r.
Cbe Conservative. 7
cal studies were concerned , as complete
ly as at Edinburgh , and at school. "
But however little ho may have owed
to the academic teaching offered at
Cambridge , there cannot be the least
doubt that through the friendship he
$ there formed with Professor Henslow ,
the Professor of Botany , he came under
the influence which determined , and
may almost be said to have directly
carved out , his future career. Darwin
himself recognized this most fully.
The direction of his energies and inter
ests into the channels of Natural History
was duo to Heuslow's teaching , encour
agement and advice. The only excep
tion to his general condemnation of
lectures is made in favor of Henslow's ,
of which ho says : "I liked them much
for their extreme clearness and the ad
mirable illustrations , but I did not study
Botany. " He then adds a picture which
there is room for copying at the present
day when the laboratory has to such a
serious extent usurped the place of the
fields and the hills : "Henslow used to
take his pupils and several of the older
members of the university on field ex
cursions on foot , or in coaches to dis
tant places , or in a barge down the
river , and lectured on the rare plants
and animals which were observed.
These excursions were delightful. " To
' Darwin's own estimate to Hens-
E've
w's influence , I again quote the
former's words : ' 'A circumstance which
influenced my whole career more than
any other was my friendship with
Piofessor Henslow. Before coming np
to Cambridge I had heard of him from
iny brother as a man who know every
branch of science , and I was according
ly prepared to reverence him. * * *
Before long I became well acquainted
with Henslow , and during the latter
half of my time at Cambridge took long
walks with him on most days. "
Towards the end of his time at Cam
bridge , Darwin was persuaded by
Henslow to begin the study of geology ,
which he soon attacked in a practical
manner , for on returning to Shropshire
he examined sections and colored a map
, of parts around Shrewsbury. In the
succeeding summer ho had the ad
vantage , through the kindness of Pro
fessor Henslow , of accompanying Pro
fessor Sedgwick on a geological excur
sion in North Wales. "This tour , "
writes Darwin , "was of decided use in
teaching me a little how to make out
the geology of a country. "
There occurred one little incident
during Darwin's last year at Cambridge
which , I think , may bo rightly judged
as having an important influence upon
his mind. At the time he was reading
with profound interest. Humboldt's
Personal Narrative , and it stirred up
in him nu ardent desire not only to
study , but also to visit scenes such as
were described so graphically by the
great traveler. Judging from the npl
infrequent references to Humboldt in
his works , one can plainly see that the
effect thus produced was not merely
fleeting but left an indelible impression
and must be ranked as one of the forces
whichi acting on his mind , enabled him
to achieve the great work of his life
Of patient and persevering observatioi
and invincible determination to over
come obstacles , he had in Humboldt a
splendid example.
The " " .
"Beagle" Voyage.
And now all the non-official influence
of Edinbui-gh and Cambridge Gran
and MacGillvray , Henslow and Sedg
wick and Humboldt , not omitting the
negro bird stuffer at Edinburgh hac
prepared him had so educated him tha
10 was capable of accepting an offer
vhich was the great determining factor
u his life. I of course refer to the offer
nado to him to join the government
hip "Beagle" as naturalist. We must
lot forget that ho owed this offer to the
recommendation of Henslow. A first
lis father opposed his going , but his
mole , Josiah Wedgwood , persuaded
lim to withdraw his opposition , and
Darwin went to London to see Captain
? itzroy , the commander of the
' . " ardent disciple
'Beagle. Fitzroy , as an
ciple of Lavater , was at first disposed to
leoliue Darwin's services on account of
the shape of his nose. Eventually how
ever , this objection to the naturalist
seems to have been abandoned.
The importance of the voyage of the
"Beagle" is best described in Darwin's
own words. He says , ' 'It has been by
'ar the most important event in my
life , and has determined my whole
career ; yet it depended on so small a cir
cumstance as my uncle offering to drive
lie thirty miles , which few uncles would
iave 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 educa
tion of my mind. I was led to attend
closely to several branches of natural
listory , and thus my powers of observa
tion were improved , though they were
always fairly developed. " And again ,
some years afterwards , in a letter to
" ! think the ' ' far
Fitzroythink 'Beagle voyage'
bhe most fortunate circumstance in my
Life. 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 of natural history , I would not
exchange for twice ten thousand a year. "
The knowledge , experience and hab
its acquired through the constant col
lection , observation , dissection and com
parison , and the careful description of
what he saw so well known to readers
of "the Voyage of a Naturalist" gave
him the material and the power for the
production of the great work which
brought him so much fame in after
years. He acquired the habit of con
centrating his attention upon whatever
work he was doing. Everything about
which he thought or read was made to
bear directly upon what he had seen , or
was likely to see , and this habit one
which it is quite difficult to acquire
continued during his whole life. "I feel
sure , " he f ays , "that it was this train
ing which enabled mo to do whatever I
have done in science. "
Sir Charles Lyell.
It was during this voyage that he
came under the influence of the second
great scientific force , counting Professor
Henslow as the firstI mean the geolo
gist , Sir Charles Lyell. Darwin took
with him on board the "Beagle" the
iirst volume of Lyell's Principles oi
Geology , just published (1880) ( ) and ho
says that the book was of the greatest
service to him in many ways. The
many successful geological observations
made by him , and palaeoutological dis
coveries , were no doubt duo to the in
terest and teaching of Lyell's greal
book. A remark of Darwin's brings
this out verjr strikingly. "The very
first place which I examined , " he writes
viz : St. lago in the Cape de Verde
Islands , showed me clearly the wonder
ful superiority of Lyell's manner o :
treating geology , compared with that of
any author whoso works I had with me
or ever afterwards road. " Again , in a
letter to his cousin , Fox , written in
1835 , he says "I am become a zealous
disciple of Lyoll's views as known in
lis admirable book , "Geologizing in
South America ; " I am tempted to carry
points to a greater extent oven than ho
does. " The influence of Lyell on-Dar-
vin personally , and as an unconscious
and even unwilling forerunner in the
spread of the doctrine of evolution , can
mrdly be over-estimated ; but to that
) oint I shall refer later on.
After an absence of five years , the
voyage of the "Beagle" came to an end ,
and in October 1S8 ( > Darwin was once
more in England. In the following
December ho wont to Cambridge , and
resided there until the next spring.
After leaving Cambridge in 1830 , uu-
il his marriage in 1889 , ho lived in
London , being engaged upon the pre
paration of his Journal of Travels. In
.887 , the Chancellor of the Exchequer
granted 1,000 for publication of a
volume to bo called "The Zoology of the
Voyage of the Beagle. " During this
; imo Darwin was elected secretary of
the Geological Society , and ho saw a
great deal of Lyell , who no doubt ex
erted a stimulating influence upon his
mind in the direction of making him
lersovere with his natural history and
jeological work. He also met quite
ten Robert Brown , the well known
jotanist. "I never expected my geol
ogy , " writes Darwin , "would ever have
aeen worth consideration by such men
is Lyell , who has been to me since my
return a most active friend. "
Darwin was oven at this early period
so chronically subject to ill health that
in 1842 he decided to leave London and
settle in the country. Hence it was
that in this year he settled at Dawn , a
very retired spot in the county of Kent ,
where he ever afterwards lived , and ,
sad to say , in the same bad state of
health.
In this same year (1842) ( ) his work on
Coral Reefs was published. Of it Sir
Archibald Geikio has said , "This
treatise , the most original of all the
author's geological memoirs has become
one of the classics of geological litera
ture. * * * No more admirable ex
ample of scientific method was ever
given to the world , and oven if he had
written nothing else , this tieatise alone
would have placed Darwin in the very
front of the investigators of nature. "
On the publication of a second edition
of the "Journal of Researches" he
wrote an important letter to Lyell. I
once more quote Darwin's own words
words because they support what I am
thoroughly convinced of , viz : that the
great geologist was one of tlu chief
forces which made Darwin what he af
terwards became. Having expressed a
wish to dedicate the work to Lyell ,
Darwin writes : "I have long wished ,
not FO much for your sake as for my
own feelings of honesty , to acknowl
edge more plainly than by mere refer
ence , how much I geologically owe to
you. Those authors , however , who , like
you , educate people's minds as well as
teach them special facts , can never I
should think , have full justice done
them except by posterity , for the mind
thus insensibly improved can hardly
perceive its own upward ascent. * * * *
Pray do not think that I am so silly as
to suppose that my dedication can any
way gratify you , except so far as I trust
you will receive it as a most sincere
mark of my gratitude and friendship. "
The eight years from 184G to 1854
wore chiefly occitpied on one work , and
that the one least known to the general
public , because it is the most technical
. This is "Mon
of all his publications. a
ograph on the Cirripedia , " or Barnacle
family. I draw attention to it because
I consider it one of the great educatiou-