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626 to suspend labor entirely for varying intervals to recover his working condition. When he entered upon his philosophical undertaking in 1860—laying out twenty years of original work—his health was so insecure that many thought the project foolhardy, and that it would prove fatal to him. But, forced by painful experience to economize his energies, he has become an adept in the art of taking care of himself; so that, instead of breaking down, his condition has perhaps improved with the progress of his work. He would probably never have been able to write the volumes of his philosophy, but in 1859 he adopted the expedient of dictation to an amanuensis, and attributes his power of going on to the immense economy and advantages of this practice. He has latterly not been so well as usual, for, though turning off a large amount of work on "The Principles of Sociology," and also carrying along the "Descriptive Sociology," both of which works are well advanced, he has yet been interrupted by more prolonged intervals of inability to labor. He has, besides, had to spend a great deal-of his force in attention to business, which is not a very exhilarating occupation, as he has now sunk nearly $20,000 in the preparation and publication of his "Descriptive Sociology." He has, besides, had to maintain a burdensome correspondence, which growing at last intolerable, he has lately sought relief by lithographing the following form of a letter, which will explain itself: