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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where was Spencer born?

2. When did Dr. Gregory Black die?

3. What did Dr. Gregory Black teach?

4. Who was one of Spencer’s most influential professors?

5. What insect did Spencer regularly sketch and mention in his journals and letters?

Short Essay Questions

1. What special program did Spencer begin in Chapter 3?

2. By the end of Spencer’s second year at the academy, to what was he devoting his time?

3. What did Spencer write about a time he went to help his father dig up a body?

4. What did Spencer begin to research in 1869?

5. How was information about Spencer collected?

6. How did Dr. Gregory Black obtain bodies for his medical students?

7. When and where were Spencer and his brother born?

8. How successful was Ward C?

9. What is the life cycle of the cicada?

10. What did Spencer think about religion as a child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 6, Spencer faced ridicule and rejection after he tried to publish a paper about the fawn-child. What was the main thesis of his paper? What did some in the medical community say about the contents of the paper? Why did he have to find a new job?

Essay Topic 2

Spencer Black was a rising young doctor.

a. What made Spencer an internationally known physician?

b. Why did he become scorned by the scientific community?

Essay Topic 3

Through the years, Bernard and Spencer grew apart. When did the two lose their closeness? How did their work go in different directions? Did Bernard ever refuse to correspond or see his brother? Why did Bernard often lose touch with Spencer? What type of relationship did they have later years? What did Bernard’s actions at the end of the novel reveal about his relationship with his brother? What did the fact that Spencer asked for help say about how he felt about his brother?

(see the answer keys)

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