The Voyage of the Beagle
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~210,000 words · 1,007 passages
Cite this work
- APACharles Darwin. (n.d.). The Voyage of the Beagle. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle
- MLACharles Darwin. The Voyage of the Beagle. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle.
- ChicagoCharles Darwin. The Voyage of the Beagle. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Darwin's journal of the voyage round the world aboard the Beagle, 1831 to 1836: geology, animals, plants, and also the people and places he saw.
Context and history
It is published under two titles, and that is worth knowing: this one and Journal of Researches, which is the original name and which the catalogue also holds. They are the same work. The first edition is of 1839 and the second, of 1845, is substantially rewritten — there are famous passages on the Galápagos that do not say the same thing in the first, because in between Darwin had begun to think about evolution. It is also a travel book carrying all the prejudices of its century, and that shows when read today.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
air is swallowed, and is then forced into the cavity of the body, its return being prevented by a muscular contraction which is externally visible: but the water enters in a gentle stream through the mouth, which is kept wide open and motionless; this latter action must, therefore, depend on suction. The skin about the abdomen is much looser than that on the back; hence, during the inflation, the lower surface becomes far more distended than the upper; and the fish, in consequence, floats with its back downwards. Cuvier doubts whether the Diodon in this position is able to swim; but not only can it thus move forward in a straight line, but it can turn round to either side. This latter movement is effected solely by the aid of the pectoral fins; the tail being collapsed, and not used. From the body being buoyed up with so much air, the branchial openings are out of water, but a stream drawn in by the mouth constantly flows through them. The fish, having remained in this distended state for a short time, generally expelled the air and water with considerable force from the branchial apertures and mouth. It could emit, at will, a certain portion of the water, and it appears, therefore, probable that this fluid is taken in partly for the sake of regulating its specific gravity. This Diodon possessed several means of defence. It could give a severe bite, and could eject water from its mouth to some distance, at the same time making a curious noise by the movement of its jaws. By the inflation of its body, the papillae, with which the skin is covered, become erect and pointed. But the most curious circumstance is, that it secretes from the skin of its belly, when handled, a most beautiful carmine-red fibrous matter, which stains ivory and paper in so permanent a manner that the tint is retained with all its brightness to the present day: I am quite ignorant of the nature and use of this secretion. I have heard from Dr.…