132 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury, on the Severn, 
on the 12th of February, 1809; therefore, at present he is 
sixty-three years old. In his seventeenth year (1825) he 
entered the University of Edinburgh, and two years later 
Christ’s College, Cambridge. When scarcely twenty-two. 
years old, in 1831, he was invited to take part m a 
scientific expedition which was sent out by England, 
in order to survey accurately the southernmost point of 
South America, and to examine several parts. of the 
South Seas. This expedition, like many other voyages of 
inquiry fitted out in a praiseworthy manner by England, 
had scientific objects, and at the same time was intended 
to solve practical problems relating to navigation. The 
vessel, commanded by Captain Fitzroy, appropriately bore 
the symbolic name of the Beagle. The voyage of the 
Beagle, which lasted five years, was of the highest im- 
portance to the full development of Darwin’s genius; for 
in the very first year, when he set his foot on the soil 
of South America, the outline of the doctrine of descent 
dawned upon him. Darwin himself -has described this 
voyage in a work which is written in a very attractive 
style, and the perusal of which I strongly recommend to 
the reader. This book of travel, which lies far above the 
usual average in interest, not only shows in a very charming 
manner Darwin’s amiable character, but we can in many 
ways recognize the various steps by which he arrived at his 
conceptions. The result of the voyage was, first, a large 
scientific work, the zoological and geological portion of 
which belong in a great measure to Darwin; and secondly, 
a celebrated work by him alone on Coral Reefs, which in 
itself would have sufficed to secure to him a lasting reputa- 
