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34 HERBERT SPENCER

not to think. Thought rode behind him when he
tried horseback exercise, and novels brought only
sleeplessness. He tried yachting and he tried fishing,
shower-baths and sea-bathing, playing with children
and sleeping in a haunted room, but the cure was slow j
music was almost the only thing he could enjoy with
impunity. It was when fishing one morning in Loch
Doon that he vented his first oath, at the age of
thirty-six, because his line was tangled, and became,
he tells us, more fully aware of the irritability pro-
duced by his nervous disorder !

As entire idleness seemed futile₃ and as two and a
half years had elapsed since he had made any money,
Spencer returned to London (1857)—to a home with
children—and began in a leisurely way to write more
essays. He composed the article on " Progress : its
Law and Cause " at the pathetically slow rate of about
half a page per day, and the effort proved beneficial. A
significant essay entitled, "TranscendentalPhysiology,"
dates from the same year, and during an angling holi-
day in Scotland he wrote another on the " Origin and
Function of Music." Starting from the fact that feel-
ing tends to discharge itself in muscular contractions,
including those of the vocal organs, he sought to
show that music is a development of the natural
language of the emotions.

Crystallisation of his Thought.*—Spencer settled down
in London in a home " with a lively circle," and
pursued his calling as a thinker with quiet resolution.
He had Sunday afternoon walks and talks with
Huxley, and he occasionally dined out to meet inter-
esting people such as Buckle and Grote 5 but the
tenor of his life was uninterrupted by much incident.



	34 HERBERT SPENCER not to think. Thought rode behind him when he tried horseback exercise, and novels brought only sleeplessness. He tried yachting and he tried fishing, shower-baths and sea-bathing, playing with children and sleeping in a haunted room, but the cure was slow j music was almost the only thing he could enjoy with impunity. It was when fishing one morning in Loch Doon that he vented his first oath, at the age of thirty-six, because his line was tangled, and became, he tells us, more fully aware of the irritability pro- duced by his nervous disorder ! As entire idleness seemed futile₃ and as two and a half years had elapsed since he had made any money, Spencer returned to London (1857)—to a home with children—and began in a leisurely way to write more essays. He composed the article on " Progress : its Law and Cause " at the pathetically slow rate of about half a page per day, and the effort proved beneficial. A significant essay entitled, "TranscendentalPhysiology," dates from the same year, and during an angling holi- day in Scotland he wrote another on the " Origin and Function of Music." Starting from the fact that feel- ing tends to discharge itself in muscular contractions, including those of the vocal organs, he sought to show that music is a development of the natural language of the emotions. Crystallisation of his Thought.*—Spencer settled down in London in a home " with a lively circle," and pursued his calling as a thinker with quiet resolution. He had Sunday afternoon walks and talks with Huxley, and he occasionally dined out to meet inter- esting people such as Buckle and Grote 5 but the tenor of his life was uninterrupted by much incident.