The Voyage of the Beagle
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~210,000 words · 1,007 passages
Cite this work
- APACharles Darwin. (n.d.). The Voyage of the Beagle. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle
- MLACharles Darwin. "The Voyage of the Beagle." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle.
- ChicagoCharles Darwin. The Voyage of the Beagle. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-voyage-of-the-beagle.
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.
The degree symbol is represented as "degs." Italics are represented as _italics_. Footnotes are collected at the end of each chapter. THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE PREFACE I have stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work, and in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, that it was in consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of having some scientific person on board, accompanied by an offer from him of giving up part of his own accommodations, that I volunteered my services, which received, through the kindness of the hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, the sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty. As I feel that the opportunities which I enjoyed of studying the Natural History of the different countries we visited, have been wholly due to Captain Fitz Roy, I hope I may here be permitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him; and to add that, during the five years we were together, I received from him the most cordial friendship and steady assistance. Both to Captain Fitz Roy and to all the Officers of the Beagle [1] I shall ever feel most thankful for the undeviating kindness with which I was treated during our long voyage. This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of our voyage, and a sketch of those observations in Natural History and Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the general reader. I have in this edition largely condensed and corrected some parts, and have added a little to others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I trust that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details to the larger publications which comprise the scientific results of the Expedition. The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen; of the Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterhouse; of the Birds, by Mr. Gould; of the Fish, by the Rev. L. Jen