After the author's family fortune declined, he was snubbed by the world and finally embarked on the road of breaking with feudalism. Miscellaneous Notes tells how Lu Xun went to Nanjing to study and look for "another kind of person". The work describes the disadvantages and difficulties of studying in Jiangnan Naval Academy (later renamed Thunder Academy) and Mining Railway Academy at that time, and criticizes the "cigar smoke" of Westernization Academy. The author described his excitement when he first came into contact with the theory of evolution. He read the theory of evolution hungrily despite the opposition of the older generation and showed a strong desire to explore the truth.