96 EEMINISOENOES. [Ch. IV. 



working upon the Variations of Animals and Plants in 1860-61, 

 he made out the fertilisation of Orchids, and thought himself 

 idle for giving so much time to them. It is interesting 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 con- 

 tain 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 Sundew as a rest from 

 the Descent of Man. He has described in his Recollections the 

 strong satisfaction he felt in solving the problem of hetero- 

 stylism.* 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 of 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 Muller's Befruchtung, he preserved it from complete 

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

 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 of 

 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, marked with a cypher at the end, 

 to show that it contained no passages for reference, or in- 

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



* That is to gay, the sexual relations in such plants as the cowslip. 



