DARWIN'S BIOGRAPHY. 445 







close of the fourth year of the voyage. Hav- 

 ing there received the impress of his idea 

 from Xature herself, he could go home and 

 elaborate it into reality from his collected 

 stores. This, however, was no small or brief 

 task. 



Two years and more after his return he 

 was married. It is not out of place to remark 

 that he in his marriage makes himself a new 

 center of Evolution, as does every man in such 

 a relation. Darwin took advantage of his 

 position, as we may observe from allusions in 

 his writing's. He watched the unfolding of his 

 children, and did not fail to note down what he 

 saw. Says his biographer: "At the end of 

 1839 his eldest child was born, and it was then 

 that he began his observations ultimately pub- 

 lished in the Expression of the Emotions. His 

 book on this subject and the short paper pub- 







lished in Mind, show how closely he observed 

 his child. ' : Eight children were born to him 

 surely a great opportunity for the study of 

 biological Evolution, as well as for the exer- 

 cise of parental love and anxiety, both of 

 which Darwin showed in full measure. More- 

 over he quit smoky denatured London, and 

 moved to the country where he lived the rest 

 of his life in free, open contact with Nature. 

 Here he could experiment with plants and ani- 

 mals, wild and domestic ; the environing coun- 



