u6 MY LIFE 



had said anything to Darwin. " But/' said she, u Professor 

 Romanes's brother is a great friend of mine, and he gave me 

 the drafts of the letters they jointly wrote to Darwin. Would 

 you like to see them ? n I said I certainly should, and she 

 promised to bring them the next morning. She did so, and I 

 read them with great interest and surprise, as he had never 

 mentioned them to me when he had come to see me expressly 

 to discuss spiritualism. On asking, she said I might take 

 notes of the contents, as they were given to her without any 

 restriction, and the Canadian Romanes was a thorough spirit- 

 ualist. This curious episode, and what it led to, will be 

 explained in a future chapter. 



In the afternoon I left for Toronto, where I arrived about 

 II p.m., and drove to Professor Wright's house. We lunched 

 next day with Dr. Wilson, and met Mr. Hale, the well known 

 anthropologist. In the afternoon there was a reception at 

 Professor Wright's, and in the evening I gave my lecture on 

 the Darwinian theory, which gave the argument as afterwards 

 developed in the first five and the last chapters of my book on 

 " Darwinism." When I had finished, the Bishop of Toronto 

 made a few remarks, and expressed his relief when he heard 

 my concluding observations. The next day I gave a combined 

 lecture on " Animal Colours and Mimicry," which occupied 

 an hour and three-quarters ; but the crowded audience seemed 

 much interested, and the lantern was an excellent one, and 

 showed the coloured slides to perfection. A Mr. Smith, the 

 head of a veterinary college, who had heard my first lecture, 

 wished me to repeat it to his pupils, which I did the next day 

 to a very attentive audience of three hundred young men. 



In the evening I dined with Professor Goldwin Smith and a 

 party of scientific men in his fine old house, with black walnut 

 staircase and furniture. Afterwards we adjourned to his 

 spacious library, where we discussed politics and literature. 

 The next evening was spent at Mr. Allen's, where I saw a fine 

 collection of Canadian birds, and was struck by the large 

 number of handsome woodpeckers and other bright-coloured 

 birds as compared with Europe. On my way back to Wash- 

 ington I spent four days at Niagara, living at the old hotel on 



