Though there is a not precise date as to when this period of history started, the Enlightenment, also know as the Age of Reason, was a period that began around the early 18th century and continued through the early 19th century. Great thinkers form across Western Europe began to contest against the conventional perceptions of how the world was viewed around them. Like the long lost scholars of the ancient Greek and Roman period, The great thinkers of this time adopted the notion of prudence as the guide to improving the ill conditions of humankind. There were new and unconventional ways of practicing medicine, documenting the natural world, and discovering the vast expansion of the heavens. Although Darwin was a medical doctor, he did develop an appreciation for plants and was a leading figure in the study of Botany, which was a fairly new discipline at the time. Through his use of poetic verse he wished to convey to his readers the subject matter of his interest, and to express that the functions and life cycles of plants and animal were just as important to understand the ourselves as humans. He expounded on new and unconventional ideas that would later develop into the Theory of Evolution. Lastly, Darwin was an outspoken abolitionist and strong proponents to the advancements of woman and education. So needless to say Erasmus Darwin was a man that was the forerunner of most scientific and political policies that shape our world today. To top it all off, he was the grandfather of the evolutionist Charles Darwin, who was able to further expound on the work that was started by his grandfather. Erasmus Darwin was Born on the 12th of December 1731 in Nottingham-shire, England as the youngest of seven children of Robert Darwin of Eston and Elizabeth Hill1. As the son of a prominent lawyer, Darwin was afforded the best education that his father could offer. Therefore, he attended John's College in Cambridge, where he studied classics and mathematics2. After his time attending school in Cambridge, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and finished in three years, receiving his proper medical schooling3. After attending Edinburgh he started practicing medicine in Lichfield, Stafford-shire and he was so successful in his medical practice that he offered a position as the royal physician to King George the third; however, he gratefully declined the offer1. Darwin wedded in 1757 to Mary Howard, and the two raised three sons, two whom died early on in their lives5. The third son Robert Waring Darwin, who would later father of Charles Darwin, followed in the footsteps of his father and practiced medicine in Shewsbury, England6. Within his life, time he had two daughters out of wedlock7. He nursed to health two daughters of the Colonel Chandos Pole and his wife Elizabeth8. Soon after Elizabeth's health took a turn for the worse, and Erasmus had to nurse the ailing Elizabeth back to health9. They both grew and strong love for each other, and married in 1781, long after the death of Elizabeth Pole's husband, and they parented seven children10. In a way Darwin possessed a type of free love Bohemia lifestyle that would not in otherwise be seen or lived by people until the 1960s. Darwin's contribution to the science and philosophy were great components that would set