412 SOME GREAT NAMES IN BIOLOGY 



In 1828 his father sent him to Cambridge to study for the 

 ministry. His three years at this university were wasted so far 

 as preparation for the ministry was concerned, but they were in- 

 valuable in shaping his future. He made the acquaintance of one 

 or two professors who were naturalists like himself, and in their 

 company he spent many happy hours roaming over the coun- 

 tryside collecting beetles and other insects. In 1831 an event 

 occurred which changed his career and helped him to become one 

 of the world's greatest naturalists. He received word through 

 one of his friends that the position of naturalist on the ship 

 Beagle was open for a trip around the world. Darwin applied for 

 the position, was accepted, and shortly after started on an eventful 

 five years' trip around the world. He returned to England a 

 famous naturalist and spent the remainder of his long and busy 

 life producing books which have done much to account for the 

 changes of form and habits of plants and animals on the earth. 

 His theories established also a foundation upon which plant and 

 animal breeders were able to work. Two of his best known books 

 are Origin of Species Sind Plants and Animals under Domestication. 

 We have seen some account of his work on pollination (page 36) 

 and his theory of " natural selection " (page 383). 



His interpretation of the ways in which all life changes and de- 

 velops was due not only to his information and experimental evi- 

 dence, but also to an iron determination and undaunted energy. 

 In spite of almost constant illness brought about by eyestrain, he 

 accomplished more than most well men have done. He died on 

 the 19th of April, 1882, at seventy-four years of age. 



Other Scientists. — Thomas Henry Huxley did much to make 

 people understand Darwin's work, as he was a wonderful teacher 

 and lecturer. Associated with Darwin's name we must place also 

 the names of two other co-workers on heredity, Alfred Russel 

 Wallace, an Englishman who, working independently and at about 

 the same time, reached many conclusions similar to those of Dar- 

 win, and August Weissman, a German. The latter showed that 

 the protoplasm of the germ cells (eggs and sperms) is handed 

 down directly from generation to generation, these cells being dif- 

 ferent from the others in the body from the very beginning of the 

 development of the embryo. 



