His Books. 5 



boyish mind were Horace, certain odes of which 

 appear to have been the one bright feature in his 

 school Hfe ; many hours were spent poring over the 

 historical plays of Shakespeare, while the poetry of 

 Byron and Scott, and especially Thomson's " Sea- 

 sons," seem to have given him pleasure and satisfac- 

 tion. A book that had a strong influence upon him 

 was the " Wonders of the World," over whose varied 

 contents he often pored, discussing the strange facts 

 set forth with his companions. Small things often 

 have much to do in shaping our lives, and in this 

 volume we undoubtedly find the germ that excited 

 in his mind the love for travel and exploration 

 which ultimately resulted in the famous voyage 

 which he made around the world in the Beagle. 

 Darsvin testifies to the correctness of this, and in 

 later years, in referring to the book, wrote to a 

 German publisher : " I believe that this book first 

 gave me a wish to travel in remote countries, which 

 was ultimately fulfilled by the voyage of the Beagled 



While we may trace the love of travel to hours 

 spent over this volume, his passion for natural 

 history was accelerated by White's " Selborne." 

 From its pages he obtained his fondness for birds, 

 learning to note their ways and habits, and be- 

 coming an ardent ornithologist. 



Darsvin had a decided natural inclination to litera- 

 ture of a scientific character. He read during these 

 days several books on chemistry, and worked with 

 his elder brother in his laboratory, making gases and 

 various other chemical compounds ; and that it was 

 an unusual taste among the boys of the time is 



