15 



more than I can express to this excellent man. His kindness was steady: 

 when Captain FitzRoy offered to give up part of his own cabin to any 

 naturalist who would join the expedition in H.M.S. Beagle, Professor Henslow 

 recommended me, as one who knew very little, but who, he thought, would 

 work. I was strongly attached to natural history, and this attachment I owed, 

 in large part, to him." C. Darwin in L. Jenyns' Memoir of Henslow, 1862. 



1831 Passed the examination for the B.A. degree in January and kept the 



two following terms. 



"On returning home [August] from my short geological tour in North 

 Wales [with Professor Sedgwick], I found a letter from Henslow, informing 

 me that Captain FitzRoy was willing to give up part of his own cabin to 

 any young man who would volunteer to go with him without pay as naturalist 

 to the voyage of the Beagle." 



Dec. 27. "Sailed from England on our circumnavigation" in 

 H.M.S. Beagle, a barque of 235 tons, carrying 6 guns, under Captain 

 FitzRoy (Plate V). 



" It shall be as a birthday for the rest of my life." 



"The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event 

 in my life, and has determined my whole career." 



" Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly 

 on what I had seen or was likely to see ; and this habit of mind was 

 continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this 

 training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science." 



1836 Oct. 4. " Reached Shrewsbury after absence of 5 years and 2 days." 



" You cannot imagine how gloriously delightful my first visit was at 

 home ; it was worth the banishment." 



Dec. 13. Went to live at Cambridge (Fitzwilliam Street). 



1837 " On my return home [in the Beagle] in the autumn of 1836 I immediately 

 began to prepare my journal for publication, and then 1 saw how many facts 

 indicated the common descent of species.... In July (1837) I opened my 

 first note-book for facts in relation to the origin of species, about which 

 I had long reflected, and never ceased working for the next twenty years. 

 ...Had been greatly struck from about month of previous March on character 

 of South American fossils, and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These 

 facts origin (especially latter) of all my views." 



1 On the question of when Darwin's mind was first turned towards Evolution, see 

 Professor Judd in Darwin and Modern Science (Cambridge, 1909), also the introduction to The 

 foundations of the Origin of Species. 



