RECORD: Anon. 1879. [Review of Journal of researches]. [What Mr. Darwin Saw, etc.]. Appleton's Journal, vol. 7 (December): 575-576.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe. 6.2021. RN1

NOTE: See the record for this item in the Freeman Bibliographical Database by entering its Identifier here. Darwin, C. R. 1880. What Mr. Darwin saw in his voyage round the world in the ship "Beagle". New York: Harper.


[page] 575

THE idea of making Charles Darwin the medium for furnishing literature to children is certainly daring enough to deserve success, and a success has unquestionably been achieved by the compiler of "What Darwin saw in his Voyage round the world in the Ship Beagle."* Using the great naturalist's admirable but too little read account of his voyage as material, the compiler has detached from the text all the most striking descriptive passages, welding together those which refer to the same subject, and grouping them under obvious natural divisions. The first division is entitled "Animals," and contains Darwin's observations on the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects which attracted his attention in South America and the Pacific islands. Among these are the horse, the mule, the dog, the guanaco, the puma, the jaguar, the seal, the tortoise, the cuttlefish, the cormorant, the condor, the penguin, the ostrich, the locust, the ant, and the spider.

The second division is entitled "Man," and comprises descriptions of the Fuegians, the Patagonians, the Pampas Indians, the Gaucho, the La Platan, the Uruguayan, the Chileno, the Spaniard, the Tahitian, and the Australian negro.

The third division, under the somewhat ambiguous heading of "Geography," contains descriptions of the various countries visited, and of the cities, towns, and other habitations of man. Finally, under "Nature" is given an account

*What Mr. Darwin saw in his Voyage round the World in the Ship Beagle. With numerous Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. Square 8vo, pp. 228.

[page] 576

of the grander terrestrial processes and phenomena, such as earthquakes, rainfall, forests, the ocean, fossil trees, and the hibernation of animals. Many of the passages are  unsatisfactory if one goes to them for a complete and systematic account of the thing described, but their charm is principally due to the very fact that they record only personal observations. At any rate, the book is of fascinating interest, and a better introduction for the young to the study of natural history could hardly be devised. Not less attractive, and perhaps not less instructive, than the text are the illustrations, which are very numerous and beautifully engraved; and to these are added maps and charts.


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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

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