My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

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MY LIFE

Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2010 with funding fromUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hillhttp://www.archive.org/details/myliferecordofevOOwall

MY LIFE''"^A RECORD OF EVENTS AND OPINIONSCOBYALFRED RUSSEL WALLACEAUTHOR OF'man's place in the universe," "the MALAY ARCHIPELAGO," "DARWINISM,"geographical distribution of ANIMALS," "NATURALSELECTION AND TROPICAL NATURE," ETC.NEW EDITIONCONDENSED AND REVISEDWITH FACSIMILE LETTERS, ILLUSTRATIONS .*;AND PORTRAITSLONDONCHAPMAN & HALL, Ltd.1908

PREFACE TO THE NEWEDITIONAmong the numerous kind and even flattering noticesof the first edition of this work, there were a considerablenumber inwhich objection was made to itsgreat bulk, caused in part by the inclusion in it ofsubjects only indirectly related to myself, as well asof some of my early writings which were of no specialinterest.Recognizing as I do the justice of this criticism, Igladly agreed to the suggestion of my publishers thatI should prepare a new edition in one volume, byomitting all such superfluous matter as is abovereferred to.Feeling that I was not myself the best judge ofwhat to omit, I asked my son, Mr. William G. Wallace,to undertake this task, after agreeing with him, andwith my publishers, on several entire chapters whichmust certainly be omitted. In order to represent thegeneral reader he asked a friend of his own, who hadnot read the book before, to assist him in forming anopinion in doubtful cases. I have also myself condensedsome diffuse portions, and have added a fewadditional facts, bringing the story of "My Life"down to the present time.a 2

VIPREFACEAll the illustrations have been retained which arein any way referred to in the present work, and Itrust that the result will be to render it acceptable toa new body of readers.Broadstone,October i, 1908.

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINALEDITIONThe presentvolumes would not have been writtenhad not the representatives of my English andAmerican publishers assured me that they wouldprobably interest a large number of readers.I had indeed promised to write some account ofmy early life for the information of my son anddaughter, but thiswould have been of very limitedscope, and would probably not have been printed.Having never kept a diary, except when abroad,nor preserved any of the earlier letters of my friends,I at first thought that I had no materials for any fullrecord of my life and experiences. But when I setto work in earnest to get together whatever scatteredmemoranda I could find, the numerous letters Ipossessed from men of considerable eminence, datingfrom my return home in 1862, together with a few ofmy own returned to me by some of my correspondents,I began to see that I had a fair amount of material,though I was very doubtful how far itwould interestany considerable number of readers.As several of my friends have assured me thattrue record of a life, especially if sufficiently full as toillustrate development of character so far as that isa

VllIPREFACEdue to environment, would be extremely interesting,I have kept this in mind, perhaps unduly, though Iam not at all sure that my own conclusions on thispoint are correct.It is difficult to write such a record as mine(extending to the memories of nearly eighty years)without subjecting one's self to the charge of diffusenessor egotism, and I cannot hope to escape thisaltogether. But as my experiences have been certainlyvaried, if not exciting, I trust that the frequentchange of scene and of occupation, together with thediversity of my interests and of the persons withwhom I have been associated, may render this storyof my life less tedious than might have beenanticipated.My thanks are due to those friends who haveassisted me with facts or illustrations, and especiallyto Mrs. Arthur Waugh, who has been so kind as tomake the very full Index to my book.Old Orchard, Broadstone,September^ 190 5-

CONTENTSCHAPTERPAGEI. My Relatives and Ancestors . . . iII. My Earliest Memories, Usk and Hertford13III. My School Life at Hertford ... 26IV. London Workers, Secularists andOWENITES 43V. Land Surveying in Bedfordshire . . 58VI. Radnorshire 74VII. Residence in South Wales : BrecknockshireAND Glamorganshire ... 87VIII. Self-education in Science and LiteratureIX. Life at Leicester and Neath .lOI. .121X. Four Years in the Amazon Valley . .143XL London, and Voyage to the East . . 163XII. In the Malay Archipelago (1854-1858) . 175XIII. In the Malay Archipelago (1S58-1862) . 189XIV. Life in London, 1862-1871 — ScientificAND Literary Work 203

XCONTENTSCHAPTERXV.Sir Charles Lyell and Charles DarwinPAGE(1863-1881) 220XVI. Herbert Spencer, Huxley, and OtherFriends 239XVII. Home Life and Work (1870-1885) . . 260XVIII. A Lecture Tour in America (1886-1887) . 272XIX. Friends and Occupations of my LaterYears (i 888-1 908) 294XX. Land Nationalization to Socialism . .319XXI. Mesmerism to Spiritualism .... 334XXII.A Chapter on Money Matters— Earningsand Losses—Speculations and Law-suits 357XXIII. My Character—New Ideas .... 379XXIV. Predictions fulfilled : Latest Honours 390Index 399

ILLUSTRATIONSAlfred R. WallaceFrontispieceThomas Vere Wallace. Aged 36 Between pages 10& 11(At the time of his marriage)Mary Anne Wallace. Aged 18 .„ „(At the time of her marriage)Birthplace of A. R. Wallace, Usk, Monmouthshire....The Grammar School, HertfordThe Beacons, looking SouthPlan of Top of BeaconsSection of Top of BeaconsMaen LliaFacing pA Sketch in Derbyshire .A Village inLeicestershirePorth-yr-Ogof, Vale of Neath .Maen Madoc— Latin InscriptionA. R. Wallace. Aged 24(From a Daguerrotype)A. R. Wallace. Aged 30Native House in Aru Islands .

xnILLUSTRATIONSA. R. Wallace. Aged 46 ... .[^Publication of Malay Archipelago)Facingp. ii'jA Letter from Dr. Purland ... „ 253My First Letter from Dr. Purland .,, 253Envelope of Second Letter ... „ 253My Last Letter from Dr. Purland .„ 255The Dell, Grays ,,261[Builtfor A. R.Wallace)A. R. Wallace. Aged 55. . . .,, 265Nutwood Cottage^ Godalming ... „ 269The Moorish Tent, Louray Cavern. . ,, 276Old Orchard, Broadstone .... „ 307[Built by A. R. IV., 1902)

MY LIFEA RECORD OF EVENTS AND OPINIONSCHAPTER IMY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS*Our family had but few relations, and I myself neversaw a grandfather or grandmother, nor a true uncle,and but one aunt—my mother's only sister. Theonly cousins we ever had, so far as I know, were thatbut two of whomsister's family of eight or nine, allemigrated to South Australia in 1838. Of the twowho remained in England, the daughter had marriedMr. Burningham, and had only one child, a daughter,who has never married. The son, the Rev. PercyWilson, had a family, none of whom, however, I haveever met, though I have recently had a visit from ason of another cousin, Algernon, with whom I had aconsiderable correspondence.My father was practically an only son, an elderboy dying when three months old ; and as his fatherdied when he was a boy of twelve, and his motherwhen he was an infant, he had not much opportunityof hearing about the family history. I myself lefthome beforeI was fourteen, and only rarely visitedmy parents for short holidays, except once during myB

2 MY LIFErecovery from a dangerous illness, so that I also hadlittle opportunity of learning anything of our ancestorson the paternal side, more especially as my fatherseldom spoke of his youth, and I as a boy felt nointerest in his genealogy. Neither did my eldestbrother William—with whom I lived till I was of age—ever speak on the subject. The little I have gleanedwas from my sister Fanny and from a recent examinationof tombstones and parish registers, andespecially from an old Prayer-book {1723) whichbelonged to my grandfather Wallace, who hadregistered in it the dates of the births and baptismsof his two sons, while my father had continued theregister to include his own family of nine children, ofwhom I am the only survivor.My paternal grandfather was married at Hanworth,Middlesex, in 1765, and the parish register describeshim as William Wallace, of Hanworth, bachelor, andhis wife as Elizabeth Dilke, of Laleham, widow. Bothare buried in Laleham churchyard, where I presum.ethe former Mrs. Dilke had some family burial rights,as my grandfather's brother, George Wallace, is alsoburied there. The register at Hanworth contains norecord of my father's birth, but the church itself showsthat quite a small colony of Wallaces lived at Hanworth.On a long stone in the floor of the chancelis the name of James Wallace, Esq., who diedFebruary 7, 1778, aged 8y years. He was thereforethirty-five years older than my grandfather, and mayhave been his uncle. Then follows Admiral SirJames Wallace, who died on March 6, 1803, aged69 years ;and Frances Sleigh, daughter of theabove James Wallace, Esq., who died December 12,1820, aged 69 years.

MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS 3How or why my grandfather came to live at Hanworth(probably with his brother George, who is alsoburied at Laleham), I can only conjecture from thefollowing facts. Baron Vere of Hanworth is one ofthe titles of the Dukes of St. Albans since 1750, whenVere Beauclerc, third son of the first Duke, wascreated Baron, and his son became fifth Duke ofSt. Albans in 1787. It is to be presumed that thevillage and a good deal of the land was at that timethe property of this family, though they appear tohave parted with it not long afterwards, as a Mr. Perkinsowned the park and rebuilt the church in 18 12.The St. Albans family have a tomb in the church.Now, my father's name was Thomas Vere Wallace,and it therefore seems probable that his father was atenant of the first Baron Vere, and in his will he isstyled " Victualler." He probably kept the inn onthe estate.The only further scrap of information as to myfather's family is derived from a remark he oncemade in my hearing, that his uncles at Stirling (Ithink he said) were very tall men. I myself was sixfeet in height when I was sixteen, and my eldestbrother William was an inch taller, while my brotherJohn and sister Fanny were both rather tall. Myfather and mother, however, were under rather thanover middle height, and the remark about his talluncles was to account for this abnormal height byshowing that it was in the family. As all the Wallacesof Scotland are held to be various branches ofthe one family of the hero Sir William Wallace, wehave always considered ourselves to be descendedfrom that famous stock ; and this view is supportedby the fact that our family crest was said to be an

4 MY LIFEostrich's head with a horseshoe in its mouth, and thiscrest belongs, according to Burke's " Peerage," toCraigie-Wallace, one of the branches of the patriot'sfamily.Of my mother's family I have somewhat fullerdetails, though not going any further back. Herfather was John Greenell, of Hertford, who died therein 1824, at the age of 79. He had two daughters,Martha and Mary Anne, my mother. Their motherdied when the two girls were two and three yearsold. Mr. Greenell married a second time, and hiswidow lived till 1828. My mother's grandfather, whodied in1797, aged 80, was for many years an alderman,and twice Mayor of Hertford (in 1773 and 1779),as stated in the records of the borough. He wasburied in St. Andrew's churchyard.There is also in the same churchyard a familytomb, in which my father and my sister Eliza areburied, but which belonged to a brother of mymother's grandfather, William Greenell, as shown bythe inscription.I will now say a few words about my father's earlylife, and the various family troubles which, thoughapparently very disadvantageous to his children, mayyet have been on the whole, as is so often the case,benefits in disguise.My father, Thomas Vere Wallace, was twelveyears old when his father died, but his stepmotherlived twenty-one years after her husband, and I thinkit not improbable that she may have resided in Marylebonenear William Greenell the architect, and thatmy father went to school there. The only thing Iremember his telling us about his school was that his

MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS 5master dressed in the old fashion, and that he had abest suit entirely of yellow velvet.When my father leftschool he was articled to afirm of solicitors—Messrs, Ewington and Chilcot,Bond Court, Walbrook, I think, as I find this namein an old note-book of my father's—and in 1792,when he had just come of age, he was duly sworn inas an Attorney-at-Law of the Court of King's Bench.He is described in the deed of admittance as ofLamb's Conduit Street, where he probably lodgedwhile pursuing his legal studies, it being near theInns of Court and at the same time almost in thecountry. He seems, however, never to have practisedlaw, since he came into property which gave him anincome of about ;^500 a year.From this time till he married, fifteen years later,he appears to have lived quite idly, so far as beingwithout any systematic occupation, often going toBath in the season, where, he used to tell us, hehad met the celebrated Beau Brummell and othercharacters of the early years of the nineteenth century.My sister told me that while he remained abachelor my father lived up to his income or verynearly so ; and from what we know of his after lifethis did not imply any extravagance or luxurioushabits, but simply that he enjoyed himself in Londonand the country, living at the best inns or boardinghouses,and taking part in the amusements of theperiod, as a fairly well-to-do, middle-class gentleman.After his marriage in 1807 he lived in Marylebone,and his ordinary household expenses, of course, increased; and as by 18 10 he had two children and theprospect of a large family, he appears to have felt thenecessity of increasing his income. Having neglectedthe law so long, and probably having a distaste for

6 MY LIFEit, he apparently thought it quite hopeless to beginto practise as a solicitor, and being entirely devoid ofbusiness habits, allowed himself to be persuaded intoundertaking one of the most risky of literary speculations,the starting a new illustrated magazine, devotedapparently to art, antiquities, and general literature.After a very few numbers were issued the wholething came to grief, partly, it was said, by thedefalcations of a manager or book-keeper, whoappropriated the money advanced by my father topay for work and materials, and partly, no doubt,from the affair being in the hands of persons withoutthe necessary business experience and literary capacitya success.to make itThe result was that my father had to bear almostthe whole loss, and this considerably reduced hisalready too scanty income. Whether he made anyother efforts to earn money I do not know, but hecontinued to live in Marylebone till 1816, a daughterEmma having been born there in that year ; but soonafter he appears to have removed to St. George's,Southwark, in which parish my brother John wasborn in 1818. Shortly afterwards his affairs musthave been getting worse, and he determined to movewith his family of six children to some place whereliving was as cheap as possible ; and, probably fromhaving introductions to some residents there, fixedupon Usk, in Monmouthshire, where a sufficientlyroomy cottage with a large garden was obtained, andwhere I was born on January 8, 1823.In the year 1828 my mother's step-mother, Mrs.Rebecca Greenell, died at Hertford, and I presumeit was in consequence of this event that the familyleft Usk in that year, and lived at Hertford forthe next nine or ten years, removing to Hoddesdon

MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS 7in 1837 or 1838, where my father died in 1843.These last fifteen years of his life were a period ofgreat trouble and anxiety, his affairs becoming moreand more involved, till at last the family becamealmost wholly dependent on my mother's smallmarriage settlement of less than a hundred a year,supplemented by his taking a few pupils and bya small salary which he received as librarian to asubscription library.During the latter part of the time we lived atHertford his troubles were great. He appears tohave allowed a solicitor and friend whom he trustedto realize what remained of his property and investit in ground-rents which would bring in a largerincome, and at the same time be perfectly secure.For a few years the income from this property wasduly paid him, then it was partially and afterwardswholly stopped. It appeared that the solicitor washimself engaged in a large building speculation inLondon, which was certain to be ultimately of greatvalue, but which he had not capital enough to complete.He therefore had to raise money, and did soby using funds entrusted to him for other purposes,among them my father's small capital. But, unfortunately,other creditors pressed upon him, and he wasobliged to sacrifice the whole of the building estate atalmost a nominal price. Out of the wreck of thesolicitor's fortune my father obtained a small portionof the money due, with promises to pay all at somefuture time. Among the property thus lost weresome legacies from my mother's relations to herchildren, and the whole affair got into the hands ofthe lawyers, from whom small amounts were periodicallyreceived which helped to provide us with barenecessaries.

8 MY LIFEAs a result of this series of misfortunes the childrenwho reached their majority had little or nothing tostart with in earning their own living, except a veryordinary education, and a more or less efficient training.The eldest son, William, was first articled to a firm ofsurveyors at Kington, Herefordshire, probably duringthe time we resided at Usk. He then spent a yearor two in the office of an architect at Hertford, andfinally a year in London with a large builder namedMartin then engaged in the erection of King's College,in order to became familiar with the practical detailsHe may be said, therefore, to have hadof building.a really good professional education. At first he gotinto general land-surveying work, which was at thattime rather abundant, owing to the surveys andvaluations required for carrying out the Commutationof Tithes Act of 1836, and also for the enclosures ofcommons which were then very frequent. During thetime I was with him we were largely engaged in thiskind of work in various parts of England and Wales,as will be seen later on ; but the payment for suchwork was by no means liberal, and owing to thefrequent periods of idleness between one job andanother, it was about as much as my brother coulddo to earn our living and travelling expenses.About the time I went to live with my brother(1837) ^y sister Fanny entered a French school atLille to learn the language and to teach English, andI think she was a year there. On her return shestarted the school at Hoddesdon, but after my father'sdeath in 1843, she obtained a position as a teacherin Columbia College, Georgia, U.S.A., then justestablished under the Bishop of Georgia; and sheonly returned after my brother William's death in1846, when the surviving members of the family in

MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS 9England were reunited, and lived together for twoyears in a cottage near Neath, in Glamorganshire.My brother John, at the age of fourteen or fifteen,was apprenticed, first to Mr. Martin and then to Mr.Webster, a Londer builder living in Albany Street,Regent Park, where he became a thorough joinerand carpenter. He afterwards worked for a time forCubitt and other large builders ; then, when he cameto live with me at Neath, he learnt surveying anda little architecture. When I went to the Amazon,he took a small dairy-farm at too high a rent, andnot making this pay, in 1849 he emigrated toCalifornia at the height of the first rush for gold,joined several mining camps, and was moderatelysuccessful. About five years later he came home,married Miss Webster, and returning to California,settled for some years at Columbia, a small miningtown in Tuolumne County. He afterwards removedto Stockton, where he practised as surveyor and waterengineer till his death in 1895.My younger brother, ^Herbert, was first placedwith a trunk maker in Regent Street, but not likingthis business, afterwards came to Neath and enteredthe pattern-shops of the Neath Ironworks. After hisbrother John went to California he came out to meat Para, and after a year spent on the Amazon as faras Barra on the Rio Negro, he returned to Para onhis way home, where he caught yellow fever, anddied in a few days at the early age of twenty-two.He was the only member of our family who had aconsiderable gift of poesy, and was probably morefitted for a literary career than for any mechanical orprofessional occupation.It will thus be seen that we were all of us verymuch thrown on our own resources to make our way

10 MY LIFEin life ; and as we all, I think, inherited from myfather a certain amount of constitutional inactivity orlaziness, the necessity for work that our circumstancesentailed was certainly beneficial in developing whateverpowers were latent in us ;and this is what Iimplied when I remarked that our father's loss of hisproperty was perhaps a blessing indisguise.Of the five daughters, the first-born died whenfive months old ; the next, Eliza, died of consumptionat Hertford, aged twenty-two. Two others, MaryAnne and Emma, died at Usk at the ages of eightand six respectively ; while Frances married Mr.Thomas Sims, a photographer, and died in London,aged eighty-one.On the whole, both the Wallaces and the Greenellsseem to have been rather long-lived when they reachedmanhood or womanhood. The five ancestral Wallacesof whom I have records had an average age of seventylungs, from which he never recovered.I will now give a short account of my father'sappearance and character. In a miniature, paintedjust before his marriage, when he was thirty-five yearsold, he is represented in a blue coat with gilt buttons,a white waistcoat, a thick white neck-cloth coming upto the chin and showing no collar, and a frilledyears, while the five Greenells had an average ofseventy-six. Of our own family, my brother Johnreached seventy-seven, and my sister Fanny eightyone.My brother William owed his death to a railwayjourney by night in winter, from London to SouthWales in the miserable accommodation then affordedto third-class passengers, which, increased by a dampbed at Bristol, brought on severe congestion of theshirtfront.This was probably his wedding-coat, and his

MARY ANNE WALLACE. AGED 1 8.{.4i time of her maiTtage.)

MY RELATIVES AND ANCESTORS ii 4iusual costume, indicating the transition from the richlycoloured semi-court dress of the earlier Georgianperiod to the plain black of our own day. He isshown as having a ruddy complexion, blue eyes, andcarefully dressed and curled hair, which I think musthave been powdered, or else in the transition fromlight brown to pure white. As I remember him fromthe age of fifty-five onwards, his hair was rather thinand quite white, and he was always clean-shaved asin the miniature.In figure he was somewhat below the middleheight. He was fairly active and fond of gardeningand other country occupations, such as brewing beerand making grape or elder wine whenever he hadthe opportunity ; and during some years at Hertfordhe rented a garden about half a mile away, in orderto grow vegetables and have some wholesome exercise.He was rather precise and regular in his habits,quiet and rather dignified in manners, and whatwould be termed a gentleman of the old school. Ofcourse, he always wore a top-hat—a beaver hat as itwas then called, before silk hats were invented—theonly other headgear being sometimes a straw hat foruse in the garden in summer.In character he was quiet and even-tempered, veryreligious in the orthodox Church-of-England way, andwith such a reliance on Providence as almost toamount to fatalism. He was fond of reading, andthrough reading-clubs or lending-libraries we usuallyhad some of the best books of travel or biography inthe house. Some of these my father would read tous in the evening, and when Bowdler's edition ofShakespeare came out he obtained it, and often reada play to the assembled family.At one time my father wrote a good deal, and we

12 MY LIFEwere told it was a history of Hertford, or at othertimes some religious work ; but they were neverfinished, and I do not think they would ever havebeen worth publishing, his character not leading himto do any such work with sufficient thoroughness.He dabbled a little in antiquities and in heraldry, butdid nothing systematic ; and though he had fair mentalability he possessed no special talent, either literary,artistic, or scientific. He sketched a little, but witha very weak and uncertain touch, and among his fewscrap- and note-books that have been preserved, thereis hardly anything original except one or two shortpoems in the usual didactic style of the period, but ofno special merit.

CHAPTER IIMY EARLIEST MEMORIES, USK AND HERTFORDMy earliest recollections of myself are as a littleboyin short frocks and with bare arms and legs, playingwith my brother and sisters, or sitting in my mother'slap or on a footstool listening to stories, of whichsome fairy-tales, especially "Jack the Giant-Killer,"" Little Red Riding Hood," and " Jack and the Beanstalk,"seem to live in my memory ; and of a morerealistic kind, " Sandford and Merton," which perhapsimpressed me even more deeply than any. I clearlyremember the little house and the room we chieflyoccupied, with a French window opening to thegarden, a steep wooded bank on the right, the road,river, and distant low hills to the left. The houseitself was built close under this bank, which was quiterocky in places.The river in front of our house was the Usk, a finestream on which we often saw men fishing in coracles,the ancient form of boat made of strong wicker-work,somewhat the shape of the deeper half of a cockleshell,and covered with bullock's hide. Each coracleheld one man, and it could be easily carried to andfrom the river on the owner's back. In those days ofscanty population and abundant fish the river was notpreserved, and a number of men got their living, orpart of it, by supplying the towns with salmon and

14 MY LIFEtrout in their season. It is very interesting that thisextremely ancient boat, which has been in use frompre-Roman times, and perhaps even from the NeolithicAge, should continue to be used on several of theWelsh rivers down to the present day. There isprobably no other type of vessel now in existencewhich has remained unchanged for so long a period.The chief attraction of the river to us childrenwas the opportunity it afforded us for catching smallfish, especially lampreys. A short distance from ourhouse, towards the little village of Llanbadock, therocky bank came close to the road, and a stone quarryhad been opened to obtain stone, both for buildingand road-mending purposes. Here, occasionally, therock was blasted, and sometimes we had the fearfuldelight of watching the explosion from a safe distance,and seeing a cloud of the smaller stones shoot up intoAt some earlier period very large charges ofthe air.powder must have been used, hurling great slabsrock across the road into the river, where they lay,forming convenient piers and standing-places on itsmargin. Some of these slabs were eight or ten feetlong and nearly as wide ; and it was these that formedour favourite fishing-stations, where we sometimesfound shoals of small lampreys, which could be scoopedup in basins or old saucepans, and were then fried forour dinner or supper, to our great enjoyment. I thinkwhat we caught must have been the young fish, asmy recollection of them is that they were like littleeels, and not more than six or eight inches long,whereas the full-grown lampreys are from a foot anda half to nearly three feet long.At this time I must have been about four yearsold, as we left Usk when I was about five, or less.My brother John was four and a half years older, andof

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 15I expect was the leader in most of our games andexplorations. My two sisters were five and sevenyears older than John, so that they would have beenabout thirteen and fifteen, which would appear to mequite grown up ; and this makes me think that myrecollections must go back to the time when I wasjust over three, as I quite distinctly remember two, ifnot three, besides myself, standing on the flatstonesand catching lampreys.There is an incident in which I remember that mybrother and at least one, if not two, of my sisters tookpart. Among the books read to us was " Sandfordand Merton," the only part of which that I distinctlyremember is when the two boys got lost in a woodafter dark, and while Merton could do nothing butcry at the idea of having to pass the night withoutsupper or bed, the resourceful Sandford comfortedhim by promising that he should have both, and sethim to gather sticks for a fire, which he lit with atinder-box and match from his pocket. Then, whena large fire had been made, he produced some potatoeswhich he had picked up in a field on the way, andwhich he then roasted beautifully in the embers, andeven produced from another pocket a pinch of salt ina screw of paper, so that the two boys had a verygood supper. Then, collecting fern and dead leavesfor a bed, and I think making a coverlet by takingoff their two jackets, which made them quite comfortablewhile lying as close together as possible, theyenjoyed a good night's sleep till daybreak, when theyeasily found their way home.This seemed so delightful that one day Johnprovided himself with the matchbox, salt, and potatoes,and having climbed up the steep bank behindorour house, as we often did, and passed over a field

i6MY LIFEtwo to the woods beyond, to my greatdelight a firewas made, and we also feasted on potatoes with salt,as Sandford and Merton had done. Of course wedid not complete the imitation of the story by sleepingin the wood, which would have been too bold anddangerous an undertaking for our sisters to join in,even if my brother and I had wished to do so.I may here mention a psychological peculiarity,no doubt common to many children of the same age,that, during the whole period of my residence at Usk,I have no clear recollection, and can form no distinctmental image, of either my father or mother, brothersor sisters. I simply recollect that they existed, butmy recollection is only a blurred image, and does notextend to any peculiarities of feature, form, or evenof dress or habits. It is only at a considerably laterperiod that I begin to recollect them as distinct andwell-marked individuals whose form and featurescould not be mistaken—as, in fact, being my fatherand mother, my brothers and sisters ; and the houseand surroundings in which I can thus first recollect,and in some degree visualize them, enable me to saythat I must have been then at least eight years old.What makes this deficiency the more curious isthat, during the very same period at which Icannotrecall the personal appearance of the individuals withwhom my life was most closely associated, I can recallall the main features and many of the details of myoutdoor, and, to a less degree, of my indoor, surroundings.The form and colour of the house, theroad, the river close below it, the bridge with thecottage near its foot, the narrow fields between usand the bridge, the steep wooded bank at the back,the stone quarry and the very shape and position ofthe flat slabs on which we stood fishing, the cottages

—MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 17a little further on the road, the little church of Llanbadockand the stone stile into the churchyard, thefishermen and their coracles, the ruined castle, itswinding stair and the delightful walk round its topall come before me as I recall these earlier days witha distinctness strangely contrasted with the vagueshadowy figures of the human beings who were myconstant associates in all these scenes. In the houseI recollect the arrangement of the rooms, the Frenchwindow to the garden, and the blue-papered room nwhich I slept, but of the people always with me inthose rooms, and even of the daily routine of ourlife,I remember nothing at all.I cannot find any clear explanation of these factsin modern psychology, whereas they all become intelligiblefrom the phrenological point of view. Theshape of my head shows that I have form and individtialitybut moderately developed, while locality^ideality, colour, and comparison are decidedly stronger.Deficiency in the first two caused me to take littlenotice of the characteristic form and features of theseparate individualities which were most familiar tome, and from that very cause attracted less closeattention ; while the greater activity of the lattergroup gave interest and attractiveness to the everchangingcombinations in outdoor scenery, while thevaried opportunities for the exercise of the physicalactivities, and the delight in the endless variety ofnature which are so strong in early childhood, impressedthese outdoor scenes and interests upon mymemory. And throughout life the same limitationsof observation and memory have been manifest. Ina new locality it takes me a considerable time beforeI learn to recognize my various new acquaintancesindividually ; and looking back on the varied scenes

18 MY LIFEamid which I have lived at home and abroad, whilenumerous objects, localities, and events are recalledwith some distinctness, the people I met, or, with fewexceptions, those with whom I became fairly wellacquainted, seem but blurred and indistinct images.In the year 1883, when for the first time since mychildhood I revisited, with my wife and two children,the scenes of my infancy, I obtained a striking proofof the accuracy of my memory of those scenes andobjects. Although the town of Usk had grown considerablyon the north side towards the railway, yet,to my surprise and delight, I found that no changewhatever had occurred on our side of the river, where,between the bridge and Llanbadock, not a new househad been built, and our cottage and garden, the pathup to the front door, and the steep woody bankbehind it, remained exactly as pictured in my memory.Even the quarry appeared to have been very littleenlarged, and the great flat stones were still in theriver exactly as when I had stood upon them with mybrothers and sisters sixty years before. The onechange I noted here was that the well-rememberedstone stile into the village churchyard had been replacedby a wooden one. We also visited the ruinedcastle, ascended the winding stair, and walked roundthe top wall, and everything seemed to me exactlyas I knew it of old, and neither smaller nor largerthan my memory had so long pictured it. The viewof the Abergavenny mountains pleased and interestedme as in childhood, and the clear-flowing Usk seemedjust as broad and as pleasant to the eye as mymemory had always pictured it.So far as I can remember or have heard I had noillness of any kind at Usk, which was no doubt dueto the free outdoor life we lived there, spending a great

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 19part of the day in the large garden or by the riverside,or in the fields and woods around us. As will beseen later on, this immunity ceased as soon as wewent to live in a town. I remember only one childishaccident. The cook was taking away a frying-panwith a good deal of boiling fat in it, which for somereason I wanted to see, and, stretching out my armover it, I suppose to show that I wanted it lowereddown, my fore-arm went into the fat and was badlyscalded.I mention this only for the purpose of callingattention to the fact that, although I vividlyremember the incident, I cannot recall that I sufferedthe least pain, though I was told afterwards that itwas really a severe burn. This, and other facts of asimilar kind, make me think that young childrensuffer far less pain than adults from the same injuries.And this is quite in accordance with the purpose forwhich pain exists, which is to guard the body againstinjuries dangerous to life, and to give us the impulseto escape rapidly from any danger. But as infantscannot escape from fatal dangers, and do not evenknow what things are dangerous and what not, onlyvery slight sensations of pain are at first required, andsuch only are therefore developed, and these increaseproportion as command over thein intensity just inmuscles giving the power of rapid automatic movementsbecomes possible. The sensation of pain doesnot, probably, reach its maximum till the wholeorganism is fully developed in the adult individual.This is rather a comforting conclusion in view of thesufferings of so many infants needlessly massacredthrough the terrible defects of our vicious socialsystem.I may add here a note as to my personal appearanceat this age.I was exceedingly fair, and my long

20 MY LIFEhair was of a very light flaxen tint, so that I wasgenerally spoken of among the Welsh-speaking countrypeople as the " little Saxon."My recollections of our leaving Usk and of thejourney to London are very faint, only one incidentof it being clearly visualized—the crossing the Severnat the Old Passage in an open ferry-boat. This isvery clear to me, possibly because it was the firsttime I had ever been in a boat. I remember sittingwith my mother and sisters on a seat at one side ofthe boat, which seemed to me about as wide as asmall room, of its leaning over so that we were closeto the water, and especially of the great boom of themainsail, when our course was changed, requiring usall to stoop our heads for it to swing over us. It wasa little awful to me, and I think we were all gladwhen it was over and we were safe on land again.We must have travelled all day by coach from Uskto the Severn, then on to Bristol, then from Bristolto London, where we stayed at an inn inOf the next few months of my lifeHolborn.I have also butslight recollections, confined to some isolated facts orincidents. On leaving the inn we went to my aunt'sat Dulwich. I remember being much impressed withthe large house, and especially with the beautifulgrounds, with lawns, trees, and shrubs such as I hadnever seen before. There was here also a family ofcousins, some about my own age, and the few dayswe stayed were very bright and enjoyable. ThenceI was sent to a school in Essex, with some ladies whohad about half a dozen boys and girls of my own age.My next recollections are of the town of Hertford,where we lived for eight or nine years, and where Ireceived the whole of my school education. We hada small house, the first of a row of four at the

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 21beginning of St. Andrew's Street ; and I must havebeen a little more than six years old when I firstremember myself in this house, which had a verynarrow yard at the back, and a dwarf wall, perhapsfive feet high, between us and the adjoining house.The very first incident I remember, which happened,I think, on the morning after my arrival, was of aboy about my own age looking over this wall, who atonce inquired, " Hullo ! who are you } " I told himthat I had just come, and what my name was, andwe at once made friends. The stand of a water-buttenabled me to get up and sit upon the wall, and bymeans of some similar convenience he could do thesame, and we were thus able to sit side by side andtalk, or get over the wall and play together when weliked. Thus began the friendship of George Silk andAlfred Wallace, which, with long intervals of absenceat various periods, has continued to this day.The old town of Hertford, in which I passed themost impressionable years of my life, and where Ifirst obtained a rudimentary acquaintance with myfellow-creatures and with nature, is, perhaps, on thewhole, one of the most pleasantly situated countytowns in England, although as a boy I did not knowthis, and did not appreciate the many advantages Ienjoyed. Among its most delightful features arenumerous rivers and streams in the immediately surroundingcountry, affording pleasant walks throughflowery meads, many picturesque old mills, and agreat variety of landscape. The river Lea, comingfrom the south-west, passes through the middle of thetown, where the old town-mill was situated in anopen space called the Wash, which was no doubtliable to be flooded in early times. The miller wasreputed to be one of the richest men in the town, yet

22 MY LIFEwe often saw him standing at the mill doors in hisdusty miller's clothes as we passed on our way fromschool. He was a cousin of my mother's by marriage,and we children sometimes went to tea at his house,and then, as a great treat, were shown all over themill with all its strange wheels and whirling millstones,its queer little pockets, on moving leatherbelts, carrying the wheat up to the stones in acontinual stream, the ever-rattling sieves and clothswhich sifted out the bran and pollard, and the weirdpeep into the dark cavern where the great drippingwater-wheel went on its perpetual round.Where theriver passed under the bridge close by, we couldclamber up and look over the parapet into the deep,clear water rushing over a dam, and also see wherethe stream that turned the wheel passed swiftly undera low arch, and this was a sight that never palledupon us, so that almost every fine day, as we passedthis way home from school, we gave a few momentsto gazing into this dark, deep water, almost always inshadow owing to high buildings on both sides of it,but affording a pleasant peep to fields and gardensbeyond.Here, too, in the river Beane, which had a gentlestream with alternate deep holes and sandy shallows,suitable for boys of all ages, was our favourite bathingplace,where, not long after our coming to Hertford,I was very nearly drowned. It was at a place calledWillowhole, where those who could swim a littlewould jump in, and in a few strokes in any directionreach shallower water. I and my brother John andseveral schoolfellows were going to bathe, and I, whohad undressed first,was standing on the brink, whenone of my companions gave me a sudden push frombehind, £tnd I tumbled in and went under water

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 23immediately. Coming to the surface half dazed, Isplashed about and went under again, when mybrother, who was four and a half years older, jumpedin and pulled me out. I do not think I had actuallylost consciousness, but I had swallowed a good dealof water, and I lay on the grass for some time beforeI got strength to dress, and by the time I got home Iwas quite well. It was, I think, the first year, if notthe first time, I had ever bathed, and if my brotherhad not been there it is quite possible that I mighthave been drowned. This gave me such a fright thatthough I often bathed here afterwards, I always wentin where the water was shallow, and did not learn toswim, however little, till several years later.Few small towns (it had then less than sixthousand inhabitants) have a more agreeable publicplayground than the fine open space called Harthamwith the level valley of the Lea stretching away toWare on the east, the town itself just over the riveron the south, while on the north, just across the riverBeane, was a steep slope covered with scattered firtrees, and called the Warren, at the foot of which wasa footpath leading to the picturesque little village andold church of Bengeo. This path along the Warrenwas a favourite walk of mine either alone or with aplaymate, where we could scramble up the bank,climb up some of the old trees, or sit comfortablyupon one or two old stumpy yews, which had suchtwisted branches and stiff spreading foliage as toform delightful seats. This place was very littlefrequented, and our wanderings in it were neverinterfered with.About three-quarters of a mile from the centre ofthe town, going along West Street, was a mill calledHorn's Mill, which was a great attraction to me. It

24 MY LIFEwas an old-fashioned mill for grinding linseed, expressingthe oil, and making oil-cake. The mill stoodclose by the roadside, and there were small lowwindows always open, through which we could lookin at the fascinating processes as long as we liked.First, there were two great vertical millstones of verysmooth red granite, which shone beautifully from theoil of the ground seeds. These were fixed on eachside of a massive vertical wooden axis on a centraliron axle, revolving slowly and silently, and crushingthe linseed into a fine oily meal.But this was only one part of this delightful kindof peepshow. A little way off an equally novel andstill more complex operation was always going on,accompanied by strange noises always dear to theyoung. Looking in at other windows we sawnumbers of workmen engaged in strange operationsamid strange machinery, with its hum and whirl andreverberating noises. Close before us were longerections like shop counters, but not quite so high.Immediately above these, at a height of perhaps tenor twelve feet, a long cylindrical beam was continuallyrevolving with fixed beams on each side of it, bothhigher up and lower down. At regular intervalsalong the counter were great upright wooden stampersshod with iron at the bottom. When not in actionthese were supported so that they were about twofeet above the counter, and just below them was asquare hole. As we looked on a man would take asmall canvas sack about two feet long, fill it full oflinseed meal from a large box by his side, place thisbag in a strong cover of a kind of floorcloth withflaps going over the top and down each side. Thesack of meal thus prepared would then be droppedinto the hole, which it entered easily. Then a thin

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 25board of hard wood, tapered to the lower^ edge, waspushed down on one side of it, and outside this againanother wedge-shaped piece was inserted. The topof this was now just under the iron cap of the heavypile or rammer, and on pulling a rope, this was freedand dropped on the top of the wedge, which it forcedhalfway down. In a few seconds it was raised upagain, and fell upon the wedge, driving it in a gooddeal further, and the third blow would send it downlevel with the top of the counter. Then when therammer rose up, another rope was pulled, and itremained suspended ; a turn of a handle enabled thefirst wedge to be drawn out and a much thicker oneinserted, when, after two or three blows, this becameso hard to drive that the rammer falling upon it madea dull sound and rebounded a little ; and as theprocess went on the blows became sharper, and thepile would rebound two or three times like a billiardball rebounding again and again from a stone floor,but in more rapid succession. This went on forhours, and when the process was finished, the meal inthe sack had become so highly compressed that whentaken out it was found to be converted into a compactoilcake.

CHAPTER IIIMY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORDMy recollections of life at our first house in St.Andrew's Street are very scanty. My father hadabout half a dozen small boys to teach, and we usedto play together ; but I think that when we had beenthere about a year or two, I went to the GrammarSchool with my brother John, and was at once setupon that most wearisome of tasks, the Latingrammar. It was soon after this that I had the firstof the three serious illnesses which at different periodsbrought me within a few hours of death in the opinionof those around me.It was a severe attack of scarlet fever, and Iremember little but heat and horrid dreams till oneevening when all the family came to look at me, andI had something given me to drink all night. I wastold afterwards that the doctor said this was the crisis,that I was to have port wine in tea-spoonfuls at shortintervals, and that if I was not dead before morningI might recover. For some weeks after this I liveda very enjoyable life in bed, having tea and toast,puddings, grapes, and other luxuries till I was wellagain.It may be well here to give a brief outline of myschool life at Hertford and of the schoolmaster whotaught me. The school itself was built in the year

—MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 271617, when the school was founded. It consisted ofone large room, with a large square window at eachend and two on each side. In the centre of one sidewas a roomy porch, and opposite to it a projectingportion, with a staircase leading to two rooms abovethe schoolroom and partly in the roof. The schoolroomwas fairly lofty. Along the sides were whatwere termed porches—desks and seats against thewall with very solid, roughly carved ends of blackoak, much cut with the initials or names of manygenerations of schoolboys. In the central space weretwo rows of desks with forms on each side. Therewas a master's desk at each end, and two others onthe sides, and two open fireplaces equidistant fromthe ends. Every boy had a desk the sloping lid ofwhich opened, to keep his school-books and anythingelse he liked, and between each pair of desks at thetop was a leaden ink-pot, sunk in a hole in the middlerail of the desks. As we went to school even inwinter at seven in the morning, and three days aweek remained till five in the afternoon, some artificiallighting was necessary, and this was effected by theprimitive method of every boy bringing his owncandles or candle-ends with any kind of candlestickhe liked. An empty ink-bottle was often used, or thecandle was even stuck on to the desk with a little ofits own grease. So that it enabled us to learn ourlessons or do our sums, no one seemed to troubleabout how we provided the light.The school was reached by a path along thebottom of All Saints' Churchyard, and entered by adoor in the wall which entirely surrounded the schoolplayground and master's garden. Over this door wasa Latin motto" Inter umbras Academi studere delectat."

28 MY LIFEThis was appropriate, as the grounds were surroundedby trees, and at the north end of the main playgroundthere were two very fine elms, shown in the oldengraving of the school here reproduced.The headmaster in my time was a rather irasciblelittle man named Clement Henry Crutwell. He wasusually called by the boys Old Cruttle or OldClemmy, and when he overheard these names used,which was not often, he would give us a short lectureon the impropriety and impoliteness of miscallingthose in authority over us. He was a good master,inasmuch as he kept order in the school, and carriedon the work of teaching about eighty boys by fourmasters, all in one room, with great regularity andwith no marked inconvenience. Whatever might bethe noise and games going on when he was absent,the moment his step was heard in the porch silenceand order at once reigned.Flogging with a cane was not uncommon for moreserious offences, while for slighter ones he would boxthe ears severely. Caning was performed in theusual old-fashioned way by laying the boy across thedesk, his hands being held on one side and his feeton the other, while the master, pulling the boy'strousers tight with one hand, laid on the cane withgreat vigour with the other. Mr. Crutwell alwayscaned the boys himself, but the other mastersadministered minor punishments, such as slight earboxes,slapping the palm with a flat ruler, or rappingthe knuckles with a round one. These punishmentswere usually deserved, though not always. A stupidboy, or one who had a bad verbal memory, was oftenpunished for what was called invincible idleness whenit was really congenital incapacity to learn what he tookno interest in, or what often had no meaning for him.

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 29Mr. Crutwell was, I suppose, a fairly good classicalscholar, as he took the higher classes in Latin andGreek. I left school too young even to begin Greek,but the last year or two I was in the Latin classwhich was going through Virgil's "^neid" with him.The system was very bad. The eight or ten boys inthe class had an hour to prepare the translation, andthey all sat together in a group opposite each otherand close to Mr. Crutwell's desk, but under pretenceof work there were always two or three of the boyswho were full of talk and gossip and school stories,which kept us all employed and amused till withinabout a quarter of an hour of the time for being calledup, when some one would remark, " I say, let's do ourtranslation ; I don't know a word of it." Then thecleverest boy, or one who had already been throughthe book, would begin to translate, two or three otherswould have their dictionaries ready when he did notknow the meaning of a word, and so we blunderedthrough our forty or fifty lines.When we were calledup, it was all a matter of chance whether we gotthrough well or otherwise. If the master was in agood humour and the part we had to translate wasspecially interesting, he would help us on wheneverwe hesitated or blundered, and when we had gotthrough the lesson, he would make a few remarks onthe subject, and say, " Now I will read you the wholeincident." He would then take out a translation ofthe " iEneid " in verse by a relative of his own—anuncle, I think—and, beginning perhaps a page or twoback, read usseveral pages, so that we could betterappreciate what we had been trying to translate. I,for one, always enjoyed these readings, as the versewas clear and melodious, and gave an excellent ideaof the poetry of the Latin writer. Sometimes our

30 MY LIFElaziness and ignorance were found out, and we eitherhad to stay in an hour and go over it again, orcopy it out a dozen times, or some other stupidimposition. But as this only occurred now andthen, of course it did not in the least affect ourgeneral mode of procedure when supposed to belearning our lesson. Mr. Crutwell read well, witha good emphasis and intonation, and I obtained abetter idea of what Virgil really was from his readingsthan from the fragmentary translations wescrambled through.Next to Latin grammar the most painful subjectI learnt was geography, which ought to have beenthe most interesting. It consisted almost entirelyin learning by heart the names of the chief towns,rivers, and mountains of the various countries from,I think, Pinnock's "School Geography," which gavethe minimum of useful or interesting information.It was something like learning the multiplicationtable both in the painfulness of the process and thepermanence of the results. The incessant grindingin both, week after week and year after year, resultedin my knowing both the product of any two numbersup to twelve, and the chief towns of any Englishcounty so thoroughly, that the result was automatic,and the name of Staffordshire brought into my mindStafford, Litchfield, Leek, as surely and rapidly aseight times seven brought fifty-six. The labour andmental effort to one who like myself had little verbalmemory was very painful, and though the result hasbeen a somewhat useful acquisition during life, Icannot but think that the same amount of mentalexertion wisely directed might have produced fargreater and more generally useful results.History was very little better, being largely a

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 31matter of learning by heart names and dates, andreading the very baldest account of the doings ofkings and queens, of wars, rebellions, and conquests.Whatever little knowledge of history I have everacquired has been derived more from Shakespeare'splays and from good historical novels than from anythingI learnt at school.At one period when the family was temporarilybroken up, for some reason I do not remember, I wasfor about half a year a boarder in Mr. Crutwell'shouse, in company with twenty or thirty other boys ;and I will here give the routine of a moderately goodboarding-school at that period.Our breakfast at eight consisted of a mug of milkand-waterand a large and very thick slice of breadand-butter.For the average boy this was as muchas he could eat, a few could not eat so much, a fewwanted more, and the former often gave their surplusAny boy could have an egg or a slice ofto the latter.bacon cooked if he bought it himself or had it sent fromhome, but comparatively very few had such luxuries.For dinner at one o'clock we had hot joints ofmeat and vegetables for five days and hot meat-pieson Saturdays. On Sundays we had a cold joint ofmeat, with hot fruit-pies in the summer and plumpuddingin the winter, with usually some extraEvery boy had halfdelicacy as custard or a salad.a pint of fairly good beer to drink, and any one whowished could have a second helping of meat.At half-past five, I think, we had milk-and-waterand bread-and-butter as at breakfast, from seven toeight we prepared lessons for the next day, and ateight o'clock we had supper, consisting of bread-andcheeseand, I think, another mug of beer.

32 MY LIFEOur regular games were cricket, baseball, leapfrog,high and long jumps, and, in the winter, turnpikeswith hoops. This latter was a means of enablingthose who had no hoops to get the use of them. Theykept turnpikes, formed by two bricks or stones placedthe width of the foot apart, and the hoop-driver hadto pass through without touching. If the hooptouched he gave it up, and kept the turnpike in hisplace. When there were turnpikes every five or tenyards all round the playground and a dozen or morehoops following each other pretty closely, the gamewas not devoid of its little excitements. We neverplayed football (so far as I remember), which at thattime was by no means such a common game as it isnow. Among the smaller amusements which werealways much liked were marbles and pegtops. Theindividuality of tops was rather curious, as somecould only be made to spin by holding them with thepeg upwards, others with it downwards, while otherswould spin when held in either position, and thrownalmost anyhow. When tops were in fashion theymight have been made the vehicle for very interestingteaching of mechanics, but that was quite beyondthe range of the ordinary schoolmaster of the earlypart of the nineteenth century.During my last year's residence at Hertford anarrangement was made by which, I suppose, the feespaid for my schooling were remitted on conditionthat I assisted in the school. I was a good writerand reader, and while continuing my regular classesin Latin and algebra, I took the younger boysin reading and dictation, arithmetic and writing.Although I had no objection whatever to the workitself, the anomalous position it gave me in the

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 33school—there being a score of boys older than myselfwho were scholars only—was exceedingly distasteful.Another thing hurt me dreadfully at the time,because it exposed me to what I thought was theLike mostridicule or contempt of the whole school.other boys, I was reckless about my clothes, leaningmy elbows on the desk till a hole was worn in myjacket, and, worse still, when cleaning my slate usingmy cuff to rub it dry. Slate sponges attached by astring were unknown to our school in those days.As new clothes were too costly to be had very often,my mother determined to save a jacket just takenfor school wear by making covers for the sleeves,which I was to wear in school. These were made ofblack calico, reaching from the cuff to the elbow, andthough I protested that I could not wear them, thatIshould be looked upon as a guy, and other equallyvalid reasons, they were one day put in my pocket,and I was told to put them on just before I enteredthe school. Of course I could not do it ;so I broughtthem back and told my mother. Then after anotherday or two of trial, one morning the dreaded thunderboltfell upon me. On entering school I was calledup to the master's desk, he produced the dreadedcalico sleeves, and told me that my mother wished meto wear them to save my jacket, and told me toputthem on. Of course I had to do so. They fittedvery well, and felt quite comfortable, and I dare saydid not look so very strange. I have no doubt alsothat most of the boys had a fellow-feeling for me, andthought it a shame to thus make me an exception to allthe school. But to me it seemed a cruel disgrace, andI was miserable so long as I wore them. How longthat was I cannot remember, but while it lasted itwas, perhaps, the severest punishment I ever endured.D

34 MY LIFEIn an article on the civilizations of China andJapan in The Independent Revieiv (April, 1904), it ispointed out that the universal practice of " saving theface " of any kind of opponent rests upon the fundamentalidea of the right of every individual to betreated with personal respect. With them this principleis taught from childhood, and pervades everyclass of society, while with us it is only recognized bythe higher classes, and by them is rarely extendedto inferiors or to children. The feeling that demandsthis recognition is certainly strong in many children,and those who have suffered under the failure of theirelders to respect it, can well appreciate the agony ofshame endured by the more civilized Eastern peoples,whose feelings are so often outraged by the totalabsence of all respect shown them by their Europeanmasters or conquerors. In thus recognizing thesanctity of this deepest of human feelings thesepeople manifest a truer phase of civilization than wehave attained to. Even savages often surpass usin this respect. They will often refuse to enter anempty house during the absence of the owner, eventhough something belonging to themselves may havebeen left in it ; and when asked to call one of theirsleeping companions to start on a journey, they willbe careful not to touch him, and will positively refuseto shake him rudely, as an Englishman would haveno scruple in doing.As the period from the age of six to fourteenwhich I spent at Hertford was that of my wholehome-life till I had a home of my own twenty-eightyears later, and because it was in many ways moreeducational than the time I spent at school, I think itwell to give a short account of it.During the year or two spent at the first house we

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 35occupied in St. Andrew's Street very little occurredto impress itself upon my memory, partly, I think,because I was too young and had several playfellowsof my own age, and partly, perhaps, because the verysmall house and yard at the back offered few facilitiesfor home amusements. There was also at that timetoo much inequality between myself and my brotherJohn for us to become such constant companions aswe were a little later.When we moved to the house beyond the OldCross, nearly opposite the lane leading to Hartham,the conditions were altogether more favourable. Thehouse itself was a more commodious one, and besidesa yard at one side, it had a small garden at the backwith a flower border at each side, where I first becameacquainted with some of our common garden flowers.The gable end of the house in the yard, facing nearlysouth, had few windows, and was covered over withan old vine which not only produced abundance ofgrapes, but enabled my father to make some gallonsof wine from the thinnings. But the most interestingfeature of the premises to us two boys was a smallstable with a loft over it, which, not being used exceptto store garden-tools and odd lumber, we had practicallyto ourselves. The loft especially was mostdelightful to us. It was reached by steps formed bynailing battens across the upright framing of thestable, with a square opening in the floor above. Itthus required a little practice to climb up and downeasily and to get a safe landing at top, and doing thisbecame so familiar to us that we ran up and downit as quickly as sailors run up the shrouds of a vessel.Then the loft itself, under the slooping roof, gloomyand nearly dark in the remote corners, was almostlike a robbers' cave ; while a door opening to the

36 MY LIFEoutside by which hay could be pitched up out of acart, afforded us plenty of light when we required it,together with the novel sensation and spice of dangerafforded by an opening down to the floor, yet eightor nine feet above the ground.This place was our greatest delight, and almostall the hours of daylight we could spare from schooland meals were spent in it. Here we accumulatedall kinds of odds and ends that might be useful forour various games or occupations, and here we wereable to hide many forbidden treasures such as gunpowder,with which we used to make wild-fires aswell as more elaborate fireworks. John was of a moremechanical turn than myself, and he used to excel inmaking all the little toys and playthings in whichboys then used to delight. I, of course, looked onadmiringly, and helped him in any way I could. Ialso tried to imitate him, but only succeeded in someof the simpler operations. Our most valuable guidewas the "Boy's Own Book," which told us how tomake numbers of things boys never think of makingnow, partly because everything is made for them, andalso because children get so many presents of elaborateor highly ornamented toys when very young,that by the time they are old enough to make anythingfor themselves they are quite blas^^ and canonly be satisfied by still more elaborate and expensiveplaythings.After my brother John went to London, and Iwas left alone at home, my younger brother beingstill too young for a playmate, I gave up most ofthese occupations, and began to develop a tastefor reading. I still had one or two favourite companionswith whom I used to go for long walks in thecountry, amusing ourselves in gravel or chalk pits,

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 37jumping over streams, and cutting fantastic walkingsticksout of the woods ; but nothing afterwardsseemed to make up for the quiet hours spent withmy brother in the delightful privacy of the loft.It was during our residence at this house near theOld Cross that, I think, my father enjoyed his lifemore than anywhere else at Hertford. Not only hadhe a small piece of garden and the fine grape-vinealready mentioned, but there was a roomy brew-housewith a large copper, which enabled him to brew abarrel of beer as well as make elder wine and grapewine,bottle gooseberries, and oth^r such work as hetook great pleasure in doing. When here also, Ithink, he hired a small garden about half a mile off,where he could grow vegetables and small fruit, andwhere he spent a few hours of every fine day. Andthese various occupations were an additional sourceof interest and instruction to us boys. It was here,however, that our elder sister died of consumption inthe year 1832, a little before she attained her twentysecondyear. This was a severe loss to my father andmother, though I was not of an age to feel it much.In the year 1834, a misfortune occurred that stillfurther reduced the family income. Mr. Wilson, whohad married my mother's only sister, was one of theexecutors of her father's will, and as he was a lawyer(the other executor being a clergyman), and his ownwife and her sister were the only legatees, he naturallyhad the sole management of the property. Owing toa series of events with which we were only veryimperfectly acquainted, he became bankrupt in thisyear, and his own wife and large family were at oncereduced from a condition of comfort and even affluenceto poverty almost as great as our own. But wechildren also suffered, for legacies of £100 each to

38 MY LIFEmy father's family, to be paid to us as we came of age,together with a considerable sum that had revertedto my mother on the death of her stepmother in 1828,had remained in Mr. Wilson's hands as trustee, andwere all involved in the bankruptcy. He did all hepossibly could for us, and ultimately, I believe, repaida considerable part of the money, but while the legalproceedings were in progress, and they lasted fullythree years, it was necessary for us to reduce expensesas much as possible. We had to leave our comfortablehouse and garden, and for a time had the use ofhalf a rambling old house near All Saints' Church.Before this, I think, my brother John had gone toLondon to be apprenticed, and the family at homeconsisted only of myself and my younger brotherHerbert till my sister returned from France, whereshe had gone to study the language. It must havebeen about this time that I was sent for a fewmonths as a boarder at the Grammar School, asalready stated ; but this whole period of my life isvery indistinct. I am sure, however, that we movedto the next house in St. Andrew's Street early in1836, because on May 15 of that year an annulareclipse of the sun occurred, visible in England, and Iwell remember the whole family coming out withsmoked glasses into the narrow yard at the side ofthe house in order to see it. I was rather disappointed,as it only produced a peculiar gloom such asoften occurs before a thunderstorm.At midsummer, I think, we again moved to a partof a house next to St. Andrew's Church, where wehad the Silk family for neighbours in the larger halfof the house. They also had most of the garden, onthe lawn of which was a fine old mulberry tree, whichin the late summer was so laden with fruit that the

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD3Qground was covered beneath it, and I and my friendGeorge used to climb up into the tree, where we couldgather the largest and ripest fruit and feast luxuriously.This was the last house we occupied in Hertford,the family moving to Hoddesdon some time in 1837,to a pretty but very small red-brick house calledRawdon Cottage, while I went to London and stayedat Mr. Webster's with my brother John, preparatoryto going with my eldest brother William to learnland-surveying.During the time I lived at Hertford I was subjectto influences which did more for my real educationthan the mere verbal training I received at school.My father belonged to a book club, through whichwe had a constant stream of interesting books,many of which he used to read aloud inthe evening.Among these I remember Mungo Park's travels andthose of Denham and Clapperton in West Africa.We also had Hood's Comic Annual for successiveyears, and I well remember my delight with "ThePugsley Papers " and " A Tale of the Great Plague,"while, as we lived first at a No. i , I associated Hood's" Number One " with our house, and learnt the versesby heart when I was about seven years old. Eversince those early experiences I have been an admirerof Hood in all his various moods, from his inimitablemixture of pun and pathos in his " Sea Spell," to theexquisite poetry of "The Haunted House," "TheElm Tree," and " The Bridge of Sighs."We also had some good old standard works in thehouse, " Fairy Tales," " Gulliver's Travels," " RobinsonCrusoe," and the " Pilgrim's Progress," all of whichI read over again and again with constant pleasure.We also had the « Lady of the Lake," " The Vicar

40 MY LIFEof Wakefield," and some others ; and among thebooks from the club I well remember my father readingto us Defoe's wonderful " History of the GreatPlague."I think it was soon after we went to the OldCross house that my father became librarian to afairly good proprietary town library, to which hewent for three or four hours every afternoon to giveout and receive books and keep everything inAfter my brother John left home and Iorder.lost my chiefplaymate and instructor, this library was a greatresource for me, as it contained a large collection ofall the standard novels of the day. Every wetSaturday afternoon I spent there ; and on Tuesdaysand Thursdays, which were our four-o'clock days, Iusually spent an hour there instead of stopping toplay or going straight home. Sometimes I helpedmy father a little in arranging or getting down books,but I had most of the time for reading, squattingdown on the floor in a corner, where I was quite outof the way. It was here that I read all FenimoreCooper's novels, a great many of James's, andHarrison Ainsworth's " Rookwood," that fine highwayman'sstory containing a vivid account of DickTurpin's Ride to York. It was here, too, I read theearlier stories of Marryat and Bulwer, Godwin's" Caleb Williams," Warren's " Diary of a Physician,"and such older works as" Don Quixote," Smollett's" Roderick Random," " Peregrine Pickle," and " HumphryClinker," Fielding's " Tom Jones," and MissBurney's " Evelina." I also read, partially or completely,Milton's "Paradise Lost," Pope's "Iliad,"Spenser's "Faerie Queene," and Dante's "Inferno,"a good deal of Byron and Scott, some of the Spectatorand Rambler, Southey's " Curse of Kehama," and, in

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 41fact, almost any book that I heard spoken of ascelebrated or interesting. Walton's " Angler " was afavourite of my father's, and I well remember a woodcutillustration of Dove Dale with greatly exaggeratedrocks and pinnacles, which made me long to see sucha strange and picturesque spot—a longing which Ionly gratified about a dozen years ago, finding itmore exquisitely beautiful than I had imagined it tobe, even if not quite so fantastic.My father and mother were old-fashioned religiouspeople belonging to the Church of England, and, asa rule, we all went to church twice on Sundays, usuallyin the morning and evening. We also had to learna collect every Sunday morning, and were periodicallyexamined in our Catechism. On very wet eveningsmy father read us a chapter from the Bible and asermon instead of the usual service. Among ourfriends, however, were some Dissenters, and a goodmany Quakers, who were very numerous in Hertford ;and on rare occasions we were taken to one of theirchapels .instead of to church, and the variety alonemade this quite a treat. We were generally advisedwhen some " friend " was expected to speak, and itwas on such occasions that we visited the Friends'Meeting House, though I remember one occasionwhen, during the whole time of the meeting, therewas complete silence. And when any brother orsister was " moved to speak," it was usually very dulland wearisome ; and after having attended two orthree times, and witnessed the novelty of the menand women sitting on opposite sides of the room, andthere being no pulpit and no clergyman and no singing,we did not care to go again. But the Dissenters'chapel was always a welcome change, and we wentthere not unfrequently to the evening service. The

42 MY LIFEextempore prayers, the frequent singing, and theusually more vigorous and exciting style of preachingwas to me far preferable to the monotony of theChurch service ; and it was there only that, at oneperiod of my life, I felt something of religious fervour,derived chiefly from the more picturesque and impassionedof the hymns. As, however, there was nosufficient basis of intelligible fact or connected reasoningto satisfy my intellect, this feeling soon left me,and has never returned.

CHAPTER IVLONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS AND OWENITESHaving finally left school at Christmas, 1836 (beforeI had completed my fourteenth year), I think it wasearly in 1837 that I was sent to London to live atMr. Webster's in Robert Street, Hampstead Road,where my brother John was apprenticed. My fatherand mother were then about to move to the smallcottage at Hoddesdon, and it was convenient for meto be out of the way till my brother William couldarrange to have me with him to learn land-surveying.Mr. Webster was a small master builder, who hada work-shop in a yard about five minutes' walk fromthe house, where he constantly employed eight or tenmen preparing all the joinery work for the houses hebuilt. At that time there were no great steamfactoriesfor making doors and windows, workingmouldings, etc., everything being done by hand,except in the case of the large builders and contractors,who had planing and sawing-mills of theirown. Here in the yard was a sawpit in which twomen, the top- and bottom-sawyers, were always atwork cutting up imported balks of timber into thesizes required, while another oldish man was at workday after day planing up floor-boards. In the shopitself windows and doors, cupboards, staircases, andother joiner's work was always going on, and the men

44 MY LIFEemployed all lived in the small streets surroundingthe shop. The working hours were from six to halfpastfive, with one and a half hours out for meals,leaving a working day of ten hours.Having nothing else to do, I used to spend thegreater part of my time in the shop, seeing the menwork, doing little jobs occasionally, and listening totheir conversation. These were no doubt an averagesample of London mechanics, and they were on thewhole quite as respectable a set of men as any in asimilar position to-day. I soon became quite at homein the shop, and got to know the peculiarities of eachof the men. I heard their talk together, their jokesand chaff, their wishes and their ideas, and all thoselittle touches of character which come out in thefamiliar intercourse of the workshop. My generalimpression is that there was very little swearingamong them, much less than became common thirtyyears later, and perhaps about as much as among asimilar class of men to-day. Neither was there muchcoarseness or indecency in their talk, far less indeedthan I met with among professional young men a fewyears afterwards. One of the best of the workmenwas a very loose character—a kind of Lothario or DonJuan by his own account—who would often talk abouthis adventures, and boast of them as the very essenceof his life. He was a very good and amusing talker,and helped to make the time pass in the monotony ofthe shop ; but occasionally, when he became tooexplicit or too boastful, the foreman, who was a ratherserious though very agreeable man, would gently callhim to order, and repudiate altogether his praises ofthe joys of immorality.As my brother was, at the time I am now speakingof, nearly nineteen and a very good workman, he

:LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 45had complete liberty in the evenings after seveno'clock, the only limitation being that he had to beback about ten ;while on special occasions he wasallowed to take the door-key. He often took me withhim on fine evenings to some of the best businessstreets in London to enjoy the shops, and especiallyto see anything of particular interest exhibited inthem. But our evenings were most frequently spentat what was then termed a " Hall of Science," situatedin John Street, Tottenham Court Road (now alteredto Whitfield Street). It was really a kind of club ormechanics' institute for advanced thinkers amongworkmen, and especially for the followers of RobertOwen, the founder of the Socialist movement inEngland. Here we sometimes heard lectures onOwen's doctrines, or on the principles of secularismor agnosticism, as it is now called ; at other times weread papers or books, or played draughts, dominoes,or bagatelle, and coffee was also supplied to any whowished for it. It was here that I first made acquaintancewith some of Owen's writings, and especiallywith the wonderful and beneficent work he hadcarried on for many years at New Lanark. I alsoreceived my first knowledge of the arguments ofsceptics, and read among other books Paine's "Ageof Reason."It must have been in one of the books or papersI read here that I met with what I dare say is a veryold dilemma as to the origin of evil. It runs thus" Is God able to prevent evil but not willing ? Thenhe is not benevolent. Is he willing but not able ?Then he is not omnipotent. Is he both able andwilling ? Whence then is evil ? " This struck mevery much, and it seemed quite unanswerable, andwhen at home a year or two afterwards, I took the

46 MY LIFEopportunity one day to repeat it to my father, ratherexpecting he would be very much shocked at myacquaintance with any such infidel literature. Buthe merely remarked that such problems were mysterieswhich the wisest cannot understand, and seemed disinclinedto any discussion of the subject. This, ofcourse, did not satisfy me, and if the argument didnot really touch the question of the existence of God,it did seem to prove that the orthodox ideas as toHis nature and powers cannot be accepted.I was also greatly impressed by a tract on" Consistency," written by Robert Dale Owen, theeldest son of Robert Owen, and as a writer superiorin style and ability to his father. The chief object ofit was to exhibit the horrible doctrine of eternalpunishment as then commonly taught from thousandsof pulpits by both the Church of England andDissenters, and to argue that if those who taughtand those who accepted such dogmas thoroughlybelieved them and realized their horror, all worldlypleasures and occupations would give way to thecontinual and strenuous effort to escape such a fate.I thoroughly agreed with Mr. Dale Owen's conclusion,that the orthodox religion of the day was degradingand hideous, and that the only true and whollybeneficial religion was that which inculcated theservice of humanity, and whose only dogma was thebrotherhood of man. Thus was laid the foundationof my religious scepticism.Similarly, my introduction to advanced politicalviews, founded on the philosophy of human nature,was due to the writings and teachings of RobertOwen and some of his disciples. His great fundamentalprinciple, on which all his teaching and all his

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 47practice were founded, was that the character of everyindividual is formed for and not by himself, first byheredity, which gives him his natural disposition withall its powers and tendencies, its good and badqualities; and, secondly, by environment, includingeducation and surroundings from earliest infancy,which always modifies the original character forbetter or for worse. Of course, this was a theory ofpure determinism, and was wholly opposed to theordinary views, both of religious teachers and ofgovernments, that, whatever the natural character,whatever the environment during childhood andmen could beyouth, whatever the direct teaching, allgood if they liked, all could act virtuously, all cotddobey the laws, and if they wilfully transgressed anyof these laws or customs of their rulers and teachers,the only way to deal with them was to punish them,again and again, under the idea that they could thusbe deterred from future transgression. The utterfailure of this doctrine, which has been followed inpractice during the whole period of human history,seems to have produced hardly any effect on oursystems of criminal law or of general education ; andthough other writers have exposed the error, and arestill exposing it, yet no one saw so clearly as Owenhow to put his views into practice ; no one, perhaps,in private life has ever had such opportunities ofcarrying out his principles ; no one has ever shownso much ingenuity, so much insight into character, somuch organizing power ; and no one has ever producedsuch striking results in the face of enormousdifficulties as he produced during the twenty-sixyears of his management of New Lanark.Of course, it was objected that Owen's principleswere erroneous and immoral because they wholly

;48 MY LIFEdenied free-will, because he advocated the abolitionof rewards and punishments as both unjust andunnecessary, and because (it was argued) to act onsuch a system would lead to a pandemonium of viceand crime. The reply to this is that, acting on theprinciple of absolute free-will, every government hasalike failed to abolish, or even to any considerabledegree todiminish, discontent, misery, disease, vice,and crime ; and that, on the other hand, Owen did,by acting on his own principle of the formation ofcharacter, transform a discontented, unhealthy, vicious,and wholly antagonistic population of 2500 personsto an enthusiastically favourable, contented, happy,healthy, and comparatively moral community, withoutever having recourse to any legal punishment whatever,and without, so far as appears, discharging anyindividual for robbery, idleness, or neglect of dutyand all this was effected while increasing the efficiencyof the whole manufacturing establishment, paying aliberal interest on the capital invested, and evenproducing a large annual surplus of profits which,in the four years 1809-13, averaged ;^4o,ooo a year,and only in the succeeding period, when the newshareholders agreed to limit their interest to 5 percent, per annum, was this surplus devoted to educationand the general well-being of the community.Although most people have heard of New Lanark,few have any idea of Owen's work there or of themeans by which he gradually overcame oppositionand achieved the most remarkable results. It will,therefore, not be out of place to give a short accountof his methods as explained in his autobiography,which I only had the opportunity of reading a fewyears ago.In the year 1800, he became partner and sole

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 49manager of the New Lanark cotton-mills, andmarried the daughter of Mr. Dale, the formerproprietor. Gradually, for many years, he had beenelaborating his theory of human nature, and longingfor an opportunity of putting his ideas in practice.And now he had got his opportunity. He had anextensive factory and workshops, with a village ofabout two thousand inhabitants all employed in theworks, which, with about two hundred acres of surroundingland, belonged to the company. Thecharacter of the workers at New Lanark is thusdescribed by Mr. W. L. Sargant, in his work " RobertOwen and his Social Philosophy," when describingthe establishment of the mills about fifteeen yearsbefore Owen acquired them :" To obtain a supply ofadult labourers a village was built round the works,and the houses were let at a low rent ; but thebusiness was so unpopular that few, except thebad,the unemployed, and the destitute, would settle there.Even of such ragged labourers the numbers wereinsufficient ; and these, when they had learned theirtrade and become valuable, were self-willedand insubordinate."Besides these, there were about fivehundred children, chiefly obtained from the workhousesof Edinburgh and other large towns, whowere apprenticed for seven years from the age of sixto eight, and were lodged and boarded in a largebuilding erected for the purpose by the former owner,Mr. Dale, and were well attended to. But these poorchildren had to work from six in the morning to sevenin the evening (with an hour and three-quarters formeals) ;and it was only after this task was over thatinstruction began. The children hated their slavery ;many absconded ; some were stunted, and evendwarfed in stature ; and when their apprenticeshipE

soMY LIFEexpired at the ages of thirteen to fifteen, theycommonly went off to Glasgow or Edinburgh, withno natural guardians, and serving to swell the massof vice and misery in the towns. " The condition ofthe families who had immigrated to the village wasalso very lamentable. The people lived almost withoutcontrol in habits of vice, idleness, poverty, debt,and destitution. Some were drunk for weeks together.Thieving was general, and went on to a ruinousextent. . . . There was also a considerable drawbackto the comfort of the people in the high price and badquality of the commodities supplied in the village."When Owen told his intimate friends who knewall these facts that he hoped to reform these peopleby a system of justice and kindness, and gradually todiscontinue all punishment, they naturally laughed athim for a wild enthusiast ;yet he ultimately succeededto such an extent that hardly any one credited theaccounts of it without personal inspection, and itsfame spread over the whole civilized world. He had,besides the conditions already stated, two other greatdifficulties to overcome. The whole of the workersand overseers were strongly antagonistic to him asbeing an Englishman, whose speech they could hardlyunderstand, and who, they believed, was sent to getmore money for the owners and more work out ofthemselves. They, therefore, opposed all he did byevery means that ingenuity could devise, and thoughhe soon introduced more order and regularity in thework and improved the quality of the yarn produced,they saw in all this nothing but the acts of a tool ofthe mill-owners somewhat cleverer, and thereforemore to be dreaded, than those who had precededhim. An equally fierce opposition was made to anyimprovement in the condition of the houses and streets

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 51as to dirt, ventilation, drainage, etc. He vainly triedto assure the more intelligent of the overseers andworkmen that his object was to improve their condition,to make them more healthy and happier andbetter off than they were. This was incredible tothem, and for two years he made very little progress.One thing, however, he did for the benefit of theworkers which had some effect in disarming theirenmity and suspicions. Instead of the retail shopswhere inferior articles were sold at credit for veryhigh prices, he established stores and shops whereevery article of daily consumption was supplied atwholesale prices, adding only the cost of management.The result was that by paying ready money thepeople got far better quality at full 25 per cent, lessthan before ;and the result soon became visible intheir superior dress, improved health, and in thegeneral comfort of their houses.But what at length satisfied them that theirmanager was really their friend was his conduct whena great temporary scarcity of cotton and itsrapid risein price caused most of the mills to be shut, andreduced the workers to the greatest distress. Butthough Owen shut up the mills he continued to payevery worker full wages for the whole of the fourmonths during which the scarcity lasted, employingthem in thoroughly cleaning the mills and machinery,repairing the houses, etc. This cost £7000, which hepaid on his own responsibility ; but it so completelygained the confidence of the people that he wasafterwards able to carry out improvements withoutserious obstruction. Being wholly opposed to infantlabour, he allowed all arrangements with the guardiansto expire, built a number of better houses, and. thusobtained families of workers to take the place of the

52 MY LIFEchildren ; but difficulties with the partners arose, theproperty was sold to a fresh set of partners, Owenbeing still the largest shareholder and manager, anda few years later again sold to Owen and a few of hispersonal friends, who agreed to allow him to managethe property, and to expend all profits above 5 percent, for the benefit of the workers. Among his coshareholderswere Jeremy Bentham, with JosephFoster and William Allen, well-known Quakers. Itmay be here stated that the property was purchasedof Mr. Dale for i^6o,ooo, and was sold to Owen andhis friends in 1814 for ;^i 14,100. This great increaseof value was due in part to the large profits made bycotton mills generally at this period, and partly toOwen's skilful management and judicious expenditure.He was now at last able to carry out his plans forthe education of the children, none of whom he wouldallow to enter the mills as workers till they were tenyears old. He built handsome and roomy schools,playrooms and lecture-rooms for infants from two tosix, and for the older children from six to ten yearsold ; and he obtained the best masters for the latter.The infant schools were superintended by himself,and managed by teachers he himself selected for theirmanifest love of children. His instructions to themwere " that they were on no account ever to beat anyone of the children, or to threaten them in any mannerin word or action, or to use abusive terms, but werealways to speak to them with a pleasant countenance,and in a kind manner and tone of voice ; that theyshould tell the infants and children that they must onall occasions do all they could to make their playfellowshappy ; and that the older ones, from five tosix years of age, should take especial care of theyounger ones, and should assist to teach them to

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 53make each other happy." And these instructions, heassures us, were strictly followed by the man andwoman he chose as infant-schoolmaster and mistress.No books were to be used ;but the children " wereto be taught the uses and nature or qualities of thecommon things around them, by familiar conversationwhen the children's curiosity was excited so as toinduce them to ask questions respecting them." Theschoolrooms were furnished with paintings of naturalobjects, and the children were also taught dancing,singing, and military evolutions, which they greatlyenjoyed. The children were never kept at any oneoccupation or amusement till they were fatigued andwere taken much into the open air and into the surroundingcountry, where they were taught somethingabout every natural object. Here we see all the essentialfeatures of the educational systems of Pestalozziand Frcebel, worked out by his own observations ofchild-nature from his own childhood onward, and putinto practice on the first opportunity with a completenessand success that were most remarkable.The effect of his system on the adult workers washardly less remarkable. To stop the continued pilferingof bobbins and other small articles in the mills,he invented a system (unfortunately not explained)by which the many thousands of these articles whichpassed from hand to hand daily were so recordedautomatically that the loss of one by any particularworker could be always detected. In this way robberylarge or small, was always discovered, but no one wasever punishedfor it. The certainty of discovery, however,prevented its being attempted, and it very soonceased altogether.Equally novel and ingenious was his method ofavoiding the necessity for punishment, or even for 3,

54 MY LIFEword of censure, for the many petty offences orinfractions of rules that are inevitable inevery largeestablishment. Owen calls it " the silent monitor,"but the workers called it the "telegraph." Eachsuperintendent of a department had a character-book,in which the daily conduct of every worker was setdown by marks for each of the ordinary offences,neglect of work, swearing, etc., which when summedup gave a result in four degrees—bad, indifferent,good, excellent. For every individual there wasa small wooden, four-sided tally, the sides beingcoloured black, blue, yellow, and white, correspondingto the above degrees of conduct. This tally was fixedat each one's work-place, with the indicative colouronly visible, so that as Owen or his representativepassed down the shops at any time during the day,he could note at a glance the conduct of eachone during the preceding day, and thus get botha general and a detailed view of the behaviour ofthe workers. If any thought they were unfairlytreated they could complain to him, but in hardlyany cases did this happen. He tells us, "As Ipassed through all the rooms, the workers alwaysobserved me look at these telegraphs, and whenblack I merely looked at the person, and then atthe colour, but never said a word to one of themby way of blame. At first," he says, "a large proportiondaily were black and blue, few yellow, andscarcely any white. Gradually the blacks were changedfor blue, the blues for yellow, and the yellows for white.Soon after the adoption of this telegraph I could atonce see by the expression of countenance what wasthe colour which was shown. As there were fourcolours there were four different expressions of countenance,most evident to me as I passed along the rooms.

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 55. . . Never perhaps in the history of the human racehas so simple a device created in so short a periodso much order, virtue, goodness, and happiness, out ofso much ignorance, error, and misery. And for manyyears the permanent daily conduct of a very largemajority of those who were employed deserved, andhad, No. I placed as their character on the books ofthe company."anyEvery visitor to New Lanark who publishedaccount of his observations seems to have agreed asto the exceptional health, good conduct, and wellbeingof the entire population ; while residents in thevicinity, as well as the ruling authorities of the district,bore witness that vice and crime were almostwholly unknown. And it must be remembered thatthis was all effected upon the chance population foundthere, which was certainly no better if no worse thanthe usual lowest class of manufacturing operatives atthat period. There appears to have been not a singlecase of an individual or a family being expelled forbad conduct ; so that we are compelled to trace themarvellous improvement that occurred entirely to thepartial application of Owen's principles of humannature, most patiently and skilfully applied by himself.They were necessarily only a partial application,because a large number of the adults had not receivedthe education and training from infancy which wasessential for producing their full beneficial results.Again, the whole establishment was a manufactory,the property of private capitalists, and the adultpopulation suffered all the disadvantages of havingto work for long hours at a monotonous employmentand at low rates of wages, circumstances whollyantagonistic to any full and healthy and elevatedexistence. Owen used always to declare that the

56 MY LIFEbeneficial results at which all visitors were so muchastonished were only one-tenth part of what could andwould be produced if his principles were fully applied-If the labour of such a community, or of groups ofsuch communities, had been directed with equal skillto produce primarily the necessaries and comforts oflife for its own inhabitants, with a surplus of suchgoods as they could produce most economically, inorder by their sale in the surrounding district to beable to supply themselves with such native or foreignproducts as they required, then each worker wouldhave been able to enjoy the benefits of change ofoccupation, always having some alternation of outdooras well as indoor work ; the hours of labourmight be greatly reduced, and all the refinementsof life might have been procured and enjoyed bythem.The one great error Owen committed was givingup the New Lanark property and management, andspending his large fortune in the endeavour to foundcommunities in various countries of chance assemblagesof adults, which his own principles should haveshown him were doomed to failure. He always maintainedthat a true system of education from infancyto manhood was essential to the best formation ofcharacter. His infant schools had only been aboutten years in existence, when, owing to some difficultieswith his Quaker partners, who had alwaysobjected to the dancing and drill, he gave up themanagement into their hands.Notwithstanding this one fatal error, an error dueto the sensitive nobility of his character and to hisoptimistic belief in the power of truth to make its wayagainst all adverse forces, Robert Owen will be rememberedas one of the wisest, noblest, and most

LONDON WORKERS, SECULARISTS, ETC. 57practical of philanthropists, as well as one of the bestand most lovable of men.I have a recollection of having once heard him givea short address at this " Hall of Science," and that Iwas struck by his tall spare figure, very lofty head,and highly benevolent countenance and mode ofspeaking. Although later in life my very scantyknowledge of his work was not sufficient to preventmy adopting the individualist views of HerbertSpencer and of the political economists, I have alwayslooked upon Owen as my first teacher in the philosophyof human nature and my first guide throughthe labyrinth of social science. He influenced mycharacter more than I then knew, and now that Ihave read his life and most of his works, I am fullyconvinced that he was the greatest of social reformersand the real founder of modern Socialism. For thesereasons I trust that my readers will not consider thespace I have here devoted to an outline of his greatwork at New Lanark is more than the subjectdeserves.The preceding sketch of his work is founded uponhis " Life " written by himself, and accompanied bysuch a mass of confirmatory reports and correspondenceas to show that it can be thoroughly relied on.It has, however, long been out of print, and very fewpeople have read it or even heard of it, and it is forthis reason that I have given this brief outline.

CHAPTER VSURVEYING INBEDFORDSHIREIt was, I think, early in the summer of 1837 that Iwent with my brother William into Bedfordshire tobegin my education as a land-surveyor. The firstwork we had was to survey the parish of HighamGobion for the commutation of the tithes. It was asmall parish of about a thousand acres, with thechurch, vicarage, and a good farmhouse on the highestground, and a few labourers' cottages scattered about,but nothing that could be called a village. Thewhole parish was one large farm ; the land was almostall arable and the fields very large, so that it was asimple piece of work. We took up our quarters atthe Coach and Horses public-house in the villageBarton-in-the-Clay, six miles north of Luton, on thecoach-road to Bedford. We were nearly a mile fromthe nearest part of the parish, but it was the mostconvenient place we could get.An intelligent young labourer was hired to drawthe chain in measuring, while I carried a flag ormeasuring-rod and stuck in pegs or cut triangularholes in the grass, where required, to form marks forfuture reference. We carried bill-hooks for cuttingrods and pegs, as well as for clearing away branchesthat obstructed the view, and for cutting gaps in thehedges on the main lines of the survey, in order toof

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 59lay them out perfectly straight. We started workafter an early breakfast, and usually took with us agood supply of bread-and-cheese and half a gallonof beer, and about one o'clock sat down under theshelter of a hedge to enjoy our lunch. My brotherwas a great smoker, and always had his pipe afterlunch (and often before breakfast), and, of course, thechain-bearer smoked too. It therefore occurred tome that I might as well learn the art, and for somedays I tried a few whiffs. Then, going a little too far,I had such a violent attack of headache and vomitingthat I was cured once and for ever from any desireto smoke, and although I afterwards lived for someyears among Portuguese and Dutch, almost all ofwhom are smokers, I never felt any inclination to tryagain.It was while living at Barton that I obtained myfirst information that there was such a science asgeology, and that chalk was not everywhere foundunder the surface, as I had hitherto supposed. Mybrother, like most land-surveyors, was something of ageologist, and he showed me the fossil oysters of thegenus Gryphaea and the Belemnites, which we hadhitherto called "thunderbolts," and several otherfossils which were abundant in the chalk and gravelaround Barton. While here I acquired the rudimentsof surveying and mapping, as well as calculating areason the map by the rules of trigonometry. This Ifound very interesting work, and it was renderedmore so by a large volume belonging to my brothergiving an account of the great Trigonometrical Surveyof England, with all the angles and the calculatedlengths of the sides of the triangles formed by thedifferent stations on hilltops, and by the variouschurch spires and other conspicuous objects. The

6oMY LIFEchurch spires of Barton and Higham Gobion hadbeen thus used, and the distance between them accuratelygiven ;and as the line from one to the otherran diagonally across the middle of the parish wewere surveying, this was made our chief base-line,and the distance as measured found to agree veryclosely with that given in the survey. This volumewas eagerly read by me, as it gave an account of allthe instruments used, including the great theodolitethree feet in diameter for measuring the angles of thelarger triangles formed by distant mountain tops oftentwenty or thirty miles apart, and in a few cases morethan a hundred miles ; the accurate measurement ofthe base-lines by steel chains laid in wooden troughs,and carefully tightened by exactly the same weightpassing over a pulley, while the ends were adjustedby means of microscopes ; the exact temperaturebeing also taken by several thermometers in order toallow for contraction or expansion of the chains ;andby all these refinements several base-lines of sevenor eight miles in length were measured with extremeaccuracy in distant parts of the country. Thesebase-lines were tested by repeated measurements inopposite directions, which were found to differ onlyby about an inch, so that the mean of all the measurementswas probably correct to less than half thatamount.These bases were connected by the system of triangulationalready referred to, the angles at all thestations being taken with the best available instrumentsand often repeated by different observers,while allowance had also to be made for height abovethe sea-level, to which all the distances had to bereduced. In this way, starting from any one base,the lengths of the sides of all the triangles were

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 6icalculated, and ultimately the length of the otherbases ;and if there had been absolutely no error inany of the measurements of base-lines or of angles,the length of a base obtained by calculation would bethe same as that by direct measurement. The resultsobtained showed a quite marvellous accuracy. Startingfrom the base measured on Salisbury Plain, thelength of another base on the shore of Lough Foyle inthe north of Ireland was calculated through the wholeseries of triangles connecting them, and this calculatedlength was found to differ from the measured lengthby only five inches and a fraction. The distancebetween these two base-lines is about three hundredand sixty miles.It was here, too, that during my solitary ramblesI first began to feel the influence of nature and towish to know more of the various flowers, shrubs, andtrees I daily met with, but of which for the most partI did not even know the English names. At thattime I hardly realized that there was such a scienceas systematic botany, that every flower and everymeanest and most insignificant weed had been accuratelydescribed and classified, and that there wasany kind of system or order in the endless variety ofplants and animals which I knew existed.Barton was a rather large straggling village of theold-fashioned, self-contained type, with a variety ofsmall tradesmen and mechanics, many of whom livedin their own freehold or leasehold houses with fairsizedgardens. Our landlord was a Radical, and tooka newspaper called The Constitutional^ which waspublished at Birmingham, and contained a great dealof very interesting matter. This was about the timethe dean and chapter refused to allow a monument tobe erected to Byron in Westminster Abbey, which

—!—;62 MY LIFEexcited much indignation among his admirers.Oneof these wrote some lines on the subject which struckme as being so worthy of the occasion that I learntthem by heart, and by constant repetition (on sleeplessnights) have never forgotten them. They wereprinted in the newspaper without a signature, and Ihave never been able to learn who was the author ofthem. I give them here to show the kind of poetryI admired then and still enjoy"Away with epitaph and sculptured bustLeave these to decorate the mouldering dustOf him who needs such substitutes for fameThe chisel's pomp to deck a worthless name.Away with these ! A Byron needs them notNature herself selects a deathless spot,A nation's heart : the Poet cannot die,His epitaph is Immortality.What are earth's mansions to a tomb like this ?When time hath swept into forgetfulnessWealth-blazoned halls and gorgeous cemeteries.The mouldering Abbey with its sculptured lies,His name, emblazoned in the wild, the free,The deep, the beautiful of earth, shall beDark and wildA household word with millions.His song at times, his spirit was the childOf burning passion.Yet when he awokeFrom his dark hours of bondage, when he brokeHis cage and seized his harp, did he not makeA peal of matchless melody and shakeThe very earth with joy ? Still thrills the heartOf man at those sweet notes ; sacred despots startTo curse them from their thrones ; they pierce the cellAnd cheer the captive in his chains ; they tellLessons of life to struggling liberty.Death mars the man but spares his memory.Nor tears one laurel from his wreath of fame.How many glorious thoughts of his we claimOur heritage for ever ; beacon lightsTo guide the barque of freedom through the nightsOf tyranny and woe, when not a starOf hope looks down to glad the mariner :Thoughts which must ever haunt us, like some dreamOf childhood which we ne'er forget, a gleam"Of sunshine flashing o'er life's troubled stream !

—SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 63Those who only know Byron by his more romanticor pathetic poems, and who may think the panegyricof the anonymous writer in The Constitutional* to beoverdrawn, should read " The Age of Bronze," whichis pervaded throughout with the detestation of war,with admiration of those who fought only for freedom,and with scorn and contempt for the majority ofEnglish landlords, who subordinated all ideas ofjustice or humanity to the keeping up of their rents.Even if it stood alone, this one poem would justifythe poet as an upholder of the rights of man and as atruly ethical teacher.As there was no work of importance after themaps and reference books of the parish we had beensurveying were completed and delivered, and winterwas approaching, I went home for a short holiday.My father and mother and my younger brother werethen living in Hoddesdon, and as there was no directconveyance I made the journey on foot. It was, Ithink, the end of November, and as the distance wasabout thirty miles, and I was not very strong, Itwo days, sleeping on the way attooka roadside publichouse.I went through Hitchin and Stevenage, andnear the former place passed a quarry of a reddishchalk almost as hard as marble, which was used forbuilding. This surprised me, as I had hitherto onlyseen the soft varieties of chalk, and had been accustomedto look upon it as more earth than stone. Theonly other thing that greatly interested me was alittle beyond Stevenage, where, on a grassy strip by* This newspaper The Constitutional—appears to have existedonly two years. The Daily News, referring to a sale of Thackerayrarities last year, states that he contributed several articles to that paperas Paris correspondent, and that, in consequence, a set of the papersold in 1899 for two hundred guineas. A friend informs me that itdoes not exist in the Bodleian Library.

64 MY LIFEthe roadside, were six ancient barrows or tumuli,which I carefully inspected ;and whenever I havesince travelled by the Great Northern Railway, Ihave looked out for these six tumuli, near which theline passes.After a few weeks at home at Hoddesdon, I wentback to Barton, where we had some work till afterChristmas. On New Year's Day, 1838, the firstsection of the London and Birmingham Railway wasopened to Tring, and I and my brother took advantageof it to go up to London, where he had somebusiness, and the next day I walked to Hoddesdonfor a short holiday. My brother while in Londonobtained the survey for tithe commutation of a parishin Bedfordshire, where I was to meet him on the 14thor 15th of January, at the village of Turvey, eightmiles beyond Bedford.I had first to go back to Barton to pay a few billsand pack up the books, instruments, etc., we had leftthere to be sent by carrier's waggon. I therefore lefthome on the 12th, and I think walked back toBarton, and the next day did what was required, tookleave of my friends there, and on the morning of the14th, after an early breakfast, started to walk toTurvey through Bedford, a distance of about twentymiles. I dined at Bedford, and reached Turvey beforedark.For the next six days we were at work laying outthe main lines for the survey of the parish, cuttinghedges, ranging flags, ascertaining boundaries, andbeginning the actual measurements.A curious incident may here be noted. One dayI was out on the frozen meadows across the riverOuse, assisting in marking out one of our main lineswhich had to cross the windings of the river, when I

!SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 65saw a pleasant-looking young man coming towardsme carrying a double-barrelled gun. When he wasa few yards off, two very large birds, looking like wildgeese, came flying towards us, and as they passed overheadat a moderate height, he threw up his gun, firedboth barrels, and brought them both to the ground.Of course I went up to look at them, and found theywere a fine pair of wild swans, the male being aboutfive feet long from beak to end of tail. " That was agood shot," I remarked ; to which he replied, " Ohyou can't miss them, they are as big as a barn door."Afterwards I found that this was young Mr. H. H.Higgins, of Turvey Abbey, his father being one ofthe principal landowners in the parish.More than half a century later (in November,1889), I was invited to Liverpool to give somelectures, and some time before the date fixed uponI received a very kind letter from the Rev. H. H.Higgins, inviting me to dine with him on my arrival,and offering to assist me in every way he could. Ideclined the invitation, but told him what hotel I wasgoing to, and said that I should be glad to see him.His letter recalled to me my acquaintance at Turvey,but Idid not see how a Liverpool clergyman couldhave any close relationship to a wealthy Bedfordshirelandowner. I found Mr. Higgins at the station witha carriage ready, and he told me that, as I did notwish to go out to dinner, he and some friends hadtaken the liberty of ordering a dinner at my hotel,and hoped I would dine with them. He was aspleasant as an old friend, and of course I accepted.When his friends left about an hour after dinner,I asked him, if he had no engagement, to stay a littlelonger, as I wished to find out the mystery. I thenasked him if he knew a place called Turvey, inF

'"66 MY LIFEBedfordshire, to which he reph'ed, " I ought to knowit, for I was born there, and my father owned theestate there to which I am heir." I then felt prettysure of my man, and asked him if he remembered,during a very hard frost about fifty years ago, shootinga pair of wild swans at Turvey. " Why, of courseI do," said he. " But how do you know it ?*'Because I was there at the time and saw you shootthem. Do not you remember a thin tall lad whocame up to you and said, 'That was a good shot/and you replied, Oh * ! you can't miss them, they areas big as a barn door " } " No," he said, " I don'tremember you at all, but that is just what I shouldhave said." His delight was great, for his story ofhow he shot the two wild swans was not creditedeven by his own family, and he made me promiseto go to his house after the lecture on the next night,and prove to them that he had not been romancing.When I went, I was duly introduced to his grown-upsons and daughters as one who had been presentat the shooting of the swans, which I had beenthe first to mention. That was a proud moment forthe Rev. H. H. Higgins, and a very pleasant one tomyself.Soon after we came to Turvey a young gentlemanfrom Bedford came to us to learn a little surveying.He was, I think, the son of an auctioneer or estateagent, and was about eighteen or twenty years old.As my brother was occasionally away for severaldays at a time when we sometimes had nothing togo on with, he would amuse himself fishing, of whichhe was very fond. Sometimes I went with him, butI usually preferred walking about the country, thoughI cannot remember that I had at this time any specialinterest in doing so. He often caught some large

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 67coarse fish, such as bream or pike, which were thecommonest fish in the river, but were hardly wortheating. Towards the latter part of our survey in thespring months, my brother left us a portion of thework to do by ourselves when he was away for aweek or two. I was therefore left mostly to the companionshipof our temporary pupil, and he, like themajority of the young men I met at this period ofmy life, was by no means an edifying acquaintance.But, notwithstanding that I was continually throwninto such society from the time I left school, I do notthink it produced the least bad effect upon mycharacter or habits in after-life. This was partlyowing to natural disposition, which was reflective andimaginative, but more perhaps to the quiet and orderof my home, where I never heard a rude word or anoffensive expression. The effect of this was intensifiedby my extreme shyness, which made it impossible forme to use words or discuss subjects which werealtogether foreign to my home-life, as a result ofwhich I have never been able to use an oath, althoughI have frequently felt those impulses and passionswhich in many people can only find adequate expressionin such language. This, I think, is a ratherstriking example of the effects of home influenceduring childhood, and of that kind of education onwhich Robert Owen depended for the general improvementof character and habits.It was some time in May or June of 1838 thatwe left Turvey for Silsoe, where my brother hadsome temporary work. This very small village is anappanage of Wrest Park, the seat of Earl de Grey,and is about halfway between Luton and Bedford.It consisted of a large inn with a considerable postingbusiness, a few small houses, cottages, and one or

•68MYLIFEtwo shops, and, like most such villages, it is no largerto-day than it was then.Our work here was mainly copying maps ormaking surveys connected with the estate, and forthispurpose we had the use of a small empty housenearly opposite the inn, where a large drawing-tableand a few chairs and stools were all the furniture werequired. Here we used sometimes to sit of asummer's evening with one or two friends for privacyand quiet conversation.One day, having to drive over to Dunstable onsome business, my brother took me with him.Whenthere, we walked out to a deep cutting through thechalk about a mile to the north-west, where the roadwas being improved by further excavation to makethe ascent easier. This was the great mail-coachroad to Birmingham and Holyhead, and althoughthe railway from London to Birmingham was thenmaking and partly finished, nobody seemed toimagine that in twelve years more a railway wouldbe opened the whole distance, and, so far as the mailsand all through traffic were concerned, all such costlyimprovement on the high-roads would be quiteunnecessary.My brother had some conversation with theengineer who was inspecting the work, and took alump of chalk home with him to ascertain its specificgravity, as to which there was some difference ofopinion. While taking luncheon at the hotel we meta gentleman named Matthews about my brother's age,who turned out to be a surveyor, and who was also interestedin engineering generally ;and after luncheonthey borrowed a small pair of scales and a large jugof water, and by suspending the chalk by a threadbelow the scale-pan, they weighed it in water, having

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 69first weighed it dry in the ordinary way, and theweight in air, divided by the difference between theweights in air and water, gives the specific gravitysufficiently near for ordinary purposes. This littleexperiment interested me greatly, and made me wishto know something about mechanics and physics.Mr. Matthews lived at Leighton Buzzard, where hecarried on the business of watch and clock maker aswell as that of engineer and surveyor. He had undertakenthe survey of the parish of Soulbury, buthaving too much other work to attend to, he waslooking out for some one to take it off his hands.This matter was soon agreed upon, and a few weeksafterwards we left Silsoe to begin the work.The village of Soulbury is a very small one,though the parish is rather large. It is only threemiles from Leighton, and we obtained accommodationin the school-house.The district was rather an interesting one. Theparish was crossed about its centre by the small riverOuzel, a tributary of the Ouse, bordered by flatverdant meadows, beyond which the ground rose onboth sides into low hills, which to the north-eastreached five hundred feet above the sea, and beingof a sand formation, were covered with heaths andwoods of fir trees. Parallel with the river was theGrand Junction Canal, which at that time carried allthe heavy goods from the manufacturing districts ofthe Midlands to London. Following the same generaldirection, but about half a mile west on higherground, the London and Birmingham Railway wasin course of construction, a good deal of the earthworkbeing completed, most of the bridges builtor building, and the whole country enlivened by thework going on.

'70 MY LIFEAt the same time the canal had been improved atgreat cost to enable it to carry the increased tradethat had been caused by the rapid growth of Londonand the prosperity of agriculture during the earlyportion of the nineteenth century. About thirtymiles further on the watershed between the riverbasinsof the Ouse and Severn had to be crossed, adistrict of small rainfall and scanty streams, fromwhich the whole supply of the canal, both for its locksas well as for evaporation and leakage, had to bedrawn. Whenever there was a deficiency of waterhere to float the barges and fill the locks, trafific waschecked till the canal filled again ; and this hadbecome so serious that, for a considerable portion ofthe canal, it had been found necessary to erect steam-engines to pump up the water at every lock from thelower to the higher level. Sometimes there were two,three, or more locks close together, and in these casesa more powerful engine was erected to pump thewater the greater height. Up to this time I hadnever seen a steam-engine, and therefore took thegreatest interest in examining these both at rest andat work. They had been erected by the celebratedfirm of Boulton and Watt, and were all of the lowpressuretype then in use, with large cylinders, overheadbeam, and parallel motion, but each one havingitsspecial features, the purport of which was explainedto me by my brother, and gave me my first insightinto some of the more important applications of thesciences of mechanics and physics.Of course at that time nobody foresaw the rapiddevelopment of railways all over the country, orimagined that they could ever compete with canalsin carrying heavy goods. Yet within two years afterthe completion of the lineto Birmingham, the traffic

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 71of the canal had decreased to 1,000,000 tons, while itwas 1,100,000 tons in 1837. Afterwards it beganslowly to rise again, and had reached 1,627,000 tonsin 1900, an exceedingly small increase as comparedwith that of the railway. And this increase is whollydue to local traffic between places adjacent to thecanal.In the northern part of the parish, which extendednearly to the village of Great Brickhill, were somecurious dry valleys with flat bottoms, and sides clothedwith fir woods, a kind of country I had not yet seen,and which impressed me as showing some connectionbetween the geological formation of the country andits physical features, though it was many years laterwhen, by reading Lyell'sfirst understood why it should be so." Principles of Geology," IAnother interestingfeature of the place, of which no one then saw thesignificance, was a large mass of hard conglomeraterock, or pudding-stone, which lay in the centre of thespot where the three roads met in front of the housewhere we lodged. It was roughly about a yard indiameter and about the same height, and had probablyat some remote period determined the position of thevillage and the meeting-point of the three roads.Being a kind of rock quite different from any foundin that part of England, it was probably associatedwith some legend in early time, but it is in all probabilitya relic of the Ice Age, and was brought by theglacier or ice-sheet that at one time extended overall midland England as far as the Thames valley.But at this time not a single British geologist knewanything about a glacial epoch, it being two yearslater, in 1840, when Louis Agassiz showed Dr.Buckland such striking indications of ice-action inScotland as to convince him of the reality of such

72^MY LIFEa development of glaciers in our own country at avery recent period.Having finished our plans of Soulbury, and madethe three copies needed with their books of reference,with some other odd work, my brother took me up toLondon on Christmas Eve, travelling by coach toBerkhampstead and thence on to London by therailway, which had been just opened. We went thirdclass for economy, in open trucks identical withmodern goods trucks, except that they had hingeddoors, but with no seats whatever, so that any onetired of standing must sit upon the floor. Luckily itwas mild weather, and the train did not go more thanfifteen or twenty miles an hour, yet even at that pacethe wind was very disagreeable. The next day wewent home to Hoddesdon for a holiday. It had beensettledthat, as no more surveying work was in view,I should go back to Leighton to Mr. Matthews for afew months to see if I should like to learn the watchand clock making business as well as surveying andgeneral engineering ; and as there seemed to benothing else available, Idid so.Mr. William Matthews was a man of about thirty.He had been married two years, and had a little girlunder a year old. Both he and Mrs. Matthews werepleasant people, and I felt that I should be comfortablewith them, Mr, Matthews had also charge ofthe town gas-works, which involved some knowledgeof practical chemistry, and a good deal of mechanicalwork. I spent about nine months in his house, andduring that time learnt to take an ordinary watch topieces, clean it properly, and put it together again,and the same with a clock ; to do small repairs tojewellery ;and to make some attempts at engraving

SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 73initials on silver. I also saw the general routine ofgas manufacture ; but hardly any surveying, whichwas the work I liked best. I was, therefore, veryglad when circumstances, not connected with myself,put an end to the arrangement. Mr. Matthewsaccepted the offer of a partnership in an old-establishedwholesale watchmaking firm in the city ofLondon, and gave up his Leighton business.This may be considered the first of several turningpointsof my life, at which, by circumstances beyondmy own control, I have been insensibly directed intothe course best adapted to develop my special mentaland physical activities. If I had been apprenticed toMr. Matthews I should have become a mechanicaltradesman in a country town, by which my life wouldalmost certainly have been shortened and my mentaldevelopment stunted by the monotony of my occupation.

—CHAPTER VIRADNORSHIREIn the autumn of 1839 my brother came to Leightonto take me away, and in a day or two we started forHerefordshire, going by the recently opened railroadto Birmingham, where we visited an old friend of mybrother's, a schoolmaster, whose name I forget, andwho I remember showed us with some pride how hisschool was warmed by hot-water pipes, then somewhatunusual. We then went on by coach throughWorcester to Kington, a small town of about twothousand inhabitants, only two miles from theboundary of Radnorshire. It is pleasantly situatedin a hilly country, and has a small stream flowingthrough it. Just beyond the county boundary, onthe road to Old and New Radnor, there is an isolatedcraggy hill called the Stanner Rocks, which, being ahard kind of basalt very good for road-metal, wasbeing continually cut away for that purpose. It wascovered with scrubby wood, and was the mostpicturesque object in the immediately surroundingcountry.In a solitary letter, accidentally preserved, writtenat this time to my earliest friend, George Silk, I findthe following passage which well expresses the pleasureI felt in getting back to land-surveying :"I think you would like land-surveying, about

RADNORSHIRE 75half indoors and half outdoors work. It is delightfulon a fine summer's day to be (literally) cutting ' ' allover the country, following the chain and admiringthe beauties of nature, breathing the fresh and pureair on the hills, or in the noontide heat enjoying ourluncheon of bread-and-cheese in a pleasant valley bythe side of a rippling brook. Sometimes, indeed, itis not quite so pleasant on a cold winter's day to findyourself on the top of a bare hill, not a house withina mile, and the wind and sleet chilling you to thebone. But it is all made up for in the evening ;andthose who are in the house all day can have no ideaof the pleasure there is in sitting down to a gooddinner and feeling hungry enough to eat plates,dishes, and all."Some time during the winter I went alone tocorrect an old map of the parish of New Radnor.This required no regular surveying, but only theinsertion of any new roads, buildings, or divisions offields, and taking out any that had been clearedaway. As these changes were not numerous and thenew fences were almost always straight lines, it waseasy to mark on the map the two ends of such fencesby measuring from the nearest fixed point with a tenor fifteen-link measuring-rod, and then drawing themin upon the plan. Sometimes the direction waschecked by taking an angle with the pocket sextantat one or both ends, where one of these could not beseen from the other. As the whole plan was far toolarge to be taken into the field, tracings were madeof portions about half a mile square, which weremounted on stiff paper or linen, and folded up in aloose cover for easy reference. In this way a wholeparish of several thousand acres could be examinedand corrected in a week or two, especially in a country

76 MY LIFElike Wales, where, from a few elevated points, largetracts could be distinctly seen spread out below, andany difference from the old map be easily detected.I liked this kind of work very much, as I havealways been partial to a certain amount of solitude,and am especially fond of rambling over a countrynew to me.New Radnor, though formerly a town of someimportance, was then, and I believe is still, a merevillage, and a poor one, Presteign being the countytown. It is situated on the southern border of RadnorForest, a tract of bare mountains about twenty squaremiles in extent, the highest point being a little overtwo thousand feet above the sea. Over a good dealof this country I wandered for about a week, andenjoyed my work very much.Early the next year, I think about February, mybrother and I went to do some surveying at Rhaidr-Gwy (now commonly called Rhayader), a small townin Radnorshire on the Upper Wye, and only fifteenmiles from its source in the Plynlymmon range. Ayoung man from Carmarthenshire came to us here tolearn surveying, and to him I probably owe my life.One day, I think on a Sunday afternoon, we werewalking together up a rocky and boggy valley whichextended some miles to the west of the town. Aswe were strolling along, picking our way among therocks and bog, I inadvertently stepped upon one ofthose small bog eyeholes which abound in suchplaces, and are very dangerous, being often deepenough to swallow up a man, or even a horse. Oneleg went in suddenly up to the hip, and I fell down,but fortunately with my other leg stretched out uponthe surface.I was, however, in such a position that Icould not rise, and had I been alone my efforts to

;RADNORSHIRE-j-;extricate myself might easily have drawn my wholebody into the bog, as I could feel no bottom to it.But my companion easily pulled me out, and wewalked home, and thought little of it. It had, however,been a hard frost for some time, and the mudwas ice-cold, and after a few days I developed a badcough with loss of appetite and weakness. The localdoctor was a friend of ours, and he gave me somemedicine, but it did no good, and I got worse andworse, with no special pain, but with a disgust of food,and for more than a week I ate nothing but perhapsa small biscuit each day soaked in tea without milk,though always before and since I greatly disliked teawithout milk. At length the doctor became frightened,and told my brother that he could do nothing for me,and that he could not be answerable for my life.Headded that he knew but one man who could save me,a former teacher of his, Dr. Ramage, who was the onlyman who could cure serious lung disease, though hewas considered a quack by his fellow-practitioners.As I got no better, a few days later we started forLondon, I think sleeping at Birmingham on the way.On going to Dr. Ramage, who tested my lungs, etc.,he told my brother that he was just in time, for thatin a week more he could probably not have savedme, as I had an extensive abscess of the lungs. Histreatment was very simple but most effective, andwas the forerunner of that rational treatment bywhich it is now known that most lung diseases arecurable. He ordered me to go home to Hoddesdonimmediately, to apply half a dozen leeches to mychest at a place he marked with ink, and to take abitter medicine he prescribed to give me an appetitebut these were only preliminaries. The essentialthing was the use of a small bone breathing-tube,

78 MY LIFEwhich he told us where to buy, and which I was touse three times a day for as many minutes as I couldwithout fatigue ;that I was to eat and drink anythingI fancied, be kept warm, but when the weather wasmild sit out-of-doors. I was to come back to him ina week.The effect of his treatment was immediate. I atonce began to eat, and though I could not breathethrough the tube for more than a minute at first, Iwas soon enabled to increase it to three and then tofive minutes. It was constructed with a valve so thatthe air entered freely, but passed out slowly so thatit was kept in the lungs for a few seconds at eachinspiration. When I paid my second visit to Dr.Ramage, he told me that I was getting on well, andneed not come to him again, that I was to continueusing the breathing-tube for five minutes three or fourtimes a day. He also strongly advised me, now I sawthe effect of deep and regular breathing, to practisebreathing in the same way without the tube, andespecially to do so when at leisure, when lying down,or leaning back in an easy-chair, and to be sure to fillmy lungs well and breathe out slowly. " The naturalfood of the lungs," he said, " is fresh air. If peopleknew this, and acted upon it, there would be no consumption,no lung disease." I have never forgottenthis. I have practised it all my life (at intervals), anddo so still, and I am sure that I owe my life to Dr.Ramage's treatment and advice.In about two months I was well again, and wentback to Kington, and after a little office-work mybrother and I went to the little village of Llanbister,near the middle of Radnorshire, the nearest townsbeing Builth, in Brecknockshire, and Newtown in

RADNORSHIRE 79Montgomeryshire, both more than twelve miles distant.This was a very large parish, being fifteen miles long,but I think we could only have corrected the old mapor we should have been longer there than we reallywere.Here, also, we had a young gentleman with usfor a month or two to practise surveying. He was, Ithink, a Welshman, and a pleasant and tolerablyrespectable young man, but he had one dreadfulhabit—excessive smoking. I have never met aperson so much a slave to the habit, and even if Ihad had any inclination to try it again after my firstfailure, his example would have cured me.He prided himself on being a kind of championsmoker, and assured us that he had once, for a wager,smoked a good-sized china teapot full of tobaccothrough the spout.When we had finished at Llanbister, we wentabout ten miles south to a piece of work that wasnew to me—the making of a survey and plans for theinclosure of common lands. This was at LlandrindodWells, where there was then a large extent of moorand mountain surrounded by scattered cottages withtheir gardens and small fields, which, with their rightsof common, enabled the occupants to keep a horse,cow, or a few sheep, and thus make a living. All thiswas now to be taken away from them, and the wholeof this open land divided among the landowners ofthe parish or manor in proportion to the size or valueof their estates. To those that had much, much wasto be given, while from the poor their rights weretaken away ; for though nominally those that owneda little land had some compensation, it was so smallas to be of no use to them in comparison withthe grazing rights they before possessed.In the caseof all cottagers who were tenants or leaseholders, it

8oMY LIFEwas simple robbery, as they had no compensationwhatever, and were left wholly dependent on farmersfor employment. And this was all done—as similarinclosures are almost always done—under falsepretences.The " General Inclosure Act " states in itspreamble, " Whereas it is expedient to facilitate theinclosure and improvement of commons and otherlands now subject to the rights of property whichobstruct cultivation and the productive employmentof labour, be it enacted," etc. But in hundreds ofcases, when the commons, heaths, and mountainshave been partitioned out among the landowners, theland remains as little cultivated as before. It is eitherthrown into adjacent farms as rough pasture at anominal rent, or is used for game-coverts, and oftencontinues in this waste and unproductive state forhalf a century or more, till any portions of it arerequired for railroads, or for building upon, when aprice equal to that of the best land in the districtoften demanded and obtained.isI know of thousandsof acres in many parts of the south of England towhich these remarks will apply, and if this is notobtaining land under false pretences—a legalizedrobbery of the poor for the aggrandizement of therich, who were the law-makers — words have nomeaning.In this particular case the same course has beenpursued. While I was writing these pages a friendwas staying at Llandrindod, and I took the opportunityof asking him what was the present conditionof the land more than sixty years after itsHe informs me that, by inquiries among oldinclosure.inhabitants,he finds that at the time nothing was doneexcept to inclose the portions allotted to each landlordwith turf banks or other rough fencing ; and that

RADNORSHIRE8ito this day almost all the great boggy moor, with themountain slopes and summits, has not been improvedin any way, either by draining, cultivation,or planting,but is still wild, rough pasture. But about thirtyyears after the inclosure the railway from Shrewsburythrough South Wales passed through the place, andimmediately afterwards a few villas and boardinghouseswere built, and some of the inclosed land wassold at building prices. This has gone on year byyear, and though the resident population is still onlyabout 2000, it is said that 10,000 visitors (more orless) come every summer, and the chief increase ofhouses has been for their accommodation. My friendtells me that, except close to the village and railway,the whole country which was inclosed—many hundredsof acres—is still bare and uncultivated, withhardly any animals to be seen upon it. Milk is scantyand poor, and the only butter is Cornish or Australian,so that the inclosure has not led to the supply of thesimplest agricultural needs of the population. Eventhe piece of common that was reserved for the use ofthe inhabitants is now used for golf-links !Here, then, as in so many other cases, the expresspurpose for which alone the legislature permitted the inclosurehas not been fulfilled, and in equity the wholeof the land, and the whole money proceeds of the saleof such portions as have been built upon, should revertto the public. The prices now realized by this almostworthless land, agriculturally, are enormous. In ornear the village it sells for ;^I500 an acre, or evenmore, while quite outside these limits it is from ;^300to ;^400.In regard to this fundamental question of landownership people are so blinded by custom and bythe fact that it is sanctioned by the law, that it mayG

82 MY LIFEbe well for a moment to set these entirely on oneside, and consider what would have been the proper,the equitable, and the most beneficial mode of dealingwith our common and waste lands at the time of thelast general Inclosure Act in the early years of thereign of Queen Victoria. Considering, then, thatthese uninclosed wastes were the last remnant of ourcountry's land over which we, the public, had anyopportunity of free passage to breathe pure air andenjoy the beauties of nature ; considering that thesewastes, although almost worthless agriculturally, wereof especial value to the poor of the parishes or manorsin which they were situated, not only giving thempasture for their few domestic animals, but in somecases peat for fuel and loppings of trees for fences orgarden sticks ;considering that an acre or two ofsuch land, when inclosed and cultivated, would givethem, in return for the labour of themselves and theirfamilies during spare hours, a considerable portionof their subsistence, would enable them to create ahome from which they could not be ejected by thewill of any landlord or employer, and would thusraise them at once to a condition of comparativeindependence and security, abolishing the terriblespectre of the workhouse for their old age, which nowhaunts the peasant or labourer throughout life, andis the fundamental cause of that exodus to the townsabout which so much nonsense is talked ;considering,further, that just in proportion as men rise in thesocial scale, these various uses of the waste landsbecome less and less vitally important, till, when wearrive at the country squire and great landowner, theonly use of the inclosed common or moor is either togame, or to add tobe used as a breeding-ground forsome of his farms a few acres of land at an almost

—RADNORSHIRE 83nominal rent ;—considering all these circumstances,and further, that those who perform what is fundamentallythe most important and the most beneficialof all work, the production of food, should be able toobtain at least the necessaries of life by that work, andsecure a comfortable old age by their own fireside,how would any lover of his country think that suchlands ought to be dealt with in the best interests ofthe whole community ?Surely, that the very first thing to be done shouldbe to provide that all workers upon the land, eitherdirectly or indirectly, should have plots of from oneto five acres, in proportion to the amount of suchwaste and the needs of the inhabitants. The landthus allotted to be held by them in perpetuity, fromthe local authority, at a low rent such as any farmerwould give for it as an addition to his farm. In caseswhere the amount of common land was very great inproportion to the population, some of the most suitableland might be reserved for a common pasture,for wood or fuel, or for recreation, and the remainderallotted to applicants from adjacent parishes wherethere was no common land.Another thing that should be attended to in allsuch inclosures of waste land is the preservation forthe people at large of rights of way over it in variousdirections, both to afford ample means of enjoyingthe beauties of nature and also to give pedestriansshort cuts to villages, hamlets, or railway stations.One of the greatest blessings that might be easilyattained if the land were resumed by the people tobe held for the common good, would be theestablishmentof ample footpaths along every railway inthe kingdom, with sufficient bridges or subways forsafe crossing ; and also (and more especially) along

—;84 MY LIFEthe banks of every river or brook, such paths to bediverted around any dwelling-house that may havegardens extending to the water's edge, all such pathsto be made and kept in repair by the District Councils.Under the present system old paths are often closed,but we never hear of new ones being made, yet suchare now more than ever necessary when most of ourroads are rendered dangerous by motor-cars andcycles, and exceedingly disagreeable and unhealthyto pedestrians by the clouds of gritty dust continuallyraised by these vehicles.This all-embracing system of land-robbery, forwhich nothing is too great and nothing too small;which has absorbed meadow and forest, moor andmountain, which has appropriated most of our riversand lakes and the fish that live in them ; which oftenclaims the very seashore and rocky coasts of ourisland home, fencing them off from the wayfarer whoseeks the solace of their health-giving air and wildbeauty, while making the peasant pay for his seaweedmanure and the fisherman for his bait of shell-fishwhich has desolated whole counties to replace menby sheep or cattle, and has destroyed fields and cottagesto make a wilderness for deer and grouse ;which has stolen the commons and filched the roadsidewastes ; which has driven the labouring poor intothe cities, and has thus been the primary and chiefcause of the lifelong misery, disease, and early deathof thousands who might have lived lives of honesttoil and comparative well-being had they been permittedfree access to land in their native villages ;it is the advocates and beneficiaries of this inhumansystem who, when a partial restitution of their unholygains is proposed, are the loudest in their cries of" robbery " I

RADNORSHIRE 85But all the robbery, all the spoliation, all the legaland illegal filching, has been on their side, and theystill hold the stolen property. They made laws tolegalize their actions, and, some day, we, the people,will make laws which will not only legalize but justifyour process of restitution. It will justify it, because,unlike their laws, which always took from the poor togive to the rich—to the very class which made thelaws—ours will only take from the superfluity of therich, not to give to the poor or to any individuals, butto be so administered as to enable every man to liveby honest work, to restore to the whole people theirbirthright in their native soil, and to relieve all alikefrom a heavy burden of unnecessary and unjusttaxation. This will be the true statesmanship of thefuture, and it will be justified alike by equity, byethics, and by religion.In the preceding pages I have expressed theopinions which have been gradually formed as theresult of the experience and study of my whole life.My first work on the subject was entitled " LandNationalization : its Necessity and its Aims," andwas published in the year 1882 ; and this, togetherwith the various essays in the second volume of my"Studies Scientific and Social," published in 1900,may be taken as expressing the views I now hold,and as pointing out some of the fundamental conditionswhich I believe to be essential for the wellbeingof society.But at the time of which Iam now writing suchideas never entered my head. I certainly thought ita pity to inclose a wild, picturesque, boggy, andbarren moor, but I took it for granted that there wassome right and reason in it, instead of being, as it

86 MY LIFEcertainly was, both unjust, unwise, and cruel. Butthe surveying was interesting work, as every tricklingstream, every tree, every mass of rock or boggywaterhole, had to be marked on the map in its truerelative position, as well as the various footpaths orroucfh cart-roads that crossed the common invariousdirections.At that time the medicinal springs, though theyhad been used from the time of the Romans, wereonly visited by a few Welsh or West of Englandpeople, and there was little accommodation forvisitors, except in the small hotel where we lodged.One of our great luxuries here was the Welsh muttonfed on the neighbouring mountains, so small that ahind-quarter weighed only seven or eight pounds, butwhich, when hung a few days or a week, was mostdelicious eating.I agree with George Borrow in hispraise of this dish. In his " Wild Wales " he says," As for the leg of mutton it was truly wonderful ;nothing so good had I ever tasted in the shape of aleg of mutton. The leg of mutton of Wales beatsthe leg of mutton of any other country, and I hadnever tasted a Welsh leg of mutton before. CertainlyI shall never forget that first Welsh leg ofmutton which I tasted, rich but delicate, replete withjuices derived from the aromatic herbs of the nobleBerwyn mountain, cooked to a turn, and weighingjust four pounds." Well done, George Borrow ! Youhad a good taste in ale and mutton, and were notafraid to acknowledge it.

CHAPTER VIIRESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES : BRECKNOCKSHIREAND GLAMORGANSHIREIt was in the summer or early autumn of 1841 thatwe left Kington for the tiny village of Trallong, afew miles beyond the town of Brecon, the parish wehad to survey, and obtained lodgings in the house ofa shoemaker, where we were very comfortable forsome months. The house was pleasantly situatedabout two hundred and fifty feet above the river,with an uninterrupted view to the south-east overwoody hills of moderate height to the fine range of theGreat Forest, culminating in the double peaks of theBeacons, which were seen here fully separated withthe narrow ridge connecting them. At sunset theywere often beautifully tinted, and my brother made acharming little water-colour sketch of them, which,with most of his best sketches, were placed in analbum by my sister, and this was stolen or lost whileshe was moving in London.I looked daily at the Beacons with longing eyes,and on a fine autumn day one of the shoemaker'ssons with a friend or two and myself started oft" tomake the ascent. Though less than six miles fromus in a straight line, we had to take a rather circuitouscourse over a range of hills, and then up tothe head of a broad valley, which took us within a

88 MY LIFEmile of the summit, making the distance about tenmiles. But the day was gloriously fine, the countrybeautiful, and the view from the top very grand;while the summit itself was so curious as greatly tosurprise me, though I did not fully appreciate its veryinstructive teaching till some years later, after I hadascended many other mountains, had studied Lyell's" Principles of Geology," and had fully grasped themodern views on sub-aerial denudation. As Brecknockshireis comparatively little known, and fewEnglish tourists make the ascent of the Beacons, ashort account of them will be both interesting andinstructive.The northern face of the mountain is very rockyand precipitous, while on the southern and westernsides easy slopes reach almost to the summit. Thelast few yards is, however, rather steep, and at thevery top there is a thick layer of peat, which overhangsthe rock a little. On surmounting this on thewest side the visitor finds himself in a nearly flattriangular space, perhaps three or four acres in extent,bounded on the north by a very steep rocky slope,and on the other sides by steep but not difficult grassslopes. To the north-east he sees the chief summitabout a quarter of a mile distant and nearly fifty feethigher, while connecting the two is a narrow ridge orsaddle-back, which descends about a hundred feet ina regular curve, and then rises again, giving an easyaccess to the higher peak. The top of this ridge isonly a foot or two wide and very steep on thenorthern slope, but the southern slope is less precipitous,and about a hundred yards down it there is asmall spring where the visitor can get deliciouslycool and pure water. The north-eastern summit isalso triangular, a little larger than the other, and

THE BEACONS, LOOKING SOUTH.\Toface p.

RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 89bounded by a very dangerous precipice on the sidetowards Brecon, where there is a nearly verticalslope of craggy rock for three or four hundred feetand a very steep rocky slope for a thousand, so thata fall is almost certainly fatal, and several such accidentshave occurred, especially when parties of youngmen from Brecon make a holiday picnic to thesummit.What strikes the observant eye as especiallyinteresting is the circumstance that these two triangularpatches, forming the culminating points ofSouth Wales, both slope to the south-west, and bystooping down on either of them, and looking towardsthe other, we findthat their surfaces correspond soclosely in direction and amount of slope, that theyimpress one at once as being really portions of onecontinuous mountain summit. This becomes morecertain when we look at the whole mountain mass, ofwhich they form a part, known as the " Fforest Fawr,"or great forest of Brecknock. This extends abouttwenty miles from east to west and ten or twelvemiles from north to south ; and in every part of itthe chief summits are from 2000 to 2500 feet high,while near its western end, about twelve miles fromthe Beacons, is the second highest summit. Van Voel,reaching 2632 feet. Most of these mountains haverounded summits which are smooth and covered withgrassy or sedgy vegetation, but many of them havesome craggy slopes or precipices on their northernfaces.Almost the whole of this region is of the Old RedSandstone formation, which here consists of nearlyhorizontal strata with a moderate dip to the south ;and the whole of the very numerous valleys withgenerally smooth and gradually sloping sides which

90 MY LIFEeverywhere intersect it, must be all due to sub-aerialdenudation— that is, to rain, frost, and snow—thedibris due to which is carried away by the brooksand rivers. The geologist looks upon the roundedsummits of these mountains as indications of anextensive gently undulating plateau, which had beenslowly raised above the surface of the lakes or inlandseas in which they had been deposited, and subjectedto so little disturbance that the strata remain in anearly horizontal position. When from the summitof any of these higher mountains we look over thewide parallel or radiating valleys with the roundedgrassy ridges, and consider that the whole of thematerial that once filled all these valleys to the levelof the mountain-top has been washed away day byday and year by year, by the very same agenciesthat after heavy rain now render turbid every brooklet,stream, and river, usually so clear and limpid, weobtain an excellent illustration of how Nature worksin moulding the earth's surface by a process so slowas to be to us almost imperceptible.This process of denudation is rendered especiallyclear to us by the singular formation of the twinsummits of the Brecon Beacons. Here we are able,as it were, to catch Nature at work. Owing to therare occurrence of a nearly equal rate of denudationin four or five directions around this highest partof the original plateau, we have remaining for ourinspection two little triangular patches of the originalpeat-covered surface joined together by the narrowsaddle, as shown in the sketches opposite, giving aplan of the summits and a section through them toexplain how accurately the two coincide in theirslope with that of the original plateau. Every yearthe frost loosens the rock on the northern precipices,

PLAN OF TOP OF BEACONS.SECTION OF TOP OF BEACONS.\ Toface p. 90.

—RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 91every heavy rain washes down earth from the ridge,while the gentler showers and mists penetrate the soilto the rock surface, which they slowly decompose.Thus, year by year, the flat portion of the summitsbecomes smaller, and a few thousand years will probablysuffice to eat them away altogether, and leaverocky peaks more like that of Snowdon. The formation,as we now find it, is, in my experience, uniquethat is, a mountain-top presenting two small patchesof almost level ground, evidently being the last remnantof the great rolling plateau, out of which thewhole range has been excavated. Double-headedmountains are by no means uncommon, but they areusually peaked or irregular, and carved out of inclinedor twisted strata. The peculiarity of the Beaconsconsists in the strata being nearly horizontal andundisturbed, while the rock formation is not such asusually to break away into vertical precipices. Theoriginal surface must have had a very easy slope,while there were no meteorological conditions leadingto great inequalities of weathering. The thick coveringof peat has also aided in the result by preservingthe original surface from being scored into gullies, andthus more rapidly denuded.After we had completed most of our work atTrallong we had to go further up the valley toDevynock. This is an enormous parish of more thantwenty thousand acres, divided into four townships orchapelries, the two eastern of which, Maescar andSenni, we had to survey. In these mountain districts,however, we only surveyed those small portions wherethe new roads or new inclosures had been made, theolder maps being accepted as sufficiently accurate forthe large uninclosed areas of mountain land. We

92 MY LIFEfirst went to Senni Bridge, where both districtsterminate in the Usk valley ;but after a short timeI went to stay in a little public-house at Senni in themidst of my work, while my brother stayed at Devynockor at Trallong, which latter was quite as nearfor half the work.When I went up to Senni Street (Heol Senni, asit is called in Welsh) I greatly enjoyed wanderingover the pretty valley which extended a long wayinto the mountains, flowing over nearly level meadowsand with an unusually twisted course. This I foundwas so erroneously mapped, the numerous bendshaving been inserted at random as if of no importance,that I had to survey its course afresh. Above thevillage there were several lateral tributaries descendingin deep woody dingles, often very picturesque,and these had usually one or more waterfalls in theircourse, or deep rocky chasms ; and as these came uponme unexpectedly, and I had seen very few like themRadnorshire, they were more especially attractiveinto me.One Sunday afternoon I walked up the valley andover a mountain-ridge to the head waters of the Lliariver, one of the tributaries of the river Neath, to seean ancient stone, named Maen Llia on the ordnancemap. I was much pleased to find a huge erect slab ofOld Red Sandstone nearly twelve feet high, a photographof which I am able to give through the kindnessof Miss Florence Neale of Penarth. These strangerelics of antiquity have always greatly interested me,and this, being the first I had ever seen, produced animpression which is still clear and vivid.The people here were all thoroughly Welsh, butthe landlord of the inn, and a young man who livedwith him, spoke English fairly well.

MAEN LLIA.[Toface p. 92.

RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 93Among the numerous Englishmen who visitWales for business or pleasure, few are aware towhat an extent this ancient British form of speechis still in use among the people, how many are stillunable to speak English, and what an amount ofpoetry and legend their language contains. Someaccount of this literature is to be found in that veryinteresting book, George Borrow's " Wild Wales," andhe claims for Dafydd ap Gwilym, a contemporary ofour Chaucer, the position of "the greatest poeticalgenius that has appeared in Europe since the revivalof literature." At the present day there are no lessthan twenty weekly newspapers and about the samenumber of monthly magazines published in theWelsh language, besides one quarterly and twobi-monthly reviews. Abstracts of the principal Actsof Parliament and Parliamentary papers are translatedinto Welsh, and one firm of booksellers, Messrs.Hughes and Son, of Wrexham, issue a list of morethan three hundred Welsh books mostly publishedby themselves. Another indication of the wide useof the Welsh language and of the general educationof the people, is the fact that the British and ForeignBible Society now sell annually about 18,000 Bibles,22,000 Testaments, and 10,000 special portions (asthe Psalms, the Gospels, etc.) ; while the total sale ofthe Welsh Scriptures during the last century has been3i millions. Considering that the total population ofWales is only about i^ millions, that two counties,Pembrokeshire and Radnorshire, do not speak Welsh,and that the great seaports and the mining districtscontain large numbers of English and foreign workmen,we have ample proof that the Welsh are still adistinct nation, with a peculiar language, literature,and history, and that the claim which they are now

;94 MY LIFEmaking for home rule, along with the other great subdivisionsof the British Islands, is thoroughly justified.It was late in the autumn of 1841 that we returnedto Kington, and shortly after bade adieu to the wildbut not very picturesque Radnorshire mountains forthe more varied and interesting county of Glamorgan.I have no distinct recollection of our journey, but Ibelieve it was by coach through Hay and Brecon toMerthyr Tydvil, and thence by chaise to Neath.One solitary example of the rhyming letters I usedto write has been preserved, giving my youngerbrother Herbert an account of our journey, of thecountry, and of our work, of which, though very poordoggerel, a sample may be given. After a fewreferences to family matters, I proceed to description." From Kington to this place we cameBy many a spot of ancient fame,But now of small renown,O'er many a mountain dark and drear,And vales whose groves the parting yearHad tinged with mellow brown ;And as the morning sun aroseNew beauties round us to disclose,We reached fair Brecon townThen crossed the Usk, my native stream,A river clear and bright,Which showed a fair and much-lov'd sceneUnto my lingering sight."We had to go to Glamorganshire to partiallysurvey and make a corrected map of the parish ofCadoxton-juxta-Neath, which occupies the wholenorthern side of the Neath valley from opposite thetown of Neath to the boundary of the county at Pont-Nedd-Fychan, a distance of nearly fifteen miles, witha width varying from two to three miles, the boundaryrunning for the most part along the crest of the

RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 95mountains that bound the valley on the north-west.We lodged and boarded at a farmhouse called Bryncoch(Red Hill), situated on a rising ground abouttwo miles north of the town. Here we stayed morethan a year, living plainly but very well, and enjoyingthe luxuries of home-made bread, fresh butter andeggs, unlimited milk and cream, with cheese madefrom a mixture of cow's and sheep's milk, having aspecial flavour which I soon got very fond of. Inthis part of Wales it is the custom to milk the eweschiefly for the purpose of making this cheese, whichis very much esteemed.A little rocky stream bordered by trees and bushesran through the farm, and was one of my favouritehaunts. There was one little sequestered pool abouttwenty feet long into which the water fell over aledge about a foot high. This pool was seven oreight feet deep, but shallowed at the further end, andthus formed a delightful bathing-place. Ever sincemy early escape from drowning at Hertford, I hadbeen rather shy of the water, and had not learned toswim ; but here the distance was so short that Idetermined to try, and soon got to enjoy it so muchthat every fine warm day I used to go and plungehead first off my ledge and swim in five or six strokesto the shallow water.In this very limited sphere ofaction I gained some amount of confidence in thewater, and afterwards should probably have been ableto swim a dozen or twenty yards, so as to reach thebank of a moderate-sized river, or sustain myself tillsome neighbouring boat came to my assistance. ButI have never needed even this moderate amount ofeffort to save my life, and have never had either theopportunity or inclination to become a practisedswimmer. This was partly due to a physical

a96 MY LIFEdeficiency which I was unable to overcome. Mylegs are unusually long for my height, and the bonesare unusually large. The result is that they persistentlysink in the water, bringing me into a nearlyvertical position, and their weight renders it almostimpossible to keep my mouth above water. This isthe case even in salt water, and being also ratherdeficient in strength of muscle, I became disinclinedto practise what I felt to be beyond my powers.The parish being so extensive we had to stay atmany different points for convenience of the survey,and one of these was about five miles up the Dulaisvalley, where we stayed at a small beershop in thehamlet of Crynant. I was often here alone for weekstogether, and saw a good deal of the labourers andfarmers, few of whom could speak any English. Thelandlady here brewed her own beer in very primitivefashion in a large iron pot or cauldron in the washhouse,and had it ready for sale in a few days—rather thick and sweetish liquor, but very palatable.The malt and hops were bought in small quantitiesas wanted, and brewing took place weekly, or evenoftener, when there was a brisk demand.After living about a year at Bryn-coch we moveda little nearer the town to the other side of the Clydachriver, and lodged with an old colliery surveyor, SamuelOsgood, in the employment of Mr. Price, of the NeathAbbey Iron Works. The house was an old but roomycottage, and we had a large bedroom and a roomdownstairs for an oiifice and living room, while Mr.Osgood had another, and there was also a roomykitchen. A tramway from some collieries to theworks ran in front of the house at a little distance,and we had a good view of the town and up the valeof Neath. Behind us rose the Drymau Mountain,

RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 97nearly seven hundred feet above us, the leveltop ofwhich was frequented by peewits, and whose steepslopes were covered with trees and bushes. Here welived till I left Neath a year later, and were on thewhole very comfortable, though our first experiencewas a rather trying one. The bedroom we occupiedhad been unused for years, and though it had beencleaned for our use we found that every part of it,bedstead, floor, and walls, in every crack and cranny,harboured the Cimex lectularius, or bedbug, whichattacked us by hundreds, and altogether banishedsleep. This required prompt and thorough measures,and my brother at once took them. I was sent tothe town for some ounces of corrosive sublimate ; theold wooden bedstead was taken to pieces, and, withthe chairs, tables, drawers, etc., carried outside. Thepoison was dissolved in a large pailful of water, andwith this solution by means of a whitewasher's brushthe whole of the floor was thoroughly soaked, so thatthe poison might penetrate every crevice, while thewalls and ceiling were also washed over. The bedsteadand furniture were all treated in the same way,and everything put back in its place by the evening.We did all the work ourselves, with the assistance ofMrs. Osgood and a servant-girl, and so effectual wasthe treatment that for nearly a year that we livedthere we were wholly unmolested by insect enemies.About that time the method of measuring theacreage of fields on maps by means of tracing-paperdivided into squares of one chain each, with a beamcompassto sum up each line of squares, had recentlycome into use by surveyors ; and Mr. Osgood amusedhimself by making a number of these compasses ofvarious kinds of wood nicely finished and wellpolished, rather as examples of his skill than forH

98 MY LIFEany use he had for them, though he occasionally soldthem to some of the local surveyors. He had theseall suspended vertically on the wall instead of horizontally,as they are usually placed, and as they lookbest. While we were one day admiring the workmanshipof an addition to the series, he remarked, " Idare say you don't know why I hang them up thatway ;very few people do." Of course, we acknowledgedwe did not know. '* Well," said he, " it is veryimportant. The air presses with a weight of fifteenpounds on every square inch, and if I hung them uplevel the pressure in the middle would very soon bendthem, and they would be spoilt." My brother knewit was no good to try to show him his error, so hemerely said, " Yes, that's a very good idea of yours,"and left the old man in the happy belief that he wasquite scientific in his methods.After we had completed the survey and maps ofCadoxton, which occupied us about six months, wehad not much to do except small pieces of work ofvarious kinds. One of these was to make a surveyand take soundings of the river between the bridgeand the sea, a distance of three or four miles,for a proposed scheme of improving the navigation,making docks, etc., which was partly carried out someyears later. We also had a little architectural andengineering work, in designing and superintendingthe erection of warehouses with powerful cranes,which gave me some insight into practical building.To assist in making working drawings and specifications,my brother had purchased a well-known work,Bartholomew's " Specifications for Practical Architecture."This book, though mainly on a very dryand technical subject, contained an introduction on

;RESIDENCE IN SOUTH WALES 99the principles of Gothic architecture which gave meideas upon the subject of the greatest interest andvalue, and which have enabled me to form an independentjudgment on modern imitations of Gothic orof any other styles. Bartholomew was an enthusiastfor Gothic, which he maintained was the only trueand scientific system of architectural construction inexistence. He showed how all the most striking andornamental features of Gothic architecture are essentialto the stability of a large stone-built structure—thelofty nave with its clerestory windows and arched roofthe lateral aisles at a lower level, also with archedroofs ; the outer thrust of these arches supported bydeep buttresses on the ground, with arched or flyingbuttresses above ; and these again rendered moresecure by being weighted down with rows of pinnacles,which add so much to the beauty of Gothic buildings.He rendered his argument more clear by giving ageneralized cross-section of a cathedral, and drawingwithin the buttresses the figure of a man with outstretchedarms pushing against the upper arches toresist their outward thrust, and being kept moresteady by a heavy load upon his head and shouldersrepresenting the pinnacle. This section and figureilluminated the whole construction of the masterpiecesof the old architects so clearly and forcibly,that though I have not seen the book since, I havenever forgotten it. It has furnished me with a standardby which to judge all architecture, and has guidedmy taste in such a small matter as the use of stoneslabs over window openings in brick buildings, thusconcealing the structural brick arch, and using stoneas a beam, a purpose for which iron or wood is bettersuited. It also made me a very severe critic of modernimitations of Gothic in which we often see buttresses

lOOMY LIFEand pinnacles for ornament alone, when the roof iswholly of wood and there is no outward thrust to beguarded against ; while in some cases we see uselessgargoyles, which in the old buildings stretched out tocarry the water clear of the walls, but which are stillsometimes imitated when the water is carried intodrains by iron gutters and water-pipes. I also learntto appreciate the beautiful tracery of the large circularor pointed windows, whose harmonies and wellbalancedcurves and infinitely varied designs are adelight to the eye ;while in most modern structuresthe attempts at imitating them are deplorable failures,being usually clumsy, unbalanced, and monotonous.One of the very few modern Gothic buildings inwhich the architect has caught the spirit of the oldwork is Barry's Houses of Parliament, which, whetherin general effect or in its beautifully designed details,is a delight to the true lover of Gothic architecture.

CHAPTER VIIISELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE AND LITERATUREDuring the larger portion of my residence at Neathwe had very little to do, and my brother was often away,either seeking employment or engaged upon smallmatters of business in various parts of the country.I was thus left a good deal to my own devices, and,having no friends of my own age, I occupied myselfwith various pursuits in which I had begun to takean interest. Having learnt the use of the sextant insurveying, and my brother having a book on NauticalAstronomy, I practised a few of the simpler observations.Among these were determining the meridianby equal altitudes of the sun, and also by the polestarat its upper or lower culmination ; finding thelatitude by the meridian altitude of the sun, or ofsome of the principal stars ; and making a rude sundialby erecting a gnomon towards the pole. Forthese simple calculations I had Hannay and Dietrichsen'sAlmanac, a copious publication which gave allthe important data in the Nautical Almanac, besidesmuch other interesting matter, useful for the astronomicalamateur or the ordinary navigator. I alsotried to make a telescope by purchasing a lens ofabout two feet focus at an optician's in Swansea, fixingit in a paper tube and using the eye-piece of a smallopera-glass. With it I was able to observe the moon

102 MY LIFEand Jupiter'ssatellites, and some of the larger starclusters; but, of course, very imperfectly. Yet itserved to increase my interest in astronomy, and toinduce me to study with some care the variousmethods of construction of the more important astronomicalinstruments ;and it also led me throughoutmy life to be deeply interested in the grand onwardmarch of astronomical discovery.But what occupied me chiefly and became moreand more the solace and delight of my lonely ramblesamong the moors and mountains, was my first introductionto the variety, the beauty, and the mystery ofNature as manifested in the vegetable kingdom.I obtained a shilling paper-covered book publishedby the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,the title of which I forget, but which contained anoutline of the structure of plants and a shortdescriptionof their various parts and organs ;and also agood description of about a dozen of the most commonof the natural orders of British plants. This littlebook was a revelation to me, and for a year was myconstant companion. On Sundays I would stroll inthe fields and woods, learning the various parts andorgans of any flowers I could gather, and then tryinghow many of them belonged to any of the ordersdescribed in my book. Great was my delight whenI found that I could identify a Crucifer, an Umbellifer,and a Labiate ; and as one after another the differentorders were recognized, I began to realize for the firsttime the system that underlay all the variety ofWhen my brother was away and there wasnature.no work to do, I would spend the greater part of theday wandering over the hills or by the streamsgathering flowers, and either determining their positionfrom my book, or coming to the conclusion that they

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 103belonged to other orders of which I knew nothing,and as time went on I found that there were a verylargenumber of these, including many of our mostbeautiful and curious flowers, and I felt that I mustget some other book by which I could learn somethingabout these also.At length I obtained Lindley's "Elements ofBotany," which to my disappointment did not containreferences to British plants, and did not state whichorders contained British species. The woodcutsand descriptions of all the natural orders were, however,very useful, and on the broad margins of thepages, I copied the characters of the British speciesfrom Loudon's " Encyclopaedia of Plants," which Iborrowed from a friend. I was thus able to identifymost of the plants I met with.But I soon found that by merely identifying theplants I gathered in my walks I lost much time inexamining the same species several times, and eventhen not being always quite sure that I had found thesame plant before. I therefore began to form aherbarium, collecting good specimens and dryingthem carefully between drying papers and a coupleof boards weighted with books or stones. My brother,however, did not approve of my devotion to this study,even though I had absolutely nothing else to do, nordid he suggest any way in which I could employ myleisure more profitably. He said very little to me onthe subject beyond a casual remark, but a letter frommy mother showed me that he thought I was wastingmy time. Neither he nor I could foresee that it wouldhave any effect on my future life, and I myself onlylooked upon it as an intensely interesting occupationfor time that would otherwise be wasted. Even whenwe were busy I had Sundays perfectly free, and used

104 MY LIFEthen to take long walks over the mountains with mycollecting-box, which I brought home full of treasures.I first named the species as nearly as I could do so,and then laid them out to be pressed and dried. Atsuch times I experienced the joy which every discoveryof a new form of life gives to the lover of nature, almostequal to those raptures which I afterwards felt at everycapture of new butterflies on the Amazon, or at the constantstream of new species of birds, beetles, and butterfliesin Borneo, the Moluccas, and the Aru Islands.It must be remembered that my ignorance of plantsat this time was extreme. I knew the wild rose,bramble, hawthorn, buttercup, poppy, daisy, and foxglove,and a very few others equally common andpopular, and this was all. I knew nothing whateveras to genera and species, nor of the large numbers ofdistinct forms related to each other and grouped intonatural orders. My delight, therefore, was great whenI was now able to identify the charming little eyebright,the strange-looking cow-wheat and louse-wort,the handsome mullein and the pretty creeping toadflax,and to find that all of them, as well as the lordlyfoxglove, formed parts of one great natural order, andthat under all their superficial diversity of form therewas a similarity of structure which, when once clearlyunderstood, enabled me to locate each fresh specieswith greater ease.The Crucifers, the Pea tribe, theUmbelliferae, the Compositae, and the Labiates offeredgreat difficulties, and it was only after repeated effortsthat I was able to name with certainty a few of thespecies, after which each additional discovery becamea little less difficult, though the time I gave to thestudy before I left England was not sufficient for meto acquaint myself with more than a moderate proportionof the names of the species I collected.

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 105Now, I have some reason to believe that this wasthe . turning-point of my life^ the tide that carried meon, not to fortune but to whatever reputation I haveacquired, and which has certainly been to me a neverfailingsource of much health of body and suprememental enjoyment. If my brother had had constantwork for me so that I never had an idle day, and if Ihad continued to be similarly employed after I becameshould most probably have become entirelyof age, Iabsorbed in my profession, which, in its variousdepartments, I always found extremely interesting,and should therefore not have felt the need of anyother occupation or study.I know now, though I was ignorant of it at thetime, that my brother's life was a very anxious one,that the difficulty of finding remunerative work wasvery great, and that he was often hard pressed to earnenough to keep us both in the very humble way inwhich we lived. He never alluded to this that I canremember, nor did I ever hear how much our boardand lodging cost him, nor ever saw him make theweekly or monthly payments. During the sevenyears I was with him I hardly ever had more than afew shillings for personal expenses ;but every year ortwo, when I went home, what new clothes wereabsolutely necessary were provided for me, withperhaps ten shillings or a pound as pocket-money tillmy next visit, and this, I think, was partly or whollypaid out of the small legacy left me by my grandfather.This seemed very hard at the time, but I nowsee clearly that even this was useful to me, and wasreally an important factor in moulding my characterand determining my work in life. Had my fatherbeen a moderately rich man and had supplied me witha good wardrobe and ample pocket-money ; had my

—I06MY LIFEbrother obtained a partnership in some firm in apopulous town or city, or had established himself inhis profession, I might never have turned to natureas the solace and enjoyment of my solitary hours,my whole life would have been differently shaped,and though I should, no doubt, have given someattention to science, it seems very unlikely that Ishould have ever undertaken what at that time seemedrather a wild scheme, a journey to the almost unknownforests of the Amazon in order to observe nature andmake a living by collecting. All this may have beenpure chance, as I long thought it was, but of late yearsI am more inclined to Hamlet's belief when he said" There's a divinity that shapes our ends,Rough-hew them how we will."Of course, I do not adopt the view that each man'slife, in all its details, is guided by the Deity for Hisspecial ends. That would be, indeed, to make us allconscious automata, puppets in the hands of an allpowerfuldestiny. But I have good reasons for thebelief that we are surrounded by a host of unseenfriends and relatives who have gone before us, andwho have certain limited powers of influencing, andeven, in particular cases, almost of determining, theactions of living persons, and may thus in a greatvariety of indirect ways modify the circumstances andcharacter of any one or more individuals in whomthey are specially interested. But a great number ofthese occurrences in every one's life are apparentlywhat we term chance, and even if all are so, theconclusion I wish to lay stress upon is not affected.It is, that many of the conditions and circumstancesthat constitute our environment, though at the timethey may seem unfortunate or even unjust, yet are

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 107often more truly beneficial than those which weshould consider more favourable. Sometimes theyonly aid in the formation of character ; sometimesthey also lead to action which gives scope for the useof what might have been dormant or unused faculties(as, I think, has occurred in my own case) ; but muchmore frequently they seem to us wholly injurious,leading to a life of misery or crime, and turning whatin themselves are good faculties to evil purposes.When this occurs in any large number of cases, asit certainly does with us now, we may be sure thatit is the system of society that is at fault, and themost strenuous efforts of all who see this should bedevoted, not to the mere temporary alleviation of theevils due to it, but to the gradual modification of thesystem itself. This is my present view. At the timeof which I am now writing, I had not begun even tothink of these matters, although facts which I nowsee to be of great importance in connection with themwere being slowly accumulated for use in after-years.It was during the time that I was most occupiedout of doors with the observation and collection ofplants that I began to write down, more or lesssystematically, my ideas on various subjects thatinterested me. Three of these early attempts havebeen preserved and are now before me. They allbear dates of the autumn or winter of 1843, when Iwas between nineteen and twenty years of age.One of these is a rough sketch of a popular lectureon Botany, addressed to an audience supposed to beas ignorant as I was myself when I began to observeour native flowers. I was led to write it, partly onaccount of the difficulties I myself had felt in obtainingthe kind of information I required, but chiefly onaccount of a lecture I had attended at Neath by a

io8MY LIFElocal botanist of some repute, which seemed to me someagre, so uninteresting, and so utterly unlike whatsuch a lecture ought to be, that I wanted to try if Icould not do something better. The lecture inquestion consisted in an enumeration of the wholeseries of the " Linnaean Classes and Orders," statingtheir characters and naming a few of the plantscomprised in each. It was illustrated by a series ofcoloured figures on cards about the size of ordinaryplaying cards, which the lecturer held up one afterthe other to show what he was talking about. TheLinnaean system was upheld as being far the mostuseful as a means of determining the names of plants,and the natural system was treated as quite uselessfor beginners, and only suited for experiencedbotanists.All this was so entirely opposed to views I hadalready formed, that I devoted a large portion of mylecture to the question of classification in general,showed that any classification, however artificial, wasbetter than none, and that Linnaeus made a greatadvance when he substituted generic and specificnames for the short Latin descriptions of speciesbefore used, and by classifying all known plants bymeans of a few well-marked and easily observedcharacters.I then showed how and why this classificationwas only occasionally, and as it were accidentally,a natural one ;that in a vast number of cases itgrouped together plants which were essentially unlikeeach other ;and that for all purposes, except thenaming of species, it was both useless and inconvenient.I then showed what the natural system ofclassification really was, what it aimed at, and the muchgreater interest it gave to the study of botany. Iexplained the principles on which the various natural

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 109orders were founded, and showed how often they gaveus a clue to the properties of large groups of species,and enabled us to detect real affinities under verydiverse external forms.I concluded by passing in review some of the bestmarked orders as illustrating these various features.Although crudely written and containing some errors,I still think it would serve as a useful lecture to anaudience generally ignorant of the whole subject, suchas the young mechanics of a manufacturing town.Its chief interest to me now is that it shows my earlybent towards classification, not the highly elaboratetype that seeks to divide and subdivide underdifferent headings with technical names, rendering thewhole scheme difficult to comprehend, and being inmost cases a hindrance rather than an aid to thelearner, but a simple and intelligible classificationwhich recognizes and defines all great natural groups,and does not needlessly multiply them on account ofminute technical differences. It has always seemedto me that the natural orders of flowering plantsafford one of the best, if not the very best, exampleof such a classification.It is this attraction to classification, not as ametaphysically complete system, but as an aid to thecomprehension of a subject, which is, I think, one ofthe chief causes of the success of my books, in almostall of which I have aimed at a simple and intelligiblerather than a strictly logical arrangement of thesubject-matter.Another lecture, the draft for which I preparedpretty fully, was on a rather wider subject— "TheAdvantages of Varied Knowledge " — in oppositionto the idea that it was better to learn one subject

noMY LIFEthoroughly than to know something of many subjects.In the case of a business or profession, somethingmay be said for the latter view, but I treated it as apurely personal matter which led to the cultivationof a variety of faculties, and gave pleasurable occupationthroughout life. A few extracts may, perhaps,be permitted from this early attempt. Speaking ofa general acquaintance with history, biography, art,and science, I say, " There is an intrinsic value toourselves in these varied branches of knowledge, somuch indescribable pleasure in their possession, somuch do they add to the enjoyment of every momentof our existence, that it is impossible to estimatetheir value, and we would hardly accept boundlesswealth, at the cost, if it were possible, of their irrecoverableloss. And if it is thus we feel as to ourgeneral store of mental acquirements, still more dowe appreciate the value of any particular branch ofstudy we may ardently pursue. What pleasure wouldremain for the enthusiastic artist, were he forbiddento gaze upon the face of Nature, and transfer herloveliest scenes to his canvas ? or for the poet, werethe means denied him to rescue from oblivion thepassing visions of his imagination ? or to the chemist,were he snatched from his laboratory ere some novelexperiment were concluded, or some ardently pursuedtheory confirmed ? or to any of us, were we compelledto forego some intellectual pursuit that was boundup with our every thought And here we see the.'advantage possessed by him whose studies have beenin various directions, and who at different times hashad many different pursuits, for whatever may happen,he will always find something in his surroundings tointerest and instruct him."And further on, as illustrations of the interest in

——SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. incommon things conferred by a knowledge of theelementary laws of physical science, I remark**Many who marvel at the rolling thunder carenot to inquire what causes the sound which is heardwhen a tightly-fitting cork is quickly drawn from abottle, or when a whip is cracked or a pistol fired;and while they are struck with awe and admirationat the dazzling lightning, look upon the sparks drawnfrom a cat's back on a frosty evening and the slightcrackle that accompanies them as being only fit toamuse a child ;yet in each case the cause of thetrifling and of the grand phenomena is the same. Hewho has extended his inquiries into the varied phenomenaof nature learns to despise no fact, howeversmall, and to consider the most apparently insignificantand common occurrences as much in need ofexplanation as those of a grander and more imposingcharacter. He sees in every dewdrop trembling onthe grass causes at work analogous to those whichhave produced the spherical figure of the earth andplanets ; and in the beautiful forms of crystallizationon his window-panes on a frosty morning he recognizesthe action of laws which may also have a partin the production of the similar forms of plants andof many of the lower animal types. Thus the simplestfacts of everyday life have to him an inner meaning,and he sees that they depend upon the same generallaws as those that are at work in the grandest phenomenaof nature."I then pass in review the chief arts and sciences,showing their inter-relations and unsolved problems ;and in remarking on the Daguerrotype, then the onlymode of photographic portraiture, I make a suggestionthat, though very simple, has not yet been carriedout. It is as follows :

112 MY LIFE" It would be a curious and interesting thing tohave a series of portraits taken of a person eachsuccessive year. These would show the gradualchanges from childhood to old age in a very strikingmanner ; and if a number of such series from differentindividuals were obtained, and a brief outline givenof their lives during each preceding year, we shouldhave materials not merely for the curious to gaze at,but which might elucidate the problem of how far themind reacts upon the countenance. We should seethe effects of pain or pleasure, of idlenessor activity,of dissipation or study, and thus watch the action ofthe various passions of the mind in modifying theform of the body, and particularly the expression ofthe features."Now that photography is so widespread and sogreatly improved, it is rather curious that nothing ofthis kind has been done. Some of our numerousscientific societies might offer to take such photographsof any of their members who would agree tobe taken regularly, and would undertake to have oneor two of their children similarly taken till they cameof age, and also to prepare a very short record eachyear of the main events or occupations of their lives.If this were widely done in every part of the country,a most interesting and instructive collection of thoseseries which were most complete would be obtained.I have given the concluding passage of the lectureas it appears in the rough draft, which was neverrewritten." Can we believe that we are fulfilling the purposemany of the wonders andof our existence while sobeauties of the creation remain unnoticed around us }While so much of the mystery which man has beenable to penetrate, however imperfectly, is still all dark

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 113to us ?While so many of the laws which govern theuniverse and which influence our lives are, by us,unknown and uncared for ? And this not because wewant the power, but the will, to acquaint ourselveswith them. Can we think it right that, with the keyto so much that we ought to know, and that we shouldbe the better for knowing, in our possession, we seeknot to open the door, but allow this great store ofmental wealth to lie unused, producing no return tous, while our highest powers and capacities rust forwant of use ?" It is true that man is still, as he always has been,subject to error ; his judgments are often incorrect,his beliefs false, hisopinions changeable from age toage. But experience of error is the best guide totruth, often dearly bought, and, therefore, the moreto be relied upon. And what is it but the accumulatedexperience of past ages that serves us as abeacon light to warn us from error, to guide us in theway of truth ? How little should we know had theknowledge acquired by each preceding age died withit ! How blindly should we grope our way in thesame obscurity as did our ancestors, pursue the samephantoms, make the same fatal blunders, encounterthe same perils, in order to purchase the same truthswhich had been already acquired by the same process,and lost again and again in bygone ages ! But thewonder-working press prevents this loss ; truths onceacquired are treasured up by it for posterity, and eachsucceeding generation adds something to the stock ofacquired knowledge, so that our acquaintance withthe works of nature is ever increasing, the range ofour inquiries is extended each age, the power of mindover matter becomes, year by year, more complete.Yet our horizon ever widens, the limits to our advanceI

114 MY LIFEseem more distant than ever, and there seems nothingtoo noble, too exalted, too marvellous, for the everincreasingknowledge of future generations to attain to." Is it not fitting that, as intellectual beings withsuch high powers, we should each of us acquire aknowledge of what past generations have taught us,so that, should the opportunity occur, we may be ableto add somewhat, however small, to the fund ofinstruction for posterity ? Shall we not, then, feel thesatisfaction of having done all in our power to improveby culture those higher faculties that distinguish usfrom the brutes, that none of the talents with whichwe may have been gifted have been suffered to lieAnd, lastly, can any reflecting mindaltogether idle ?have a doubt that, by improving to the utmost thenobler faculties of our nature in this world, we shallbe the better fitted to enter upon and enjoy whatevernew state of being the future may have in storefor us?"These platitudes are of no particular interest,except as showing the bent of my mind at that period,and as indicating a disposition for discursive readingand study, which has been a great advantage tomyself, and which has enabled me to write on avariety of subjects without committing any verygrievous blunders (so far as my critics have pointedout), and with, I hope, some little profit to my readers.In April, 1843, my father died at Hoddesdon, atthe age of seventy-two, and was buried inthe familyAs myvault in St. Andrew's Churchyard, Hertford.sister's school was not paying very well, and it wasnecessary to economize as much as possible, thehouse was given up early the following year, mymother took an engagement as housekeeper in a

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 115gentleman's family at Isleworth, and my sisterobtained a post as teacher at an Episcopal College,then just founded by the Bishop of Georgia (Dr.Elliott), at Montpelier Springs, seventeen miles fromMacon, and left England in August, 1844.Shortly before I came of age in January, 1844,my brother told me that as he had no work in prospectit was necessary that I should leave him and lookout for myself ; so I determined to go up to Londonand endeavour to obtain some employment.As the period of my home and school life andsubsequent tutelage under my brother now came toan end, and I had for the future to make my ownway in the world, this affords a suitable occasion fora brief review of the chief points in my character,which may now be considered to have been fairlydetermined, although some portions of it had not yethad opportunity for full development.I do not think that at this time I could be said tohave shown special superiority in any of the highermental faculties, but I possessed a strong desire toknow the causes of things, a great love of beauty inform and colour, and a considerable but not excessivedesire for order and arrangement in whatever I hadto do. If I had one distinct mental faculty moreprominent than another, it was the power of correctreasoning from a review of the known facts in anycase to the causes or laws which produced them, andalso in detecting fallacies in the reasoning of otherpersons. This power has greatly helped me in allmy writings, especially those on natural history andsociology. The determination of the direction inwhich I should use these powers was due to mypossession in a high degree of the two mental qualitiesusually termed emotional or moral, an intense

—Il6MY LIFEappreciation of the beauty, harmony, and variety innature and inall natural phenomena, and an equallystrong passion for justice as between man and manan abhorrence of all tyranny, all compulsion, all unnecessaryinterference with the liberty of others.These characteristics, combined with certain favourableconditions, some of which have already been referredto, have determined the direction of the pursuitsand inquiries in which I have spent a large portion ofmy life.It will be well to state here certain marked deficienciesin my mental equipment which have alsohad a share in determining the direction of my specialactivities. My greatest, though not perhaps mostimportant, defect is my inability to perceive theniceties of melody and harmony in music ; in commonlanguage, I have no ear for music. But as I have afair appreciation of time, expression, and generalharmony, I am deeply affected by grand, pathetic, orreligious music, and can at once tell when the heartand soul of the musician is in his performance, thoughany number of technical errors, false notes, or harshdiscords would pass unnoticed. Another and moreserious defect is in verbal memory, which, combinedwith the inability to reproduce vocal sounds, hasrendered the acquirement of all foreign languagesvery difficult and distasteful. This, with my veryimperfect school training, added to my shyness andwant of confidence, must have caused me to appear avery dull, ignorant, and uneducated person to numbersof chance acquaintances. This deficiency has alsoput me at a great disadvantage as a public speaker.I can rarely find the right word or expression toenforce or illustrate my argument, and constantly feelthe same difficulty in private conversation.In writing

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 117it is not so injurious, for when I have time fordeliberate thought I can generally express myselfwith tolerable clearness and accuracy. I think, too,that the absence of the flow of words which so manywriters possess has caused me to avoid that extremediffuseness and verbosity which is so great a fault inmany scientific and philosophical works.Another important defect is in the power ofrapidly seeing analogies or hidden resemblances andincongruities, a deficiency which, in combination withthat of language, has produced the total absence ofwit or humour, paradox or brilliancy, in my writings,although no one can enjoy and admire these qualitiesmore than I do. The rhythm and pathos, as well asthe inimitable puns of Hood, were the delight of myyouth, as are the more recondite and fantastic humourof Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll in my old age. Thefaculty which gives to its possessor wit or humour isalso essential to the high mathematician, who isalmost always witty or poetical as well ; and I wastherefore debarred from any hope of success in thisdirection ;while my very limited power of drawing orperception of the intricacies of form were equallyantagonistic to much progress as an artist or ageometrician.Other deficiencies of great influence in my lifehave been my want of assertiveness and of physicalcourage, which, combined with delicacy of the nervoussystem and of bodily constitution, and a general disinclinationto much exertion, physical or mental, havecaused that shyness, reticence, and love of solitudewhich, though often misunderstood and leading tounpleasant results, have, perhaps, on the whole, beenbeneficial to me. They have helped to give me thoselong periods, both at home and abroad, when, alone and

ii8MY LIFEsurrounded only by wild nature and uncultured man,I could ponder at leisure on the various matters thatinterested me. Thus was induced a receptiveness ofmind which enabled me at various times to utilizewhat appeared to me as sudden intuitions—flashes oflight leading to a solution of some problem whichwas then before me ; and these flashes would oftencome to me when, pen in hand, I was engaged inwriting on a subject on which I had no intention orexpectation of saying anything new.Before leaving this sketch of my mental nature atthe threshold of my uncontrolled life, I may properlysay a few words on the position I had arrived at inregard to the great question of religious belief. Ihave already shown that my early home training wasin a thoroughly religious but by no means rigidfamily, where, however, no religious doubts were everexpressed, and where the word " atheist " was usedwith bated breath as pertaining to a being too debasedalmost for human society. The only regular teachingI received was to say or hear a formal prayer beforegoing to bed, hearing grace before and after dinner,and learning a collect every Sunday morning, thelatter certainly one of the most stupid ways ofinculcating religion ever conceived. On Sundayevenings, if we did not go to church or chapel, myfather would read some old sermon, and when we didgo we were asked on our return what was the text.The only books allowed to be read on Sundays werethe " Pilgrim's Progress " or " Paradise Lost," or somereligious tracts or moral tales, or the more interestingparts of the Bible were read by my mother, or weread ourselves about Esther and Mordecai or Bel andthe Dragon, which were as good as any story-book.Put all this made little impression upon me, as it

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 119never dealt sufficiently with the mystery, the greatness,the ideal and emotional aspects of religion,which only appealed to me occasionally in some ofthe grander psalms and hymns, or through the wordsof some preacher more impassioned than usual.As might have been expected, therefore, whatlittle religious belief I had very quickly vanishedunder the influence of philosophical or scientificscepticism. This came first upon me when I spenta month or two in London with my brother John, asalready related ; and during the seven years I livedwith my brother William, though the subject ofreligion was not often mentioned, there was a pervadingspirit of scepticism, or free-thought as it wasthen called, which strengthened and confirmed mydoubts as to the truth or value of all ordinary religiousteaching.He occasionally borrowed interesting books whichI usually read. One of these was an old edition ofRabelais' works, which both interested and greatlyamused me ; but that which bears most upon thepresent subject was a reprint of lectures on Strauss'" Life of Jesus," which had not then been translatedinto English. These lectures were, I think, deliveredby some Unitarian minister or writer, and they gavean admirable and most interesting summary of thewhole work. The now well-known argument, that allthe miracles related in the Gospels were mere myths,which in periods of ignorance and credulity alwaysgrow up around all great men, and especially aroundall great moral teachers when the actual witnesses ofhis career are gone and his disciples begin to writeabout him, was set forth with great skill. This argumentappeared conclusive to my brother and some ofhis friends with whom he discussed it, and, of course,

120 MY LIFEin my then frame of mind it seemed equally conclusiveto me, and helped to complete the destructionof whatever religious beliefs still lingered in my mind.It was not till many years afterwards that I sawreason to doubt this whole argument, and to perceivethat it was based upon pure assumptions which werenot in accordance with admitted historical facts.My brother never went to church himself, but forthe first few years I was with him he sent me onceevery Sunday ;but, of course, the only effect of thiswas to deepen my spirit of scepticism, as I found noattempt inany of the clergymen to reason on any ofthe fundamental questions at the root of the Christianand every other religion. Many of our acquaintanceswere either church- or chapel-goers, but usually as amatter of form and convention, and, on the whole,religion seemed to have no influence whatever ontheir conduct or conversation. The majority, especiallyof the younger men, were either professors of religionwho thought or cared nothing about it, or were opensceptics and scorners.In addition to these influences my growing tastefor various branches of physical science and my increasinglove of nature disinclined me more and morefor either the observances or the doctrines of orthodoxreligion, so that by the time I came of age I wasabsolutely non-religious, I cared and thought nothingabout it, and could be best described by the modernterm " agnostic."The next four years of my life were also of greatimportance both in determining the direction of myactivity, and in laying the foundation for my study ofspecial subjects through which I have obtained mostadmiration or notoriety. These will form the subjectof the following chapter.

CHAPTER IXLIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATHAs I came of age in January, 1844, ^^^ there wasnothing doing at Neath, I left my brother about themiddle of December so as to spend the Christmaswith my mother and sister at Hoddesdon, after whichI returned to London, sharing my brother John'slodging till I could find some employment. At thattime the tithe-commutation surveys were nearly allcompleted, and the rush of railway work had notbegun : surveying was consequently very slack. Asmy brother William, who had a large acquaintanceamong surveyors and engineers all over the south ofEngland, could not find employment, except somevery small local business, I felt it to be quite uselessfor me to seek for similar work. I therefore determinedto try for some post in a school to teachEnglish, surveying, elementary drawing, etc. Throughsome school agency I heard of two vacancies thatmight possibly suit. The first required, in additionto English, junior Latin and algebra. I applied forthis, but failed to obtain the appointment, as neithermy Latin nor my algebra was up to the requiredstandard.My next attempt was more hopeful, as drawing,surveying, and mapping were required. On this occasionI met a clergyman, a young man, easy and

122 MY LIFEfriendly in his manner. I had taken with me a smallcoloured map I had made at Neath to serve as aspecimen, and also one or two pencil sketches. Theseseemed to satisfy him, and as I was only wanted totake the junior classes in English reading, writing,and arithmetic, teach a very few boys surveying, andbeginners in drawing, he agreed to engage me. Iwas to live in the house, preside over the eveningpreparation of the boarders (about twenty in number),and to have, I think, thirty or forty pounds a year,with which I was quite satisfied. My employer wasthe Rev. Abraham Hill, Headmaster of the CollegiateSchool at Leicester.I commenced work in about a fortnight. After afew weeks, finding I knew a little Latin, Mr. Hillasked me to take the lowest class, and even thatrequired some preparation in the evening. Mr. Hillwas a good mathematician, and finding I was desirousof learning a little more algebra, offered to assist me.He lent me Hind's Algebra, which I worked allthrough successfully, and this was followed by thesame author's Trigonometry, which I also went through,with occasional struggles. Then I attacked theDifferential Calculus, and worked through that ; butI could never fully grasp the essential principle of it.Finally, I began the Integral Calculus, and here Ifound myself at the end of my tether. I learnt someof the simpler processes, but very soon got baffled,and felt that I wanted some faculty necessary forseeing my way through what seemed to me an almosttrackless labyrinth. Whether, under Mr. Hill's instruction,I should ultimately have been able to overcomethese difficulties I cannot positively say, but Ihave good reason to believe that I never should havedone so. Briefly stated, just as no amount of teaching

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 123or practice would ever have made me a good musician,so, however much time and study I gave to the subject,I could never have become a good mathematician.Whether all this work did me any good or not, I amrather doubtful. My after-life being directed toaltogether different studies, I never had occasion touse my newly acquired knowledge, and soon forgotmost of the processes. But it gave me an interest inmathematics which I have never lost ; and I rarelycome across a mathematical investigation withoutlooking through it and trying to follow the reasoning,though I soon get lost in the formulae. Still,the ever-growing complexity of the higher mathematicshas a kind of fascination for me as exhibitingpowers of the human mind so very far above myown.There was in Leicester a very good town library,to which I had access on paying a small subscription,and as I had time for several hours' reading daily, Itook full advantage of it. Among the works I readhere, which influenced my future, were Humboldt's" Personal Narrative of Travels in South America,"which was, I think, the first book that gave me a desireto visit the tropics. I also read here Prescott's" History of the Conquests of Mexico and Peru,"Robertson's " History of Charles V." and his " Historyof America," and a number of other standard works.But perhaps the most important book I read wasMalthus's " Principles of Population," which I greatlyadmired for its masterly summary of facts and logicalinduction to conclusions. It was the first work I hadyet read treating of any of the problems of philosophicalbiology, and its main principles remainedwith me as a permanent possession, and twenty years

124 MY LIFElater gave me the long-sought clue to the effectiveagent in the evolution of organic species.It was at Leicester that I was first introduced toa subject which I had at that time never heard of, butwhich has played an important part in my mentalgrowth — psychical research, as it is now termed.Some time in 1844 Mr. Spencer Hall gave somelectures on mesmerism illustrated by experiments,which I, as well as a few of the older boys, attended.I was greatly interested and astonished at the phenomenaexhibited, in some cases with persons whovolunteered from the audience ; and I was also impressedby the manner of the lecturer, which was notat all that of the showman or the conjurer. At theconclusion of the course he assured us that mostpersons possessed in some degree the power of mesmerisingothers, and that by trying with a few of ouryounger friends or acquaintances, and simply doingwhat we had seen him do, we should probably succeed.He also showed us how to distinguish betweenthe genuine mesmeric trance, and any attempt toimitate it.In consequence of this statement, one or two of theelder boys tried to mesmerise some of the youngerones, and in a short time succeeded ;and they askedme to see their experiments. I found that they couldproduce the trance state, which had all the appearanceof being genuine, and also a cataleptic rigidity of thelimbs by passes and by suggestion, both in the tranceand afterwards in the normal waking state. This ledme to try myself in the privacy of my own room, andIsucceeded after one or two attempts in mesmerisingthree boys from twelve to sixteen years of age, whileon others within the same ages I could produce no

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 125effect, or an exceedingly slight one. During thetrance they seemed in a state of semi-torpor, withapparently no volition. They would remain perfectlyquiescent so long as I did not notice them, but wouldat once answer any questions or do anything I toldthem. On the two boys with whom I continued toexperiment for some time, I could produce catalepsyof any limb or of the whole body, and in this statethey could do things which they could not, andcertainly would not have done in their normal state.For example, on the rigid outstretched arm I wouldhang at the wrist an ordinary bedroom chair, and theboy would hold it there for several minutes, while Isat down and wrote a short letter for instance, withoutany complaint, or making any remark when I took itoff. I never left it more than five minutes, because Iwas afraid that some injury might be caused by it.I soon found that this rigidity could be produced inthose who had been mesmerised by suggestion only,and in this way often fixed them in any position,notwithstanding their efforts to change it. Oneexperiment was to place a shilling on the table infront of a boy, and then say to him, " Now, you can'ttouch that shilling." He would at once move hishand towards it, but when half-way it would seem tostick fast, and all his efforts could not bring it nearer,though he was promised the shilling if he couldtake it.But perhaps the most interesting group of phenomenato me were those termed phreno-mesmerism.I had read, when with my brother, George Combe's" Constitution of Man," with which I had been greatlyinterested, and afterwards one of the writer's workson Phrenology, and at the lecture I had seen some ofthe effects of exciting the phrenological organs by

126 MY LIFEtouching the corresponding parts of the patient'shead. But as I had no book containing a chart ofthe organs, I bought a small phrenological bust tohelp me in determining the positions.Having my patient in the trance, and standingclose to him, with the bust on my table behind him,I touched successively several of the organs, theposition of which it was easy to determine. After afew seconds he would change his attitude and theexpression of his face in correspondence with theorgan excited. In most cases the effect was unmistakable,and superior to that which the most finishedactor could give to a character exhibiting the samepassion or emotion.At this very time the interest excited by painlesssurgical operations during the mesmeric trance wasat its height, as I have described in my " WonderfulCentury " (chap, xxi.), and I had read a good dealabout these, and also about the supposed excitementof the phrenological organs, and the theory that theselatter were caused by mental suggestion from theoperator to the patient, or what is now termed telepathy.But as the manifestations often occurred ina different form from what I expected, I felt sure thatthis theory was not correct. One day I intended totouch a particular organ, and the effect on the patientwas quite different from what I expected, and lookingat the bust while my finger was still on the boy'shead, I found that I was not touching the part Isupposed, but an adjacent part, and that the effectexactly corresponded to the organ touched and not tothe organ I thought I had touched, completely disprovingthe theory of suggestion. I then tried severalexperiments by looking away from the boy's headwhile I put my finger on it at random, when I always

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 127found that the effect produced corresponded to thatindicated by the bust. I thus established, to my ownsatisfaction, the fact that a real effect was producedon the actions and speech of a mesmeric patient bythe operator touching various parts of the head ;thatthe effect corresponded with the natural expression ofthe emotion due tothe phrenological organ situatedat that part—as combativeness, acquisitiveness, fear,and thatveneration, wonder, tune, and many others ;it was in no way caused by the will or suggestion ofthe operator.As soon as I found that these experiments weresuccessful, I informed Mr. Hill, who made no objectionto my continuing them, and several times cameto see them. He was so much impressed that oneevening he invited two or three friends who wereinterested in the subject, and with my best patient Ishowed most of the phenomena.The importance of these experiments to me wasthat they convinced me, once for all, that the antecedentlyincredible may nevertheless be true ;and,further, that the accusations of imposture by scientificmen should have no weight whatever against thedetailed observations and statements of other men,presumably as sane and sensible as their opponents,who had witnessed and tested the phenomena, as Ihad done myself in the case of some of them.While living at Leicester I first met Henry WalterBates.How I was introduced to him I do not exactlyremember, but I rather think I heard him mentionedas an enthusiastic entomologist, and met him at thelibrary. I found that his specialty was beetle collecting,though he also had a good set of Britishbutterflies. Of the former I knew nothing, but as Ialready knew the fascinations of plant life I was quite

128 MY LIFEprepared to take an interest in any other departmentHe asked me to see his collection, and Iof nature.was amazed to find the great number and variety ofbeetles, their many strange forms and often beautifulmarkings or colouring, and was even more surprisedwhen I found that almost all I saw had been collectedaround Leicester, and that there were still many moreto be discovered. If I had been asked before howmany different kinds of beetles were to be found inany small district near a town, I should probablyhave guessed fifty or at the outside a hundred, andthought that a very liberal allowance. But I nowlearnt that many hundreds could easily be collected,and that there were probably a thousand differentkinds within ten miles of the town ; and he showed mea thick volume containing descriptions of more thanthree thousand species inhabiting the British Isles.Ialso learnt from him in what an infinite variety ofplaces beetles may be found, while some may becollected all the year round, so I at once determinedto begin collecting, as I did not find a great manynew plants near Leicester. I therefore obtained acollecting bottle, pins, and a store-box ;and in orderto learn their names and classification I obtained,at wholesale price through Mr. Hill's bookseller,Stephen's " Manual of British Coleoptera," whichhenceforth for some years gave me almost as muchpleasureas Lindley's " Botany," with my MSS. descriptions,had already done.This new pursuit gave a fresh interest to myWednesday and Saturday afternoon walks into thecountry, when two or three of the boys often accompaniedme. The most delightful of all our walks wasto Bradgate Park, about five miles from the town, awild, neglected park with the ruins of a mansion, and

IN DERBYSHIRE.[To face p. 129.

IN LEICESTERSHIRE.[To face p. 129.

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 129many fine trees and woods and ferny or bushy slopes.Sometimes the whole school went for a picnic, thepark at that time being quite open, and we hardlyever met any one. After we got out of the townthere was a wide grassy lane that led to it, whichitself was a delightful walk and was a good collectingground for both plants and insects. For variety wehad the meadows along the course of the little riverSoar, which were very pleasant in spring and summer.Twice during the summer the whole of the boarderswere taken for a long day's excursion. The firsttime we went to Kenilworth Castle, about thirty milesdistant, driving in coaches by pleasant country roads,and passing through Coventry. Towards the autumnwe had a much longer excursion, partly by coach andpartly by canal boat, to a very picturesque countrywith wooded hills and limestone cliffs, rural villages,and an isolated hill, from the top of which we had avery fine and extensive view. I think it must havebeen in Derbyshire, near Wirksworth, as there is along canal tunnel on the way there. One of therough out-of-door sketches made on this occasion isreproduced here on a reduced scale, as well as amore finished drawing of some village, perhaps nearLeicester, asthey may possibly enable some readerto recognize the localities, and also serve to show thelimits of my power as an artist.Early in the year 1846 I received the totallyunexpected news of the death of my brother Williamat Neath. He had been in London to give evidencebefore a committee on the South Wales Railway Bill,and returning at night caught a severe cold by beingchilled in a wretched third-class carriage, succeededby a damp bed at Bristol. This brought on congestionof the lungs, to which he speedily succumbed. I andK

—I30MY LIFEmy brother John went down to Neath to the funeral,and as William had died without a will, we had totake out letters of administration. Finding from mybrother's papers that he had obtained a small localbusiness, and that there was railway work in prospect,I determined to take his place, and at once askedpermission of Mr. Hill to be allowed to leave atEaster.My two years spent at Leicester had been in manyways useful to me, and had also a determining influenceon my whole future life. It satisfied me thatI had no vocation for teaching, for though I performedmy duties I believe quite to Mr. Hill's satisfaction, Ifelt myself out of place, partly because I knew nosubject—with the one exception of surveyingsufficiently well to be able to teach it properly, butmainly because a completely subordinate positionwas distasteful to me, although I could not have hada more considerate employer than Mr. Hill. Thetime and opportunity I had for reading was a greatadvantage, and gave me an enduring love of goodliterature. The events which formed a turning-pointin my life were, first, my acquaintance with Bates,and through him deriving a taste for the wonders ofinsect-life, opening to me a new aspect of nature, andlater on finding in him a companion without whom Imight never have ventured on my journey to theAmazon. The other and equally important circumstancewas my reading Malthus, without which workI should probably not have hit upon the theory ofnatural selection and obtained full credit for itsindependent discovery. My two years spent atLeicester must, therefore, be considered as perhapsthe most important in my early life.At Easter I bade farewell to Leicester and went

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 131to Neath with my brother John, in order to wind upour brother William's affairs. We found from hisbooks that a considerable amount was owing to himfor work done during the past year or two, and weduly made out accounts of all these and sent them into the respective parties. Some were paid at once,others we had to write again for and had some troubleto get paid.When we had wound up William's affairsas wellas we could, my brother John returned to London,and I was left to see if any work was to be had, andin the mean time devoted myself to collecting butterfliesand beetles. While at Leicester I had beenaltogether out of the business world and do notremember even looking at a newspaper, or I mighthave heard something of the great railway maniawhich that year reached its culmination. I now firstheard rumours of it, and some one told me of a civilengineer in Swansea who wanted all the surveyors hecould get, and that they allhad two guineas a day,and often more. This I could hardly credit, but Iwrote to the gentleman, who soon after called on meand asked me if I could do levelling. I told him Icould, and had a very good level and levelling staves.After some little conversation he told me he wanteda line of levels up the Vale of Neath to MerthyrTydfil for a proposed railway, with cross levels atfrequent intervals, and that he would give me twoguineas a day, and all expenses of chain and staffmen, hotels, etc. He gave me all necessary instructions,and said he would send a surveyor to mapthe route at the same time. This was, I think, aboutmidsummer, and I was hard at work till the autumn,and enjoyed myself immensely. It took me up thesouth-east side of the valley, of which I knew very

132 MY LIFElittle, along pleasant lanes and paths through woodsand by streams, and up one of the wildest and mostpicturesque little glens I have ever explored. Herewe had to climb over huge rocks as big as houses,ascend cascades, and take cross-levels up steep banksand precipices all densely wooded. It was surveyingunder difficulties, and excessively interesting. Afterthe first rough levels were taken and the surveymade, the engineers were able to mark out the lineprovisionally, and I then went over the actual line toenable the sections to be drawn as required by theParliamentary Standing Orders.In this year of wild speculation it is said thatplans and sections for 1263 new railways were dulydeposited, having a proposed capital of ;^ 5 63,000,000,and the sum required to be deposited at the Board ofamount ofTr ide was so much larger than the totalgold in the Bank of England and notes in circulationat the time, that the public got frightened, a panicensued, shares in the new lines which had been at ahigh premium fell almost to nothing, and even theestablished lines were greatly depreciated. Many ofthe lines were proposed merely for speculation, or tobe bought off by opposing lines which had a betterchance of success. The line we were at work on wasa branch of the Great Western and South WalesRailway then making, and was for the purpose ofbringing the coal and iron of Merthyr Tydfil and thesurrounding district to Swansea, then the chief portof South Wales. But we had a competitor along thewhole of our route in a great line from Swansea toYarmouth, by way of Merthyr, Hereford, Worcester,and across the midland agricultural counties, called,I think, the East and West Junction Railway, whichsounded grand, but which had no chance of passing.

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 133Itcompeted, however, with several other lines, and Iheard that many of these agreed to make up a sumto buy off its opposition. Not one-tenth of the linesproposed that year were ever made, and the moneywasted upon surveyors, engineers, and law expensesmust have amounted to millions.Finding it rather dull at Neath living by myself, Ipersuaded my brother to give up his work in Londonas a journeyman carpenter and join me, thinking thatwith his practical experience and my general knowledge,we might be able to do architectural, building,and engineering work, as well as surveying, and intime get up a profitable business. We returnedtogether early in January, and continued to boardand lodge with Mr. Sims in the main street, whereI had been very comfortable, till the autumn, when,hearing that my sister would probably be home fromAmerica the following summer, and my motherwishing to live with us, we took a small cottage closeto Llantwit Church, and less than a mile from themiddle of the town. It had a nice little garden andyard, with fowl-house, shed, etc., going down to theNeath Canal, immediately beyond which was theriver Neath, with a pretty view across the valley toCadoxton and the fine Drumau mountain.Having the canal close at hand and the riverbeyond, and then another canal to Swansea, made uslong for a small boat, and not having much to do, mybrother determined to build one, so light that it couldbe easily drawn or carried from the canal to the river,and so give access to Swansea. It was made as smalland light as possible to carry two or, at most, threepersons. When finished, we tried it with muchanxiety, and found it rather unstable, but with alittle ballast at the bottom and care in moving, it did

134 MY LIFEvery well, and was very easy to row. One day Ipersuaded my mother to let me row her to Swansea,where we made a few purchases ;and then came backquite safely till within about a mile of home, when,passing under a bridge, my mother put her hand outto keep the boat from touching, and leaning over alittle too much, the side went under water, and upsetus both. As the water was only about two or three feetdeep we escaped with a thorough wetting. The boatwas soon^baled dry, and then I rowed on to NeathBridge, where my mother got out and walked home,and did not trust herself in our boat again, though Iand my brother had many pleasant excursions.My chief work in 1846 had been the survey of theparish of Llantwit-juxta-Neath. The agent of theGnoU Estate had undertaken the valuation forthe tithe commutation, and arranged with me to dothe survey and make the map and the necessarycopies. When all was finished and the valuationmade, I was told that I must collect the paymentfrom the various farmers in the parish, who wouldafterwards deduct it from their rent. This wasa disagreeable business, as many of the farmerswere very poor ; some could not speak English, andcould not be made to understand what it was allabout ; others positively refused to pay ; and theseparate amounts were often so small that it was notworth going to law about them, so that several werenever paid at all, and others not for a year afterwards.This was one of the things that disgusted me withbusiness, and made me more than ever disposed togive it all up if I could get anything else to do.My brother John and I also obtained a littlebuilding and architectural work, and amongst otherstructures we designed and supervised the erection of

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 135the Mechanics' Institute at Neath. It was before themembers of this institute that I made my first essayas a lecturer, having been persuaded to give a seriesof lectures on physics during two winters. I alsogave a lecture describing a short visit I had made toParis.iDuring the two summers that I and my brotherJohn lived at Neath we spent a good deal of ourleisure time in wandering about this beautiful district,on my part in search of insects, while my brotheralways had his eyes open for any uncommon bird orreptile.Though I have by no means a very wide acquaintancewith the mountain districts of Britain, yetI know Wales pretty well ; have visited the best partsof the lake district ; in Scotland have been to LochLomond, Loch Katrine, and Loch Tay ;have climbedBen Lawers, and roamed through Glen Clova in searchfor rare plants ;—but I cannot call to mind a singlevalley that in the same extent of country comprises somuch beautiful and picturesque scenery, and so manyinteresting special features, as the Vale of Neath.The town itself is beautifully situated, with the finewooded and rock-girt Drumau Mountain to the west,while immediately to the east are well-wooded heightscrowned by Gnoll House, and to the south-east, threemiles away, a high rounded hill, up which a chimneyhas been carried from the Cwm Avon copperworks in'In 1895 ^ received a letter from Cardiff, from one of the workmenwho attended the Neath Mechanics' Institution, asking if the author of" Island Life," the " Malay Archipelago," and other books is the sameMr. Alfred Wallace who taught in the evening science classes to theNeath Abbey artificers. He writes— "I have often had a desire toknow, as I benefited more while in your class—if you are the sameMr, A. Wallace—than I ever was taught at school. I have oftenwished I knew how to thank you for the good I and others receivedfrom your teaching. — (Signed) Matthew Jones."

136 MY LIFEthe valley beyond, thesmoke from which gives thehill much the appearance of an active volcano. Tothe south-west the view extends down the valley toSwansea Bay, while to the north-east stretches theVale of Neath itself, nearly straight for twelve miles,the river winding in a level fertile valley about aquarter to half a mile wide, bounded on each side byabrupt hills, whose lower slopes are finely wooded,and backed by mountains from fifteen hundred toeighteen hundred feet high. The view up this valleyis delightful, its sides being varied with a few housespeeping out from the woods, abundance of lateralvalleys and ravines, with here and there the glint offalling water, while its generally straight directionaffords fine perspective effects, sometimes fading inthe distance into a warm yellow haze, at othersaffording a view of the distant mountain rangesbeyond.At twelve miles from the town we come to thelittle village of Pont-nedd-fychan (the bridge of thelittle Neath river), where we enter upon a quitedistinct type of scenery, dependent on our passingout of the South Wales coal basin, crossing the hardrock-belt of the millstone grit, succeeded by thepicturesque crags of the mountain limestone, andthen entering on the extensive formation of the OldRed Sandstone.Within a mile of Pont-nedd-fychan is the Dinasrock, a tongue of mountain limestone jutting outacross the millstone grit, and forming fine precipices,one of which was called the Bwa-maen or bow rock,from its being apparently bent double. Lower downthere are also some curious waving lines of apparentstratification, but on a recent examination I aminclined to think that these are really glacial

lORTH-YR-OGuF, VALE OF NEATH.\Tofacef. 137.

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 137groovings caused by the ice coming down fromHirwain, right against these ravines and precipices,and being thus heaped up and obliged to flow awayat right angles to its former course.But the most remarkable and interesting of thenatural phenomena of the upper valley is Porth-yr-Ogof (the gateway of the cavern), where the riverMellte runs for a quarter of a mile underground.The entrance is under a fine arch of limestone rockoverhung with trees, as shown in the accompanyingphotograph. The outlet is more irregular and lesslofty, and is also less easily accessible ; but the valleyjust below has wooded banks, open glades, and fantasticrocks near the cave, forming one of the mostcharmingly picturesque spots imaginable.I have already described one of the curious" standing stones " near the source of the Llia river,but there is a still more interesting example about amile and a half north-west of Ystrad-fellte, where theold Roman road—the Sarn Helen—crosses over theridge between the Nedd and the Llia valleys. Thisis a tall, narrow stone, roughly quadrilateral, on oneof the faces of which there is a rudely inscribed Latininscription, as seen in the photograph, and in a copyof the letters given. It reads as follows :—DERVACI FILIUS JUSTI IClACITmeaning " [The body] of Dervacus the son of Justuslies here."It will be seen that the letters D, A, and Iin Dervaci, and the T and I in Justi are inverted orreversed, probably indicating that the cutting wasdone by an illiterate workman, who placed them asmost convenient when working on an erect stone.The stone itself is probably British, and was utilized

138 MY LIFEas a memorial of a Roman soldier who died near theplace.One of our most memorable excursions was inJune, 1846, when I and my brother spent the nightin the water-cave. I wanted to go again to the topof the Beacons to see if I could find any rare beetlesthere, and also to show my brother the waterfalls andother beauties of the upper valley. Starting after anearly breakfast we walked to Pont-nedd-fychan, andthen turned up the western branch to the RockingStone, a large boulder of millstone-grit resting on anearly level surface, but which by a succession ofpushes with one hand can be made to rock considerably.It was here I obtained one of the most beautifulBritish beetles, Trichms fasciatus, the only time Iever captured it. We then went on to the Gladys andEinon Gam falls ; then, turning back, followed up theriver Nedd for some miles, crossed over to the cavern,and then on to Ystrad-fellte, where we had supperand spent the night, having walked leisurely abouteighteen or twenty miles.The next morning early we proceeded up thevalley to the highest farm on the Dringarth, thenstruck across the mountain to the road from Hirwainto Brecon, which we followed to the bridgeover theTaff, and then turned off towards the Beacons, theweather being perfect. It was a delightful walk, ona gradual slope of fifteen hundred feet in a mile anda half, with a little steeper bit at the end, and thesmall overhanging cap of peat at the summit, asalready described. I searched over it for beetles,which were, however, v^ry scarce, and we then walkeda little way down thesouthern slope to where a tinyspring trickles out—the highest source of the riverTaff—and there, lying on the soft mountain turf,

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 139enjoyed our lunch and the distant view over valleyand mountain to the faint haze of the BristolChannel.We took nearly the same route back, had asubstantial tea at the little inn at Ystrad-fellte, andthen, about seven o'clock, walked down to the caveto prepare our quarters for the night.both of us at this time determined, if possible, to goabroad into more or less wild countries, and wewanted for once to try sleeping out-of-doors, with noshelter or bed but what nature provided.I think we hadJust inside the entrance of the cave there areslopes of water-worn rock and quantities of largepebbles and boulders, and here it was quite dry, whilefarther in, where there were patches of smaller stonesand sand, it was much colder and quite damp, so ourchoice of a bed was limited to rock or boulders. We firstchose a place for a fire, and then searched for sufficientdead or dry wood to last us the night. This took usa good while, and it was getting dusk before we litour fire. We then sat down, enjoying the flicker ofthe flame on the roof of the cavern, the glimmer ofthe stars through the trees outside, and the gentlemurmur of the little river beside us. After a scantysupper we tried to find a place where we could sleepwith the minimum of discomfort, but with very littlesuccess. I found it almost impossible to lie still forhalf an hour without seeking a more comfortableposition, but the change brought little relief. I thinkwe had determined purposely to make no preparation,but to camp out just as if we had come accidentallyto the place in an unknown country, and had beencompelled to sleep there. But very little sleep wasto be had, and while in health I have never passed amore uncomfortable night. Luckily it was not a long

—I40MY LIFEone, and before sunrise we left our gloomy bedroom,walked up to the main road to get into the sunshine,descended into the Nedd valley and strolled along,enjoying the fresh morning air and warm sun till weneared Pont-nedd-fychan, when, finding a suitablepool, we took a delightful and refreshing bath, driedour bodies in the sun, and then walked on to thelittle inn, where we enjoyed our ample dish of eggsand bacon, with tea, and brown bread-and-butter.There is one subject on which I obtained conclusiveevidence while living at Neath, which mayhere be briefly noticed. I have already describedhow at Leicester I became convinced of the genuinenessof the phenomena of mesmerism, and was ablethoroughly to test them myself. I also was ableto make experiments which satisfiedme of the truthof phrenology, and had read sufficient to enable meto understand its general principles. But during myearly residence at Neath after my brother's death, Iheard two lectures on the subject, and in both casesI had my character delineated with such accuracy asto render it certain that the positions of all the mentalorgans had been very precisely determined. It mustbe understood that the lecturers were both strangers,and that they each gave only a single lecture on theirway to more important centres.I will give the more detailedof the two delineations.It is as follows, only omitting a few words atthe end which are of a purely personal nature :" (a) There is some delicacy in the nervous system,and consequent sensitiveness which unfits it for anyvery long-continued exertion ; but this may be overcomeby a strong will. There is some tendency toindigestion ;this requires air and exercise." (d) The power of fixing the attention is very

LIFE AT LEICESTER AND NEATH 141good indeed, and there is very considerable perceptivepower, so that this gentleman should learn easily andremember well, notwithstanding verbal memory isbut moderate. Concentrativeness is the chief organupon which all the memories depend, and this isundoubtedly large." {c) He has some vanity, and more ambition.He may occasionally exhibit a want of self-confidence ;but general opinion ascribes to him too much. Inthis, opinion is wrong : he knows that he has notenough ;he may assume it, but it will sit ill." {d) If Wit were larger he would be a good Mathematician;but without it, however clear and analyticalthe mind may be, it wants breadth and depth, and soI do not put down his mathematical talents as firstrate,although Number is good. The same must besaid of his classical abilities— good, but not firstrate." {e) He has some love for music from his Ideality,but I do not find a good ear, or sufficient time ; hehas, however, mechanical ability sufficient to produceenough of both, especially for the flute, if he sochoose." (/) As an artist, he would excel if his visionwere perfect :he has every necessary faculty, even toImitation." {g) He is fond of argument, and not easily convinced;he would exhibit physical courage if calledupon ; and although he loves money—as who doesnot .?—so far from there being any evidence of greediness,he is benevolent and liberal, but probably notextravagant. This part of his disposition is, however,so evenly balanced that there is not likely to bemuch peculiarity." {h) His domestic affections are his best.

142 MY LIFEConscientiousness ought to be one more, but Ido notsee what will try it."J. Q. RUMBALL."This delineation, and the other, which though notso complete agreed with it in nearly every particular,seem to me wonderfully accurate. That these twoexpositions of my character, the result of a very rapidexamination of the form of my head by two perfectstrangers, are so exact in many distinct points,demonstrates, I think, a large amount of truth—bothin principle and in the details—of the method bywhich they were arrived at.

A. R. WALLACE. AGED 24.(From a Daguerreotype.)[To/acep. 143.

;CHAPTER XFOUR YEARS IN THE AMAZON VALLEYDuring my residence at Neath I kept up somecorrespondence with H. W. Bates, chiefly on insectcollecting. We exchanged specimens, and, I thinkin the summer of 1847, he came on a week's visit,which we spent chiefly in beetle-collecting and in discussingvarious matters, and it must have been atthis time that we talked over a proposed collectingjourney to the tropics, but had not then decided whereto go. Mr. Bates' widow having kindly returned tome such of my letters as he had preserved, I find inthem some references to the subjects in which I wasthen interested. I will, therefore, here give a fewextracts from them.I had recently read "Vestiges of the NaturalHistory of Creation," and was much impressed by it,and I gave my views concerning it in several of myletters to Bates. In one letter I wrote, " It furnishesa subject for every observer of nature to attend toevery fact he observes will make either for or againstit, and it thus serves both as an incitement to thecollection of facts, and an object to which they canbe applied when collected. Many eminent writerssupport the theory of the progressive development ofanimals and plants."And :— in another letter " I was much pleased to

144 MY LIFEfind that you so well appreciated Lyell. I first readDarwin's ' Journal ' three or four years ago, and havelately re-read it. As the Journal of a scientifictraveller, it is second only to Humboldt's Personal'Narrative '—as a work of general interest, perhapssuperior to it." My reference to Darwin's "Journal "and to Humboldt's " Personal Narrative " indicate, Ibelieve, the two works to whose inspiration I owe mydetermination to visit the tropics as a collector.In the last letter to :— Bates before our SouthAmerican voyage I wrote " I begin to feel ratherdissatisfied with a mere local collection, little is to belearned by it. I should like to take some one familyto study thoroughly, principally with a view to thetheory of the origin of species. By that means I amstrongly of opinion that some definite results mightbe arrived at." And at the very end of the letter I:— say " There is a work published by the Ray SocietyI should much like to see, Oken's ' Elements ofPhysiophilosophy.' There is a review of it in theAthencBum. It contains some remarkable views onmy favourite subject—the variations, arrangements,distribution, etc., of species."These extracts from my early letters to Batessuffice to show that the great problem of the originof species was already distinctly formulated in mymind ; that I was not satisfied with the more or lessvague solutions at that time offered ; that I believedthe conception of evolution through natural law soclearly formulated in the " Vestiges " tobe, so far asit went, a true one ; and that I firmly believed that afull and careful study of the facts of nature wouldultimately lead to a solution of the mystery.What decided our going to Para and the Amazonany other part of the tropics was therather than to

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 145publication in 1847 of "A Voyage up the Amazon,"by Mr. W. H. Edwards. This little book was soclearly and brightly written, described so well thebeauty and the grandeur of tropical vegetation, andgave such a pleasing account of the people, whileshowing that expenses of living and of travelling wereboth very moderate, that Bates and myself at onceagreed that this was the very place for us to go to ifthere was any chance of paying our expenses by thesale of our duplicate collections. We immediatelycommunicated with Mr. Edward Doubleday, who hadcharge of the butterflies at the British Museum, forhis advice upon the matter. He assured us that thewhole of Northern Brazil was very little known, andthat there was no doubt we could easily pay ourexpenses. Thus encouraged, we determined to goto Para, and began to make all the necessaryarrangements.After spending some time in London studyingthe insects in the British Museum, purchasing collectingapparatus and outfit, we set sail from Liverpoolon April 20, 1848.At this time there were very few steamships, andmost of the ocean trade was still carried on in sailingvessels. Ours was one of the smallest, being abarque of 192 tons named the Mischief, and saidto be a very fast sailer. Bates and I were the onlypassengers.We encountered violent storms in the Bay ofBiscay, the waves flooded our decks, washed awaypart of our bulwarks, and very nearly swamped usaltogether. All this time I was in my berth prostratewith sea-sickness. After the first six days the weatherbecame fine, and the remainder of the voyage was veryenjoyable.

146 MY LIFEWe landed at Para on May 19, twenty-nine daysafter leaving Liverpool.From this date till I landed at Deal in October,1852, my adventures are narrated in my book" Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro," and Iwill here, therefore, only give a very brief outline ofmy wanderings.For the first four months Bates and I lived andcollected together in and around Para, but on ourreturn from an expedition which we had made up theTocantins river, we agreed that it would be better formany reasons to travel and collect independently ;one reason being that the country was so vast and sorich in birds and insects that much better resultswould be obtained if we each explored separatedistricts. We therefore separated, but we again metat Santarem and at the Barra. Afterwards Batesdevoted himself to the Upper Amazon, while Iascended the Rio Negro and the unknown Uaupes.After spending about nine months collecting inwent on an expeditionthe neighbourhood of Para, Iup the river Guama, on my return from which in July,1849, my younger brother, Herbert, joined me withthe idea of becoming a collector. We spent a monthtogether in Para, and then went to Santarem, wherewe intended to stay for some time. Dr. RichardSpruce, the now well-known traveller and botanist,had come out in the same ship with my brother, andwe much enjoyed his society during the short time hestayed with us here.After spending three months at Santarem wewent to the city of Barra at the mouth of the RioNegro, but here we found the scarcity of insects andbirds a great contrast to the abundance at Para,and after exploring the neighbouring country in all

;IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 147directions with poor results I determined to make along expedition to the Upper Rio Negro, whilst mybrother, who had finally decided to give up collecting,which had little interest for him, was to remain afew months at Barra, and then return to Para andEngland.When he arrived at Para, and while waiting forhis ship to sail, he was seized with yellow fever, anddied in a few days.The remainder of my South American travelsconsisted of two voyages up the Rio Negro. On thefirst I went beyond the boundaries of Brazil, andcrossed by a road in the forest to one of the tributariesof the Orinoco. Returning thence I visited avillage up a small branch of the Rio Negro, wherethere is an isolated rocky mountain, the haunt of thebeautiful Cock of the Rock ; afterwards going up theUaupes as far as the second cataract at Juaurite. Ithen returned with my collections to Barra, havingdetermined to go much farther up the Uaupes inorder to obtain, if possible, the white umbrella birdwhich I had been positively assured was found thereand also in the hopes of finding some new and bettercollecting ground near the Andes. These journeyswere made, but the second was cut short by delaysand the wet season. My health also had suffered somuch by a succession of fevers and dysentery that Idid not consider it prudent to stay longer in thecountry.Although during the last two journeys in the RioNegro and Orinoco districts I had made rather largemiscellaneous collections, and especially of articles ofnative workmanship, I never found any locality at allcomparable with Para as a collecting ground. Thenumerous places I visited along more than a thousand

—148 MY LIFEmiles of river, all alike had that poverty of insect andbird-life which characterized Barra itself, a povertywhich is not altogether explicable. The enormousdifficulties and delays of travel made itimpossible tobe at the right place at the right season ;while theexcessive wetness of the climate rendered the lossthe only month or two of fine weather irreparable forthe whole year. The comparative scantiness of nativepopulation at all the towns of the Rio Negro, the smallamount of cultivation, the scarcity of roads throughthe forest, and the want of any guide from theexperience of previous collectors, combined to rendermy numerous journeys in this almost totally unknownregion comparatively unproductive in birds and insects.As it happened (owing to Custom Houseformalities at Barra), the whole of my collectionsduring the last two voyages were with me on the shipthat was burnt, and were thus totally lost.One letter I wrote from Guia on the Upper RioNegro, three months after my arrival there, hasbeen preserved, and from it I extract the followingpassage :" I have been spending a month with some Indiansthree days' journey up a narrow stream (called theCobati River). From there we went half a day'sjourney through the forest to a rocky mountain wherethe celebrated ' Gallos de Serra ' (Cocks of the Rock)breed. But we were very unfortunate, for thoughI had with me ten hunters and we remained ninedays at the Serra, suffering many inconveniences(having only taken farinha and salt with us), I onlygot a dozen gallos, whereas I had expected in lesstime to have secured fifty. Insects there were noneat all ; and other good birds excessively rare.of

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 149" My canoe is now getting ready for a furtherRio Negro injourney up to near the sources of theVenezuela, where I have reason to believe I shallfind insects more plentiful, and at least as many birdsas here. On my return from there I shall take avoyage up the great River Uaupes, and another upthe Isanna, not so much for my collections, which Ido not expect to be very profitable there, but becauseI am so much interested in the country and thepeople that I am determined to see and know moreof it and them than any other European traveller.If I do not get profit, I hope at least to get somecredit as an industrious and persevering traveller."Looking back over my four years' wanderings inthe Amazon valley, there seem to me to be threegreat features which especially impressed me, andwhich fully equalled or even surpassed my expectationsof them. The first was the virgin forest, everywheregrand, often beautiful and even sublime. Itswonderful variety with a more general uniformity neverpalled. Standing under one of its great buttressedtrees—itself a marvel of nature—and looking carefullyaround, noting the various columnar trunksrising like lofty pillars, one soon perceives that hardlytwo of these are alike. The shape of the trunks,their colour and texture, the nature of their bark,their mode of branching and the character of thefoliage far overhead, or of the fruits or flowers lyingon the ground, have an individuality which shows thatthey are all distinct species differing from one anotheras our oak, elm, beech, ash, lime, and sycamore differ.This extraordinary variety of the species is a generalthough not universal characteristic of tropical forests,but seems to be nowhere so marked a feature as inthe great forest regions which encircle the globe for

ISOMY LIFEa few degrees on each side of the equator. Anequatorial forest is a kind of natural arboretum, wherespecimens of an immense number of species arebrought together by nature. The western half of theisland of Java affordsan example of such a forestregionwhich has been well explored, botanically;and although almost all the fertile plains have beencleared for cultivation, and the forests cover only asmall proportion of the country, the number of distinctspecies of forest-trees is said to be over fifteenhundred.The second feature, that I can never think ofwithout delight, is the wonderful variety and exquisitebeauty of the butterflies and birds, a variety andcharm which grow upon one month after month andyear after year, as ever new and beautiful, strangeand even mysterious, forms are continually met with.Even now I can hardly recall them without a thrillof admiration and wonder.The third and most unexpected sensation ofsurprise and delight was my first meeting and livingwith man in a state of nature—with absolute uncontaminatedsavages ! This was on the Uaup6s River,and the surprise of it was that I did not in the leastexpect to be so surprised. I had already been twoyears in the country, always among Indians of manytribes ; but these were all what are called tameIndians, they wore at least trousers and shirt ; theyhad been (nominally) converted to Christianity, andwere under the government of the nearest authorities ;and all of them spoke either Portuguese or thecommon language, called " Lingoa-Geral."But these true wild Indians of the Uaupes wereat once seen to be something totally different. Theyhad nothing that we call clothes ; they had peculiar

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 151ornaments, tribal marks, etc. ;they all carried weaponsor tools of their own manufacture ; they were living,for the most part, in large houses, many familiestogether,, quite unlike the huts of the tame Indians;but, more than all, their whole aspect and mannerwere different—they were all going about their ownwork or pleasure which had nothing to do with whitemen or their ways ; they walked with the free step ofthe independent forest-dweller, and, except the fewthat were known to my companion, paid no attentionwhatever to us, mere strangers of an alien race. Inevery detail they were original and self-sustaining asare the wild animals of the forests, absolutely independentof civilization, and who could and did livetheir own lives in their own way, as they had donefor countless generations before America was discovered.I could not have believed that there wouldbe so much difference in the aspect of the samepeople in their native state and when living underEuropean supervision. The true denizen of theAmazonian forests, like the forest itself, is uniqueand not to be forgotten.My voyage home was rather adventurous. I willtherefore print here a letter written to Dr. Spruce,which has not before been made public, and whichdescribes it." Brig Jordesoti, N. Lat. 49° 30', W. Long. 20°."Sunday, September 19, 1852."My dear Friend," Having now some prospect of being homein a week or ten days, I will commence giving youan account of the peculiar circumstances which havealready kept me at sea seventy days on a voyagewhich took us only twenty-nine days on our passage

152 MY LIFEout. I hope you have received the letter sent youfrom Para, dated July 9 or 10, in which I informedyou that I had taken my passage in a vessel boundfor London, which was to sail in a few days. OnMonday, July 12, I went on board with all my cargo,and some articles purchased or collected on my waydown, with the remnant (about twenty) of my livestock.^ After being at sea about a week I had aslight attack of fever, and at first thought I had gotthe yellow fever after all. However, a little calomelset me right in a few days, but I remained ratherweak, and spent most of my time reading in thecabin, which was very comfortable. On Friday,August 6, we were in N. Lat. 30° 30', W. Long. 52°,when, about nine in the morning, just after breakfast,Captain Turner, who was half-owner of the vessel,came into the cabin, and said, ' I'm afraid the ship'son fire. Come and see what you think of it' Goingon deck I found a thick smoke coming out of theforecastle, which we both thought more like the steamfrom heating vegetable matter than the smoke froma fire. The fore hatchway was immediately openedto try and ascertain the origin of the smoke, and aquantity of cargo was thrown out, but the smokecontinuing without any perceptible increase, we wentto the after hatchway, and after throwing out aquantity of piassaba, with which the upper part ofthe hold was filled, the smoke became so dense thatthe men could not stay in it. Most of them werethen set to work throwing in buckets of water, andthe rest proceeded to the cabin and opened thelazaretto or store-place beneath its floor, and foundsmoke issuing from the bulkhead separating it from' These consisted of numerous parrots and parrakeets, and severaluncommon monkeys, a forest wild-dog, etc.

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 153the hold, which extended halfway under the fore partof the cabin. Attempts were then made to breakdown this bulkhead, but it resisted all efforts, thesmoke being so suffocating as to prevent any onestopping in it more than a minute at a time. A holewas then cut in the cabin floor, and while the carpenterwas doing this, the rest of the crew were employedgetting out the boats, the captain looked after hischronometer, sextant, books, charts and compasses,and I got up a small tin box containing a few shirts,and put in it my drawings of fishes and palms, whichwere luckily at hand ;also my watch and a pursewith a few sovereigns. Most of my clothes werescattered about the cabin, and in the dense suffocatingsmoke it was impossible to look about after them.There were two boats, the long-boat and the captain'sgig, and it took a good deal of time to get the merestnecessaries collected and put into them, and to lowerthem into the water. Two casks of biscuit and a caskof water were got in, a lot of raw pork and some ham,a few tins of preserved meats and vegetables, andsome wine. Then there were corks to stop the holesin the boats, oars, masts, sails, and rudders to belooked up, spare spars, cordage, twine, canvas, needles,carpenter's tools, nails, etc. The crew brought uptheir bags of clothes, and all were bundled indiscriminatelyinto the boats, which, having been so longin the sun, were very leaky, and soon became halffull of water, so that two men in each of them hadto be constantly baling out the water with buckets.Blankets, rugs, pillows, and clothes were all soaked,and the boats seemed overloaded, though there wasreally very little weight in them. All being nowprepared, the crew were again employed pouringwater in the cabin and hatchway.

154 MY LIFE" The cargo of the ship consisted of rubber, cocoa,anatto, balsam-capivi, and piassaba. The balsam wasin small casks, twenty stowed in sand, and twentysmall kegs in rice-chaff, immediately beneath thecabin floor, where the fire seemed to be. For sometime we had heard this bubbling and hissing as ifboiling furiously, the heat in the cabin was very great,flame soon broke into the berths and through the cabinfloor, and in a few minutes more blazed up throughthe skylight on deck. All hands were at onceordered into the boats, which were astern of the ship.It was now about twelve o'clock, only three hoursfrom the time the smoke was first discovered. I hadto let myself down into the boat by a rope, and beingrather weak it slipped through my hands and took theskin off all my fingers, and finding the boat still halffull of water I set to baling, which made my handssmart very painfully. We lay near the ship all theafternoon, watching the progress of the flames, whichsoon covered the hinder part of the vessel, and rushedup the shrouds and sails in a most magnificent conflagration.Soon afterwards, by the rolling of theship, the masts broke off and fell overboard, thedecks soon burnt away, the ironwork at the sidesbecame red-hot, and last of all the bowsprit, beingburnt at the base, fell also. No one had thought ofbeing hungry till darkness came on, when we had ameal of biscuit and raw ham, and then disposed ourselvesas well as we could for the night, which, youmay be sure, was by no means a pleasant one. Ourboats continued very leaky, and we could not ceasean instant from baling ;there was a considerableswell, though the day had been remarkably fine, andthere were constantly floating around us pieces of theburnt wreck, masts, etc, which might have stove in

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 155our boats had we not kept a constant look-out tokeep clear of them. We remained near the ship allnight, in order that we might have the benefitof itsflames attracting any vessel that might pass withinsight of it." It now presented a magnificent and awful sightas it rolled over, looking like a huge caldron of fire,the whole cargo of rubber, etc., forming a liquidburning mass at the bottom. In the morning ourlittle masts and sails were got up, and we bade adieuto the Helen, now burnt down to the water's edge,and proceeded with a light east wind towards theBermudas, the nearest land, but which were morethan seven hundred miles from us. As we werenearly in the track of West Indian vessels, weexpected to fall in with some ship in a few days." I cannot attempt to describe my feelings andthoughts during these events. I was surprised tofind myself very cool and collected. I hardly thoughtitpossible we should escape, and I remember thinkingit almost foolish to save my watch and the little moneyI had at hand. However, after being in the boatssome days I began to have more hope, and regrettednot having saved some new shoes, cloth coat andtrousers, hat, etc., which I might have done with alittle trouble. My collections, however, were in thehold, and were irretrievably lost. And now I beganto think that almost all the reward of my four yearsof privation and danger was lost. What I had hithertosent home had little more than paid my expenses, andwhat I had with me in the Helen I estimated wouldhave realized about ;;^500. But even all this mighthave gone with little regret had not by far the richestpart of my own private collection gone also.All myprivate collection of insects and birds since I left

156 MY LIFEPara was with me, and comprised hundreds of newand beautiful species, which would have rendered (Ihad fondly hoped) my cabinet, as far as regardsAmerican species, one of the finest in Europe.Fancy your regrets had you lost all your Pyreneanmosses on your voyage home, or should you now loseall your South American collection, and you will havesome idea of what I sufifer. But besides this, I havelost a number of sketches, drawings, notes, andobservations on natural history, besides the threemost interesting years of my journal, the whole ofwhich, unlike any pecuniary loss, can never be replaced; so you will see that I have some need ofphilosophic resignation to bear my fate with patienceand equanimity." Day after day we continued in the boats. Thewinds changed, blowing dead from the point to whichwe wanted to go. We were scorched by the sun, myhands, nose, and ears being completely skinned, andwere drenched continually by the seas or spray. Wewere therefore almost constantly wet, and had nocomfort and little sleep at night. Our meals consistedof raw pork and biscuit, with a little preservedmeat or carrots once a day, which was a great luxury,and a short allowance of water, which left us as thirstyas before directly after we had drunk it. Ten daysand ten nights we spent in this manner. We werestill two hundred miles from Bermuda, when in theafternoon a vessel was seen, and by eight in theevening we were on board her, much rejoiced tohave escaped a death on the wide ocean, whence nonewould have come to tell the tale. The ship was theJordesofi, bound for London, and proves to be one ofthe slowest old ships going. With a favourable windshe seldom does more than five knots.and all sail set,

'IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 157her average being two or three, so that we have hada most tedious time of it, and even now cannot calculatewith any certainty as to when we shall arrive.Besides this, she was rather short of provisions, andas our arrival exactly doubled her crew, we wereall obliged to be put on strict allowance of bread,meat, and water. A little ham and butter of thecaptain's were soon used up, and we have been nowfor some time on the poorest of fare. We have nosuet, butter, or raisins with which to make * duff,' oreven molasses, and barely enough sugar to sweetenour tea or coffee, which we take with dry, coarsebiscuit, and for dinner, beef or pork of the very worstquality I have ever eaten or even imagined toexist.This, repeated day after day without any variation,beats even Rio Negro fare, rough though it often was.About a week after we were picked up we spoke andboarded an outward-bound ship, and got from hersome biscuits, a few potatoes, and some salt cod,which were a great improvement, but did not lastlong. We have also occasionally caught some dolphinand a few fish resembling the acarras of the RioNegro ; but for some time now we had seen none, sothat I am looking forward to the * flesh-pots of Egyptwith asmuch pleasure as when we were luxuriatingdaily on farinha and * fiel amigo.' ^ While we were inthe boats we had generally fine weather, though witha few days and nights squally and with a heavy sea,which made me often tremble for our safety, as weheeled over till the water poured in over the boat'sside. We had almost despaired of seeing any vessel,our circle of vision being so limited ; but we had great* This was the name given by our kind host, Seilor Henrique, atBarra to dried pirarucu, meaning " faithful friend," always at handwhen other food failed.

158 MY LIFEhopes of reaching Bermuda, though it is doubtfulif we should have done so, the neighbourhood ofthose islands being noted for sudden squalls andhurricanes, and it was the time of year when thehurricanes most frequently occur. Having never seena great gale or storm at sea, I had some desire towitness the phenomenon, and have now been completelygratified. The first we had about a fortnightago. In the morning there was a strong breeze andthe barometer had fallen nearly half an inch duringthe night and continued sinking, so the captain commencedtaking in sail, and while getting in the royalsand studding-sails, the wind increased so as to splitthe mainsail, fore-topsail, fore-trysail, and jib, and itwas some hours before they could be got off her, andthe main-topsail and fore-sail double reefed. Wethen went flying along, the whole ocean a mass ofboiling foam, the crests of the waves being carried inspray over our decks. The sea did not get upimmediately, but by night it was very rough, the shipplunging and rolling most fearfully, the sea pouringin a deluge over the top of her bulwarks, and sometimesup over the cabin skylight. The next morningthe wind abated, but the ship, which is a very oldone, took in a deal of water, and the pumps werekept going nearly the whole day to keep her dry.During this gale the wind went completely round thecompass, and then settled nearly due east, where itpertinaciously continued for twelve days, keeping ustacking about, and making less than forty miles a dayagainst it. Three days ago we had another gale,more severe than the former one—a regular equinoctial,which lasted two entire days and nights, and splitone of the newest and strongest sails on the ship.The rolling and plunging were fearful, the bowsprit

—IN THE AMAZON VALLEY 159going completely under water, and the ship beingvery heavily laden with mahogany, fustic, and otherheavy woods from Cuba, strained and creaked tremendously,and leaked to that extent that the pumpswere obliged to be kept constantly going, and theircontinued click-clack, click-clack all through the nightwas a most disagreeable and nervous sound. Oneday no fire could be made owing to the sea breakingcontinually into the galley, so we had to eat a biscuitfor our dinner ; and not a moment's rest was to behad, as we were obliged to be constantly holding on,whether standing, sitting, or lying, to prevent beingpitched about by the violent plunges and lurches ofthe vessel. The gale, however, has now happilypassed, and we have a fine breeze from the northwest,which is taking us along six or seven knotsquicker than we have ever gone yet. Among ourother disagreeables here we have no freshwater tospare for washing, and as I only saved a couple ofshirts, they are in a state of most uncomfortabledirtiness, but I console myself with the thoughts of aglorious warm bath when I get on shore.October i. Oh, glorious day! Here we are on^^shore at Deal, where the ship is at anchor. Such adinner, with our two captains ! Oh, beef-steaks anddamson tart, a paradise for hungry sinners." October 5, London. Here I am laid up withswelled ankles, my legs not being able to stand workafter such a long rest in the ship. I cannot writenow at any length— I have too much to think about.We had a narrow escape in the Channel. Manyvessels were lost in a storm on the night of September29, but we escaped. The old Iron Duke ' ' is

i6oMY LIFEdead.The Crystal Palace is being pulled down, andis being rebuilt on a larger and improved plan by acompany. Loddige's collection of plants has beenbought entire to stock it, and they think by heatingit in the centre to get a gradation of climates, so asto be able to have the plants of different countries,tropical or temperate, in one undivided building.This is Paxton's plan." How I begin to envy you in that glorious countrywhere ' the sun shines for ever unchangeably bright/where farinha abounds, and of bananas and plantainsthere is no lack ! Fifty times since I left Para haveI vowed, if I once reached England, never to trustmyself more on the ocean. But good resolutionssoon fade, and I am already only doubtful whetherthe Andes or the Philippines are to be the scene ofmy next wanderings. However, for six months I ama fixture here in London, as I am determined tomake up for lost time by enjoying myself as much aspossible for awhile. I am fortunate in having about;^200 insured by Mr. Stevens' foresight, so I must becontented, though it is very hard to have nothing toshow of what I took so much pains to procure." I trust you are well and successful. Kindremembrances toeverybody, everywhere, and particularlyto the respectable Senhor Joao de Lima ofSao Joachim."Your very sincere friend,"Alfred R. Wallace."Some of the most alarming incidents, to a landsman,are not mentioned either in this letter or in mypublished "Narrative." The captain had given theonly berths in the cabin to Captain Turner andmyself, he sleeping on a sofa in fine weather, and on

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY i6ia mattress on the floor of the cabin when rough.Onthe worst night of the storm I saw him, to my surprise,bring down an axe and lay it beside him, andon asking what it was for, he replied, " To cut awaythe masts in case we capsize in the night." In themiddle of the night a great sea smashed our skylightand poured in a deluge of water, soaking the poorcaptain, and then slushing from side to side withevery roll of the ship. Now, I thought, our time iscome ; and I expected to see the captain rush up ondeck with his axe. But he only swore a good deal,sought out a dry coat and blanket, and then lay downon the sofa as if nothing had happened. So I was alittle reassured.Not less alarming was the circumstance of thecrew coming aft in a body to say that the forecastlewas uninhabitable as it was constantly wet, and severalof them brought handfuls of wet rotten wood whichthey could pull out in many places. This happenedsoon after the first gale began ;so the two captainsand I went to look, and we saw sprays and squirts ofwater coming in at the joints in numerous places,soaking almost all the men's berths, while here andthere we could see the places where they had pulledout rotten wood with their fingers. The captain thenhad the sail-room amid-ships cleared out for the mento sleep in for the rest of the voyage.One day in the height of the storm, when wewere being flooded with spray and enormous waveswere coming up behind us, Captain Turner and I weresitting on the poop inthe driest place we could find,and, as a bigger wave than usual rolled under usand dashed over our sides, he said quietly to me, " Ifwe are pooped by one of those waves we shall go tothe bottom ; " then added, " We were not very safe inM

i62MY LIFEour two small boats, but I had rather be back in themwhere we were picked up than in this rotten old tub."It is, therefore, I think, quite evident that we didhave a very narrow escape. Yet this unseaworthyold ship, which ought to have been condemned yearsbefore, had actually taken Government stores out toHalifax, had there been patched up, and sent to Cubafor a cargo of heavy timber, which we were bringinghome.

A. R. WALLACE. AGED 30.{To fact- p. 163.

—CHAPTER XILONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EASTOn reaching London in the condition described inmy letter to Dr. Spruce, and my only clothing a suitof the thinnest calico, I was met by my kind friendand agent, Mr. Samuel Stevens, who took me first tothe nearest ready-made clothes shop, where I got awarm suit, then to his own tailor, where I was measuredfor what clothes I required, and afterwards to a haberdasher'sto get a small stock of other necessaries.Having at that time no relatives in London, hismother, with whom he lived in the south of LondonI think in Kennington—had invited me to stay withher. Here I lived most comfortably for a week,enjoying the excellent food and delicacies Mrs.Stevens provided for me, which quickly restored meto my usual health and vigour.As I wished to be with my sister and motherduring my stay in England, I took a house thenvacant in Upper Albany Street (No. 44), so that wemight all live together. While it was getting readyI took lodgings next door, as the situation wasconvenient, being close to the Regent's Park andZoological Gardens, and also near the Society's officesin Hanover Square, and within easy access to Mr.Stevens's office close to the old British Museum. AtChristmas we were all comfortably settled, and I was

i64MY LIFEable to begin the work which I had determined to dobefore again leaving England.In the small tin box which I had saved from thewreck I fortunately had a set of careful pencil drawingsof all the different species of palms I had metwith, together with notes as to their distribution anduses. I had also a large number of drawings of fish,as already stated, carefully made toscale, with notesof their colours, their dentition, and their fin-rays,scales, etc. I had also a folio Portuguese note-bookcontaining my diary while on the Rio Negro, andsome notes and observations made for a map of thatriver and the Uaupes. With these scanty materials,helped by the letters I had sent home, I now set towork to write an account of my travels, as well as afew scientific papers for which I had materials in theportion of my collections made in Para, Santarem,and the Lower Rio Negro. These I had sent offbefore leaving Barra on my first voyage up the RioNegro, and they had arrived home safely ; but I hadreserved all my private collections for comparisonwith future discoveries, and though I left these to besent home before starting on my second voyage upthe Rio Negro, they were never despatched, owing tothe Custom House authorities at Barra insisting onseeing the contents before allowing them to go away.I therefore found them at Barra on my way home,and they were all lost with the ship.As my collections had now made my name wellknown to the authorities of the Zoological and EntomologicalSocieties, I received a ticket from theformer, giving me admission to their gardens while Iremained in England, and I was a welcome visitorat the scientific meetings of both societies, whichI attended very regularly, and thus made the

LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EAST 165acquaintance of most of the London zoologists andentomologists. I also went frequently to examinethe insect and bird collections in the British Museum(then in Great Russell Street), and also to the LinneanSociety, and to the Kew Herbarium to consultworks on botany, in order to name my palms.After discussing the matter with some of myfriends, I determined to publish, at my own expense,a small, popular volume on the " Palms of the Amazonand Rio Negro," with an account of their uses anddistribution, and figures of all the species from mysketches and specimens of fruits. I arranged withMr. Walter Fitch of Kew, the first botanical artist ofthe day, to draw them on stone, adding some artistictouches to give them life and variety, and in a fewcases some botanical details from species living inthe gardens. In one of the drawings a large nativehouse on the Uaupes is introduced, with some figureswhich, I am sorry to say, are as unlike the natives asare the inhabitants of a London slum. I arrangedwith Mr. Van Voorst to publish this small volume,and it was not thought advisable to print more than250 copies, the sale of which just covered all expenses.At the same time I was preparing my " Travelson the Amazon and Rio Negro " from the scantymaterials I had saved, supplemented by the letters Ihad written home. I arranged with Mr. Lovel Reevefor its publication on an agreement for " half profits."Only 750 copies were printed, and when I returnedhome from the East in 1862, about 250 copies werestill unsold, and there were consequently no profits todivide. We agreed, however, to share the remainingcopies, and my portion was disposed of by my newpublisher, Messrs. Macmillan & Co., and brought mein a few pounds.

i66MY LIFEI had brought with me vocabularies of about ahundred common words in ten different Indian languages,and as the great philologist at that time wasthe late Dr. R. G. Latham, I obtained an introductionto him, and he kindly offered to write some " Remarks" upon the vocabularies, and these are publishedin the first edition of my " Travels."Dr. Latham was at this time engaged in fittingup groups of figures to illustrate the family life andhabits of the various races of mankind at the newCrystal Palace at Sydenham, then just completed,and he asked me to meet him there and see whetherany alterations were required in a group of natives,I think, of Guiana.I found Dr. Latham among a number of workmenin white aprons, several life-size clay models ofIndians, and a number of their ornaments, weapons,and utensils. The head modellers were Italians, andDr. Latham told me he could get no Englishmen todo the work, and that these Italians, although clevermodellers of the human figure in any required attitude,had all been trained in the schools of classicalsculpture, and were unable to get away from thistraining. The result was very curious, and often evenludicrous, a brown Indian man or girl being giventhe attitudes and expressions of an Apollo or aHercules, a Venus or a Minerva. In those daysthere were no photographs, and the ethnologist hadto trust to paintings or drawings, usually exaggeratedor taken from individuals of exceptional beauty orugliness. Under my suggestion alterations weremade both in the features and pose of one or twoof the figures just completed, so as to give them alittle more of the Indian character, and serve as aguide in modelling others, in which the same type

LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EAST 167of physiognomy was to be preserved. I went severaltimes during the work on the groups of SouthAmerican origin, but though when completed, withthe real ornaments, clothing, weapons, and domesticimplements, the groups were fairly characteristic andlife-like, yet there remained occasionally details ofattitude or expression which suggested classicGreeceor Italy rather than the South American savage.These ethnological figures, although instructiveto the student, were never very popular, and soonbecame the subject of contempt and ridicule. Onereason of this was their arrangement in the open,quite close to the passing visitor, with nothing toisolate them from altogether incongruous surroundings.Another was, that they were not carefully attendedto, and when I saw them after my return from theEast, they had a shabby and dilapidated appearance,and the figures themselves were more or less dusty,which had a most ludicrous effect in what were intendedto represent living men and women, being soutterly unlike the clear, glossy, living skins of allsavage peoples. To be successful and life-like, suchgroups should be each completely isolated in a deeprecess, with three sides representing houses or huts,or the forest, or river-bank, while the open frontshould be enclosed by a single sheet of plate-glass,and the group should be seen at a distance of atleast ten or fifteen feet. In this way, with a carefullyarranged illumination from above and an artisticcolouring of the figures and accessories, each groupmight be made to appear as life-like as some of thebest figures at Madame Tussaud's, or as the grandinteriors of cathedrals,which were then exhibited atthe Diorama. In the museum of the future, suchgroups will find their place in due succession to the

i68MY LIFEgroups illustrating the life histories of the othermammalia ; but ample space and a very carefulattention to details must be given in order to ensurea successful and attractive representation.It was at this time that I first saw Huxley. Atone of the evening meetings of the Zoological Society(in December, 1852) he gave an account of someEchinococci found in the liver of a zebra which diedin the gardens. He did not read the paper, but,with the help of diagrams and sketches on the blackboard,showed us clearly its main points of structure,its mode of development, and the strange transformationsit underwent when the parent worm migratedfrom the intestine to other parts of the body of theanimal. I was particularly struck with his wonderfulpower of making a difficult and rather complexsubject perfectly intelligible and extremely interestingto persons who, like myself, were absolutelyignorant of the whole group. Although he was twoyears younger than myself, Huxley had alreadymade a considerable reputation as a comparativeanatomist, was a Fellow of the Royal Society, anda few months later was appointed Professor ofNatural History and Palaeontology at the RoyalSchool of Mines. I was amazed, too, at his completemastery of the subject, and his great amountof technical knowledge of a kind to which I havenever given any attention, the structure and developmentof the lower forms of animal life. From thattime I always looked up to Huxley as being immeasurablysuperior to myself in scientific knowledge,and supposed him to be much older than I was.Many years afterwards I was surprised to find thathe was really younger.

LONDON, AND VOYAGE tO THE EAST 169During my constant attendance at the meetingsof the Zoological and Entomological Societies, andvisits to the insect and bird departments of theBritish Museum, I had obtained sufficient informationto satisfy me that the very finest field for anexploring and collecting naturalist was to be foundin the great Malayan Archipelago, of which justsufficient was known to prove its wonderful richness,while no part of it, with the one exception of theisland of Java, has been well explored as regardsits natural history. Sir James Brooke had recentlybecome Rajah of Sarawak, while the numerousDutch settlements in Celebes and the Moluccasoffered great facilities for a traveller. So far asknown also, the country was generally healthy, andI determined that it would be much better for meto go to such a new country than to return to theAmazon, where Bates had already been successfullycollecting for five years, and where I knew there wasa good bird-collector who had been long at work inthe upper part of the river towards the Andes.As the journey to the East was an expensive one,I was advised to try to get a free passage in someGovernment ship. Through my paper on the RioNegro, I had made the acquaintance of Sir RoderickMurchison, then President of the Royal GeographicalSociety, and one of the most accessible and kindlyof men of science. On calling upon him and statingmy wishes, he at once agreed to make an applicationon my behalf for a passage to some Malayan port,and as he was personally known to many membersof the Government and had great influence withthem, a passage was promised me on the first shipgoing to those seas. This was, I think, near the endof the year 1853, when I had published my two

—170 MY LIFEbooks, and had spent much of my spare time at theBritish Museum, examining the collections, andmaking notes and sketches of the rarer and morevaluable species of birds, butterflies, and beetles ofthe various Malay islands.It was, I believe, in the latter part of January, 1854,that I received a notification from the Governmentthat a passage had been granted me to Singaporein the brig Frolic, shortly sailing for that port, andthat I was to communicate with the captainCommander Nolloth—as to when I should go onboard. I think it was about the middle of Februarythat I went to Portsmouth with all necessaries for thevoyage, my heavy baggage having been sent off bya merchant ship some time previously. The Frolicwas anchored at Spithead and I went on board atonce. I was kindly received by the captain andofficers and found my quarters very comfortable.Sailing orders were expected every day, as theship was quite ready, with the stores she was taking outto the East all on board ; but day after day and weekafter week passed, signals were exchanged with theadmiral, but we seemed no nearer sailing than whenI came on board. Then at last, one day the captaininformed me that he had received fresh orders tocarry stores to the Crimea, where the great war withRussia was about to commence. He said I hadbetter leave the next morning, and that no doubt theGovernment would provide me a passage in someother vessel. So I bade farewell to him and hisofficers, none of whom I ever met again.On returning to London, I at once called on SirRoderick Murchison, and through his representationsI received in a few days a first-class ticket to Singaporeby the next Peninsular and Oriental steamer, which

—LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EAST 171sailed in about a week, so that I did not lose muchtime. The voyage was a very interesting one, as westopped a few hours at Gibraltar, passed within sightof the grand Sierra Nevada of Spain, stayed a dayat Malta, where the town and the tombs of the knightswere inspected, and then on to Alexandria. Havingby me a long letter I wrote to my schoolfellow, Mr.George Silk, I will here quote from it a few of theimpressions of my journey as they appeared to me atthe time they occurred :"Steamer Bcfigal, Red Sea, March 26." Of all the eventful days in my life (so far), myfirst in Alexandria was (in some respects) the mostexciting. Imagine my feelings when, coming out ofthe hotel (to which we had been conveyed in anomnibus) with the intention of taking a quiet strollthrough the city, I suddenly found myself in themidst of a vast crowd of donkeys and their drivers,all thoroughly determined to appropriate my personto their own use and interest, without in the leastconsulting my inclinations.In vain with rapid stridesand waving arms I endeavoured to clear a way andmove forward, arms and legs were seized upon, andeven the Christian coat-tails were not sacred fromthe profane hands of the Mahometan crowd. Onewould hold together two donkeys by their tailswhilst I was struggling between them, and another,forcing their heads together, hoped to compel me tomount one or both of them. One fellow, more impudentthan the rest, I laid flat upon the ground,and, sending the little donkey staggering after him,I escaped for a moment midst hideous yells and mostunearthly cries. I now beckoned to a fellow moresensible-looking than the rest, and told him that I

172 MY LIFEwished to walk, and would take him as a guide, andnow hoped that I might be left at peace. But vainthought ! I was in the hands of the Philistines, who,getting me up against a wall, formed around me animpenetrable phalanx of men and brutes, thoroughlydetermined that I should only escape from the spotupon the four legs of a donkey. So, bethinkingmyself that donkey-riding was a national institutionof venerable antiquity, and seeing a fat Yankeealready mounted, being like myself, hopeless of anyother means of escape, I seized upon a bridle inhopes that I should then be left by the remainderof the crowd. But seeing that I was at last goingto ride, each one was determined that he aloneshould profit by the transaction, and a dozen animalswere forced suddenly upon me, and a dozen pair ofhands tried to lift me upon their respective beasts.But now my patience was exhausted, so, keepingfirm hold of the bridle I had first taken with onehand, I hit right and left with the other, and callingupon my guide to do the same, we succeeded inclearing a little space around us. Now, then, beholdyour long-legged friend mounted upon a jackass inthe streets of Alexandria ; a boy behind, holding byhis tail and whipping him up ;Charles, who had beenlost sight of in the crowd, upon another ; and myguide upon a third ;and off we go among a crowdof Jews and Greeks, Turks and Arabs, and veiledwomen and yelling donkey-boys, to see the city.We saw the bazaars, and the slave market (where Iwas again nearly pulled to pieces for ' backsheesh '),the mosques with their graceful minarets, and thenthe pasha's new palace, the interior of which ismost gorgeous. We passed lots of Turkish soldiers,walking in comfortable irregularity ; and after the

—LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EAST 173consciousness of being dreadful guys for two crowdedhours, returned to the hotel, whence we are to startfor the canal boats. You may think this littlenarrative is exaggerated, but it is not so. Thepertinacity, vigour, and screams of the Alexandriandonkey-drivers cannot be exaggerated. On our wayto the boats we passed Pompey's Pillar ; for a daywe were rowed in small boats on a canal, then onthe Nile in barges, with a panorama of mud villages,palm-trees, camels, and irrigating wheels turned bybuffaloes,—a perfectly flat country, beautifully greenwith crops of corn and lentils ; endless boats withimmense triangular sails. Then the Pyramids camein sight, looking huge and solemn ; then a handsomecastellated bridge for the Alexandria and Cairorailway ; and then Cairo— Grand Cairo ! the city ofromance, which we reached just before sunset. Wetook a guide and walked in the city, very picturesqueand very dirty. Then to a quiet English hotel, wherea Mussulman waiter, rejoicing in the name of Alibaba,gave us a splendid tea, brown bread and freshbutter. One or two French and English travellerswere the only guests, and I could hardly realize mysituation. I longed for you to enjoy it with me.Thackeray's 'First Day in the East' is admirable.Read it again, and you will understand just how Ithink and feel."Next morning at seven we started for Suez insmall four-horsed two-wheeled omnibuses, carryingsix passengers each. Horses were changed every fivemiles, and we had a meal every three hours at verycomfortable stations. The desert is undulating,mostly covered with a coarse, volcanic-looking gravel.The road is excellent. The skeletons of camelshundreds of them—lay all along the road ; vultures,

174 MY LIFEsand-grouse, and sand-larks were occasionally seen.We frequently saw the mirage, like distant trees andwater. Near the middle station the pasha has ahunting-lodge—a perfect palace. The Indian andAustralian mails, about six hundred boxes, as wellas all the parcels, goods, and passengers' luggage,were brought by endless trains of camels, which wepassed on the way. At the eating-places I took a littlestroll, gathering some of the curious highly odoriferousplants that grew here and there in the hollows, whichI dried in my pocket-books, and I also found a fewland-shells. We enjoyed the ride exceedingly, andreached Suez about midnight. It is a miserablelittle town, and the bazaar is small, dark, and dirty.There is said to be no water within ten miles. Thenext afternoon we went on board our ship, a splendidvessel with large and comfortable cabins, and everythingvery superior to the Etixine. Adieu."I have given this description of my journey fromAlexandria to Suez, over the route established byLieutenant Waghorn, which was superseded a fewyears later by the railway, and afterwards by thecanal, because few persons now living will rememberit, or know that it ever existed. Of the rest of ourjourney I have no record. We stayed a day atdesolate, volcanic Aden, and thence sailed across toGalle, with its groves of cocoa-nut palms, and crowdsof natives offering for sale the precious stones of thecountry ; thence across to Pulo Penang, with itspicturesque mountain, its spice-trees, and its waterfall,and on down the Straits of Malacca, with its richlywooded shores, to our destination, Singapore, where Iwas to begin the eight years of wandering throughoutthe Malay Archipelago, which constituted the centraland controlling incident of my life.

CHAPTER XIITHE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO(1854-1858)My wanderings and adventures in the far East havebeen recorded in my book " The Malay Archipelago."I will therefore give here but a brief outline with a fewextracts from my letters and references to subjects ofspecial interest.I remained at Singapore for several monthscollecting insects and birds in the forests around.In a letter home Igive a short account of my dailylife at this time :— " I will tell you how my day isnow occupied. Get up at half-past five, bath, andcoffee.Sit down to arrange and put away my insectsof the day before, and set them in a safe place to dry.Charles mends our insect-nets, fillsour pin-cushions,and gets ready for the day. Breakfast at eight ; outto the jungle at nine. We have to walk about aquarter mile up a steep hill to reach it, and arrivedripping with perspiration. Then we wander aboutin the delightful shade along paths made by theChinese wood-cutters till two or three in the afternoon,generally returning with fifty or sixty beetles, somevery rare or beautiful, and perhaps a few butterflies.Change clothes and sit down to kill and pin insects,Charles doing the flies, wasps, and bugs ; I do nottrust him yet with beetles. Dinner at four, then at

176 MY LIFEwork again till six : coffee. Then read or talk, or, ifinsects very numerous, work again tilleight or nine.Then to bed."Charles was a boy of sixteen whom I had broughtwith me from London as he wished to become acollector. He remained with me about a year anda half and eventually got employment on some of theplantations near Singapore.I next made an expedition to Malacca whichI describe in one of my letters as follows :— " I havenow just returned to Singapore after two months'hard work. At Malacca I had a strong touch offever, with the old Rio Negro ' ' symptoms, but theGovernment doctor made me take large doses ofquinine every day for a week, and so killed it, and inless than a fortnight I was quite well, and off to thejungle again. I never took half enough quinine inAmerica to cure me." Malacca is a pretty place. Insects are not veryabundant there, still, by perseverance, I got a goodnumber, and many rare ones. Of birds, too, I madea good collection. I went to the celebrated MountOphir, and ascended to the top, sleeping under a rock.The walk there was hard work, thirty miles throughjungle in a succession of mud-holes, and swarmingwith leeches, which crawled all over us, and suckedwhen and where they pleased. We lived a week atthe foot of the mountain, in a Httle hut built by ourmen, near a beautiful rocky stream. I got some finenew butterfliesthere, and hundreds of other new orrare insects. Huge centipedes and scorpions, somenearly a foot long, were common, but we none of usgot bitten or stung.We only had rice, and a little fishand tea, but came home quite well. The mountainis over four thousand feet high. Near the top are

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 177beautiful ferns and pitcher-plants, of which I made asmall collection. Elephants and rhinoceroses, as wellas tigers, are abundant there, but we had our usualbad luck in seeing only their tracks. On returning toMalacca I found the accumulation of two or threeposts—a dozen letters, and about fifty newspapers.... I am glad to be safe in Singapore with mycollections, as from here they can be insured. I havenow a fortnight's work to arrange, examine, and packthem, and four months hence there will be work forMr. Stevens.^" Sir James Brooke is here. I have called on him.He received me most cordially, and offered me everyassistance at Sarawak. I shall go there next, as Ishall have pleasant society at Sarawak, and shall geton in Malay, which is very easy ; but I have had nopractice yet, though I can ask for most commonthings."I reached Sarawak early in November, andremained in Borneo fourteen months, seeing a gooddeal of the country. The first four months was thewet season, during which I made journeys up anddown the Sarawak river, but obtained very scantycollections. In March I went to the Sadong river,where coal mines were being opened by an Englishmining engineer, Mr. Coulson, a Yorkshireman, and Istayed there nearly nine months, it being the bestlocality for beetles I found during my twelve years'tropical collecting, and very good for other groups.It was also in this place that I obtained numerousskins and skeletons of the orang-utan, as fully describedin my " Malay Archipelago."* They were sent by sailing ship round the Cape of Good Hope,the overland route being too costly for goods.N

——178 MY LIFEIn another letter referring to the Dyaks, I say :" The old men here relate with pride how many'heads ' they took in their youth ;and though theyall acknowledge the goodness of the present rajah,yet they think that if they were allowed to take a fewheads, as of old, they would have better crops. Themore I see of uncivilized people, the better I think ofhuman nature on the whole, and the essential differencesbetween civilized and savage man seem todisappear. Here we are, two Europeans, surroundedby a population of Chinese, Malays, and Dyaks. TheChinese are generally considered, and with someamount of truth, to be thieves, liars, and reckless ofhuman life, and these Chinese are coolies of thelowest and least educated class, though they can allread and write. The Malays are invariably describedas being barbarous and bloodthirsty ; and the Dyakshave only recently ceased to think head-taking anecessity of their existence. We are two days'journey from Sarawak, where, though the governmentis nominally European, it only exists with the consentand by the support of the native population. Yet Ican safely say that in any part of Europe where thesame opportunities for crime and disturbance existed,things would not go so smoothly as they do here.We sleep with open doors, and go about constantlyunarmed ; one or two petty robberies and a littlefighting have occurred among the Chinese, but thegreat majority of them are quiet, honest, decent sortof people."In my next letter, a month later, I gave thefollowing account of an interesting episode :" I must now tell you of the addition to my householdof an orphan baby, a curious little half-niggerbaby, which I have nursed now more than a month.

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 179I will tell you presently how I came to get it, butmust first relate my inventive skill as a nurse. Thelittle innocent was not weaned, and I had nothingproper to feed it with, so was obliged to give it ricewater.I got a large-mouthed bottle, making twoholes in the cork, through one of which I inserted alarge quill so that the baby could suck. I fitted upa box for a cradle with a mat for it to lie upon, whichI had washed and changed every day. I feed it fourtimes a day, and wash it and brush its hair every day,which it likes very much, only crying when it ishungry or dirty. In about a week I gave it the ricewatera little thicker, and always sweetened it tomake it nice. I am afraid you would call it an uglybaby, for it has a dark brown skin and red hair, avery large mouth, but very pretty little hands andfeet. It has now cut its two lower front teeth, andthe uppers are coming. At first it would not sleepalone at night, but cried very much ; so I made it apillow of an old stocking, which it likes to hug, andnow sleeps very soundly. It has powerful lungs, andsometimes screams tremendously, so I hope it willlive."But I must now tell you how I came to takecharge of it. Don't be alarmed ; I was the cause ofits mother's death. It happened as follows I wasout shooting in the jungle and saw something up atree which I thought was a large monkey or orangutan,so I fired at it, and down fell this little baby—inits mother's arms. What she did up in the tree ofcourse I can't imagine, but as she ran about thebranches quite easily, I presume she was a wild*woman of the woods ; ' so I have preserved her skinand skeleton, and am trying to bring up her onlydaughter, and hope some day to introduce her to

l8oMY LIFEfashionable society at the Zoological Gardens. Whenits poor mother fell mortally wounded, the baby wasplunged head over ears in a swamp about the consistenceof pea-soup, and when I got it out lookedvery pitiful. It clung to me very hard when I carriedit home, and having got its little hands unawares intomy beard, it clutched so tight that I had great difficultyin extricating myself Its mother, poor creature, hadvery long hair, and while she was running about thetrees like a mad woman, the little baby had to holdfast to prevent itself from falling, which accounts forthe remarkable strength of its little fingers and toes,which catch hold of anything with the firmness of avice. About a week ago I bought a little monkeywith a long tail, and as the baby was very lonelywhile we were out in the daytime, I put the littlemonkey into the cradle to keep it warm. Perhaps'you will say that this was not proper. How couldyou do such a thing ? ' But, I assure you, the babylikes it exceedingly, and they are excellent friends.When the monkey wants to run away, as he oftendoes, the baby clutches him by the tail or ears anddrags him back ; and if the monkey does succeed inescaping, screams violently till he is brought backagain. Of course, baby cannot walk yet, but I let itcrawl about on the floor to exercise its limbs ; but itis the most wonderful baby I ever saw, and has suchstrength in its arms that it will catch hold of mytrousers as I sit at work, and hang under my legs fora quarter of an hour at a time without being the leasttired, allthe time trying to suck, thinking, no doubt,it has got hold of its poor dear mother. When itfinds no milk is to be had, there comes anotherscream, and I have to put it back in its cradle andgive it 'Toby'—the little monkey—to hug, which

——THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGOi8iquiets it immediately. From this short account youwill see that my baby is no common baby, and I cansafely say, what so many have said before with muchless truth, ' There never was such a baby as my baby,'and I am sure nobody ever had such a dear little duckof a darling of a little brown hairy baby before."In a letter dated Christmas Day, 1855, I gave myimpressions of the Dyaks, and of Sir James Brooke,as follows :" I have now lived a month in a Dyak's house,and spent a day or two in several others, and I havebeen very much pleased with them. They are a verykind, simple, hospitable people, and I do no.t wonderat the great interest Sir James Brooke takes in them.They are more communicative and more cheerful thanthe American Indians, and it is therefore more agreeableto live with them. In moral character they arefar superior to either the Malays or the Chinese, forthough head-taking was long a custom among them,it was only as a trophy of war. In their own villagescrimes are very rare. Ever since Sir James Brookehas been rajah, more than twelve years, there has onlybeen one case of murder in a Dyak tribe, and that wascommitted by a stranger who had been adopted intothe tribe. One wet day I produced a piece of stringto show them how to play ' cat's cradle,' and wasquite astonished to find that they knew it muchbetter than I did, and could make all sorts of newfigures I had never seen. They were also veryclever at tricks with string on their fingers, whichseemed to be a favourite amusement. Many of theremoter tribes think the rajah cannot be a man.They ask all sorts of curious questions about himWhether he is not as old as the mountains ; whether

ai82MY LIFEhe cannot bring the dead to life ; and I have nodoubt, for many years after his death, he will be heldto be a deity and expected to come back again." I have now seen a good deal of Sir James, andthe more I see of him the more I admire him. Withthe highest talents for government he combines in ahigh degree goodness of heart and gentleness ofmanner. At the same time, he has so much selfconfidenceand determination that he has put downwith the greatest ease the conspiracies of one or twoof the Malay chiefs against him. It is a unique casein the history of the world for a private Englishgentleman to rule over two conflicting races—superior and an inferior—with their own consent,without any means of coercion, but depending solelyupon them both for protection and support, while atthe same time he introduces some of the best customsof civilization, and checks all crimes and barbarouspractices that before prevailed. Under his governmentrunning-a-muck,' so frequent ' in other Malaycountries, has never taken place, and in a populationof about 30,000 Malays, almost all of whom carrytheir kris, and were accustomed to revenge an insultwith a stab, murders only occur once in severalyears.The people are never taxed except with their ownthem,consent, and in the manner most congenial towhile almost the whole of the rajah'sprivate fortunehas been spent in the improvement of the country orfor its benefit. Yet this is the man who has beenaccused in England of wholesale murder and butchery"of unoffending tribes to secure his own power !In my next letter (from Singapore in February,1856) I say— "I have now left Sarawak, where Ibegan to feel quite at home, and may perhaps neverreturn to it again, but I shall always look back with

TTHE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 183pleasure to my residence there and to my acquaintancewith Sir James Brooke, who is a gentleman anda nobleman in the truest and best sense of those words."While in Sarawak I wrote an article which formedmy first contribution to the question of the origin ofspecies. I sent it to The Annals and Magazine ofNatural History, in which it appeared in the followingSeptember (1855). ^^^ title was " On the Law whichhas regulated the Introduction of New Species," whichlaw was briefly stated (at the end) as follows ": Everyspecies has come into existence coi^icident both inspaceand time with a pre-existing closely-allied speciesThis clearly pointed to some kind of evolution. Itsuggested the when and the zvhere of its occurrence,and that it could only be through natural generation,as was also suggested in the " Vestiges " ; but thehow was still a secret only to be penetrated someyears later.Soon after this article appeared, Mr. Stevens, myagent, wrote me that he had heard several naturalistsexpress regret that I was " theorizing," when what wehad to do was to collect more facts. After this, Ihad in a letter to Darwin expressed surprise that nonotice appeared to have been taken of my paper, towhich he replied that both Sir Charles Lyell andMr. Edward Blyth, two very good men, speciallycalled his attention to it. I was, however, rewardedlater, when in Huxley's chapter, "On the Receptionof the Origin of Species," contributed to the "Lifeand Letters," he referred to this paper as— " hispowerful essay," adding— " On reading it afresh Ihave been astonished to recollect how small was theimpression it made" (vol. ii. p. 185). The article isreprinted in my " Natural Selection and TropicalNature."

i84MY LIFEIn a letter to Bates, dated January 4, 1858, writtenon board the Dutch steamer which took me fromAmboyna to Ternate, I wrote— " To persons whohave not thought much on the subject I fear mypaper on the Succession of Species ' ' will not appearso clear as it does to you. That paper is, of course,merely the announcement of the theory, not itsdevelopment. I have prepared the plan and writtenportions of a work embracing the whole subject, andhave endeavoured to prove in detail what I have asyet only indicated. It was the promulgation ofForbes's theory of * polarity ' which led me to writeand publish, for I was annoyed to see such an idealabsurdity put forth, when such a simple hypothesiswill explain all the facts. I have been much gratifiedby a letter from Darwin, in which he says that heagrees with * almost every word ' of my paper. Heis now preparing his great work on ' Species andVarieties,' for which he has been collecting materialstwenty years. He may save me the trouble ofwriting more on my hypothesis, by proving that thereis no difference in nature between the origin of speciesand of varieties ; or he may give me trouble byarriving at another conclusion ;but, at all events, hisfacts will be given for me to work upon. Yourcollections and my own will furnish most valuablematerial to illustrate and prove the universal applicabilityof the hypothesis. The connection betweenthe succession of affinities and the geographical distributionof a group, worked out species by species,has never yet been shown as we shall be able toshow it." In this archipelago there are two distinct faunasrigidly circumscribed, which differ as much as dothose of Africa and South America, and more than

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 185those of Europe and North America, yet there isnothing on the map or on the face of the islands tomark their limits. The boundary line passes betweenislands closer together than others belonging to thesame group. I believe the western part to be aseparated portion of continental Asia, while theeastern is a fragmentary prolongation of a formerwest Pacific continent. In mammalia and birds thedistinction is marked by genera, families, and evenin insects by a numberorders confined to one region ;of genera, and little groups of peculiar species, thefamilies of insects having generally a very wide oruniversal distribution."This letter proves that at this time I had not theleast idea of the nature of Darwin's proposed work,nor of the definite conclusions he had arrived at, norhad I myself any expectation of a complete solutionof the great problem to which my paper was merelythe prelude. Yet less than two months later thatsolution flashed upon me, and to a large extent markedout a dififerent line of work from that which I had upto this time anticipated.I finished the letter after my arrival at Tern ate(January 25, 1858), and made the following observation" : If you go to the Andes I think you will bedisappointed, at least in the number of species^especially of Coleoptera. My experience here is thatthe low grounds are mitch the most productive, thoughthe mountains generally produce a few striking andbrilliant species." This rather hasty generalizationis, I am inclined still to think, a correct one, at allevents as regards the individual collector. I doubt ifthere is any mountain station in the world where somany species of butterflies can be collected withina walk as at Para, or more beetles than at my station

—1 86 MY LIFEin Borneo and Bates's at Ega. Yet it may be thecase that many areas of about a hundred miles squarein the Andes and in the Himalayas actually containa larger number of species than any similar area inthe lowlands of the Amazon or of Borneo. In otherparts of this letter I refer to the work I hoped to domyself in describing, cataloguing, and working outthe distribution of my insects. I had in fact beenqitten by the passion for species and their description,and if neither Darwin nor myself had hit upon" Natural Selection," I might have spent the bestyears of my life in this comparatively profitless work.But the new ideas swept all this away. I have forthe most part left others to describe my discoveries,and have devoted myself to the great generalizationswhich the laborious work of species-describers hadrendered possible. In this letter to Bates I encloseda memorandum of my estimate of the number ofdistinct species of insects I had collected up to thetime of writing—three years and a half, nearly oneyear of which had been lost in journeys, illnesses, andvarious delays. The totals were as follows :Butterflies

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 187assured I should easily reach my destination. Bythis delay, which seemed to me at the time a misfortune,I was enabled to make some very interestingcollections in Bali and Lombok, two islands which Ishould otherwise never have seen.I was thus enabledto determine the exact boundary between two ofthe primary zoological regions, the Oriental and theAustralian, and also to see the only existing remnantof the Hindu race and religion, and of the old civilizationwhich had erected the wonderful ruined templesin Java centuries before the Mohammedan invasionof the archipelago.After two months and a half in Lombok, I founda passage to Macassar, which I reached the beginningof September, and lived there nearly three months,when I left for the Aru Islands in a native prau. Thecountry around Macassar greatly disappointed me, asit was perfectly flat and all cultivated as rice fields,the only sign of woods being the palm and fruit treesin the suburbs of Macassar and others marking thesites of native villages. I had letters to a Dutchmerchant who spoke English as well as Malay andthe Bugis language of Celebes, and who was quitefriendly with the native rajah of the adjacent territory.Through his good offices I was enabled to stay at anative village about eight miles inland, where therewere some patches of forest, and where I at onceobtained some of the rare birds and insects peculiarto Celebes. After about a month I returned toMacassar, and found that I could obtain a passage tothe celebrated Aru Islands, where at least two speciesof birds of paradise are found, and which had neverbeen visited by an English collector. This was apiece of good fortune I had not expected, and it wasespecially so because the next six months would be

i88MY LIFEwet in Celebes, while it would be the dry season inthe Aru Islands. This journey was the most successfulof any that I undertook, and as it is fully describedin my book and no letters referring to it have beenpreserved, I shall say no more about it here.The illustration opposite is from a photograph ofa native house in the island of Wokan, which wasgiven me by the late Professor Moseley of theChallenger expedition. It so closely resembles thehut in which I lived for a fortnight, and where Iobtained my first King bird of paradise, that I feelsure it must be the same, especially as I saw no otherlike it.

CHAPTER XIIITHE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO(1858-1862)After returning to Macassar, where I spent threemonths collecting, I visited Amboyna, staying there amonth, and arrived at Ternate, January 8, 1858.It was while waiting at Ternate in order to getready for my next journey, and to decide where Ishould go, that the idea already referred to occurredto me. It has been shown how, for the precedingeight or nine years, the great problem of the origin ofspecies had been continually pondered over, and howmy varied observations and study had been made useof to lay down the foundation for its full discussionand elucidation. My paper written at Sarawak renderedit certain to my mind that the change hadtaken place by natural succession and descent— onespecies becoming changed either slowly or rapidlyinto another. But the exact process of the changeand the causes which led to it were absolutely unknownand appeared almost inconceivable. The greatdifficulty was to understand how, if one species wasgradually changed into another, there continued to beso many quite distinct species, so many which differedfrom their nearest allies by slight yet perfectly definiteand constant characters.At the time in question I was suffering from a

And190 MY LIFEsharp attack of intermittent fever, and every dayduring the cold and succeeding hot fits had to liedown for several hours, during which time I hadnothing to do but to think over any subjects thenparticularly interesting me. One day somethingbrought to my recollection Malthus's " Principles ofPopulation," which I had read about twelve yearsbefore. I thought of his clear exposition of "thepositive checks to increase " —disease, accidents, war,and famine—which keep down the population ofsavage races to so much lower an average than thatof more civilized peoples. It then occurred to methat these causes or their equivalents are continuallyacting in the case of animals also ; and as animalsusually breed much more rapidly than does mankind,the destruction every year from these causes must beenormous in order to keep down the numbers ofeach species, since they evidently do not increaseregularly from year to year, as otherwise the worldwould long ago have been densely crowded withthose that breed most quickly. Vaguely thinkingover the enormous and constant destruction whichthis implied, it occurred to me to ask the question..''Why do some die and some live the answerwas clearly, that on the whole the best fitted live.From the effects of disease the most healthy escaped ;from enemies, the strongest, the swiftest, or the mostcunning ;from famine, the best hunters or those withthe best digestion ;and so on. Then it suddenlyflashed upon me that this self-acting process wouldnecessarily improve the race, because in every generationthe inferior would inevitably be killed off and thesuperior would remain—that is, the fittest would survive.Then at once I seemed to see the whole effectof this, that when changes of land and sea, or of

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 191climate, or of food-supply, or of enemies occurred—andwe know that such changes have always been takingplace—in conjunction with the amount of individualvariation that my experience as a collector had shownme to exist, then all the changes necessary for theadaptation of the species to the changing conditionswould be brought about ; and as great changes in theenvironment are always slow, there would be ampletime for the change to be effected by the survival ofthe best fitted in every generation. In this way eachpart of an animal's organization could be modifiedexactly as required, and in the very process of thismodification the unmodified would die out, and thusthe definite characters and the clear isolation of eachnew species would be explained. The more I thoughtover it the more I became convinced that I had atlength found the long-sought-for law of nature thatsolved the problem of the origin of species. For thenext hour I thought over the deficiencies in thetheories of Lamarck and of the author of the " Vestiges,"and I saw that my new theory supplementedthese views and obviatedevery important difficulty.I waited anxiously for the termination of my fit sothat Imight at once make notes for a paper on thesubject. The same evening I did this pretty fully,and on the two succeeding evenings wrote it outcarefully in order to send it to Darwin by the nextpost, which would leave in a day or two.I wrote a letter to him in which I said that Ihoped the idea would be as new to him as it was tome, and that it would supply the missing factor toexplain the origin of species. I asked him, if hethought it sufficiently important, to show it to SirCharles Lyell, who had thought so highly of myformer paper.

192 MY LIFEThe effect of my paper upon Darwin was at firstalmost paralyzing. He had, as I afterwards learnt,hit upon the same idea as my own twenty yearsearlier, and had occupied himself during the whole ofthat long period in study and experiment, and insketching out and partly writing a great work, toshow how the new principle would serve to explainalmost all the chief phenomenon and characters ofliving things in their relation to each other.So early as 1844 he had shown portions of thiswork to Sir Charles Lyell and Dr. Joseph Hooker,who had been greatly struck by it, and who werethenceforth his only confidants in the secret of hisnew idea, which from the analogy of the breeder'sselection of the most suitable animals or plants inorder to produce new varieties, he termed "naturalselection." Sir Charles Lyell had frequently urgedhim to publish an outline of his views, saying— " Ifyou don't, some one else will hit upon it, and you willbe forestalled."On receiving my paper he wrote toSir Charles— "Your words have come true with avengeance—that I should be forestalled. I never sawa more striking coincidence. ... So all my originality,whatever it may amount to, will be smashed,though my book, if it will ever have any value, willnot be deteriorated, as all the labour consists in theapplication of the theory " (" Life and Letters ofCharles Darwin," ii. p. 116).Darwin was naturally much troubled, and didnot know how to act, declaring in a later letter toSir Charles Lyell— " I would far rather burn mywhole book, than that he (Wallace) or any other manshould think that I had behaved in a paltry spirit."He therefore left the matter in the hands of histwo friends, and they determined (on their own

—THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 193responsibilit}^) that my essay, together with extractsfrom Darwin's MSS., which they had seen many yearsbefore, should be read before the Linnean Societyand pubh'shed in its "Journal." The joint paperswere read on July i, 1858, Dr. Hooker and SirCharles Lyell being present. After Darwin's deaththe former wrote a short account of this eventfor the "Life and Letters," in which he said: "Theinterest excited was intense,but the subject was toonovel and too ominous for the old school to enter thelists before armouring. After the meeting it wastalked over with bated breath : Lyell's approval, andperhaps in a small way mine, as his lieutenant in theaffair, rather overawed the Fellows, who would otherwisehave flown out against the doctrine " (" Life andLetters," ii. p. 126).Both Darwin and Dr. Hooker wrote to me in themost kind and courteous manner, informing me ofwhat had been done, of which they hoped I wouldapprove. Of course I not only approved, but feltthat they had given me more honour and creditthan I deserved, by putting my sudden intuitionhastily written and immediately sent off for theopinion of Darwin and Lyell—on the same levelwith the prolonged labours of Darwin, who hadreached the same point twenty years before me,and had worked continuously during that longperiod in order that he might be able to presentthe theory to the world with such a body of systematizedfacts and arguments as would almost compelconviction.In a later letter, Darwin wrote that he owed muchto me and his two friends, adding ": I almost thinkthat Lyell would have proved right, and that I shouldnever have completed my larger work." I think,O

194 MY LIFEtherefore, that I may have the satisfaction of knowingand sending it to Darwin,that by writing my articleI was the unconscious means of leading him to concentratehimself on the task of drawing up what hetermed " an abstract " of the great work he had inpreparation, but which was really a large and carefullywritten volume — the celebrated "Origin ofSpecies," published in November, 1859. The remainderof the story of my relations with Darwinwill be found in later chapters of this book. I willnow continue the account of my travels.During the first months of my residence atTernate I made two visits to different parts of thelarge island of Gilolo, where my hunters obtained anumber of very fine birds, but owing to the absenceof good virgin forest and my own ill-health, I obtainedvery few insects. At length, on March 25, I obtaineda passage to Dorey Harbour, on the north coast ofNew Guinea, in a trading schooner, which left methere, and called for me three or four months later tobring me back to Ternate. I was the first Europeanwho had lived alone on this great island ; but partlyowing to an accident which confined me to the housefor a month, and partly because thelocality was nota good one, I did not get the rare species of birds ofparadise I had expected. I obtained, however, anumber of new and rare birds and a fine collection ofinsects, though not so many of the larger and finerkinds as I expected. The weather had been unusuallywet, and the place was unhealthy. I had four Malayservants with me, three of whom had fever as well asmyself, and one of my hunters died, and though Ishould have liked to stay longer, we were all weak orunwell, and were very glad when the schooner arrivedand took us back to Ternate. Here wholesome

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 195food and a comfortable house soon restored us togood health,I now received letters informing me of the receptionof the paper on " The Tendency of Varietiesto depart indefinitely from the Original Type," whichI had sent to Darwin, and in a letter home I thusrefer to it : "I have received letters from Mr. Darwinand Dr. Hooker, two of the most eminent naturalistsin England, which have highly gratified me. I sentMr. Darwin an essay on a subject upon which he isnow writing a great work. He showed it to Dr.Hooker and Sir Charles Lyell, who thought so highlyof it that they had it read before the Linnean Society.This insures me the acquaintance of these eminentmen on my return home."The next two years were spent principally atTernate, Batchian, Menado in Celebes, and Amboyna.In February, i860, I left the last-named placewith the intention of again visiting the Ke Islands.After immense difificulties I reached Coram, aboutfifty miles beyond the east end of Ceram, where Ipurchased a boat and started for Ke; but after gettinghalf-way, the weather was so bad and the winds soadverse that I was obliged to return to the MatabelloIslands, and thence by way of Coram and thecoast of Ceram to the great island of Waigiou.northThiswas a long and most unfortunate voyage. I foundthere, however, what I chiefly went for—the rare redbird of paradise {Paradisea rubra) ; but during thethree months I lived there, often with very little food,I obtained only about seventy species of birds, mostlythe same as those from New Cuinea, though a fewspecies of parrots, pigeons, kingfishers, and otherbirds were new. Insects were never abundant, but by

—196 MY LIFEcontinued perseverance I obtained rather more speciesof both butterflies and beetles than at New Guinea,though fewer, I think, of the more showy kinds.The voyage from Waigiou back to Tern ate wasagain most tedious and unfortunate, occupying thirtyeightdays, whereas with reasonably favourable weatherit should not have required more than ten or twelve.Taking my whole voyage in this canoe from Goramto Waigiou and Ternate, I thus summarize my accountof it in my " Malay Archipelago " ": My first crew ranaway in a body ;two men were lost on a desert island,and only recovered a month later after twice sendingin search of them ;we were ten times run aground oncoral reefs ; we lost four anchors ; our sails weredevoured by rats ;our small boat was lost astern ;we were thirty-eight days on a voyage which shouldnot have taken twelve ; we were many times short offood and water ; we had no compass-lamp owing tothere being not a drop of oil in Waigiou when weleft ; and, to crown all, during our whole voyage fromGoram by Ceram to Waigiou, and from Waigiou toTernate, occupying in all seventy-eight days (or onlytwelve days short of three months), all in what wassupposed to be the favourable season, we had not onesijigle day of fair wind. We were always closebraced up, always struggling against wind, currents,and leeway, and in a vessel that would scarcely sailnearer than eight points from the wind! Everyseaman will admit that my first (and last) voyage ina boat of my own was a very unfortunate one."On again returning to Ternate I wrote the followingletter to Bates, giving my opinion of Darwin's" Origin of Species," and referring to the subject ofthe geographical distribution of animals in which Iwas much interested :

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 197"Ternate, December 24, i860,"Dear Bates," Many thanks for your long and interestingletter. I have myself suffered much in the same wayas you describe, and I think more severely. Thekind of tcsdmm vitcB you mention I also occasionallyexperience here. I impute it to a too monotonousexistence." I know not how, or to whom, to express fullymy admiration of Darwin's book. To Jiim it wouldseem flattery, to others self-praise ; but I do honestlybelieve that with however much patience I had workedand experimented on the subject, I could never haveapproacJied the completeness of his book, its vastaccumulation of evidence, its overwhelming argument,and its admirable tone and spirit. I really feelthankful that it has not been left to me to give thetheory to the world. Mr. Darwin has created a newscience and a new philosophy ; and I believe thatnever has such a complete illustration of a new branchof human knowledge been due to the labours andresearches of a single man. Never have such vastmasses of widely scattered and hitherto quite unconnectedfacts been combined into a system and broughtto bear upon the establishment of such a grand andnew and simple philosophy." I am surprised at your joining the north andsouth banks of the lower Amazon into one region.Did you not find a sufificiency of distinct speciesat Obydos and Barra to separate them from VillaNova and Santarem ? I am now convinced thatinsects, on the whole, do not give such true indicationsof zoological geography as birds and mammals,because, first, they have such immensely greatermeans of dispersal across rivers and seas ; second,

198 MY LIFEbecause they are so much more influenced by surroundingcircumstances ;and third, because the speciesseem to change more quickly, and therefore disguisea comparatively recent identity. Thus the insectsof adjacent regions, though originally distinct, maybecome rapidly amalgamated, or portions of the sameregion may come to be inhabited by very distinctinsect-faunas owing to differences of soil, climate, etc.This is strikingly shown here, where the insect-faunafrom Malacca to New Guinea has a very large amountof characteristic uniformity, while Australia, from itsdistinct climate and vegetation, shows a wide difference.I am inclined to think, therefore, that a preliminarystudy of, first, the mammals, and then thebirds, is indispensable to a correct understanding ofthe geographical and physical changes on which thepresent insect-distribution depends, . . ." In a day or two I leave for Timor, where, if Iam lucky in finding a good locality, I expect somefine and interesting insects,"My last two letters before coming home werewritten in the wilds of Sumatra to Bates and Silk,An extract from the letter to Bates will give someidea of the difficulty I had in finding good collectingplaces," I am here making what I intend to be my lastcollections, but am doing very little in insects, as itis the wet season and all seems dead. I find in thosedistricts where the seasons are strongly contrastedthe good collecting time is very limited—only abouta month or two at the beginning of the dry, and afew weeks at the commencement of the rains. It isnow two years since I have been able to get anybeetles, owing to bad localities and bad weather, so Iam becoming disgusted. When I do find a good

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 199place it is generally very good, but such are dreadfullyscarce. In Java I had to go forty miles in theeastern part and sixty miles in the western to reacha bit of forest, and then I got scarcely anything.Here I had to come a hundred miles inland, byPalembang, and though in the very centre of EasternSumatra, the forest is only in patches, and it is theheight of the rains, so I get nothing. A longicorn isa rarity, and I suppose I shall not have as manyspecies in two months as I have obtained in three orfour days in a really good locality. I am getting,however, some sweet little blue butterflies {Lyccenidcs)^which is the only thing that keeps up my spirits."An extract from my letter to Silk will be of moreinterest to most of my readers :" I am here in one ofthe places unknown to the Royal Geographical Society,situated in the very centre of East Sumatra, aboutone hundred miles from the sea in three directions.It is the height of the wet season, and the rain poursdown strong and steady, generally allnight and halfthe day. Bad times for me, but I walk out regularlythree or four hours every day, picking up what I can,and generally getting some little new or rare orbeautiful thing to reward me. This is the land of thetwo-horned rhinoceros, the elephant, the tiger, and thebut they all make themselves very scarce, andtapir ;beyond their tracks and their dung, and once hearinga rhinoceros bark not far off, I am not aware of theirexistence. This, too, is the very land of monkeys ;they swarm about the villages and plantations, longtailedand short-tailed, and with no tail at all, white,black, and grey ;they are eternally racing aboutthe tree-tops, and gambolling in the most amusingmanner. The way they jump is amazing. They throwthemselves recklessly through the air, apparently sure,

—200 MY LIFEwith one or other of their four hands, to catch hold ofsomething. I estimated one jump by a long-tailedwhite monkey at thirty feet horizontal, and sixty feetvertical, from a high tree on to a lower one ;he fellthrough, however, so great was his impetus, on to alower branch, and then, without a moment's stop,scampered away from tree to tree, evidently quitepleased with his own pluck. When I startle a band,and one leader takes a leap like this, it is amusing towatch the others—some afraid and hesitating on thebrink till at last they pluck up courage, take a run atit, and often roll over in the air with their desperateefforts. Then there are the long-armed apes, whonever walk or run upon the trees, but travel altogetherby their long arms, swinging themselves from boughto bough in the easiest and most graceful mannerpossible." But I must leave the monkeys and turn to themen, who will interest you more, though there isnothing very remarkable in them. They are Malays,speaking a curious, half-unintelligible Malay dialectMohammedans, but retaining many pagan customsThey are very ignorant, very lazy,and superstitions.and live almost absolutely on rice alone, thrivingupon it, however, just as the Irish do, or did, uponpotatoes. They were a bad lot a few years ago, butthe Dutch have brought them into order by theiradmirable system of supervision and government.By-the-by, I hope you have read Mr. Money's bookon Java. It is well worth while, and you will seethat I had come to the same conclusions as to Dutchcolonial government from what I saw in Menado.Nothing is worse and more absurd than the sneeringprejudiced tone in which almost all English writersspeak of the Dutch government in the East. It

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 201never has been worse than ours has been, and it isnow very much better ;and what is greatly to theircredit and not generally known, they take nearly thesame pains to establish order and good governmentin those islands and possessions which are an annualloss to them, as in those which yield them a revenue.I am convinced that their system is right in principle,and ours wrong, though, of course, in the practicalworking there may and must be defects ;and amongthe Dutch themselves, both in Europe and the Indies,there is a strong party against the present system,but that party consists mostly of merchants andplanters, who want to get the trade and commerceof the country made free, which in my opinion wouldbe an act of suicidal madness, and would, moreover,seriously injure instead of benefiting the natives." Personally, I do not much like the Dutch outhere, or the Dutch officials ; but I cannot help bearingwitness to the excellence of their government ofnative races, gentle yet firm, treating their manners,customs, and prejudices with respect, yet introducingeverywhere European law, order, and industry."" Singapore, January 20, 1862." I cannot write more now. I do not know howlong I shall be here;perhaps a month. Then, ho !for England ! "While waiting at Singapore for the steamer totake me home I purchased two living specimens ofthe smaller bird of paradise. They were in a largecage, and the price asked was enormous. As theyhad never been seen alive in Europe I at once securedthem, and had a great deal of trouble with them on myjourney home, I had first to make an arrangement

202 MY LIFEfor a place to stand the large cage on deck. A stockof food was required, which consisted chiefly ofbananas ; but to my surprise I found that they wouldeat cockroaches greedily, and as these abound onevery ship in the tropics, I hoped to be able to obtaina good supply. Every evening I went to the storeroomin the fore part of the ship, where I was allowedto brush the cockroaches into a biscuit tin.The journey to Suez offered no particular incident,and the birds continued in good health ; as did twoor three lories I had brought. But with the railwayjourney to Alexandria difficulties began. It was inFebruary, and the night was clear and almost frosty.The railway officials made difficulties, and it was onlyby representing the rarity and value of the birds thatI could have the cage placed in a box-truck. Whenwe got into the Mediterranean the weather becamesuddenly cold, and worse still, I found that the shipwas free from cockroaches. As I thought that animalfood was perhaps necessary to counteract the cold, Ifelt afraid for the safety of my charge, and determinedto stay a fortnight at Malta in order to reach Englanda little later, and also to lay in a store of the necessaryfood. I accordingly arranged to break my voyagethere, went to a hotel, and found that I could getunlimited cockroaches at a baker's close by.At Marseilles I again had trouble, but at lastsucceeded in getting them placed in a guard's van,with permission to enter and feed them en route.Passing through France it was a sharp frost, but theydid not seem to suffisr ; and when we reached LondonI was glad to transfer them into the care of Mr.Bartlett, who conveyed them to the ZoologicalGardens.Thus ended my Malayan travels.

LIFE INCHAPTER XIVLONDON, 1 862-1 8/ 1—SCIENTIFIC ANDLITERARY WORKOn reaching London in the spring of 1862 I wentto live with my brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas Sims,who had a photographic business in WestbourneGrove. Here, in a large empty room at the top ofthe house, I brought together all the collections whichI had reserved for myself and which my agent, Mr.Stevens, had taken care of for me. I found myselfsurrounded by a quantity of packing-cases andstore-boxes, the contents of many of which I had notseen for five or six years, and to the examinationand study of which I looked forward with intenseinterest.From my first arrival in the East I had determinedto keep a complete set of certain groups from everyisland or distinct locality which I visited for my ownstudy on my return home, as I felt sure they wouldafford me very valuable materials for working out thegeographical distribution of animals in the archipelago,and also throw light on various other problems. Thesevarious sets of specimens were sent home regularlywith the duplicates for sale, but either packedseparately or so distinctly marked " Private " thatthey could be easily put aside till my return home.The groups thus reserved were the birds, butterflies,

204 MY LIFEbeetles,and land-shells, and they amounted roughlyto about three thousand bird skins of about athousand species, and, perhaps, twenty thousandbeetles and butterflies of about seven thousandspecies.For the next month I was fully occupied in theunpacking and arranging of my collections, whMe Iusually attended the evening meetings of the Zoological,Entomological, and Linnean Societies, whereI met many old friends and made several new ones,and greatly enjoyed the society of people interestedin the subjects that now had almost become thebusiness of my life.As soon as I began to study my birds I had topay frequent visits to the bird-room of the BritishMuseum, then in charge of Mr. George Robert Gray,who had described many of my discoveries as I. sentthem home, and also to the library of the ZoologicalSociety to consult the works of the older ornithologists.In this way the time passed rapidly, and Ibecame so interested in my various occupations, andsaw so many opportunities for useful and instructivepapers on various groups of my birds and insects, thatI came to the conclusion to devote myself for someyears to this work, and to put off the writing of abook on my travels till I could embody in it all themore generally interesting results derived from thedetailed study of certain portions of my collections.This delay turned out very well, as I was therebyenabled to make my book not merely the journalof a traveller, but also a fairly complete sketch ofthe whole of the great Malayan Archipelago fromthe point of view of the philosophic naturalist. Theresult has been that it long continued to be themost popular of my books, and that even now, forty

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 205years after its publication, its sale is equal to that ofany of the others.During the succeeding five years I continued thestudy of my collections, writing many papers, of whichmore than a dozen related to birds, some being ofconsiderable length and involving months of continuousstudy. But I also wrote several on physicaland zoological geography, six on various questions ofanthropology, and five or six on special applicationsof the theory of natural selection. I also beganworking at my insect collections, on which I wrotefour rather elaborate papers. As several of thesepapers discussed matters of considerable interest andnovelty, I will here give a brief summary of themore important of them in the order in which theywere written.The first of these, read in January, 1863, at ameeting of the Zoological Society, was on my birdsfrom Bouru, and was chiefly important as showingthat this island was undoubtedly one of the Moluccangroup, every bird found there which was not widelydistributed being either identical with or closely alliedto Moluccan species, while none had special affinitieswith Celebes. It was clear, then, that this islandformed the most westerly outlier of the Moluccangroup.My next paper of importance, read before thesame society in the following November, was on thebirds of the chain of islands extending from Lombokto the great island of Timor. I gave a list of onehundred and eighty-six species of birds, of whichtwenty-nine were altogether new; but the specialimportance of the paper was that it enabled me tomark out precisely the boundary line between theIndian and Australian zoological regions, and to trace

Lombok.

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 207forest regions are exceedingly abundant, and arevery destructive to eggs and young birds. I alsopoint out that there are here comparatively few othergroups of fruit-eating birds like the extensive familiesof chatterers, tanagers, and toucans of America, orthe barbets, bulbuls, finches, starlings, and many othergroups of India and Africa, while in all those countriesmonkeys, squirrels, and other arboreal mammals consumeenormous quantities of fruits. It is clear, therefore,that in the Australian region, especially in theforest-clad portions of it, both parrots and pigeonshave fewer enemies and fewer competitors for foodthan in other tropical regions, the result being thatthey have had freer scope for development in variousdirections leading to the production of forms andstyles of colouring unknown elsewhere. It is alsovery suggestive that the only other country in whichblack pigeons and black parrots are found is Madagascar,an island where also there are neither monkeysnor squirrels, and where arboreal carnivora or fruiteatingbirds are very scarce. The satisfactory solutionof these curious facts of distribution gave me verygreat pleasure, and I am not aware that the conclusionsI arrived at have been seriously objected to.Before I had written these two papers I hadbegun the study of my collection of butterflies, andin March, 1864, I read before the Linnean Societya rather elaborate paper on "The Malayan Papilionidae,as illustrating the Theory of Natural Selection,"I may state for the information of non-entomologicalreaders that the Papilionidae form one of themost extensive families of butterflies, and from theirlarge size, elegant forms, and splendid colours wereconsidered by all the older writers to be the princes

208 MY LIFEof the whole lepidopterous order.In coloration theyare wonderfully varied. The ground colour is veryfrequently black, on which appear bands, spots, orlarge patches of brilliant colours — pale or goldenyellow, rich crimsons or gorgeous metallic blues andgreens, which colours sometimes spread over nearlythe whole wing surface. Some are thickly speckledwith golden green dots and adorned with large patchesof intense metallic green or azure blue, others aresimply black and white in a great variety of patterns,many very striking and beautiful, while others againhave crimson or golden patches, which when viewedat certain angles change to quite different opalescenthues, unsurpassed by the rarest gems.But it is not this grand development of size andcolour that constitutes the attraction of these insectsto the student of evolution, but the fact that theyexhibit, in a remarkable degree, almost every kind ofvariation, as well as some of the most beautifulexamples of polymorphism and of mimicry. Besidesthese features, the family presents us with examplesof differences of size, form, and colour, characteristicof certain localities, which are among the most singularand mysterious phenomena known to naturalists. Ashort statement of the nature of these phenomenawill be useful to show the great interest of the subject.In all parts of the world there are certainwhich, from a disagreeable smell or taste, areinsectsrarelyattacked or devoured by enemies. Such groups aresaid to be " protected," and they almost always havedistinctive and conspicuous colours. In the MalayArchipelago there are several groups of butterflieswhich have this kind of protection ; and one group—the Euplseas—is coloured black, with rich blueglosses and ornamented with white bands or spots.

"SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 209These are excessively abundant, and having fewenemies they fly slowly. Now there are also severaldifferent kinds of papilios, which in colour are soexactly like these, that when on the wing they cannotbe distinguished, although they frequent the sameplaces and are often found intermingled. Otherprotected butterflies are of paler colours with darkstripes, and these are also closely imitated by otherpapilios. Altogether there are about fifteen specieswhich thus closely resemble protected butterfliesexternally, although in structure and transformationsthey have no affinity with them. In some cases bothsexes possess this resemblance, or " mimicry," as it istermed, but most frequently it is the female only thatis thus modified, especially when she lays her eggson low-growing plants ; while the male, whose flightis stronger and who can take care of himself, does notpossess it, and is often so different from his mate asto have been considered a distinct species.This leads us to the phenomenon of dimorphismand polymorphism, in which the females of one speciespresent two or three different forms. Several suchcases occur in the Malay Archipelago, in which thereare two distinct kinds of females, sometimes eventhree, to a single male, which differs from either ofthem. In one case four females are known to onemale, though only two of them appear to occur in onelocality. These have been almost always describedas distinct species, but observation has now provedthem to be one, and it has further been noticed thateach of the females, which are very unlike the male,resembles more or less closely some " protectedspecies. It has also been proved by experimentalbreeding that eggs laid by any one of these femalesare capable of producing butterflies of all the differentP

210 MY LIFEforms, which in the few cases recorded are quite distinctfrom each other, without intermediate gradations.This brief outline of the paper will, perhaps, enablemy readers to understand the intense interest I felt inworking out all these strange phenomena, and showinghow they could almost all be explained by that lawof " Natural Selection " which Darwin had discoveredmany years before, and which I had also been sofortunate as to hit upon.The series of papers on birds and insects nowdescribed, together with others on the physicalgeography of the archipelago and its various racesof man, furnished me with the necessary materialsfor that general sketch of the natural history of theislands and of the various interesting problems whicharise from its study, which has made my "MalayArchipelago " the most popular of my books. At thesame time it opened up so many fields of research asto render me indisposed for further technical work inthe mere description of my collections, which I shouldcertainly never have been able to complete. I thereforenow began to dispose of various portions of myinsects to students of special groups, who undertookto publish lists of them with descriptions of the newspecies, reserving for myself only a few boxes ofduplicates to serve as mementoes of the exquisite orfantastic organisms which I had procured during myeight years' wanderings.Having thus prepared the way by these preliminarystudies, I devoted the larger portion of my time in theyears 1867 and 1868 to writing my "Malay Archipelago."I had previously read what works I couldprocure on the islands, and had made numerousextracts from the old voyagers on the parts I myselfwas acquainted with. These added much to the

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 211interest of my own accounts of the manners andcharacter of the people, and by means of a tolerablyfull journal and the various papers I had written, Ihad no difficulty in going steadily on with my work.As my publishers wished the book to be well illustrated,I had to spend a good deal of time in decidingon the plates and getting them drawn, either frommy own sketches, from photographs, or from actualspecimens, and having obtained the services of thebest artists and wood engravers then in London, theresult was, on the whole, satisfactory.The book was published in 1869, but during itsprogress, and while it was slowly passing through thepress, I wrote several important papers, among whichwas one in the Quarterly Review for April, 1869, on" Geological Climates and the Origin of Species,"which was in large part a review and eulogy of SirCharles Lyell's great work, "The Principles ofGeology," which greatly pleased him as well asDarwin. A considerable part of this article wasdevoted to a discussion of Mr. Croll's explanation ofthe glacial epoch, and, by a combination of his viewswith those of Lyell on the great effect of changeddistribution of sea and land, or of differences inaltitude, I showed how we might arrive at a betterexplanation than either view by itself could give us.As the article was too long, a good deal of it had tobe cut out, but it served as the foundation for mymore detailed examination of the whole questionwhen writing my "Island Life," twelve yearslater.As soon as the proofs of the " Malay Archipelago "were out of my hands, I began the preparation of asmall volume of my scattered articles dealing withvarious aspects of the theory of Natural Selection.

212 MY LIFEMany of these had appeared in little-known periodicals,and were now carefully revised, or partially rewritten,while two new ones were added. The longest article,occupying nearly a quarter of the volume, was onewhich I had written in 1865-6, but which was notpublished (in the Westminster Review) till July, 1867,and was entitled "Mimicry, and other ProtectiveResemblances among Animals." In this article Iendeavoured to give a general account of the wholesubject of protective resemblance, of which theory,what was termed by Bates "mimicry," is a verycurious special case. I called attention to the wideextent of the phenomenon, and showed that itpervades animal life from mammals to fishes andthrough every grade of the insect tribes. I pointedout that the whole series of phenomena depend uponthe great principle of the utility of every character,upon the need of protection or of concealment byalmost all animals, and upon the known fact that nocharacter is so variable as colour, and that thereforeconcealment has been most easily obtained by colourmodification.Two other articles which may be just mentionedare those entitled " A Theory of Birds' Nests " and"The Limits of Natural Selection applied to Man."In the first I pointed out the important relation thatexists between concealed nests and the bright coloursof female birds, leading to conclusions adverse toMr. Darwin's theory of colours and ornaments in themales being the result of female choice. In theother (the last in the volume) I apply Darwin'sprinciple of natural selection, acting solely by meansof " utilities," to show that certain physical modificationsand mental faculties in man could not havebeen acquired through the preservation of useful

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 213variations, because there is some direct evidence toshow that they were not and are not useful in theordinary sense, or, as Professor Lloyd Morgan wellputs it, not of " life-preserving value," while there isabsolutely no evidence to show that they were so.In reply, Darwin appealed to the effects of femalechoice in developing these characteristics, of which,however, not a particle of evidence is to be foundamong existing savage races.As it was during the ten years of which I havenow sketched my scientific and literary work that Isaw most of my various scientific friends and acquaintances,and it was also in this period that the course ofmy future life and work was mainly determined, I willgive a short summary of my more personal affairs,together with a few recollections of those friends withwhom I became most familiar.In the spring of 1865 I took a small house formyself and my mother, in St. Mark's Crescent,Regent's Park, quite near the Zoological Gardens,and within a pleasant walk across the park of thesociety's library in Hanover Square, where I had togo very often to consult books of reference. Here Ilived five years, having Dr. W. B. Carpenter for anear neighbour, and it was while living in this housethat I saw most of my few scientific friends.About this time my dear friend, Dr. RichardSpruce, came home from Peru in very weak health,and, after staying a short time in London, went to liveat Hurstpierpoint, in Sussex, in order to be near Mr.William Mitten, then the greatest English authorityon mosses, who had undertaken to describe his greatcollections from South America.During the summer and autumn I often went toHurstpierpoint to enjoy the society of my friend, and

214 MY LIFEthus became intimate with Mr. Mitten and his family.Mr. Mitten was an enthusiastic botanist and gardener,and knew every wild plant in the very rich districtwhich surrounds the village, and all his family werelovers of wild flowers. I remember my delight, onthe occasion of my first or second visit there, at seeinga vase full of the delicate and fantastic flowers of thelarge butterfly-orchis and the curious fly-orchis, neitherof which I had ever seen before, and which I wassurprised to hear were abundant in the woods at thefoot of the downs. It was an immense delight to meto be taken to these woods, and to some fields on thedowns where the bee-orchis and half a dozen otherspecies grew abundantly, with giant cowslips nearlytwo feet high, the dyers' broom, and many otherinteresting plants. The richness of this district maybe judged by the fact that within a walk more thantwenty species of orchises have been found. Thissimilarity of taste led to a close intimacy, and in thespring of the following year I was married to Mr.Mitten's eldest daughter, then about eighteen yearsold.After a week at Windsor we came to live inLondon, and in early autumn went for a month toNorth Wales, staying at Llanberris and Dolgelly. Itook with me Sir Andrew Ramsay's little book on" The Old Glaciers of Switzerland and North Wales,"and thoroughly enjoyed the fine examples of icegroovingsand striations, smoothed rock-surfaces,roches viontonnees, moraines, perched blocks, and rockbasins,with which the valleys around Snowdon abound.Every day revealed some fresh object of interest aswe climbed among the higher cw7ns of Snowdon ;and from what I saw during that first visit the IceAge became almost as much a reality to me as any

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 215fact of direct observation. Every future tour toScotland, to the lake district, or to Switzerlandbecame doubled in interest. I read a good deal ofthe literature of the subject, and have, I believe,in my later writings been able to set forth theevidence in favour of the glacial origin of lakebasinsmore forcibly than it has ever been donebefore.In 1867 I spent the month of June in Switzerlandwith my wife, staying at Champery, oppositethe beautiful Dent du Midi, where at first we werethe only visitors in a huge new hotel, but for thesecond week had the company of an English clergyman,his wife, and son. We greatly enjoyed thebeautiful subalpine flowers then in perfection.We then went by Martigny over the St. Bernard,reaching the hospice after dark through deep snow,and next day walked down to Aosta, a place whichhad been recommended to me by Mr. WilliamMathews, a well-known Alpine climber. It was avery hot place, and its chief interest to us was anexcursion on mules to the Becca de Nona, which tookus a long day, going, up by the easiest and descendingthe most precipitous road—the latter a mere staircaseof rock. The last thousand feet of the mountain Iwalked up alone, and was highly delighted with thesummit and the wonderful scene of fractured rocks,ridges, and peaks all around, but more especially withthe summit itself, hardly so large as that of Snowdonand exhibiting far grander precipices and rock-masses,all in a state of visible degradation, and showing howpowerfully the atmospheric forces of denudation arein constant action at this altitude — 10,380 feet.Hardly less interesting were the charming little alpineplants in the patches of turf and the crevices in the

2i6MY LIFErocks, among which were two species of the exquisiteAndrosaces, the true gems of the primrose tribe. Ialso one day took a lonely walk up a wild valleywhich terminated in the glacier that descends fromMount Emilius ; and on another day we drove upthe main valley to Villeneuve, and then walked upa little way into the Val Savaranches. This is oneof those large open valleys which have been theoutlet of a great glacier, and in which the subglacialtorrent has cut a deep narrow chasm through hardrocks at its termination, through which the river nowempties itself into the main stream of the DoraBaltea, This was the first of the kind I had speciallynoticed, though I had seen the Gorge of the Trienton my first visit to Switzerland at a time when I hadbarely heard of the glacial epoch.Returning over the St. Bernard we went to Interlakenand Grindelwald, saw the glaciers there, andthen went over the Wengern Alp, staying two days atthe hotel to see the avalanches and botanize amongthe pastures and moraines. Then down to Lauterbrunnento see the Staubbach, and thence home.As I had found that amid the distractions andexcitement of London, its scientific meetings, dinnerparties and sight-seeing, I could not settle down towork at the more scientific chapters of my " MalayArchipelago," I let my house in London for a year,from Midsummer, 1867, and went to live with mywife's family at Hurstpierpoint. There, in perfectquiet, and with beautiful fields and downs aroundme, I was able to work steadily, having all mymaterials already prepared. Returning to Londonin the summer of 1868, I was fully occupied inarranging for the illustrations and correcting theproofs. The work appeared early in the n6w year,

A. R. WALLACE. AGED 46.{riiblkation of Malay Arcliipelago.[To face p. 2 1 7.

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 217and my volume on " Natural Selection " in the followingMarch.I may here state that although the proceeds ofmy eight years' collecting in the East brought mein a sufficient income to live quietly as a single man,I was always on the look-out for some permanentcongenial employment which would yet leave timefor the study of my collections. The possibility ofever earning anything substantialeither by lecturingor by writing never occurred to me. My deficientorgan of language prevented me from ever becominga good lecturer or having any taste for it, while theexperience of my first work on "The Amazon" didnot encourage me to think that I could write anythingThe firstthat would much more than pay expenses.vacancy that occurred was the assistant secretaryshipof the Royal Geographical Society, for which Batesand myself were candidates. Bates had just publishedhis "Naturalist on the Amazon," and was, besides,much better qualified than myself by his businessexperience and his knowledge of German, which hehad taught himself when abroad. Besides, the confinementand the London life would, I am sure, havesoon become uncongenial to me, and would, I feelequally certain, have greatly shortened my life. Iam therefore glad I did not get it, and I do not thinkI felt any disappointment at the time. Becomingtired of London and wishing for a country life, Itook a small house at Barking in 1870, and in 1871leased four acres of ground at Grays, including avery picturesque well-timbered old chalk-pit, abovewhich I built a house having a very fine view acrossto the hills of North Kent and down a reach of theThames to Gravesend.

2i8MY LIFESeven years later, in 1878, when Epping Forest hadbeen acquired by the Corporation of London, a superintendentwas to be appointed to see to its protectionand improvement while preserving its " natural aspect "in accordance with the Act of Parliament whichrestored it to the public. This position would havesuited me exactly, and if I had obtained it and hadbeen allowed to utilize the large extent of openunwooded land in the way I suggested in my articlein the Fortnightly Review ("Epping Forest, and howbest to deal with it "), an experiment in illustration ofthe geographical distribution of plants would havebeen made which would have been both unique andeducational, as well as generally interesting. Iobtained recommendations and testimonials from thepresidents of all the natural history societies in London,from numerous residents near the forest and inLondon, from many eminent men and members ofParliament—seventy in all ;but the City merchantsand tradesmen with whom the appointment laywanted a " practical man " to carry out their ownideas, which were to utilize all the open spaces forgames and sports, to build a large hotel close to QueenElizabeth's hunting lodge, and to encourage excursionsand school treats, allowing swings, round-abouts, andother such amusements.My failure to obtain the post at Epping Forestwas certainly a disappointment to me, but I aminclined to think now that even that was really forthe best, since it left me free to do literary workwhich I should certainly not have done if I had hadpermanent employment so engrossing and interestingas that at Epping. In that case I should not have goneto lecture in America, and should not have written" Darwinism," perhaps none of my later books, and

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY WORK 219very few of the articles contained in my " Studies."This body of literary and popular scientific work is,perhaps, what I was best fitted to perform, and if so,neither I nor my readers have any reason to regretmy failure to obtain the post of superintendent andguardian of Epping Forest.

CHAPTER XVSIR CHARLES LYELL AND CHARLES DARWIN(1863-1881)Among the eminent men of science with whom Ibecame more or less intimate during the period ofmy residence in London, I give the first place to SirCharles Lyell, not only on account of his great abilitiesand his position as one of the brightest ornamentsof the nineteenth century, but because I saw more ofhim than of any other man at all approaching him asa thinker and leader in the world of science, whilemy correspondence with him was more varied in thesubjects touched upon, and in some respects of moregeneral interest, than my more extensive correspondencewith Darwin.I do not remember when I first saw Sir Charlesprobably met him at some of the eveningLyell, but Imeetings of the scientific societies. I first lunchedwith him in the summer of 1863, and then met, forthe first time, Lady Lyell and Miss Arabella B.Buckley. Miss Buckley had become Sir Charles'sprivate secretary early in that year, and she informsme that she remembers this visit because Lady Lyellgave her impressions of me afterwards— I am afraidnot very favourable ones, as I was shy, awkward, andquite unused to good society. With Sir Charles Isoon felt at home, owing to his refined and gentle

LYELL AND DARWIN 221manners, his fund of quiet humour, and his intenselove and extensive knowledge of natural science.His great liberality of thought and wide generalinterests were also attractive to me ; and althoughwhen he had once arrived at a definite conclusion heheld by it very tenaciously until a considerable bodyof well-ascertained facts could be adduced against it,yet he was always willing to listen to the argumentsof his opponents, and to give them careful andrepeated consideration.In 1867, when a new edition of the "Principlesof Geology" was in progress, I had much correspondenceand many talks with Sir Charles, chieflyon questions relating to distribution and dispersal, inwhich he, like myself, was greatly interested. Hewas by nature so exceedingly cautious and conservative,and always gave such great weight to difficultiesthat occurred to himself or that were put forth byothers, that it was not easy to satisfy him on anynovel view upon which two opinions existed or werepossible. We used often to discuss these variouspoints, but in any case that seemed to him importanthe usually preferred to write to me, stating his objections,sometimes at great length, and asking me togive my views.In the following year, when I was living at Hurstpierpoint,I wrote a letter to Sir Charles on Darwin'snew theory of "Pangenesis," a passage from whichI will quote, because the disproof of it, which Ithought would not be given, was not long in coming,and, with the more satisfactory theory of Weismann,led me to change my opinion entirely. I wrote(February 20, 1868): "I am reading Darwin's book('Animals and Plants under Domestication'), andhave read the ' Pangenesis ' chapter first, for I could

222 MY LIFEnot wait. The hypothesis is sublime in its simplicityand the wonderful manner in which it explains themost mysterious of the phenomena of life. To meit is satisfying in the extreme. I feel I can nevergive it up, unless it be positively disproved, which isimpossible, or replaced by one which better explainsthe facts, which is highly improbable. Darwin hashere decidedly gone ahead of Spencer in generalization.I consider it the most wonderful thing he hasgiven us, but it will not be generally appreciated."This was written when I was fresh from the spellof this most ingenious hypothesis. Galton's experimentson blood transfusion with rabbits first staggeredme, as it seemed to me to be the very disproof I hadthought impossible. And later on, when Weismannadduced his views on the continuity of the germplasm,and the consequent non-heredity of acquiredcharacters ; and further, when he showed that thesupposed transmission of such characters, whichDarwin had accepted and which the hypothesis ofpangenesis was constructed to account for, was notreally proved by ;— any evidence whatever I wascompelled to discard Darwin's view in favour of thatof Weismann, which is now almost everywhereaccepted as being the most probable, as well as beingthe most in accordance with all the facts and phenomenaof heredity.The subject on which Sir Charles Lyell andmyself had the longest discussions was that of theeffects of the glacial period on the distribution ofplants and animals, and on the origin of lake basins.On the question of the ice-origin of Alpine lakesI could never get him to accept my extreme views.In March, 1869, I received from him a letter ofthirteen pages, and another of thirty pages, on this

—LYELL AND DARWIN 223and allied questions, setting forth the reasons whyhe rejected ice action as having ground out the largerlakes, much as he states them in the fourth editionof "The Antiquity of Man." At page 361 he saysthat "the gravest objection to the hypothesis ofglacial erosion on a stupendous scale is afforded bythe entire absence of lakes of the first magnitudein several areas where they ought to exist, if theenormous glaciers which once occupied those spaceshad possessed the deep excavating power ascribedto them." He then goes on to adduce numerousplaces where he thinks there ought to have beenlakes on the glacier theory, which are the same ashe adduced in letters to myself, and which I answeredin each case, and sometimes at great length, bysimilar arguments to those I have adduced in vol. i.chap. V. of my "Studies, Scientific and Social." Ifany one who is interested in these questions, afterconsidering Sir Charles Lyell's difficulties and objectionsin his "Antiquity of Man," will read the abovechapter, giving special attention to the sectionsheaded The Conditions that favour the Production ofLakes by Ice-erosion, and the following section onObjections of Modern Writers considered, I think hewill, if he had paid any attention to the phenomenain glaciated regions, admit that I show the theoryof ice-erosion to be the only one that explains allthe facts.In a letter written on April 28, 1869, after referringto Darwin's regret at the concluding passages ofmy Quarterly Review article on "Man," which he"would have thought written by some one else," Iadd the following summary on my position, perhapsmore simply and forcibly stated than in any of mypublished works :

"'224 MY LIFE"It seems to me that if we once admit thenecessity of any action beyond ' natural selection ' indeveloping man, we have no reason whatever forconfining that agency to his brain. On the meredoctrine of chances it seems to me in the highestdegree improbable that so many points of structure,all tending to favour his mental development, shouldconcur in man alone of all animals. If the erectposture, the freedom of the anterior limbs frompurposes of locomotion, the powerful and opposablethumb, the naked skin, the great symmetry of form,the perfect organs of speech, and, in his mentalfaculties, calculation of numbers, ideas of symmetry,of justice, of abstract reasoning, of the infinite, of afuture state, and many others, cannot be shown to beeach and all useftil to man in the very lowest state ofcivilization—how are we to explain their co-existencein him alone of the whole series of organized being ?Years ago I saw in London a bushman boy and girl,and the girl played very nicely on the piano. BlindTom, the half-idiot negro slave, had a ' musical earor brain, superior, perhaps, to that of the best livingmusicians. Unless Darwin can show me how thislatent musical faculty in the lowest races can havebeen developed through survival of the fittest, canhave been of use to the individual or the race, so as tocause those who possessed it in a fractionally greaterdegree than others to win in the struggle for life,I must believe that some other power (than naturalselection) caused that development. It seems to methat the onusprobaiidi will lie with those who maintainthat man, body and mind, could have been developedfrom a quadrumanous animal by natural *selection.'In a letter to Darwin, written a week laterand printed in the "Life, Letters, and Journals,"

LYELL AND DARWIN 225Sir Charles quotes the preceding argument entire,and goes on to express his general agreementwith it.He then refers to the glacial-lake theory asfollows :— " As to the scooping out of lake basins byglaciers,I have had a long, amicable, but controversialcorrespondence with Wallace on that subject, and Icannot get over (as, indeed, I have admitted in print)an intimate connection between the number of lakesof modern date and the glaciation of the regions containingthem. But as we do not know how ice canscoop out Lago Maggiore to a depth of 2600 feet, ofwhich all but 600 is below the level of the sea, gettingrid of the rock supposed to be worn away as if it wassalt that had melted, I feel that it is a dangerouscausation to admit in explanation of every cavitywhich we have to account for, including LakeSuperior."This passage shows, I think, that he was somewhatstaggered by my arguments, but could not takeso great a step without further consideration andexamination of the evidence. I feel sure, therefore,that if he had had before him the numerous factssince made known, of erratic blocks carried by the iceto heights far above their place of origin in NorthAmerica, and even in our own islands, as described atp. 75 and p. 90 of my " Studies " (vol. i.), with evidenceof such action now occurring in Greenland (p. 91), ofthe Moel Tryfan beds having been forced up by theglacier that filled the Irish sea, he would have seen, Ifeel sure, that his objections were all answered byactual phenomena, and that the gradual erosion ofLago Maggiore was far within the powers of suchenormous accumulations of ice as must have existedover its site.Q

226 MY LIFEDuring the ten years 1863-72, I saw a good dealof Sir Charles. If he had any special subject onwhich he wished for information, he would sometimeswalk across the park to St. Mark's Crescent for anhour's conversation ; at other times he would ask meto lunch with him, either to meet some interestingvisitor or for friendly talk. After my marriage mywife and I occasionally dined with him or went tohis evening receptions. These latter were veryinteresting, both because they were not overcrowdedand on account of the number of scientificand other men of eminence to be met there. Amongthese were Professor Tyndall, Sir Charles Wheatstone,Sir Charles Bunbury, Mr. Lecky, and a great manyThe Duke of Argyll was frequently there,others.and although we criticized each other's theories ratherstrongly, he was always very friendly, and we generallyhad some minutes' conversation whenever I met him.Miss Buckley (now Mrs. Fisher) was a very constantguest, and would point out to me the various celebritieswho happened to be present, and thus began a cordialfriendship which has continued unbroken, and hasbeen a mutual pleasure and advantage. I thereforelook back upon my friendship with Sir Charles Lyellwith unalloyed satisfaction as one of the most instructiveand enjoyable episodes in my life-experience.Soon after I returned home, in the summer of1862, Mr. Darwin invited me to come to Down for anight, where I had the great pleasure of seeing himin his quiet home, and in the midst of his family.year or two later I spent a week-end with him incompany with Bates, Jenner Weir, and a few othernaturalists ; but my most frequent interviews withhim were when he spent a few weeks with his brother.Dr. Erasmus Darwin, in Queen Anne Street, whichA

LYELL AND DARWIN 227he usually did every year when he was wellenough,in order to see his friends and collect information forhis various works. On these occasions I usuallylunched with him and his brother, and sometimes oneother visitor, and had a little talk on some of thematters specially interesting him. He also sometimescalled on me in St. Mark's Crescent for a quiettalk or to see some of my collections.My first letter from him dealing with scientificmatters was in August, 1862, and our correspondencewas very extensive during the period occupied inwriting or correcting his earlier books on evolution,down to the publication of " The Expression of theEmotions in Man and Animals," in 1872, and afterwards,at longer intervals, to within less than a yearof his death. A considerable selection of our correspondencehas been published in the "Life andLetters" (1887), and especially in "More Letters"(1903) ;while several of the more interesting of thesewere contained in the one-volume life, entitled"Charles Darwin," which appeared in 1892. Asmany of my readers, however, may not have theseworks to refer to, I will here give a few of his lettersto myself which have not yet been published, andalso occasional extracts from some that have alreadyappeared, in order to make clear the nature of ourdiscussions.On February 23, 1867, he wrote to me asking ifI could solve a difificulty for him. He says :"OnMonday evening I called on Bates, and put a difficultybefore him which he could not answer, and, as onsome former similar occasion, his first suggestion was,*You had better ask Wallace.' My difficulty is, Whyare caterpillars sometimes so beautifully and artisticallycoloured ? Seeing that many are coloured to

—228 MY LIFEescape dangers, I can hardly attribute their brightcolour in other cases to mere physical conditions.Bates says the most gaudy caterpillar he ever saw inAmazonia was conspicuous at the distance of yards,from its black and red colours, whilst feeding onlarge, green leaves. If any one objected to malebutterflies having been made beautiful by sexualselection, and asked why they should not have beenmade beautiful as well as their caterpillars, whatwould you answer ? I could not answer, but shouldmaintain my ground. Will you think over this, andsome time, either by letter or when we meet, tell mewhat you think " ?On reading this letter, I almost at once saw whatseemed to be a very easy and probable explanationof the facts. I had then just been preparing forpublication (in the Westminster Review) my ratherelaborate paper on "Mimicry and Protective Colouring,"and the numerous cases in which speciallyshowy and slow-flying butterflies were known to havea peculiar odour and taste which protected them fromthe attacks of insect-eating birds and other animals,led me at once to suppose that the gaudily colouredcaterpillars must have a similar protection. I hadjust ascertained from Mr. Jenner Weir that one ofour common white moths {Spilosoma menthrasti)would not be eaten by most of the small birds in hisaviary, nor by young turkeys. Now, as a white mothis as conspicuous in the diisk as a coloured caterpillarin the daylight^ this case seemed to me so much ona par with the other that I felt almost sure myexplanation would turn out correct. I at once wroteto Mr. Darwin to this effect, and his reply, datedFebruary 26, is as follows :

—LYELL AND DARWIN 229" My dear Wallace,Bates was quite right ;you are the manto apply to in a difficulty. I never heard anythingmore ingenious than your suggestion, and I hope youmay be able to prove it true. That is a splendid factabout the white moths ; it warms one's very blood tosee a theory thus almost proved to be true."I then mentioned the subject at a meeting of theEntomological Society ; and in the following yearexperiments were made by two gentlemen whichproved clearly that while green or brown caterpillarswere greedily eaten by all insect-eating birds, thosewhich were gaudily coloured or were hairy, andusually exposed themselves on the plants on whichthey fed in the daytime, were rejected by almostall the birds and usually by lizards as well. Theprinciple of " warning coloration," as it is termed, isnow generally admitted as being widely prevalent innature.In the year 1870 Mr. A. W. Bennett read a paperbefore Section D of the British Association at Liverpool,entitled " The Theory of Natural Selection froma Mathematical Point of View," and this paper wasprinted in full in Nature of November 10, 1870. Tothis I replied on November 17, and my reply sopleased Mr. Darwin that he at once wrote to me asfollows :" Down, November 22."My dear Wallace," I must ease myself by writing a few wordsto say how much I and all in this house admire yourarticle in Nature. You are certainly an unparalleledmaster in lucidly stating a case and in arguing.

230 MY LIFENothing ever was better done than your argumentabout the term Origin of Species, and about muchbeing gained if we know nothing about precise causeof each variation."At the end of the letter he says something aboutthe progress of his great work, " The Descent ofMan."" I have finished ist vol. and am half-way throughproofs of 2nd vol. of my confounded book, which halfkills me by fatigue, and which I fear will quite killme in your good estimation." If you have leisure, I should much like a littlenews of you and your doings and your family," Ever yours very sincerely,"Ch. Darwin."The above remark, " kill me inyour good estimation,"refers to his views on the mental and moralnature of man being very different from mine, thisbeing the first important question as to which ourviews had diverged. But I never had the slightestfeeling of the kind he supposed, looking upon thedifference as one which did not at all affect ourgeneral agreement, and also as being one on whichno one could dogmatize, there being much to be saidon both sides. The last paragraph shows the extremeinterest he took in the personal affairs of all hisfriends.Soon after the " Descent of Man " appeared, Iwrote to Darwin, giving my impressions of the firstvolume, to which he replied (January 30, 1871). Thisletter is given in the "Life and Letters" (iii. p. 134),but I will quote two short passages expressing hiskind feelings towards myself. He begins, "Yournote has given me very great pleasure, chiefly because

LYELL AND DARWIN 231I was so anxious not to treat you with the least disrespect,and it is so difficult to speak fairly whendiffering from any one. If I had offended you, it wouldhave grieved me more than you will readily believe."And the conclusion is, " Forgive me for scribbling atsuch length. You have put me quite in good spirits ;I did so dread having been unintentionally unfairtowards your views. I hope earnestly the secondvolume will escape as well. I care now very littlewhat others say. As for our not agreeing, really, insuch complex subjects, it is almost impossible for twomen who arrive independently at their conclusions toagree fully ;it would be unnatural for them to do so."Again, on July 12, he writes ": I feel very doubtfulhow far I shall succeed in answering Mivart. Itis so difficult to answer objections to doubtful pointsand make the discussion readable. The worst of itis, that I cannot possibly hunt through all my referencesfor isolated points—it would take me threeweeks of intolerably hard work, I wish I had yourpower of arguing clearly. At present I feel sick ofeverything, and if I could occupy my time and forgetmy daily discomforts, or rather miseries, I would neverpublish another word. But I shall cheer up, I daresay, soon, having only just got over a bad attack.Farewell. God knows why I bother you aboutmyself." I can say nothing more about missing links thanI have said. I should rely much on pre-Siluriantimes ; but then comes Sir W. Thomson like anodious spectre. Farewell."This last remark refers to the limitation of theearth's age by physicists, so as not to leave timeenough for the evolution of organisms.During this latter period of his life I had but

—232 MY LIFElittle correspondence with him, as I had no knowledgewhatever of the subjects he was then working on.But he still continued to write to me occasionally,either referring kindly to my own work or sendingme facts or suggestions which he thought would beof interest to me. I will here give only some extractsfrom a few of the latest of the letters I received fromhim.On November 3, 1880, he wrote me the followingvery kind letter upon my " Island Life," on which Ihad asked for his criticism :" I have now read your book, and it has interestedme deeply. It is quite excellent, and seems to methe best book which you have ever published ;butthis may be merely because I have read it last As Iwent on I made a few notes, chiefly where I differedslightly from you ; but God knows whether they areworth your reading. You will be disappointed withmany of them ; but it will show that I had the will,though I did not know the way to do what youwanted." I have said nothing on the infinitely manypassages and views, which I admired and which werenew to me. My notes are badly expressed, but Ithought that you would excuse my taking any painswith my style. I wish my confounded handwritingwas better. I had a note the other day from Hooker,and I can see that he is much pleased with thededication."With this came seven foolscap pages of notes,many giving facts from his extensive reading whichI had not seen.In another letter, two months later,the same subject.he recurs to

LYELL AND DARWIN 233" Down, January 2, 1881."My dear Wallace," The case which you give is a very strikingone, and I had overlooked it in Natiire ; ^ but I remainas great a heretic as ever. Any supposition seems tome more probable than that the seeds of plants shouldhave been blown from the mountains of Abyssinia, orother central mountains of Africa, to the mountains ofMadagascar. It seems to me almost infinitely moreprobable that Madagascar extended far to the southduring the glacial period, and that the S. hemispherewas, according to Croll, then more temperate ;andthat the whole of Africa was then peopled with sometemperate forms, which crossed chiefly by agency ofbirds and sea-currents, and some few by the wind,from the shores of Africa to Madagascar subsequentlyascending to the mountains." How lamentable it is that two men should takesuch widely different views, with the same facts beforethem ; but this seems to be almost regularly our case,I am fairly well, but alwaysand much do I regret it.feel half dead with fatigue.I heard but an indifferentaccount of your health some time ago, but trust thatyou are now somewhat stronger." Believe me, my dear Wallace," Yours very sincerely,"Ch. Darwin."It is really quite pathetic how much he feltdifference of opinion from his friends. I, of course,should have liked to be able to convert him to myviews, but I did not feel it so much as he seemed to* Nature, December 9, 1880. The substance of this article by Mr.Baker, of Kew, is given in " More Letters," vol. iii. p. 25, in a footnote.

234 MY LIFEdo. In letters to Sir Joseph Hooker (in Februaryand August, 1881) he again states his view as againstmine very strongly ("More Letters," iii. pp. 25 and27); and this, so far as I know, is the last referencehe made to the subject. The last letter I receivedfrom him was entirely on literary and political subjects,and, as usual, very kind and friendly. As it makesno reference to our controversies, and touches onquestions never introduced before in our correspondence,I think it will be interesting to give it entire."Down, July 12, 188 1."My dear Wallace," I have been heartily glad to get your noteand hear some news of you. I will certainly order*Progress and Poverty,' for the subject is a mostinteresting one. But I read many years ago somebooks on political economy, and they produced adisastrous effect on my mind, viz., utterly to distrustmy own judgment on the subject, and to doubt muchevery one else's judgment ! So I feel pretty sure thatMr. George's book will only make my mind worseconfounded than it is at present. I also have justfinished a book which has interested me greatly, butwhether it would interest any one else I know not.It is the * Creed of Science,' by W. Graham, A.M.Who or what he is I know not, but he discusses manygreat subjects, such as the existence of God, immortality,the moral sense, the progress of society,etc. I think some of his propositions rest on veryuncertain foundations, and I could get no clear ideaof his notions about God. Notwithstanding this andother blemishes, the book has interested me extremely.Perhaps I have been to some extent deluded, as hemanifestly ranks too high what I have done.

LYELL AND DARWIN 235" I am delighted to hear that you spend so muchtime out-of-doors and in your garden. From Newman'sold book (I forget title) about the country nearGodalming, it must be charming." We have just returned home after spending fiveweeks on Ullswater. The scenery is quite charming,but I cannot walk, and everything tires me, evenseeing scenery, talking with any one, or readingmuch. What I shall do with my few remainingyears of life I can hardly tell. I have everything tomake me happy and contented, but life has becomevery wearysome to me. I heard lately from MissBuckley in relation to Lyell's Life, and she mentionedthat you were thinking of Switzerland, whichI should think and hope that you would enjoymuch." I see that you are going to write on the mostdifficult political question, the land. Something oughtto be done, but what is the rub. I hope that you will(not) turn renegade to natural history ;but I supposethat politics are very tempting." With all good wishes for yourself and family," Believe me, my dear Wallace,"Yours very sincerely,"Charles Darwin."This letter is, to me, perhaps the most interestingI ever received from Darwin, since it shows that itwas only the engrossing interests of his scientific andliterary work, performed under the drawback of almostconstant ill-health, that prevented him from taking amore active part in the discussion of those social andpolitical questions that so deeply affect the lives andhappiness of the great bulk of the people. It is agreat satisfaction that his last letter to me, written

—236 MY LIFEwithin nine months of his death, and terminating acorrespondence which had extended over a quarter ofa century, should be so cordial, so sympathetic, andbroad-minded.In 1870 he had written to me, "I hope it is asatisfaction to you to reflect—and very few things inmy life have been more satisfactory to me—that wehave never felt any jealousy towards each other,though in some sense rivals. I believe I can saythis of myself with truth, and I am absolutely surethat it is true of you." This friendly feeling wasretained by him to the last, and to have thus inspiredand retained it, notwithstanding our many differencesof opinion, I feel to be one of the greatest honours ofmy life.In conclusion, itmay interest my readers if I givebriefly the four chief points on which IDarwin. They are as follows :differed from(i) Darwin held that man had been developedphysically and intellectually by continuous modificationunder natural selection from some ancestral form,whilst I, though agreeing with him with regard toman's physical form, believed that some agency otherthan natural selection, and analogous to that whichfirst produced organic life, had brought into beinghis moral and intellectual qualities.(2) Darwin believed that in the case of certainanimals the males had obtained their bright coloursor other ornaments by selection through femalechoice. I, on the other hand, believed that naturalselection had operated independently on the twosexes, and each had acquired coloration or formaccording to its need for protection. The females,being often more exposed to danger than the males(as in the case of sitting birds), had acquired more

LYELL AND DARWIN 237subdued coloration whilst the males had remainedbright and comparatively conspicuous,(3) Darwin thought that the arctic plants found onisolated mountain tops within the tropics could onlybe explained by the spreading of the arctic flora overthe tropics during the glacial period. From a studyof the floras of oceanic islands, I had come to theconclusion that the mountain flora had been derivedby aerial transmission of seeds either by birdsgales.or by(4) Darwin always believed in the inheritance ofacquired characteristics, such as the results of use ordisuse of organs, and the effects of climate, food, etc.,on the individual. I also accepted this theory at first,but when I had studied Mr. Galton's experiments andDr. Weismann's theory of the continuity of the germplasmI had to change my views. The latter theoryreally simplifies and strengthens the fundamentaldoctrine of natural selection.It will thus appear that none of my differences ofopinion from Darwin imply any real divergence as tothe overwhelming importance of the great principle ofnatural selection, while in several directions I believethat I have extended and strengthened it. Theprinciple of "utility," which is one of its chieffoundation-stones, I have always advocated unreservedly; while in extending this principle to almostevery kind and degree of coloration, and in maintainingthe power of natural selection to increase the infertilityof hybrid unions, I have considerably extendedits range. Hence it is that some of my critics declarethat I am more Darwinian than Darwin himself, andin this, I admit, they are not far wrong.When Darwin died in 188 1 I was honoured by aninvitation to his funeral in Westminster Abbey, as one

238 MY LIFEof the pall-bearers, along with nine of his most distinguishedfriends or admirers, among whom was J.Russell Lowell, as the representative of Americanscience and literature. Among the many obituarynoticesof Darwin, that by Huxley (in NaUire, of April27) is one of the shortest, most discriminating, andmost beautiful. It is published also in the secondvolume of his "Collected Essays." For those whohave not read this true and charming estimate of hisfriend, I may quote one passage :" One could notconverse with Darwin without being reminded ofSocrates. There was the same desire to find someone wiser than himself; the same belief in thesovereignty of reason ; the same ready humour ; thesame sympathetic interest in all the ways and worksof men. But instead of turning away from theproblems of nature as wholly insoluble, our modernphilosopher devoted his whole life to attacking themin the spirit of Heraclitus and Democritus, with resultswhich are as the substance of which their speculationswere anticipatory shadows."

"CHAPTER XVIHERBERT SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERFRIENDSSoon after my return home, in 1862, Bates and I,having both read " First Principles " and been immenselyimpressed by it, went together to call onHerbert Spencer, I think by appointment. Ourthoughts were full of the great unsolved problem ofthe origin of life—a problem which Darwin's " Originof Species" left in as much obscurity as ever—andwe looked to Spencer as the one man living whocould give us some clue to it. His wonderful expositionof the fundamental laws and conditions, actionsand interactions of the material universe seemed topenetrate so deeply into that " nature of thingsafter which the early philosophers searched in vain,and whose blind gropings are so finely expressed inthe grand poem of Lucretius, that we both hoped hecould throw some light on that great problem ofproblems. He was very pleasant, spoke appreciativelyof what we had both done for the practical expositionof evolution, and hoped we would continue to workat the subject. But when we ventured to touch uponthe great problem, and whether he had arrived ateven one of the first steps towards its solution, ourhopes were dashed at once. That, he said, was toofundamental a problem to even think of solving at

240 MY LIFEpresent.We did not yet know enough of matter inits essential constitution nor of the various forces ofnature ; and all he could say was that everythingpointed to life having been a development out ofmatter—a phase of that continuous process of evolutionby which the whole universe had been broughtto its present condition. So we had to wait and workcontentedly at minor problems. And now, afterforty years, though Spencer and Darwin and Weismannhave thrown floods of light on the phenomenaof life, its essential nature and its origin remain asgreat a mystery as ever. Whatever light we dopossess is from a source which Spencer and Darwinneglected or ignored.The first letter I received from Spencer was whenI sent him my paper on " The Origin of HumanRaces under the Law of Natural Selection." He saidthat he had read it with great interest, and added." Its leading idea is, I think, undoubtedly true," concludingwith a hope that I would pursue the inquiry.Soon afterwards he invited me to dine with himin Bayswater, where he lived for many years in aboarding-house with rather a commonplace set ofpeople ; and I visited him there several times.In 1872, in my presidential address to the EntomologicalSociety, I endeavoured to expound HerbertSpencer's theory of the origin of insects, on the viewthat they are fundamentally compound animals, eachsegment representing one of the original independentorganisms. On sending him a copy of the address,he wrote to me as follows ": It is gratifying to me tofind that your extended knowledge does not leadyou to scepticism respecting the speculation of minewhich you quote, but rather enables you to citefurther facts in justification of it. Possibly your

—SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 241exposition will lead some of those, in whose linesinvestigation the question lies, to give deliberateattention to it,"In 1874, when writing "The Principles of Sociology,"Herbert Spencer asked me to look over theproofs of the first six chapters, and give him thebenefit of my criticisms, " alike as naturalist, anthropologist,and traveller." I found very little indeedrequiring emendation, but I sent him a couple ofpages of notes with suggestions on points of detail,which, I believe, were of some use to him.During the year 1881 I had several letters fromhim, dealing with subjects of general interest. Inconsequence of an article I wrote on " How toNationalize the Land," especially showing how toavoid the supposed insuperable objection of Statemanagement, a " Land Nationalization Society " wasformed, of which I was chosen president. As I hadbeen induced to study the question by HerbertSpencer's early volume on " Social Statics," I senthim a copy of our programme and asked if he wouldjoin us. His reply is very instructive, as showinghow nearly he agreed with us at that time, and alsohow slight were the difificulties he suggested as themost important.The letter is as follows :of" 38, Queen's Gardens, Bayswater, W.,"April 25, 1881."Dear Mr. Wallace,"As you may suppose, I fully sympathize inthe general aims of your proposed Land NationalizationSociety ; but for sundry reasons I hesitate tocommit myself, at the present stage of the question,to a programme so definite as that which you sendR

:242 MY LIFEme. It seems to me that before formulating the ideain a specific shape, it is needful to generate a bodyof public opinion on the general issue, and that itmust be some time before there can be producedsuch recognition of the general principle involved asis needful before definite plans can be set forth toany purpose." It seems to me that the thing to be done atpresent is to arouse public attention to (i) the abstractinequity of the present condition of things; (2) toshow that even now there is in our law a tacit denialof absolute private ownership, since the State reservesthe power of resuming possession of land on makingcompensation ; (3) that this tacitly admitted ownershipought to be overtly asserted ; (4) and that havingbeen overtly asserted, the landowner should be distinctlyplaced in the position of a tenant of the Stateon something like the terms proposed in your schemenamely, that while the land itself should be regardedas public property, such value as has been given toit should vest in the existing so-called owner." The question is surrounded with such difficultiesthat I fear anything like a specific scheme for resumptionby the State will tend, by the objections made,to prevent recognition of a general truth which mightotherwise be admitted. For example, in definitelymaking the proposed distinction between ' inherentvalue as dependent on natural conditions, etc.,' andthe 'increased value given by the owner,' there israised the questions—How are the two to be distinguished? How far back are we to go in takingaccount of the labour and money expended in givingfertility ? In respect of newly enclosed tracts, someestimation may be made ; but in respect of thegreater part, long reduced to cultivation, I do not

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 243see how the valuations, differing in all cases, are tobe made.*'I name this as one point ; and there are manyothersin respect of which I do not see my way. Itappears to me that at present we are far off from thetime at which action may advantageously be taken." Truly yours," Herbert Spencer."The last three letters I received from HerbertSpencer were in 1894 and 1895, all on the subject ofwhat he termed "the absurdity of Lord Salisbury'srepresentation of the process of natural selection " inhis British Association address at Oxford, wishingme to write to the Times, pointing out his errors,which were influencing many persons and writers inthe press, and suggesting certain points I shouldespecially deal with. He concluded, " It behoves youof all men to take up the gauntlet he has thus throwndown." I replied, declining the task, on the groundthat I did not think Lord Salisbury's influence in amatter of science of much importance, and that Ithought my time better employed in writing sucharticles on social and political, as well as generalscientific questions which then interested me. Tothis he replied that he did not at all agree with me,and that "articles in the papers show that LordSalisbury's argument is received with triumph, andunless it is disposed of, it will lead to a public reactionagainst the doctrine of evolution at large."As I still declined to go into this controversy,having dealt with the whole matter in my " Darwinism,"and still being sceptical as to any greateffects being produced by the address in question, hewrote me a month later as follows :" As I cannot

244 MY LIFEget you to deal with Lord Salisbury, Ihave decidedto do it myself, having been finally exasperated intodoing it by this honour paid to his address in France—the presentation of a translation to the FrenchAcademy. The impression produced upon somemillions of people in England cannot be allowed tobe thus further confirmed without protest." He thenasked me for some references, which I sent him, andhis criticism of Lord Salisbury duly appeared, andwas thoroughly well done, so that I had no reason toregret not having undertaken it myself. This wasthe latest letter I received from him ; but during hislast illness my wife, being in Brighton, called to makeinquiries after his health, and left our cards, and Ireceived a kindly expressed card in reply, written byhis amanuensis, but signed with his own initials.is dated November 28, 1903, ten days before hisdeath.Among his intimate friends, Herbert Spencer wasalways interesting from the often unexpected way inwhich he would apply the principles of evolution tothe commonest topics of conversation, and he wasalways ready to take part in any social amusement.He once or twice honoured me by coming to informalmeetings of friends at my little house in St. Mark'sCrescent, and I also met him at Sir John Lubbock'svery pleasant week-end visits, and also at Huxley's,in St. John's Wood. Once I remember dining informallywith Huxley, the only other guests beingTyndall and Herbert Spencer. The latter appearedin a dress-coat, whereupon Huxley and Tyndallchaffed him, as setting a bad example, and of beinguntrue to his principles, quoting his Essay on" Manners and Fashion," but all with the most goodhumouredbanter. Spencer took it in good part, andIt

"SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 245defended himself well, declaring that the coat was arelic of his early unregenerate days, and where couldhe wear it out if not at the houses of his best friends ?" Besides," he concluded, " you will please to observethat I am true to principle in that I do not wear awhite tie !Those who are acquainted only with the volumesof Herbert Spencer's " Synthetic Philosophy " canhave no idea of the lightness, the energy, and thebright satire of some of his more popular writings.Such are many of his earlier Essays, and in hisvolume on "The Study of Sociology" we findabundant examples of these qualities.With the remainder of my scientific friends I had,for the most part, only social intercourse, with nocorrespondence of general interest. Those I sawmost of during my residence in London, and withwhom I became most intimate, were Huxley, Tyndall,Sir John Lubbock, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Sir WilliamCrookes, Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. Francis Galton,Professor Alfred Newton, Dr. P. L. Sclater, Mr. St.George Mivart, Sir William Flower, Sir NormanLockyer, Professor R. Meldola, and many otherswhose names are only known to specialists. All theseI met very frequently at scientific meetings, or atsome of their houses at which I was occasionally aguest. To all of them I have been more or lessindebted for valuable information or useful suggestionsin the course of my work, and to these I must alsoadd Professor E. B. Poulton, of Oxford ; F. W. H.Myers, Professors W. F. Barrett and Percival Wright,of Dublin, with Professors Patrick Geddes, of Edinburgh,and J. A. Thomson, of Aberdeen. For thelast quarter of a century I have lived so completelyin the country tha.t I have ceased to have personal*

246 MY LIFEintercourse with most of them ;and of those stillamong us, I can only say here that I hope and believethey all continue to be my very good friends. I mayhave to refer to some of them again, in connectionwith special conditions of my life. Here I will onlygive a few indications as to my personal relationswith some of them.Of all those I have mentioned I became, I think,most intimate with Huxley. At an early date aftermy return home he asked me to his house inMarlborough Place, where I soon became veryfriendly with his children, then all quite young,all very animated, and not at all shy. Mrs. Huxleywas also exceedingly kind and pleasant, and thewhole domestic tone of the house was such as tomake me quite at my ease, which happens to mewith only a few persons. I used often to go there onSunday afternoons, or to spend the evening, while Iwas several times asked to dine to meet persons ofsimilar pursuits to my own.I often called in at Jermyn Street if I had anyquestion to ask Huxley, and he was always ready togive me all the information in his power ; while I ampretty sure I owe partly, if not largely, to his influencethe grant of the royal medal of the Royal Society,and perhaps also of the Darwin medal. Once onlythere was a partial disturbance of our friendly relations,of the exact cause of which I have no record orrecollection. I had published some paper in which,I believe, I had stated some view which he hadoriginated without mentioning his name, and in sucha way as to leave the impression that I put it forthas original. This I had no notion of doing ; but Ithink it was an idea which had become so familiar tome that I had quite forgotten who originated it. I

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 247fancy some one must have calledHuxley's attentionto it, and when I next met him, I think just as hewas leaving Jermyn Street to go home, he was muchput out, and said something intimating that afterwhat I had said in this paper, he wondered at myspeaking to him again. I forget what more was said,but on going home I looked at the article, and foundthat I had used some expression that might be interpretedas a slight to him. I immediately wrote aletter of explanation and regret, and Ihere give hisreply, which greatly relieved me, and our relations atonce resumed their usual friendly character."My dear Wallace," Very many thanks for your kind letter." I am exceedingly callous to the proceedings ofmy enemies, but (I suppose by way of compensation)I am very sensitive to thpse of valued friends, and Icertainly felt rather sore when I read your paper.But I dare say I should have 'consumed my ownsmoke ' in that matter as I do in most, if I had notbeen very tired, very hungry, very cold, and consequentlyvery irritable, when I met you yesterday.Pray forgive me if I was too plain spoken," And believe me, as always,"Jermyn Street, February 14, 1870."" Yours very faithfully,"T. H. Huxley.Although Huxley was as kind and genial a friendand companion as Darwin himself, and I was quite atease with him in his family circle, or in after-dinnertalk with a few of his intimates, and although he wastwo years younger than myself, yet I never got over afeeling of awe and inferiority when discussing with

248 MY LIFEhim any problem inevolution or allied subjects—aninferiority which I did not feel either with Darwin orSir Charles Lyell. This was due, I think, to the factthat an enormous amount of Huxley's knowledge wasof a kind of which I possessed only an irreducibleminimum, and in which I often felt my deficiency.In the general anatomy and physiology of the wholeanimal kingdom, living and extinct, Huxley wasa master, the equal — perhaps the superior—of thegreatest authorities on these subjects in the scientificworld ;whereas I had never had an hour's instructionin either of them, had never seen a dissection of anykind, and never had any inclination to practise the artmyself. Whenever I had to touch upon these subjects,or to use them to enforce my arguments, I had to getboth my facts and my arguments at second hand, andappeal to authority both for facts and conclusions fromthem.And because I was thus ignorant, and becauseI had a positive distaste for all forms of anatomicaland physiological experiment, I perhaps overestimatedthis branch of knowledge and looked up tothose who possessed it in a pre-eminent degree asaltogether above myself.With Darwin and Lyell, on the other hand,although both possessed stores of knowledge farbeyond my own, yet I did possess some knowledgeof the same kind, and felt myself in a position tomake use of their facts and those of all other studentsin the same fields of research quite as well as themajority of those who had observed and recorded them.I had, however, very early in life noticed, that menwith immense knowledge did not always know how todraw just conclusions from that knowledge, and thatI myself was quite able to detect their errors ofreasoning-. I have never hesitated to differ from

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 249Lyell, Darwin, and even Spencer, and, so far as Icanjudge, in all the cases in which I have so differed, theweight of scientific opinion is gradually turning inmy direction. In reasoning power upon the generalphenomena of nature or of society, I feel able to holdmy own with them ; my inferiority consists in mylimited knowledge, and perhaps also in my smallerpower of concentration for long periods of time.With Huxley also I felt quite on an equality whendealing with problems arising out of facts equallywell known to both of us ;but wherever the structureor functions of animals were concerned, he had thecommand of a body of facts so extensive and socomplex that no one who had not devoted years totheir practical study could safely attempt to makeuse of them. I therefore never ventured to infringein any way on his special departments of study,though I occasionally make use of some of the resultswhich he so lucidly explained.Among the more prominent naturalists, one ofmy chief friends, and the one whose society I mostenjoyed, was Professor St. George Mivart, who forsome years lived not far from us in London. Hewas a rather singular compound mentally, inasmuchas he was a sincere but thoroughly liberal Catholic,and an anti-Darwinian evolutionist. But his friendlygeniality, his refined manners, his interestingconversationand fund of anecdote of the most varied kind,rendered him a charming companion. His mostintimate friends seemed to be priests, one or two ofwhom were almost always among the guests, andoften the only ones, when I dined with him. Andthey, too, were excellent company, full of humourand anecdote of the most varied kind, though alsoready for serious talk or discussion ; but in either

250 MY LIFEcase, with none of the reserve or somewhat rigiddecorum of the majority of our clergy.Mivart was a very severe and often an unfair criticof Darwin, and I never concealed my opinion that hewas not justified in going so far as he did. I alsocriticized some of his own writings, but he took itall very good-naturedly, and we always remainedexcellent friends. Besides natural history we hadother tastes in common. He enjoyed country life,and for some time had a small country house in thewilds of Sussex, about midway between Forest Rowand Hayward's Heath, where we sometimes spent afew days. He was also greatly interested in psychicalresearch and spiritualistic phenomena ; but this Ishall refer toagain when I come to my own experiencesand inquiries on this intensely interestingsubject.About a year or two after I had returned home,Sir James Brooke had also returned to England, andhad retired to a small estate at the foot of Dartmoor,where he lived in a comfortable cottage-farmhouseamid the wild scenery in which he delighted, I hadmet him once or twice in London, and, I think in thesummer of 1863 or 1864, he invited me to spend aweek with him in Devonshire, to meet his formerprivate secretary and my old friend in Sarawak, Mr.(now Sir Spencer) St. John. We had a very pleasanttime, strolling about the district or taking rides overDartmoor ;while at meals we had old-time events totalk over, with discussions of all kinds of political andsocial problems in the evening. At the same timeLady Burdett-Coutts, with her friend Mrs. Brown,were staying near, and often drove over and took usall for some more distant excursions.This meeting and my friendship with Sir James

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 251Brooke led to my receiving several invitations to dinein Stratton Street, where my friend George Silk wasalso a frequent guest ; but my unfortunate habit ofspeaking my thoughts too plainly broke off theacquaintance. The rajah's nephew, Captain Brooke,who had been formerly designated as Sir James'ssuccessor under the Malay title of Tuan Muda (younglord), had done or written something (I forget what)to which Sir James objected, and a disagreementensued, which resulted in the captain being deposedfrom the heirship, and his younger brother Charles,the present rajah, being nominated instead. As I wasequally friendly and intimate with both parties andheard both sides, I thought the captain had beenrather hardly treated, and one day, when the subjectwas mentioned at Stratton Street, I ventured to sayso. This evidently displeased Lady Burdett-Coutts,and I was never invited again—a matter which didnot at all disturb me, as the people I met there werenot very interesting to me. When Sir James Brookeheard of my indiscretion, he wrote to me very kindly,saying that he knew that I was the captain's friendand had a perfect right to take his part, and that mydoing so did not in the least offend him and wouldmake no difference in our relations, and I continuedto receive friendly letters from him till he went toBorneo for the last time, in 1866. Soon after hisreturn he died at his Devonshire home, in June, 1868.I have given my estimate of his character and ofhis beneficent work at Sarawak in my " MalayArchipelago."Among the dearest of my friends, the one towardswhom I felt more like a brother than to any otherperson, was Dr. Richard Spruce, one of the mostcultivated and charming of men, as well as one of the

252 MY LIFEmost enthusiastic and observing of botanists.As helived in Yorkshire after 1867, I only saw him atrather long intervals, but I generally took the opportunityof lecture engagements in the north to payhim a few days' visit. Our correspondence alsowas scanty, as he was a great invalid and couldnot write much, and I only preserved such lettersas touched upon subjects connected with my ownwork.One of the most interesting, amusing, and eccentricbecame acquainted with during my residencemen Iin London, and with whom I soon became quiteintimate, was Dr. T. Purland, a dentist, living inMortimer Street, Cavendish Square. He was astout, dark, middle-aged man, with somewhat Jewishfeatures, and of immense energy and vitality—one ofthose men whose words pour out in a torrent, andwho have always something wise or witty to say.He had been a great coin-collector, and had manyanecdotes to tell of rarities hit upon accidentally.He had an unbounded admiration for Greek coinsas works of art, and would dilate upon their beautiesas compared with the poor and inartistic works ofour day. He was something of an Egyptologist, andhad many odds and ends of antiquities, includingteeth from mummies and dentists' instruments foundin the old tombs and sarcophagi. He was a widowerwith three growing-up children, and had been obligedto part with all the more valuable parts of his collectionto educate them.He was a very powerful mesmerist, and helped,with Dr. Elliotson and others, in establishing themesmeric hospital then in existence, and could succeedin sending patients into the mesmeric trance whenother operators failed.He was one of the few meo

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w/m^ Cc^i •Wr ^/^'^^^X^^ryuYC^^ 1''^/Z-:.iimn i I II !'»*[7;^.'/. 253.

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 253at that ,time who had been up in a balloon (withGreen, the celebrated aeronaut, I think), and oneevening at our house in St. Mark's Crescent, whenHuxley and Tyndall were present, he made someremarks which interested Tyndall, who thereuponasked him many questions as to his sensations, thegeneral appearance of the earth, clouds, etc., to all ofwhich Dr. Purland replied with such promptitude andintelligence that all our friends were soon gatheredround to hear the discussion, which went on a longtime.I possess about a dozen of his letters—replies toinvitations, remarks on reading my early books, orother matters— all so amusing and so well illustratingthe character and individuality of the man that I willnow print some of them, and give a few in facsimileto show his style of caricature illustration.The letter opposite was, I think, the first I hadfrom him, and I only give it to illustrate two of hispeculiarities—his gastronomical taste indicated by" Beer Month" for October, and the "piece of plate"represented by half a beautiful little print in blue ofan old willow-pattern plate pasted in opposite thesignature.The next letter is in answer to an invitation totea. He had been reading my " Malay Archipelago,"and the reference on the envelope (here reproduced)is to the description of the king bird of paradise.The letter itself is in hieroglyphic form, intimatingthat he had other engagements, indicating himselfby his large nose and scrap-book under his arm.The next I shall give is an account of the sadresults of reading one of my books aloud. Theheading is a pseudonym for his operating room.

254 MY LIFE" Fang Castle, June, 1870," Therm, jyl."Thanks worthy Signor for the entertainmentafforded by your Boke on Natural Selection. Butgood as ' Natural Selection ' is, or maybe : I likeMutual Selection much better ; and to my thinkingit is of much more importance : ex. gr. mutual selectionis this—A Lady asks me to become her husbandI ax her to become my wife—that's Mutual Selection—aint it 'Natural'.? The question of the 'fittest'is a subsequent affair : as is the Creation by birth,etc., etc." But the pleasure was sadly and suddenly interrupted: I was reading aloud, and got on pretty wellthrough p. 90-91. At 92 Jaws ached terribly! but atp. 94 and 5, even vulcanite could not stand it ; andto my horror my upper set of teeth gave way with acrash ! divided between the right lateral and thecanine. I was helpless ; and but for an old piece inreserve, my enjoyment of a succulent Roast Pigwould have been entirely destroyed : it cost me dear—quite the value of a collection : I must give upreading scientific {?) names aloud." I picked up a good specimen of Lignum ambulansfor a shilling a week ago : and it now forms a prominentfeature in our surgery, We are promised aPhyllium in a few days : and a Kallima paralekta.The Rosa Canina is a puzzle at present : I never sawa Red Canine tooth ! Speaking of teeth—Huxleyin his Physiology says Bicuspids never have morethan two fangs—He knows nothing about it. I havethem with three—Molars with 4, 5, and 6 ! In mylecture case, now before me, there are several : theyare not as common as dirt or earwigs in the country !but they often turn up.

77

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 255" I begin the second reading to-night—not aloud— ok no !" With our best Salaam to the Lady, I remain" Thine in amity,"Theodosius Purland."The last I have was an anecdote of animal sagacity,a subject then being discussed in the papers, and ofwhich he had given me some examples. I give aprint of it, as it is a good example of his caricaturedrawing and of one of his fantastic signatures.Our pleasant intimacy came to an end in a mostabsurd manner. Dr. Purland was, as I have said, apowerful and enthusiastic mesmerist, and had givenhis services for many surgical operations. Just asthe opposition of the chiefs of the medical professionwas dying away, and they were beginning toacknowledge the great value of the mesmeric sleepin alleviating pain and greatly facilitating seriousoperations, the discovery of anaesthetics offered arival, which, though much more dangerous, was morecertain and more easily applied in emergencies, andthis led to the discontinuance of the use of mesmerismas a remedial agent. This naturally disgusted Dr.Purland, who, with the whole energy of his character,hated chloroform, ether, and nitrous-oxide gas, andwould have nothing to do with them in his profession.Besides, he despised any one who could not bear thepain of tooth-drawing, and would turn away any patientwho required the gas to be administered. A yearor two after the date of his last letter I had occasionto approach him in his professional capacity.Entirelyforgetting his objections, which, in fact, I had hardlybelieved to be real, after making an appointment Iasked him to get a doctor to administer.nitrous-oxide,

256 MY LIFEas I could not stand the pain of three or four extractionsin succession. This thoroughly enraged him.He wrote me a most violent letter, saying he couldnot continue to be the friend of a man who could askhim to do such a thing, and gave me the name of anacquaintance of his who had no such scruples andwhose work was thoroughly good. And that was thelast communication I ever had from Dr. Purland.I will conclude this chapter with a few wordsabout those meetings of the British Association atwhich I was present. In 1862 I was invited by mykind friend, Professor Alfred Newton, to be his guestat Magdalen College during the meeting, in companywith a party of scientific friends, chiefly ornithologists.This was my first visit both to Cambridge and to theAssociation, and under such pleasant conditions Ithoroughly enjoyed both. Besides the number ofeminent men of science I had the opportunity ofhearing or seeing, I had the pleasure of spending anevening with Charles Kingsley in his own house, andenjoying his stimulating conversation. There wasalso a slight recrudescence of the evolution controversyin the rather painful dispute between Professor RichardOwen and Huxley, supported by Flower, on certainalleged differences between the brains of man andapes,I so much enjoyed the meeting, both in itsscientific and social aspects, that I attended the nexteleven meetings, and generally took part in some ofthe discussions, besides occasionally reading shortpapers. One of the most enjoyable meetings sociallywas that at Exeter, where I and a large party ofscientific men were hospitably entertained at a countrymansion eight or ten miles from the city, into whichwe were driven and brought back every day. Among

—SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 257the guests there was Professor Rankin, who entertainedus by singing some of his own descriptive or wittycompositions, especially the " Song of the EngineDriver," and that inimitable Irish descriptive song on"The City of Mullingar." On this occasion thereappeared one of the most humorous parodies of thework of' the Association that has ever been written,called " Exeter Change for British Lions."It was inthe form of a small magazine, giving reports of themeetings, with absurd papers, witty verses, and cleverparodies of the leadinghimself in his most humorous vein.members, all worthy of HoodI was also honoured by being admitted to thefraternity of the " Red Lions," who fed togetherduring each meeting of the Association and expressedapplause by gentle roars and wagging of (coat) tails.On these occasions all kinds of jokes were permissible,and speeches were made and songs sung by thescientific humourists assembled. At Edinburgh, in1 87 1, Lord Neaves, a well-known wit and song-writer,was a guest, and gave us some of his own compositions,especially that on " The Origin of Speciesa la Darwin"—which he recited standing up andwith very fine humour. The following verses aresamples :" A very tall Pig with a very long noseSends forth a proboscis right down to his toes,And then by the name of an Elephant goes,Which Nobody can Deny !" An Ape with a pliable thumb and big brain,When the gift of the gab he had managed to gain.As Lord of Creation established his reign,"Which Nobody can Deny !And so on for twelve verses, amid encouraging roarsand great final tail-wagging.S

258 MY LIFEAt Glasgow, in 1876, I was President of theBiological Section, and our meeting was renderedrather lively by the announcement of a paper by ProfessorW. F. Barrett on experiments in thoughtreading.The reading of this was opposed by Dr. W.B. Carpenter and others, but as it had been acceptedby the section, it was read. Then followed a ratherheated discussion ; but there were several supportersof the paper, among whom was Lord Rayleigh, andthe public evidently took the greatest interest in thesubject, the hall being crowded.After having studiedthe matter some years longer, Professor Barrett, withthe assistance of the late Frederick Myers, ProfessorEdmund Gurney, and a few other friends,Sidgwick,founded the Society for Psychical Research, whichhas collected a very large amount of evidence and isstill actively at work.My wife and I were entertained at Glasgow by Mr.and Mrs. Mirlees, and at one of their dinner-parties weenjoyed thecompany of William Pengelly, of Torquay,the well-known explorer of Kent's Cavern, whoseacquaintance I had made some years before whilespending a few days at Torquay with my friend andpublisher, Mr. A. Macmillan. He sat on one side ofour hostess, and my wife and I on the other, andduring the whole dinner he kept up such a flow ofamusing and witty conversation that the entire party(a large one) looked at us with envy. He was certainlyamong the most genial and witty men I haveever met, and could make even dry scientific subjectsattractive by his humorous way of narrating them.After this year I felt that I had pretty wellexhausted the interests of the Association meetings,and preferred to take my autumn holiday, with mywife and two children, either by the sea or among the

SPENCER, HUXLEY, AND OTHERS 259mountains, where we could quietly enjoy the beautiesof nature in aspects somewhat new to us ; the onlyexception I afterwards made being the jubilee meetingat York, and even here the chief attractions werethe beautiful Alpine gardens of Mr. Backhouse, theexcursion to Rievaulx Abbey, and a visit afterwardsto my friend Dr. Spruce in his retirement at Welburn,near Castle Howard.

CHAPTER XVIIHOME LIFE AND WORK(187O-1885)In March, 1870, I took an old cottage at Barking,where I was still almost in London. Though Barkingwas a miserable village, surrounded by marshes andugly factories, there were yet some pleasant walksalong the Thames and among the meadows, whilewithin a quarter of a mile of us was a well-preservedtumulus close to an old farmhouse. Here, too, wehad some very pleasant neighbours. Sir AntonisBrady at Stratford, whom I had often visited with myfriend Silk, and who had a fine collection of fossilsfrom the gravels of the district ; Mr. C. M. Ingleby,the Shakespearean commentator, who was interestedin spiritualism ; and more especially Colonel Hope,V.C., who was living at Parsloes, an old manor housewithin an easy walk, and with whose amiable andintellectual family we spent many pleasant Sundayafternoons.In the following year I found near the village ofGrays, on the Thames, twenty miles from London, apicturesque old chalk-pit which had been disused solong that a number of large elms and a few othertrees had grown up in its less precipitous portions.The chalk here was capped by about twenty feet of

HOME LIFE AND WORK 261Thanet sand and pleistocene gravel, and from thefields at the top there was a beautiful view over Erithto the Kent hills and down a reach of the Thames toGravesend, forming a most attractive site for a houseAfter some difficulty I obtained a lease for ninetynineyears of four acres, comprising the pit itself, anacre of the field on the plateau above, and about anequal amount of undulating cultivable ground betweenthe pit and the lane which gave access to it. I hadto pay seven pounds an acre rent, as the owner couldnot sell it, and though I thought it very dear, as somuch of it was unproductive, the site was so picturesque,and had such capabilities of improvement, thatI thought it would be a fair investment.As there was a deep bed of rough gravel on myground and there were large cement works at Grays,I thought it would be economical to build of concrete,and I found an architect of experience, who madethe plans and specifications, while I myself saw thatthe gravel was properly washed. In order to obtainwater in ample quantity for building and also forgarden and other purposes, I had a well sunk abouta hundred feet into a water-bearing stratum of thechalk, and purchased a small iron windmill with atwo-inch force pump to obtain the water. I madetwo small concrete ponds in the garden—one closeto the windmill—and a large tank at the top of a lowtower to supply house water. My friend Geach, themining engineer whom I had met in Timor andSingapore, was now at home, and took an immenseinterest in my work. He helped me to find thewindmill—the only one that we could discover in anyof the engineering shops in London—and the wellbeing completed, he and I, with the assistance of mygardener, did all the work of fitting the pump at the

262 MY LIFEbottom of the well with connecting-rods and guidesup to the windmill, which also we erected and set towork ourselves. As the windmill had no regulatingapparatus, and, when the wind became strong, revolvedfar too rapidly, and even bent the connectingrod,I attachedto the ends of the iron vanes piecesof plate iron about a foot square, fixed at right anglesto the line of motion. These acted as brakes as soonas the revolution became moderately rapid, but hadlittle effect when it was slow ; and the arrangementworked very well.We got into the house in March, 1872, and Ibegan to take that pleasure in gardening, and especiallyin growing uncommon and interesting as well asbeautiful plants, which in various places, under manydifficulties and with mingled failures and successes,has been a delight and solace to me ever since.At this time I was somewhat doubtful in whatparticular direction to work, as I found that I couldnot now feel sufficient interest in any branch ofsystematic zoology to devote myself to the minutestudy required for the classification and descriptionof any important portion of my collections. Therewere many other men who could do that better thanI could, while my special tastes led me to somework which involved a good deal of reasoning andgeneralization. It was, I think, my two friends.Professor A. Newton and Dr. Sclater, who urged meto undertake a general review of the geographicaldistribution of animals, and after a little discussionof the subject I came to the conclusion that I mightperhaps be able to do it ; although, if I had beenaware of the difficulties of the task, I should probablynot have undertaken it.As this was the largest and perhaps the most

l*»HOME LIFE AND WORK 263important scientific work I have done, I may perhapsbe allowed here to say a few words as to its designand execution. I had already, in several of mypapers and articles, explained my general views ofthe purport and scope of geographical distribution asa distinct branch of biological science. I had acceptedand supported Dr. P. L. Sclater's division of theearth's surface into six great zoological regions,founded upon a detailed examination of the distributionof birds, but equally applicable to mammalia,reptiles, and several other great divisions, and bestserving to illustrate and explain the diversities andapparent contradictions in the distribution of all landanimals ; and I may now add that the additionalfacts accumulated, and the various divisions suggestedduring the thirty years that have since elapsed, havenot in the least altered my opinions on this matter.In whatever work I have done I have alwaysaimed at systematic arrangement and uniformity oftreatment throughout. But here the immense extentof the subject, the overwhelming mass of detail, andabove all the excessive diversities in the amount ofknowledge of the different classes of animals, renderedit quite impossible to treat all alike. My preliminarystudies had already satisfied me that it was quiteuseless to attempt to found any conclusions on thosegroups which were comparatively little known, eitheras regards the proportion of species collected anddescribed, or as regards their systematic classification.It was also clear that as the present distribution ofanimals is necessarily due to their past distribution,the greatest importance must be given to those groupswhose fossil remains in the more recent strata arethe most abundant and the best known. Theseconsiderations led me to limit my work in itsdetailed

264 MY LIFEsystematic groundwork, and study of the principlesand laws of distribution, to the mammalia and birds,and to apply the principles thus arrived at to anexplanation of the distribution of other groups, suchas reptiles, fresh-water fishes, land and fresh-watershells, and the best-known insect orders. The work,entitled " The Geographical Distribution of Animals,"was published in 1876, in two thick volumes, and itoccupied a good deal of my time during the fouryears I lived at Grays.No one is more aware than myself of the defectsof the work, a considerable portion of which are dueto the factthat it was written a quarter of a centurytoo soon—at a time when both zoological and palaeontologicaldiscovery were advancing with great rapidity,while new and improved classifications of some ofthe great classes and orders were in constant progress.But though many of the details given in thesevolumes would now require alteration, there is noreason to believe that the great features of the workand general principles established by it will requireany important modification. Its most severe criticsare our American cousins, who, possessing a " region "of their own, have been able to explore it veryrapidly ; while from several references made to it, Ithink it is appreciated on the European continentmore than it is in our own country.While this work was in progress I wrote a considerablenumber of reviews and articles, publishedmy book on " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism,"and wrote the articles " Acclimatization " for the" Encyclopaedia Britannica."In 1876 I sold the house at Grays and removed toDorking, where we lived for two years. But finding

HOME LIFE AND WORK 265the climate relaxing, we moved next to Croydon,chiefly in order to send our children first to a kindergarten,and then to a high school, and remained theretill May, 1881.During this period, besides my usual reviews andarticles, I prepared my address as president of theBiological Section of the British Association atGlasgow, wrote the article on " Distribution —Zoology" for the " Encyclopsedia Britannica," andprepared a volume on " Tropical Nature," which waspublished in 1878. In this work I gave a generalsketch of the climate, vegetation, and animal life of theequatorial zone of the tropics from my own observationsin both hemispheres.As soon as we were settled at Croydon, I beganto work at a volume which had been suggested tome by the necessary limitations of my " GeographicalDistribution of Animals." In that work I had, in thefirst place, dealt with the larger groups, coming downto familiesand genera, but taking no account of thevarious problems raised by the distribution of particularspecies. In the next place, I had taken littleaccount of the various islands of the globe, except asforming subregions or parts of subregions. But I hadlong seen the great interest and importance of these,and especially of Darwin's great discovery of the twoclasses into which they are naturally divided—oceanicand continental islands. I had already given lectureson this subject, and had become aware of the greatinterest attaching to them, and the great light theythrew upon the means of dispersal of animalsand plants, as well as upon the past changes, bothphysical and biological, of the earth's surface. Inthe third place, the means of dispersal and colonizationof animals is so connected with, and often

266 MY LIFEdependent on, that of plants, that a considerationof the latter is essential to any broad views as to thedistribution of life upon the earth, while they throwunexpected light upon these exceptional means ofdispersal which, because they are exceptional, areoften of paramount importance in leading to theproduction of new species and in thus determiningthe nature of insular floras and faunas.Having no knowledge of scientific botany, itneeded some courage, or, as some may think, presumption,to deal with this aspect of the problem;but, on the other hand, I had long been excessivelyfond of plants, and was always interested in their distribution.The subject, too, was easier to deal with,on account of the much more complete knowledgeof the detailed distribution of plants than of animals,and also because their classification was in a moreadvanced and stable condition. Again, some of themost interesting of the islands of the globe had beencarefully studied botanically by such eminentbotanists as Sir Joseph Hooker, for the Galapagos,New Zealand, Tasmania, and the Antarctic islands ;Mr. H. C. Watson for the Azores ; Mr. J. G. Bakerfor Mauritius and other Mascarene islands ; whilethere were floras by competent botanists of the SandwichIslands, Bermuda, and St. Helena. With suchexcellent material, and with the further assistanceof Sir Joseph Hooker's invaluable essays on therelations of the southern and northern floras, I feltthat my work would be mainly of a statistical nature,asinterpreted by those general principles of organicevolution which were my especial study.But I also found it necessary to deal with a totallydistinct branch of science—recent changes of climateas dependent on changes of the earth's surface,

HOME LIFE AND WORK 267including the causes and effects of the glacial epoch,since these were among the most powerful agents incausing the dispersal of all kinds of organisms, andthus bringing about the actual distribution that nowprevails. This led me to a careful study of Mr.James Croll's remarkable works on the subject of theastronomical causes of glacial and interglacial periods,and I had much correspondence with him on difficultpoints of his theory. While differing on certaindetails, I adopted the main features of his theory,combining with it the effects of changes in heightand extent of land which form an important adjunctto the meteorological agents. To this subject Idevoted two of my longestand most argumentativechapters, introducing many considerations not beforetaken account of, and leading, I still think, to a moresatisfactory explanation of the causes that actuallybrought about the glacial epoch than any which havesince been put forth.Besides this partially new theory of the causes ofglacial epochs, the work contained a fuller statementof the various kinds of evidence proving that thegreat oceanic basins are permanent features of theearth's surface, than had before been given ; also adiscussion of the mode of estimating the durationgeological periods, and some considerationsofleadingto the conclusion that organic change is now lessrapid than the average, and therefore that less timeis required for this change than has hitherto beenthought necessary. I was also, I believe, the first topoint out the great differences between the moreancientcontinental islands and those of more recentorigin, with the interesting conclusions as to geographicalchanges afforded by both ;while the mostimportant novelty is the theory by which I explained

268 MY LIFEthe occurrence of northern groups of plants in allparts of the southern hemisphere—a phenomenonwhich Sir Joseph Hooker had pointed out, but hadthen no means of explaining.This volume, on " Island Life," involved muchdetailed work as regards the species of plants andanimals, information on which points I had to obtainfrom numerous specialists, involving a great amountof correspondence ; while it was illustrated by a largenumber of maps and diagrams, most of which weredrawn by myself. The preparation and writing thisbook occupied me for about three years, and it waspublished in 1880. It has gone through threeeditions, which have involved a large amount ofcorrections and additions ; and it is a work whichseems to have opened up a new world of interestingfact and theory to a large number of readers, fromseveral of whom I have received letters expressingthe delight and instruction it has given them.In 1878 I wrote a volume on Australasia forStanford's " Compendium of Geography and Travel,"in which I gave a fuller account than usual of thephysical geography, the natural history, and thegeology of Australia. In a later edition of this work,in 1893, I gave a much fuller account of the nativesof Australia, and adduced evidence for the theorythat they are really a primitive type of the greatCaucasian family of mankind, and are by no meansso low in intellect as has been usually believed. Thisview seems now to be generally accepted.In 1 881 a society was formed for advocating thenationalization of the land, of which I was electedpresident, and in 1882 I published a volume, entitled**Land Nationalization : its Necessity and its Aims."Some account of this movement will be given in a

—"—HOME LIFE AND WORK 269future chapter. Its publication brought me letters ofsympathy and general agreement from Sir DavidWedderburn, M.P., Lord Mount-Temple, and manyother friends and correspondents.In this year, on June 29, the Dublin Universitygave me the honorary degree of LL.D. I will heregive the very short but flattering Latin speech of thepublic orator in introducing me, with a translation bymy friend Mr. Comerford Casey"Introduco quoque Alfredum RusSEL WAL-LACE, Darwinii aemulum, immo Darwinium alterum.Neque hunc neque ilium variae eluserunt speciesatque ora ferarum. Darwinius nempe lauri foetusauricomos decerpsit primus. Sed quid querimur ?"' Primo avulso non deficit alterAureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo.' "" I introduce also Alfred Russel Wallace, thefriendly rival of Darwin, indeed, a second Darwin.Equally familiar to both are the different species andvarieties of animals. Darwin, indeed was the firstto pluck the golden laurel-branch. Yet through thisdid Wallace suffer no eclipse ; for as Virgil sangI"' One branch removed, another was to hand :Another, bright and golden as the first.'In the year 1881 I removed to Godalming, wherehad built a small cottage near the water-tower andat about the same level as the Charterhouse School.We had been partly induced to come here to be nearmy very old friend Mr. Charles Hayward, whom Ihad first known during my residence at Neath aboutforty years before. He was living with his nephew,the late C. F. Hayward, a well-known architect, whosechildren were about the same age as my own, We

2/0 MY LIFEfound here some very pleasant friends among themasters at Charterhouse School, as well as amongresidents who had come to the place for its generaleducational advantages or for the charm of its ruralscenery. We had here about half an acre of groundwith oak trees and hazel bushes (from which I namedour place " Nutwood Cottage "), and during the eightyears we lived there I thoroughly enjoyed making anew garden, in which, and a small greenhouse, Icultivated at one time or other more than a thousandspecies of plants. The soil was a deep bed of theLower Greensand formation, with a thin surface layer ofleaf-mould, and it was very favourable to many kindsof bulbous plants as well as half-hardy shrubs, severalof which grew there more freely and flowered betterthan in any of my other gardens.In 1884 Messrs. Pears offered a prize of ;^IC)0 forthe best essay on "The Depression of Trade," andProfessor Leone Levi had agreed to be one of thejudges. As I had been for some time disgusted withthe utter nonsense of many of the articles on thesubject in the press, while what seemed to me theessential and fundamental causes were never so muchas referred to, I determined to compete, though with-The essay was sentout any expectation of success.in some time during the summer of 1885, and in JulyI received a letter from Professor Leone Levi, inwhich he writes ": My colleague and myself weregreatly pleased with the essay bearing a motto fromGoldsmith. We, however, did not see our way torecommend it for the prize, especially on account ofdisagreement as to the remedies suggested. But, theessay having great merit, we thought it proper to openthe envelope in order to correspond with the author."

HOME LIFE AND WORK 271He then asked me if I would allow the first partof my essay, upon " Conditions and Causes," to beprinted with the other essays.As my proposed remedies were the logical conclusionfrom the " Conditions and Causes," which Ihad detailed, and of which the validity seemed to beadmitted, I of course declined this offer, and Messrs.Macmillan agreed to publish it under the title, " BadTimes : An Essay on the Present Depression ofTrade, tracing it to its Sources in enormous ForeignLoans, excessive War Expenditure, the Increase ofSpeculation and of Millionaires, and the Depopulationof the Rural Districts ; with Suggested Remedies."This little book was widely noticed, but most ofthe reviewers adverted to the fact that I was anadvocate of land-nationalization, and therefore thatmy proposed remedies were unsound. But a few weremore open-minded, and the Newcastle Chronicledeclared it to be " the weightiest contribution to thesubject made in recent times."

CHAPTER XVIIIA LECTURE TOUR IN AMERICA(1886-1887)Towards the close of the year 1885 I received aninvitation from the Lowell Institute of Boston, U.S.A.,to deliver a course of lectures in the autumn andwinter of 1886. After some consideration I acceptedthis, and began their preparation, taking for mysubject those portions of the theory of evolution withwhich I was most familiar. At this time I had madethe acquaintance of the Rev. J. G. Wood, the wellknownwriter of many popular works on naturalhistory. He had been twice on lecturing tours toAmerica, and gave me some useful information,besides recommending an agent he had employedand who had arranged lectures for him at variousschools and colleges.I had already lectured in manyEnglish towns on the permanence of the great oceans,on oceanic and continental islands, and on variousproblems of geographical distribution. To these subjectsI now added one on " The Darwinian Theory,"illustrated by a set of original diagrams of variation.I also wrote three lectures on the " Colours ofAnimals (and Plants)," dwelling especially on protectivecolours, warning colours, and mimicry, and forthese I had to obtain a series of lantern slides coloured

"A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 273from nature, so as to exhibit the most strikingexamples of these curious and beautiful phenomena.I left London on October 9 in a rather slowsteamer, in order to have a cabin to myself at amoderate price, and landed at New York on the23rd, after a cold and disagreeable passage.My tour in America lasted about ten months, andextended from New York, Boston, and Washingtonto San Francisco, and back to Montreal and Quebec.I visited and lectured at many of the great cities, andmet many well-known and intellectual people, includingamongst others Oliver Wendell Holmes, JamesRussell Lowell, and Edward Waldo Emerson, sonof the philosopher. I also had the opportunity oseeing some of the finest scenery and most interestingobjects in North America.Whilst in California I once more had the pleasureof meeting my brother John and his wife, neither ofwhom I had seen for nearly forty years.As American cities have been so frequentlydescribed, I will here only give an account of a fewof the interesting sights or natural objects which mostimpressed me, with some remarks on my generalimpression of the country and people.The first excursion I made in America was a tripup the Hudson River to West Point, passing thecelebrated " Palisades " —a continuous row of cHfifsabout two hundred feet high, and extending fornearly twenty miles on the south bank of the river.They look exactly like a huge fence of enormoussplit trees, placed vertically, side by side, but arereally basaltic columns like those at the Giant'sCauseway, crowning a slope of fallen rock. In placesthe well-wooded country was very beautiful, with theautumnal tints of bright red, purple, and yellow,T

274 MY LIFEthough we were a little late to see them in perfection.Where we landed, I was delighted to see wild vinesclambering over the trees, as well as the Virginiacreeper, and there were also sumachs and othercharacteristic American plants. The situation of thegreat American Military College is splendid, on anelevated promontory in a bend of the Hudson, surroundedby rugged wooded hills, and with magnificentviews up and down the river.In March, 1887, on my way back from Toronto(where I had been to lecture) to Washington, Ispentfour days at Niagara, living at the old hotel on theCanadian side, in a room that looked out on the greatfall, and where its continuous musical roar soothedme to sleep. It was a hard frost, and the Americanfalls had great ice-mounds below them, and rangesof gigantic icicles near the margins. At night thesound was like that of a strong, steady wind at sea,but even more like the roar of the London streetsheard from the middle of Hyde Park. When in beda constant vibration was felt. I spent my whole timewandering about the falls, above and below, on theCanadian and the American sides, roaming over GoatIsland and the Three Sisters Islands far in the rapidsabove the Horse-shoe Fall, which are almost asimpressive as the fall itself. The small Luna Islanddividing the American falls was a lovely sight ; thearbor-vitae trees {Thuya Americana), with which it iscovered, young and old, some torn and jagged, butall to the smallest twigs coated with glistening icefrom the frozen spray, looked like groves of gigantictreecorals, forming the most magnificent and fairylikescene I have ever beheld. All the islands arerocky and picturesque, the trees draped with wildvines and Virginia creepers, and afford a sample ofJ

;A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 275the original American forest vegetation of very greatinterest. During these four days I was almostentirely alone, and was glad to be so, I was nevertired of the ever-changing aspects of this grand illustrationof natural forces engaged in modelling theearth's surface. Usually the centre of the great falls,where the depth and force of the water are greatest,is hidden by the great column of spray which risesto the height of four hundred or five hundred feetbut occasionally the wind drifts it aside, and allowsthe great central gulf of falling water to be seennearly from top to bottom—a most impressive sight.Before I left Washington, Judge Hoi man, withwhose family I sat at meals, took me one morning tocall upon the President, Mr. Cleveland. The judgetold him I was going to visit California, and thatturned the conversation on wine, raisins, etc., whichdid not at all interest me. There was no ceremonywhatever, but, of course, I had nothing special to sayto him, and he had nothing special to say to me, theresult being that we were both rather bored, and gladto get it over as soon as we could. I then went tosee the White House, some of the reception-rooms ofwhich were very fine ;but there was a great absenceof works of art, the only paintings I saw beingportraits of Washington and his wife.Washington itself is a fine and even picturesque city,owing to its designer having departed from the rigidrectangularity of most American cities by the additionof a number of broad diagonal avenues crossing therectangles at different angles, and varying from oneto four miles long. The broadest of these are onehundred and sixty feet wide, planted with two doubleavenues of trees, and with wide grassy spaces betweenthe houses and the pavements. Wherever these

'276MY LIFEdiagonal avenues intersect the principal streets, thereare quadrangular open spaces forming gardens orsmall parks, planted with shrubs and trees, and withnumerous seats.When I left Washington for Cincinnati I broke myjourney to visit the caves at Louray, which had beendiscovered about ten years before. I and a few othervisitors walked through the best parts (which are litup with electric lights) for about two hours, through avariety of passages, galleries, and halls, some reachinga hundred feet in height, some having streams orpools of water, and some chasms of unknown depth,such as most limestone caves possess. Everywherethere are stalactites of the most varied forms, andoften of the most wonderful beauty. Usually theyform pillars as of some strange architecture, sometimesthey hang down like gigantic icicles, one of these oversixty feet long being with its dripping apex only afew inches from the floor. In some places thestalactites resemble cascades, in others organs, andseveral are like statues, and have received appropriatenames. Many of them are most curiously ribbed ;others, again, have branches growing out of them atright angles a few inches long—a most puzzlingphenomenon. There is a Moorish tent, in which finewhite drapery hangs in front of a cave, a ballroombeautifully ornamented with snow-white stalactiticcurtains, etc. Some of these, when struck, give outmusical notes, and a tune can be played on them.A photograph of the Moorish tent and the curiouspillars near it is here reproduced. The curtain is likealabaster, and when a lamp is held behind it, theeffect is most beautiful. In many places there arestalagmitic floors, beneath which is clay filled withbones of bats, etc., and at one spot human bones are

THE MOORISH TENT, LOURAY CAVERN.\_Toface p. 276.

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 277embedded in the floor under a chasm opening above.The print of an Indian mocassin is also shown petrifiedby the stalagmite. Rats and mice are found with verylarge eyes ; and there are some blind insects andSeveral milescentipedes, as in the Mammoth Cave.of caverns and passages have already been explored,but other wonders may still be hidden in its deeperrecesses.From Cincinnati I continued my journey westward,paying short visits to Kansas City, Denver, andSalt Lake City, and then on to San Francisco, whereImet my brother John.A few days after my arrival in San Francisco Iwas taken for a drive by a friend, Dr. Gibbons, intothe foothills to see the remains of the Redwood forestthat once covered them, but which had all beenruthlessly destroyed to supply timber for the city andtowns around. We wound about among the hillsand valleys, all perfectly dry, till we reached aheight of fifteen hundred feet, where many clumps ofyoung redwoods were seen, and, stopping at one ofthese, Dr. Gibbons took me inside a circle of youngtrees from twenty to thirty feet high, and showed methat they all grew on the outer edge of the hugecharred trunk of an old tree that had been burnt down.This stump was thirty-four feet in diameter, or quiteas large as the very largest of the more celebratedBig Trees, the Sequoia gigantea. The doctor hadsearched all over these hills, and this was the largeststump he had found, though there were numbersbetween twenty and thirty feet. The tree derivesits botanical name, sempervirens (ever-growing) fromthe peculiar habit of producing young trees from theburnt or decayed roots of the old trees. Theseenormous trees, being too large to cut down, were

—2/8 MY LIFEburnt till sufficiently weakened to fall, and this particulartree had been so burnt about forty yearsbefore.While staying with my brother inStockton, Cal.,I went with him and his daughter to spend a fewdays in the Yosemite Valley. The journey theretwo hours by rail and two days by coach—was veryinteresting, but often terribly dusty. The first daywe were driving for nine hours in the foothills, amongold mining camps with their ruined sheds andreservoirs and great gravel-heaps, now being graduallyovergrown by young pines and shrubs. Here andthere we passed through bits of forest with tall pinesand shrubby undergrowth, but generally the countrywas bare of fine trees, scraggy, but burnt up, and theroads insufferably dusty. At 9 p.m. we reachedPriest's (two thousand five hundred feet elevation),where we had supper, bed, and breakfast.Next day was much more enjoyable. The roadwas wonderfully varied, always going up or down,diving into deep wooded valleys with clear and rapidstreams, then up the slope, winding round spurs,crossing ridges, and down again into valleys, butalways mounting higher and higher. And as we gotdeeper into the sierra, the vegetation continuallychanged, the pines became finer both in form, size,and beauty. At about three thousand feet we firstsaw the beautiful Douglas fir, and the cedar {Libocedrtisdecurrens), both common in our gardens ; then stillhigher there were silver firs and the fine Picea nobilis,as well as a few of the Big Trees {Sequoia gigantea),the road being cut right through the middle of one ofthese (at about five thousand eight hundred feet).From the summit we descended towards the valley,and then down a steep zigzag road, with the beautiful

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 279Bridal Veil Fall opposite, and the grand precipice ofEl Capitan before us, then into the valley itself withits rushing river, to the hotel in the dusk.As both hotel and excursions were here verycostly,we only stayed two clear days, and went one"excursion " to the Nevada Fall, the grandest, if notthe most beautiful, in the valley. My brother andniece rode up, but I walked to enjoy the scenery, andespecially the flowers and ferns and the fine glaciatedrocks of the higher valley. The rest of my time Ispent roaming about the valley itself and some of itslower precipices, looking after its flowers, and ponderingover its strange, wild, majestic beauty and themode of its formation. On the latter point I havegiven my views in an article on " Inaccessible Valleys,"reprinted in my " Studies." The hotel dining-roomlooks out upon the Yosemite Falls, which, seen onebehind the other, have the appearance of a singlebroken cascade of more than two thousand fivehundred feet. I walked up about a thousand feet toget a nearer view of the upper fall, which, in its everchangingvapour-streams and water-rockets, is wonderfullybeautiful. To enjoy this valley and itssurroundings in perfection, a small party should comewith baggage-mules and tents, as early in the seasonas possible, when the falls are at their grandest andthe flowers in their spring beauty, and when, bycamping at different stations in the valley and in themountains and valleys around it, all its wonderfulscenes of grandeur and beauty could be explored andenjoyed. It is one of the regrets of my Americantour that I was unable to do this.On our way back I turned off at the foot of thehills to visit the Calaveras Grove of big trees whichmy brother and niece had seen before, and I had to

28oMY LIFEsleep on the way. I stayed three days, examiningand measuring the trees, collecting flowers, and walkingone day to the much larger south grove six milesoff, where there are said to be over a thousand fullgrowntrees. The walk was very interesting, over hilland valley, through forest all the way, except onesmall clearing. At a small rocky stream I found thelarge Saxifraga pdtata growing in crevices of rocksjust under water, and I passed numbers of fineexamples of all the chief pines, firs, and cypresses.At the grove there were numbers of very fine trees,but none quite so large as the largest in the CalaverasGrove, Many of them have names. "Agassiz" isthirty-three feet wide at base, and has an enormoushole burnt in it eighteen feet wide and the samedepth, and extending upwards ninety feet like a largecavern; yet the tree is in vigorous growth. TheSequoias are here thickly scattered among other pinesand firs, sometimes singly, sometimes in groups offive or six together. There are many twin treesgrowing as a single stem up to twenty or thirty feet,and then dividing. But the chief feature of thisgrove is the abundance of trees to be seen in everydirection, of large or moderate size, and with clean,straight stems showing the brilliant orange-brown tintand silky or plush-like glossy surface, characteristicof the bark of this noble tree when in full health andvigorous growth. In no forest that I am acquaintedwith is there any tree with so beautiful a bark or withone so thick and elastic.In the chapter on " Flowers and Forests of theFar West " (in my " Studies "), I have given asummary of the chief facts known about these trees,with particulars of their dimensions and probable age.I need not, therefore, repeat these particulars here.

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 281But of all the natural wonders I saw in America,nothing impressed me so much as these glorioustrees. As with Niagara, their majesty grows uponone by living among them. The forests of whichthey form a part contain a number of the finest conifersin the world—trees that in Europe or in anyother Northern forest would take the very first rank.These grand pines are often from two hundred to twohundred and fifty feet high, and seven or eight feet indiameter at five feet above the ground, where theyspread out to about ten feet. Looked at alone, these,are noble trees, and there is every gradation of sizeup to these. But the Sequoias take a sudden leap,the average full-grown trees being twice this diameter,and the largest three times the diameter of theselargest pines ;so that when they were first found theaccounts of the discoveries were disbelieved. Mybrother told me an interesting story of this discovery.The early miners used to keep a hunter in each campto procure game for them, venison, and especiallybear's meat, being highly esteemed. These men usedto search the forests for ten or twenty miles roundthe camps while hunting. The hunter of the highestcamp on the Stanislaus river came home one evening,and after supper told them of a big tree he hadfound that beat all he had ever seen before. It hadthree times as big a trunk as any tree within tenmiles round. Of course they all laughed at him, toldhim they were not fools : they knew what trees wereas well as he did ; and so on. Then he offered toshow it them, but none would go ; they would nottramp ten or twelve miles to be made fools of. Sothe hunter had to bide his time. A week or twoafterwards he came home one Saturday night with asmall bag of game ;but he excused himself by saying

282 MY LIFEthat he had got the finest and fattest bear he hadever killed, and as next day was Sunday he thoughtthat six or eight of them would come with him andbring the meat home.The next morning a large party started early, andafter a long walk the hunter brought them suddenlyup to the big tree, and, clapping his hand on it, said," Here's my fat bear. When I called it a tree, youwouldn't believe me. Who's the fool now ? " Thiswas the great pavilion tree of the Calaveras Grove,twenty-six feet in diameter at five feet from theground—over eighty feet in circumference, so that itwould require fourteen tall men with arms outstretchedto go round it. This tree was afterwardscut down by boring into the trunk at six feet from theground with long pump-augers from each side, so asto meet in the centre. The first fourteen feet wasthen cut into sections, and one supplied to each ofthe older States. The rest remains as it fell, and canbe walked on to a distance of about two hundred andten feet from the stump, and here it is still six feet indiameter. To examine this wonderful wreck of thegrandest tree then living on our globe is mostimpressive. The rings on the stump of this tree havebeen very carefully counted by Professor Bradley, ofthe University of California, and were found to be1240, which no doubt gives the age of the tree veryaccurately, as the winters are here severe, and theseason of growth very well marked.On my return journey I crossed the RockyMountains by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway,passing- through some of the wildest and mostmagnificent country. In places there were precipicesabout a thousand feet high, side canons like narrowslits or winding majestic ravines, often with vertical

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 283walls, and the river roaring and raging in a tumultuousflood close alongside of us.I broke my journey at Denver, where I made anexcursion to Gray's Peak, one of the highest in therange. I also paid a visit to the celebrated " Gardenof the Gods" with its fantastic weather-worn andbrilliantly coloured rocks.I next went on to Chicago, where I spent only afew hours while waiting for my train to Montreal andQuebec whence I set sail for England.Before closing this brief account of my tour inAmerica, it may be interesting to record my generalimpressions as to the country and people. In myjournal I find this note :" During more than tenmonths in America, taking every opportunity ofexploring woods and forests, plains and mountains,deserts and gardens, between the Atlantic andPacific coasts, and extending over ten degrees oflatitude, I never once saw either a humming-bird or arattlesnake, or even any living snake of any kind. Inmany places I was told that humming-birds wereusually common in their gardens, but they hadn'tseen any this year ! This was my luck. And as tothe rattlesnakes, I was always on the look out inlikely places, and there are plenty still, but they arelocal.I was told of a considerable tract of land not farfrom Niagara which isso infested with them that itis absolutely useless. The reason is that it is veryrocky, with so many large masses lying about overgrownwith shrubs and briars as to afford themunlimited hiding-places, and the labour of thoroughlyclearing it would be more costly than the land wouldbe worth."The general impression left upon my mind as to 1the country itself is the almost total absence of that

;284 MY LIFEsimple rural beauty which has resulted, in our owncountry and in some other parts of Europe, from thevery gradual occupation of the land as it was requiredto supply food for the inhabitants, together with ourmild winters allowing of continuous cultivation, andthe use in building of local materials adapted to thepurposes required by handwork, instead of thosefashioned by machinery. This slow development ofagriculture and of settlement has produced almostevery feature which renders our country picturesqueor beautiful :the narrow winding lanes, following thecontours of the ground ; the ever-varying size of theenclosures, and their naturally curved boundariesthe ditch and bank and the surmounting hedgerow,with its rows of elm, ash or oak, giving variety andsylvan beauty to the surroundings of almost everyvillage or hamlet, most of which go back to Saxontimes ;the farms or cottages built of brick, or stone,or clay, or of rude but strong oak framework filledwith clay or lath and roughcast, and with thatched ortiled roofs, varying according to the natural conditions,and in all showing the slight curves and irregularitiesdue to the materials used and the hand of theworker ;—the whole, worn and coloured by age andsurrounded by nature's grandest adornment of selfsowntrees in hedgerow or pasture, combine togetherto produce that charming and indescribable effect weterm picturesque. And when we add to these thenumerous footpaths which enable us to escape thedust of high-roads and to enjoy the glory of wildflowers which the innumerable hedgerows and moistditches have preserved for us,inthe breezy downs, thegorse-clad commons and the heath-clad moors stillunenclosed, we are, in some favoured districts at least,stillable thoroughly to enjoy all the varied aspects of

;A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 285beauty which our country affords us, but which are,alas ! under the combined influences of capitalism andlandlordism, fast disappearing.But in America, except in a few parts of the northeasternStates, none of these favourable conditionshave prevailed. Over by far the greater part of thecountry there has been no natural development oflanes and tracks and roads as they were needed forcommunication between villages and towns that hadgrown up in places best adapted for early settlementbut the whole country has been marked out intosections and quarter-sections (of a mile, and a quarterof a mile square), with a right of way of a certainwidth along each section-line to give access to everyquarter-section of one hundred and sixty acres, to oneof which, under the homestead law, every citizen had,or was supposed to have, a right of cultivation andpossession. Hence, in all the newer States there areno roads or paths whatever beyond the limits of thetownships, and the only lines of communication forfoot or horsemen or vehicles of any kind are alongthese rectangular section-lines, often going up anddown hill, over bog or stream, and almost alwayscompelling the traveller to go a much greater distancethan the form of the surface rendered necessary.Then again, owing to the necessity for rapidly andsecurely fencing in these quarter-sections, and to thefact that the greater part of the States first settled werelargely forest-clad, it became the custom to buildrough, strong fences of split-trees, which utilized thetimber as it was cut and involved no expenditure ofcash by the settler. To avoid the labour of puttingposts in the ground the fence was at first usuallybuilt of rails or logs laid zigzag on each other to theheight required, so as to be self-supporting, the upper

286 MY LIFEpairs only being fastened together by a spike throughthem, the waste of material in such a fence beingcompensated by the reduction of the labour, since thetimber itself was often looked upon as a nuisance tobe got rid of before cultivation was possible. Thisfact of timber being in the way of cultivation and ofno use till cut down, led to the very general clearingaway of all the trees from about the house, so that it isa comparatively rare thing, except in the easterntowns and villages, to find any old trees that havebeen left standing for shade or for beauty.For these and for similar causes acting throughthe greater part of North America, there results amonotonous and unnatural ruggedness, a want ofharmony between man and nature, the absence of allthose softening effects of human labour and humanoccupation carried on for generation after generationin the same simple way, and in its slow and gradualutilization of natural forces allowing the renovatingagency of vegetable and animal life to conceal allharshness of colour or form, and clothe the wholelandscape in a garment of perennial beauty.Over the larger part of America everything is rawand bare and ugly, with the same kind of uglinesswith which we also are defacing our land and destroyingits rural beauty. The ugliness of new rows ofcottages built to let to the poor, the ugliness of themean streets of our towns, the ugliness of our " blackcountries " and our polluted streams. Both countriesare creating ugliness, both are destroying beauty ;butin America it is done on a larger scale and with amore hideous monotony. The more refined amongthe Americans see this themselves as clearly as wesee it. One of them has said, "A whole huge continenthas been so touched by human hands that,

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 287over a large part of its surface it has been reducedto a state of unkempt, sordid ugliness ; and it canbe brought back into a state of beauty only byfurther touches of the same hands more intelligentlyapplied." ^Turning now from the land to the people, whatcan we say of our American cousins as a race and asa nation ? The great thing to keep in mind is, thatthey are, largely and primarily, of the same blood andof the same nature as ourselves, with characters andhabits formed in part by the evil traditions inheritedfrom us, in part by the influence of the new environmentto which they have been exposed. Just as weowe our good and bad qualities to the intermixture andstruggle of somewhat dissimilar peoples, so do they.Briton and Roman, Saxon and Dane, Norsemen andNorman-French, Scotch and Irish Celts—all haveintermingled in various proportions, and helped tocreate that energetic amalgam known the world overas Englishmen.So North America has been largelysettled by the English, partly by Dutch, French,and Spanish, whose territories were soon absorbedby conquest or purchase ; while, during the lastcentury, a continuous stream of immigrants—Germans,Irish, Highland and Lowland Scotch, Scandinavians,Italians, Russians—has flowed in, and isslowly but surely becoming amalgamated into onegreat Anglo-American people.Most of the evil influences under which theUnited States have grown to their present conditionof leaders in civilization, and a great power amongWethe nations of the world, they received from us.gave them the example of religious intolerance and»The Century, June, 1887.

288 MY LIFEpriestly rule, which they have now happily thrown offmore completely than we have done. We gave themslavery, both white and black—a curse from the effectsof which they still suffer, and out of which a whollysatisfactory escape seems as remote as ever. Buteven more insidious and more widespread in its evilresults than both of these, we gave them our bad andiniquitous feudal land system ; first by enormousgrants from the Crown to individuals or to companies,but also—what has produced even worseeffects—the ingrained belief that land—the firstessential of life, the source of all things necessaryor useful to mankind, by labour upon which all wealtharises—may yet, justly and equitably, be owned byindividuals, be monopolized by capitalists or bycompanies, leaving the great bulk of the people asabsolutely dependent on these monopolists for permissionto work and to live as ever were the negroslaves of the South before emancipation.The result of acting upon this false conception is,that the Government has already parted with thewhole of the accessible and cultivable land, andthough large areas still remain for any citizen whowill settle upon it, by the mere payment of verymoderate fees, this privilege is absolutely worthlessto those who most want it—the very poor. Andthroughout the western half of the Union one seeseverywhere the strange anomaly of building lots insmall remote towns, surrounded by thousands ofuncultivated acres (and perhaps ten years before soldfor eight or ten shillings an acre), now selling at therate of from ;^iooo to ;^20,ooo an acre ! It is not anuncommon thing for town lots in new places to doubletheir value in a month, while a fourfold increase in ayear is quite common. Hence land speculation has

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 289become a vast organized business over all the WesternStates, and is considered to be a proper and naturalmode of getting rich. It is what the Stock Exchangeis to the great cities.And this wealth, thus gained byindividuals, initiates that process which culminates inrailroad and mining kings, in oil and beef trusts, andin the thousand millionaires and multi-millionaireswhose vast accumulated incomes are, every penny ofthem, paid by the toiling workers, including the fivemillion of farmers whose lives of constan toil onlyresult for the most part in a bare livelihood, while therailroad magnates and corn speculators absorb thelarger portion of the produce of their labour.What a terrible object-lesson is this as to thefundamental wrong in modern societies which leadsto such a result ! Here is a country more thantwenty-five times the area of the British Islands,with a vast extent of fertile soil, grand navigablewaterways, enormous forests, a superaboundingwealth of minerals—everything necessary for thesupport of a population twenty-five times that ofours—about fifteen hundred millions—which has yet,in little more than a century, destroyed nearly allits forests, is rapidly exhausting its marvellousstores of natural oil and gas, as well as those of theprecious metals ; and as the result of all this recklessexploiting of nature's accumulated treasureshas brought about overcrowded cities reeking withdisease and vice, and a population which, thoughonly one-half greater than our own, exhibits all thepitiable phenomena of women and children workinglong hours in factories and workshops, garrets andcellars, for a wage which will not give them theessentials of mere healthy animal existence ; whileabout the same proportion of its workers, as withu

290 MY LIFEus, endure lives of excessive labour for a barelivelihood, or constitute that crying disgrace ofmodern civilization—willing men seeking in vain forhonest work, and forming a great army of theunemployed.What a demonstration is this of the utter follyand stupidity of those blind leaders of the blind whoimpute all the evils of our social system, all ourpoverty and starvation, to over-population ! Ireland,with half the population of fifty years ago, is stillpoor to the verge of famine, and is therefore stillover-peopled. And for England and Scotland aswell, the cry is still " Emigrate ! emigrate ! We areover-peopled "! But what of America, with twentyfivetimes as much land as we have, and with evengreater natural resources, and with a populationeven more ingenious, more energetic, and morehard-working than ours } Are they over-populatedwith only twenty people to the square mile ? Thereonly one rational solution of this terrible problem.isThe system that allows the land and the minerals,the means of communication, and all other publicservices, to be monopolized for the aggrandisement ofthe few—for the creation of millionaires—necessarilyleads to the poverty, the degradation, the misery ofthe many.There never has been, in the whole history of thehuman race, a people with such grand opportunitiesfor establishing a society and a nation in which theproducts of the general labour should be so distributedas to produce general well-being. It wantedbut a recognition of the fundamental principle of"equality of opportunity," tacitly implied in theDeclaration of Independence. It wanted but suchsocial arrangements as would ensure to every child

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 291the best nurture, the best training of all its faculties,and the fullest opportunity for utilizing those facultiesfor its own happiness and for the common benefit.Not only equality before the law, but equality ofopportunity, is the great fundamental principle ofsocial justice. This is the teaching of HerbertSpencer, but he did not carry it out to its logicalconsequence—the inequity, and therefore the socialimmorality of wealth-inheritance. To secure equalityof opportunity there must be no inequality of initialwealth. To allow one child to be born a millionaireand another a pauper is a crime against humanity,and, for those who believe in a deity, a crime againstGod.^It is the misfortune of the Americans that theyhad such a vast continent to occupy. Had it ended atthe line of the Mississippi, agricultural developmentmight have gone on more slowly and naturally, fromeast to west, as increase of population required. Soagain, if they had had another century for developmentbefore railways were invented, expansion would necessarilyhave gone on more slowly, the need for goodroads would have shown that the rectangular systemof dividing up new lands was a mistake, and some ofthat charm of rural scenery which we possess wouldprobably have arisen.But with the conditions that actually existed wecan hardly wonder at the result. A nation formedby emigrants from several of the most energetic andintellectual nations of the old world, for the mostpart driven from their homes by religious persecutionor political oppression, including from the very first allranks and conditions of life—farmers and mechanics,traders and manufacturers, students and teachers,1 I have discussed this subject in my " Studies," vol. ii. chap, xxviii.

292 MY LIFErich and poor—the very circumstances which drovethem to emigrate led to a natural selection of the mostenergetic, the most independent, in many respects thebest of their several nations. Such a people, furthertried and hardened by two centuries of struggleagainst the forces of nature and a savage population,and finally by a war of emancipation from the tyrannyof the mother country, would almost necessarilydevelop both the virtues, the prejudices, and even thevices of the parent stock in an exceptionally highdegree. Hence, when the march of invention and ofscience (to which they contributed their share) gavethem the steamship and the railroad ;when Californiagave them gold and Nevada silver, with the prospectof wealth to the lucky beyond the dreams of avarice;when the great prairies of the West gave them illimitableacres of marvellously fertile soil ;—it is notsurprising that these conditions with such a peopleshould have resulted in that mad race for wealth inwhich they have beaten the record, and have produceda greater number of multi-millionaires thanall the rest of the world combined, with the disastrousresults already briefly indicated.But this is only one side of the American character.Everywhere there are indications of a deeplove of nature, a devotion to science and to literaturefully proportionate to that of the older countries ;while in inventiveness and in the applications ofscience to human needs they have long been inthefirst rank. But what is more important, there is alsorapidly developing among them a fullrecognition ofthe failings of our common social system, and a determinationto remedy it. As in Germany, in France,and in England, the socialists are becoming a powerin America. They already influence public opinion.

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 293and will soon influence the legislatures. The glaringfact is now being widely recognized that with them,as with all the old nations of Europe, an increase inwealth and in command over the powers of naturesuch as the world has never before seen, has notadded to the true well-being of any part of society.It is also indisputable that, as regards the enormousmasses of the labouring and industrial population, ithas greatly increased the numbers of those whoselives are "below the margin of poverty," while, asJohn Stuart Mill declared many years ago, it has notreduced the labour of any human being.An American (Mr. Bellamy) gave us the booksthat first opened the eyes of great numbers ofeducated readers to the practicability, the simplicity,and the beauty of Socialism. It is to America thatthe world looks to lead the way towards a just andpeaceful modification of the social organism, basedupon a recognition of the principle of Equality ofOpportunity, and by means of the Organization ofthe Labour of all for the Equal Good of all.

CHAPTER XIXFRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS OF MY LATER YEARS(1888-I908)After my return from America in August, 1887, theremainder of the year was occupied at home inovertaking my correspondence, looking after mygarden, and making up for lost time in scientific andliterary reading, and in considering what work Ishould next occupy myself with. Many of my correspondents,as well as persons I met in America, toldme that they could not understand Darwin's " Originof Species," but they did understand my lectureon " Darwinism " ;and it therefore occurred to methat a popular exposition of the subject might beuseful, not only as enabling the general reader tounderstand Darwin, but also to serve as an answerto the many articles and books professing to disprovethe theory of natural selection. During the whole ofthe year 1888 I was engaged in writing this book,which, though largely following the lines of Darwin'swork, contained a great many new features, anddealt especially with those parts of the subject whichhad been most generally misunderstood.The spring of 1889 was occupied in passing itthrough the press, and it was published in May, whilea few corrections were made for a second edition inthe following October. During this time, however,

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 295I gave several of my American lectures in variousparts of the country—at Newcastle and Darlington inthe spring of 1888 ; in the autumn at Altrincham andDarwen ; and in 1889 at Newcastle, York, Darlington,and Liverpool.In the autumn of this year the University ofOxford did me the honour of giving me thehonorary degree of D.C.L., which I went to receivein November, when I enjoyed the hospitality of myfriend Professor E. B. Poulton.While residing at Godalming, I made the acquaintanceof William Allingham and his wife— the poetand the artist—who then lived at Witley— I think itwas about the year 1886 or 1887. Mr. Allinghamtold me that Tennyson wished to see me, and wouldbe glad if I would come some day and lunch withhim. A day was fixed, and I accompanied Mr.Allingham to the beautifully situated house on Blackdown,near Haslemere, where the poet lived duringthe summer. Lord Tennyson did not appear tillluncheon was on the table, but in the mean time wehad seen Lady Tennyson and her son and daughterin-law,and been shown round the grounds. Afterluncheon we four men retired to the study, withits three great windows looking south-east over thegrand expanse of the finely wooded Weald. HereTennyson lit his pipe, and we sat round the fire andsoon got on the subject of spiritualism, which wasevidently what he had wished to talk to me about.told him some of my experiences, and replied tosome of his difficulties—the usual difficultiesIof thosewho, though inclined to believe, have seen nothing,and find the phenomena as described so differentfrom what they think they ought to be. He wasevidently greatly impressed by the evidence, and

296 MY LIFE:;——wished to see something. I gave him the names ofone or two mediums whom I believed to be quitetrustworthy, but whether he ever had any sittingswith them I did not hear.Then we talked a little about the tropics and ofthe scenery of the Eastern islands ;and, taking downa volume he read, in his fine, deep, chanting voice,his description of Enoch Arden's island" The mountain wooded to the peak, the lawnsAnd winding glades high up like ways to heaven,The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes,The lightning flash of insect or of bird,The lustre of the long convolvulusesThat coiled around the stately stems, and ranEv'n to the limit of the land, the glowsAnd glories of the broad belt of the world,All these he saw ; but what he fain had seenHe could not see, the kindly human face,Nor ever hear a kindly voice, but heardThe myriad shriek of wheeling ocean fowl.The league-long roller thundering on the beach.The moving whisper of huge trees that branch'dAnd blossom'd to the zenith, or the sweepOf some precipitous rivulet to the wave.As down the shore he ranged, or all day longSat often in the seaward-gazing gorge,A shipwreck'd sailor waiting for a sailNo sail from day to day, but every dayThe sunrise broken into scarlet shaftsAmong the palms and ferns and precipices ;The blaze upon the waters to the east ;The blaze upon his island overhead ;The blaze upon the waters to the westThen the great stars that globed themselves in heaven.The hoUower-bellowing ocean, and againThe scarlet shafts of sunrise—but no sail."Then he closed the book and asked me if thatdescription was in any way untrue to nature. I toldhim that so far as I knew from the islands I had seenon the western borders of the Pacific, it gave astrikingly true general description of the vegetation

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 297and the aspects of nature among those islands, atwhich he seemed pleased. Of course, it avoids muchdetail, but the amount of detail it gives is correct, andit is just about as much as a rather superior sailorwould observe and remember.We then bade him good-bye, went downstairsand had tea with the ladies, and walked back toHaslemere station. I was much pleased to have metand had friendly converse with the most thoughtful,refined, broad-minded, and harmonious of our poetsof the nineteenth century.Finding my house at Godalming in an unsatisfactorysituation, with a view almost confined to thesmall garden, the south sun shut off by a house andby several oak trees, while exposed to north and eastwinds, and wishing for a generally milder climate, Ispent some weeks in exploring the country betweenGodalming and Portsmouth, and then westward toBournemouth and Poole. We were directed by somefriends to Parkstone as a very pretty and shelteredplace, and here we found a small house to be let,which suited us tolerably well, with the option ofpurchase at a moderate price. The place attractedus because we saw abundance of great bushes of theevergreen purple veronicas, which must have been adozen or twenty years old, and also large specimensof eucalyptus ; while we were told that there had beenno skating there for twenty years. We accordinglytook the house, and purchased it in the followingyear; and by adding later a new kitchen and bedroom,and enlarging the drawing-room, converted itfrom a cramped, though very pretty cottage, into aconvenient, though still small house. The garden onthe south side was in a hollow on the level of thebasement, while on the north it was from ten to

298 MY LIFEthirty feet higher, there being on the east a highbank, with oak trees and pines, producing a verypretty effect. This bank, as well as the lower partof the garden, was peat or peaty sand, and as I knewthis was good for rhododendrons and heaths, I wasmuch pleased to be able to grow these plants. I didnot then know, however, that this peaty soil was quiteunsuited to a great many other plants, and only learntthis by the long experience which every gardener hasto go through.It was in the early part of my residence at Parkstonethat I received a visit from the great FrenchGeographer, Elisee Reclus, who had, I think, come toEngland to receive the gold medal of the RoyalGeographical Society. He was a rather small andvery delicate-looking man, highly intellectual, but veryquiet in speech and manner. I really did not knowthat it was he with whose name I had been familiarfor twenty years as the greatest of geographers, thinkingit must have been his father or elder brother; and Iwas surprised when, on asking him, he said that it washimself. However, we did not talk of geography duringthe afternoon we spent together, but of Anarchism, ofwhich he was one of the most convinced advocates, andI was very anxious to ascertain his exact views, whichI found were really not very different from my own.We agreed that almost all social evils—all poverty,misery, and crime—were the creation of governmentsand of bad social systems ;and that under a law ofabsolute justice, involving equality of opportunity andthe best training for all, each local community wouldorganize itself for mutual aid, and no great centralgovernments would be needed, except as they grewup from the voluntary association of their parts forgeneral and national purposes.

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 299During the first half of my residence at Parkstone(1889-96), I did not write any new books, having, asI thought, said all that I had to say on the greatsubjects that chiefly interested me ;but I contributeda number of articles to reviews, wrote many notices ofbooks, with letters to Nature on various matters ofscientific interest. A short account of the moreimportant of these will show that I was not altogetherinactive as regards literary work.In the spring of 1890 Ilectured at Sheffield andat Liverpool, and have since declined all invitationsto lecture, partly from disinclination and considerationsof health, but also because I believed that I could domore good with my pen than with my voice. Duringthe year I prepared a new edition of my " MalayArchipelago," bringing the parts dealing with naturalhistory up to date.In the same year I contributed to the FortnightlyReview an article on " Human Selection," which is, Iconsider, though very short, the most important contributionI have made to the science of sociology andthe cause of human progress. The article v/as writtenwith two objects in view. The first and most importantwas to show that the various proposals ofGrant Allen, Mr. Francis Galton, and some Americanwriters, to attempt the direct improvement of thehuman race by forms of artificial elimination andselection, are both unscientific and unnecessary ; Ialso wished to show that the great bugbear of theopponents of social reform—too rapid increase ofpopulation— is entirely imaginary, and that the verysame agencies which, under improved social conditions,will bring about a real and effective selectionof the physically, mentally, and morally best, will alsotend towards a diminution of the rate of increase of

"300 MY LIFEthe population. The facts and arguments I adduceare, I believe, conclusive against the two classes ofwriters here referred to.A year later I contributed a paper to the BostonArena, dealing more especially with the laws ofheredity and the influence of education as determininghuman progress, showing that such progress is atpresent very slow, and is due almost entirely to onemode of action of natural selection, which still eliminatessome of the most unfit. And I pointed out thata more real and effective progress will only be madewhen the social environment is so greatly improvedas to give to women a real choice in marriage, andthus lead both to the more rapid elimination of thelower, and more rapid increase of the higher types ofhumanity.Other articles were, " A Representative House ofLords," in the Contemporary Review (June), and "ASuggestion to Sabbath-Keepers," in the NineteenthCenttiry (October), both which articles attracted noticein the Press. I also wrote a paper criticizing the Rev.George Henslow's view as to the origin of irregularflowers, and of spines and prickles, in Natural Science(September), the three articles being included in my" Studies." I also reviewed James HutchinsonStirling's " Darwinianism " in Nat2cre (February 8),and Mr. Benjamin Kidd's " Social Evolution " in thesame paper (April 12), as well as an anonymousvolume, entitled "Nature's Method in the Evolutionof Life," by a writer who suggests vague theories, lessintelligible even than those of Lucretius, as a substitutefor the luminous work of Darwin.In the next year (1895) I wrote an importantarticle on " The Method of Organic Evolution{Fortnightly Review, February-March), which was

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 301chiefly devoted to showing that the views of Mr.Francis Galton, and of Mr. Bateson in his book on" Discontinuous Variations," are erroneous ; and thatsuch variations, which are usually termed "sports,"and in extreme cases " monstrosities," do not indicatethe method of evolution.Another article (in the October issue of the sameReview) on " The Expressiveness of Speech " developsa new principle in the origin of language, and broughtme a holograph (and partly unintelligible) letter fromMr. Gladstone, expressing his concurrence with itIn July, 1895, I went with my friend and father-inlawMr. William Mitten, for a short botanizing tour inSwitzerland. We walked a good deal of the time,and I thus had a further opportunity of examiningglacial phenomena. We went to Lucerne, whencewe ascended the Stanzerhorn by the electric railway,and found a very interesting flora on the summit.Then to the head of the lake, and to Gceschenen,whence we walked to Andermatt ; then over theFurca pass to the Rhone glacier, staying two daysat the hotel ; then over the Grimsel pass, where wegreatly enjoyed both the flowers and the wonderfulindications of glacial action, especially on the slopedown to and around the Hotel Grimsel, where westayed the night. The valley down to Meiringen wasexcessively interesting, being ice-worn everywhere.We stayed an hour at the fine Handeck cascade, andthen, with the help of a chaise, into which two ladieshospitably received us, got on to Meiringen. Herewe stayed two days, exploring the gorge of the Aarand the wonderful rock-barrier of the Kirchet, visitedthe Reichenbach falls, and had an excursion to Brunig,where, in some hilly beech woods, we were greatlypleased to find the beautiful CephalantJiere rubra in

302 MY LIFEfair numbers and in full flower. We then went onto Lauterbrunnen and the Wengern Alp, where westayed two days, botanizing chiefly among the woodsand slopes near the Trummelthel. We were, however,so dreadfully persecuted by swarms of blood-suckingflies,which filled the air and covered us in thousands,piercing through our thin clothing, that we returnedhome some days earlier than we had intended.In 1896 I wrote an article on " The Gorge of theAar and its Teachings," as serving to enforce mypapers on the " Ice Age and its Work" three yearsbefore. But my most important scientific essay thisyear was a paper I read to the Linnaean Society on"The Problem of Utility." My purpose was to enforcethe view that all specific and generic charactersmust be (or once have been) useful to their possessor,or, owing to the complex laws of growth, be correlatedwith useful characters. It was necessary to discussthis point, because Mr. Romanes had unreservedlydenied it, and Professor Mivart, the Rev. Mr. Henslow,Mr. Bateson, and others, had taken the same view. Iendeavoured to show that the problem is a fundamentalone, that utility is the basic principle ofnatural selection, and that without natural selectionit has not been shown how specific characters canarise. By specific is, of course, meant characterswhich, either separately or in combination, distinguisheach species from all others, and which are found inall, or in the great bulk, of the individuals composingthe species ; and I have shown that it is for want ofclear thinking and accurate reasoning on the entireprocess of species formation thatthe idea of uselessspecific characters has arisen (see " Studies," vol. i.).During this summer I was invited by Dr. H. S.Lunn to go with him and his party to Davos for a

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 303week, early in September, and to give them a lectureon Scientific Progress in the Nineteenth Century.As I had never been in this part of Switzerland, Iaccepted the invitation, and had a very pleasant time.My companion on the first part of the journey wasMr. Le Gallienne, and at Basle we were joined byDr. and Mrs. Lunn and others. At Davos we werea large party in one of the best hotels, and our specialparty, who sat together at meals, included the Rev.Hugh Price Hughes and the Rev. H. R. Haweis,both talented and witty men, whose presence wasenough to render almost any party a brilliant success.Mr. Price Hughes, was, I think, without exception,the most witty man and one of the best companionsI ever met. At breakfast and dinner he was especiallyamusing and brilliant, ranging from purechaff with his old friend Dr. Lunn to genial wit andadmirably narrated anecdotes. He often literallykept the table in a roar of laughter. But this wasonly one side of his character. He was a Christianand a humanitarian in the best sense of the words.saw a good deal of him in private, and we oftenwalked out together, at which times we discussed themore serious social problems of the day ; and hegave me details of his rescue work in London whichwere in the highest degree instructive, showing thateven those who are considered to be the most degradedand irreclaimable can be reached throughtheir affections. Their degradation has usually beenbrought about by society, and has been intensifiedinto hate and despair by the utterly unsympatheticand cruel treatment of our workhouses andprisons.Dr. Lunn arranged for his party some amusementfor several evenings in each week, either a concert,I

styleṀy own lecture was mainly devoted to a sketch—304 MY LIFElecture, or conversazione. Mr. Le Gallienne gave avery interesting lecture on "English Minor Poets,"reading selections from their works to illustrate theirof the chief great advances of science during thecentury, but I added to it a kind of set-off in discoverieswhich had been rejected and errors whichhad been upheld, referring to phrenology as one ofthe first class, and vaccination as one of the second.There were, of course, in such a place as Davos, manydoctors among the audience, and they signified theirdisapproval in the usual way ;but I assured themthat some of them would certainly live to see thetime when the whole medical profession wouldacknowledge vaccination to be a great delusion.Although Davos has no grand alpine sceneryimmediately around it, there are many delightfulwalks through woods full of flowers and ferns, alpinemeadows with gentians and primulas, and stonypasses from which the snow had just retreated. Onthe Strela pass, about eight thousand feet, I foundsome charming little alpines I had not seen before,among them the very dwarf Viola alpina, growingamong stones, the leaves hardly visible and the comparativelylarge flat flowers of a very deep blue-purple,with a large orange-yellow eye.On leaving Davos, I made my way across toAdelboden, where my wife and daughter, with somefriends, were staying. This is surrounded with finealpine peaks and snow-fields, and though the weatherwas unsettled we spent a pleasant week hereprobably the last visit I shall make to ever-delightfulSwitzerland—the sanatorium and alpine garden ofoverworked Encrlishmen.

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 305From this time onwards I did not write manyarticles or reviews, the more important being " TheProblem of Instinct," in 1897, in which I gave anattempted solution of bird migration, though thearticle was really a review of Professor Lloyd-Morgan's " Habit and Instinct ; " an article on thequestion whether "White Men can work in theTropics," which most English writers declare to beimpossible without thinking it necessary to adduceevidence, but which, I affirm, is proved by experienceto be quite easy. Both these are reprinted in my" Studies," as is also a short essay on " The Causesof War and the Remedies," written for VHumanityNoiivelle. I also wrote letters to the Daily Chronicleon America, Cuba, and the Philippines ; and a protestagainst the Transvaal War in the ManchesterGuardian.In the year 1900 I wrote an article for the NewYork Journal on " Social Evolution in the TwentiethCentury—An Anticipation," for which I received avery complimentary letter from the editor. Duringthe next two years I was engaged in preparing neweditions of my books on " Darwinism " and " IslandLife," and I also wrote several letters on political andsocial subjects, such as an "Appreciation of the PastCentury " (in 1901, in the Morning Leader), and (in1903) an article on "Anticipations and Hopes for theImmediate Future," which was written for a Germanpaper (the Berliner Local Anzeiger), but which wastoo plain-spoken for the editor to publish, and whichI accordingly sent to the Clarion.In 1904 I wrote a short letter on the " Inefficiencyof Strikes " for the Labour Annual, and a rather longone to the Clarion, suggesting a policy for socialistsin opposition to continued military expenditure asX

3o6MY LIFEadvocated by Robert Blatchford ; but this was, I fear,too much advanced even for the readers of this veryadvancedpaper, since no one came forward in mysupport. I feel sure, however, that there are manywho, when it is clearly put before them, will approveof the policy I have sketched out, since it is merelyone of justice and consideration for nations as well asfor individuals—of adopting the same rules of rightand wrong in the one case as in the other.About the year 1899 our house at Parkstonebecame no longer suitable owing to the fact thatbuilding had been going on all around us and whathad been open country when we came there hadbecome streets of villas, and in every direction wehad to walk a mile or more to get into any opencountry. I therefore began to search about variousparts of the southern counties for a suitable house,and after almost giving up the attempt in despair, weaccidentally found a spot within four miles of ourParkstone home and about half a mile from a station,with such a charming distant view and pleasantsurroundings that we determined, if we could get twoor three acres at a moderate price, to build a smallhouse upon it.After a rather long negotiation I obtained threeacres of land, partly wood, at the end of the year1901 ;sold my cottage at Godalming at a fair price,began at once making a new garden and shrubbery,decided on plans, and began building early in thenew year. The main charm of the site was a smallneglected orchard with old much-gnarled apple, pear,and plum trees, in a little grassy hollow sloping tothe south-east, with a view over moors and fieldstowards Poole harbour, beyond which were thePurbeck hills to the right, and a glimpse of the open

5 ^o -gQ ^J —O

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 307sea to the left. In the foreground were clumps ofgorse and broom, with some old picturesque trees,while the orchard was sheltered on both sides bypatches of woodland. The house was nearly finishedin about a year, and we got into it at Christmas,1902, when we decided to call it Old Orchard.Being so near to our former house, I was able tobring all our choicer plants to the new ground, andthere was, fortunately, a sale of the whole stock of asmall nursery near Poole in the winter, at which Ibought about a thousand shrubs and trees at very lowprices, which enabled us at once to plant someshrubberies and flower borders, and thus to securesomething like a well-stocked garden by the time wegot into the house. Since that time it has been anever-increasing pleasure, and I have been able tosatisfy my craving for enjoying new forms of plantlifeevery year, partly by raising numbers of seeds ofhardy and greenhouse plants, always trying someof the latter in sheltered places out-of-doors, andpartly by exchanges or by gifts from friends, so thatevery year I have the great pleasure of watchingthe opening of some of nature's gems which werealtogether new to me, or of others which increaseyear by year in beauty. In one end of my greenhouseI have a large warmed tank in which I grow blue,pink, and yellow water-lilies, which flower the greaterpart of the year, aswell as a few other beautiful orcurious aquatic plants, while the back wall of thehouse is covered with choice climbers.In this hasty sketch of my occupations and literarywork during the last nine years, I have purposelyomitted the more important portion of the latter,because the circumstances that led me on to

—308 MY LIFEundertake three separate works, involving a considerableamount of labour, were very curious, and to mevery suggestive, and I will now give a connectedaccount of them.When in 1896 I was invited by Dr. Lunn to givea lecture to his friends at Davos, I firmly believedthat my scientific and literary work was concluded.I had been for some years in weak health, and hadno expectation of living much longer. Shortly afterreturning from America I had a very severe attackof asthma in 1890, and a year or two after it recurredand became chronic, together with violent palpitationson the least sudden exertion, and frequent coldsalmost invariably followed by bronchitis. Any attemptat continuous work was therefore very far from mythoughts, though at times I was able to do a fairamount of writing.But the very next year I obtained relief (and upto the present time an almost complete cure) in analtogether accidental way, if there are any " accidents "in our lives. Mr. A. Bruce-Joy, the well-knownsculptor (a perfect stranger to me), had called on meto complete the modelling of a medallion which hehad begun from photographs, and I apologized fornot looking well, as I was then suffering from oneof my frequent spells of asthma, which often preventedme from getting any sleep at night. Hethereupon told me that if I would follow his directionsI could soon cure myself. Of course, I was altogetherincredulous ;but when he told me that he had himselfbeen cured of a complication of allieddiseasesgout, rheumatism, and bronchitis—of many years'standing, which no English doctors were able even toalleviate, by an American physician, Dr. Salisbury ;that it was effected solely by a change of diet not

•FRIENDSAND OCCUPATIONS 309founded on theory or empirical treatment, but theresult of thirty years' experiment on the effects ofvarious articles of food upon men and animals, bythe only scientific method of studying each foodseparately and exclusively, I determined to try it.The result was, that in a week I felt much better, ina month I felt quite well, and during the ten yearsthat have elapsed no attack of asthma or of severepalpitation has recurred, and I have been able to domy literary work as well as before I became subjectto the malady.I may say that I have long been, and am still, inprmciple, a vegetarian, and believe that, for manyreasons, it will certainly be the diet of the future.But for want of adequate knowledge, and even morefrom the deficiencies of ordinary vegetable cookery, itoften produces bad effects. Dr. Salisbury proved byexperiment that it was the consumption of too muchstarch foods that produces the set of diseases whichhe especially cures ; and that when these diseaseshave become chronic, the only cure is the almostcomplete abstention from starchy substances, especiallypotatoes,bread, and most watery vegetables, and, inplace of them, to substitute the most easily digestiblewell-cooked meat, with fruits and nuts in moderation,and eggs, milk, etc., whenever they can be digested.Great sufferers find immediate relief from an exclusivediet of the lean of beef. I myself live upon wellcookedbeef with a fair proportion of fat (which I candigest easily), a very small proportion of bread orvegetables, fruit, eggs, and light milk puddings. Thecurious thing is that most English doctors declarethat a meat diet is to be avoided in all these diseases,and many order complete abstinence from meat, but,so far as I can learn, on no really scientific grounds.

310 MY LIFEDr. Salisbury, however, has experimentally provedthat this class of ailments is due to malnutrition, andthat this malnutrition is most frequently caused bymeals,the consumption of too much starch food at allwhich overloads the stomach and prevents properdigestion and assimilation. My case and that of Mr.Bruce-Joy certainly show that Dr. Salisbury hasfound, for the first time in the history of medicine, a(^^,yg—not merely an alleviation—for these painful anddistressing maladies. This personal detail as to myhealth is, I think, of general interest in view of thelarge number of sufferers who are pronounced incurableby English doctors, and it was here anessential preliminary to the facts I have now torelate, which would probably not have occurred asthey did had my health not been so strikinglyrenovated.The lecture which I gave at Davos on the scienceof the nineteenth century (a subject suggested by Dr.Lunn) led me to think that an instructive and popularbook might be made of the subject, as I found therewere so many interesting points I could not treatadequately or even refer to in a lecture. I thereforedevoted most of my spare time during the next yearto getting together materials and writing the volume,which I finished in the spring of 1898, and it waspublished in June under the title of " The WonderfulCentury." At the request of my publishers I preparedfrom it a School Reader, with a considerablenumber of illustrations, which was published in 1901.This suggested the idea of a much enlarged andillustrated edition of the original work, which was, asregards many of the more important sciences and arts,Almost all the year 1902 anda mere outline sketch.part of 1903 was occupied in getting together materials

—FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 311for this new work, as it really was, and it was notpublished till the autumn of the latter year.But while I was writing three new chapters on thewonderful astronomical progress of the latter half ofthe century, the startling fact was impressed upon methat we were situated very nearly at the centre of theentire stellar universe. This fact, though it had beennoted by many of the greatest astronomical writers,together with many others that led to the conclusionthat our universe was finite, and that we could almost,if not quite, see to its very limits, were seldom commentedon as more than isolated phenomenacuriosities, as it were, of star distribution—but of nospecial significance. To me, however, it seemed thatthey probably had a meaning ; and when I furthercame to examine the numerous facts which led to theconclusion that no other planet in the solar systemthan our earth was habitable, there flashed upon methe idea that it was only near the centre of this vastmaterial universe that conditions prevailed renderingthe development of life, culminating in man, possible.I did not, however, dwell upon this idea, but merelysuggested it in a single paragraph on pp. 329-330 ofmy work, and I might probably never have pursuedthe subject further but for another circumstance whichkept my attention fixed upon it.While I was still hard at work upon this book, theLondon agent of the New York Independent wrote toask me to write them an article on any scientificsubject I chose. I at first declined, having no subjectwhich I thought suitable, and not wishing to interruptmy work.But when he urged me again, and told meto name my own fee, the idea struck me that theseastronomical facts, with the conclusion to which theyseemed to me to point, might form a very interesting.

312 MY LIFEand even novel and attractive article.As the subjectwas fresh in my mind, and I had the authorities athand, it did not take me very long to sketch out andwrite a paper of the required length, which appearedsimultaneously in the Independent and in the FortnightlyReview, and, to my great surprise, createdquite a sensation ; and, still more to my surprise, aconsiderable amount of antagonism and rather contemptuouscriticism by astronomers and physicists, towhich I replied in a subsequent article.But as soon as my agent, Mr. Curtis Brown, readthe MSS. he suggested that I should write a volumeon the subject, which he was sure would be veryattractive and popular, and for which he undertook tomake arrangements both in England and America,and secure me liberal terms. After a little considerationI thought I could do so, and terms werearranged for the book before the article itself waspublished. This enabled me to get together all thenecessary materials and to begin work at once, andafter six months of the stiffest reading and studyI ever undertook, the book, " Man's Place in theUniverse," was completed in September, and publishedin November of the same year. In Novemberof 1904 a cheaper edition was published, with anadditional chapter in an Appendix. This chaptercontained an entirely new argument, founded on thetheory of organic evolution, which I had not time tointroduce into the first edition. This argument isitself so powerful that, when compounded with thearguments founded on astronomical, physical, andphysiological phenomena, it renders the improbabilityof there having been two independent developmentsof organic life, each culminating in man, so great asto be absolutely inconceivable.

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 313The success of this volume, and the entirely newcircle of readers itbrought me, caused my publishersto urge me to write my autobiography, which I shouldotherwise have not written at all, or only on a verymuch smaller scale for the information of my familyas to my early life.It seems to me a very suggestive fact that myliterary work during the last ten years should havebeen so completely determined by two circumstanceswhich must be considered, in the ordinary sense of theterm, and in relation to my own volition, matters ofchance. If Dr. Lunn had not invited me to Davos,and if he had suggested " Darwinism " or any otherof my special subjects instead of the " Science of theNineteenth Century," I should not have written my" Wonderful Century ; " I should not have had myattention so specially directed to great astronomicalproblems ; I should not, when asked for an article,have chosen the subject of our sun's central position ;and I should certainly never have undertaken such apiece of work as my book on "Man's Place in theUniverse," or the present autobiography. Andfurther, without the accident of a perfect strangercalling upon me for reasons of his own, and thatstranger happening to be a man who had been somarvellously cured by Dr. Salisbury as to induce meto adopt the same treatment, with similar results, Ishould never have had the energy required to undertakethe two later and more important works. Ofcourse, it may be that these are only examples ofthose " happy chances " which are not uncommon inmen's lives ; but, on the other hand, it may be truethat, "there's a divinity that shapes our ends, roughhewthem as we will " ; and those who have reason to

314 MY LIFEknow that spiritual beings can and do influence ourthoughts and actions, will see in such directive incidentsas these examples of such influence.This concludes the narrative of " My Life " up tothe date of its publication in the autumn of 1905. Itwill therefore be well to give here a short statementof what has occurred to me in the three succeedingyears.Ever since my friend Dr. R. Spruce died, inDecember, 1893, I had intended (with his executor'scordial assent) to edit so much of his journals andcorrespondence as related to his fourteen years oftravel and residence in South America. But as timepassed on each year found me so fully occupied—ashere narrated—that I felt quite unable to undertakeso arduous a piece of work. But when the correctedproofs of " My Life " were out of my hands, and I hadno other large work in immediate prospect, I determinedto begin it, especially as Spruce's old friends,Sir Clements Markham and Sir Joseph Hooker, boththought it ought to be done, and that I was the onlyperson who could do it.I therefore determined to begin it, and havingfound that Macmillan and Co. were willing to publishit, I obtained all the material— several boxes full ofjournals, note-books, letters, plant catalogues anddescriptions, maps, and numerous partially finishedsketches and drawings—from his executor, Mr.Matthew B. Slater, of Malton, Yorkshire, and alsomade arrangements to have all Spruce's letters to SirWilliam Hooker and George Bentham, Esq., whichwere preserved at the Kew Herbarium, carefullycopied.A large part of the journals and note-bookswere written in very minute script, often full of Latin

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 315names and abbreviations—a kind of hieroglyphics, ashe himself termed them, which could hardly be fullyutilized by any one but the writer of them. Thewhole would, I estimate, have given material enoughto fill six or eight large volumes, and had he himselfbeen able to devote some years of good health to thetask, I have little doubt he would have produced awork which would have ranked among the classicalrecords of travel and exploration.All this I had to sort out, piece together, andcondense into a connected narrative, occupying twovolumes of moderate bulk ; and to arrange for therequisite maps, and for such illustrations as could beobtained to render the work attractive. This hasbeen, though often tedious, on the whole a labour oflove for over two years. It is now going throughthe press, and I hope will be published very soonafter the present volume.Soon after I had begun this laborious piece ofwork, I was left sole executor to my dear friend(and father-in-law) Mr. William Mitten, who died inJuly, 1906, at the ripe age of 8y. This involved mein the usual legal formalities and added to my alreadylarge correspondence, thus, to some extent, impedingmy literary work. But I still continued to writearticles on subjects that specially interested me.Towards the end of the same year I wrote an articleon A " New House of Lords," showing how the upperchamber could become elective, and thus fulfil its truefunctions of a consultative and regulative body, whilebeing generally in harmony with the best thoughtand opinion of the time. A second article, entitled**Personal Suffrage," laid down the principles onwhich a truly democratic but simple elective system

3i6MY LIFEmight be adopted for the House of Commons. Theseappeared in the Fortnightly Review in the earlymonths of 1907.A little later I was asked to write one of theintroductory chapters for " Harmsworth's Historyof the World," which I did under the title, " HowLife became Possible on the Earth." In this chapterI gave a popular statement of those numerous andcomplex conditions and adaptations, which I hadshown, in my work on " Man's Place in the Universe,"to be the essential preliminary to the slow developmentof organic life, and which do not exist in theirexact combination on any other planet.A little earlier I had written (at request) arather lengthy article on " Evolution and Character,"intended to form part of a series of booklets onvarious aspects and applications of the doctrine ofevolution. This series did not appear, and myarticle was published in the Fortnightly Review ofJanuary, 1908. The subject was treated in a somewhatnovel way, and excited much discussion andcriticism, as well as high appreciation from severalunknown correspondents.Early in 1907 I obtained a copy of ProfessorPercival Lowell's new and popular work, " Mars andits Canals," in which, even more confidently thanbefore, he put forth his views as to the planet beinginhabited by beings of at least the same grade ofintelligence as ourselves, and that the strange " lines,"forming a kind of network over its surface, reallyindicated irrigation canals, artificially constructed torender its deserts habitable. This whole idea seemedto me so entirely opposed to the teachings of physicaland biological science, though very attractive to thepublic who had no means of weighing the evidence

FRIENDS AND OCCUPATIONS 317against it, and were influenced by the great reputationof the author and his extremely positive assertions,that I determined to write a reply, which occupiedme for several months, and involved a large amountof labour in order to avoid errors or misconceptions.It was published by Macmillan and Co., in a smallvolume at the end of 1907, under the title, " Is MarsHabitable ? " This question is answered by a decidednegative, while much evidence is adduced showingthat the strange markings, misnamed "Canals," canbe sufficiently explained by an appeal to purelyphysical causes.Early in the present year the discussion inParliament of the Unemployed Workmen Billseemed to show such a general misconception ofwhat was required, as well as complete ignoranceof experiments and methods which had been fullyexplained many years before, that I felt impelledto write an article pointing out the fundamentalprinciples on which any effective remedial actionmust be based, and developing to some extent thedetailed measures required to carry them out successfully.My proposals were founded on those of Mr.Herbert V. Mills, in his remarkable work, " Povertyand the State," published about twenty years ago,but which was overshadowed by General Booth'sineffective scheme, for which large sums of moneywere subscribed, while the far better plan of Mr.Mills was neglected. My article appeared in theJune and July issues of the new Socialist Review,where I thought it might appeal most directly tothose I wished especially to influence—the Labourparty in the House of Commons.This, with a few short articles and letters in

3i8MY LIFEEnglish or American periodicals—discussing, amongother subjects, the best mode of nationalizing railways,both in America and England—completes therecord of my literary work up to the publication ofthe present volume.Although I have now completed the narrative ofmy literary and home life, there are a number ofspecial subjects, which, for the sake of clearness, Ihave either wholly omitted, or only just mentioned,but which have either formed important episodes inmy life, or have brought me into communication orfriendly intercourse with a number of interestingpeople, and which therefore require to be narratedconsecutively in separate chapters. These will nowfollow, and will, I think, be not the least interestingor instructive portions of my work.

CHAPTER XXLAND NATIONALIZATION TO SOCIALISMSoon after I returned from the Amazon (about 1853),I read Herbert Spencer's " Social Statics," a work forwhich I had a great admiration, and which seemed tome so important in relation to political and socialreform, that I thought of inviting a few friends toread and discuss it at weekly meetings. This fellthrough for want of support, but the whole work, andmore especially the chapter on "The Right to theUse of the Earth," made a permanent impressionon me, and ultimately led to my becoming, almostagainst my will, President of the Land NationalizationSociety, which has now been over a quarter of acentury in existence. In connection with this movement,I have made the acquaintance of a considerablenumber of persons of more or less eminence.The publication of my "Malay Archipelago" in1869, procured me the acquaintance of John StuartMill, who on reading the concluding pages, in which Icondemn our " civilization " as but a form of " barbarism,"and refer, among other examples, to ourpermitting private property in land, wrote to mefrom Avignon on May 19, 1870, enclosing the programmeof his proposed Land Tenure Reform Association,and asking me to become a member of theGeneral Committee. Its object was to claim the

320 MY LIFEfuture " unearned increment " of land values forthe State, to which purpose it was to be strictlylimited. I accepted the offer, but proposed a newclause, giving the State power of resuming possessionof any land on payment of itsnet value at the time,because, as I pointed out, the greatest evil was themonopoly of land, not the money lost by the community.This he himself supported, but suggestedgiving not the current value only, but somethingadditional as compensation ; and I think the clausewas drawn on these lines.The last letter I had from Mill was in April, 1871,when a great public meeting of the Association wasto be held on May 3, as to which he said, " It wouldbe very useful to the Association, and a great pleasureto myself, if you would consent to be one of thespeakers at the meeting. There is the more reasonwhy you should do so, as you are the author of onevery valuable article of the programme. Were youto explain and defend that article, it would be aservice which no one is so well qualified to render asyourself." I had then recently visited the stonecircles and bridges of Dartmoor, and also Stonehenge,and urged the importance of preserving them. Atthat time there would probably have been no questionof paying more than the actual selling value of theland, and we should have been spared the disgrace ofhaving our grandest ancient monument, after centuriesof neglect and deterioration, claimed to be privateproperty, and having an exorbitant price demandedfor it. But Mill's death soon afterwards put an endto the Association, and we had to wait many years forthe present very imperfect legislation on the subject.The question of land nationaUzation continued at

LAND NATIONALIZATION 321intervals to occupy my mind, but having becomestrongly impressed by the teachings of Spencer, Mill,and other writers as to the necessity for restrictingrather than extending State agency, and by theirconstant reference to the inevitable jobbery andfavouritism that would result from placing themanagement of the whole land of the country in thehands of the executive, I did not attempt to writefurther upon the subject. But when the topic ofIrish landlordism became very prominent in the year1879-80, an idea occurred to me which seemed toentirely obviate all the practical difficulties whichwere constantly adduced as insuperable, and I at oncetook the opportunity of the controversy on the questionto set forth my views in some detail. I did thisespecially because the Irish Land League proposedthat the Government should buy out the Irishlandlords,and convert their existing tenants into peasantproprietors,who were to redeem their holdings bypayments extending over thirty-five years. Thisseemed to me to be unsound in principle, and entirelyuseless except as a temporary expedient, since itwould leave the whole land of Ireland in the possessionof a privileged class, and would thus disinheritall the rest of the population from their native soil.In my essay I based my whole argument upon agreat principle of equity as regards the right ofsuccession to landed property, a principle which Ihave since further extended to all property.^ Butthe suggestion which rendered land nationalizationpracticable was, that while, under certain conditionsstated, all land would gradually revert to the State,what is termed in Ireland the tenant-right, and inEngland the improvements, or increased value given* See my " Studies, Scientific and Social," vol. ii. chap, xxviii.Y

322 MY LIFEto the land by the owner or his predecessors, such asbuildings, drains, plantations, etc., would remain hisproperty, and be paid for by the new state-tenants ata fair valuation. The selling value of land was thusdivided into two parts : the inherent value orground-rent value, which is quite independent of anyexpenditure by owners, but is due solely to natureand society ; and the improvements, which are duesolely to expenditure by the owners or occupiers, andwhich are essentially temporary in nature. My experiencein surveying and land-valuation assured methat these two values can be easily separated. Itfollows that land as owned by the State would needno " management " whatever, the rent being merely aground-rent, which could be collected just as thehouse-tax and the land-tax are collected, the statetenantbeing left as completely free as is the " freeholder" now (who is in law a state-tenant), or as arethe holders of perpetual feus in Scotland.This article appeared in the Contemporary Revieivof November, 1880, and it immediately attracted theattention of Mr. A. C. Swinton, Dr. G. B. Clark,Mr. Roland Estcourt, and a few others, who hadlong been seeking a mode of applying HerbertSpencer's great principle of the inequity of privateproperty in land, and who found it in the suggestionsand principles I had laid down. They accordinglycommunicated with me; several meetings were heldat the invitation of Mr. Swinton, who was the initiatorof the movement, and after much discussion as toa definite programme, the " Land NationalizationSociety " was formed, and, much against my wishes,I was chosen to be its president.Our Society being established, it seemed necessaryto prepare something in the form of a handbook or

LAND NATIONALIZATION 323introduction to the great problem of the land ;and Iaccordingly devoted my attention to the subject, studyingvoluminous reports on agriculture, on Irish famines,on Highland crofters, and numbers of special treatisesdealing with the various aspects of this vast and farreachingquestion.My book was published in March,1882, under the title "Land Nationalization: itsNecessity and its Aims," and gave, in a compactform, the only general account of the evils of ourland system as it exists in England, Ireland, andScotland ; a comparison with other countries or placesin which a better system prevails, together with asolution of the problem of how to replace it by theonly just system, without any confiscation of propertyor injury to any living individual. The book has hada large circulation, and, in a revised edition, is stillon sale ; and, together with numerous tracts issued bythe Society, has done much to educate public opinionon this most vital of all political or social questions.As, however, it was quite certain that it wouldtake a very long time before even the first stepstowards land nationalization would be taken, I tookevery opportunity of advocating such other fundamentalreforms as seemed to me demanded by equityand to be essential to social well-being. One of theearliest was on the subject of interest, about whichthere was much difference of opinion among advancedthinkers. A discussion having arisen in The ChristianSocialist, I developed my views at some length in anarticle which appeared in the issue of March, 1884.Soon after our society was started, Henry George,author of that remarkable work, " Progress andPoverty," came to England, and I had the pleasureof making his acquaintance. He spoke at several ofour meetings and elsewhere in London, as well as in

324 MY LIFEvarious parts of England and Ireland.He was a veryimpressive speaker, and always held his audience.Among the most esteemed of the friends I owedto " Land Nationalization " were two eminent Scotchmen,both poets, and both ardent lovers of justiceand humanity — Professor J. Stuart Blackie andCharles Mackay. The former wrote to me in July,1882, saying that he had just finished the "carefulstudy " of my " Land Nationalization," and that hewas "happy to find it so much in accordance withmy oldest and most mature speculations, and—whatis of more importance—observations on the subject."He sent me a copy of his small volume, " Altavona,"with a chapter on the " Sutherland Clearances," andhe concluded, "As to your remedies for the giganticevils which our present system of land laws entails,they recommend themselves strongly to every consistentthinker."Both he and Isuffered some inconvenience fromhaving mentioned the name of the agent who carriedout the terrible Sutherland evictions in the first twodecades of the nineteenth century, as it is given in allthe early narratives, as well as in the report of thetrial of the agent for arson and murder, when, ofcourse, he was acquitted. His sons were at that timealive, and protested against the publication. Bothour publishers were frightened. Professor Blackiewithdrew his book, and published a second editionmuch cut down. I placed mine in the hands of anew publisher, and I promised that in a new editionI would omit the name of the agent, but refused tomake any alterations in the statements of facts.Three years later (in December, 1885), when Iwas lecturing in Edinburgh, I had the great pleasureof meeting Professor Blackie. I was staying with

LAND NATIONALIZATION 325the late Mr. Robert Cox, at whose house the professorwas an intimate. He called soon after Iarrived, and on hearing my name, he cordially embracedme (in the continental fashion) as one withwhom he was incomplete sympathy, and then threwhimself upon the rug to talk to Mrs. Cox. AfterwardsI had a long conversation with him on all thesubjects that interested us most, and was delightedwith his geniality no less than with his intensehuman sympathy, especially in the case of the cruellydisinherited Highlanders.Although I had for many years been a greatadmirer of Charles Mackay's Songs and Poems, andwas living quite near him while we were at Dorking,from August, 1876, to March, 1878, I did not makehis acquaintance till some years afterwards, as, owingto my constitutional shyness, I do not think I evermade the first overtures to any man, or even calledupon any one without some previous correspondenceor introduction. But several years later I sent him acopy of my " Land Nationalization " (I think probablyon the suggestion of some one who knew him),with a letter, begging his acceptance of it. Thisbrought me three letters in rapid succession—oneacknowledging it, saying he had been very ill for sixmonths, but adding that he had been an adherent ofour cause for forty years, and referring me to hispoem, " Lament of Cona for the Unpeopling of theHighlands."In the following year he removed to London forgood medical attendance, and wrote me a very flatteringletter after reading my "Malay Archipelago."The next year (1886) I was able to call on him,when in London for a day, at his apartments in

326 MY LIFELongridge Road, South Kensington, when we had along talk, and he afterwards wrote to me as "Mydear friend and philosopher." On the occasion ofthis visit he introduced me to his step-daughter, MissMarie Corelli, a very pleasant young lady, whosefuture eminence as a writer I did not divine.Notwithstanding the scanty means of the majorityof the founders and members, the Land NationalizationSociety has struggled on for more than a quarterof a century. Its lecturers and its yellow vans havepervaded the country, and it has effected the greatwork of convincing the highest and best organizedamong the manual workers, as represented by theirTrades Unions, that the abolition of land monopoly,which is the necessary result of its private ownership,is at the very root of all social reform. Hence thefuture is with them and us, and though the capitalistsand the official Liberals are still against us, we waitpatiently, and continue to educate the masses in thecertainty of a future and not distant success.For about ten years after I first publicly advocatedland nationalization I was inclined to thinkthat no further fundamental reforms were possible ornecessary. Although I had, since my earliest youth,looked to some form of socialistic organization ofsociety, especially in the form advocated by RobertOwen, as the ideal of the future, I was yet so muchinfluenced by the individualistic teachings of Milland Spencer, and the loudly proclaimed dogma, thatwithout the constant spur of individual competitionmen would inevitably become idle and fall back intouniversal poverty, that Idid not bestow much attentionupon the subject, having, in fact, as much literarywork on hand as I could manage. But at length, in1889, my views were changed once for all, and I have

SOCIALISM 327ever since been absolutely convinced, not only thatsocialism is thoroughly practicable, but that it is theonly form of society worthy of civilized beings, andthat it alone can secure for mankind continuousmental and moral advancement, together with thattrue happiness which arises from the full exercise ofall their faculties for the purpose of satisfying all theirrational needs, desires, and aspirations.The book that thus changed my outlook on thisquestion was Bellamy's " Looking Backward," a workthat in a few years had gone through seventeeneditions in America, but had only just been republishedin England. On a first reading I was captivatedby the wonderfully realistic style of the work,the extreme ingenuity of the conception, the absorbinginterest of the story, and the logical power withwhich the possibility of such a state of society as thatdepicted was argued and its desirability enforced.Every sneer, every objection, every argument I hadever read against socialism was here met and shownto be absolutely trivial or altogether baseless, whilethe inevitable results of such a social state in givingtoevery human being the necessaries, the comforts,the harmless luxuries, and the highest refinementsand social enjoyments of life were made equally clear.IFrom this time I declared myself a socialist, andmade the first scientific application of my convictionin my article on "Human Selection" in the FortnightlyReview (September, 1890). This article calledforth several expressions of approval, which I highlyvalue. It forms the last chapter of vol. i. of my" Studies, Scientific and Social."Inow read many other books on socialism, butthat which Impressed me as being the most completeand thoroughly reasoned exposition, both of the

328 MY LIFEphilosophy and the constructive methods of socialism,was Bellamy's later work, "Equality," which comparativelyfew, even of English socialists, are acquaintedwith. The book is a sequel to " LookingBackward," and contains more than twice the matter.It shows, systematically, how our existing system ofcompetition and individual profit — capitalism andenormous private wealth—directly lead to overwork,poverty, starvation, and crime ; that it is necessarilywasteful in production and cruelly unjust in distribution; that it fosters every kind of adulteration inmanufacture, and almost necessitates lying in trade ;that it involves the virtual slavery of the bulk of thepopulation, and checks or destroys any realprogressof the race.Many good people to-day who are almost horrorstruckat hearing that any one they know is asocialist, would be still more amazed if they knewhow many of the very salt of the earth belong (or didbelong) to this despised and much-dreaded body ofthinkers. Grant Allen, one of the most intellectualand many-sided men of our time, was one of us ; soisSir Oliver Lodge, one of our foremost students ofphysical science ; and Professor Karl Pearson, agreat mathematical evolutionist. Among the clergywe have the Revs. John Clifford, R. C. Fillingham,and many others among the Christian socialists, whoare as much socialists as any of us. Among men ofuniversity training or of high literary ability we haveH. M. Hyndman, Edward Carpenter, J. A. Hobson,Sydney Webb, Hubert Bland, H. S. Salt,J. C.Kenworthy, Morrison-Davidson, and many others.Of poets there are Gerald Massey and Sir LewisMorris. The Labour members of Parliament arealmost all socialists ; while Margaret Macmillan, the

"VACCINATION 329Countess of Warwick, and many less-known womenare earnest workers for the cause.I may conclude this subject with the answer Irecently gave to the question, "Why am I aSocialist ? " I am a socialist because I believe thatthe highest law for mankind is justice. I thereforetake for my motto, " Fiat Justitia Ruat Ccelum ;and my definition of socialism is, " The use by everyone of his faculties for the common good, and thevoluntary organization of labour for the equal benefitof all." That is absolute social justice ;that is idealsocialism. It is, therefore, the guiding star for alltrue social reform.The Vaccination Question.I will here say a few words about another subjectin which I take a great interest, and upon which Ihave ventured to express views contrary to those heldby the orthodox authorities.I was brought up to believe that vaccination wasa scientific procedure, and that Jenner was one ofthe great benefactors of mankind. I was vaccinatedin infancy, and before going to the Amazon I waspersuaded to be vaccinated again. My children wereduly vaccinated, and I never had the slightest doubtof the value of the operation—taking everything ontrust without any inquiry whatever—till about 1875-80,when I first heard that there were anti-vaccinators,and read some articles on the subject. These did notmuch impress me, as I could not believe so manyeminent men could be mistaken on such an importantmatter. But a little later I met Mr. William Tebb,and through him was introduced to some of the moreimportant statistical facts bearing upon the subject.

330 MY LIFESome of these I was able to test by reference to theoriginal authorities, and also to the various Reportsof the Registrar-General, Dr. Farr's evidence as tothe diminution of small-pox before Jenner's time, andthe extraordinary misstatements of the supporters ofvaccination.Mr. Tebb supplied me with a good dealof anti-vaccination literature, especially with " Pierce'sVital Statistics," the tables in which satisfied me thatthe claims for vaccination were enormously exaggerated,if not altogether fallacious. I also now learntfor the first time that vaccination itself produced adisease, which was often injurious to health and sometimesfatal to life, and I also found to my astonishmentthat even Herbert Spencer had long ago pointed outthat the first compulsory Vaccination Act had led toan increase of small-pox. I then began to study theReports of the Registrar-General myself, and to drawout curves of small-pox mortahty, and of other zymoticdiseases (the only way of showing the general courseof a disease as well as its annual inequalities), andthen found that the course of the former diseaseran so generally parallel to that of the latter as todisprove altogether any special protective effect ofvaccination.As I could find no short and clear statement ofthe main statistical facts adverse to vaccination, Iwrote a short pamphlet of thirty-eight pages, entitled" Forty-five Years of Registration Statistics, provingVaccination to be both Useless and Dangerous."This was published in 1885 at Mr. W. Tebb'sexpense, and it had the efifect of convincing manypersons, among whom were some of my personalfriends.A few years later, when the Royal Commission onVaccination was appointed, I was invited to become

VACCINATION 331a member of it, but declined, as I could not give upthe necessary time, but chiefly because I thought Icould do more good as a witness. I accordingly prepareda number of large diagrams, and stated the argumentsdrawn from them, and in the year 1890 gave myevidence during part of three days. As about halfthe Commissioners were doctors, most of the othersgave way to them. I told them, at the beginning ofmy evidence, that I knew nothing of medicine, butthat, following the principle laid down by Sir JohnSimon and Dr. Guy, that "the evidence for thebenefits of vaccination must now be statistical," I wasprepared to show the bearing of the best statisticsonly. Yet they insisted on putting medical argumentsand alleged medical facts to me, asking mehow I explained this, how I accounted for that ; andthough I stated again and again that there wereplenty of medical witnesses who would deal withthose points, they continually recurred to them ;andwhen I said I had no answer to give, not havinginquired into those alleged facts, they seemed to thinkthey had got the best of it. Yet they were so ignorantof statistics and statistical methods that one greatdoctor held out a diagram, showing the same facts asone of mine, and asked me almost triumphantly howit was that mine was so different. After comparingthe two diagrams for a few moments I replied thatthey were drawn on different scales, but that withthat exception I could see no substantial differencebetween them. The other diagram was on a greatlyexaggerated vertical scale, so that the line showingeach year's death-rate went up and down withtremendous peaks and chasms, while mine approximatedmore to a very irregular curve. But myquestioner could not see this simple point ;and later

"anything ! 332 MY LIFEhe recurred to it a second time, and asked me if Ireally meant to tell them that those two diagramswere both accurate, and when I said again thatthough on different scales both represented the samefacts, he looked up at the ceiling with an air whichplainly said, "If you will say that you will sayThe Commission lingered on for six years, anddid not issue its final report till 1896, while theevidence, statistics, and diagrams occupied numerousbulky blue-books. The most valuable parts of itwere the appendices, containing the tables anddiagrams presented by the chief witnesses, togetherwith a large number of official tables and statistics,both of our own and foreign countries, affording amass of material never before brought together.This enabled me to present the general statisticalargument more completely and forcibly than I haddone before, and I devoted several months of veryhard work to doing this, and brought it out inpamphlet form in January, 1898, in order that a copymight be sent to every member of the House ofCommons before the new Vaccination Act came upfor discussion. This was done by the NationalAnti-Vaccination League, and I wrote to the halfdozenmembers I knew personally, begging them togive one evening to its careful perusal. But so faras any of their speeches showed, not one of the sixhundred and seventy members gave even thatamount of their time to obtain information on asubject involving the health, life, and personal freedomof their constituents. Yet I know that in nowork I have written have I presented so clear andso conclusive a demonstration of the fallacy of apopular belief as is given in this work, which was

VACCINATION 333entitled " Vaccination a Delusion : Its Penal Enforcementa Crime, proved by the Official Evidence inthe Reports of the Royal Commission." This wasincluded in the second part of my " WonderfulCentury," published in June, 1898, and was alsopublished separately in the pamphlet form, as itcontinues to be ; and I feel sure that the time isnot far distant when this will be held to be one ofthe most important and most truly scientific of myworks.

;CHAPTER XXIMESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISMI HAVE already described my first introduction tomesmerism at Leicester, how I found that I hadconsiderable mesmeric power myself, and could produceall the chief phenomena on some of my patientswhile I also satisfied myself that the almost universalopposition and misrepresentations of the medical professionwere founded upon a combination of ignoranceand prejudice.During my eight years' travel in the East I heardoccasionally, through the newspapers, of the strangedoings of the spiritualists in America and England,some of which seemed to me too wild and outre to beanything but the ravings of madmen. Others, however,appeared to be so well authenticated that Icould not at all understand them, but concluded, asmost people do at first, that such things must beeither imposture or delusion. How I became firstacquainted with the phenomena and the effect theyproduced upon me are fully described in the " Notesof Personal Evidence," in my book on " Miracles andModern Spiritualism," to which I refer my readers.I will only state here that I was so fortunate as towitness the simpler phenomena, such as rapping andtapping sounds and slight movements of a table in afriend's house, with no one present but his family and

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 335myself, and we were able to test the facts so thoroughlyas to demonstrate that they were not produced by thephysical action of any one of us. Afterwards, in myown house, similar phenomena were obtained scoresof times, and I was able to apply tests which showedthat they were not caused by any one present. Afew years later I formed one of the committee of theDialectical Society, and again witnessed, under testconditions, similar phenomena in great variety, andin these three cases, it must be remembered, no paidmediums were present, and every means that couldbe suggested of excluding trickery or the directactions of any one present were resorted to.At a later period I paid frequent visits, alwayswith some one or more of my friends as sceptical andas earnest in search after fact as myself, to two of thebest public mediums for physical phenomena I haveever met with—Mrs,Marshall and her daughter-inlaw.We here made whatever investigations wepleased, and tried all kinds of tests. We always satin full daylight in a well-lighted room, and obtaineda variety of phenomena of a very startlingkind, asnarrated in the book referred to. During the latterpart of my residence in London (1865-70) I hadnumerous opportunities of seeing phenomena withother mediums in various private houses in London.These were sometimes with private, sometimes withpaid mediums, but always under such conditions asto render any kind of collusion or imposture altogetherout of the question. During this time I was in frequentcommunication with Sir William Crookes, Mr.Cromwell Varley, Serjeant Cox, Mr. HensleighWedgwood, and many other friends, who were eitherinterested in or were actively investigating the subject; and through the kindness of several of them I

—336 MY LIFEhad many opportunities of witnessing some of themore extraordinary of the phenomena under the mostfavourable conditions. At a much later period, whenI visited America, I made the acquaintance of someof the most eminent spiritualists in Boston andWashington, and had many opportunities of seeingphenomena and obtaining tests of a different kindfrom any that I had seen in England ; and some ofthese I may refer to later on.When I had obtained in my own house the phenomenadescribed in my " Notes of Personal Evidence,"I felt sure that if any of my scientific friendscould witness them they would be satisfied that theywere not due to trickery, and were worthy of carefulexamination. I therefore endeavoured to persuadeDr. W. B. Carpenter, Professor Tyndall, and Mr. G.H. Lewes to attend seances and investigate the subjectforthemselves, but each was too incredulous to givethe matter serious attention.In 1866 I wrote a pamphlet, entitled " The ScientificAspect of the Supernatural," which I distributedamongst my friends. After reading it, Huxley wrotethat he " could not get up any interest in the subject."Tyndall read it "with deep disappointment," and hedeplored my willingness to accept data unworthy ofmy attention.I received many letters referring to this pamphlet,both satisfactory and otherwise, but perhaps the mostinteresting was that from Robert Chambers, which Ihere give"Dear Sir," St. Andrews, February lo, 1867." I have received your letter of the 6th inst.,and your little volume. It gratifies me much to

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 337receive a friendly communication from the Mr.Wallace of my friend Darwin's Origin of Species/*and my gratification is greatly heightened on findingthat he is one of the few men of science who admitthe verity of the phenomena of spiritualism. I havefor many years known that these phenomena are real,as distinguished from impostures ; and it is not ofyesterday that I concluded they were calculated toexplain much that has been doubtful in the past, andwhen fully accepted, revolutionize the whole frame ofhuman opinion on many important matters.*******'How provoking it has often appeared to me thatitseems so impossible, with such a man, for instance,as Huxley, to obtain a moment's patience for thissubject — so infinitely transcending all those ofphysical science in the potential results !" My idea is that the term ' supernatural ' is agross mistake.We have only to enlarge our conceptionsof the natural, and all will be right." I am, dear sir," Yours very sincerely," Robert Chambers."In the latter part of the year, while attending themeeting of the British Association at Dundee, Ivisited St. Andrews, and after a geological excursionunder the guidance of Sir A. Geikie, and a collationwith the university authorities, at which RobertChambers was present, I had the great pleasure ofan hour's conversation with him in his own house.During the years 1870-80 I had many opportunitiesof witnessing interesting phenomena in the housesof various friends, some of which I have not madepublic. Early in 1874 I was invited by John Morley,z

338 MY LIFEthen editor of the Fortnightly Review, to write anarticle on " Spiritualism " for that periodical. Muchpublic interest had been excited by the publicationof the Report of the Committee of the DialecticalSociety, and especially by Mr. Crookes's experimentswith Mr. Home, and the refusal of the Royal Societyto see these experiments repeated. I therefore acceptedthe task, and my article appeared in May andJune under the title, " A Defence of Modern Spiritualism."At the end of the same year I includedthis article, together with my former small book," The Scientific Aspects of the Supernatural," and apaper I had read before the Dialectical Society in1 87 1, answering the arguments of Hume, Lecky, andother writers against miracles, in a volume which hashad a very considerable sale, and has led manypersons to investigate the subject and to becomeconvinced of the reality of the phenomena.The publication of my book in 1874, not onlybrought me an extensive correspondence on thesubject, but led to my being invited to take part inmany interesting stances, and making the acquaintanceof spiritualists both at home and abroad. As what Iwitnessed was often very remarkable, and forms a sortof supplement to the " Notes of Personal Evidence "given in my book, and also because these phenomenahave had a very important influence both on mycharacter and my opinions, it will be necessary hereto give a brief outline of them.I attended a series of sittings with Miss KateCook, the sister of the Miss Florence Cook withwhom Sir William Crookes obtained such very strikingresults. The general features of these stances werevery similar, though there was great variety in details.They took place in the rooms of Signor Randi, a

;MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 339miniature-painter, living in Montague Place, W., ina large reception-room, across one corner of which acurtain was hung and a chair placed inside for themedium. There were generally six or seven personspresent. Miss Cook and her mother came from NorthLondon. Miss C. was always dressed in black, withlace collar, she wore laced-up boots, and had earringsin her ears. In a few minutes after she had enteredthe cabinet, the curtains would be drawn apart and awhite-robed female figure would appear, and sometimescome out and stand close in front of the curtain.One after another she would beckon to us to comeup. We then talked together, the form in whispersI could look closely into her face, examine the featuresand hair, touch her hands, and might even touch andexamine her ears closely, which were not bored forearrings. The figure had bare feet, was somewhattaller than Miss Cook, and, though there was a generalresemblance, was quite distinct in features, figure, andhair. After half an hour or more this figure wouldretire, close the curtains, and sometimes within a fewseconds would say, "Come and look." We thenopened the curtains, turned up the lamp, and MissCook was found in a trance in the chair, her blackdress, laced-boots, etc., in the most perfect order aswhen she arrived, while the full-grown white-robedfigure had totally disappeared.Mr. Robert Chambers introduced me to a wealthyScotch lady. Miss Douglas, living in South AudleyStreet, and at her house I attended many siances, andmet Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, and several otherLondon spiritualists. On one occasion Home wasthe medium and Mr. (now Sir William) Crookes waspresent. As I was the only one of the company whohad not witnessed any of the remarkable phenomena

;340 MY LIFEthat occurred in his presence, I was invited to go underthe table while an accordion was playing, held inHome's hand, his other hand being on the table.The room was well lighted, and I distinctly sawHome's hand holding the instrument, which movedup and down and played a tune without any visiblecause. On stating this, he said, " Now I will takeaway my hand " —which he did ; but the instrumentwent on playing, and I saw a detached hand holdingit while Home's two hands were seen above the tableby all present. This was one of the ordinary phenomena,and thousands of persons have witnessed itand when we consider that Home's siances almostalways took place in private houses at which he was aguest, and with people absolutely above suspicion ofcollusion with an impostor, and also either in the daytimeor in a fully illuminated room, it will be admittedthat no form of legerdemain will explain what occurred.Perhaps the most interesting of these seances were aseries with Mr. Haxby, a young man engaged inthepost-office, and a remarkable medium for materializations.He was a small man, and sat in MissDouglas's small drawing-room on the first floorseparated by curtains from a larger one, where thevisitors sat in a subdued light. After a few minutes,from between the curtains would appear a tall andstately East Indian figure in white robes, a rich waistband,sandals, and large turban, snowy white, anddisposed with perfect elegance. Sometimes this figurewould walk round the room outside the circle, wouldlift up a large and very heavy musical box, which hewould wind up and then swing round his head withone hand. He would often come to each of us insuccession, bow, and allow us to feel his hands andexamine his robes. We asked him to stand against

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 341the door-post and marked his height, and on oneoccasion Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood brought with hima shoe-maker's measuring-rule, and at our request,Abdullah, as he gave his name, took off a sandal,placed his foot on a chair, and allowed it to beaccurately measured with the sliding-rule. After thesiance Mr. Haxby removed his boot and had his footmeasured by the same rule, when that of the figurewas found to be full one inch and a quarter the longer,while in height it was about half a foot taller. Aminute or two after Abdullah had retired into thesmall room, Haxby was found in a trance in his chair,while no trace of the white-robed stranger was to beseen. The door and window of the back room weresecurely fastened, and often secured with gummedpaper, which was found intact.On another occasion I was present in a privatehouse when a very similar figure appeared with themedium Eglinton before a large party of spiritualistsand inquirers. In this case the conditions were evenmore stringent and the result absolutely conclusive.A corner of the room had a curtain hung across it,enclosing a space just large enough to hold a chair forthe medium. I and others examined this corner andfound the walls solid and the carpet nailed down. Themedium on arrival came at once into the room, andafter a short period of introductions seated himself inthe corner. There was a lighted gas-chandelier in theroom, which was turned down so as just to permitus to see each other. The figure, beautifully robed,passed round the room, allowed himself to be touched,his robes, hands, and feet examined closely by allpresent— I think sixteen or eighteen persons. Everyone was delighted, but to make the stance a test one,several of the medium's friends begged him to allow

342 MY LIFEhimself to be searched so that the result might bepublished. After some difficulty he was persuaded,and four persons were appointed to make the examination.Immediately two of these led him into abedroom, while I and a friend who had come with meclosely examined the chair, floor, and walls, and werea glove hadable to declare that nothing so large asbeen left. We then joined the other two in the bedroom,and as Eglinton took off his clothes each articlewas passed through our hanjds, down to underclothingand socks, so that we could positively declare that nota single article besides his own clothes were foundupon him. The result was published in the Spiritualistnewspaper, certified by the names of all present.Yet one more case of materialization may be given,because it was even more remarkable in some respectsthan any which have been here recorded. A Mr.Monck, a Nonconformist clergyman, was a remarkablemedium, and in order to be able to examine the phenomenacarefully, and to preserve the medium fromthe injury often caused by repeated miscellaneousstances, four gentlemen secured his exclusive servicesfor a year, hiring apartments for him on a first floorin Bloomsbury, and paying him a moderate salary.Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood and Mr. Stainton Moseswere two of these, and they invited me to see thephenomena that occurred. It was a bright summerafternoon, and everything happened in the full lightof day. After a little conversation, Monck, who wasdressed in the usual clerical black, appeared to go intoa trance then stood up a few feet in front of us, and;after a little while pointed to his side, saying, " Look."We saw there a faint white patch on his coat on theleft side. This grew brighter, then seemed to flicker,and extend both upwards and downwards, till very

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 343gradually it formed a cloudy pillar extending from hisshoulder to his feet and close to his body. Then heshifted himself a little sideways, the cloudy figurestanding still, but appearing joined to him by acloudy band at the height at which it had first begunto form. Then, after a few minutes more, Monck againsaid "Look," and passed his hand through the connectingband, severing it. He and the figure thenmoved away from each other till they were about fiveor six feet apart. The figure had now assumed theappearance of a thickly draped female form, witharms and hands just visible. Monck looked towardsit and again said to us " Look," and then clapped hishands. On which the figure put out her hands,clapped them as he had done, and we all distinctlyheard her clap following his, but fainter.The figurethen moved slowly back to him, grew fainter andshorter, and was apparently absorbed into his bodyas it had grown OLt of it.Of course, sucl. a narration as this, to those whoknow nothing of the phenomena that gradually leadup to it, seems mere midsummer madness. But tothose who have for years obtained positive knowledgeof a great variety o" facts equally strange, this is onlyof phenomena,the culminating point of a long seriesall antecedently incedible to the people who talk soconfidently of the laws of nature.Now that the wiole series of similar phenomenahave been co-ordinated, and to some extent renderedintelligible, by Myers's great work on " HumanPersonality," it is ;o be hoped that even studentsof physical science will no longer class all thosewho have either wtnessed such phenomena or expressedtheir belie" in them, as insane or idioticallycredulous, wi;hout even attempting to show

344 MY LIFEhow, under similar conditions, such effects can beproduced.During my lecturing tour inthe United States in1886-87, I stayed some time in three of the centresof American spiritualism—Boston, Washington, andSan Francisco, and made the acquaintance of manyAmerican spiritualists and inquirers, with whom Iattended many remarkable seances. At Boston I metthe Rev. Minot J.Savage, whose latest work, "CanTelepathy Explain ? " contains such a collection ofpersonal experiences as have fallen tc the lot of fewinquirers ; Mr. F. J. Garrison, a soi of the greatabolitionist ; Mr. E. A. Brackett, a scufptor, and authorof a remarkable book on " Materialized Apparitions " ;Dr. Nichols, author of "Whence, Where, and Whither";Professor James, of Harvard, and sereral others.I attended several seances at the house of Mrs.Ross, a very good medium for materializations, inthe company of one or more of my friends. I willstate what occurred on one of these occasions. Theseance took place in a front downstairs room of asmall private house, opening by sliding doors into aback room, and by an ordinary door into the passage.The cabinet was formed by cloth curtains across thecorner of the room from the fireplace to the slidingdoor. One side of this was an oiter wall, the otherthe wall of the back room, where tlere was a cupboardcontaining a quantity of china. I was invited toexamine, and did so thoroughly— front room, floor,back room, rooms below in basenent, occupied by aheating apparatus ; and I am postive there were nomeans of communication other 1han the doors foreven the smallest child. Then the sliding doors wereclosed, fastened with sticking-pkster, and privatelymarked with pencil. The ten visitors formed a semi-

——MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 345circle opposite the cabinet, and I sat with my backclose to the passage door and opposite the curtain ata distance of about ten feet. A red-shaded lamp wasin the furthest corner behind the visitors, whichenabled me to see the time by my watch and the outlinesof every one in the room ; and as it was behindme the space between myself and the cabinet wasvery fairly lighted. Under these circumstances theappearances were as follows :(i) A female figure in white came out betweenthe curtains with Mrs. Ross in black, and also a malefigure, all to some distance in front of the cabinet.This was apparently to demonstrate, once for all, that,whatever they were, the figures were not Mrs. Rossin disguise.(2) After these had retired three female figuresappeared together, in white robes and of differentheights. These came two or three feet in front of thecurtain.(3) A male figure came out, recognized by agentleman present as his son.(4) A tall Indian figure came out in whitemoccassins ; he danced and spoke ; he also shookhands with me and others, a large, strong, roughhand.(5) A female figure with a baby stood close tothe entrance of the cabinet. I went up (on invitation),felt the baby's face, nose, and hair, and kissed itapparently a real, soft-skinned, living baby. Otherladies and gentlemen agreed.and IDirectly the seance was over the gas was lighted,again examined the bare walls of the cabinet,the curtains, and the door, all being just as before,and affording no room or place for disposing of thebaby alone, far less of the other figures.

346 MY LIFE—At another special seance for friends of Dr. Nicholsand Mr. Brackett, with Professor James and myselfnine in all, under the same conditions as before,eight or nine different figures came, including a tallIndian chief in war-paint and feathers, a little girlwho talked and played with Miss Brackett, and a verypretty and perfectly developed girl, " Bertha," Mr.Brackett's niece, who has appeared to him withvarious mediums for two years, and is as well knownto him as any near relative in earth-life. She speaksdistinctly, which these figures rarely do, and Mr.Brackett has often seen her develop gradually from acloudy mass, and almost instantly vanish away. Butwhat specially interested me was, that two of thefigures beckoned to me to come up to the cabinet.One was a beautifully draped female figure, who tookmy hand, looked at me smilingly, and on my appearingdoubtful, said in a whisper that she had oftenmet me at Miss Kate Cook's seances in London.She then let me feel her ears, as I had done beforeto prove she was not the medium. I then saw thatshe closely resembled the figure with whom I hadoften talked and joked at Signor Randi's, a factknown to no one in America.The other figure was an old gentleman withwhite hair and beard, and in evening-dress. He tookmy hand, bowed, and looked pleased, as one meetingan old friend. Considering who was likely to come,I thought of my father and of Darwin, but there wasnot enough likeness to either. Then at length Irecognized the likeness to a photograph I had of mycousin Algernon Wilson, whom I had not seen sincewe were children, but had long corresponded with,as he was an enthusiastic entomologist, living inAdelaide, where he had died not long before. Then

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 347I looked pleased and said, " Is it Algernon ? " atwhich he nodded earnestly, seemed very much pleased,shook my hand vigorously, and patted my face andhead with his other hand.These two recognitions were to me very striking,because they were both so private and personal tomyself, and could not possibly have been known tothe medium or even to any of my friends present.In Washington, where I resided several months,I made the acquaintance of Professor Elliot Coues,General Lippitt, Mr. D. Lyman, Senator and Mrs.Stanford, Mr. T. A. Bland the Indians' friend, andMrs. Beecher Hooker, all thorough spiritualists, aswell as many others unknown to fame. With thethree former gentlemen I attended many seances of avery remarkable public medium, Mr. P. L. O. A.Keeler, and both witnessed phenomena and obtainedtests of a very interesting kind. The medium wasa young man of the clerk or tradesman class, withonly the common school education, and with noappearance of American smartness. The arrangementof his seances was peculiar. The corner of agood-sized room had a black curtain across it on astretched cord about five feet from the ground.Inside was a small table on which were a tambourineand hand-bell. Any one, before the seances beganor afterwards, could examine this enclosed space, thecurtain, the floor, and the walls. I did so myself, theroom being fully lighted, and was quite satisfied thatthere was absolutely nothing but what appeared atfirst sight, and no arrangements whatever for ingressor egress but under the curtain into the room. Thecurtain, too, was entire from end to end, a matterof importance in regard to certain phenomena thatoccurred. Three chairs were placed close in front of

348 MY LIFEthis curtain on which sat the medium and two personsfrom the audience. Another black curtain was passedin front of them across their chests so as to enclosetheir bodies in a dark chamber, while their heads andthe arms of the outer sitter were free. The medium'stwo hands were placed on the hands and wrist of thesitter next him.The stance began with purely physical phenomena.The tambourine was rattled and played on, then ahand appeared above the curtain, and a stick wasgiven to it which it seized. Then the tambourine waslifted high on this stick and whirled round with greatrapidity, the bell being rung at the same time. Allthe time the medium sat quiet and impassive, andthe person next him certified to his two hands beingon his or hers. On one occasion a lady, a friend ofProfessor Elliott Coues and a woman of unusualability and character, was the sitter, and certifiedall critical times during the whole seance that themedium's hands were felt by her. After these andmany other things were performed, the hand wouldappear above the curtain, the fingers moving excitedly.This was the signal for a pencil and a pad of notepaper(as commonly used in America) ; then rapidwriting was heard, a slip of paper torn off and thrownover the curtain, sometimes two or three in rapidsuccession, and in the direction of certain sitters.The director of the stance picked them up, read thename signed, and asked if any one knew it, and whenclaimed it was handed to him. In this way a dozenor more of the chance visitors received messageswhich were always intelligible to them and oftenstrikingly appropriate. I will give some of themessages I thus received myself.On my second visit a very sceptical friend wentat

—MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 349with us, and seeing the writing-pad on the pianomarked several of the sheets with his initials. Themedium was very angry and said it would spoil theseance. However, he was calmed by his friends.When it came to the writing the pad was given to meover the top of the curtain to hold. I held it justabove the medium's shoulder, when a hand andpencil came through the curtain, and wrote on thepad as I held it. It is a bold scrawl and hard toread, but the first words seem to be, " Friends werehere to write, but only this one could. ... A. W."Another evening, with the same medium, I receiveda paper with this message, "I am William Martin,and I come for Mr. William Wallace, who could notwrite this time after all. He wishes to say to youthat you shall be sustained by coming results intheposition you have taken in the Ross case. It was amost foul misrepresentation."This, and other writing I had afterwards, are tome striking tests in the name William Martin. Inever knew him, but he was an early friend of mybrother who was for some time with Martin's fatherto learn practical building, the latter being thenengaged in erecting King's College. When I waswith my brother learning surveying, etc., he usedoften to speak of his friend Martin, but for the lastforty-five years I had never thought of the name andwas greatly surprised when it appeared. About amonth later I had the following message from theelder Martin, written in a different hand :" Mr. Wallace," Your father was an esteemed friend, andI like to come to you for his sake. We are oftentogether. How strange it seems to us here that the

—This350 MY LIFEmasses can so long exist in ignorance.Console yourselfwith the thought that though ignorance, superstitionand bigotry have withheld from you the justrewards to which your keen enlightenment and noblesacrifices so fully entitle you, the end is not yet, anda mighty change is about to take place to put youwhere you belong."William Martin."I have no evidence that this Mr. Martin was afriend of my father, but the fact that my brotherWilliam was with him as stated (which must havebeen a favour), renders it probable. On the sameevening there was a number of messages to about adozen people all in different handwritings, several ofwhich were recognized. My friend General Lippitthad a most beautiful message which he allowed meto copy, as it was a wonderful test and greatly surprisedand delighted him. His first wife had diedtwenty-seven years before in California. She was anEnglish lady and he was greatly attached to her.This is the message :"Darling Francis," I come now to greet you from the highspheres to which I have ascended. Do you recall the.-'past ? Do you remember this day day I usedto look forward to and mention with such pride ?This, my darling, is my birthday anniversary. Doyou not remember ? Oh how happy shall we bewhen reunited in a world where we shall see as weare seen and know as we are known." Elizabeth Lippitt."General Lippitt told me it was his first wife's

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 351birthday, that he had not recollected it that day,and that no one in Washington knew the fact buthimself.A German gentleman who was present had amessage given him, which was not only written,as he declared, in excellent German, but was verycharacteristic of the friend from whom it purportedto come.On this evening most wonderful physical manifestationsoccurred. A stick was pushed out throughthe curtain. Two watches were handed to me throughthe curtain, and were claimed by the two persons whosat by the medium. The small tambourine, aboutten inches diameter, was pushed through the curtainand fell on the floor. These objects came throughdifferent parts of the curtain, but left no holes ascould be seen at the time, and was proved by a closeexamination afterwards. More marvellous still (ifthat be possible), a waistcoat was handed to me overthe curtain, which proved to be the medium's, thoughhis coat was left on and his hands had been held byhis companion all the time ;also about a score lofpeople were looking on all the time in a well-lightedroom. These things seem impossible, but they are,nevertheless, facts.At San Francisco my time was short, and myexperiences were limited to a slate-writing stance of astriking and very satisfactory nature. I went withmy brother John who had lived in California nearlyforty years, and who, the day before, had bought afolding-slate bound with list to shut noiselessly. Theseance was in the morning of a bright sunny day, andwe sat at a small table close to a window. Mr. Owen,the editor of the Golden Gate, with a friend (aphysician), accompanied us ; but they sat a little way

352 MY LIFEfrom the table, looking on. The medium, Mr. FredEvans, was quite a young man, whose remarkablegift had been developed under Mr. Owen's guidance.From a pile of small slates on a side-table fourwere taken at a time, cleaned with a damp sponge,and handed to us to examine, then laid in pairs onthe table. All our hands were then placed over themtill the signal was given, and on ourselves openingthem writing was found on both slates. Two otherpairs were then similarly placed on the table, on oneof which the medium drew two diagonal pencil lines,and on that slate writing was produced in fivedifferent colours—deep blue, red, light green-blue,pale red-lilac, deep lilac, and these could be seen allsuperposed upon the pencil cross-lines. My brother'sfolding-slate was then placed upon the floor a foot ortwo away from the table, and after we had conversedfor a few minutes, keeping it in sight, it was found tobe written on both the inner sides. It then occurredto me to ask the medium whether writing could beproduced on paper placed between slates. Aftera moment's pause, as if asking the question of hisguides, he told me to take a paper pad, tear off sixpieces, and place them all between a pair of slates.This I did, and we placed our hands over them asbefore, and in a few minutes, on opening them, wefound six portraits in a peculiar kind of crayondrawing.I will now describe the writings and drawings weobtained, which are now before me. The first was aletter filling the slate in small, clear, and delicatewriting, of which I will quote the concluding portion :" I wish I could describe to you my spirit home. ButI cannot find words suitable in your earthly languageto give it the expression it deserves. But you will

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 353know all when you join me in the spirit world. . . .Your loving sister, Elizabeth Wallace. Herbert ishere."Here are two family names given, the first beingone which no one else present could have known, asshe died when we were both schoolboys. The openingand concluding parts of the letter show that it wasaddressed specially to myself. The next was addressedto my brother, referring to me as "brotherAlf," and is signed " P. Wallace." This we cannotunderstand, as we have no relative with that initial,except a cousin, Percy Wilson. It is, I think, notimprobable that in transferring the message throughthe medium, and perhaps through a spirit-scribe (asis often said to be the case), the surname was misunderstoodowing to the latter supposing that thecommunicant was a brother.The next slate contains a message signed "JudgeEdmonds," addressed to myself and Mr. Owen, onthe general subject of spirit manifestations. It iswritten very distinctly in a flowing hand.The next is the slate written in five colours, andsigned "John Gray," one of the well-known earlyadvocates of spiritualism in America. It is also onthe general subject of spirit-return. Then comes aslate containing a portrait and signature of " Jno.Pierpont," one of the pioneers of spiritualism, andaround the margin three messages in different handwritings.One is from Stanley St. Clair, the spiritartist,who says he has produced the portrait for me,at the request of the medium. The others are shortmessages from Elizabeth Wallace and R. Wallace,the latter perhaps one of the unknown Scotch unclesof my father, the other beginning, "God bless you,my boys," is probably from our paternal grandmother,2 A

a354 MY LIFEwho is buried at Laleham. The last is my brother'sfolding-slate, containing on one side a short farewellfrom "John Gray," the signature being written threetimes in different styles and tints ; the other side is amessage signed, " Your father, T. V. Wallace." This,again, was a test, as no one present would have beenable to give my father's unusual initials correctly,and as he was accustomed to sign his name.The six portraits on paper with the lips tinted arethose of Jno. Pierpont (signed) ;Benjamin Rush (anearly spiritualist, signed) ; Robt. Hare, M.D., whoseworks I had quoted (signed) ; D. D. Home, the celebratedmedium who had died the year before—likeness easily recognized ; a girl (signed " The Spiritof Mary Wallace "), probably my sister who had diedthe year before I was born, when eight years old ;and a lady, who was recognized as Mrs. Breed, amedium of San Francisco. These are all rather rudeoutlines, in somewhat irregular and interrupted dashes,but they are all lifelike, and considering that theymust have been precipitated on the six surfaces whilein contact with each other between the slates, asplaced by myself, are exceedingly curious. Thewhole of these seven plates and six papers wereproduced so rapidly that the stance occupied less thanan hour, and with such simple and complete openness,under the eyes of four observers, as to constituteabsolutely test conditions, although without any ofthe usual paraphernalia of tests which were here quiteunnecessary. A statement to this effect was published,with an account of the seance^ signed by allpresent.During the last fifteen years I have not seen muchof spiritualistic phenomena ; but those who have read

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 355the account of my early investigations in my book onthe subject, and add to them all that I have indicatedhere, will see that I have reached my present standpointby a long series of experiences under such variedand peculiar conditions as to render unbelief impossible.As Dr. W. B. Carpenter well remarked manyyears ago, people can only believe new and extraordinaryfacts if there is a place for them in theirexisting " fabric of thought." The majority of peopleto-day have been brought up in the belief thatmiracles, ghosts, and the whole series of strangephenomena here described cannot exist ; that theyare contrary to the laws of nature ; that they are thesuperstitions of a bygone age ; and that thereforethey are necessarily either impostures or delusions.There is no place in the fabric of their thought intowhich such facts can be fitted. When I first beganthis inquiry it was the same with myself.The factsdid not fit into my then existing fabric of thought.All my preconceptions, all my knowledge, all mybelief in the supremacy of science and of natural lawwere against the possibility of such phenomena. Andeven when, one by one, the facts were forced upon mewithout possibility of escape from them, still, as SirDavid Brewster declared after being at first astoundedby the phenomena he saw withMr. Home, "spiritwas the last thing I could give in to." Every otherpossible solution was tried and rejected. Unknownlaws of nature were found to be of no avail whenthere was always an unknown intelligence behind thephenomena—an intelligence that showed a humancharacter and individuality, and an individuality whichalmost invariably claimed to be that of some personwho had lived on earth, and who, in many cases, wasable to prove his or her identity. Thus, little by

356 MY LIFElittle, a place was made in my fabric of thought,first for all such well-attested facts, and then, butmore slowly, for the spiritualistic interpretation ofthem.Unfortunately, at the present day most inquirersbegin at the wrong end. They want to see, andsometimes do see the most wonderful phenomenafirst, and being utterly unable to accept them as factsdenounce them as impostures, as did Tyndall andG. H. Lewes, or declare, as did Huxley, that suchphenomena do not interest them. Many peoplethink that when I and others publish accounts of suchphenomena, we wish or require our readers to believethem on oiir testimony. But that is not the case.Neither I nor any other well-instructed spiritualistexpects anything of the kind. We write not toconvince, but to excite to inquiry. We ask ourreaders not for belief, but for doubt of their owninfallibility on this question ;we ask for inquiry andpatient experiment before hastily concluding that weare, all of us, mere dupes and idiots as regards asubject to which we have devoted our best mentalfaculties and powers of observation for many years.

CHAPTER XXIIA CHAPTER ON MONEY MATTERS—EARNINGS ANDLOSSES—SPECULATIONS AND LAW-SUITSUp to the age of twenty-one I do not think I everhad a sovereign of my own. I then received a smallsum, perhaps about ;^50, the remnant of a legacyfrom my grandfather, John Greenell. This enabledoutfit of clothes, and to keep myselfme to get a fairtill I got the appointment at the Leicester school.While living at Neath as a surveyor I did little morethan earn my living, except during the six months ofthe railway mania, when I was able to save about;^ioo. This enabled me to go to Para with Bates,and during the four years on the Amazon my collectionsjust paid all expenses, but those I was bringinghome with me would probably have sold for ;;C20o.My agent, Mr. Stevens, had fortunately insured themfor ;^I50, which enabled me to live a year in London,and get a good outfit and a sufficient cash balancefor my Malayan journey.My eight years in the Malay Archipelago weresuccessful, financially, beyond my expectations.Celebes, the Moluccas, the Aru Islands, and NewGuinea were, for English museums and private collections,an almost unknown territory.A large proportionof my insects and birds were either whollynew or of extreme rarity in England ; and as many

358 MY LIFEof them were of large sizeand of great beauty, theybrought very high prices. My agent had investedthe proceeds from time to time in Indian guaranteedrailway stock, and a year after my return I foundmyself in possession of about ^300 a year. Besidesthis, I still possessed the whole series of private collections,including large numbers of new or very rarespecies, which, after I had made what use of themwas needed for my work, produced an amount whichin the same securities would have produced about;i^200 a year more.But I never reached that comfortable position.Owing to my never before having had more thanenough to supply my immediate wants, I was whollyignorant of the numerous snares and pitfalls thatbeset the ignorant investor, and I unfortunately cameunder the influence of two or three men who, quiteunintentionally, led me into trouble. Soon after Icame home I made the acquaintance of Mr. R., whoheld a good appointment under Government, andhad, besides, the expectation of a moderate fortuneon the death of an uncle. I soon became intimatewith him, and we were for some years joint investigatorsof spiritualistic phenomena. He was, likemyself at that time, an agnostic, well educated, andof a more positive character than myself. He hadfor some years saved part of his income, and investedit in various foreign securities at low prices, sellingout when they rose in value, and in this way heassured me he had in a few years doubled theamount he had saved. He studied price-lists andforeign news, and assured me that it was quite easy,with a little care and judgment, to increase yourcapital in this way. He quite laughed at the ideaof allowing several thousand pounds to lay idle, as he

MONEY MATTERS 359termed it, in Indian securities, and so imbued me withan idea of his great knowledge of the money market,that I was persuaded to sell out some of my bondsand debentures and buy others that he recommended,which brought in a higher interest, and which hebelieved would soon rise considerably in value. Thischange went on slowly with various success for severalyears, till at last I had investments in variousEnglish, American, and foreign railways, whose fluctuationsin value I was quite unable to comprehend,and I began to find, when too late, that almost all mychanges of investment brought me loss instead ofprofit ; and later on, when the great depression oftrade of 1875-85 occurred, the loss was so great as tobe almost ruin.In 1 866 one of my oldest friends became secretaryto a small body of speculators, who had offices inPall Mall, and who, among other things, were buyingslate quarry properties, and forming companies towork them.I was persuaded to take shares, and to be adirector of these companies, without any knowledgeof the business, or any idea how much capital wouldbe required. The quarries were started, machinerypurchased, call after call made, with the result in bothcases that, after four or five years of struggle, thecapital required and the working expenses were sogreat that the companies had to be wound up, and Iwas the loser of about a thousand pounds.While this was going on a still more unfortunateinfluence became active. My old friend in Timorand Singapore, Mr. Frederick Geach, the miningengineer, came home from the East, and we becamevery intimate, and saw a good deal of each other.He was a Cornishman, and familiar with tin, lead,

36oMY LIFEand copper mining all his life, and he had the mostunbounded confidence in good English mines as aninvestment. He had shares in some of the leadminesof Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, and wewent for a walking tour in that beautiful country,visited the mines, went down the shafts by endlessperpendicular ladders, and examined the veins andworkings with the manager, who had great confidencein its value, and was a large shareholder. " Here,"said Geach, " you can see the vein of lead ore.It isvery valuable, and extends to an unknown depth.This is not a probability, it is a certainty." And soI was persuaded to buy shares in lead-mines, andgradually had a large portion of my capital investedin them. About 1870 the price of lead began to fall,and has continued to fall ever since. The result ofall this was that by 1880 a large part of the moneyI had earned at the risk of health and life wasirrecoverably lost.While these continued misfortunes were in progressI was involved in two other annoyances,causing anxiety and worry for years, as well as a verylarge money loss. The first was with a dishonestbuilder, who contracted to build my house at Grays,and who was paid every month according to theproportion of the work done. One day, when thehouse was little more than half finished, he did notappear to pay his men, and as they would not continueto work without their money I paid them. Hedid not appear the next week, and sent no excuse, soshould completethe architect gave him notice that Ithe building myself, and that, according to the agreement,he would be responsible for any cost beyondthe contract price. After a few weeks he appeared,and wanted to go on, but that we declined. The

MONEY MATTERS 361house cost me somewhat more than the contract price,and when it was finished I sent him word he couldhave his ladders, scaffold-poles, boards, etc., though,according to the agreement, they were to be myproperty on his failure to finish the building.Isoon found, however, that he had not paid for akept cominglarge portion of the materials, and billsin for months afterwards for bricks, timber, stone,iron-work, etc., etc. The merchants who had trustedhim found that he had no effects whatever, as he livedas a lodger with his father ;and from all I heard, wasaccustomed to take contracts in different places roundLondon, and by not paying for any materials that hecould get on credit, made a handsome profit. Butthe height of his impudence was to come. Aboutfive years after the house was finished, I received ademand through a lawyer for (I think) between £800and ;^900 damages for not allowing this man to finishthe house ! I wrote, refusing to pay a penny. Thencame a notice of an action at law ;and I was obligedto put it in a lawyer's hands. All the usual preliminariesof interrogatories, affidavits, statements of claim,replies, objections^ etc., etc., were gone through, andon every point argued we were successful, with costs,which we never got. The case was lengthened outfor two or three years, and then ceased, the resultbeing that I had to pay about ;^ioo law costs forwhat was merely an attempt to extort money. Thatwas my experience of English law, which leaves thehonest man in the power of the dishonest one, mulctsthe former in heavy expenses, and is thus the veryantithesis oijustice.The next matter was a much more seriousone,and cost me fifteen years of continued worry, litigation,and persecution, with the final loss of several

362 MY LIFEhundred pounds. And it was all brought upon meby my ignorance and my own fault—ignorance of thefact so well shown by the late Professor de Morgan—that " paradoxers," as he termed them, can neverbe convinced, and my fault in consenting to getmoney by any kind of wager. It constitutes, therefore,the most regrettable incident in my life. Asmany inaccurate accounts have been published, I willnow state the facts, as briefly as possible, from documentsstill in my possession.In Scientific Opinion of January 12, 1870, Mr.John Hampden (a relative of Bishop Hampden)challenged scientific men to prove the convexity ofthe surface of any inland water, offering to stake;^500 on the result. It contained the following words :" He will acknowledge that he has forfeited hisdeposit if his opponent can exhibit, to the satisfactionof any intelligent referee, a convex railway, river,canal, or lake." Before accepting this challenge Ishowed it to Sir Charles Lyell, and asked him whetherhe thought I might accept it. He replied, " Certainly.It may stop these foolish people to have it plainlyshown them." I therefore wrote accepting the offer,proposing Bala lake, in North Wales, for the experiment,and Mr. J.H. Walsh, editor of the Field, orany other suitable person, as referee. Mr. Hampdenproposed the Old Bedford canal in Norfolk, which,near Downham Market, has a stretch of six milesquite straight between two bridges. He also proposeda Mr. William Carpenter (a journeymanprinter, who had written a book upholding the "flatearth " theory) as his referee ; and as Mr. Walshcould not stay away from London more that oneday, which was foggy, I chose Mr. Coulcher, a surgeonand amateur astronomer, of Downham Market,

MONEY MATTERS 363to act on my behalf, Mr. Walsh being the umpireand referee.The experiment finally agreed upon was as follows :The iron parapet of Welney bridge was thirteen feetthree inches above the water of the canal. The OldBedford bridge, about six miles off, was of brick andsomewhat higher. On this bridge I fixed a largesheet of white calico, six feet long and three feetdeep, with a thick black band along the centre, thelower edge of which was the same height from thewater as the parapet of Welney bridge ; so thatthe centre of it would be as high as the line of sightof the large six-inch telescope I had brought with me.At the central point, about three miles from eachbridge, I fixed up a long pole with two red discs onit, the upper one having its centre the same heightabove the water as the centre of the black band andof the telescope, while the second disc was four feetlower down. It is evident that if the surface of thewater is a perfectly straight line for the six miles, thenthe three objects—the telescope, the top disc, and theblack band—being all exactly the same height abovethe water, the disc would be seen in the telescopeprojected upon the black band ;whereas, if the sixmilesurface of the water is convexly curved, then thetop disc would appear to be decidedly higher thanthe black band, the amount due to the known size ofthe earth being five feet eight inches, which amountwill be reduced a little by refraction to perhaps aboutfive feet.The following diagrams illustrate the experimentmade. The curved line in Fig. i, and the straightline in Fig. 2, show the surface of the canal on thetwo theories of a round or a flat earth. A and C arethe two bridges six miles apart, while B is the pole

3^4MY LIFEmidway with two discs on it, the upper disc, thetelescope at A, and the black line on the bridge at C,being all exactly the same height above the water.If the surface of the water is truly flat, then on lookingatthe mark C with the telescope A, the top disc Bwill cover that mark.But if the surface of the wateris curved, then the upper disc will appear above theblack mark, and if the disc is more than four feetabove the line joining the telescope and the black^^ it.mark, then the lower disc willalso appear above theblack mark. Before the experiment was made adiagram similar to this was submitted to Mr. Hampden,his referee Mr. Carpenter, and Mr. Walsh, and allthree agreed that it showed clearly what should beseen inthe two cases, while the former declared theirfirm belief that Fig. 2 showed what zvoiUd be seen.When the pole was set up and the mark put uponthe bridge, Mr. Carpenter accompanied me, and sawthattheir heights above the water were the same asthat of the telescope resting on the parapet of thebridge. What was seen in the large telescope was

!I" Signed by Mr, Carpenter."—Z)r. Coulcher's Report. '^SignedMONEY MATTERS 365sketched by Mr. Coulcher and signed by Mr. Carpenteras correct, and is shown in the following diagramwhich was reproduced in the Field newspaper (March26, 1870), and also in a pamphlet by Carpenter himself.But he declared that this proved nothing,because the telescope was not levelled, and because ithad no cross-hairAt his request to have a spirit-level in order toshow if there was any " fall " of the surface of water,I had been to King's Lynn and borrowed a goodTroughton's level from a surveyor there. This I nowset up on the bridge at exactly the same heightabove the water as the other telescope, and havinglevelled it very accurately and called Mr. Carpenterto see that the bubble was truly central and that theleast movement of the screws elevating or depressingit would cause the bubble to move away, I adjustedthe focus on to the distant bridge, showing also thecentral staff and its two discs.Mr. Coulcher looked at it, and then Mr. Carpenter,"

!366 MY LIFEand the moment the latter did he said, " BeautifulBeautiful! " and on Mr. Hampden asking him if itwas all right, he replied that it was perfect, and thatit showed the three points in "a perfect straightline ; " " as level as possible "! And he actuallyjumped for joy. Then I asked Mr. Coulcher and Mr.Carpenter both to make sketches, which they did.We then fixed a calico flag on the parapet to makeThe "Bedford Level" Survey.— Sketches by theTwo Referees.Copied from the Fielci for March 26, 1870.These two views, as seen by means of the inverting telescope, are exactrepresentations of the sketches taken by Mr. Hampden's Referee,and attested by Dr. Coulcher as being correct in both cases : first,from Welney Bridge ; and secondly, from the Old Bedford Bridge.itmore visible, and drove back with the instrumentsto Old Bedford bridge, where I set up the levelagain at the proper height above the water, andagain asked both the referees to make sketchesof what was seen in the level-telescope. This theydid. Mr. Carpenter's was rather more accuratelydrawn, and Mr. Coulcher signed them as being correct,and both are reproduced here.The view in the large telescope and in the leveltelescopeboth told exactly the same thing, and,

;MONEY MATTERS 367moreover, proved that the curvature was very nearlyof the amount calculated from the known dimensionsof the earth. Mr. Hampden declined to look througheither telescope, saying he trusted to Mr. Carpenterwhile the latter declared positively that they had won,and that we knew it ; that the fact that the distantsignal appeared below the middle one as far as themiddle one did below the cross-hair, proved that thethree were in a straight line, and that the earth wasflat, and he rejected the view in the large telescopeas proving nothing for the reasons already stated.At first Mr. Hampden refused to appoint anumpire, because my referee, Mr. Coulcher, refused todiscuss the question with Mr. Carpenter ; but after afew days he agreed that Mr. Walsh should be theumpire, after receiving the reports of the two referees.He had, in fact, unbounded confidence in what Mr.Carpenter told him, and firmly believed that theexperiments had demonstrated the flat earth, andthat no honest man could think otherwise.But Mr, Walsh decided without any hesitationthat I had proved what I undertook to prove. Hepublished the whole of the particulars with the reportsof the referees and their sketches in the Field ofMarch 18 and 26, while a considerable correspondenceand discussion went on for some weeks later. AtMr. Hampden's request he allowed Mr. Carpenterto send in a long argument to show that the experimentswere all in Mr. Hampden's favour, and havingconsidered them, he wrote to Mr. Hampden that heshould hand me the stakes on a certain day if he hadno other reason to adduce why he should not do so.Thereupon Mr. Hampden wrote to him demandinghis money hack on the ground that the decision wasunjust, and ought to have been given in his favour.

—368 MY LIFEIn thus writing to Hampden and receiving hisdemand for his deposit to be returned, Mr. Walshmade a great mistake, which had serious consequencesfor me. The law declares that all wagers are nulland void, and that money lost by betting is notrecoverable at law. But the judges have decidedthat when a wager is given against him by the umpire,the loser can claim his money back from the stakeholderif the latter has not already paid it away tothe winner. Hence, if a loser immediately claims hismoney from the stake-holder, the law will enforce theformer's claim on the ground that it is Jiis money,and the fact that he has lost it in a quite fair wageris beyond the cognizance of the law. Neither I norMr. Walsh knew of this, although he had decidedand paid many wagers ; but this resulted in myhaving to pay the money back five years later, aswill be presently described.I will now briefly state what were Hampden'sproceedings for the next fifteen or sixteen years.He first began abusing Mr. Walsh in letters, postcards,leaflets, and pamphlets, as a liar, thief, andswindler. Then he began upon me with even morevirulence, writing to the presidents and secretaries ofall the societies to which I belonged, and to any ofmy friends whose addresses he could obtain. Oneof his favourite statements in these letters was, " Doyou know that Mr. A. R. Wallace is allowing himselfto be posted all over England as a cheat anda swindler ? " But he soon took more violentmeasures, and sent the following letter to my wife :"Mrs. Wallace," Madam—If your infernal thief of a husbandis brought home some day on a hurdle, with every

MONEY MATTERS 369bone in his head smashed to pulp, you willknow thereason. Do you tell him from me he is a lyinginfernal thief, and as sure as his name is Wallace henever dies in his bed."You must be a miserable wretch tobe obligedto live with a convicted felon. Do not think or lethim think I have done with him."John Hampden."For this I brought him up before a policemagistrate, and he was bound over to keep the peacefor three months, suffering a week's imprisonmentbefore he could find the necessary sureties. But assoon as the three months were up, he began againwith more abuse than ever, distributing tracts andwriting to small local papers all over England. Inow began to receive letters from friends, and alsofrom perfect strangers, asking me if I knew what wassaid about me everywhere. I will give a summary ofthe steps I was obliged to take with the results, orrather absence of results, that followed.In 1 87 1, Mr. Walsh prosecuted Hampden forlibel. He was convicted at the Old Bailey, andbound over to keep the peace for one year.In January, 1871, I brought an action for libelin order to give Hampden the opportunity of justifying,if he could, his language towards me. Hedid not defend the action, but suffered judgmentto go by default, and the jury gave me a verdictwith ^600 damages. But whatever property he hadhad been transferred to his son-in-law (a solicitor),so I could not get a penny, and had to pay thecosts of the suit which, though undefended, wereheavy.In October, 1872, I prosecuted him at the Old2 B

370 MY LIFEBailey for further libels. He was respited on publiclyapologizing in several newspapers.Some months afterwards, however, he beganagain with equally foul libels, and I had him broughtup under his recognizances, when he was sentencedto two months' imprisonment in Newgate.But within a year he began again as violently asever, and on March 6, 1875, he was indicted atChelmsford Assizes for fresh libels, and on proofof his previous convictions and apologies, he wassentenced to one year's imprisonment and to keepthe peace, under heavy recognizances and sureties,for two years more. (A full report is given in theChelmsford Chronicle, March 12, 1875.)Through the interest of his friends, however, hewas liberated in about six months ; and thereupon,in January, 1876, he brought an action against Mr.Walsh to recover his deposit of ;^500, and this actionhe won, on the grounds already stated ; and as I hadsigned an indemnity to Mr. Walsh, I had to pay backthe money, and also pay dl the costs of the action,about ;^200 more. But as I had a judgment for £6%^damages and costs in my libel suit against Hampden,I transferred this claim to Mr. Walsh as a set-offagainst the amount due by him. Hampden, however,had already made himself a bankrupt to prevent thisclaim being enforced, and had assigned all his actualor future assets to his son-in-law.There were now legal difficulties on both sides.I was advised that the bankruptcy was fraudulent,and could be annulled ; but to attempt this would becostly, and the result uncertain. On the other hand,Hampdenit was doubtful whether my claim againstwould not be treated as an ordinary creditor's claim inthe bankruptcy. There was, therefore, a consultation

MONEY MATTERS 371of the solicitors, and a voluntary arrangement wasarrived at. I was to pay all the costs of the suitand ;{^I20, amounting to £2^7 ; while £\\q stillremained nominally due to me from Hampden.These terms were formally agreed to by Hampdenand his son-in-law, and were duly carried out. Ofcourse I had also to pay Mr. Walsh's costs in theaction and my own lawyer's billfor the settlement, aswell as those of the action for libel, and the variouscriminal prosecutions of Hampden I had beencompelled to undertake.About this time he printed one thousand copiesof a two-page leaflet, and sent them to almost everyone in my neighbourhood whose address he couldobtain, including most of the masters of CharterhouseSchool, and the residents as wellas the tradesmen ofGodalming, It was full of— " scientific villainy androguery,"— " cheat, swindler, and impostor."— " Myspecific charge against Mr. A. R. Wallace is that heobtained possession of a cheque for £\oQ)0 by fraudand falsehood of a party who had no authority todispose of it." To save trouble, I drew up a shortcircular stating the main facts already given here forthe information of those who had received Hampden'sabsurdly false libels, and thereafter took no furthernotice of him.He continued to circulate his postcards and tracts,and to write to all manner of people, challengingthem to prove that the earth was not flat, for severalyears after. The last of his efforts which I havepreserved is an eight-page tract, which he distributedat the Royal Geographical Society's Exhibition ofGeographical Appliances, in December, 1885, inwhich he attacks all geographical teaching in hisusual style, and declares that " at the present moment

—"372 MY LIFEthey are cowering beneath the inquiring gaze of onesingle truth-seeker, John Hampden, the well-knownchampion of the Mosaic cosmogony, as against theinfidel theories and superstitions of the pagan mystics,who is, at the end of fifteen years' conflict, still holdinghis ground against all the professional authorities ofEngland and America ;and the single fact that duringthe whole of that time, no one but a degraded swindlerhas dared to make a fraudulent attempt to supportthe globular theory, is ample and overwhelming proofsof the worthless character of modern elementarygeography." And this man was educated at OxfordUniversity ! Seldom has so much boldness of assertionand force of invective been combined with such grossignorance. And to this day a society exists to upholdthe views of Hampden, Carpenter, and their teacher," Parallax !The two law suits, the four prosecutions for libel,the payments and costs of the settlement, amountedto considerably more than the ;^500 I received fromHampden, besides which I bore all the costs of theweek's experiments, and between fifteen and twentyyears of continued persecution—a tolerably severepunishment for what I did not at the time recognizeas an ethical lapse.There is one other small money matter which Iwish to put on record here, because, though it involvesonly the small sum of sixpence, it affords an exampleof official meanness, and what really amounts to pettylarceny, which can hardly be surpassed.BritishIn 1865 theMuseum purchased from me some specimen(I think a skeleton) for which they agreed to pay£S' Two years later I received the following printedform :

—MONEY MATTERS 373" Sir," Principal Librarian and Secretary's Office." British Museum, W.C, June 24, 1867." If you will send your own stampedreceipt to this Office, you will be paid the amountdue to you by the Trustees of the British Museum,£S OS. od. " I am, sir,"Mr. A. R.Wallace."" Your very obedient Servant,"Thomas Butler,"Assist. Secretary.I, of course, complied with the request and sentthe stamped receipt, and by return of post had thefollowing written communication :" Mr. Butler begs to transmit the enclosed P.O.order for £4. igs. 6d. to Mr. Wallace, and the amountof it, with the cost of the order (6d.), makes up thesum due by the Trustees to Mr. Wallace." British Museum, June 25, 1867."This amazing little dodge (for I can call it nothingelse) completely staggered me. I was at first inclinedto return the P.O. order, or to write asking for the 6d.,and if necessary summon Mr. Butler (or the Trustees)to a County Court for the 6d. due. But I was busy,and did not want to enter upon what I felt sure wouldbe a long correspondence and endless trouble andexpense. I therefore determined to keep the twoincriminating documents, and some day print them.The day has now come ; and it may be interesting tolearn whether this preposterous and utterly dishonestmethod of paying part of an admitted debt, after

374 MY LIFEobtaining a receipt for the whole, continues to bepractised in this or any other public institution.It was while these troubles in the Hampden affairwere at their thickest that my earnings invested inrailways and mines continued depreciating so constantlyas to be a source of great anxiety to me, andevery effort to extricate myself by seeking betterinvestments only made matters worse. It was at thistime that the endeavour to get the Epping Forestappointment failed, and had it not been for thekindness of a relative, Miss Roberts, of Epsom, acousin of my mother's, with whose family I had beenintimate from my boyhood, I should have been inabsolute want. She had intended to leave me ;^ioooin her will, but instead of doing so transferred it tome at once, and as it was in an excellent security,and brought me in from £^o to £6^ a year, it wasmost welcome. I had sold my house at Grays fairlywell, and in 1880 bought a piece of land and built acottage at Godalming, so that I had a home of myown ; but I had now to depend almost entirely onthe little my books brought me in, together with afew lectures, reviews, and other articles. I had justfinished writing my " Island Life," and had no ideathat I should ever write another important book, andI therefore saw no way of increasing my income,which was then barely sufficient to support my familyand educate my two children in the most economicalway. From this ever-increasing anxiety I was relievedthrough the grant of a Civil Service Pension of ;^200,which came upon me as a very joyful surprise. Mymost intimate and confidential friend at this time wasMrs. Fisher (then Miss Buckley), and to her alone Imentioned my great losses, and my anxiety as to any

MONEY MATTERS 375sure source of income. Shortly afterwards she wasvisiting Darwin, and mentioned it to him, and hethought that a pension might be granted me inrecognition of my scientific work. Huxley mostkindly assisted in drawing up the necessary memorialto the Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, to whomDarwin wrote personally. He promptly assented,and the next year, 1881, the first payment was made.Other of my scientific friends, I believe, signed thememorial, but it is especially to the three named thatI owe this very great relief from anxiety for theremainder of my life.I have already stated that what at the timeappeared to be the great misfortune of the loss ofabout half of my whole Amazonian collections by theburning of the ship in which I was coming home, wasin all probability a blessing in disguise, since it ledme to visit the comparatively unknown Malay Archipelago,and, perhaps, also supplied the conditionswhich led me to think out independently the theoryof natural selection. In like manner I am nowinclined to see in the almost total loss of the moneyvalue of my rich collections,another of those curiousindications that our misfortunes are often useful, oreven necessary for bringing out our latent powers. Iam, and have always been, constitutionally lazy, withoutany of that fiery energy and intense power ofwork possessed by such men as Huxley and CharlesKingsley. When I once begin any work in which Iam interested, I can go steadily on with it till it isfinished, but I need some definite impulse to set megoing, and require a good deal of time for reflectionwhile the work is being done. Every important bookI have undertaken has been due to an impulse or a

376 MY LIFEsuggestion from without. I spent five years in quietenjoyment of my collections, in attending scientificmeetings, and in working cut a few problems, beforeI began to write my " Malay Archipelago," and itwas due to the repeated suggestions of my friendsthat I wrote my " Geographical Distribution ofAnimals."But if the entire proceeds of my Malayan collectionshad been well invested, and I had obtained asecure income of ^^^400 or .^500 a year, I think itprobable that I should not have written another book,but should have gone to live further in the country,enjoyed my garden and greenhouse (as I always havedone), and limited my work to a few lectures andreview articles, but to a much less extent than Iactually have done. It was the necessity of earningmoney, owing to my diminishing income, that causedme to accept invitations to lecture, which I alwaysdisliked ;and the same reason caused me to seek outsubjects for scientific or social articles which, withoutthat necessity, would never have been written. Undersuch conditions as here supposed, my dislike tolecturing would probably have increased, and I shouldnever have ventured on my lecturing tour in America,in which case I should not have written " Darwinism,"and, I firmly believe, should not have enjoyed suchgood health as I am now doing. Then, too, I shouldprobably not have accepted Dr. Lunn's invitation tolecture at Davos, and my two later books would neverhave come into existence. If, therefore, my booksand essays have been of any use to the world—andthough I cannot quite understand it, scores of peoplehave written to me telling me so—then the losses andthe struggles I have had to go through have been anecessary discipline calculated to bring into action

;MONEY MATTERS 377whatever faculties I possess. I may be allowed hereto give an extract from one of these letters on myliterary work, nearly the last I received from mylamented friend F. W. H. Myers. He writes(April 12, 1898):—" I am glad to take this opportunity of telling yousomething about my relationto one of your books.I write now from bed, having had severe influenzicpneumonia, now going off. For some days my temperaturewas 105°, and I was very restless at night—anxious to read, but in too sensitive and fastidiousa state to tolerate almost any book. I found thatalmost the only book which I could read was your'Malay Archipelago.' Of course I had read it before.In spite of my complete ignorance of natural historythere was a certain uniqueness of charm about thebook, both moral and literary, which made it deeplycongenial in those trying hours. You have had fewless instructed readers ; but very few can have dwelton that simple, manly record with a more profoundsympathy."Other people, quite strangers, have also told methat they have read it over and over again, and alwaystake it with them on a journey. This is the kind ofthing I cannot understand. It is true, if I open itmyself I can read a chapter with pleasure ; but, then,to me it recalls incidents and feelings almost forgotten,and renews the delights of my wanderings in thewilderness and of my intense interest in the wonderfuland beautiful forms of plant, bird, and insect life Iwas continually meeting with. Others have writtenin almost equally laudatory terms of my books onLand Nationalization " and on " Spiritualism," which*'have introduced them to new spheres of thoughtwhile others, again, have been equally pleased with

3/8 MY LIFEparts of my " Wonderful Century " and " Man's Placein the Universe."I am thus forced to the conclusionthat my books have served to instruct and to givepleasure to a good many readers, and that it istherefore just possible that my life may have beenprolonged, and its conditions modified so asto affordthe required impulse and the amount of time forto write them.me

CHAPTER XXIIIMY CHARACTER—NEW IDEASI HAVE already given an estimate of my characterwhen I came of age. I will now make a few furtherremarks upon it as modified by my changed views oflife, owing to my becoming convinced of the realityof a spirit world and a future state of existence.Up to middle age, and especially during the firstdecade after my return from the East, I was somuchdisinclined to the society of uncongenial and commonplacepeople that my natural reserve and coldness ofmanner often amounted, I am afraid, to rudeness. Ifound it impossible, as I have done all my life, tomake conversation with such people, or even to replypolitely to their trivial remarks. I therefore oftenappeared gloomy when I was merely bored. I foundit impossible, as some one had said, to tolerate foolsgladly ; while, owing to my deficient language-faculty,talking without having anything to say, and merelyfor poHteness or to pass the time, was most difficultand disagreeable. Hence I was thought to be proudor conceited. But later on, as I came to see thebaneful influence of our wrong system of educationand of society, I began to realize that people whocould talk of nothing but the trivial amusements ofan empty mind were the victims of these social

38oMY LIFEerrors, and were often in themselves quite estimablecharacters.Later on, when the teachings of spiritualism combinedwith those of phrenology led me to the conclusionthat there were no absolutely bad men or women,that is, none who, by a rational and sympathetictraining, and a social system which gave to allabsoluteequality of opportunity, might not become useful,contented and happy members of society, I becamemuch more tolerant. I learnt also to distrust all firstimpressions ; for I repeatedly came to enjoy thesociety of people whose appearance or manner had atfirst repelled me, and even in the most apparentlytrivial-minded was able to find some common groundof interest or occupation. I feel myself that mycharacter has continuously improved, and that this isowing chiefly to the teaching of spiritualism, that weare in every act and thought of our lives here buildingup a character which will largely determine our happinessor misery hereafter ; and also, that we obtainthe greatest happiness ourselves by doing all we canto make those around us happy.As I have referred in various parts of this volumeto ideas, or suggestions, or solutions of biologicalproblems, which I have been the first to put forth, itmay be convenient if I here give a brief account ofthe more important of them, some of which have, Ithink, been almost entirely overlooked.I. The first and perhaps the most important ofthese is my independent discovery of the theory ofnatural selection in 1858, in my paper on " TheTendency of Varietiesto depart indefinitely from theOriginal Type." This is reprinted in my " Natural

MY CHARACTER—NEW IDEAS 381Selection and Tropical Nature ; " and it has beenso fully recognized by Darwin himself and bynaturalists generally that I need say no more aboutit here.2. In 1864 I published an article on "The Developmentof Human Races under the Law ofNatural Selection," the most original and importantpart of which was that in which I showed that so soonas man's intellect and physical structure led him touse fire, to make tools, to grow food, to domesticateanimals, to use clothing, to build houses, the actionof natural selection was diverted from his body to hismind, and thenceforth his physical form remainedstable while his mental faculties improved. Thispaper was greatly admired by Mr. Darwin and severalother men of science, who declared it to be entirelynew to them ;but owing to its having been publishedin one of my less popular works, " Contributions tothe Theory of Natural Selection," it seems to becomparatively little known. Consequently, it stillcontinues to be asserted or suggested that because wehave been developed physically from some lowerform, so in the future we shall be further developedinto a being as different from our present form as weare different from the orang or the gorilla. My papershows why this will not be ; %vhy the form andstructure of our body is permanent, and that it isreally the highest type now possible on the earth.The fact that we have not improved physically overthe ancient Greeks, and that most savage raceseven some of the lowest in material civilizationpossess the human form in its fullest symmetry andperfection, affords evidence that my theory is thetrue one.

382 MY LIFE3. In 1867 I gave a provisional solution of thecause of the gay, and even gaudy colours of manycaterpillars, which was asked for by Darwin, andwhich experiment soon proved to be correct. This isfully described in my " Natural Selection and TropicalNature," pp. 82-86. The principle established inthis case has been since found to be widely applicablethroughout the animal kingdom.4. In 1868 I wrote a paper on "A Theory ofBirds' Nests," the chief purport of which was to pointout and establish a connection between the colours offemale birds and the mode of nidification which hadnot been before noticed. This led to the formulationof the following law, which has been very widelyaccepted by ornithologists : When both sexes of birdsare conspicuously coloured, the nest conceals the sittingbird ; but when the male is conspicuously coloured andthe nest is open to view, the female is plainly colouredand inconspicuous. No less than fifteen whole familiesof birds and a number of the genera of other familiesbelong to the first class, of brightly coloured birdswith sexes alike, and they all build in holes or makedomed nests. Most of these are tropical, but thewoodpeckers and kingfishers are European. In thesecond class, however brilliant the male may be, ifthe nest is open to view, the female is always plainlycoloured, sometimes so much so as to be hardly recognizableas the same species. This is especially thecase in such birds as the brilliant South Americanchatterers and the Eastern pheasants and paradisebirds. This law is of especial value, as showing theexceptional need of protection of female birds as wellas butterflies, and the remarkable way in which thecolours of both classes of animals have become

MY CHARACTER—NEW IDEAS 383modified in accordance with this necessity. Thispaper forms chapter vi. of my " Natural Selection andTropical Nature."5. In the great subject of the origin, use, andpurport of the colours of animals, there are severalbranches which, I believe, I was the first to callspecial attention to. The most important of thesewas the establishment of the class of what I termed" Recognition colours," which are of importance inaffording means for the young to find their parents,the sexes each other, and strayed individuals ofreturning to the group or flock to which they belong.But perhaps even more important is the use of thesespecial markings or colours during the process of thedevelopment of new species adapted to slightlydifferent conditions, by checking intercrossing betweenthem while in process of development. It thusaffords an explanation of the almost universal rule,that closely allied species differ in colour or markingeven when the external structural differences areexceedingly slight or quite undiscoverable. Thesame principle also explains the general symmetryin the markings of animals in a state of nature, whileunder domestication it often disappears : difference ofcolour or marking on the two sides would renderrecognition difficult. This principle was first statedin my article on "The Colours of Animals andSexual Selection " (in " Natural Selection and TropicalNature," 1878) and more fully developed in "Darwinism."I am now inclined to think that it accountsfor more of the variety and beauty in the animalworld than any other cause yet discovered.I may here add that I believe I was first to giveadequate reasons for the rejection of Darwin's theory

384 MY LIFEof brilliant male coloration or marking being due tofemale choice.6. The general permanence of oceanic and continentalareas was first taught by Professor J. D.Dana, the eminent American geologist, and again byDarwin in his " Origin of Species "; but I am, Ibelieve, the only writer who has brought forwarda number of other considerations, geographical andphysical, which, with those of previous writers,establish the proposition on almost incontrovertiblegrounds. My exposition of the subject is given in"Island Life" (chap, vi.), while some additionalarguments are given in my " Studies " (vol. i. chap. ii.).The doctrine may be considered as the only solidbasis forany general study of the geographical distributionof animals, and it is for this reason that Ihave made it the subject of my careful consideration.7. In discussing the causes of glacial epochs Ihave adopted the general views of Mr. James Croll asto the astronomical causes, but have combined themwith geographical changes, and have shown how thelatter, even though small in amount, might producevery important results. In particular I have laidstress on the properties of air and water in equalizingtemperature over the earth, while snow and ice, bytheir immobility, produce cumulative effects ; and thusa lowering of temperature of a few degrees may leadto a country being ice-clad which before was ice-free.This is a vital point which is the very essence ofthe problem of glaciation ;yet it has been altogetherneglected in the various mathematical or physicaltheories which have recently been put forward.Myown discussion of the problem in chapter viii. of

MY CHARACTER- NEW IDEAS 385" Island Life " has never, so far as I know, been controverted,and I still think it constitutes the mostcomplete explanation of the phenomenon yet given.8. In 1880 I published my " Island Life," and thelast chapter but one is "On the Arctic Element inSouth Temperate Floras," in which I gave a solutionof the very remarkable phenomena described by SirJoseph Hooker in his " Introductory Essay on theFlora of Australia." My explanation is founded onknown facts as to the dispersal and distribution ofplants, and does not require those enormous changesin the climate of tropical lowlands during the glacialperiod on which Darwin founded his explanation, andwhich, I believe, no biologist well acquainted eitherwith the fauna or the flora of the equatorial zone hasfound it possible to accept.9. In 1 88 1 I put forth the first idea of mouthgestureas a factor in the origin of language, in areview of E. P. Tylor's "Anthropology," and in 1895I extended it into an article in the FortnightlyReviezv, and reprinted it with a few further correctionsin my " Studies," under the title, " The Expressivenessof Speech or Mouth-Gesture as a Factor intheOrigin of Language." In it I have developed acompletely new principle in the theory of the originof language by showing that every motion of thejaws, Hps, and tongue, together with inward or outwardbreathing, and especially the mute or liquidconsonants at the end of words serving to indicateabrupt or continuous motion, have correspondingmeanings in so many cases as to show a fundamentalconnection. I thus enormously extend the principleof onomatopoeia, in the origin of vocal language.2 CAs

386 MY LIFEI have been unable to find any reference to thisimportant factor in the origin of language, and as nocompetent writer has pointed out any fallacy in it, Ithink I am justified in supposing it to be new andimportant. Mr. Gladstone informed me that therewere many thousands of illustrations of my ideas inHomer.10. In 1890 I published in the Fortnightly Reviewan article on " Human Selection," and inBoston Arena) one on " Human Progress,1892 (in thePast andFuture." These deal with different aspects of thesame great problem—the gradual improvement ofthe race by natural process ; and they were alsowritten partly for the purpose of opposing the variousartificial processes of selection advocated by severalEnglish and American writers. I showed that theonly method of advance for us, as for the loweranimals, is in some form of natural selection, and thatthe only mode of natural selection that can act alikeon physical, mental, and moral qualities will comeinto play under a social system which gives equalopportunities of culture, training, leisure, and happinessto every individual. This extension of the principleof natural selection as it acts in the animal worldgenerally is, I believe, quite new, and is by far themost important of the new ideas I have given to theworld.11. In an article on "The Glacial Erosion of LakeBasins" (in the FortJiightly Revieiv, December, 1893),I brought together the whole of the evidence bearingupon the question, and adduced a completely newargument for this mode of origin of the valley lakesof glaciated countries. This is founded on their

MY CHARACTER—NEW IDEAS 387surface and bottom contours, both of which are shownto be such as would necessarily arise from ice-action,while they would not arise from the other allegedmode of origin— unequal elevation or subsidence.12. In a new edition of "Stanford's Compendium,Australasia," vol. i., when describing the physical andmental characteristics of the Australian aborigines, Istated my belief that they were really a low andperhaps primitive type of the Caucasian race. Ifurther developed the subject in my " Studies," andillustrated it by photographs of Australians andAinos, of the Veddahs of Ceylon, and of the Khmersof Cambodia—all outlying members of the same greathuman race. This, I think, is an important simplificationin the classification of the races of man.Bees' cells.—But besides these more importantscientific principles or ideas, there are a few minorones which are of sufficient interest to be briefly mentioned.In the article on the " Bees' Cell " in the"Annals and Magazine of Natural History," I calledattention to a circumstance that had been, I think,unnoticed by all previous writers. An immense dealof ingenuity and of mathematical skill had beenexpended in showing that the two layers of hexagonalcells, with basal dividing-plates inclined at a particularangle, gave the greatest economy of space and ofmaterial possible ; and the instinct of the bees inbuilding such a comb to contain their store of honeywas held to show that it was a divinely bestowedspecial faculty. But all these writers omitted to takeinto account one fact, which shows their whole argumentto be fallacious. This is, that the combs aresuspended vertically, and that when full of honey the

"388 MY LIFEupper rows of cells have to support at least ten timesas much weight as the lowest rows. But there is nocorresponding difference in the thickness of the wallsof the cells ; so that, as the upper rows are strongenough, the lower must be quite unnecessarily strong,and there is thus a great waste of wax. The wholeconception of a supernatural faculty for the purposeof economizing wax is thus shown to be fallacious.Darwin's explanation entirely obviates this difficulty,since it depends on the bees possessing intelligenceenough to reduce all the cellwalls to a nearly uniformthickness, being that which is sufficient under allcircumstances to support the weight of the wholemass of comb and honey.In an article on " The Problem of Instinct " in my" Studies " (vol. i. chap, xxii.), I have supplementedtheory as to zvhy birds migrate, by anotherthe usualas to how they migrate, and trace it wholly to experience,the young birds following the old ones ; but anenormous proportion of the young fail to make theoutward or the homeward journey safely.In 1894 I wrote an article for the NineteenthCentury on the question of the proper observance ofSunday, which I have reprinted in my " Studiesunder the title, " A Counsel of Perfection for Sabbatarians."In this short article I define clearly, Ithink for the first time, what the " work " so strictlyand impressively forbidden really is, and then showhow utterly inconsistent are the great majority ofSabbatarians, who themselves break the commandmentboth in letter and spirit, while they loudlycondemn others for acts which are not forbidden byit. I also show how the commandment can be andshould be strictly kept by all who believe it to be aDivine command, and point out the good results

MY CHARACTER—NEW IDEAS 389which would follow such a mode of obeying it. Thatthe idea was new and its reasoning unanswerable maybe perhaps inferred from the fact that no reply, so faras I know, was made to it ; while a well-known writerwas so impressed by it that he made his own bed thefollowing Sunday in accordance with its suggestions.

CHAPTER XXIVPREDICTIONS FULFILLED: LATEST HONOURS.Having devoted some space to an account of myvarious experiences in connection with modernspiritualism, which have, however, been far less extraordinarythan those of many of my friends, I maynot improperly conclude this record of my life andexperience with a statement of a few of the predictionswhich I have received at different times, andwhich have been to some extent fulfilled.In 1870 and the following years several communicationsin automatic writing were received through amember of my family purporting to be from mybrother William, with whom I had lived so manyyears. In some of these he referred to my disappointmentsin obtaining employment and to mymoney losses, always urging me not to trouble myselfabout my affairs, which would certainly improve ; butI was not to be in a hurry. These messages nevercontained any proofs of identity, and I did not thereforefeel much interest in them, and their ultimatefulfilment, though in quite unexpected ways, cannot beconsidered to be of any great importance.Some years later, when we were living at Dorking,my little boy, then five years old, became verydelicate, and seemed pining away without any perceptibleailment. At that time I was being treated

PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 391myself for a chronic complaint by an Americanmedium, in whom I had much confidence ; and oneday, when in his usual trance, he told me, withoutany inquiry on my part, that the boy was in danger,and that if we wished to save him we must leaveDorking, go to a more bracing place, and let him beout-of-doors as much as possible and "have the smellof the earth." I then noticed that we were all ratherlanguid without knowing why, and therefore removedin the spring to Croydon, where we all felt stronger,and the boy at once began to get better, and has hadfair health ever since.Some time afterwards I accompanied a lady friendof mine to have a siance with the same medium, shebeing quite unknown to him. Among many otherinteresting things, he told us that something wouldhappen before very long which would cause us to seeless of each other, but would not affect our friendship.We neither of us could guess what that could be, buta year or two later the lady married a very old friend, awidower, whose wife at the time of the prediction was,I think, alive, while he was living in a distant colonywithout any expressed intention of coming home.After the marriage they went to live in Devonshire,and for some years we only met at very long intervals.These two cases seem to me to be genuine clairvoyanceor prediction.But much more important than the preceding arecertain predictions which were made to me inApril,1896, and which have been fulfilled during thesucceeding eight years. At that time I was living atParkstone in rather poor health and subject to chronicasthma, with palpitations and frequent bronchitis,from which I never expected to recover. I had givenup lecturing, and had no expectation of ever writing

392 MY LIFEanother book, neither had I the least idea of leavingthe house I was living in, which I had purchased andenlarged a few years before. It was under these circumstancesthat a medium I had visited once inwas staying with friends atLondon, Madame G ,Wimborne, and came to see me, and offered to giveme a siance. One of her controls, an old Scotchphysician, advised me about my health, told me toeat fish, and assured me that I was not coming totheir side for some years yet, as I had a good deal ofwork to do here. The other control, named " Sunshine,"an Indian girl, who seemed to be able to getinformation from many sources, was very positiveher statements. She said, "You won't live herealways. You will come out of this hole. You willcome more into the world, and do something publicfor spiritualism." I replied, " You are quite wrong. Ishall never leave this house now, and I shall notappear in public again." But she insisted that shewas right, and said, " You will see ;and when it comesto pass, remember what I told you." She then said," Fanny [my sister] sends her love. She loved youmore than any one in the world." This I knew to betrue, though during her life I did not so fully realizeit. Then Sunshine gave me her parting words, speakingslowly and distinctly: "The third chapter of yourlife, and your book, is to come. It can be expressedas Satisfaction, Retrospection, and Work," Thesethree words were spoken very impressively, and Iwrote them at once in a small note-book with capitalletters, though I had no notion whatever of what theycould refer to, and no belief that they would be in anyway fulfilled.Yet two months later the first step in the fulfilmentwas taken though Dr. Lunn's invitation to givein

PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 393a lecture at Davos, and my acceptance of it, duemainly to the temptation of a week in Switzerlandfree of cost and with a pleasant party. As alreadymydescribed, this lecture was the starting-point of allsubsequent work. The very next year brought merenewed health and strength to do the work, asalready mentioned. Another year passed, and Ireceived a pressing invitation to take the chair andgive a short address at the International Congress ofSpiritualists in 1898, which I felt myself unable torefuse, and thus, as I had been told I should, I " didsomething public for spiritualism." Yet anotheryear, and a great desire for life more in the countrythan at Parkstone (where we were being surroundedby new building operations) led me to join somefriends in trying to find a locality for a kind of homecolonyof congenial persons ; and though the planwas never carried out, it led ultimately to my findingthe site on which to build my present house, and thus" get out of that hole," as I had been told by Sunshinethat I should do. And now, looking back upon theeight years of renewed health I have enjoyed, andwith constant interesting work, how can this be betterdescribed than as " the third chapter of my life ;" while"Man's Place in the Universe"—a totally new subjectfor me—may well be termed the "third chapter ofmy book," that is, of my literary work. Again, thiswholesome activity of body and mind, the obtaining abeautiful site where I am surrounded by grass andwoodland, and have a splendid view over moor andwater to distant hills and the open sea, with abundanceof pure air and sunshine, the building of a comfortablehouse in one of the choicest spots in thewhole district—surely all this was well foretold in theone word " Satisfaction." What has chiefly occupied

394 MY LIFEme in this house—an Autobiography extending overthree-quarters of a century— is admirably describedby the word " Retrospection," And the whole of thisprocess has involved, or been the result of, continuousand pleasurable " Work."I will only add here that during the whole of this" third chapter of my life " I had entirely forgotten theparticular words of the prediction which I had noteddown at the time, and was greatly surprised, on referringto them again for the purpose of this chapter, tofind how curiously they fitted the subsequent events.Of course it may be said that every one who reaches myage enjoys " retrospection," but that kind of generallooking back to the past is very different from thedetailed Retrospection I have had to make insearchingout the many long- forgotten incidents and detailsof my varied life, as here recorded ;and the Work thishas involved, and the Satisfaction I have had inwriting it, seem fully to justify the solemn emphasiswith which the prediction was made.Thus far I had written in " My Life," the proofs ofwhich passed out of my hands in September, 1905,and I never contemplated that anything more wouldhappen to me which would add force and completenessto the fulfilment above recorded. But two thingsof that nature have happened, both totally unexpected,and in themselves very unlikely, and in neither casewas my action in any degree influenced by thethought that they did serve to fulfil more exactlywhat had been predicted. So much was this the casethat this point of view did not occur to me till Icame to read again the last pages of " My Life " forthe purposes of this edition.I will first mention, however, that the whole period

PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 395between the publication of the first edition and thecompletion of the second, has to me been again along retrospection of what may be termed the bestand most active part of my life, in the lengthy preparationof Spruce's " Notes of a Botanist." Thisperiod extends from 1849, when I first met himat Para, to the date of his death in 1893. Whilestudying his Journals and letters I recalled, and tosome extent visualized, places and persons in SouthAmerica long forgotten, as well as the pleasanttalks and communications I had with him after hisreturn to England. Four years instead of one havethus been occupied in a long course of agreeableRetrospection.Far more important than this, however, is acircumstance that happened only last year. Early inthe spring of last year I was asked by ArchdeaconColley to help him by appearing as a witness in a civilaction between himself and Maskelyne, the celebratedconjuror, respecting phenomena occurring with amedium. Dr. Monck. The Archdeacon had challengedMaskelyne to reproduce the phenomena of materialization,as described by him in a lecture delivered atWeymouth during the Church Congress, in October,1905, and agreed to forfeit ;^iooo if he did so. Ithappened that I was the only person in England whohad witnessed similar phenomena with Monck, as describedin chapter XXL, and it was thought that if I sawMaskelyne's imitation I could say how far it was areproduction of what I had seen with Monck, and whatMr. Colley described. At first I positively refused togo up to London and expose myself to cross-examinationin Court, in order to save the Archdeacon fromthe consequences of his own too impulsive challenge.But repeated and most earnest letters from him, and

396 MY LIFEthe statement that his solicitor and counsel boththought the case might go against him without theevidence which I alone could give ; and further, that inthat case the cause of spiritualism would be greatlydamaged, at length prevailed, and I consented to go.I found Maskelyne's performance to be a ludicrousparody of the actual materialization as both I andArchdeacon Colley described it, and explained inCourt the exact difference between them, pointing outthat all the essential features of the one were omittedin the other, and that, while the actual phenomenawere totally inexplicable by normal causes, Maskelyne'simitation could deceive no one at all familiarwith such performances. The result of the trial wasthat the Archdeacon won his cause, and the contemptand ridicule thrown by the opposing counsel on thealleged phenomena were to some extent neutralizedby my positive evidence.During the whole of this event, and the succeedingdiscussion in the Press, or in my correspondence, Inever once thought of any connection with theprediction. But on reading it again now, I see thatit fulfils the conditions far more exactly than did myattendance at the International Congress of Spiritualists.For the prediction was— " You will come outof this hole. You will come more into the world,and do something public for spiritualism." In 1898 Ihad not " come out of the hole," and attending a congressof spiritualists was hardly " doing somethingpublic." But giving evidence in a Court of Justice,which was more or less reported all over the kingdomand the world, and which was believed to have savedthe reputation of spiritualism on that occasion, wascertainly " doing something public " for the cause, andsomething quite unanticipated by myself or any one

PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 397for me. But in this very year another event hasoccurred even less anticipated by myself, and whichagain accords with the prediction.In February, 1908, the Linnean Society decidedto celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reading ofthe joint Essays of Darwin and myself on July i,1858, by a Jubilee Celebration and the presentationof a medal with our two portraits to persons connectedwith the event ; and the Council invited meto attend, to give a short address, and to receive oneof the medals.This wholly unexpected and very unusual honourwas in due course conferred upon me in the presenceof many of the most eminent naturalists, British andForeign. Here, then, was yet another " coming moreinto the world," which I thought I had taken myleave of—the world of Science ; and it was anoccasion of publicity that could hardly be exceeded,since the record of it would be carried by the Pressthroughout the whole extent of the civilized world.Here was surely " Satisfaction " for any man, howevergreedy of praise he might be. For myself, I can onlysay that I would have been fully content with a lowerplace than that accorded me, and feel that I attainedto the honour more from the accident of my havinglived to see the Celebration, than from any idea thatI could have the slightest claim to be placed onanything approaching a level with Darwin.With this celebration, and the publication of thisvolume, I close my Memoirs. I now wish my readers,who have so far followed the record of my life-history,a hearty Farewell.

1INDEXAAar, the gorge of, 301Abyssinia, plants of, in Madagascar,233"Acclimatization," article on,264Aden, 174Adelboden, 304Africa, plants of, in Madagascar,233Agassiz, Louis, on glaciers, 7" Age of Bronze, The," 63Alexandria, described, 171Allen, Grant, A. R. Wallace on,299 ; socialist, 328AUingham, William, and Tennyson,295" Altavona," by Professor Blackie,324Altringham, lecture at, 295Amazon, travels on, 143-162Amboyna, 189-195America, tour in, 272-293Andermatt, walk to, 301Animals, distribution of, 262Animals, colours of, 272"Animals and Plants underDomestication," 221"Anticipations of the Future," 305" Antiquity of Man," by Lyell, 223"Appreciation of Past Century,"by A. R. Wallace, 305Arctic Plants in Tropics, 237, 385Arena, The, article in, 300Argyll, Duke of, 226Article on law of introduction ofnew species, 183Aru Islands, 187, 188Astronomy, interest in, 101-102Australia, birds of, 205-206BBackhouse, Mr., gardens of, 259" Bad Times," by A. R. Wallace,271Bali, 1S7Barking, A. R. Wallace lives at,260Barra, Brazil, 146Barrett,Professor, 245 on thoughtreading,;258 ; founds Psychical;Research Society, 258Bartholomew's "Architecture,"98Barton-in-the-Clay, surveying at,58-61Batchian, 195Bates, Henry, A. R. Wallacemeets, 127 ; correspondencewith, 143, 184, 197 ;goes withA. R. Wallace to Brazil, 144;refers Darwin to A. R. Wallace,227Bateson, Mr., 301, 302Bay of Biscay, storm in, 145Beacons, the, Brecknockshire, 86,88, 90, 138Beane river at Hertford, 22Beau Brummell, 5Becca de Nona, excursion to, 215Bedfordshire, surveying in, 5^-73Bees' cells, A. R. Wallace on, 3S7Beetles, abundance of, at certainlocalities, while others are verypoor, 185, 186, 199

400 INDEXBellamy, E., 293 ;" LookingBackward," by, 327; "Equality,"by, 328Bengeo, 23Bennett, A. W., reply to hiscriticism of natural selection,229Biological Section of B. A., A. R,Wallace, president, 25S, 265Birds, A. R. Wallace writesabout, 205-207, 388Birmingham, first railway to, 69Blackie, Professor, 324Blatchford, Robert, 306Borneo, 177Borrow, George, quoted, 86, 93Boston, spiritualism in, 344Botany, A. R. Wallace studies,61, 104, 107Brackett, Mr, E. A., spiritualist,344Bradgate Park, rambles in, 128Bradley, Professor, on age of bigtrees of California, 282Brady, Sir Antonio, 260Brecknockshire, surveying in, 87British Association, 229, 256British Museum, its businessmethods, 372Brooke, Captain, 351Brooke, Charles, 251Brooke, Sir J., 177, 181, 250Brown, Mrs., and Lady Burdett-Coutts, 250Brown, Mr. Curtis, 312Bruce-Joy, Mr. A., 308Brunig, excursion to, 301Bryn-coch, 95, 96Buckland, Dr., and the ice-age, 71Buckley, Miss A., 220, 235, 374Bunbury, Sir Charles, 226Burdett-Coutts, Lady, 250Burney, Fanny, "Evelina," by, 40Butterflies, 150, 186, 207Byron, Lord, laudatory poem on,62Cadoxton, surveying at, 94Cairo, A. R. Wallace visits, 173Calaveras Grove, big trees, 279-2S0California, J. Wallace goes to, 9 ;A. R. Wallace visits, 277Cambridge, British Associationat, 256Carpenter, Edward, as socialist,328Carpenter, Dr. W. B., 258, 336Carpenter, William, 362-367Carroll, Lewis, books of, 117Casey, Mr. Comerford, translationof Latin speech by, 269"Causes of War," article byA. R. Wallace, 305"Caterpillars and Birds," 229Caterpillars, colouring of, 227,228, 382Celebes, A. R. Wallace at, 1S7,195Ceram, 195, 196Chambers, Dr. Robert, letter toA. R. Wallace, 336Champery, A. R. Wallace visits,215Charles Allen, 172, 176Clarion, The, letter to, from A. R.Wallace, 305Clark, Dr. G. B., and LandNationalization, 322Cleveland, President, A. R.Wallace meets, 275Clifford, Rev. J., socialist, 328Clydach River, 96"Colours of Animals," by A. R.Wallace, 383Columbia College, Georgia, F.Wallace goes to, 8Combe, George, 125" Compendium of Geography,"Australasia, by A. R. Wallace,268"Constitution of Man," byCombe, 125Constitutional, The, 63Contemporary Review, The, articlesby A. R. Wallace, 300, 322Cook, Miss, medium, 338Corelli, Miss M., A. R. Wallacemeets, 326Coulcher, Mr., 362-367Coulson, Mr., at Sarawak, 177

;INDEX 401Cox, Mrs, Robert, 325Cox, Serjeant, 335"Creed of Science," by Graham,Darwin on, 234Croll, J., 211, 233, 267Crookes, Sir W., 338-339Croydon, A. R. Wallace lives at,265Crutvvell, C. H., schoolmaster,28Crynant at a village beer-shop, 96Crystal Palace, helps Dr, Lathamat, 166Cuba, Article on, by A. R."Wallace, 305Cubitt, Mr., builder, 9DDaily Chronicle, The, article byA. R. Wallace, 305Dana, Professor J. D., 384Darlington, lecture at, 295Dartmoor, A. R. Wallace onpreserving, 320Darwen, lecture at, 295Darwin, C, 191-194, 226-238correspondence with, 183, 192,227-235 ; on caterpillars, 227,228 ; and A. R. Wallace,differences of opinion, 229 ; andA. R. Wallace's pension, 375Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, 226"Darwinism," lecture on, 272"Darwinism," by A. R, Wallace,218, 294Davos, at, with Dr. Lunn, 302-" Defence of Spiritualism," byA. R. Wallace, 338Defoe, Daniel, " The GreatPlague," by, 40Dent du Midi, 215"Descent of Man," A. R. Wallace'sopinion of, 230" Development of Human Races,"by A. R. Wallace, 381Devynock in Usk vale, 91Dialectical Society, 335" Diary of a Physician," 40Dilke, Elizabeth, 2Dinas rock, Vale of Neath, 136" Distribution of Animals, Geographical,"262Distribution of Plants, 268Dorey, 194Dorking, A. R. Wallace lives at,264Doubleday, Mr. E., 145Douglas, Miss, spiritualist, 339Dringarth, upper Neath valley,138Drumau mountain, 135Dublin University degree, 269Dunstable, 68Dyaks, 178- 1 81EEdwards, W. H., " Voyage upAmazon," 145Ega rich in insects, 186Eglinton, Mr., medium, 341" Elements of Botany," Lindley's,103" Encyclopedia Britannica," articlesifor, 264, 265Entomological Society, 204, 240Epping Forest, article on, 218" Equality," by E. Bellamy, 328Estcourt, R., an early landnationalizer,322Evans, Frederick, medium, 352"Evelina," by F. Burney, 40Exeter, meeting of B. A., 256"Exeter Change for BritishLions," 257"Expression of Emotions," byDarwin, 227"Faerie Queenc," Spenser's, 40Fielding's "Tom Jones," 40Fillingham, Rev. R. C, socialist,328"First Principles," by H. Spencer,237Fitch, Walter, artist, 165Flower, Sir W., 245Forbes, Prof. E., 1842 D

1402 INDEXForests of S. America, 149Forests of California, 277-2S2Forttiightly Review, the, articlesin, 21S, 299, 300, 301, 312Forty-five years' VaccinationStatistics, 330Frolic gunboat, a month on board,170GGallienne, Mr. Le, 303-304Galton disproves pangenesis,222Games, 32Garden of the Gods, 283Garrison, F, J., at Boston, 344Geach, F., at Grays, 261 ; inTimor, 359, 360Geographical distribution, 184-185, 197, 205, 262-264" Geographical distribution ofAnimals," 264Geological Climates, 211Geology, 59, 71, 88, 89, 90George, Henry, on the landproblem,323Gibbons, Dr., in California, 277Glacial epoch, 71, 214, 215, 222,233. 384Gladstone, W. E., Letter from,301Glamorganshire, residence in, 87,129-142Glasgow, B.A. meeting at, 258Godalming, 269Goram, 195Gorge of the Aar, 301, 302Gothic architecture, 99Government of natives, 182, 200Graham, W., Darwin on, 234Grand Junction Canal, 69Gravity, specific, 68, 69Gray, G. R., 204Gray, John, message from, 353Grays, 217, 260-264Gray's Peak, 283Greenell, John, 4Greenell, Rebecca, 6Grove, Calaveras, 279Guia, on the Rio Negro, 148H" Hall of Science," 45Hall, Spencer, on mesmerism, 124Hampden, John, 362-372Hannay and Dietrichsen's Almanac,10Hanworth, 2Handeck cascade, 301Hare, Robert, portrait of, 354Harmsworth's History, 316Hartham, 23Haweis, Rev. H. R. , 303Haxby, Mr., medium, 340Hayward, C. F., 269Hayward, Charles, 269Health, bad, 308-310Henslow, Rev., criticism of, 302Herbarium, my S. Wales, 103Hertford, 6, 20Hertford Mill, 22Hertford Grammar School, 26Higgins, Mr. H. H., 65, 66Higham Gobion, first survey of, 58Hill, Rev. Abraham, 122Hirwain, 137History at school, 30History, Harmsworth's, 316Hobson, J. A., a socialist, 328Hoddesdon, 6, 39Holmes, O, W., 273Holman, Judge, 275Holyhead coach road, 68Home, D. D., medium, 338-340 ;portrait of,354Hooker, Mrs. Beecher, 347Hooker, Sir J., 192, 193, 195Hope, Col., V.C., 260Horn's Mill, Hertford, 23House at Grays, 261House of Lords, article on, 300, 315Hudson River, 273Hughes, H. Price, 303" Human Personality," by Myers,343Human Race, development of, 381"Human Selection," article on,299, 327Human Selection, 386Humboldt's " Personal Narrative,"123Humming-birds, 283

;INDEX 403Hurstpierpoint, 213, 216Huxley, letter from, 247Huxley on A. R. Wallace's article,183Huxley, T. H., 168, 238, 246,247, 249 ; on Spiritualism, 336Hyndman, H. M., socialist, 328Ice-age, the, 71, 214, 215, 222,233, 384Ideas, new, 3S0111 health, 308-3 loIllness, 26, 77Inaccessible valleys, 279Inclosure Act, 80-85Income from collections, 35SIndependejit, The, article in, 312Ingleby, C. M., acquaintancewith, 260Insect pests, 97"Island Life," by A. R. Wallace,232, 265-268" Instinct, problem of," 305 ; howbirds migrate, 388" Is Mars Habitable ? " 317James, Professor, at seances with,346James Wallace, 2Java and Sumatra, 199Jenner, 329Journey to London from Usk, 20Journey to the East, 169, 174Journey to Para, 145Juaurite, Rio Uaupes, 147Jubilee, Darwin-Wallace, 397KKeeler, P. L. O. A., medium, 347Ke Islands, 195Kenworthy, J. C, a socialist, 32SKhmers of Cambodia, 387Kingsley, Charles, 256Kington, 78, 87, 94Kirchet, the rock barrier at, 301Labour Annual, article in, 305Lakes, origin of, 222, 223-225Lake basins, erosion of, 386Laleham, 2Lampreys, 14Land Nationalization, 85, 241,319-326 ; Spencer on, 242" Land Nationalization," 268by A. R. Wallace, 323Land Nationalization Society,322-326Land question, 79-S5 ; article on,321, 322Land Tenure Reform Associationand J. S. Mill, 319Language, origin of, 385Languages, native, 166Latham, Dr. R. G., 166Latin, learning at school, 29-31"Law of Introduction of NewSpecies," 183Lead mines, investments in, 359Lecture Tour in America, 272-293Legal troubles, 361-372Leicester, 121Leicester Collegiate School, 122Letters to G. Silk, 21, 74, 171,199Levi, Professor Leone, 270Lewes, G, H., and Spiritualism,336Libels by Hampden, 368-371Lindley's Botany, 103Linnean Society, papers for, 207 ;paper for, 302Linnean Society Celebration, 397Lippitt, General, 347, 350Literary eftbrts, first, 107- 114Literary work, 165, 205, 262, 269,299. 301. 305> 306, 310, 313Literature, Welsh, 93Litigation, 361-372Liverpool, lectures at, 295, 299Llanbadock, near Usk, 14Llanbister, Radnorshire, 78Llandrindod Wells, 79Llantwit, Glamorganshire, 133Llia River, 92Lodge, Sir O., a socialist, 328Lombok, 186-187, 206

404 INDEX;London, early life in, 43-4$ ; lifein, 163-170, 203-216"Looking Backward," by Bellamy,327Loss of collections, 155Louray Caves, 276Lowell Institute, Boston, 272Lowell J. Russell, 238, 273Lowell, Professor P., on Mars, 316Lubbock, Sir John, 244Lung-disease, 77-78Lunn, Dr., lecture for, 302, 303Lyell's Geology, 71, 88Lyell, Sir C, 183, 192, 193, 211,220-226, 362 ; letters to, 221,224Lyman, D., a spiritualist, 347MMacassar, 186, 187, 1S9Mackay, Charles, 324-326Macmillan, A., 258Macmillan, Margaret, 328Meiringen, visit to, 301Maescar, survey of, 91Maen Llia, 92Malacca, 176Malay Archipelago, journey to,169-174, 202, 210, 216Malays, the, 200Malthus's " Population," 123, 190Manchester Guardia?i, letter to, onwar, 305Man, development of, 236Natural Selection and, 212"Man's Place in the Universe,"312Marriage of A. R. Wallace, 214" Mars, Is it habitable ? " 316Martin, Mr., a London builder, 8Martin, William, 349Massey, Gerald, a spiritualist, 328Matabello Islands, 195Mathews, Mr., 68, 72-73Mechanics, I-ondon, 44Mechanics' Institute, Neath, 135Medal, Darwin-Wallace, 397Medals, 246Memory, peculiarity of, 16Menado, Celebes, 195Mental nature, 115, 118Mesmerism, 124-127, 129, 334Migration of Birds, 305, 388Mill, John Stuart, 319-321Mill, oil cake, 23Mimicry, 208, 212, 228Mirlees, Mr. and Mrs., 258" Miracles and Modern Spiritualism,"264, 334Mitten, William, 213, 214, 301,315Mivart, Professor St, G., 249, 302Models of natives, 166, 167Monck, Mr., medium, 342, 343Money matters, 357, 378Monitor, R. Owen's silent, 54Monkeys, 199Morgan, Professor Lloyd, 213, 30$Morley, John, 337Morrison-Davidson, a socialist,328Morris, Sir L., socialist poems,328Moseley, Professor, 188Mount-Temple, Lord, 269Mouth-gesture, 385Murchison, Sir R., 169, 170Museum, British, business methods,372Mutton, G. Borrow on Welsh, 86Myers's "Human Personality,"343NNatives, government of, 182, 200 ;models of, at the Crystal Palace,166, 167; Sarawak, 178Natural selection, 207, 211, 217,224, 300Neath, Vale of, 94, 131 ; sceneryof, 13s, 136Neaves, Lord, humorous versesof, 257Nests, theory of birds', 212, 382New Guinea, collecting in,New ideas, 380194Nevada Fall, the, 279Newcastle, lecture in, 295New Lanark, 45New Radnor, 75

INDEX 405Newton, Professor A., 256, 262Niagara, 274Nineteenth Cetituiy, articles in,300Nolloth, Commander, 170Nutwood Cottage, built for A. R.Wallace, 270OOceans, permanence of, 384Oilcake mill, Hertford, 23" Old Orchard " House, 307Old Red Sandstone, 89Ophir Mount, 176Orang-utan, 177, 17S-180Ordnance survey, 59-61Origin of life, 239Origin of species, 144, 183-185,189-194, 211Osgood, Samuel, a mining surveyor,96-98Owen, Mr,, editor of Golden Gate,351Owen, Robert, 45, 46 ; socialphilosophy, 47, 48Owen, Robert Dale, 46Oxford, degree of D.C.L. givenby the University of, 295" Personal Evidence of SpiritPhenomena, Notes of," 334, 336Personal characteristics, 115-118" Personal suffrage," 315Photography, a suggestion, 112Phrenology, 17, 125, 140-142Pierpont, Jno., portrait' of, 353Pigeons of the Malay Archipelago,206Plants, Arctic, in temperateregions, 385Playloft, at Hertford, 35Political and moral views ofRobert Owen, 47Polymorphism, in Malayan butterflies,209Porth-yr-Ogof, 137-139Portraits, spirit, 353, 354Poulton, Professor E. B., 295Predictions fulfilled, 390Price, Mr., Neath Abbey, 96Principles of Sociology, 241Problem of Instinct, 388Protective colouring, 208, 209 ;colouration, 228, 229Proving the earth round, 362-372Psychical research, 124Purland, Dr. T., 252, 256 j lettersfrom, 254Pain, in childhood, not severe, 19Palembang, 199Palisades of the Hudson river,283" Palms of the Amazon," 165PapilionidK, paper on the Malayan,207Pangenesis, 221Para, arrival at, 146Paradise, birds of, 1S8, 195, 201,207Parkstone, residence at, 297-306Parrots and pigeons, papers on,206Pears, Messrs., prize essay, 270Pearson, Professor Karl, 328Pension, civil list,374Permanence of Oceans, 384Quakers' Meeting, 41Quarterly Revieiv, article in, 211RRadnorshire, surveying in, 74-79Railway carriages, early, 72Railway, London and Birmingham,69, 72Railway speculation, 132Railways, nationalization of, 318Ramage, Dr., cures my lungs, 77Randi, Signor, seances with, 339Reading, miscellaneous, 39Reasoning power, 115Reception of my works, 377Reclus, Elisee, 298" Red Lions," fraternity of, 257

;4o6INDEXRed-wood forest, 277Reflections on misfortunes, 375Regent's Park, house near, 213Religious doubts, 45, 46, 119Religion of my parents, 41, 119Reminiscences of Amazon, 149Rescue after ship burnt, 1 56Rhayader, illness at, 76Rhone Glacier, 301Rio Negro, 147Roberts, Miss, gift from, 374Roman road, 137Ross, Mrs., medium, 344, 345Royal Commission on Vaccination,330-332Rumball, J. Q., phrenologist, 142Sabbath-keepers, suggestions to,300Sabbatarians, article for, 3SSSt. Albans, Duke of, father ofA. R. Wallace named after, 3St. Clair Stanley, spirit artist, 353St. Mark's Crescent, residence in,213Salisbury, Dr., asthma-cure, 309Salisbury, Lord, on natural selection,243Salt, H. S., a socialist, 328"Sandford and Merton," impressedby, 15San Francisco, big trees near, 277 ;seances at, 351-356Santarem, visit to, 146Sarawak, natives of, 178 ; orangutansand beetles, 177"Sarn Helen," old Roman road,137Savage, Minot J.,and spiritualism,344Savages, meeting with, 150"Saving the Face," as evidenceof Eastern civilization, 34Scenery of Vale of Neath, 135School life at Hertford, 26School meals, 31 ; work, 29Science, interest in, 101-120"Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural,"336Scientific friends, 245Scientific Opinion, Hampden'schallenge in, 362Scientific papers, 205Scientific progress, lecture on, 303-304Sclater, Dr., suggests book ongeographical distribution, 262Stances in America, 343-356 ; inLondon, 335-343Senni Bridge, life at, 91, 92Sequoia gigantea, 277, 281Sexual selection, 236Sheffield, lecture in, 299Shipwreck, 152-159Silent monitor, R. Owen's, 54Silk, George, letters to, 21, 74, 171,199Silsoe and Wray Park, 67Sims, Mr., lodge with, at Neath,.133Singapore, life at, 175Sketches while at Leicester school,129Slate quarries, bad investment in,359 .Slate- writing under test conditions,352Slater, Mr, M. B., Dr. Spruce'sexecutor, 314Sleigh, Frances, a possible relative,2Smoking, experiences of, 59, 79Snowdon, the ancient glaciers of,215"Social Evolution," article on,395.Socialism, founder of, 57Socialism, America and, 293conversion to, 327-329Socialist Review, article in, 317Soulbury, an old-world village, 69Species, origin of, 189-194Speculations, disastrous, 358-360Spencer, Herbert, first interviewwith, 239 correspondence with,;240-243Spirit messages, 390, 392Spiritualism, experiences in, 334'356"Spiritualism," article on, byA. R. Wallace, 338

;INDEX 407Spruce, Dr, R., I first meet atPara, 146; letter to, 151 ; 213,251 ; editing journals of, 314Standing stone in Glamorganshire,137Stanford's " Geography andTravel," 268Stanford, Senator, a spiritualist,347Stanner Rocks, near Kington, 74Stanzerhorn, visit to the, 301Stevens, Mr, Samuel, my agentwhile abroad, 160, 163, 177, 1S3Stockton, California, stay at, 278Stone, standing, in Vale of Neath," Strikes, Inefficiency of," 305"Studies, Scientific and Social,"by A. R. Wallace, 305, 327Suez, in omnibus to, 173-174"Succession of Species," 183, 184Sumatra, a letter from, 198Sunday observance, article on,388Supernatural, scientific aspect ofthe, 336Survey, Ordnance, interest of,59-61Surveying, experiences of, 58, 74Surveying in Bedfordshire, 58-73 ;Radnorshire, 74-79 ; in Glamorganshire,87Survival of the fittest, 190Sutherland evictions, the story ofthe, 324, 325Swimming, no success in, 22, 95Swinton, A. C, and LandNationalization, 322Switzerland, visit to, in 1867, 215Switzerland, tours in, 301, 302, 304Tebb, William, introduces me toanti-vaccination, 329Telescope, attempt to make a, loiTennyson, Lord, and spiritualism,295-296Ternate, residence at, 189, 194 ;disastrous voyage from Waigiouto, 196Thomson, Sir W., "an odiousspectre " to Darwin, 231Timor, paper on birds of, 206Toys, advantages of home-made,36Travels on Amazon and Rio Negro,146, 165Trees, big, of California, 277, 281" Tropical Nature," 265"Tropics, White men in," 305Tumuli on roadside near Stevenage,64Turning-points in life, 105, 130Turvey, an incident at, 69Tyndall, Professor, refuses to investigatespiritualism, 336UUaupes River, exploration of, 147,150Underground river in the Vale ofNeath, 137, 139Unemployed problem, the, 317" Universe, Man's Place in," byA. R. Wallace, 312Usk, my birth-place, 6, 13 ;revisited, 18Utility, the problem of, 302"Vaccination a Delusion," byA. R. Wallace, 333Vaccination, lecture on, 304question, the, 329 ; RoyalCommission on, 330-332 ;statistics, 330Val Savaranches, 216Varied knowledge, lecture on,109Varley, Cromwell, a spiritualist,335Veddahs of Ceylon, 387Verses by Lord Neaves, 257" Vestiges of Creation," 143Voyage home from the Amazon,151-159Voyage to Para, 145" Voyage up the Amazon, A," 145

;4o8wWallace, T. V., message from, 353Waghorn, Lie\it., establishedomnibus line to Suez, 174Waigiou Island, visit to, 195, 196 ;voyage to, 196Wales, North, a month in, 214Wallace, Cragie-, family, 4Wallace, A. R., marries, 214Wallace, Elizabeth, message from,353Wallace, Fanny, 3, 8Wallace, Herbert, 9, 146, 147Wallace, James, 2Wallace, John, 3, 43, 44, 273, 277Wallace, Mary, spirit-portrait of,354Wallace, R., message from, 353Wallace, William, 2, 3, 349dies, 129Wallace, T. V., A, R, Wallace'sfather, 4, 10 ; dies, 1 14 ; messagefrom, 354Wallace's early childhood, 1 3-25Wallace's sisters, 10Walsh, J. H., 362" War in Transvaal," protestagainst, 305" War, causes of, &c.," 305Warwick, Countess of, a socialist,329Washington City, residence at,275INDEXWashington, siances at, 347-351Webb, Sidney, a socialist, 328Webster, Mr., John Wallace apprenticedto, 9, 43Wedderburn, Sir D., 269Wedgwood, Hensleigh, a spiritualist,335, 339, 341Weir, Jenner, 226, 228Weismann, on heredity, 222Westminster Review, article in,228West Point, on the Hudson, 273,274White House, visit to, 275" Wild Wales," George Borrowon, 86, 93Wilson, Algernon, spirit form of,346Wilson, Rev. Percy, iWindmills/A. R. Wallace erects,at Grays, 261-262Wokan, in the Aru Islands, 188" Wonderful Century," byA. R. Wallace, 310Wood, Rev. J. G., 272Workshop, Mr, Webster's, inLondon, 44York, lecture at, 295Yosemite Falls, the, 279Yosemite Valley, the, 278THE ENDPRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.