[52] This is in allusion to a minister of a small country parish in Scotland, who prayed that there might be at this time, on account of this parish, 'a very great commotion among the angels.' [53] Of Germany. [54] His brother was ill. [55] An old nurse. [56] Mr. Aubrey Moore reviewed _Mental Evolution in Man_ in the _Guardian_. [57] I have not been able to discover any answer to these. [58] _Nature_, vol. xvii. p. 168. [59] _Nature_, vol. xxxvi. p. 273. [60] _Nature_, vol. xxxii. p. 630. [61] C. Logan, Esq., W.S., who had married Mr. Romanes' cousin. [62] p.s.--physiological selection; s.s.--sexual selection; n.s.--natural selection. [63] Of Mr. Darwin. [64] Mr. F. Darwin had pointed out some erroneous conclusions in a projected scientific paper. [65] _Darwinism_, by Alfred Russell Wallace. [66] _Evolution and Religious Thought._ [67] _Fac. Ment. des Anim._ tom. ii. p. 207. CHAPTER IV OXFORD Life had run very smoothly during these years from 1879 to 1890, only now and then fits of gout had shaken the belief Mr. Romanes had hitherto felt in his own strength, in his possession of perfect health. But about the end of 1889 other signs of ill-health appeared in the shape of severe headaches; he began to weary of London and the distractions of London life. By degrees his thoughts and inclinations turned strongly in the direction of Oxford. Oxford seemed to satisfy every wish. The beautiful city gratified his poetic sense; there were old friends already there to welcome him, and there seemed abundance of appliances and of facilities for scientific work. Also the ease with which he could get into the country, the opportunities for constant exercise, the freedom he would obtain from councils and committees, were tempting. A beautiful old house opposite Christ Church was to be had, and this finally determined him. He fell absolutely in love with Oxford, and brief as his connection with her was to be, the University has had few more loyal sons, nor has she ever exercised more complete influence over any who have fallen under her sway. It is surprising, as one looks back on the Oxford years, to realise how short a time Mr. Romanes spent there, and yet it is impossible not to realise also for how much that time counted in his life. Many influences were working in him, a ripening judgment, a growth of character, a deepening sense of the inadequacy of scientific research, philosophical speculation, and artistic pleasures to fill 'the vacuum in the soul of man which nothing can fill save faith in God.'[68] And now Oxford, with all the beauty still left to her, with all the associations which haunt her, with all the extraordinary witching spell which she knows so well how to exercise--Oxford, the home of 'lost causes' and also of forward movements, Oxford came to be for four brief years his home.