CORRESPONDENCE WITH CHARLES DARWIN 



They never met, but their correspondence, which was 

 opened by Darwin in 1849, continued until 1872, and 

 possibly longer. Not all their letters have been pre- 

 served, but those which have been recovered are of so 

 much interest to naturalists, because of the eminence of 

 the writers, that long citations will be given. 



The voyage of the Beagle gave Darwin his opportunity. 

 It was begun, under Fitzroy, in December, 1831, for the 

 purpose of surveying the shores of Chili and Peru and of 

 some islands in the Pacific, and to carry a chain of chron- 

 ometrical measures around the world. Fitzroy offered 

 part of his own cabin to any young man who would 

 volunteer to go, without pay, as naturalist. Darwin was 

 eager to go, but his father objected to the son's accept- 

 ance, and Fitzroy's offer was refused. An uncle ad- 

 vised the young man to go, and finally the father 

 consented. 



In October, 1836, the Beagle returned to Falmouth. 

 In the following May, Darwin gave to the Geological 

 Society his views respecting the formation of the three 

 great classes of coral reefs, atolls, barrier and fringing 

 reefs, and these views were afterwards developed in a 

 separate volume on the Structure and Distribution of 

 Coral Reefs, published in 1842. Dana's knowledge of 

 Darwin's study was accidental, as will be apparent from 

 the story as it is told by the friend of both, Professor 

 Judd, in a recent edition of Darwin's Coral Reefs. 



As a key to many of the allusions in this correspond- 

 ence, two extracts from the Life and Letters of Charles 

 Darwin are here inserted. 



He says of himself: 



" In October, 1846, I began to work on Cirripedia. 

 When on the coast of Chili, I found a most curious form, 

 which burrowed into the shell of concholepas, and which 

 differed so much from all other cirripedes that I had to 



303 



