I5O REMINISCENCES. 



might perceive the vibrations of sound, and therefore made 

 me play my bassoon close to a plant* 



The love of experiment was very strong in him, and I can 

 remember the way he would say, " I shan't be easy till I have 

 tried it," as if an outside force were driving him. He enjoyed 

 experimenting much more than work which only entailed 

 reasoning, and when he was engaged on one of his books 

 which required argument and the marshalling of facts, he felt 

 experimental work to be a rest or holiday. Thus, while 

 working upon the * Variations of Animals and Plants,' in 

 1 860-61, he made out the fertilisation of Orchids, and thought 

 himself idle for giving so much time to them. It is inte- 

 resting to think that so important a piece of research should 

 have been undertaken and largely worked out as a pastime 

 in place of more serious work. The letters to Hooker of this 

 period contain expressions such as, " God forgive me for 

 being so idle ; I am quite sillily interested in the work." The 

 intense pleasure he took in understanding the adaptations for 

 fertilisation is strongly shown in these letters. He speaks in 

 one of his letters of his intention of working at Drosera as a 

 rest from the ' Descent of Man.' He has described in his 

 ' Recollections ' the strong satisfaction he felt in solving the 

 problem of heterostylism. And I have heard him mention 

 that the Geology of South America gave him almost more 

 pleasure than anything else. It was perhaps this delight in 

 work requiring keen observation that made him value praise 

 given to his observing powers almost more than appreciation 



j}f his other qualities. 



For books he had no respect, but merely considered them 



! as tools to be worked with. Thus he did not bind them, 

 and even when a paper book fell to pieces from use, as hap- 

 pened to Miiller's ' Befruchtung,' he preserved it from complete 

 dissolution by putting a metal clip over its back. In the same 



* This is not so much an example small cause, but only of his wish to 

 of superabundant theorising from a test the most improbable ideas. 



