LESSER SCIENTIFIC WORK 205 



had crossed every kind of bird, from sparrows to 

 ostriches. But this was palpable hyperbolism. 

 It was quite, and altogether with a different 

 end in view that Tegetmeier made selections, 

 including hybrids, and mated them together with 

 the view of ascertaining how far the different 

 species were capable of inter-breeding. Where 

 some mistake was made was in the final con- 

 clusion, drawn from a few matings. For after 

 Darwin's death, hybrids that had been tried 

 again and again by these investigators, in a hotter 

 climate and under a different environment, after 

 some failures, are reported to have produced at 

 least one or two young that eventually lived." 



Tegetmeier was, of course, a firm believer in 

 Evolution, but I do not think he troubled much 

 about theories : his life was too fully occupied 

 with facts, with living interests — with men and 

 women and other animals, to worry about abstruse 

 metaphysical ideas. Agnostic he may have been 

 called, but atheist, never — at least justly. He 

 allowed others the same freedom of thought 

 and belief he claimed for himself, and he never 

 disparaged religion. His wife and family were 

 members of the Church of England, to which 

 he subscribed, if not in doctrine, in money, to 

 his last daj^s. Referring to his reputed agnosti- 

 cism, I asked him once if he denied the existence 

 of God. " My boy," he replied, " how could I, 

 when every leaf on every tree proclaims its 



