en. iv.] REMINISCENCES. 79 



science afterwards, and no doubt it was in great measure the 

 courtesy with which he answered every one which produced 

 the widespread sense of his kindness of nature which was 

 so evident on his death. 



He was considerate to his correspondents in other and 

 lesser things for instance, when dictating a letter to a 

 foreigner, he hardly ever failed to say to me, l ' You'd better 

 try and write well, as it's to a foreigner." His letters were 

 generally written on the assumption that they would be 

 carelessly read ; thus, when he was dictating, he was careful 

 to tell me to make an important clause begin with an obvi- 

 ous paragraph, " to catch his eye," as he often said. How 

 much he thought of the trouble he gave others by asking 

 questions, will be well enough shown by his letters. 



He had a printed form to be used in replying to trouble- 

 some correspondents, but he hardly ever used it ; I suppose 

 he never found an occasion that seemed exactly suitable. I 

 remember an occasion on which it might have been used 

 with advantage. He received a letter from a stranger stat- 

 ing that the writer had undertaken to uphold Evolution at 

 a debating society, and that being a busy young man, with- 

 out time for reading, he wished to have a sketch of my 

 father's views. Even this wonderful young man got a civil 

 answer, though I think he did not get much material for 

 his speech. His rule was to thank the donors of books, but 

 not of pamphlets. He sometimes expressed surprise that so 

 few thanked him for his books which he gave away liber- 

 ally ; the letters that he did receive gave him much 'pleas- 

 ure, because he habitually formed so humble an estimate of 

 the value of all his works, that he was genuinely surprised 

 at the interest which they excited. 



In money and business matters he was remarkably care- 

 ful and exact. He kept accounts with great care, classify- 

 ing them, and balancing at the end of the year like a mer- 

 chant. I remember the quick way in which he would reach 

 out for his account-book to enter each cheque paid, as though 

 he were in a hurry to get it entered before he had forgotten 

 it. His father must have allowed him to believe that he 

 would be poorer than he really was, for some of the difficulty 

 experienced over finding a house in the country must have 

 arisen from the modest sum he felt prepared to give. Yet 

 he knew, of course, that he would be in easy circumstances, 

 for in his Recollections he mentions this as one of the 

 reasons for his not having worked at medicine with so much 



