X-Cited Science Magazine - No:2

Having a lot of free time as a
religious student turned out to be
his advantage because, during his
time in church, Darwin could spend
most of his time collecting insects
and studying on them. Having
graduated in 1831, Darwin had the
most important opportunity of his life
before starting to work as a religious
man. Darwin’s teacher at Cambridge
University, Nature Theologian John
Stevens Henslow, recommended
Darwin as a naturalist to the ship
HMS Beagle, which would travel the
world for scientific research and
observations.
Five Year Ship Journey with the
Beagle
Henslow encouraged Darwin to take
this journey to explain the first part of
the Bible, “Creation”. Darwin traveled
the globe for five years, fascinated
with the thought of becoming the
first one to prove creation and the
idea of traveling the world. Darwin
collected samples from the animals
he encountered and at the same time,
conducted geological investigations.
After leaving South America in 1835,
Darwin’s ship, HMS Beagle, reached
the Galapagos Islands, 960 miles off
the coast of Ecuador. When Darwin
came to the remote volcanic islands of
the Galapagos, he studied goldfinches,
turtles, and mockingbirds.
During his time in the Galapagos
Islands, he started to interrogate the
statements about “Creation” in the
Bible. He started to wonder if each
species was created discretely and
inhabited regions created for them,
why are there species that were
found all over the world, but not in
Galapagos Islands. Or why the species
found in Galapagos Island were not
found anywhere else, especially
in areas with a higher human
population. Moreover, there was no
similarity between the creatures
living in the Cape Verde Islands in
the Atlantic Ocean, which are at the
same latitude, and those living in
Galapagos Islands, also the species
in the Galapagos were similar to the
species in South America, and species
on other islands off the east coast
were similar to those in West Africa.
Altogether, he was confused with the
dissimilar natures of the islands.
In his notebook which he named
“The Red Notebook”, Darwin wrote
an article about “One species may
change to another” for the first time
in his life in March 1837. He also drew
a basic sketch of the “Evolution Tree”
in this article.
His theories on evolution started to
mature in 1838. In the terminology
of the time, Darwin witnessed,
through his eyes, how transmutation
took place. Animals that were more
adapted to their environment lived
longer and could reproduce more by
“natural selection”. This transition
had to come naturally. Darwin
had a tough time embracing this
notion, which was against his goal of
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