for a length of time and dwell on the fancies which at
the time occupied me; and frequently next morning, on awaking, I was
vexed with myself because I had gone to sleep before I had reveled in
my imaginations as much as I had intended. Often these dreams,
becoming literally day-dreams, quite filled my unconsciousness when
walking. Even in the streets my state of abstraction was such that I
occasionally talked aloud as I went along: a fact of which I was from
time to time made aware by people who turned to look at me.

V

A TRIBUTE TO E. L. YOUMANS[51]

Some years previously I had made the acquaintance of an American whose
sympathies were enlisted on my behalf by perusal of some of my books
or essays--Mr. E. A. Silsbee, of Salem, Mass. While yet the circular
was in its unfinished state, I sent to him a copy, accompanied by the
inquiry whether he thought that subscribers might be obtained in
America. His reply, dated February 14, held out much encouragement;
and a letter of March 6, written after the circular had been sent to
New York, contained a sentence the significance of which was shown by
subsequent events. The sentence runs--"Mr. Youmans, a very popular and
intelligent lecturer on scientific subjects, well known by his works
on chemistry, physiology, etc., entered with great enthusiasm into the
project." Devoting himself with characteristic vigor to the
furtherance of my scheme, this previously unknown friend succeeded in
obtaining more than two hundred subscribers.

[Footnote 51: From Part VII of the "Autobiography." Copyright, 1904,
by D. Appleton & Co.]

The relation thus initiated was extremely fortunate; for Prof. Edward
L. Youmans[52] was of all Americans I have known or heard of, the one
most able and most willing to help me. Alike intellectually and
morally, he had in the highest degrees the traits conducive to success
in diffusing the doctrines he espoused; and from that time to this he
has devoted his time mainly in spreading throughout the United States
the doctrine of evolution. His love of wide generalizations had been
shown years before in lectures on such topics as the correlation of
the physical forces; and from those who heard him I have gathered
that, aided by his unusual powers of exposition, the enthusiasm which
contemplation of the larger truths of science produced in him was in a
remarkable degree communicated to his hearers. Such larger truths, I
have on many occasions observe