ago. These facts (especially latter), origin of all my
views" ("L.L." I. page 276.), it is clear that he must refer, not to
his first inception of the idea of evolution, but to the flood of
recollections, the reawakening of his interest in the subject, which
could not fail to result from the sight of his specimens and the
reference to his notes.

Except during the summer vacation, when he was visiting his father and
uncle, and with the latter making his first observations upon the work
of earthworms, Darwin was busy with his arrangements for the publication
of the five volumes of the "Zoology of the 'Beagle'" and in getting the
necessary financial aid from the government for the preparation of the
plates. He was at the same time preparing his "Journal" for publication.
During the years 1837 to 1843, Darwin worked intermittently on the
volumes of Zoology, all of which he edited, while he wrote introductions
to those by Owen and Waterhouse and supplied notes to the others.

Although Darwin says of his Journal that the preparation of the book
"was not hard work, as my MS. Journal had been written with care." Yet
from the time that he settled at 36, Great Marlborough Street in March,
1837, to the following November he was occupied with this book. He tells
us that the account of his scientific observations was added at this
time. The work was not published till March, 1839, when it appeared
as the third volume of the "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.
Ships 'Adventure' and 'Beagle' between the years 1826 and 1836". The
book was probably a long time in the press, for there are no less than
20 pages of addenda in small print. Even in this, its first form, the
work is remarkable for its freshness and charm, and excited a great
amount of attention and interest. In addition to matters treated of in
greater detail in his other works, there are many geological notes of
extreme value in this volume, such as his account of lightning tubes, of
the organisms found in dust, and of the obsidian bombs of Australia.

Having thus got out of hand a number of preliminary duties, Darwin was
ready to set to work upon the three volumes which were designed by him
to constitute "The Geology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle'". The first of
these was to be on "The Structure and Distribution of Coral-reefs". He
commenced the writing of the book on October 5, 1838, and the last proof
was corrected on May 6, 1842. Allowing for the frequent interr