CHAPTER SIX 



Darwin 



WHEN Charles Darwin, at the age of twenty- 

 eight, returned to London after his voyage of 

 five years on the Beagle, he brought with him his 

 diary of the voyage and a great mass of notes and 

 natural specimens. But what was of far greater im- 

 portance, he had absorbed the ideas of Lyell's new 

 and epoch making Pri7iciples of Geology which, by its 

 insistence on the importance of slow and minute 

 changes in the structure of the earth, pointed to an 

 evolutionary theory; and while pondering over this 

 book he had noticed, in particular, the differences be- 

 tween the fauna and flora on islands and on the near- 

 by mainland. As a result, although he had left home 

 a believer in special creation, he returned a convert 

 to the variation of species. 



Darwin's first impulse was to prepare for the press 

 the diary of his voyage, to classify and dispose of his 

 collections, and to publish his scientific notes; he was 

 apparently embarked on a distinguished career as a 

 geologist or biologist. He soon made many friends 

 and went moderately into society, and especially was 

 warmly welcomed by Lyell. But, in the midst of this 

 life and work, he was meditating on evolution and 

 he notes in his autobiography that in July, 1837, less 



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