was the poems of Milton--the former student of his own
Christ's College, Cambridge. But towards the end of his life, Darwin had
sadly to confess that he found that he had quite lost the capacity of
enjoying either music or the noblest works of literature.

Some have argued that Darwin's scientific labours must have actually
proved destructive to his artistic and literary tastes, and have even
gone so far as to assert--in spite of numerous examples to the
contrary--that there is a natural antithesis between the mental
conditions that respectively favour scientific and artistic excellence.

But I think there is a very simple explanation of the loss by Darwin of
his powers of enjoyment of music and poetry, a loss which he evidently
greatly deplored. His scientific undertaking was so gigantic, and, at
the same time, his health was so broken and precarious, that he felt his
only chance of success lay in utilizing, for the tasks before him, every
moment that he was free from acute suffering and retained any power of
working. Consequently, when the self-imposed task of each day was
completed, he found himself in a state of mental collapse. Now to
appreciate the beauties of fine music or the work of a great writer
certainly demands that the mind should be fresh and unjaded, whereas, at
the only times Darwin had for relaxation, he was quite unfitted for
these higher delights. We are not surprised then to learn that he sought
and found relief in listening to his wife's reading of some pleasant
novel or in the nightly game of backgammon, as the only means of resting
his wearied brain.

No one who had the privilege of conversing with Darwin in his later
years can doubt of his having retained to the end the full possession of
his refined tastes as well as his great mental powers. His love for and
sympathy with every movement tending to progress--especially in the
scientific and educational world--his devotion to his friends, with no
little indulgence of indignation for what he thought false or mean in
others, these were his conspicuous characteristics, and they were
combined with a gentle playfulness and sense of humour, which made him
the most delightful and loveable of companions.

CHAPTER XI

THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN'S WORKS

In two essays 'On the Coming of Age of the Origin of Species[134],' and
'On the Reception of the Origin of Species[135],' published in 1880 and
1887 respectively, Huxley has discussed the cours