1836.] ST. HELENA. 267 



C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow. 



St. Helena, July 9, 1836. 



MY DEAR HENSLOW, 



I am going to ask you to do me a favour. I am very 

 anxious to belong to the Geological Society. I do not know, 

 but I suppose it is necessary to be proposed some time before 

 being ballotted for ; if such is the case, would you be good 

 enough to take the proper preparatory steps ? Professor 

 Sedgwick very kindly offered to propose me before leaving 

 England, if he should happen to be in London. I dare say he 

 would yet do so. 



I have very little to write about. We have neither seen, 

 done, or heard of anything particular for a long time past ; 

 and indeed if at present the wonders of another planet could 

 be displayed before us, I believe we should unanimously 

 exclaim, what a consummate plague. No schoolboys ever 

 sung the half sentimental and half jovial strain of 'dulce 

 domum ' with more fervour, than we all feel inclined to do. 

 But the whole subject of 'dulce domum/ and the delight of 

 seeing one's friends, is most dangerous, it must infallibly make 

 one very prosy or very boisterous. Oh, the degree to which 

 I long to be once again living quietly with not one single 

 novel object near me ! No one can imagine it till he has been 

 whirled round the world during five long years in a ten-gun- 

 brig. I am at present living in a small house (amongst the 

 clouds) in the centre of the island, and within stone's throw of 

 Napoleon's tomb. It is blowing a gale of wind with heavy 

 rain and wretchedly cold ; if Napoleon's ghost haunts his 

 dreary place of confinement, this would be a most excellent 

 night for such wandering spirits. If the weather chooses 

 to permit me, I hope to see a little of the Geology (so 

 often partially described) of the island. I suspect that 

 differently from most volcanic islands its structure is rather 

 complicated. It seems strange that this little centre of a 



