gle--with whom he quarreled for a day
because Fitzroy defended slavery--Darwin says that he was in many ways
the noblest character he ever knew. His love and admiration for Lyell
were unbounded. Lyell was the man who taught him the method--the
application of the causes at present discoverable in nature to the past
history of the earth--by which he was led to the solution of the
question as to the origin of organic forms on the earth's surface. He
regarded Lyell, who with Mrs. Lyell often visited him at Down, more than
any other man as his master and teacher. Hooker--still happily surviving
from among this noble group of men--was his "dear old friend"; his most
constant and unwearied correspondent; he from whom Darwin could always
extract the most valuable facts and opinions in the field of botanical
science, and the one upon whose help he always relied. Huxley was for
Darwin not merely a delightful and charming friend, but a "wonderful
man,"--a most daring, skillful champion, whose feats of literary
swordsmanship made Darwin both tremble and rejoice. Samples of his
correspondence with these fellow-workers are given below. The letter to
Hooker (September 26th, 1862) is particularly interesting, as recording
one of the most important discoveries of his later years,--confirmed by
the subsequent researches of Gardiner and others,--and as containing a
pretty confession of his jealous desire to exalt the _status_ of plants.
Often he spoke and wrote in his letters of individual plants with which
he was experimenting as "little rascals."

Darwin shared with other great men whose natures approach perfection, an
unusual sympathy with and power over dogs, and a love for children. The
latter trait is most beautifully expressed in a note which was found
amongst his papers, giving an account of his little girl, who died at
the age of ten years. Written for his own eyes only, it is a most
delicate and tender composition, and should be pondered side by side
with his frank and--necessarily to some readers--almost terrifying
statement of his thoughts on religion.

Darwin's only self-indulgence was snuff-taking. In later years he smoked
an occasional cigarette, but his real "little weakness" was snuff. It is
difficult to suppose that he did not benefit by the habit, careful as he
was to keep it in check. He kept his snuff-box in the hall of his house,
so that he should have to take the trouble of a walk in order to get a
pinch, and not h