w's influence, Charles Darwin was offered
this position in 1831. Darwin hastened to obtain his father's
permission, but the elder Darwin at first declined to consider the
matter. He felt that his son had not made such use of his time at the
university as warranted the hope that much could be expected of such a
journey. He believed it necessary that Charles should have some means
of earning an adequate living before he could think of devoting his
time to science. Charles found an efficient advocate in the person of
his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, Jr. Together they persuaded the father of
the propriety of giving to Charles this opportunity to follow out his
real tastes and ambitions. Accordingly, at the age of twenty-two, we
find him embarked on a journey around the world. In the cabin of the
_Beagle_ he had abundant time, in his long sail across the Atlantic,
to read the two volumes of Lyell's "Elements of Geology," which
Henslow had handed him, with the suggestion that he read it, but on no
account believe it. Filled with the love of geology as Darwin was,
this epoch-making book was exactly the stimulus needed. Lyell had just
begun to persuade the world that to understand the past we must study
the present. In the forces now at work he saw cause enough to account
for all the history of the past of the earth.

There is little doubt that this book was one of the most potent
factors in determining the bent of Darwin's mind. His entire
educational experience had failed to appeal to him. It is fortunate,
we now know, that this was the case. If the university course of the
time had really seized him it would have made but one more student
like hundreds it was turning out each year. For most of us this is the
happy event. Now and then comes the rare spirit to whom all of this
fails to appeal because he is ready for something better. Such was the
spirit of Charles Darwin. He started on his journey with a mind
singularly free from prepossessions. In the long hours of this sailing
voyage across the Atlantic Ocean Darwin had time to read and ponder
Lyell's weighty words. By the time he reached the Brazilian shore he
was filled with Lyell's conception that the present is the child of
the past, developing out of it in orderly sequence. Lyell expressly
denied that this is true of the animal and plant world. He applied it
only to the face of the earth, with its mountains of uplift and its
valleys of erosion. But the underlying principle o