548 



NATURE 



[February 22, 191 2 



No. 5, continued. 



FitzRoy goes on : — " He was terribly sick until we 

 passed Teneriffe, and I sometimes doubted his fortitude 

 holding out against such a beginning of the campaign. 

 However, he was no sooner on his legs than anxious to 

 set to work, and a child with a new toy could not have 

 been more delighted than he was with St. Jago. It was 

 odd to hear him say, after we left Porto Praya, ' Well, I 

 am glad we are quietly at sea again, for 1 shall be able 

 to arrange my collections and set to work more methodic- 

 ally.' He was sadly disappointed by not landing at 

 Teneriffe and not seeing Madeira, but there was no 

 alternative." 



Darwin had written to his sister": — "I daresay you 

 expect I shall turn back at Madeira ; if I have a morsel 

 of stomach left I won't give up." With regard to this 

 part of his voyage, he wrote in 1846 : — " Farewell, dear 

 FitzRoy, I often think of your many acts of kindness to 

 me, and not seldomest on the time, no doubt quite for- 

 gotten by you, when before making Madeira, you came 

 and arranged my hammock with your own hands, and 

 which, as I afterwards heard, brought tears into my 

 father's eyes." " 



It was at St. Jago, in the Cape de Vcrd Islands, that 

 his career as a discoverer in geology began. He wrote in 

 his " Autobiography " " : — " That was a memorable hour 

 to me, and how distinctly I can call to mind the low cliff 

 of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot, 

 and a few strange desert plants growing near, and with 

 living corals in the tidal pools at my feet." 



No. 6. March 4, 1832. Bahia. 

 (Official letter to the hydrographer, extract from.) 



" Mr. Darwin has found abundant occupation already, 

 both at sea and on shore ; he has obtained numbers of 

 curious though small inhabitants of the ocean, by means 

 of a Net made of Bunting, which might be called a float- 

 ing or surface Trawl, as well as by searching the shores 

 and the Land. In Geology he has met with far much 

 more interesting employment in Porto Praya than he had 

 at all anticipated. From the manner in which he pursues 

 his occupation, his good sense, inquiring disposition, and 

 regular habits, I am certain that you will have good reason 

 to feel much satisfaction in the reflection that such a 

 person is on board the Beagle, and the certainty that he 

 is taking the greatest pains to make the most of time 

 and opportunity." 



The Beagle reached Bahia on February 29, 18-52. 

 Darwin writes": — "The day has passed delightfuily. 

 Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the 

 feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has 

 wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest." At Bahia, 

 too, he began his speculations on the geology of South 

 America (,loc. cit., p. 12). 



Porto Praya is in St. Jago, already referred to in No. 5. 



No. 7. April 28, 1832. Rio de Janeiro. 



"Darwin is a regular Trump." On May 18, 1832, 

 Darwin wrote " : — " The Captain does everything in his 

 power to assist me, and we get on very well " ; and again, 

 " I am very good friends with all the officers." 



No. 8. August 15, 1832. Monte Video. 



" Mr. Darwin is a very superior young man, and the 

 very best (as far as I can judge) that could have been 

 selected for the task. He has a mixture of necessary 

 qualities which makes him feel at home, and happy, and 

 makes everyone his friend. 



" By this Packet, the Emulous, he sends his first collec- 

 tion to the care of Prof. Henslow, at Cambridge, there 

 to await his return to England. I fancy that, though of 

 small things, it is numerous and valuable, and will 

 convince the Cantabrigians that their envoy is no 

 Idler." 



The letter with which he sent the first of his collec- 

 tion to Henslow is published in " More Letters of Charles 

 Darwin," i., p. 10. .Apparently it was not until July, 

 1834, that he received Henslow 's encouraging remarks 

 about his collections." 



^* L. and L., i., p. 207. 

 16 L. and L., i., p. 66. 

 18 L. and L., i., p. 237. 



15 L. and L., i., p. 332. 

 17 N. v., p. II. 

 19 M. L., J., p. 14. 



No. 9. August 14, 1834. Valparaiso. i 



" My messmate Darwin is now roaming amongst th« ' 

 Andes — he left me a week ago, intending to wander u " ' 

 the end of September." 



No. 10. November 3, 1834. 



" Mr. Darwin has been ill, as well as myself, th 

 from a different cause." 



Darwin " started on a " riding excursion " on All 

 14, 1834. On his way back he (ell ill (September 20),] 

 reached Valparaiso " with great difficulty " on 

 tember 27. He was kindly nursed back to health inj 

 house of an old schoolfellow, Mr. Corfield. Hi 

 (Dr. Darwin) was apparently puzzled by Charles 1 

 description of the illness, and was unable to id 

 In later life Darwin was sometimes inclined to 

 his own breakdown in health to this South .\ 

 attack. But when we remember the ill-health of liis , 

 brother Erasmus there is no need to seek for any cause I 

 beyond a hereditary taint. 



No. II. January 26, 1836. Port Jackson. 



" My messmate Mr. Darwin is so much the \ . 

 a long voyage that I am mosf anxious to hasten as n 

 as possible. Others are ailing and much require that 

 which can only be obtained at home." 



The return home was nevertheless delayed by 

 necessity of clearing up " some singular disagreenv nts in 

 the longitudes." Darwin^' wrote: — "This zigzag manner 

 of proceeding is very grievous ; it has put the finishing 

 touch to my feelings. I loathe, I abhor the sea and all 

 ships which sail on it." 



The most interesting point about No. 11 is Captain 

 FitzRoy 's statement about the poor state of Darwin's 

 health. I was quite unprepared for such a statement, and 

 it seems probable that it was the beginning of the general 

 breakdown in health which began so soon after h\> return 

 to England. 



No. 12. February 3, 1836. At sea. 



" .My messmate Mr. Darwin is now pretty well ; but he 

 is a martyr to confinement and sea-sickness when undef 

 way." 



No. 13. May 3, 1836. Mauritius. 



" I think you will allow, at a future day, that my mesS' 

 mate Darwin has well earned his stowage and provisions. 

 Though still a martyr to sea-sickness, he recovers at the 

 sight of land, and if the weather is not very bad, does a 

 good deal at sea, in the thinking and writing way." 



FitzRoy 's statement as to the amount of suffering which 

 Darwin went through from sea-sickness quite confirms the 

 recollections of other officers. ^^ In after life he seems to 

 me to have forgotten how much he suffered. 



When he was safe home and settled in London he wrote 

 to FitzRoy**: — " I think it far the most fortunate circum- 

 stance in my life that the chance afforded by your offer 

 taking a Naturalist fell on me." In the preface to 

 " Naturalist's Voyage " he wrote : — " As I feel that 

 opportunities which I enjoyed of studying the Natu; 

 History of the different countries we visited have been 

 wholly due to Captain FitzRoy, I hope I may here be p- ■■- 

 mitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him, and 

 add that during the five years we were together I rcce; 

 from him the most cordial friendship and steady as- 

 ance. " 



The children of Charles Darwin learned from his sto: 

 a friendly feeling for those unknown companions of 

 travels. And I think we also learned from him to resp 

 sailors and to agree with Fielding that " in their c 

 element, there are no persons, near the level of tl 

 degree, who live in the constant practice of half so m 

 good qualities." Francis Darwin 



February 18, 1912. 



urn- 

 >een g 



Osmotic and Liquid Membranes. 



In the Proceedings of the Royal Society (vol. Ixxx 

 pp. 148-54) Prof. Trouton founds a new general met! 

 of determining osmotic pressures on experiments of : 

 following character. He fills the closed limb of a O-t 

 with an aqueous solution of sugar, and places pure et': 

 over the solution in the other limb ; on applying to ; 



» N. v., pp. 254, 269. il L. and L., i., 2^5. 



22 L. and L., i., 224. iS L. and L., i., 226. 



NO. 2208, VOL. 88] 



