EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



to suffer serious detriment, and runs the risk of 

 being frittered away into hopeless ruin. Like 

 his great predecessor and ally, Sir Charles Lyell, 

 Mr. Darwin was so favoured by fortune as to 

 be free from this odious necessity. He was able 

 to devote his whole life with a single mind to 

 the pursuit of scientific truth, and to ministering 

 in the most exalted way to the welfare of his fel- 

 low-creatures. After taking his Master's degree 

 at Cambridge in 1831, at the age of twenty-two, 

 an opportunity was offered Mr. Darwin for 

 studying natural history on a grand scale. The 

 Beagle, a ten-gun brig under the command of 

 Captain Fitzroy, was then about to start on a 

 long voyage, " to complete the survey of Pata- 

 gonia and Tierra del Fuego, ... to survey the 

 shores of Chili, Peru, and of some islands in 

 the Pacific, and to carry a chain of chronometri- 

 cal measurements round the world." As Cap- 

 tain Fitzroy had expressed a wish to have a 

 naturalist accompany the expedition, Mr. Dar- 

 win volunteered his services, which the Lords 

 of the Admiralty readily accepted, a fact which 

 in itself is sufficient evidence of the reputation 

 for scientific attainments which Mr. Darwin 

 had already gained at that youthful age. This 

 memorable voyage, which lasted five years, was 

 very fruitful in results. The general history of 

 the voyage, with an account of such observations 

 in natural history as seemed likely to interest 

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