That he was a keen observer for his age is clear from the fact that, when he was only ten, he was much interested and surprised to notice that the insects he found on the Welsh coast were different from those in Shropshire. His most valuable education was received out of school hours--collecting, and working at chemistry with his brother Erasmus, although this latter study drew down upon him the rebukes of Dr. Butler for wasting time on such useless subjects. [Sidenote: AT EDINBURGH.] He was removed from school early, and in 1825 went to Edinburgh to study medicine--a subject for which he seemed to be unfitted by nature. The methods of instruction by lectures did not benefit him; he was disgusted at dissection, and could not endure to witness an operation. And yet here it was evident, as it became afterwards at Cambridge, that Darwin--although seeming to be by no means above the average when judged by ordinary standards--possessed in reality a very remarkable and attractive personality. There can be no other explanation of the impression he made upon distinguished men who were much older than himself, and the friendships he formed with those of his own age who were afterwards to become eminent. Thus at Edinburgh he was well acquainted with Dr. Grant and Mr. Macgillivray, the curator of the museum, and worked at marine zoology in company with the former. Here, too, in 1826, he made his first scientific discovery, and read a paper before the Plinian Society, proving that so-called eggs of Flustra were in reality free-swimming larvæ. And it is evident from his “Autobiography” that he took every opportunity of hearing and learning about scientific subjects. Darwin’s love of sport remained as keen as ever at this period and at Cambridge, and he speaks with especial enthusiasm of his visits in the autumn to Maer, the home of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, who afterwards exerted so important an influence upon his life. [Sidenote: AT CAMBRIDGE.] After Darwin had been at Edinburgh for two sessions, his father realised that he did not like the thought of the medical profession, and suggested that he should become a clergyman. With this intention he was sent to Cambridge in the beginning of 1828, after spending some months in recovering the classics he had learnt at school. He joined Christ’s College, and passed his final examination in January, 1831, being tenth in the list of those who do not seek honours. The immense, and in many respects disastrous, development of the competitive examination system since that time has almost banished from our universities the type of student represented by Darwin--the man who takes the easiest road to a degree and obtains it with the minimum of effort, but who all the time is being benefited by residence, studying, without any thought of examinations, the subjects which are of special interest to him, and seeking personal contact with older men who have reached the highest eminence in those subjects.