24 Luck, or Cunning ? 
to me that I am not justified in publishing. What was 
written ran thus : — 
“ As a reminder of our pleasant hours on the broad 
Atlantic, will Mr. —— please accept this book (which I think 
contains more truth, and less evidence of it, than any other 
I have met with) from his friend —— ?” 
I presume the gentleman had met with the Bible—a 
work which lays itself open to a somewhat similar comment. 
I was gratified, however, at what I had read, and take this 
opportunity of thanking the writer, an American, for 
having liked my book. It was so plain he had been relieved 
at not finding the case smothered to death in the weight 
of its own evidences, that I resolved not to forget the lesson 
his words had taught me. 
The only writer in connection with ‘“ Life and Habit” 
to whom I am anxious to reply is Mr. Herbert Spencer, 
but before doing this I will conclude the present chapter 
with a consideration of some general complaints that have 
been so often brought against me that it may be worth 
while to notice them. 
These general criticisms have resolved themselves mainly 
into two. 
Firstly, it is said that I ought not to write about biology 
on the ground of my past career, which my critics declare 
to have been purely literary. I wish I might indulge a 
reasonable hope of one day becoming a literary man ; 
the expression is not a good one, but there is no other in 
such common use, and this must excuse it; if a man can 
be properly called literary, he must have acquired the 
habit of reading accurately, thinking attentively, and 
expressing himself clearly. He must have endeavoured 
in all sorts of ways to enlarge the range of his sympathies 
so as to be able to put himself easily en rapport with those 
whom he is studying, and those whom he is addressing. 
If he cannot speak with tongues himself, he is the interpreter 
of those who can—without whom they might as well be 
