262 OBITUARY x 
what rash determination never “to read a book on — 
geology or in any way to study the science” so — 
long as he lived. (I. p. 41.) 
There is much reason to believe that the — 
lectures in question were eminently qualified to — 
produce the impression which they made; and 
there can be little doubt, that Darwin’s conclusion 
that his time was better employed in reading ~ 
than in listening to such lectures was a sound 
one. But it was particularly unfortunate that 
the personal and professorial dulness of the 
Professor of Anatomy, combined with Darwin’s 
sensitiveness to the disagreeable concomitants of 
anatomical work, drove him away from the 
dissecting room. In after life, he justly recognised 
that this was an “irremediable evil” in reference 
to the pursuits he eventually adopted ; indeed, it 
is marvellous that he succeeded in making up for | 
his lack of anatomical discipline, so far as his 
work on the Cirripedes shows he did. And the 
neglect of anatomy had the further unfortunate 
result that it excluded him from the _ best 
opportunity of bringing himself into direct contact 
with the facts of nature which the University had — 
to offer. In those days, almost the only practical 
scientific work accessible to students was anatomi- — 
cal, and the only laboratory at their disposal the 
dissecting room, 
We may now console ourselves with the 
reflection that the partial evil was the general 
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