25 



CHAPTER IV. 



CAMBRIDGE — LONDON — WORK UPON THE COLLECTIONS 

 — MARRIAGE — GEOLOGICAL WORK — JOURNAL OF 

 THE VOYAGE — CORAL REEFS — FIRST RECORDED 

 THOUGHTS ON EVOLUTION (1837-42). 



Darwin reached England October 2nd, 1836, and 

 was home at Shrewsbury October 5th (according to 

 his Letters ; the 4th is the date given by Francis 

 Darwin in the " Life and Letters "). The two years 

 and three months which followed he describes as 

 the most active ones he ever spent. After visiting 

 his family, he stayed three months in Cambridge, 

 working at his collection of rocks, writing his 

 " Naturalist's Voyage," and one or two scientific 

 papers. He then (March 7 th, 1837) took lodgings 

 in 36, Great Marlborough Street, London, where he 

 remained until his marriage, January 29th, 1839. 

 The apathy of scientific men — even those in charge 

 of museums — caused him much depression, and he 

 found great difficulty in getting specialists to work 

 out his collections, although the botanists seem to 

 have been keener than the zoologists. 



The commencement of his London residence is of 

 the deepest interest, as the time at which he began 

 to reflect seriously on the origin of species. Thus he 



