It was on revising the criticism appended to the Senses in 1873, for the edition of 1894, that the illegitimacy of Darwin's bolder speculations became more and more apparent. Our attitude now to such matters is of the same nature as the attempt to account for the mental development of infancy. A certain amount of the absolutely inscrutable has to be taken into account, and, if possible, estimated, so as to draw the line between what is really primitive and what is taken on from the exercise of the organs and contact with the world of inanimate nature and living beings. This is, evidently, the problem of infancy, in its two essentially distinct parts. It is the second that is within our reach-we can attack it by actual observations; the other is pure inference from it as a datum. The criticism in question overhauled Darwin's positions point by point, and no material change was made upon it in the reprint. Darwin himself admitted the general fairness of the review, and his letter in reply is as follows:"DOWN, BECKENHAM, KENT, "9th Oct., 1873. "MY DEAR SIR, "I am particularly obliged to you for having sent me your essay. Your criticisms are all written in a quite fair spirit, and indeed no one who knows you or your works would expect anything else. What you say about the vagueness of what I have called the direct action of the nervous system is perfectly just: I felt it so at the time, and even more of late. I confess that I have never been able fully to grasp your principle of spontaneity, as well as some other of your points, so as to apply them to special cases. But as we look at everything from different points of view, it is not likely that we should agree closely. "I have been greatly pleased by what you say about the crying expression and about blushing. Did you read a review in a late Edin.? It was magnificently contemptuous towards myself and many others. CRITICISM OF DARWIN. 321 "I retain a very pleasant recollection of our sojourn together at that delightful place, Moor Park. "With my renewed thanks, "I remain, my dear sir, "CH. DARWIN." In addition to works already mentioned as planned in the preceding year and completed in the present, a reprint was made of the Higher English Grammar, improved in typography and with amendments, more especially in the parts on Derivation,-which were provided chiefly by Mr. A. F. Murison. The last and finishing effort in connexion with grammar was the Companion to the Higher Grammar, prepared and put into shape in session 1873-74 and the following summer; being published in September, 1874. The materials for it had been necessarily accumulating in the teaching of the English class, and during the preparation of the other grammatical text-books. Its The preface fully expresses the plan of the work. leading objects may be stated to be to indicate and exemplify special points in the Higher Grammar,—to select, for special emphasis and elucidation, the portions of grammar most directly concerned in composition. The paramount importance of order of words is especially dwelt upon. It had always seemed to me to be the weakness of the muchvaunted "Analysis of Sentences" to put out of sight the proper placing of the sentence elements; and I urged strongly the great value of a discipline on this matter by itself. Although the logical portions of grammar were retouched, my attention was always concentrated on such definitions, classifications, and rules as had a true grammatical bearing. Besides my own collections, I received valuable contributions in the way of examples from Mr. A. F. Murison. In the elaborating of the illustrative passages, I obtained aid from my class assistant, Mr. J. B. Duncan, and from Mr. W. L. Davidson of Bourtie. Under Order of Words, more especially, the work bridged the transition from grammar to rhetoric. Winter Session, 1873-74, and Recess following. In the month of February, 1874, we had staying with us Professor Huxley, who had come down for his address as Lord Rector; to which office he had been elected in 1872. On the 2nd of March, Dr. Arnott died. He named as executors, besides his wife, Dr. Alfred Taylor and myself. This implied the preparation of a biography, which devolved upon me, and the editing of a new edition of the Physics, in which both Dr. Taylor and myself took a part; he re-writing the Electricity and I revising the Astronomy. We had also to engage someone to re-write the mechanical portions, in which, besides some mistakes, there were important blanks. For this, I employed Mr. John Cook, Professor Thomson's assistant, who was competent for the work, but was very dilatory in FURTHER WORKS ON GRAMMAR.-ARNOTT. 323 finishing what he had undertaken; the consequence being that Mrs. Arnott was on her deathbed when she saw a copy, and was very much disappointed at the delay. In revising the Astronomy, I had to keep to Dr. Arnott's own method, supplying the recent discoveries, and, in particular, compiling from Lockyer an account of the discoveries of spectrum analysis. In the biography, I made use of all the materials at my disposal; the effect being that it was too long for publication in the Royal Society's Transactions, as well as for being prefixed to the new edition of the Physics. Accordingly, it was not printed in extenso, until I had given it as a contribution to the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, and it was included in the first volume of its Transactions. These occupations interrupted the revision of the Emotions, to which, however, the larger part of this year had to be devoted. During the interval between the second and third editions (1865-1875), much cogitation had been bestowed upon many of the topics. First of all, I had been anxious to formulate the subject of measuring degree in our emotional states; it being self-evident that to renounce this effort as hopeless was another way of saying that Psychology could give no help in adjusting human aims or in making preferences in the search for happiness. The upshot of these protracted cogitations appeared in the introductory chapter (pp. 23-42). I have since had occasion to dilate upon the same topic in criticizing writers on Ethics in Mind. An entirely new chapter is occupied with Evolution, as bearing on the mind. While Spencer had been devoting his energies to the psychological aspects of Evolution, as well as to its more purely biological aspects, I had hitherto refrained from making any reference to it. The study now bestowed on the whole question was embodied in this chapter; and I have not since been able to make any essential alteration in the positions there taken up. It so happened that the facilities and aids unquestionably afforded by this great hypothesis suffer abatements, owing to its difficulties and want of evidence. Still, it can never now be left out of sight in whatever speculations we may indulge as to the beginnings or prior stages of the vast structure of organized beings. The nature of Sympathy, as the source of disinterested conduct, had to be reviewed; and, in so doing, the former position, taken up and expounded both in The Senses and the Intellect (under fixed Idea), and in the Emotions, which made Sympathy a purely intellectual growth, was abandoned. The need of a further element of an emotional kind was strongly urged, and was supplied by the hypothesis of a gregarious origin in the past history of the races of animals and man. It was also necessary to vindicate, against various ethical authorities, the existence of purely disinterested motives, apart from all roundabout selfish considerations, a point vital in the present stage of ethical controversy. A The vast and difficult subject of the Esthetic Emotions was subjected to a considerable amount of revision. As regards Music, I adopted some valuable suggestions from Mr. Sully, which seemed to be in the right direction. good deal has been done on the subject since, by some of the German writers, and by Edmund Gurney in his work on Sound. A variety of other topics had been brought into a clearer light, in consequence of the frequent references made in the course of the instructions on Rhetoric, in the |