CAMBRIDGE. 45 



sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or he 

 heard from my sisters, that I did not like the thought 

 of being a physician, so he proposed that I should 

 become a clergyman. He was very properly vehe- 

 ment against my turning into an idle sporting man, 

 which then seemed my probable destination. I asked 

 for some time to consider, as from what little I had 

 heard or thought on the subject I had scruples about 

 declaring my belief in all the dogmas of the Church 

 of England ; though otherwise I liked the thought of 

 being a country clergyman. Accordingly I read with 

 care ' Pearson on the Creeds,' and a few other books 

 on divinity ; and as I did not then in the least doubt 

 the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, 

 I soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully 

 accepted. 



Considering how fiercely I have been attacked by 

 the orthodox, it seems ludicrous that I once intended 

 to be a clergyman. Nor was this intention and my 

 father's wish ever formally given up, but died a natu- 

 ral death when, on leaving Cambridge, I joined the 

 Beagle as naturalist. If the phrenologists are to be 

 trusted, I was well fitted in one respect to be a clergy- 

 man. A few years ago the secretaries of a German 

 psychological society asked me earnestly by letter for 

 a photograph of myself ; and some time afterwards I 

 received the proceedings of one of the meetings, in 

 which it seemed that the shape of my head had been 

 the subject of a public discussion, and one of the 

 speakers declared that I had the bump of reverence 

 developed enough for ten priests. 



