284 THE SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [ch. xiv. 



spare time, and began a " Chapter on Man," but he soon 

 found it growing under his hands, and determined to pub- 

 lish it separately as a " very small volume." 



It is remarkable that only four years before this date, 

 namely in 1864, he had given up hope of being able to work 

 out this subject. He wrote to Mr. Wallace : 



" I have collected a few notes on man, but I do not sup- 

 pose that I shall ever use them. Do you intend to follow 

 out your views, and if so, would you like at some future time 

 to have my few references and notes ? I am sure I hardly 

 know whether they are of any value, and they are at present 

 in a state .of chaos. There is much more that I should like 

 to write, but I have not strength." But this was at a pe- 

 riod of ill-health ; not long before, in 18C3, he had written 

 in the same depressed tone about his future work gener- 

 ally : 



" I have been so steadily going downhill, I cannot help 

 doubting whether I can ever crawl a little uphill again. 

 Unless I can, enough to work a little, I hope my life may be 

 very short, for to lie on a sofa all day and do nothing but 

 give trouble to the best and kindest of wives and good dear 

 children is dreadful." 



The " Chapter on Man," which afterwards grew into 

 the Descent of Man, was interrupted by the necessity of 

 correcting the proofs of Animals and Plants, and by some 

 botanical work, but was resumed with unremitting industry 

 on the first available day in the following year. He could 

 not rest, and he recognised with regret the gradual change 

 in his mind that rendered continuous work more and more 

 necessary to him as he grew older. This is expressed in a 

 letter to Sir J. D. Hooker, June 17, 1868, which repeats to 

 some extent what is given in the Autobiograplnf: 



" I am glad you were at the Messiah, it is the one thing 

 that I should like to hear again, but I dare say I should 

 find my soul too dried up to appreciate it as in old days ; 

 and then I should feel very flat, for it is a horrid bore to 

 feel as I constantly do, that I am a withered leaf for every 

 subject except Science. It sometimes makes me hate Sci- 

 ence, though God knows I ought to be thankful for such a 

 perennial interest, which makes me forget for some hours 

 every day my accursed stomach." 



The Descent of Man (and this is indicated on its title- 

 page) consists of two separate books, namely on the pedi- 

 gree of mankind, and on sexual selection in the animal 



