374 Darwin and Geology 



he wrote to Leonard Horner " I am astonished that you should have 

 had the courage to go right through my book 1 ." 



Fortunately the second book, on which Darwin was engaged at 

 this time, was of a very different character. His Journal, almost as 

 he had written it on board ship, with facts and observations fresh in 

 his mind, had been published in 1839 and attracted much attention. 

 In 1845, he says, " I took much pains in correcting a new edition," 

 and the work which was commenced in April, 1845, was not 

 finished till August of that year. The volume contains a history of 

 the voyage with " a sketch of those observations in Natural History 

 and Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the general 

 reader." It is not necessary to speak of the merits of this scientific 

 classic. It became a great favourite with the general public — having 

 passed through many editions — it was, moreover, translated into a 

 number of different languages. Darwin was much gratified by these 

 evidences of popularity, and naively remarks in his Autobiography, 

 " The success of this my first literary child tickles my vanity more 

 than that of any of my other books 2 " — and this was written after the 

 Origin of Species had become famous ! 



In Darwin's letters there are many evidences that his labours 

 during these ten years devoted to the working out of the geological 

 results of the voyage often made many demands on his patience and 

 indomitable courage. Most geologists have experience of the con- 

 trast between the pleasures felt when wielding the hammer in the 

 field, and the duller labour of plying the pen in the study. But in 

 Darwin's case, innumerable interruptions from sickness and other 

 causes, and the oft-deferred hope of reaching the end of his task were 

 not the only causes operating to make the work irksome. The great 

 project, which was destined to become the crowning achievement of 

 his life, was now gradually assuming more definite shape, and absorb- 

 ing more of his time and energies. 



Nevertheless, during all this period, Darwin so far regarded his 

 geological pursuits as his proper "work," that attention to other 

 matters was always spoken of by him as " indulging in idleness." If 

 at the end of this period the world had sustained the great misfortune 

 of losing Darwin by death before the age of forty — and several times 

 that event seemed only too probable — he might have been remem- 

 bered only as a very able geologist of most advanced views, and 

 a traveller who had written a scientific narrative of more than or- 

 dinary excellence ! 



The completion of the Geology of the Beagle and the preparation 

 of a revised narrative of the voyage mark the termination of that 



1 M. L. n. p. 221. 2 Lm Lm lm p , 80 , 



