the autobiography of charles darwin

by charles darwin

excerpt from voyage of the beagle from december 27, 1831, to october 2, 1836

the voyage of the "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 have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose. i have always felt that i owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; i was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed.

the investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more important, as reasoning here comes into play. on first examining a new district nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but by recording the stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reasoning and predicting what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure of the whole becomes more or less intelligible. i had brought with me the first volume of lyell's 'principles of geology,' which i studied attentively; and the book was of the highest service to me in many ways. the very first place which i examined, namely st. jago in the cape de verde islands, showed me clearly the wonderful superiority of lyell's manner of treating geology, compared with that of any other author, whose works i had with me or ever afterwards read.

another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes, briefly describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine ones; but from not being able to draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical knowledge, a great pile of ms. which i made during the voyage has proved almost useless. i thus lost much time, with the exception of that spent in acquiring some knowledge of the crustaceans, as this was of service when in after years i undertook a monograph of the cirripedia.

during some part of the day i wrote my journal, and took much pains in describing carefully and vividly all that i had seen; and this was good practice. my journal served also, in part, as letters to my home, and portions were sent to england whenever there was an opportunity.

the above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated attention to whatever i was engaged in, which i then acquired. everything about which i thought or read was made to bear directly on what i had seen or was likely to see; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. i feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever i have done in science.

looking backwards, i can now perceive how my love for science gradually preponderated over every other taste. during the first two years my old passion for shooting survived in nearly full force, and i shot myself all the birds and animals for my collection; but gradually i gave up my gun more and more, and finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my work, more especially with making out the geological structure of a country. i discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher one than that of skill and sport. that my mind became developed through my pursuits during the voyage is rendered probable by a remark made by my father, who was the most acute observer whom i ever saw, of a sceptical disposition, and far from being a believer in phrenology; for on first seeing me after the voyage, he turned round to my sisters, and exclaimed, "why, the shape of his head is quite altered."

// question ↓

which paragraphs from the autobiography of charles darwin most effectively develop darwin’s claim that the voyage of the “beagle” was the most important event in his life? use evidence from the text to support your response. your response should be two or three complete paragraphs.