8 MY LIFE [Chap. 



The above remark, "kill me in your good estimation," 

 refers to his views on the mental and moral nature of man 

 being very different from mine, this being the first important 

 question as to which our views had diverged. But I never 

 had the slightest feeling of the kind he supposed, looking 

 upon the difference as one which did not at all affect our 

 general agreement, and also as being one on which no one 

 could dogmatize, there being much to be said on both sides. 

 The last paragraph shows the extreme interest he took in the 

 personal affairs of all his friends. 



As my article of which he thought so highly is buried in an 

 early volume of Nature, I will here reproduce the rather long 

 paragraph which so specially interested him. It is as follows : — 

 " The first objection brought forward (and which had been 

 already advanced by the Duke of Argyll) is, that the very 

 title of Mr. Darwin's celebrated work is a misnomer, and that 

 the real ' origin of species ' is that spontaneous tendency to 

 variation which has not yet been accounted for. Mr. Bennett 

 further remarks that, throughout my volume of 'Essays,' I 

 appear to be unconscious that the theory I advocate does 

 not go to the root of the matter. It is true that I am 'un- 

 conscious' of anything of the kind, for I maintain, and am 

 prepared to prove, that the theory, if true, does go to the very 

 root of the question of the ' origin of species.' The objection, 

 which from its being so often made, and now again brought 

 forward, is evidently thought to be an important one, is 

 founded on a misapprehension of the right meaning of 

 words. It ignores the fact that the word ' species ' denotes 

 something more than 'variety ' or ' individual.' A species 

 is an organic form (or group) which, for periods of great 

 and indefinite length, as compared with the duration of 

 human life, fluctuates only within narrow limits. But the 

 'spontaneous tendency to variation' is altogether antagonistic 

 to such comparative stability, and would, if unchecked, en- 

 tirely destroy all 'species.' Abolish, if possible, selection 

 and survival of the fittest, so that every spontaneous variation 

 should survive in equal proportion with all others, and the 

 result must inevitably be an endless variety of Unstable forms 



