his work in other
fields. That he failed to attain that commanding position due to his
genius is to be ascribed to a cause prevalent among us during all the
middle part of the century; perhaps that from which most brilliant
intellects fail to reach eminence: lack of the power of continuous
work necessary to bring important researches to a completion.

Another great intellect of the office was Chauncey Wright.
If Wright had systematically applied his powers, he might have
preceded or supplanted Herbert Spencer as the great exponent of the
theory of evolution. He had graduated at Harvard in 1853, and was
a profound student of philosophy from that time forward, though I am
not aware that he was a writer. When in 1858 Sir William Hamilton's
"Lectures on Metaphysics" appeared, he took to them with avidity.
In 1859 appeared Darwin's "Origin of Species," and a series of
meetings was held by the American Academy, the special order of
which was the discussion of this book. Wright and myself, not yet
members, were invited to be present. To judge of the interest it is
only necessary to remark that Agassiz and Gray were the two leading
disputants, the first taking ground against Darwin, the other in his
favor. Wright was a Darwinist from the very beginning, explaining
the theory in private conversation from a master's point of view,
and soon writing upon it in the "North American Review" and in other
publications. Of one of his articles Darwin has been quoted as saying
that it was the best exposition of his theory that had then appeared.
After his untimely death in 1875, Wright's papers were collected and
published under the title of "Philosophical Discussions." [1] Their
style is clear-cut and faultless in logical form, yet requiring such
close attention to every word as to be less attractive to the general
reader of to-day than that of Spencer. In a more leisurely age,
when men wanted to think profoundly as they went along in a book,
and had little to disturb the current of their thoughts, it would
have commanded wide attention among thinking men.

A singular peculiarity which I have sometimes noticed among men of
intelligence is that those who are best informed on the subject
may be most reckless as regards the laws of health. Wright did
all of his office work in two or three months of the year. During
those months he worked at his computations far into the hours of
the morning, stimulating his strength with cigars