THE DARWINIAN THEORY 29 



Charles Darwin was born in 1809, the year of the publication 

 of Lamarck's Philosophie zoologique, and of Oken's Lehrbuch tier 

 Naturpliilosoplde. There was thus a whole generation between 

 the first emergence of the Evolution theory and its later revival. 

 Darwin's father was a physician, and his education was not a regular 

 one. In his youth he seems to have devoted much time and enthusiasm 

 to hunting, and only very slowly to have taken up regular studies 

 towards a definite end. In accordance with his father's wishes, he 

 studied medicine for a time, but soon abandoned it to devote himself 

 to botany and zoology. Before he had had time to distinguish 

 himself in any special way in these subjects, he was offered, in his 

 twenty-first year, the post of naturalist on an English war-ship 

 which was to make a voyage round the world, and that at a 

 leisurely rate. 



This was decisive not only for Darwin's immediate studies, but 

 for the work of his life, for, as he tells us himself, it was during this 

 voyage on the Beagle that the idea of the Evolution theory first came 

 to him. While the vessel made a stay at the Galapagos Islands, west 

 of South America, he noticed that quite a number of little land-birds 

 occurred there which closely resembled those of the neighbouring 

 mainland, but yet were different from them. Almost every little 

 island had its own species, and so he concluded that all these might 

 be descended from representatives of a few species which had long 

 before drifted over from the mainland to these volcanic islands, 

 become established there, and in the course of time taken on the 

 character of new species. The problem of the transformation of 

 species opened up before him, and he made up his mind to follow 

 up the idea after his return, in the hope that by a patient collecting 

 of facts, he would by and by arrive at some security with regard 

 to this great question. 



I need not linger over any detailed account of his travels ; 

 one can readily understand how a voyage round the world, lasting 

 for five years, would offer to the inquiring mind of a Darwin rich 

 opportunities for the most varied observations. That he did not 

 fail to make use of these is evidenced not only by his book on The 

 Origin of Species, but by several more special works, published 

 shortly after his return — his natural history of those remarkable 

 sessile crustaceans, the barnacles or Cirripedia, and his studies on 

 the origin of coral reefs. The first-named book still holds its own 

 as a classic monograph on this animal group, with its wealth of forms ; 

 and the theory of the origin of coral reefs which Darwin elaborated 

 has still many adherent,?, in spite of various rival interpretations. 



