120 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION PART 



Sedgwick's influence, but it was the friendship of 

 Henslow that determined his after career, and pre- 

 vented him from becoming the * Rev. Charles 

 Darwin.' For on his return from a geological tour 

 in Wales with Sedgwick he found a letter from 

 Henslow awaiting him, the purport of which is in 

 the following extract : 



' I have been asked by Peacock (Lowndean 

 Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge) to recom- 

 mend him a naturalist as companion to Captain 

 Fitz-Roy, employed by Government to survey the 

 southern extremity of America. I have stated that 

 I consider you to be the best - qualified person I 

 know of who is likely to undertake such a 

 situation.' 



In connection with this the following memorandum 

 from Darwin's pocket-book of 1831 is of interest : 

 ' Returned to Shrewsbury at end of August. Refused 

 offer of voyage.' 



This refusal was given at the instance of his 

 father, who objected to the scheme as 'wild and 

 unsettling, and as disreputable to his character as a 

 clergyman ' ; but he soon yielded on the advice of 

 his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, and on Dar- 

 win's plea that he 'should be deuced clever to 

 spend more than his allowance whilst on board 

 the Beagle' On this his father answered with a 

 smile, 'But they tell me you are very clever.' It 

 is amusing to find that Darwin narrowly escaped 

 being rejected by Fitz-Roy, who, as a disciple of 

 Lavater, doubted whether a man with such a nose 

 as Darwin's 'could possess sufficient energy and 

 determination for the voyage.' 



