The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-01
STIMULATING COMPANIONS.

Two Well Known Men Who Owed Their
Greatness Largely to Friends.
Charles Darwin largely owed his great
fame to an early companionship. His
father, hoping that his son would become
physician or minister, sent him to col
lege, but soon became discouraged with his
seeming Indifference, and said: you care
for nothing but shooting dogs and rat
catching, and you Will be a disgrace to
yourself and all your family" At Cam
bridge Charles became very fond of Pro
fessor Henslow, a man with great knowl-
edge of botany, entomology, chemistry,
mineralogy and geology. The two took
long walks together, and Charles became
known as ''the man who walks with Hens
low"
Darwin said years later of this model
teacher: 'When reflect how Immediately
we felt at ease with man older, and in
every way immensely our superior, Think
it was as much owing to the transparent
sincerity of his character as to his kind
ness of heart, and perhaps even still
more to highly remarkable absence in
him of all self consciousness. One per
ceived at once that he never thought of
his own varied knowledge or clear intellect
but solely on the subject in hand. Another
charm which must have struck every one
was that his manner to old and distin-
guished persons and to the youngest stu
dent was exactly the same, and to all he
showed the same winning courtesy. He
would receive with interest the most tri-
fling observation in any branch of natural
history, and however absurd a blunder one
might make, he pointed it out so clearly
and kindly that one left HIM in no way dis
heartened, but only determined to be more
accurate the next time"
Through this friend Darwin had the op-
portunity of taking four years voyage in
the ship Beagle as a naturalist, Henslow
being friend of the captain, which period
Darwin said determined his whole career.
Out of the years grew the wonderful
"Origin of Species" the result of twenty
years of labor Out Of these years grew
his other famous books, translated into
French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian,
Swedish and many other languages, and
such a world wide reputation as made him
a member of over seventy of the learned
societies of the world.
The great Humboldt furnishes another
remarkable instance of the power of con-
formity. Rich, prominent, restless, at
nineteen he had never heard of botany, and
yet through a friendship became one Of the
most distinguished of botanists.
lie said: "Of the science of botany
never so much as heard till 1 formed the
acquaintance in 1888 of Herr Willdenow, a
youth of my own age, who had just been
publishing "Flora of Berlin" His gentle
and amiable character stimulated the in.
terest / felt in his pursuits. l never re-
ceived any lesson professedly, but used TO
bring him the specimens l collected, and he
gave me their classiications. l became
passionately devoted to botany, and took
especial interest in the study of cryptoga-
mia. The sight of exotic plants, even when
only as dried specimens in a herbarium,
fired my imagination with the pleasure
that would be derived from the view of a
tropical vegetation in southcrci lands"
Two years later, at GottiGgcn, Hum /
Ooldt made the acquaintance of George
Foster, fifteen years his senior He had
been around the world with Captain Cook,
understood Latin, Greek, French Eng
lish, Dutch and Italian, besides somewhat
of Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian
and Polish. He was also skilled in phi
losophy, literature and politics. Foster be-
came guiding star to the Gottingen stu.
dent He Travelled with Humboldt through
Holland, Belgium, England and France,
studying docks, mines, botanic gardens,
manufactures, churches and visiting lit |
erary celebrities Sixty-eight years after
this Humboldt said, For the space of
thirty years L have never known leisure
but of an evening, and the half century
that have spent in this ceaseless activity /
has been occupied in telling myself, not
others, how much owe my teacher and
friend, George Foster, in the generaliza- 1
tion of my views on nature, and in the
strengthening and development of that
which had already dawned in me before
those days of intimate friendship"
Through the influence of another COM |
panion, Freresleben, Humboldt became a
great geologist. Thirty-six volumes and
immortal fame were almost wholly the re-
suit of three stimulating companions. -
Chicago Advance.