lOO HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



descent was better than hers. But my father took 

 every opportunity of teaching me that ability alone 

 was the real distinction amongst men, and that 

 nobility by itself was nothing, and was a matter of 

 accident. So that my mother's exaggerated family 

 notions, and my father's wise precepts, coming as 

 they did to me, during times of political change, 

 developed in me a sincere love for freedom, and a 

 contempt for all success except that which was 

 deserved." De CandoUe was born when his father 

 was in active office, and the earliest recollections of 

 the future naturalist were about his father's military 

 command, and the endeavours of this good citizen 

 to pacify the populace and the ruling powers, who 

 were always in opposition. The little fellow was 

 always ill, and lost much of the outdoor play of his 

 companions ; but there was compensation, for he 

 learned to read fairly soon, and at five years of age 

 he used to read and pretend to act plays ; and his 

 heart was in his studies, for when M. de Florian, an 

 author, came to see the family, the child told him 

 that he was going to write comedies, and had acted 

 them. At seven years of age he was far in advance, 

 and then came illness — scarlet fever, ear-ache, and 

 threatening brain disease. He used to say in after 

 years that he well remembered seeing everything 

 looking double. His recovery was very slow, and 

 he was taken to the country to a brisk air, and then 

 he began to be robust, and for fifty years after he 

 never spent a day in bed. But his father did not 

 send him to the public school ; he employed a tutor, 



