INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



A SKETCH of Darwin's life and some indication of the im- 

 portance of his work have been given in the edition of "The 

 Origin of Species" published in the Harvard Classics. 



The text of the present volume shows without further com- 

 ment the nature of Darwin's labors and their results on this 

 momentous voyage. A few sentences gathered from his auto- 

 biography will, however, throw some additional light upon the 

 more personal aspects of the expedition. 



"The Voyage of the 'Beagle' has been by far the most im- 

 portant event in my life, and has determined my whole career. 

 ... / have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real 

 training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely 

 to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of 

 observation were improved, though they were always fairly 

 developed. . . " 



"The above various special studies were, however, of no im- 

 portance compared with the habit of energetic industry and of 

 concentrated attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I 

 then acquired. Everything about which I thought or read was 

 made to bear directly on what I had seen or was likely to see; 

 and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of 

 the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has en- 

 abled me to do whatever I have done in science." 



"Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for 

 science gradually preponderated over every other taste. During 

 the first two years my old passion for shooting survived in nearly 

 full force, and I shot, myself, all the birds and animals for my 

 collection; but gradually I gave up my gun more and more, and 

 finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my 

 work, more especially with making out the geological structure 

 of a country. I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, 

 that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher 

 one than that of skill and sport. . . ." 



"As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost dur- 

 ing the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from 

 my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts 

 in Natural Science. But I was also ambitions to take a fair 



