Перевод CHARLES DARWIN
The famous naturalist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February 12, 1809.
Charles’ father was a well-known physician, a Fellow of the Royal Society and the son
of a still greater physician, poet and scientist—Erasmus Darwin. Charles’ father hoped
that his son also would become a doctor.
As a boy, Charles liked to go rat-hunting with the dogs or to go out shooting. He walked
in the fields and woods observing nature and comparing his observations with everything he had read in natural science books. He was also fond of collecting. He collected
everything—shells, birds’ eggs (he never destroyed the nests and always took only one
egg for his collection), minerals, even leaves.
At sixteen Charles was sent to Edinburgh University to become a doctor. He had no
interest necessary for medicine and classical languages. But he was interested in the
natural history. At the end of two years Charles was still not interested in medicine and
his father began to think that the only thing to do was to make a parson of him. So he
was sent to Cambridge to work for his degree. Once a year, before his examinations,
Charles learnt his theology textbooks by heart and thus passed from one course to the
next. What he liked most of all at Cambridge was entomology and botany. At the
university he was one of a group of students who were very fond of hunting and sports.
In the spring of 1831 Charles took his degree but he refused to become a parson. He
decided to take part in the expedition to South America which lasted five years. He saw
many new plants and animals, all of the greatest interest to him. But one thing puzzled
him more and more. Like most people in those days, he thought that each species had
been created thousands of years before and had never changed. But as he went from
one part of South America to another he saw that many different species of plants and
animals and the fossils in some ways were very much alike. Was it possible that
species did change?
Darwin gradually became convinced that plants and living organisms really changed
and so did their surroundings. This was caused by the struggle for existence which went
on all the time; as a result of adaptability, new organs develop and one kind of species
changes into another. At last, in 1859, Darwin finished his book The Origin of Species
by Means of Natural Selection. It caused a sensation. Darwin was violently attacked by
bishops, politicians, even some scientists. Copies of the book were burned by people
who objected to the idea that men were descended from apes. But later more and more
scientists agreed with Darwin and began to support him. In 1871 he published another
book—The Descent of Man, which became almost as famous as The Origin of Species.
In this book he explained why he thought that mankind and the anthropoid apes, like the
orangutan, chimpanzee and gorilla, had the common ancestry.
Darwin continued his careful research until his sudden death in 1882. He was buried in
Westminster Abbey, near Newton’s grave.
Many outstanding scientists all over the world have applied Darwin’s teaching
successfully, but the greatest contribution in spreading and developing Darwinism was
made by such Russian scientists as K. A. Timiryazev. I. I. Mechnikov, I. M. Sechenov
and, later, I. P. Pavlov and I. V. Michurin

ktlwfh    1   02.06.2021 21:09    1