DARWIN AND WALLACE 27 



started on his journey with a mind singularly free 

 from prepossessions. In the long hours of this sail- 

 ing voyage across the Atlantic Ocean Darwin had 

 time to read and ponder Lyell's weighty words. By 

 the time he reached the Brazilian shore he was filled 

 with Lyell's conception that the present is the child 

 of the past, developing out of it in orderly sequence. 

 Lyell expressly denied that this is true of the animal 

 and plant world. He applied it only to the face of 

 the earth, with its mountains of uplift and its valleys 

 of erosion. But the underlying principle of an or- 

 derly development under the action of natural causes 

 was there. In Darwin's mind this at once found ac- 

 ceptance, and was destined to a fruition its author had 

 expressly disclaimed. 



The narrative of this voyage, as subsequently writ- 

 ten, describes the islands visited by the Beagle in 

 crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The contrast between 

 the simple and general interest in these islands and 

 the care with which Darwin described the Galapagos 

 and the Keeling Atoll visited later in the voyage are 

 speaking evidence of the rapid development going on 

 in the mind of the young naturalist. 



Reaching the shore of South America, Darwin first 

 turns to its geology. But before long the animal life 

 attracts his attention. In the Brazilian forest Darwin 

 had his first experience of the wealth of animal and 



