LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



yet broken words, " The * Beagle's' voyage may be re- 

 membered more through you than me I hope it will 

 be so ! " 



And Darwin, too moved for speech, said nothing ex- 

 cepting through the pressure of his hand. 



'HE idea of evolution took a firm hold 

 upon the mind of Darwin, in an instant, 

 one day on board the "Beagle." From 

 that hour the thought of the mutability of 

 species was the one controlling impulse of 

 his life. 



On his return from the trip 'round the world he found 

 himself in possession of an immense mass of speci- 

 mens and much data bearing directly upon the point 

 that creation is still going on. That he could ever sort, 

 sift and formulate his evidence on his own account, he 

 never at this time imagined. Indeed, about all he 

 thought he could do was to present his notes and 

 specimens to some scientific society in the hope that 

 some of its members would go ahead and use the ma- 

 terial & < 



With this thought in mind he opened up correspon- 

 dence with several of the universities and various 

 professors of science, and found, to his dismay that no 

 one was willing to even read his notes, much less 

 house, prepare for preservation and index his thou- 

 sands of specimens. 



He read papers before different scientific societies, 

 172 



