How I wrote " Life and Habit " 21 



in it, it is almost sure to occur to several people much about 

 the same time, and a reasonable person will look upon his 

 work with great suspicion unless he can confirm it with 

 the support of others who have gone before him. Still I 

 knew of nothing in the least resembling it, and was so 

 afraid of what I was doing, that though I could see no flaw 

 in the argument, nor any loophole for escape from the 

 conclusion it led to, yet I did not dare to put it forward 

 with the seriousness and sobriety with which I should have 

 treated the subject if I had not been in continual fear of a 

 mine being sprung upon me from some unexpected quarter. 

 I am exceedingly glad now that I knew nothing of Pro- 

 fessor Hering's lecture, for it is much better that two 

 people should think a thing out as far as they can inde- 

 pendently before they become aware of each other's work ; 

 but if I had seen it, I should either, as is most likely, not 

 have written at all, or I should have pitched my book in 

 another key. 



Among the additions I intended making while the book 

 was in the press, was a chapter on Mr. Darwin's provisional 

 theory of Pangenesis, which I felt convinced must be right 

 if it was Mr. Darwin's, and which I was sure, if I could once 

 understand it, must have an important bearing on " Life 

 and Habit." I had not as yet seen that the principle I 

 was contending for was Darwinian, not Neo-Darwinian. 

 My pages still teemed with allusions to " natural selection," 

 and I sometimes allowed myself to hope that " Life and 

 Habit " was going to be an adjunct to Darwinism which 

 no one would welcome more gladly than Mr. Darwin 

 himself. At this time I had a visit from a friend, who 

 kindly called to answer a question of mine, relative, if I 

 remember rightly, to " Pangenesis." He came, September 

 26, 1877. One of the first things he said was, that the 

 theory which had pleased him more than anything he had 

 heard of for some time was one referring all life to memory. 

 I said that was exactly what I was doing myself, and 

 inquired where he had met with his theory. He replied 



