GEOLOGY. 323 



he would find it more attractive than its fellow-volumes. 

 And, as a fact, it did not become widely known until it was 

 separately published in 1845. It may be noted, however, 

 that the 'Quarterly Review' (December, 1839) called the 

 attention of its readers to the merits of the ' Journal ' as a 

 book of travels. The reviewer speaks of the " charm arising 

 from the freshness of heart which is thrown over these virgin 

 pages of a strong intellectual man and an acute and deep 

 observer." 



The German translation (1844) of the 'Journal' received a 

 favourable notice in No. 12 of the ' Heidelberger Jahrbiicher 

 der Literatur,' 1847 where the Reviewer speaks of the 

 author's "varied canvas, on which he sketches in lively 

 colours the strange customs of those distant regions with 

 their remarkable fauna, flora and geological peculiarities." 

 Alluding to the translation, my father writes " Dr. Dieffen- 

 bach . . . has translated my ' Journal ' into German, and I 

 must, with unpardonable vanity, boast that it was at the 

 instigation of Liebig and Humboldt." 



The geological work of which he speaks in the above letter 

 to Mr. Fox occupied him for the whole of 1843, and was pub- 

 lished in the spring of the following year. It was entitled ' Geo- 

 logical Observations on the Volcanic Islands, visited during 

 the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, together with some brief notices 

 on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope ' : 

 it formed the second part of the ' Geology of the Voyage 

 of the Beagle] published " with the Approval of the Lords 

 Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury." The volume on 

 ' Coral Reefs ' forms Part I. of the series, and was published, 

 as we have seen, in 1842. For the sake of the non-geological 

 reader, I may here quote Professor Geikie's words* on these 

 two volumes which were up to this time my father's chief 

 geological works. Speaking of the ' Coral Reefs,' he says : 

 p. 17, "This well-known treatise, the most original of all its 

 * Charles Darwin, 'Nature' Series, 1882. 



VOL. I. Z 



