February 22, 19 12] 



NATURE 



547 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



tTlw Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 



''rcs'sed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 



I return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 



manuscripts intended for this or any other part o/ Nature. 



' notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



FitzRoy and Darwin, 1831-36. 



Darwin's "Naturalist's Voyage" is the principal 

 rd of a period of the greatest importance to him 

 mally and to the world at large. There is also much 

 .... resting matter in the accounts of the voyage given in 

 I" The Life and Letters"' and in "More Letters." In 

 Jhis ".Autobiography"^ Darwin gives his impressions of 

 iFitzRoy ; thus, he wrote i-r- 



] " FitzRoy's character \Y&s/ift singular one, with very 



i\ noble features : he wa& .devoted to his duty, generous 



fault, bold, determined, and indomitably energetic, 



an ardent friend to all under his sway." .'\fter going 



n say something of FitzRoy's unfortunate temper and 



ne of the rare quarrels that occurred between them, 



4oes on : — " But after a few hours FitzRoy showed 



usual magnanimity by sending an officer to me with 



II apology and a request that I would continue to live 



with him. His character was in several respects one of 



till- most noble which I have ever known." 



', The interest of the following extracts is that they give 



jthe other side of the picture — that is, they supply us with 



;;FitzRoy's impressions of Darwin written in 1831-6. I 



^am much indebted to the Hydrographer, Admiral Purey- 



-iCust, for directing my attention to the e.xistence of the 



references to my father in the correspondence of FitzRoy 



Ijpth the hydrographer of his day, and for allowing me to 



W/k copies of them. These the Lords of the Admiralty 



Kve been good enough to permit me to publish. In 



FitzRoy's " Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle," ii., 



p. 39, he states that he was directed to transmit reports 



from time to time, so that if " any disaster should happen 



to the Beagle, the fruits of the expedition should not be 



altogether lost." He was also directed to keep up a 



detailed correspondence with the hydrographer (Captain 



Beaufort), who, as it happens, was a personal friend. 



No. I. September 5, 183 1. 



" I have seen a good deal of Mr. Darwin, to-day having 

 had nearly two hours' conversation in the morning and 

 having since dined with him. 



" I like what I see and hear of him, much, and I now 

 request that you will apply for him to accompany me as 

 a Naturalist. I can and will make him comfortable on 

 board, more so perhaps than you or he would e.xpect, and 

 I will contrive to stow away his goods and chattels of all 

 kinds and give him a place for a workshop. 



" Upon consideration, I feel confident that ho will have 

 a much wider field for his exertions than I was inclined 

 to anticipate on Friday last ; and should we even be dis- 

 appointed, by giving me the means of discharging him 

 from the Books', he might at any time return to Fngland 

 3r follow his own inclinations in South America or else- 

 where." 



On September 5. 183 1, Darwin' had practically given 

 jp all hopes of the voyage, having seen an unfavourable 

 letter from FitzRoy to Wood, who was a sort of inter- 

 mediary between him and Darwin. It scarcely seemed 

 ivorth his while to come to town, " but here I am . . . 

 Paptain FitzRoy is in town and I have seen him. It is 

 ID use attempting to praise him as much as I feel inclined 

 :o do, for vou would not believe me." It appears from 

 Oarwin's letter^ of September q. 1831, that FitzRoy had 

 »nfessed that the unfavourable letter to Wood was meant 

 o throw cold water on Darwin's candidature; " he seems 

 o havf taken a sudden horror of the chances of having 

 omebody he should not like on board the vessel." The 

 nore cheerful view as to a " wider field for his [C. D.'s] 



1 In these footnotes the "Naturalist's Voyage" (edit, i860) will he 

 eferred to as N. V., " The Life and Letters " .-is L. and L., " More Letters 

 * M. L., HtzRoy's " Voyage^ of the Adienture and Beagle," 1839, as 

 K A. and B. 



2 L.and L., I., i>. 60. :' L. an i L., !., p. :oi. ■« L. and L., i., p. J08. 



exertions" is presumably the official reflection of his 

 favourable view of C. D. as a future shipmate. It is 

 only fair to FitzRoy to remember that up to September 5 

 he was hampered by a friend who proposed to accompanv 

 him,' and that it was only on that dav that FitzRo'v 

 heard that the friend could not come. 



No. 2. September 12 [Monday], 1831. Spithead. 



" I like what I see of Mr. Darwin very much. He 

 will do well, I think — you are aware, I believe, that he is 

 now with me on his way to see the Beagle and get an 

 idea of the square inches "he will be allowed." 



In "Life and Letters," i., p. 211, Darwin says: — "I 

 shall go on Sunday [September 11} per packet to 

 Plymouth." 



With regard to the " square inches," Darwin wrote.* 

 September iq, 1831 :— " My objection to the vessel is its 

 smallness, which cramps one so for room for packing my 

 own body and all my cases, &c., &x-" 



No. 3. September 15, 183 1. 



" He [Darwin], Captain King and I now think that it 

 would be better in many respects, that he should not be 

 on the Books, but that he should go out in a strictly 

 private capacity. I am, however, equally ready to receive 

 him in either manner, and I have recommended his asking 

 which plan meets your approbation. 



" P.S. — He has seen his future dwelling and is satisfied 

 with it." 



At this date Darwin certainly believed himself to be 

 on the books, as he wrote' {.September o, 1831) : — 

 " Captain Beaufort says 1 am on the Books for victuals " ; 

 and this arrangement was adhered to. 



FitzRoy ' speaks of obtaining the services as naturalist 

 of " Mr. Charles Darwin, a grandson of Dr. Darwin the 

 poet, a young man of promising ability, extremely fond of 

 geology, and indeed all branches of natural history." .'\n 

 order was " given by the .Admiralty that he should bo 

 borne on the ship's books for provisions. The conditions 

 asked by Mr. Darwin were that he should be at liberty 

 to leave the Beagle and retire from the Expedition when 

 he thought proper, and that he should pay a fair share 

 of the expenses of my table." 



No. 4. November iq, 1831. 



" Messrs. Earle ° and Darwin are the very men, of all 

 others, for their employment, and I assure you that 

 Darwin has not vet shown one trait which has made me 

 feel other than glad when I reflect how much we shall 

 be together." When this was written Darwin was expect- 

 ing to sail '" on November 30, but a series of gales pre- 

 vented this, and it was not until the Beagle had twice been 

 driven back to Plymouth that finally, in a dead calm, 

 " we warped from' our sheltered and picturesque retreat 

 in Barn-pool "" and made a real start on December 27. 



Darwin '- had been living at Plymouth from October 24, 

 and in a verv low state of spirits, convinced that he had 

 heart disease, but determined not to consult a doctor, lest 

 he should be declared unfit for the voyage. It is to his 

 credit that he was able to conceal his depressions from his 

 leader, FitzRoy. 



No. s- March 5, 1832. Bahia. 



" Darwin is a "verv sensible, hard-working man and n 

 verv pleasant messniate. 1 never saw a ' shore-going 

 fellow ' come into the ways of a ship so soon and so 

 thoroughly as Darwin. 1 cannot give a stronger prtxjf 

 of his gocKl sense and disposition than by saying Every- 

 one respects and likes him.*" It is pleasant to find that 

 what FitzRoy could sav of Darwin after a few months 

 experience was substantially rep..ated by his other 

 shipmates after five vears' knowledge of his character. 

 Thus for instance, Admiral Mellersh. who was mate on 

 board the Beagle, wrote :-" I think he wiis the only man 

 I ever knew against whom I never heard a word said : 

 and as people when shut up in a ship for five y"" are 

 apt to get cro.ss with each othr-r. that k s.nving a good 

 deal."" 



•> L. and L., i.. p. au- 



» V. A. and H.. vol. ii.. p. 18. 



n Mr. Augustus Earle wa« an artiit privately «!J«*«^„''K •''"j^^X' 5^* 

 wa5 in bad hralth and resigned In the nummer of i8j.. (V. A. «»d. B., u. , 



9 L. and L., i., p. »o<- 

 7 L. and L.. i., p. »o7- 



p. ao.) 

 1" L. and L., i-, P- »i4. 

 1-' L. and 1... i., p. 64. 



II V. A.'-and B., ii., p. 4«- 

 » L. and L., !.« p. na. 



NO. 2208, VOL. 88] 



