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CHAPTEE VIII. 



PKOPERTY, COMMON SENSE, AND PROTOPLASM. 



One would think the issue stated in the three preced- 

 ing chapters was decided in the stating. This, as I 

 have already implied, is probably the reason why those 

 who have a vested interest in Mr. Darwin's philo- 

 sophical reputation have avoided stating it. 



It may be said that, seeing the result is a joint one, 

 inasmuch as both " res " and " me," or both luck and 

 cunning, enter so largely into development, neither 

 factor can claim pre-eminence to the exclusion of the 

 other. But life is short and business long, and if we 

 are to get the one into the other we must suppress 

 details, and leave our words pregnant, as painters 

 leave their touches when painting from nature. If 

 one factor concerns us greatly more than the other, 

 we should emphasize it, and let the other go without 

 saying by force of association. There is no fear of its 

 being lost sight of ; association is one of the few really 

 liberal things in nature ; by liberal, I mean precipitate 

 and inaccurate ; the power of words, as of pictures, 

 and indeed the power to carry on life at all, vests in 

 the fact that association does not stick to the letter of 



