, completed his contributions to the biological
argument. His last volume, published the year before his death, treated
of the formation of vegetable mould and the habits of earthworms, and
the preparation of it enabled him to revive some of the geological
enthusiasm which so marked the earlier years of his life.

Such, in briefest outline, was the work accomplished by Charles Darwin.
The admirable biography prepared by his son enables us to follow its
progress from the beginning to its close. But higher even than the
intellect which achieved the work, was the moral character which shone
through it all.

LOUIS ADOLPHE THIERS

(1797-1877)

[Illustration: Louis Adolphe Thiers. [TN]]

Louis Adolphe Thiers, French historian, politician, and patriot, was
born at Marseilles on April 16, 1797. His father, who seems to have
belonged to a family in decayed circumstances, was a locksmith. Through
the influence of his mother, who was a Chenier, he received a good
education, first at the _Lycee_ in his native city, and subsequently
(1815) at Aix, whither he was sent to study law. At Aix he made the
acquaintance of Mignet, cultivated literature rather than the law, and
won a prize for a dissertation on Vauvenargues. Called to the bar at the
age of twenty-three, he set off for Paris in the company of Mignet. His
prospects did not seem brilliant, and his almost ludicrously squat
figure and plain face were not recommendations to Parisian society. His
industry and belief in himself were, however, unbounded, and an
introduction to Lafitte, of the _Constitutionnel_, then the leading
organ of the French liberals, gave him the chance of showing his
capacity as a public writer. His articles in the _Constitutionnel_,
chiefly on political and literary subjects, gained him the entry into
the most influential salons of the opposition. At this time he made the
acquaintance of Talleyrand, Casimir Perier, the Comte de Flahault, and
Baron Louis, the financier. Meanwhile he was rapidly--indeed too
rapidly--preparing his "Histoire de la Revolution Francaise." The first
two volumes--there were ten in all--appeared in 1823. This work,
although it has been demonstrated to be very untrustworthy and
inaccurate, more especially in its estimates of persons, gave its author
a prominent place among French politicians and men of letters. About
this time, too, the gift by his admirer, Cotta, the German publisher, of
a share in the _Constitutionnel_