Darwin says: "I thank God I shall never again visit a slave-country. To this day, if I hear a scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when, passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but suspect some poor slave was being tortured." The Cape Verd` Islands were next visited, from there sailing to the Azores, and on the 2d of October the Beagle cast anchor at Falmouth after an absence of nearly five years.

Ambition of Darwin-Future Work Decided upon-Scientific Friends-Papers Read before Various Societies-Experiments with Earthworms-Marriage of Darwin-Methods of WorkVarious Publications.

ARWIN left England a

young man without experience, but with a lofty ambition to attain by hard, earnest work a position among the scientists of the day. He returned after an absence of five years, possessed of information on so great a variety of subjects, that he may be said to have

been at the early age of twenty-eight one of the best-equipped naturalists of the age. Having fol

lowed him around the world and watched the earnestness with which he carried on his investigations and his indefatigable industry, we may accord him at once a position, not simply as a successful collector,

but as a thorough and conscientious worker in almost every branch of science.

There was but one drawback to his pleasure and delight at returning to his native land: this was his failing health. Sea-sickness, which had troubled him from the first, followed him through the entire voyage, and this and the hardships through which he passed undoubtedly undermined his vigorous constitution. His physical condition determined his future career. At the suggestion of Sir Charles Lyell he gave up all thought of professional life, and at once devoted himself to the work of his choice the study of natural science, and the elaboration of theories and ideas conceived during his life on the Beagle.

Darwin's success had preceded him, and while on the return voyage he received a letter which stated that Sedgwick, the naturalist, had called upon his father and expressed the opinion that his son would take a position among the leading scientific men of the country—an opinion based upon some papers or letters read in 1835 before the Philosophical Society of Cambridge. Darwin had sent some of his fossils to Professor Henslow, so that the attention of palæontologists was also directed to his work.

After a few days spent in the enjoyment of the home-circle-days of delight, after so protracted an absence, he went to Greenwich and began the arduous labour of unpacking and arranging the vast collections he had made. That he was to some extent disappointed in the interest exhibited in the result of his work among eminent men is evident,

Scientific Friends.

125

but this was more than compensated by the attention bestowed upon him by Sir Charles Lyell, Professor Owen, Dr. Grant, and others. He soon found that the major part of the work would devolve upon himself, and that it was a labour of years. Professor Owen desired to dissect some of his alcoholic specimens, and Professor Bell, of King's College, expressed an interest in his crustaceans and reptiles; Professor Broderip offered to undertake the classification of his collection of shells; Gould proposed to arrange the birds, and Jenyns the fish,—all of which delighted and cheered the young naturalist, whose enthusiasm was so great that it was imparted to those about him.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons offered to take his fossils, describe and classify them, while during a three months' stay at Cambridge Professor Miller aided him in examining the rocks and minerals.

Once having his collections disposed of or in good hands, Darwin began work upon his "Journal of Travels," and in March, 1837, moved up to London, taking apartments in Great Marlborough Street. This period was one of constant activity; he was now well before the scientific world, and apparently upon the threshold of a distinguished career. His scientific friends aided him in every way, especially Sir Charles Lyell, whom Darwin found to be extremely sympathetic, and to take a great interest in all that he did.

He was now proposed as a fellow of the Geographical Society, and a short time after Sir Charles Lyell proposed him as a member of the Royal

Society, and so the prophecy of his schoolmate, who was impressed by his devotion to beetle col lecting, came true sooner than either expected. He read several papers before both societies, one especially on the Rhea Americanus attracting attention. Another paper, read before the Geological Society, was on the "Connection of Volcanic Phenomena with the Elevation of Mountain Chains," of which Lyell says: "He opened upon De la Beche, Phillips, and others "—the veterans of the science—“his whole battery of the earthquakes and volcanoes of the Andes."

Darwin was now contemplating the production of the important results of his trip, the zoölogy of the voyage of the Beagle, and, aided by other naturalists, he endeavoured to obtain Government coöperation in the illustration and making of plates. To the petition he secured the names of nearly all the prominent naturalists, including that of the Duke of Somerset, who was then president of the Linnæan Society also Lord Derby, - and a month later received a Government grant of $5,000.

Darwin's geological notes had attracted wide-spread notice, especially the fact that he had brought back many undescribed species, and in 1837 he was tendered the honourable position of secretary of the Geological Society, which he accepted with some little reluctance, owing to the demands upon his time that the duties would entail.

Darwin occasionally found leisure to go into society, and some of the most delightful hours were spent at the house of his friend Professor Henslow,