1836.] ST. HELENA. 267 



C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow. 



St. Helena, July 9, 1836. 



MY DEAR HENSLOW, 



I am going to ask you to do me a favour. I am very 

 anxious to belong to the Geological Society. I do not know, 

 but I suppose it is necessary to be proposed some time before 

 being ballotted for ; if such is the case, would you be good 

 enough to take the proper preparatory steps? Professor 

 Sedgwick very kindly offered to propose me before leaving 

 England, if he should happen to be in London. I dare say he 

 would yet do so. 



I have very little to write about. We have neither seen, 

 done, or heard of anything particular for a long time past ; 

 and indeed if at present the wonders of another planet could 

 be displayed before us, I believe we should unanimously 

 exclaim, what a consummate plague. No schoolboys ever 

 sung the half sentimental and half, jovial strain of 'dulce 

 domum ' with more fervour, than we all feel inclined to do. 

 But the whole subject of ' dulce domum,' and the delight of 

 seeing one's friends, is most dangerous, it must infallibly make 

 one very prosy or very boisterous. Oh, the degree to which 

 I long to be once again living quietly with not one single 

 novel object near me ! No one can imagine it till he has been 

 whirled round the world during five long years in a ten-gun- 

 brig. I am at present living in a small house (amongst the 

 clouds) in the centre of the island, and within stone's throw of 

 Napoleon's tomb. It is blowing a gale of wind with heavy 

 rain and wretchedly cold ; if Napoleon's ghost haunts his 

 dreary place of confinement, this would be a most excellent 

 night for such wandering spirits. If the weather chooses 

 to permit me, I hope to see a little of the Geology (so 

 often partially described) of the island. I suspect that 

 differently from most volcanic islands its structure is rather 

 complicated. It seems strange that this little centre of a 



