Charles Darwin 271 



would imagine, not very approachable. He records how 

 he used to walk home at night with Dr. Whewell; and 

 rejoices in his friendship with Leonard Jenyns. He became 

 the friend of Adam Sedgwick, and in August 1831 he 

 accompanied him on a geological survey in North Wales. 

 It was on returning from this trip that he found a letter 

 from Henslow informing him that Captain Fitzroy was 

 willing to give up part of his cabin to any young man who 

 would volunteer without pay to act as naturalist on the 

 classical voyage of the Beagle. Captain Fitzroy was going 

 out to survey the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego and 

 to visit some of the South Sea Islands, returning by the 

 Indian Archipelago. 



Captain Fitzroy, like Mrs. R. Wilfer, was a " disciple 

 of Lavater," and took exception to the shape of Darwin's 

 nose. " He doubted whether any one with my nose could 

 possess sufficient energy and determination for the voyage." 

 But on acquaintance his doubts soon vanished, and the 

 captain and his naturalist became close friends. 



Space forbids any account of the voyage of the Beagle. 

 As far as Darwin is concerned, it took place at what is, 

 perhaps, the period of life when the mind is most original. 

 Many of the great creative ideas of thought appear to be 

 engendered between the age of twenty and thirty years, 

 and although much may be added later, the foundation of 

 man's life work is usually laid then. Darwin, as he records, 

 " worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere 

 pleasure of investigation and from " his " strong desire to 

 add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural Science." 



He returned to England in October 1836, and two months 

 later, on December 13, Darwin settled again in Cambridge, 

 but only for three months. 



Whatever feeling Darwin had about the education that 

 he received at Cambridge, he had a real love for the place, 

 to which he sent all but one of his sons; and it is good to 

 read the following lines in his autobiography : " Upon the 

 whole, the three years I spent at Cambridge were the most 

 joyful of my happy life." 



Early in the year 1839 Darwin married his cousin, Emma 

 Wedgwood, and for nearly four years they kept house in 



