128 REMINISCENCES. 



the other heap, either marked with a cypher at the end, to 

 show that it contained no marked passages, or inscribed, per- 

 haps, " not read," or " only skimmed." The books accumu- 

 lated in the " read " heap until the shelves overflowed, and 

 then, with much lamenting, a day was given up to the cata- 

 loguing. He disliked this work, and as the necessity of under- 

 taking the work became imperative, would often say, in a 

 voice of despair, "We really must do these books soon." 



In each book, as he read it, he marked passages bearing 

 on his work. In reading a book or pamphlet, &c, he made 

 pencil-lines at the side of the page, often adding short 

 remarks, and at the end made a list of the pages marked. 

 When it was to be catalogued and put away, the marked 

 pages were looked at, and so a rough abstract of the book 

 was made. This abstract would perhaps be written under 

 three or four headings on different sheets, the facts being 

 sorted out and added to the previously collected facts in dif- 

 ferent subjects. He had other sets of abstracts arranged, not 

 according to subject, but according to periodical. When col- 

 lecting facts on a large scale, in earlier years, he used to read 

 through, and make abstracts, in this way, of whole series of 

 periodicals. 



In some of his early letters he speaks of filling several 

 note-books with facts for his book on species ; but it was 

 certainly early that he adopted his plan of using portfolios 

 as described in the 'Recollections.'* My father and M. de 

 Candolle were mutually pleased to discover that they had 

 adopted the same plan of classifying facts. De Candolle de- 

 scribes the method in his ' Phytologie,' and in his sketch of 

 my father mentions the satisfaction he felt in seeing it in 

 action at Down. 



Besides these portfolios, of which there are some dozens 

 full of notes, there are large bundles of MS. marked "used " 



* The racks on which the portfolios were placed are shown in the illus- 

 tration at the head of the chapter, in the recess at the right-hand side of 

 the fire-place. 





