But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles.It was the mere passion for collecting, for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their external characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow.I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth.Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.
I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods; I employed a labourer to scrape during the winter, moss off old trees and place it in a large bag, and likewise to collect the rubbish at the bottom of the barges in which reeds are brought from the fens, and thus I got some very rare species.No poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephens' 'Illustrations of British Insects,' the magic words, "captured by C.Darwin, Esq." I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin W.Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College, and with whom I became extremely intimate.Afterwards I became well acquainted, and went out collecting, with Albert Way of Trinity, who in after years became a well-known archaeologist; also with H.Thompson of the same College, afterwards a leading agriculturist, chairman of a great railway, and Member of Parliament.It seems therefore that a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life!
I am surprised what an indelible impression many of the beetles whichI caught at Cambridge have left on my mind.I can remember the exact appearance of certain posts, old trees and banks where I made a good capture.The pretty Panagaeus crux-major was a treasure in those days, and here at Down I saw a beetle running across a walk, and on picking it up instantly perceived that it differed slightly from P.crux-major, and it turned out to be P.quadripunctatus, which is only a variety or closely allied species, differing from it very slightly in outline.I had never seen in those old days Licinus alive, which to an uneducated eye hardly differs from many of the black Carabidous beetles; but my sons found here a specimen, and I instantly recognised that it was new to me; yet I had not looked at a British beetle for the last twenty years.
I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole career more than any other.This was my friendship with Professor Henslow.Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my brother as a man who knew every branch of science, and I was accordingly prepared to reverence him.He kept open house once every week when all undergraduates, and some older members of the University, who were attached to science, used to meet in the evening.I soon got, through Fox, an invitation, and went there regularly.Before long I became well acquainted with Henslow, and during the latter half of my time at Cambridge took long walks with him on most days; so that I was called by some of the dons "the man who walks with Henslow;" and in the evening I was very often asked to join his family dinner.His knowledge was great in botany, entomology, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology.His strongest taste was to draw conclusions from long- continued minute observations.His judgment was excellent, and his whole mind well balanced; but I do not suppose that any one would say that he possessed much original genius.He was deeply religious, and so orthodox that he told me one day he should be grieved if a single word of the Thirty-nine Articles were altered.His moral qualities were in every way admirable.He was free from every tinge of vanity or other petty feeling; and I never saw a man who thought so little about himself or his own concerns.His temper was imperturbably good, with the most winning and courteous manners; yet, as I have seen, he could be roused by any bad action to thewarmest indignation and prompt action.
I once saw in his company in the streets of Cambridge almost as horrid a scene as could have been witnessed during the French Revolution.Two body-snatchers had been arrested, and whilst being taken to prison had been torn from the constable by a crowd of the roughest men, who dragged them by their legs along the muddy and stony road.They were covered from head to foot with mud, and their faces were bleeding either from having been kicked or from the stones; they looked like corpses, but the crowd was so dense that I got only a few momentary glimpses of the wretched creatures.Never in my life have I seen such wrath painted on a man's face as was shown by Henslow at this horrid scene.He tried repeatedly to penetrate the mob; but it was simply impossible.He then rushed away to the mayor, telling me not to follow him, but to get more policemen.I forget the issue, except that the two men were got into the prison without being killed.