LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



yet broken words, '* The * Beagle's' voyage may be re- 

 membered more through you than me — I hope it will 

 be so!" 



And Darwin, too moved for speech, said nothing ex- 

 cepting through the pressure of his hand. 



'HE idea of evolution took a firm hold 

 upon the mind of Darwin, in an instant, 

 one day on board the "Beagle." From 

 that hour the thought of the mutability of 

 species w^as the one controlling impulse of 

 his life. 



On his return from the trip 'round the world he found 

 himself in possession of an immense mass of speci- 

 mens and much data bearing directly upon the point 

 that creation is still going on. That he could ever sort, 

 sift and formulate his evidence on his ow^n account, he 

 never at this time imagined. Indeed, about all he 

 thought he could do w^as to present his notes and 

 specimens to some scientific society in the hope that 

 some of its members w^ould go ahead and use the ma- 

 terial J> Jt> 



\Vith this thought in mind he opened up correspon- 

 dence with several of the universities and various 

 professors of science, and found, to his dismay that no 

 one "was ^villing to even read his notes, much less 

 house, prepare for preservation and index his thou- 

 sands of specimens. 



He read papers before different scientific societies, 

 172 



