DARWIN'S DEBT TO HENSLOW 85 



came under the guidance of Professor Henslow, 

 a circumstance which, as he said, influenced 

 his whole career more than any other. To 

 Henslow he owed the possibility of sailing in 

 the Beagle, the greatest event, as he believed, in 

 his scientific life the one event which made all 

 the rest possible. 1 We must also remember how 

 Darwin's interest in geology was aroused by 

 Professor Sedgwick. It was on his return from 

 a geological tour in North Wales with Sedgwick 

 that Darwin found the letter from Henslow, 

 offering him the post on the Beagle. However 

 lightly it was regarded by Darwin himself, there 

 can be no doubt of the great depth of his debt to 

 Cambridge. 



In thinking over the names of the great 

 men who have sprung from the University of 

 Cambridge, I have been led to reflect on the long 

 harmonious years of sisterhood between our two 

 ancient Universities, to remember how the 

 thoughts that have arisen in the one have been 

 strengthened by resonance in the other, to call to 

 mind the dependence of the greatest of men upon 

 appreciation and sympathy. 



Professor H. H. Turner has recently shown 

 that the shy and sensitive genius of Newton, 

 irritated by the correspondence with Hooke, 

 might perhaps have been altogether lost to 



1 ' The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important 

 event in my life, and has determined my whole career ... I have 

 always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or 

 education of my mind . . .' Life and Letters, i. 61. 



