with alacrity he demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of all things warthropian-his sickly childhood in new england ; the `` lost years '' in the london boarding school ; his tutelage under von helrung ; his early adventures in amazonia , the congo , and `` that ill-fated expedition to sumatra '' ; his invaluable contributions to the encyclopedia bestia ( more than a third of the articles were written or cowritten by warthrop ) ; his championing of the cause to the broader world of the natural sciences .