CHARLES DARWIN. 431 
of the other class; but they are of no less interest, and they 
are very characteristic of the author’s genius and methods, — 
characteristic also of his laboriousness. For the amount of 
prolonged observation, watchful care, and tedious experiment 
they have demanded is as remarkable as the skill in devising 
simple and effectual modes of investigation is admirable. 
That he should have had the courage to undertake and the 
patience to carry on new inquiries of this kind after he had 
reached his threescore and ten years of age, and after he had 
attained an unparalleled breadth of influence and wealth of 
fame, speaks much for his energy and for his devotion to 
knowledge for its own sake. Indeed, having directed the 
flow of scientific thought into the new channel he had opened, 
along which the current set quicker and stronger than he could 
have expected, he seems to have taken up with fresh delight 
studies which he had marked out in early years, or topics 
which from time to time had struck his acute attention. To 
these he gave himself, quite to the last, with all the spirit and 
curiosity of youth. Evidently all this amount of work was 
done for the pure love of it; it was all done methodically, 
with clear and definite aim, without haste, but without inter- 
mission. 
It would confidently be supposed that in this case genius 
and industry were seconded by leisure and bodily vigor. For- 
tunately Darwin’s means enabled him to control the disposi- 
tion of his time. But the voyage of the Beagle, which was 
so advantageous to science, ruined his health. A sort of 
chronic sea-sickness, under which all his work abroad was 
performed, harassed him ever afterwards. The days in which 
he could give two hours to investigation or writing were 
counted as good ones, and for much of his life they were 
largely outnumbered by those in which nothing could be 
attempted. Only by great care and the simplest habits was 
he able to secure even a moderate amount of comfortable 
existence. But in this respect his later years were the best 
ones, and therefore the busiest. In them also he had most 
valuable filial aid. There was nothing to cause much anxiety 
until his seventy-third birthday had passed, or to excite alarm 
until the week before his death. 
