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.]
