Charles Darwin........................................................................................................................................1

[My father's autobiographical recollections, given in the present chapter, were written for his children,and

written without any thought that they would ever be published. To many this may seem an impossibility; but

those who knew my father will understand how it was not only possible, but natural. The autobiography bears

the heading, 'Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character,' and end with the following

note:"Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch of my life was begun about May 28th at Hopedene (Mr. Hensleigh

Wedgwood's house in Surrey.), and since then I have written for nearly an hour on most afternoons." It will

easily be understood that, in a narrative of a personal and intimate kind written for his wife and children,

passages should occur which must here be omitted; and I have not thought it necessary to indicate where such

omissions are made. It has been found necessary to make a few corrections of obvious verbal slips, but the

A German Editor having written to me for an account of the development of my mind and character with

some sketch of my autobiography, I have thought that the attempt would amuse me, and might possibly

interest my children or their children. I know that it would have interested me greatly to have read even so

short and dull a sketch of the mind of my grandfather, written by himself, and what he thought and did, and

how he worked. I have attempted to write the following account of myself, as if I were a dead man in another

world looking back at my own life. Nor have I found this difficult, for life is nearly over with me. I have

I was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, and my earliest recollection goes back only to when I was

a few months over four years old, when we went to near Abergele for seabathing, and I recollect some

My mother died in July 1817, when I was a little over eight years old, and it is odd that I can remember

hardly anything about her except her deathbed, her black velvet gown, and her curiously constructed

worktable. In the spring of this same year I was sent to a dayschool in Shrewsbury, where I stayed a year. I

have been told that I was much slower in learning than my younger sister Catherine, and I believe that I was

By the time I went to this dayschool (Kept by Rev. G. Case, minister of the Unitarian Chapel in the High

Street. Mrs. Darwin was a Unitarian and attended Mr. Case's chapel, and my father as a little boy went there

with his elder sisters. But both he and his brother were christened and intended to belong to the Church of

England; and after his early boyhood he seems usually to have gone to church and not to Mr. Case's. It

appears ("St. James' Gazette", Dec. 15, 1883) that a mural tablet has been erected to his memory in the

chapel, which is now known as the 'Free Christian Church.') my taste for natural history, and more especially

for collecting, was well developed. I tried to make out the names of plants (Rev. W.A. Leighton, who was a

schoolfellow of my father's at Mr. Case's school, remembers his bringing a flower to school and saying that

his mother had taught him how by looking at the inside of the blossom the name of the plant could be

discovered. Mr. Leighton goes on, "This greatly roused my attention and curiosity, and I enquired of him

repeatedly how this could be done?"but his lesson was naturally enough not transmissible.F.D.), and

collected all sorts of things, shells, seals, franks, coins, and minerals. The passion for collecting which leads a

man to be a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso, or a miser, was very strong in me, and was clearly innate, as

One little event during this year has fixed itself very firmly in my mind, and I hope that it has done so from

my conscience having been afterwards sorely troubled by it; it is curious as showing that apparently I was

interested at this early age in the variability of plants! I told another little boy (I believe it was Leighton, who

afterwards became a wellknown lichenologist and botanist), that I could produce variously coloured

polyanthuses and primroses by watering them with certain coloured fluids, which was of course a monstrous

fable, and had never been tried by me. I may here also confess that as a little boy I was much given to

inventing deliberate falsehoods, and this was always done for the sake of causing excitement. For instance, I

once gathered much valuable fruit from my father's trees and hid it in the shrubbery, and then ran in

breathless haste to spread the news that I had discovered a hoard of stolen fruit.

I must have been a very simple little fellow when I first went to the school. A boy of the name of Garnett

took me into a cake shop one day, and bought some cakes for which he did not pay, as the shopman trusted

him. When we came out I asked him why he did not pay for them, and he instantly answered, "Why, do you

not know that my uncle left a great sum of money to the town on condition that every tradesman should give

whatever was wanted without payment to any one who wore his old hat and moved [it] in a particular

manner?" and he then showed me how it was moved. He then went into another shop where he was trusted,

and asked for some small article, moving his hat in the proper manner, and of course obtained it without

payment. When we came out he said, "Now if you like to go by yourself into that cakeshop (how well I

remember its exact position) I will lend you my hat, and you can get whatever you like if you move the hat on

your head properly." I gladly accepted the generous offer, and went in and asked for some cakes, moved the

old hat and was walking out of the shop, when the shopman made a rush at me, so I dropped the cakes and

ran for dear life, and was astonished by being greeted with shouts of laughter by my false friend Garnett.

I can say in my own favour that I was as a boy humane, but I owed this entirely to the instruction and

example of my sisters. I doubt indeed whether humanity is a natural or innate quality. I was very fond of

collecting eggs, but I never took more than a single egg out of a bird's nest, except on one single occasion,

I had a strong taste for angling, and would sit for any number of hours on the bank of a river or pond

watching the float; when at Maer (The house of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood.) I was told that I could kill the

worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted a living worm, though at the expense probably

Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I

believe, simply from enjoying the sense of power; but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy

did not howl, of which I feel sure, as the spot was near the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is

shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It probably lay all the heavier

from my love of dogs being then, and for a long time afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I

I remember clearly only one other incident during this year whilst at Mr. Case's daily school,namely, the

burial of a dragoon soldier; and it is surprising how clearly I can still see the horse with the man's empty

boots and carbine suspended to the saddle, and the firing over the grave. This scene deeply stirred whatever

In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler's great school in Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years

still Midsummer 1825, when I was sixteen years old. I boarded at this school, so that I had the great

advantage of living the life of a true schoolboy; but as the distance was hardly more than a mile to my home,

I very often ran there in the longer intervals between the callings over and before locking up at night. This, I

think, was in many ways advantageous to me by keeping up home affections and interests. I remember in the

early part of my school life that I often had to run very quickly to be in time, and from being a fleet runner

was generally successful; but when in doubt I prayed earnestly to God to help me, and I well remember that I

attributed my success to the prayers and not to my quick running, and marvelled how generally I was aided.

I have heard my father and elder sister say that I had, as a very young boy, a strong taste for long solitary

walks; but what I thought about I know not. I often became quite absorbed, and once, whilst returning to

school on the summit of the old fortifications round Shrewsbury, which had been converted into a public

footpath with no parapet on one side, I walked off and fell to the ground, but the height was only seven or

eight feet. Nevertheless the number of thoughts which passed through my mind during this very short, but

sudden and wholly unexpected fall, was astonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what physiologists

have, I believe, proved about each thought requiring quite an appreciable amount of time.

Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly

classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of

education to me was simply a blank. During my whole life I have been singularly incapable of mastering any

language. Especial attention was paid to versemaking, and this I could never do well. I had many friends,

and got together a good collection of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes aided by other boys,

I could work into any subject. Much attention was paid to learning by heart the lessons of the previous day;

this I could effect with great facility, learning forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was in morning

chapel; but this exercise was utterly useless, for every verse was forgotten in fortyeight hours. I was not

idle, and with the exception of versification, generally worked conscientiously at my classics, not using cribs.

The sole pleasure I ever received from such studies, was from some of the odes of Horace, which I admired

When I left the school I was for my age neither high nor low in it; and I believe that I was considered by all

my masters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect. To my

deep mortification my father once said to me, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat catching,

and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family." But my father, who was the kindest man I ever

knew and whose memory I love with all my heart, must have been angry and somewhat unjust when he used

Looking back as well as I can at my character during my school life, the only qualities which at this period

promised well for the future, were, that I had strong and diversified tastes, much zeal for whatever interested

me, and a keen pleasure in understanding any complex subject or thing. I was taught Euclid by a private tutor,

and I distinctly remember the intense satisfaction which the clear geometrical proofs gave me. I remember,

with equal distinctness, the delight which my uncle gave me (the father of Francis Galton) by explaining the

principle of the vernier of a barometer. with respect to diversified tastes, independently of science, I was fond

of reading various books, and I used to sit for hours reading the historical plays of Shakespeare, generally in

an old window in the thick walls of the school. I read also other poetry, such as Thomson's 'Seasons,' and the

recently published poems of Byron and Scott. I mention this because later in life I wholly lost, to my great

regret, all pleasure from poetry of any kind, including Shakespeare. In connection with pleasure from poetry,

I may add that in 1822 a vivid delight in scenery was first awakened in my mind, during a riding tour on the

Early in my school days a boy had a copy of the 'Wonders of the World,' which I often read, and disputed

with other boys about the veracity of some of the statements; and I believe that this book first gave me a wish

to travel in remote countries, which was ultimately fulfilled by the voyage of the "Beagle". In the latter part

of my school life I became passionately fond of shooting; I do not believe that any one could have shown

more zeal for the most holy cause than I did for shooting birds. How well I remember killing my first snipe,

and my excitement was so great that I had much difficulty in reloading my gun from the trembling of my

hands. This taste long continued, and I became a very good shot. When at Cambridge I used to practise

throwing up my gun to my shoulder before a lookingglass to see that I threw it up straight. Another and

better plan was to get a friend to wave about a lighted candle, and then to fire at it with a cap on the nipple,

and if the aim was accurate the little puff of air would blow out the candle. The explosion of the cap caused a

sharp crack, and I was told that the tutor of the college remarked, "What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr.

Darwin seems to spend hours in cracking a horsewhip in his room, for I often hear the crack when I pass

I had many friends amongst the schoolboys, whom I loved dearly, and I think that my disposition was then

With respect to science, I continued collecting minerals with much zeal, but quite unscientificallyall that I

cared about was a newNAMED mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them. I must have observed

insects with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the

seacoast in Wales, I was very much interested and surprised at seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous

insect, many moths (Zygaena), and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshire. I almost made up my mind

to begin collecting all the insects which I could find dead, for on consulting my sister I concluded that it was

not right to kill insects for the sake of making a collection. From reading White's 'Selborne,' I took much

pleasure in watching the habits of birds, and even made notes on the subject. In my simplicity I remember

Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at chemistry, and made a fair laboratory with

proper apparatus in the toolhouse in the garden, and I was allowed to aid him as a servant in most of his

experiments. He made all the gases and many compounds, and I read with great care several books on

chemistry, such as Henry and Parkes' 'Chemical Catechism.' The subject interested me greatly, and we often

used to go on working till rather late at night. This was the best part of my education at school, for it showed

me practically the meaning of experimental science. The fact that we worked at chemistry somehow got

known at school, and as it was an unprecedented fact, I was nicknamed "Gas." I was also once publicly

rebuked by the headmaster, Dr. Butler, for thus wasting my time on such useless subjects; and he called me

very unjustly a "poco curante," and as I did not understand what he meant, it seemed to me a fearful reproach.

As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away at a rather earlier age than usual, and sent

me (Oct. 1825) to Edinburgh University with my brother, where I stayed for two years or sessions. My

brother was completing his medical studies, though I do not believe he ever really intended to practise, and I

was sent there to commence them. But soon after this period I became convinced from various small

circumstances that my father would leave me property enough to subsist on with some comfort, though I

never imagined that I should be so rich a man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any strenuous

The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by lectures, and these were intolerably dull, with the exception of

those on chemistry by Hope; but to my mind there are no advantages and many disadvantages in lectures

compared with reading. Dr. Duncan's lectures on Materia Medica at 8 o'clock on a winter's morning are

something fearful to remember. Dr. made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself, and

the subject disgusted me. It has proved one of the greatest evils in my life that I was not urged to practise

dissection, for I should soon have got over my disgust; and the practice would have been invaluable for all

my future work. This has been an irremediable evil, as well as my incapacity to draw. I also attended

regularly the clinical wards in the hospital. Some of the cases distressed me a good deal, and I still have vivid

pictures before me of some of them; but I was not so foolish as to allow this to lessen my attendance. I cannot

understand why this part of my medical course did not interest me in a greater degree; for during the summer

before coming to Edinburgh I began attending some of the poor people, chiefly children and women in

Shrewsbury: I wrote down as full an account as I could of the case with all the symptoms, and read them

aloud to my father, who suggested further inquiries and advised me what medicines to give, which I made up

myself. At one time I had at least a dozen patients, and I felt a keen interest in the work. My father, who was

by far the best judge of character whom I ever knew, declared that I should make a successful

physician,meaning by this one who would get many patients. He maintained that the chief element of

success was exciting confidence; but what he saw in me which convinced him that I should create confidence

I know not. I also attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the hospital at Edinburgh, and saw two

very bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they were completed. Nor did I ever attend

again, for hardly any inducement would have been strong enough to make me do so; this being long before

the blessed days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a long year.

My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during the second year I was left to my own

resources; and this was an advantage, for I became well acquainted with several young men fond of natural

science. One of these was Ainsworth, who afterwards published his travels in Assyria; he was a Wernerian

geologist, and knew a little about many subjects. Dr. Coldstream was a very different young man, prim,

formal, highly religious, and most kindhearted; he afterwards published some good zoological articles. A

third young man was Hardie, who would, I think, have made a good botanist, but died early in India. Lastly,

Dr. Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became acquainted with him I cannot remember; he

published some first rate zoological papers, but after coming to London as Professor in University College,

he did nothing more in science, a fact which has always been inexplicable to me. I knew him well; he was dry

and formal in manner, with much enthusiasm beneath this outer crust. He one day, when we were walking

together, burst forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution. I listened in silent

astonishment, and as far as I can judge without any effect on my mind. I had previously read the 'Zoonomia'

of my grandfather, in which similar views are maintained, but without producing any effect on me.

Nevertheless it is probable that the hearing rather early in life such views maintained and praised may have

favoured my upholding them under a different form in my 'Origin of Species.' At this time I admired greatly

the 'Zoonomia;' but on reading it a second time after an interval of ten or fifteen years, I was much

Drs. Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology, and I often accompanied the former to collect

animals in the tidal pools, which I dissected as well as I could. I also became friends with some of the

Newhaven fishermen, and sometimes accompanied them when they trawled for oysters, and thus got many

specimens. But from not having had any regular practice in dissection, and from possessing only a wretched

microscope, my attempts were very poor. Nevertheless I made one interesting little discovery, and read, about

the beginning of the year 1826, a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society. This was that the

socalled ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae.

In another short paper I showed that the little globular bodies which had been supposed to be the young state

The Plinian Society was encouraged and, I believe, founded by Professor Jameson: it consisted of students

and met in an underground room in the University for the sake of reading papers on natural science and

discussing them. I used regularly to attend, and the meetings had a good effect on me in stimulating my zeal

and giving me new congenial acquaintances. One evening a poor young man got up, and after stammering for

a prodigious length of time, blushing crimson, he at last slowly got out the words, "Mr. President, I have

forgotten what I was going to say." The poor fellow looked quite overwhelmed, and all the members were so

surprised that no one could think of a word to say to cover his confusion. The papers which were read to our

little society were not printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of seeing my paper in print; but I believe Dr.

I was also a member of the Royal Medical Society, and attended pretty regularly; but as the subjects were

exclusively medical, I did not much care about them. Much rubbish was talked there, but there were some

good speakers, of whom the best was the present Sir J. KayShuttleworth. Dr. Grant took me occasionally to

the meetings of the Wernerian Society, where various papers on natural history were read, discussed, and

afterwards published in the 'Transactions.' I heard Audubon deliver there some interesting discourses on the

habits of N. American birds, sneering somewhat unjustly at Waterton. By the way, a negro lived in

Edinburgh, who had travelled with Waterton, and gained his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did

excellently: he gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with him, for he was a very pleasant and

Mr. Leonard Horner also took me once to a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where I saw Sir

Walter Scott in the chair as President, and he apologised to the meeting as not feeling fitted for such a

position. I looked at him and at the whole scene with some awe and reverence, and I think it was owing to

this visit during my youth, and to my having attended the Royal Medical Society, that I felt the honour of

being elected a few years ago an honorary member of both these Societies, more than any other similar

honour. If I had been told at that time that I should one day have been thus honoured, I declare that I should

have thought it as ridiculous and improbable, as if I had been told that I should be elected King of England.

During my second year at Edinburgh I attended 's lectures on Geology and Zoology, but they were

incredibly dull. The sole effect they produced on me was the determination never as long as I lived to read a

book on Geology, or in any way to study the science. Yet I feel sure that I was prepared for a philosophical

treatment of the subject; for an old Mr. Cotton in Shropshire, who knew a good deal about rocks, had pointed

out to me two or three years previously a wellknown large erratic boulder in the town of Shrewsbury, called

the "bellstone"; he told me that there was no rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland or Scotland, and

he solemnly assured me that the world would come to an end before any one would be able to explain how

this stone came where it now lay. This produced a deep impression on me, and I meditated over this

wonderful stone. So that I felt the keenest delight when I first read of the action of icebergs in transporting

boulders, and I gloried in the progress of Geology. Equally striking is the fact that I, though now only

sixtyseven years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke,

with amygdaloidal margins and the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all around us, say that it

was a fissure filled with sediment from above, adding with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it

had been injected from beneath in a molten condition. When I think of this lecture, I do not wonder that I

>From attending 's lectures, I became acquainted with the curator of the museum, Mr. Macgillivray, who

afterwards published a large and excellent book on the birds of Scotland. I had much interesting

naturalhistory talk with him, and he was very kind to me. He gave me some rare shells, for I at that time

My summer vacations during these two years were wholly given up to amusements, though I always had

some book in hand, which I read with interest. During the summer of 1826 I took a long walking tour with

two friends with knapsacks on our backs through North wales. We walked thirty miles most days, including

one day the ascent of Snowdon. I also went with my sister a riding tour in North Wales, a servant with

saddlebags carrying our clothes. The autumns were devoted to shooting chiefly at Mr. Owen's, at

Woodhouse, and at my Uncle Jos's (Josiah Wedgwood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works.) at Maer.

My zeal was so great that I used to place my shootingboots open by my bedside when I went to bed, so as

not to lose half a minute in putting them on in the morning; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of

the Maer estate, on the 20th of August for blackgame shooting, before I could see: I then toiled on with the

I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the whole season. One day when shooting at

Woodhouse with Captain Owen, the eldest son, and Major Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord Berwick, both of

whom I liked very much, I thought myself shamefully used, for every time after I had fired and thought that I

had killed a bird, one of the two acted as if loading his gun, and cried out, "You must not count that bird, for I

fired at the same time," and the gamekeeper, perceiving the joke, backed them up. After some hours they told

me the joke, but it was no joke to me, for I had shot a large number of birds, but did not know how many, and

could not add them to my list, which I used to do by making a knot in a piece of string tied to a buttonhole.

How I did enjoy shooting! But I think that I must have been halfconsciously ashamed of my zeal, for I tried

to persuade myself that shooting was almost an intellectual employment; it required so much skill to judge

One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting there Sir J. Mackintosh, who was

the best converser I ever listened to. I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, "There is

something in that young man that interests me." This must have been chiefly due to his perceiving that I

listened with much interest to everything which he said, for I was as ignorant as a pig about his subjects of

history, politics, and moral philosophy. To hear of praise from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or

certain to excite vanity, is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in the right course.

My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite delightful, independently of the

autumnal shooting. Life there was perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding; and in

the evening there was much very agreeable conversation, not so personal as it generally is in large family

parties, together with music. In the summer the whole family used often to sit on the steps of the old portico,

with the flowergarden in front, and with the steep wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake,

with here and there a fish rising or a waterbird paddling about. Nothing has left a more vivid picture on my

mind than these evenings at Maer. I was also attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and

reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometimes talked openly with me. He was the very type of an

upright man, with the clearest judgment. I do not believe that any power on earth could have made him

swerve an inch from what he considered the right course. I used to apply to him in my mind the well known

ode of Horace, now forgotten by me, in which the words "nec vultus tyranni, etc.," come in. (Justum et

tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida.)

After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or he heard from my sisters, that I did not

like the thought of being a physician, so he proposed that I should become a clergyman. He was very properly

vehement against my turning into an idle sporting man, which then seemed my probable destination. I asked

for some time to consider, as from what little I had heard or thought on the subject I had scruples about

declaring my belief in all the dogmas of the Church of England; though otherwise I liked the thought of being

a country clergyman. Accordingly I read with care 'Pearson on the Creed,' and a few other books on divinity;

and as I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded

Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it seems ludicrous that I once intended to be a

clergyman. Nor was this intention and my father's wish ever formerly given up, but died a natural death

when, on leaving Cambridge, I joined the "Beagle" as naturalist. If the phrenologists are to be trusted, I was

well fitted in one respect to be a clergyman. A few years ago the secretaries of a German psychological

society asked me earnestly by letter for a photograph of myself; and some time afterwards I received the

proceedings of one of the meetings, in which it seemed that the shape of my head had been the subject of a

public discussion, and one of the speakers declared that I had the bump of reverence developed enough for

As it was decided that I should be a clergyman, it was necessary that I should go to one of the English

universities and take a degree; but as I had never opened a classical book since leaving school, I found to my

dismay, that in the two intervening years I had actually forgotten, incredible as it may appear, almost

everything which I had learnt, even to some few of the Greek letters. I did not therefore proceed to

Cambridge at the usual time in October, but worked with a private tutor in Shrewsbury, and went to

Cambridge after the Christmas vacation, early in 1828. I soon recovered my school standard of knowledge,

and could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek Testament, with moderate facility.

During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was wasted, as far as the academical studies were

concerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at school. I attempted mathematics, and even went during the

summer of 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth, but I got on very slowly. The work was

repugnant to me, chiefly from my not being able to see any meaning in the early steps in algebra. This

impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at

least to understand something of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to

have an extra sense. But I do not believe that I should ever have succeeded beyond a very low grade. With

respect to Classics I did nothing except attend a few compulsory college lectures, and the attendance was

almost nominal. In my second year I had to work for a month or two to pass the LittleGo, which I did easily.

Again, in my last year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of B.A., and brushed up my

Classics, together with a little Algebra and Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did at school. In

order to pass the B.A. examination, it was also necessary to get up Paley's 'Evidences of Christianity,' and his

'Moral Philosophy.' This was done in a thorough manner, and I am convinced that I could have written out

the whole of the 'Evidences' with perfect correctness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley. The

logic of this book and, as I may add, of his 'Natural Theology,' gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The

careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical

course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind. I did

not at that time trouble myself about Paley's premises; and taking these on trust, I was charmed and

convinced by the long line of argumentation. By answering well the examination questions in Paley, by doing

Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in Classics, I gained a good place among the oi polloi or crowd of

men who do not go in for honours. Oddly enough, I cannot remember how high I stood, and my memory

fluctuates between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list. (Tenth in the list of January 1831.)

Public lectures on several branches were given in the University, attendance being quite voluntary; but I was

so sickened with lectures at Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting lectures.

Had I done so I should probably have become a geologist earlier than I did. I attended, however, Henslow's

lectures on Botany, and liked them much for their extreme clearness, and the admirable illustrations; but I did

not study botany. Henslow used to take his pupils, including several of the older members of the University,

field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the

Although, as we shall presently see, there were some redeeming features in my life at Cambridge, my time

was sadly wasted there, and worse than wasted. From my passion for shooting and for hunting, and, when

this failed, for riding across country, I got into a sporting set, including some dissipated lowminded young

men. We used often to dine together in the evening, though these dinners often included men of a higher

stamp, and we sometimes drank too much, with jolly singing and playing at cards afterwards. I know that I

ought to feel ashamed of days and evenings thus spent, but as some of my friends were very pleasant, and we

were all in the highest spirits, I cannot help looking back to these times with much pleasure.

But I am glad to think that I had many other friends of a widely different nature. I was very intimate with

Whitley (Rev. C. Whitley, Hon. Canon of Durham, formerly Reader in Natural Philosophy in Durham

University.), who was afterwards Senior Wrangler, and we used continually to take long walks together. He

inoculated me with a taste for pictures and good engravings, of which I bought some. I frequently went to the

Fitzwilliam Gallery, and my taste must have been fairly good, for I certainly admired the best pictures, which

I discussed with the old curator. I read also with much interest Sir Joshua Reynolds' book. This taste, though

not natural to me, lasted for several years, and many of the pictures in the National Gallery in London gave

me much pleasure; that of Sebastian del Piombo exciting in me a sense of sublimity.

I also got into a musical set, I believe by means of my warm hearted friend, Herbert (The late John Maurice

Herbert, County Court Judge of Cardiff and the Monmouth Circuit.), who took a high wrangler's degree.

From associating with these men, and hearing them play, I acquired a strong taste for music, and used very

often to time my walks so as to hear on week days the anthem in King's College Chapel. This gave me

intense pleasure, so that my backbone would sometimes shiver. I am sure that there was no affectation or

mere imitation in this taste, for I used generally to go by myself to King's College, and I sometimes hired the

chorister boys to sing in my rooms. Nevertheless I am so utterly destitute of an ear, that I cannot perceive a

discord, or keep time and hum a tune correctly; and it is a mystery how I could possibly have derived

My musical friends soon perceived my state, and sometimes amused themselves by making me pass an

examination, which consisted in ascertaining how many tunes I could recognise when they were played rather

more quickly or slowly than usual. 'God save the King,' when thus played, was a sore puzzle. There was

another man with almost as bad an ear as I had, and strange to say he played a little on the flute. Once I had

But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as

collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their

external characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow. I will give a proof of my zeal:

one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third

and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my

mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the

I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods; I employed a labourer to scrape during

the winter, moss off old trees and place it in a large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the bottom of

the barges in which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus I got some very rare species. No poet ever felt

more delighted at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephens' 'Illustrations of British

Insects,' the magic words, "captured by C. Darwin, Esq." I was introduced to entomology by my second

cousin W. Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College, and with whom I

became extremely intimate. Afterwards I became well acquainted, and went out collecting, with Albert Way

of Trinity, who in after years became a wellknown archaeologist; also with H. Thompson of the same

College, afterwards a leading agriculturist, chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parliament. It seems

therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life!

I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles which I caught at Cambridge have left on my

mind. I can remember the exact appearance of certain posts, old trees and banks where I made a good

capture. The pretty Panagaeus cruxmajor was a treasure in those days, and here at Down I saw a beetle

running across a walk, and on picking it up instantly perceived that it differed slightly from P. cruxmajor,

and it turned out to be P. quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or closely allied species, differing from it

very slightly in outline. I had never seen in those old days Licinus alive, which to an uneducated eye hardly

differs from many of the black Carabidous beetles; but my sons found here a specimen, and I instantly

recognised that it was new to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for the last twenty years.

I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole career more than any other. This was

my friendship with Professor Henslow. Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my brother

as a man who knew every branch of science, and I was accordingly prepared to reverence him. He kept open

house once every week when all undergraduates, and some older members of the University, who were

attached to science, used to meet in the evening. I soon got, through Fox, an invitation, and went there

regularly. Before long I became well acquainted with Henslow, and during the latter half of my time at

Cambridge took long walks with him on most days; so that I was called by some of the dons "the man who

walks with Henslow;" and in the evening I was very often asked to join his family dinner. His knowledge was

great in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. His strongest taste was to draw

conclusions from long continued minute observations. His judgment was excellent, and his whole mind well

balanced; but I do not suppose that any one would say that he possessed much original genius. He was deeply

religious, and so orthodox that he told me one day he should be grieved if a single word of the Thirtynine

Articles were altered. His moral qualities were in every way admirable. He was free from every tinge of

vanity or other petty feeling; and I never saw a man who thought so little about himself or his own concerns.

His temper was imperturbably good, with the most winning and courteous manners; yet, as I have seen, he

I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as horrid a scene as could have been witnessed

during the French Revolution. Two bodysnatchers had been arrested, and whilst being taken to prison had

been torn from the constable by a crowd of the roughest men, who dragged them by their legs along the

muddy and stony road. They were covered from head to foot with mud, and their faces were bleeding either

from having been kicked or from the stones; they looked like corpses, but the crowd was so dense that I got

only a few momentary glimpses of the wretched creatures. Never in my life have I seen such wrath painted

on a man's face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid scene. He tried repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it

was simply impossible. He then rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to follow him, but to get more

policemen. I forget the issue, except that the two men were got into the prison without being killed.

Henslow's benevolence was unbounded, as he proved by his many excellent schemes for his poor

parishioners, when in after years he held the living of Hitcham. My intimacy with such a man ought to have

been, and I hope was, an inestimable benefit. I cannot resist mentioning a trifling incident, which showed his

kind consideration. Whilst examining some pollengrains on a damp surface, I saw the tubes exserted, and

instantly rushed off to communicate my surprising discovery to him. Now I do not suppose any other

professor of botany could have helped laughing at my coming in such a hurry to make such a communication.

But he agreed how interesting the phenomenon was, and explained its meaning, but made me clearly

understand how well it was known; so I left him not in the least mortified, but well pleased at having

discovered for myself so remarkable a fact, but determined not to be in such a hurry again to communicate

Dr. Whewell was one of the older and distinguished men who sometimes visited Henslow, and on several

occasions I walked home with him at night. Next to Sir J. Mackintosh he was the best converser on grave

subjects to whom I ever listened. Leonard Jenyns (The wellknown Soame Jenyns was cousin to Mr. Jenyns'

father.), who afterwards published some good essays in Natural History (Mr. Jenyns (now Blomefield)

described the fish for the Zoology of the "Beagle"; and is author of a long series of papers, chiefly

Zoological.), often stayed with Henslow, who was his brotherinlaw. I visited him at his parsonage on the

borders of the Fens [Swaffham Bulbeck], and had many a good walk and talk with him about Natural

History. I became also acquainted with several other men older than me, who did not care much about

science, but were friends of Henslow. One was a Scotchman, brother of Sir Alexander Ramsay, and tutor of

Jesus College: he was a delightful man, but did not live for many years. Another was Mr. Dawes, afterwards

Dean of Hereford, and famous for his success in the education of the poor. These men and others of the same

standing, together with Henslow, used sometimes to take distant excursions into the country, which I was

Looking back, I infer that there must have been something in me a little superior to the common run of

youths, otherwise the above mentioned men, so much older than me and higher in academical position,

would never have allowed me to associate with them. Certainly I was not aware of any such superiority, and I

remember one of my sporting friends, Turner, who saw me at work with my beetles, saying that I should

some day be a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the notion seemed to me preposterous.

During my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound interest Humboldt's 'Personal Narrative.'

This work, and Sir J. Herschel's 'Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy,' stirred up in me a burning

zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen

other books influenced me nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt long passages about

Teneriffe, and read them aloud on one of the abovementioned excursions, to (I think) Henslow, Ramsay,

and Dawes, for on a previous occasion I had talked about the glories of Teneriffe, and some of the party

declared they would endeavour to go there; but I think that they were only half in earnest. I was, however,

quite in earnest, and got an introduction to a merchant in London to enquire about ships; but the scheme was,

My summer vacations were given up to collecting beetles, to some reading, and short tours. In the autumn my

whole time was devoted to shooting, chiefly at Woodhouse and Maer, and sometimes with young Eyton of

Eyton. Upon the whole the three years which I spent at Cambridge were the most joyful in my happy life; for

As I had at first come up to Cambridge at Christmas, I was forced to keep two terms after passing my final

examination, at the commencement of 1831; and Henslow then persuaded me to begin the study of geology.

Therefore on my return to Shropshire I examined sections, and coloured a map of parts round Shrewsbury.

Professor Sedgwick intended to visit North Wales in the beginning of August to pursue his famous geological

investigations amongst the older rocks, and Henslow asked him to allow me to accompany him. (In

connection with this tour my father used to tell a story about Sedgwick: they had started from their inn one

morning, and had walked a mile or two, when Sedgwick suddenly stopped, and vowed that he would return,

being certain "that damned scoundrel" (the waiter) had not given the chambermaid the sixpence intrusted to

him for the purpose. He was ultimately persuaded to give up the project, seeing that there was no reason for

suspecting the waiter of especial perfidy.F.D.) Accordingly he came and slept at my father's house.

A short conversation with him during this evening produced a strong impression on my mind. Whilst

examining an old gravelpit near Shrewsbury, a labourer told me that he had found in it a large worn tropical

Volute shell, such as may be seen on the chimneypieces of cottages; and as he would not sell the shell, I was

convinced that he had really found it in the pit. I told Sedgwick of the fact, and he at once said (no doubt

truly) that it must have been thrown away by some one into the pit; but then added, if really embedded there

it would be the greatest misfortune to geology, as it would overthrow all that we know about the superficial

deposits of the Midland Counties. These gravelbeds belong in fact to the glacial period, and in after years I

found in them broken arctic shells. But I was then utterly astonished at Sedgwick not being delighted at so

wonderful a fact as a tropical shell being found near the surface in the middle of England. Nothing before had

ever made me thoroughly realise, though I had read various scientific books, that science consists in grouping

Next morning we started for Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig. This tour was of decided use in

teaching me a little how to make out the geology of a country. Sedgwick often sent me on a line parallel to

his, telling me to bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the stratification on a map. I have little doubt

that he did this for my good, as I was too ignorant to have aided him. On this tour I had a striking instance of

how easy it is to overlook phenomena, however conspicuous, before they have been observed by any one. We

spent many hours in Cwm Idwal, examining all the rocks with extreme care, as Sedgwick was anxious to find

fossils in them; but neither of us saw a trace of the wonderful glacial phenomena all around us; we did not

notice the plainly scored rocks, the perched boulders, the lateral and terminal moraines. Yet these phenomena

are so conspicuous that, as I declared in a paper published many years afterwards in the 'Philosophical

Magazine' ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.), a house burnt down by fire did not tell its story more plainly

than did this valley. If it had still been filled by a glacier, the phenomena would have been less distinct than

At Capel Curig I left Sedgwick and went in a straight line by compass and map across the mountains to

Barmouth, never following any track unless it coincided with my course. I thus came on some strange wild

places, and enjoyed much this manner of travelling. I visited Barmouth to see some Cambridge friends who

were reading there, and thence returned to Shrewsbury and to Maer for shooting; for at that time I should

have thought myself mad to give up the first days of partridgeshooting for geology or any other science.

On returning home from my short geological tour in North Wales, I found a letter from Henslow, informing

me that Captain FitzRoy was willing to give up part of his own cabin to any young man who would

volunteer to go with him without pay as naturalist to the Voyage of the "Beagle". I have given, as I believe, in

my MS. Journal an account of all the circumstances which then occurred; I will here only say that I was

instantly eager to accept the offer, but my father strongly objected, adding the words, fortunate for me, "If

you can find any man of common sense who advises you to go I will give my consent." So I wrote that

evening and refused the offer. On the next morning I went to Maer to be ready for September 1st, and, whilst

out shooting, my uncle (Josiah Wedgwood.) sent for me, offering to drive me over to Shrewsbury and talk

with my father, as my uncle thought it would be wise in me to accept the offer. My father always maintained

that he was one of the most sensible men in the world, and he at once consented in the kindest manner. I had

been rather extravagant at Cambridge, and to console my father, said, "that I should be deuced clever to

spend more than my allowance whilst on board the 'Beagle';" but he answered with a smile, "But they tell me

Next day I started for Cambridge to see Henslow, and thence to London to see FitzRoy, and all was soon

arranged. Afterwards, on becoming very intimate with FitzRoy, I heard that I had run a very narrow risk of

being rejected, on account of the shape of my nose! He was an ardent disciple of Lavater, and was convinced

that he could judge of a man's character by the outline of his features; and he doubted whether any one with

my nose could possess sufficient energy and determination for the voyage. But I think he was afterwards well

FitzRoy's character was a singular one, with very many noble features: he was devoted to his duty, generous

to a fault, bold, determined, and indomitably energetic, and an ardent friend to all under his sway. He would

undertake any sort of trouble to assist those whom he thought deserved assistance. He was a handsome man,

strikingly like a gentleman, with highly courteous manners, which resembled those of his maternal uncle, the

famous Lord Castlereagh, as I was told by the Minister at Rio. Nevertheless he must have inherited much in

his appearance from Charles II., for Dr. Wallich gave me a collection of photographs which he had made, and

I was struck with the resemblance of one to FitzRoy; and on looking at the name, I found it Ch. E. Sobieski

FitzRoy's temper was a most unfortunate one. It was usually worst in the early morning, and with his eagle

eye he could generally detect something amiss about the ship, and was then unsparing in his blame. He was

very kind to me, but was a man very difficult to live with on the intimate terms which necessarily followed

from our messing by ourselves in the same cabin. We had several quarrels; for instance, early in the voyage at

Bahia, in Brazil, he defended and praised slavery, which I abominated, and told me that he had just visited a

great slaveowner, who had called up many of his slaves and asked them whether they were happy, and

whether they wished to be free, and all answered "No." I then asked him, perhaps with a sneer, whether he

thought that the answer of slaves in the presence of their master was worth anything? This made him

excessively angry, and he said that as I doubted his word we could not live any longer together. I thought that

I should have been compelled to leave the ship; but as soon as the news spread, which it did quickly, as the

captain sent for the first lieutenant to assuage his anger by abusing me, I was deeply gratified by receiving an

invitation from all the gunroom officers to mess with them. But after a few hours FitzRoy showed his

usual magnanimity by sending an officer to me with an apology and a request that I would continue to live

His character was in several respects one of the most noble which I have ever known.

The voyage of the "Beagle" has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my

whole career; yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to

Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose. I have always

felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to

several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were

The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more important, as reasoning here comes

into play. On first examining a new district nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but by

recording the stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reasoning and

predicting what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure of the

whole becomes more or less intelligible. I had brought with me the first volume of Lyell's 'Principles of

Geology,' which I studied attentively; and the book was of the highest service to me in many ways. The very

first place which I examined, namely St. Jago in the Cape de Verde islands, showed me clearly the wonderful

superiority of Lyell's manner of treating geology, compared with that of any other author, whose works I had

Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes, briefly describing and roughly dissecting

many of the marine ones; but from not being able to draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical

knowledge, a great pile of MS. which I made during the voyage has proved almost useless. I thus lost much

time, with the exception of that spent in acquiring some knowledge of the Crustaceans, as this was of service

During some part of the day I wrote my Journal, and took much pains in describing carefully and vividly all

that I had seen; and this was good practice. My Journal served also, in part, as letters to my home, and

The above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with the habit of energetic

industry and of concentrated attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired. Everything about

which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit of

mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled

Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually preponderated over every other

taste. During the first two years my old passion for shooting survived in nearly full force, and I shot myself

all the birds and animals for my collection; but gradually I gave up my gun more and more, and finally

altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my work, more especially with making out the

geological structure of a country. I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of

observing and reasoning was a much higher one than that of skill and sport. That my mind became developed

through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by a remark made by my father, who was the

most acute observer whom I ever saw, of a sceptical disposition, and far from being a believer in phrenology;

for on first seeing me after the voyage, he turned round to my sisters, and exclaimed, "Why, the shape of his

To return to the voyage. On September 11th (1831), I paid a flying visit with FitzRoy to the "Beagle" at

Plymouth. Thence to Shrewsbury to wish my father and sisters a long farewell. On October 24th I took up my

residence at Plymouth, and remained there until December 27th, when the "Beagle" finally left the shores of

England for her circumnavigation of the world. We made two earlier attempts to sail, but were driven back

each time by heavy gales. These two months at Plymouth were the most miserable which I ever spent, though

I exerted myself in various ways. I was out of spirits at the thought of leaving all my family and friends for so

long a time, and the weather seemed to me inexpressibly gloomy. I was also troubled with palpitation and

pain about the heart, and like many a young ignorant man, especially one with a smattering of medical

knowledge, was convinced that I had heart disease. I did not consult any doctor, as I fully expected to hear

the verdict that I was not fit for the voyage, and I was resolved to go at all hazards.

I need not here refer to the events of the voyagewhere we went and what we didas I have given a

sufficiently full account in my published Journal. The glories of the vegetation of the Tropics rise before my

mind at the present time more vividly than anything else; though the sense of sublimity, which the great

deserts of Patagonia and the forestclad mountains of Tierra del Fuego excited in me, has left an indelible

impression on my mind. The sight of a naked savage in his native land is an event which can never be

forgotten. Many of my excursions on horseback through wild countries, or in the boats, some of which lasted

several weeks, were deeply interesting: their discomfort and some degree of danger were at that time hardly a

drawback, and none at all afterwards. I also reflect with high satisfaction on some of my scientific work, such

as solving the problem of coral islands, and making out the geological structure of certain islands, for

instance, St. Helena. Nor must I pass over the discovery of the singular relations of the animals and plants

inhabiting the several islands of the Galapagos archipelago, and of all of them to the inhabitants of South

As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere pleasure of

investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural Science. But I

was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men,whether more ambitious or less so than most

The geology of St. Jago is very striking, yet simple: a stream of lava formerly flowed over the bed of the sea,

formed of triturated recent shells and corals, which it has baked into a hard white rock. Since then the whole

island has been upheaved. But the line of white rock revealed to me a new and important fact, namely, that

there had been afterwards subsidence round the craters, which had since been in action, and had poured forth

lava. It then first dawned on me that I might perhaps write a book on the geology of the various countries

visited, and this made me thrill with delight. That was a memorable hour to me, and how distinctly I can call

to mind the low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, a few strange desert plants

growing near, and with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet. Later in the voyage, FitzRoy asked me to

read some of my Journal, and declared it would be worth publishing; so here was a second book in prospect!

Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at Ascension, in which my sisters told me that

Sedgwick had called on my father, and said that I should take a place among the leading scientific men. I

could not at the time understand how he could have learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I believe

afterwards) that Henslow had read some of the letters which I wrote to him before the Philosophical Society

of Cambridge (Read at the meeting held November 16, 1835, and printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for

distribution among the members of the Society.), and had printed them for private distribution. My collection

of fossil bones, which had been sent to Henslow, also excited considerable attention amongst

palaeontologists. After reading this letter, I clambered over the mountains of Ascension with a bounding step,

and made the volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer. All this shows how ambitious I was; but I

think that I can say with truth that in after years, though I cared in the highest degree for the approbation of

such men as Lyell and Hooker, who were my friends, I did not care much about the general public. I do not

mean to say that a favourable review or a large sale of my books did not please me greatly, but the pleasure

was a fleeting one, and I am sure that I have never turned one inch out of my course to gain fame.

These two years and three months were the most active ones which I ever spent, though I was occasionally

unwell, and so lost some time. After going backwards and forwards several times between Shrewsbury, Maer,

Cambridge, and London, I settled in lodgings at Cambridge (In Fitzwilliam Street.) on December 13th, where

all my collections were under the care of Henslow. I stayed here three months, and got my minerals and rocks

I began preparing my 'Journal of Travels,' which was not hard work, as my MS. Journal had been written with

care, and my chief labour was making an abstract of my more interesting scientific results. I sent also, at the

request of Lyell, a short account of my observations on the elevation of the coast of Chile to the Geological

On March 7th, 1837, I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street in London, and remained there for nearly

two years, until I was married. During these two years I finished my Journal, read several papers before the

Geological Society, began preparing the MS. for my 'Geological Observations,' and arranged for the

publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle".' In July I opened my first notebook for facts in

relation to the Origin of Species, about which I had long reflected, and never ceased working for the next

During these two years I also went a little into society, and acted as one of the honorary secretaries of the

Geological Society. I saw a great deal of Lyell. One of his chief characteristics was his sympathy with the

work of others, and I was as much astonished as delighted at the interest which he showed when, on my

return to England, I explained to him my views on coral reefs. This encouraged me greatly, and his advice

and example had much influence on me. During this time I saw also a good deal of Robert Brown; I used

often to call and sit with him during his breakfast on Sunday mornings, and he poured forth a rich treasure of

curious observations and acute remarks, but they almost always related to minute points, and he never with

During these two years I took several short excursions as a relaxation, and one longer one to the Parallel

Roads of Glen Roy, an account of which was published in the 'Philosophical Transactions.' (1839, pages

3982.) This paper was a great failure, and I am ashamed of it. Having been deeply impressed with what I

had seen of the elevation of the land of South America, I attributed the parallel lines to the action of the sea;

but I had to give up this view when Agassiz propounded his glacierlake theory. Because no other

explanation was possible under our then state of knowledge, I argued in favour of sea action; and my error

has been a good lesson to me never to trust in science to the principle of exclusion.

As I was not able to work all day at science, I read a good deal during these two years on various subjects,

including some metaphysical books; but I was not well fitted for such studies. About this time I took much

delight in Wordsworth's and Coleridge's poetry; and can boast that I read the 'Excursion' twice through.

Formerly Milton's 'Paradise Lost' had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the

During the three years and eight months whilst we resided in London, I did less scientific work, though I

worked as hard as I possibly could, than during any other equal length of time in my life. This was owing to

frequently recurring unwellness, and to one long and serious illness. The greater part of my time, when I

could do anything, was devoted to my work on 'Coral Reefs,' which I had begun before my marriage, and of

which the last proofsheet was corrected on May 6th, 1842. This book, though a small one, cost me twenty

months of hard work, as I had to read every work on the islands of the Pacific and to consult many charts. It

was thought highly of by scientific men, and the theory therein given is, I think, now well established.

No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for the whole theory was thought out on the

west coast of South America, before I had seen a true coral reef. I had therefore only to verify and extend my

views by a careful examination of living reefs. But it should be observed that I had during the two previous

years been incessantly attending to the effects on the shores of South America of the intermittent elevation of

the land, together with denudation and the deposition of sediment. This necessarily led me to reflect much on

the effects of subsidence, and it was easy to replace in imagination the continued deposition of sediment by

the upward growth of corals. To do this was to form my theory of the formation of barrier reefs and atolls.

Besides my work on coralreefs, during my residence in London, I read before the Geological Society papers

on the Erratic Boulders of South America ('Geolog. Soc. Proc.' iii. 1842.), on Earthquakes ('Geolog. Trans. v.

1840.), and on the Formation by the Agency of Earthworms of Mould. ('Geolog. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838.) I also

continued to superintend the publication of the 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle".' Nor did I ever

intermit collecting facts bearing on the origin of species; and I could sometimes do this when I could do

In the summer of 1842 I was stronger than I had been for some time, and took a little tour by myself in North

Wales, for the sake of observing the effects of the old glaciers which formerly filled all the larger valleys. I

published a short account of what I saw in the 'Philosophical Magazine.' ('Philosophical Magazine,' 1842.)

This excursion interested me greatly, and it was the last time I was ever strong enough to climb mountains or

During the early part of our life in London, I was strong enough to go into general society, and saw a good

deal of several scientific men, and other more or less distinguished men. I will give my impressions with

I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after my marriage. His mind was characterised, as

it appeared to me, by clearness, caution, sound judgment, and a good deal of originality. When I made any

remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw the whole case clearly, and often made me see it

more clearly than I had done before. He would advance all possible objections to my suggestion, and even

after these were exhausted would long remain dubious. A second characteristic was his hearty sympathy with

the work of other scientific men. (The slight repetition here observable is accounted for by the notes on Lyell,

etc., having been added in April, 1881, a few years after the rest of the 'Recollections' were written.)

On my return from the voyage of the "Beagle", I explained to him my views on coralreefs, which differed

from his, and I was greatly surprised and encouraged by the vivid interest which he showed. His delight in

science was ardent, and he felt the keenest interest in the future progress of mankind. He was very

kindhearted, and thoroughly liberal in his religious beliefs, or rather disbeliefs; but he was a strong theist.

His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though

he had gained much fame by opposing Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old. He reminded me

that I had many years before said to him, when discussing the opposition of the old school of geologists to his

new views, "What a good thing it would be if every scientific man was to die when sixty years old, as

afterwards he would be sure to oppose all new doctrines." But he hoped that now he might be allowed to live.

The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyellmore so, as I believe, than to any other man who

ever lived. When [I was] starting on the voyage of the "Beagle", the sagacious Henslow, who, like all other

geologists, believed at that time in successive cataclysms, advised me to get and study the first volume of the

'Principles,' which had then just been published, but on no account to accept the views therein advocated.

How differently would anyone now speak of the 'Principles'! I am proud to remember that the first place,

namely, St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde archipelago, in which I geologised, convinced me of the infinite

superiority of Lyell's views over those advocated in any other work known to me.

The powerful effects of Lyell's works could formerly be plainly seen in the different progress of the science

in France and England. The present total oblivion of Elie de Beaumont's wild hypotheses, such as his 'Craters

of Elevation' and 'Lines of Elevation' (which latter hypothesis I heard Sedgwick at the Geological Society

I saw a good deal of Robert Brown, "facile Princeps Botanicorum," as he was called by Humboldt. He

seemed to me to be chiefly remarkable for the minuteness of his observations, and their perfect accuracy. His

knowledge was extraordinarily great, and much died with him, owing to his excessive fear of ever making a

mistake. He poured out his knowledge to me in the most unreserved manner, yet was strangely jealous on

some points. I called on him two or three times before the voyage of the "Beagle", and on one occasion he

asked me to look through a microscope and describe what I saw. This I did, and believe now that it was the

marvellous currents of protoplasm in some vegetable cell. I then asked him what I had seen; but he answered

He was capable of the most generous actions. When old, much out of health, and quite unfit for any exertion,

he daily visited (as Hooker told me) an old manservant, who lived at a distance (and whom he supported),

and read aloud to him. This is enough to make up for any degree of scientific penuriousness or jealousy.

I may here mention a few other eminent men, whom I have occasionally seen, but I have little to say about

them worth saying. I felt a high reverence for Sir J. Herschel, and was delighted to dine with him at his

charming house at the Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards at his London house. I saw him, also, on a few

other occasions. He never talked much, but every word which he uttered was worth listening to.

I once met at breakfast at Sir R. Murchison's house the illustrious Humboldt, who honoured me by expressing

a wish to see me. I was a little disappointed with the great man, but my anticipations probably were too high.

I can remember nothing distinctly about our interview, except that Humboldt was very cheerful and talked

reminds me of Buckle whom I once met at Hensleigh Wedgwood's. I was very glad to learn from him his

system of collecting facts. He told me that he bought all the books which he read, and made a full index, to

each, of the facts which he thought might prove serviceable to him, and that he could always remember in

what book he had read anything, for his memory was wonderful. I asked him how at first he could judge what

facts would be serviceable, and he answered that he did not know, but that a sort of instinct guided him. From

this habit of making indices, he was enabled to give the astonishing number of references on all sorts of

subjects, which may be found in his 'History of Civilisation.' This book I thought most interesting, and read it

twice, but I doubt whether his generalisations are worth anything. Buckle was a great talker, and I listened to

him saying hardly a word, nor indeed could I have done so for he left no gaps. When Mrs. Farrer began to

sing, I jumped up and said that I must listen to her; after I had moved away he turned around to a friend and

said (as was overheard by my brother), "Well, Mr. Darwin's books are much better than his conversation."

Of other great literary men, I once met Sydney Smith at Dean Milman's house. There was something

inexplicably amusing in every word which he uttered. Perhaps this was partly due to the expectation of being

amused. He was talking about Lady Cork, who was then extremely old. This was the lady who, as he said,

was once so much affected by one of his charity sermons, that she BORROWED a guinea from a friend to

put in the plate. He now said "It is generally believed that my dear old friend Lady Cork has been

overlooked," and he said this in such a manner that no one could for a moment doubt that he meant that his

dear old friend had been overlooked by the devil. How he managed to express this I know not.

I likewise once met Macaulay at Lord Stanhope's (the historian's) house, and as there was only one other man

at dinner, I had a grand opportunity of hearing him converse, and he was very agreeable. He did not talk at all

too much; nor indeed could such a man talk too much, as long as he allowed others to turn the stream of his

Lord Stanhope once gave me a curious little proof of the accuracy and fulness of Macaulay's memory: many

historians used often to meet at Lord Stanhope's house, and in discussing various subjects they would

sometimes differ from Macaulay, and formerly they often referred to some book to see who was right; but

latterly, as Lord Stanhope noticed, no historian ever took this trouble, and whatever Macaulay said was final.

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

and amongst them were Motley and Grote. After luncheon I walked about Chevening Park for nearly an hour

with Grote, and was much interested by his conversation and pleased by the simplicity and absence of all

Long ago I dined occasionally with the old Earl, the father of the historian; he was a strange man, but what

little I knew of him I liked much. He was frank, genial, and pleasant. He had strongly marked features, with a

brown complexion, and his clothes, when I saw him, were all brown. He seemed to believe in everything

which was to others utterly incredible. He said one day to me, "Why don't you give up your fiddlefaddle of

geology and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences!" The historian, then Lord Mahon, seemed shocked at

The last man whom I will mention is Carlyle, seen by me several times at my brother's house, and two or

three times at my own house. His talk was very racy and interesting, just like his writings, but he sometimes

went on too long on the same subject. I remember a funny dinner at my brother's, where, amongst a few

others, were Babbage and Lyell, both of whom liked to talk. Carlyle, however, silenced every one by

haranguing during the whole dinner on the advantages of silence. After dinner Babbage, in his grimmest

Carlyle sneered at almost every one: one day in my house he called Grote's 'History' "a fetid quagmire, with

nothing spiritual about it." I always thought, until his 'Reminiscences' appeared, that his sneers were partly

jokes, but this now seems rather doubtful. His expression was that of a depressed, almost despondent yet

benevolent man; and it is notorious how heartily he laughed. I believe that his benevolence was real, though

stained by not a little jealousy. No one can doubt about his extraordinary power of drawing pictures of things

and menfar more vivid, as it appears to me, than any drawn by Macaulay. Whether his pictures of men

He has been allpowerful in impressing some grand moral truths on the minds of men. On the other hand, his

views about slavery were revolting. In his eyes might was right. His mind seemed to me a very narrow one;

even if all branches of science, which he despised, are excluded. It is astonishing to me that Kingsley should

have spoken of him as a man well fitted to advance science. He laughed to scorn the idea that a

mathematician, such as Whewell, could judge, as I maintained he could, of Goethe's views on light. He

thought it a most ridiculous thing that any one should care whether a glacier moved a little quicker or a little

slower, or moved at all. As far as I could judge, I never met a man with a mind so ill adapted for scientific

Whilst living in London, I attended as regularly as I could the meetings of several scientific societies, and

acted as secretary to the Geological Society. But such attendance, and ordinary society, suited my health so

badly that we resolved to live in the country, which we both preferred and have never repented of.

After several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we found this house and purchased it. I was pleased

with the diversified appearance of vegetation proper to a chalk district, and so unlike what I had been

accustomed to in the Midland counties; and still more pleased with the extreme quietness and rusticity of the

place. It is not, however, quite so retired a place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who says that

my house can be approached only by a muletrack! Our fixing ourselves here has answered admirably in one

way, which we did not anticipate, namely, by being very convenient for frequent visits from our children.

Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have done. Besides short visits to the houses of

relations, and occasionally to the seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere. During the first part of our

residence we went a little into society, and received a few friends here; but my health almost always suffered

from the excitement, violent shivering and vomiting attacks being thus brought on. I have therefore been

compelled for many years to give up all dinnerparties; and this has been somewhat of a deprivation to me,

as such parties always put me into high spirits. From the same cause I have been able to invite here very few

My chief enjoyment and sole employment throughout life has been scientific work; and the excitement from

such work makes me for the time forget, or drives quite away, my daily discomfort. I have therefore nothing

to record during the rest of my life, except the publication of my several books. Perhaps a few details how

In the early part of 1844, my observations on the volcanic islands visited during the voyage of the "Beagle"

were published. In 1845, I took much pains in correcting a new edition of my 'Journal of Researches,' which

was originally published in 1839 as part of FitzRoy's work. The success of this, my first literary child,

always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books. Even to this day it sells steadily in

England and the United States, and has been translated for the second time into German, and into French and

other languages. This success of a book of travels, especially of a scientific one, so many years after its first

publication, is surprising. Ten thousand copies have been sold in England of the second edition. In 1846 my

'Geological Observations on South America' were published. I record in a little diary, which I have always

kept, that my three geological books ('Coral Reefs' included) consumed four and a half years' steady work;

"and now it is ten years since my return to England. How much time have I lost by illness?" I have nothing to

say about these three books except that to my surprise new editions have lately been called for. ('Geological

In October, 1846, I began to work on 'Cirripedia.' When on the coast of Chile, I found a most curious form,

which burrowed into the shells of Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that I

had to form a new suborder for its sole reception. Lately an allied burrowing genus has been found on the

shores of Portugal. To understand the structure of my new Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many of the

common forms; and this gradually led me on to take up the whole group. I worked steadily on this subject for

the next eight years, and ultimately published two thick volumes (Published by the Ray Society.), describing

all the known living species, and two thin quartos on the extinct species. I do not doubt that Sir E. Lytton

Bulwer had me in his mind when he introduced in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had written two

Although I was employed during eight years on this work, yet I record in my diary that about two years out of

this time was lost by illness. On this account I went in 1848 for some months to Malvern for hydropathic

treatment, which did me much good, so that on my return home I was able to resume work. So much was I

out of health that when my dear father died on November 13th, 1848, I was unable to attend his funeral or to

My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as besides describing several new and

remarkable forms, I made out the homologies of the various partsI discovered the cementing apparatus,

though I blundered dreadfully about the cement glandsand lastly I proved the existence in certain genera of

minute males complemental to and parasitic on the hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has at last been fully

confirmed; though at one time a German writer was pleased to attribute the whole account to my fertile

imagination. The Cirripedes form a highly varying and difficult group of species to class; and my work was

of considerable use to me, when I had to discuss in the 'Origin of Species' the principles of a natural

classification. Nevertheless, I doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of so much time.

>From September 1854 I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile of notes, to observing, and to

experimenting in relation to the transmutation of species. During the voyage of the "Beagle" I had been

deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil animals covered with armour like that

on the existing armadillos; secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one another in

proceeding southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by the South American character of most of the

productions of the Galapagos archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ slightly on

each island of the group; none of the islands appearing to be very ancient in a geological sense.

It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could only be explained on the supposition that

species gradually become modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that neither the

action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case of plants) could

account for the innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully adapted to their habits of

lifefor instance, a woodpecker or a treefrog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I

had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could be explained it seemed to me almost

useless to endeavour to prove by indirect evidence that species have been modified.

After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by

collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and

nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first notebook was opened in July

1837. I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale,

more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed enquiries, by conversation with skilful

breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I read and

abstracted, including whole series of Journals and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon

perceived that selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of animals and plants. But

how selection could be applied to organisms living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to

In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry, I happened to read for

amusement 'Malthus on Population,' and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which

everywhere goes on from longcontinued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me

that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be

destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here then I had at last got a theory by

which to work; but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice, that I determined not for some time to write even the

briefest sketch of it. In June 1842 I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my

theory in pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of 230 pages, which I

But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is astonishing to me, except on the

principle of Columbus and his egg, how I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the

tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in character as they become modified.

That they have diverged greatly is obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed

under genera, genera under families, families under suborders and so forth; and I can remember the very

spot in the road, whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me; and this was long after I

had come to Down. The solution, as I believe, is that the modified offspring of all dominant and increasing

forms tend to become adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.

Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty fully, and I began at once to do so on a scale

three or four times as extensive as that which was afterwards followed in my 'Origin of Species;' yet it was

only an abstract of the materials which I had collected, and I got through about half the work on this scale.

But my plans were overthrown, for early in the summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay

archipelago, sent me an essay "On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type;"

and this essay contained exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if I thought

The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell and Hooker to allow of an abstract from

my MS., together with a letter to Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same time with

Wallace's Essay, are given in the 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' 1858, page 45. I was at

first very unwilling to consent, as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I did

not then know how generous and noble was his disposition. The extract from my MS. and the letter to Asa

Gray had neither been intended for publication, and were badly written. Mr. Wallace's essay, on the other

hand, was admirably expressed and quite clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little

attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember was by Professor Haughton of Dublin,

whose verdict was that all that was new in them was false, and what was true was old. This shows how

necessary it is that any new view should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse public

In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and Hooker to prepare a volume on the

transmutation of species, but was often interrupted by illhealth, and short visits to Dr. Lane's delightful

hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the MS. begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and

completed the volume on the same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten days' hard labour. It was

published under the title of the 'Origin of Species,' in November 1859. Though considerably added to and

It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly successful. The first small edition of 1250

copies was sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of 3000 copies soon afterwards. Sixteen

thousand copies have now (1876) been sold in England; and considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large

sale. It has been translated into almost every European tongue, even into such languages as Spanish,

Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese (Miss Bird

is mistaken, as I learn from Prof. Mitsukuri.F.D.), and is there much studied. Even an essay in Hebrew has

appeared on it, showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testament! The reviews were very numerous;

for some time I collected all that appeared on the 'Origin' and on my related books, and these amount

(excluding newspaper reviews) to 265; but after a time I gave up the attempt in despair. Many separate essays

and books on the subject have appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on "Darwinismus" has

The success of the 'Origin' may, I think, be attributed in large part to my having long before written two

condensed sketches, and to my having finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an

abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts and conclusions. I had, also, during

many years followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought

came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at

once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the

memory than favourable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised against my views which I

It has sometimes been said that the success of the 'Origin' proved "that the subject was in the air," or "that

men's minds were prepared for it." I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded not a few

naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one who seemed to doubt about the permanence of

species. Even Lyell and Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to agree. I tried

once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by Natural Selection, but signally failed. What I believe

was strictly true is that innumerable wellobserved facts were stored in the minds of naturalists ready to take

their proper places as soon as any theory which would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another

element in the success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the appearance of Mr. Wallace's

essay; had I published on the scale in which I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five

times as large as the 'Origin,' and very few would have had the patience to read it.

I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the theory was clearly conceived, to 1859;

and I lost nothing by it, for I cared very little whether men attributed most originality to me or Wallace; and

his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I was forestalled in only one important point, which

my vanity has always made me regret, namely, the explanation by means of the Glacial period of the

presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on distant mountain summits and in the arctic

regions. This view pleased me so much that I wrote it out in extenso, and I believe that it was read by Hooker

some years before E. Forbes published his celebrated memoir ('Geolog. Survey Mem.,' 1846.) on the subject.

In the very few points in which we differed, I still think that I was in the right. I have never, of course,

Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work on the 'Origin,' as the explanation of the

wide difference in many classes between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of

the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as far as I remember, in the early

reviews of the 'Origin,' and I recollect expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late

years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Muller and Hackel, who undoubtedly have

worked it out much more fully, and in some respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole

chapter on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it is clear that I failed to impress

my readers; and he who succeeds in doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit.

This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those

without scientific knowledge as not worthy of notice. My views have often been grossly misrepresented,

bitterly opposed and ridiculed, but this has been generally done, as I believe, in good faith. On the whole I do

not doubt that my works have been over and over again greatly overpraised. I rejoice that I have avoided

controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many years ago, in reference to my geological works, strongly

advised me never to get entangled in a controversy, as it rarely did any good and caused a miserable loss of

Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has been imperfect, and when I have been

contemptuously criticised, and even when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been

my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I have worked as hard and as well as I could,

and no man can do more than this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego, thinking

(and, I believe, that I wrote home to the effect) that I could not employ my life better than in adding a little to

Natural Science. This I have done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what they like, but they

During the two last months of 1859 I was fully occupied in preparing a second edition of the 'Origin,' and by

an enormous correspondence. On January 1st, 1860, I began arranging my notes for my work on the

'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication;' but it was not published until the beginning of 1868;

the delay having been caused partly by frequent illnesses, one of which lasted seven months, and partly by

being tempted to publish on other subjects which at the time interested me more.

On May 15th, 1862, my little book on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' which cost me ten months' work, was

published: most of the facts had been slowly accumulated during several previous years. During the summer

of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the crossfertilisation of flowers

by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that

crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms constant. I attended to the subject more or less

during every subsequent summer; and my interest in it was greatly enhanced by having procured and read in

November 1841, through the advice of Robert Brown, a copy of C.K. Sprengel's wonderful book, 'Das

entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur.' For some years before 1862 I had specially attended to the fertilisation of

our British orchids; and it seemed to me the best plan to prepare as complete a treatise on this group of plants

as well as I could, rather than to utilise the great mass of matter which I had slowly collected with respect to

My resolve proved a wise one; for since the appearance of my book, a surprising number of papers and

separate works on the fertilisation of all kinds of flowers have appeared: and these are far better done than I

could possibly have effected. The merits of poor old Sprengel, so long overlooked, are now fully recognised

During the same year I published in the 'Journal of the Linnean Society' a paper "On the Two Forms, or

Dimorphic Condition of Primula," and during the next five years, five other papers on dimorphic and

trimorphic plants. I do not think anything in my scientific life has given me so much satisfaction as making

out the meaning of the structure of these plants. I had noticed in 1838 or 1839 the dimorphism of Linum

flavum, and had at first thought that it was merely a case of unmeaning variability. But on examining the

common species of Primula I found that the two forms were much too regular and constant to be thus viewed.

I therefore became almost convinced that the common cowslip and primrose were on the high road to become

dioecious;that the short pistil in the one form, and the short stamens in the other form were tending

towards abortion. The plants were therefore subjected under this point of view to trial; but as soon as the

flowers with short pistils fertilised with pollen from the short stamens, were found to yield more seeds than

any other of the four possible unions, the abortiontheory was knocked on the head. After some additional

experiment, it became evident that the two forms, though both were perfect hermaphrodites, bore almost the

same relation to one another as do the two sexes of an ordinary animal. With Lythrum we have the still more

wonderful case of three forms standing in a similar relation to one another. I afterwards found that the

offspring from the union of two plants belonging to the same forms presented a close and curious analogy

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

writing of this paper cost me four months; but I was so unwell when I received the proofsheets that I was

forced to leave them very badly and often obscurely expressed. The paper was little noticed, but when in

1875 it was corrected and published as a separate book it sold well. I was led to take up this subject by

reading a short paper by Asa Gray, published in 1858. He sent me seeds, and on raising some plants I was so

much fascinated and perplexed by the revolving movements of the tendrils and stems, which movements are

really very simple, though appearing at first sight very complex, that I procured various other kinds of

climbing plants, and studied the whole subject. I was all the more attracted to it, from not being at all satisfied

with the explanation which Henslow gave us in his lectures, about twining plants, namely, that they had a

natural tendency to grow up in a spire. This explanation proved quite erroneous. Some of the adaptations

displayed by Climbing Plants are as beautiful as those of Orchids for ensuring crossfertilisation.

My 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication' was begun, as already stated, in the beginning of

1860, but was not published until the beginning of 1868. It was a big book, and cost me four years and two

months' hard labour. It gives all my observations and an immense number of facts collected from various

sources, about our domestic productions. In the second volume the causes and laws of variation, inheritance,

etc., are discussed as far as our present state of knowledge permits. Towards the end of the work I give my

wellabused hypothesis of Pangenesis. An unverified hypothesis is of little or no value; but if anyone should

hereafter be led to make observations by which some such hypothesis could be established, I shall have done

good service, as an astonishing number of isolated facts can be thus connected together and rendered

intelligible. In 1875 a second and largely corrected edition, which cost me a good deal of labour, was brought

My 'Descent of Man' was published in February, 1871. As soon as I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838,

convinced that species were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the

same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own satisfaction, and not for a long time with

any intention of publishing. Although in the 'Origin of Species' the derivation of any particular species is

never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse me of concealing my

views, to add that by the work "light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history." It would have

been useless and injurious to the success of the book to have paraded, without giving any evidence, my

But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of the evolution of species, it seemed to

me advisable to work up such notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of man. I

was the more glad to do so, as it gave me an opportunity of fully discussing sexual selectiona subject

which had always greatly interested me. This subject, and that of the variation of our domestic productions,

together with the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole

subjects which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the materials which I have collected.

The 'Descent of Man' took me three years to write, but then as usual some of this time was lost by ill health,

and some was consumed by preparing new editions and other minor works. A second and largely corrected

My book on the 'Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals' was published in the autumn of 1872. I

had intended to give only a chapter on the subject in the 'Descent of Man,' but as soon as I began to put my

My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced to make notes on the first dawn

of the various expressions which he exhibited, for I felt convinced, even at this early period, that the most

complex and fine shades of expression must all have had a gradual and natural origin. During the summer of

the following year, 1840, I read Sir C. Bell's admirable work on expression, and this greatly increased the

interest which I felt in the subject, though I could not at all agree with his belief that various muscles had

been specially created for the sake of expression. From this time forward I occasionally attended to the

subject, both with respect to man and our domesticated animals. My book sold largely; 5267 copies having

In the summer of 1860 I was idling and resting near Hartfield, where two species of Drosera abound; and I

noticed that numerous insects had been entrapped by the leaves. I carried home some plants, and on giving

them insects saw the movements of the tentacles, and this made me think it probable that the insects were

caught for some special purpose. Fortunately a crucial test occurred to me, that of placing a large number of

leaves in various nitrogenous and nonnitrogenous fluids of equal density; and as soon as I found that the

former alone excited energetic movements, it was obvious that here was a fine new field for investigation.

During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my experiments, and my book on 'Insectivorous

Plants' was published in July 1875that is, sixteen years after my first observations. The delay in this case,

as with all my other books, has been a great advantage to me; for a man after a long interval can criticise his

own work, almost as well as if it were that of another person. The fact that a plant should secrete, when

properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferment, closely analogous to the digestive fluid of an animal,

During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the 'Effects of Cross and SelfFertilisation in the Vegetable

Kingdom.' This book will form a complement to that on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' in which I showed how

perfect were the means for cross fertilisation, and here I shall show how important are the results. I was led

to make, during eleven years, the numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere accidental

observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to

the remarkable fact that seedlings of selffertilised parentage are inferior, even in the first generation, in

height and vigour to seedlings of cross fertilised parentage. I hope also to republish a revised edition of my

book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and trimorphic plants, together with some additional

observations on allied points which I never have had time to arrange. My strength will then probably be

'The Effects of Cross and SelfFertilisation' was published in the autumn of 1876; and the results there

arrived at explain, as I believe, the endless and wonderful contrivances for the transportal of pollen from one

plant to another of the same species. I now believe, however, chiefly from the observations of Hermann

Muller, that I ought to have insisted more strongly than I did on the many adaptations for selffertilisation;

though I was well aware of many such adaptations. A much enlarged edition of my 'Fertilisation of Orchids'

In this same year 'The Different Forms of Flowers, etc.,' appeared, and in 1880 a second edition. This book

consists chiefly of the several papers on Heterostyled flowers originally published by the Linnean Society,

corrected, with much new matter added, together with observations on some other cases in which the same

plant bears two kinds of flowers. As before remarked, no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much

pleasure as the making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers. The results of crossing such flowers in an

illegitimate manner, I believe to be very important, as bearing on the sterility of hybrids; although these

In 1879, I had a translation of Dr. Ernst Krause's 'Life of Erasmus Darwin' published, and I added a sketch of

his character and habits from material in my possession. Many persons have been much interested by this

In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank's assistance, our 'Power of Movement in Plants.' This was a tough

piece of work. The book bears somewhat the same relation to my little book on 'Climbing Plants,' which

'CrossFertilisation' did to the 'Fertilisation of Orchids;' for in accordance with the principle of evolution it

was impossible to account for climbing plants having been developed in so many widely different groups

unless all kinds of plants possess some slight power of movement of an analogous kind. This I proved to be

the case; and I was further led to a rather wide generalisation, viz. that the great and important classes of

movements, excited by light, the attraction of gravity, etc., are all modified forms of the fundamental

movement of circumnutation. It has always pleased me to exalt plants in the scale of organised beings; and I

therefore felt an especial pleasure in showing how many and what admirably well adapted movements the tip

I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS. of a little book on 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould,

through the Action of Worms.' This is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it will

interest any readers (Between November 1881 and February 1884, 8500 copies have been sold.), but it has

interested me. It is the completion of a short paper read before the Geological Society more than forty years

I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and these have been the milestones in my life, so

that little remains to be said. I am not conscious of any change in my mind during the last thirty years,

excepting in one point presently to be mentioned; nor, indeed, could any change have been expected unless

one of general deterioration. But my father lived to his eightythird year with his mind as lively as ever it

was, and all his faculties undimmed; and I hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible extent. I

think that I have become a little more skilful in guessing right explanations and in devising experimental

tests; but this may probably be the result of mere practice, and of a larger store of knowledge. I have as much

difficulty as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty has caused me a very great

loss of time; but it has had the compensating advantage of forcing me to think long and intently about every

sentence, and thus I have been led to see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of others.

There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at first my statement or proposition in a

wrong or awkward form. Formerly I used to think about my sentences before writing them down; but for

several years I have found that it saves time to scribble in a vile hand whole pages as quickly as I possibly

can, contracting half the words; and then correct deliberately. Sentences thus scribbled down are often better

Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will add that with my large books I spend a good deal

of time over the general arrangement of the matter. I first make the rudest outline in two or three pages, and

then a larger one in several pages, a few words or one word standing for a whole discussion or series of facts.

Each one of these headings is again enlarged and often transferred before I begin to write in extenso. As in

several of my books facts observed by others have been very extensively used, and as I have always had

several quite distinct subjects in hand at the same time, I may mention that I keep from thirty to forty large

portfolios, in cabinets with labelled shelves, into which I can at once put a detached reference or

memorandum. I have bought many books, and at their ends I make an index of all the facts that concern my

work; or, if the book is not my own, write out a separate abstract, and of such abstracts I have a large drawer

full. Before beginning on any subject I look to all the short indexes and make a general and classified index,

and by taking the one or more proper portfolios I have all the information collected during my life ready for

I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during the last twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of

thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge,

and Shelley, gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare,

especially in the historical plays. I have also said that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very

great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read

Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures

or music. Music generally sets me thinking too energetically on what I have been at work on, instead of

giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it

formerly did. On the other hand, novels which are works of the imagination, though not of a very high order,

have been for years a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often bless all novelists. A surprising number

have been read aloud to me, and I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily against

which a law ought to be passed. A novel, according to my taste, does not come into the first class unless it

contains some person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman all the better.

This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic tastes is all the odder, as books on history,

biographies, and travels (independently of any scientific facts which they may contain), and essays on all

sorts of subjects interest me as much as ever they did. My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for

grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that

part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly

organised or better constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to live my life

again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for

perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these

tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral

My books have sold largely in England, have been translated into many languages, and passed through

several editions in foreign countries. I have heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test of

its enduring value. I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but judged by this standard my name ought to

last for a few years. Therefore it may be worth while to try to analyse the mental qualities and the conditions

on which my success has depended; though I am aware that no man can do this correctly.

I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some clever men, for instance,

Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic: a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and it

is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to follow a long and purely

abstract train of thought is very limited; and therefore I could never have succeeded with metaphysics or

mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet hazy: it suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I

have observed or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing, or on the other hand in

favour of it; and after a time I can generally recollect where to search for my authority. So poor in one sense

is my memory, that I have never been able to remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of

Some of my critics have said, "Oh, he is a good observer, but he has no power of reasoning!" I do not think

that this can be true, for the 'Origin of Species' is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and it has

convinced not a few able men. No one could have written it without having some power of reasoning. I have

a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor

On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am superior to the common run of men in noticing things

which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully. My industry has been nearly as great as it

could have been in the observation and collection of facts. What is far more important, my love of natural

This pure love has, however, been much aided by the ambition to be esteemed by my fellow naturalists. From

my early youth I have had the strongest desire to understand or explain whatever I observed,that is, to

group all facts under some general laws. These causes combined have given me the patience to reflect or

ponder for any number of years over any unexplained problem. As far as I can judge, I am not apt to follow

blindly the lead of other men. I have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any

hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are

shown to be opposed to it. Indeed, I have had no choice but to act in this manner, for with the exception of

the Coral Reefs, I cannot remember a single firstformed hypothesis which had not after a time to be given

up or greatly modified. This has naturally led me to distrust greatly deductive reasoning in the mixed

sciences. On the other hand, I am not very sceptical,a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the

progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid much loss of time, but

I have met with not a few men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or

In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have known. A gentleman (who, as I afterwards heard, is a

good local botanist) wrote to me from the Eastern counties that the seed or beans of the common fieldbean

had this year everywhere grown on the wrong side of the pod. I wrote back, asking for further information, as

I did not understand what was meant; but I did not receive any answer for a very long time. I then saw in two

newspapers, one published in Kent and the other in Yorkshire, paragraphs stating that it was a most

remarkable fact that "the beans this year had all grown on the wrong side." So I thought there must be some

foundation for so general a statement. Accordingly, I went to my gardener, an old Kentish man, and asked

him whether he had heard anything about it, and he answered, "Oh, no, sir, it must be a mistake, for the beans

grow on the wrong side only on leapyear, and this is not leapyear." I then asked him how they grew in

common years and how on leapyears, but soon found that he knew absolutely nothing of how they grew at

After a time I heard from my first informant, who, with many apologies, said that he should not have written

to me had he not heard the statement from several intelligent farmers; but that he had since spoken again to

every one of them, and not one knew in the least what he had himself meant. So that here a beliefif indeed

a statement with no definite idea attached to it can be called a beliefhad spread over almost the whole of

I have known in the course of my life only three intentionally falsified statements, and one of these may have

been a hoax (and there have been several scientific hoaxes) which, however, took in an American

Agricultural Journal. It related to the formation in Holland of a new breed of oxen by the crossing of distinct

species of Bos (some of which I happen to know are sterile together), and the author had the impudence to

state that he had corresponded with me, and that I had been deeply impressed with the importance of his

result. The article was sent to me by the editor of an English Agricultural Journal, asking for my opinion

A second case was an account of several varieties, raised by the author from several species of Primula,

which had spontaneously yielded a full complement of seed, although the parent plants had been carefully

protected from the access of insects. This account was published before I had discovered the meaning of

heterostylism, and the whole statement must have been fraudulent, or there was neglect in excluding insects

The third case was more curious: Mr. Huth published in his book on 'Consanguineous Marriage' some long

extracts from a Belgian author, who stated that he had interbred rabbits in the closest manner for very many

generations, without the least injurious effects. The account was published in a most respectable Journal, that

of the Royal Society of Belgium; but I could not avoid feeling doubtsI hardly know why, except that there

were no accidents of any kind, and my experience in breeding animals made me think this very improbable.

So with much hesitation I wrote to Professor Van Beneden, asking him whether the author was a trustworthy

man. I soon heard in answer that the Society had been greatly shocked by discovering that the whole account

was a fraud. (The falseness of the published statements on which Mr. Huth relied has been pointed out by

himself in a slip inserted in all the copies of his book which then remained unsold.) The writer had been

publicly challenged in the Journal to say where he had resided and kept his large stock of rabbits while

carrying on his experiments, which must have consumed several years, and no answer could be extracted

My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little use for my particular line of work. Lastly, I have

had ample leisure from not having to earn my own bread. Even illhealth, though it has annihilated several

Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to, has been determined, as far

as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most important have

beenthe love of science unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subjectindustry in observing

and collecting factsand a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities

as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific