found Owen and Andrew Smith much inclined to throw +over the practice of attaching authors' names; I believe if I agitated I +could get a large party to join. W. Thompson agreed some way with me, but +was not prepared to go nearly as far as I am. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HUGH STRICKLAND. +Down, February 10th [1849]. + +My dear Strickland, + +I have again to thank you cordially for your letter. Your remarks shall +fructify to some extent, and I will try to be more faithful to rigid virtue +and priority; but as for calling Balanus "Lepas" (which I did not think +of), I cannot do it, my pen won't write it--it is IMPOSSIBLE. I have great +hopes some of my difficulties will disappear, owing to wrong dates in +Agassiz, and to my having to run several genera into one, for I have as yet +gone, in but few cases, to original sources. With respect to adopting my +own notions in my Cirripedia book, I should not like to do so without I +found others approved, and in some public way,--nor, indeed, is it well +adapted, as I can never recognise a species without I have the original +specimen, which, fortunately, I have in many cases in the British Museum. +Thus far I mean to adopt my notion, as never putting mihi or "Darwin" after +my own species, and in the anatomical text giving no authors' names at all, +as the systematic Part will serve for those who want to know the History of +a species as far as I can imperfectly work it out... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[The Lodge, Malvern, +March 28th, 1849.] + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter of the 13th of October has remained unanswered till this day! +What an ungrateful return for a letter which interested me so much, and +which contained so much and curious information. But I have had a bad +winter. + +On the 13th of November, my poor dear father died, and no one who did not +know him would believe that a man above eighty-three years old could have +retained so tender and affectionate a disposition, with all his sagacity +unclouded to the last. I was at the time so unwell, that I was unable to +travel, which added to my misery. Indeed, all this winter I have been bad +enough...and my nervous system began to be affected, so that my hands +trembled, and head was often swimming. I was not able to do anything one +day out of three, and was altogether too dispirited to write to you, or to +do anything but what I was compelled. I thought I was rapidly going the +way of all flesh. Having heard, accidentally, of two persons who had +received much benefit from the water-cure, I got Dr. Gully's book, and made +further enquiries, and at last started here, with wife, children, and all +our servants. We have taken a house for two months, and have been here a +fortnight. I am already a little stronger...Dr. Gully feels pretty sure he +can do me good, which most certainly the regular doctors could not...I feel +certain that the water-cure is no quackery. + +How I shall enjoy getting back to Down with renovated health, if such is to +be my good fortune, and resuming the beloved Barnacles. Now I hope that +you will forgive me for my negligence in not having sooner answered your +letter. I was uncommonly interested by the sketch you give of your +intended grand expedition, from which I suppose you will soon be returning. +How earnestly I hope that it may prove in every way successful... + +[When my father was at the Water-cure Establishment at Malvern he was +brought into contact with clairvoyance, of which he writes in the following +extract from a letter to Fox, September, 1850. + +"You speak about Homoeopathy, which is a subject which makes me more wrath, +even than does Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance so transcends belief, that one's +ordinary faculties are put out of the question, but in homoeopathy common +sense and common observation come into play, and both these must go to the +dogs, if the infinitesimal doses have any effect whatever. How true is a +remark I saw the other day by Quetelet, in respect to evidence of curative +processes, viz., that no one knows in disease what is the simple result of +nothing being done, as a standard with which to compare homoeopathy, and +all other such things. It is a sad flaw, I cannot but think, in my beloved +Dr. Gully, that he believes in everything. When Miss -- was very ill, he +had a clairvoyant girl to report on internal changes, a mesmerist to put +her to sleep--an homoeopathist, viz. Dr. --, and himself as hydropathist! +and the girl recovered." + +A passage out of an earlier letter to Fox (December, 1884) shows that he +was equally sceptical on the subject of mesmerism: "With respect to +mesmerism, the whole country resounds with wonderful facts or tales..I have +just heard of a child, three or four years old (whose parents and self I +well knew) mesmerised by his father, which is the first fact which has +staggered me. I shall not believe fully till I see or hear from good +evidence of animals (as has been stated is possible) not drugged, being put +to stupor; of course the impossibility would not prove mesmerism false; but +it is the only clear experimentum crucis, and I am astonished it has not +been systematically tried. If mesmerism was investigated, like a science, +this could not have been left till the present day to be DONE +SATISFACTORILY, as it has been I believe left. Keep some cats yourself, +and do get some mesmeriser to attempt it. One man told me he had +succeeded, but his experiments were most vague, and as was likely from a +man who said cats were more easily done than other animals, because they +were so electrical!"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, December 4th [1849]. + +My dear Lyell, + +This letter requires no answer, and I write from exuberance of vanity. +Dana has sent me the Geology of the United States Expedition, and I have +just read the Coral part. To begin with a modest speech, I AM ASTONISHED +AT MY OWN ACCURACY!! If I were to rewrite now my Coral book there is +hardly a sentence I should have to alter, except that I ought to have +attributed more effect to recent volcanic action in checking growth of +coral. When I say all this I ought to add that the CONSEQUENCES of the +theory on areas of subsidence are treated in a separate chapter to which I +have not come, and in this, I suspect, we shall differ more. Dana talks of +agreeing with my theory IN MOST POINTS; I can find out not one in which he +differs. Considering how infinitely more he saw of Coral Reefs than I did, +this is wonderfully satisfactory to me. He treats me most courteously. +There now, my vanity is pretty well satisfied... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Malvern, April 9th, 1849. + +My dear Hooker, + +The very next morning after posting my last letter (I think on 23rd of +March), I received your two interesting gossipaceous and geological +letters; and the latter I have since exchanged with Lyell for his. I will +write higglety-pigglety just as subjects occur. I saw the Review in the +'Athenaeum,' it was written in an ill-natured spirit; but the whole virus +consisted in saying that there was not novelty enough in your remarks for +publication. No one, nowadays, cares for reviews. I may just mention that +my Journal got some REAL GOOD abuse, "presumption," etc.,--ended with +saying that the volume appeared "made up of the scraps and rubbish of the +author's portfolio." I most truly enter into what you say, and quite +believe you that you care only for the review with respect to your father; +and that this ALONE would make you like to see extracts from your letters +more properly noticed in this same periodical. I have considered to the +very best of my judgment whether any portion of your present letters are +adapted for the 'Athenaeum' (in which I have no interest; the beasts not +having even NOTICED my three geological volumes which I had sent to them), +and I have come to the conclusion it is better not to send them. I feel +sure, considering all the circumstances, that without you took pains and +wrote WITH CARE, a condensed and finished sketch of some striking feature +in your travels, it is better not to send anything. These two letters are, +moreover, rather too geological for the 'Athenaeum,' and almost require +woodcuts. On the other hand, there are hardly enough details for a +communication to the Geological Society. I have not the SMALLEST DOUBT +that your facts are of the highest interest with regard to glacial action +in the Himalaya; but it struck both Lyell and myself that your evidence +ought to have been given more distinctly... + +I have written so lately that I have nothing to say about myself; my health +prevented me going on with a crusade against "mihi" and "nobis," of which +you warn me of the dangers. I showed my paper to three or four +Naturalists, and they all agreed with me to a certain extent: with health +and vigour, I would not have shown a white feather, [and] with aid of half- +a-dozen really good Naturalists, I believe something might have been done +against the miserable and degrading passion of mere species naming. In +your letter you wonder what "Ornamental Poultry" has to do with Barnacles; +but do not flatter yourself that I shall not yet live to finish the +Barnacles, and then make a fool of myself on the subject of species, under +which head ornamental Poultry are very interesting... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +The Lodge, Malvern [June, 1849]. + +...I have got your book ('A Second Visit to the United States.'), and have +read all the first and a small part of the second volume (reading is the +hardest work allowed here), and greatly I have been interested by it. It +makes me long to be a Yankee. E. desires me to say that she quite +"gloated" over the truth of your remarks on religious progress...I delight +to think how you will disgust some of the bigots and educational dons. As +yet there has not been MUCH Geology or Natural History, for which I hope +you feel a little ashamed. Your remarks on all social subjects strike me +as worthy of the author of the 'Principles.' And yet (I know it is +prejudice and pride) if I had written the Principles, I never would have +written any travels; but I believe I am more jealous about the honour and +glory of the Principles than you are yourself... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +September 14th, 1849. + +...I go on with my aqueous processes, and very steadily but slowly gain +health and strength. Against all rules, I dined at Chevening with Lord +Mahon, who did me the great honour of calling on me, and how he heard of me +I can't guess. I was charmed with Lady Mahon, and any one might have been +proud at the pieces of agreeableness which came from her beautiful lips +with respect to you. I like old Lord Stanhope very much; though he abused +Geology and Zoology heartily. "To suppose that the Omnipotent God made a +world, found it a failure, and broke it up, and then made it again, and +again broke it up, as the Geologists say, is all fiddle faddle. Describing +Species of birds and shells, etc., is all fiddle faddle..." + +I am heartily glad we shall meet at Birmingham, as I trust we shall, if my +health will but keep up. I work now every day at the Cirripedia for 2 1/2 +hours, and so get on a little, but very slowly. I sometimes, after being a +whole week employed and having described perhaps only two species, agree +mentally with Lord Stanhope, that it is all fiddle faddle; however, the +other day I got a curious case of a unisexual, instead of hermaphrodite +cirripede, in which the female had the common cirripedial character, and in +two valves of her shell had two little pockets, in EACH of which she kept a +little husband; I do not know of any other case where a female invariably +has two husbands. I have one still odder fact, common to several species, +namely, that though they are hermaphrodite, they have small additional, or +as I shall call them, complemental males, one specimen itself hermaphrodite +had no less than SEVEN, of these complemental males attached to it. Truly +the schemes and wonders of Nature are illimitable. But I am running on as +badly about my cirripedia as about Geology; it makes me groan to think that +probably I shall never again have the exquisite pleasure of making out some +new district, of evolving geological light out of some troubled dark +region. So I must make the best of my Cirripedia... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, October 12th, 1849. + +...By the way, one of the pleasantest parts of the British Association was +my journey down to Birmingham with Mrs. Sabine, Mrs. Reeve, and the +Colonel; also Col. Sykes and Porter. Mrs. Sabine and myself agreed +wonderfully on many points, and in none more sincerely than about you. We +spoke about your letters from the Erebus; and she quite agreed with me, +that you and the AUTHOR (Sir J. Hooker wrote the spirited description of +cattle hunting in Sir J. Ross's 'Voyage of Discovery in the Southern +Regions,' 1847, vol. ii., page 245.), of the description of the cattle +hunting in the Falklands, would have made a capital book together! A very +nice woman she is, and so is her sharp and sagacious mother...Birmingham +was very flat compared to Oxford, though I had my wife with me. We saw a +good deal of the Lyells and Horners and Robinsons (the President); but the +place was dismal, and I was prevented, by being unwell, from going to +Warwick, though that, i.e., the party, by all accounts, was wonderfully +inferior to Blenheim, not to say anything of that heavenly day at Dropmore. +One gets weary of all the spouting... + +You ask about my cold-water cure; I am going on very well, and am certainly +a little better every month, my nights mend much slower than my days. I +have built a douche, and am to go on through all the winter, frost or no +frost. My treatment now is lamp five times per week, and shallow bath for +five minutes afterwards; douche daily for five minutes, and dripping sheet +daily. The treatment is wonderfully tonic, and I have had more better +consecutive days this month than on any previous ones...I am allowed to +work now two and a half hours daily, and I find it as much as I can do, for +the cold-water cure, together with three short walks, is curiously +exhausting; and I am actually FORCED to go to bed at eight o'clock +completely tired. I steadily gain in weight, and eat immensely, and am +never oppressed with my food. I have lost the involuntary twitching of the +muscle, and all the fainting feelings, etc--black spots before eyes, etc. +Dr. Gully thinks he shall quite cure me in six or nine months more. + +The greatest bore, which I find in the water-cure, is the having been +compelled to give up all reading, except the newspapers; for my daily two +and a half hours at the Barnacles is fully as much as I can do of anything +which occupies the mind; I am consequently terribly behind in all +scientific books. I have of late been at work at mere species describing, +which is much more difficult than I expected, and has much the same sort of +interest as a puzzle has; but I confess I often feel wearied with the work, +and cannot help sometimes asking myself what is the good of spending a week +or fortnight in ascertaining that certain just perceptible differences +blend together and constitute varieties and not species. As long as I am +on anatomy I never feel myself in that disgusting, horrid, cui bono, +inquiring, humour. What miserable work, again, it is searching for +priority of names. I have just finished two species, which possess seven +generic, and twenty-four specific names! My chief comfort is, that the +work must be sometime done, and I may as well do it, as any one else. + +I have given up my agitation against mihi and nobis; my paper is too long +to send to you, so you must see it, if you care to do so, on your return. +By-the-way, you say in your letter that you care more for my species work +than for the Barnacles; now this is too bad of you, for I declare your +decided approval of my plain Barnacle work over theoretic species work, had +very great influence in deciding me to go on with the former, and defer my +species paper... + + +[The following letter refers to the death of his little daughter, which +took place at Malvern on April 24, 1851:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, April 29th [1851]. + +My dear Fox, + +I do not suppose you will have heard of our bitter and cruel loss. Poor +dear little Annie, when going on very well at Malvern, was taken with a +vomiting attack, which was at first thought of the smallest importance; but +it rapidly assumed the form of a low and dreadful fever, which carried her +off in ten days. Thank God, she suffered hardly at all, and expired as +tranquilly as a little angel. Our only consolation is that she passed a +short, though joyous life. She was my favourite child; her cordiality, +openness, buoyant joyousness and strong affections made her most lovable. +Poor dear little soul. Well it is all over... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, March 7th [1852]. + +My dear Fox, + +It is indeed an age since we have had any communication, and very glad I +was to receive your note. Our long silence occurred to me a few weeks +since, and I had then thought of writing, but was idle. I congratulate and +condole with you on your TENTH child; but please to observe when I have a +tenth, send only condolences to me. We have now seven children, all well, +thank God, as well as their mother; of these seven, five are boys; and my +father used to say that it was certain that a boy gave as much trouble as +three girls; so that bona fide we have seventeen children. It makes me +sick whenever I think of professions; all seem hopelessly bad, and as yet I +cannot see a ray of light. I should very much like to talk over this (by +the way, my three bugbears are Californian and Australian gold, beggaring +me by making my money on mortgage worth nothing; the French coming by the +Westerham and Sevenoaks roads, and therefore enclosing Down; and thirdly, +professions for my boys), and I should like to talk about education, on +which you ask me what we are doing. No one can more truly despise the old +stereotyped stupid classical education than I do; but yet I have not had +courage to break through the trammels. After many doubts we have just sent +our eldest boy to Rugby, where for his age he has been very well placed...I +honour, admire, and envy you for educating your boys at home. What on +earth shall you do with your boys? Towards the end of this month we go to +see W. at Rugby, and thence for five or six days to Susan (His sister.) at +Shrewsbury; I then return home to look after the babies, and E. goes to F. +Wedgwood's of Etruria for a week. Very many thanks for your most kind and +large invitation to Delamere, but I fear we can hardly compass it. I dread +going anywhere, on account of my stomach so easily failing under any +excitement. I rarely even now go to London; not that I am at all worse, +perhaps rather better, and lead a very comfortable life with my three hours +of daily work, but it is the life of a hermit. My nights are ALWAYS bad, +and that stops my becoming vigorous. You ask about water-cure. I take at +intervals of two or three months, five or six weeks of MODERATELY severe +treatment, and always with good effect. Do you come here, I pray and beg +whenever you can find time; you cannot tell how much pleasure it would give +me and E. I have finished the 1st volume for the Ray Society of +Pedunculated Cirripedes, which, as I think you are a member, you will soon +get. Read what I describe on the sexes of Ibla and Scalpellum. I am now +at work on the Sessile Cirripedes, and am wonderfully tired of my job: a +man to be a systematic naturalist ought to work at least eight hours per +day. You saw through me, when you said that I must have wished to have +seen the effects of the [word illegible] Debacle, for I was saying a week +ago to E., that had I been as I was in old days, I would have been +certainly off that hour. You ask after Erasmus; he is much as usual, and +constantly more or less unwell. Susan (His sister.) is much better, and +very flourishing and happy. Catherine (Another sister.) is at Rome, and +has enjoyed it in a degree that is quite astonishing to my dry old bones. +And now I think I have told you enough, and more than enough about the +house of Darwin; so my dear old friend, farewell. What pleasant times we +had in drinking coffee in your rooms at Christ's College, and think of the +glories of Crux major. (The beetle Panagaeus crux-major.) Ah, in those +days there were no professions for sons, no ill-health to fear for them, no +Californian gold, no French invasions. How paramount the future is to the +present when one is surrounded by children. My dread is hereditary ill- +health. Even death is better for them. + +My dear Fox, your sincere friend, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Susan has lately been working in a way which I think truly heroic +about the scandalous violation of the Act against children climbing +chimneys. We have set up a little Society in Shrewsbury to prosecute those +who break the law. It is all Susan's doing. She has had very nice letters +from Lord Shaftesbury and the Duke of Sutherland, but the brutal Shropshire +squires are as hard as stones to move. The Act out of London seems most +commonly violated. It makes one shudder to fancy one of one's own children +at seven years old being forced up a chimney--to say nothing of the +consequent loathsome disease and ulcerated limbs, and utter moral +degradation. If you think strongly on this subject, do make some +inquiries; add to your many good works, this other one, and try to stir up +the magistrates. There are several people making a stir in different parts +of England on this subject. It is not very likely that you would wish for +such, but I could send you some essays and information if you so liked, +either for yourself or to give away. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down [October 24th, 1852]. + +My dear Fox, + +I received your long and most welcome letter this morning, and will answer +it this evening, as I shall be very busy with an artist, drawing +Cirripedia, and much overworked for the next fortnight. But first you +deserve to be well abused--and pray consider yourself well abused--for +thinking or writing that I could for one minute be bored by any amount of +detail about yourself and belongings. It is just what I like hearing; +believe me that I often think of old days spent with you, and sometimes can +hardly believe what a jolly careless individual one was in those old days. +A bright autumn evening often brings to mind some shooting excursion from +Osmaston. I do indeed regret that we live so far off each other, and that +I am so little locomotive. I have been unusually well of late (no water- +cure), but I do not find that I can stand any change better than +formerly...The other day I went to London and back, and the fatigue, though +so trifling, brought on my bad form of vomiting. I grieve to hear that +your chest has been ailing, and most sincerely do I hope that it is only +the muscles; how frequently the voice fails with the clergy. I can well +understand your reluctance to break up your large and happy party and go +abroad; but your life is very valuable, so you ought to be very cautious in +good time. You ask about all of us, now five boys (oh! the professions; +oh! the gold; and oh! the French--these three oh's all rank as dreadful +bugbears) and two girls...but another and the worst of my bugbears is +hereditary weakness. All my sisters are well except Mrs. Parker, who is +much out of health; and so is Erasmus at his poor average: he has lately +moved into Queen Anne Street. I had heard of the intended marriage (To the +Rev. J. Hughes.) of your sister Frances. I believe I have seen her since, +but my memory takes me back some twenty-five years, when she was lying +down. I remember well the delightful expression of her countenance. I +most sincerely wish her all happiness. + +I see I have not answered half your queries. We like very well all that we +have seen and heard of Rugby, and have never repented of sending [W.] +there. I feel sure schools have greatly improved since our days; but I +hate schools and the whole system of breaking through the affections of the +family by separating the boys so early in life; but I see no help, and dare +not run the risk of a youth being exposed to the temptations of the world +without having undergone the milder ordeal of a great school. + +I see you even ask after our pears. We have lots of Beurrees d'Aremberg, +Winter Nelis, Marie Louise, and "Ne plus Ultra," but all off the wall; the +standard dwarfs have borne a few, but I have no room for more trees, so +their names would be useless to me. You really must make a holiday and pay +us a visit sometime; nowhere could you be more heartily welcome. I am at +work at the second volume of the Cirripedia, of which creatures I am +wonderfully tired. I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before, not even a +sailor in a slow-sailing ship. My first volume is out; the only part worth +looking at is on the sexes of Ibla and Scalpellum. I hope by next summer +to have done with my tedious work. Farewell,--do come whenever you can +possibly manage it. + +I cannot but hope that the carbuncle may possibly do you good: I have +heard of all sorts of weaknesses disappearing after a carbuncle. I suppose +the pain is dreadful. I agree most entirely, what a blessed discovery is +chloroform. When one thinks of one's children, it makes quite a little +difference in one's happiness. The other day I had five grinders (two by +the elevator) out at a sitting under this wonderful substance, and felt +hardly anything. + +My dear old friend, yours very affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, January 29th [1853]. + +My dear Fox, + +Your last account some months ago was so little satisfactory that I have +often been thinking of you, and should be really obliged if you would give +me a few lines, and tell me how your voice and chest are. I most sincerely +hope that your report will be good...Our second lad has a strong mechanical +turn, and we think of making him an engineer. I shall try and find out for +him some less classical school, perhaps Bruce Castle. I certainly should +like to see more diversity in education than there is in any ordinary +school--no exercising of the observing or reasoning faculties, no general +knowledge acquired--I must think it a wretched system. On the other hand, +a boy who has learnt to stick at Latin and conquer its difficulties, ought +to be able to stick at any labour. I should always be glad to hear +anything about schools or education from you. I am at my old, never-ending +subject, but trust I shall really go to press in a few months with my +second volume on Cirripedes. I have been much pleased by finding some odd +facts in my first volume believed by Owen and a few others, whose good +opinion I regard as final...Do write pretty soon, and tell me all you can +about yourself and family; and I trust your report of yourself may be much +better than your last. + +...I have been very little in London of late, and have not seen Lyell since +his return from America; how lucky he was to exhume with his own hand parts +of three skeletons of reptiles out of the CARBONIFEROUS strata, and out of +the inside of a fossil tree, which had been hollow within. + +Farewell, my dear Fox, yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +13 Sea Houses, Eastbourne, +[July 15th? 1853]. + +My dear Fox, + +Here we are in a state of profound idleness, which to me is a luxury; and +we should all, I believe, have been in a state of high enjoyment, had it +not been for the detestable cold gales and much rain, which always gives +much ennui to children away from their homes. I received your letter of +13th June, when working like a slave with Mr. Sowerby at drawing for my +second volume, and so put off answering it till when I knew I should be at +leisure. I was extremely glad to get your letter. I had intended a couple +of months ago sending you a savage or supplicating jobation to know how you +were, when I met Sir P. Egerton, who told me you were well, and, as usual, +expressed his admiration of your doings, especially your farming, and the +number of animals, including children, which you kept on your land. Eleven +children, ave Maria! it is a serious look-out for you. Indeed, I look at +my five boys as something awful, and hate the very thoughts of professions, +etc. If one could insure moderate health for them it would not signify so +much, for I cannot but hope, with the enormous emigration, professions will +somewhat improve. But my bugbear is hereditary weakness. I particularly +like to hear all that you can say about education, and you deserve to be +scolded for saying "you did not mean to TORMENT me with a long yarn." You +ask about Rugby. I like it very well, on the same principle as my +neighbour, Sir J. Lubbock, likes Eton, viz., that it is not worse than any +other school; the expense, WITH ALL ETC., ETC., including some clothes, +travelling expenses, etc., is from 110 pounds to 120 pounds per annum. I +do not think schools are so wicked as they were, and far more industrious. +The boys, I think, live too secluded in their separate studies; and I doubt +whether they will get so much knowledge of character as boys used to do; +and this, in my opinion, is the ONE good of public schools over small +schools. I should think the only superiority of a small school over home +was forced regularity in their work, which your boys perhaps get at your +home, but which I do not believe my boys would get at my home. Otherwise, +it is quite lamentable sending boys so early in life from their home. + +...To return to schools. My main objection to them, as places of +education, is the enormous proportion of time spent over classics. I fancy +(though perhaps it is only fancy) that I can perceive the ill and +contracting effect on my eldest boy's mind, in checking interest in +anything in which reasoning and observation come into play. Mere memory +seems to be worked. I shall certainly look out for some school with more +diversified studies for my younger boys. I was talking lately to the Dean +of Hereford, who takes most strongly this view; and he tells me that there +is a school at Hereford commencing on this plan; and that Dr. Kennedy at +Shrewsbury is going to begin vigorously to modify that school... + +I am EXTREMELY glad to hear that you approved of my cirripedial volume. I +have spent an almost ridiculous amount of labour on the subject, and +certainly would never have undertaken it had I foreseen what a job it was. +I hope to have finished by the end of the year. Do write again before a +very long time; it is a real pleasure to me to hear from you. Farewell, +with my wife's kindest remembrances to yourself and Mrs. Fox. + +My dear old friend, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, August 10th [1853]. + +My dear Fox, + +I thank you sincerely for writing to me so soon after your most heavy +misfortune. Your letter affected me so much. We both most truly +sympathise with you and Mrs. Fox. We too lost, as you may remember, not so +very long ago, a most dear child, of whom I can hardly yet bear to think +tranquilly; yet, as you must know from your own most painful experience, +time softens and deadens, in a manner truly wonderful, one's feelings and +regrets. At first it is indeed bitter. I can only hope that your health +and that of poor Mrs. Fox may be preserved, and that time may do its work +softly, and bring you all together, once again, as the happy family, which, +as I can well believe, you so lately formed. + +My dear Fox, your affectionate friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The following letter refers to the Royal Society's Medal, which was +awarded to him in November, 1853:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 5th [1853]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Amongst my letters received this morning, I opened first one from Colonel +Sabine; the contents certainly surprised me very much, but, though the +letter was a VERY KIND ONE, somehow, I cared very little indeed for the +announcement it contained. I then opened yours, and such is the effect of +warmth, friendship, and kindness from one that is loved, that the very same +fact, told as you told it, made me glow with pleasure till my very heart +throbbed. Believe me, I shall not soon forget the pleasure of your letter. +Such hearty, affectionate sympathy is worth more than all the medals that +ever were or will be coined. Again, my dear Hooker, I thank you. I hope +Lindley (John Lindley, 1799-1865, was the son of a nurseryman near Norwich, +through whose failure in business he was thrown at the age of twenty on his +own resources. He was befriended by Sir W. Hooker, and employed as +assistant librarian by Sir J. Banks. He seems to have had enormous +capacity of work, and is said to have translated Richard's 'Analyse du +Fruit' at one sitting of two days and three nights. He became Assistant- +Secretary to the Horticultural Society, and in 1829 was appointed Professor +of Botany at University College, a post which he held for upwards of thirty +years. His writings are numerous: the best known being perhaps his +'Vegetable Kingdom,' published in 1846. His influence in helping to +introduce the natural system of classification was considerable, and he +brought "all the weight of his teaching and all the force of his +controversial powers to support it," as against the Linnean system +universally taught in the earlier part of his career. Sachs points out +(Geschichte der Botanik, 1875, page 161), that though Lindley adopted in +the main a sound classification of plants, he only did so by abandoning his +own theoretical principle that the physiological importance of an organ is +a measure of its classificatory value.) will never hear that he was a +competitor against me; for really it is almost RIDICULOUS (of course you +would never repeat that I said this, for it would be thought by others, +though not, I believe, by you, to be affectation) his not having the medal +long before me; I must feel SURE that you did quite right to propose him; +and what a good, dear, kind fellow you are, nevertheless, to rejoice in +this honour being bestowed on me. + +What PLEASURE I have felt on the occasion, I owe almost entirely to you. + +Farewell, my dear Hooker, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--You may believe what a surprise it was, for I had never heard that +the medals could be given except for papers in the 'Transactions.' All +this will make me work with better heart at finishing the second volume. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, February 18th [1854]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I should have written before, had it not seemed doubtful whether you would +go on to Teneriffe, but now I am extremely glad to hear your further +progress is certain; not that I have much of any sort to say, as you may +well believe when you hear that I have only once been in London since you +started. I was particularly glad to see, two days since, your letter to +Mr. Horner, with its geological news; how fortunate for you that your knees +are recovered. I am astonished at what you say of the beauty, though I had +fancied it great. It really makes me quite envious to think of your +clambering up and down those steep valleys. And what a pleasant party on +your return from your expeditions. I often think of the delight which I +felt when examining volcanic islands, and I can remember even particular +rocks which I struck, and the smell of the hot, black, scoriaceous cliffs; +but of those HOT smells you do not seem to have had much. I do quite envy +you. How I should like to be with you, and speculate on the deep and +narrow valleys. + +How very singular the fact is which you mention about the inclination of +the strata being greater round the circumference than in the middle of the +island; do you suppose the elevation has had the form of a flat dome? I +remember in the Cordillera being OFTEN struck with the greater abruptness +of the strata in the LOW EXTREME outermost ranges, compared with the great +mass of inner mountains. I dare say you will have thought of measuring +exactly the width of any dikes at the top and bottom of any great cliff +(which was done by Mr. Searle [?] at St. Helena), for it has often struck +me as VERY ODD that the cracks did not die out OFTENER upwards. I can +think of hardly any news to tell you, as I have seen no one since being in +London, when I was delighted to see Forbes looking so well, quite big and +burly. I saw at the Museum some of the surprisingly rich gold ore from +North Wales. Ramsay also told me that he has lately turned a good deal of +New Red Sandstone into Permian, together with the Labyrinthodon. No doubt +you see newspapers, and know that E. de Beaumont is perpetual Secretary, +and will, I suppose, be more powerful than ever; and Le Verrier has Arago's +place in the Observatory. There was a meeting lately at the Geological +Society, at which Prestwich (judging from what R. Jones told me) brought +forward your exact theory, viz. that the whole red clay and flints over the +chalk plateau hereabouts is the residuum from the slow dissolution of the +chalk! + +As regards ourselves, we have no news, and are all well. The Hookers, +sometime ago, stayed a fortnight with us, and, to our extreme delight, +Henslow came down, and was most quiet and comfortable here. It does one +good to see so composed, benevolent, and intellectual a countenance. There +have been great fears that his heart is affected; but, I hope to God, +without foundation. Hooker's book (Sir J. Hooker's 'Himalayan Journal.') +is out, and MOST BEAUTIFULLY got up. He has honoured me beyond measure by +dedicating it to me! As for myself, I am got to the page 112 of the +Barnacles, and that is the sum total of my history. By-the-way, as you +care so much about North America, I may mention that I had a long letter +from a shipmate in Australia, who says the Colony is getting decidedly +republican from the influx of Americans, and that all the great and novel +schemes for working the gold are planned and executed by these men. What a +go-a-head nation it is! Give my kindest remembrances to Lady Lyell, and to +Mrs. Bunbury, and to Bunbury. I most heartily wish that the Canaries may +be ten times as interesting as Madeira, and that everything may go on most +prosperously with your whole party. + +My dear Lyell, +Yours most truly and affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, March 1st [1854]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I finished yesterday evening the first volume, and I very sincerely +congratulate you on having produced a FIRST-CLASS book ('Himalayan +Journal.')--a book which certainly will last. I cannot doubt that it will +take its place as a standard, not so much because it contains real solid +matter, but that it gives a picture of the whole country. One can feel +that one has seen it (and desperately uncomfortable I felt in going over +some of the bridges and steep slopes), and one REALISES all the great +Physical features. You have in truth reason to be proud; consider how few +travellers there have been with a profound knowledge of one subject, and +who could in addition make a map (which, by-the-way, is one of the most +distinct ones I ever looked at, wherefore blessings alight on your head), +and study geology and meteorology! I thought I knew you very well, but I +had not the least idea that your Travels were your hobby; but I am heartily +glad of it, for I feel sure that the time will never come when you and Mrs. +Hooker will not be proud to look back at the labour bestowed on these +beautiful volumes. + +Your letter, received this morning, has interested me EXTREMELY, and I +thank you sincerely for telling me your old thoughts and aspirations. All +that you say makes me even more deeply gratified by the Dedication; but +you, bad man, do you remember asking me how I thought Lyell would like the +work to be dedicated to him? I remember how strongly I answered, and I +presume you wanted to know what I should feel; whoever would have dreamed +of your being so crafty? I am glad you have shown a little bit of ambition +about your Journal, for you must know that I have often abused you for not +caring more about fame, though, at the same time, I must confess, I have +envied and honoured you for being so free (too free, as I have always +thought) of this "last infirmity of, etc." Do not say, "there never was a +past hitherto to me--the phantom was always in view," for you will soon +find other phantoms in view. How well I know this feeling, and did +formerly still more vividly; but I think my stomach has much deadened my +former pure enthusiasm for science and knowledge. + +I am writing an unconscionably long letter, but I must return to the +Journals, about which I have hardly said anything in detail. Imprimis, the +illustrations and maps appear to me the best I have ever seen; the style +seems to me everywhere perfectly clear (how rare a virtue), and some +passages really eloquent. How excellently you have described the upper +valleys, and how detestable their climate; I felt quite anxious on the +slopes of Kinchin that dreadful snowy night. Nothing has astonished me +more than your physical strength; and all those devilish bridges! Well, +thank goodness! It is not VERY likely that I shall ever go to the +Himalaya. Much in a scientific point of view has interested me, especially +all about those wonderful moraines. I certainly think I quite realise the +valleys, more vividly perhaps from having seen the valleys of Tahiti. I +cannot doubt that the Himalaya owe almost all their contour to running +water, and that they have been subjected to such action longer than any +mountains (as yet described) in the world. What a contrast with the Andes! + +Perhaps you would like to hear the very little that I can say per contra, +and this only applied to the beginning, in which (as it struck me) there +was not FLOW enough till you get to Mirzapore on the Ganges (but the Thugs +were MOST interesting), where the stream seemed to carry you on more +equably with longer sentences and longer facts and discussions, etc. In +another edition (and I am delighted to hear that Murray has sold all off), +I would consider whether this part could not be condensed. Even if the +meteorology was put in foot-notes, I think it would be an improvement. All +the world is against me, but it makes me very unhappy to see the Latin +names all in Italics, and all mingled with English names in Roman type; but +I must bear this burden, for all men of Science seem to think it would +corrupt the Latin to dress it up in the same type as poor old English. +Well, I am very proud of MY book; but there is one bore, that I do not much +like asking people whether they have seen it, and how they like it, for I +feel so much identified with it, that such questions become rather +personal. Hence, I cannot tell you the opinion of others. You will have +seen a fairly good review in the 'Athenaeum.' + +What capital news from Tasmania: it really is a very remarkable and +creditable fact to the Colony. (This refers to an unsolicited grant by the +Colonial Government towards the expenses of Sir J. Hooker's 'Flora of +Tasmania.') I am always building veritable castles in the air about +emigrating, and Tasmania has been my head-quarters of late; so that I feel +very proud of my adopted country: is really a very singular and delightful +fact, contrasted with the slight appreciation of science in the old +country. I thank you heartily for your letter this morning, and for all +the gratification your Dedication has given me; I could not help thinking +how much -- would despise you for not having dedicated it to some great +man, who would have done you and it some good in the eyes of the world. +Ah, my dear Hooker, you were very soft on this head, and justify what I say +about not caring enough for your own fame. I wish I was in every way more +worthy of your good opinion. Farewell. How pleasantly Mrs. Hooker and you +must rest from one of your many labours... + +Again farewell: I have written a wonderfully long letter. Adios, and God +bless you. + +My dear Hooker, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I have just looked over my rambling letter; I see that I have not at +all expressed my strong admiration at the amount of scientific work, in so +many branches, which you have effected. It is really grand. You have a +right to rest on your oars; or even to say, if it so pleases you, that +"your meridian is past;" but well assured do I feel that the day of your +reputation and general recognition has only just begun to dawn. + + +[In September, 1854, his Cirripede work was practically finished, and he +wrote to Dr. Hooker: + +"I have been frittering away my time for the last several weeks in a +wearisome manner, partly idleness, and odds and ends, and sending ten +thousand Barnacles out of the house all over the world. But I shall now in +a day or two begin to look over my old notes on species. What a deal I +shall have to discuss with you; I shall have to look sharp that I do not +'progress' into one of the greatest bores in life, to the few like you with +lots of knowledge."] + + +CHAPTER 1.X. + +THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +[The growth of the 'Origin of Species' has been briefly described in my +father's words (above). The letters given in the present and following +chapters will illustrate and amplify the history thus sketched out. + +It is clear that in the early part of the voyage of the "Beagle" he did not +feel it inconsistent with his views to express himself in thoroughly +orthodox language as to the genesis of new species. Thus in 1834 he wrote +(MS. Journals, page 468.) at Valparaiso: "I have already found beds of +recent shells yet retaining their colour at an elevation of 1300 feet, and +beneath, the level country is strewn with them. It seems not a very +improbable conjecture that the want of animals may be owing to none having +been created since this country was raised from the sea." + +This passage does not occur in the published 'Journal,' the last proof of +which was finished in 1837; and this fact harmonizes with the change we +know to have been proceeding in his views. But in the published 'Journal' +we find passages which show a point of view more in accordance with +orthodox theological natural history than with his later views. Thus, in +speaking of the birds Synallaxis and Scytalopus (1st edition page 353; 2nd +edition page 289), he says: "When finding, as in this case, any animal +which seems to play so insignificant a part in the great scheme of nature, +one is apt to wonder why a distinct species should have been created." + +A comparison of the two editions of the 'Journal' is instructive, as giving +some idea of the development of his views on evolution. It does not give +us a true index of the mass of conjecture which was taking shape in his +mind, but it shows us that he felt sure enough of the truth of his belief +to allow a stronger tinge of evolution to appear in the second edition. He +has mentioned in the Autobiography that it was not until he read Malthus +that he got a clear view of the potency of natural selection. This was in +1838--a year after he finished the first edition (it was not published +until 1839), and five years before the second edition was written (1845). +Thus the turning-point in the formation of his theory took place between +the writing of the two editions. + +I will first give a few passages which are practically the same in the two +editions, and which are, therefore, chiefly of interest as illustrating his +frame of mind in 1837. + +The case of the two species of Molothrus (1st edition page 61; 2nd edition +page 53) must have been one of the earliest instances noticed by him of the +existence of representative species--a phenomenon which we know +('Autobiography,') struck him deeply. The discussion on introduced animals +(1st edition page 139; 2nd edition page 120) shows how much he was +impressed by the complicated interdependence of the inhabitants of a given +area. + +An analogous point of view is given in the discussion (1st edition page 98; +2nd edition page 85) of the mistaken belief that large animals require, for +their support, a luxuriant vegetation; the incorrectness of this view is +illustrated by the comparison of the fauna of South Africa and South +America, and the vegetation of the two continents. The interest of the +discussion is that it shows clearly our a priori ignorance of the +conditions of life suitable to any organism. + +There is a passage which has been more than once quoted as bearing on the +origin of his views. It is where he discusses the striking difference +between the species of mice on the east and west of the Andes (1st edition +page 399): "Unless we suppose the same species to have been created in two +different countries, we ought not to expect any closer similarity between +the organic beings on the opposite sides of the Andes than on shores +separated by a broad strait of the sea." In the 2nd edition page 327, the +passage is almost verbally identical, and is practically the same. + +There are other passages again which are more strongly evolutionary in the +2nd edition, but otherwise are similar to the corresponding passages in the +1st edition. Thus, in describing the blind Tuco-tuco (1st edition page 60; +2nd edition page 52), in the first edition he makes no allusion to what +Lamarck might have thought, nor is the instance used as an example of +modification, as in the edition of 1845. + +A striking passage occurs in the 2nd edition (page 173) on the relationship +between the "extinct edentata and the living sloths, ant-eaters, and +armadillos." + +"This wonderful relationship in the same continent between the dead and the +living, will, I do not doubt, hereafter throw more light on the appearance +of organic beings on our earth, and their disappearance from it, than any +other class of facts." + +This sentence does not occur in the 1st edition, but he was evidently +profoundly struck by the disappearance of the gigantic forerunners of the +present animals. The difference between the discussions in the two +editions is most instructive. In both, our ignorance of the conditions of +life is insisted on, but in the second edition, the discussion is made to +led up to a strong statement of the intensity of the struggle for life. +Then follows a comparison between rarity (In the second edition, page 146, +the destruction of Niata cattle by droughts is given as a good example of +our ignorance of the causes of rarity or extinction. The passage does not +occur in the first edition.) and extinction, which introduces the idea that +the preservation and dominance of existing species depend on the degree in +which they are adapted to surrounding conditions. In the first edition, he +is merely "tempted to believe in such simple relations as variation of +climate and food, or introduction of enemies, or the increased number of +other species, as the cause of the succession of races." But finally (1st +edition) he ends the chapter by comparing the extinction of a species to +the exhaustion and disappearance of varieties of fruit-trees: as if he +thought that a mysterious term of life was impressed on each species at its +creation. + +The difference of treatment of the Galapagos problem is of some interest. +In the earlier book, the American type of the productions of the islands is +noticed, as is the fact that the different islands possess forms specially +their own, but the importance of the whole problem is not so strongly put +forward. Thus, in the first edition, he merely says:-- + +"This similarity of type between distant islands and continents, while the +species are distinct, has scarcely been sufficiently noticed. The +circumstance would be explained, according to the views of some authors, by +saying that the creative power had acted according to the same law over a +wide area."--(1st edition page 474.) + +This passage is not given in the second edition, and the generalisations on +geographical distribution are much wider and fuller. Thus he asks:-- + +"Why were their aboriginal inhabitants, associated...in different +proportions both in kind and number from those on the Continent, and +therefore acting on each other in a different manner--why were they created +on American types of organisation?"--(2nd edition page 393.) + +The same difference of treatment is shown elsewhere in this chapter. Thus +the gradation in the form of beak presented by the thirteen allied species +of finch is described in the first edition (page 461) without comment. +Whereas in the second edition (page 380) he concludes:-- + +"One might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this +Archipelago, one species has been taken and modified for different ends." + +On the whole it seems to me remarkable that the difference between the two +editions is not greater; it is another proof of the author's caution and +self-restraint in the treatment of his theory. After reading the second +edition of the 'Journal,' we find with a strong sense of surprise how far +developed were his views in 1837. We are enabled to form an opinion on +this point from the note-books in which he wrote down detached thoughts and +queries. I shall quote from the first note-book, completed between July +1837 and February 1838: and this is the more worth doing, as it gives us +an insight into the condition of his thoughts before the reading of +Malthus. The notes are written in his most hurried style, so many words +being omitted, that it is often difficult to arrive at the meaning. With a +few exceptions (indicated by square brackets) (In the extracts from the +note-book ordinary brackets represent my father's parentheses.) I have +printed the extracts as written; the punctuation, however, has been +altered, and a few obvious slips corrected where it seemed necessary. The +extracts are not printed in order, but are roughly classified. (On the +first page of the note-book, is written "Zoonomia"; this seems to refer to +the first few pages in which reproduction by gemmation is discussed, and +where the "Zoonomia" is mentioned. Many pages have been cut out of the +note-book, probably for use in writing the Sketch of 1844, and these would +have no doubt contained the most interesting extracts.) + +"Propagation explains why modern animals same type as extinct, which is +law, almost proved." + +"We can see why structure is common in certain countries when we can hardly +believe necessary, but if it was necessary to one forefather, the result +would be as it is. Hence antelopes at Cape of Good Hope; marsupials at +Australia." + +"Countries longest separated greatest differences--if separated from +immersage, possibly two distinct types, but each having its +representatives--as in Australia." + +"Will this apply to whole organic kingdom when our planet first cooled?" + +The two following extracts show that he applied the theory of evolution to +the "whole organic kingdom" from plants to man. + +"If we choose to let conjecture run wild, then animals, our fellow brethren +in pain, disease, death, suffering and famine--our slaves in the most +laborious works, our companions in our amusements--they may partake [of?] +our origin in one common ancestor--we may be all melted together." + +"The different intellects of man and animals not so great as between living +things without thought (plants), and living things with thought (animals)." + +The following extracts are again concerned with an a priori view of the +probability of the origin of species by descent ["propagation," he called +it.]. + +"The tree of life should perhaps be called the coral of life, base of +branches dead; so that passages cannot be seen." + +"There never may have been grade between pig and tapir, yet from some +common progenitor. Now if the intermediate ranks had produced infinite +species, probably the series would have been more perfect." + +At another place, speaking of intermediate forms he says:-- + +"Cuvier objects to propagation of species by saying, why have not some +intermediate forms been discovered between Palaeotherium, Megalonyx, +Mastodon, and the species now living? Now according to my view (in S. +America) parent of all Armadilloes might be brother to Megatherium--uncle +now dead." + +Speaking elsewhere of intermediate forms, he remarks:-- + +"Opponents will say--'show them me.' I will answer yes, if you will show +me every step between bulldog and greyhound." + +Here we see that the case of domestic animals was already present in his +mind as bearing on the production of natural species. The disappearance of +intermediate forms naturally leads up to the subject of extinction, with +which the next extract begins. + +"It is a wonderful fact, horse, elephant, and mastodon, dying out about +same time in such different quarters. + +"Will Mr. Lyell say that some [same?] circumstance killed it over a tract +from Spain to South America?--(Never). + +"They die, without they change, like golden pippins; it is a GENERATION OF +SPECIES like generation OF INDIVIDUALS. + +"Why does individual die? To perpetuate certain peculiarities (therefore +adaptation), and obliterate accidental varieties, and to accommodate itself +to change (for, of course, change, even in varieties, is accommodation). +Now this argument applies to species. + +"If individual cannot propagate he has no issue--so with species. + +"If SPECIES generate other SPECIES, their race is not utterly cut off:-- +like golden pippins, if produced by seed, go on--otherwise all die. + +"The fossil horse generated, in South Africa, zebra--and continued-- +perished in America. + +"All animals of same species are bound together just like buds of plants, +which die at one time, though produced either sooner or later. Prove +animals like plants--trace gradation between associated and non-associated +animals--and the story will be complete." + +Here we have the view already alluded to of a term of life impressed on a +species. + +But in the following note we get extinction connected with unfavourable +variation, and thus a hint is given of natural selection: + +"With respect to extinction, we can easily see that [a] variety of [the] +ostrich (Petise), may not be well adapted, and thus perish out; or, on the +other hand, like Orpheus [a Galapagos bird], being favourable, many might +be produced. This requires [the] principle that the permanent variations +produced by confined breeding and changing circumstances are continued and +produced according to the adaptation of such circumstance, and therefore +that death of species is a consequence (contrary to what would appear from +America) of non-adaptation of circumstances." + +The first part of the next extract has a similar bearing. The end of the +passage is of much interest, as showing that he had at this early date +visions of the far-reaching character of the theory of evolution:-- + +"With belief of transmutation and geographical grouping, we are lead to +endeavour to discover CAUSES of change; the manner of adaptation (wish of +parents??), instinct and structure becomes full of speculation and lines of +observation. View of generation being condensation (I imagine him to mean +that each generation is "condensed" to a small number of the best organized +individuals.) test of highest organisation intelligible...My theory would +give zest to recent and fossil comparative anatomy; it would lead to the +study of instincts, heredity, and mind-heredity, whole [of] metaphysics. + +"It would lead to closest examination of hybridity and generation, causes +of change in order to know what we have come from and to what we tend--to +what circumstances favour crossing and what prevents it--this, and direct +examination of direct passages of structure in species, might lead to laws +of change, which would then be [the] main object of study, to guide our +speculations." + +The following two extracts have a similar interest; the second is +especially interesting, as it contains the germ of concluding sentence of +the 'Origin of Species': ('Origin of Species' (1st edition), page 490:-- +"There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having +been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this +planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so +simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have +been, and are being evolved.")-- + +"Before the attraction of gravity discovered it might have been said it was +as great a difficulty to account for the movement of all [planets] by one +law, as to account for each separate one; so to say that all mammalia were +born from one stock, and since distributed by such means as we can +recognise, may be thought to explain nothing. + +"Astronomers might formerly have said that God fore-ordered each planet to +move in its particular destiny. In the same manner God orders each animal +created with certain forms in certain countries, but how much more simple +and sublime [a] power--let attraction act according to certain law, such +are inevitable consequences--let animals be created, then by the fixed laws +of generation, such will be their successors. + +"Let the powers of transportal be such, and so will be the forms of one +country to another--let geological changes go at such a rate, so will be +the number and distribution of the species!!" + +The three next extracts are of miscellaneous interest:-- + +"When one sees nipple on man's breast, one does not say some use, but sex +not having been determined--so with useless wings under elytra of beetles-- +born from beetles with wings, and modified--if simple creation merely, +would have been born without them." + +"In a decreasing population at any one moment fewer closely related (few +species of genera); ultimately few genera (for otherwise the relationship +would converge sooner), and lastly, perhaps, some one single one. Will not +this account for the odd genera with few species which stand between great +groups, which we are bound to consider the increasing ones?" + +The last extract which I shall quote gives the germ of his theory of the +relation between alpine plants in various parts of the world, in the +publication of which he was forestalled by E. Forbes (see volume i. page +72). He says, in the 1837 note-book, that alpine plants, "formerly +descended lower, therefore [they are] species of lower genera altered, or +northern plants." + +When we turn to the Sketch of his theory, written in 1844 (still therefore +before the second edition of the 'Journal' was completed), we find an +enormous advance made on the note-book of 1837. The Sketch is an fact a +surprisingly complete presentation of the argument afterwards familiar to +us in the 'Origin of Species.' There is some obscurity as to the date of +the short Sketch which formed the basis of the 1844 Essay. We know from +his own words (volume i., page 68), that it was in June 1842 that he first +wrote out a short sketch of his views. (This version I cannot find, and it +was probably destroyed, like so much of his MS., after it had been enlarged +and re-copied in 1844.) This statement is given with so much circumstance +that it is almost impossible to suppose that it contains an error of date. +It agrees also with the following extract from his Diary. + +1842. May 18th. Went to Maer. + +"June 15th to Shrewsbury, and on 18th to Capel Curig. During my stay at +Maer and Shrewsbury (five years after commencement) wrote pencil-sketch of +species theory." + +Again in the introduction to the 'Origin,' page 1, he writes, "after an +interval of five years' work" [from 1837, i.e. in 1842], "I allowed myself +to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes." + +Nevertheless in the letter signed by Sir C. Lyell and Sir J.D. Hooker, +which serves as an introduction to the joint paper of Messrs. C. Darwin and +A. Wallace on the 'Tendency of Species to form Varieties,' ('Linn. Soc. +Journal,' 1858, page 45.) the essay of 1844 (extracts from which form part +of the paper) is said to have been "sketched in 1839, and copied in 1844." +This statement is obviously made on the authority of a note written in my +father's hand across the Table of Contents of the 1844 Essay. It is to the +following effect: "This was sketched in 1839, and copied out in full, as +here written and read by you in 1844." I conclude that this note was added +in 1858, when the MS. was sent to Sir J.D. Hooker (see Letter of June 29, +1858, page 476). There is also some further evidence on this side of the +question. Writing to Mr. Wallace (January 25, 1859) my father says:-- +"Every one whom I have seen has thought your paper very well written and +interesting. It puts my extracts (written in 1839, now just twenty years +ago!), which I must say in apology were never for an instant intended for +publication; into the shade." The statement that the earliest sketch was +written in 1839 has been frequently made in biographical notices of my +father, no doubt on the authority of the 'Linnean Journal,' but it must, I +think, be considered as erroneous. The error may possibly have arisen in +this way. In writing on the Table of Contents of the 1844 MS. that it was +sketched in 1839, I think my father may have intended to imply that the +framework of the theory was clearly thought out by him at that date. In +the Autobiography he speaks of the time, "about 1839, when the theory was +clearly conceived," meaning, no doubt, the end of 1838 and beginning of +1839, when the reading of Malthus had given him the key to the idea of +natural selection. But this explanation does not apply to the letter to +Mr. Wallace; and with regard to the passage (My father certainly saw the +proofs of the paper, for he added a foot-note apologising for the style of +the extracts, on the ground that the "work was never intended for +publication.") in the 'Linnean Journal' it is difficult to understand how +it should have been allowed to remain as it now stands, conveying, as it +clearly does, the impression that 1839 was the date of his earliest written +sketch. + +The sketch of 1844 is written in a clerk's hand, in two hundred and thirty- +one pages folio, blank leaves being alternated with the MS. with a view to +amplification. The text has been revised and corrected, criticisms being +pencilled by himself on the margin. It is divided into two parts: I. "On +the variation of Organic Beings under Domestication and in their Natural +State." II. "On the Evidence favourable and opposed to the view that +Species are naturally formed races descended from common Stocks." The +first part contains the main argument of the 'Origin of Species.' It is +founded, as is the argument of that work, on the study of domestic animals, +and both the Sketch and the 'Origin' open with a chapter on variation under +domestication and on artificial selection. This is followed, in both +essays, by discussions on variation under nature, on natural selection, and +on the struggle for life. Here, any close resemblance between the two +essays with regard to arrangement ceases. Chapter III. of the Sketch, +which concludes the first part, treats of the variations which occur in the +instincts and habits of animals, and thus corresponds to some extent with +Chapter VII. of the 'Origin' (1st edition). It thus forms a complement to +the chapters which deal with variation in structure. It seems to have been +placed thus early in the Essay to prevent the hasty rejection of the whole +theory by a reader to whom the idea of natural selection acting on +instincts might seem impossible. This is the more probable, as the Chapter +on Instinct in the 'Origin' is specially mentioned (Introduction, page 5) +as one of the "most apparent and gravest difficulties on the theory." +Moreover the chapter in the Sketch ends with a discussion, "whether any +particular corporeal structures...are so wonderful as to justify the +rejection prima facie of our theory." Under this heading comes the +discussion of the eye, which in the 'Origin' finds its place in Chapter VI. +under "Difficulties of the Theory." The second part seems to have been +planned in accordance with his favourite point of view with regard to his +theory. This is briefly given in a letter to Dr. Asa Gray, November 11th, +1859: "I cannot possibly believe that a false theory would explain so many +classes of facts, as I think it certainly does explain. On these grounds I +drop my anchor, and believe that the difficulties will slowly disappear." +On this principle, having stated the theory in the first part, he proceeds +to show to what extent various wide series of facts can be explained by its +means. + +Thus the second part of the Sketch corresponds roughly to the nine +concluding Chapters of the First Edition of the 'Origin.' But we must +exclude Chapter VII. ('Origin') on Instinct, which forms a chapter in the +first part of the Sketch, and Chapter VIII. ('Origin') on Hybridism, a +subject treated in the Sketch with 'Variation under Nature' in the first +part. + +The following list of the chapters of the second part of the Sketch will +illustrate their correspondence with the final chapters of the 'Origin.' + +Chapter I. "On the kind of intermediateness necessary, and the number of +such intermediate forms." This includes a geological discussion, and +corresponds to parts of Chapters VI. and IX. of the 'Origin.' + +Chapter II. "The gradual appearance and disappearance of organic beings." +Corresponds to Chapter X. of the 'Origin.' + +Chapter III. "Geographical Distribution." Corresponds to Chapters XI. and +XII. of the 'Origin.' + +Chapter IV. "Affinities and Classification of Organic beings." + +Chapter V. "Unity of Type," Morphology, Embryology. + +Chapter VI. Rudimentary Organs. + +These three chapters correspond to Chapter XII. of the 'Origin.' + +Chapter VII. Recapitulation and Conclusion. The final sentence of the +Sketch, which we saw in its first rough form in the Note Book of 1837, +closely resembles the final sentence of the 'Origin,' much of it being +identical. The 'Origin' is not divided into two "Parts," but we see traces +of such a division having been present in the writer's mind, in this +resemblance between the second part of the Sketch and the final chapters of +the 'Origin.' That he should speak ('Origin,' Introduction, page 5.) of +the chapters on transition, on instinct, on hybridism, and on the +geological record, as forming a group, may be due to the division of his +early MS. into two parts. + +Mr. Huxley, who was good enough to read the Sketch at my request, while +remarking that the "main lines of argument," and the illustrations employed +are the same, points out that in the 1844 Essay, "much more weight is +attached to the influence of external conditions in producing variation, +and to the inheritance of acquired habits than in the Origin.'" + +It is extremely interesting to find in the Sketch the first mention of +principles familiar to us in the 'Origin of Species.' Foremost among these +may be mentioned the principle of Sexual Selection, which is clearly +enunciated. The important form of selection known as "unconscious," is +also given. Here also occurs a statement of the law that peculiarities +tend to appear in the offspring at an age corresponding to that at which +they occurred in the parent. + +Professor Newton, who was so kind as to look through the 1844 Sketch, tells +me that my father's remarks on the migration of birds, incidentally given +in more than one passage, show that he had anticipated the views of some +later writers. + +With regard to the general style of the Sketch, it is not to be expected +that it should have all the characteristics of the 'Origin,' and we do not, +in fact, find that balance and control, that concentration and grasp, which +are so striking in the work of 1859. + +In the Autobiography (page 68, volume 1) my father has stated what seemed +to him the chief flaw of the 1844 Sketch; he had overlooked "one problem of +great importance," the problem of the divergence of character. This point +is discussed in the 'Origin of Species,' but, as it may not be familiar to +all readers, I will give a short account of the difficulty and its +solution. The author begins by stating that varieties differ from each +other less than species, and then goes on: "Nevertheless, according to my +view, varieties are species in process of formation...How then does the +lesser difference between varieties become augmented into the greater +difference between species?" ('Origin,' 1st edition, page 111.) He shows +how an analogous divergence takes place under domestication where an +originally uniform stock of horses has been split up into race-horses, +dray-horses, etc., and then goes on to explain how the same principle +applies to natural species. "From the simple circumstance that the more +diversified the descendants from any one species become in structure, +constitution, and habits, by so much will they be better enabled to seize +on many and widely diversified places in the polity of nature, and so be +enabled to increase in numbers." + +The principle is exemplified by the fact that if on one plot of ground a +single variety of wheat be sown, and on to another a mixture of varieties, +in the latter case the produce is greater. More individuals have been able +to exist because they were not all of the same variety. An organism +becomes more perfect and more fitted to survive when by division of labour +the different functions of life are performed by different organs. In the +same way a species becomes more efficient and more able to survive when +different sections of the species become differentiated so as to fill +different stations. + +In reading the Sketch of 1844, I have found it difficult to recognise the +absence of any definite statement of the principle of divergence as a flaw +in the Essay. Descent with modification implies divergence, and we become +so habituated to a belief in descent, and therefore in divergence, that we +do not notice the absence of proof that divergence is in itself an +advantage. As shown in the Autobiography, my father in 1876 found it +hardly credible that he should have overlooked the problem and its +solution. + +The following letter will be more in place here than its chronological +position, since it shows what was my father's feeling as to the value of +the Sketch at the time of its completion.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. DARWIN. +Down, July 5, 1844. + +I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If, as I believe, my +theory in time be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a +considerable step in science. + +I therefore write this in case of my sudden death, as my most solemn and +last request, which I am sure you will consider the same as if legally +entered in my will, that you will devote 400 pounds to its publication, and +further, will yourself, or through Hensleigh (Mr. H. Wedgwood.), take +trouble in promoting it. I wish that my sketch be given to some competent +person, with this sum to induce him to take trouble in its improvement and +enlargement. I give to him all my books on Natural History, which are +either scored or have references at the end to the pages, begging him +carefully to look over and consider such passages as actually bearing, or +by possibility bearing, on this subject. I wish you to make a list of all +such books as some temptation to an editor. I also request that you will +hand over [to] him all those scraps roughly divided in eight or ten brown +paper portfolios. The scraps, with copied quotations from various works, +are those which may aid my editor. I also request that you, or some +amanuensis, will aid in deciphering any of the scraps which the editor may +think possibly of use. I leave to the editor's judgment whether to +interpolate these facts in the text, or as notes, or under appendices. As +the looking over the references and scraps will be a long labour, and as +the CORRECTING and enlarging and altering my sketch will also take +considerable time, I leave this sum of 400 pounds as some remuneration, and +any profits from the work. I consider that for this the editor is bound to +get the sketch published either at a publisher's or his own risk. Many of +the scrap in the portfolios contains mere rude suggestions and early views, +now useless, and many of the facts will probably turn out as having no +bearing on my theory. + +With respect to editors, Mr. Lyell would be the best if he would undertake +it; I believe he would find the work pleasant, and he would learn some +facts new to him. As the editor must be a geologist as well as a +naturalist, the next best editor would be Professor Forbes of London. The +next best (and quite best in many respects) would be Professor Henslow. +Dr. Hooker would be VERY good. The next, Mr. Strickland. (After Mr. +Strickland's name comes the following sentence, which has been erased but +remained legible. "Professor Owen would be very good; but I presume he +would not undertake such a work." If none of these would undertake it, I +would request you to consult with Mr. Lyell, or some other capable man for +some editor, a geologist and naturalist. Should one other hundred pounds +make the difference of procuring a good editor, request earnestly that you +will raise 500 pounds. + +My remaining collections in Natural History may be given to any one or any +museum where it would be accepted... + +[The following note seems to have formed part of the original letter, but +may have been of later date: + +"Lyell, especially with the aid of Hooker (and of any good zoological aid), +would be best of all. Without an editor will pledge himself to give up +time to it, it would be of no use paying such a sum. + +"If there should be any difficulty in getting an editor who would go +thoroughly into the subject, and think of the bearing of the passages +marked in the books and copied out of scraps of paper, then let my sketch +be published as it is, stating that it was done several years ago (The +words "several years ago and," seem to have been added at a later date.) +and from memory without consulting any works, and with no intention of +publication in its present form." + +The idea that the Sketch of 1844 might remain, in the event of his death, +as the only record of his work, seems to have been long in his mind, for in +August 1854, when he had finished with the Cirripedes, and was thinking of +beginning his "species work," he added on the back of the above letter, +"Hooker by far best man to edit my species volume. August 1854."] + + +CHAPTER 1.XI. + +THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +LETTERS, 1843-1856. + + +[The history of my father's life is told more completely in his +correspondence with Sir J.D. Hooker than in any other series of letters; +and this is especially true of the history of the growth of the 'Origin of +Species.' This, therefore, seems an appropriate place for the following +notes, which Sir Joseph Hooker has kindly given me. They give, moreover, +an interesting picture of his early friendship with my father:-- + +"My first meeting with Mr. Darwin was in 1839, in Trafalgar Square. I was +walking with an officer who had been his shipmate for a short time in the +"Beagle" seven years before, but who had not, I believe, since met him. I +was introduced; the interview was of course brief, and the memory of him +that I carried away and still retain was that of a rather tall and rather +broad-shouldered man, with a slight stoop, an agreeable and animated +expression when talking, beetle brows, and a hollow but mellow voice; and +that his greeting of his old acquaintance was sailor-like--that is, +delightfully frank and cordial. I observed him well, for I was already +aware of his attainments and labours, derived from having read various +proof-sheets of his then unpublished 'Journal.' These had been submitted +to Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Lyell by Mr. Darwin, and by him sent to his +father, Ch. Lyell, Esq., of Kinnordy, who (being a very old friend of my +father and taking a kind interest in my projected career as a naturalist) +had allowed me to peruse them. At this time I was hurrying on my studies, +so as to take my degree before volunteering to accompany Sir James Ross in +the Antarctic Expedition, which had just been determined on by the +Admiralty; and so pressed for time was I, that I used to sleep with the +sheets of the 'Journal' under my pillow, that I might read them between +waking and rising. They impressed me profoundly, I might say despairingly, +with the variety of acquirements, mental and physical, required in a +naturalist who should follow in Darwin's footsteps, whilst they stimulated +me to enthusiasm in the desire to travel and observe. + +"It has been a permanent source of happiness to me that I knew so much of +Mr. Darwin's scientific work so many years before that intimacy began which +ripened into feelings as near to those of reverence for his life, works, +and character as is reasonable and proper. It only remains to add to this +little episode that I received a copy of the 'Journal' complete,--a gift +from Mr. Lyell,--a few days before leaving England. + +"Very soon after the return of the Antarctic Expedition my correspondence +with Mr. Darwin began (December, 1843) by his sending me a long letter, +warmly congratulating me on my return to my family and friends, and +expressing a wish to hear more of the results of the expedition, of which +he had derived some knowledge from private letters of my own (written to or +communicated through Mr. Lyell). Then, plunging at once into scientific +matters, he directed my attention to the importance of correlating the +Fuegian Flora with that of the Cordillera and of Europe, and invited me to +study the botanical collections which he had made in the Galapagos Islands, +as well as his Patagonian and Fuegian plants. + +"This led to me sending him an outline of the conclusions I had formed +regarding the distribution of plants in the southern regions, and the +necessity of assuming the destruction of considerable areas of land to +account for the relations of the flora of the so-called Antarctic Islands. +I do not suppose that any of these ideas were new to him, but they led to +an animated and lengthy correspondence full of instruction." + +Here follows the letter (1843) to Sir J.D. Hooker above referred to.] + + +My dear Sir, + +I had hoped before this time to have had the pleasure of seeing you and +congratulating you on your safe return from your long and glorious voyage. +But as I seldom go to London, we may not yet meet for some time--without +you are led to attend the Geological Meetings. + +I am anxious to know what you intend doing with all your materials--I had +so much pleasure in reading parts of some of your letters, that I shall be +very sorry if I, as one of the public, have no opportunity of reading a +good deal more. I suppose you are very busy now and full of enjoyment: +how well I remember the happiness of my first few months of England--it was +worth all the discomforts of many a gale! But I have run from the subject, +which made me write, of expressing my pleasure that Henslow (as he informed +me a few days since by letter) has sent to you my small collection of +plants. You cannot think how much pleased I am, as I feared they would +have been all lost, and few as they are, they cost me a good deal of +trouble. There are a very few notes, which I believe Henslow has got, +describing the habitats, etc., of some few of the more remarkable plants. +I paid particular attention to the Alpine flowers of Tierra del Fuego, and +I am sure I got every plant which was in flower in Patagonia at the seasons +when we were there. I have long thought that some general sketch of the +Flora of the point of land, stretching so far into the southern seas, would +be very curious. Do make comparative remarks on the species allied to the +European species, for the advantage of botanical ignoramuses like myself. +It has often struck me as a curious point to find out, whether there are +many European genera in Tierra del Fuego which are not found along the +ridge of the Cordillera; the separation in such case would be so enormous. +Do point out in any sketch you draw up, what genera are American and what +European, and how great the differences of the species are, when the genera +are European, for the sake of the ignoramuses. + +I hope Henslow will send you my Galapagos plants (about which Humboldt even +expressed to me considerable curiosity)--I took much pains in collecting +all I could. A Flora of this archipelago would, I suspect, offer a nearly +parallel case to that of St. Helena, which has so long excited interest. +Pray excuse this long rambling note, and believe me, my dear sir, yours +very sincerely, + +C. DARWIN. + +Will you be so good as to present my respectful compliments to Sir W. +Hooker. + + +[Referring to Sir J.D. Hooker's work on the Galapagos Flora, my father +wrote in 1846: + +"I cannot tell you how delighted and astonished I am at the results of your +examination; how wonderfully they support my assertion on the differences +in the animals of the different islands, about which I have always been +fearful." + + +Again he wrote (1849):-- + +"I received a few weeks ago your Galapagos papers (These papers include the +results of Sir J.D. Hooker's examination of my father's Galapagos plants, +and were published by the Linnean Society in 1849.), and I have read them +since being here. I really cannot express too strongly my admiration of +the geographical discussion: to my judgment it is a perfect model of what +such a paper should be; it took me four days to read and think over. How +interesting the Flora of the Sandwich Islands appears to be, how I wish +there were materials for you to treat its flora as you have done the +Galapagos. In the Systematic paper I was rather disappointed in not +finding general remarks on affinities, structures, etc., such as you often +give in conversation, and such as De Candolle and St. Hilaire introduced in +almost all their papers, and which make them interesting even to a non- +Botanist." + +"Very soon afterwards [continues Sir J.D. Hooker] in a letter dated January +1844, the subject of the 'Origin of Species' was brought forward by him, +and I believe that I was the first to whom he communicated his then new +ideas on the subject, and which being of interest as a contribution to the +history of Evolution, I here copy from his letter":--] + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[January 11th, 1844.] + +Besides a general interest about the southern lands, I have been now ever +since my return engaged in a very presumptuous work, and I know no one +individual who would not say a very foolish one. I was so struck with the +distribution of the Galapagos organisms, etc. etc., and with the character +of the American fossil mammifers, etc. etc., that I determined to collect +blindly every sort of fact, which could bear any way on what are species. +I have read heaps of agricultural and horticultural books, and have never +ceased collecting facts. At last gleams of light have come, and I am +almost convinced (quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that +species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable. Heaven forfend +me from Lamarck nonsense of a "tendency to progression," "adaptations from +the slow willing of animals," etc.! But the conclusions I am led to are +not widely different from his; though the means of change are wholly so. I +think I have found out (here's presumption!) the simple way by which +species become exquisitely adapted to various ends. You will now groan, +and think to yourself, "on what a man have I been wasting my time and +writing to." I should, five years ago, have thought so... + + +[The following letter written on February 23, 1844, shows that the +acquaintanceship with Sir J.D. Hooker was then fast ripening into +friendship. The letter is chiefly of interest as showing the sort of +problems then occupying my father's mind:] + +Dear Hooker, + +I hope you will excuse the freedom of my address, but I feel that as co- +circum-wanderers and as fellow labourers (though myself a very weak one) we +may throw aside some of the old-world formality...I have just finished a +little volume on the volcanic islands which we visited. I do not know how +far you care for dry simple geology, but I hope you will let me send you a +copy. I suppose I can send it from London by common coach conveyance. + +...I am going to ask you some MORE questions, though I daresay, without +asking them, I shall see answers in your work, when published, which will +be quite time enough for my purposes. First for the Galapagos, you will +see in my Journal, that the Birds, though peculiar species, have a most +obvious S. American aspect: I have just ascertained the same thing holds +good with the sea-shells. It is so with those plants which are peculiar to +this archipelago; you state that their numerical proportions are +continental (is not this a very curious fact?) but are they related in +forms to S. America. Do you know of any other case of an archipelago, with +the separate islands possessing distinct representative species? I have +always intended (but have not yet done so) to examine Webb and Berthelot on +the Canary Islands for this object. Talking with Mr. Bentham, he told me +that the separate islands of the Sandwich Archipelago possessed distinct +representative species of the same genera of Labiatae: would not this be +worth your enquiry? How is it with the Azores; to be sure the heavy +western gales would tend to diffuse the same species over that group. + +I hope you will (I dare say my hope is quite superfluous) attend to this +general kind of affinity in isolated islands, though I suppose it is more +difficult to perceive this sort of relation in plants, than in birds or +quadrupeds, the groups of which are, I fancy, rather more confined. Can +St. Helena be classed, though remotely, either with Africa or S. America? +>From some facts, which I have collected, I have been led to conclude that +the fauna of mountains are EITHER remarkably similar (sometimes in the +presence of the same species and at other times of same genera), OR that +they are remarkably dissimilar; and it has occurred to me that possibly +part of this peculiarity of the St. Helena and Galapagos floras may be +attributed to a great part of these two Floras being mountain Floras. I +fear my notes will hardly serve to distinguish much of the habitats of the +Galapagos plants, but they may in some cases; most, if not all, of the +green, leafy plants come from the summits of the islands, and the thin +brown leafless plants come from the lower arid parts: would you be so kind +as to bear this remark in mind, when examining my collection. + +I will trouble you with only one other question. In discussion with Mr. +Gould, I found that in most of the genera of birds which range over the +whole or greater part of the world, the individual species have wider +ranges, thus the Owl is mundane, and many of the species have very wide +ranges. So I believe it is with land and fresh-water shells--and I might +adduce other cases. Is it not so with Cryptogamic plants; have not most of +the species wide ranges, in those genera which are mundane? I do not +suppose that the converse holds, viz.--that when a species has a wide +range, its genus also ranges wide. Will you so far oblige me by +occasionally thinking over this? It would cost me vast trouble to get a +list of mundane phanerogamic genera and then search how far the species of +these genera are apt to range wide in their several countries; but you +might occasionally, in the course of your pursuits, just bear this in mind, +though perhaps the point may long since have occurred to you or other +Botanists. Geology is bringing to light interesting facts, concerning the +ranges of shells; I think it is pretty well established, that according as +the geographical range of a species is wide, so is its persistence and +duration in time. I hope you will try to grudge as little as you can the +trouble of my letters, and pray believe me very truly yours, + +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. I should feel extremely obliged for your kind offer of the sketch of +Humboldt; I venerate him, and after having had the pleasure of conversing +with him in London, I shall still more like to have any portrait of him. + + +[What follows is quoted from Sir J. Hooker's notes. "The next act in the +drama of our lives opens with personal intercourse. This began with an +invitation to breakfast with him at his brother's (Erasmus Darwin's) house +in Park Street; which was shortly afterwards followed by an invitation to +Down to meet a few brother Naturalists. In the short intervals of good +health that followed the long illnesses which oftentimes rendered life a +burthen to him, between 1844 and 1847, I had many such invitations, and +delightful they were. A more hospitable and more attractive home under +every point of view could not be imagined--of Society there were most often +Dr. Falconer, Edward Forbes, Professor Bell, and Mr. Waterhouse--there were +long walks, romps with the children on hands and knees, music that haunts +me still. Darwin's own hearty manner, hollow laugh, and thorough enjoyment +of home life with friends; strolls with him all together, and interviews +with us one by one in his study, to discuss questions in any branch of +biological or physical knowledge that we had followed; and which I at any +rate always left with the feeling that I had imparted nothing and carried +away more than I could stagger under. Latterly, as his health became more +seriously affected, I was for days and weeks the only visitor, bringing my +work with me and enjoying his society as opportunity offered. It was an +established rule that he every day pumped me, as he called it, for half an +hour or so after breakfast in his study, when he first brought out a heap +of slips with questions botanical, geographical, etc., for me to answer, +and concluded by telling me of the progress he had made in his own work, +asking my opinion on various points. I saw no more of him till about noon, +when I heard his mellow ringing voice calling my name under my window--this +was to join him in his daily forenoon walk round the sand-walk. On joining +him I found him in a rough grey shooting-coat in summer, and thick cape +over his shoulders in winter, and a stout staff in his hand; away we +trudged through the garden, where there was always some experiment to +visit, and on to the sand-walk, round which a fixed number of turns were +taken, during which our conversation usually ran on foreign lands and seas, +old friends, old books, and things far off to both mind and eye. + +"In the afternoon there was another such walk, after which he again retired +till dinner if well enough to join the family; if not, he generally managed +to appear in the drawing-room, where seated in his high chair, with his +feet in enormous carpet shoes, supported on a high stool--he enjoyed the +music or conversation of his family." + + +Here follows a series of letters illustrating the growth of my father's +views, and the nature of his work during this period.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [1844]. + +...The conclusion, which I have come at is, that those areas, in which +species are most numerous, have oftenest been divided and isolated from +other areas, united and again divided; a process implying antiquity and +some changes in the external conditions. This will justly sound very +hypothetical. I cannot give my reasons in detail; but the most general +conclusion, which the geographical distribution of all organic beings, +appears to me to indicate, is that isolation is the chief concomitant or +cause of the appearance of NEW forms (I well know there are some staring +exceptions). Secondly, from seeing how often the plants and animals swarm +in a country, when introduced into it, and from seeing what a vast number +of plants will live, for instance in England, if kept FREE FROM WEEDS, AND +NATIVE PLANTS, I have been led to consider that the spreading and number of +the organic beings of any country depend less on its external features, +than on the number of forms, which have been there originally created or +produced. I much doubt whether you will find it possible to explain the +number of forms by proportional differences of exposure; and I cannot doubt +if half the species in any country were destroyed or had not been created, +yet that country would appear to us fully peopled. With respect to +original creation or production of new forms, I have said that isolation +appears the chief element. Hence, with respect to terrestrial productions, +a tract of country, which had oftenest within the late geological periods +subsided and been converted into islands, and reunited, I should expect to +contain most forms. + +But such speculations are amusing only to one self, and in this case +useless, as they do not show any direct line of observation: if I had seen +how hypothetical [is] the little, which I have unclearly written, I would +not have troubled you with the reading of it. Believe me,--at last not +hypothetically, + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 1844. + +...I forget my last letter, but it must have been a very silly one, as it +seems I gave my notion of the number of species being in great degree +governed by the degree to which the area had been often isolated and +divided; I must have been cracked to have written it, for I have no +evidence, without a person be willing to admit all my views, and then it +does follow; but in my most sanguine moments, all I expect, is that I shall +be able to show even to sound Naturalists, that there are two sides to the +question of the immutability of species;--that facts can be viewed and +grouped under the notion of allied species having descended from common +stocks. With respect to books on this subject, I do not know of any +systematical ones, except Lamarck's, which is veritable rubbish; but there +are plenty, as Lyell, Pritchard, etc., on the view of the immutability. +Agassiz lately has brought the strongest argument in favour of +immutability. Isidore G. St. Hilaire has written some good Essays, tending +towards the mutability-side, in the 'Suites a Buffon,' entitled "Zoolog. +Generale." Is it not strange that the author, of such a book as the +'Animaux sans Vertebres,' should have written that insects, which never see +their eggs, should WILL (and plants, their seeds) to be of particular +forms, so as to become attached to particular objects. The other, common +(specially Germanic) notion is hardly less absurd, viz. that climate, food, +etc., should make a Pediculus formed to climb hair, or wood-pecker, to +climb trees. I believe all these absurd views arise, from no one having, +as far as I know, approached the subject on the side of variation under +domestication, and having studied all that is known about domestication. I +was very glad to hear your criticism on island-floras and on non-diffusion +of plants: the subject is too long for a letter: I could defend myself to +some considerable extent, but I doubt whether successfully in your eyes, or +indeed in my own... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [July, 1844]. + +...I am now reading a wonderful book for facts on variation--Bronn, +'Geschichte der Natur.' It is stiff German: it forestalls me, sometimes I +think delightfully, and sometimes cruelly. You will be ten times hereafter +more horrified at me than at H. Watson. I hate arguments from results, but +on my views of descent, really Natural History becomes a sublimely grand +result-giving subject (now you may quiz me for so foolish an escape of +mouth)...I must leave this letter till to-morrow, for I am tired; but I so +enjoy writing to you, that I must inflict a little more on you. + +Have you any good evidence for absence of insects in small islands? I +found thirteen species in Keeling Atoll. Flies are good fertilizers, and I +have seen a microscopic Thrips and a Cecidomya take flight from a flower in +the direction of another with pollen adhering to them. In Arctic countries +a bee seems to go as far N. as any flower... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Shrewsbury [September, 1845]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I write a line to say that Cosmos (A translation of Humboldt's 'Kosmos.') +arrived quite safely [N.B. One sheet came loose in Part I.}, and to thank +you for your nice note. I have just begun the introduction, and groan over +the style, which in such parts is full half the battle. How true many of +the remarks are (i.e. as far as I can understand the wretched English) on +the scenery; it is an exact expression of one's own thoughts. + +I wish I ever had any books to lend you in return for the many you have +lent me... + +All of what you kindly say about my species work does not alter one iota my +long self-acknowledged presumption in accumulating facts and speculating on +the subject of variation, without having worked out my due share of +species. But now for nine years it has been anyhow the greatest amusement +to me. + +Farewell, my dear Hooker, I grieve more than you can well believe, over our +prospect of so seldom meeting. + +I have never perceived but one fault in you, and that you have grievously, +viz. modesty; you form an exception to Sydney Smith's aphorism, that merit +and modesty have no other connection, except in their first letter. + +Farewell, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS (BLOMEFIELD). +Down, October 12th, [1845]. + +My dear Jenyns, + +Thanks for your note. I am sorry to say I have not even the tail-end of a +fact in English Zoology to communicate. I have found that even trifling +observations require, in my case, some leisure and energy, both of which +ingredients I have had none to spare, as writing my Geology thoroughly +expends both. I had always thought that I would keep a journal and record +everything, but in the way I now live I find I observe nothing to record. +Looking after my garden and trees, and occasionally a very little walk in +an idle frame of mind, fills up every afternoon in the same manner. I am +surprised that with all your parish affairs, you have had time to do all +that which you have done. I shall be very glad to see your little work +(Mr. Jenyns' 'Observations in Natural History.' It is prefaced by an +Introduction on "Habits of observing as connected with the study of Natural +History," and followed by a "Calendar of Periodic Phenomena in Natural +History," with "Remarks on the importance of such Registers." My father +seems to be alluding to this Register in the P.S. to the letter dated +October 17, 1846.) (and proud should I have been if I could have added a +single fact to it). My work on the species question has impressed me very +forcibly with the importance of all such works as your intended one, +containing what people are pleased generally to call trifling facts. These +are the facts which make one understand the working or economy of nature. +There is one subject, on which I am very curious, and which perhaps you may +throw some light on, if you have ever thought on it; namely, what are the +checks and what the periods of life,--by which the increase of any given +species is limited. Just calculate the increase of any bird, if you assume +that only half the young are reared, and these breed: within the NATURAL +(i.e., if free from accidents) life of the parents the number of +individuals will become enormous, and I have been much surprised to think +how great destruction MUST annually or occasionally be falling on every +species, yet the means and period of such destruction is scarcely perceived +by us. + +I have continued steadily reading and collecting facts on variation of +domestic animals and plants, and on the question of what are species. I +have a grand body of facts, and I think I can draw some sound conclusions. +The general conclusions at which I have slowly been driven from a directly +opposite conviction, is that species are mutable, and that allied species +are co-descendants from common stocks. I know how much I open myself to +reproach for such a conclusion, but I have at least honestly and +deliberately come to it. I shall not publish on this subject for several +years. At present I am on the Geology of South America. I hope to pick up +from your book some facts on slight variations in structure or instincts in +the animals of your acquaintance. + +Believe me, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS (REV. L. BLOMEFIELD). +Down, [1845?]. + +My dear Jenyns, + +I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken in having +written me so long a note. The question of where, when, and how the check +to the increase of a given species falls appears to me particularly +interesting, and our difficulty in answering it shows how really ignorant +we are of the lives and habits of our most familiar species. I was aware +of the bare fact of old birds driving away their young, but had never +thought of the effect you so clearly point out, of local gaps in number +being thus immediately filled up. But the original difficulty remains; for +if your farmers had not killed your sparrows and rooks, what would have +become of those which now immigrate into your parish? in the middle of +England one is too far distant from the natural limits of the rook and +sparrow to suppose that the young are thus far expelled from +Cambridgeshire. The check must fall heavily at some time of each species' +life; for, if one calculates that only half the progeny are reared and +bred, how enormous is the increase! One has, however, no business to feel +so much surprise at one's ignorance, when one knows how impossible it is +without statistics to conjecture the duration of life and percentage of +deaths to births in mankind. If it could be shown that apparently the +birds of passage WHICH BREED HERE and increase, return in the succeeding +years in about the same number, whereas those that come here for their +winter and non-breeding season annually, come here with the same numbers, +but return with greatly decreased numbers, one would know (as indeed seems +probable) that the check fell chiefly on full-grown birds in the winter +season, and not on the eggs and very young birds, which has appeared to me +often the most probable period. If at any time any remarks on this subject +should occur to you, I should be most grateful for the benefit of them. + +With respect to my far distant work on species, I must have expressed +myself with singular inaccuracy if I led you to suppose that I meant to say +that my conclusions were inevitable. They have become so, after years of +weighing puzzles, to myself ALONE; but in my wildest day-dream, I never +expect more than to be able to show that there are two sides to the +question of the immutability of species, i.e. whether species are DIRECTLY +created or by intermediate laws (as with the life and death of +individuals). I did not approach the subject on the side of the difficulty +in determining what are species and what are varieties, but (though, why I +should give you such a history of my doings it would be hard to say) from +such facts as the relationship between the living and extinct mammifers in +South America, and between those living on the Continent and on adjoining +islands, such as the Galapagos. It occured to me that a collection of all +such analogous facts would throw light either for or against the view of +related species being co-descendants from a common stock. A long searching +amongst agricultural and horticultural books and people makes me believe (I +well know how absurdly presumptuous this must appear) that I see the way in +which new varieties become exquisitely adapted to the external conditions +of life and to other surrounding beings. I am a bold man to lay myself +open to being thought a complete fool, and a most deliberate one. From the +nature of the grounds which make me believe that species are mutable in +form, these grounds cannot be restricted to the closest-allied species; but +how far they extend I cannot tell, as my reasons fall away by degrees, when +applied to species more and more remote from each other. Pray do not think +that I am so blind as not to see that there are numerous immense +difficulties in my notions, but they appear to me less than on the common +view. I have drawn up a sketch and had it copied (in 200 pages) of my +conclusions; and if I thought at some future time that you would think it +worth reading, I should, of course, be most thankful to have the criticism +of so competent a critic. Excuse this very long and egotistical and ill- +written letter, which by your remarks you had led me into, and believe me, + +Yours very truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS (BLOMEFIELD). +Down, October 17th, 1846. + +Dear Jenyns, + +I have taken a most ungrateful length of time in thanking you for your very +kind present of your 'Observations.' But I happened to have had in hand +several other books, and have finished yours only a few days ago. I found +it very pleasant reading, and many of your facts interested me much. I +think I was more interested, which is odd, with your notes on some of the +lower animals than on the higher ones. The introduction struck me as very +good; but this is what I expected, for I well remember being quite +delighted with a preliminary essay to the first number of the 'Annals of +Natural History.' I missed one discussion, and think myself ill-used, for +I remember your saying you would make some remarks on the weather and +barometer, as a guide for the ignorant in prediction. I had also hoped to +have perhaps met with some remarks on the amount of variation in our common +species. Andrew Smith once declared he would get some hundreds of +specimens of larks and sparrows from all parts of Great Britain, and see +whether, with finest measurements, he could detect any proportional +variations in beaks or limbs, etc. This point interests me from having +lately been skimming over the absurdly opposite conclusions of Gloger and +Brehm; the one making half-a-dozen species out of every common bird, and +the other turning so many reputed species into one. Have you ever done +anything of this kind, or have you ever studied Gloger's or Brehm's works? +I was interested in your account of the martins, for I had just before been +utterly perplexed by noticing just such a proceeding as you describe: I +counted seven, one day lately, visiting a single nest and sticking dirt on +the adjoining wall. I may mention that I once saw some squirrels eagerly +splitting those little semi-transparent spherical galls on the back of oak- +leaves for the maggot within; so that they are insectivorous. A Cychrus +rostratus once squirted into my eyes and gave me extreme pain; and I must +tell you what happened to me on the banks of the Cam, in my early +entomological days: under a piece of bark I found two Carabi (I forget +which), and caught one in each hand, when lo and behold I saw a sacred +Panagaeus crux major! I could not bear to give up either of my Carabi, and +to lose Panagaeus was out of the question; so that in despair I gently +seized one of the Carabi between my teeth, when to my unspeakable disgust +and pain the little inconsiderate beast squirted his acid down my throat, +and I lost both Carabi and Panagaeus! I was quite astonished to hear of a +terrestrial Planaria; for about a year or two ago I described in the +'Annals of Natural History' several beautifully coloured terrestrial +species of the Southern Hemisphere, and thought it quite a new fact. By +the way, you speak of a sheep with a broken leg not having flukes: I have +heard my father aver that a fever, or any SERIOUS ACCIDENT, as a broken +limb, will cause in a man all the intestinal worms to be evacuated. Might +not this possibly have been the case with the flukes in their early state? + +I hope you were none the worse for Southampton (The meeting of the British +Association.); I wish I had seen you looking rather fatter. I enjoyed my +week extremely, and it did me good. I missed you the last few days, and we +never managed to see much of each other; but there were so many people +there, that I for one hardly saw anything of any one. Once again I thank +you very cordially for your kind present, and the pleasure it has given me, +and believe me, + +Ever most truly yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I have quite forgotten to say how greatly interested I was with your +discussion on the statistics of animals: when will Natural History be so +perfect that such points as you discuss will be perfectly known about any +one animal? + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Malvern, June 13 [1849]. + +...At last I am going to press with a small poor first-fruit of my +confounded Cirripedia, viz. the fossil pedunculate cirripedia. You ask +what effect studying species has had on my variation theories; I do not +think much--I have felt some difficulties more. On the other hand, I have +been struck (and probably unfairly from the class) with the variability of +every part in some slight degree of every species. When the same organ is +RIGOROUSLY compared in many individuals, I always find some slight +variability, and consequently that the diagnosis of species from minute +differences is always dangerous. I had thought the same parts of the same +species more resemble (than they do anyhow in Cirripedia) objects cast in +the same mould. Systematic work would be easy were it not for this +confounded variation, which, however, is pleasant to me as a speculatist, +though odious to me as a systematist. Your remarks on the distinctness (so +unpleasant to me) of the Himalayan Rubi, willows, etc., compared with those +of northern [Europe?], etc., are very interesting; if my rude species- +sketch had any SMALL share in leading you to these observations, it has +already done good and ample service, and may lay its bones in the earth in +peace. I never heard anything so strange as Falconer's neglect of your +letters; I am extremely glad you are cordial with him again, though it must +have cost you an effort. Falconer is a man one must love...May you prosper +in every way, my dear Hooker. + +Your affectionate friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Wednesday [September, n.d.]. + +...Many thanks for your letter received yesterday, which, as always, set me +thinking: I laughed at your attack at my stinginess in changes of level +towards Forbes (Edward Forbes, 1815-1854, born in the Isle of Man. His +best known work was his Report on the distribution of marine animals at +different depths in the Mediterranean. An important memoir of his is +referred to in my father's 'Autobiography.' He held successively the posts +of Curator to the Geological Society's Museum, and Professor of Natural +History in the Museum of Practical Geology; shortly before he died he was +appointed Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. He +seems to have impressed his contemporaries as a man of strikingly versatile +and vigorous mind. The above allusion to changes of level refers to +Forbes's tendency to explain the facts of geographical distribution by +means of an active geological imagination.), being so liberal towards +myself; but I must maintain, that I have never let down or upheaved our +mother-earth's surface, for the sake of explaining any one phenomenon, and +I trust I have very seldom done so without some distinct evidence. So I +must still think it a bold step (perhaps a very true one) to sink into the +depths of ocean, within the period of existing species, so large a tract of +surface. But there is no amount or extent of change of level, which I am +not fully prepared to admit, but I must say I should like better evidence, +than the identity of a few plants, which POSSIBLY (I do not say probably) +might have been otherwise transported. Particular thanks for your attempt +to get me a copy of 'L'Espece' (Probably Godron's essay, published by the +Academy of Nancy in 1848-49, and afterwards as a separate book in 1859.), +and almost equal thanks for your criticisms on him: I rather misdoubted +him, and felt not much inclined to take as gospel his facts. I find this +one of my greatest difficulties with foreign authors, viz. judging of their +credibility. How painfully (to me) true is your remark, that no one has +hardly a right to examine the question of species who has not minutely +described many. I was, however, pleased to hear from Owen (who is +vehemently opposed to any mutability in species), that he thought it was a +very fair subject, and that there was a mass of facts to be brought to bear +on the question, not hitherto collected. My only comfort is (as I mean to +attempt the subject), that I have dabbled in several branches of Natural +History, and seen good specific men work out my species, and know something +of geology (an indispensable union); and though I shall get more kicks than +half-pennies, I will, life serving, attempt my work. Lamarck is the only +exception, that I can think of, of an accurate describer of species at +least in the Invertebrate Kingdom, who has disbelieved in permanent +species, but he in his absurd though clever work has done the subject harm, +as has Mr. Vestiges, and, as (some future loose naturalist attempting the +same speculations will perhaps say) has Mr. D... + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, September 25th [1853]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have read your paper with great interest; it seems all very clear, and +will form an admirable introduction to the New Zealand Flora, or to any +Flora in the world. How few generalizers there are among systematists; I +really suspect there is something absolutely opposed to each other and +hostile in the two frames of mind required for systematising and reasoning +on large collections of facts. Many of your arguments appear to me very +well put, and, as far as my experience goes, the candid way in which you +discuss the subject is unique. The whole will be very useful to me +whenever I undertake my volume, though parts take the wind very completely +out of my sails; it will be all nuts to me...for I have for some time +determined to give the arguments on BOTH sides (as far as I could), instead +of arguing on the mutability side alone. + +In my own Cirripedial work (by the way, thank you for the dose of soft +solder; it does one--or at least me--a great deal of good)--in my own work +I have not felt conscious that disbelieving in the mere PERMANENCE of +species has made much difference one way or the other; in some few cases +(if publishing avowedly on doctrine of non-permanence), I should NOT have +affixed names, and in some few cases should have affixed names to +remarkable varieties. Certainly I have felt it humiliating, discussing and +doubting, and examining over and over again, when in my own mind the only +doubt has been whether the form varied TO-DAY OR YESTERDAY (not to put too +fine a point on it, as Snagsby (In 'Bleak House.') would say). After +describing a set of forms as distinct species, tearing up my MS., and +making them one species, tearing that up and making them separate, and then +making them one again (which has happened to me), I have gnashed my teeth, +cursed species, and asked what sin I had committed to be so punished. But +I must confess that perhaps nearly the same thing would have happened to me +on any scheme of work. + +I am heartily glad to hear your Journal (Sir J.D. Hooker's 'Himalayan +Journal.') is so much advanced; how magnificently it seems to be +illustrated! An "Oriental Naturalist," with lots of imagination and not +too much regard to facts, is just the man to discuss species! I think your +title of 'A Journal of a Naturalist in the East' very good; but whether "in +the Himalaya" would not be better, I have doubted, for the East sounds +rather vague... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[1853]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have no remarks at all worth sending you, nor, indeed, was it likely that +I should, considering how perfect and elaborated an essay it is. ('New +Zealand Flora,' 1853.) As far as my judgment goes, it is the most +important discussion on the points in question ever published. I can say +no more. I agree with almost everything you say; but I require much time +to digest an essay of such quality. It almost made me gloomy, partly from +feeling I could not answer some points which theoretically I should have +liked to have been different, and partly from seeing SO FAR BETTER DONE +than I COULD have done, discussions on some points which I had intended to +have taken up... + +I much enjoyed the slaps you have given to the provincial species-mongers. +I wish I could have been of the slightest use: I have been deeply +interested by the whole essay, and congratulate you on having produced a +memoir which I believe will be memorable. I was deep in it when your most +considerate note arrived, begging me not to hurry. I thank Mrs. Hooker and +yourself most sincerely for your wish to see me. I will not let another +summer pass without seeing you at Kew, for indeed I should enjoy it much... + +You do me really more honour than I have any claim to, putting me in after +Lyell on ups and downs. In a year or two's time, when I shall be at my +species book (if I do not break down), I shall gnash my teeth and abuse you +for having put so many hostile facts so confoundedly well. + +Ever yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, March 26th [1854]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I had hoped that you would have had a little breathing-time after your +Journal, but this seems to be very far from the case; and I am the more +obliged (and somewhat contrite) for the long letter received this morning, +MOST juicy with news and MOST interesting to me in many ways. I am very +glad indeed to hear of the reforms, etc., in the Royal Society. With +respect to the Club (The Philosophical Club, to which my father was elected +(as Professor Bonney is good enough to inform me) on April 24, 1854. He +resigned his membership in 1864. The Club was founded in 1847. The number +of members being limited to 47, it was proposed to christen it "the Club of +47," but the name was never adopted. The nature of the Club may be +gathered from its first rule: "The purpose of the Club is to promote as +much as possible the scientific objects of the Royal Society; to facilitate +intercourse between those Fellows who are actively engaged in cultivating +the various branches of Natural Science, and who have contributed to its +progress; to increase the attendance at the evening meetings, and to +encourage the contribution and discussion of papers." The Club met for +dinner (at first) at 6, and the chair was to be quitted at 8.15, it being +expected that members would go to the Royal Society. Of late years the +dinner has been at 6.30, the Society meeting in the afternoon.), I am +deeply interested; only two or three days ago, I was regretting to my wife, +how I was letting drop and being dropped by nearly all my acquaintances, +and that I would endeavour to go oftener to London; I was not then thinking +of the Club, which, as far as any one thing goes, would answer my exact +object in keeping up old and making some new acquaintances. I will +therefore come up to London for every (with rare exceptions) Club-day, and +then my head, I think, will allow me on an average to go to every other +meeting. But it is grievous how often any change knocks me up. I will +further pledge myself, as I told Lyell, to resign after a year, if I did +not attend pretty often, so that I should AT WORST encumber the Club +temporarily. If you can get me elected, I certainly shall be very much +pleased. Very many thanks for answers about Glaciers. I am very glad to +hear of the second Edition (Of the Himalayan Journal.) so very soon; but am +not surprised, for I have heard of several, in our small circle, reading it +with very much pleasure. I shall be curious to hear what Humboldt will +say: it will, I should think, delight him, and meet with more praise from +him than any other book of Travels, for I cannot remember one, which has so +many subjects in common with him. What a wonderful old fellow he is...By +the way, I hope, when you go to Hitcham, towards the end of May, you will +be forced to have some rest. I am grieved to hear that all the bad +symptoms have not left Henslow; it is so strange and new to feel any +uneasiness about his health. I am particularly obliged to you for sending +me Asa Gray's letter; how very pleasantly he writes. To see his and your +caution on the species-question ought to overwhelm me in confusion and +shame; it does make me feel deuced uncomfortable...It is delightful to hear +all that he says on Agassiz: how very singular it is that so EMINENTLY +clever a man, with such IMMENSE knowledge on many branches of Natural +History, should write as he does. Lyell told me that he was so delighted +with one of his (Agassiz) lectures on progressive development, etc., etc., +that he went to him afterwards and told him, "that it was so delightful, +that he could not help all the time wishing it was true." I seldom see a +Zoological paper from North America, without observing the impress of +Agassiz's doctrines--another proof, by the way, of how great a man he is. +I was pleased and surprised to see A. Gray's remarks on crossing, +obliterating varieties, on which, as you know, I have been collecting facts +for these dozen years. How awfully flat I shall feel, if when I get my +notes together on species, etc., etc., the whole thing explodes like an +empty puff-ball. Do not work yourself to death. + +Ever yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 5th [1854]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I was delighted to get your note yesterday. I congratulate you very +heartily (On the award to him of the Royal Society's Medal.), and whether +you care much or little, I rejoice to see the highest scientific judgment- +court in Great Britain recognise your claims. I do hope Mrs. Hooker is +pleased, and E. desires me particularly to send her cordial congratulations +...I pity you from the very bottom of my heart about your after-dinner +speech, which I fear I shall not hear. Without you have a very much +greater soul than I have (and I believe that you have), you will find the +medal a pleasant little stimulus, when work goes badly, and one ruminates +that all is vanity, it is pleasant to have some tangible proof, that others +have thought something of one's labours. + +Good-bye my dear Hooker, I can assure [you] that we both most truly enjoyed +your and Mrs. Hooker's visit here. Farewell. + +My dear Hooker, your sincere friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +March 7 [1855]. + +...I have just finished working well at Wollaston's (Thomas Vernon +Wollaston died (in his fifty-seventh year, as I believe) on January 4, +1878. His health forcing him in early manhood to winter in the south, he +devoted himself to a study of the Coleoptera of Madeira, the Cape de +Verdes, and St. Helena, whence he deduced evidence in support of the belief +in the submerged continent of 'Atlantis.' In an obituary notice by Mr. Rye +('Nature,' 1878) he is described as working persistently "upon a broad +conception of the science to which he was devoted," while being at the same +time "accurate, elaborate, and precise ad punctum, and naturally of a +minutely critical habit." His first scientific paper was written when he +was an undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge. While at the University, +he was an Associate and afterwards a Member of the Ray Club: this is a +small society which still meets once a week, and where the undergraduate +members, or Associates, receive much kindly encouragement from their +elders.) 'Insecta Maderensia': it is an ADMIRABLE work. There is a very +curious point in the astounding proportion of Coleoptera that are apterous; +and I think I have guessed the reason, viz., that powers of flight would be +injurious to insects inhabiting a confined locality, and expose them to be +blown to the sea: to test this, I find that the insects inhabiting the +Dezerte Grande, a quite small islet, would be still more exposed to this +danger, and here the proportion of apterous insects is even considerably +greater than on Madeira Proper. Wollaston speaks of Madeira and the other +Archipelagoes as being "sure and certain witnesses of Forbes' old +continent," and of course the Entomological world implicitly follows this +view. But to my eyes it would be difficult to imagine facts more opposed +to such a view. It is really disgusting and humiliating to see directly +opposite conclusions drawn from the same facts. + +I have had some correspondence with Wollaston on this and other subjects, +and I find that he coolly assumes, (1) that formerly insects possessed +greater migratory powers than now, (2) that the old land was SPECIALLY rich +in centres of creation, (3) that the uniting land was destroyed before the +special creations had time to diffuse, and (4) that the land was broken +down before certain families and genera had time to reach from Europe or +Africa the points of land in question. Are not these a jolly lot of +assumptions? and yet I shall see for the next dozen or score of years +Wollaston quoted as proving the former existence of poor Forbes' Atlantis. + +I hope I have not wearied you, but I thought you would like to hear about +this book, which strikes me as EXCELLENT in its facts, and the author a +most nice and modest man. + +Most truly yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, March 19th [1855]. + +My dear Fox, + +How long it is since we have had any communication, and I really want to +hear how the world goes with you; but my immediate object is to ask you to +observe a point for me, and as I know now you are a very busy man with too +much to do, I shall have a good chance of your doing what I want, as it +would be hopeless to ask a quite idle man. As you have a Noah's Ark, I do +not doubt that you have pigeons. (How I wish by any chance they were +fantails!) Now what I want to know is, at what age nestling pigeons have +their tail feathers sufficiently developed to be counted. I do not think I +ever saw a young pigeon. I am hard at work at my notes collecting and +comparing them, in order in some two or three years to write a book with +all the facts and arguments, which I can collect, FOR AND VERSUS the +immutability of species. I want to get the young of our domestic breeds, +to see how young, and to what degree the differences appear. I must either +breed myself (which is no amusement but a horrid bore to me) the pigeons or +buy their young; and before I go to a seller, whom I have heard of from +Yarrell, I am really anxious to know something about their development, not +to expose my excessive ignorance, and therefore be excessively liable to be +cheated and gulled. With respect to the ONE point of the tail feathers, it +is of course in relation to the wonderful development of tail feathers in +the adult fantail. If you had any breed of poultry pure, I would beg a +chicken with exact age stated, about a week or fortnight old! To be sent +in a box by post, if you could have the heart to kill one; and secondly, +would let me pay postage...Indeed, I should be very glad to have a nestling +common pigeon sent, for I mean to make skeletons, and have already just +begun comparing wild and tame ducks. And I think the results rather +curious ("I have just been testing practically what disuse does in reducing +parts; I have made skeleton of wild and tame duck (oh, the smell of well- +boiled, high duck!!) and I find the tame-duck wing ought, according to +scale of wild prototype, to have its two wings 360 grains in weight, but it +has it only 317."--A letter to Sir J. Hooker, 1855.), for on weighing the +several bones very carefully, when perfectly cleaned the proportional +weights of the two have greatly varied, the foot of the tame having largely +increased. How I wish I could get a little wild duck of a week old, but +that I know is almost impossible. + +With respect to ourselves, I have not much to say; we have now a terribly +noisy house with the whooping cough, but otherwise are all well. Far the +greatest fact about myself is that I have at last quite done with the +everlasting barnacles. At the end of the year we had two of our little +boys very ill with fever and bronchitis, and all sorts of ailments. Partly +for amusement, and partly for change of air, we went to London and took a +house for a month, but it turned out a great failure, for that dreadful +frost just set in when we went, and all our children got unwell, and E. and +I had coughs and colds and rheumatism nearly all the time. We had put down +first on our list of things to do, to go and see Mrs. Fox, but literally +after waiting some time to see whether the weather would not improve, we +had not a day when we both could go out. + +I do hope before very long you will be able to manage to pay us a visit. +Time is slipping away, and we are getting oldish. Do tell us about +yourself and all your large family. + +I know you will help me IF YOU CAN with information about the young +pigeons; and anyhow do write before very long. + +My dear Fox, your sincere old friend, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Amongst all sorts of odds and ends, with which I am amusing myself, I +am comparing the seeds of the variations of plants. I had formerly some +wild cabbage seeds, which I gave to some one, was it to you? It is a +THOUSAND to one it was thrown away, if not I should be very glad of a pinch +of it. + + +[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Fox (March 27th, 1855) refers +to the same subject as the last letter, and gives some account of the +"species work:" "The way I shall kill young things will be to put them +under a tumbler glass with a teaspoon of ether or chloroform, the glass +being pressed down on some yielding surface, and leave them for an hour or +two, young have such power of revivication. (I have thus killed moths and +butterflies.) The best way would be to send them as you procure them, in +pasteboard chip-box by post, on which you could write and just tie up with +string; and you will REALLY make me happier by allowing me to keep an +account of postage, etc. Upon my word I can hardly believe that ANY ONE +could be so good-natured as to take such trouble and do such a very +disagreeable thing as kill babies; and I am very sure I do not know one +soul who, except yourself, would do so. I am going to ask one thing more; +should old hens of any above poultry (not duck) die or become so old as to +be USELESS, I wish you would send her to me per rail, addressed to C. +Darwin, care of Mr. Acton, Post-office, Bromley, Kent." Will you keep this +address? as shortest way for parcels. But I do not care so much for this, +as I could buy the old birds dead at Baily to make skeletons. I should +have written at once even if I had not heard from you, to beg you not to +take trouble about pigeons, for Yarrell has persuaded me to attempt it, and +I am now fitting up a place, and have written to Baily about prices, etc., +etc. SOMETIME (when you are better) I should like very much to hear a +little about your "Little Call Duck"; why so-called? And where you got it? +and what it is like?...I was so ignorant I do not even know there were +three varieties of Dorking fowl: how do they differ?... + +I forget whether I ever told you what the object of my present work is,--it +is to view all facts that I can master (eheu, eheu, how ignorant I find I +am) in Natural History (as on geographical distribution, palaeontology, +classification, hybridism, domestic animals and plants, etc., etc., etc.) +to see how far they favour or are opposed to the notion that wild species +are mutable or immutable: I mean with my utmost power to give all +arguments and facts on both sides. I have a NUMBER of people helping me in +every way, and giving me most valuable assistance; but I often doubt +whether the subject will not quite overpower me. + +So much for the quasi-business part of my letter. I am very very sorry to +hear so indifferent account of your health: with your large family your +life is very precious, and I am sure with all your activity and goodness it +ought to be a happy one, or as happy as can reasonably be expected with all +the cares of futurity on one. + +One cannot expect the present to be like the old Crux-major days at the +foot of those noble willow stumps, the memory of which I revere. I now +find my little entomology which I wholly owe to you, comes in very useful. +I am very glad to hear that you have given yourself a rest from Sunday +duties. How much illness you have had in your life! Farewell my dear Fox. +I assure you I thank you heartily for your proffered assistance."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, May 7th [1855]. + +My dear Fox, + +My correspondence has cost you a deal of trouble, though this note will +not. I found yours on my return home on Saturday after a week's work in +London. Whilst there I saw Yarrell, who told me he had carefully examined +all points in the Call Duck, and did not feel any doubt about it being +specifically identical, and that it had crossed freely with common +varieties in St. James's Park. I should therefore be very glad for a +seven-days' duckling and for one of the old birds, should one ever die a +natural death. Yarrell told me that Sabine had collected forty varieties +of the common duck!...Well, to return to business; nobody, I am sure, could +fix better for me than you the characteristic age of little chickens; with +respect to skeletons, I have feared it would be impossible to make them, +but I suppose I shall be able to measure limbs, etc., by feeling the +joints. What you say about old cocks just confirms what I thought, and I +will make my skeletons of old cocks. Should an old wild turkey ever die, +please remember me; I do not care for a baby turkey, nor for a mastiff. +Very many thanks for your offer. I have puppies of bull-dogs and greyhound +in salt, and I have had cart-horse and race-horse young colts carefully +measured. Whether I shall do any good I doubt. I am getting out of my +depth. + +Most truly yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[An extract from a letter to Mr. Fox may find a place here, though of a +later date, viz. July, 1855: + +"Many thanks for the seven days' old white Dorking, and for the other +promised ones. I am getting quite a 'chamber of horrors,' I appreciate +your kindness even more than before; for I have done the black deed and +murdered an angelic little fantail and pouter at ten days old. I tried +chloroform and ether for the first, and though evidently a perfectly easy +death, it was prolonged; and for the second I tried putting lumps of +cyanide of potassium in a very large damp bottle, half an hour before +putting in the pigeon, and the prussic acid gas thus generated was very +quickly fatal." + +A letter to Mr. Fox (May 23rd, 1855) gives the first mention of my father's +laborious piece of work on the breeding of pigeons: + +"I write now to say that I have been looking at some of our mongrel +chickens, and I should say ONE WEEK OLD would do very well. The chief +points which I am, and have been for years, very curious about, is to +ascertain whether the YOUNG of our domestic breeds differ as much from each +other as do their parents, and I have no faith in anything short of actual +measurement and the Rule of Three. I hope and believe I am not giving so +much trouble without a motive of sufficient worth. I have got my fantails +and pouters (choice birds, I hope, as I paid 20 shillings for each pair +from Baily) in a grand cage and pigeon-house, and they are a decided +amusement to me, and delight to H." + +In the course of my father's pigeon-fancying enterprise he necessarily +became acquainted with breeders, and was fond of relating his experiences +as a member of the Columbarian and Philoperistera Clubs, where he met the +purest enthusiasts of the "fancy," and learnt much of the mysteries of +their art. In writing to Mr. Huxley some years afterwards, he quotes from +a book on 'Pigeons' by Mr. J. Eaton, in illustration of the "extreme +attention and close observation" necessary to be a good fancier. + +"In his [Mr. Eaton's] treatise, devoted to the Almond Tumbler ALONE, which +is a sub-variety of the short-faced variety, which is a variety of the +Tumbler, as that is of the Rock-pigeon, Mr. Eaton says: 'There are some of +the young fanciers who are over-covetous, who go for all the five +properties at once [i.e., the five characteristic points which are mainly +attended to,--C.D.], they have their reward by getting nothing.' In short, +it is almost beyond the human intellect to attend to ALL the excellencies +of the Almond Tumbler! + +"To be a good breeder, and to succeed in improving any breed, beyond +everything enthusiasm is required. Mr. Eaton has gained lots of prizes, +listen to him. + +"'If it was possible for noblemen and gentlemen to know the amazing amount +of solace and pleasure derived from the Almond Tumbler, when they begin to +understand their (i.e., the tumbler's) properties, I should think that +scarce any nobleman or gentleman would be without their aviaries of Almond +Tumblers.'" + +My father was fond of quoting this passage, and always with a tone of +fellow-feeling for the author, though, no doubt, he had forgotten his own +wonderings as a child that "every gentleman did not become an +ornithologist."--('Autobiography,' page 32.) + +To Mr. W.B. Tegetmeier, the well-known writer on poultry, etc., he was +indebted for constant advice and co-operation. Their correspondence began +in 1855, and lasted to 1881, when my father wrote: "I can assure you that +I often look back with pleasure to the old days when I attended to pigeons, +fowls, etc., and when you gave me such valuable assistance. I not rarely +regret that I have had so little strength that I have not been able to keep +up old acquaintances and friendships." My father's letters to Mr. +Tegetmeier consist almost entirely of series of questions relating to the +different breeds of fowls, pigeons, etc., and are not, therefore +interesting. In reading through the pile of letters, one is much struck by +the diligence of the writer's search for facts, and it is made clear that +Mr. Tegetmeier's knowledge and judgment were completely trusted and highly +valued by him. Numerous phrases, such as "your note is a mine of wealth to +me," occur, expressing his sense of the value of Mr. Tegetmeier's help, as +well as words expressing his warm appreciation of Mr. Tegetmeier's +unstinting zeal and kindness, or his "pure and disinterested love of +science." On the subject of hive-bees and their combs, Mr. Tegetmeier's +help was also valued by my father, who wrote, "your paper on 'Bees-cells,' +read before the British Association, was highly useful and suggestive to +me." + +To work out the problems on the Geographical Distributions of animals and +plants on evolutionary principles, he had to study the means by which +seeds, eggs, etc., can be transported across wide spaces of ocean. It was +this need which gave an interest to the class of experiment to which the +following letters allude.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, May 17th [1855]. + +My dear Fox, + +You will hate the very sight of my hand-writing; but after this time I +promise I will ask for nothing more, at least for a long time. As you live +on sandy soil, have you lizards at all common? If you have, should you +think it too ridiculous to offer a reward for me for lizard's eggs to the +boys in your school; a shilling for every half-dozen, or more if rare, till +you got two or three dozen and send them to me? If snake's eggs were +brought in mistake it would be very well, for I want such also; and we have +neither lizards nor snakes about here. My object is to see whether such +eggs will float on sea water, and whether they will keep alive thus +floating for a month or two in my cellar. I am trying experiments on +transportation of all organic beings that I can; and lizards are found on +every island, and therefore I am very anxious to see whether their eggs +stand sea water. Of course this note need not be answered, without, by a +strange and favourable chance, you can some day answer it with the eggs. + +Your most troublesome friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +April 13th [1855]. + +...I have had one experiment some little time in progress, which will, I +think, be interesting, namely, seeds in salt water immersed in water of 32- +33 degrees, which I have and shall long have, as I filled a great tank with +snow. When I wrote last I was going to triumph over you, for my experiment +had in a slight degree succeeded; but this, with infinite baseness, I did +not tell, in hopes that you would say that you would eat all the plants +which I could raise after immersion. It is very aggravating that I cannot +in the least remember what you did formerly say that made me think you +scoffed at the experiments vastly; for you now seem to view the experiment +like a good Christian. I have in small bottles out of doors, exposed to +variation of temperature, cress, radish, cabbages, lettuces, carrots, and +celery, and onion seed--four great families. These, after immersion for +exactly one week, have all germinated, which I did not in the least expect +(and thought how you would sneer at me); for the water of nearly all, and +of the cress especially, smelt very badly, and the cress seed emitted a +wonderful quantity of mucus (the 'Vestiges' would have expected them to +turn into tadpoles), so as to adhere in a mass; but these seeds germinated +and grew splendidly. The germination of all (especially cress and +lettuces) has been accelerated, except the cabbages, which have come up +very irregularly, and a good many, I think, dead. One would have thought, +from their native habitat, that the cabbage would have stood well. The +Umbelliferae and onions seem to stand the salt well. I wash the seed +before planting them. I have written to the "Gardeners' Chronicle" (A few +words asking for information. The results were published in the +'Gardeners' Chronicle,' May 26, November 24, 1855. In the same year (page +789) he sent a P.S. to his former paper, correcting a misprint and adding a +few words on the seeds of the Leguminosae. A fuller paper on the +germination of seeds after treatment in salt water, appeared in the +'Linnaean Soc. Journal,' 1857, page 130.), though I doubt whether it was +worth while. If my success seems to make it worth while, I will send a +seed list, to get you to mark some different classes of seeds. To-day I +replant the same seeds as above after fourteen days' immersion. As many +sea-currents go a mile an hour, even in a week they might be transported +168 miles; the Gulf Stream is said to go fifty and sixty miles a day. So +much and too much on this head; but my geese are always swans... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[April 14th, 1855.] + +...You are a good man to confess that you expected the cress would be +killed in a week, for this gives me a nice little triumph. The children at +first were tremendously eager, and asked me often, "whether I should beat +Dr. Hooker!" The cress and lettuce have just vegetated well after twenty- +one days' immersion. But I will write no more, which is a great virtue in +me; for it is to me a very great pleasure telling you everything I do. + +...If you knew some of the experiments (if they may be so-called) which I +am trying, you would have a good right to sneer, for they are so ABSURD +even in MY opinion that I dare not tell you. + +Have not some men a nice notion of experimentising? I have had a letter +telling me that seeds MUST have GREAT power of resisting salt water, for +otherwise how could they get to islands? This is the true way to solve a +problem! + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [1855]. + +My dear Hooker, + +You have been a very good man to exhale some of your satisfaction in +writing two notes to me; you could not have taken a better line in my +opinion; but as for showing your satisfaction in confounding my +experiments, I assure you I am quite enough confounded--those horrid seeds, +which, as you truly observe, if they sink they won't float. + +I have written to Scoresby and have had a rather dry answer, but very much +to the purpose, and giving me no hopes of any law unknown to me which might +arrest their everlasting descent into the deepest depths of the ocean. By +the way it was very odd, but I talked to Col. Sabine for half an hour on +the subject, and could not make him see with respect to transportal the +difficulty of the sinking question! The bore is, if the confounded seeds +will sink, I have been taking all this trouble in salting the ungrateful +rascals for nothing. + +Everything has been going wrong with me lately; the fish at the Zoological +Society ate up lots of soaked seeds, and in imagination they had in my mind +been swallowed, fish and all, by a heron, had been carried a hundred miles, +been voided on the banks of some other lake and germinated splendidly, when +lo and behold, the fish ejected vehemently, and with disgust equal to my +own, ALL the seeds from their mouths. (In describing these troubles to Mr. +Fox, my father wrote:--"All nature is perverse and will not do as I wish +it; and just at present I wish I had my old barnacles to work at, and +nothing new." The experiment ultimately succeeded, and he wrote to Sir J. +Hooker:--"I find fish will greedily eat seeds of aquatic grasses, and that +millet-seed put into fish and given to a stork, and then voided, will +germinate. So this is the nursery rhyme of 'this is the stick that beats +the pig,' etc., etc.,") + +But I am not going to give up the floating yet: in first place I must try +fresh seeds, though of course it seems far more probable that they will +sink; and secondly, as a last resource, I must believe in the pod or even +whole plant or branch being washed into the sea; with floods and slips and +earthquakes; this must continually be happening, and if kept wet, I fancy +the pods, etc. etc., would not open and shed their seeds. Do try your +Mimosa seed at Kew. + +I had intended to have asked you whether the Mimosa scandens and Guilandina +bonduc grows at Kew, to try fresh seeds. R. Brown tells me he believes +four W. Indian seeds have been washed on shores of Europe. I was assured +at Keeling Island that seeds were not rarely washed on shore: so float +they must and shall! What a long yarn I have been spinning. + +If you have several of the Loffoden seeds, do soak some in tepid water, and +get planted with the utmost care: this is an experiment after my own +heart, with chances 1000 to 1 against its success. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 11th [1855]. + +My dear Hooker,--I have just received your note. I am most sincerely and +heartily glad at the news (The appointment of Sir J.D. Hooker as Assistant +Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew.) it contains, and so is my wife. +Though the income is but a poor one, yet the certainty, I hope, is +satisfactory to yourself and Mrs. Hooker. As it must lead in future years +to the Directorship, I do hope you look at it, as a piece of good fortune. +For my own taste I cannot fancy a pleasanter position, than the Head of +such a noble and splendid place; far better, I should think, than a +Professorship in a great town. The more I think of it, the gladder I am. +But I will say no more; except that I hope Mrs. Hooker is pretty well +pleased... + +As the "Gardeners' Chronicle" put in my question, and took notice of it, I +think I am bound to send, which I had thought of doing next week, my first +report to Lindley to give him the option of inserting it; but I think it +likely that he may not think it fit for a Gardening periodical. When my +experiments are ended (should the results appear worthy) and should the +'Linnean Journal' not object to the previous publication of imperfect and +provisional reports, I should be DELIGHTED to insert the final report +there; for it has cost me so much trouble, that I should think that +probably the result was worthy of more permanent record than a newspaper; +but I think I am bound to send it first to Lindley. + +I begin to think the floating question more serious than the germinating +one; and am making all the inquiries which I can on the subject, and hope +to get some little light on it... + +I hope you managed a good meeting at the Club. The Treasurership must be a +plague to you, and I hope you will not be Treasurer for long: I know I +would much sooner give up the Club than be its Treasurer. + +Farewell, Mr. Assistant Director and dear friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +June 5th, 1855. + +...Miss Thorley (A lady who was for many years a governess in the family.) +and I are doing A LITTLE BOTANICAL WORK! for our amusement, and it does +amuse me very much, viz., making a collection of all the plants, which grow +in a field, which has been allowed to run waste for fifteen years, but +which before was cultivated from time immemorial; and we are also +collecting all the plants in an adjoining and SIMILAR but cultivated field; +just for the fun of seeing what plants have survived or died out. +Hereafter we shall want a bit of help in naming puzzlers. How dreadfully +difficult it is to name plants. + +What a REMARKABLY nice and kind letter Dr. A. Gray has sent me in answer to +my troublesome queries; I retained your copy of his 'Manual' till I heard +from him, and when I have answered his letter, I will return it to you. + +I thank you much for Hedysarum: I do hope it is not very precious, for as +I told you it is for probably a MOST foolish purpose. I read somewhere +that no plant closes its leaves so promptly in darkness, and I want to +cover it up daily for half an hour, and see if I can teach it to close by +itself, or more easily than at first in darkness...I cannot make out why +you would prefer a continental transmission, as I think you do, to carriage +by sea. I should have thought you would have been pleased at as many means +of transmission as possible. For my own pet theoretic notions, it is quite +indifferent whether they are transmitted by sea or land, as long as some +tolerably probable way is shown. But it shocks my philosophy to create +land, without some other and independent evidence. Whenever we meet, by a +very few words I should, I think, more clearly understand your views... + +I have just made out my first grass, hurrah! hurrah! I must confess that +fortune favours the bold, for, as good luck would have it, it was the easy +Anthoxanthum odoratum: nevertheless it is a great discovery; I never +expected to make out a grass in all my life, so hurrah! It has done my +stomach surprising good... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [June?] 15th, [1855]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I just write one line to say that the Hedysarum is come QUITE SAFELY, and +thank you for it. + +You cannot imagine what amusement you have given me by naming those three +grasses: I have just got paper to dry and collect all grasses. If ever +you catch quite a beginner, and want to give him a taste of Botany, tell +him to make a perfect list of some little field or wood. Both Miss Thorley +and I agree that it gives a really uncommon interest to the work, having a +nice little definite world to work on, instead of the awful abyss and +immensity of all British Plants. + +Adios. I was really consummately impudent to express my opinion "on the +retrograde step" ("To imagine such enormous geological changes within the +period of the existence of now living beings, on no other ground but to +account for their distribution, seems to me, in our present state of +ignorance on the means of transportal, an almost retrograde step in +science."--Extract from the paper on 'Salt Water and Seeds' in "Gardeners' +Chronicle", May 26, 1855.), and I deserved a good snub, and upon reflection +I am very glad you did not answer me in "Gardeners' Chronicle". + +I have been VERY MUCH interested with the Florula. (Godron's 'Florula +Juvenalis,' which gives an interesting account of plants introduced in +imported wool.) + + +[Writing on June 5th to Sir J.D. Hooker, my father mentions a letter from +Dr. Asa Gray. The letter referred to was an answer to the following:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. (The well-known American Botanist. My +father's friendship with Dr. Gray began with the correspondence of which +the present is the first letter. An extract from a letter to Sir J. +Hooker, 1857, shows that my father's strong personal regard for Dr. Gray +had an early origin: "I have been glad to see A. Gray's letters; there is +always something in them that shows that he is a very lovable man.") +Down, April 25th [1855]. + +My dear Sir, + +I hope that you will remember that I had the pleasure of being introduced +to you at Kew. I want to beg a great favour of you, for which I well know +I can offer no apology. But the favour will not, I think, cause you much +trouble, and will greatly oblige me. As I am no botanist, it will seem so +absurd to you my asking botanical questions; that I may premise that I have +for several years been collecting facts on "variation," and when I find +that any general remark seems to hold good amongst animals, I try to test +it in Plants. [Here follows a request for information on American Alpine +plants, and a suggestion as to publishing on the subject.] I can assure +you that I perceive how presumptuous it is in me, not a botanist, to make +even the most trifling suggestion to such a botanist as yourself; but from +what I saw and have heard of you from our dear and kind friend Hooker, I +hope and think you will forgive me, and believe me, with much respect, + +Dear sir, yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 8th [1855]. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you cordially for your remarkably kind letter of the 22d. ult., and +for the extremely pleasant and obliging manner in which you have taken my +rather troublesome questions. I can hardly tell you how much your list of +Alpine plants has interested me, and I can now in some degree picture to +myself the plants of your Alpine summits. The new edition of your Manual +is CAPITAL news for me. I know from your preface how pressed you are for +room, but it would take no space to append (Eu) in brackets to any European +plant, and, as far as I am concerned, this would answer every purpose. +(This suggestion Dr. Gray adopted in subsequent editions.) From my own +experience, whilst making out English plants in our manuals, it has often +struck me how much interest it would give if some notion of their range had +been given; and so, I cannot doubt, your American inquirers and beginners +would much like to know which of their plants were indigenous and which +European. Would it not be well in the Alpine plants to append the very +same addition which you have now sent me in MS.? though here, owing to your +kindness, I do not speak selfishly, but merely pro bono Americano publico. +I presume it would be too troublesome to give in your manual the habitats +of those plants found west of the Rocky Mountains, and likewise those found +in Eastern Asia, taking the Yenesei (?),--which, if I remember right, +according to Gmelin, is the main partition line of Siberia. Perhaps +Siberia more concerns the northern Flora of North America. The ranges of +plants to the east and west, viz., whether most found are in Greenland and +Western Europe, or in E. Asia, appears to me a very interesting point as +tending to show whether the migration has been eastward or westward. Pray +believe me that I am most entirely conscious that the ONLY USE of these +remarks is to show a botanist what points a non-botanist is curious to +learn; for I think every one who studies profoundly a subject often becomes +unaware [on] what points the ignorant require information. I am so very +glad that you think of drawing up some notice on your geographical +distribution, for the air of the Manual strikes me as in some points better +adapted for comparison with Europe than that of the whole of North America. +You ask me to state definitely some of the points on which I much wish for +information; but I really hardly can, for they are so vague; and I rather +wish to see what results will come out from comparisons, than have as yet +defined objects. I presume that, like other botanists, you would give, for +your area, the proportion (leaving out introduced plants) to the whole of +the great leading families: this is one point I had intended (and, indeed, +have done roughly) to tabulate from your book, but of course I could have +done it only VERY IMPERFECTLY. I should also, of course, have ascertained +the proportion, to the whole Flora, of the European plants (leaving out +introduced) AND OF THE SEPARATE GREAT FAMILIES, in order to speculate on +means of transportal. By the way, I ventured to send a few days ago a copy +of the "Gardeners' Chronicle" with a short report by me of some trifling +experiments which I have been trying on the power of seeds to withstand sea +water. I do not know whether it has struck you, but it has me, that it +would be advisable for botanists to give in WHOLE NUMBERS, as well as in +the lowest fraction, the proportional numbers of the families, thus I make +out from your Manual that of the INDIGENOUS plants the proportion of the +Umbelliferae are 36/1798 = 1/49; for, without one knows the WHOLE numbers, +one cannot judge how really close the numbers of the plants of the same +family are in two distant countries; but very likely you may think this +superfluous. Mentioning these proportional numbers, I may give you an +instance of the sort of points, and how vague and futile they often are, +which I ATTEMPT to work out...; reflecting on R. Brown's and Hooker's +remark, that near identity of proportional numbers of the great families in +two countries, shows probably that they were once continuously united, I +thought I would calculate the proportions of, for instance, the INTRODUCED +Compositae in Great Britain to all the introduced plants, and the result +was, 10/92 = 1/9.2. In our ABORIGINAL or indigenous flora the proportion +is 1/10; and in many other cases I found an equally striking +correspondence. I then took your Manual, and worked out the same question; +here I find in the Compositae an almost equally striking correspondence, +viz. 24/206 = 1/8 in the introduced plants, and 223/1798 = 1/8 in the +indigenous; but when I came to the other families I found the proportion +entirely different, showing that the coincidences in the British Flora were +probably accidental! + +You will, I presume, give the proportion of the species to the genera, +i.e., show on an average how many species each genus contains; though I +have done this for myself. + +If it would not be too troublesome, do you not think it would be very +interesting, and give a very good idea of your Flora, to divide the species +into three groups, viz., (a) species common to the old world, stating +numbers common to Europe and Asia; (b) indigenous species, but belonging to +genera found in the old world; and (c) species belonging to genera confined +to America or the New World. To make (according to my ideas) perfection +perfect, one ought to be told whether there are other cases, like Erica, of +genera common in Europe or in Old World not found in your area. But +honestly I feel that it is quite ridiculous my writing to you at such +length on the subject; but, as you have asked me, I do it gratefully, and +write to you as I should to Hooker, who often laughs at me unmercifully, +and I am sure you have better reason to do so. + +There is one point on which I am MOST anxious for information, and I +mention it with the greatest hesitation, and only in the FULL BELIEF that +you will believe me that I have not the folly and presumption to hope for a +second that you will give it, without you can with very little trouble. +The point can at present interest no one but myself, which makes the case +wholly different from geographical distribution. The only way in which, I +think, you possibly could do it with little trouble would be to bear in +mind, whilst correcting your proof-sheets of the Manual, my question and +put a cross or mark to the species, and whenever sending a parcel to Hooker +to let me have such old sheets. But this would give you the trouble of +remembering my question, and I can hardly hope or expect that you will do +it. But I will just mention what I want; it is to have marked the "close +species" in a Flora, so as to compare in DIFFERENT Floras whether the same +genera have "close species," and for other purposes too vague to enumerate. +I have attempted, by Hooker's help, to ascertain in a similar way whether +the different species of the same genera in distant quarters of the globe +are variable or present varieties. The definition I should give of a +"CLOSE SPECIES" was one that YOU thought specifically distinct, but which +you could conceive some other GOOD botanist might think only a race or +variety; or, again, a species that you had trouble, though having +opportunities of knowing it well, in discriminating from some other +species. Supposing that you were inclined to be so very kind as to do +this, and could (which I do not expect) spare the time, as I have said, a +mere cross to each such species in any useless proof-sheets would give me +the information desired, which, I may add, I know must be vague. + +How can I apologise enough for all my presumption and the extreme length of +this letter? The great good nature of your letter to me has been partly +the cause, so that, as is too often the case in this world, you are +punished for your good deeds. With hearty thanks, believe me, + +Yours very truly and gratefully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 18th [July, 1855]. + +...I think I am getting a MILD case about Charlock seed (In the "Gardeners' +Chronicle", 1855, page 758, appeared a notice (half a column in length) by +my father on the "Vitality of Seeds." The facts related refer to the +"Sand-walk"; the wood was planted in 1846 on a piece of pasture land laid +down as grass in 1840. In 1855, on the soil being dug in several places, +Charlock (Brassica sinapistrum) sprang up freely. The subject continued to +interest him, and I find a note dated July 2nd, 1874, in which my father +recorded that forty-six plants of Charlock sprang up in that year over a +space (14 x 7 feet) which had been dug to a considerable depth.); but just +as about salting, ill-luck to it, I cannot remember how many years you +would allow that Charlock seed might live in the ground. Next time you +write, show a bold face, and say in how many years, you think, Charlock +seed would probably all be dead. A man told me the other day of, as I +thought, a splendid instance,-- and SPLENDID it was, for according to his +evidence the seed came up alive out of the LOWER PART of the LONDON CLAY!! +I disgusted him by telling him that Palms ought to have come up. + +You ask how far I go in attributing organisms to a common descent; I answer +I know not; the way in which I intend treating the subject, is to show (AS +FAR AS I CAN) the facts and arguments for and against the common descent of +the species of the same genus; and then show how far the same arguments +tell for or against forms, more and more widely different: and when we +come to forms of different orders and classes, there remain only some such +arguments as those which can perhaps be deduced from similar rudimentary +structures, and very soon not an argument is left. + + +[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Fox [October, 1855 (In this +year he published ('Phil. Mag.' x.) a paper 'On the power of icebergs to +make rectilinear uniformly-directed grooves across a submarine undulatory +surface.'") gives a brief mention of the last meeting of the British +Association which he attended:] "I really have no news: the only thing we +have done for a long time, was to go to Glasgow; but the fatigue was to me +more than it was worth, and E. caught a bad cold. On our return we stayed +a single day at Shrewsbury, and enjoyed seeing the old place. I saw a +little of Sir Philip (Sir P. Egerton was a neighbour of Mr. Fox.) (whom I +liked much), and he asked me "why on earth I instigated you to rob his +poultry-yard?' The meeting was a good one, and the Duke of Argyll spoke +excellently."] + + +CHAPTER 1.XII. + +THE UNFINISHED BOOK. + +MAY 1856 TO JUNE 1858. + +[In the Autobiographical chapter (page 69,) my father wrote:--"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." The letters in the present +chapter are chiefly concerned with the preparation of this unfinished book. + +The work was begun on May 14th, and steadily continued up to June 1858, +when it was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Wallace's MS. During the two +years which we are now considering he wrote ten chapters (that is about +one-half) of the projected book. He remained for the most part at home, +but paid several visits to Dr. Lane's Water-Cure Establishment at Moor +Park, during one of which he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Gilbert +White at Selborne.] + + +LETTERS. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL +May 3 [1856]. + +...With respect to your suggestion of a sketch of my views, I hardly know +what to think, but will reflect on it, but it goes against my prejudices. +To give a fair sketch would be absolutely impossible, for every proposition +requires such an array of facts. If I were to do anything, it could only +refer to the main agency of change--selection--and perhaps point out a very +few of the leading features, which countenance such a view, and some few of +the main difficulties. But I do not know what to think; I rather hate the +idea of writing for priority, yet I certainly should be vexed if any one +were to publish my doctrines before me. Anyhow, I thank you heartily for +your sympathy. I shall be in London next week, and I will call on you on +Thursday morning for one hour precisely, so as not to lose much of your +time and my own; but will you let me this time come as early as 9 o'clock, +for I have much which I must do in the morning in my strongest time? +Farewell, my dear old patron. + +Yours, +C. DARWIN. + +By the way, THREE plants have come up out of the earth, perfectly enclosed +in the roots of the trees. And twenty-nine plants in the table-spoonful of +mud, out of the little pond; Hooker was surprised at this, and struck with +it, when I showed him how much mud I had scraped off one duck's feet. + +If I did publish a short sketch, where on earth should I publish it? + +If I do NOT hear, I shall understand that I may come from 9 to 10 on +Thursday. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +May 9th, [1856]. + +...I very much want advice and TRUTHFUL consolation if you can give it. I +had a good talk with Lyell about my species work, and he urges me strongly +to publish something. I am fixed against any periodical or Journal, as I +positively will NOT expose myself to an Editor or a Council, allowing a +publication for which they might be abused. If I publish anything it must +be a VERY THIN and little volume, giving a sketch of my views and +difficulties; but it is really dreadfully unphilosophical to give a resume, +without exact references, of an unpublished work. But Lyell seemed to +think I might do this, at the suggestion of friends, and on the ground, +which I might state, that I had been at work for eighteen (The interval of +eighteen years, from 1837 when he began to collect facts, would bring the +date of this letter to 1855, not 1856, nevertheless the latter seems the +more probable date.) years, and yet could not publish for several years, +and especially as I could point out difficulties which seemed to me to +require especial investigation. Now what think you? I should be really +grateful for advice. I thought of giving up a couple of months and writing +such a sketch, and trying to keep my judgment open whether or no to publish +it when completed. It will be simply impossible for me to give exact +references; anything important I should state on the authority of the +author generally; and instead of giving all the facts on which I ground my +opinion, I could give by memory only one or two. In the Preface I would +state that the work could not be considered strictly scientific, but a mere +sketch or outline of a future work in which full references, etc. should be +given. Eheu, eheu, I believe I should sneer at any one else doing this, +and my only comfort is, that I TRULY never dreamed of it, till Lyell +suggested it, and seems deliberately to think it advisable. + +I am in a peck of troubles and do pray forgive me for troubling you. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +May 11th [1856]. + +...Now for a MORE IMPORTANT! subject, viz., my own self: I am extremely +glad you think well of a separate "Preliminary Essay" (i.e., if anything +whatever is published; for Lyell seemed rather to doubt on this head) (The +meaning of the sentence in parentheses is obscure.); but I cannot bear the +idea of BEGGING some Editor and Council to publish, and then perhaps to +have to APOLOGISE humbly for having led them into a scrape. In this one +respect I am in the state which, according to a very wise saying of my +father's, is the only fit state for asking advice, viz., with my mind +firmly made up, and then, as my father used to say, GOOD advice was very +comfortable, and it was easy to reject BAD advice. But Heaven knows I am +not in this state with respect to publishing at all any preliminary essay. +It yet strikes me as quite unphilosophical to publish results without the +full details which have lead to such results. + +It is a melancholy, and I hope not quite true view of yours that facts will +prove anything, and are therefore superfluous! But I have rather +exaggerated, I see, your doctrine. I do not fear being tied down to error, +i.e., I feel pretty sure I should give up anything false published in the +preliminary essay, in my larger work; but I may thus, it is very true, do +mischief by spreading error, which as I have often heard you say is much +easier spread than corrected. I confess I lean more and more to at least +making the attempt and drawing up a sketch and trying to keep my judgment, +whether to publish, open. But I always return to my fixed idea that it is +dreadfully unphilosophical to publish without full details. I certainly +think my future work in full would profit by hearing what my friends or +critics (if reviewed) thought of the outline. + +To any one but you I should apologise for such long discussion on so +personal an affair; but I believe, and indeed you have proved it by the +trouble you have taken, that this would be superfluous. + +Yours truly obliged, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S. What you say (for I have just re-read your letter) that the Essay +might supersede and take away all novelty and value from any future larger +Book, is very true; and that would grieve me beyond everything. On the +other hand (again from Lyell's urgent advice), I published a preliminary +sketch of the Coral Theory, and this did neither good nor harm. I begin +MOST HEARTILY to wish that Lyell had never put this idea of an Essay into +my head. + + +FROM A LETTER TO SIR C. LYELL [July, 1856]. + +"I am delighted that I may say (with absolute truth) that my essay is +published at your suggestion, but I hope it will not need so much apology +as I at first thought; for I have resolved to make it nearly as complete as +my present materials allow. I cannot put in all which you suggest, for it +would appear too conceited." + + +FROM A LETTER TO W.D. FOX. +Down, June 14th [1856]. + +"...What you say about my Essay, I dare say is very true; and it gave me +another fit of the wibber-gibbers: I hope that I shall succeed in making +it modest. One great motive is to get information on the many points on +which I want it. But I tremble about it, which I should not do, if I +allowed some three or four more years to elapse before publishing +anything..." + + +[The following extracts from letters to Mr. Fox are worth giving, as +showing how great was the accumulation of material which now had to be +dealt with. + +June 14th [1856]. + +"Very many thanks for the capital information on cats; I see I had +blundered greatly, but I know I had somewhere your original notes; but my +notes are so numerous during nineteen years' collection, that it would take +me at least a year to go over and classify them." + +November 1856. + +"Sometimes I fear I shall break down, for my subject gets bigger and bigger +with each month's work."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL +Down, 16th [June, 1856]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I am going to do the most impudent thing in the world. But my blood gets +hot with passion and turns cold alternately at the geological strides, +which many of your disciples are taking. + +Here, poor Forbes made a continent to [i.e., extending to] North America +and another (or the same) to the Gulf weed; Hooker makes one from New +Zealand to South America and round the World to Kerguelen Land. Here is +Wollaston speaking of Madeira and P. Santo "as the sure and certain +witnesses of a former continent." Here is Woodward writes to me, if you +grant a continent over 200 or 300 miles of ocean depths (as if that was +nothing), why not extend a continent to every island in the Pacific and +Atlantic Oceans? And all this within the existence of recent species! If +you do not stop this, if there be a lower region for the punishment of +geologists, I believe, my great master, you will go there. Why, your +disciples in a slow and creeping manner beat all the old Catastrophists who +ever lived. You will live to be the great chief of the Catastrophists. + +There, I have done myself a great deal of good, and have exploded my +passion. + +So my master, forgive me, and believe me, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. Don't answer this, I did it to ease myself. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [June] 17th, 1856. + +...I have been very deeply interested by Wollaston's book ('The Variation +of Species,' 1856.), though I differ GREATLY from many of his doctrines. +Did you ever read anything so rich, considering how very far he goes, as +his denunciations against those who go further: "Most mischievous," +"absurd," "unsound." Theology is at the bottom of some of this. I told +him he was like Calvin burning a heretic. It is a very valuable and clever +book in my opinion. He has evidently read very little out of his own line. +I urged him to read the New Zealand essay. His Geology also is rather +eocene, as I told him. In fact I wrote most frankly; he says he is sure +that ultra-honesty is my characteristic: I do not know whether he meant it +as a sneer; I hope not. Talking of eocene geology, I got so wrath about +the Atlantic continent, more especially from a note from Woodward (who has +published a capital book on shells), who does not seem to doubt that every +island in the Pacific and Atlantic are the remains of continents, submerged +within period of existing species, that I fairly exploded, and wrote to +Lyell to protest, and summed up all the continents created of late years by +Forbes (the head sinner!) YOURSELF, Wollaston, and Woodward, and a pretty +nice little extension of land they make altogether! I am fairly rabid on +the question and therefore, if not wrong already, am pretty sure to become +so... + +I have enjoyed your note much. Adios, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. [June] 18th. Lyell has written me a CAPITAL letter on your side, +which ought to upset me entirely, but I cannot say it does quite. + +Though I must try and cease being rabid and try to feel humble, and allow +you all to make continents, as easily as a cook does pancakes. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, June 25th [1856]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I will have the following tremendous letter copied to make the reading +easier, and as I want to keep a copy. + +As you say you would like to hear my reasons for being most unwilling to +believe in the continental extensions of late authors, I gladly write them, +as, without I am convinced of my error, I shall have to give them condensed +in my essay, when I discuss single and multiple creation; I shall therefore +be particularly glad to have your general opinion on them. I may QUITE +LIKELY have persuaded myself in my wrath that there is more in them than +there is. If there was much more reason to admit a continental extension +in any one or two instances (as in Madeira) than in other cases, I should +feel no difficulty whatever. But if on account of European plants, and +littoral sea shells, it is thought necessary to join Madeira to the +mainland, Hooker is quite right to join New Holland to New Zealand, and +Auckland Island (and Raoul Island to N.E.), and these to S. America and the +Falklands, and these to Tristan d'Acunha, and these to Kerguelen Land; thus +making, either strictly at the same time, or at different periods, but all +within the life of recent beings, an almost circumpolar belt of land. So +again Galapagos and Juan Fernandez must be joined to America; and if we +trust to littoral see shells, the Galapagos must have been joined to the +Pacific Islands (2400 miles distant) as well as to America, and as Woodward +seems to think all the islands in the Pacific into a magnificent continent; +also the islands in the Southern Indian Ocean into another continent, with +Madagascar and Africa, and perhaps India. In the North Atlantic, Europe +will stretch half-way across the ocean to the Azores, and further north +right across. In short, we must suppose probably, half the present ocean +was land within the period of living organisms. The Globe within this +period must have had a quite different aspect. Now the only way to test +this, that I can see, is to consider whether the continents have undergone +within this same period such wonderful permutations. In all North and +South and Central America, we have both recent and miocene (or eocene) +shells, quite distinct on the opposite sides, and hence I cannot doubt that +FUNDAMENTALLY America has held its place since at least, the miocene +period. In Africa almost all the living shells are distinct on the +opposite sides of the inter-tropical regions, short as the distance is +compared to the range of marine mollusca, in uninterrupted seas; hence I +infer that Africa has existed since our present species were created. Even +the isthmus of Suez and the Aralo-Caspian basin have had a great antiquity. +So I imagine, from the tertiary deposits, has India. In Australia the +great fauna of extinct marsupials shows that before the present mammals +appeared, Australia was a separate continent. I do not for one second +doubt that very large portions of all these continents have undergone GREAT +changes of level within this period, but yet I conclude that fundamentally +they stood as barriers in the sea, where they now stand; and therefore I +should require the weightiest evidence to make me believe in such immense +changes within the period of living organisms in our oceans, where, +moreover, from the great depths, the changes must have been vaster in a +vertical sense. + +SECONDLY. + +Submerge our present continents, leaving a few mountain peaks as islands, +and what will the character of the islands be,--Consider that the Pyrenees, +Sierra Nevada, Apennines, Alps, Carpathians, are non-volcanic, Etna and +Caucasus, volcanic. In Asia, Altai and Himalaya, I believe non-volcanic. +In North Africa the non-volcanic, as I imagine, Alps of Abyssinia and of +the Atlas. In South Africa, the Snow Mountains. In Australia, the non- +volcanic Alps. In North America, the White Mountains, Alleghanies and +Rocky Mountains--some of the latter alone, I believe, volcanic. In South +America to the east, the non-volcanic [Silla?] of Caracas, and Itacolumi of +Brazil, further south the Sierra Ventanas, and in the Cordilleras, many +volcanic but not all. Now compare these peaks with the oceanic islands; as +far as known all are volcanic, except St. Paul's (a strange bedevilled +rock), and the Seychelles, if this latter can be called oceanic, in the +line of Madagascar; the Falklands, only 500 miles off, are only a shallow +bank; New Caledonia, hardly oceanic, is another exception. This argument +has to me great weight. Compare on a Geographical map, islands which, we +have SEVERAL reasons to suppose, were connected with mainland, as Sardinia, +and how different it appears. Believing, as I am inclined, that continents +as continents, and oceans as oceans, are of immense antiquity--I should say +that if any of the existing oceanic islands have any relation of any kind +to continents, they are forming continents; and that by the time they could +form a continent, the volcanoes would be denuded to their cores, leaving +peaks of syenite, diorite, or porphyry. But have we nowhere any last wreck +of a continent, in the midst of the ocean? St. Paul's Rock, and such old +battered volcanic islands, as St. Helena, may be; but I think we can see +some reason why we should have less evidence of sinking than of rising +continents (if my view in my Coral volume has any truth in it, viz.: that +volcanic outbursts accompany rising areas), for during subsidence there +will be no compensating agent at work, in rising areas there will be the +ADDITIONAL element of outpoured volcanic matter. + +THIRDLY. + +Considering the depth of the ocean, I was, before I got your letter, +inclined vehemently to dispute the vast amount of subsidence, but I must +strike my colours. With respect to coral reefs, I carefully guarded +against its being supposed that a continent was indicated by the groups of +atolls. It is difficult to guess, as it seems to me, the amount of +subsidence indicated by coral reefs; but in such large areas as the Lowe +Archipelago, the Marshall Archipelago, and Laccadive group, it would, +judging, from the heights of existing oceanic archipelagoes, be odd, if +some peaks of from 8000 to 10,000 feet had not been buried. Even after +your letter a suspicion crossed me whether it would be fair to argue from +subsidences in the middle of the greatest oceans to continents; but +refreshing my memory by talking with Ramsay in regard to the probable +thickness in one vertical line of the Silurian and carboniferous formation, +it seems there must have been AT LEAST 10,000 feet of subsidence during +these formations in Europe and North America, and therefore during the +continuance of nearly the same set of organic beings. But even 12,000 feet +would not be enough for the Azores, or for Hooker's continent; I believe +Hooker does not infer a continuous continent, but approximate groups of +islands, with, if we may judge from existing continents, not PROFOUNDLY +deep sea between them; but the argument from the volcanic nature of nearly +every existing oceanic island tell against such supposed groups of +islands,--for I presume he does not suppose a mere chain of volcanic +islands belting the southern hemisphere. + +FOURTHLY. + +The supposed continental extensions do not seem to me, perfectly to account +for all the phenomena of distribution on islands; as the absence of mammals +and Batrachians; the absence of certain great groups of insects on Madeira, +and of Acaciae and Banksias, etc., in New Zealand; the paucity of plants in +some cases, etc. Not that those who believe in various accidental means of +dispersal, can explain most of these cases; but they may at least say that +these facts seem hardly compatible with former continuous land. + +FINALLY. + +For these several reasons, and especially considering it certain (in which +you will agree) that we are extremely ignorant of means of dispersal, I +cannot avoid thinking that Forbes' 'Atlantis,' was an ill-service to +science, as checking a close study of means of dissemination. I shall be +really grateful to hear, as briefly as you like, whether these arguments +have any weight with you, putting yourself in the position of an honest +judge. I told Hooker that I was going to write to you on this subject; and +I should like him to read this; but whether he or you will think it worth +time and postage remains to be proved. + +Yours most truly, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[On July 8th he wrote to Sir Charles Lyell. + +"I am sorry you cannot give any verdict on Continental extensions; and I +infer that you think my argument of not much weight against such +extensions. I know I wish I could believe so."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, July 20th [1856]. + +...It is not a little egotistical, but I should like to tell you (and I do +not THINK I have) how I view my work. Nineteen years (!) ago it occurred +to me that whilst otherwise employed on Natural History, I might perhaps do +good if I noted any sort of facts bearing on the question of the origin of +species, and this I have since been doing. Either species have been +independently created, or they have descended from other species, like +varieties from one species. I think it can be shown to be probable that +man gets his most distinct varieties by preserving such as arise best worth +keeping and destroying the others, but I should fill a quire if I were to +go on. To be brief, I ASSUME that species arise like our domestic +varieties with MUCH extinction; and then test this hypothesis by comparison +with as many general and pretty well-established propositions as I can find +made out,--in geographical distribution, geological history, affinities, +etc., etc. And it seems to me that, SUPPOSING that such hypothesis were to +explain such general propositions, we ought, in accordance with the common +way of following all sciences, to admit it till some better hypothesis be +found out. For to my mind to say that species were created so and so is no +scientific explanation, only a reverent way of saying it is so and so. But +it is nonsensical trying to show how I try to proceed in the compass of a +note. But as an honest man, I must tell you that I have come to the +heterodox conclusion that there are no such things as independently created +species--that species are only strongly defined varieties. I know that +this will make you despise me. I do not much underrate the many HUGE +difficulties on this view, but yet it seems to me to explain too much, +otherwise inexplicable, to be false. Just to allude to one point in your +last note, viz., about species of the same genus GENERALLY having a common +or continuous area; if they are actual lineal descendants of one species, +this of course would be the case; and the sadly too many exceptions (for +me) have to be explained by climatal and geological changes. A fortiori on +this view (but on exactly same grounds), all the individuals of the same +species should have a continuous distribution. On this latter branch of +the subject I have put a chapter together, and Hooker kindly read it over. +I thought the exceptions and difficulties were so great that on the whole +the balance weighed against my notions, but I was much pleased to find that +it seemed to have considerable weight with Hooker, who said he had never +been so much staggered about the permanence of species. + +I must say one word more in justification (for I feel sure that your +tendency will be to despise me and my crotchets), that all my notions about +HOW species change are derived from long continued study of the works of +(and converse with) agriculturists and horticulturists; and I believe I see +my way pretty clearly on the means used by nature to change her species and +ADAPT them to the wondrous and exquisitely beautiful contingencies to which +every living being is exposed... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, July 30th 1856. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter is of MUCH value to me. I was not able to get a definite +answer from Lyell (On the continental extensions of Forbes and others.), as +you will see in the enclosed letters, though I inferred that he thought +nothing of my arguments. Had it not been for this correspondence, I should +have written sadly too strongly. You may rely on it I shall put my doubts +moderately. There never was such a predicament as mine: here you +continental extensionists would remove enormous difficulties opposed to me, +and yet I cannot honestly admit the doctrine, and must therefore say so. I +cannot get over the fact that not a fragment of secondary or palaeozoic +rock has been found on any island above 500 or 600 miles from a mainland. +You rather misunderstand me when you think I doubt the POSSIBILITY of +subsidence of 20,000 or 30,000 feet; it is only probability, considering +such evidence as we have independently of distribution. I have not yet +worked out in full detail the distribution of mammalia, both IDENTICAL and +allied, with respect to the ONE ELEMENT OF DEPTH OF THE SEA; but as far as +I have gone, the results are to me surprisingly accordant with my very most +troublesome belief in not such great geographical changes as you believe; +and in mammalia we certainly know more of MEANS of distribution than in any +other class. Nothing is so vexatious to me, as so constantly finding +myself drawing different conclusions from better judges than myself, from +the same facts. + +I fancy I have lately removed many (not geographical) great difficulties +opposed to my notions, but God knows it may be all hallucination. + +Please return Lyell's letters. + +What a capital letter of Lyell's that to you is, and what a wonderful man +he is. I differ from him greatly in thinking that those who believe that +species are NOT fixed will multiply specific names: I know in my own case +my most frequent source of doubt was whether others would not think this or +that was a God-created Barnacle, and surely deserved a name. Otherwise I +should only have thought whether the amount of difference and permanence +was sufficient to justify a name: I am, also, surprised at his thinking it +immaterial whether species are absolute or not: whenever it is proved that +all species are produced by generation, by laws of change, what good +evidence we shall have of the gaps in formations. And what a science +Natural History will be, when we are in our graves, when all the laws of +change are thought one of the most important parts of Natural History. + +I cannot conceive why Lyell thinks such notions as mine or of 'Vestiges,' +will invalidate specific centres. But I must not run on and take up your +time. My MS. will not, I fear, be copied before you go abroad. With +hearty thanks. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--After giving much condensed, my argument versus continental +extensions, I shall append some such sentence, as that two better judges +than myself have considered these arguments, and attach no weight to them. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, August 5th [1856]. + +...I quite agree about Lyell's letters to me, which, though to me +interesting, have afforded me no new light. Your letters, under the +GEOLOGICAL point of view, have been more valuable to me. You cannot +imagine how earnestly I wish I could swallow continental extension, but I +cannot; the more I think (and I cannot get the subject out of my head), the +more difficult I find it. If there were only some half-dozen cases, I +should not feel the least difficulty; but the generality of the facts of +all islands (except one or two) having a considerable part of their +productions in common with one or more mainlands utterly staggers me. What +a wonderful case of the Epacridae! It is most vexatious, also humiliating, +to me that I cannot follow and subscribe to the way in which you strikingly +put your view of the case. I look at your facts (about Eucalyptus, etc.) +as DAMNING against continental extension, and if you like also damning +against migration, or at least of ENORMOUS difficulty. I see the ground of +our difference (in a letter I must put myself on an equality in arguing) +lies, in my opinion, that scarcely anything is known of means of +distribution. I quite agree with A. De Candolle's (and I dare say your) +opinion that it is poor work putting together the merely POSSIBLE means of +distribution; but I see no other way in which the subject can be attacked, +for I think that A. De Candolle's argument, that no plants have been +introduced into England except by man's agency, [is] of no weight. I +cannot but think that the theory of continental extension does do some +little harm as stopping investigation of the means of dispersal, which, +whether NEGATIVE or positive, seems to me of value; when negatived, then +every one who believes in single centres will have to admit continental +extensions. + +...I see from your remarks that you do not understand my notions (whether +or no worth anything) about modification; I attribute very little to the +direct action of climate, etc. I suppose, in regard to specific centres, +we are at cross purposes; I should call the kitchen garden in which the red +cabbage was produced, or the farm in which Bakewell made the Shorthorn +cattle, the specific centre of these SPECIES! And surely this is +centralisation enough! + +I thank you most sincerely for all your assistance; and whether or no my +book may be wretched, you have done your best to make it less wretched. +Sometimes I am in very good spirits and sometimes very low about it. My +own mind is decided on the question of the origin of species; but, good +heavens, how little that is worth!... + +[With regard to "specific centres," a passage from a letter dated July 25, +1856, by Sir Charles Lyell to Sir J.D. Hooker ('Life' ii. page 216) is of +interest: + +"I fear much that if Darwin argues that species are phantoms, he will also +have to admit that single centres of dispersion are phantoms also, and that +would deprive me of much of the value which I ascribe to the present +provinces of animals and plants, as illustrating modern and tertiary +changes in physical geography." + +He seems to have recognised, however, that the phantom doctrine would soon +have to be faced, for he wrote in the same letter: "Whether Darwin +persuades you and me to renounce our faith in species (when geological +epochs are considered) or not, I foresee that many will go over to the +indefinite modifiability doctrine." + + +In the autumn my father was still working at geographical distribution, and +again sought the aid of Sir J.D. Hooker. + +A LETTER TO SIR J.D. HOOKER +[September, 1856]. + +"In the course of some weeks, you unfortunate wretch, you will have my MS. +on one point of Geographical Distribution. I will however, never ask such +a favour again; but in regard to this one piece of MS., it is of infinite +importance to me for you to see it; for never in my life have I felt such +difficulty what to do, and I heartily wish I could slur the whole subject +over." + +In a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker (June, 1856), the following characteristic +passage occurs, suggested, no doubt, by the kind of work which his chapter +on Geographical Distribution entailed: + +"There is wonderful ill logic in his [E. Forbes'] famous and admirable +memoir on distribution, as it appears to me, now that I have got it up so +as to give the heads in a page. Depend on it, my saying is a true one, +viz., that a compiler is a GREAT man, and an original man a commonplace +man. Any fool can generalise and speculate; but, oh, my heavens! To get +up AT SECOND HAND a New Zealand Flora, that is work." + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +October 3 [1856]. + +...I remember you protested against Lyell's advice of writing a SKETCH of +my species doctrines. Well, when I began I found it such unsatisfactory +work that I have desisted, and am now drawing up my work as perfect as my +materials of nineteen years' collecting suffice, but do not intend to stop +to perfect any line of investigation beyond current work. Thus far and no +farther I shall follow Lyell's urgent advice. Your remarks weighed with me +considerably. I find to my sorrow it will run to quite a big book. I have +found my careful work at pigeons really invaluable, as enlightening me on +many points on variation under domestication. The copious old literature, +by which I can trace the gradual changes in the breeds of pigeons has been +extraordinarily useful to me. I have just had pigeons and fowls ALIVE from +the Gambia! Rabbits and ducks I am attending to pretty carefully, but less +so than pigeons. I find most remarkable differences in the skeletons of +rabbits. Have you ever kept any odd breeds of rabbits, and can you give me +any details? One other question: You used to keep hawks; do you at all +know, after eating a bird, how soon after they throw up the pellet? + +No subject gives me so much trouble and doubt and difficulty as the means +of dispersal of the same species of terrestrial productions on the oceanic +islands. Land mollusca drive me mad, and I cannot anyhow get their eggs to +experimentise their power of floating and resistance to the injurious +action of salt water. I will not apologise for writing so much about my +own doings, as I believe you will like to hear. Do sometime, I beg you, +let me hear how you get on in health; and IF SO INCLINED, let me have some +words on call-ducks. + +My dear Fox, yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[With regard to his book he wrote (November 10th) to Sir Charles Lyell: + +"I am working very steadily at my big book; I have found it quite +impossible to publish any preliminary essay or sketch; but am doing my work +as completely as my present materials allow without waiting to perfect +them. And this much acceleration I owe to you."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Sunday [October 1856]. + +My dear Hooker, + +The seeds are come all safe, many thanks for them. I was very sorry to run +away so soon and miss any part of my MOST pleasant evening; and I ran away +like a Goth and Vandal without wishing Mrs. Hooker good-bye; but I was only +just in time, as I got on the platform the train had arrived. + +I was particularly glad of our discussion after dinner, fighting a battle +with you always clears my mind wonderfully. I groan to hear that A. Gray +agrees with you about the condition of Botanical Geography. All I know is +that if you had had to search for light in Zoological Geography you would +by contrast, respect your own subject a vast deal more than you now do. +The hawks have behaved like gentlemen, and have cast up pellets with lots +of seeds in them; and I have just had a parcel of partridge's feet well +caked with mud!!! (The mud in such cases often contains seeds, so that +plants are thus transported.) Adios. + +Your insane and perverse friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 4th [1856]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I thank you more CORDIALLY than you will think probable, for your note. +Your verdict (On the MS. relating to geographical distribution.) has been a +great relief. On my honour I had no idea whether or not you would say it +was (and I knew you would say it very kindly) so bad, that you would have +begged me to have burnt the whole. To my own mind my MS. relieved me of +some few difficulties, and the difficulties seemed to me pretty fairly +stated, but I had become so bewildered with conflicting facts, evidence, +reasoning and opinions, that I felt to myself that I had lost all judgment. +Your general verdict is INCOMPARABLY more favourable than I had +anticipated... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 23rd [1856]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I fear I shall weary you with letters, but do not answer this, for in truth +and without flattery, I so value your letters, that after a heavy batch, as +of late, I feel that I have been extravagant and have drawn too much money, +and shall therefore have to stint myself on another occasion. + +When I sent my MS. I felt strongly that some preliminary questions on the +causes of variation ought to have been sent you. Whether I am right or +wrong in these points is quite a separate question, but the conclusion +which I have come to, quite independently of geographical distribution, is +that external conditions (to which naturalists so often appeal) do by +themselves VERY LITTLE. How much they do is the point of all others on +which I feel myself very weak. I judge from the facts of variation under +domestication, and I may yet get more light. But at present, after drawing +up a rough copy on this subject, my conclusion is that external conditions +do EXTREMELY little, except in causing mere variability. This mere +variability (causing the child NOT closely to resemble its parent) I look +at as VERY different from the formation of a marked variety or new species. +(No doubt the variability is governed by laws, some of which I am +endeavouring very obscurely to trace.) The formation of a strong variety +or species I look a as almost wholly due to the selection of what may be +incorrectly called CHANCE variations or variability. This power of +selection stands in the most direct relation to time, and in the state of +nature can be only excessively slow. Again, the slight differences +selected, by which a race or species is at last formed, stands, as I think +can be shown (even with plants, and obviously with animals), in a far more +important relation to its associates than to external conditions. +Therefore, according to my principles, whether right or wrong, I cannot +agree with your proposition that time, and altered conditions, and altered +associates, are 'convertible terms.' I look at the first and the last as +FAR more important: time being important only so far as giving scope to +selection. God knows whether you will perceive at what I am driving. I +shall have to discuss and think more about your difficulty of the temperate +and sub-arctic forms in the S. hemisphere than I have yet done. But I am +inclined to think that I am right (if my general principles are right), +that there would be little tendency to the formation of a new species, +during the period of migration, whether shorter or longer, though +considerable variability may have supervened... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +December 24th [1856]. + +...How I do wish I lived near you to discuss matters with. I have just +been comparing definitions of species, and stating briefly how systematic +naturalists work out their subjects. Aquilegia in the Flora Indica was a +capital example for me. It is really laughable to see what different ideas +are prominent in various naturalists' minds, when they speak of "species;" +in some, resemblance is everything and descent of little weight--in some, +resemblance seems to go for nothing, and Creation the reigning idea--in +some, descent is the key,--in some, sterility an unfailing test, with +others it is not worth a farthing. It all comes, I believe, from trying to +define the undefinable. I suppose you have lost the odd black seed from +the birds' dung, which germinated,--anyhow, it is not worth taking trouble +over. I have now got about a dozen seeds out of small birds' dung. Adios, + +My dear Hooker, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, January 1st [1857?]. + +My dear Dr Gray, + +I have received the second part of your paper ('Statistics of the Flora of +the Northern United States.' "Silliman's Journal", 1857.), and though I +have nothing particular to say, I must send you my thanks and hearty +admiration. The whole paper strikes me as quite exhausting the subject, +and I quite fancy and flatter myself I now appreciate the character of your +Flora. What a difference in regard to Europe your remark in relation to +the genera makes! I have been eminently glad to see your conclusion in +regard to the species of large genera widely ranging; it is in strict +conformity with the results I have worked out in several ways. It is of +great importance to my notions. By the way you have paid me a GREAT +compliment ("From some investigations of his own, this sagacious naturalist +inclines to think that [the species of] large genera range over a larger +area than the species of small genera do."--Asa Gray, loc. cit.): to be +SIMPLY mentioned even in such a paper I consider a very great honour. One +of your conclusions makes me groan, viz., that the line of connection of +the strictly alpine plants is through Greenland. I should EXTREMELY like +to see your reasons published in detail, for it "riles" me (this is a +proper expression, is it not?) dreadfully. Lyell told me, that Agassiz +having a theory about when Saurians were first created, on hearing some +careful observations opposed to this, said he did not believe it, "for +Nature never lied." I am just in this predicament, and repeat to you that, +"Nature never lies," ergo, theorisers are always right... + +Overworked as you are, I dare say you will say that I am an odious plague; +but here is another suggestion! I was led by one of my wild speculations +to conclude (though it has nothing to do with geographical distribution, +yet it has with your statistics) that trees would have a strong tendency to +have flowers with dioecious, monoecious or polygamous structure. Seeing +that this seemed so in Persoon, I took one little British Flora, and +discriminating trees from bushes according to Loudon, I have found that the +result was in species, genera and families, as I anticipated. So I sent my +notions to Hooker to ask him to tabulate the New Zealand Flora for this +end, and he thought my result sufficiently curious, to do so; and the +accordance with Britain is very striking, and the more so, as he made three +classes of trees, bushes, and herbaceous plants. (He says further he shall +work the Tasmanian Flora on the same principle.) The bushes hold an +intermediate position between the other two classes. It seems to me a +curious relation in itself, and is very much so, if my theory and +explanation are correct. (See 'Origin,' Edition i., page 100.) + +With hearty thanks, your most troublesome friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, April 12th [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter has pleased me much, for I never can get it out of my head, +that I take unfair advantage of your kindness, as I receive all and give +nothing. What a splendid discussion you could write on the whole subject +of variation! The cases discussed in your last note are valuable to me +(though odious and damnable), as showing how profoundly ignorant we are on +the causes of variation. I shall just allude to these cases, as a sort of +sub-division of polymorphism a little more definite, I fancy, than the +variation of, for instance, the Rubi, and equally or more perplexing. + +I have just been putting my notes together on variations APPARENTLY due to +the immediate and direct action of external causes; and I have been struck +with one result. The most firm sticklers for independent creation admit, +that the fur of the SAME species is thinner towards the south of the range +of the same species than to the north--that the SAME shells are brighter- +coloured to the south than north; that the same [shell] is paler-coloured +in deep water--that insects are smaller and darker on mountains--more livid +and testaceous near sea--that plants are smaller and more hairy and with +brighter flowers on mountains: now in all such, and other cases, distinct +species in the two zones follow the same rule, which seems to me to be most +simply explained by species, being only strongly marked varieties, and +therefore following the same laws as recognised and admitted varieties. I +mention all this on account of the variation of plants in ascending +mountains; I have quoted the foregoing remark only generally with no +examples, for I add, there is so much doubt and dispute what to call +varieties; but yet I have stumbled on so many casual remarks on VARIETIES +of plants on mountains being so characterised, that I presume there is some +truth in it. What think you? Do you believe there is ANY tendency in +VARIETIES, as GENERALLY so-called, of plants to become more hairy and with +proportionally larger and brighter-coloured flowers in ascending a +mountain? + +I have been interested in my "weed garden," of 3 x 2 feet square: I mark +each seedling as it appears, and I am astonished at the number that come +up, and still more at the number killed by slugs, etc. Already 59 have +been so killed; I expected a good many, but I had fancied that this was a +less potent check than it seems to be, and I attributed almost exclusively +to mere choking, the destruction of the seedlings. Grass-seedlings seem to +suffer much less than exogens... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Moor Park, Farnham [April (?) 1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter has been forwarded to me here, where I am undergoing hydropathy +for a fortnight, having been here a week, and having already received an +amount of good which is quite incredible to myself and quite unaccountable. +I can walk and eat like a hearty Christian, and even my nights are good. I +cannot in the least understand how hydropathy can act as it certainly does +on me. It dulls one's brain splendidly; I have not thought about a single +species of any kind since leaving home. Your note has taken me aback; I +thought the hairiness, etc., of Alpine SPECIES was generally admitted; I am +sure I have seen it alluded to a score of times. Falconer was haranguing +on it the other day to me. Meyen or Gay, or some such fellow (whom you +would despise), I remember, makes some remark on Chilian Cordillera plants. +Wimmer has written a little book on the same lines, and on VARIETIES being +so characterised in the Alps. But after writing to you, I confess I was +staggered by finding one man (Moquin-Tandon, I think) saying that Alpine +flowers are strongly inclined to be white, and Linnaeus saying that cold +makes plants APETALOUS, even the same species! Are Arctic plants often +apetalous? My general belief from my compiling work is quite to agree with +what you say about the little direct influence of climate; and I have just +alluded to the hairiness of Alpine plants as an EXCEPTION. The +odoriferousness would be a good case for me if I knew of VARIETIES being +more odoriferous in dry habitats. + +I fear that I have looked at the hairiness of Alpine plants as so generally +acknowledged that I have not marked passages, so as at all to see what kind +of evidence authors advance. I must confess, the other day, when I asked +Falconer, whether he knew of INDIVIDUAL plants losing or acquiring +hairiness when transported, he did not. But now THIS SECOND, my memory +flashes on me, and I am certain I have somewhere got marked a case of hairy +plants from the Pyrenees losing hairs when cultivated at Montpellier. +Shall you think me very impudent if I tell you that I have sometimes +thought that (quite independently of the present case), you are a little +too hard on bad observers; that a remark made by a bad observer CANNOT be +right; an observer who deserves to be damned you would utterly damn. I +feel entire deference to any remark you make out of your own head; but when +in opposition to some poor devil, I somehow involuntarily feel not quite so +much, but yet much deference for your opinion. I do not know in the least +whether there is any truth in this my criticism against you, but I have +often thought I would tell you it. + +I am really very much obliged for your letter, for, though I intended to +put only one sentence and that vaguely, I should probably have put that +much too strongly. + +Ever, my dear Hooker, yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. This note, as you see, has not anything requiring an answer. + +The distribution of fresh-water molluscs has been a horrid incubus to me, +but I think I know my way now; when first hatched they are very active, and +I have had thirty or forty crawl on a dead duck's foot; and they cannot be +jerked off, and will live fifteen and even twenty-four hours out of water. + + +[The following letter refers to the expedition of the Austrian frigate +"Novara"; Lyell had asked my father for suggestions.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, February 11th [1857]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I was glad to see in the newspapers about the Austrian Expedition. I have +nothing to add geologically to my notes in the Manual. (The article +"Geology" in the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry.) I do not know +whether the Expedition is tied down to call at only fixed spots. But if +there be any choice or power in the scientific men to influence the places +--this would be most desirable. It is my most deliberate conviction that +nothing would aid more, Natural History, than careful collecting and +investigating ALL THE PRODUCTIONS of the most isolated islands, especially +of the southern hemisphere. Except Tristan d'Acunha and Kerguelen Land, +they are very imperfectly known; and even at Kerguelen Land, how much there +is to make out about the lignite beds, and whether there are signs of old +Glacial action. Every sea shell and insect and plant is of value from such +spots. Some one in the Expedition especially ought to have Hooker's New +Zealand Essay. What grand work to explore Rodriguez, with its fossil +birds, and little known productions of every kind. Again the Seychelles, +which, with the Cocos so near, must be a remnant of some older land. The +outer island of Juan Fernandez is little known. The investigation of these +little spots by a band of naturalists would be grand; St. Paul's and +Amsterdam would be glorious, botanically, and geologically. Can you not +recommend them to get my 'Journal' and 'Volcanic Islands' on account of the +Galapagos. If they come from the north it will be a shame and a sin if +they do not call at Cocos Islet, one of the Galapagos. I always regretted +that I was not able to examine the great craters on Albemarle Island, one +of the Galapagos. In New Zealand urge on them to look out for erratic +boulders and marks of old glaciers. + +Urge the use of the dredge in the Tropics; how little or nothing we know of +the limit of life downward in the hot seas? + +My present work leads me to perceive how much the domestic animals have +been neglected in out of the way countries. + +The Revillagigedo Island off Mexico, I believe, has never been trodden by +foot of naturalist. + +If the expedition sticks to such places as Rio, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon +and Australia, etc., it will not do much. + +Ever yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The following passage occurs in a letter to Mr. Fox, February 22, 1857, +and has reference to the book on Evolution on which he was still at work. +The remainder of the letter is made up in details of no interest: + +"I am got most deeply interested in my subject; though I wish I could set +less value on the bauble fame, either present or posthumous, than I do, but +not I think, to any extreme degree: yet, if I know myself, I would work +just as hard, though with less gusto, if I knew that my book would be +published for ever anonymously."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Moor Park, May 1st, 1857. + +My dear Sir, + +I am much obliged for your letter of October 10th, from Celebes, received a +few days ago; in a laborious undertaking, sympathy is a valuable and real +encouragement. By your letter and even still more by your paper ('On the +law that has regulated the introduction of new species.'--Ann. Nat. Hist., +1855.) in the Annals, a year or more ago, I can plainly see that we have +thought much alike and to a certain extent have come to similar +conclusions. In regard to the Paper in the Annals, I agree to the truth of +almost every word of your paper; and I dare say that you will agree with me +that it is very rare to find oneself agreeing pretty closely with any +theoretical paper; for it is lamentable how each man draws his own +different conclusions from the very same facts. This summer will make the +20th year (!) since I opened my first note-book, on the question how and in +what way do species and varieties differ from each other. I am now +preparing my work for publication, but I find the subject so very large, +that though I have written many chapters, I do not suppose I shall go to +press for two years. I have never heard how long you intend staying in the +Malay Archipelago; I wish I might profit by the publication of your Travels +there before my work appears, for no doubt you will reap a large harvest of +facts. I have acted already in accordance with your advice of keeping +domestic varieties, and those appearing in a state of nature, distinct; but +I have sometimes doubted of the wisdom of this, and therefore I am glad to +be backed by your opinion. I must confess, however, I rather doubt the +truth of the now very prevalent doctrine of all our domestic animals having +descended from several wild stocks; though I do not doubt that it is so in +some cases. I think there is rather better evidence on the sterility of +hybrid animals than you seem to admit: and in regard to plants the +collection of carefully recorded facts by Kolreuter and Gaertner (and +Herbert,) is ENORMOUS. I most entirely agree with you on the little +effects of "climatal conditions," which one sees referred to ad nauseam in +all books: I suppose some very little effect must be attributed to such +influences, but I fully believe that they are very slight. It is really +IMPOSSIBLE to explain my views (in the compass of a letter), on the causes +and means of variation in a state of nature; but I have slowly adopted a +distinct and tangible idea,--whether true or false others must judge; for +the firmest conviction of the truth of a doctrine by its author, seems, +alas, not to be the slightest guarantee of truth!... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Moor Park, Saturday [May 2nd, 1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +You have shaved the hair off the Alpine plants pretty effectually. The +case of the Anthyllis will make a "tie" with the believed case of Pyrenees +plants becoming glabrous at low levels. If I DO find that I have marked +such facts, I will lay the evidence before you. I wonder how the belief +could have originated! Was it through final causes to keep the plants +warm? Falconer in talk coupled the two facts of woolly Alpine plants and +mammals. How candidly and meekly you took my Jeremiad on your severity to +second-class men. After I had sent it off, an ugly little voice asked me, +once or twice, how much of my noble defence of the poor in spirit and in +fact, was owing to your having not seldom smashed favourite notions of my +own. I silenced the ugly little voice with contempt, but it would whisper +again and again. I sometimes despise myself as a poor compiler as heartily +as you could do, though I do NOT despise my whole work, as I think there is +enough known to lay a foundation for the discussion on the origin of +species. I have been led to despise and laugh at myself as a compiler, for +having put down that "Alpine plants have large flowers," and now perhaps I +may write over these very words, "Alpine plants have small or apetalous +flowers!"... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [May] 16th [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +You said--I hope honestly--that you did not dislike my asking questions on +general points, you of course answering or not as time or inclination might +serve. I find in the animal kingdom that the proposition that any part or +organ developed normally (i.e., not a monstrosity) in a species in any HIGH +or UNUSUAL degree, compared with the same part or organ in allied species, +tends to be HIGHLY VARIABLE. I cannot doubt this from my mass of collected +facts. To give an instance, the Cross-bill is very abnormal in the +structure of its bill compared with other allied Fringillidae, and the beak +is EMINENTLY VARIABLE. The Himantopus, remarkable from the wonderful +length of its legs, is VERY variable in the length of its legs. I could +give MANY most striking and curious illustrations in all classes; so many +that I think it cannot be chance. But I have NONE in the vegetable +kingdom, owing, as I believe, to my ignorance. If Nepenthes consisted of +ONE or two species in a group with a pitcher developed, then I should have +expected it to have been very variable; but I do not consider Nepenthes a +case in point, for when a whole genus or group has an organ, however +anomalous, I do not expect it to be variable,--it is only when one or few +species differ greatly in some one part or organ from the forms CLOSELY +ALLIED to it in all other respects, that I believe such part or organ to be +highly variable. Will you turn this in your mind? It is an important +apparent LAW (!) for me. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I do not know how far you will care to hear, but I find Moquin-Tandon +treats in his 'Teratologie' on villosity of plants, and seems to attribute +more to dryness than altitude; but seems to think that it must be admitted +that mountain plants are villose, and that this villosity is only in part +explained by De Candolle's remark that the dwarfed condition of mountain +plants would condense the hairs, and so give them the APPEARANCE of being +more hairy. He quotes Senebier, 'Physiologie Vegetale,' as authority--I +suppose the first authority, for mountain plants being hairy. + +If I could show positively that the endemic species were more hairy in dry +districts, then the case of the varieties becoming more hairy in dry ground +would be a fact for me. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, June 3rd [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am going to enjoy myself by having a prose on my own subjects to you, and +this is a greater enjoyment to me than you will readily understand, as I +for months together do not open my mouth on Natural History. Your letter +is of great value to me, and staggers me in regard to my proposition. I +dare say the absence of botanical facts may in part be accounted for by the +difficulty of measuring slight variations. Indeed, after writing, this +occurred to me; for I have Crucianella stylosa coming into flower, and the +pistil ought to be very variable in length, and thinking of this I at once +felt how could one judge whether it was variable in any high degree. How +different, for instance, from the beak of a bird! But I am not satisfied +with this explanation, and am staggered. Yet I think there is something in +the law; I have had so many instances, as the following: I wrote to +Wollaston to ask him to run through the Madeira Beetles and tell me whether +any one presented anything very anomalous in relation to its allies. He +gave me a unique case of an enormous head in a female, and then I found in +his book, already stated, that the size of the head was ASTONISHINGLY +variable. Part of the difference with plants may be accounted for by many +of my cases being secondary male or FEMALE characters, but then I have +striking cases with hermaphrodite Cirripedes. The cases seem to me far too +numerous for accidental coincidences, of great variability and abnormal +development. I presume that you will not object to my putting a note +saying that you had reflected over the case, and though one or two cases +seemed to support, quite as many or more seemed wholly contradictory. This +want of evidence is the more surprising to me, as generally I find any +proposition more easily tested by observations in botanical works, which I +have picked up, than in zoological works. I never dreamed that you had +kept the subject at all before your mind. Altogether the case is one more +of my MANY horrid puzzles. My observations, though on so infinitely a +small scale, on the struggle for existence, begin to make me see a little +clearer how the fight goes on. Out of sixteen kinds of seed sown on my +meadow, fifteen have germinated, but now they are perishing at such a rate +that I doubt whether more than one will flower. Here we have choking which +has taken place likewise on a great scale, with plants not seedlings, in a +bit of my lawn allowed to grow up. On the other hand, in a bit of ground, +2 by 3 feet, I have daily marked each seedling weed as it has appeared +during March, April and May, and 357 have come up, and of these 277 have +ALREADY been killed chiefly by slugs. By the way, at Moor Park, I saw +rather a pretty case of the effects of animals on vegetation: there are +enormous commons with clumps of old Scotch firs on the hills, and about +eight or ten years ago some of these commons were enclosed, and all round +the clumps nice young trees are springing up by the million, looking +exactly as if planted, so many are of the same age. In other parts of the +common, not yet enclosed, I looked for miles and not ONE young tree could +be seen. I then went near (within quarter of a mile of the clumps) and +looked closely in the heather, and there I found tens of thousands of young +Scotch firs (thirty in one square yard) with their tops nibbled off by the +few cattle which occasionally roam over these wretched heaths. One little +tree, three inches high, by the rings appeared to be twenty-six years old, +with a short stem about as thick as a stick of sealing-wax. What a +wondrous problem it is, what a play of forces, determining the kind and +proportion of each plant in a square yard of turf! It is to my mind truly +wonderful. And yet we are pleased to wonder when some animal or plant +becomes extinct. + +I am so sorry that you will not be at the Club. I see Mrs. Hooker is going +to Yarmouth; I trust that the health of your children is not the motive. +Good-bye. + +My dear Hooker, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I believe you are afraid to send me a ripe Edwardsia pod, for fear I +should float it from New Zealand to Chile!!! + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, June 5 [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I honour your conscientious care about the medals. (The Royal Society's +medals.) Thank God! I am only an amateur (but a much interested one) on +the subject. + +It is an old notion of mine that more good is done by giving medals to +younger men in the early part of their career, than as a mere reward to men +whose scientific career is nearly finished. Whether medals ever do any +good is a question which does not concern us, as there the medals are. I +am almost inclined to think that I would rather lower the standard, and +give medals to young workers than to old ones with no ESPECIAL claims. +With regard to especial claims, I think it just deserving your attention, +that if general claims are once admitted, it opens the door to great laxity +in giving them. Think of the case of a very rich man, who aided SOLELY +with his money, but to a grand extent--or such an inconceivable prodigy as +a minister of the Crown who really cared for science. Would you give such +men medals? Perhaps medals could not be better applied than EXCLUSIVELY to +such men. I confess at present I incline to stick to especial claims which +can be put down on paper... + +I am much confounded by your showing that there are not obvious instances +of my (or rather Waterhouse's) law of abnormal developments being highly +variable. I have been thinking more of your remark about the difficulty of +judging or comparing variability in plants from the great general +variability of parts. I should look at the law as more completely smashed +if you would turn in your mind for a little while for cases of great +variability of an organ, and tell me whether it is moderately easy to pick +out such cases; For IF THEY CAN BE PICKED OUT, and, notwithstanding, do not +coincide with great or abnormal development, it would be a complete +smasher. It is only beginning in your mind at the variability end of the +question instead of at the abnormality end. PERHAPS cases in which a part +is highly variable in all the species of a group should be excluded, as +possibly being something distinct, and connected with the perplexing +subject of polymorphism. Will you perfect your assistance by further +considering, for a little, the subject this way? + +I have been so much interested this morning in comparing all my notes on +the variation of the several species of the genus Equus and the results of +their crossing. Taking most strictly analogous facts amongst the blessed +pigeons for my guide, I believe I can plainly see the colouring and marks +of the grandfather of the Ass, Horse, Quagga, Hemionus and Zebra, some +millions of generations ago! Should not I [have] sneer[ed] at any one who +made such a remark to me a few years ago; but my evidence seems to me so +good that I shall publish my vision at the end of my little discussion on +this genus. + +I have of late inundated you with my notions, you best of friends and +philosophers. + +Adios, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Moor Park, Farnham, June 25th [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +This requires no answer, but I will ask you whenever we meet. Look at +enclosed seedling gorses, especially one with the top knocked off. The +leaves succeeding the cotyledons being almost clover-like in shape, seems +to me feebly analogous to embryonic resemblances in young animals, as, for +instance, the young lion being striped. I shall ask you whether this is +so...(See 'Power of Movement in Plants,' page 414.) + +Dr. Lane (The physician at Moor Park.) and wife, and mother-in-law, Lady +Drysdale, are some of the nicest people I ever met. + +I return home on the 30th. Good-bye, my dear Hooker. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[Here follows a group of letters, of various dates, bearing on the question +of large genera varying.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +March 11th [1858]. + +I was led to all this work by a remark of Fries, that the species in large +genera were more closely related to each other than in small genera; and if +this were so, seeing that varieties and species are so hardly +distinguishable, I concluded that I should find more varieties in the large +genera than in the small...Some day I hope you will read my short +discussion on the whole subject. You have done me infinite service, +whatever opinion I come to, in drawing my attention to at least the +possibility or the probability of botanists recording more varieties in the +large than in the small genera. It will be hard work for me to be candid +in coming to my conclusion. + +Ever yours, most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I shall be several weeks at my present job. The work has been +turning out badly for me this morning, and I am sick at heart; and, oh! how +I do hate species and varieties. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +July 14th [1857?]. + +...I write now to supplicate most earnestly a favour, viz., the loan of +"Boreau, Flore du centre de la France", either 1st or 2nd edition, last +best; also "Flora Ratisbonensis," by Dr. Furnrohr, in 'Naturhist. +Topographie von Regensburg, 1839.' If you can POSSIBLY spare them, will +you send them at once to the enclosed address. If you have not them, will +you send one line by return of post: as I must try whether Kippist (The +late Mr. Kippist was at this time in charge of the Linnean Society's +Library.) can anyhow find them, which I fear will be nearly impossible in +the Linnean Library, in which I know they are. + +I have been making some calculations about varieties, etc., and talking +yesterday with Lubbock, he has pointed out to me the grossest blunder which +I have made in principle, and which entails two or three weeks' lost work; +and I am at a dead-lock till I have these books to go over again, and see +what the result of calculation on the right principle is. I am the most +miserable, bemuddled, stupid dog in all England, and am ready to cry with +vexation at my blindness and presumption. + +Ever yours, most miserably, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Down, [July] 14th [1857]. + +My dear Lubbock, + +You have done me the greatest possible service in helping me to clarify my +brains. If I am as muzzy on all subjects as I am on proportion and +chance,--what a book I shall produce! + +I have divided the New Zealand Flora as you suggested, there are 329 +species in genera of 4 and upwards, and 323 in genera of 3 and less. + +The 339 species have 51 species presenting one or more varieties. The 323 +species have only 37. Proportionately (339 : 323 :: 51 : 48.5) they ought +to have had 48 1/2 species presenting vars. So that the case goes as I +want it, but not strong enough, without it be general, for me to have much +confidence in. I am quite convinced yours is the right way; I had thought +of it, but should never have done it had it not been for my most fortunate +conversation with you. + +Un quite shocked to find how easily I am muddled, for I had before thought +over the subject much, and concluded my way was fair. It is dreadfully +erroneous. + +What a disgraceful blunder you have saved me from. I heartily thank you. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--It is enough to make me tear up all my MS. and give up in despair. + +It will take me several weeks to go over all my materials. But oh, if you +knew how thankful I am to you! + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, August [1857]. + +My dear Hooker, + +It is a horrid bore you cannot come soon, and I reproach myself that I did +not write sooner. How busy you must be! with such a heap of botanists at +Kew. Only think, I have just had a letter from Henslow, saying he will +come here between 11th and 15th! Is not that grand? Many thanks about +Furnrohr. I must humbly supplicate Kippist to search for it: he most +kindly got Boreau for me. + +I am got extremely interested in tabulating, according to mere size of +genera, the species having any varieties marked by Greek letters or +otherwise: the result (as far as I have yet gone) seems to me one of the +most important arguments I have yet met with, that varieties are only small +species--or species only strongly marked varieties. The subject is in many +ways so very important for me; I wish much you would think of any well- +worked Floras with from 1000-2000 species, with the varieties marked. It +is good to have hair-splitters and lumpers. (Those who make many species +are the "splitters," and those who make few are the "lumpers.") I have +done, or am doing:-- + +Babington....................... +Henslow......................... British Flora. +London Catalogue. H.C. Watson... + +Boreau.......................... France. + +Miquel.......................... Holland. + +Asa Gray........................ N.U. States. + +Hooker.......................... New Zealand. + Fragment of Indian Flora. + +Wollaston....................... Madeira insects. + +Has not Koch published a good German Flora? Does he mark varieties? Could +you send it me? Is there not some grand Russian Flora, which perhaps has +varieties marked? The Floras ought to be well known. + +I am in no hurry for a few weeks. Will you turn this in your head when, if +ever, you have leisure? The subject is very important for my work, though +I clearly see MANY causes of error... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, February 21st [1859]. + +My dear Gray, + +My last letter begged no favour, this one does: but it will really cost +you very little trouble to answer to me, and it will be of very GREAT +service to me, owing to a remark made to me by Hooker, which I cannot +credit, and which was suggested to him by one of my letters. He suggested +my asking you, and I told him I would not give the least hint what he +thought. I generally believe Hooker implicitly, but he is sometimes, I +think, and he confesses it, rather over critical, and his ingenuity in +discovering flaws seems to me admirable. Here is my question:--"Do you +think that good botanists in drawing up a local Flora, whether small or +large, or in making a Prodromus like De Candolle's, would almost +universally, but unintentionally and unconsciously, tend to record (i.e., +marking with Greek letters and giving short characters) varieties in the +large or in the small genera? Or would the tendency be to record the +varieties about equally in genera of all sizes? Are you yourself conscious +on reflection that you have attended to, and recorded more carefully the +varieties in large or small, or very small genera?" + +I know what fleeting and trifling things varieties very often are; but my +query applies to such as have been thought worth marking and recording. If +you could screw time to send me ever so brief an answer to this, pretty +soon, it would be a great service to me. + +Yours most truly obliged, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Do you know whether any one has ever published any remarks on the +geographical range of varieties of plants in comparison with the species to +which they are supposed to belong? I have in vain tried to get some vague +idea, and with the exception of a little information on this head given me +by Mr. Watson in a paper on Land Shells in United States, I have quite +failed; but perhaps it would be difficult for you to give me even a brief +answer on this head, and if so I am not so unreasonable, I ASSURE YOU, as +to expect it. + +If you are writing to England soon, you could enclose other letters [for] +me to forward. + +Please observe the question is not whether there are more or fewer +varieties in larger or smaller genera, but whether there is a stronger or +weaker tendency in the minds of botanists to RECORD such in large or small +genera. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 6th [1858]. + +...I send by this post my MS. on the "commonness," "range," and "variation" +of species in large and small genera. You have undertaken a horrid job in +so very kindly offering to read it, and I thank you warmly. I have just +corrected the copy, and am disappointed in finding how tough and obscure it +is; I cannot make it clearer, and at present I loathe the very sight of it. +The style of course requires further correction, and if published I must +try, but as yet see not how, to make it clearer. + +If you have much to say and can have patience to consider the whole +subject, I would meet you in London on the Phil. Club day, so as to save +you the trouble of writing. For Heaven's sake, you stern and awful judge +and sceptic, remember that my conclusions may be true, notwithstanding that +Botanists may have recorded more varieties in large than in small genera. +It seems to me a mere balancing of probabilities. Again I thank you most +sincerely, but I fear you will find it a horrid job. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--As usual, Hydropathy has made a man of me for a short time: I hope +the sea will do Mrs. Hooker much good. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, December 22nd, 1857. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you for your letter of September 27th. I am extremely glad to hear +how you are attending to distribution in accordance with theoretical ideas. +I am a firm believer that without speculation there is no good and original +observation. Few travellers have attended to such points as you are now at +work on; and, indeed, the whole subject of distribution of animals is +dreadfully behind that of plants. You say that you have been somewhat +surprised at no notice having been taken of your paper in the Annals. ('On +the law that has regulated the introduction of New Species.' Ann. Nat. +Hist., 1855.) I cannot say that I am, for so very few naturalists care for +anything beyond the mere description of species. But you must not suppose +that your paper has not been attended to: two very good men, Sir C. Lyell, +and Mr. E. Blyth at Calcutta, specially called my attention to it. Though +agreeing with you on your conclusions in that paper, I believe I go much +further than you; but it is too long a subject to enter on my speculative +notions. I have not yet seen your paper on the distribution of animals in +the Aru Islands. I shall read it with the utmost interest; for I think +that the most interesting quarter of the whole globe in respect to +distribution, and I have long been very imperfectly trying to collect data +for the Malay Archipelago. I shall be quite prepared to subscribe to your +doctrine of subsidence; indeed, from the quite independent evidence of the +Coral Reefs I coloured my original map (in my Coral volume) of the Aru +Islands as one of subsidence, but got frightened and left it uncoloured. +But I can see that you are inclined to go much further than I am in regard +to the former connection of oceanic islands with continents. Ever since +poor E. Forbes propounded this doctrine it has been eagerly followed; and +Hooker elaborately discusses the former connection of all the Antarctic +Islands and New Zealand and South America. About a year ago I discussed +this subject much with Lyell and Hooker (for I shall have to treat of it), +and wrote out my arguments in opposition; but you will be glad to hear that +neither Lyell nor Hooker thought much of my arguments. Nevertheless, for +once in my life, I dare withstand the almost preternatural sagacity of +Lyell. + +You ask about land-shells on islands far distant from continents: Madeira +has a few identical with those of Europe, and here the evidence is really +good, as some of them are sub-fossil. In the Pacific Islands there are +cases of identity, which I cannot at present persuade myself to account for +by introduction through man's agency; although Dr. Aug. Gould has +conclusively shown that many land-shells have thus been distributed over +the Pacific by man's agency. These cases of introduction are most +plaguing. Have you not found it so in the Malay Archipelago? It has +seemed to me in the lists of mammals of Timor and other islands, that +SEVERAL in all probability have been naturalised... + +You ask whether I shall discuss "man." I think I shall avoid the whole +subject, as so surrounded with prejudices; though I fully admit that it is +the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist. My work, on +which I have now been at work more or less for twenty years, will not fix +or settle anything; but I hope it will aid by giving a large collection of +facts, with one definite end. I get on very slowly, partly from ill- +health, partly from being a very slow worker. I have got about half +written; but I do not suppose I shall publish under a couple of years. I +have now been three whole months on one chapter on Hybridism! + +I am astonished to see that you expect to remain out three or four years +more. What a wonderful deal you will have seen, and what interesting +areas--the grand Malay Archipelago and the richest parts of South America! +I infinitely admire and honour your zeal and courage in the good cause of +Natural Science; and you have my very sincere and cordial good wishes for +success of all kinds, and may all your theories succeed, except that on +Oceanic Islands, on which subject I will do battle to the death. + +Pray believe me, my dear sir, yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +February 8th [1858]. + +...I am working very hard at my book, perhaps too hard. It will be very +big, and I am become most deeply interested in the way facts fall into +groups. I am like Croesus overwhelmed with my riches in facts, and I mean +to make my book as perfect as ever I can. I shall not go to press at +soonest for a couple of years... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +February 23rd [1858]. + +...I was not much struck with the great Buckle, and I admired the way you +stuck up about deduction and induction. I am reading his book ('The +History of Civilisation.'), which, with much sophistry, as it seems to me, +is WONDERFULLY clever and original, and with astounding knowledge. + +I saw that you admired Mrs. Farrer's 'Questa tomba' of Beethoven +thoroughly; there is something grand in her sweet tones. + +Farewell. I have partly written this note to drive bee's-cells out of my +head; for I am half-mad on the subject to try to make out some simple steps +from which all the wondrous angles may result. (He had much correspondence +on this subject with the late Professor Miller of Cambridge.) + +I was very glad to see Mrs. Hooker on Friday; how well she appears to be +and looks. + +Forgive your intolerable but affectionate friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, April 16th [1858]. + +My dear Fox, + +I want you to observe one point for me, on which I am extremely much +interested, and which will give you no trouble beyond keeping your eyes +open, and that is a habit I know full well that you have. + +I find horses of various colours often have a spinal band or stripe of +different and darker tint than the rest of the body; rarely transverse bars +on the legs, generally on the under-side of the front legs, still more +rarely a very faint transverse shoulder-stripe like an ass. + +Is there any breed of Delamere forest ponies? I have found out little +about ponies in these respects. Sir P. Egerton has, I believe, some quite +thoroughbred chestnut horses; have any of them the spinal stripe? Mouse- +coloured ponies, or rather small horses, often have spinal and leg bars. +So have dun horses (by dun I mean real colour of cream mixed with brown, +bay, or chestnut). So have sometimes chestnuts, but I have not yet got a +case of spinal stripe in chestnut, race horse, or in quite heavy cart- +horse. Any fact of this nature of such stripes in horses would be MOST +useful to me. There is a parallel case in the legs of the donkey, and I +have collected some most curious cases of stripes appearing in various +crossed equine animals. I have also a large mass of parallel facts in the +breeds of pigeons about the wing bars. I SUSPECT it will throw light on +the colour of the primeval horse. So do help me if occasion turns up...My +health has been lately very bad from overwork, and on Tuesday I go for a +fortnight's hydropathy. My work is everlasting. Farewell. + +My dear Fox, I trust you are well. Farewell, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Moor Park, Farnham [April 26th, 1858]. + +...I have just had the innermost cockles of my heart rejoiced by a letter +from Lyell. I said to him (or he to me) that I believed from the character +of the flora of the Azores, that icebergs must have been stranded there; +and that I expected erratic boulders would be detected embedded between the +upheaved lava-beds; and I got Lyell to write to Hartung to ask, and now H. +says my question explains what had astounded him, viz., large boulders (and +some polished) of mica-schist, quartz, sandstone, etc., some embedded, and +some 40 and 50 feet above the level of the sea, so that he had inferred +that they had not been brought as ballast. Is this not beautiful? + +The water-cure has done me some good, but I [am] nothing to boast of to- +day, so good-bye. + +My dear friend, yours, +C.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Moor Park, Farnham, April 26th [1858]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have come here for a fortnight's hydropathy, as my stomach had got, from +steady work, into a horrid state. I am extremely much obliged to you for +sending me Hartung's interesting letter. The erratic boulders are +splendid. It is a grand case of floating ice versus glaciers. He ought to +have compared the northern and southern shores of the islands. It is +eminently interesting to me, for I have written a very long chapter on the +subject, collecting briefly all the geological evidence of glacial action +in different parts of the world, and then at great length (on the theory of +species changing) I have discussed the migration and modification of plants +and animals, in sea and land, over a large part of the world. To my mind, +it throws a flood of light on the whole subject of distribution, if +combined with the modification of species. Indeed, I venture to speak with +some little confidence on this, for Hooker, about a year ago, kindly read +over my chapter, and though he then demurred gravely to the general +conclusion, I was delighted to hear a week or two ago that he was inclined +to come round pretty strongly to my views of distribution and change during +the glacial period. I had a letter from Thompson, of Calcutta, the other +day, which helps me much, as he is making out for me what heat our +temperate plants can endure. But it is too long a subject for a note; and +I have written thus only because Hartung's note has set the whole subject +afloat in my mind again. But I will write no more, for my object here is +to think about nothing, bathe much, walk much, eat much, and read much +novels. Farewell, with many thanks, and very kind remembrance to Lady +Lyell. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. DARWIN. +Moor Park, Wednesday, April [1858]. + +The weather is quite delicious. Yesterday, after writing to you, I +strolled a little beyond the glade for an hour and a half, and enjoyed +myself--the fresh yet dark-green of the grand Scotch firs, the brown of the +catkins of the old birches, with their white stems, and a fringe of distant +green from the larches made an excessively pretty view. At last I fell +fast asleep on the grass, and awoke with a chorus of birds singing around +me, and squirrels running up the trees, and some woodpeckers laughing, and +it was as pleasant and rural a scene as ever I saw, and I did not care one +penny how any of the beasts or birds had been formed. I sat in the +drawing-room till after eight, and then went and read the Chief Justice's +summing up, and thought Bernard (Simon Bernard was tried in April 1858 as +an accessory to Orsini's attempt on the life of the Emperor of the French. +The verdict was "not guilty.") guilty, and then read a bit of my novel, +which is feminine, virtuous, clerical, philanthropical, and all that sort +of thing, but very decidedly flat. I say feminine, for the author is +ignorant about money matters, and not much of a lady--for she makes her men +say, "My Lady." I like Miss Craik very much, though we have some battles, +and differ on every subject. I like also the Hungarian; a thorough +gentleman, formerly attache at Paris, and then in the Austrian cavalry, and +now a pardoned exile, with broken health. He does not seem to like +Kossuth, but says, he is certain [he is] a sincere patriot, most clever and +eloquent, but weak, with no determination of character... + + +CHAPTER 1.XIII. + +THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +JUNE 18, 1858, TO NOVEMBER, 1859. + +[The letters given in the present chapter tell their story with sufficient +clearness, and need but a few words of explanation. Mr. Wallace's Essay, +referred to in the first letter, bore the sub-title, 'On the Tendency of +Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type,' was published in +the Linnean Society's Journal (1858, volume iii. page 53) as part of the +joint paper of "Messrs. C. Darwin and A. Wallace," of which the full title +was 'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation +of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection.' + +My father's contribution to the paper consisted of (1) Extracts from the +sketch of 1844; (2) part of a letter addressed to Dr Asa Gray, dated +September 5, 1857, and which is given above. The paper was "communicated" +to the Society by Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker, in whose +prefatory letter, a clear account of the circumstances of the case is +given. + +Referring to Mr. Wallace's Essay, they wrote: + +"So highly did Mr. Darwin appreciate the value of the views therein set +forth, that he proposed, in a letter to Sir Charles Lyell, to obtain Mr. +Wallace's consent to allow the Essay to be published as soon as possible. +Of this step we highly approved, provided Mr. Darwin did not withhold from +the public, as he was strongly inclined to do (in favour of Mr. Wallace), +the memoir which he had himself written on the same subject, and which, as +before stated, one of us had perused in 1844, and the contents of which we +had both of us been privy to for many years. On representing this to Mr. +Darwin, he gave us permission to make what use we thought proper of his +memoir, etc.; and in adopting our present course, of presenting it to the +Linnean Society, we have explained to him that we are not solely +considering the relative claims to priority of himself and his friend, but +the interests of science generally."] + + +LETTERS. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, 18th [June 1858]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Some year or so ago you recommended me to read a paper by Wallace in the +'Annals' ('Annals and Magazine of Natural History', 1855.), which had +interested you, and, as I was writing to him, I knew this would please him +much, so I told him. He has to-day sent me the enclosed, and asked me to +forward it to you. It seems to me well worth reading. Your words have +come true with a vengeance--that I should be forestalled. You said this, +when I explained to you here very briefly my views of 'Natural Selection' +depending on the struggle for existence. I never saw a more striking +coincidence; if Wallace had my MS. sketch written out in 1842, he could not +have made a better short abstract! Even his terms now stand as heads of my +chapters. Please return me the MS., which he does not say he wishes me to +publish, but I shall of course, at once write and offer to send to any +journal. So all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be +smashed, though my book, if it will ever have any value, will not be +deteriorated; as all the labour consists in the application of the theory. + +I hope you will approve of Wallace's sketch, that I may tell him what you +say. + +My dear Lyell, yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, Friday [June 25, 1858]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I am very sorry to trouble you, busy as you are, in so merely a personal an +affair; but if you will give me your deliberate opinion, you will do me as +great a service as ever man did, for I have entire confidence in your +judgment and honour... + +There is nothing in Wallace's sketch which is not written out much fuller +in my sketch, copied out in 1844, and read by Hooker some dozen years ago. +About a year ago I sent a short sketch, of which I have a copy, of my views +(owing to correspondence on several points) to Asa Gray, so that I could +most truly say and prove that I take nothing from Wallace. I should be +extremely glad now to publish a sketch of my general views in about a dozen +pages or so; but I cannot persuade myself that I can do so honourably. +Wallace says nothing about publication, and I enclose his letter. But as I +had not intended to publish any sketch, can I do so honourably, because +Wallace has sent me an outline of his doctrine? I would far rather burn my +whole book, than that he or any other man should think that I had behaved +in a paltry spirit. Do you not think his having sent me this sketch ties +my hands?...If I could honourably publish, I would state that I was induced +now to publish a sketch (and I should be very glad to be permitted to say, +to follow your advice long ago given) from Wallace having sent me an +outline of my general conclusions. We differ only, [in] that I was led to +my views from what artificial selection has done for domestic animals. I +would send Wallace a copy of my letter to Asa Gray, to show him that I had +not stolen his doctrine. But I cannot tell whether to publish now would +not be base and paltry. This was my first impression, and I should have +certainly acted on it had it not been for your letter. + +This is a trumpery affair to trouble you with, but you cannot tell how much +obliged I should be for your advice. + +By the way, would you object to send this and your answer to Hooker to be +forwarded to me, for then I shall have the opinion of my two best and +kindest friends. This letter is miserably written, and I write it now, +that I may for a time banish the whole subject; and I am worn out with +musing... + +My good dear friend forgive me. This is a trumpery letter, influenced by +trumpery feelings. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +I will never trouble you or Hooker on the subject again. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, 26th [June, 1858]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Forgive me for adding a P.S. to make the case as strong as possible against +myself. + +Wallace might say, "You did not intend publishing an abstract of your views +till you received my communication. Is it fair to take advantage of my +having freely, though unasked, communicated to you my ideas, and thus +prevent me forestalling you?" The advantage which I should take being that +I am induced to publish from privately knowing that Wallace is in the +field. It seems hard on me that I should be thus compelled to lose my +priority of many years' standing, but I cannot feel at all sure that this +alters the justice of the case. First impressions are generally right, and +I at first thought it would be dishonourable in me now to publish. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I have always thought you would make a first-rate Lord Chancellor; +and I now appeal to you as a Lord Chancellor. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Tuesday [June 29, 1858]. + +...I have received your letters. I cannot think now (So soon after the +death, from scarlet fever, of his infant child.) on the subject, but soon +will. But I can see that you have acted with more kindness, and so has +Lyell, even than I could have expected from you both, most kind as you are. + +I can easily get my letter to Asa Gray copied, but it is too short. + +...God bless you. You shall hear soon, as soon as I can think. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Tuesday night [June 29, 1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just read your letter, and see you want the papers at once. I am +quite prostrated, and can do nothing, but I send Wallace, and the abstract +("Abstract" is here used in the sense of "extract;" in this sense also it +occurs in the 'Linnean Journal,' where the sources of my father's paper are +described.) of my letter to Asa Gray, which gives most imperfectly only the +means of change, and does not touch on reasons for believing that species +do change. I dare say all is too late. I hardly care about it. But you +are too generous to sacrifice so much time and kindness. It is most +generous, most kind. I send my sketch of 1844 solely that you may see by +your own handwriting that you did read it. I really cannot bear to look at +it. Do not waste much time. It is miserable in me to care at all about +priority. + +The table of contents will show what it is. + +I would make a similar, but shorter and more accurate sketch for the +'Linnean Journal.' + +I will do anything. God bless you, my dear kind friend. + +I can write no more. I send this by my servant to Kew. + +Yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter is that already referred to as forming part of the +joint paper published in the Linnean Society's 'Journal,' 1858]:-- + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, September 5th [1857]. (The date is given as October in the 'Linnean +Journal.' The extracts were printed from a duplicate undated copy in my +father's possession, on which he had written, "This was sent to Asa Gray 8 +or 9 months ago, I think October 1857.") + +My dear Gray, + +I forget the exact words which I used in my former letter, but I dare say I +said that I thought you would utterly despise me when I told you what views +I had arrived at, which I did because I thought I was bound as an honest +man to do so. I should have been a strange mortal, seeing how much I owe +to your quite extraordinary kindness, if in saying this I had meant to +attribute the least bad feeling to you. Permit me to tell you that, before +I had ever corresponded with you, Hooker had shown me several of your +letters (not of a private nature), and these gave me the warmest feeling of +respect to you; and I should indeed be ungrateful if your letters to me, +and all I have heard of you, had not strongly enhanced this feeling. But I +did not feel in the least sure that when you knew whither I was tending, +that you might not think me so wild and foolish in my views (God knows, +arrived at slowly enough, and I hope conscientiously), that you would think +me worth no more notice or assistance. To give one example: the last time +I saw my dear old friend Falconer, he attacked me most vigorously, but +quite kindly, and told me, "You will do more harm than any ten Naturalists +will do good. I can see that you have already CORRUPTED and half-spoiled +Hooker!!" Now when I see such strong feeling in my oldest friends, you +need not wonder that I always expect my views to be received with contempt. +But enough and too much of this. + +I thank you most truly for the kind spirit of your last letter. I agree to +every word in it, and think I go as far as almost any one in seeing the +grave difficulties against my doctrine. With respect to the extent to +which I go, all the arguments in favour of my notions fall RAPIDLY away, +the greater the scope of forms considered. But in animals, embryology +leads me to an enormous and frightful range. The facts which kept me +longest scientifically orthodox are those of adaptation--the pollen-masses +in asclepias--the mistletoe, with its pollen carried by insects, and seed +by birds--the woodpecker, with its feet and tail, beak and tongue, to climb +the tree and secure insects. To talk of climate or Lamarckian habit +producing such adaptations to other organic beings is futile. This +difficulty I believe I have surmounted. As you seem interested in the +subject, and as it is an IMMENSE advantage to me to write to you and to +hear, ever so briefly, what you think, I will enclose (copied, so as to +save you trouble in reading) the briefest abstract of my notions on the +means by which Nature makes her species. Why I think that species have +really changed, depends on general facts in the affinities, embryology, +rudimentary organs, geological history, and geographical distribution of +organic beings. In regard to my Abstract, you must take immensely on +trust, each paragraph occupying one or two chapters in my book. You will, +perhaps, think it paltry in me, when I ask you not to mention my doctrine; +the reason is, if any one, like the author of the 'Vestiges,' were to hear +of them, he might easily work them in, and then I should have to quote from +a work perhaps despised by naturalists, and this would greatly injure any +chance of my views being received by those alone whose opinions I value. +[Here follows a discussion on "large genera varying," which has no direct +connection with the remainder of the letter.] + +I. It is wonderful what the principle of Selection by Man, that is the +picking out of individuals with any desired quality, and breeding from +them, and again picking out, can do. Even breeders have been astonished at +their own results. They can act on differences inappreciable to an +uneducated eye. Selection has been METHODICALLY followed in Europe for +only the last half century. But it has occasionally, and even in some +degree methodically, been followed in the most ancient times. There must +have been also a kind of unconscious selection from the most ancient times, +namely, in the preservation of the individual animals (without any thought +of their offspring) most useful to each race of man in his particular +circumstances. The "roguing," as nursery-men call the destroying of +varieties, which depart from their type, is a kind of selection. I am +convinced that intentional and occasional selection has been the main agent +in making our domestic races. But, however this may be, its great power of +modification has been indisputedly shown in late times. Selection acts +only by the accumulation of very slight or greater variations, caused by +external conditions, or by the mere fact that in generation the child is +not absolutely similar to its parent. Man, by this power of accumulating +variations, adapts living beings to his wants--he MAY BE SAID to make the +wool of one sheep good for carpets, and another for cloth, etc. + +II. Now, suppose there was a being, who did not judge by mere external +appearance, but could study the whole internal organisation--who never was +capricious--who should go on selecting for one end during millions of +generations, who will say what he might not effect! In nature we have some +SLIGHT variations, occasionally in all parts: and I think it can be shown +that a change in the conditions of existence is the main cause of the child +not exactly resembling its parents; and in nature, geology shows us what +changes have taken place, and are taking place. We have almost unlimited +time: no one but a practical geologist can fully appreciate this: think +of the Glacial period, during the whole of which the same species of shells +at least have existed; there must have been during this period, millions on +millions of generations. + +III. I think it can be shown that there is such an unerring power at work, +or NATURAL SELECTION (the title of my book), which selects exclusively for +the good of each organic being. The elder De Candolle, W. Herbert, and +Lyell, have written strongly on the struggle for life; but even they have +not written strongly enough. Reflect that every being (even the elephant) +breeds at such a rate that, in a few years, or at most a few centuries or +thousands of years, the surface of the earth would not hold the progeny of +any one species. I have found it hard constantly to bear in mind that the +increase of every single species is checked during some part of its life, +or during some shortly recurrent generation. Only a few of those annually +born can live to propagate their kind. What a trifling difference must +often determine which shall survive and which perish. + +IV. Now take the case of a country undergoing some change; this will tend +to cause some of its inhabitants to vary slightly; not but what I believe +most beings vary at all times enough for selection to act on. Some of its +inhabitants will be exterminated, and the remainder will be exposed to the +mutual action of a different set of inhabitants, which I believe to be more +important to the life of each being than mere climate. Considering the +infinitely various ways beings have to obtain food by struggling with other +beings, to escape danger at various times of life, to have their eggs or +seeds disseminated, etc., etc., I cannot doubt that during millions of +generations individuals of a species will be born with some slight +variation profitable to some part of its economy; such will have a better +chance of surviving, propagating this variation, which again will be slowly +increased by the accumulative action of natural selection; and the variety +thus formed will either coexist with, or more commonly will exterminate its +parent form. An organic being like the woodpecker, or the mistletoe, may +thus come to be adapted to a score of contingencies; natural selection, +accumulating those slight variations in all parts of its structure which +are in any way useful to it, during any part of its life. + +V. Multiform difficulties will occur to every one on this theory. Most +can, I think, be satisfactorily answered.--"Natura non facit saltum" answer +some of the most obvious. The slowness of the change, and only a very few +undergoing change at any one time answers others. The extreme +imperfections of our geological records answers others. + +VI. One other principle, which may be called the principle of divergence, +plays, I believe, an important part in the origin of species. The same +spot will support more life if occupied by very diverse forms: we see this +in the many generic forms in a square yard of turf (I have counted twenty +species belonging to eighteen genera), or in the plants and insects, on any +little uniform islet, belonging to almost as many genera and families as to +species. We can understand this with the higher animals, whose habits we +best understand. We know that it has been experimentally shown that a plot +of land will yield a greater weight, if cropped with several species of +grasses, than with two or three species. Now every single organic being, +by propagating rapidly, may be said to be striving its utmost to increase +in numbers. So it will be with the offspring of any species after it has +broken into varieties, or sub-species, or true species. And it follows, I +think, from the foregoing facts, that the varying offspring of each species +will try (only a few will succeed) to seize on as many and as diverse +places in the economy of nature as possible. Each new variety or species +when formed will generally take the place of, and so exterminate its less +well-fitted parent. This, I believe, to be the origin of the +classification or arrangement of all organic beings at all times. These +always SEEM to branch and sub-branch like a tree from a common trunk; the +flourishing twigs destroying the less vigorous--the dead and lost branches +rudely representing extinct genera and families. + +This sketch is MOST imperfect; but in so short a space I cannot make it +better. Your imagination must fill up many wide blanks. Without some +reflection, it will appear all rubbish; perhaps it will appear so after +reflection. + +C.D. + +P.S.--This little abstract touches only the accumulative power of natural +selection, which I look at as by far the most important element in the +production of new forms. The laws governing the incipient or primordial +variation (unimportant except as the groundwork for selection to act on, in +which respect it is all important), I shall discuss under several heads, +but I can come, as you may well believe, only to very partial and imperfect +conclusions. + + +[The joint paper of Mr. Wallace and my father was read at the Linnean +Society on the evening of July 1st. Sir Charles Lyell and Sir J.D. Hooker +were present, and both, I believe, made a few remarks, chiefly with a view +of impressing on those present the necessity of giving the most careful +consideration to what they had heard. There was, however, no semblance of +a discussion. Sir Joseph Hooker writes to me: "The interest excited was +intense, but the subject was too novel and too ominous for the old school +to enter the lists, before armouring. After the meeting it was talked over +with bated breath: Lyell's approval, and perhaps in a small way mine, as +his lieutenant in the affair, rather overawed the Fellows, who would +otherwise have flown out against the doctrine. We had, too, the vantage +ground of being familiar with the authors and their theme."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, July 5th [1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +We are become more happy and less panic-struck, now that we have sent out +of the house every child, and shall remove H.,as soon as she can move. The +first nurse became ill with ulcerated throat and quinsey, and the second is +now ill with the scarlet fever, but, thank God, is recovering. You may +imagine how frightened we have been. It has been a most miserable +fortnight. Thank you much for your note, telling me that all had gone on +prosperously at the Linnean Society. You must let me once again tell you +how deeply I feel your generous kindness and Lyell's on this occasion. But +in truth it shames me that you should have lost time on a mere point of +priority. I shall be curious to see the proofs. I do not in the least +understand whether my letter to A. Gray is to be printed; I suppose not, +only your note; but I am quite indifferent, and place myself absolutely in +your and Lyell's hands. + +I can easily prepare an abstract of my whole work, but I can hardly see how +it can be made scientific for a Journal, without giving facts, which would +be impossible. Indeed, a mere abstract cannot be very short. Could you +give me any idea how many pages of the Journal could probably be spared me? + +Directly after my return home, I would begin and cut my cloth to my +measure. If the Referees were to reject it as not strictly scientific, I +could, perhaps publish it as a pamphlet. + +With respect to my big interleaved abstract (The Sketch of 1844.), would +you send it any time before you leave England, to the enclosed address? If +you do not go till August 7th-10th, I should prefer it left with you. I +hope you have jotted criticisms on my MS. on big Genera, etc., sufficient +to make you remember your remarks, as I should be infinitely sorry to lose +them. And I see no chance of our meeting if you go soon abroad. We thank +you heartily for your invitation to join you: I can fancy nothing which I +should enjoy more; but our children are too delicate for us to leave; I +should be mere living lumber. + +Lastly, you said you would write to Wallace; I certainly should much like +this, as it would quite exonerate me: if you would send me your note, +sealed up, I would forward it with my own, as I know the address, etc. + +Will you answer me sometime about your notions of the length of my +abstract. + +If you see Lyell, will you tell him how truly grateful I feel for his kind +interest in this affair of mine. You must know that I look at it, as very +important, for the reception of the view of species not being immutable, +the fact of the greatest Geologist and Botanist in England taking ANY SORT +OF INTEREST in the subject: I am sure it will do much to break down +prejudices. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Miss Wedgwood's, Hartfield, Tunbridge Wells, +[July 13th, 1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter to Wallace seems to me perfect, quite clear and most courteous. +I do not think it could possibly be improved, and I have to day forwarded +it with a letter of my own. I always thought it very possible that I might +be forestalled, but I fancied that I had a grand enough soul not to care; +but I found myself mistaken and punished; I had, however, quite resigned +myself, and had written half a letter to Wallace to give up all priority to +him, and should certainly not have changed had it not been for Lyell's and +your quite extraordinary kindness. I assure you I feel it, and shall not +forget it. I am MORE than satisfied at what took place at the Linnean +Society. I had thought that your letter and mine to Asa Gray were to be +only an appendix to Wallace's paper. + +We go from here in a few days to the sea-side, probably to the Isle of +Wight, and on my return (after a battle with pigeon skeletons) I will set +to work at the abstract, though how on earth I shall make anything of an +abstract in thirty pages of the Journal, I know not, but will try my best. +I shall order Bentham; is it not a pity that you should waste time in +tabulating varieties? for I can get the Down schoolmaster to do it on my +return, and can tell you all the results. + +I must try and see you before your journey; but do not think I am fishing +to ask you to come to Down, for you will have no time for that. + +You cannot imagine how pleased I am that the notion of Natural Selection +has acted as a purgative on your bowels of immutability. Whenever +naturalists can look at species changing as certain, what a magnificent +field will be open,--on all the laws of variation,--on the genealogy of all +living beings,--on their lines of migration, etc., etc. Pray thank Mrs. +Hooker for her very kind little note, and pray, say how truly obliged I am, +and in truth ashamed to think that she should have had the trouble of +copying my ugly MS. It was extraordinarily kind in her. Farewell, my dear +kind friend. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I have had some fun here in watching a slave-making ant; for I could +not help rather doubting the wonderful stories, but I have now seen a +defeated marauding party, and I have seen a migration from one nest to +another of the slave-makers, carrying their slaves (who are HOUSE, and not +field niggers) in their mouths! + +I am inclined to think that it is a true generalisation that, when honey is +secreted at one point of the circle of the corolla, if the pistil bends, it +always bends into the line of the gangway to the honey. The Larkspur is a +good instance, in contrast to Columbine,--if you think of it, just attend +to this little point. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight, July 18th [1858]. + +...We are established here for ten days, and then go on to Shanklin, which +seems more amusing to one, like myself, who cannot walk. We hope much that +the sea may do H. and L. good. And if it does, our expedition will answer, +but not otherwise. + +I have never half thanked you for all the extraordinary trouble and +kindness you showed me about Wallace's affair. Hooker told me what was +done at the Linnean Society, and I am far more than satisfied, and I do not +think that Wallace can think my conduct unfair in allowing you and Hooker +to do whatever you thought fair. I certainly was a little annoyed to lose +all priority, but had resigned myself to my fate. I am going to prepare a +longer abstract; but it is really impossible to do justice to the subject, +except by giving the facts on which each conclusion is grounded, and that +will, of course, be absolutely impossible. Your name and Hooker's name +appearing as in any way the least interested in my work will, I am certain, +have the most important bearing in leading people to consider the subject +without prejudice. I look at this as so very important, that I am almost +glad of Wallace's paper for having led to this. + +My dear Lyell, yours most gratefully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter refers to the proof-sheets of the Linnean paper. The +'introduction' means the prefatory letter signed by Sir C. Lyell and Sir +J.D. Hooker.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight, +July 21st [1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I received only yesterday the proof-sheets, which I now return. I think +your introduction cannot be improved. + +I am disgusted with my bad writing. I could not improve it, without +rewriting all, which would not be fair or worth while, as I have begun on a +better abstract for the Linnean Society. My excuse is that it NEVER was +intended for publication. I have made only a few corrections in the style; +but I cannot make it decent, but I hope moderately intelligible. I suppose +some one will correct the revise. (Shall I?) + +Could I have a clean proof to send to Wallace? + +I have not yet fully considered your remarks on big genera (but your +general concurrence is of the HIGHEST POSSIBLE interest to me); nor shall I +be able till I re-read my MS.; but you may rely on it that you never make a +remark to me which is lost from INATTENTION. I am particularly glad you do +not object to my stating your objections in a modified form, for they +always struck me as very important, and as having much inherent value, +whether or no they were fatal to my notions. I will consider and +reconsider all your remarks... + +I have ordered Bentham, for, as -- says, it will be very curious to see a +Flora written by a man who knows nothing of British plants!! + +I am very glad at what you say about my Abstract, but you may rely on it +that I will condense to the utmost. I would aid in money if it is too +long. (That is to say, he would help to pay for the printing, if it should +prove too long for the Linnean Society.) In how many ways you have aided +me! + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +[The 'Abstract' mentioned in the last sentence of the preceding letter was +in fact the 'Origin of Species,' on which he now set to work. In his +'Autobiography' he speaks of beginning to write in September, but in his +Diary he wrote, "July 20 to August 12, at Sandown, began Abstract of +Species book." "September 16, Recommenced Abstract." The book was begun +with the idea that it would be published as a paper, or series of papers, +by the Linnean Society, and it was only in the late autumn that it became +clear that it must take the form of an independent volume.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, +Friday [July] 30th [1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Will you give the enclosed scrap to Sir William to thank him for his +kindness; and this gives me an excuse to amuse myself by writing to you a +note, which requires no answer. + +This is a very charming place, and we have got a very comfortable house. +But, alas, I cannot say that the sea has done H. or L. much good. Nor has +my stomach recovered from all our troubles. I am very glad we left home, +for six children have now died of scarlet fever in Down. We return on the +14th of August. + +I have got Bentham ('British Flora.'), and am charmed with it, and William +(who has just started for a tour abroad) has been making out all sorts of +new (to me) plants capitally. The little scraps of information are so +capital...The English names in the analytical keys drive us mad: give them +by all means, but why on earth [not] make them subordinate to the Latin; it +puts me in a passion. W. charged into the Compositae and Umbelliferae like +a hero, and demolished ever so many in grand style. + +I pass my time by doing daily a couple of hours of my Abstract, and I find +it amusing and improving work. I am now most heartily obliged to you and +Lyell for having set me on this; for I shall, when it is done, be able to +finish my work with greater ease and leisure. I confess I hated the +thought of the job; and now I find it very unsatisfactory in not being able +to give my reasons for each conclusion. + +I will be longer than I expected; it will take thirty-five of my MS. folio +pages to give an abstract on variation under domestication alone; but I +will try to put in nothing which does not seem to me of some interest, and +which was once new to me. It seems a queer plan to give an abstract of an +unpublished work; nevertheless, I repeat, I am extremely glad I have begun +in earnest on it. + +I hope you and Mrs. Hooker will have a very very pleasant tour. Farewell, +my dear Hooker. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, +Thursday [August 5, 1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I should think the note apologetical about the style of the abstract was +best as a note...But I write now to ask you to send me by return of post +the MS. on big genera, that I may make an abstract of a couple of pages in +length. I presume that you have quite done with it, otherwise I would not +for anything have it back. If you tie it with string, and mark it MS. for +printing, it will not cost, I should think, more than 4 pence. I shall +wish much to say that you have read this MS. and concur; but you shall, +before I read it to the Society, hear the sentence. + +What you tell me after speaking with Busk about the length of the Abstract +is an IMMENSE relief to me; it will make the labour far less, not having to +shorten so much every single subject; but I will try not to be too +diffusive. I fear it will spoil all interest in my book (The larger book +begun in 1856.), whenever published. The Abstract will do very well to +divide into several parts: thus I have just finished "Variation under +Domestication," in forty-four MS. pages, and that would do for one evening; +but I should be extremely sorry if all could not be published together. + +What else you say about my Abstract pleases me highly, but frightens me, +for I fear I shall never be able to make it good enough. But how I do run +on about my own affairs to you! + +I was astonished to see Sir W. Hooker's card here two or three days ago: I +was unfortunately out walking. Henslow, also, has written to me, proposing +to come to Down on the 9th, but alas, I do not return till the 13th, and my +wife not till a week later; so that I am also most sorry to think I shall +not see you, for I should not like to leave home so soon. I had thought of +going to London and running down for an hour or two to Kew... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, +[August] [1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I write merely to say that the MS. came safely two or three days ago. I am +much obliged for the correction of style: I find it unutterably difficult +to write clearly. When we meet I must talk over a few points on the +subject. + +You speak of going to the sea-side somewhere; we think this the nicest +seaside place which we have ever seen, and we like Shanklin better than +other spots on the south coast of the island, though many are charming and +prettier, so that I would suggest your thinking of this place. We are on +the actual coast; but tastes differ so much about places. + +If you go to Broadstairs, when there is a strong wind from the coast of +France and in fine, dry, warm weather, look out, and you will PROBABLY (!) +see thistle-seeds blown across the Channel. The other day I saw one blown +right inland, and then in a few minutes a second one and then a third; and +I said to myself, God bless me, how many thistles there must be in France; +and I wrote a letter in imagination to you. But I then looked at the LOW +clouds, and noticed that they were not coming inland, so I feared a screw +was loose. I then walked beyond a headland, and found the wind parallel to +the coast, and on this very headland a noble bed of thistles, which by +every wide eddy were blown far out to sea, and then came right in at right +angles to the shore! One day such a number of insects were washed up by the +tide, and I brought to life thirteen species of Coleoptera; not that I +suppose these came from France. But do you watch for thistle-seed as you +saunter along the coast... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +August 11th [1858]. + +My dear Gray, + +Your note of July 27th has just reached me in the Isle of Wight. It is a +real and great pleasure to me to write to you about my notions; and even if +it were not so, I should be a most ungrateful dog, after all the invaluable +assistance you have rendered me, if I did not do anything which you asked. + +I have discussed in my long MS. the later changes of climate and the effect +on migration, and I will here give you an ABSTRACT of an ABSTRACT (which +latter I am preparing of my whole work for the Linnean Society). I cannot +give you facts, and I must write dogmatically, though I do not feel so on +any point. I may just mention, in order that you may believe that I have +SOME foundation for my views, that Hooker has read my MS., and though he at +first demurred to my main point, he has since told me that further +reflection and new facts have made him a convert. + +In the older, or perhaps newer, Pliocene age (a little BEFORE the Glacial +epoch) the temperature was higher; of this there can be little doubt; the +land, on a LARGE SCALE, held much its present disposition: the species +were mainly, judging from shells, what they are now. At this period when +all animals and plants ranged 10 or 15 degrees nearer the poles, I believe +the northern part of Siberia and of North America being almost CONTINUOUS, +were peopled (it is quite possible, considering the shallow water, that +Behring Straits were united, perhaps a little southward) by a nearly +uniform fauna and flora, just as the Arctic regions now are. The climate +then became gradually colder till it became what it now is; and then the +temperate parts of Europe and America would be separated, as far as +migration is concerned, just as they now are. Then came on the Glacial +period, driving far south all living things; middle or even southern Europe +being peopled with Arctic productions; as the warmth returned, the Arctic +productions slowly crawled up the mountains as they became denuded of snow; +and we now see on their summits the remnants of a once continuous flora and +fauna. This is E. Forbes' theory, which, however, I may add, I had written +out four years before he published. + +Some facts have made me vaguely SUSPECT that between the glacial and the +present temperature there was a period of SLIGHTLY greater warmth. +According to my modification-doctrines, I look at many of the species of +North America which CLOSELY represent those of Europe, as having become +modified since the Pliocene period, when in the northern part of the world +there was nearly free communication between the old and new worlds. But +now comes a more important consideration; there is a considerable body of +geological evidence that during the Glacial epoch the whole world was +colder; I inferred that, many years ago, from erratic boulder phenomena +carefully observed by me on both the east and west coast of South America. +Now I am so bold as to believe that at the height of the Glacial epoch, AND +WHEN ALL TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS MUST HAVE BEEN CONSIDERABLY DISTRESSED, that +several temperate forms slowly travelled into the heart of the Tropics, and +even reached the southern hemisphere; and some few southern forms +penetrated in a reverse direction northward. (Heights of Borneo with +Australian forms, Abyssinia with Cape forms.) Wherever there was nearly +continuous HIGH land, this migration would have been immensely facilitated; +hence the European character of the plants of Tierra del Fuego and summits +of Cordilleras; hence ditto on Himalaya. As the temperature rose, all the +temperate intruders would crawl up the mountains. Hence the European forms +on Nilgherries, Ceylon, summit of Java, Organ Mountains of Brazil. But +these intruders being surrounded with new forms would be very liable to be +improved or modified by natural selection, to adapt them to the new forms +with which they had to compete; hence most of the forms on the mountains of +the Tropics are not identical, but REPRESENTATIVE forms of North temperate +plants. + +There are similar classes of facts in marine productions. All this will +appear very rash to you, and rash it may be; but I am sure not so rash as +it will at first appear to you: Hooker could not stomach it at all at +first, but has become largely a convert. From mammalia and shallow sea, I +believe Japan to have been joined to main land of China within no remote +period; and then the migration north and south before, during, and after +the Glacial epoch would act on Japan, as on the corresponding latitude of +China and the United States. + +I should beyond anything like to know whether you have any Alpine +collections from Japan, and what is their character. This letter is +miserably expressed, but perhaps it will suffice to show what I believe +have been the later main migrations and changes of temperature... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[Down] October 6th, 1858. + +...If you have or can make leisure, I should very much like to hear news of +Mrs. Hooker, yourself, and the children. Where did you go, and what did +you do and are doing? There is a comprehensive text. + +You cannot tell how I enjoyed your little visit here, it did me much good. +If Harvey is still with you, pray remember me very kindly to him. + +...I am working most steadily at my Abstract, but it grows to an inordinate +length; yet fully to make my view clear (and never giving briefly more than +a fact or two, and slurring over difficulties), I cannot make it shorter. +It will yet take me three or four months; so slow do I work, though never +idle. You cannot imagine what a service you have done me in making me make +this Abstract; for though I thought I had got all clear, it has clarified +my brains very much, by making me weigh the relative importance of the +several elements. + +I have been reading with much interest your (as I believe it to be) capital +memoir of R. Brown in the "Gardeners' Chronicle"... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, October 12th, [1858]. + +...I have sent eight copies (Of the joint paper by C. Darwin and A.R. +Wallace.) by post to Wallace, and will keep the others for him, for I could +not think of any one to send any to. + +I pray you not to pronounce too strongly against Natural Selection, till +you have read my abstract, for though I dare say you will strike out MANY +difficulties, which have never occurred to me; yet you cannot have thought +so fully on the subject as I have. + +I expect my Abstract will run into a small volume, which will have to be +published separately... + +What a splendid lot of work you have in hand. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, October 13th [1858]. + +...I have been a little vexed at myself at having asked you not "to +pronounce too strongly against Natural Selection." I am sorry to have +bothered you, though I have been much interested by your note in answer. I +wrote the sentence without reflection. But the truth is, that I have so +accustomed myself, partly from being quizzed by my non-naturalist +relations, to expect opposition and even contempt, that I forgot for the +moment that you are the one living soul from whom I have constantly +received sympathy. Believe [me] that I never forget for even a minute how +much assistance I have received from you. You are quite correct that I +never even suspected that my speculations were a "jam-pot" to you; indeed, +I thought, until quite lately, that my MS. had produced no effect on you, +and this has often staggered me. Nor did I know that you had spoken in +general terms about my work to our friends, excepting to dear old Falconer, +who some few years ago once told me that I should do more mischief than any +ten other naturalists would do good, [and] that I had half spoiled you +already! All this is stupid egotistical stuff, and I write it only because +you may think me ungrateful for not having valued and understood your +sympathy; which God knows is not the case. It is an accursed evil to a man +to become so absorbed in any subject as I am in mine. + +I was in London yesterday for a few hours with Falconer, and he gave me a +magnificent lecture on the age of man. We are not upstarts; we can boast +of a pedigree going far back in time coeval with extinct species. He has a +grand fact of some large molar tooth in the Trias. + +I am quite knocked up, and am going next Monday to revive under Water-cure +at Moor Park. + +My dear Hooker, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +November 1858. + +...I had vowed not to mention my everlasting Abstract to you again, for I +am sure I have bothered you far more than enough about it; but, as you +allude to its previous publication, I may say that I have the chapters on +Instinct and Hybridism to abstract, which may take a fortnight each; and my +materials for Palaeontology, Geographical Distribution, and Affinities, +being less worked up, I dare say each of these will take me three weeks, so +that I shall not have done at soonest till April, and then my Abstract will +in bulk make a small volume. I never give more than one or two instances, +and I pass over briefly all difficulties, and yet I cannot make my Abstract +shorter, to be satisfactory, than I am now doing, and yet it will expand to +a small volume... + + +[About this time my father revived his old knowledge of beetles in helping +his boys in their collecting. He sent a short notice to the +'Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer,' June 25th, 1859, recording the +capture of Licinus silphoides, Clytus mysticus, Panagaeus 4-pustulatus. +The notice begins with the words, "We three very young collectors having +lately taken in the parish of Down," etc., and is signed by three of his +boys, but was clearly not written by them. I have a vivid recollection of +the pleasure of turning out my bottle of dead beetles for my father to +name, and the excitement, in which he fully shared, when any of them proved +to be uncommon ones. The following letters to Mr. Fox (November 13, 1858), +and to Sir John Lubbock, illustrate this point:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, November 13th [1858]. + +...W., my son, is now at Christ's College, in the rooms above yours. My +old Gyp, Impey, was astounded to hear that he was my son, and very simply +asked, "Why, has he been long married?" What pleasant hours those were +when I used to come and drink coffee with you daily! I am reminded of old +days by my third boy having just begun collecting beetles, and he caught +the other day Brachinus crepitans, of immortal Whittlesea Mere memory. My +blood boiled with old ardour when he caught a Licinus--a prize unknown to +me... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Thursday [before 1857]. + +Dear Lubbock, + +I do not know whether you care about beetles, but for the chance I send +this in a bottle, which I never remember having seen; though it is +excessively rash to speak from a twenty-five-year old remembrance. +Whenever we meet you can tell me whether you know it... + +I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet, when I read about +the capturing of rare beetles--is not this a magnanimous simile for a +decayed entomologist?--It really almost makes me long to begin collecting +again. Adios. + +"Floreat Entomologia"!--to which toast at Cambridge I have drunk many a +glass of wine. So again, "Floreat Entomologia." N.B. I have NOT now been +drinking any glasses full of wine. + +Yours, +C.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HERBERT SPENCER. +Down, November 25th [1858]. + +Dear Sir, + +I beg permission to thank you sincerely for your very kind present of your +Essays. ('Essays, Scientific, Political, and Speculative,' by Herbert +Spencer, 1858-74.) I have already read several of them with much interest. +Your remarks on the general argument of the so-called development theory +seems to me admirable. I am at present preparing an Abstract of a larger +work on the changes of species; but I treat the subject simply as a +naturalist, and not from a general point of view, otherwise, in my opinion, +your argument could not have been improved on, and might have been quoted +by me with great advantage. Your article on Music has also interested me +much, for I had often thought on the subject, and had come to nearly the +same conclusion with you, though unable to support the notion in any +detail. Furthermore, by a curious coincidence, expression has been for +years a persistent subject with me for LOOSE speculation, and I must +entirely agree with you that all expression has some biological meaning. I +hope to profit by your criticism on style, and with very best thanks, I beg +leave to remain, dear Sir, + +Yours truly obliged, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 24th [1858]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your news about your unsolicited salary and house is jolly, and creditable +to the Government. My room (28 x 19), with divided room above, with ALL +FIXTURES (and painted), not furniture, and plastered outside, cost about +500 pounds. I am heartily glad of this news. + +Your facts about distribution are, indeed, very striking. I remember well +that none of your many wonderful facts in your several works, perplexed me, +for years, more than the migration having been mainly from north to south, +and not in the reverse direction. I have now at last satisfied MYSELF (but +that is very different from satisfying others) on this head; but it would +take a little volume to fully explain myself. I did not for long see the +bearing of a conclusion, at which I had arrived, with respect to this +subject. It is, that species inhabiting a very large area, and therefore +existing in large numbers, and which have been subjected to the severest +competition with many other forms, will have arrived, through natural +selection, at a higher stage of perfection than the inhabitants of a small +area. Thus I explain the fact of so many anomalies, or what may be called +"living fossils," inhabiting now only fresh water, having been beaten out, +and exterminated in the sea, by more improved forms; thus all existing +Ganoid fishes are fresh water, as [are] Lepidosiren and Ornithorhynchus, +etc. The plants of Europe and Asia, as being the largest territory, I look +at as the most "improved," and therefore as being able to withstand the +less-perfected Australian plants; [whilst] these could not resist the +Indian. See how all the productions of New Zealand yield to those of +Europe. I dare say you will think all this utter bosh, but I believe it to +be solid truth. + +You will, I think, admit that Australian plants, flourishing so in India, +is no argument that they could hold their own against the ten thousand +natural contingencies of other plants, insects, animals, etc., etc. With +respect to South West Australia and the Cape, I am shut up, and can only +d--n the whole case. + +...You say you should like to see my MS., but you did read and approve of +my long Glacial chapter, and I have not yet written my Abstract on the +whole of the Geographical Distribution, nor shall I begin it for two or +three weeks. But either Abstract or the old MS. I should be DELIGHTED to +send you, especially the Abstract chapter... + +I have now written 330 folio pages of my abstract, and it will require 150- +200 [more]; so that it will make a printed volume of 400 pages, and must be +printed separately, which I think will be better in many respects. The +subject really seems to me too large for discussion at any Society, and I +believe religion would be brought in by men whom I know. + +I am thinking of a 12mo volume, like Lyell's fourth or fifth edition of the +'Principles.'... + +I have written you a scandalously long note. So now good-bye, my dear +Hooker, + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 20th, 1859. + +My dear Hooker, + +I should very much like to borrow Heer at some future time, for I want to +read nothing perplexing at present till my Abstract is done. Your last +very instructive letter shall make me very cautious on the hyper- +speculative points we have been discussing. + +When you say you cannot master the train of thoughts, I know well enough +that they are too doubtful and obscure to be mastered. I have often +experienced what you call the humiliating feeling of getting more and more +involved in doubt the more one thinks of the facts and reasoning on +doubtful points. But I always comfort myself with thinking of the future, +and in the full belief that the problems which we are just entering on, +will some day be solved; and if we just break the ground we shall have done +some service, even if we reap no harvest. + +I quite agree that we only differ in DEGREE about the means of dispersal, +and that I think a satisfactory amount of accordance. You put in a very +striking manner the mutation of our continents, and I quite agree; I doubt +only about our oceans. + +I also agree (I am in a very agreeing frame of mind) with your argumentum +ad hominem, about the highness of the Australian Flora from the number of +species and genera; but here comes in a superlative bothering element of +doubt, viz., the effect of isolation. + +The only point in which I PRESUMPTUOUSLY rather demur is about the status +of the naturalised plants in Australia. I think Muller speaks of their +having spread largely beyond cultivated ground; and I can hardly believe +that our European plants would occupy stations so barren that the native +plants could not live there. I should require much evidence to make me +believe this. I have written this note merely to thank you, as you will +see it requires no answer. + +I have heard to my amazement this morning from Phillips that the Geological +Council have given me the Wollaston Medal!!! + +Ever yours, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 23d, 1859. + +...I enclose letters to you and me from Wallace. I admire extremely the +spirit in which they are written. I never felt very sure what he would +say. He must be an amiable man. Please return that to me, and Lyell ought +to be told how well satisfied he is. These letters have vividly brought +before me how much I owe to your and Lyell's most kind and generous conduct +in all this affair. + +...How glad I shall be when the Abstract is finished, and I can rest!... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, January 25th [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +I was extremely much pleased at receiving three days ago your letter to me +and that to Dr. Hooker. Permit me to say how heartily I admire the spirit +in which they are written. Though I had absolutely nothing whatever to do +in leading Lyell and Hooker to what they thought a fair course of action, +yet I naturally could not but feel anxious to hear what your impression +would be. I owe indirectly much to you and them; for I almost think that +Lyell would have proved right, and I should never have completed my larger +work, for I have found my Abstract hard enough with my poor health, but +now, thank God, I am in my last chapter but one. My Abstract will make a +small volume of 400 or 500 pages. Whenever published, I will, of course, +send you a copy, and then you will see what I mean about the part which I +believe selection has played with domestic productions. It is a very +different part, as you suppose, from that played by "Natural Selection." I +sent off, by the same address as this note, a copy of the 'Journal of the +Linnean Society,' and subsequently I have sent some half-dozen copies of +the paper. I have many other copies at your disposal... + +I am glad to hear that you have been attending to birds' nests. I have +done so, though almost exclusively under one point of view, viz., to show +that instincts vary, so that selection could work on and improve them. Few +other instincts, so to speak, can be preserved in a Museum. + +Many thanks for your offer to look after horses' stripes; If there are any +donkeys, pray add them. I am delighted to hear that you have collected +bees' combs...This is an especial hobby of mine, and I think I can throw a +light on the subject. If you can collect duplicates, at no very great +expense, I should be glad of some specimens for myself with some bees of +each kind. Young, growing, and irregular combs, and those which have not +had pupae, are most valuable for measurements and examination. Their edges +should be well protected against abrasion. + +Every one whom I have seen has thought your paper very well written and +interesting. It puts my extracts (written in 1839, now just twenty years +ago!), which I must say in apology were never for an instant intended for +publication, into the shade. + +You ask about Lyell's frame of mind. I think he is somewhat staggered, but +does not give in, and speaks with horror, often to me, of what a thing it +would be, and what a job it would be for the next edition of 'The +Principles,' if he were "PERverted." But he is most candid and honest, and +I think will end by being PERverted. Dr. Hooker has become almost as +heterodox as you or I, and I look at Hooker as BY FAR the most capable +judge in Europe. + +Most cordially do I wish you health and entire success in all your +pursuits, and, God knows, if admirable zeal and energy deserve success, +most amply do you deserve it. I look at my own career as nearly run out. +If I can publish my Abstract and perhaps my greater work on the same +subject, I shall look at my course as done. + +Believe me, my dear sir, yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, March 2nd [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Here is an odd, though very little, fact. I think it would be hardly +possible to name a bird which apparently could have less to do with +distribution than a Petrel. Sir W. Milner, at St. Kilda, cut open some +young nestling Petrels, and he found large, curious nuts in their crops; I +suspect picked up by parent birds from the Gulf stream. He seems to value +these nuts excessively. I have asked him (but I doubt whether he will) to +send a nut to Sir William Hooker (I gave this address for grandeur sake) to +see if any of you can name it and its native country. Will you PLEASE +MENTION this to Sir William Hooker, and if the nut does arrive, will you +oblige me by returning it to "Sir W. Milner, Bart., Nunappleton, +Tadcaster," in a registered letter, and I will repay you postage. Enclose +slip of paper with the name and country if you can, and let me hereafter +know. Forgive me asking you to take this much trouble; for it is a funny +little fact after my own heart. + +Now for another subject. I have finished my Abstract of the chapter on +Geographical Distribution, as bearing on my subject. I should like you +much to read it; but I say this, believing that you will not do so, if, as +I believe to be the case, you are extra busy. On my honour, I shall not be +mortified, and I earnestly beg you not to do it, if it will bother you. I +want it, because I here feel especially unsafe, and errors may have crept +in. Also, I should much like to know what parts you will MOST VEHEMENTLY +object to. I know we do, and must, differ widely on several heads. +Lastly, I should like particularly to know whether I have taken anything +from you, which you would like to retain for first publication; but I think +I have chiefly taken from your published works, and, though I have several +times, in this chapter and elsewhere, acknowledged your assistance, I am +aware that it is not possible for me in the Abstract to do it sufficiently. +("I never did pick any one's pocket, but whilst writing my present chapter +I keep on feeling (even when differing most from you) just as if I were +stealing from you, so much do I owe to your writings and conversation, so +much more than mere acknowledgments show."--Letter to Sir J.D. Hooker, +1859.) But again let me say that you must not offer to read it if very +irksome. It is long--about ninety pages, I expect, when fully copied out. + +I hope you are all well. Moor Park has done me some good. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Heaven forgive me, here is another question: How far am I right in +supposing that with plants, the most important characters for main +divisions are Embryological? The seed itself cannot be considered as such, +I suppose, nor the albumens, etc. But I suppose the Cotyledons and their +position, and the position of the plumule and the radicle, and the position +and form of the whole embryo in the seed are embryological, and how far are +these very important? I wish to instance plants as a case of high +importance of embryological characters in classification. In the Animal +Kingdom there is, of course, no doubt of this. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, March 5th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Many thanks about the seed...it is curious. Petrels at St. Kilda +apparently being fed by seeds raised in the West Indies. It should be +noted whether it is a nut ever imported into England. I am VERY glad you +will read my Geographical MS.; it is now copying, and it will (I presume) +take ten days or so in being finished; it shall be sent as soon as done... + +I shall be very glad to see your embryological ideas on plants; by the +sentence which I sent you, you will see that I only want one sentence; if +facts are at all, as I suppose, and I shall see this from your note, for +sending which very many thanks. + +I have been so poorly, the last three days, that I sometimes doubt whether +I shall ever get my little volume done, though so nearly completed... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, March 15th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am PLEASED at what you say of my chapter. You have not attacked it +nearly so much as I feared you would. You do not seem to have detected +MANY errors. It was nearly all written from memory, and hence I was +particularly fearful; it would have been better if the whole had first been +carefully written out, and abstracted afterwards. I look at it as morally +certain that it must include much error in some of its general views. I +will just run over a few points in your note, but do not trouble yourself +to reply without you have something important to say... + +...I should like to know whether the case of Endemic bats in islands struck +you; it has me especially; perhaps too strongly. + +With hearty thanks, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. You cannot tell what a relief it has been to me your looking over +this chapter, as I felt very shaky on it. + +I shall to-morrow finish my last chapter (except a recapitulation) on +Affinities, Homologies, Embryology, etc., and the facts seem to me to come +out VERY strong for mutability of species. + +I have been much interested in working out the chapter. + +I shall now, thank God, begin looking over the old first chapters for +press. + +But my health is now so very poor, that even this will take me long. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down [March] 24th [1859]. + +My dear Fox, + +It was very good of you to write to me in the midst of all your troubles, +though you seem to have got over some of them, in the recovery of your +wife's and your own health. I had not heard lately of your mother's +health, and am sorry to hear so poor an account. But as she does not +suffer much, that is the great thing; for mere life I do not think is much +valued by the old. What a time you must have had of it, when you had to go +backwards and forwards. + +We are all pretty well, and our eldest daughter is improving. I can see +daylight through my work, and am now finally correcting my chapters for the +press; and I hope in a month or six weeks to have proof-sheets. I am weary +of my work. It is a very odd thing that I have no sensation that I +overwork my brain; but facts compel me to conclude that my brain was never +formed for much thinking. We are resolved to go for two or three months, +when I have finished, to Ilkley, or some such place, to see if I can anyhow +give my health a good start, for it certainly has been wretched of late, +and has incapacitated me for everything. You do me injustice when you +think that I work for fame; I value it to a certain extent; but, if I know +myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth. How glad +I should be if you could sometime come to Down; especially when I get a +little better, as I still hope to be. We have set up a billiard table, and +I find it does me a deal of good, and drives the horrid species out of my +head. Farewell, my dear old friend. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, March 28th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +If I keep decently well, I hope to be able to go to press with my volume +early in May. This being so, I want much to beg a little advice from you. +>From an expression in Lady Lyell's note, I fancy that you have spoken to +Murray. Is it so? And is he willing to publish my Abstract? If you will +tell me whether anything, and what has passed, I will then write to him. +Does he know at all of the subject of the book? Secondly, can you advise +me, whether I had better state what terms of publication I should prefer, +or first ask him to propose terms? And what do you think would be fair +terms for an edition? Share profits, or what? + +Lastly, will you be so very kind as to look at the enclosed title and give +me your opinion and any criticisms; you must remember that, if I have +health and it appears worth doing, I have a much larger and full book on +the same subject nearly ready. + +My Abstract will be about five hundred pages of the size of your first +edition of the 'Elements of Geology.' + +Pray forgive me troubling you with the above queries; and you shall have no +more trouble on the subject. I hope the world goes well with you, and that +you are getting on with your various works. + +I am working very hard for me, and long to finish and be free and try to +recover some health. + +My dear Lyell, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +Very sincere thanks to you for standing my proxy for the Wollaston Medal. + +P.S. Would you advise me to tell Murray that my book is not more UN- +orthodox than the subject makes inevitable. That I do not discuss the +origin of man. That I do not bring in any discussion about Genesis, etc., +etc., and only give facts, and such conclusions from them as seem to me +fair. + +Or had I better say NOTHING to Murray, and assume that he cannot object to +this much unorthodoxy, which in fact is not more than any Geological +Treatise which runs slap counter to Genesis. + +INCLOSURE. + +AN ABSTRACT OF AN ESSAY + +ON THE + +ORIGIN + +OF + +SPECIES AND VARIETIES + +THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION + +BY + +CHARLES DARWIN, M.A. + +Fellow of the Royal Geological and Linnean Societies + +... + +LONDON: + +etc., etc., etc., etc. + +1859. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, March 30th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +You have been uncommonly kind in all you have done. You not only have +saved me much trouble and some anxiety, but have done all incomparably +better than I could have done it. I am much pleased at all you say about +Murray. I will write either to-day or to-morrow to him, and will send +shortly a large bundle of MS., but unfortunately I cannot for a week, as +the first three chapters are in the copyists' hands. + +I am sorry about Murray objecting to the term Abstract, as I look at it as +the only possible apology for NOT giving references and facts in full, but +I will defer to him and you. I am also sorry about the term "natural +selection." I hope to retain it with explanation somewhat as thus-- + +"Through natural selection, or the preservation of favoured Races." + +Why I like the term is that it is constantly used in all works on breeding, +and I am surprised that it is not familiar to Murray; but I have so long +studied such works that I have ceased to be a competent judge. + +I again most truly and cordially thank you for your really valuable +assistance. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, April 2nd [1859]. + +...I wrote to him [Mr. Murray] and gave him the headings of the chapters, +and told him he could not have the MS. for ten days or so; and this morning +I received a letter, offering me handsome terms, and agreeing to publish +without seeing the MS.! So he is eager enough; I think I should have been +cautious, anyhow, but, owing to your letter, I told him most EXPLICITLY +that I accept his offer solely on condition that, after he has seen part or +all the MS., he has full power of retracting. You will think me +presumptuous, but I think my book will be popular to a certain extent +(enough to ensure [against] heavy loss) amongst scientific and semi- +scientific men; why I think so is, because I have found in conversation so +great and surprising an interest amongst such men, and some o-scientific +[non-scientific] men on this subject, and all my chapters are not NEARLY so +dry and dull as that which you have read on geographical distribution. +Anyhow, Murray ought to be the best judge, and if he chooses to publish it, +I think I may wash my hands of all responsibility. I am sure my friends, +i.e., Lyell and you, have been EXTRAORDINARILY kind in troubling yourselves +on the matter. + +I shall be delighted to see you the day before Good Friday; there would be +one advantage for you in any other day--as I believe both my boys come home +on that day--and it would be almost impossible that I could send the +carriage for you. There will, I believe, be some relations in the house-- +but I hope you will not care for that, as we shall easily get as much +talking as my IMBECILE STATE allows. I shall deeply enjoy seeing you. + +...I am tired, so no more. + +My dear Hooker, your affectionate, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Please to send, well TIED UP with strong string, my Geographical MS., +towards the latter half of next week--i.e., 7th or 8th--that I may send it +with more to Murray; and God help him if he tries to read it. + +...I cannot help a little doubting whether Lyell would take much pains to +induce Murray to publish my book; this was not done at my request, and it +rather grates against my pride. + +I know that Lyell has been INFINITELY kind about my affair, but your dashed +(i.e., underlined] "INDUCE" gives the idea that Lyell had unfairly urged +Murray. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +April 4th [1859]. + +...You ask to see my sheets as printed off; I assure you that it will be +the HIGHEST satisfaction to me to do so: I look at the request as a high +compliment. I shall not, you may depend, forget a request which I look at +as a favour. But (and it is a heavy "but" to me) it will be long before I +go to press; I can truly say I am NEVER idle; indeed, I work too hard for +my much weakened health; yet I can do only three hours of work daily, and I +cannot at all see when I shall have finished: I have done eleven long +chapters, but I have got some other very difficult ones: as palaeontology, +classifications, and embryology, etc., and I have to correct and add +largely to all those done. I find, alas! each chapter takes me on an +average three months, so slow I am. There is no end to the necessary +digressions. I have just finished a chapter on Instinct, and here I found +grappling with such a subject as bees' cells, and comparing all my notes +made during twenty years, took up a despairing length of time. + +But I am running on about myself in a most egotistical style. Yet I must +just say how useful I have again and again found your letters, which I have +lately been looking over and quoting! but you need not fear that I shall +quote anything you would dislike, for I try to be very cautious on this +head. I most heartily hope you may succeed in getting your "incubus" of +old work off your hands, and be in some degree a free man... + +Again let me say that I do indeed feel grateful to you... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Down, April 5th [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +I send by this post, the Title (with some remarks on a separate page), and +the first three chapters. If you have patience to read all Chapter I., I +honestly think you will have a fair notion of the interest of the whole +book. It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the +public, and I am sure that the views are original. If you think otherwise, +I must repeat my request that you will freely reject my work; and though I +shall be a little disappointed, I shall be in no way injured. + +If you choose to read Chapters II. and III., you will have a dull and +rather abstruse chapter, and a plain and interesting one, in my opinion. + +As soon as you have done with the MS., please to send it by CAREFUL +MESSENGER, AND PLAINLY DIRECTED, to Miss G. Tollett, 14, Queen Anne Street, +Cavendish Square. + +This lady, being an excellent judge of style, is going to look out for +errors for me. + +You must take your own time, but the sooner you finish, the sooner she +will, and the sooner I shall get to press, which I so earnestly wish. + +I presume you will wish to see Chapter IV., the key-stone of my arch, and +Chapters X. and XI., but please to inform me on this head. + +My dear Sir, yours sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, April 11th [1859]. + +...I write one line to say that I heard from Murray yesterday, and he says +he has read the first three chapters of one MS.(and this includes a very +dull one), and he abides by his offer. Hence he does not want more MS., +and you can send my Geographical chapter when it pleases you... + + +[Part of the MS. seems to have been lost on its way back to my father; he +wrote (April 14) to Sir J.D. Hooker:] + +"I have the old MS., otherwise, the loss would have killed me! The worst +is now that it will cause delay in getting to press, and FAR WORST of all, +lose all advantage of your having looked over my chapter, except the third +part returned. I am very sorry Mrs. Hooker took the trouble of copying the +two pages." + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[April or May, 1859]. + +...Please do not say to any one that I thought my book on Species would be +fairly popular, and have a fairly remunerative sale (which was the height +of my ambition), for if it prove a dead failure, it would make me the more +ridiculous. + +I enclose a criticism, a taste of the future-- + +REV. S. HAUGHTON'S ADDRESS TO THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, DUBLIN. (February 9, +1859.) + +"This speculation of Messrs. Darwin and Wallace would not be worthy of +notice were it not for the weight of authority of the names (i.e. Lyell's +and yours), under whose auspices it has been brought forward. If it means +what it says, it is a truism; if it means anything more, it is contrary to +fact." + +Q.E.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 11th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Thank you for telling me about obscurity of style. But on my life no +nigger with lash over him could have worked harder at clearness than I have +done. But the very difficulty to me, of itself leads to the probability +that I fail. Yet one lady who has read all my MS. has found only two or +three obscure sentences, but Mrs. Hooker having so found it, makes me +tremble. I will do my best in proofs. You are a good man to take the +trouble to write about it. + +With respect to our mutual muddle ("When I go over the chapter I will see +what I can do, but I hardly know how I am obscure, and I think we are +somehow in a mutual muddle with respect to each other, from starting from +some fundamentally different notions."--Letter of May 6, 1859.), I never +for a moment thought we could not make our ideas clear to each other by +talk, or if either of us had time to write in extenso. + +I imagine from some expressions (but if you ask me what, I could not +answer) that you look at variability as some necessary contingency with +organisms, and further that there is some necessary tendency in the +variability to go on diverging in character or degree. IF YOU DO, I do not +agree. "Reversion" again (a form of inheritance), I look at as in no way +directly connected with Variation, though of course inheritance is of +fundamental importance to us, for if a variation be not inherited, it is of +no significance to us. It was on such points as these I FANCIED that we +perhaps started differently. + +I fear that my book will not deserve at all the pleasant things you say +about it; and Good Lord, how I do long to have done with it! + +Since the above was written, I have received and have been MUCH INTERESTED +by A. Gray. I am delighted at his note about my and Wallace's paper. He +will go round, for it is futile to give up very many species, and stop at +an arbitrary line at others. It is what my grandfather called +Unitarianism, "a feather bed to catch a falling Christian."... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 18th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +My health has quite failed. I am off to-morrow for a week of Hydropathy. +I am very very sorry to say that I cannot look over any proofs (Of Sir J. +Hooker's Introduction to the 'Flora of Australia.') in the week, as my +object is to drive the subject out of my head. I shall return to-morrow +week. If it be worth while, which probably it is not, you could keep back +any proofs till my return home. + +In haste, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[Ten days later he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker: + +"...I write one word to say that I shall return on Saturday, and if you +have any proof-sheets to send, I shall be glad to do my best in any +criticisms. + +I had...great prostration of mind and body, but entire rest, and the +douche, and 'Adam Bede,' have together done me a world of good."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Down, June 14th [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +The diagram will do very well, and I will send it shortly to Mr. West to +have a few trifling corrections made. + +I get on very slowly with proofs. I remember writing to you that I thought +there would not be much correction. I honestly wrote what I thought, but +was most grievously mistaken. I find the style incredibly bad, and most +difficult to make clear and smooth. I am extremely sorry to say, on +account of expense, and loss of time for me, that the corrections are very +heavy, as heavy as possible. But from casual glances, I still hope that +later chapters are not so badly written. How I could have written so badly +is quite inconceivable, but I suppose it was owing to my whole attention +being fixed on the general line of argument, and not on details. All I can +say is, that I am very sorry. + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S. I have been looking at the corrections, and considering them. It +seems to me that I shall put you to a quite unfair expense. If you please +I should like to enter into some such arrangement as the following: when +work completed, you to allow in the account a fairly moderately heavy +charge for corrections, and all excess over that to be deducted from my +profits, or paid by me individually. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, June 21st [1859]. + +I am working very hard, but get on slowly, for I find that my corrections +are terrifically heavy, and the work most difficult to me. I have +corrected 130 pages, and the volume will be about 500. I have tried my +best to make it clear and striking, but very much fear that I have failed-- +so many discussions are and must be very perplexing. I have done my best. +If you had all my materials, I am sure you would have made a splendid book. +I long to finish, for I am nearly worn out. + +My dear Lyell, ever yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 22nd [June, 1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I did not answer your pleasant note, with a good deal of news to me, of May +30th, as I have been expecting proofs from you. But now, having nothing +particular to do, I will fly a note, though I have nothing particular to +say or ask. Indeed, how can a man have anything to say, who spends every +day in correcting accursed proofs; and such proofs! I have fairly to +blacken them, and fasten slips of paper on, so miserable have I found the +style. You say that you dreamt that my book was ENTERTAINING; that dream +is pretty well over with me, and I begin to fear that the public will find +it intolerably dry and perplexing. But I will never give up that a better +man could have made a splendid book out of the materials. I was glad to +hear about Prestwich's paper. (Mr. Prestwich wrote on the occurrence of +flint instruments associated with the remains of extinct animals in +France.--(Proc. R. Soc., 1859.)) My doubt has been (and I see Wright has +inserted the same in the 'Athenaeum') whether the pieces of flint are +really tools; their numbers make me doubt, and when I formerly looked at +Boucher de Perthe's drawings, I came to the conclusion that they were +angular fragments broken by ice action. + +Did crossing the Acacia do any good? I am so hard worked, that I can make +no experiments. I have got only to 150 pages in first proof. + +Adios, my dear Hooker, ever yours, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Down, July 25th [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +I write to say that five sheets are returned to the printers ready to +strike off, and two more sheets require only a revise; so that I presume +you will soon have to decide what number of copies to print off. + +I am quite incapable of forming an opinion. I think I have got the style +FAIRLY good and clear, with infinite trouble. But whether the book will be +successful to a degree to satisfy you, I really cannot conjecture. I +heartily hope it may. + +My dear Sir, yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, August 9th, 1859. + +My dear Mr. Wallace, + +I received your letter and memoir (This seems to refer to Mr. Wallace's +paper, "On the Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago," 'Linn. Soc. +Journ,' 1860.) on the 7th, and will forward it to-morrow to the Linnean +Society. But you will be aware that there is no meeting till the beginning +of November. Your paper seems to me ADMIRABLE in matter, style, and +reasoning; and I thank you for allowing me to read it. Had I read it some +months ago, I should have profited by it for my forthcoming volume. But my +two chapters on this subject are in type, and, though not yet corrected, I +am so wearied out and weak in health, that I am fully resolved not to add +one word, and merely improve the style. So you will see that my views are +nearly the same with yours, and you may rely on it that not one word shall +be altered owing to my having read your ideas. Are you aware that Mr. W. +Earl (Probably Mr. W. Earle's paper, Geographical Soc. Journal, 1845.) +published several years ago the view of distribution of animals in the +Malay Archipelago, in relation to the depth of the sea between the islands? +I was much struck with this, and have been in the habit of noting all facts +in distribution in that archipelago, and elsewhere, in this relation. I +have been led to conclude that there has been a good deal of naturalisation +in the different Malay islands, and which I have thought, to a certain +extent, would account for anomalies. Timor has been my greatest puzzle. +What do you say to the peculiar Felis there? I wish that you had visited +Timor; it has been asserted that a fossil mastodon's or elephant's tooth (I +forget which) has been found there, which would be a grand fact. I was +aware that Celebes was very peculiar; but the relation to Africa is quite +new to me, and marvellous, and almost passes belief. It is as anomalous as +the relation of PLANTS in S.W. Australia to the Cape of Good Hope. I +differ WHOLLY from you on the colonisation of oceanic islands, but you will +have EVERY ONE else on your side. I quite agree with respect to all +islands not situated far in the ocean. I quite agree on the little +occasional intermigration between lands [islands?] when once pretty well +stocked with inhabitants, but think this does not apply to rising and ill- +stocked islands. Are you aware that ANNUALLY birds are blown to Madeira, +the Azores (and to Bermuda from America). I wish I had given a fuller +abstract of my reasons for not believing in Forbes' great continental +extensions; but it is too late, for I will alter nothing--I am worn out, +and must have rest. Owen, I do not doubt, will bitterly oppose us...Hooker +is publishing a grand introduction to the Flora of Australia, and goes the +whole length. I have seen proofs of about half. With every good wish. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, September 1st [1859]. + +...I am not surprised at your finding your Introduction very difficult. +But do not grudge the labour, and do not say you "have burnt your fingers," +and are "deep in the mud"; for I feel sure that the result will be well +worth the labour. Unless I am a fool, I must be a judge to some extent of +the value of such general essays, and I am fully convinced that yours are +the must valuable ever published. + +I have corrected all but the last two chapters of my book, and hope to have +done revises and all in about three weeks, and then I (or we all) shall +start for some months' hydropathy; my health has been very bad, and I am +becoming as weak as a child, and incapable of doing anything whatever, +except my three hours daily work at proof-sheets. God knows whether I +shall ever be good at anything again, perhaps a long rest and hydropathy +may do something. + +I have not had A. Gray's Essay, and should not feel up to criticise it, +even if I had the impertinence and courage. You will believe me that I +speak strictly the truth when I say that your Australian Essay is EXTREMELY +interesting to me, rather too much so. I enjoy reading it over, and if you +think my criticisms are worth anything to you, I beg you to send the sheets +(if you can give me time for good days); but unless I can render you any +little, however little assistance, I would rather read the essay when +published. Pray understand that I should be TRULY vexed not to read them, +if you wish it for your own sake. + +I had a terribly long fit of sickness yesterday, which makes the world +rather extra gloomy to-day, and I have an insanely strong wish to finish my +accursed book, such corrections every page has required as I never saw +before. It is so weariful, killing the whole afternoon, after 12 o'clock +doing nothing whatever. But I will grumble no more. So farewell, we shall +meet in the winter I trust. + +Farewell, my dear Hooker, your affectionate friend, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 2nd [1859]. + +...I am very glad you wish to see my clean sheets: I should have offered +them, but did not know whether it would bore you; I wrote by this morning's +post to Murray to send them. Unfortunately I have not got to the part +which will interest you, I think most, and which tells most in favour of +the view, viz., Geological Succession, Geographical Distribution, and +especially Morphology, Embryology and Rudimentary Organs. I will see that +the remaining sheets, when printed off, are sent to you. But would you +like for me to send the last and perfect revises of the sheets as I correct +them? if so, send me your address in a blank envelope. I hope that you +will read all, whether dull (especially latter part of Chapter II.) or not, +for I am convinced there is not a sentence which has not a bearing on the +whole argument. You will find Chapter IV. perplexing and unintelligible, +without the aid of the enclosed queer diagram (The diagram illustrates +descent with divergence.), of which I send an old and useless proof. I +have, as Murray says, corrected so heavily, as almost to have re-written +it; but yet I fear it is poorly written. Parts are intricate; and I do not +think that even you could make them quite clear. Do not, I beg, be in a +hurry in committing yourself (like so many naturalists) to go a certain +length and no further; for I am deeply convinced that it is absolutely +necessary to go the whole vast length, or stick to the creation of each +separate species; I argue this point briefly in the last chapter. Remember +that your verdict will probably have more influence than my book in +deciding whether such views as I hold will be admitted or rejected at +present; in the future I cannot doubt about their admittance, and our +posterity will marvel as much about the current belief as we do about +fossils shells having been thought to have been created as we now see them. +But forgive me for running on about my hobby-horse... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [September] 11th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I corrected the last proof yesterday, and I have now my revises, index, +etc., which will take me near to the end of the month. So that the neck of +my work, thank God, is broken. + +I write now to say that I am uneasy in my conscience about hesitating to +look over your proofs, but I was feeling miserably unwell and shattered +when I wrote. I do not suppose I could be of hardly any use, but if I +could, pray send me any proofs. I should be (and fear I was) the most +ungrateful man to hesitate to do anything for you after some fifteen or +more years' help from you. + +As soon as ever I have fairly finished I shall be off to Ilkley, or some +other Hydropathic establishment. But I shall be some time yet, as my +proofs have been so utterly obscured with corrections, that I have to +correct heavily on revises. + +Murray proposes to publish the first week in November. Oh, good heavens, +the relief to my head and body to banish the whole subject from my mind! + +I hope to God, you do not think me a brute about your proof-sheets. + +Farewell, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 20th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +You once gave me intense pleasure, or rather delight, by the way you were +interested, in a manner I never expected, in my Coral Reef notions, and now +you have again given me similar pleasure by the manner you have noticed my +species work. (Sir Charles was President of the Geological section at the +meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen in 1859. The following +passage occurs in the address: "On this difficult and mysterious subject a +work will very shortly appear by Mr. Charles Darwin, the result of twenty +years of observations and experiments in Zoology, Botany, and Geology, by +which he had been led to the conclusion that those powers of nature which +give rise to races and permanent varieties in animals and plants, are the +same as those which in much longer periods produce species, and in a still +longer series of ages give rise to differences of generic rank. He appears +to me to have succeeded by his investigations and reasonings in throwing a +flood of light on many classes of phenomena connected with the affinities, +geographical distribution, and geological succession of organic beings, for +which no other hypothesis has been able, or has even attempted to +account.") Nothing could be more satisfactory to me, and I thank you for +myself, and even more for the subject's sake, as I know well that the +sentence will make many fairly consider the subject, instead of ridiculing +it. Although your previously felt doubts on the immutability of species, +may have more influence in converting you (if you be converted) than my +book; yet as I regard your verdict as far more important in my own eyes, +and I believe in the eyes of the world than of any other dozen men, I am +naturally very anxious about it. Therefore let me beg you to keep your +mind open till you receive (in perhaps a fortnight's time) my latter +chapters, which are the most important of all on the favourable side. The +last chapter, which sums up and balances in a mass all the arguments contra +and pro, will, I think, be useful to you. I cannot too strongly express my +conviction of the general truth of my doctrines, and God knows I have never +shirked a difficulty. I am foolishly anxious for your verdict, not that I +shall be disappointed if you are not converted; for I remember the long +years it took me to come round; but I shall be most deeply delighted if you +do come round, especially if I have a fair share in the conversion, I shall +then feel that my career is run, and care little whether I ever am good for +anything again in this life. + +Thank you much for allowing me to put in the sentence about your grave +doubt. (As to the immutability of species, 'Origin,' Edition i., page +310.) So much and too much about myself. + +I have read with extreme interest in the Aberdeen paper about the flint +tools; you have made the whole case far clearer to me; I suppose that you +did not think the evidence sufficient about the Glacial period. + +With cordial thanks for your splendid notice of my book. + +Believe me, my dear Lyell, your affectionate disciple, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Down, September 23rd [1859]. + +My dear Fox, + +I was very glad to get your letter a few days ago. I was wishing to hear +about you, but have been in such an absorbed, slavish, overworked state, +that I had not heart without compulsion to write to any one or do anything +beyond my daily work. Though your account of yourself is better, I cannot +think it at all satisfactory, and I wish you would soon go to Malvern +again. My father used to believe largely in an old saying that, if a man +grew thinner between fifty and sixty years of age, his chance of long life +was poor, and that on the contrary it was a very good sign if he grew +fatter; so that your stoutness, I look at as a very good omen. My health +has been as bad as it well could be all this summer; and I have kept on my +legs, only by going at short intervals to Moor Park; but I have been better +lately, and, thank Heaven, I have at last as good as done my book, having +only the index and two or three revises to do. It will be published in the +first week in November, and a copy shall be sent you. Remember it is only +an Abstract (but has cost me above thirteen months to write!!), and facts +and authorities are far from given in full. I shall be curious to hear +what you think of it, but I am not so silly as to expect to convert you. +Lyell has read about half of the volume in clean sheets, and gives me very +great kudos. He is wavering so much about the immutability of species, +that I expect he will come round. Hooker has come round, and will publish +his belief soon. So much for my abominable volume, which has cost me so +much labour that I almost hate it. On October 3rd I start for Ilkley, but +shall take three days for the journey! It is so late that we shall not +take a house; but I go there alone for three or four weeks, then return +home for a week and go to Moor Park for three or four weeks, and then I +shall get a moderate spell of hydropathy: and I intend, if I can keep to +my resolution, of being idle this winter. But I fear ennui will be as bad +as a bad stomach... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 25th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I send by this post four corrected sheets. I have altered the sentence +about the Eocene fauna being beaten by recent, thanks to your remark. But +I imagined that it would have been clear that I supposed the climate to be +nearly similar; you do not doubt, I imagine, that the climate of the eocene +and recent periods in DIFFERENT parts of the world could be matched. Not +that I think climate nearly so important as most naturalists seem to think. +In my opinion no error is more mischievous than this. + +I was very glad to find that Hooker, who read over, in MS., my Geographical +chapters, quite agreed in the view of the greater importance of organic +relations. I should like you to consider page 77 and reflect on the case +of any organism in the midst of its range. + +I shall be curious hereafter to hear what you think of distribution during +the glacial and preceding warmer periods. I am so glad you do not think +the Chapter on the Imperfection of the Geological Record exaggerated; I was +more fearful about this chapter than about any part. + +Embryology in Chapter VIII. is one of my strongest points I think. But I +must not bore you by running on. My mind is so wearisomely full of the +subject. + +I do thank you for your eulogy at Aberdeen. I have been so wearied and +exhausted of late that I have for months doubted whether I have not been +throwing away time and labour for nothing. But now I care not what the +universal world says; I have always found you right, and certainly on this +occasion I am not going to doubt for the first time. Whether you go far, +or but a very short way with me and others who believe as I do, I am +contented, for my work cannot be in vain. You would laugh if you knew how +often I have read your paragraph, and it has acted like a little dram... + +Farewell, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 30th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I sent off this morning the last sheets, but without index, which is not in +type. I look at you as my Lord High Chancellor in Natural Science, and +therefore I request you, after you have finished, just to RERUN over the +heads in the Recapitulation-part of last chapter. I shall be deeply +anxious to hear what you decide (if you are able to decide) on the balance +of the pros and contras given in my volume, and of such other pros and +contras as may occur to you. I hope that you will think that I have given +the difficulties fairly. I feel an entire conviction that if you are now +staggered to any moderate extent, that you will come more and more round, +the longer you keep the subject at all before your mind. I remember well +how many long years it was before I could look into the faces of some of +the difficulties and not feel quite abashed. I fairly struck my colours +before the case of neuter insects. + +I suppose that I am a very slow thinker, for you would be surprised at the +number of years it took me to see clearly what some of the problems were +which had to be solved, such as the necessity of the principle of +divergence of character, the extinction of intermediate varieties, on a +continuous area, with graduated conditions; the double problem of sterile +first crosses and sterile hybrids, etc., etc. + +Looking back, I think it was more difficult to see what the problems were +than to solve them, so far as I have succeeded in doing, and this seems to +me rather curious. Well, good or bad, my work, thank God, is over; and +hard work, I can assure you, I have had, and much work which has never +borne fruit. You can see, by the way I am scribbling, that I have an idle +and rainy afternoon. I was not able to start for Ilkley yesterday as I was +too unwell; but I hope to get there on Tuesday or Wednesday. Do, I beg +you, when you have finished my book and thought a little over it, let me +hear from you. Never mind and pitch into me, if you think it requisite; +some future day, in London possibly, you may give me a few criticisms in +detail, that is, if you have scribbled any remarks on the margin, for the +chance of a second edition. + +Murray has printed 1250 copies, which seems to me rather too large an +edition, but I hope he will not lose. + +I make as much fuss about my book as if it were my first. Forgive me, and +believe me, my dear Lyell, + +Yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, October 15th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Be a good man and screw out time enough to write me a note and tell me a +little about yourself, your doings, and belongings. + +Is your Introduction fairly finished? I know you will abuse it, and I know +well how much I shall like it. I have been here nearly a fortnight, and it +has done me very much good, though I sprained my ankle last Sunday, which +has quite stopped walking. All my family come here on Monday to stop three +or four weeks, and then I shall go back to the great establishment, and +stay a fortnight; so that if I can keep my spirits, I shall stay eight +weeks here, and thus give hydropathy a fair chance. Before starting here I +was in an awful state of stomach, strength, temper, and spirits. My book +has been completely finished some little time; as soon as copies are ready, +of course one will be sent you. I hope you will mark your copy with +scores, so that I may profit by any criticisms. I should like to hear your +general impression. From Lyell's letters, he thinks favourably of it, but +seems staggered by the lengths to which I go. But if you go any +considerable length in the admission of modification, I can see no possible +means of drawing the line, and saying here you must stop. Lyell is going +to reread my book, and I yet entertain hopes that he will be converted, or +perverted, as he calls it. Lyell has been EXTREMELY kind in writing me +three volume-like letters; but he says nothing about dispersal during the +glacial period. I should like to know what he thinks on this head. I have +one question to ask: Would it be any good to send a copy of my book to +Decaisne? and do you know any philosophical botanists on the Continent, who +read English and care for such subjects? if so, give their addresses. How +about Andersson in Sweden? You cannot think how refreshing it is to idle +away the whole day, and hardly ever think in the least about my confounded +book which half-killed me. I much wish I could hear of your taking a real +rest. I know how very strong you are, mentally, but I never will believe +you can go on working as you have worked of late with impunity. You will +some day stretch the string too tight. Farewell, my good, and kind, and +dear friend, + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Ilkley, Otley, Yorkshire, October 15th [1859]. + +My dear Huxley, + +I am here hydropathising and coming to life again, after having finished my +accursed book, which would have been easy work to any one else, but half- +killed me. I have thought you would give me one bit of information, and I +know not to whom else to apply; viz., the addresses of Barrande, Von +Siebold, Keyserling (I dare say Sir Roderick would know the latter). + +Can you tell me of any good and SPECULATIVE foreigners to whom it would be +worth while to send copies of my book, on the 'Origin of Species'? I doubt +whether it is worth sending to Siebold. I should like to send a few copies +about, but how many I can afford I know not yet till I hear what price +Murray affixes. + +I need not say that I will send, of course, one to you, in the first week +of November. I hope to send copies abroad immediately. I shall be +INTENSELY curious to hear what effect the book produces on you. I know +that there will be much in it which you will object to, and I do not doubt +many errors. I am very far from expecting to convert you to many of my +heresies; but if, on the whole, you and two or three others think I am on +the right road, I shall not care what the mob of naturalists think. The +penultimate chapter (Chapter XIII. is on Classification, Morphology, +Embryology, and Rudimentary Organs.), though I believe it includes the +truth, will, I much fear, make you savage. Do not act and say, like +Macleay versus Fleming, "I write with aqua fortis to bite into brass." + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +October 20th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been reading over all your letters consecutively, and I do not feel +that I have thanked you half enough for the extreme pleasure which they +have given me, and for their utility. I see in them evidence of +fluctuation in the degree of credence you give to the theory; nor am I at +all surprised at this, for many and many fluctuations I have undergone. + +There is one point in your letter which I did not notice, about the animals +(and many plants) naturalised in Australia, which you think could not +endure without man's aid. I cannot see how man does aid the feral cattle. +But, letting that pass, you seem to think, that because they suffer +prodigious destruction during droughts, that they would all be destroyed. +In the "gran secos" of La Plata, the indigenous animals, such as the +American deer, die by thousands, and suffer apparently as much as the +cattle. In parts of India, after a drought, it takes ten or more years +before the indigenous mammals get up to their full number again. Your +argument would, I think, apply to the aborigines as well as to the feral. + +An animal or plant which becomes feral in one small territory might be +destroyed by climate, but I can hardly believe so, when once feral over +several large territories. Again, I feel inclined to swear at climate: do +not think me impudent for attacking you about climate. You say you doubt +whether man could have existed under the Eocene climate, but man can now +withstand the climate of Esquimaux-land and West Equatorial Africa; and +surely you do not think the Eocene climate differed from the present +throughout all Europe, as much as the Arctic regions differ from Equatorial +Africa? + +With respect to organisms being created on the American type in America, it +might, I think, be said that they were so created to prevent them being too +well created, so as to beat the aborigines; but this seems to me, somehow, +a monstrous doctrine. + +I have reflected a good deal on what you say on the necessity of continued +intervention of creative power. I cannot see this necessity; and its +admission, I think, would make the theory of Natural Selection valueless. +Grant a simple Archetypal creature, like the Mud-fish or Lepidosiren, with +the five senses and some vestige of mind, and I believe natural selection +will account for the production of every vertebrate animal. + +Farewell; forgive me for indulging in this prose, and believe me, with +cordial thanks, + +Your ever attached disciple, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--When, and if, you reread, I supplicate you to write on the margin the +word "expand," when too condensed, or "not clear." or "?." Such marks +would cost you little trouble, and I could copy them and reflect on them, +and their value would be infinite to me. + +My larger book will have to be wholly re-written, and not merely the +present volume expanded; so that I want to waste as little time over this +volume as possible, if another edition be called for; but I fear the +subject will be too perplexing, as I have treated it, for general public. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +Sunday [October 23rd, 1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I congratulate you on your 'Introduction' ("Australian Flora".) being in +fact finished. I am sure from what I read of it (and deeply I shall be +interested in reading it straight through), that it must have cost you a +prodigious amount of labour and thought. I shall like very much to see the +sheet, which you wish me to look at. Now I am so completely a gentleman, +that I have sometimes a little difficulty to pass the day; but it is +astonishing how idle a three weeks I have passed. If it is any comfort to +you, pray delude yourself by saying that you intend "sticking to humdrum +science." But I believe it just as much as if a plant were to say that, "I +have been growing all my life, and, by Jove, I will stop growing." You +cannot help yourself; you are not clever enough for that. You could not +even remain idle, as I have done, for three weeks! What you say about +Lyell pleases me exceedingly; I had not at all inferred from his letters +that he had come so much round. I remember thinking, above a year ago, +that if ever I lived to see Lyell, yourself, and Huxley come round, partly +by my book, and partly by their own reflections, I should feel that the +subject is safe, and all the world might rail, but that ultimately the +theory of Natural Selection (though, no doubt, imperfect in its present +condition, and embracing many errors) would prevail. Nothing will ever +convince me that three such men, with so much diversified knowledge, and so +well accustomed to search for truth, could err greatly. I have spoken of +you here as a convert made by me; but I know well how much larger the share +has been of your own self-thought. I am intensely curious to hear Huxley's +opinion of my book. I fear my long discussion on Classification will +disgust him; for it is much opposed to what he once said to me. + +But, how I am running on. You see how idle I am; but I have so enjoyed +your letter that you must forgive me. With respect to migration during the +glacial period: I think Lyell quite comprehends, for he has given me a +supporting fact. But, perhaps, he unconsciously hates (do not say so to +him) the view as slightly staggering him on his favourite theory of all +changes of climate being due to changes in the relative position of land +and water. + +I will send copies of my book to all the men specified by you;...you would +be so kind as to add title, as Doctor, or Professor, or Monsieur, or Von, +and initials (when wanted), and addresses to the names on the enclosed +list, and let me have it pretty SOON, as towards the close of this week +Murray says the copies to go abroad will be ready. I am anxious to get my +view generally known, and not, I hope and think, for mere personal +conceit... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, October 25th [1859]. + +...Our difference on "principle of improvement" and "power of adaptation" +is too profound for discussion by letter. If I am wrong, I am quite blind +to my error. If I am right, our difference will be got over only by your +re-reading carefully and reflecting on my first four chapters. I +supplicate you to read these again carefully. The so-called improvement of +our Shorthorn cattle, pigeons, etc., does not presuppose or require any +aboriginal "power of adaptation," or "principle of improvement;" it +requires only diversified variability, and man to select or take advantage +of those modifications which are useful to him; so under nature any slight +modification which CHANCES to arise, and is useful to any creature, is +selected or preserved in the struggle for life; any modification which is +injurious is destroyed or rejected; any which is neither useful nor +injurious will be left a fluctuating element. When you contrast natural +selection and "improvement," you seem always to overlook (for I do not see +how you can deny) that every step in the natural selection of each species +implies improvement in that species in relation to its conditions of life. +No modification can be selected without it be an improvement or advantage. +Improvement implies, I suppose, each form obtaining many parts or organs, +all excellently adapted for their functions. As each species is improved, +and as the number of forms will have increased, if we look to the whole +course of time, the organic condition of life for other forms will become +more complex, and there will be a necessity for other forms to become +improved, or they will be exterminated; and I can see no limit to this +process of improvement, without the intervention of any other and direct +principle of improvement. All this seems to me quite compatible with +certain forms fitted for simple conditions, remaining unaltered, or being +degraded. + +If I have a second edition, I will reiterate "Natural Selection," and, as a +general consequence, "Natural Improvement." + +As you go, as far as you do, I begin strongly to think, judging from +myself, that you will go much further. How slowly the older geologists +admitted your grand views on existing geological causes of change! + +If at any time you think I can answer any question, it is a real pleasure +to me to write. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Ilkley, Yorkshire [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +I have received your kind note and the copy; I am infinitely pleased and +proud at the appearance of my child. + +I quite agree to all you propose about price. But you are really too +generous about the, to me, scandalously heavy corrections. Are you not +acting unfairly towards yourself? Would it not be better at least to share +the 72 pounds 8 shillings? I shall be fully satisfied, for I had no +business to send, though quite unintentionally and unexpectedly, such badly +composed MS. to the printers. + +Thank you for your kind offer to distribute the copies to my friends and +assistors as soon as possible. Do not trouble yourself much about the +foreigners, as Messrs. Williams and Norgate have most kindly offered to do +their best, and they are accustomed to send to all parts of the world. + +I will pay for my copies whenever you like. I am so glad that you were so +good as to undertake the publication of my book. + +My dear Sir, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--Please do not forget to let me hear about two days before the copies +are distributed. + +I do not know when I shall leave this place, certainly not for several +weeks. Whenever I am in London I will call on you. + + +CHAPTER 1.XIV. + +BY PROFESSOR HUXLEY. + +ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +To the present generation, that is to say, the people a few years on the +hither and thither side of thirty, the name of Charles Darwin stands +alongside of those of Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday; and, like them, +calls up the grand ideal of a searcher after truth and interpreter of +Nature. They think of him who bore it as a rare combination of genius, +industry, and unswerving veracity, who earned his place among the most +famous men of the age by sheer native power, in the teeth of a gale of +popular prejudice, and uncheered by a sign of favour or appreciation from +the official fountains of honour; as one who in spite of an acute +sensitiveness to praise and blame, and notwithstanding provocations which +might have excused any outbreak, kept himself clear of all envy, hatred, +and malice, nor dealt otherwise than fairly and justly with the unfairness +and injustice which was showered upon him; while, to the end of his days, +he was ready to listen with patience and respect to the most insignificant +of reasonable objectors. + +And with respect to that theory of the origin of the forms of life peopling +our globe, with which Darwin's name is bound up as closely as that of +Newton with the theory of gravitation, nothing seems to be further from the +mind of the present generation than any attempt to smother it with ridicule +or to crush it by vehemence of denunciation. "The struggle for existence," +and "Natural selection," have become household words and every-day +conceptions. The reality and the importance of the natural processes on +which Darwin founds his deductions are no more doubted than those of growth +and multiplication; and, whether the full potency attributed to them is +admitted or not, no one doubts their vast and far-reaching significance. +Wherever the biological sciences are studied, the 'Origin of Species' +lights the paths of the investigator; wherever they are taught it permeates +the course of instruction. Nor has the influence of Darwinian ideas been +less profound, beyond the realms of Biology. The oldest of all +philosophies, that of Evolution, was bound hand and foot and cast into +utter darkness during the millennium of theological scholasticism. But +Darwin poured new life-blood into the ancient frame; the bonds burst, and +the revivified thought of ancient Greece has proved itself to be a more +adequate expression of the universal order of things than any of the +schemes which have been accepted by the credulity and welcomed by the +superstition of seventy later generations of men. + +To any one who studies the signs of the times, the emergence of the +philosophy of Evolution, in the attitude of claimant to the throne of the +world of thought, from the limbo of hated and, as many hoped, forgotten +things, is the most portentous event of the nineteenth century. But the +most effective weapons of the modern champions of Evolution were fabricated +by Darwin; and the 'Origin of Species' has enlisted a formidable body of +combatants, trained in the severe school of Physical Science, whose ears +might have long remained deaf to the speculations of a priori philosophers. + +I do not think any candid or instructed person will deny the truth of that +which has just been asserted. He may hate the very name of Evolution, and +may deny its pretensions as vehemently as a Jacobite denied those of George +the Second. But there it is--not only as solidly seated as the Hanoverian +dynasty, but happily independent of Parliamentary sanction--and the dullest +antagonists have come to see that they have to deal with an adversary whose +bones are to be broken by no amount of bad words. + +Even the theologians have almost ceased to pit the plain meaning of Genesis +against the no less plain meaning of Nature. Their more candid, or more +cautious, representatives have given up dealing with Evolution as if it +were a damnable heresy, and have taken refuge in one of two courses. +Either they deny that Genesis was meant to teach scientific truth, and thus +save the veracity of the record at the expense of its authority; or they +expend their energies in devising the cruel ingenuities of the reconciler, +and torture texts in the vain hope of making them confess the creed of +Science. But when the peine forte et dure is over, the antique sincerity +of the venerable sufferer always reasserts itself. Genesis is honest to +the core, and professes to be no more than it is, a repository of venerable +traditions of unknown origin, claiming no scientific authority and +possessing none. + +As my pen finishes these passages, I can but be amused to think what a +terrible hubbub would have been made (in truth was made) about any similar +expressions of opinion a quarter of a century ago. In fact, the contrast +between the present condition of public opinion upon the Darwinian +question; between the estimation in which Darwin's views are now held in +the scientific world; between the acquiescence, or at least quiescence, of +the theologians of the self-respecting order at the present day and the +outburst of antagonism on all sides in 1858-9, when the new theory +respecting the origin of species first became known to the older generation +to which I belong, is so startling that, except for documentary evidence, I +should be sometimes inclined to think my memories dreams. I have a great +respect for the younger generation myself (they can write our lives, and +ravel out all our follies, if they choose to take the trouble, by and by), +and I should be glad to be assured that the feeling is reciprocal; but I am +afraid that the story of our dealings with Darwin may prove a great +hindrance to that veneration for our wisdom which I should like them to +display. We have not even the excuse that, thirty years ago, Mr. Darwin +was an obscure novice, who had no claims on our attention. On the +contrary, his remarkable zoological and geological investigations had long +given him an assured position among the most eminent and original +investigators of the day; while his charming 'Voyage of a Naturalist' had +justly earned him a wide-spread reputation among the general public. I +doubt if there was any man then living who had a better right to expect +that anything he might choose to say on such a question as the Origin of +Species would be listened to with profound attention, and discussed with +respect; and there was certainly no man whose personal character should +have afforded a better safeguard against attacks, instinct with malignity +and spiced with shameless impertinences. + +Yet such was the portion of one of the kindest and truest men that it was +ever my good fortune to know; and years had to pass away before +misrepresentation, ridicule, and denunciation, ceased to be the most +notable constituents of the majority of the multitudinous criticisms of his +work which poured from the press. I am loth to rake any of these ancient +scandals from their well-deserved oblivion; but I must make good a +statement which may seem overcharged to the present generation, and there +is no piece justificative more apt for the purpose, or more worthy of such +dishonour, than the article in the 'Quarterly Review' for July, 1860. (I +was not aware when I wrote these passages that the authorship of the +article had been publicly acknowledged. Confession unaccompanied by +penitence, however, affords no ground for mitigation of judgment; and the +kindliness with which Mr. Darwin speaks of his assailant, Bishop +Wilberforce (vol.ii.), is so striking an exemplification of his singular +gentleness and modesty, that it rather increases one's indignation against +the presumption of his critic.) Since Lord Brougham assailed Dr. Young, +the world has seen no such specimen of the insolence of a shallow pretender +to a Master in Science as this remarkable production, in which one of the +most exact of observers, most cautious of reasoners, and most candid of +expositors, of this or any other age, is held up to scorn as a "flighty" +person, who endeavours "to prop up his utterly rotten fabric of guess and +speculation," and whose "mode of dealing with nature" is reprobated as +"utterly dishonourable to Natural Science." And all this high and mighty +talk, which would have been indecent in one of Mr. Darwin's equals, +proceeds from a writer whose want of intelligence, or of conscience, or of +both, is so great, that, by way of an objection to Mr. Darwin's views, he +can ask, "Is it credible that all favourable varieties of turnips are +tending to become men;" who is so ignorant of paleontology, that he can +talk of the "flowers and fruits" of the plants of the carboniferous epoch; +of comparative anatomy, that he can gravely affirm the poison apparatus of +the venomous snakes to be "entirely separate from the ordinary laws of +animal life, and peculiar to themselves;" of the rudiments of physiology, +that he can ask, "what advantage of life could alter the shape of the +corpuscles into which the blood can be evaporated?" Nor does the reviewer +fail to flavour this outpouring of preposterous incapacity with a little +stimulation of the odium theologicum. Some inkling of the history of the +conflicts between Astronomy, Geology, and Theology, leads him to keep a +retreat open by the proviso that he cannot "consent to test the truth of +Natural Science by the word of Revelation;" but, for all that, he devotes +pages to the exposition of his conviction that Mr. Darwin's theory +"contradicts the revealed relation of the creation to its Creator," and is +"inconsistent with the fulness of his glory." + +If I confine my retrospect of the reception of the 'Origin of Species' to a +twelvemonth, or thereabouts, from the time of its publication, I do not +recollect anything quite so foolish and unmannerly as the 'Quarterly +Review' article, unless, perhaps, the address of a Reverend Professor to +the Dublin Geological Society might enter into competition with it. But a +large proportion of Mr. Darwin's critics had a lamentable resemblance to +the 'Quarterly' reviewer, in so far as they lacked either the will, or the +wit, to make themselves masters of his doctrine; hardly any possessed the +knowledge required to follow him through the immense range of biological +and geological science which the 'Origin' covered; while, too commonly, +they had prejudiced the case on theological grounds, and, as seems to be +inevitable when this happens, eked out lack of reason by superfluity of +railing. + +But it will be more pleasant and more profitable to consider those +criticisms, which were acknowledged by writers of scientific authority, or +which bore internal evidence of the greater or less competency and, often, +of the good faith, of their authors. Restricting my survey to a +twelvemonth, or thereabouts, after the publication of the 'Origin,' I find +among such critics Louis Agassiz ("The arguments presented by Darwin in +favor of a universal derivation from one primary form of all the +peculiarities existing now among living beings have not made the slightest +impression on my mind." + +"Until the facts of Nature are shown to have been mistaken by those who +have collected them, and that they have a different meaning from that now +generally assigned to them, I shall therefore consider the transmutation +theory as a scientific mistake, untrue in its facts, unscientific in its +method, and mischievous in its tendency."--Silliman's 'Journal,' July, +1860, pages 143, 154. Extract from the 3rd volume of 'Contributions to the +Natural History of the United States.'); Murray, an excellent entomologist; +Harvey, a botanist of considerable repute; and the author of an article in +the 'Edinburgh Review,' all strongly adverse to Darwin. Pictet, the +distinguished and widely learned paleontogist of Geneva, treats Mr. Darwin +with a respect which forms a grateful contrast to the tone of some of the +preceding writers, but consents to go with him only a very little way. ("I +see no serious objections to the formation of varieties by natural +selection in the existing world, and that, so far as earlier epochs are +concerned, this law may be assumed to explain the origin of closely allied +species, supposing for this purpose a very long period of time." + +"With regard to simple varieties and closely allied species, I believe that +Mr. Darwin's theory may explain many things, and throw a great light upon +numerous questions."--'Sur l'Origine de l'Espece. Par Charles Darwin.' +'Archives des Sc. de la Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve,' pages 242, +243, Mars 1860.) On the other hand, Lyell, up to that time a pillar of the +anti-transmutationists (who regarded him, ever afterwards, as Pallas Athene +may have looked at Dian, after the Endymion affair), declared himself a +Darwinian, though not without putting in a serious caveat. Nevertheless, +he was a tower of strength, and his courageous stand for truth as against +consistency, did him infinite honour. As evolutionists, sans phrase, I do +not call to mind among the biologists more than Asa Gray, who fought the +battle splendidly in the United States; Hooker, who was no less vigorous +here; the present Sir John Lubbock and myself. Wallace was far away in the +Malay Archipelago; but, apart from his direct share in the promulgation of +the theory of natural selection, no enumeration of the influences at work, +at the time I am speaking of, would be complete without the mention of his +powerful essay 'On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New +Species,' which was published in 1855. On reading it afresh, I have been +astonished to recollect how small was the impression it made. + +In France, the influence of Elie de Beaumont and of Flourens--the former of +whom is said to have "damned himself to everlasting fame" by inventing the +nickname of "la science moussante" for Evolutionism (One is reminded of the +effect of another small academic epigram. The so-called vertebral theory +of the skull is said to have been nipped in the bud in France by the +whisper of an academician to his neighbour, that, in that case, one's head +was a "vertebre pensante."),--to say nothing of the ill-will of other +powerful members of the Institut, produced for a long time the effect of a +conspiracy of silence; and many years passed before the Academy redeemed +itself from the reproach that the name of Darwin was not to be found on the +list of its members. However, an accomplished writer, out of the range of +academical influences, M. Laugel, gave an excellent and appreciative notice +of the 'Origin' in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes.' Germany took time to +consider; Bronn produced a slightly Bowdlerized translation of the +'Origin'; and 'Kladderadatsch' cut his jokes upon the ape origin of man; +but I do not call to mind that any scientific notability declared himself +publicly in 1860. (However, the man who stands next to Darwin in his +influence on modern biologists, K.E. von Baer, wrote to me, in August 1860, +expressing his general assent to evolutionist views. His phrase, "J'ai +enonce les memes idees...que M. Darwin" (volume ii.) is shown by his +subsequent writings to mean no more than this.) None of us dreamed that, +in the course of a few years, the strength (and perhaps I may add the +weakness) of "Darwinismus" would have its most extensive and most brilliant +illustrations in the land of learning. If a foreigner may presume to +speculate on the cause of this curious interval of silence, I fancy it was +that one moiety of the German biologists were orthodox at any price, and +the other moiety as distinctly heterodox. The latter were evolutionists, a +priori, already, and they must have felt the disgust natural to deductive +philosophers at being offered an inductive and experimental foundation for +a conviction which they had reached by a shorter cut. It is undoubtedly +trying to learn that, though your conclusions may be all right, your +reasons for them are all wrong, or, at any rate, insufficient. + +On the whole, then, the supporters of Mr. Darwin's views in 1860 were +numerically extremely insignificant. There is not the slightest doubt +that, if a general council of the Church scientific had been held at that +time, we should have been condemned by an overwhelming majority. And there +is as little doubt that, if such a council gathered now, the decree would +be of an exactly contrary nature. It would indicate a lack of sense, as +well as of modesty, to ascribe to the men of that generation less capacity +or less honesty than their successors possess. What, then, are the causes +which led instructed and fair-judging men of that day to arrive at a +judgment so different from that which seems just and fair to those who +follow them? That is really one of the most interesting of all questions +connected with the history of science, and I shall try to answer it. I am +afraid that in order to do so I must run the risk of appearing egotistical. +However, if I tell my own story it is only because I know it better than +that of other people. + +I think I must have read the 'Vestiges' before I left England in 1846; but, +if I did, the book made very little impression upon me, and I was not +brought into serious contact with the 'Species' question until after 1850. +At that time, I had long done with the Pentateuchal cosmogony, which had +been impressed upon my childish understanding as Divine truth, with all the +authority of parents and instructors, and from which it had cost me many a +struggle to get free. But my mind was unbiassed in respect of any doctrine +which presented itself, if it professed to be based on purely philosophical +and scientific reasoning. It seemed to me then (as it does now) that +"creation," in the ordinary sense of the word, is perfectly conceivable. I +find no difficulty in imagining that, at some former period, this universe +was not in existence; and that it made its appearance in six days (or +instantaneously, if that is preferred), in consequence of the volition of +some pre-existent Being. Then, as now, the so-called a priori arguments +against Theism; and, given a Deity, against the possibility of creative +acts, appeared to me to be devoid of reasonable foundation. I had not +then, and I have not now, the smallest a priori objection to raise to the +account of the creation of animals and plants given in 'Paradise Lost,' in +which Milton so vividly embodies the natural sense of Genesis. Far be it +from me to say that it is untrue because it is impossible. I confine +myself to what must be regarded as a modest and reasonable request for some +particle of evidence that the existing species of animals and plants did +originate in that way, as a condition of my belief in a statement which +appears to me to be highly improbable. + +And, by way of being perfectly fair, I had exactly the same answer to give +to the evolutionists of 1851-8. Within the ranks of the biologists, at +that time, I met with nobody, except Dr. Grant, of University College, who +had a word to say for Evolution--and his advocacy was not calculated to +advance the cause. Outside these ranks, the only person known to me whose +knowledge and capacity compelled respect, and who was, at the same time, a +thorough-going evolutionist, was Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose acquaintance I +made, I think, in 1852, and then entered into the bonds of a friendship +which, I am happy to think, has known no interruption. Many and prolonged +were the battles we fought on this topic. But even my friend's rare +dialectic skill and copiousness of apt illustration could not drive me from +my agnostic position. I took my stand upon two grounds: firstly, that up +to that time, the evidence in favour of transmutation was wholly +insufficient; and secondly, that no suggestion respecting the causes of the +transmutation assumed, which had been made, was in any way adequate to +explain the phenomena. Looking back at the state of knowledge at that +time, I really do not see that any other conclusion was justifiable. + +In those days I had never even heard of Treviranus' 'Biologie.' However, I +had studied Lamarck attentively and I had read the 'Vestiges' with due +care; but neither of them afforded me any good ground for changing my +negative and critical attitude. As for the 'Vestiges,' I confess that the +book simply irritated me by the prodigious ignorance and thoroughly +unscientific habit of mind manifested by the writer. If it had any +influence on me at all, it set me against Evolution; and the only review I +ever have qualms of conscience about, on the ground of needless savagery, +is one I wrote on the 'Vestiges' while under that influence. + +With respect to the 'Philosophie Zoologique,' it is no reproach to Lamarck +to say that the discussion of the Species question in that work, whatever +might be said for it in 1809, was miserably below the level of the +knowledge of half a century later. In that interval of time the +elucidation of the structure of the lower animals and plants had given rise +to wholly new conceptions of their relations; histology and embryology, in +the modern sense, had been created; physiology had been reconstituted; the +facts of distribution, geological and geographical, had been prodigiously +multiplied and reduced to order. To any biologist whose studies had +carried him beyond mere species-mongering in 1850, one-half of Lamarck's +arguments were obsolete and the other half erroneous, or defective, in +virtue of omitting to deal with the various classes of evidence which had +been brought to light since his time. Moreover his one suggestion as to +the cause of the gradual modification of species--effort excited by change +of conditions--was, on the face of it, inapplicable to the whole vegetable +world. I do not think that any impartial judge who reads the 'Philosophie +Zoologique' now, and who afterwards takes up Lyell's trenchant and +effectual criticism (published as far back as 1830), will be disposed to +allot to Lamarck a much higher place in the establishment of biological +evolution than that which Bacon assigns to himself in relation to physical +science generally,--buccinator tantum. (Erasmus Darwin first promulgated +Lamarck's fundamental conceptions, and, with greater logical consistency, +he had applied them to plants. But the advocates of his claims have failed +to show that he, in any respect, anticipated the central idea of the +'Origin of Species.') + +But, by a curious irony of fate, the same influence which led me to put as +little faith in modern speculations on this subject, as in the venerable +traditions recorded in the first two chapters of Genesis, was perhaps more +potent than any other in keeping alive a sort of pious conviction that +Evolution, after all, would turn out true. I have recently read afresh the +first edition of the 'Principles of Geology'; and when I consider that this +remarkable book had been nearly thirty years in everybody's hands, and that +it brings home to any reader of ordinary intelligence a great principle and +a great fact--the principle, that the past must be explained by the +present, unless good cause be shown to the contrary; and the fact, that, so +far as our knowledge of the past history of life on our globe goes, no such +cause can be shown (The same principle and the same fact guide the result +from all sound historical investigation. Grote's 'History of Greece' is a +product of the same intellectual movement as Lyell's 'Principles.')--I +cannot but believe that Lyell, for others, as for myself, was the chief +agent for smoothing the road for Darwin. For consistent uniformitarianism +postulates evolution as much in the organic as in the inorganic world. The +origin of a new species by other than ordinary agencies would be a vastly +greater "catastrophe" than any of those which Lyell successfully eliminated +from sober geological speculation. + +In fact, no one was better aware of this than Lyell himself. (Lyell, with +perfect right, claims this position for himself. He speaks of having +"advocated a law of continuity even in the organic world, so far as +possible without adopting Lamarck's theory of transmutation"... + +"But while I taught that as often as certain forms of animals and plants +disappeared, for reasons quite intelligible to us, others took their place +by virtue of a causation which was beyond our comprehension; it remained +for Darwin to accumulate proof that there is no break between the incoming +and the outgoing species, that they are the work of evolution, and not of +special creation... + +"I had certainly prepared the way in this country, in six editions of my +work before the 'Vestiges of Creation' appeared in 1842 [1844], for the +reception of Darwin's gradual and insensible evolution of species."--'Life +and Letters,' Letter to Haeckel, volume ii. page 436. November 23, 1868.) +If one reads any of the earlier editions of the 'Principles' carefully +(especially by the light of the interesting series of letters recently +published by Sir Charles Lyell's biographer), it is easy to see that, with +all his energetic opposition to Lamarck, on the one hand, and to the ideal +quasi-progressionism of Agassiz, on the other, Lyell, in his own mind, was +strongly disposed to account for the origination of all past and present +species of living things by natural causes. But he would have liked, at +the same time, to keep the name of creation for a natural process which he +imagined to be incomprehensible. + +In a letter addressed to Mantell (dated March 2, 1827), Lyell speaks of +having just read Lamarck; he expresses his delight at Lamarck's theories, +and his personal freedom from any objection based on theological grounds. +And though he is evidently alarmed at the pithecoid origin of man involved +in Lamarck's doctrine, he observes:-- + +"But, after all, what changes species may really undergo! How impossible +will it be to distinguish and lay down a line, beyond which some of the so- +called extinct species have never passed into recent ones." + +Again, the following remarkable passage occurs in the postscript of a +letter addressed to Sir John Herschel in 1836:-- + +"In regard to the origination of new species, I am very glad to find that +you think it probable that it may be carried on through the intervention of +intermediate causes. I left this rather to be inferred, not thinking it +worth while to offend a certain class of persons by embodying in words what +would only be a speculation." (In the same sense, see the letter to +Whewell, March 7, 1837, volume ii., page 5:-- + +"In regard to this last subject [the changes from one set of animal and +vegetable species to another]...you remember what Herschel said in his +letter to me. If I had stated as plainly as he has done the possibility of +the introduction or origination of fresh species being a natural, in +contradistinction to a miraculous process, I should have raised a host of +prejudices against me, which are unfortunately opposed at every step to any +philosopher who attempts to address the public on these mysterious +subjects." See also letter to Sedgwick, January 12, 1838 ii. page 35.) He +goes on to refer to the criticisms which have been directed against him on +the ground that, by leaving species to be originated by miracle, he is +inconsistent with his own doctrine of uniformitarianism; and he leaves it +to be understood that he had not replied, on the ground of his general +objection to controversy. + +Lyell's contemporaries were not without some inkling of his esoteric +doctrine. Whewell's 'History of the Inductive Sciences,' whatever its +philosophical value, is always worth reading and always interesting, if +under no other aspect than that of an evidence of the speculative limits +within which a highly-placed divine might, at that time, safely range at +will. In the course of his discussion of uniformitarianism, the +encyclopaedic Master of Trinity observes:-- + +"Mr. Lyell, indeed, has spoken of an hypothesis that 'the successive +creation of species may constitute a regular part of the economy of +nature,' but he has nowhere, I think, so described this process as to make +it appear in what department of science we are to place the hypothesis. +Are these new species created by the production, at long intervals, of an +offspring different in species from the parents? Or are the species so +created produced without parents? Are they gradually evolved from some +embryo substance? Or do they suddenly start from the ground, as in the +creation of the poet?... + +"Some selection of one of these forms of the hypothesis, rather than the +others, with evidence for the selection, is requisite to entitle us to +place it among the known causes of change, which in this chapter we are +considering. The bare conviction that a creation of species has taken +place, whether once or many times, so long as it is unconnected with our +organical sciences, is a tenet of Natural Theology rather than of Physical +Philosophy." (Whewell's 'History,' volume iii. page 639-640 (Edition 2, +1847.)) + +The earlier part of this criticism appears perfectly just and appropriate; +but, from the concluding paragraph, Whewell evidently imagines that by +"creation" Lyell means a preternatural intervention of the Deity; whereas +the letter to Herschel shows that, in his own mind, Lyell meant natural +causation; and I see no reason to doubt (The following passages in Lyell's +letters appear to me decisive on this point:-- + +To Darwin, October 3, 1859 (ii, 325), on first reading the 'Origin.' + +"I have long seen most clearly that if any concession is made, all that you +claim in your concluding pages will follow. + +"It is this which has made me so long hesitate, always feeling that the +case of Man and his Races, and of other animals, and that of plants, is one +and the same, and that if a vera causa be admitted for one instant, +[instead] of a purely unknown and imaginary one, such as the word +'creation,' all the consequences must follow." + +To Darwin, March 15, 1863 (volume ii. page 365). + +"I remember that it was the conclusion he [Lamarck] came to about man that +fortified me thirty years ago against the great impression which his +arguments at first made on my mind, all the greater because Constant +Prevost, a pupil of Cuvier's forty years ago, told me his conviction 'that +Cuvier thought species not real, but that science could not advance without +assuming that they were so.'" + +To Hooker, March 9, 1863 (volume ii. page 361), in reference to Darwin's +feeling about the 'Antiquity of Man.' + +"He [Darwin] seems much disappointed that I do not go farther with him, or +do not speak out more. I can only say that I have spoken out to the full +extent of my present convictions, and even beyond my state of FEELING as to +man's unbroken descent from the brutes, and I find I am half converting not +a few who were in arms against Darwin, and are even now against Huxley." +He speaks of having had to abandon "old and long cherished ideas, which +constituted the charm to me of the theoretical part of the science in my +earlier day, when I believed with Pascal in the theory, as Hallam terms it, +of 'the arch-angel ruined.'" + +See the same sentiment in the letter to Darwin, March 11, 1863, page 363:-- + +"I think the old 'creation' is almost as much required as ever, but of +course it takes a new form if Lamarck's views improved by yours are +adopted.") that, if Sir Charles could have avoided the inevitable corollary +of the pithecoid origin of man--for which, to the end of his life, he +entertained a profound antipathy--he would have advocated the efficiency of +causes now in operation to bring about the condition of the organic world, +as stoutly as he championed that doctrine in reference to inorganic nature. + +The fact is, that a discerning eye might have seen that some form or other +of the doctrine of transmutation was inevitable, from the time when the +truth enunciated by William Smith that successive strata are characterised +by different kinds of fossil remains, became a firmly established law of +nature. No one has set forth the speculative consequences of this +generalisation better than the historian of the 'Inductive Sciences':-- + +"But the study of geology opens to us the spectacle of many groups of +species which have, in the course of the earth's history, succeeded each +other at vast intervals of time; one set of animals and plants +disappearing, as it would seem, from the face of our planet, and others, +which did not before exist, becoming the only occupants of the globe. And +the dilemma then presents itself to us anew:--either we must accept the +doctrine of the transmutation of species, and must suppose that the +organized species of one geological epoch were transmuted into those of +another by some long-continued agency of natural causes; or else, we must +believe in many successive acts of creation and extinction of species, out +of the common course of nature; acts which, therefore, we may properly call +miraculous." (Whewell's 'History of the Inductive Sciences.' Edition ii., +1847, volume iii. pages 624-625. See for the author's verdict, pages 638- +39.) + +Dr. Whewell decides in favour of the latter conclusion. And if any one had +plied him with the four questions which he puts to Lyell in the passage +already cited, all that can be said now is that he would certainly have +rejected the first. But would he really have had the courage to say that a +Rhinoceros tichorhinus, for instance, "was produced without parents;" or +was "evolved from some embryo substance;" or that it suddenly started from +the ground like Milton's lion "pawing to get free his hinder parts." I +permit myself to doubt whether even the Master of Trinity's well-tried +courage--physical, intellectual, and moral--would have been equal to this +feat. No doubt the sudden concurrence of half-a-ton of inorganic molecules +into a live rhinoceros is conceivable, and therefore may be possible. But +does such an event lie sufficiently within the bounds of probability to +justify the belief in its occurrence on the strength of any attainable, or, +indeed, imaginable, evidence? + +In view of the assertion (often repeated in the early days of the +opposition to Darwin) that he had added nothing to Lamarck, it is very +interesting to observe that the possibility of a fifth alternative, in +addition to the four he has stated, has not dawned upon Dr. Whewell's mind. +The suggestion that new species may result from the selective action of +external conditions upon the variations from their specific type which +individuals present--and which we call "spontaneous," because we are +ignorant of their causation--is as wholly unknown to the historian of +scientific ideas as it was to biological specialists before 1858. But that +suggestion is the central idea of the 'Origin of Species,' and contains the +quintessence of Darwinism. + +Thus, looking back into the past, it seems to me that my own position of +critical expectancy was just and reasonable, and must have been taken up, +on the same grounds, by many other persons. If Agassiz told me that the +forms of life which had successively tenanted the globe were the +incarnations of successive thoughts of the Deity; and that he had wiped out +one set of these embodiments by an appalling geological catastrophe as soon +as His ideas took a more advanced shape, I found myself not only unable to +admit the accuracy of the deductions from the facts of paleontology, upon +which this astounding hypothesis was founded, but I had to confess my want +of any means of testing the correctness of his explanation of them. And +besides that, I could by no means see what the explanation explained. +Neither did it help me to be told by an eminent anatomist that species had +succeeded one another in time, in virtue of "a continuously operative +creational law." That seemed to me to be no more than saying that species +had succeeded one another, in the form of a vote-catching resolution, with +"law" to please the man of science, and "creational" to draw the orthodox. +So I took refuge in that "thatige Skepsis" which Goethe has so well +defined; and, reversing the apostolic precept to be all things to all men, +I usually defended the tenability of the received doctrines, when I had to +do with the transmutationists; and stood up for the possibility of +transmutation among the orthodox--thereby, no doubt, increasing an already +current, but quite undeserved, reputation for needless combativeness. + +I remember, in the course of my first interview with Mr. Darwin, expressing +my belief in the sharpness of the lines of demarcation between natural +groups and in the absence of transitional forms, with all the confidence of +youth and imperfect knowledge. I was not aware, at that time, that he had +then been many years brooding over the species-question; and the humorous +smile which accompanied his gentle answer, that such was not altogether his +view, long haunted and puzzled me. But it would seem that four or five +years' hard work had enabled me to understand what it meant; for Lyell +('Life and Letters,' volume ii. page 212.), writing to Sir Charles Bunbury +(under date of April 30, 1856), says:-- + +"When Huxley, Hooker, and Wollaston were at Darwin's last week they (all +four of them) ran a tilt against species--further, I believe, than they are +prepared to go." + +I recollect nothing of this beyond the fact of meeting Mr. Wollaston; and +except for Sir Charles' distinct assurance as to "all four," I should have +thought my "outrecuidance" was probably a counterblast to Wollaston's +conservatism. With regard to Hooker, he was already, like Voltaire's +Habbakuk, "capable du tout" in the way of advocating Evolution. + +As I have already said, I imagine that most of those of my contemporaries +who thought seriously about the matter, were very much in my own state of +mind--inclined to say to both Mosaists and Evolutionists, "a plague on both +your houses!" and disposed to turn aside from an interminable and +apparently fruitless discussion, to labour in the fertile fields of +ascertainable fact. And I may, therefore, further suppose that the +publication of the Darwin and Wallace papers in 1858, and still more that +of the 'Origin' in 1859, had the effect upon them of the flash of light, +which to a man who has lost himself in a dark night, suddenly reveals a +road which, whether it takes him straight home or not, certainly goes his +way. That which we were looking for, and could not find, was a hypothesis +respecting the origin of known organic forms, which assumed the operation +of no causes but such as could be proved to be actually at work. We +wanted, not to pin our faith to that or any other speculation, but to get +hold of clear and definite conceptions which could be brought face to face +with facts and have their validity tested. The 'Origin' provided us with +the working hypothesis we sought. Moreover, it did the immense service of +freeing us for ever from the dilemma--refuse to accept the creation +hypothesis, and what have you to propose that can be accepted by any +cautious reasoner? In 1857, I had no answer ready, and I do not think that +any one else had. A year later, we reproached ourselves with dullness for +being perplexed by such an inquiry. My reflection, when I first made +myself master of the central idea of the 'Origin,' was, "How extremely +stupid not to have thought of that!" I suppose that Columbus' companions +said much the same when he made the egg stand on end. The facts of +variability, of the struggle for existence, of adaptation to conditions, +were notorious enough; but none of us had suspected that the road to the +heart of the species problem lay through them, until Darwin and Wallace +dispelled the darkness, and the beacon-fire of the 'Origin' guided the +benighted. + +Whether the particular shape which the doctrine of evolution, as applied to +the organic world, took in Darwin's hands, would prove to be final or not, +was, to me, a matter of indifference. In my earliest criticisms of the +'Origin' I ventured to point out that its logical foundation was insecure +so long as experiments in selective breeding had not produced varieties +which were more or less infertile; and that insecurity remains up to the +present time. But, with any and every critical doubt which my sceptical +ingenuity could suggest, the Darwinian hypothesis remained incomparably +more probable than the creation hypothesis. And if we had none of us been +able to discern the paramount significance of some of the most patent and +notorious of natural facts, until they were, so to speak, thrust under our +noses, what force remained in the dilemma--creation or nothing? It was +obvious that, hereafter, the probability would be immensely greater, that +the links of natural causation were hidden from our purblind eyes, than +that natural causation should be incompetent to produce all the phenomena +of nature. The only rational course for those who had no other object than +the attainment of truth, was to accept "Darwinism" as a working hypothesis, +and see what could be made of it. Either it would prove its capacity to +elucidate the facts of organic life, or it would break down under the +strain. This was surely the dictate of common sense; and, for once, common +sense carried the day. The result has been that complete volte-face of the +whole scientific world, which must seem so surprising to the present +generation. I do not mean to say that all the leaders of biological +science have avowed themselves Darwinians; but I do not think that there is +a single zoologist, or botanist, or palaeontologist, among the multitude of +active workers of this generation, who is other than an evolutionist, +profoundly influenced by Darwin's views. Whatever may be the ultimate fate +of the particular theory put forth by Darwin, I venture to affirm that, so +far as my knowledge goes, all the ingenuity and all the learning of hostile +critics have not enabled them to adduce a solitary fact, of which it can be +said, this is irreconcilable with the Darwinian theory. In the prodigious +variety and complexity of organic nature, there are multitudes of phenomena +which are not deducible from any generalisations we have yet reached. But +the same may be said of every other class of natural objects. I believe +that astronomers cannot yet get the moon's motions into perfect accordance +with the theory of gravitation. + +It would be inappropriate, even if it were possible, to discuss the +difficulties and unresolved problems which have hitherto met the +evolutionist, and which will probably continue to puzzle him for +generations to come, in the course of this brief history of the reception +of Mr. Darwin's great work. But there are two or three objections of a +more general character, based, or supposed to be based, upon philosophical +and theological foundations, which were loudly expressed in the early days +of the Darwinian controversy, and which, though they have been answered +over and over again, crop up now and then to the present day. + +The most singular of these, perhaps immortal, fallacies, which live on, +Tithonus-like, when sense and force have long deserted them, is that which +charges Mr. Darwin with having attempted to reinstate the old pagan +goddess, Chance. It is said that he supposes variations to come about "by +chance," and that the fittest survive the "chances" of the struggle for +existence, and thus "chance" is substituted for providential design. + +It is not a little wonderful that such an accusation as this should be +brought against a writer who has, over and over again, warned his readers +that when he uses the word "spontaneous," he merely means that he is +ignorant of the cause of that which is so termed; and whose whole theory +crumbles to pieces if the uniformity and regularity of natural causation +for illimitable past ages is denied. But probably the best answer to those +who talk of Darwinism meaning the reign of "chance," is to ask them what +they themselves understand by "chance"? Do they believe that anything in +this universe happens without reason or without a cause? Do they really +conceive that any event has no cause, and could not have been predicted by +any one who had a sufficient insight into the order of Nature? If they do, +it is they who are the inheritors of antique superstition and ignorance, +and whose minds have never been illumined by a ray of scientific thought. +The one act of faith in the convert to science, is the confession of the +universality of order and of the absolute validity in all times and under +all circumstances, of the law of causation. This confession is an act of +faith, because, by the nature of the case, the truth of such propositions +is not susceptible of proof. But such faith is not blind, but reasonable; +because it is invariably confirmed by experience, and constitutes the sole +trustworthy foundation for all action. + +If one of these people, in whom the chance-worship of our remoter ancestors +thus strangely survives, should be within reach of the sea when a heavy +gale is blowing, let him betake himself to the shore and watch the scene. +Let him note the infinite variety of form and size of the tossing waves out +at sea; or of the curves of their foam-crested breakers, as they dash +against the rocks; let him listen to the roar and scream of the shingle as +it is cast up and torn down the beach; or look at the flakes of foam as +they drive hither and thither before the wind; or note the play of colours, +which answers a gleam of sunshine as it falls upon the myriad bubbles. +Surely here, if anywhere, he will say that chance is supreme, and bend the +knee as one who has entered the very penetralia of his divinity. But the +man of science knows that here, as everywhere, perfect order is manifested; +that there is not a curve of the waves, not a note in the howling chorus, +not a rainbow-glint on a bubble, which is other than a necessary +consequence of the ascertained laws of nature; and that with a sufficient +knowledge of the conditions, competent physico-mathematical skill could +account for, and indeed predict, every one of these "chance" events. + +A second very common objection to Mr. Darwin's views was (and is), that +they abolish Teleology, and eviscerate the argument from design. It is +nearly twenty years since I ventured to offer some remarks on this subject, +and as my arguments have as yet received no refutation, I hope I may be +excused for reproducing them. I observed, "that the doctrine of Evolution +is the most formidable opponent of all the commoner and coarser forms of +Teleology. But perhaps the most remarkable service to the Philosophy of +Biology rendered by Mr. Darwin is the reconciliation of Teleology and +Morphology, and the explanation of the facts of both, which his views +offer. The teleology which supposes that the eye, such as we see it in +man, or one of the higher vertebrata, was made with the precise structure +it exhibits, for the purpose of enabling the animal which possesses it to +see, has undoubtedly received its death-blow. Nevertheless, it is +necessary to remember that there is a wider teleology which is not touched +by the doctrine of Evolution, but is actually based upon the fundamental +proposition of Evolution. This proposition is that the whole world, living +and not living, is the result of the mutual interaction, according to +definite laws, of the forces (I should now like to substitute the word +powers for "forces.") possessed by the molecules of which the primitive +nebulosity of the universe was composed. If this be true, it is no less +certain that the existing world lay potentially in the cosmic vapour, and +that a sufficient intelligence could, from a knowledge of the properties of +the molecules of that vapour, have predicted, say the state of the fauna of +Britain in 1869, with as much certainty as one can say what will happen to +the vapour of the breath on a cold winter's day... + +...The teleological and the mechanical views of nature are not, +necessarily, mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the more purely a +mechanist the speculator is, the more firmly does he assume a primordial +molecular arrangement of which all the phenomena of the universe are the +consequences, and the more completely is he thereby at the mercy of the +teleologist, who can always defy him to disprove that this primordial +molecular arrangement was not intended to evolve the phenomena of the +universe." (The "Genealogy of Animals" ('The Academy,' 1869), reprinted in +'Critiques and Addresses.') + +The acute champion of Teleology, Paley, saw no difficulty in admitting that +the "production of things" may be the result of trains of mechanical +dispositions fixed beforehand by intelligent appointment and kept in action +by a power at the centre ('Natural Theology,' chapter xxiii.), that is to +say, he proleptically accepted the modern doctrine of Evolution; and his +successors might do well to follow their leader, or at any rate to attend +to his weighty reasonings, before rushing into an antagonism which has no +reasonable foundation. + +Having got rid of the belief in chance and the disbelief in design, as in +no sense appurtenances of Evolution, the third libel upon that doctrine, +that it is anti-theistic, might perhaps be left to shift for itself. But +the persistence with which many people refuse to draw the plainest +consequences from the propositions they profess to accept, renders it +advisable to remark that the doctrine of Evolution is neither Anti-theistic +nor Theistic. It simply has no more to do with Theism than the first book +of Euclid has. It is quite certain that a normal fresh-laid egg contains +neither cock nor hen; and it is also as certain as any proposition in +physics or morals, that if such an egg is kept under proper conditions for +three weeks, a cock or hen chicken will be found in it. It is also quite +certain that if the shell were transparent we should be able to watch the +formation of the young fowl, day by day, by a process of evolution, from a +microscopic cellular germ to its full size and complication of structure. +Therefore Evolution, in the strictest sense, is actually going on in this +and analogous millions and millions of instances, wherever living creatures +exist. Therefore, to borrow an argument from Butler, as that which now +happens must be consistent with the attributes of the Deity, if such a +Being exists, Evolution must be consistent with those attributes. And, if +so, the evolution of the universe, which is neither more nor less +explicable than that of a chicken, must also be consistent with them. The +doctrine of Evolution, therefore, does not even come into contact with +Theism, considered as a philosophical doctrine. That with which it does +collide, and with which it is absolutely inconsistent, is the conception of +creation, which theological speculators have based upon the history +narrated in the opening of the book of Genesis. + +There is a great deal of talk and not a little lamentation about the so- +called religious difficulties which physical science has created. In +theological science, as a matter of fact, it has created none. Not a +solitary problem presents itself to the philosophical Theist, at the +present day, which has not existed from the time that philosophers began to +think out the logical grounds and the logical consequences of Theism. All +the real or imaginary perplexities which flow from the conception of the +universe as a determinate mechanism, are equally involved in the assumption +of an Eternal, Omnipotent and Omniscient Deity. The theological equivalent +of the scientific conception of order is Providence; and the doctrine of +determinism follows as surely from the attributes of foreknowledge assumed +by the theologian, as from the universality of natural causation assumed by +the man of science. The angels in 'Paradise Lost' would have found the +task of enlightening Adam upon the mysteries of "Fate, Foreknowledge, and +Free-will," not a whit more difficult, if their pupil had been educated in +a "Real-schule" and trained in every laboratory of a modern university. In +respect of the great problems of Philosophy, the post-Darwinian generation +is, in one sense, exactly where the prae-Darwinian generations were. They +remain insoluble. But the present generation has the advantage of being +better provided with the means of freeing itself from the tyranny of +certain sham solutions. + +The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an +islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our +business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add +something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. And even a +cursory glance at the history of the biological sciences during the last +quarter of a century is sufficient to justify the assertion, that the most +potent instrument for the extension of the realm of natural knowledge which +has come into men's hands, since the publication of Newton's 'Principia,' +is Darwin's 'Origin of Species.' + +It was badly received by the generation to which it was first addressed, +and the outpouring of angry nonsense to which it gave rise is sad to think +upon. But the present generation will probably behave just as badly if +another Darwin should arise, and inflict upon them that which the +generality of mankind most hate--the necessity of revising their +convictions. Let them, then, be charitable to us ancients; and if they +behave no better than the men of my day to some new benefactor, let them +recollect that, after all, our wrath did not come to much, and vented +itself chiefly in the bad language of sanctimonious scolds. Let them as +speedily perform a strategic right-about-face, and follow the truth +wherever it leads. The opponents of the new truth will discover, as those +of Darwin are doing, that, after all, theories do not alter facts, and that +the universe remains unaffected even though texts crumble. Or, it may be, +that, as history repeats itself, their happy ingenuity will also discover +that the new wine is exactly of the same vintage as the old, and that +(rightly viewed) the old bottles prove to have been expressly made for +holding it. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I + diff --git a/old/1999-02-1llcd10.zip b/old/1999-02-1llcd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cc2f17 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1999-02-1llcd10.zip |