5i4 
Charles  Darwin. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    November,  1909. 
and  with  whom  he  became  very  intimate,  that  Darwin  was  invited 
to  join  the  expedition  of  H.  M.  S.  "  Beagle,"  in  the  capacity  of  a 
naturalist. 
On  December  27,  1831,  Darwin  sailed  from  England  in  the 
barque  mentioned,  and  this  voyage  of  circumnavigation  occupied  five 
years.  It  was  regarded  by  him  as  the  most  important  event  of  his 
life,  and  one  that  determined  his  whole  career.  After  his  return 
to  England,  in  the  autumn  of  1836,  he  again  spent  a  few  weeks  in 
Cambridge,  where  he  was  occupied  in  unpacking  and  distributing 
the  collections  made  on  his  South  American  voyage.  In  1837 
Darwin  took  up  his  residence  in  London,  and  in  1839  was  married 
to  his  cousin,  Emma  Wedgwood,  the  daughter  of  Josiah  Wedgwood, 
who  died  in  1896.  The  untiring  and  life-long  devotion  of  this 
good  woman  has  been  recorded  by  their  son,  Mr.  Francis  Darwin, 
who,  in  the  "  Life  and  Letters,"  renders  the  following  beautiful 
tribute  to  his  mother,  without  whose  constant  and  watchful  care 
the  work  of  the  great  naturalist  would  probably  never  have  been 
accomplished.  He  writes :  "  If  the  character  of  my  father's  work- 
ing life  is  to  be  understood,  the  conditions  of  ill-health,  under  which 
he  worked,  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind.  .  .  .  No  one 
indeed,  except  my  mother,  knows  the  full  amount  of  suffering  he 
endured  or  the  full  amount  of  his  wonderful  patience.  .  .  .  For 
nearly  forty  years  he  never  knew  one  day  of  the  health  of  ordinary 
men,  and  thus  his  life  was  one  long  struggle  against  the  weariness 
and  strain  of  sickness.  And  this  cannot  be  told  without  speaking 
of  the  one  condition  which  enabled  him  to  bear  the  strain  and 
fight  out  the  struggle  to  the  end." 
It  was  also  in  the  year  1839  that  Darwin  published  his  Journal 
and  Researches,  being  Vol.  Ill  of  the  Narrative  of  the  Surveying 
Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Adventure  and  Beagle.  In  1842  he  wrote  a 
very  brief  abstract  of  his  theory  of  species,  in  pencil,  comprising 
35  pages.  This  manuscript,  edited  by  his  son,  Mr.  Francis  Darwin, 
has  recently  been  published  by  the  Cambridge  University  Press 
under  the  title :  "  The  Foundations  of  the  Origin  of  Species,"  and 
a  handsomely  bound  copy  was  presented  to  each  of  the  delegates 
attending  the  Darwin  celebration.  The  manuscript  referred  to  was 
extended  during  the  summer  of  1844  to  230  pages,  and  a  volume 
comprising  both  of  these  essays  has  likewise  recently  been  published. 
In  the  autumn  of  1842  Darwin  settled  at  the  village  of  Down, 
in  Kent,  18  miles  from  London,  which  is  described  as  "  a  place 
