WORK. 151 



way he would cut a heavy book in half, to make it more con- 

 venient to hold. He used to boast that he had made Lyell 

 publish the second edition of one of his books in two volumes, 

 instead of in one, by telling him how he had been obliged to 

 cut it in half. Pamphlets were often treated even more 

 severely than books, for he would tear out, for the sake or 

 saving room, all the pages except the one that interested him. 

 The consequence of all this was, that his library was not 

 ornamental, but was striking from being so evidently a working 

 collection of books. 



He was methodical in his manner of reading books and 

 pamphlets bearing on his own work. He had one shelf on 

 which were piled up the books he had not yet read, and 

 another to which they were transferred after having been 

 read, and before being catalogued. He would often groan 

 over his unread books, because there were so many which he 

 knew he should never read. Many a book was at once trans- 

 ferred to the other heap, either marked with a cypher at the 

 end, to show that it contained no marked passages, or in- 

 scribed, perhaps, " not read," or " only skimmed." The books 

 accumulated in the " read " heap until the shelves overflowed, 

 and then, with much lamenting, a day was given up to the 

 cataloguing. He disliked this work, and as the necessity 

 of undertaking the work became imperative, would often 

 say, in a voice of despair, " We really must do these books 

 soon." 



In each book, as he read it, he marked passages bearing on 

 his work. In reading a book or pamphlet, &c., he made 

 pencil-lines at the side of the page, often adding short 

 remarks, and at the end made a list of the pages marked. 

 When it was to be catalogued and put away, the marked 

 pages were looked at, and so a rough abstract of the book 

 was made. This abstract would perhaps be written under 

 three or four headings on different sheets, the facts being 

 sorted out and added to the previously collected facts in 



