Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - Darwin and the Theory of Evolution.djvu/58

 Rh so he took a firm stand against those who would prevent scientists from experimenting with living animals. He was willing to conciliate, to speak as softly as possible in an argument, yet he would not confuse policy and prejudice. He could not fight for his stand because of the limitations imposed by illness, but he was not prevented from holding his own opinions.

The constant claim of ill health must have exerted a strong control over Darwin's personality. It prevented him from doing continuous work, yet work was essential for his health and rental balance. So for the sake of health all other activities were subordinated to work, while for the sake of the work which would make health possible, his physical condition was watched with endless care and anxiety.

In this connection we may return to a matter touched upon before—Darwin's loss of interest the arts. It was a matter of great concern to him, and he made much of it in the autobiography. The passage is worth quoting, if only to show what the man thought of himself, and how he analyzed his condition.

"Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it," runs the autobiography, "poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton, Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Shelley, gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare. … But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry; I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste