DARWIN'S BIOGRAPHY. 44^ 



present pursuit of knowledge is in the same 

 track as he would have to follow in the expe- 

 dition (Life and Letters of Darwin, by his 

 son, Vol. 1, p. 173). So speaks Uncle Josiali 

 the words of wisdom to the father, which bear 

 of themselves a deep educational import for 

 all parents and children, at the critical con- 

 junction of choosing a vocation. Thus Charles 

 Darwin, after many an obstruction, turns 

 down the open road toward his true destiny. 

 He remarks in his Autobiography: "The 

 voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most 

 important event of my life, and has deter- 

 mined my whole career. ' ' He was a volunteer 

 naturalist, receiving no salary and paying his 

 own way besides. But he was now for the 

 first time a free man, and could evolve in his 

 own way on his own lines; no wonder that 

 in his emancipation he evolved Evolution 

 itself. 



The voyage lasted five years (1831-6), start- 

 ing when he was twenty-two years old, and 

 thus embracing a very acquisitive portion of 

 human life. Vast were the stores which he 

 brought back, but they were in a separated, 

 more or less chaotic state. Always observing 

 and writing down in his note-book we find 

 him, as if determined to swallow all Nature 

 in his quinquennial banquet. Amateur indeed 

 with many shortcomings, but a true lover, he 



