xxxix] MONEY MATTERS 379 



be the great misfortune of the loss of about half of my whole 

 Amazonian collections by the burning of the ship in which I 

 was coming home, was in all probability a blessing in dis- 

 guise, since it led me to visit the comparatively unknown 

 Malay Archipelago, and, perhaps, also supplied the conditions 

 which led me to think out independently the theory of natural 

 selection. In like manner I am now inclined to see in the 

 almost total loss of the money value of those rich collections, 

 another of those curious indications that our misfortunes are 

 often useful, or even necessary for bringing out our latent 

 powers. I am, and have always been, constitutionally lazy, 

 without any of that fiery energy and intense power of work 

 possessed by such men as Huxley and Charles Kingsley. 

 When I once begin any work in which I am interested, I 

 can go steadily on with it till it is finished, but I need some 

 definite impulse to set me going, and require a good deal of 

 time for reflection while the work is being done. Every im- 

 portant book I have undertaken has been due to an impulse 

 or a suggestion from without. I spent five years in quiet 

 enjoyment of my collections, in attending scientific meetings, 

 and in working out a few problems, before I began to write 

 my " Malay Archipelago," and it was due to the repeated 

 suggestions of my friends that I wrote my " Geographical 

 Distribution of Animals." 



But if the entire proceeds of my Malayan collections had 

 been well invested, and I had obtained a secure income of 

 ^"400 or £500 a year, I think it probable that I should not 

 have written another book, but should have gone to live 

 further in the country, enjoyed my garden and greenhouse 

 (as I always have done), and limited my work to a few lectures 

 and review articles, but to a much less extent than I actually 

 have done. It was the necessity of earning money, owing to 

 my diminishing income, that caused me to accept invitations 

 to lecture, which I always disliked ; and the same reason 

 caused me to seek out subjects for scientific or social articles 

 which, without that necessity, would never have been written. 

 Under such conditions as here supposed, my dislike to lecturing 

 would probably have increased, and I should never have 



