ix] OF EVOLUTION 105 



years Darwin was comparatively free from the 

 distressing malady which clouded so much of his 

 after life. And, during that time, he engaged very 

 heartily with Lyell in those combats at the Geological 

 Society (of which he had become one of the Secre- 

 taries) in which their joint views concerning the truth 

 of continuity or evolution in the inorganic world 

 were defended against the attacks of the militant 

 catastrophists. Darwin, however, did not act on the 

 defensive alone, but brought forward a number of 

 papers strongly supporting his new friend's views. 



There can be little doubt that, while thus en- 

 gaged, and in constant friendly intercourse with 

 Lyell, Darwin must have felt like other earnest 

 thinkers on geology at that day that the principles 

 they were advocating of ' continuity ' in the inorganic 

 world must be equally applicable to the organic 

 world and thus that the question of evolution 

 would acquire a new interest for him. 



But it was undoubtedly the revision of the notes 

 made on board the Beagle, and the study of the 

 specimens which had been sent home by him from 

 time to time, that produced the great determining 

 influence on Darwin's career. All through the 

 voyage he had endeavoured, with as much literary 

 skill as he could command, to record with accuracy 

 the observations he made, and the conclusions to 

 which, on careful reflection, they seemed to point. 



