"I have been asked by Peacock (Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge) to recommend him a naturalist as companion to Captain Fitz-Roy, employed by Government to survey the southern extremity of America. I have stated that I consider you to be the best-qualified person I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation." In connection with this the following memorandum from Darwin's pocket-book of 1831 is of interest:--"Returned to Shrewsbury at end of August. Refused offer of voyage." This refusal was given at the instance of his father, who objected to the scheme as "wild and unsettling, and as disreputable to his character as a clergyman"; but he soon yielded on the advice of his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, and on Darwin's plea that he "should be deuced clever to spend more than his allowance whilst on board the Beagle." On this his father answered with a smile, "But they tell me you are very clever." It is amusing to find that Darwin narrowly escaped being rejected by Fitz-Roy, who, as a disciple of Lavater, doubted whether a man with such a nose as Darwin's "could possess sufficient energy and determination for the voyage." The details of that voyage, the first of the two memorable events in Darwin's otherwise unadventurous life, are set down in delightful narrative in his Naturalist's Voyage Round the World, and it will suffice to quote a passage from the autobiography bearing on the significance of the materials collected during his five years' absence.