-^^j^^&Sa^Yiiy^^

■ff.»>^...ft.oWi<if ■»irnr><'»ii.'mi'mV.noo^«»i*M»WSW^>'»'.'-'fl*Vi»'< '■\'^V>,V»t\\'

y y ;# ;# ;^^v<

'f

' ^^l^^^^^^Ml>l^^Jt>**^''*^|^|•f ^"''•^'^' •-'•'''''''•'*• '^'-"^'''^^^'- ^^'-*''^*^' *''*'- *-*^^**-'^^'-^"-*-"'fflBft^

7777:

"j? V^^.^ .^l^^^lv^•■^v^v^>^^^^•.x>^^^^^^^^^l^^^lt^^>■^1^^■>^l■^.■.'K^l^^■k^hMl^\^^\^>■>^^^■^^^t\^■.^^V^.\X^^;^X^l^^■^^■■^^kV>Xl■^VV.■^\Vl

MfsMlMffifffifilsMlifflMilMMiii ^^^

A'.\.VVv«J«.,'-..\VVl,V--.\ . V,\.VV\>.V>W«A.Vv-.'V.^-^---

'^

1

a

a
a

fc-"

IS
• OD
!r-
■"^

:z

!0

4;

^

X

^

H,

^

^

a. jr,

ar^^-^ 7lf A\UX

[Frojn the Century Magazine.

THE K -^^0^^

LIFE AND LETTERS OF
CHARLES DARWIN

^^0^^^

Including an Autobiographical Chapter

EDITED BY HIS SON

FRANCIS DARWIN

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1891

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 writ-
ten 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 chrono-
logical order an impossibility. It was his habit to
work more or less simultaneously at several subjects.
Experimental work was often carried on as a refresh-
ment 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

iv PREFACE.

few cases) the usual plan of indicating the existence of
omissions or insertions. My father's letters give fre-
quent evidence of having been written when he was
tired or hurried, and they bear the marks of this cir-
cumstance. 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 (e. g. vol. i. p. 177), where it is of spe-
cial interest to preserve intact the hurried character
of the letter. Other small words, such as of, to, &c.,
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 punctu-
ation. My father underlined many words in his let-
ters ; 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 sup-
plying 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 rarelv dated his letters, so that
but for the Diary it would have been all but impossi-
ble to unravel the history of his books. It has also
enabled me to assign dates to many letters Avhich
Avould 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 re-
ceived, and when his slender stock of files {"■ spits " as
he called them) was exhausted, he would burn the let-
ters of several years, in order that he might make use

PREFACE. y

of the liberated " spits." This process, carried on for
years, destroyed nearly all letters received before 1862.
Alter that date he was persuaded to keep the more
interesting letters, and these are preserved in an ac-
cessible form.

I have attempted to give, in Chapter III., some ac-
count of his manner of working. During the last
eight years of his hie I acted as his assistant, and thus
had an opportunity of knowing something of his hab-
its and methods.

I have received much help from my friends in the
course of my work. To some I am indebted for rem-
iniscences of my father, to others for information, crit-
icisms, 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 criti-
cisms 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 gen-
erosity with which he has placed it at my disposal,
and for the kindly encouragement given throughout
my work.

To Mr. Huxlev 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 cour-

vi PREFACE.

tesy of the publishers of the ' Century Magazine ' who
have freely given me the use of their illustrations. To
Messrs. MauU 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.

CHAPTER PACK

I. — The Darwin Family i

> II. — Autobiography 25

III. — Reminiscences 87

LETTERS.

IV. — Cambridge Life — 1S28-1831 139

V. — The Appointment to the 'Beagle' — 1831 . . . 160

VI. — The Voyage — 1831-1836 191

VII. — London and Cambridge — 1836-1842 243

VIII. — Religion . . 274

IX. — Life at Down —1842-1854 287

^ X. — The Growth of the 'Origin of, Species' . . . 363
T~ XL — The Growth of the ' Origin of Species ' — Letters —

1843-1856 380

XII. — The Unfinished Book — May 1856-JuNE 1858. . . 426
XIII. — The Writing of the 'Origin of Species' — June 18,

1858-N0V. 1859 472

XIV. — Professor Huxley on the Reception of the 'Origin

of Species ' 533

viii CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Charles Darwin in 1874 (?). From the 'Century Magazine.*

The photograph by Captain L. Darwin, R. E. . Frontispiece.
The House at Down. From the 'Century Magazine' Face p. 87
The Study at Down. From the 'Century Magazine' . . loi
The Beagle laid ashore . 160

LIFE AND LETTERS

OF

CHARLES DARWIN.

CHAPTER I.

THE DARWIN FAMILY.

The earliest records of the family show the Darwins to
have been substantial yeomen residing on the northern bor-
ders of Lincolnshire, close to Yorkshire. The name is now
very unusual in England, but I believe that it is not unknown
in the neighbourhaod of Sheffield and in Lancashire. Down
to the year 1600 we find the name spelt in a variety of ways
— Derwent, Darwen, Darwynne, &c. It is possible, therefore,
that the family migrated at some unknown date from York-
shire, 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, in-
herited land at Marton and elsewhere, and in his will, dated
1584, " bequeathed the sum of 35'. 4d. towards the settynge up
of the Queene's Majestie's armes over the quearie (choir)
doore in the parishe churche of Marton." *

The son of this Richard, named William Darwin, and

* We owe a knowledge of these earlier members of the family to re-
searches amongst the wills at Lincoln, made by the well-known genealo-
gist, Colonel Chester.

4 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

" 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, and youngest child, was Erasmus Darwin, the poet and
philosopher.

The table on page 5 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 main-
tained 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 lidit. 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 Dar-
win inherited the tall stature, but not the bulky figure of
Erasmus ; but in his features there is no traceable resem-
blance to those of his grandfather. Nor, it appears, had

TABLE OF RELATIONSHIP.

5

o *-■

c^

•-0

h r>.

O TJ

oo

o ^

s

-.s ^

tJ3
<U

Q

r/j

•

o

o

rt

,i^

^

c3

PhO

O

•—I

H
<
1-1
W
Pi

O

hJ
pq
<J
H

S o

CO

C/5 •i^

o

W
<-_

o

Q

E-

W

M

O

P4

CO

o

en

_^

C w
•- CO

T3

ti 'I-

o «

-s --

^2 1^

t/5

CO CO

rO '^

O OO

;:h oo

Pi

^^-o

W

PQ
O

T5
O
O

bXl-

< a

C/2

X

^ CO

O i-i

:;3 »-«

a>

Z CO

Q

o

ca
o
P^

ox

o

CO

M

U

P^

W G

CJ

oTPil

-13

O vm

c o

6 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

Erasmus the love of exercise and of field-sports, so character-
istic of Charles Darwin as a young man, though he had, like
his grandson, an indomitable love of hard mental work. Be-
nevolence 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 imagina-
tion " of which he speaks as strongly characteristic of Eras-
mus, and as leading *'to his overpowering tendency to theo-
rise 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 : * " 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 Dar-
win's character to attempt more than a superficial compari-
son ; 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.! It is,
however, extremely probable that the faults which they exag-
gerate 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.

* i

Life of Erasmus Darwin,' p. 68. f Ibid., pp. 77, 79- &c»

ERASMUS DARWIN. j

The sons of Erasmus Darwin inherited in some degree his
intellectual tastes, for Charles Darwin writes of them as fol-
lows :

"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 allow^ed
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 clas-
sical 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 ^sculapian Society
awarded him its first gold medal for an experimental inquiry
on pus and mucus. Notices of him appeared in various jour-
nals ; 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 col-

8 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

lecting of coins, and statistics. When a boy he counted all
the houses in the city of Lichfield, and found out the num-
ber 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 dis-
tinguished 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 Hke his
father. He studied for a few months at Leyden, and took
his M. D.* at that University on Feb. 26, 1785. '' His father "
(Erasmus) " brought f him to Shrewsbury before he was
twenty-one years old (1787), and left him ^20, saying, 'Let
me know v/hen you want more, and I will send it you.' His
uncle, the rector of Elston, afterwards also sent him ^20, 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."

* I owe this information to the kindness of Professor Rauwenhoff, Di-
rector of the Archives at Leyden. He quotes from the catalogue of doc-
tors that " Robertus Waring Darwin, Anglo-britannus," defended (Feb.
26, 1785) in the Senate a Dissertation on the coloured images seen after
looking at a bright object, and " Medicinge Doctor creatus est a clar. Para-
dijs." 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.

f ' Life of Erasmus Darwin,' p. 85.

DR. R. W. DARWIN. g

Robert Waring Darwin married (April i8, 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.* She died July
15, 181 7, 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 ; after-
wards 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 them-
selves 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 suc-
cessful 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 illus-
trating 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

« <

A Group of Englishmen,' by Miss Meteyard, 1871.

lO THE DARWIN FAMILY.

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 din-
ner, as easily as other men do a partridge."* 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 re-
spect 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, &c. . . ." 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 unlim-
ited 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 re-
members 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 con-
trast 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, &c., and
with mistaken hospitality remained with the party during the
whole visit. As they were leaving, Charles Darwin said, with

«<

A Group of Englishmen,' p. 263.

DR. R. W. DARWIN. II

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 de-
scribes 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 auto-
biographical ' 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 dis-
tresses 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, but that he was unable to give any legal security.
My father heard his reasons for believing that he could ulti-
mately repay the money, and from [his] intuitive perception

12 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

of character felt sure that he was to be trusted. So he ad-
vanced 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 un-
bounded 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 trans-
mitted 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 F..l!ier-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 in-
stances husbands and wives had gone on pretty well to-
gether for between twenty and thirty years, and then
hated each other bitterly ; this he attributed to their hav-
ing lost a common bond in their young children having
grown up.

" But the most remarkable power which my father pos-

DR. R. W. DARWIN.

13

sessed 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
ahnost 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 Shrews-
bury until he could receive a remittance from Ireland. He
then asked my father to lend him ^20, which was immedi-
ately 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
;^2o Bank of England note, but no note was enclosed. I
asked my father whether this did not stagger him, but he an-
swered '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

H

THE DARWIN FAMILY.

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 great-
ly 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 as-
sured 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 talk-
ing 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 con-
versation, 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-

DR. R. W. DARWIN. 1 5

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 Lans-
downe 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 predict-
ing 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 ty-
phoid 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 drink-
ing, 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 before-
hand 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 cir-
cumstances may be utterly mistaken. A gentleman-farmer
was strongly urged by my father not to drink, and was en-
couraged by being told that he himself never touched any
spirituous liquor. Whereupon the gentleman said, ' Come,

l6 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

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.'*
So my father asked him how he knew this. The man an-
swered, ' 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 na-
ture. 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.

* This belief still survives, and was mentioned to my brother in 1884
by an old inhabitant of Shrewsbury. — F. D.

DR. R. W. DARWIN.

17

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 an-
swered 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 extraordi-

1 8 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

nary 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 paci-
fied. On my return home, I asked my father why she was so
frightened, and he ansv/ered 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 v/ords 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 govA 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

DE. R. W. DARWIN.

19

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 manag-
ing 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 with-
drawn 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 dishonorable in my
father to have used his professional knowledge for his private
advantage. Nevertheless, the supposed act was greatly ad-
mired by some persons ; and many years afterwards, a gen-
tleman remarked, ' Ah, Doctor, what a splendid man of busi-
ness 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.' "

20 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

Dr. Darwin had six children : * Marianne, married Dr.
Henry Parker ; Caroline, married Josiah Wedgwood ; Eras-
mus Alvey ; Susan, died unmarried ; Charles Robert ; Cathe-
rine, married Rev. Charles Langton.

The elder son, Erasmus, was born in 1804, and died un-
married 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 affec-
tion 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 pleas-
ant 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 to-
gether in Erasmus' house in Great Marlborough. Street. At
this time also he often speaks with much affection of Eras-
mus 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 holi-
day. 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 ': —

* Of these Mrs. Wedgwood is now the sole survivor,

ERASMUS DARWIN THE YOUNGER. 2 1

** My brother Erasmus possessed a remarkably clear mind
with extensive and diversified tastes and knowledge in litera-
ture, art, and even in science. For a short time he collected
and dried plants, and during a somewhat longer time experi-
mented 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, hov/ever,
so different, that I do not think I owe much to him intellectu-
ally. I am inclined to agree with Francis Galton in believ-
ing 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,
&c.') 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, &c., &c. 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 v/hom I rather prefer him for intellect, had
not his health quite doomed him to silence and patient idle-
ness. . . . 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

22 THE DARWIN FAMILY.

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 kindli-
ness in the most unaffected form." *

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 (Sept. 3, 188 1)
by his cousin Miss Julia Wedgwood.

" A portrait from Mr. Carlyle's portfolio not regretted by
any who loved the original, surely confers sufficient distinc-
tion 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, there-
fore, 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 combina-
tion of liveliness and repose which gave his friend's society an
influence at once stimulating and soothing, and the warmth

* Carlyle's 'Reminiscences,' vol. ii. p. 208.

ERASMUS DARWIN THE YOUNGER. 23

of his appreciation was not made known first in its posthu-
mous 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 apprecia-
tion, 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

24

THE DARWIN FAMILY.

we recall such natures most distinctly, when such a resem-
blance is all that is left of them. The character is not merged
in the creation ; and what we lose in the power to communi-
cate our impression, we seem to gain in its vividness. Eras-,
mus 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 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 Charac-
ter,' and end with the following note : — " Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch
of my life was begun about May 28th at Hopedene,* 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 fol-
lowing account of myself, as if I were a dead man in another
world looking back at my own life. Nor have I found this

* Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.
3

26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 181 7, 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 Shrews-
bury, 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 * my taste for natu-
ral history,' and more especially for collecting, was well devel-
oped. I tried to make out the names of plants,! and col-
lected all sorts of things, shells, seals, franks, coins, and min-
erals. 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.

* 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 {Si. fames' 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.'

\ 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 CDuld be discovered. Mr. Leighton goes on, *' This
greatly roused my attention and curiosity, and I inquired of him repeated-
ly how this could be done?" — but his lesson was naturally enough not
transmissible. — F. D.

BOYHOOD.

27

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 vari-
ously 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 con-
fess that as a little boy I was much given to inventing delib-
erate 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 shrub-
bery, 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 instant-
ly 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 pay-
ment 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 pay-
ment. 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 what-
ever 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

28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 in-
nate 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 * 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 be-
fore 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 remember-
ing the exact spot where the crime was committed. It prob-
ably 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 sus-
pended to the saddle, and the firing over the grave. This
scene deeply stirred whatever poetic fancy there was in me.

In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler's great school
in Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years till Mid-
summer 1825, when I was sixteen years old. I boarded at

* The house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.

BOYHOOD.

29

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 be-
lieve, proved about each thought requiring quite an appreci-
able 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 v/hole 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

30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 ad-
mired 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 mas-
ters 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 shoot-
ing, 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 remem-
ber 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 pub-
lished 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

BOYHOOD.

31

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 ' Won-
ders 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 re-
mote countries, which was ultimately fulfilled by the voyage
of the Beagle, In the latter part of my school life 1 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 difii-
culty 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 re-
marked, " 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 affec-
tionate.

With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals
with much zeal, but quite unscientifically — all that I cared
about was a Xi^^-named mineral, and I hardly attempted to
classify them. I must have observed insects Avith some little
care, for when ten years old (18 19) I went for three weeks to
Plas Edwards on the sea-coast in Wales, I was very much in-
terested 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

32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 in-
tended 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

EDINBURGH.

33

Oil- chemistry by Hope ; but to my mind there are no advan-
tages and many disadvantages in lectures compared with read-
ing. 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 dis-
gust ; 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 at-
tending 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 d-^zen 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 suc-
vcess 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

\

24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 As-
syria ; 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 walk-
I ing 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 th3 hearing rather
early in life such views maintained and praised m.ay have
favoured my upholding them under a different form in my
I * Origin of Species.' At this time I admired greatly the
! * Zoonomia ; ' but on reading it a second time after an inter-
val 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 ani-
mals 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.

EDINBURGH.

35

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 move- i
ment by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae. In another j
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 worm like 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 sur-
prised 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. Giant 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 So-
ciety, where various papers on natural history were read, dis-
cussed, 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

36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 determi-
nation never as long as I lived to read a book on Geology,
I 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 cut to me two or three years previ-
ously 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 trap-
dyke, with amygdaloidal margins and the strata indurated on
each side, with volcanic rocks all around us, say that it was a

SHOOTING.

37

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 knap-
sacks 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,* 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 through- I
out the whole season. One day when shooting at Wood-
house with Captain Ov/en, 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

* Josiah Wedgwood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works.

38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

count that bird, for I fired at the same time," and the game-
keeper, 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 per-
suade myself that shooting vras almost an intellectual employ-
ment ; 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 memora-
ble 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,
v/ith 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

CAMBRIDGE.

39

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 consid-
ered 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 ''nee vultus tyranni, &c.,"* come in.

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
formally given up, but died a natural death when, on leaving
Cambridge, I joined the Beagle as naturalist. If the phre-
nologists are to be trusted, I was well fitted in one respect to
be a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a Ger-
man 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 discus-

* Justum et tenacem propositi vinim
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni
Mente quatit solida.

40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

sion, 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 clergymanj 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 moder-
ate facility.

) During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my

time was wasted, as far as the academical studies were con-
cerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at school. I at-
tempted 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

CAMBRIDGE.

41

his * Moral Philosophy.' This was done in a thorough man-
ner, 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 an-
swering well the examination questions in Paley, by doing
Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in Classics, I gained
a good place among the ol ttoXXoI 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.*

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 re-
deeming 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

* Tenth in the list of January 1831.

42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

across country, I got into a sporting set, including some dis^
sipated 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,*
who was afterwards Senior Wrangler, and we used continu-
ally 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,! 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 some-
times hired the chorister boys to sing in my rooms. Never-

* Rev. C. Whitley, Hon. Canon of Durham, formerly Reader in Natu-
ral Philosophy in Durham University.

f The late John Maurice Herbert, County Court Judge of Cardiff and
the Monmouth Circuit.

CAMBRIDGE,

43

theless I am so utterly destitute of an ear, that I cannot per-
ceive 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 some-
times amused themselves by making me pass an examination,
which consisted in ascertaining how many tunes I could rec-
ognise 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* ' Illustra-
tions of British Insects,' the magic words, "captured by C.
Darwin, Esq." I was introduced to entomology by my sec-
ond 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,

44

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 agricult-
urist, chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parlia-
ment. 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
Panagceus 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. quadripimctatus, which is
only a variety or closely allied species, differing from it very
slightly in outline. I had never seen in those old days Lici-
nus 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 recognized 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 influ-
enced 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 pre-
pared 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 Cam-
bridge took long walks with him on most days ; so that I was
called by some of the dons " the man who walks with Hens-
low ; " and in the evening I was very often asked to join his
family dinner. His knowledge was great in botany, ento-
mology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. His strongest

CAMBRIDGE. 45

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 imperturl)ably 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 ar-
rested, 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 ex-
amining some pollen-grains on a damp surface, I saw the

46

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 communi-
cate 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,* who afterwards published some
good essays in Natural History,! 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 some-
thing 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

* The well-known Soame Jenyns was cousin to Mr. Jenyns' father,
f Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield) described the fish for the Zoology of
the Beagle ; and is author of a long series of papers, chiefly Zoological.

GEOLOGY.

47

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 Hum-
boldt long passages about Teneriffe, and read them aloud
on one of the above-mentioned excursions, to (I think) Hens-
low, 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 ear-
nest, 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 j
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 exami-
nation, 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 in-
tended 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 accom-

V

48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

pany him.* Accordingly he came and slept at my father's
house.

A short conversation with him during this evening pro-
duced 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 em-
bedded 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
I science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or con-
clusions 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. Sedg-
wick often sent me on a line parallel to his, telling me to
bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the stratifica-
tion 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

* 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.

THE VOYAGE.

49

I had a striking instance of how easy it is to overlook phe-
nomena, however conspicuous, before they have been observed
by any one. We spent many hours in Cwm Idwal, examin-
ing 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,' * 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 phe-
nomena 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 re-
turned 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 pf 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,

* <

Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.

50

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

*' 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 ist, and, whilst out shooting, ray uncle*

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

f extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my father, said,

I "that I should be deuced clever to spend more than my

I allowance whilst on board the Beagle j'' 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 I He was an ardent dis-
ciple 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 after-
wards 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 gentle-
man, 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 H., for Dr.
Wallich gave me a collection of photographs which he had
made, and I was struck with the resemblance of one to Fitz-

* Josiah Wedgwood.

THE VOYAGE.

51

Roy; and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E. Sobieski
Stuart, Count d'Albanie, a descendant of the same mon-
arch.

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 mag-
nanimity 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 impor- \
tant event in my life, and has determined my whole career ; \
yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offer- i
ing 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

52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

r
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 strati-
fication and nature of the rocks and fossils at many points,
always reasoning and predicting what will be found else-
where, 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 after-
wards 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.
j which I made during the voyage has proved almost useless,
J 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

THE VOYAGE. 53

likely to see ; and this habit of mind was continued during
the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this train- ;
ing 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. Dur-
ing the first two years my old passion for shooting survived
in nearly full force, and I shot myself all the birds and ani-
mals 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 un- '
consciously 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 phre-
nology ; for on first seeing me after the voyage, he turned
round to my sisters, and exclaim.ed, " Why, the shape of his
head is quite altered."

To return to the voyage. On September nth (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 Plym-
outh, and remained there until December 27th, when the
Beagle finally left the shores of England for her circumnavi-
gation of the world. We made two earlier attempts to sail,
but were driven back each time by heavy gales. These two i
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 inexpressi-
bly gloomy. 1 was also troubled with palpitation and pain
about the heart, and like many a young ignorant man, espe-
cially one with a smattering of medical knowledge, was con-
vinced that I had heart disease. I did not consult any doc-

54

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

^ tor, 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 vege-
tation of the Tropics rise before my mind at the present time
more vividly than anything else ; though the sense of sub-
limity, 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 for-
gotten. 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 archi-
pelago, 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 up-
heaved. But the line of white rock revealed to me a nev/ and
important fact, namely, that there had been afterwards subsi-

THE VOYAGE.

55

dence 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 under-
stand 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 Philo-
sophical Society of Cambridge,* and had printed them for
private distribution. My collection of fossil bones, which
had been sent to Henslow, also excited considerable atten-
tion 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 geologi-
cal 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 favour-
able 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.

* Read at the meeting held November i6, 1835, and printed in a pam-
phlet of 31 pp. for distribution among the members of the Society.

56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 * on December
13th, where all my collections were under the care of Hens-
low. 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 in-
teresting 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.f

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 ' theological Observations,'
and arranged for the publication of the * Zoology of the Voy-
age 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 char-
acteristics 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

* In Fitzwilliam Street.

f * Geolog. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838, pp. 446-449.

LONDON.

57

itl

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 ob-
servations 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 ' Philosoph-
ical Transactions.'* 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 favor 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, includ-
ing some metaphysical books ; but I was not well fitted for
such studies. About this time I took much delight in Words-
worth'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 dur-
ing the voyage of the Beagle^ when I could take only a single
volume, I always chose Milton.

From 7ny marriage^ January 29, 1839, ^^^^ residence in Upper
Gower Street^ to our leaving Lo7idon and settling at JDown,
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

*

1839, pp. 39-82.

58

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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
j 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 care-
ful examination of living reefs. But it should be observed
that I had during the two previous years been incessantly at-
tending 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 v/ork on coral-reefs, during my residence in
London, I read before the Geological Society papers on the
Erratic Boulders of South America,* on Earthquakes,! and
on the Formation by the Agency of Earth-worms of Mould.J
I also continued to superintend the publication of the ' Zoology
of the Voyage of the Beagle.' Nor did I ever intermit col-
lecting 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,

* ' Geolog. Soc. Proc' iii. 1842. | * Geolog. Trans.' v. 1840.

X ' Geolog. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838.

LONDON.

59

for the sake of observing the effects of the old glaciers which
formerly filled all the larger valleys. I published a short ac-
count of what I saw in the 'Philosophical Magazine.'* 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.f

On my return from the voyage of the Beagle^ I explained
to him my views on ccral-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

*' Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.

f The slight repetition here observable is accounted for by the notes
on Lyell, &c,, having been added in April, 1881, a few years after the rest
of the ' Recollections ' were written.

6o AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 saga-
cious 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 ad-
vocated. 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 Beau-
mont'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 Bo-
tanicorum," as he was called by Humboldt. He seemed to
me to be chiefly remarkable for the minuteness of his obser-
vations, 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
I three times before the voyage of the Beagle, and on one oc-
i casion he asked me to look through a microscope and dc'
) scribe what I saw. This I did, and believe now that it was

LONDON. 6l

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 penuri-
ousness or jealousy.

I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I
have occasionally seen, but I have Httle 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 listen-
ing 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 Hens-

leigh 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 en-
abled to give the astonishing number of references on all sorts
of subjects, which may be found in his ' History of Civilisa-
tion.' This book I thought most interesting, and read it
twice, but I doubt whether his generalisations are worth any-

62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

thing. Buckle was a great talker, and I listened to him say-
ing 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 talk-
ing 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 be-
lieved that my dear old friend Lady Cork has been over-
looked," 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 ex-
press 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 al-
lowed 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 his-
torians 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 jfinal.

On another occasion I met at Lord Stanhope's house,
one of his parties of historians and other literary men, and

LONDON.

63

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 utter-
ly 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 broth-
er'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 ' Reminis-
cences ' 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.

64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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

I branches of science, which he despised, are excluded. It

j is astonishing to me that Kingsley should have spoken of him

I f 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 re-

\ search.

Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could
the meetings of several scientific socities, and acted as secre-
tary 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.

Reside ftce at Down from September 14, 1842, /<? 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 ad-
mirably in one way, which we did not anticipate, namely, by
being very convenient for frequent visits from our chil-
dren.

Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we

PUBLICATIONS. 65

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 sci-
entific 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, ^7
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 Ger-
man, 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 pub-
lished. I record in a little diary, which I have always kept,
that my three geological books (' Coral Reefs' included) con-
sumed 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

ee AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

books except that to my surprise new editions have lately
been called for.*

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 under-
stand 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,! 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 intro-
duced in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had written
tv/o 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, considera-
ble value, as besides describing several new and remarkable
forms, I made out the homologies of the various parts — I dis-
covered the cementing apparatus, though I blundered dread-
fully about the cement glands — and lastly I proved the exist-
ence 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

* ' Geological Observations,' 2nd Edit. 1876. * Coral Reefs,' 2nd Edit

1874.

f Published by the Ray Society.

CIRRIPEDES. ^j

writer was pleased to attribute the whole account to my fer-
tile imagination. The Cirripedes form a highly varying and
difficult group of species to class ; and my work was of ^con-
siderable use to me, when I had to discuss in the ' Origin of
Species * the principles of a natural classification. Neverthe-
less, I doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of
so much time.

From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arrang-
ing my huge pile of notes, to observing, and to experiment-
ing in relation to the transmutation of species. During the
voyage of the Beagle I had been deeply impressed by discov-
ering 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 pro-
ductions 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 (espe-
cially in the case of plants) could account for the innumera-
ble 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

68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first note-book
was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian prin-
ciples, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale
scale, more especially with respect to domesticated produc-
tions, 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 appre-
ciate 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 unfa-
vourable 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 sum-
mer 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 impor-
tance ; 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

'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

69

sub-orders and so forth ; and I can remember the very spot ''
in the road, whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the solu-
tion occurred to me ; and this was long after I had come to
Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the modified off-
spring 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 over-
thrown, for early in the summer <^ 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 send it to Lyell for
perusal.

The circumstances under which I consented at the re-
quest 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, p. 45. I was at first very unwilling to consent,
as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so un-
justifiable, 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

;o

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 Novem-
ber 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, accord-
ing to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese,* and is there
much studied. Even an essay in Hebrew has appeared on
it, showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testa-
ment ! 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 ap-
peared ; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on
*' Darvvinismus " 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.

* Miss Bird is mistaken, as I learn from Prof. Mitsukuri. — F. D.

•ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

71

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 at-
tempted to answer.

It has sometimes been said that the success of the * Ori-
gin ' 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 ; ^^^ I
lost nothing by it, for I cared very little whether men at-
tributed 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

72

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

wrote it out in extenso, and I befieve that it was read by
Hooker some years before E. Forbes published his celebrated
memoir* 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.

I 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 recol-
lect expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa
Gray. Within late years several reviewers have given the
whole credit to Fritz Miiller 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 chap-

I ter 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 ridi-
culed, 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 ad-
vised 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 con-
temptuously criticised, and even when I have been over-

* 'Geolog. Survey Mem.,' 1846.

PUBLICATIONS.

73

praised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been my greatest (
comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that " I have j
worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do f
more than this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, i
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 ist, i860, I began
arranging my notes for my work on the ' Variation of Ani-
mals and Plants under Domestication ; ' but it was not pub-
lished 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 sub-
jects 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 dur-
ing 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 re-
spect to other plants.
5

74

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 ap-
peared : 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 Dimor-
phic 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 Linu?7i flavum^ and had at first thought that it was merely
a case of unmeaning variability. But on examining the com-
mon species of Primula I found that the two forms were much
too regular and constant to be thus viewed. I therefore be-
came almost convinced that the common cowslip and prim-
rose 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 wer^
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
las 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 hy-
brids from the union of two distinct species.

In the autumn of 1864 I finished a long paper on ' Climb-
ing Plants,' and sent it to the Linnean Society. The writing

PUBLICATIONS.

75

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 sub-
ject 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 Domestica-
tion' was begun, as already stated, in the beginning of i860,
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 produc-
tions. In the second volume the causes and laws of variation,
inheritance, &c., 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 hypothe-
sis 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

;6

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

; 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 discissed, 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 in-
jurious 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 selec-
tion— 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 ma-
terials 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 in-
tended 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 vari-
ous 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.

PUBLICATIONS.

17

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 spe-
cially created for the sake of expression. From this time for-
ward 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 i860 I was idling and resting near Hart-
field, 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 proba-
ble 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-nitro-
genous 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 pur-
sued my experiments, and my book on ' Insectivorous Plants *
was published in July 1875 — ^^'^^.t 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 ' Fertilisa-
tion of Orchids,' in which I showed how perfect were the
means for cross-fertilisation, and here I shall show how im-
portant 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

\

^8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 isf, 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 Miiller, that I ought
to have insisted more strongly than I did on the many adapta-
tions for self -fertilisation ; though I was well aware of many
such adaptations. A much enlarged edition of my * Fertilisa-
tion of Orchids ' was published in 1877.

In this same year * The Different Forms of Flowers, &c.,'
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 be-
fore 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 illegiti-
mate 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 ' pubUshed, 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 pubHshed, with [my son] Frank's assistance, our

PUBLICATIONS. 79

* 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 general-
isation, viz. that the great and important classes of move-
ments, excited by light, the attraction of gravity, &c., are all
modified forms of the fundamental movement of circumnuta-
tion. 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 move- ;
ments the tip of a root possesses.

I have now (May i, 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 im-
portance ; and I know not whether it will interest any readers,*
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 pub-
lished, 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, j
Bat my father lived to his eighty-third year with his mind as L
lively as ever it was, and all his faculties undimmed ; and I ?
hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible ex- |
tent. I think that I have become a little more skilful in f
guessing right explanations and in devising experimental

* Between November 1881 and February 1884, 8500 copies have been
sold.

/

8o AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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
I me to put at first my statement or proposition in a wrong or
I awkward form. Formerly I used to think about my sen-
tences 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 stand-
ing for a whole discussion or series of facts. Each one of
these headings is again enlarged and often transferred be-
j fore I begin to write in extenso. As in several of my books
I 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
j thirty to forty large portfolios, in cabinets with labelled
I 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.

MENTAL QUALITIES. 8 1

I have said that in one respect my mind has changed
during the last twenty or thirty years. Up lo 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 con-
siderable, 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 en-
ergetically 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 imagina-
tion, 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 un-
happily— 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 collec-
tions 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 sup-
pose, 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

82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 trans-
lated 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 endur-
ing 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 suc-
cess 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,
I generally excites my admiration, and it is only after consider-
able reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to
follow a long and purely abstract train of thought is very
j limited ; and therefore I could never have succeeded with
I 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 con-
J elusion which I am drawing, or on the other hand in favour
I of it ; and after a time I can generally recollect where to
I 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 sue-

MENTAL QUALITIES. 83

cessful 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 r
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 j
ardent.

This pure love has, however, been much aided by the {
ambition to be esteemed by my fellow naturalists. From my j
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 j
of years over any unexplained problem. As far as I can j
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 reason-
ing in the mixed sciences. On the other hand, I am not
very sceptical, — a frame of mind which I believe to be inju-
rious 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. M

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

84

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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 farm-
ers ; 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 al-
most the whole of England without any vestige of evidence.

I have known in the course of my life only three inten-
tionally 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 re-
lated to the formation in Holland of a new breed of oxen by
the crossing of distinct species of Bos (some of which I hap-
pen to know are sterile together), and the author had the im-
pudence to state that he had corresponded with me, and that
I had been deeply impressed with the importance of his re-
sult. The article was sent to me by the editor of an English
Agricultural Journal, asking for my opinion before republish-
ing 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

MENTAL QUALITIES. 8$

the parent plants had been carefully protected from the ac-
cess of insects. This account was published before I had dis-
covered the meaning of heterostylism, and the whole state-
ment must have been fraudulent, or there was neglect in ex-
cluding 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 rab-
bits 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 Bel-
gium ; 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 im-
probable.

So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Ben-
eden, 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 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 con-
sumed 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 i
saved me from the distractions of society and amusement.

/

fl

Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this
may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as T can
judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and con-
ditions. Of these, the most important have been — the love

(I

I

* 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.

36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

I of science — unbounded patience in long reflecting over any

' subject — industry in observing and collecting facts — and a

j| fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With

"I such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that

I should have influenced to a considerable extent the beHef

of scientific men on some important points.

DOWN HOUSE, FROM THE GARDEN.

\Froin the Century Magazine.

CHAPTER 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 personal-
ity 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.

38 REMINISCENCES.

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 Dov/n, a
rhythmical click which is with all of us a very distinct re-
membrance. 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 some-
thing 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 natu-
rally awkward with his hands, and was unable to draw at all
well.* 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 New-
port dissect a humble bee, getting out the nervous system
with a few cuts of a line 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

* The figure representing the aggregated cell-contents in ' Insectivo-
rous Plants ' was drawn by him.

HABITS AND APPEARANCE.

89

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 " speech-
less 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 kjUed 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 neu-
tralising 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 cf 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

90

REMINISCENCES.

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 other-
wise 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 sympa-
thetically 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 roagh 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

DOGS.

91

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 ij 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,
"7V^ 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 evi-
dently 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 de-
voted 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 tell-
ing. He went into the yard and shouted in his old manner ;
the dog rushed out and set off with him on his walk, show-
ing no more emotion or excitement than if the same thing

92

REMINISCENCES.

had happened the day before, instead of five years ago.
This story is made use of in the ' Descent of Man,' 2nd Edit.,
p. 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 Avhere 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 re-
quired, such as to be let in at the door, or out at the veran-
dah 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," facing page loi.

WALKS.

93

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 neigh-
bourhood of the house. The " Sand-walk " was a narrow
strip of land i^ 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, stretch-
ing 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 sym-
pathize 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

94

REMINISCENCES.

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 what-
ever 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 aston-
ished that it took a good stare at him before it ran off. A
Spitz dog which accompanied him showed no sign of excite-
ment at the fox, and he used to end the story by wondering
how the dog could have been sd 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 com-
mon 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 thj 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 pleas-
ant days. He used to like to watch us playing at lawn-ten-
nis, 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

RIDING.

95

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 Lo-
belia. 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 feel-
ing came out in abuse as well as in praise — e.g. of some seed-
lings— " 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
might see the same spirit in his way of speaking of Sundew,
earth-worms, &c.*

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 intelli-
gence, and Tommy was often laughed at for the alarm he
showed at passing and repassing the same heap of hedge-

* Cf. Leslie Stephen's * Swift,' 1882, p. 200, where Swift's inspection of
the manners and customs of servants are compared to my father's observa-
tions on worms, " The difference is,'" says Mr. Stephen, " that Darwin had
none but kindly feelings for worms."

(

96

REMINISCENCES.

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 hav-
ing 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, &c., 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 particu-
larly 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

CORRESPONDENCE.

97

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 inter-
est in politics wac considerable, but his opinion on these
matters was formed rather by the way than with any serious
amount of thought.

After he had 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
6

98

REMINISCENCES.

about the general tone of his letters, they will speak for them-
selves. 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 trouble-
some 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 expe-
rienced 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

BUSINESS.

99

not having worked at medicine with so much zeal as he v/ould
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 de-
stroyed 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

lOO REMINISCENCES.

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 fre-
quently, 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 sUght 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
maU 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 rame
down at four o'clock to dress for his walk, and he was so reg-
ular that one might be quite certain it was within a few min-
utes 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 v/as 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

THE STUDY AT DOWN.

\Froin the Century Magazine.

MUSIC. lOl

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 him-
self, 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 enjoy-
ment 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 be-
lieve, 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 al-

102

REMINISCENCES.

most 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 discom-
fort. 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 the lighter kinds of literature. He was extremely fond of
novels, and I remember well the way in which he would an-
ticipate 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 before-
hand, 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 appreci-
ate George Eliot, though he often spoke Avarmly 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 gener-
ally 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

PICTURES. 103

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 pict-
ures 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 like-
ness. 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 look-
ing at the Turners in Mr. Ruskin's bedroom, he did not con-
fess, 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 cour-
tesy to his host. He was pleased and amused when subse-
quently Mr. Ruskin brought him some photographs of pict-
ures (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 .

104

REMINISCENCES.

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 sen-
tence and asked for a translation. He certainly had a bad
ear for vocal sounds, so that he found it impossible to per-
ceive 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.

READING.

105

It was remarkable, too, how he kept up his interest in
subjects at which he had formerly worked. This was strik-
ingly 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 observa-
tions, 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 diffi-
culty anything beyond it was attempted. Any public appear-
ance, even of the most modest kind, was an effort to him.
In 187 1 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

I06 REMINISCENCES.

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
Letts'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 Lon-
don, 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, stipu-
lating, 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 pre-
vious day, and the chief part of it he would do himself. The
discomfort of a journey to him was, at least latterly, chiefly in

HOLIDAYS.

107

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 cer-
tainly enjoyed it in an almost boyish way, and to a curious
extent.

Although, as he has said, some of his sesthetic 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 re-
turning 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 ncz': Southampton. He always particu-
larly 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 ob-
serve. At Hartfield he watched Drosera catching insects,
&c. ; at Torquay he observed the fertilisation of an orchid
(Spiran^/ies), 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 v/ild with excitement, panting, squeak-
ing, rushing round the room, and jumping on and off the
chairs ; and he used to stoop down, pressing her face to his,

I08 REMINISCENCES.

letting her lick him, and speaking to her with a peculiarly
tender, caressing voice.

My father had the power of giving to these summer holi-
days 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 de-
pressing effect on him ; when he had been previously much
overworked it seemed as though the absence of the custom-
ary 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, sit 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 peo-
ple, in short, as the majority are everywhere, but like to him
at least in this, that they were fellow-creatures and fellow-

WITH HIS CHILDREN.

109

patients. And never was any one more genial, more con-
siderate, more friendly, more altogether charming than he
universally was." .... He " never aimed, as too often hap-
pens 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 impos-
sible 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 sympa-
thetic 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, writ-
ten 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, 1 85 1.

no REMINISCENCES.

" 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 joy-
ousness 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 touch-
ing 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.

" Besides 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

WITH HIS CHILDREN. HI

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 tov/ards me,
the memory of which is charming. She often used exagger-
ated 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 an-
gelic. 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 every-
thing 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 ! Bless-
ings on her !

''April 30, 185 1."

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

112 REMINISCENCES.

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 care-
lessness ; 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 chil-
dren 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 hu-
mility 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 grand-
son Bernard were great ; and he often spoke of the pleasure
it was to him to see " his little face opposite to him" at lunch-
eon. He and Bernard used to compare their tastes ; e.g.^ in
liking brown sugar better than white, &c.; the result being,
" We always agree, don't we ? "

WITH HIS CHILDREN. II3

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 sacred-
ness 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 neces-
saries 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.

114 REMINISCENCES.

" 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 Shrews-
bury 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 back-
gammon 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 hoAV 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

WITH HIS FAMILY.

115

of a kitten. But yet he knew and remembered the individu-
alities 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 creat-
ures 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 quali-
ties, intellectual or moral, made us conceited, as mught 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 exalta-
tion 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 expres-
sion, " 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 him-
self about the management of the garden, cows, &c. 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

Il6 REMINISCENCES.

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 him-
self. If, however, they were not deterred, he used to arrange
their journeys for them, telling them when to come, and prac-
tically 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 see-
ing. 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.* He speaks of his manner
as resembling that of a "' savant " of Oxford or Cambridge.

* * Darwin considere au point de vue des causes de son succes.' —
Geneva, 1882.

MANNER. 117

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 tl^em 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 paren-
thesis, 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

Il8 REMINISCENCES.

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.*

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 refine-
ment of nature came out most strongly. So, when he was
talking to a lady who pleased and amused him, the combina-
tion 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

* My father related a Johnsonian answer of Erasmus Darwin's : " Don't
you find it very inconvenient stammering, Dr. Darwin ? " " No, sir, be-
cause I have time to think before I speak, and don't ask impertinent ques-
tions."

FRIENDS.

119

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 ele-
ment 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 friend-
ships, 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, keep-
ing 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

I20 REMINISCENCES.

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 Magis-
trate.

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 busi-
ness, 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 oppor-
tunities of meeting strangers.

Dr. Lane has described* 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 con-
fused 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 remember-
ing faces in his latter years, also added to his discomfort on

* Lecture by Dr. B. W. Richardson, in St. George's Hall, Oct. 22, 1882.

WORK. 121

such occasions. He did not realise that he would be recog-
nised 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 1
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 this 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 in-
termediate 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, &c. ; 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, &c., 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
7

I

122 REMINISCENCES.

time — and this gave him a continual anxiety that the experi-
ment 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 con-
fine himself to observing the single point to which the experi-
ment was directed, and his power of seeing a number of other
things was wonderful. I do not think he cared for prelimi-
nary 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 unneces-

l sarily to read anything a second time.

I 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 sus-
pects the work of a man who never uses the simple micro-
scope.

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 dissectinsf-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

WORK.

123

easily from side to side. His ordinary tools, &c., 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," &c. The most marked peculiarity of the con-
tents 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, &c., 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 germi-
nating seeds, zinc labels, saucers full of sand, &c., &c. Con-
sidering how tidy and methodical he was in essential things,
it is curious that he bore with so many make-shifts : for in-
stance, 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, &c., 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

124

REMINISCENCES.

flower. I remember well the look of two sets of capsules,
gathered and waiting to be weighed, counted, &c., 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 de-
tails 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 cross-
ing experiments — in the elaborate care he took not to make
any confusion in putting capsules into wrong trays, &:c., &c.
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,
Szc. He was astonished when we found that one of his mi-
crometers 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 forgot-
ten 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 milli-
meters. 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

WORK.

125

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. Measure-
ments 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 exam-
ples 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 appar-
ently 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 w^as so strongly impressed upon
me.

Another quality which was shown in his experimental j
works was his power of sticking to a subject ; he used almost i
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 ex-
press his almost fierce desire to force the truth to reveal itself.
He often said that it was important that a man should know

126 REMINISCENCES.

[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
I equalled by his power of judging and condemning the
j 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 exam-
'■ pie 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 there-
fore made me play my bassoon close to a plant. *

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 work-
ing upon the 'Variations of Animals and Plants,' in 1 860-61,
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

* 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.

WORK.

127

undertaken and largely worked out as a pastime in place of
more serious work. The letters to Hooker of this period con- :
tain expressions such as, *' God forgive me for being so idle ;
I am quite sillily interested in this work." The intense pleas- ;
ure 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 ' Recollec-
tions ' the strong satisfaction he felt in solving the problem of
heterostylism. And I have heard him mention that the Geol- ^
ogy 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 Miiller's ' Befruchtung,' he preserved it from complete dis-
solution by putting a metal clip over its back. In the same
way he would cut a heavy book in half, to make it more con-
venient to hold. He used to boast that he made Lyell pub-
lish the second edition of one of his books in two volumes in-
stead of in one, by telling him how he had been obliged to
cut it in half. Pamphlets were often treated even more severe-
ly 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 orna-
mental, 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 an-
other 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

128 REMINISCENCES.

the other heap, either marked with a cypher at the end, to
show that it contained no marked passages, or inscribed, per-
haps, '' not read," or " only skimmed." The books accumu-
lated in the " read " heap until the shelves overflowed, and
then, with much lamenting, a day was given up to the cata-
loguing. He disliked this work, and as the necessity of under-
taking 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, &c., 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 dif-
ferent subjects. He had other sets of abstracts arranged, not
according to subject, but according to periodical. When col-
lecting 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.'* My father and M. de
CandoUe were mutually pleased to discover that they had
adopted the same plan of classifying facts. De Candolle de-
scribes the method in his * Phytolcgie,' 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 "

* The racks on which the pcrtfolios were placed are shown in the illus-
tration, " The Study of Down," facing p. loi, in the recess at the right-
hand side of the fire-place.

STYLE.

129

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 pre^nt 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.

I30

REMINISCENCES.

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
correction 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. Litchfied, 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 inex-
pressibly 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 im-
provement 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 obscu-
rities 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

STYLE.

131

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 I
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 laugh-
ing 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 lia3 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,'
p. 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 com-
pared 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.

132

REMINISCENCES.

I

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,
hthat 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
\ I new divisions of special subjects — such as the fertilisation of
f 1 flowers, insectivorous plants, dimorphism, &c. — 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 rnay 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 illustra-
tions 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,' * Insec-
tivorous Plants,' the 'Movements of Plants,' and 'Forms of
Flowers,' were, to a large extent, illustrated by some of his

STYLE.

133

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 char-
acteristic 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

134 REMINISCENCES.

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 lax-
ness 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 careless-
ness 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 cf his
first essay on evolution. This letter seems to me full of the
j intense desire that his theory should succeed as a contribu-
1 tion to knowledge, and apart from any desire for personal
I 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 over-
whelmingly 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 dis-
appointment at what he thought was Mr. Wallace's forestall-
ing 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.
i His feeling about reclamations, including answers to at-
\ tacks and all kinds of discussions, was strong. It is simply
I expressed in a letter to Falconer (1863.^), "If I ever felt
I angry towards you, for whom I have a sincere friendship, I
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

ILL-HEALTH.

135

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 * 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 under-
stood, 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 pleas-
ure in what pleased them. Thus, in later life, their percep-
tion of what he endured had to be disentangled from the
impression produced in childhood by constant genial kind-
ness 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 hesi-
tate to speak thus freely of a thing so sacred as the life-long

* He departed from his inile in his " Note on the Habits of the Pampas
"Woodpecker, Colaptes campesttis" ' Proc. Zool. Soc.,' 1S70, p. 705 : also in
a letter published in the 'Athenaeum' (1863, p. 554), in which case he
afterwards regretted that he had not remained silent. His replies to criti-
cisms, in the later editions of the ' Origin,' can hardly be classed as infrac-
tions of his rule.

136

REMINISCENCES.

^ 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 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 " admis-
sus est pensionarius minor sub Magistro Shaw" on Oct. 15,

1827. He did not come into residence till the Lent Term,

1828, so that, although he passed his examination in due sea-
son, 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) ; * 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, f

* " On Tuesday last Charles Darwin, of Christ's College, was admitted
B.A." — Cambridge Chronicle, Friday, April 29, 1831.

f The rooms are on the first floor, on the west side of the middle stair-
case. A medallion (given by my brother) has recently been let into the
wall of the sitting-room.

J .Q CAMBRIDGE. JETAT, 19-22.

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 dis-
cipline 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 inci-
dent occurred which was attended with somewhat disagree-
able, 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 the 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 i7t 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 per-
fect ferment among my friends, but was the subject of expostu-
lation from some of the leading members of the University."

My father seems to have found no difficulty in living at

* See p. 42.

CHRIST'S COLLEGE.

141

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 Pen-
sioners, 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

142 CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 19-22.

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 good-bye 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 remem-
bered 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
j everything false, or vile, or cruel, or mean, or dishonourable.
I He was not only great, but pre-eminently good, and just, and
I 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
I left Cambridge he told me that he had made up his mind not
j 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
I lingering from a shot it had received on the previous day ;
f and that it had made and left such a painful impression on
I his mind, that he could not reconcile it to his conscience to
:' continue to derive pleasure from a sport which inflicted such
cruel suffering."

MR. HERBERT'S RECOLLECTIONS. 143

To realise the strength of the feeling that led to this re-
solve, we must remember how passionate was his love of sport.
We must recall the boy shooting his first snipe,* and trembhng
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

isit."t

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 sub-
jected to 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 studies of the
place, but full of other pursuits, which were followed with a

* ' Recollections,' p. 34.

f Letter from C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

144 CAMBRIDGE. ^ETAT. 19-22.

rejoicing enthusiasm. Entomology, riding, shooting in the
fens, suppers and card-playing, music at King's Chapel, en-
gravings 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 re-
lates how, during the same Barmouth summer, he was pressed
into the service of " the science " — as my father called col-
lecting beetles. They took their daily walks together among
the hills behind Barmouth, or boated in the Mawddach estu-
ary, or sailed to Sarn Badrig to land there at low water, or
went fly-fishing in the Cors-y-gedol lakes. " On these occa-
sions 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 con-
stitutional walks ; but alas ! my powers of discrimination sel-
dom enabled me to secure a prize — the usual result, on his
examining the contents of my bottle, being an exclamation,
' Well, old 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." f
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 conversa-
tions that we had about Brazilian scenery and tropical vege-

* No doubt in allusion to the title of Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
f PanagcBus crux-major.

FRIENDS.

145

tation of all sorts. Nor do I forget the way and the vehe-
mence with which he rubbed his chin when he got excited
on such subjects, and discoursed eloquently of lianas, or-
chids, &c."

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 * Club, the members, besides himself and
Mr. Herbert (from whom I quote), being Whitley of St. John's,
now Honorary Canon of Durham ; f 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. Lowej; (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 along 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 indescrib-
able." At any rate, the meetings seemed to have been suc-
cessful, and to have ended with " a game of mild vingt-et-un."

* Mr. Herbert mentions the name as ' The Glutton Club.'
f Formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy at Durham University.
X Brother of Lord Sherbrooke.
8

146 CAMBRIDGE. JETAT. 19-22.

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 sym-
phony or overture of Mozart's or Beethoven's, with their full
harmonies." On one occasion Herbert remembers " accom-
panying 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 Ra-
phael Morghen and Miiller ; and he spent hours in the Fitz-
william 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 Mathe-
matics ; 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 im-
agine, 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,* " to hear that you are reading divinity. I should

* March 18, 1829.

W. D. FOX. 147

like to know what books you are reading, and your opinions
about them ; you need not be afraid of preaching to me pre-
maturely." 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 invv-ardly moved by the Holy
Spirit, &c.,' 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

" a — " Their friendship was, in fact, due to their being

n

undergraduates together. My father's letters show clearly
enough how genuine the friendship was. In after years, dis-
tance, 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 1S80. Mr. Fox took orders, and worked
as a country clergyman until forced by ill-health to leave
his living in Delamere Forest. His love of natural history
remained strong, and he became a skilled fancier of many
kinds of birds, &c. The index to ' Animals and Plants,' and
my father's later correspondence, show how much help he
received from his old College friend.]

148 CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 19-22. [1828.

C. Darwin to J. M. Herbert.

Saturday Evening

[September 14, 1828].*

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 speci-
mens 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 entomol-
ogists.

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,t
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, &c., 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-col-
oured is that which I want. These last two insects are ex-
cessively rare, and you will really extremely oblige me by taking
all this trouble pretty soon. Remember me most kindly to

* The postmark being Derby seems to show that the letter was written
from his cousin, W. D. Fox's house, Osmaston, near Derby.

f The top of the hill immediately behind Barmouth was called Craig-
Storm, a hybrid Cambro-English word.

1829.] SHOOTING. 149

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 that 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 Cam-
bridge 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

150 CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 19-22. [1829.

gone by can give. How we would talk, walk, and entomolo-
gise ! 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 descrip-
tion of happiness that words can give."]

C. Darwm 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,* 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 won-
derfully 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 ; \ his

* Founder of the Chair of Zoology at Oxford.

f J. F. Stephens, author of ' A Manual of British Coleoptera,' 1839,
and other works.

1829.] SHOOTING. 151

cabinet is more magnificent than the most zealous entomolo-
gist 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 Goo-
sander, 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 Sim-
cox 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 disposi-
tions. They have been giving some very gay parties, nearly
sixty men there both evenings."]

Id2 ' CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 19-22. [1829.

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

Christ's College [Cambridge], April i [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 rig-
idly. 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

1829.] CONDOLENCE. 1 53

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.

C. Darwiti to IV. 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,* 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 dis-
tress I will say nothing more, excepting that I trust your father
and Mrs. Fox bear this blow as well as, under such circum-
stances, 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.

C. Darwiti 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 conclu-

* The death of Fox's sister, Mrs. Bristowe.

154 CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 19-22. [1829.

sion was so unfortunate, that I was too unhappy to write to
you till this week's quiet at home. The thoughts of Wood-
house 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,* 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 un-
fortunate 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.

C. 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

* Probably with eczema, from which he often suffered.

1829.] MUSIC. 155

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.

C. 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* was
the most glorious thinj I ever experienced ; and as for Mali-
bran, 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 \ acted ' II Fanatico ' in character ; be-
ing 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

* At Birmingham, f De Begnis's Christian name was Giuseppe.

1^6 CAMBRIDGE. .'ETAT. 19-22. [1830.

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.

«r « « « «

C. 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 Vvill 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 favour-
able— that is to say, come directly. Holden has been or-
dained, and drove the Coach out on the Monday. I do not

l830.] BEETLE COLLECTING. 1 57

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,

C. 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."]

C, 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 intoler-
able. Henslow is my tutor, and a most admirable one he
makes ; the hour with him is the pleasantest in the whole day.

158 CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. iq-22. [1831.

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 con-
sequence 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 com-
mandments 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.

C. Daf"wi?i 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 ;

i83i.] DEGREE. 159

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 news-
paper yesterday, in which you will see what a good place
[loth] I have got in the Poll. As for Christ's, did you ever
see such a college for producing Captains and Apostles ? *
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 remem-
bered 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.

* The " Captain " is at the head of the " Poll " : the " Apostles " are
the last twelve in the Mathematical Tripos.

CHAPTER 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 * 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 con-
nected with his Cambridge life, but may be more appropri-
ately told in the present chapter. Foremost in the chain of
circumstances which led 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, &c., throughout his life : —

"183 1. Christmas. — Passed my examination for B. A. de-
gree and kept the two following terms.

" During these months lived much with Professor Hens-
low, often dining with him and walking with him ; became
slightly acquainted with several of the learned men in Cam-
bridge, 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

* The Beagle did not however make her final and successful start until
December 27.

THE BEAGLE LAID ASHORE, RIVER SANTA CRUZ

>

HENSLOW. i6l

spring Henslow persuaded me to think of Geology, and intro-
duced me to Sedgwick. During Midsummer geologised a
little in Shropshire.

^''August. — Went on Geological tour* by Llangollen,
Ruthin, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig, where I left Pro-
fessor 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 f 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 entomolo-
gists, 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 attaintments by simply saying that he kneyv every-
thing. When I reflect how immediately we felt at perfect ease
with a man older, and in everyway so immensely our superior,
I think it was as much owing to the transparent sincerity of

* Mentioned by Sedgwick in his preface to Salter's 'Catalogue of Cam-
brian and Silurian Fossils,' 1S73.

f Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, M. A.,'by the Rev.
Leonard Jenyns. 8vo. London, 1862, p. 51.

l62 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22.

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 So-
cieties do in London. At these parties many of the most
distinguished members of the University occasionally attend-
ed ; and when only a few were present, I have listened to
the great men of those days, conversing on all sorts of sub-
jects, with the most varied and brilliant powers. This was
no small advantage to some of the younger men, as it stimu-
lated 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

HENSLOW. 163

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 inti-
mate with Professor Henslow, and his kindness was un-
bounded ; he continually asked me to his house, and allowed
me to accompany him in his walks. He talked on all sub-
jects, including his deep sense of religion, -and was entirely
open. I owe more than I can express to this excellent
man. . . .

" During the years when I associated so much with Pro-
fessor 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 rever-
ence, 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

164 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22.

interested me much. I did 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 impor-
tance 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 Hen slow 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 in-
dulged 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 forma-
tions 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 Ca-

THE OFFER. 165

naries, 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, &c. Eyton will go
next summer, and I am learning Spanish."

E.ater 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 con-
tinue to fan your Canary ardour. I read and re-read Hum-
boldt ; 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
ist 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.

" Septejnber. — Went to Maer, returned with Uncle Jos. to
Shrewsbury, thence to Cambridge. London.

" wth. — Went with Captain Fitz-Roy in steamer to Plym-
outh to see the Beagle.

" 22nd. — Returned to Shrewsbury, passing through Cam-
bridge.

•l66 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' .^TAT. 22. [1831.

" October 2nd. — Took leave of my home. Stayed in
London.

" 24/^. — 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.

" 37///. — Sailed from England on our Circumnavigation."

George Peacock * 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 Archi-
pelago. The vessel is fitted out expressly for scientific pur-
poses, combined with the survey ; it will furnish, therefore, a
rare opportunity for a naturalist, and it would be a great mis-
fortune 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 recommenda-
tion. Do think of this subject, it would be a serious loss to
the cause of natural science if this fine opportunity was lost.

^ ^ ^ ^ V

* Formerly Dean of Ely, and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at
Cambridge,

i83i.] THE OFFER. 167

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. Z>arwm.

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 supposi-
tion of your being 2i 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
ge?itlejna7i. Particulars of salary, &c., 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

l68 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

never was a finer chance for a man of zeal and spirit ; Cap-
tain Fitz-Roy is a young man. What I wish you to do is in-
stantly 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 your-
self 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. Darwi?i.

[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 opportu-
nity which should not be lost, and I look forward with great
interest to the benefit which our collections of Natural His-
tory may receive from your labors.

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 in-
stance, 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 sci-
entific purposes, and the ship will generally wait your leisure
for researches in Natural History, &c. Captain Fitz-Roy is a
public-spirited and zealous officer, of delightful manners, and
greatly beloved by all his brother officers. He went with

i83i.] THE OFFER REFUSED. i6q

Captain Beechey,* and spent ;£"i5oo in bringing over and
educating at his own charge three natives of Patagonia. He
engages at his own expense an artist at ;^2oo 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.

C. 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 con-
cerned, 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 com-
fortable if I did not follow it.

My father's objections are these : the unfitting me to

* 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.

9

I ^O APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' yETAT. 22. [1S31.

settle down as a Clergyman, my little habit of seafaring, the
shortness of the tiine^ 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.

« 4c « * «

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 ac-
quaintance, 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 dis-
liking 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.

C. Darwin to R. W. Darwm.

[Maer] August 31, [1831].

My dear Father,

I am afraid I am going to make you again very uncom-
fortable. But, upon consideration, I think you will excuse
me once again, stating my opinions on the offer of the

i83i.] MR. DARWIN'S OBJECTIONS. lyi

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 * 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 sub-
ject 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 than 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 un-
comfortable.

I must again state I cannot think it would unfit me here-
after 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.

*

Josiah Wedgwood.

^J2 APPOINTMENT TO THE ' BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

[Here follows the list of objections which are referred to
in the following letter : —

(i.) Disreputable to my character as a Clergyman here-
after.

(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 here-
after.

(6.) That my accommodations would be most uncomfort-
able.

(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.] *

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 prin-
cipal 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 dis-
reputable 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

*

In C, Darwin's writing.

1831.I JOSIAH WEDGWOOD'S ADVICE. 1^73

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 expe-
dition, 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 ap-
pointed 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 pro-
fession, 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.

1^4 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

C, Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

Cambridge, Red Lion [Sept. 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.

C. 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

1831.] CAPTAIN FITZ-ROY. I^c

person oifered was Leonard Jenyns, who was so near accept-
ing 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 accept-
ing 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 Beau-
fort and Fitz-Roy, Good-bye. You will hear from me con-
stantly. Direct 17 Spring Gardens. Tell nobody in Shrop-
shire 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.

C. Dariuhi 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 gentlefuanlike^ 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 vety
wrong in misrepresenting things so much.

1^6 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

I scarcely thought of going to town, but here I am ; and
now for more details, and much more promising ones. Cap-
tain 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, v/ho 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 uncom-
fortable, 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 man-
ners 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 loth of October. It contains sixty men, five or
six officers, &c., 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, ^S^ P^r annum ; and Fitz-Roy says if
I spend, including my outfitting, ^500, 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

i83i.] . CAPTAIN FITZ-ROY. ijy

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 assist-
ance ; 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 v\'e 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 writ-
ing in [a] great hurry; I do not know whether you take inter-
est 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.

1^8 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

London, Monday, [September 5, 1831J.

My dear Sir,

Gloria iji 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 in-
clined, 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 loth 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 re-
spect.

Captain Fitz-Roy has [a] good stock of books, many of
which were in my list, and rifles, &c., 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

i83i.] W. D. FOX. ipr^

castles in the air about hunting foxes in 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.

C 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.* But,
thank heaven, I firmly believe that it was my own entu'e 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. On thing more — the sending ijiimediately 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

* He had misunderstood a letter of Fox's as implying a charge of false-
hood.

l8o APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

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.

C. Darwin to Miss Susaji Darivin.

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 in-
side ; 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 yester-

i83i.] PREPARATIONS. l8l

day. 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 ;j^6o ! ! 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 troub-
ling 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.

C. Darwin to Miss Susan Darwin.

London, Friday Morning, September g, 1831.

My dear Susan,

I have just received the parcel. I suppose it was not de-
livered 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

1 82 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE/ ^TAT. 22. [1831.

on the books for victuals, and he thinks I shall have no diffi-
culty 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 plagu-
ing Captain Beaufort, it stirs him up with a long pole. Cap-
tain Fitz-Roy says he is sure he has interest enough (particu-
larly 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 them-
selves about him. By the way, Wood has been of the great-
est 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 some-
body 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 hooing you
will give me a trial." How one does change I 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.* He goes

* William Yarrell, well known for his ' History of British Birds ' and
'History of British Fishes,' was born in 1784. He inherited from his

I83I.1 THE SHOPS SHUT. 183

to the shops with me and bullies about prices (not that I yet
buy) : hang me if I give £60 for pistols.

Yesterday all the shops were shut, so that I could do noth-
ing ; and I was child enough to give £1 is. for an excellent
seat to see the Procession.* 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, mak-
ing 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 go-
ing 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

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 honour-
able character, and was a valued office-bearer of several of the learned
Societies.

* The Coronation of William IV.

1 84 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

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 offi-
cers 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, &c. &c. 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 excel-
lent rifle for ^^50, there is a saving ; a good telescope, with
compass, ;^5, and these are nearly the only expensive instru-
ments 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 ;£^4oo 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 ham-
mers 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

i83i.] VISIT TO PLYMOUTH. 1 85

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, Shrews-
bury, 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 ex-
pedition will suit me. Unasked, he said Fitz-Roy's temper
was perfect. He sends his own son with him as midship-
man. The key of my microscope was forgotten ; it is of no

consequence. Love to all.

Chas. Darwin.

C. 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 Plym-
outh 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 con-
siderable risk to one's life and health, and the leaving for so
very long a time so many people whom I dearly love, is often-
times a feeling so painful that it requires all my resolution to
overcome it. But everything is now settled, and before the

l86 APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' .^TAT. 22. [1831.

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, &c., &c. 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 ist 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 com-
ing 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 mo-
ments of glorious enthusiasm, when I think of the date and
cocoa-trees, the palms and ferns so lofty and beautiful, every-
thing 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.

i83i.] BAROMETERS. jgy

C. 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 at-
tending to the name. But I have now procured some from
Jones, which appears very good, and I will send it this even-
ing 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 per-
fect 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 inconven-
ience by ordering the room in readiness.

l88 APPOINTMENT TO THE ' BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831,

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

Devonport, November 15, 1831.
My dear Henslow,

The orders are come down from the Admiralty, and every-
thing 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 in-
structions 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 Chronom-
eters, viz. twenty-four, all very good ones. In short, every-
thing 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 natu-
ral 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 fresh-
men, that is in their manners, in everything else widely differ-
ent. 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.

i83i.] DEVENPORT. 1 89

My time passes away very pleasantly. I know one or two
pleasant people, foremost of whom is Mr. Thunder-and-light-
ning Harris,* whom 1 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 £^t^o 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.

C. Darwin to J. S. He7islow.

Devonport, Decembers, 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 in 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-sick-
ness with something like satisfaction, anything must be better
than this state of anxiety. I am very much obliged for your

* William Snow Harris, the Electrician.

IQO APPOINTMENT TO THE 'BEAGLE.' ^TAT. 22. [1831.

last kind and affectionate letter. I always like advice from
you, and no one whom I have the luck to know is more capa-
ble of giving it than yourself. Recollect, when you write,
that I am a sort oi protege oi 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 be-
lieve me, my dear Henslow,

Your affectionate and obliged friend,

Ch. Darwin.

Remember me most kindly to those who take any interest
in me.

CHAPTER 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,' p. i, as being "to com-
plete the Survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego^ com-
menced 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 nick-
named "coffins," from their liability to go down in severe
weather. They were very " deep-waisted," that is, their bul-
warks were high in proportion to their size, so that a heavy
sea breaking over them might be highly dangerous. Never-
theless, 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 1 83 1 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 com-

192

THE VOYAGE. • ^TAT. 22.

fortable 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 seaman-
ship 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, dress-
ing, 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, with-
out 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, Sep-
tember 17, 1 83 1 : — " When I wrote last I was in great alarm
about my cabin. The cabins were not then marked out, but

THE SHIP.

193

when I left they were, and mine is a capital one, certainly-
next best to the Captain's and remarkably light. My com-
panion 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 com-
fortable 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 ham-
mocks. 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 ; /. ^., taking care of the min-
utes.

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 oi jT^woo, a sum which he had to supply,
although the boats saved ^veral 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-
10

194

THE VOYAGE. .ETAT. 22.

maker to look after the chronometers.* 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, &c. 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 lamentaJ^ly 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 B eagle 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 (ist 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. Hamond, and Mr. Philip

* Either one or both were on the books for victuals.

THE OFFICERS.

195

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, ani 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 life-
time, 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.' " * 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."

* His other nickname was " The Flycatcher." I have heard my father
tell how he overheard the boatswain of the Beagle showing another boat-
swain over the ship, and pointing out the officers : " That's our first lieu-
tenant ; that's our doctor ; that's our flycatcher."

196

THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 22.

Admiral Stokes, Mr. King, Mr, Usborne, and Mr. Ha-
mond, 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 him-
self 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 * 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 midship-
men 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 1 861 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 y will always, to the day of my death, make me glad to

* 'Voyage of the Adventure and Beagle^ vol. ii. p. 21,

SEA SICKNESS.

197

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-end-
ing streams of phosphorescent animalculge."

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 let-
ters, 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

198 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 22.

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 ob-
servations 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 Amer-
ica, 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

LETTERS. IQQ

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 a 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 Cap-
tain 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 pos-
sible. 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 spon-
taneous words that impression of his personality which the
' Journal * has given to so many readers.]

200 THE VOYAGE. .ETAT. 23. [1832.

C. 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 be-
gins 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

i832.] PEAK OF TENERIFFE. 201

of fresh fruits growing in beautiful valleys, and reading Hum-
boldt's descriptions of the island's glorious views, when per-
haps you may nearly guess at our disappointment, when a
small pale man informed us we must perform a strict quaran-
tine 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
am^ongst the clouds like another world. Our only drawback
was the extreme wish of visiting this glorious island. Tell
Eytoii never to forget either the Canary Islands or South A^netica;
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 vv^ill 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 w^as so delight-
ful and clear, that the sky and water together made a picture.
On the 1 6th 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 ; exceed-
ingly 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 har-
vest in several branches of Natural History. I find the de-
scriptions 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

202 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

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 dur-
ng bur 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 dissimi-
larity 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 col-
lections 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 sur-
prise 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 lo 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 dif-
ferent tracks. I never in my life met with a man who could
endure nearly so great a share of fatigue. He works inces-

i832.] CROSSING THE EQUATOR. 203

santly, and when apparently not employed, he is thinking. If
he does not kill himself, he will during this voyage do a won-
derful 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 26t/i. — About 280 miles from Bahia. On the
loth 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 meet-
ing 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 repre-
sents 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 ^ 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 un-
used 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 Cap-
tain 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.

204 THE VOYAGE. .ETAT. 23. [1832,

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 light-
ness which no European tree partakes of. Bananas and plan-
tains 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 luxu-
riant villages. Whilst viewing such scenes, one feels the im-
possibility that any description should come near the mark,
much less be overdrawn.

March \st. — 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 Tener-
iffe. My feelings amount to admiration the more I read him.

1832.J LIFE AT SEA. 205

Tell Eyton (I find I am writing to my sisters !) how exceed-
ingly 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 sound-
ing 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 hnd they all say we are the No.'i 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 throw-
ing cold water on the whole scheme ; the chances are so
numerous of turning out quite tbe 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

2o6 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

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.

C. Darwifi 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 collec-
tions go on admirably in almost every branch. As for in-
sects, I trust I shall send a host of undescribed species to
England. I believe they have no small ones in the collec-
tions, and here this morning I have taken minute Hydropori,
Noterus, Colymbetes, Hydrophilus, Hydrobius, Gromius, &:c.,
&c., as specimens of fresh- water beetles. I am entirely occu-
pied 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.

i832.] RIO. 207

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 i 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 1 .... It is one of my most constant
amusements to draw pictures of the past ; and in them I
often see you and poor little Fan. 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 haw-
thorn-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 very affectionately,

Chas. Darwin.

208 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

Rio de Janeiro, May 18, 1833.

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 interest-
ing, 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 suffi-
cient importance to interest others. In the one thing collect-
ing 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 ac-
curately 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 pos-
sessed a most marvellous power of changing its colours, equal-
ling 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

1832.] RIO MACAO. 209

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
srayed a few hours at Fernando Norcnha ; a tremendous surf
was running so that a boat was swamped, and the Captain
v/ould 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,
&c., have been invaluable I am well off in books, the ' Dic-
tionnaire 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 head-
quarters.

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'h2i's> 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 grandeur — nothing
but the reality can give any idea how wonderful, how magnifi-
cent the scene is. If I was to specify any one thing I should
give the pre-eminence to the host of parasitical plants. Your

210 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

engraving is exactly true, but underrates rather than exag-
gerates 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, &c. &c. It is exceed-
ingly 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 * Dic-
tionnaire 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 forma-

l832.] BOTOFOGO BAY. 211

tion 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.

C. 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 con-
trast 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,

212 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

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. Wick-
ham (ist Lieutenant) and I were the only two who landed
with guns and geological hammers, &c. The birds by myriads
were too close to shoot ; we then tried stones, but at last, proh
pudor ! my geological hammsr was the instrument of death.
We soon loaded the boat w^ith 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 Pam-
pas. 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 1 I do
assure you I am occasionally "taken aback" by this reflec-

1832.] MONTE VIDEO. 213

tion ; and then for man or ship it is not so easy to right again.
Remember me most sincerely to the remnant of most excel-
lent fellows whom I have the good luck to know in Cam.bridge
— I mean Whitley and Watkins. Tell Lowe I am even be-
neath 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 al-
ways be happy and prosperous is my most cordial wish.

Yours affectionately,

Chas. Darwin.

C. 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 coun-
tries 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

214 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1832.

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 de-
lightful excursion during this time of 150 miles into the coun-
try. 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 every-
thing which is to be seen. It is not at all unlike Cambridge-
shire, only that every hedge, tree and hill must be levelled,
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 cen-
tral 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

I833-] FUEGIANS. 21$

jacket would disfigure an angel. Believe me, my dear Wat-
kins, with the warmest feelings of friendship,

Ever yours,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. S. Hens low.

April II, 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 P'uegians 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 —

2i6 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 23. [1833.

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 king-
dom, 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 in-
deed every place is, to me very interesting. The country is
non-fossiliferous, and a common-place succession of gran-
itic rocks and slates ; attempting to make out the relation
of cleavage, strata, &c., &c., 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.

^ ^ itt ¥: *

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 pur-
chased a large schooner of 170 tons. In r^iany 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 ani-
mals of the Pacific may keep up my resolution. Remember

i833.] HOME LETTERS. 21/

me most kindly to Mrs. Henslow and all other friends ; I am
a true lover of Alma Mater and all its inhabitants.
Believe m.e, my dear Henslow,

Your affectionate and most obliged friend,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to Miss C. Darwin.

Maldonado, Rio Plata, May 22, 1833.

. . . The following business piece is to my father. Hav-
ing a servant of my own would be a really great addition to
my comfort. For these two reasons : as at present the Cap-
tain 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 £^0 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 ;£^2oo
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 men-
tioned 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 Cath-
erine, Feb. 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 let-
ter. If I can manage it, I will, before doubling the Horn,
send the rest. T am quite delighted to find the hide of the

2i8 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 24. [1833.

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 con-
tinue 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 in-
finite 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, &c., &c., 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 mur-
derous countenances, without almost wishing for Brazil to

i833.] GOOD SUCCESS BAY. 219

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. . . .

C. Darwin to J. M. He?-bert.

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, defy-
ing 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 ist, 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 wind-
ward 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 Bar-
mouth. 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 sav-
age, solitary character, was most sublime. The only inhabi-
tant of these heights is the guanaco, and with its shrill neigh-

220 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 24. [1833.

ing 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 neces-
sary to be separated from all which one has been accus-
tomed to, to know how properly to treasure up such recollec-
tions, 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, sur~
rounded 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 cap-
tivating 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. Colo-
nial Slavery. I have seen enough of Slavery and the dis-
positions 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 let-
ter, to hear you have not been well, and that you partly at-
tribute 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 be-

i834.] A NEW OSTRICH. 221

lieve, 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 be-
lieve me, my dear Herbert,

Your affectionate friend,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwi?! to J. S. Hens low.

East Falkland Island, March, 1834.

I am quite charmed v/ith 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 stratifi-
cations, &c., 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 con-
clusions, and most gloriously ridiculous ones they are, I some-
times 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 lati-
tudes. 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 vult-
ure'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.

222 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 25. [1834.

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, nidifi-
cation, 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 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 vvill put a pencil cross on the pill-boxes con-
taining insects, as these alone will require being kept particu-
larly 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 mer-
chant vessel is chartered to take them to Rio, I will send
some specimens (especially my few plants and seeds). Re-

* The second meeting of the British Association was held at Oxford in
1832, the following year it was at Cambridge.

i834.] JEMMY BUTTON. 223

member 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 admi-
ration. Farewell, my dear Henslow.

Believe me your most obliged and affectionate friend,

Charles Darwin.,

C. 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. 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 along-
side 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

* 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.

224 ^^^ VOYAGE. ^TAT. 25. [1834.

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. But-
ton's canoe " and " Jemmy's wife come," " Give me knife,"
&c., 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 ail the English-
men whom they could catch, and some of their own country-
men. 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, with-
out authority or instructions. A man-of-war, however, ven-
tured 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, &c., 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 ex-
cursion would have been longer, but during the whole time it
blew a gale of wind, with hail and snow. There is no fire-
wood 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 rather 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 ;

1834.] PLANS. 225

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 high-
est 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. Remem-
ber me most kindly to Uncle Jos, and to all the Wedgwoods.
Tell Charlotte (their married names sound downright un-
natural) 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.

226 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 25. [1834.

My love to Nancy ; * 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.

C Darwin to C. Whitley.

Valparaiso, July 23, 1834.
My dear Whitt.ey,

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 to-
gether. 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 be-
fore, 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. / Quie'n Sabe ?
as the people say here (and God knows they well may, for

* His old nurse.

1834.] A NAKED FUEGIAN. 22/

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 petti-
coats. 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 im-
possible 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 anticipa-
tion, when the ideas gained during the voyage can be com-
pared to fresh ones. I find in Geology a never-failing interest,
as it has been remarked, it creates the same grand ideas re-
specting 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 * Grand-
father of all liars.' "

But I have seen nothing which more completely aston-
ished me than the fir.3t 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 in-
conceivably 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

228 THE VOYAGE. .^TAT. 25. [1834.

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 com-
pany. 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.

C. Darivin 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, &c. &c.'s, has made
him very thm 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

1834-] CAPTAIN FITZ-ROY. 229

grief on board the Beagle about the Captain's decision was
universal and deeply fell ; one great source of his annoyment
was the feeling it impossible to fulfil the whole instruc-
tions; 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 promo-
tion) urged this most strongly, stated that when he took the com-
mand 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 with-
drawn.

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

230 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 25. [1834.

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 re-
spected by the natives and foreigners. Several Chileno Sig-
noritas 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 p^ioo (had it not
better be notified to Messrs. Robarts & Co.) ; ^^50 goes to
the Captain for the ensuing year, and ^£"30 I take to sea for the
small ports ; so that />ou:j fide I have not spent ;£"i8o 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 medi-
cine, 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. . . .

i835.] THE ANDES. 231

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.

C. 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 en-
joyed 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 f 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

232 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 26. [1835.

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 under-
standing 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 conse-
quence, 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 con-
temporaneous with the plains of Patagonia (or about with
the upper strata of the Isle of Wight). If this result shall be
considered as proved,* 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 ex-
cessive violence. These modern strata are very remarkable
by being threaded with metallic veins of silver, gold, copper,
&c. ; hitherto these have been considered as appertaining to
older formations. In these same beds, and close to a gold-
mine, I found a clump of petrified trees, standing upright,
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 sev-
eral thousand feet. These rocks have been deposited be-

* The importance of these results has been fully recognized by geolo-
gists.

1835.] LIMA. 233

neath 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 de-
posits 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 de-
lightful 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 the 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 re-
turn, 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.

C. 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

234 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 26. [1835.

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 let-
ters to so bad a correspondent as I have been. God bless
you for writing so kindly and affectionately ; if it is a pleas-
ure 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 be-
lieve. 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, &c., &c. 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 Nat-
ural 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

1836.] TAHITI. 235

it requires nothing but a little reading, thinking, and hammer-
ing. 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.

C. 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 de-
lightful to feel the certainty that within eight months I shall
be residing once again most quietly in Cambridge. Cer-
tainly, 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 charm-
ing spot. Everything which former navigators have written

236 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 26. [1836.

is true. ^ A new Cytheraea has risen from the ocean.' De-
licious scenery, climate, manners of the people are all in har-
mony. It is, moreover, admirable to behold what the mis-
sionaries both here and at New Zealand have effected. 1
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.

C. 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 hemi-
sphere, 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 Novem-
ber; the letter at the Cape was of a later date, but letters of
all sorts are inestimable treasures, and. I thank you both for

1836.] BAHIA. 237

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 foal
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 men-
tioning 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.

238 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 27. [1836.

C. 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 be-
fore 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 excel-
lent 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

1836.] SIR J. HERSCHEL. 239

the Cape de Verds (wh:.t 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 hand-
writing, 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 task-
master.

At the Cape Captain Fitz-Roy and myself enjoyed a mem-
orable 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 ap-j
peared to me rather awful. He is living in a very comforta-
ble country house, surrounded by fir and oak trees, which
alone in so open a country, give a most charming air of seclu-
sion 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.

Good night, my dear Henslow,

Yours most truly obliged and affectionately,

Chas. Darwin. .

240 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 27. [1836.

C. 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 Sun-
day evening, and I reached Shrev/sbury yesterday morning.
I am exceedingly anxious to see you, and as it will be neces-
sary 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 geologi-
cal specimens — who will have the charity to help me in de-
scribing their mineralogical nature ? Will you be kind enough
to write to me one line by retiwn 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 be-
fore 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.

C. 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. In-
deed, all England appears changed excepting the good old

1836.] HOME. 241

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

12

242 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 27. [1836.

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 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 ulti-
mately forced him to leave London and take up his abode
for the rest of his life in a quiet country house. In June,
1 841, he writes to Lyell : " My father scarcely seems to ex-/
pect 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 profes-
sion 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 passion- 1
ate 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

244 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. .ETAT. 27.

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 ;
is 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 de-
spondingly, 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

I 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 * is nearly
full, and upwards of a thousand specimens remain unmounted.
I dare say the British Museum would receive them, but I can-
not feel, from all I hear, any great respect even for the pres-
ent state of that establishment. Your plan will be not only
the best, but the only one, namely, to come down to Cam-
bridge, 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

* The Museum of the Zoological Society, then at 33 Bruton Street.
The collection was some years later broken up and dispersed.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

245

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 in-
stance, 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 * and the Zoologists so little ; the proportional i
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 busi-
ness 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 rep-

* 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, re-
marked to him, ' You forget how long it is since Captain King's expedi-
tion.' He answered, ' Indeed, I have something in the shape of Captain
Kings'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 Brit-
ish Museum ? "

246 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 27.

tiles. I have forgotten to mention Mr. Lonsdale,* 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, f 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

* William Lonsdale, b. 1794, d. 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 secre-
tary to the Geological Society from 1829-42, when he resigned, owing to
ill health.

f T. Bell, F.R.S., formerly Prof, of Zoology in King's College, London,
and sometime secretary to the Royal Society. He afterwards described
the reptiles for the zoology of the voyage of the Beagle.

GEOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 247

from I do not knov/ where. I was at last forced to plead ■
most entire innocence, and that I knew no more about the i
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 ail the fossil bones to the College
of Surgeons, casts of them will be distributed, and descrip-
tions 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 mam-
malia 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 col-
lection had not been described. My father's specimens in-
cluded (besides the above-mentioned Toxodon and Scelido-
therium) 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 * 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 (espe-
cially latter), origin of all my views."]

* 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.

248 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 27. [1836.

1836-1837.

C. 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

1837.] CHRIST'S COLLEGE. . 249

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 loth, 1836. He was at first a
guest in the comfortable home of the Henslows, but after-
wards, for the sake of undisturbed work, he moved into lodg-
ings. He thus writes to Fox, March 13th, 1837, from Lon-
don : —

" 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 inhr-bitant 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 a.greeable 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 allov/ed to be made in money, but
were, like the fines, paid in wine. The bet which my father
made and lost is thus recorded : —

^'' Feb. 23, 1837. — Mr. Darwin v. Mr. Baines, that the com-
bination-room measures from the ceiling to the floor more
than (x) feet. i Bottle paid same day.

250 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 28. [1837.

" N. B. Mr. Darwin may measure at any part of the room
he pleases."

Besides arranging the geological and mineralogical speci-
mens, 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,* and another at the Geologi-
cal Society,! on the recent elevation of the coast of Chili.

Early in the spring of 1837 (March 6th) he left Cambridge
for London, and a week later he was settled in lodgings at
^6 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.];

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 cf 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 holi-
days."

* " Notes upon Rhea Americana," ' Zool. Sec. Proc' v. 1837, pp. 35,
36.

f ' Geol. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838, pp. 446-449.

t " A sketch of the deposits containing extinct mammalia in the neigh-
bourhood of the Plata," ' Geol. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838, pp. 542-544 ; and " On
certam areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian oceans,
as deduced from the study of coral formations," ' Geol. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838,

pp. 552-554-

i837.] ZOOLOGY OF THE BEAGLE. 25 1

Another letter to Fox (July) gives an account of the prog-
ress 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 hadj
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 1
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.]

252 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^ETAT. 28. [1837.

C. Darwin to L. Jenyns

*

36 Great Marlborough Street,

April loth, 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. Macleayt has taken a great deal of interest in the sub-
ject, and maintains that such a publication is very desirable,
because it keeps together a series of observations made re-
specting 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 satis-
factory to myself to see the gleanings of my hands, after hav-
ing 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

* Now Rev. L. Blomeficld.

\ 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 lai^ge 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 En-
tomologicae,' published in 1821. — [I am indebted to Rev. L. Blomefield
for the foregoing note.]

l837.] THE JOUl^NAL. 253

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 de-
layed by the other. The plan would resemble, on a humble
scale, Ruppel's ' Atlas,' or Humboldt's ' Zoologie,' where
Latreille, Cuvier, &c., wrote different parts. I myself should
have little to do with it; excepting in some orders adding
habits and ranges, &c., and geographical sketches, and per-
haps afterwards some descriptions of invertebrate ani-
mals ....

I am working at my Journal ; it get's 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 grovy^ worse. I have a capital friend in
Lyell, and see a great deal of him, which is very advanta-
geous 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 en-
joyments 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

254 LONDON AND gAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 28. [1837.

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,

C. Darwin.

[A few weeks later the plan seems to have been matured,
and the idea of seeking Government aid to have been
adopted.]

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

36 Great Marlborough Street,

[i8th 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 al-
most 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 peo-
ple 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 re-
main 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

i837-] GOVERNMENT GRANT. 255

Voyage of the Beagle^' through the promise of a grant of
^£■1000 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 Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer.* He appointed to see me this morn-
ing, 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 re-
striction, 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
tliat 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 Fox 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. f During these two
months he was also busy preparing the scheme of the 'Zool-
ogy of the Voyage of the Beagle,' and in beginning to put to-
gether the Geological results of his travels.

The following letter refers to the proposal that he should
take the Secretaryship of the Geological Society.]

* T. Spring Rice.

f "On the formation of mould," ' Geol. Soc. Proc' ii. 1838, pp. 574-
576.

256 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 28. [1837.

C. 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 be-
fore the Society, or rather to know what parts to skip. Again,
my ignorance of all languages, and not knowing how to pro-
nounce 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 ;
iione 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 neces-
sarily 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 ab-
stracts 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

i837.] SECRETARYSHIP. 257

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 under-
take 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 can-
not 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, &c., for me, would be the more burden-
some. Mr. Whewell (I know very well), judging from him-
self, 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 un-
dertaking 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 ad-
ditional 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 cor-
recting press for some weeks. Of late anything which flurries
me completely knocks me up afterwards, and brings on a vio-
lent palpitation of the heart. Now the Secretaryship would
be a periodical source of more annoying trouble to me than

258 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT, 28. [1837.

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.]

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

[4th November, 1837.]

My dear Hensi.ow,

. . . Pray tell Leonard * 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 Shrews-

*

Rev. L. Jenyns.

1838.] CAMBRIDGE. 259

bury 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 mul-
tiplied, instead of diminishing my oversights ; but for all ]
that, the smooth paper and clear type has a charming appear-
ance, 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 re-
sults 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 ist, un-
well," 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 holi-
day." This holiday seems to have been thoroughly enjoyed ;
he wrote to his sister : —

*' Now for Cambridg:^: 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

26o LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 29. [1838.

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* . . . ;
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
v/ell of late, which has suddenly determined me to leave Lon-
don 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 stop-
ping 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. f He wrote in
his Pocket Book : "September 6 [1838]. Finished the paper

* Samuel Lee, of Queens', was Professor of Arabic from 1819 to 1831,
and Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1831 to 1848.
f ' Phil. Trans.' 1839, pp. 39-82.

1838.] GLEN ROY. 261

on 'Glen Roy,' one of the most difficult and instructive tasks j
I was ever ensraored on." It will be remembered that in hisj
* 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 for-
mation 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 allu-
vium. 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, p. 49) " the conclusion is inevitable, that no hypo-
thesis 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 (Nov. 19, 1884)
in compliance with my request for his opinion on the charac-
ter 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 diffi-
culties vanish from the lake-theory which he opposed, and he
would not have been unconsciously led to minimise the alto-
gether 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

262 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. .ETAT. 29. [1838.

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.]

I ^^ (Uix^J ^' Darwin to C. Lyell.

36 Great Marlborough Street,

August 9th [1838].

My dear Lyell,

I did 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

1838.] GLEN ROY. 263

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 Edin-
burgh, or more truly on Salisbury Craigs ; I want to hear
som.e 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 Marl-
borough Street. Here I enjoyed five [?] days of the most
beautiful weather with gorgeous sunsets, and all nature look-
ing 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 Cor-
dillera, was so interesting to me as this week. It is far the
most remarkable area I ever examined. I have fully con-
vinced 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 difficul-
ties. I found a piece of a road in another valley, not hith-
erto observed, which is important ; and I have some curious
facts about erratic blocks, one of which was perched up on

264 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. .ETAT. 29. [r838.

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 rea-
sonable 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 aston-
ished 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 * at the door, and he got to-
gether quite a party — Robert Brown, who is gone to Paris and
Auvergne, Macleay [?] and Dr. Boott.f Your helping me into

* W. H. Fitton (b. 1780, d. 1861) was a physician and geologist, and
sometime president of the Geological Society. He established the ' Pro-
ceedings,' a mode of publication afterwards adopted by other societies.

f Francis Boott (b. 1792, d. 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 Gardeners' 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.

1838.] FITTON, BOOTT. 26$

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,* 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 thmk 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 your-
self. I have heard from more than one quarter that quarrel-
ling is expected at Newcastle ; f 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. 1 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 m.ine 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 In-
verorum. Tell Mrs. Lyell to read the second series of ' Mr.
Slick of Slickville's Sayings.' . . . He almost beats " Samivel,"
that prince of heroes. Good night, my dear Lyell ; you will
think I have been drinking some strong drink to write so

*The house of Lyell's father,

f At the meeting of the British Association.

13

266 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 29. [1838,

much nonsense, but I did not even taste Minerva's small beer
to-day. Yours most sincerely,

ChAS. DAR.WIN.

C. Darwin to C. Lycll.

Friday nigh'., September I3tli [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.* 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 f 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 Philoso-
phie ' (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 com-
pletely 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." jBegi?i to hope : why.

* Lyell dictated much of his correspondence.
f Father of the geologist.

1838.] GEOLOGY. 267

X\it 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 bei
prudent to quote me with great caution until my whole ac-
count 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 cor-
responding 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 ascertain-
ing 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 pre-
served on the surface, but not in contemporaneous beds of
gravel. . . .

Remember what I have often heard you say : the country

f

268 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 29. [1838.

is very bad for the intellects ; the Scotch mists will put out
some volcanic speculations. You see I am affecting to be-
come very Cockneyfied, and to despise the poor country-
folk, who breathe 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 Athenccu^n,
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* 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
Ihave been coming in thickly and steadily, — on the classifica-
tion 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 un-
der 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.

* Murchison.

1839.] MARRIAGE. 269

[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. fore-
going 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 ^o 1841.

[In the winter of 1839 (Jan. 29) my father was married to
his cousin, Emma Wedgwood.* 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 be-
hind, 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, &c., of the Gower Street house. The
only redeeming feature was a better garden than most Lon-
don 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 tv/o country-bred in-
habitants.

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 quiet-

* Daughter of Josiah Wedgwood of Maer, and grand-daughter of the
founder of the Etruria Pottery Works.

2^0 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. ^TAT. 30. [1839.

ness — there is a grandeur about its smoky fogs, and the dull
distant sounds of cabs and coaches ; in fact you may per-
ceive 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 be-
come 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, Shrews-
bury, 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 7iothing 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,'* 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 [/. e. the baby] is so charming that I cannot pre-
, tend 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 1 841, "after more than thirteen months* interval." His
other scientific work consisted of a contribution to the Geo-

* July 1877.

1840.] HEALTH. 271

logical Society,* 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 Zool-
ogy of the Beagle^ i. e. the notice of the habits and ranges of
the birds which were described by Gould.]

% t^ UyUL C. 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. *-

***** P^

[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 ; de-
scriptions of offspring of all crosses between all domestic birds

* 'Geol. Soc. Proc' iii. 1842, and ' Geol. Soc. Trans.' vi.

2^2 LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE. iETAT. 33. [1842.

and animals, dogs, cats, &c., &c., very valuable. Don't for-
get, 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,
&c., &c., 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 near-
est 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,' * 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

* A notice of the Coral Reef work appeared in the Geograph. Soc. Jour-
nal, xii., p. 115.

i842.] ANCIENT GLACIERS, 273

Caernarvonshire, and on the Boulders transported by floating

Ice."*

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," f

The latter part of this year belongs to the period including
the settlement at Down, and is therefore dealt with in another
chapter.]

* ' Philosophical Magazine,' 1842, p. 352.
f Charles Darwin, ' Nature ' Series, p. 23,

CHAPTER VIIL

RELIGION.

[The history of this part of my father's life may justly in-
clude 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.*

I believe that his reticence arose from several causes. He
felt strongly that a man's religion is an essentially private mat-
ter, and one concerning h'mself alone. This is indicated by
the following extract from a letter of 1879 • — t

" What my own views may be is a question of no conse-
quence 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."

* 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 pub-
lished in the Index.

f Addressed to Mr. J. Fordyce, and published by him in his * Aspects
of Scepticism,' 1883.

RELIGION. 275

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 Cam-
bridge, U. S. (Sept. 6, 187 1). 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 con-
tents. 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 cau-
tiously 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 ac-
quired, 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 v/ould 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 (Nov.
16, 187 1 ), in which my father gives more fully his reasons for
not feeling competent to write on religious and moral sub-
jects : —

" 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

2^6

RELIGION.

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 : what-
ever I have done in science has solely been by long ponder-
ing, patience and industry.

" Now I have never systematically thought much on relig-
ion 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 relig-
ion, and he had, as a rule, no objection to doing so in a pri-
vate 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 exist-
ence of God ; but whether this is an argument of real value,
I have never been able to decide. I am aware that if we ad-
mit 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 judg-
ment of the many able men who have fully believed in God ;
but here again I see how poor an argument this is. The

RELIGION.

277

safest conclusion seems to me that the whole subject is be-
yond 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 let-
ters, .that he cannot answer them all.

" He considers that the theory of Evolution is quite com-
patible 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 follow-
ing reply : —

" I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and
I cannot spare time to answer your questions fully, — nor in-
deed 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, somev/hat
abbreviated, from a part of the Autobiography, wTitten in
1876, in which my father gives the history of his religious
views : —

" During these two years * 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 con-

*

Oct. 1836 to Jan. 1839.

278

RELIGION.

tinually 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, &c., as Christianity is connected with
the Old Testament ? This appeared to me utterly incred-
ible.

'' 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 credu-
lous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, — that the
Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneous-
ly with the events, — that they differ in many important de-
tails, 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 invent-
ing 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 diffi-
cult, with free scope given to my imagination, to invent evi-
dence 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.

I

}

RELIGION.

279

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,' * 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 gen-
erally 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 happi-
ness ; 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 harmonizes Avell with the effects
which we might expect from natural selection. If all the
individuals of any species were habitually to suffer to an ex-
treme 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 a?
to enjoy, as a general rule, happiness.

* My father asks whether we are to believe that the fomis are preor-
dained 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 ground-
work through natural selection of the formation of the most perfectly
adapted animals in the world, man included, were intentionally and spe-
cially guided." — ' The Variation of Animals and Plants,' ist Edit. vol. ii.
p. 431— F. D.

28o RELIGION.

" Every one who believes, as I do, that all the corporeal
and mental organs (excepting those which are neither advan-
tageous 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 com-
pete successfully with other beings, and thus increase in num-
ber. 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,
&c. ; 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 socia-
bility, and from loving our famiUes. The sum of such pleas-
ures 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 dis-
putes. 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

RELIGION. 281

with that of all other sentient beings, and they often suffer
greatly without any moral improvement. This very old argu-
ment 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 ex-
istence 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 grand-
eur of a Brazilian forest, '' it is not possible to give an ade-
quate 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 Avas 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.

282 RELIGION.

"^'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 senti-
ent 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, im-
presses 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 de-
serve 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 tliat
possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when it draws
such grand conclusions ?
\ " I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such ab-
struse 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 ' Mac-
millan's Magazine,' for July 1861.]

RELIGION. 283

C, Darwin to Miss Julia Wedgwood.

July II [1861J.

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 * 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 sev-
eral 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, with-
out having been designed ; yet, where one would most ex-
pect 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 f 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

* The ' Origin of Species.'

f Dr. Gray's rain-drop metaphor occurs in the Essay ' Darwin and his
Reviewers' (' D'arwiniana,' p. 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 multi-
tudes 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?"

284 RELIGION.

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 de-
signed. 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 i860) 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 de-
signedly 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 Goc^ 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 \h^\x first birth or production should be necessarily de-
signed."]

C. Dartvin to W. Grahain.

Down, July 3rd, 18S1.

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

RELIGION. 285

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, &c. &c., hold good, and I cannot see that
there is then necessarily any purpose. Would there be pur-
pose 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.* 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 con-
victions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in
such a mind ? Secondly, I think that I could make some- [ |
what 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 im-
portance, at least in the case of Science. Lastly, I could
show fight on natural selection having done and doing more

* The Duke of Argyll (' Good Words,' Ap. 1885, p. 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 refer-
ence 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.* "

286 RELIGION.

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 civilized
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 through-
out the world. But I will write no more, and not even men-
tion the many points in your work which have much inter-
ested me. I have indeed cause to apologise for troubling
you with my impressions, and my sole excuse is the excite-
ment in my mind which your book has aroused.
I beg leg,ve to remain,
Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully and obliged,

Charles Darwin.

[My father spoke little on these subjects, and I can con-
tribute 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, how-
ever, 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 po-
sitions of my father and Dr. Aveling : and I say this in spite of my con-
viction 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 (p. 5) to
regard the absence of aggressiveness in my father's views as distinguishing
them in an unessential manner from his own. Cut, 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 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 con-
nected 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 Sept. 14, 1842, my father left London with his family
and settled at Down.* 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 ordi-
nary social duties, as suiting his health so " badly that we

* I must not omit to mention a member of the household who accom-
panied 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,"

288 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45.

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 (Dec,
1842):—

" I hope by going up to town for a night every fortnight
or three weeks, to keep up ray 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 be-
fore 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 neighbour-
hood 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 toWesterham and Eden-
bridge. It is cut off from the Weald by a line of steep chalk
hills on the south, and an abrupt hill, now smoothed dov/n
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.

THE VILLAGE.

289

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 funer-
als : 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 exca-
vated 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
H

2Q0 LIFE AT DOWN. .ETAT. 33-45.

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 cf 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
fiat, 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 per-
fectly 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 abso-
lutely 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

'JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES.' 29I

have preserved of all my English insects), and was admiring
FanagcBus Crux-fuajor : 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 con-
temporary 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 popu-
larity. Thus Lyell wrote to him in 1838 (' Lyell's Life,' ii. p.
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 pub-
lished in 1845. It may be noted, however, that the 'Quar-
terly 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 fresh-
ness 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

292 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45.

a favourable notice in No. 12 of the ' Heidelberger Jahr-
biicher der Literatur,' 1847 — where the Reviewer speaks of
the author's "varied canvas, on which he sketches in Hvely
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 pub-
lished 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 ■" on these two volumes — which were up to this time
my father's chief geological works. Speaking of the ' Coral
Reefs,' he says : — p. 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 con-
tinents, 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

* Charles Darwin, ' Nature ' Series, 1882.

THEORY OF CORAL ISLANDS. 293

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 * 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, &c. Coral islands are the last efforts of drowning
continents to lift their heads above water. Regions of eleva-
tion 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

* To Sir John Herschel, May 24, 1837. * Life of Sir Charles Lyell,'
vol. ii. p. 12.

294 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 38-45.

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 geol-
ogy of this type. Even ten years before, in 1837, Lyell *
says, '^ people are now much better prepared to believe Dar-
win 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. Never-
theless, 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 be-
lieved 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 (p. 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." Pro-
fessor Geikie continues (p. 21): "He is one of the earliest

* <■

Life of Sir Charles Lyell,' vol. ii. p. 6.

'GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.' 295

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 ac-
count 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 Isl-
ands ' : it cost me eighteen months ! ! ! and I have heard of
very few who have read it. Now I shall feel, Avhatever 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 Observa-
tions on South America,' may be mentioned here, although it
was not published until 1846. " In this work the author em-
bodied all the materials collected by him for the illustration
of South American Geology, save some which have been pub-
lished 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."*

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 teach-
ing " by the way in which he gathered from all parts of the
world facts in its support."

* Geikie, /oc. cit.

2q6 life at down. ^TAT. 33-45.

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 Octo-
ber, 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 185 1 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 latei.

The minor works may be placed together, independently
of subject matter.

" Observations on the Structure, &c., of the genus Sagitta,"
Ann. Nat. Hist, xiii., 1844, pp. 1-6.

" Brief Descriptions of several Terrestrial Planarice, &c.,"
Ann. Nat. Hist, xiv., 1844, pp. 241-251.

" An Account of the Fine Dust * which often Falls on
Vessels in the Atlantic Ocean," Geol. Soc. Journ. ii., 1846, pp.
26-30.

" On the Geology of the Falkland Islands/' Geol. Soc.
Journ. ii., 1846, pp. 267-274.

" On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders, &c.," Geol. Soc.
Journ. iv., 1848, pp. 315-323.!

* 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."

f 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

WORK OF THE PERIOD.

297

The article '' Geology," in the Admiralty Manual of Sci-
entific Enquiry (1849), pp. 156-195. This was written in the
spring of 1848.

"On British Fossil Lepadidae," ' Geol. Soc. Journ.' vi.,
1850, pp. 439-440-

" Analogy of the structure of some Volcanic Rocks with
that of Glaciers," ' Edin. Roy. Soc. Proc' ii., 185 1, pp. 17-18.

Professor Geikie has been so good as to give me (in a
letter dated Nov. 1885) his impressions of my father's article
in the 'Admiralty Manual.' He mentions the following
points as characteristic of the work : —

" I. Great breadth of view. No one who had not prac-
tically studied and profoundly reflected on the questions dis-
cussed 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 ho.v delightful the field
is to which he invites them, and hov/ much they might ac-
complish in it. There is a broad sketch of the subject

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. Mihie 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,' &c. 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."

298 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45.

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 enquiry, and to modify statements which
are not now quite accurate ; but most of the advice Mr. Dar-
win 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 I.ljier and Shrewsbury.
,, October. — Twelve days at Shrewsbury.

1844, April. — Week at Maer and Shrewsbury.
n J^'b'- — Twelve days at Shrewsbury.

i^:\^, September 15. — Six weeks, "Shrewsbury, Lincoln-
shire, York, the Dean of Manchester, Waterton,
Chatsworth."

1846, February. — Eleven days at Shrewsbury.
„ July. — Ten days at Shrewsbury.

„ September. — Ten days at Southampton, &c., for the
British Association.

1847, February. — Twelve days at Shrewsbury.

„ June. — Ten days at Oxford, &c., for the British AS'

sociation.
„ October. — Fortnight at Shrewsbury.

I843.J CAPTAIN FITZ-ROY. 299

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 Chob-
ham.

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 i': must be remembered that much of
the remaining time sj)ent at Down was lost through ill-
health.]

Letters.

C. Darwin to R. FitzRoy.

Down [March 31st, 1843].

Dear Fitz-Roy, — I read yesterday with surprise and the
greatest interest, your appointment as Governor of New Zea-
land. 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

300 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. • [1843.

my memory, and I feel that I owe to you much bygone enjoy-
ment, 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 remem-
brance 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."]

1844.] • 'VESTIGES OF CREATION.' 30I

C. 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 Key-
serling rushed through North Wales the same aurumn and
could see nothing except the effects of rain trickling over
the rocks ! I cross-examined Murchison a little, and evi-
dently 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,

6. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. *4^^Uo

Down [1844?]. i^\

.... I have also read the ' Vestiges,' * but have been
somewhat less amused at it than you appear to have been :

* ' The Vestiges of the Natural Histoiy of Creation ' was published
anonymously in 1844, and is confidently believed to have been written by

302 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1844-5.

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 ofispring.* 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 confiiie-
ment, whether anything had affected her imagination, and re-
corded the answers ; and absolutely not one case came right,
though, when the child was anything remarkable, they after-
wards made the cap to fit. Reproduction seems governed by
such similar laws in the whole animal kingdom, that I am
most loth [to believe]. . . .

C. Darwin to J. M. Herbert.

. Down [1844 or 1845].

My dear Herbert, — I was very glad to see your hand-
writing and hear a bit of news about you. Though you can-
not come here this autumn, I do hope you and Mrs. Herbert
will come in the winter, and we will have Jots of talk of old
times, and lots of Beethoven.

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, Februaiy, 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 mc —
at which I ought to be much flattered and unflattered "

* 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 spe-
cial injunctions to be careful.

i845.] SIR J. D. HOOKER. 303

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 pre-
tending that you will read anything so dull as my pure geo-
logical descriptions, lay not such a flattering unction on my
soul * for it is incredible. I have long discovered that geolo-
gists 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 dis-
cussion 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Monday [February loth, 1S45].

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 yonx present \\q\y of the Professor-
ship,! and most heartily deplore it on my own account. There

h

* On the same subject he wrote to Fitz-Roy : " I have sent my ' vSouth
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 I
read it,* and his answer was, ' Upon my life, I would sooner even buy it.' " |

f Sir J. D. Hooker was a candidate for the Professorship of Botany at
Edinburgh University.

304 LIFE AT DOWN. .ETAT. 33-45. [1845.

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 7nyself your
present prospects. I had looked forward to [our] seeing
much of each other during our lives. It is a heavy disap-
pointment ; and in a mere selfish poi it 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 de-
sponding, 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 dis-
position you will be to many what Ilenslow 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 v/alk of
those noble rocks and hills and sandy shores near Edinburgh !
Indeed, I cannot pity you much, though I pity myself ex-
ceedingly in yo'ir 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 conse-
quences 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

I845-] THE 'JOURNAL.' 305

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 did 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 follow-
ing letter refers, was completed between April 25th and Au-
gust 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/.

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.]

3o6 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1845.

C, Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [July, 1845].

My dear Lyell, — I send you the first part * 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 yoUjf 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 refer-
ence, how much I geologically owe you. . Those authors, how-
ever, 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, espe-
cially 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,
&c. I do not recollect anything added to the first part, long
enough to call your attention to ; there is a page of descrip-
tion 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

* No doubt proof-sheets.

•f 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.' "

i845.] LYELL'S 'NORTH AMERICA.' 307

as new, though it has so struck me, and has placed in my
mind all the difficulties with respect to the causes of extinc-
tion, in the same class with other difficulties which are gener-
ally 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 * yesterday ; and I like exceed-
ingly 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 in-
terest 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.

C, Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, Saturday [August ist, 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.f 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 in-
terested 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

* 'Travels in North America,' 2 vols., 1845.

f Of the second edition of the ' Journal of Researches.'

3o8 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1845.

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, /. 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
v/ould 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 St-ite 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. V/hat
a contrast in Education does England shew 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 geo-
graphical ignorance of the reader ; but I not knowing a single
place, was occasionally rather plagued in tracing your course.

i845] LYELL'S 'PRINCIPLES.' 309

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 admi-
ration, 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 my-
self the geology was an excellent, well-condensed, well-di-
gested resume oi all that has been made out in North Amer-
ica, 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 o^rigin 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 v/ish 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. . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lye II. f

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

^H

310 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1845.

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 ''' 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' Chro7iicle. I am sorry to see that Lind-
ley abides by the carbonic acid gas theory. By the way, I
was much pleased by Lindley picking out my extinction para-
graphs and giving them uncurtailed. To my mind, putting
the comparative rarity of existing species in the same cate-
gory 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 ; hov/ I
shall rejoice to live to see you publish and discover another
stage below the Silurian — it would be the grandest step pos-
sible, 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 every-
thing which you say of his talents. . . .

* In the passage referred to, Lyell does not give his own views, but

those of a planter.

6

i845.] 'COSMOS/ 311

C. 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 errone-
ously 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. Froh pudor ! I am vexed and indig-
nant 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 ' * 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.

^^ VS.I-LI Lt t^fsC. Darwin to C. Lyell.

A .s.,.,.,\f October 8th [1845], Shrewsbury.

... I have lately been taking a little tour to see a farm I
have purchased in Lincolnshire,! and then to York, where I

* A translation of Humboldt's ' Kosmos.'

f 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

5»^-

312 LIFE AT DOWN, ^TAT. 33-45. [1845.

visited the Dean of Manchester,* 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 ; f 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 muta-
bility 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

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."

* 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, &c., &c. 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."

f Sedgwick's review of the ' Vestiges of Creation * in the ' Edinburgh
Review,' July, 1845.

1846.] BOTANY. 313

milk and water. Have you read * Cosmos ' yet ? The Eng-
lish 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, &c., &c., and carbonic acid gas
atmosphere. He is indeed a wonderful man.

I hope to get home in a fortnight and stick to my weary-
ful 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.

C. 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,* and I sent you a uniquely laudatory epistle, con-
sidering 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 im-
pression, but I have that, which you state to be the case,
firmly fixed on my mind, namely, the little chemical impor-
tance of the soil to its vegetation. What a strong fact it is,

* Sir J. D. Hooker's Antarctic Botany.
15

314 LIFE AT DOWN. /ETAT. 33-45.

as R. Brown once remarked to me, of certain plants being
calcareous ones here, which are not so under a more favour-
able 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' * Have you read it : it struck me as
extremely original, and bears directly on your present re-
searches.! 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 Cir-
ripedes. 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 v/hich differed so much from all other
Cirripedes that I hacj to form a new sub-order for its sole
reception. . . , To understand the structure of my new Cir-
ripede I had to examine and dissect many of the common
forrns ; 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

** Journal of the Horticultural Society,' 1846,

f Sir J. D. Hooker was at this time attending to polymorphism, varia-
bility, &c.

CIRRIPEDES.

315

he wrote in his Autobiography — " My work was of consider-
able use to me, when I had to discuss in the ' Origin of Spe-
cies,' 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 cer-
tainly recognised at the time its value to himself as system-
atic training. Sir Joseph writes to me : " Your father recog-
nised three stages in his career as a biologist : the m.ere
collector at Cambridge ; the collector and observer in the
Beagle, and for some years afterwards ; and the trained natu-
ralist 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 natu-
ralist 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 mer-
its 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, pro-
vided 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 biologi-
cal science, and it has always struck me as a remarkable in- I
stance of his scientific insight, that he saw the necessity of I
giving himself such training, and of his courage, that he did
not shirk the labour of obtaining it. I

" The great danger which besets all men of large specula-
tive faculty, is the temptation to deal with the accepted state-

3i6 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45.

ments of facts in natural science, as if they were not only
correct, but exhaustive ; as if they might be dealt with de-
ductively, 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 Palseontology,
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 rela-
tion 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 admi-
rable piece of work, and constituted a great addition to posi-
tive knowledge, but still more in the circumstance that it was
a piece of critical self-discipline, the effect of which mani-
fested 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 practi-
cable, to have supplemented it by a special study of em-
bryology 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."

CIRRIPEDES.

317

No one can look at the two volumes on the recent Cirri-
pedes, 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 four-
teen pages of index in the two volumes together, give some
rough idea of the labour spent on the work,* 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." f 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 ; Coro-
nula 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 ani-
mal about the size of a pin's head, from the Chonos archi-
pelago, 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 reader unacquainted with Zoology will find some account of the
more interesting results in Mr. Romanes' article on ** Charles Darwin"
('Nature' Series, 1882).

f Vol. i. p. 3.

3i8 LIFE AT DOWN. .^TAT. 33-45.

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 indurstry in the dissec-
tion 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 micro-
scope— 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 ^0" 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 influ-
ence 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, ^^^ notes in his diary: — "January ist to
March loth. — Health very bad, with much sickness and fail-
ure of power. Worked on all well days." This was written
just before his first visit to Dr. Gully's Water-Cure Establish-
ment at Malvern. In April of the same year he wrote: — "I

1846.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 3IQ

believe I am going on very well, but I am rather weary of my
present inactive life, and the water-cure has the most extra-
ordinary effect in producing indolence and stagnation of
mind : till experiencing it, I could not have believed it possi-
ble. I now increase in weight, have escaped sickness for
thirty days." He returned in June, after sixteen weeks' ab-
sence, much improved in health, and, as already described (p.
108), continued the water-cure at home for some time.]

C. Darwi?i to J. D, Hooker.

Down [October, 1846].

My dear Hooker, — I have not heard from Sulivan *
lately ; when he last wrote he named from 8th to loth 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 accumu-
lation of notes on species and varieties, which, with writ-
ing, I dare say will take me five years, and then, when pub-
lished, I dare say I shall stand infinitely low in the opinion
of all sound Naturalists — so this is my prospect for the fu-
ture.

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

* Admiral Sir B. J. Sulivan, formerly an officer of the Beagle.

■2

320 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1847.

wish you had been there. On Sunday we had so pleasant an
excursion to Winchester with Falconer,* Colonel Sabine,f and
Dr. Robinson,! and others. I never enjoyed a day more in
my life. I missed having a look at H. Watson.* 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 de-
clined. . . .

J ' T^, .* / ' C. 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
Avas in bed nearly all Friday and Saturday. I congratulate

* Hugh Falconer, born iSog, died 1865. Chiefly known as a palaeontol-
ogist, although employed as a botanist during his whole career m India,^
where he was also a medical officer in H. E. I. C. Service ; he was super-
intendent of the Company's garden, first at Saharunpore, and then at Cal-
cutta. He was one of the first botanical explorers of Kashmir. Falconer's
discoveries of Miocene mammalian remains in the Sewalik Hills, wei^e, 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.

\ The late Sir Edward Sabine, formerly President of the Royal Society,
and author of a long series of memoirs on Terrestrial Magnetism.

% The late Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson, of the Armagh Observa-
tory.

* 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.

i847.] THE POCKET ALMANACK. 321

you over your improved prospects about India,* 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 hy-
potheses. It will be a horrid shame if money stops your expe-
dition ; 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. . . .

C. Darwin to L. Jenyns {Blojne field).

Down [1847J.

Dear Jenyns, — I am very much obliged for the capital
little Almanack ; f 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 ey^is of the order of ap-

* Sir J. Hooker left England on November ii, 1847, for his Hima-
layan and Tibetan journey. The expedition was supported by a small
grant from the Treasury, aiid thus assumed the character of a Government
mission.

f " This letter relates to a small Almanack first published in 1843,
under the name of ' The Naturalists* Pocket Almanack,' by Mr. Van
Vooiist, 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 informa-
tion relating to Zoology and Botany ; to Natural History and other scien-
tific societies ; to public Museums and Gardens, in addition to the ordi-
nary 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.

322 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1847.

pearance 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, /'. ^., 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 conver-
sion of French into English measures, and perhaps weights,
would be exceedingly useful ; also centigrade into Fahren-
heit,— magnifying powers according to focal distances.? — in
fact you might make it the most useful publication of the age.
I know what I should like best of all, namely, current meteo-
rological 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Sunday [April i8th, 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, other-
wise 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 com-
monest (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.

1847] H. C. WATSON, 323

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 is those in his let-
ter should remain unpublished. I must get you to introduce
me to him ; would he be a good and sociable man for Drop-
more ? * though if he comes, Forbes must not (and I think
you talked of inviting Forbes), or we shall have a glorious bat-
tle. 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,! 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, v/ith-
out 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 hii Ilateria 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

* A much enjoyed expedition made from Oxford — when the British
Association met there in 1847.

f Of the Botany of Hooker's ' Antarctic Voyage.'

324 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1847.

presentation copy of the sixth edition of the ' Vestiges.' Some-
how I now feel perfectly convinced he is the author. He is
in France, and has written to me thence.

C. 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 i that in twenty years this
will be generally admitted ; * 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, /. ^., 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 a.vay !

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 play-

* An unfulfilled prophecy.

1847] COAL. 325

thing," 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 ex-
tremely 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.

C. 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 pleas-
ure in writing. Firstly, I did not consider my letter as
reasonings 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 be-
tween 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 affini-
ties were very obscure, like Sigillaria. As for Lepidoden-
dron, 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.

326 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1847.

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 be-
cause 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 my-
self, and not burn my fingers by attacking you. The founda-
tion of my letter, and what is my deliberate opinion, though I
dare say you will think it absurd, is that I would rather trust,
ccBteris 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 sub-
ject of affinities and of structure in relation to habits. I can
hardly analyze the facts on which I have come to this con-
clusion ; 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 Lepido-
dendron (supposing that they are found ijt 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

1847.] COAL. 327

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 main-
tains that Cheirotherium-footsteps are faci.

Whether this letter will sink me still lower in your opinion,
or put me a little right, I know not, but hope the latter. Any-
how, 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 inuch for your
offer of the ' Hort. Journal,* but I have ordered the two
numbers.

[The two following extracts [1847] g^"^'^ ^^ 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*
together, and it made [them] even more savage ; ' such infer-
nal 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 per-
ceived that you had been thinking with animation, and ac-
cordingly 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."]

* The late Sir C. Bunbury, well known as a palseobotanist.

328 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45- [1847.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker*

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 under-
stand how dreadfully busy you must be. If you ca?inot come
here, you mtist 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.

C. Darwiii 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 hav-
ing come to you on Thursday, but, as it turned out, I could
not, for I was quite unable to leave Shrewsbury before that

* Parts of two letters.

I847-J GLEN ROY. 329

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. . . .

C. 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,* in which
my father's Glen Roy work is criticised, and which is referred
to in the foUovv^ing 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 horri-
bly 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 ac-
companied 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

* Now Mr. Milne Home. The essay was published in Transactions
of the Edinburgh Royal Society, vol. xvi.

330 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1847.

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."

IAa^A^M -pj^g ^.^^Q following letters to Lyell, though of later date
' \w ; (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 Conti-
nent 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 ; *
he says I ' propound ' and ' profess my belief ' that Glen Roy
is marine, and that the idea was accepted because the * mo-
i bility of the land was the ascendant idea of the day.' He
I adds some very faint upper lines in Glen Spean (seen, by the
j way, by Agassiz), and has shown that Milne and Kemp are
right in there being horizontal aqueous markings {not at co-
incident 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 cf the short portions of lines
intermediate between the chief ones in Glen Roy; whereas

* 'Ancient Sea Margins, 1848.' The words quoted by my father should
be " the mobility of the land was an ascendant idea."

1848.] ROBERT CHAMBERS. ^31

I commence the description of them with saying, that * per-
ceiving 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 ter-
races 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."

C. 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 in-
dependent course of inquiry, which in a small degree excuses
this inadvertency." His letter altogether shov/s a very good
disposition, and says he is ''much gratified with the measwed
approbation which you bestow, &c." 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 ter-
races. 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 aston-,
ishing, that I believe it will with others, as with me, more than\

332 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1848.

counterbalance his previous caution. I hope that you may-
think better of the book than I do.

Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

C. 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 Natu-
ralists 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.* 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 de-
scribers. Botany, I fancy, has not suffered so much as
Zoology from mere 7iaming j the characters, fortunately, are

* 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 Lepturidce, 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 pet-
tiness of collectors, who aimed at nothing beyond filling their cabinets
with rare things."

i

1849.] NOMENCLATURE. 333

more obscure. Have you ever thought on this point } AVhy ,
should NaturaHsts append their own names to new species,
when Mineralogists and Chemists do not do so to new sub- \
stances ? 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.

C. Darwin to Hugh Strickland.^

Down, Jan. 29tli [1849 J.

.... What a labour you have undertaken ; I do ho7iour
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

* Hugh Edwin Strickland, M. A., F. R. S., was born 2nd of March,
18 1 1, 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 1S41 he brought
the subject of Natural History Nomenclature before the British Associa-
tion, 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) ; ' Bibli-
ographia 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 col-
lection, 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.)

334 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45- [i249.

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
gratefal 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 en-
closed badly drawn-up paper, thinking that perhaps I would
agitate the subject ; but the fit has passed, and I do not sup-
pose I ever shall ; I send it you for the chance of your caring
to see my notions. I have been surprised to find in con-
versation that several naturalist 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 w^ork 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

i849] NOMENCLATURE. 335

longer tirade. Read my paper or not^ just as you like, and
return it whenever you please.

Yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

Huzh Strickland to C. Darwin.

The Lodge, Tewkesbury, Jan. 31st, 1849.

.... I have next to notice your second objection — that
retaining the name of the first describer in perpetum?i 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 conteract 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 in-
dicate more precisely the species. Sometimes two men will,
by accident, give the same name (independently) to two spe-
cies 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 Mon-
tague 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 frt(gilegus), and no other spe-
cies of Corvus has borne the same name, it is, of course, un-
necessary 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,' &c. I fear, therefore, that (at least until
our nomenclature is more definitely settled) it will be impos-
sible to indicate species with scientific accuracy, without add-
ing the name of their first author. You may, indeed, do it as
you propose, by saying in Lam. An. Invert.^ <5^<r, but then this
would be incompatible with the law of priority, for where

336 LIFE AT DOWN. .^TAT. 33-45. [1849,

Lamarck has violated that law, 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 2i 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, v/ithout the historical aid afforded by ap-
pending the author's name to the specific one. If I, di priority
man, called a species C. £>., 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 unsatis-
factory definitions of which you so justly complain, by ivriting
do7vn the practice. Let the better disposed naturalists com-
bine 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 terror e7n for the edifi-
cation 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 labour-
ers, many of them crotchety and half-educated, are rushing

i849.] NOMENCLATURE. 337

into the field, and it depends, I think, on the present genera-
tion 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 scien-
tific 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 0?ie.

Yours ever,

H. E. Strickland.

C. Darwin to Hugh Strickland.

Down, Sunday [Feb. 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 v/hether 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, &c., 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 guess-
work (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 Aitatifera
16

338 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1849.

IcBvis ; 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 argumoifs 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 argu-
ment of the evil done by the "mihi" attached to specific
j 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 in-
tends to work it out, as he knows that his only claim to merit
rests on his work being ably done, and has no relation what-
ever to na7ning. 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 sys-
I tematic 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

1849.] NOMENCLATURE. 33^

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 w^as their own
propert)^

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 fossa Cirripedia, and should be
very grateful for specimens ; but I do not believe that species
(and hardly genera) can be denned 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 de-
scribe 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 au-
thors' 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.

C. Darwin to Hugh Strickland.

Down, Feb. lotli [1849].

My dear Strickland, — I have again to thank you cor-
dially 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 im-
possible. I have great hopes some of my difficulties will dis-
appear, 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

340 LIFE AT DOWN. vETAT. 33-45, [1849.

own notions in my Cirripedia book, I should r ot like to do
so without I found others approved, and in some public
way — nor, indeed, is it well adapted, as I can never recog-
nise 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, end 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. . . .

C. 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 \\1iich 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, accident-
ally, of two persons who had received much benefit from the
water-cure, I got Dr. Gully's book, and made further en-
quiries, 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.

1849.] HOMCEOPATHY. 3^1

. . . Dr. Gully feels pretty sure he can do me good, which
most certainly the regular doctors could not. ... I feel cer-
tain 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 v/as 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 facul-
ties 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 li
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 clair- !

voyant 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,,
1844) 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

342 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1849.

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 im-
possibility would not prove mesmerism false ; but it is the
only clear experi7?ientu7n cruciSy and I am astonished it has
I not been systematically tried. If mesmerism was investi-
gated, like a science, this could not have been left till the
present day to be do7ie satisfactorily^ as it has been I believe
i 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, as was likely from a man who
I said cats were more easily done than other animals, because
^ they were so electrical ! "]

C. Darwiji to C. Lyell.

Down, December 4th [1849].

1 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, / am
astonished at my oum accuracy f ! 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 in-
finitely more he saw of Coral Reefs than I did, this is won-
derfully satisfactory to me. He treats me most courteously.
There now, my vanity is pretty well satisfied. . .

1849.] GEOLOGY. 343

C. 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 r^d!/^^^^^ abuse, "presumption," &c. — ended v/ith saying
that the volume appeared " made up of the scraps and rub-
bish of the author's portfolio." I most truly enter into what
you say, and quite believe you that you care only for the re-
view 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 geologi-
cal 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 ivith care^ a condensed and finished sketch of some
striking feature in your travels, it is better not to send any-
thing. These two letters are, moreover, rather too geologi-
cal for the * Athenaeum,' and almost require woodcuts. On
the other hand, there are hardly enough details for a commu-
nication 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

344 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1849.

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. . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

The Lodge, Malvern [June, 1849].

... I have got your book,* 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 " ever the truth of your remarks on re-
ligious 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. . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lycll.

September 14th, 1849.

. . . I go on with my aqueous processes, and very steadily
but slowly gain health and strength. Against all rules, I dined

* * A Second Visit to the United States.'

i849] LORD STANHOPE. 345

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 fiddld faddle.
Describing Species of birds and shells, &c., 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^ 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 men-
tally with Lord Stanhope, that it is all fiddle faddle ; how-
ever, the other day I got a curious case of a unisexual, instead
of hermaphrodite cirripede, in which the female had the com-
mon cirripedial character, and in two valves of her shell had
two little pockets, in eac/i 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.

• • •

346 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1849.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, October 12th, 1849.

... By the way, one of the pleasantest parts of the Brit-
ish 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 atithor^^ 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 pre-
vented, by being unwell, from going to Warwick, though that,
/. ^., the party, by all accounts, was wonderfully inferior to
Blenheim, not to say anything of that heavenly day at Drop-
more. One gets weary of all the spouting. . . .

You ask about my cold-water cure ; I am going on very
well, and am certainly a litt^le 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 nov/ 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,

* 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.,

P- 245.

1849.] WATER-CURE. 347

and eat immensely, and am never oppressed with my food.
I have lost the involuntary twitching of the muscle, and all
the fainting feelings, &c — black spots before eyes, &c. 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 Bar-
nacles is fully as much as I can do of anything which occu-
pies the mind ; I am consequently terribly behind in all sci-
entific 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 dif-
ferences 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 some lime done, and I may as well do it, as
any one else.

I have given up my agitation against ;////// 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 t
decided approval of my plain Barnacle work over theoretic \
species work, had very great influence in deciding me to go j
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 :]

348 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1851.

C. 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. . . .

C. 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 bond 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
'A 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 there-
fore 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

i852.] EDUCATION. 34Q

old stereotyped stupid classical education than I do ; but yetf '
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 * 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 vigourous. 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 ist
vol. for the E.ay 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 I
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 * is much
better, and very flourishing and happy. Catherine* is at
Rome, and has enjoyed it in a degree that is quite astonish-

* His sisters.

350 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1852.

ing to my old dry 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.''^ Ah, in those jdays there were
no professions for sons, no ill-health to fear for them, no Cali-
fornian gold, no French invasions. How paramount the
future is to the present when one is surrounded by chil-
dren. My dread is hereditary ill-health. Even death is bet-
ter 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 conse-
quent loathsome disease and ulcerated limbs, and utter moral
degradation. If you think strongly on this subject, do make
some enquiries ; 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.

C. 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

*

The beetle Panagcszis crux-major.

1852.] OLD DAYS. 351

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 these 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 wuth 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 * 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

*

To the Rev. J. Hughes.

352 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1853.

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 slovz-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. W^hen
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 sub-
stance, and felt hardly anything.

My dear old friend, yours very affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

Down, January 2gth [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

i853.] EDUCATION. 353

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-end-
ing 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 your-
self 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.

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

13 Sea Houses, Eastbourne,

[July 15th? 1853].

My dear Fox, — Here we are in a state of profound idle-
ness, 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

354 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1853.

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 ani-
mals, 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, &c. 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 weak-
ness. 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 6^^., 6^^.,
including some clothes, travelling expenses, &c., is from jQwo
tO;^i20 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 v/hich 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 reason-
ing 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

i853.] CONDOLENCE. 351^

lately to the Dean of Hereford, who takes most strongly this
view ; and he tells me that there is a school at Hereford com-
mencing on this plan ; and that Dr. Kennedy at Shrewsbury
is going to begin vigorously to modify that school. . . .

I am extre?nely glad to hear that you approved of my cirri-
pedial volume. I have spent an almost ridiculous amount of
labour on the subject, and certainly would never have under-
taken 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.

C. Darwin to IV. D. Fox.

Down, August loth [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 :]

356 LIFE AT DOWN. .^TAT. 33-45. [1853,

C. 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 con-
tents 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 * 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 su?-e that you did quite right to propose him ;

* John Lindley (b. 1799, d. 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 'Ana-
lyse 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 up-
wards 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 univer-
sally taught in the earlier part of his career. Sachs points out (Geschichte
der Botanik, 1875, p. 161), that though Lindley adopted in the main a
sound classification of plants, he only did so by abandoning his own the-
oretical principle that the physiological importance of an organ is a meas-
ure of its classificatory value.

I854-] GEOLOGY. 35-^

and what a good, dear, kind fellow you are, nevertheless, to
rejoice in this honour being bestowed on me.

\^\\dX pleasure I have felt on the occasion, I ov/e 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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, February i8th [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 vol-
canic 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 circum-
ference than in the middle of the island ; do you suppose the
elevation has had the form of a flat dome? I remember in the

358 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1854.

Cordillera being often struck with the greater abruptness cf
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 com-
posed, 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 * is out, and
most beautifully got up. He has honoured me beyond meas-
ure 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 ship-
mate in Australia, who says the Colony is getting decidedly

* Sir J. Hooker's ' Himalayan Journal.'

I854-] 'HIiMALAYAN JOURNAL.' 359

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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, March ist [1854].

My dear Hooker, — I finished yesterday evening the
first volume, and I very sincerely congratulate you on hav-
ing produced a first-class book * — 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 be-
stowed on these beautiful volumes.

Your letter, received this morning, has interested me ex-

* <

Himalayan Journal.*

360 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1854.

trefnely, 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 ansv/ered, and 1 presume you wanted to know what I should
feel ; whoever would have dreamed of your being so crafty ?
1 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,
&c." 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 any-
thing 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 pas-
sages 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 good-
ness ! it is not veiy likely that I shall ever go to the Hima-
laya. 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 !

1854.] TASMANIA. 361

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 noX flow enough till you get
to Mirzapore on the Ganges (but the Thugs were most inter-
esting), where the stream seemed to carry you on more
equably with longer sentences and longer facts and discus-
sions, &c. In another edition (::nd 1 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 7ny 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 ^Athenseum.'

What capital news from Tasmania : it really is a very re-
markable and creditable fact to the Colony.* 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 : it is really a very singu-
lar 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 Dedica-
tion 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

* This refers to an unsolicited grant by the Colonial Government
towards the expenses of Sir J. Hooker's ' Flora of Tasinania.'

17

362 LIFE AT DOWN. .ETAT. 35-45. [1854.

your own fame. I v.ish I was in every way more v/orthy 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 dawnv

[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 X.

THE GROWTH OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

[On page 67, the growth of the ' Origin of Species ' has
been briefly described in my father's words. The letters
given in the present and following chapters will illustrate and
amplify the history thus sketched out.

It is clear thaf 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* af 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 proceed-
ing in his views. But in the published 'Journal ' we find pas-
sages 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 (ist
edit. p. 353 ; 2nd edit. p. 289), he says : "When finding, as
in this case, any animal which seems to play so insignificant

* MS. Journals, p. 468.

364 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/

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 in-
structive, as giving some idea of the development cf 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 (p. 68)
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 die tv/o species of Molothrus (ist edit. p. 61 ;
2nd edit. p. 53) must have been one of the earliest instances
noticed by him of the existence of representative species — a
phenomenon which we know {' Autobiography,' p. 68) struck
him deeply. The discussion on introduced animals (ist edit,
p. 139; 2nd edit. p. 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 (ist
edit. p. 98 ; 2nd edit. p. 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 vege-
tation of the two continents. The interest of the discussion
is that it shows clearly our a priori ignorance of the condi-
tions 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 dis-
cusses the striking difference betv/een the species of mice on

THE 'NATURALIST'S VOYAGE/ 365

the east and west of the Andes (ist edit. p. 399): "Unless
we suppose the same species to have been created in two dif-
ferent 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 edit. p. 327, the passage is almost verbally identi-
cal, and is practically the same.

There are other passages again which are more strongly
evolutionary in the 2nd edit., but otherwise are similar to the
corresponding passages in the ist edition. Thus, in describ-
ing the blind Tuco-tuco (ist edit. p. 60 ; 2nd edit. p. 52), in
the first edition he makes no allusion to what Lamarck might
have thought, nor is the instance used as an example of modi-
fication, as in the edition of 1845.

A striking passage occurs in the 2nd edit. (p. 173) on the
relationship between the "extinct edentata and the living
sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos."

" This wonderful relationship in the same continent be-
tween 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 ist edit., but he was
evidently profoundly struck by the disappearance of the gigan-
tic forerunners of the present animals. The difference be-
tween 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 lead up
to a strong statement of the intensity of the struggle for life.
Then follows a comparison between rarity* and extinction,
which introduces the idea that the preservation and domi-
nance of existing species depend on the degree in which they
are adapted to surrounding conditions. In the first edition.

* In the second edition, p. 146, the destruction of Niata cattle by-
droughts is given as a good example of our ignorance of the causes of rar-
ity or extinction. The passage does not occur in the first edition.

366 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

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 (ist edit.) he ends the
chapter by comparing the extinction of a species to the ex-
haustion 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 for-
ward. Thus, in the first edition, he merely says : —

" This similarity of type between distant islands and con-
tinents, while the species are distinct, has scarcely been suffi-
ciently noticed. The circumstance would be explained, ac-
cording to the views of some authors, by saying that the crea-
tive power had acted according to the same law over a wide
area." — (ist edit. p. 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 dif-
ferent manner — why were they created on American types of
organisation.^" — (2nd edit. p. 393.)

The same difference of treatment is shown elsewhere in
this chapter. Thus the gradation in the form of beak pre-
sented by the thirteen allied species of finch is described in
the first edition (p. 461) without comment. Whereas in the
second edition (p. 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

NOTE-BOOK OF 1837. 367

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 ' Jour-
nal,' we find with a strong sense of surprise how far devel-
oped 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 in-
sight 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) * 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.!

" 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 ante-
lopes at Cape of Good Hope; marsupials at Australia."

" Countries longest separated greatest differences — if sepa-
rated 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

* In the extracts from the note-book ordinary brackets represent my
father's parentheses.

f 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.

368 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

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 fam-
ine— 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 grey-
hound."

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.

NOTE-BOOK OF 1837. 369

" 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 peculi-
arities (therefore adaptation), and obliterate accidental varie-
ties, 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

370 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

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 led to endeavour to discover causes of change ; the
manner of adaptation (wish of parents ? ?), instinct and struct-
ure becomes full of speculation and lines of observation.
View of generation being condensation,* test of highest or-
ganisation intelligible .... My theory would give zest to
recent and fossil comparative anatomy ; it would lead to the
^tudy 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 exam-
ination 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 ' : f —

" 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

* I imagine him to mean that each generation is " condensed " to a
small number of the best organized individuals.

f ' Origin of Species ' (edit, i.), p. 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."

NOTE-BOOK OF 1837. 371

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 cre-
ated, 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 S2es nipple on man's breast, one does not say
some use, but sex not having been determined — so with use-
less 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 vol. i. p. 72), He says, in the 1837 note-
book, that alpine plants, "formerly descended lower, there-
fore [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-

372

THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

book of 1837. The Sketch is in 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 (vol. i., p. 68), that it was in
June 1842 that he first wrote out a short sketch of his views.*
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 1 8th. Went to Maer.

''June 15th to Shrewsbury, and on i8th 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,' p. i, 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,'! the essay of 1844 (extracts
from which form part of ihe 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, p. 476). There is also some further evidence on this
side of the question. Writing to Mr. Wallace (Jan. 25, 1859)
my father says : — " Every one whom I have seen has thought

* 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.
f ' Linn. Soc. Journal,' 1858, p. 45,

SKETCH OF 1844. 373

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 ^^^ been frequently made in bio-
graphical 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 (p. 71) he
speaks of the time, "about 1839, when the theory was clearly
conceived," meaning, no doubt, the end of 1838 and begin-
ning 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* 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 alter-
nated 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

* 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."

374 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPEClks.'

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' (ist edit.). 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, p. 5) as one of
the "most apparent and gravest difficulties on the theory."
Moreover the chapter in the Sketch ends with a discussion,

'Svhether any particular corporeal structures are so

wonderful as to justify the rejection priind facie of our the-
ory." 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 nth, 1859 : "I cannot possibly be-
lieve 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 ex-
tent 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

SKETCH OF 1844. 375

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
VOrisfin.'

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 re-
semblance between the second part of the Sketch and the
final chapters of the ' Origin.' That he should speak * of the
chapters on transition, on instinct, on hybridism, and on the
geological record, as forming a group, may be due to the di-
vision 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 argu-
ment," and the illustrations employed are the same, points
out that in the 1844 Essay, "much more weight is attached

* i

Origin,' Introduction, p. 5.

376 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

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 viev.'s 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 con-
trol, that concentration and grasp, which are so striking in
the work of 1859.

In the Autobiography (p. 68, vol. i) my father has stated
what seemed to him the chief flaw of the 1844 Sketch ; lie
had overlooked "one problem of great importance,*' the
problem of the divergence of character. This point is dis-
cussed in the ' Origin of Species,' but, as it may not be familiar
to all readers, I will give a short account of the difliculty 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 dif-
ference between varieties become augmented into the greater
difference between species ? "* He shows how an analogous
divergence takes place under domestication where an origin-
ally uniform stock of horses has been split up into race-horses,

* 'Origin,' ist edit. p. iii.

PRINCIPLE OF DIVERGENCE.

377

dray-horses, &c., and then goes on to explain how the same
principle applies to natural species. " From the simple cir-
cumstance 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 admixture 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 differ-
ent organs In the same way a species becomes more efficient
and more able to survive when different sections of the species
become difi^erentiated 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 prin-
ciple 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 com-
pletion.]

C. 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 com-
petent judge, it will be a considerable step in science. \

378 THE GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

I therefore write this in case of my eudden death, as my
most solemn and last request, which I am sure you will con-
sider the same as if legally entered in my will, that you will
devote ^400 to its publication, and further, will yourself, or
through Hensleigh,* 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 quota-
tions from various works, are those which may aid my editor.
I also request that you, or some amanuensis, will aid in de-
ciphering any of the scraps which the editor may think possi-
bly of use. I leave to the editor's judgment whether to in-
terpolate these facts in the text, or as notes, or under appen-
dices. 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
;^4oo 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 pleas-
ant, and he would learn some facts new to him. As the ed-
itor 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 Hens-

* Mr. H. Wedgwood.

SKETCH OF 1844. 379

low. Dr. Hooker would be very good. The next, Mr. Strick-
land.* 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 ;£^5oo.

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 bear-
ing 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 \ and from memory
without consulting any works, and with no intention of pub-
lication 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."]

* 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."

\ The words " several years ago and," seem to have been added at a
later date.

CHAPTER XI.

THE GROWTH OF THE * ORIGIN OF SPECIES/

»

LETTERS, 1 843-1 85 6.

[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 in-
teresting picture of his early friendship with my father : —

"My first meeting with Mr. Darwin was in 1839, in Tra-
falgar Square. I was walking with an officer who had been
his shipmate for a short time in the Beagle seven years be-
fore, but who had not^ I believe, since met him. I was intro-
duced ; 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 w^hen 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 natu-

1843.] SIR J. D. HOOKER'S REMINISCENCES. 381

ralist) had allowed me to peruse them. At this time I was
hurrying on my studies, so as to take my degree before volun-
teering to accompany Sir James Ross in the Antarctic Expe-
dition, 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 pro-
foundly, I might say despairingly, with the variety of acquire-
ments, 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 char-
acter 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 atten-
tion 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 destruc-
tion of considerable areas of land to account for the relations
of the flora of the so-called Antarctic Islands. I do not sup-
pose that any of these ideas were new to him, but they led

382 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1843.

to an animated and lengthy correspondence full of instruc-
tion."

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 collec-
tion 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, &c., 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 igno-
ramuses like myself. It has often struck me as a curious
point to find out, whether there are many European genera
in T. 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

i843.] GALAPAGOS FLORA. 383

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 compli-
ments to Sir W. Hooker.

[Referring to Sir J. D. Hooker's work on the Galapagos
Flora, my father wrote in 1846 :

ti

I cannot tell you how delighted and astonished I am at
the results of your examination ; how wonderfully they sup-
port my assertion on the differerices 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,* 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, Szc, such as you often give in con-
versation, and such as De Candolle and St. Hilaire introduced

* 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.

384 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1844.

in almost all their papers, and which make them interesting
even to a non-Botantist."

" Very soon afterwards [continues Sir J. D. Hooker] in a
letter dated January 1844, the subject of the ' Origin of Spe-
cies ' v/as 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 " : — ]

C. Darwm to J. D. Hooker.

[January nth, 1844.]

Besides a general interest about the southern lands, I have
been now ever since my return engaged in a very presump-
tuous work, and I know no one individual who would not
say a very foolish one. I was so struck w^th the distri-
bution of the Galapagos organisms, &c. &c., and with the
character of the American fossil mammifers, &c. &c., 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," &c.! 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 presump-
tion !) 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 v/as then

1844] GALAPAGOS FLORA. 385

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 con-
veyance.

... 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. Amer-
ica. 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 repre-
sentative species of the same genera of Labiatse : 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

18

386 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1844.

which are, I fancy, rather more confined. Can St. Plelena 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 dis-
similar ; 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 moun-
tain 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 dis-
cussion 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 occa-
sionally, 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 interest-
ing 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

1844] SIR J. D. HOOKER'S REMINISCENCES. 387

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 per-
sonal 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 invita-
tion 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. VVaterhouse — 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 1 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 enjoy-
ing 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, geo-
graphical, &c., for me to answer, and concluded by telling

388 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [184^.

me of the progress he had made in his own \york, 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 car-
pet 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.]

C. 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 di-
vided ; 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 con-
clusion, 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

* See p. 93.

1844-] MUTABILITY OF SPECIES. 389

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 ?mtive 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 pro-
ductions, 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 hypo-
thetically, Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. 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 Natu-
ralists, that there are two sides to the question of the immu-

390 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1844.

tability 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, &c., on the view of the immutability. Agassiz
lately has brought the strongest argument in favour of immu-
tability. 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, &c., 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, a£ far as I know,
approached the subject on the side of variation under domes-
tication, and having studied all that is knov/n about domesti-
cation. 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 r I could defend myself to some considerable extent,
but I doubt whether successfully in your eyes, or indeed in
my own. . . .

C. 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 some-
times 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

1845-1 MUTABILITY OF SPECIES. 391

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

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Shrewsbury [September, 1845].

My dear Hooker, — I write a line to say that Cosmos *
arrived quite safely [N.B. One sheet came loose in Pt. 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 (/. 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 varia-
tion, without having worked out my due share of species. But
now for nine years it has been anyhow the greatest amuse-
ment 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.

* A translation of Humboldt's ' Kosmos.'

392 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1845.

C. Darwin to L. Jenyns i^Blome field) .

Down, Oct. I2th, [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 man-
ner. 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 * (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, contain-
ing 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 (/. ^., if free from acci-
dents) life of the parents the number of individuals will be-
come enormous, and I have been much surprised to think
how great destruction must annually or occasionally be falling

* 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 Oct. 17, 1846.

i845.] STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 3^3

on every species, yet the means and period of such destruc-
tion 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 con-
clusions 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 con-
clusion, 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.

C. Darwin to L. Jenym^

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 par-
ticularly interesting, and our difficulty in answering it shows
how really ignorant we are of the lives and habirs 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

* Rev. L. Blomefield.

394 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN." [1845.

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 oniy 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 con-
jecture 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 suc-
ceeding 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, /. 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 liv-
ing on the Continent and on adjoining islands, such as the
Galapagos. It occurred 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

1S46.] MR. JENYNS* 'OBSERVATIONS.' 395

stock. A long searching amongst agricultural and horticult-
ural 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 com-
plete 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 !■
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.

C. Darwin to L. Jenyns,

Down, Oct. 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 inter-
f ested 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 de-
lighted with a preliminary essay to the first number of the
* Annals of Natural History.* I missed one discussion, and

396 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1846.

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 meas-
urements, he could detect any proportional variations in beaks
or limbs, &c. 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 re-
puted 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 pro-
ceeding 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
Panagceiis crux viajor ! I could not bear to give up either of
my Carabi, and to lose Panagceus 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 in-
considerate beast squirted his acid down my throat, and I lost
both Carabi d^xv^L PanagcEus ! I was quite astonished to hear
of a terrestrial Planaria ; for about a year or two ago I de-
scribed 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

1849.] VARIABILITY. 397

father aver that a fever, or any serious accident^ as a broken
limb, will cause in a man all the intestinal worms to be evacu-
ated. Might not this possibly have been the case with the
flukes in their early state ?

I hope you were none the worse for Southampton ; * I wish
I had seen you looking rather fatter. I enjoyed ray 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 1

C. 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 varia-
bility of every part in some slight degree of every species.
When the same organ is rigorously compared in many indi-
viduals, I always find some slight variability, and conse-
quently 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 Cirri-
pedia) objects cast in the same mould. Systematic work

* The meeting of the British Association.

398 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1849.

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 dis-
tinctness (so unpleasant to me) of the Himalayan Rubi, wil-
lows, &c., compared with those of northern [Europe ?], &c.,
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 Fal-
coner'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 pros-
per in every way, my dear Hooker.

Your affectionate friend,

C. Darwin.

C. 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,* 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)

* Edward Forbes, born in the Isle of Man 1815, died 1854. His best
known work was his Report on the distribution of marine animals at dif-
ferent depths in the Mediterranean. An important memoir of his is re-
ferred to in my father's ' Autobiography,' p, 72. 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 dis-
tribution by means of an active geological imagination.

I849-] LAMARCK, THE 'VESTIGES.' 39Q

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. Particu-
lar thanks for your attempt to get me a copy of ' L'Espece,'*
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 pain-
fully (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 Natu-
ral 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 excep-
tion, 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.

* Probably Godron's essay, published by the Academy of Nancy in
1848-49, and afterwards as a separate book in 1859.

/

400 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1853.

C, 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 use-
ful 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 7iot have affixed names, and in some few cases
should have affixed names to remarkable varieties. Cer-
tainly 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 * 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

* In ' Bleak House.'

i853.] NEW ZEALAND FLORA. 401

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 * is so much ad-
vanced ; how magnificently it seems to be illustrated ! An
^^ Oriental Naturalist,'' ^'ith. 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. . . .

C. Darivin 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, con-
sidering how perfect and elaborated an essay it is.f 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 differ-
ent, 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 be-
lieve 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. . . .

* Sir J. D. Hooker's ' Himalayan Journal.'
f ' New Zealand Flora,' 1853.

402 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1854.

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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, March 26th [1854].

My dear Hooker, — I had hoped that you would have
had a little breathing-tim.e 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, 7nosf juicy with news and most interesting to me in
many ways. I am very glad indeed to hear of the reforms,
&c., in the Royal Society. With respect to the Club,* I am
deeply interested ; only two or three days ago, I was regret-
ting 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.

* 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 CUib 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 inter-
course between those Fellows who are actively engaged in cultivating the
various branches of Natural Science, and who have contributed to its prog-
ress ; to increase the attendance at the evening meetings, and to encour-
age 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.

I854-] HUiMBOLDT— AGASSIZ. 403

I will therefore come up to London for every (with rare ex-
ceptions) Club- day, and then my head, I think, wull allow me
on an average to go to every other meeting. But it is griev-
ous 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 luorst 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 Edit.*
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 emineiitly 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, &c.,
&c., 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 doc-
trines— another proof, by the way, of how great a man he is.
I was pleased and surprised to see A. Gray's remarks on

* Of the Himalayan Journal.

404 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1854.

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, &c., &c.,
the whole thing explodes like an empty puff-ball. Do not
work yourself to death. Ever yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Nov. 5th [1854].

My dear Hooker, — I was delighted to get your note
yesterday. I congratulate you very heartily,* 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 some-
thing 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

March 7 [1855].

... I have just finished working well at Wollaston's f
* Insecta Maderensia ' : it is an admirable work. There is a
very curious point in the astounding proportion of Coleoptera

* On the award to him of the Royal Society's Medal.
\ Thomas Vernon Wollaston died (in his fifty-seventh year, as I believe)
on Jan. 4, 1878. His health forcing him in early manhood to winter in

i855.] INSECTA MADERENSIA. 405

that are apterous ; and I think I have guessed the reason,
viz., that powers of flight would be injurious to insects inha-
biting 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. Wollas-
ton 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 humi-
liating 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, (i) 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.

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 v/orking persistently
" upon a broad conception of the science to which he was devoted," while
being at the same time " accurate, elaborate, and precise ad ptmctum, 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 encourage-
ment from their elders.

4o6 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

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.

C. Da7"win to IV. 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
wo*uld 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 post-

i855.] FEATHERS— SKELETONS. 407

age. . . 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,* 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 v/ish I could get a little
wild duck of a week old, but that I know is almost impos-

sible.

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 Lon-
don 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.

* '* 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.

4o8 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855

P.S. — Amongst all sorts of odds and ends, with which I
am amusing myself, I am comparing the seeds of the varia-
tions of plants. I had formerly some wild cabbage seeds,
which I gave to some one, w^as it to you ? It is a ihousaiid 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 v/ould
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, &c. 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 your-
self, 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 Yarrel?
has persuaded me to attempt it, and I am now fitting up a
place, and have written to Baily about prices, &c., &:c. Some-
tune (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 did not even know there were three varieties of Dorking
fowl : how do they differ ? . . .

1855-] MUTABILITY OF SPECIES. ^qq

I forget whether I ever told you what the object of ray
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, &c., &c., &c.) 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 sub-
ject 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 Sun-
day 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."]

C. 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 ex-
amined 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
19

410 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

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, &c., by teeling 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 care-
fully 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 be-
fore ; 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 men-
tion 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

i855.] PIGEON FANCYING. 411

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 be-
lieve I am not giving so much trouble without a motive of
sufficient worth. I have got my iantails and pouters (choice
birds, I hope, as I paid 20^. for each pair from Baily) in a
grand cage and pigeon-house, and they are a decided amuse-
ment 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 vari-
ety, which is a variety of the Tumbler, as that is of the Rock-
pigeon, Mr. Eaton says : ' There are some of the young fan-
ciers who are over-covetous, who go for all the five properties
at once [/, <?., the five characteristic points which are mainly
attended to, — C. D.], they have their, reward by getting noth-
ing.' 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 (/. ^.,
the tumbler's) properties, I should think that scarce any
nobleman or gentleman would be without their aviaries of
Almond Tumblers.' "

412 GROWTH OF THE * ORIGIN.' [1855.

N

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." — ('Autobiogra-
phy,' p. 32.)

To Mr. W. B. Te<^etmeier, the well-known writer on poul-
try, &c., he was indebted for constant advice and co-opera-
tion. 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, &c., and when you gave me such valuable as-
sistance. 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 fathers's letters to Mr. Tegetmeier consist
almost entirely of series of questions relating to the different
breeds of fowls, pigeons, &c., and are not, therefore, interest-
ing. 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. Numer-
ous 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 suggest-
tive to me."

To. work out the problems on the Geographical Distribu-
tions of animals and plants on evolutionary principles, he had
to study the means by which seeds, eggs, &c., can be trans-
ported across wide spaces of ocean. It was this need which
gave an interest to the class of experiment to which the fol-
lowing letters allude.]

i855.] LIZARDS. 413

C. 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 thi^note need not be answered, with-
out, by a strange and favourable chance, you can some day
answer it with the eggs. Your most troublesome friend,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

April 13th [1855].

... I have had one experiment some little time in pro-
gress, which will, I think, be interesting, namely, seeds in salt
water immersed in water of 32°-33°, 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 experi-

414 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

ment 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 ' Ves-
tiges ' 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 g8od many, I
think, dead. One would have thought, from their native
habitat, that the cabbage would have stood well. The Um-
belliferae and onions seem to stand the salt well. I wash the
seed before planting them. I have written to the Gardeners'
Chronicle^^ though I doubt whether it was worth while. If
my success seems to make it wortli 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. . . .

C. 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

* A few words asking for information. The results were published in
the ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' May 26, Nov. 24, 1855. In the same year (p.
789) he sent a P, S. to his foraier paper, correcting a misprint and add-
ing 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 ' Lin-
naean Soc. Journal,' 1857, p. 130.

i855.] GERMINATION EXPERIMENTS. 415

triumph. The children at first were tremendously eager, and
asked me often, " whether 1 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 m 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 !

C. 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 experi-
ments, 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 Zoolog. Soc. ate up lots of soaked seeds, and in imagi-

4i6 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

nation 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.*

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, &c. &c., 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 Giiilandina 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 i
against its success.

* 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 nur-
sery rhyme of ' this is the stick that beats the pig,' &c., &c."

I855-] THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. ^ly

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Ma/ nth [1855].

My dear Hooker, — I have just received your note. I
am most sincerely and heartily glad at the news * 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,
X 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' Chrotiicle 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 experi-
ments 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 f 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 enquiries 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.

* The appointment of Sir J. D, Hooker as Assistant Director of the
Royal Gardens at Kew.

4l8 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

June 5th, 1855.

.... Miss Thorley * 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 fool-
ish 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 \\ 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 trans-
mission 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

* A lady who was for many years a governess in the family.

i855.] COLLECTING PLANTS. 419

would have it, it was the easy Atithoxanthum odoratum : never-
theless 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. . . .

C. 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," * and I deserved a good
snub, and upon reflection I am very glad you did not answer
me in Gardeners' Chro::icle.

I have been very much interested with the Florula.f

[Writing on Juns 5th to Sir J. D. Hooker, my father men-
tions a letter from Dr. Asa Gray. The letter referred to v/as
an answer to the following :]

* " 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 Gardenejs' Chronicle, May 26,

1855-

f Godron's ' Florula Juvenalis,' which gives an interesting account of
plants introduced in imported w^^i

420 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray^

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 collect-
ing 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 pre-
sumptuous 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 that you will forgive me, and
believe me, with much respect,

Dear sir, yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C 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

* 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."

I855-] SUGGESTIONS AND QUERIES. 42 1

in some degree picture to myself the plants of your Alpine
summits. The new edit, 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.* 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 Aijiericano 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 the 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 interest-
ing point as tending to show whether the migration has been
eastward or westward. Pray believe me that I am most
entirely conscious that the ofily 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 area
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

* This suggestion Dr. Gray adopted in subsequent editions.

422 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

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 intro-
duced 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 iinperfectly. I should also, of course, have ascer-
tained 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 pro-
portion of the Umbelliferae are xlf « = 4V ; 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 dis-
tant 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 propor-
tional 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 intro-
duced Compositae in Great Britain to all the introduced
plants, and the result was, \% = 9^2 • I^ our aboriginal or
indigenous flora the proportion is yV; a-i^d in many other
cases I found an equally striking correspondence I then
took your Manual, and v/orked out the same question ; here
I find in the Compositae an almost equally striking correspond-
ence, viz. -i^ = I in the introduced plants, and y\% = i in

i855.] SUGGESTIONS AND QUERIES. 423

the indigenous ; but when I came to the other families I
found the proportion entirely different, showing that the co-
incidences in the British Flora were probably accidental !

You will, I presume, give the proportion of the species to
the genera, /. ^., 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 ; (d) 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 mosf anxious for infor-
mation, and I mention it with the greatest hesitation, and
only in the /i/// 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 diffej-ent Floras whether the same genera

424 GROWTH OF THE 'ORIGIN.' [1855.

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 discrimi-
nating 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, 1 8th [July, 1855].

... I think I am getting a mild case about Charlock
seed; * but just as about salting, ill luck to it, I cannot
remember how many years you would allow that Charlock

■"* In the Gardeners Chronicle, 1855, p. 758, appeared a notice (half a
cohimn 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 Char-
lock sprang up in that year over a space (14 x 7 feet) which had been dug
to a considerable depth.

1855-1 VITALITY OF SEEDS. 425

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 j
was, for according to his evidence the seed came up alive out '
of the lower part of the London Clay ! ! I I disgusted him by
telling him that Palms ought to have come up.

You ask how far I go in attributing organisms to a com-
mon descent ; I answer I know not ; the way in which I in-
tend treating the subject, is to show {as far as I can) the facts 1
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 [Oct.
1855,* gives a brief m.ention 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 \ (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."]

* In this year he published (* Phil. Mag.' x.) a paper ' On the power o^
icebergs to make rectilinear uniformly-directed grooves across a subma"*
rine undulatory surface.'"

f Sir P. Egerton was a neighbour of Mr. Fox.

CHAPTER 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 ab-
stract of the materials which I had collected." The letters
in the present chapter are chiefly concerned with the prepara-
tion 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 Establish-
ment at Moor Park, during one of which he made a pilgrim-
age to the shrine of Gilbert White at Selborne.]

LETTERS.
)\ L ^ C. Dai'win to C. Lyell,

May 3 [1856J.

. . . 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

1856.] THE UNFINISHED BOOK. 427

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 pre-
cisely, 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 m my strongest
time ? Farewell, my dear old patron.

Yours,

C. Darwin.

By the way, if/iree 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 no^ hear, I shall understand that I may come from
9 to 10 on Thursday.

C. 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

428 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

unphilosopbical 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 * 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, &c., 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

May nth [1856]. .

. . . Now for a more important ! subject, viz., my own self :
I am extremely glad you think well of a separate " Pre-
liminary Essay " (/. <f., if anything whatever is published ; for
Lyell seemed rather to doubt on this head) \ ; but I cannot

* 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.

f The meaning of the sentence in parentheses is obscure.

1856.] THE UNFINISHED BOOK. 429

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 publish-
ing at all any preliminary essay. It yet strikes me as quite
unphilosophical to publish results without the full details
which have led 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 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 hear-
ing what my friends or critics (if reviewed) thought of the
outline.

To any one but you I should apologise for such long dis-
cussion 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

430 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

(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 deHghted 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 pub-
lishing anything. . . ."

[The following extracts from letters to Mr. Fox are worth
giving, as showing how great was the accumulation of mate-
rial 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 orignal 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."

Nov. 1856. *' Sometimes I fear I shall break down, for my
subject gets bigger and bigger with each month's work."]

1856.] CONTINENTAL EXTENSION. 431

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, i6th [June, 1856].

My dear Lyeli,, — 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 [/. ^., 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [June] 17th, 1856.

... I have been very deeply interested by Wollaston's
book,* 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 :

* ' The Variation of Species,' 1856.

432 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

"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 eocejie^ as I told him. In fact I wrote
most frankly ; I fear too 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] 1 8th. 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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, June 25tli [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

1856.] CONTINENTAL EXTENSION. 433

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 Fer-
nandez must be joined to America ; and if we trust to littoral
sea shells, the Galapagos must have been joined to the Pa-
cific 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 proba-
bly, 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 un-
dergone within this same period such wonderful permuta-
tions. 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 thsit fujtdaf ne fit-
ally America has held its place since at least, the miocene
period. In Africa almost all the living shells are distinct on
20

434 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

the opposite sides of the inter-tropical regions, short as the
distance is compared to the range of marine mollusca, in un-
interrupted seas ; hence I infer that Africa has existed since
cur 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 deposit^, has India. In Austra-
lia the great fauna of extinct marsupials shows that before
the present mammals appeared, Australia was a separate con-
tinent. I do not for one second doubt that very large por-
tions of all these continents have undergone great changes of
level within this period, but yet I conclude that fundament-
ally 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, Apen-
nines, Alps, Carpathians, are non-volcanic, Etna and Caucasus,
volcanic. In Asia, Altai and Himalaya, I believe non-vol-
canic. 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 P.ocky
Mountains — some of the latter alone, I believe, volcanic. In
South America to the east, the non-volcanic [Silla.?] of Ca-
racas, and Itacolumi of Brazil, further south the Sierra Ven-
tanas, 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

1856.] - CONTINENTAL EXTENSION.. 435

sevej'al 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 con-
tinents, they are forming continents ; and that by the time
they could form a continent, the \ olcanoes 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 sink-
ing 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 compen-
sating agent at work, in rising areas there will be the additional
element of outpoured volcanic matter.

l^hirdly. Considering the depth of the ocean, I was, be-
fore 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

436 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

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, &c,, in New Zea-
land ; the paucity of plants in some cases, &c. 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 continu-
ous land.

Finally. For these several reasons, and especially consider-
ing 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 argu-
ments 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 post-
age 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."]

1856] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 437

^ C. 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 Nat. Hist., 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-estab-
lished propositions as I can find made out, — in geographical
distribution, geological history, affinities, &c., &c. 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 expla-
nation, 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 geiierally 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

438 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

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 continous dis-
tribution. 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 exquis-
itely beautiful contingencies to which every living being is
exposed. ...

C. 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,* 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 frag-
ment 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 tht possibility of

* On the continental extensions of Forbes and others.

1856.] CLASSIFICATION. ^^Q

subsidence of 20,000 or 30,000 feet ; it is only probability, con-
sidering such evidence as we have independently of distribu-
tion. 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 v
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 canijot 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.

440

THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

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.

C. 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, &c.) as damning against
continental extension, and if you like also damning against
migration, or at least of ejtormoiis 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
CandoUe's (and I dare say your) opinion that it is poor work
putting together the mQXtly posssible means of distribution ;
but I see no other way in which the subject can be attacked,
for I think that A. De CandoUe's argument, that «io plants
have been introduced into England except by man's agency,
[is] of no weight. I cannot but think that the theory of con-
tinental extension does do some little harm as stopping inves-
tigation of the means of dispersal, which, whether negative or
positive, seems to me of value ; when negatived, then every

1856.] SPECIFIC CENTRES. 441

one who believes in single centres will have to admit conti-
nental extensions.

... I see from your remarks that you do not understand
my notions (whether or no worth anything) about modifica-
tion; I attribute very little to the direct action of climate,
&c. 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. p. 216) is of interest :

" I fear much that if Darwin argues that species are phan-
toms, he will also have to admit that single centres of disper-
sion are phantoms also, and that would deprive me of much
of the value which I ascribe to the present provinces of ani-
mals 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 {^Sept., 1856].

" In the course of some weeks, you unfortunate wretch,
you will have my MS. on one point of Geographical Distribu-

442 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

tion. 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 2i New Zealand Flora, that is work."]

C. Darwin to IV. D. Fox.

Oct. 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 care-
ful 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

1856.] BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY. ^3

of rabbits, and can you give me any details ? One other
question : You used to keep hawks ; do you at ail know,
after eating a bird, how soon after they throw up the pellet ?
No subject gives me so much trouble and doubt and diffi-
culty as the means of dispersal of the same species of terres-
trial productions on the oceanic islands. Land moUusca 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 some-
time, I beg you, let me hear how you get on in health ; and
if so inclmedj let me have some words on call-ducks.
My dear Fox, yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[With regard to his book he wrote (Nov. loth) 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 ovre to you."]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Sunday [Oct. 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 con-
dition of Botanical Geography. All I know is that if you had

444 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856.

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 ! ! ! *

Adios.

Your insane and perverse friend,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Nov. 4th [1856].

My dear Hooker, — I thank you more cordially than you
will think probable, for your note. Your verdict f 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. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Nov. 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

* The mud in such cases often contains seeds, so that plants are thus
transported.

f On the MS. relating to geographical distribution.

1856.] NATURAL SELECTION. 445

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 ex-
ternal 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 form.ation of a strong variety or
species I look at 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 spe-
cies is at last formed, stands, as I think can be shown (even
with plants, and obviously with animals), in a far more im-
portant 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 miportant : 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. . . .

^6 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

C. Darwin to J. D, Hooker.

Dec. 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 sub-
jects. 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 noth-
ing, and Creation the reigning idea — in some, descent is the
key, — in some, sterility an unfailing test, with others it is not
i worth a farthing. It all comes, I believe, from trying to de-
fine 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.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Jan. 1st [1857?].

My dear Dr Gray, — I have received the second part of
your paper,* 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 re-
mark 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 re-
sults I have worked out in several ways. It is of great impor-
tance to my notions. By the way you have paid me a great

* Statistics of the Flora of the Northern U. States.' Sillimans Jour-
nal, 1857

1857-1 'trees and SHRUBS. 447

compliment : * 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 extre7nely 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 struct-
ure. 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 h» 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. f

With hearty thanks, your most troublesome friend,

C. Darwin.

* " From some investigations of his own, this sagacious naturalist in-
clines to think that [the species of] large genera range over a larger area
than the species of small genera do." — Asa Gray, loc. cit.

\ vSee ' Origin,' Ed. i., p. 100.

I

448 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, April I2th [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 per-
plexing.

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, dis-
tinct 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 gener-
ally 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 a7iy tendency
in varieties^ as generally so called, of plants to become more

1857.1 WATER-CURE. 44q

hairy and with proportionally larger and brighter-coloured
flowers in ascending a mountain ?

I have been interested in my "weed garden," of 3X2 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, &c. 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. . . .

C. 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 under-
stand 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, &c., 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 Linn^us
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

450 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

you say about the little direct influence of climate ; and I
have just alluded to the hairiness of Alpine plants as an ex-
ception. The odoriferousness would be a good case for me if
I knew of vaj-ieties 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 pas-
sages, so as at all to see what kind of evidence authors ad-
vance. I must ccnfess, the other day, when I asked Falconer,
whether he knew of individual plants losing or acquiring hairi-
ness 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 cantiot 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.

1857.] NOVARA EXPEDITION. 45 1

[The following letter refers to the expedition of the Aus-
trian frigate Novaraj Lyell had asked my father for sugges-
tions.]

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, Feb. nth [1857].

My dear Lyell, — I was glad to see in the newspapers
about the Austrian Expedition. I have nothing to add geolo-
gically to my notes in the Manual.* 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 Ker-
guelen 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 Gocos
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 Galapa-
gos. 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

* The article " Geology " in the Admiralty Manual of Scientific En-
quiry.

453 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

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, Szc, it will not do much.

Ever yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

[The following passage occurs in a letter to Mr. Fox, Feb-
ruary 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 pub-
lished for ever anonymously."]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Moor Park, May 1st, 1857.

My dear Sir, — I am much obliged for your letter of
October loth, from Celebes, received a few days ago ; in a
laborious undertaking, sympathy is a valuable and real en-
couragement. By your letter and even still more by your

i857.] ARGUMENT FROM DOMESTICATION. 453

paper* 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

* ' On the law that has regulated the introduction of new species.'—
Ann. Nat. Hist., 1855.

454 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

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 ! . . .

C. Darwin to J. D, Hooker.

Moor Park, Saturday [May 2nd, 1857J.

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 wdll 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, hov/ 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 I " . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, [May] i6th [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

i857.] VARIABILITY. 455

serve. I find in the animal kingdom that the proposition
that any part or organ developed normally {i. e., not a mon-
strosity) in a species in any /iig^ 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 col-
lected facts. To give an instance, the Cross-bill is very ab-
normal in the structure of its bill compared with other allied
Fringillidse', and the beak is emijiently variable. The Himan-
topus, 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 re-
spects, 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 ' Teratologic ' on villosity
of plants, and seems to attribute more to dryness than alti-
tude ; 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, 'Physiologic Vegetale,' as authority — I suppose the
first authority, for mountain plants being hairy.

If I could show positively that the endemic species were

456 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

more hairy in dry districts, then the case of the varieties
becoming more hairy in dry ground would be a fact for
me.

C, 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 bo-
tanical 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 siylosa 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 some-
thing in the law ; I have had so many instances, as the follow-
ing : I wrote to Wollaston to ask him to run through the Ma-
deira 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 aston-
ishingly 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 her-
maphrodite Cirripedes. The cases seem to me far too numer-
ous for accidental coincidences, of great variability and ab-
normal 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

i857.] VARIABILITY. 457

is the more surprising to me, as generally I find any propo-
sition 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 seed-
ling 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 07ie
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 won-
derful. 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.
21

458 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

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 N^w Zealand to Chile ! ! !

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, June 5 [1857].

My dear Hooker, — I honour your conscientious care
about the 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. AVith 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 inconceiv-
able prodigy as a minister of the Crown who really cared for
science. Would you give such men medals.'* Perhaps
medals could not b^ 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
a;bnormal developments being highly variable. I have been
thinking more of your remark about the difficulty of judging

* The Royal Society's medals.

i857.] VARIABILITY. 459

or comparing variability in plants from the great general
variability of parts. I should look at the law as more com-
pletely 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. Per-
haps 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 poly-
morphism. Will you perfect your assistance by further con-
sidering, 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Moor Park, Famham, 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 suc-
ceeding the cotyledons being almost clover-like in shape,

460 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1858.

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,* . . .

Dr. Lane \ and wife, and mother-in-law, Lady Drysdale,
are some of the nicest people I have 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.]

C. Damiin to J. D. Hooker.

March nth [1858J.

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 record-
ing more varieties in the large than in the small genera. It
will be hard work for me to be candid in coming to my con-
clusion.

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.

* See ' Power of Movement in Plants,' p. 414.
f The physician at Moor Park.

i857.j LARGE GENERA VARYING. 461

C. 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. Fiirnrohr, in ' Naturhist. Topographic von Regensburg,
1839/ If you Q.2cs\ 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 * 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, &c.,
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.

C. Darwi7i 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 late Mr. Kippist was at this time in charge of the Linnean
Society's Library.

462 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

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 J 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.

I am 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 !

C. Darwin to J. D . Hooker.

Down, Aug. [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 nth and 15th I Is not
that grand ? Many thanks about Fiirnrohr. I must humbly
►supplicate Kippist to search for it : he most kindly got Bo-
reau 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

i857.] LARGE GENERA VARYING. 463

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.* I have done, or am doing : —

Babington

British Flora

Henslow
London Catalogue.
Boreau .
Miquel .
Asa Gray

Hooker .
Wollaston

Has not Koch pub

H.

: : I

C. Watson )

France.

Holland.

N. U. States.
\ N. Zealand.
( Fragment of Indian Flora.

Madeira insects.

lished 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. . . .

C Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Feb. 2ist [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

* Those who make many species are the "splitters," and those who
make few are the ** lumpers."

464 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

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 uncon-
sciously, tend to record (/. 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 va-
rieties about equally in genera of all sizes ? Are you your-
self 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 U. 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 bota-
nists to record such in large or small genera.

i858.] LARGE GENERA VARYING. 465

C. 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 gen-
era. You have undertaken a horrid job in so very kindly
offering to read it, and I thank you warmly. I have just cor-
rected the copy, and am disappointed in finding how tough
and obscure it is ; but I cannot make it clearer, and at pres-
ent 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 con-
sider 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, re-
member 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 proba-
bilities. 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.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, Dec. 22nd, 1857.

My dear Sir, — I thank you for your letter of Sept. 27th.
I am extremely glad to hear that you are attending to distri-
bution in accordance with theoretical ideas. I am a firm be- ,
liever that without speculation there is no good and original I
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.

466 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1857.

You say that you have been somewhat surprised at no notice
having been taken of your paper in the Annals.* 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, spe-
cially 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 specu-
lative notions. I have not yet seen your paper on the distri-
bution 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 re-
gard to the former connection of oceanic islands with con-
tinents. Ever since poor E. Forbes propounded this doc-
trine 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 preter-
natural sagacity of Lyell.

You ask about land-shells on islands far distant from con-
tinents : Madeira, has a few identical with those of Europe,
and here the evidence is really good, as some of them are

* * On the law that has regulated the introduction of New Species-
Ann. Nat. Hist., 1855.

1858.] CONTINENTAL EXTENSION. ^^j

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 prob-
ability 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 col-
lection 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
published 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 Archi-
pelago 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.

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

Feb. 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

468 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1858.

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 soon-
est for a couple of years. . . .

C. Darwin tc J. D. Hooker.

Feb. 23rd [1858].

... I was not much struck with the great Buckle, and I
admired the way you stuck up about deduction and induc-
tion. I am reading his book,* 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 won-
drous angles may result.f

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.

C Darwin to W. D. Fox,

Down, April i6th [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

* ' The History of Civilisation.'

f He had much correspondence on this subject with the late Professor
Miller of Cambridge.

1858.] STRIPED HORSES. 469

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. Eger-
ton 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 mos^ useful to me. There
is a parallel case in the legs of the donkey, and I have col-
lected some most curious cases of stripes appearing in va-
rious 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. Fare-
well.

My dear Fox, I trust you are well. Farewell,

C. Darwin.

C 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 Ex-
pected 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, &c., some embedded, and some
40 and 50 feet above the level of the sea, so that he had

470 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1858.

inferred that they had not been brought as ballast. Is this
not beautiful ?

The water-cure has done me some good, but I [am] noth-
ing to boast of to-day, so good-bye.

My dear friend, yours,

C. D.

C. Darwm 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 send-
ing 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 spe-
cies changing) I have discussed the migration and modifica-
tion 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 modifica-
tion of species. Indeed, I venture to speak with some little
confidence on this, for Hooker, about a year ago, kir.dly 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 sub-
ject for a note ; and I have written thus only because Har-
tung'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

1858.] KOSSUTH. 471

read much novels. Farewell, with many thanks, and very

kind remembrance to Lady Lyell.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

C. 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 Jus-
tice's summing up, and thought Bernard * 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. . . .

* 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."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE WRITING OF THE * ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'
June i8, 1858, to November, 1859.

[The letters given in the present chapter tell their story
with sufficient clearness, and need but a few words of expla-
nation. 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,' and was published in the
Linnean Society's Journal (1858, vol. iii. p. 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 Varie-
ties ; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by
Natural Means of Selection.'

My father's contribution to the paper consisted of (i) Ex-
tracts from the sketch of 1844 '■, (2) part of a letter addressed
to Dr. Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, and which is
given at p. 120. 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 withold 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

1858.] MR. WALLACE'S MANUSCRIPT. 473

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, &c. ; 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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, i8th [June 1858].

My dear Lyell, — Some year or so ago you recommended
me to read a paper by Wallace in the 'Annals,' * which had i
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 * Nat-
ural 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 1
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.

* Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1855.

474 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

C. 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

I There is nothing in Wallace's sketch which is not written

I 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 can-
not 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 hon-

i ourably, because Wallace has sent me an outline of his doc-
trine .-* 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

1 ago given) from Wallace having sent me an outline of my
general conclusions. W^e 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.

i This is a trumpery affair to trouble you with, but you can-

not tell how much obliged I should be for your advice.

By the way, would you object to send this and your an-

1858.] PRIORITY. 475

swer 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 let-
ter, influenced by trumpery feelings.

Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

I

will never trouble you or Hooker on the subject again.

C. 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.

476 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Tuesday [June 29, 1858].

.... I have received your letters. I cannot think now*
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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Tuesday night [June 2g, 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 \ 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/

* So soon after the death, from scarlet fever, of his infant child.

•j- " 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.

1858.] THE LETTER TO DR. GRAY. ^>jy

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 form-
ing part of the joint paper published in the Linnean Society's
* Journal,' 1858]:—

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Sept.* 5th [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, i
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 corre- |
sponded with you. Hooker had shown me several of your let- ;
ters (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

* The date is given as October in the ' Linnean Journal.' The ex-
tracts were printed from a duplicate undated copy in my father's posses-
sion, on which he had written, " This was sent to Asa Gray 8 or 9 months
ago, I think October 1857.

478 THE WRITING OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

half-spoiled Hooker ! ! " Now when I see such strong feeling
in my oldest friends, you need not wonder that I always ex-
pect 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 diffi-
culty 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 geo-
graphical 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, per-
haps, 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 v/ork 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.]

i858.] THE LETTER TO DR. GRAY. ^yg

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 i7ictho die ally 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 uncon-
scious selection from te 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 par-
ticular 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 oc-
casional 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 varations, 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, &c.

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

480 THE WRITING OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

same species of shells at least have existed ; there must
have been during this period, millions on millions of gene-
rations.

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 CandoUe, 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 dur-
ing 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, &c., &c., 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 varia-
tion, Avhich 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 contin-

1858.] THE LETTER TO DR. GRAY. ^g I

gencies ; 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 obvi-
ous. The slowness of the change, and only a very few under-
going 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 classifi-
cation 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
22

482 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

cannot make it better. Your imagiaation must fill up many
wide blanks. Without some reflection, it will appear all rub-
bish ; perhaps it will appear so after reflection.

C. D.

P. S. — This little abstract touches only the accumulative
power of natural selection, which I Ijok 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 ist. Sir Charles
I 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 consid-
eration 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
i novel and too ominous for the old school to enter the lists,
j before armouring. After the meeting it was talked over with
bated breath : Lyell's approval, and perhaps in a small way
I mine, as his lieutenant in the affair, rather overawed the Fel-
lows, who would otherwise have flown out against the doctrine.
We had, too, the vantage ground of being familiar with the
authors and their theme."]

C. Darwin to J, D. Hooker.

Down, July 5th [1858J.
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

185S.] THE PROPOSED BOOK. 483

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,* would you
send it any time before you leave England, to the enclosed
address? If you do not go till August yth-ioth, I should
prefer it left with you. I hope you have jotted criticisms on
my MS. on big Genera, &c., 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 m^e : if you
would send me your note, sealed up, I would forward it with
my own, as I know the address, &c.

* The Sketch of 1844.

484 THE WRITING OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

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 great-
est Geologist and Botanist in England taking any sort of in-
terest in the subject : I am sure it will do much to break down

prejudices.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwm 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
I 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 school-
master to do it on my return, and can tell you all the results.

1858.] NATURAL SELECTION. 485

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, — j
on all the laws of variation, — on the genealogy of all living !
beings, — on their lines of migration, &c., &c. Pray thank :
Mrs. Hooker for her very kind little note, and pray, say how i
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-mak-
ing 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.

C. Darivm to C. Lyell.

King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight,

July iSth [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.

486 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

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 lead-
ing people to consider the subject without prejudice. I look
at this as so very important, that I am almost glad of Wal-
lace'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 let-
ter signed by Sir C. Lyell and Sir J. D. Hooker.]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight,

July 2ist [1858].

My dear Hooker, — I received only yesterday the proof-
sheets, which I now return. I think your introduction can-
not 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 7iever was intended for publica-
tion. 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 .'')

i358.] THE 'ABSTRACT.' ^g^

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 inter-
est 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 inattentioji. 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.* In how many ways
you have aided me !

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[The ' Abstract ' mentioned in the last sentence of the pre-
ceding letter was in fact the * Origin of Species,' on which he
now set to work. In his ' Autobiography ' (p. 70) he speaks
of beginning to write in September, but in his Diary he wrote,
''July 20 to Aug. 12, at Sandown, began Abstract of Species
book." "Sep. 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.]

* That is to say, he would help to pay for the printing, if it should
prove too long for the Linnean Society.

488 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

C. 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,* 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 Com-
positae and Umbelliferoe 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 abstact of an

* ' British Flora.'

1858.] THE 'ABSTRACT.* 489

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 pleas-
ant tour. Farewell, my dear Hooker.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to /. D. Hooker.

Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight,

Thursday [Aug. 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 \d. 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 immetise reli:f 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,* 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 !

■•' * The larger book begun in 1856,

490 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

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. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight,

[August] L1858].

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 sea-side 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 loiv 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

1858.] CLIMATE AND MIGRATION. 4qI

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. . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Aug. nth [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 in-
valuable 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 tliat you may
believe that I have .f<7;/'/^ 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 be-
fore the Glacial epoch) the temperature Avas higher ; of this
there can be little doubt ; the land, on a iarge scale^ held
much its present disposition : the species were mainly, judg-
ing from shells, what they are now. At this period when
all animals and plants ranged 10° or 15° 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

492 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

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, driv-
ing far south all living things ; middle or even southern Eu-
rope 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 \2ig\xt\y suspect that between the
glacial and the present temperature there was a period of
slightly greater warmth. According to my modification-doc-
trines, 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 con-
sideration ; there is a considerable body of geological evi-
dence 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 be-
lieve that at the height of the Glacial epoch, a?td 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 di-
rection 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 temper-
ate intruders would crawl up the mountains. Hence the Eu-
ropean forms on Nilgherries, Ceylon, summit of Java, Organ
Mountains of Brazil. But these intruders being surrounded

1858.] CLIMATE AND MIGRATION. 4^3

with new forms would be very liable to be improved or modi-
fied 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 ;'^-
rese?itattve 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 be-
fore, 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 charac-
ter. This letter is miserably expressed, but perhaps it will
suffice to show what I believe have been the later main mi-
grations and changes of temperature. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

[Down] Oct. 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 remem-
ber 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

494 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

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. ...

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Oct. I2th, 1858.

... I have sent eight copies * 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Oct 13th, 1858.
... I have been a little vexed at myself at having asked
you not '* to pronounce too strongly against Natural Selec-
tion."- I am sorry to have bothered you, though I have been
much interested by your note in answer. I wrote the sen-
tence 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

* Of the joint paper by C. Darwin and A. R. Wallace.

1858.] SIR J. D. HOOKER. ^g^

from whom I have constantly received sympathy. BeHeve
[me] that I never forget for even a minute how much assist-
ance 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 I
mischief than any ten other naturalists would do good, [and]
that I had half spoiled you already ! All this is stupid ego-
tistical stuff, and I write it only because you may think me
ungrateful for not having valued and understood your sym-
pathy ; 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 a^e 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Nov. 1858.

.... I had vowed not to mention my everlasting Ab-
stract 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 Distribu-
tion, and Affinities, being less worked up, I dare say each of
these will take me three weeks, so that I shall not have done

/

496 THE WRITING OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

\ 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, 18.59, recording the capture of Liciniis silphoides,
Clytns mysticuSy Panagcziis Af-pustulaius. The notice begins
with the words, " We three very young collectors having lately
taken in the parish of Down," &c., 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 :]

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

Down, Nov. 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 re-
minded 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. ...

C. 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!

1858.J ENTOMOLOGY. 49;^

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 En- *^
tomologia." N. B. I have not now been drinking any glasses ,
full of wine. Yours,

C. D.
C. Darwin to Herbert Spencer.

Down, Nov. 25th [1858].

Dear Sir, — I beg permission to thank you sincerely for
your very kind present of your Essays.* 1 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.

* 'Essays, Scientific, Political, and Speculative,' by Herbert Spencer,

1858-74.

1

498 THE WRITING OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1858.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Dec. 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

i ^^500. 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 my-
self. 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 in-
habitants of a small area. Thus I explain the fact of so many
! anomalies, or what may be called '^ living fossils," inhabiting
j now only fresh water, having been beaten out, and extermi-
i nated in the sea, by more improved forms ; thus all existing
\ Ganoid fishes are fresh water, as [are] Lepidosiren and
j Ornithorhynchus, &c. 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, &c., &c. With respect to South West Australia

1859-] PLANS FOR PUBLICATION. 4qq

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 iti
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 be-
lieve religion would be brought in by men whom I know. /^

I am thinking of a i2mo 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Jan. 20th, 1859.

My dear Hooker, — I should very much like to borrow
Heer at some future time, for I want to read nothing per-
plexing 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

500 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

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 accord-
ance. 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 ([ am in a very agreeing frame of mind) with
your ai'gufnentum ad hofmnem, 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 \ presiwtptuously rather demur is
about the status of the naturalised plants in Australia. I
think Miiller speaks of their having spread largely beyond
cultivated ground ; and I can hardly believe that our Euro-
pean 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
(I that the Geological Council have given me the WoUaston

1 Medal!!!

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Jan. 23d, 1859.

I ... I enclose letters to you and me from Wallace. I ad-

I mire 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 ! . . .

1859-] MR. WALLACE. 501

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, Jan. 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 produc-
tions. It is a very different part, as you suppose, from that
played by " Natural Selection." I sent off, by the same ad-
dress as this note, a copy of the * Journal of the Linnean So-
ciety,' and subsequently I have sent some half-dozen copies
of the paper. I have many other copies at your dis-
posal. . . .

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 selec-
tion 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 rnost valua-

502 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

ble 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 apol-
ogy were never for an instant intended for publication, into
the shade.

You ask about Lyell's frame of mind. I think he is some-
what 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
"/(frverted." But he is most candid and honest, and I think
will end by being /^rverted. 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.

C. 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

I859-J GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 503

yo\i 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 mor-
tified, 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 pos-
sible for me in the Abstract to do it sufficiently.* 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 impor-

* " 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 J
were stealing from you, so much do I owe to your writings and conversa-
tion, so much more than mere acknowledgments show." — Letter to Sir
J. D. Hooker, 1859. .

504

THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

tant characters for main divisions are Embryological ? The
seed itself cannot be considered as such, I suppose, nor the
albumens, &c. But I suppose the Cotyledons and their posi-
tion, 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 embryo-
logical characters in classification. In the Animal Kingdom
there is, of course, no doubt of this.

C. 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 T 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. . . .

C. 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

1859] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 505

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 re-
ply 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 recapitu-
lation) on Affinities, Homologies, Embryology, &c., 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 V
me long.

C. Darwin to IV. 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 improv-
ing. I can see daylight through my work, and am now finally
23

5o6 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1S59.

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 over-
work 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.

C. 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
I to Murray. Is it so ? And is he willing to publish my Ab-
stract? 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.

1859.] PLANS FOR PUBLICATION. ^0/

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.

I-
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 j
is not more z/;2-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, &c., &c., 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 :

&c., &c., &c., &c.

1859.

5o8 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, March 30th [1859].

My dear Lyell, — You have been uncoilimonly 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 chap-
ters 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.

C. 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 with-
out 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 con-

1859-] PLANS FOR PUBLICATION. 509

dition 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 pub-
lish it, I think I may wash my hands of all responsibility. I
am sure my friends, /. <?., Lyell and you, have been extraordi-
narily 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 — /.<?.,
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 i?ifi?iitely kind about my affair^
but your dashed [/. e., underlined] " induce " gives the idea that
Lyell had unfairly urged Murray.

510 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C, Darwifi 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 1 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, classifi-
cations, and embryology, &c., 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 . . .

C. Darwin to J. Murray,

Down, April 5lh [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.

1859.] LOST MANUSCRIPT. gH

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 vnih the MS., please to send it
by ca7'eficl 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 XL, but please to inform
me on this head.

My dear Sir, yours sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Dai'ivin to J, D. Hooker.

Down, April nth [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 \

512 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

looked over my chapter, except the third part returned. I
am very sorry Mrs. Hooker took the trouble of copying the
two pages."

C. 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 remu-
nerative 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 —

I Rev. S. Haughton' s Address to the Geological Society, Dublin!^

\ ** 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.

C, Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, May nth [1859].

My dear Hooker, — Thank you for telling me about

I 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, f I never for a moment

* Feb. 9, 1859.

f " 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 differ-
ent notions." — Letter of May 6, 1859.

I859-] HEALTH FAILING. 513

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 diverg-
ing in character or degree. If you do, I do not agree. " Re-
version " 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 varia- \
tion 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 I
been 77iuch 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 Unitarian-
ism, "a feather bed to catch a falling Christian." . . .

C. Dariviii to J. D. Hooker.

Down, May iSth [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 * 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.

* Of Sir J. Hooker's Introduction to the ' Flora of Australia.'

514 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

[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."]

C. 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 writmg to
you that I thought there would be not much correction. I
honestly wrote what I thought, but was most grievously mis-
taken. I find the style incredibly bad, and most diflicult to
make clear and smooth. I am extremely sorry to say, on
account of expense, and loss of time for me, that the correc-
tions are very heavy, as heavy as possible. But from casual
glances, I still hope that later chapters are not so badly writ-
ten. How I could have wri'rten so badly is quite inconceiva-
ble, 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 consid-
ering 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 com-
pleted, 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.

1859.] PROOF-SHEETS. 515

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, June 21st [1859J.

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 dis-
cussions 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.
C, 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 par-
ticular to do, I will fly a note, though I have nothing particu-
lar 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.* 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

* Mr. Prestwich wrote on the occurrence of flint instruments associated
with the remains of extinct animals in France. — (Proc. R. Soc, 1859.)

5i6 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

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,

C. Darwin.

C. 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 ^\.y\^ 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. •

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, Aug. 9th, 1859,

My dear Mr. Wallace, — I received your letter and
memoir* 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

* This seems to refer to Mr. Wallace's paper, ** On the Zoological
Geography of the Malay Archipelago," * Linn. Soc. Journ,' i860.

i859.] ISLANDS. t^ij

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* published several years
ago the view of distribution of animals in the Malay Archi-
pelago, 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 else-
where, 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 coloni-
sation 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 occa-
sional 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 intro-
duction 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.

* Probably Mr. W. Earle's paper, Geographxal Soc. Journal, 1845.

qi8 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Sept. ist [1859J.

... 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 most 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' hydropa-
thy; 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 under-
stand 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.

1859.] ' HEAVY CORRECTIONS. 5IQ

C. Darwin to C. Lye II.

Down, Sept. 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 Distri-
bution, and especially Morphology, Embryology and Rudi-
mentary 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, with-
out the aid of the enclosed queer diagram,* 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 con-
vinced 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 fossil shells having been thought
to have been created as we now see them. But forgive me
for running on about my hobby-horse. . . .

* The diagram illustrates descent with divergence.

520 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, [Sept.] nth [1859].

My dear Hooker, — I corrected the last proof yesterday,
and I have now my revises, index, &c., 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

1 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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, Sept. 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.* Nothing could be more satisfac-

* Sir Charles was President of the Geological section at the meeting
of the British Association at Aberdeen in 1S59. The following passage

I859-] ENCOURAGEMENT. 52 1

tory 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 tim_e)
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 remebiber 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 conver-
sion, 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.* So much and too much about
myself.

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 affini-
ties, geographical distribution, and geological succession of organic beings,
for which no other hypothesis has been able, or has even attempted to
account."

* As to the immutability of species, ' Origin,' Ed. i., p. 310.

522 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

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.

C. Darwin to W, D. Fox.

Down, Sept. 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 sum-
mer ; 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 v/ill publish
his belief soon. So much for my abominable volume, which

i859] ENCOURAGEMENT. 523

has cost me so much labour that I almost hate it. On Octo-
ber 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 in-
tend, if I can keep to my resolution, of being idle this winter.
But I fear ennui will be as bad as a bad stomach, ...

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, Sept. 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 cli-
mate 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 p. 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 dis-
tribution during the glacial and preceding warmer periods.
I am so glad you do not think the Chapter on the Imperfec-
tion of the Geological Record exaggerated ; I was more fear-
ful 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

524 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, Sept. 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 diffi-
culties 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
ij 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
j as the necessity of the principle of divergence of character,
the extinction of intermediate varieties, on a continuous area,
I with graduated conditions; the double problem of sterile first
^ crosses and sterile hybrids, &c., &c.

Looking back, I think it was more difficult to see what

1859] FINISHED. 525

the problems were than to solve them, so far as I have suc-J
ceeded 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 scrib-
bled 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.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Ilkley, Yorkshire, Oct. 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

526 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1S59.

book has been completely finished some little time ; as soon
as copies are ready, of course one will be sent you. 1 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
I staggered by the lengths to which I go. But if you go any
considerable length in the admission of modification, I can
1 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
I volume-like letters ; but he says nothing about dispersal dur-
^ ing 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 1 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.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Ilkley, Otley, Yorkshire, Oct. 15th [1859].
My dear Huxley, — I am here hydropathising and com-
ing 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).

1859J RESTING AT ILKLEY. 527

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 ifitensely curious to hear what effect
the book produces on you. I know that there will be much
in it which you ^yill 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,* 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.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

Oct. 20th [1859].

My dear Lyelt-, — I have been reading over all your let-
ters 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 fluctua-
tion 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 can-
not see how man does aid the feral cattle. But, letting that

* Chapter XIII. is on Classification, Morphology, Embryology, and
Rudimentary Organs.

528 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

pass, you seePxi 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 o"f 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 ter-
ritory 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 mon-
strous doctrine.
I I have reflected a good deal on what you say on the neces-
' sity 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
Archetvpal 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,
y C. Darwin.

P. S. — ^When, and if, you reread, I supplicate you to write
on the margin the word " expand," when too condensed, or

I859-] RESTING AT ILKLEY. 529

*' 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; bat I fear the subject will be too perplexing,
as I have treated it, for general public.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Illdey, Yorkshire,

Sunday [Oct. 23rd, 1859].

My dear Hooker, — I congratulate you on your ' Intro-
duction ' * 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 i
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
I believe it just as much as if a plant were to say that, " I 1
have been growing all my life, and, by Jove, I will stop grow- j
ing." 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 ex-
ceedingly ; 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 Hux-
ley 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 condi-

* Australian Flora.
24

530 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

I tion, 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 con-
vert miade 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. 1 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 ; . . . would you 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

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley, Yorkshire, Oct. 25th [1S59].

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 suppli-
cate you to read these again carefully. The so-called im-
provement of our Shorthorn cattle, pigeons, &c., does not
presuppose or require any aboriginal " power of adaptation,"

1859.] NATURAL SELECTION. 53 1

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 Xo 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 " improve-
ment," 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 excel-
lently adapted for their functions. As each species is im-
proved, 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 Selec-
tion," and, as a general consequence, " Natural Improve-
ment."

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.

532 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C Dai'win to J, Mu7'?-ay.

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 r.ll 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 £^2 2>s. ? 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 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 un-
cheered by a sign of favour or appreciation from the official
fountains of honour ; as one who in spite of an acute sensi-
tiveness to praise and blame, and notwithstanding provoca-
tions vv'hich 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 insig-
nificant 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 house-
hold words and every-day conceptions. The reality and the

534 O^ 'T^E RECEPTION OF

importance of the natural processes on which Darwin founds
his deductions are no more doubted than those of growth
and multipHcation ; and, whether the full potency attributed
to them is a'dmitted or not, no one doubts their vast and far-
reaching significancco Wherever the biological sciences are
studied, the ' Origin of Species ' lights the paths of the in-
vestigator; 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
j of theological scholasticism. But Darwin poured new life-
I blood into the ancient frame ; the bonds burst, and the re-
j vivified 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 emer-
gence 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 Evolu-
tion 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 h 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 Parlia-
mentary 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.

THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

535

Even the theologians have ahiiost 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 w^as 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 ven-
erable 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 scien-
tific 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 ques-
tion ; 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

536 ON THE RECEPTION OF

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
I personal character should have afforded a better safeguard
against attacks, instinct with malignity and spiced with shame-
less 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 de-
nunciation, 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 an-
cient scandals from their well-deserved oblivion ; but I must
Imake 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, i860.* Since
Lord Brougham assailed Dr. Young, the world has seen no
such specimen of the insolence of a shallow pretender to a
i Master in Science as this remarkable production, in which
one of the most exact of observers, most cautious of reason-
ers, 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,"

* I was not aware when I wrote these passages that the authorship of
the article had been publicly acknowledged. Confession unaccompariied
by penitence, however, affords no ground for mitigation of judgment; and
the kindliness with which Mr. Darwin speaks of his assailant. Bishop Wil-
berforce (vol. ii. p. 125), is so striking an exemplification of his singular
gentleness and modesty, that it rather increases one's indignation against
the presumption of his critic.

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

537

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, t at,
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 stimu-
lation of the odium theologicum. Some inkling of the his-
tory 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 Sci-
ence 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

538 ON THE RECEPTION OF

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 con-
sider 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 ; * 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.f On the other hand, Lyell, up to
that time a pillar of the anti-transmutationists (who regarded

"" " The arguments presented by Danvin in favor of a universal deriva-
tion from one primary form of all the peculiarities existing now among liv-
ing 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 transmuta-
tion theory as a scientific mistake, untrue in its facts, unscientific in its
method, and mischievous in its tendency." — Silliman's 'Journal,' July,
i860, pp. 143, 154. Extract from the 3rd vol. of 'Contributions to the
Natural History of the United States.'

f " 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 con-
cerned, this lav/ may be assumed to explain the origin of closely allied spe-
cies, 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 I'Origine de I'Espece. Par Charles Dar-
win.' * Archives des Sc.de la Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve,' pp.
242, 243, Mars i860.

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

539

him, ever afterwards, as Pallas Athene may have looked at
Dian, after the Endymion affair), declared himself a Dar-
winian, though not without putting in a serious caveat. Never-
theless, he was a tower of strength, and his courageous stand
for truth as against consistency, did him infinite honour. As
evolutionists, sans pht-ase^ I do not call to mind among the
biologists more than Asa Gray, who fought the battle splen-
didly 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 men-
tion 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 recol-
lect 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 him-
self to everlasting fame " by inventing the nickname of " la
science moussante " for Evolutionism,* — 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 rcDroach 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 con-
sider ; 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 scien-

* 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 f
the bud in France by the whisper of an academician to his neighbor, that,
in that case, one's head was a " vertebre pensante'

540

ON THE RECEPTION OF

tific notability declared himself publicly in i860.* 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 i860 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 moJe:ty, 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 sci-
ence, and I shall try to answer it. I am afraid that in order
to do so I must run the risk of appearing egotistical. How-

* However^ the man who stands next to Darwin in his influence on
modern biologists, K. E. von Bar, wrote to me, in August 1S60, expressing
his general assent to evolutionist views. His phrase, "J'ai enonce les
memes idees . . . que M. Darwin " (vol. ii. p. 122), is shown by his subse-
quent writings to mean no more than this.

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES;

541

ever, if I tell my own story it is only because I know it bet-
ter than tliat 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 con-
tact 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 in-
structors, and from which it had cost me many a struggle t(f
get free. But my mind was unbiassed in respect of any doc-
trine 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 diffi-
culty 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 prion slt guments against Theism ; and, given j
a Deity, against the possibility of creative acts, appeared to ;
me to be devoid of reasonable foundation. I had not then, J
and I have not now, the smallest a J^rwri ohjtction 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 t'
must be regarded as a m.odest and reasonable request for some
particle of evidence that the existing species of animals and i
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 185 1-8. 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

542

ON THE RECEPTION OF

known to me whose knowledge and capacity compelled re-
spect, and who was, at the same time, a thorough-going evo-
lutionist, 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 inter-
ruption. Many and prolonged were the battles we fought on
this topic. But even my friend's rare dialectic skill and co-
piousness of apt illustration could not drive me from my ag-
nostic position. I took my stand upon two grounds : firstly,
that up to that time, the evidence in favor of transmutation
was wholly insufficient ; and, secondly, that no suggestion re-
specting the causes of the transmutation assumed, which had
been made, was in any way adequate to explain the phenom-
ena. Looking back at the state of knowledge at that time, I
really do not see that any other conclusion was justifiable.
I In those days I had never even heard of Treviranus'
j ' Biologic.' However, I had studied Lamarck attentively
j and I had read the ' Vestiges ' with due care ; but neither of
\ them afforded me any good ground for changing my nega-
tive and critical attitude. As for the ' Vestiges,' 1 confess
that the book simply irritated me by the prodigious ignorance
and thorouglily 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 con-
science about, on the ground of needless savagery, is one I
wrote on the ' Vestiges' while under that influence.
• With respect to the ' Philosophic Zoologique,' it is no re-
proach 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
i 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; physi-
! ology had been reconstituted ; the facts of distribution, geo-
■ logical and geographical, had been prodigiously multiplied
and reduced to order. To any biologist whose studies had

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

543

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 ex-
cited by change of conditions — was, on the face of it, inap-
plicable to the whole vegetable world. I do not think that
any impartial judge who reads the ' Philosophic 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 tantu m . *

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 Evolu-
tion, 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 \ — I
cannot but believe that Lyell, for others, as for myself, was

* Erasmus Darwin first promulgated Lamarclc's fundamental concep-
tions, 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.'

f The same principle and the same fact guide and result from all
sound historical investigation. Grote's ' History of Greece ' is a product of
the same intellectual movement as Lyell's 'Principles.'

544 ON THE RECEPTION OF

the chief agent for smoothing the road for Darwin. For con-
sistent uniformitarianism postulates evolution as much in the
organic as in the inorganic world. The origin of a new spe-
cies by other than ordinary agencies would be a vastly
greater " catastrophe " than any of those which Lyell suc-
cessfully eliminated from sober geological speculation.
I In fact, no one was better aware of this than Lyell him-
self.* If one reads any of the earlier editions of the ' Prin-
ciples ' carefully (especiaJy 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 oppo-
^ sition to Lamarck, on the one hand, and to the ideal quasi-
I 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.
I But he would have liked, at the same time, to keep the name
of creation for a natural process which he imagined to be in-
comprehensible.

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 : —

* 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 transmuta-
tion." . . .

" 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
ths incoming and the outgoing species, that they are the work of evolu-
tion, 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, vol. ii. p. 436. Nov. 23, 1868.

THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

545

" 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." * 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 uniformi-
tarianism ; 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 en-
cyclopaedic Master of Trinity observes : —

"Mr. Lyell, indeed, has spoken of an hypothesis that

* In the same sense, see the letter to Whewell, March 7, 1S37, vol. ii.,

p. 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 possibil-
ity 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, Jan. 20, 1838, ii. p. 35.

546 ON THE RECEPTION OF

* the successive creation of species may constitute a regulai
part of the economy of nature,' but he has nowhere, I think,

. so described this process as to make it appear in what de-
partment 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 or-
ganical sciences, is a tenet of Natural Theology rather than
of Physical Philosophy." *

I The earlier part of this criticism appears perfectly just
and appropriate; but, from the concluding paragraph, Whew-
ell 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 f that, if Sir Charles

* Whewell's ' History,' vol. iii. p. 639-640 (Ed. 2, 1847).

f The following passages in Lyell's letters appear to me decisive on
this point : —

To Darwin, Oct. 3, 1859 (ii, 325), on first reading the ' Origin.'
I " 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 ' crea-
tion,' all the consequences must follow."

To Darwin, March 15, 1863 (vol. ii. p. 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

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

547

could have avoided the inevitable corollary of the pithecoid
origin of man — for which, to the end of his life, he enter
tained a profound antipathy — he would have advocated the
efficiency of causes now in operation to bring about the con-
dition 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 inevi-
table, 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 ' Induc-
tive 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

his arguments at first made on my mind, all the gi'eater 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 with-
out assuming that they were so.' "

To Hooker, March g, 1863 (vol. ii. p. 361,), in reference to Darwin's
feelhig 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 I
feeling as to man's unbroken descent from the brutes, and I find I am I
half converting not a few who were in arms against Darwin, and are even 1
now against Huxley." Pie speaks of having had to abandon " old and I
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 j,
theory, as Hallam terms it, of * the arch-angel ruined." "

See the same sentiment in the letter to Darwin, March ii, 1863,

?• 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 imprqved by yours are ;
adopted."

548

ON THE RECEPTION OF

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 transmutatioil of species, and must
suppose that the organized species of one geological epoch
were transmuted into those of another by some long-con-
tinued 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." *

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
Rhmoce7'os 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 suffi-
ciently within the bounds of probability to justify the belief
ill 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
1 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," be-

* Whewell's * History of the Tnductiva Sciences.' Ed ii.j 1 847, vol. iii.
pp. 624-625. See for the author's verdict, pp. 638-39.

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

549

cause we are ignorant of their causation — is as wholly un
known to the historian of scientific ideas as it was to biologi
cal specialists before 1858. But that suggestion is the central I
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, I
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 incarna- f
tions 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 correct- j
ness 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 continu- \
ously 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 '''' ihdtige 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 transmutation-
ists ; and stood up for the possibility of transmutation among
the orthodox — thereby, no doubt, increasing an already
current, but quite undeserved, reputation for needless com- ]
bativeness.

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, v/ith all the confidence of youth and im-

550 ON THE RECEPTION OF

perfect 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,* 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 WoUaston's conservatism. With
regard to Hooker, he was already, like Voltaire's Habbakuk,
*'^ capable de 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 couid
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,
i not to pin our faith to that or any other speculation, but to
I get hold of clear and definite conceptions which could be

* ' Life and Letters,' vol. ji. p. 212.

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' 55 1

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 v/hat have you to propose that can be accepted ■
by any cautious reasoner ? In 1857, I had no answer ready, i
and I do not think that any one else had. A year later, we
reproached ourselves with dulness for being perplexed by
such an inquiry. My reflection, when I first made myself (
master of the central idea of the ' Origin,' was, " How ex-
tremely 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 evolu-
tion, as applied to the organic world, took' in Darwin's hands,
would prove to be final or not, was, to me, a matter of in-
difference. In my earliest criticisms of the 'Origin ' I ven-
tured 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 inse-
curity remains up to the present time. But, with any and
every critical doubt which my sceptical ingenuity could sug-
gest, 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 Avas 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

552

ON THE RECEPTION OF

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
i 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 in-
fluenced 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 irrecon-
cilable with the Darwinian theory. In the prodigious variety
and complexity o!" 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
I 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 dis-
cuss the difficulties and unresolved problems which have
hitherto met the evolutionist, and which will probably con-
tinue 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 char-
acter, 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 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

553

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 " spon-
taneous," he merely means that he is ignorant of the cause of
that which is so termed ; and whose whole theory crumbks
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 Avithout a cause ? Do they really s
conceive that any event has no cause, and could not have 1
been predicted by any one who had a sufficient insight into i
the order of Nature .'* If they do, it is they who are the i
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 I
the confession of the universality of order and of the absolute
validity in all times and under all circumstances, of the law j
of causation. This confession is an act of faith, because, I
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

24*

554 ^N THE RECEPTION OF

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 bub-
bles. 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 neces-
sary 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
I rendered by Mr. Darwin is the reconciliation of Teleology
I 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 verte-
brata, 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

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

555

laws, of the 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 poten-
tially 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 na-
ture are not, necessarily, mutually exclusive. On the con-
trary, 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 conse-
quences, 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." f

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, J that is to say, he prolepticaily accepted the mod-
ern 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

* I should now like to substitute the word powers for " forces."
f The " Genealogy of Animals " (' The Academy,' 1869), reprinted in
' Critiques and Addresses."

I ' Natural Theology,' chap, xxiii.

556 ON THE RECEPTION OF

from the propositions they profess to accept, renders it ad-
visable 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 cer-
tain 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 sci-
ence 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 The-
ism. 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, Om-
nipotent and Omniscient Deity. The theological equivalent

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

557

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 uni-
versality 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, Foreknowl-
edge, 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 I
problems of Philosophy, the post-Darwinian generation is,
in one sense, exactly where the prse-Darwinian generations
were. They remain insoluble. But the present generation
has the advantage of being better provided with the means of f
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 i
inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim '
a little more land, to add something to the extent and the so- ;
lidity 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 pub-
lication of Newton's ' Principia,' is Darwin's ' Origin of Spe-
cies.'

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 man- j
kind 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 bene- .
factor, 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

558 ON THE RECEPTION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'

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 VOLUME ONE.

D, APPLETON d OO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

CHARLES DARWIN'S WORKS.

ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAI
SELECTION, OR Till J PRESERVATION OF FA.
VORED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
From sixth and last London edition. 2 vols,, 12mo. Cloth, $4.u0

DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELATION

TO SEX. With many Illustrations. A new edition. 12mo.
Cloth, f 3.00.

JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES INTO THE NATURAL
HISTORJf AND GEOLOGY OF COUNTRIES VIS-
ITED DURING THE VOYAGE OF H. M. S. BEAGLE
ROUND THE WORLD. Xew edition. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

EMOTIONAL EXPRE.SSIONS OF MAN AND THE
LOWER ANIMALS. 12mo. Cloth, $3.50.

THE VARIATIONS OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER
D03IESTICATI0N. With a Preface, by Professor Asa Gray.
2 vols. Illustrated. Cloth, $5.00.

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF CLIMBING PLANTS.

With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.

THE VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES BY WHICH ORCHIDS
ARE FERTILIZED BY INSECTS. Revised edition, with
Illustrations. 12ino. Cloth, $1,75.

THE EFFECTS OF CROSS AND SELF FERTILIZA-
TION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 12mo. Cloth,
$2.00.

DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS ON PLANTS OF
THE SAME SPECIES. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth,
$1.50.

THE POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. By Charles
Darwin, LL. D., F, R. S., assisted by Francis Darwin. With Illus-
trations. 12mo. Cloth, $2,00.

THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH
THE ACTION OF WORMS. With Observations on their
Habits. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

D. APPLE TON & CO. '8 PUBLICATIONS.

JOHN TYNDALL'S WORKS.

ESSAYS ON THE FLOATING MATTER OF THE AIll,

in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection, 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

(JN FORMS OF WATER, in Clouds, Rivers, Ice, and Glaciers.
With 35 Illustrations. I'imo. Cloth, $1.50.

HEAT AS A MODS OF MOTION. New edition. 12mo.

Cloth, $2.50.

ON SOUND : A Course of Eight Lectures delivered at the Royal
Institution of Great Britain. Illustrated. 12rao. New edition
Cloth, $2.00.

FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE FOR UNSCIENTIFIC PEO-
PLE. 12mo. New revised and enlarged edition. Cloth, $2.50.

LIGHT AND ELECTRICITY. 12mo. Cloth, .?1.25.

LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY, 18'75-"7G. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00.

HOURS OF EXERCISE IN THE ALPS. With Illustrations.
12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

FARAD \Y AS A DISCOVERER. A Memoir. 12mo. Cloth,

$1.00.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO MOLECULAR PHYSICS in the Do.

main of Radiant Heat. $5.00.

SIX LECTURES ON LIGHT. Delivered in America in 1872-
"73. With an Appendix and numerous Illustrations. Clothj $1.50.

4DDRESS delivered before the British Association, assembled at Bel-
fast. Revised with Additions. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents.

I&ESEARCHES ON DIAMAGNETISM AND MAGNE.
CRYSTALLIC ACTION, including the Question of Diamag'
netic Polarity. With Ten Plates. 12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50.

New York: D. APPLETOX & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

4^/ 1., J/J- ■ J'f. 3(5-^^,J5f j^^^^

r

L

^xaiAVWWVVWH