The Days of a Man 1872 



with nature, the second essential, is possible every- 

 where, and much more so on this broad and un- 

 exhausted continent than in the fens of Cambridge- 

 shire. As to the third, Darwin explains his own 

 indebtedness: he "walked with Henslow," deriving 

 from that vigorous and enthusiastic botanist the 

 determination to make Natural History his life 

 work. Plainly it was not Cambridge and Edin- 

 burgh which made him. Indeed, he bluntly affirms 

 that in his scientific career he owed nothing to 

 Cambridge beyond his association with Henslow, 

 which was personal rather than official; and at Edin- 

 burgh he listened to lectures on geology "so incred- 

 ibly dull" that he made up his mind never to attend 

 any more or even read a book on the subject! 

 Need of I am sure that a Darwin could be produced in 

 "Darwin America just as readily as anywhere else. Once 

 secure the fortunate combination of inherited germ 

 plasm, the necessary "Darwin stuff," and the rest 

 is easy, for America affords an exuberance of nature 

 and always a choice number of Henslows as com- 

 panions and interpreters. 



in Gdes- But to return to Galesburg, where, in the month 

 bur s of September, 1872, I arrived to begin my work. 

 Then only twenty-one years old and without worldly 

 experience, I was ignorant and more or less scornful 

 of some of the social duties supposed to be incumbent 

 on professors. But I worked very hard at Lombard, 

 did some excellent teaching, and developed a certain 

 degree of enthusiasm in the small body of students, 

 of whom there were not over one hundred in the 

 entire collegiate department, with only eight in the 

 graduating class. A number of these young people, 



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