How I wrote " Life and Habit" 19 



This was written a few days after my arrival in Canada, 

 June 1874. I was on Montreal mountain for the first time, 

 and was struck with its extreme beauty. It was a mag- 

 nificent summer's evening ; the noble St. Lawrence 

 flowed almost immediately beneath, and the vast expanse 

 of country beyond it was suffused with a colour which even 

 Italy cannot surpass. Sitting down for a while, I began 

 making notes for " Life and Habit," of which I was then 

 continually thinking, and had written the first few lines 

 of the above, when the bells of Notre Dame in Montreal 

 began to ring, and their sound was carried to and fro in a 

 remarkably ]-)eautiful manner. I took advantage of the 

 incident to insert then and there the last lines of the piece 

 just quoted. I kept the whole passage with hardly any 

 alteration, and am thus able to date it accurately. 



Though so occupied in Canada that writing a book was 

 impossible, I nevertheless got many notes together for 

 future use. I left Canada at the end of 1875, and early 

 in 1876 began putting these notes into more coherent 

 form. I did this in thirty pages of closely written matter, 

 of which a pressed copy remains in my commonplace-book. 

 I find two dates among them — the first, "Sunday, Feb. 6, 

 1876 " ; and the second, at the end of the notes, " Feb. 12, 

 1876." 



From these notes I find that by this time I had the 

 theory contained in " Life and Habit " completely before 

 me, witli the four main principles which it involves, 

 namel}^ the oneness of personality between parents and 

 offspring ; memory on the part of offspring of certain 

 actions which it did when in the persons of its forefathers ; 

 the latency of that memory until it is rekindled by a 

 recurrence of the associated ideas ; and the unconsciousness 

 with which habitual actions come to be performed. 



The first half-page of these notes may serve as a sample, 

 and runs thus : — 



" Those habits and functions which we have in common 

 with the lower animals come mainly within the womb, or 



