Darwin the environmentalist

Getting a glimpse of Charles Darwin's notebooks in the exhibit at the Museum of Science is really quite something. During his five-year voyage on the Beagle, he took copious notes and collected fossils and specimens everywhere he went. Yet later he wished he'd been even more exacting. When he collected specimens on the Galapagos Islands, he didn't note which island each specimen was from. He had assumed they'd all be alike.

In another case is a brightly colored drawing by his son, Francis. Darwin didn't believe in wasting paper. "The Battle of the Fruit & Vegetable'' was drawn on the back of a manuscript page from the "Origin of Species.'' It is one of 28 manuscript pages still known to exist.

If you want to see the exhibit, you have to hurry. It closes Friday.