Part 3 (2/2)

In the second volume the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, etc, are discussed as far as our present state of knowledge perive enesis An unverified hypothesis is of little or no value; but if anyone should hereafter be led to make observations by which soood service, as an astonishi+ng nuether and rendered intelligible In 1875 a second and largely corrected edition, which cost ht out

My 'Descent of Man' was published in February, 1871 As soon as I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that ly I collected notes on the subject fortih in the 'Origin of Species' the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourableht would be thrown on the origin of man and his history”

It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the book to have paraded, without giving any evidence, in

But when I found that many naturalists fully accepted the doctrine of the evolution of species, it seemed to me advisable to work up such notes as I possessed, and to publish a special treatise on the origin of avesexual selection--a subject which had always greatly interested me This subject, and that of the variation of our doether with the causes and laws of variation, inheritance, and the intercrossing of plants, are the sole subjects which I have been able to write about in full, so as to use all the materials which I have collected The 'Descent of Man' took me three years to write, but then as usual some of this ti new editions and other ely corrected edition of the 'Descent' appeared in 1874

My book on the 'Expression of the Emotions in Men and Aniive only a chapter on the subject in the 'Descent of Man,' but as soon as I began to put ether, I saw that it would require a separate treatise

My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced to make notes on the first dawn of the various expressions which he exhibited, for I felt convinced, even at this early period, that the most coradual and natural origin During the su year, 1840, I read Sir C Bell's adreatly increased the interest which I felt in the subject, though I could not at all agree with his belief that various muscles had been specially created for the sake of expression From this time forward I occasionally attended to the subject, both with respect to ely; 5267 copies having been disposed of on the day of publication

In the su near Hartfield, where two species of Drosera abound; and I noticed that numerous insects had been entrapped by the leaves I carried ho them insects saw the movements of the tentacles, and this ht for some special purpose

Fortunately a crucial test occurred to enous and non-nitrogenous fluids of equal density; and as soon as I found that the foretic movements, it was obvious that here was a fine new field for investigation

During subsequent years, whenever I had leisure, I pursued my experiments, and my book on 'Insectivorous Plants' was published in July 1875--that is, sixteen years after my first observations The delay in this case, as with all e tointerval can criticise his oork, almost as well as if it were that of another person The fact that a plant should secrete, when properly excited, a fluid containing an acid and ferestive fluid of an ani this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the 'Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom' This book will form a complement to that on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' in which I showed how perfect were the means for cross-fertilisation, and here I shall sho i eleven years, the numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before hly aroused to the ree are inferior, even in the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of cross-fertilised parentage I hope also to republish a revised edition of my book on Orchids, and hereafter ether with some additional observations on allied points which I never have had tith will then probably be exhausted, and I shall be ready to exclaim ”Nunc dimittis”

WRITTEN MAY 1ST, 1881

'The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation' was published in the autumn of 1876; and the results there arrived at explain, as I believe, the endless and wonderful contrivances for the transportal of pollen from one plant to another of the same species I now believe, however, chiefly froht to have insisted ly than I did on the h I ell aware of ed edition of my 'Fertilisation of Orchids' was published in 1877

In this same year 'The Different Forms of Flowers, etc,' appeared, and in 1880 a second edition This book consists chiefly of the several papers on Heterostyled flowers originally published by the Linnean Society, corrected, with ether with observations on some other cases in which the same plant bears two kinds of flowers As before reaveof heterostyled flowers

The results of crossing such flowers in an illegiti on the sterility of hybrids; although these results have been noticed by only a few persons

In 1879, I had a translation of Dr Ernst Krause's 'Life of Erasmus Darwin' published, and I added a sketch of his character and habits from material in my possession Many persons have been much interested by this little life, and I am surprised that only 800 or 900 copies were sold

In 1880 I published, with [my son] Frank's assistance, our 'Power of Moveh piece of work The book bears so Plants,' which 'Cross-Fertilisation' did to the 'Fertilisation of Orchids;' for in accordance with the principle of evolution it was i been developed in so roups unless all kinds of plants possess soous kind This I proved to be the case; and I was further led to a rather wide generalisation, viz that the great and iht, the attraction of gravity, etc, are all modified forms of the fundamental movement of circumnutation It has always pleased s; and I therefore felt an especial pleasure in showing how many and what admirably well adapted movements the tip of a root possesses

I have now (May 1, 1881) sent to the printers the MS of a little book on 'The Forh the Action of Worms' This is a subject of but small importance; and I know not whether it will interest any readers (Between November 1881 and February 1884, 8500 copies have been sold), but it has interested me It is the coical Society ical thoughts

I have now mentioned all the books which I have published, and these have been the milestones in my life, so that little ree inin one point presently to be e have been expected unless one of general deterioration

But hty-third year with his mind as lively as ever it was, and all his faculties undimmed; and I hope that I may die before my mind fails to a sensible extent I think that I have becoht explanations and in devising experimental tests; but this er store of knowledge I have asmyself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty has causedadvantage of forcingand intently about every sentence, and thus I have been led to see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of others

There seeor aard for them down; but for several years I have found that it saves ties as quickly as I possibly can, contracting half the words; and then correct deliberately Sentences thus scribbled down are often better ones than I could have written deliberately

Having said thus e books I spend a good deal of tiement of the es, and then a larger one in several pages, a feords or one word standing for a whole discussion or series of facts Each one of these headings is again enlarged and often transferred before I begin to write in extenso

As in several of my books facts observed by others have been very extensively used, and as I have always had several quite distinct subjects in hand at the sae portfolios, in cabinets with labelled shelves, into which I can at once put a detached reference or ht many books, and at their ends I make an index of all the facts that concern my work; or, if the book is not my orite out a separate abstract, and of such abstracts I have a large drawer full Before beginning on any subject I look to all the short indexes andthe one or more proper portfolios I have all the infor my life ready for use

I have said that in one respectthe last twenty or thirty years Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, gave reat pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays I have also said that forreat delight But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me I have also alenerally sets etically on what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause ht which it formerly did On the other hand, novels which are works of the ih order, have been for years a wonderful relief and pleasure tonumber have been read aloud to ood, and if they do not end unhappily--against which a law ought to be passed A novel, according to my taste, does not come into the first class unless it contains sohly love, and if a pretty woman all the better

This curious and laher aesthetic tastes is all the odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels (independently of any scientific facts which they may contain), and essays on all sorts of subjects interest me as much as ever they did My eneral laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive A anised or better constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to live ain, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the parts of h use The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, andthe eely in England, have been translated into h several editions in foreign countries I have heard it said that the success of a work abroad is the best test of its enduring value I doubt whether this is at all trustworthy; but judged by this standard ht to last for a few years Therefore it may be worth while to try to analyse the mental qualities and the conditions on which h I areat quickness of apprehension or hich is so remarkable in some clever men, for instance, Huxley I aenerally excites my admiration, and it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought is very limited; and therefore I could never have succeeded with metaphysics or mathematics My memory is extensive, yet hazy: it suffices toopposed to the conclusion which I a, or on the other hand in favour of it; and after a tienerally recollect where to search for my authority So poor in one sense is my memory, that I have never been able to rele date or a line of poetry