MENTAL QUALITIES. IO3 



that I have never been able to remember for more 

 than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. 



Some of my critics have said, " Oh, he is a good 

 observer, but he has no power of reasoning ! " I dp 

 not think that this can be true, for the ' Origin of 

 Species ' is one long argument from the beginning to 

 the end, and it has convinced not a few able men. 

 No one could have written it without having some 

 power of reasoning. I have a fair share of invention, 

 and of common sense or judgment, such as every 

 fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, 

 I believe, in any higher degree. 



On the favourable side of the balance, I think that 

 I am superior to the common run of men in noticing 

 things which easily escape attention, and in observing 

 them carefully. My industry has been nearly as great 

 as it could have been in the observation and collection 

 of facts. What is far more important, my love of 

 natural science has been steady and ardent. 



This pure love has, however, been much aided by 

 the ambition to be esteemed by my fellow naturalists. 

 From my early youth I have had the strongest desire 

 to understand or explain whatever I observed, that 

 is, to group all facts under some general laws. These 

 causes combined have given me the patience to reflect 

 or ponder for any number of years over any unex- 

 plained problem. As far as I can judge, I am not 

 apt to follow blindly the lead of other men. I have 

 steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to 

 give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I 

 cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon 



