Of everyone aboard the HMS Beagle, nobody was more anxious to reach Tenerife than Charles Darwin. Prior to signing up to be the Beagle's naturalist, Darwin had planned to travel to Tenerife with friends. He was inspired by the following books:

• William Paley's "Natural Theology"
• Sir John Herschel's book, "Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy"
• Alexander von Humboldt's "Personal Narrative" (about South America).

   Sadly, however, when the Beagle reached Tenerife, the government officials would not allow anyone to leave the ship until a 12-day quarantine had been passed. But, FitzRoy was anxious to get his expedition underway.

    The real problem was that in 1831, nobody knew what caused cholera. All they knew was that the disease progressed rapidly, was very painful, and almost always resulted in death. Today we know that it is usually caused by drinking or eating something contaminated with bacteria.

    The reaction to the 1831 and 1832 outbreaks in England is comparable to the way people a few years ago responded to the SARS outbreak.

   This site will give you a sense of what it was like in the 1830s. If you want more information, look here.

After the Beagle expedition:
   In 1854, during another outbreak of cholera in London, Dr. John Snow was able to identify the source of the contamination.

   Find out what we know about cholera today.