CHARLES DARWIN—WEISMANN. 449 
His mind was of the penetrating order which worked persistently at 
any problem until he began to see light on it. 
He was not concerned with practical aims; he was an idealist who 
desired knowledge for its own sake, and not for any utilitarian end; 
a naturalist who worked for pleasure in the work itself, and rejoiced 
in the advancement of science his work brought about. 
He was not lacking in ambition, but it was ambition on a large 
scale, not-to gain fame and position, but to create works which 
should seem to him worthy. Fame came unsought, and, as he tells 
us, 1t was a satisfaction to him to feel that he was held in esteem 
by those whom he himself esteemed. 
He has sometimes been called an amateur, and in a certain sense 
this is true, in as far as he worked in several different scientific 
provinces, each of which requires a man’s whole strength. But he 
had full command over these different provinces, at least as far as 
was necessary for the end he had in view. He was certainly not a 
restricted specialist. The zoologists accepted him as a zoologist, the 
botanists as a botanist, perhaps also the geologists as a geologist. 
But he was not an expert in any, or rather, it would be more correct 
to say, he was so wherever he himself had done productive work. 
For he was essentially self-taught, and had passed through no nor- 
mal school of zoology or botany, but with his great energy and un- 
flagging industry he had acquired a profound knowledge from books 
and from personal intercourse with specialists, and every piece of 
work he did added to this store of knowledge. He was perhaps the 
last not merely to survey, but to do productive work in every domain 
of biological science. Yet I will not assert this, for we have all been 
convinced in recent times through the evolution theory that it is 
not enough to be at home in a single science; it is necessary also 
to have at least a general acquaintance with the essentials of allied 
branches. 
Darwin has sometimes been accused of being one-sided, of caring 
for nothing but his science. But this was not the case; it is less 
true of him than of many specialists in natural science. He had a 
wide knowledge of English literature, Milton and Shakespeare hav- 
ing been his favorite reading in his youth. In later life he had 
novels, historical works, and books of travel read aloud to him every 
day. He was fond of music, too, though, as we have said, he had no 
musical ear. 
Darwin was a man not only of lofty, noble spirit, but of the 
tenderest feeling. Let anyone who doubts this read the touching 
pages in memory of his little daughter Annie, who died young; 
they form one of the most beautiful memorials ever dedicated by a 
father to his child. His son’s picture of him, too, reveals the beauti- 
ful and intimate relations that prevailed between them, and the whole 
