Charles Darwin and the theory of Evolution

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theories of Lamarck. According to Darwin at the time he was
not very impressed with Lamarck's ideas. In 1828, at his father's suggestion, Darwin entered
Christ's College in Cambridge to become a clergyman. To Darwin a good education meant
instruction in the methods and logic of thought. Therefore, Just about the only thing he enjoyed
studying there was Paley's works on theology, because of their logic. For the rest, however, he
judged Cambridge to be just as much a waste of time as Edinburgh and Shrewsbury.

Nevertheless, in his spare time at Cambridge, Darwin became interested in various scientific
endeavors, and became acquainted with and influenced by the scientific ideas of Henslow,
Sedgwick, and Whewell (ironically Sedgwick later became a bitter opponent of Darwin's theory). In addition, during his last year at Cambridge Darwin read two books which influenced him greatly, Herschel's Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, and Von
Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of th...