100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 63 11 Darwin traveled around the world and founded the "Theory of Evolution"

Chapter 611 Darwin traveled around the world and founded the "Theory of Evolution"

——True knowledge comes from practice Books have taught us a lot of knowledge, but real knowledge can only come from practice.If we want to obtain knowledge beyond books, we have to practice it ourselves.

One day in 1828, in a wood outside London, a college student suddenly found insects wriggling under the bark of an old tree that was about to fall off, so he hurriedly peeled off the bark and found two strange beetles.The college student immediately grasped the bow left and right, admiring it excitedly.At this time, another one jumped out from the bark. Seeing that he could not free his hand, the college student hid the beetle in one hand into his mouth, and stretched out his hand to catch the third beetle.

The beetle in the mouth released a pungent liquid, which stung the college student's tongue numb and painful. He spat it into his hand, and walked back triumphantly regardless of the pain in his mouth.

This college student is Charlie who later wrote "The Origin of Species"?Darwin.Later, in order to commemorate the beetle he first discovered, people named it "Darwin".

On February 1809, 2, Darwin was born in a Christian family in Shrewsbury, England. His grandfather and father were both famous local doctors.Darwin loved nature since he was a child, especially hunting, collecting minerals, and animal and plant specimens. After he was sent to the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine at the age of 12, he still often went to the wild to collect animal and plant specimens.His father thought he was "idling" and "doing nothing", so in a rage he sent him to Cambridge University in 16 to study theology, hoping that he would become a "noble pastor" in the future.

In 1831, Darwin graduated from Cambridge University.He gave up the well-paid pastor's career, and is still passionate about his natural science research.In December of this year, the British government organized a round-the-world survey of the "Beagle" warship. Darwin was recommended by others, and as a "naturalist", he boarded the ship at his own expense and began a long, arduous and interesting round-the-world expedition. .

Everywhere Darwin went, he always conducted serious investigation and research, interviewed local residents, sometimes asked them to be guides, trekked mountains and rivers, collected minerals, animal and plant specimens, and excavated biological fossils.He collected specimens and fossils during the day, and was busy recording at night.In the process, he discovered many new species that had not been documented.

At the end of February 1832, when the "Beagle" arrived in Brazil, Darwin went ashore to investigate and proposed to the captain to climb the Andes in South America.The captain was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "This mountain is so high and long, how can you walk over it?" "I just want to walk a road that no one has gone before!" Darwin said firmly.Moved by his spirit, the captain agreed to his request, and for the sake of safety, he sent a guide, mules and horses to go together.

When he reached the highest peak of the Andes, Darwin suddenly felt much more cheerful.He overlooked the mountain, and suddenly found that the types of plants on both sides of the mountain were different.If you take a closer look, even if they are of the same species, their appearances are very different.Why do they have obvious differences?Darwin's mind was churning for a while. After thinking hard, he believed that "species are not static, but change correspondingly with different objective conditions"!
Later, Darwin crossed the Pacific Ocean with the ship, passed through Australia, crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to England in October 1836.

During his five-year expedition around the world, Darwin accumulated a large amount of information.After returning to China, he sorted out these materials, practiced them in depth, and consulted a large number of books at the same time. In 1842, he wrote a brief outline of The Origin of Species. In November 1859, Darwin's "Origin of Species" written after more than 11 years of research was finally published.In this book, Darwin put forward the idea of ​​"evolution", explaining that species are constantly changing, from low-level to high-level, from simple to complex evolution.

Wisdom Interpretation:

As the saying goes, "True knowledge comes from practice".Most of the knowledge in books is mixed with emotion or has a certain emphasis.

What is learned on paper is always shallow, and I know that this matter must be practiced. Learning the theory does not mean mastering the spirit.Practice it yourself, as long as it is meaningful, you will definitely get true knowledge from it.

(End of this chapter)