The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter, Volume 1 |
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Page iii
... facts were being written . Moreover , many of his researches were allowed to drop , and only resumed after an interval of years . Thus a rigidly chronological series of letters would present a patchwork of subjects , each of which would ...
... facts were being written . Moreover , many of his researches were allowed to drop , and only resumed after an interval of years . Thus a rigidly chronological series of letters would present a patchwork of subjects , each of which would ...
Page 34
... fact which has always been inexplicable to me . I knew him well ; he was dry and formal in manner , with much enthusiasm ... facts given . Drs . Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology , and I often accompanied the former to ...
... fact which has always been inexplicable to me . I knew him well ; he was dry and formal in manner , with much enthusiasm ... facts given . Drs . Grant and Coldstream attended much to marine Zoology , and I often accompanied the former to ...
Page 48
... fact as a tropical shell being found near the surface in the middle of England . Nothing before had ever made me thoroughly realise , though I had read various scientific books , that science consists in grouping facts so that general ...
... fact as a tropical shell being found near the surface in the middle of England . Nothing before had ever made me thoroughly realise , though I had read various scientific books , that science consists in grouping facts so that general ...
Page 54
... facts in Natural Science . But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men , -whether more ... fact , namely , that there had been afterwards subsi- dence round the craters , which had since been in 54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY .
... facts in Natural Science . But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men , -whether more ... fact , namely , that there had been afterwards subsi- dence round the craters , which had since been in 54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY .
Page 56
... facts in relation to the Origin of Species , about which I had long reflected , and never ceased working for the next twenty years . During these two years I also went a little into society , and acted as one of the honorary secretaries ...
... facts in relation to the Origin of Species , about which I had long reflected , and never ceased working for the next twenty years . During these two years I also went a little into society , and acted as one of the honorary secretaries ...
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Common terms and phrases
abstract admiration affectionately afterwards animals answer Asa Gray asked Barmouth Beagle believe Cambridge Captain Beaufort Captain Fitz-Roy chapter CHARLES DARWIN Cirripedes Cirripedia Coral curious Darwin to J. D. dear Fox dear Henslow dear Hooker DEAR HOOKER,-I delightful doubt edition England Erasmus facts father feel Flora forms genera geological give glad Glen Roy hear heard hope insects interest islands Journal kind letter Linnean London look Lyell Maer mind Moor Park Natural History natural selection naturalist never Origin of Species paper plants pleasant pleasure published Recollections remarks remember scientific seeds seems Shrewsbury sincerely Sir J. D. Hooker sketch Society South South America suppose sure tell thank theory things thought Tierra del Fuego tion told trouble variation varieties voyage W. D. Fox week whole wish write written wrote Zoology
Popular passages
Page 82 - I suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.
Page 370 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
Page 473 - I never saw a more striking coincidence; if Wallace had my MS. sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a better short abstract! Even his terms now stand as heads of my chapters.
Page 51 - Beagle" has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to Shrewsbury, which few uncles would 41 have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose.
Page 71 - I had, also, during many years followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to answer.
Page 81 - ... novels which are works of the imagination, though not of a very high order, have been for years a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often bless all novelists. A surprising number have been read aloud to me, and I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhappily—against which a law ought to be passed.
Page 237 - I now think — as a man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Page 29 - Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means- of education to me was simply a blank.
Page 550 - That which we were looking for, and could not find, was a hypothesis respecting the origin of known organic forms, which assumed the operation of no causes but such as could be proved to be actually at work. We wanted, not to pin our faith to that or any other speculation, but to get hold of clear and definite conceptions which could be brought face to face with facts and have their validity tested. The ' Origin ' provided us with the working hypothesis we sought.
Page 285 - But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind...