80 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



it may be fairly urged that the work which rare 

 and original minds fall short of doing because of 

 straitened circumstances or brevity of life does 

 never really get done at all. Something like it 

 gets performed, no doubt, but it gets performed 

 in a different order of causation ; and though 

 there may be an appearance of equivalence, the 

 fact remains that, from the sum of human striv- 

 ing, an indefinite amount of rich and fruitful life 

 has been lost. True as this is in the case of ex- 

 act science, it is still more obviously true in spec- 

 ulative science or philosophy. For the work of a 

 philosopher, like the work of an artist, is the pe- 

 culiar product of endless complexities of individ- 

 ual character. His mental tone, his shades of 

 prejudice, his method of thought, are often of 

 as much interest and value to mankind as any of 

 the theories which he may devise ; and thus it not 

 seldom happens that personal familiarity with the 

 philosopher is itself a most instructive lesson in 

 philosophy. 



In the case of Chauncey Wright, none save the 

 friends who knew the rich treasures of his mind 

 as shown in familiar conversation are likely to 

 realize how great is the loss which philosophy has 

 sustained in his death. For not only was he 

 somewhat deficient in the literary knack of ex- 



