132 THE HISTOKY OF CREATION. 



Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury, on the Severn, 

 on the 12th of February, 1809; therefore, at present he is 

 sixty-three years old. In his seventeenth year (1825) he 

 entered the University of Edinburgh, and two years later 

 Chi'ist's College, Cambridge. When scarcely twenty-two 

 years old, in 1831, he was invited to take part in a 

 scientific expedition which was sent out by England, 

 in order to survey accurately the southernmost point of 

 South America, and to examine several parts of the 

 South Seas. This expedition, like many other voyages of 

 inquiry fitted out in a praiseworthy manner by England, 

 had scientific objects, and at the same time was intended 

 to solve practical problems relating to navigation. The 

 vessel, commanded by Captain Fitzroy, appropriately bore 

 the symbolic name of the Beagle. The voyage of the 

 Beagle, which lasted five years, was of the highest im- 

 portance to the fall development of Darwin's genius ; for 

 in the very first year, when he set his foot on the soil 

 of South America, the outline of the doctrine of descent 

 dawned upon him. Darwin himself has described this 

 voyage in a work which is written in a very attractive 

 style, and the perusal of which I strongly recommend to 

 the reader. This book of travel, which lies far above the 

 usual average in interest, not only shows in a very charming 

 manner Darwin's amiable character, but we can in many 

 ways recognize the various steps by which he arrived at his 

 conceptions. The result of the voyage was, first, a large 

 scientific work, the zoological and geological portion of 

 which belong in a great measure to Darwin ; and secondly, 

 a celebrated work by him alone on Coral Reefs, which in 

 itself would have sufficed to secure to him a lasting reputa- 



