122 DARWINIANISM. 



" During ray whole life I have been singularly incapable 

 of mastering any language." So he loses Greek, even to 

 some few of the letters. Latin in that regard it is 

 suggestive that he says (i. 385): "A boy who has learnt 

 to stick at Latin and conquer its difficulties ought to 

 be able to stick at any labour!" When eager on a 

 scheme about the Canary Islands, he applies himself to 

 Spanish ; but he finds it " intensely stupid." When it was 

 proposed to him to become Secretary to the Geological 

 Society, he is obliged to refer to his " ignorance of all 

 languages, not knowing how to pronounce a single word 

 of French : it would be disgraceful to the Society to have 

 a Secretary who could not read French." The success of 

 his theory in Germany is such that a very great number 

 of books in that language are of the intensest interest to 

 him, and he manages to mine his way in them to a 

 meaning at times ; but he confesses (ii. 278) to Professor 

 Bronn "I read German very slowly. When any 

 reasoning comes in, I find German excessively difficult 

 to understand." More of his troubles with, as he called 

 it (with an English v), the verdammte language, we can 

 learn from i. 126 of the Life and Letters. It is here a 

 propos of German that it is said, " he had a bad ear for 

 vocal sounds ; " but inability to pronounce even a " single 

 word of French " is a still stronger testimony to the same 

 effect. It is scarcely possible to imagine a more striking 

 proof of the predominance of the eyes over the ears, or at 

 least of the marked inferiority of the latter to the former 

 on the part of Mr. Darwin. 



