Charles Darwin was
heir to a fortune, and in youth the possession of ample means prevented
him from taking any deep interest in studying for a profession, although
he did study medicine and, later, for the church. But before reaching
his majority he turned to natural history. At Cambridge he enjoyed an
intimacy with the distinguished botanist Professor John S. Henslow, who
quickened the young man's enthusiasm for scientific investigation.
In his twenty-third year Darwin went as naturalist with a government
expedition to Patagonia. The voyage, in the Beagle (1831-1836), was
continued round the world. Darwin's journals of the expedition served
him in his later work, and also furnished much material for popular
information. From 1842, when he went to reside at Down, in Kent, he
devoted himself wholly to a life of scientific research and writing.
Since it is not an uncommon error to confound natural selection with
evolution, it may be well to point out that, while based on evolution,
Darwinism is distinct from it.
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