126 THE COMING [CH. 



before Darwin's death he wrote of Lyell, 'When I 

 made a remark to him on Geology, he never rested 

 till he saw the whole case clearly, and often made me 

 see it more clearly than I had done before/ 



Lyell's father was a botanist of considerable 

 repute, the Mend of Sir William Hooker and his 

 distinguished son Dr (now Sir Joseph) Hooker. 

 While Darwin was writing his Journal of Researches, 

 he handed the proof-sheets to Lyell with permission 

 to show them to his father, who was a man of great 

 literary judgment. The elder Lyell, in turn, showed 

 them to young Mr Hooker, who was then preparing 

 to join Sir James Ross, in his celebrated Antarctic 

 voyage with H.M. ships Erebus and Terror. Hooker 

 was then working hard to take his doctor's degree 

 before joining the expedition as surgeon, but he kept 

 Darwin's proof-sheets under his pillow, so as to get 

 opportunities of reading them ' between waking and 

 rising.' Before leaving England, however, Hooker in 

 1839 casually met and was introduced to Darwin, and 

 thus commenced a friendship which resulted in such 

 inestimable benefits to science. Before sailing with 

 the Antarctic expedition the young surgeon received 

 from Charles Lyell, as a parting gift, 'a copy of 

 Darwin's Journal complete ' ; and he tells us that 

 the perusal stimulated in him ' an enthusiasm in the 

 desire to travel and observe 129 .' 



On Hookers return from the voyage in 1843, 



