CHAPTER 1.VII. -- LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE.

1836-1842.

[The period illustrated by the following letters includes the years

between my father's return from the voyage of the "Beagle" and his

settling at Down. It is marked by the gradual appearance of that

weakness of health which ultimately forced him to leave London and take

up his abode for the rest of his life in a quiet country house.]

In June, 1841, he writes to Lyell: "My father scarcely seems to expect

that I shall become strong for some years; it has been a bitter

mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the 'race is for the

strong,' and that I shall probably do little more but be content to

admire the strides others make in science."

There is no evidence of any intention of entering a profession after his

return from the voyage, and early in 1840 he wrote to Fitz-Roy: "I

have nothing to wish for, excepting stronger health to go on with the

subjects to which I have joyfully determined to devote my life."

These two conditions--permanent ill-health and a passionate love of

scientific work for its own sake--determined thus early in his career,

the character of his whole future life. They impelled him to lead a

retired life of constant labour, carried on to the utmost limits of his

physical power, a life which signally falsified his melancholy prophecy.

The end of the last chapter saw my father safely arrived at Shrewsbury

on October 4, 1836, "after an absence of five years and two days." He

wrote to Fox: "You cannot imagine how gloriously delightful my first

visit was at home; it was worth the banishment." But it was a pleasure

that he could not long enjoy, for in the last days of October he was at

Greenwich unpacking specimens from the "Beagle". As to the destination

of the collections he writes, somewhat despondingly, to Henslow:--

"I have not made much progress with the great men. I find, as you told

me, that they are all overwhelmed with their own business. Mr. Lyell

has entered, in the MOST good-natured manner, and almost without being

asked, into all my plans. He tells me, however, the same story, that

I must do all myself. Mr. Owen seems anxious to dissect some of the

animals in spirits, and, besides these two, I have scarcely met any

one who seems to wish to possess any of my specimens. I must except Dr.

Grant, who is willing to examine some of the corallines. I see it is

quite unreasonable to hope for a minute that any man will undertake

the examination of a whole order. It is clear the collectors so much

outnumber the real naturalists that the latter have no time to spare.

"I do not even find that the Collections care for receiving the unnamed

specimens. The Zoological Museum (The Museum of the Zoological Society,

then at 33 Bruton Street. The collection was some years later broken

up and dispersed.) is nearly full, and upwards of a thousand specimens

remain unmounted. I dare say the British Museum would receive them, but

I cannot feel, from all I hear, any great respect even for the present

state of that establishment. Your plan will be not only the best, but

the only one, namely, to come down to Cambridge, arrange and group

together the different families, and then wait till people, who are

already working in different branches, may want specimens. But it

appears to me [that] to do this it will be almost necessary to reside

in London. As far as I can yet see my best plan will be to spend several

months in Cambridge, and then when, by your assistance, I know on what

ground I stand, to emigrate to London, where I can complete my Geology

and try to push on the Zoology. I assure you I grieve to find how many

things make me see the necessity of living for some time in this

dirty, odious London. For even in Geology I suspect much assistance and

communication will be necessary in this quarter, for instance, in fossil

bones, of which none excepting the fragments of Megatherium have been

looked at, and I clearly see that without my presence they never would

be....

"I only wish I had known the Botanists cared so much for specimens (A

passage in a subsequent letter shows that his plants also gave him some

anxiety. "I met Mr. Brown a few days after you had called on him; he

asked me in rather an ominous manner what I meant to do with my plants.

In the course of conversation Mr. Broderip, who was present, remarked

to him, 'You forget how long it is since Captain King's expedition.'

He answered, 'Indeed, I have something in the shape of Captain King's

undescribed plants to make me recollect it.' Could a better reason be

given, if I had been asked, by me, for not giving the plants to the

British Museum?") and the Zoologists so little; the proportional number

of specimens in the two branches should have had a very different

appearance. I am out of patience with the Zoologists, not because they

are overworked, but for their mean, quarrelsome spirit. I went the other

evening to the Zoological Society, where the speakers were snarling

at each other in a manner anything but like that of gentlemen. Thank

Heavens! as long as I remain in Cambridge there will not be any danger

of falling into any such contemptible quarrels, whilst in London I do

not see how it is to be avoided. Of the Naturalists, F. Hope is out of

London; Westwood I have not seen, so about my insects I know nothing.

I have seen Mr. Yarrell twice, but he is so evidently oppressed with

business that it is too selfish to plague him with my concerns. He has

asked me to dine with the Linnean on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I dine

with the Geological, so that I shall see all the great men. Mr. Bell,

I hear, is so much occupied that there is no chance of his wishing for

specimens of reptiles. I have forgotten to mention Mr. Lonsdale (William

Lonsdale, 1794-1871, was originally in the army, and served at the

battles of Salamanca and Waterloo. After the war he left the service

and gave himself up to science. He acted as assistant secretary to

the Geological Society from 1829-42, when he resigned, owing to ill

health.), who gave me a most cordial reception, and with whom I had

much most interesting conversation. If I was not much more inclined

for geology than the other branches of Natural History, I am sure Mr.

Lyell's and Lonsdale's kindness ought to fix me. You cannot conceive

anything more thoroughly good-natured than the heart-and-soul manner in

which he put himself in my place and thought what would be best to do.

At first he was all for London versus Cambridge, but at last I made him

confess that, for some time at least, the latter would be for me

much the best. There is not another soul whom I could ask, excepting

yourself, to wade through and criticise some of those papers which I

have left with you. Mr. Lyell owned that, second to London, there was no

place in England so good for a Naturalist as Cambridge. Upon my word

I am ashamed of writing so many foolish details, no young lady ever

described her first ball with more particularity."

A few days later he writes more cheerfully: "I became acquainted with

Mr. Bell (T. Bell, F.R.S., formerly Prof. of Zoology in King's College,

London, and some time secretary to the Royal Society. He afterwards

described the reptiles for the zoology of the voyage of the "Beagle".)

who to my surprise expressed a good deal of interest about my crustacea

and reptiles, and seems willing to work at them. I also heard that Mr.

Broderip would be glad to look over the South American shells, so that

things flourish well with me."

About his plants he writes with characteristic openness as to his own

ignorance: "You have made me known amongst the botanists, but I felt

very foolish when Mr. Don remarked on the beautiful appearance of some

plant with an astounding long name, and asked me about its habitation.

Some one else seemed quite surprised that I knew nothing about a Carex

from I do not know where. I was at last forced to plead most entire

innocence, and that I knew no more about the plants which I had

collected than the man in the moon."

As to part of his Geological Collection he was soon able to write:

"I [have] disposed of the most important part [of] my collections, by

giving all the fossil bones to the College of Surgeons, casts of them

will be distributed, and descriptions published. They are very curious

and valuable; one head belonged to some gnawing animal, but of the size

of a Hippopotamus! Another to an ant-eater of the size of a horse!"

It is worth noting that at this time the only extinct mammalia from

South America, which had been described, were Mastodon (three species)

and Megatherium. The remains of the other extinct Edentata from Sir

Woodbine Parish's collection had not been described. My father's

specimens included (besides the above-mentioned Toxodon and

Scelidotherium) the remains of Mylodon, Glossotherium, another gigantic

animal allied to the ant-eater, and Macrauchenia. His discovery of

these remains is a matter of interest in itself, but it has a special

importance as a point in his own life, since it was the vivid impression

produced by excavating them with his own hands (I have often heard

him speak of the despair with which he had to break off the projecting

extremity of a huge, partly excavated bone, when the boat waiting for

him would wait no longer.) that formed one of the chief starting-points

of his speculation on the origin of species. This is shown in the

following extract from his Pocket Book for this year (1837): "In July

opened first note-book on Transmutation of Species. Had been greatly

struck from about the month of previous March on character of South

American fossils, and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These facts

(especially latter), origin of all my views."]

1836-1837.

CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. 43 Great Marlborough Street, November 6th

[1836].

My dear Fox,

I have taken a shamefully long time in answering your letter. But the

busiest time of the whole voyage has been tranquillity itself to this

last month. After paying Henslow a short but very pleasant visit, I came

up to town to wait for the "Beagle's" arrival. At last I have removed

all my property from on board, and sent the specimens of Natural History

to Cambridge, so that I am now a free man. My London visit has been

quite idle as far as Natural History goes, but has been passed in

most exciting dissipation amongst the Dons in science. All my affairs,

indeed, are most prosperous; I find there are plenty who will undertake

the description of whole tribes of animals, of which I know nothing. So

that about this day month I hope to set to work tooth and nail at the

Geology, which I shall publish by itself.

It is quite ridiculous what an immensely long period it appears to me

since landing at Falmouth. The fact is I have talked and laughed enough

for years instead of weeks, so [that] my memory is quite confounded with

the noise. I am delighted to hear you are turned geologist: when I pay

the Isle of Wight a visit, which I am determined shall somehow come to

pass, you will be a capital cicerone to the famous line of dislocation.

I really suppose there are few parts of the world more interesting to a

geologist than your island. Amongst the great scientific men, no one

has been nearly so friendly and kind as Lyell. I have seen him several

times, and feel inclined to like him much. You cannot imagine how

good-naturedly he entered into all my plans. I speak now only of the

London men, for Henslow was just like his former self, and therefore

a most cordial and affectionate friend. When you pay London a visit I

shall be very proud to take you to the Geological Society, for be it

known, I was proposed to be a F.G.S. last Tuesday. It is, however, a

great pity that these and the other letters, especially F.R.S., are so

very expensive.

I do not scruple to ask you to write to me in a week's time in

Shrewsbury, for you are a good letter writer, and if people will have

such good characters they must pay the penalty. Good-bye, dear Fox.

Yours, C.D.

[His affairs being thus so far prosperously managed he was able to put

into execution his plan of living at Cambridge, where he settled on

December 10th, 1836. He was at first a guest in the comfortable home of

the Henslows, but afterwards, for the sake of undisturbed work, he moved

into lodgings.]

He thus writes to Fox, March 13th, 1837, from London:--

"My residence at Cambridge was rather longer than I expected, owing to

a job which I determined to finish there, namely, looking over all my

geological specimens. Cambridge yet continues a very pleasant, but not

half so merry a place as before. To walk through the courts of Christ's

College, and not know an inhabitant of a single room, gave one a feeling

half melancholy. The only evil I found in Cambridge was its being too

pleasant: there was some agreeable party or another every evening, and

one cannot say one is engaged with so much impunity there as in this

great city."

A trifling record of my father's presence in Cambridge occurs in the

book kept in Christ's College combination-room, where fines and bets

were recorded, the earlier entries giving a curious impression of the

after-dinner frame of mind of the fellows. The bets were not allowed to

be made in money, but were, like the fines, paid in wine. The bet which

my father made and lost is thus recorded:--

"FEBRUARY 23, 1837."

Mr. Darwin v. Mr. Baines, that the combination-room measures from the

ceiling to the floor more than (x) feet. 1 Bottle paid same day.

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

Besides arranging the geological and mineralogical specimens, he had

his 'Journal of Researches' to work at, which occupied his evenings at

Cambridge. He also read a short paper at the Zoological Society ("Notes

upon Rhea Americana," 'Zool. Soc. Proc.' v. 1837, pages 35, 36.), and

another at the Geological Society ('Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages

446- 449.), on the recent elevation of the coast of Chile.

Early in the spring of 1837 (March 6th) he left Cambridge for London,

and a week later he was settled in lodgings at 36 Great Marlborough

Street; and except for a "short visit to Shrewsbury" in June, he worked

on till September, being almost entirely employed on his 'Journal.'

He found time, however, for two papers at the Geological Society. ("A

sketch of the deposits containing extinct mammalia in the neighbourhood

of the Plata," 'Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages 542-544; and "On

certain areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian

oceans, as deduced from the study of coral formations." 'Geol. Soc.

Proc' ii. 1838, pages 552- 554.)

He writes of his work to Fox (March, 1837):--

"In your last letter you urge me to get ready THE book. I am now hard at

work and give up everything else for it. Our plan is as follows: Captain

Fitz-Roy writes two volumes out of the materials collected during

the last voyage under Capt. King to Tierra del Fuego, and during our

circumnavigation. I am to have the third volume, in which I intend

giving a kind of journal of a naturalist, not following, however, always

the order of time, but rather the order of position. The habits of

animals will occupy a large portion, sketches of the geology,

the appearance of the country, and personal details will make the

hodge-podge complete. Afterwards I shall write an account of the geology

in detail, and draw up some zoological papers. So that I have plenty of

work for the next year or two, and till that is finished I will have no

holidays."

Another letter to Fox (July) gives an account of the progress of his

work:--

"I gave myself a holiday and a visit to Shrewsbury [in June], as I had

finished my Journal. I shall now be very busy in filling up gaps and

getting it quite ready for the press by the first of August. I shall

always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what

it may, for I had no idea of the trouble which trying to write common

English could cost one. And, alas, there yet remains the worst part of

all, correcting the press. As soon as ever that is done I must put my

shoulder to the wheel and commence at the Geology. I have read some

short papers to the Geological Society, and they were favourably

received by the great guns, and this gives me much confidence, and I

hope not a very great deal of vanity, though I confess I feel too often

like a peacock admiring his tail. I never expected that my Geology would

ever have been worth the consideration of such men as Lyell, who has

been to me, since my return, a most active friend. My life is a very

busy one at present, and I hope may ever remain so; though Heaven knows

there are many serious drawbacks to such a life, and chief amongst them

is the little time it allows one for seeing one's natural friends. For

the last three years, I have been longing and longing to be living at

Shrewsbury, and after all now in the course of several months, I see

my dear good people at Shrewsbury for a week. Susan and Catherine have,

however, been staying with my brother here for some weeks, but they had

returned home before my visit."

[Besides the work already mentioned he had much to busy him in making

arrangements for the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the

"Beagle".' The following letters illustrate this subject.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS. (Now Rev L. Blomefield.) 36 Great

Marlborough Street, April 10th, 1837.

Dear Jenyns,

During the last week several of the zoologists of this place have been

urging me to consider the possibility of publishing the 'Zoology of

the "Beagle's" Voyage' on some uniform plan. Mr. Macleay (William Sharp

Macleay was the son of Alexander Macleay, formerly Colonial Secretary

of New South Wales, and for many years Secretary of the Linnean Society.)

The son, who was a most zealous Naturalist, and had inherited from his

father a very large general collection of insects, made Entomology his

chief study, and gained great notoriety by his now forgotten "Quinary

System", set forth in the Second Part of his 'Horae Entomologicae,'

published in 1821.--[I am indebted to Rev. L. Blomefield for the

foregoing note.] has taken a great deal of interest in the subject, and

maintains that such a publication is very desirable, because it keeps

together a series of observations made respecting animals inhabiting the

same part of the world, and allows any future traveller taking them with

him. How far this facility of reference is of any consequence I am very

doubtful; but if such is the case, it would be more satisfactory to

myself to see the gleanings of my hands, after having passed through the

brains of other naturalists, collected together in one work. But such

considerations ought not to have much weight. The whole scheme is at

present merely floating in the air; but I was determined to let you

know, as I should much like to know what you think about it, and whether

you would object to supply descriptions of the fish to such a

work instead of to 'Transactions.' I apprehend the whole will be

impracticable, without Government will aid in engraving the plates, and

this I fear is a mere chance, only I think I can put in a strong claim,

and get myself well backed by the naturalists of this place, who nearly

all take a good deal of interest in my collections. I mean to-morrow

to see Mr. Yarrell; if he approves, I shall begin and take more active

steps; for I hear he is most prudent and most wise. It is scarcely any

use speculating about any plan, but I thought of getting subscribers and

publishing the work in parts (as long as funds would last, for I myself

will not lose money by it). In such case, whoever had his own part ready

on any order might publish it separately (and ultimately the parts might

be sold separately), so that no one should be delayed by the other. The

plan would resemble, on a humble scale, Ruppel's 'Atlas,' or Humboldt's

'Zoologie,' where Latreille, Cuvier, etc., wrote different parts. I

myself should have little to do with it; excepting in some orders

adding habits and ranges, etc., and geographical sketches, and perhaps

afterwards some descriptions of invertebrate animals...

I am working at my Journal; it gets on slowly, though I am not idle. I

thought Cambridge a bad place from good dinners and other temptations,

but I find London no better, and I fear it may grow worse. I have a

capital friend in Lyell, and see a great deal of him, which is very

advantageous to me in discussing much South American geology. I miss a

walk in the country very much; this London is a vile smoky place, where

a man loses a great part of the best enjoyments in life. But I see no

chance of escaping, even for a week, from this prison for a long time

to come. I fear it will be some time before we shall meet; for I suppose

you will not come up here during the spring, and I do not think I shall

be able to go down to Cambridge. How I should like to have a good walk

along the Newmarket road to-morrow, but Oxford Street must do instead. I

do hate the streets of London. Will you tell Henslow to be careful with

the EDIBLE fungi from Tierra del Fuego, for I shall want some specimens

for Mr. Brown, who seems PARTICULARLY interested about them. Tell

Henslow, I think my silicified wood has unflintified Mr. Brown's heart,

for he was very gracious to me, and talked about the Galapagos plants;

but before he never would say a word. It is just striking twelve

o'clock; so I will wish you a very good night.

My dear Jenyns, Yours most truly, CHARLES DARWIN.

[A few weeks later the plan seems to have been matured, and the idea of

seeking Government aid to have been adopted.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. 36 Great Marlborough Street, [18th May,

1837].

My dear Henslow,

I was very glad to receive your letter. I wanted much to hear how you

were getting on with your manifold labours. Indeed I do not wonder your

head began to ache; it is almost a wonder you have any head left. Your

account of the Gamlingay expedition was cruelly tempting, but I cannot

anyhow leave London. I wanted to pay my good, dear people at Shrewsbury

a visit of a few days, but I found I could not manage it; at present I

am waiting for the signatures of the Duke of Somerset, as President of

the Linnean, and of Lord Derby and Whewell, to a statement of the value

of my collection; the instant I get this I shall apply to Government for

assistance in engraving, and so publish the 'Zoology' on some uniform

plan. It is quite ridiculous the time any operation requires which

depends on many people.

I have been working very steadily, but have only got two-thirds through

the Journal part alone. I find, though I remain daily many hours at

work, the progress is very slow: it is an awful thing to say to oneself,

every fool and every clever man in England, if he chooses, may make as

many ill-natured remarks as he likes on this unfortunate sentence....

In August he writes to Henslow to announce the success of the scheme

for the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle",'

through the promise of a grant of 1000 pounds from the Treasury: "I

have delayed writing to you, to thank you most sincerely for having so

effectually managed my affair. I waited till I had an interview with the

Chancellor of the Exchequer (T. Spring Rice.). He appointed to see me

this morning, and I had a long conversation with him, Mr. Peacock being

present. Nothing could be more thoroughly obliging and kind than his

whole manner. He made no sort of restriction, but only told me to make

the most of [the] money, which of course I am right willing to do.

"I expected rather an awful interview, but I never found anything less

so in my life. It will be my fault if I do not make a good work; but I

sometimes take an awful fright that I have not materials enough. It will

be excessively satisfactory at the end of some two years to find all

materials made the most they were capable of."

Later in the autumn he wrote to Henslow: "I have not been very well of

late, with an uncomfortable palpitation of the heart, and my doctors

urge me STRONGLY to knock off all work, and go and live in the country

for a few weeks." He accordingly took a holiday of about a month at

Shrewsbury and Maer, and paid a visit in the Isle of Wight. It was, I

believe, during this visit, at Mr. Wedgwood's house at Maer, that he

made his first observations on the work done by earthworms, and late

in the autumn he read a paper on the subject at the Geological Society.

("On the formation of mould," 'Geol. Soc. Proc.' ii. 1838, pages

574-576.) During these two months he was also busy preparing the scheme

of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle",' and in beginning to put

together the Geological results of his travels.

The following letter refers to the proposal that he should take the

Secretaryship of the Geological Society.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. October 14th, [1837].

My dear Henslow,

...I am much obliged to you for your message about the Secretaryship. I

am exceedingly anxious for you to hear my side of the question, and will

you be so kind as afterwards to give me your fair judgment. The subject

has haunted me all summer. I am unwilling to undertake the office for

the following reasons: First, my entire ignorance of English Geology, a

knowledge of which would be almost necessary in order to shorten many

of the papers before reading them before the Society, or rather to

know what parts to skip. Again, my ignorance of all languages, and

not knowing how to pronounce a SINGLE word of French--a language so

perpetually quoted. It would be disgraceful to the Society to have a

Secretary who could not read French. Secondly, the loss of time; pray

consider that I should have to look after the artists, superintend and

furnish materials for the Government work, which will come out in parts,

and which must appear regularly. All my Geological notes are in a very

rough state; none of my fossil shells worked up; and I have much to

read. I have had hopes, by giving up society and not wasting an hour,

that I should finish my Geology in a year and a half, by which time the

description of the higher animals by others would be completed, and my

whole time would then necessarily be required to complete myself

the description of the invertebrate ones. If this plan fails, as the

Government work must go on, the Geology would necessarily be deferred

till probably at least three years from this time. In the present state

of the science, a great part of the utility of the little I have done

would be lost, and all freshness and pleasure quite taken from me.

I know from experience the time required to make abstracts EVEN of my

own papers for the 'Proceedings.' If I was Secretary, and had to make

double abstracts of each paper, studying them before reading, and

attendance would AT LEAST cost me three days (and often more) in the

fortnight. There are likewise other accidental and contingent losses of

time; I know Dr. Royle found the office consumed much of his time. If by

merely giving up any amusement, or by working harder than I have done,

I could save time, I would undertake the Secretaryship; but I appeal to

you whether, with my slow manner of writing, with two works in hand, and

with the certainty, if I cannot complete the Geological part within

a fixed period, that its publication must be retarded for a very long

time,--whether any Society whatever has any claim on me for three days'

disagreeable work every fortnight. I cannot agree that it is a duty on

my part, as a follower of science, as long as I devote myself to the

completion of the work I have in hand, to delay that, by undertaking

what may be done by any person who happens to have more spare time than

I have at present. Moreover, so early in my scientific life, with

so very much as I have to learn, the office, though no doubt a great

honour, etc., for me, would be the more burdensome. Mr. Whewell (I know

very well), judging from himself, will think I exaggerate the time the

Secretaryship would require; but I absolutely know the time which with

me the simplest writing consumes. I do not at all like appearing so

selfish as to refuse Mr. Whewell, more especially as he has always

shown, in the kindest manner, an interest in my affairs. But I cannot

look forward with even tolerable comfort to undertaking an office

without entering on it heart and soul, and that would be impossible with

the Government work and the Geology in hand.

My last objection is, that I doubt how far my health will stand the

confinement of what I have to do, without any additional work. I merely

repeat, that you may know I am not speaking idly, that when I consulted

Dr. Clark in town, he at first urged me to give up entirely all writing

and even correcting press for some weeks. Of late anything which

flurries me completely knocks me up afterwards, and brings on a violent

palpitation of the heart. Now the Secretaryship would be a periodical

source of more annoying trouble to me than all the rest of the fortnight

put together. In fact, till I return to town, and see how I get on, if

I wished the office ever so much, I COULD not say I would positively

undertake it. I beg of you to excuse this very long prose all about

myself, but the point is one of great interest. I can neither bear to

think myself very selfish and sulky, nor can I see the possibility of my

taking the Secretaryship without making a sacrifice of all my plans and

a good deal of comfort.

If you see Whewell, would you tell him the substance of this letter; or,

if he will take the trouble, he may read it. My dear Henslow, I appeal

to you in loco parentis. Pray tell me what you think? But do not judge

me by the activity of mind which you and a few others possess, for in

that case the more difficult things in hand the pleasanter the work;

but, though I hope I never shall be idle, such is not the case with me.

Ever, dear Henslow, Yours most truly, C. DARWIN.

[He ultimately accepted the post, and held it for three years--from

February 16, 1838, to February 19, 1841.

After being assured of the Grant for the publication of the 'Zoology of

the Voyage of the "Beagle",' there was much to be done in arranging the

scheme of publication, and this occupied him during part of October and

November.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. [4th November, 1837.]

My dear Henslow,

...Pray tell Leonard (Rev. L. Jenyns.) that my Government work is

going on smoothly, and I hope will be prosperous. He will see in the

Prospectus his name attached to the fish; I set my shoulders to the

work with a good heart. I am very much better than I was during the

last month before my Shrewsbury visit. I fear the Geology will take me

a great deal of time; I was looking over one set of notes, and the

quantity I found I had to read, for that one place was frightful. If I

live till I am eighty years old I shall not cease to marvel at finding

myself an author; in the summer before I started, if any one had told me

that I should have been an angel by this time, I should have thought it

an equal impossibility. This marvellous transformation is all owing to

you.

I am sorry to find that a good many errata are left in the part of my

volume, which is printed. During my absence Mr. Colburn employed some

goose to revise, and he has multiplied, instead of diminishing my

oversights; but for all that, the smooth paper and clear type has

a charming appearance, and I sat the other evening gazing in silent

admiration at the first page of my own volume, when I received it from

the printers!

Good-bye, my dear Henslow, C. DARWIN.

1838.

[From the beginning of this year to nearly the end of June, he was

busily employed on the zoological and geological results of his voyage.

This spell of work was interrupted only by a visit of three days to

Cambridge, in May; and even this short holiday was taken in consequence

of failing health, as we may assume from the entry in his diary: "May

1st, unwell," and from a letter to his sister (May 16, 1838), when he

wrote:--

"My trip of three days to Cambridge has done me such wonderful good, and

filled my limbs with such elasticity, that I must get a little work

out of my body before another holiday." This holiday seems to have been

thoroughly enjoyed; he wrote to his sister:--

"Now for Cambridge: I stayed at Henslow's house and enjoyed my visit

extremely. My friends gave me a most cordial welcome. Indeed, I was

quite a lion there. Mrs. Henslow unfortunately was obliged to go on

Friday for a visit in the country. That evening we had at Henslow's a

brilliant party of all the geniuses in Cambridge, and a most remarkable

set of men they most assuredly are. On Saturday I rode over to L.

Jenyns', and spent the morning with him. I found him very cheerful, but

bitterly complaining of his solitude. On Saturday evening dined at one

of the Colleges, played at bowls on the College Green after dinner,

and was deafened with nightingales singing. Sunday, dined in Trinity;

capital dinner, and was very glad to sit by Professor Lee (Samuel

Lee, of Queens', was Professor of Arabic from 1819 to 1831, and Regius

Professor of Hebrew from 1831 to 1848.)...; I find him a very pleasant

chatting man, and in high spirits like a boy, at having lately returned

from a living or a curacy, for seven years in Somersetshire, to

civilised society and oriental manuscripts. He had exchanged his living

to one within fourteen miles of Cambridge, and seemed perfectly happy.

In the evening attended Trinity Chapel, and heard 'The Heavens are

telling the Glory of God,' in magnificent style; the last chorus seemed

to shake the very walls of the College. After chapel a large party in

Sedgwick's rooms. So much for my Annals."

He started, towards the end of June, on his expedition to Glen Roy, of

which he writes to Fox: "I have not been very well of late, which has

suddenly determined me to leave London earlier than I had anticipated. I

go by the steam-packet to Edinburgh,--take a solitary walk on Salisbury

Craigs, and call up old thoughts of former times, then go on to Glasgow

and the great valley of Inverness, near which I intend stopping a week

to geologise the parallel roads of Glen Roy, thence to Shrewsbury, Maer

for one day, and London for smoke, ill-health and hard work."

He spent "eight good days" over the Parallel Roads. His Essay on this

subject was written out during the same summer, and published by the

Royal Society. ('Phil. Trans.' 1839, pages 39-82.) He wrote in his

Pocket Book: "September 6 [1838]. Finished the paper on 'Glen Roy,' one

of the most difficult and instructive tasks I was ever engaged on." It

will be remembered that in his 'Recollections' he speaks of this paper

as a failure, of which he was ashamed.

At the time at which he wrote, the latest theory of the formation of

the Parallel Roads was that of Sir Lauder Dick and Dr. Macculloch, who

believed that lakes had anciently existed in Glen Roy, caused by dams

of rock or alluvium. In arguing against this theory he conceived that he

had disproved the admissibility of any lake theory, but in this point

he was mistaken. He wrote (Glen Roy paper, page 49) "the conclusion is

inevitable, that no hypothesis founded on the supposed existence of a

sheet of water confined by BARRIERS, that is a lake, can be admitted as

solving the problematical origin of the parallel roads of Lochaber."

Mr. Archibald Geikie has been so good as to allow me to quote a passage

from a letter addressed to me (November 19, 1884) in compliance with my

request for his opinion on the character of my father's Glen Roy work:--

"Mr. Darwin's 'Glen Roy' paper, I need not say, is marked by all his

characteristic acuteness of observation and determination to consider

all possible objections. It is a curious example, however, of the danger

of reasoning by a method of exclusion in Natural Science. Finding that

the waters which formed the terraces in the Glen Roy region could not

possibly have been dammed back by barriers of rock or of detritus, he

saw no alternative but to regard them as the work of the sea. Had the

idea of transient barriers of glacier-ice occurred to him, he would have

found the difficulties vanish from the lake-theory which he opposed,

and he would not have been unconsciously led to minimise the altogether

overwhelming objections to the supposition that the terraces are of

marine origin."

It may be added that the idea of the barriers being formed by glaciers

could hardly have occurred to him, considering what was the state of

knowledge at the time, and bearing in mind his want of opportunities of

observing glacial action on a large scale.

The latter half of July was passed at Shrewsbury and Maer. The only

entry of any interest is one of being "very idle" at Shrewsbury, and of

opening "a note-book connected with metaphysical inquiries." In August

he records that he read "a good deal of various amusing books, and paid

some attention to metaphysical subjects."

The work done during the remainder of the year comprises the book

on coral reefs (begun in October), and some work on the phenomena of

elevation in S. America.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. 36 Great Marlborough Street, August 9th

[1838].

My dear Lyell,

I do not write to you at Norwich, for I thought I should have more to

say, if I waited a few more days. Very many thanks for the present of

your 'Elements,' which I received (and I believe the VERY FIRST copy

distributed) together with your note. I have read it through every word,

and am full of admiration of it, and, as I now see no geologist, I must

talk to you about it. There is no pleasure in reading a book if one

cannot have a good talk over it; I repeat, I am full of admiration

of it, it is as clear as daylight, in fact I felt in many parts some

mortification at thinking how geologists have laboured and struggled at

proving what seems, as you have put it, so evidently probable. I read

with much interest your sketch of the secondary deposits; you have

contrived to make it quite "juicy," as we used to say as children of a

good story. There was also much new to me, and I have to copy out some

fifty notes and references. It must do good, the heretics against common

sense must yield...By the way, do you recollect my telling you how much

I disliked the manner -- referred to his other works, as much as to say,

"You must, ought, and shall buy everything I have written." To my mind,

you have somehow quite avoided this; your references only seem to say,

"I can't tell you all in this work, else I would, so you must go to the

'Principles'"; and many a one, I trust, you will send there, and make

them, like me, adorers of the good science of rock-breaking. You will

see I am in a fit of enthusiasm, and good cause I have to be, when I

find you have made such infinitely more use of my Journal than I could

have anticipated. I will say no more about the book, for it is all

praise. I must, however, admire the elaborate honesty with which you

quote the words of all living and dead geologists.

My Scotch expedition answered brilliantly; my trip in the steam-packet

was absolutely pleasant, and I enjoyed the spectacle, wretch that I am,

of two ladies, and some small children quite sea-sick, I being well.

Moreover, on my return from Glasgow to Liverpool, I triumphed in a

similar manner over some full-grown men. I stayed one whole day in

Edinburgh, or more truly on Salisbury Craigs; I want to hear some day

what you think about that classical ground,--the structure was to me new

and rather curious,--that is, if I understand it right. I crossed from

Edinburgh in gigs and carts (and carts without springs, as I never shall

forget) to Loch Leven. I was disappointed in the scenery, and reached

Glen Roy on Saturday evening, one week after leaving Marlborough Street.

Here I enjoyed five [?] days of the most beautiful weather with gorgeous

sunsets, and all nature looking as happy as I felt. I wandered over

the mountains in all directions, and examined that most extraordinary

district. I think, without any exceptions, not even the first volcanic

island, the first elevated beach, or the passage of the Cordillera, was

so interesting to me as this week. It is far the most remarkable area

I ever examined. I have fully convinced myself (after some doubting at

first) that the shelves are sea-beaches, although I could not find a

trace of a shell; and I think I can explain away most, if not all, the

difficulties. I found a piece of a road in another valley, not hitherto

observed, which is important; and I have some curious facts about

erratic blocks, one of which was perched up on a peak 2200 feet above

the sea. I am now employed in writing a paper on the subject, which I

find very amusing work, excepting that I cannot anyhow condense it into

reasonable limits. At some future day I hope to talk over some of the

conclusions with you, which the examination of Glen Roy has led me to.

Now I have had my talk out, I am much easier, for I can assure you Glen

Roy has astonished me.

I am living very quietly, and therefore pleasantly, and am crawling on

slowly but steadily with my work. I have come to one conclusion,

which you will think proves me to be a very sensible man, namely, that

whatever you say proves right; and as a proof of this, I am coming into

your way of only working about two hours at a spell; I then go out and

do my business in the streets, return and set to work again, and thus

make two separate days out of one. The new plan answers capitally; after

the second half day is finished I go and dine at the Athenaeum like a

gentleman, or rather like a lord, for I am sure the first evening I sat

in that great drawing-room, all on a sofa by myself, I felt just like a

duke. I am full of admiration at the Athenaeum, one meets so many people

there that one likes to see. The very first time I dined there (i.e.

last week) I met Dr. Fitton (W.H. Fitton (1780-1861) was a physician

and geologist, and sometime president of the Geological Society. He

established the 'Proceedings,' a mode of publication afterwards

adopted by other societies.) at the door, and he got together quite a

party--Robert Brown, who is gone to Paris and Auvergne, Macleay [?] and

Dr. Boott. (Francis Boott (1792-1863) is chiefly known as a botanist

through his work on the genus Carex. He was also well-known in

connection with the Linnean Society of which he was for many years an

office-bearer. He is described (in a biographical sketch published

in the "Gardener's Chronicle", 1864) as having been one of the first

physicians in London who gave up the customary black coat, knee-breeches

and silk stockings, and adopted the ordinary dress of the period, a

blue coat with brass buttons, and a buff waiscoat, a costume which he

continued to wear to the last. After giving up practice, which he

did early in life, he spent much of his time in acts of unpretending

philanthropy.) Your helping me into the Athenaeum has not been thrown

away, and I enjoy it the more because I fully expected to detest it.

I am writing you a most unmerciful letter, but I shall get Owen to take

it to Newcastle. If you have a mind to be a very generous man you will

write to me from Kinnordy (The house of Lyell's father.), and tell me

some Newcastle news, as well as about the Craig, and about yourself and

Mrs. Lyell, and everything else in the world. I will send by Hall the

'Entomological Transactions,' which I have borrowed for you; you will be

disappointed in --'s papers, that is if you suppose my dear friend has

a single clear idea upon any one subject. He has so involved recent

insects and true fossil insects in one table that I fear you will not

make much out of it, though it is a subject which ought I should

think to come into the 'Principles.' You will be amused at some of the

ridiculo-sublime passages in the papers, and no doubt will feel acutely

a sneer there is at yourself. I have heard from more than one quarter

that quarrelling is expected at Newcastle (At the meeting of the British

Association.); I am sorry to hear it. I met old -- this evening at the

Athenaeum, and he muttered something about writing to you or some one on

the subject; I am however all in the dark. I suppose, however, I shall

be illuminated, for I am going to dine with him in a few days, as my

inventive powers failed in making any excuse. A friend of mine dined

with him the other day, a party of four, and they finished ten bottles

of wine--a pleasant prospect for me; but I am determined not even to

taste his wine, partly for the fun of seeing his infinite disgust and

surprise...

I pity you the infliction of this most unmerciful letter. Pray remember

me most kindly to Mrs. Lyell when you arrive at Kinnordy. I saw her name

in the landlord's book of Inverorum. Tell Mrs. Lyell to read the

second series of 'Mr. Slick of Slickville's Sayings.'...He almost beats

"Samivel," that prince of heroes. Goodnight, my dear Lyell; you will

think I have been drinking some strong drink to write so much nonsense,

but I did not even taste Minerva's small beer to-day.

Yours most sincerely, CHAS. DARWIN.

CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. Friday night, September 13th [1838].

My dear Lyell,

I was astonished and delighted at your gloriously long letter, and I am

sure I am very much obliged to Mrs. Lyell for having taken the trouble

to write so much. (Lyell dictated much of his correspondence.) I mean to

have a good hour's enjoyment and scribble away to you, who have so much

geological sympathy that I do not care how egotistically I write...

I have got so much to say about all sorts of trifling things that I

hardly know what to begin about. I need not say how pleased I am to hear

that Mr. Lyell (Father of the geologist.) likes my Journal. To hear

such tidings is a kind of resurrection, for I feel towards my first-born

child as if it had long since been dead, buried, and forgotten; but the

past is nothing and the future everything to us geologists, as you show

in your capital motto to the 'Elements.' By the way, have you read

the article, in the 'Edinburgh Review,' on M. Comte, 'Cours de la

Philosophie' (or some such title)? It is capital; there are some fine

sentences about the very essence of science being prediction, which

reminded me of "its law being progress."

I will now begin and go through your letter seriatim. I dare say your

plan of putting the Elie de Beaumont's chapter separately and early will

be very good; anyhow, it is showing a bold front in the first edition

which is to be translated into French. It will be a curious point to

geologists hereafter to note how long a man's name will support a theory

so completely exposed as that of De Beaumont's has been by you; you

say you "begin to hope that the great principles there insisted on will

stand the test of time." BEGIN TO HOPE: why, the POSSIBILITY of a

doubt has never crossed my mind for many a day. This may be very

unphilosophical, but my geological salvation is staked on it. After

having just come back from Glen Roy, and found how difficulties smooth

away under your principles, it makes me quite indignant that you should

talk of HOPING. With respect to the question, how far my coral theory

bears on De Beaumont's theory, I think it would be prudent to quote me

with great caution until my whole account is published, and then

you (and others) can judge how far there is foundation for such

generalisation. Mind, I do not doubt its truth; but the extension of

any view over such large spaces, from comparatively few facts, must be

received with much caution. I do not myself the least doubt that

within the recent (or as you, much to my annoyment, would call it, "New

Pliocene") period, tortuous bands--not all the bands parallel to each

other--have been elevated and corresponding ones subsided, though within

the same period some parts probably remained for a time stationary, or

even subsided. I do not believe a more utterly false view could have

been invented than great straight lines being suddenly thrown up.

When my book on Volcanoes and Coral Reefs will be published I hardly

know; I fear it will be at least four or five months; though, mind,

the greater part is written. I find so much time is lost in correcting

details and ascertaining their accuracy. The Government Zoological work

is a millstone round my neck, and the Glen Roy paper has lost me six

weeks. I will not, however, say lost; for, supposing I can prove to

others' satisfaction what I have convinced myself is the case, the

inference I think you will allow to be important. I cannot doubt that

the molten matter beneath the earth's crust possesses a high degree of

fluidity, almost like the sea beneath the block ice. By the way, I hope

you will give me some Swedish case to quote, of shells being preserved

on the surface, but not in contemporaneous beds of gravel...

Remember what I have often heard you say: the country is very bad

for the intellects; the Scotch mists will put out some volcanic

speculations. You see I am affecting to become very Cockneyfied, and to

despise the poor country-folk, who breath fresh air instead of smoke,

and see the goodly fields instead of the brick houses in Marlborough

Street, the very sight of which I confess I abhor. I am glad to hear

what a favourable report you give of the British Association. I am the

more pleased because I have been fighting its battles with Basil Hall,

Stokes, and several others, having made up my mind, from the report in

the "Athenaeum", that it must have been an excellent meeting. I have

been much amused with an account I have received of the wars of Don

Roderick (Murchison.) and Babbage. What a grievous pity it is that the

latter should be so implacable...This is a most rigmarole letter, for

after each sentence I take breath, and you will have need of it in

reading it...

I wish with all my heart that my Geological book was out. I have every

motive to work hard, and will, following your steps, work just that

degree of hardness to keep well. I should like my volume to be out

before your new edition of 'Principles' appears. Besides the Coral

theory, the volcanic chapters will, I think, contain some new facts.

I have lately been sadly tempted to be idle--that is, as far as pure

geology is concerned--by the delightful number of new views which

have been coming in thickly and steadily,--on the classification and

affinities and instincts of animals--bearing on the question of species.

Note-book after note-book has been filled with facts which begin to

group themselves CLEARLY under sub-laws.

Good night, my dear Lyell. I have filled my letter and enjoyed my talk

to you as much as I can without having you in propria persona. Think of

the bad effects of the country--so once more good night.

Ever yours, CHAS. DARWIN.

Pray again give my best thanks to Mrs. Lyell.

[The record of what he wrote during the year does not give a true index

of the most important work that was in progress,--the laying of the

foundation-stones of what was to be the achievement of his life. This is

shown in the foregoing letter to Lyell, where he speaks of being "idle,"

and the following extract from a letter to Fox, written in June, is of

interest in this point of view:

"I am delighted to hear you are such a good man as not to have forgotten

my questions about the crossing of animals. It is my prime hobby, and

I really think some day I shall be able to do something in that most

intricate subject, species and varieties."]

1839-1841.

[In the winter of 1839 (January 29) my father was married to his cousin,

Emma Wedgwood. (Daughter of Josiah Wedgwood of Maer, and grand-daughter

of the founder of the Etruria Pottery Works.) The house in which they

lived for the first few years of their married life, No. 12 Upper Gower

Street, was a small common-place London house, with a drawing-room in

front, and a small room behind, in which they lived for the sake of

quietness. In later years my father used to laugh over the surpassing

ugliness of the furniture, carpets, etc., of the Gower Street house. The

only redeeming feature was a better garden than most London houses have,

a strip as wide as the house, and thirty yards long. Even this small

space of dingy grass made their London house more tolerable to its two

country-bred inhabitants.

Of his life in London he writes to Fox (October 1839): "We are living

a life of extreme quietness; Delamere itself, which you describe as so

secluded a spot, is, I will answer for it, quite dissipated compared

with Gower Street. We have given up all parties, for they agree with

neither of us; and if one is quiet in London, there is nothing like

its quietness--there is a grandeur about its smoky fogs, and the dull

distant sounds of cabs and coaches; in fact you may perceive I am

becoming a thorough-paced Cockney, and I glory in thoughts that I shall

be here for the next six months."

The entries of ill health in the Diary increase in number during

these years, and as a consequence the holidays become longer and more

frequent. From April 26 to May 13, 1839, he was at Maer and Shrewsbury.

Again, from August 23 to October 2 he was away from London at

Maer, Shrewsbury, and at Birmingham for the meeting of the British

Association.

The entry under August 1839 is: "During my visit to Maer, read a little,

was much unwell and scandalously idle. I have derived this much good,

that NOTHING is so intolerable as idleness."

At the end of 1839 his eldest child was born, and it was then that he

began his observations ultimately published in the 'Expression of the

Emotions.' His book on this subject, and the short paper published in

'Mind,' (July 1877.) show how closely he observed his child. He seems to

have been surprised at his own feelings for a young baby, for he wrote

to Fox (July 1840): "He [i.e. the baby] is so charming that I cannot

pretend to any modesty. I defy anybody to flatter us on our baby, for

I defy any one to say anything in its praise of which we are not fully

conscious...I had not the smallest conception there was so much in a

five-month baby. You will perceive by this that I have a fine degree of

paternal fervour."

During these years he worked intermittently at 'Coral Reefs,' being

constantly interrupted by ill health. Thus he speaks of "recommencing"

the subject in February 1839, and again in the October of the same year,

and once more in July 1841, "after more than thirteen months' interval."

His other scientific work consisted of a contribution to the Geological

Society ('Geol. Soc. Proc.' iii. 1842, and 'Geol. Soc. Trans.' vi), on

the boulders and "till" of South America, as well as a few other

minor papers on geological subjects. He also worked busily at the

ornithological part of the Zoology of the "Beagle", i.e. the notice of

the habits and ranges of the birds which were described by Gould.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. Wednesday morning [February 1840].

My dear Lyell,

Many thanks for your kind note. I will send for the "Scotsman". Dr.

Holland thinks he has found out what is the matter with me, and now

hopes he shall be able to set me going again. Is it not mortifying, it

is now nine weeks since I have done a whole day's work, and not more

than four half days. But I won't grumble any more, though it is hard

work to prevent doing so. Since receiving your note I have read over my

chapter on Coral, and find I am prepared to stand by almost everything;

it is much more cautiously and accurately written than I thought. I had

set my heart upon having my volume completed before your new edition,

but not, you may believe me, for you to notice anything new in it (for

there is very little besides details), but you are the one man in Europe

whose opinion of the general truth of a toughish argument I should be

always most anxious to hear. My MS. is in such confusion, otherwise I

am sure you should most willingly if it had been worth your while, have

looked at any part you choose....

[In a letter to Fox (January 1841) he shows that his "Species work" was

still occupying his mind:--

"If you attend at all to Natural History I send you this P.S. as a

memento, that I continue to collect all kinds of facts about 'Varieties

and Species,' for my some-day work to be so entitled; the smallest

contributions thankfully accepted; descriptions of offspring of all

crosses between all domestic birds and animals, dogs, cats, etc., etc.,

very valuable. Don't forget, if your half-bred African cat should die

that I should be very much obliged for its carcase sent up in a little

hamper for the skeleton; it, or any cross-bred pigeons, fowl, duck,

etc., etc., will be more acceptable than the finest haunch of venison,

or the finest turtle."

Later in the year (September) he writes to Fox about his health, and

also with reference to his plan of moving into the country:--

"I have steadily been gaining ground, and really believe now I shall

some day be quite strong. I write daily for a couple of hours on my

Coral volume, and take a little walk or ride every day. I grow very

tired in the evenings, and am not able to go out at that time, or hardly

to receive my nearest relations; but my life ceases to be burdensome now

that I can do something. We are taking steps to leave London, and live

about twenty miles from it on some railway."]

1842.

[The record of work includes his volume on 'Coral Reefs' (A notice of

the Coral Reef work appeared in the Geograph. Soc. Journal, xii., page

115.), the manuscript of which was at last sent to the printers in

January of this year, and the last proof corrected in May. He thus

writes of the work in his diary:--

"I commenced this work three years and seven months ago. Out of this

period about twenty months (besides work during "Beagle's" voyage) has

been spent on it, and besides it, I have only compiled the Bird part of

Zoology; Appendix to Journal, paper on Boulders, and corrected papers

on Glen Roy and earthquakes, reading on species, and rest all lost by

illness."

In May and June he was at Shrewsbury and Maer, whence he went on to make

the little tour in Wales, of which he spoke in his 'Recollections,' and

of which the results were published as "Notes on the effects produced by

the ancient glaciers of Caernarvonshire, and on the Boulders transported

by floating Ice." ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842, page 352.)

Mr. Archibald Geikie speaks of this paper as standing "almost at the

top of the long list of English contributions to the history of the Ice

Age." (Charles Darwin, 'Nature' Series, page 23.)

The latter part of this year belongs to the period including the

settlement at Down, and is therefore dealt with in another chapter.]