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CHARLES DARWIN IN 1 88 1.

[From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott and Fry

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THI:

AND LE RS OF

CHARLES DARWIN

ng an Autobiographical Chapter

EDIT

WIN

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND C

18

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'8 THE

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LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHARLES DARWIN

Including an Autobiographical Chapter

EDITED BY HIS SON

FRANCIS DARWIN

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1896

\

Authorized Edition.

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — The Publication of the 'Origin of Species '—Oct. 3,

1859, to Dec. 31, 1859 1

II. — The 'Origin of Species' {continued) — 1860 . . -5*
III. — The Spread of Evolution — 1861-1862 .... 149
IV. — The Spread of Evolution. 'Variation of Animals •

and Plants'— 1863-1866 186

V. — The Publication of the 'Variation of Animais and
Plants under Domestication' — January 1867-JuNE

1868 242

VI. — Work on 'Man'— 1864-18 70 271

VII. — The Publication of the 'Descent of Man.' Work

on 'Expression' — 1871-1873 311

VIII. — Miscellanea, including Second Editions of 'Coral
Reefs/ the * Descent of Man,' and the 'Varia-
tions of Animals and Plants' — 1874 and 1875 . 359
IX. — Miscellanea (continued). A Revival of Geological
Work — The Book on Earthworms — Life of Eras-
mus Darwin — Miscellaneous Letters — 1876-1882 . 388

BOTANICAL LETTERS.

X.— Fertilisation of Flowers — 1839-1880 .... 429
XL — The 'Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilisation in

the Vegetable Kingdom ' — 1866-1877 . . . 463
XII. — 'Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same

Species' — 1860-1878 469

Jv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

XIII.— Climbing and Insectivorous Plants — 1863-1875 . . 484

XIV. — The * Power of Movement in Plants' — 1878-1881 . 502

XV.— Miscellaneous Botanical Letters— 1873-1882 . .511

XVI.— Conclusion 526

APPENDICES.

I.— The Funeral in Westminster Abbey . . . .531
II.— List of Works by C. Darwin . . . . . .533

III. — Portraits 542

IV. — Honours, Degrees, Societies, &c 544

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Charles Darwin in 1881. From a photograph by Messrs.

Elliott and Fry Frontispiece,

Facsimile of a page from a note-book of 1337. Photo-litho-
graphed by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Com-
pany Face p. 1

THE LIBRARY

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
PROVO, UTAH

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FROM A NOTE-BOOK OF 1837.

led to comprehend true affinities. My theor
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FROM A NOTE-BOOK OF 1837.

led to comprehend- true affinities. My theory would give
zest to recent & Fossil Comparative Anatomy : it would lead
to study of instincts, heredity, & mind heredity, whole meta-
physics, it would lead to closest examination of hybridity &
generation, causes of change in order to know what we have
come from & to what we tend, to what circumstances favour
crossing & what prevents it, this & direct examination of
direct passages of structure in species, might lead to laws of
change, which would then be main object of study, to guide
our speculations.

LIFE AND LETTERS

OF

CHARLES DARWIN

CHAPTER I.

The Publication of the ' Origin of Species.5
October 3, 1859, t0 December 31, 1859.

1859.

[Under the date of October 1st, 1859, in my father's
Diary occurs the entry : " Finished proofs (thirteen months
and ten days) of Abstract on ' Origin of Species'; 1250
copies printed. The first edition was published on Novem-
ber 24th, and all copies sold first day."

On October 2d he started for a water-cure establishment
at Ilkley, near Leeds, where he remained with his family
until December, and on the 9th of that month he was again
at Down. The only other entry in the Diary for this year
is as follows : " During end of November and beginning of
December, employed in correcting for second edition of 3000
copies; multitude of letters."

The first and a few of the subsequent letters refer to proof
sheets, and to early copies of the ' Origin ' which were sent
to friends before the book was published.]

2 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Lye 11 to C. Darwin*

October 3d, 1859.

My dear Darwin,— I have just finished your volume
and right glad I am that I did my best with Hooker to per-
suade you to publish it without waiting for a time which
probably could never have arrived, though you lived till the
age of a hundred, when you had prepared all your facts on
which you ground so many grand generalizations.

It is a splendid case of close reasoning, and long substan-
tial argument throughout so many pages ; the condensation
immense, too great perhaps for the uninitiated, but an effect-
ive and important preliminary statement, which will admit,
even before your detailed proofs appear, of some occasional
useful exemplification, such as your pigeons and cirripedes,
of which you make such excellent use.

I mean that, when, as I fully expect, a new edition is
soon called for, you may here and there insert an actual case
to relieve the vast number of abstract propositions. So far
as I am concerned, I am so well prepared to take your state-
ments of facts for granted, that I do not think the " pieces
justificatives " when published will make much difference,
and I have long seen most clearly that if any concession is
made, all that you claim in your concluding pages will follow.
It is this which has made me so long hesitate, always feeling
that the case of Man and his races, and of other animals, and
that of plants is one and the same, and that if a " vera
causa" be admitted for one, instead of a purely unknown
and imaginary one, such as the word " Creation," all the
consequences must follow.

I fear I have not time to-day, as I am just leaving this
place, to indulge in a variety of comments, and to say how
much I was delighted with Oceanic Islands — Rudimentary
Organs — Embryology — the genealogical key to the Natural

* Part of this letter is given in the \ Life of Sir Charles Lyell/ vol. iL
P- 325.

1859.] LYELL'S CONGRATULATIONS. 3

System, Geographical Distribution, and if I went on I should
be copying the heads of all your chapters. But I will say a
word of the Recapitulation, in case some slight alteration,
or, at least, omission of a word or two be still possible in that.

In the first place, at p. 480, it cannot surely be said that
the most eminent naturalists have rejected the view of the
mutability of species? You do not mean to ignore G. St.
Hilaire and Lamarck. As to the latter, you may say, that in
regard to animals you substitute natural selection for volition
to a certain considerable extent, but in his theory of the
changes of plants he could not introduce volition ; he may,
no doubt, have laid an undue comparative stress on changes
in physical conditions, and too little on those of contending
organisms. He at least was for the universal mutability of
species and for a genealogical link between the first and the
present. The men of his school also appealed to domesti-
cated varieties. (Do you mean living naturalists ?) *

The first page of this most important summary gives the
adversary an advantage, by putting forth so abruptly and
crudely such a startling objection as the formation of " the
eye," not by means analogous to man's reason, or rather
by some power immeasurably superior to human reason, but
by superinduced variation like those of which a cattle-breeder
avails himself. Pages would be required thus to state an
objection and remove it. It would be better, as you wish to
persuade, to say nothing. Leave out several sentences, and
in a future edition bring it out more fully. Between the
throwing down of such a stumbling-block in the way of the
reader, and the passage to the working ants, in p. 460, there
are pages required ; and these ants are a bathos to him be-
fore he has recovered from the shock of being called upon to
believe the eye to have been brought to perfection, from a
state of blindness or purblindness, by such variations as we
witness. I think a little omission would greatly lessen the

* In the published copies of the first edition, p. 480, the words are
" eminent living naturalists."

4 PUBLICATION OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

objectionableness of these sentences if you have not time to
recast and amplify.

.... But these are small matters, mere spots on the sun.
Your comparison of the letters retained in words, when no
longer wanted for the sound, to rudimentary organs is excel-
lent, as both are truly genealogical.

The want of peculiar birds in Madeira is a greater diffi-
culty than seemed to me allowed for. I could cite passages
where you show that variations are superinduced from the
new circumstances of new colonists, which would require
some Madeira birds, like those of the Galapagos, to be pe-
culiar. There has been ample time in the case of Madeira
and Porto Santo. . . .

You enclose your sheets in old MS., so the Post Office
very properly charge them as letters, 2d, extra. I wish all
their fines on MS. were worth as much. I paid 4s. 6d,
for such wash the other day from Paris, from a man who
can prove 300 deluges in the valley of Seine.

With my hearty congratulations to you on your grand
work, believe me,

Ever very affectionately yours,

Chas. Lyell.

C. Darwin to C, Lyell.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

October nth [1859].

My dear Lyell, — I thank you cordially for giving me so
much of your valuable time in writing me the long letter of
3d, and still longer of 4th. I wrote a line with the missing
proof-sheet to Scarborough. I have adopted most thankfully
all your minor corrections in the last chapter, and the greater
ones as far as I could with little trouble. I damped the
opening passage about the eye (in my bigger work I show
the gradations in structure of the eye) by putting merely
"complex organs." But you are a pretty Lord Chancellor to

1859.] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. 5

tell the barrister on one side how best to win the cause !
The omission of " living " before eminent naturalists was a
dreadful blunder.

Madeira and Bermuda Birds not peculiar. — You are right,
there is a screw out here; I thought no one would have
detected it ; I blundered in omitting a discussion, which I
have written out in full. But once for all, let me say as an
excuse, that it was most difficult to decide what to omit.
Birds, which have struggled in their own homes, when settled
in a body, nearly simultaneously in a new country, would not
be subject to much modification, for their mutual relations
would not be much disturbed. But I quite agree with you,
that in time they ought to undergo some. In Bermuda and
Madeira they have, as I believe, been kept constant by the
frequent arrival, and the crossing with unaltered immigrants
of the same species from the mainland. In Bermuda this
can be proved, in Madeira highly probable, as shown me by
letters from E. V. Harcburt. Moreover, there are ample
grounds for believing that the crossed offspring of the new
immigrants (fresh blood as breeders would say), and old
colonists of the same species would be extra vigorous, and
would be the most likely to survive ; thus the effects of such
crossing in keeping the old colonists unaltered would be much
aided.

On Galapagos productions having American type on view of
Creation. — I cannot agree with you, that species if created
to struggle with American forms, would have to be created on
the American type. Facts point diametrically the other way.
Look at the unbroken and untilled ground in La Plata,
covered with. European products, which have no near affinity
to the indigenous products. They are not American types
which conquer the aborigines. So in every island throughout
the world. Alph. De CandohVs results (though he does not
see its full importance), that thoroughly well naturalised
[plants] are in general very different from the aborigines
(belonging in large proportion of cases to non indigenous
genera) is most important always to bear in mind. Once for

6 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

all, I am sure, you will understand that I thus write dogmati-
cally for brevity sake.

On the continued Creation of Monads, — This doctrine is
superfluous (and groundless) on the theory of Natural Selec-
tion, which implies no necessary tendency to progression. A
monad, if no deviation in its structure profitable to it under
its excessively simple conditions of life occurred, might remain
unaltered from long before the Silurian Age to the present
day. I grant there will generally be a tendency to advance
in complexity of organisation, though in beings fitted for very
simple conditions it would be slight and slow. How could a
complex organisation profit a monad ? if it did not profit it
there would be no advance. The Secondary Infusoria differ
but little from the living. The parent monad form might
perfectly well survive unaltered and fitted for its simple con-
ditions, whilst the offspring of this very monad might become
fitted for more complex conditions. The one primordial
prototype of all living and extinct creatures may, it is possi-
ble, be now alive ! Moreover, as you say, higher forms might
be occasionally degraded, the snake Typhlops seems (? !) to
have the habits of earth-worms. So that fresh creatures of
simple forms seem to me wholly superfluous.

" Must you not assume a primeval creative power which does
not act with uniformity, or how could man supervene ? " — I am
not sure that I understand your remarks which follow the
above. We must under present knowledge assume the crea-
tion of one or of a few forms in the same manner as philo-
sophers assume the existence of a power of attraction without
any explanation. But I entirely reject, as in my judgment
quite unnecessary, any subsequent addition " of new powers
and attributes and forces ; " or of any " principle of improve-
ment/' except in so far as every character which is naturally
selected or preserved is in some way an advantage or improve-
ment, otherwise it would not have been selected. If I were
convinced that I required such additions to the theory of
natural selection, I would reject it as rubbish, but I have firm
faith in it, as I cannot believe, that if false, it would explain

1859.] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. 7

so many whole classes of facts, which, if I am in my senses, it
seems to explain. As far as I understand your remarks and
illustrations, you doubt the possibility of gradations of intel-
lectual powers. Now, it seems to me, looking to existing
animals alone, that we have a very fine gradation in the intel-
lectual powers of the Vertebrata, with one father wide gap (not
half so wide as in many cases of corporeal structure), between
say a Hottentot and an Ourang, even if civilised as much
mentally as the dog has been from the wolf. I suppose that
you do not doubt that the intellectual powers are as important
for the welfare of each being as corporeal structure ; if so, I
can see no difficulty in the most intellectual individuals of a
species being continually selected ; and the intellect of the
new species thus improved, aided probably by effects of
inherited mental exercise. I look at this process as now
going on with the races of man ; the less intellectual races
being exterminated. But there is not space to discuss this
point. If I understand you, the turning-point in our differ-
ence must be, that you think it impossible that the intellec-
tual powers of a species should be much improved by the
continued natural selection of the most intellectual individ-
uals. To show how minds graduate, just reflect how impos-
sible every one has yet found it, to define the difference in
mind of man and the lower animals ; the latter seem to have
the very same attributes in a much lower stage of perfection
than the lowest savage. I would give absolutely nothing for
the theory of Natural Selection, if it requires miraculous
additions at any one stage of descent. I think Embryology,
Homology, Classification, &c, &c, show us that all verte-
brata have descended from one parent ; how that parent
appeared we know not. If you admit in ever so little a
degree, the explanation which I have given of Embryology,
Homology and Classification, you will find it difficult to say :
thus far the explanation holds good, but no further ; here we
must call in " the addition of new creative forces.,, I think
you will be driven to reject all or admit all : I fear by your
letter it will be the former alternative ; and in that case I

8 PUBLICATION OF THE « ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859,

shall feel sure it is my fault, and not the theory's fault, and
this will certainly comfort me. With regard to the descent
of the great Kingdoms (as Vertebrata, Articulata, &c.) from
one parent, I have said in the conclusion, that mere analogy
makes me think it probable ; my arguments and facts are
sound in my judgment only for each separate kingdom.

Hie forms which are beaten inheriting some inferiority in
common. — I dare say I have not been guarded enough, but
might not the term inferiority include less perfect adapta-
tion to physical conditions ?

My remarks apply not to single species, but to groups or
genera ; the species of most genera are adapted at least to
rather hotter, and rather less hot, to rather damper and dryer
climates ; and when the several species of a group are beaten
and exterminated by the several species of another group, it
will not, I think, generally be from each new species being
adapted to the climate, but from all the new species having
some common advantage in obtaining sustenance, or escaping
enemies. As groups are concerned, a fairer illustration than
negro and white in Liberia would be the almost certain future
extinction of the genus ourang by the genus man, not owing
to man being better fitted for the climate, but owing to the
inherited intellectual inferiority of the Ourang-genus to Man-
genus, by his intellect, inventing fire-arms and cutting down
forests. I believe from reasons given in my discussion, that
acclimatisation is readily effected under nature. It has taken
me so many years to disabuse my mind of the too great impor-
tance of climate — its important influence being so conspicu-
ous, whilst that of a struggle between creature and creature
is so hidden — that I am inclined to swear at the North Pole,
and, as Sydney Smith said, even to speak disrespectfully of
the Equator. I beg you often to reflect (I have found noth-
ing so instructive) on the case of thousands of plants in the
middle point of their respective ranges, and which, as we
positively know, can perfectly well withstand a little more
heat and cold, a little more damp and dry, but which in
the metropolis of their range do not exist in vast numbers,

1859.] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. g

although if many of the other inhabitants were destroyed
[they] would cover the ground. We thus clearly see that
their numbers are kept down, in almost every case, not by
climate, but by the struggle with other organisms. All this
you will perhaps think very obvious ; but, until I repeated it
to myself thousands of times, I took, as I believe, a wholly
wrong view of the whole economy of nature. . . .

Hybridism. — I am so much pleased that you approve of
this chapter ; you would be astonished at the labor this cost
me ; so often was I, on what I believe was, the wrong scent.

Rudimentary Organs. — On the theory of Natural Selection
there is a wide distinction between Rudimentary Organs and
what you call germs of organs, and what I call in my bigger
book " nascent " organs. An organ should not be called
rudimentary unless it be useless — as teeth which never cut
through the gums — the papillae, representing the pistil in
male flowers, wing of Apteryx, or better, the little wings
under soldered elytra. These organs are now plainly useless,
and a fortiori, they would be useless in a less developed
state. Natural Selection acts exclusively by preserving
successive slight, //^////modifications. Hence Natural Selec-
tion cannot possibly make a useless or rudimentary organ.
Such organs are solely due to inheritance (as explained in
my discussion), and plainly bespeak an ancestor having the
organ in a useful condition. They may be, and often have
been, worked in for other purposes, and then they are only
rudimentary for the original function, which is sometimes
plainly apparent. A nascent organ, though little developed,
as it has to be developed must be useful in every stage of
development. As we cannot prophesy, we cannot tell what
organs are now nascent ; and nascent organs will rarely have
been handed down by certain members of a class from a re-
mote period to the present day, for beings with any im-
portant organ but little developed, will generally have
been supplanted by their descendants with the organ well
developed. The mammary glands in Ornithorhynchus may,
perhaps, be considered as nascent compared with the udders

IO PUBLICATION OF THE * ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

of a cow — Ovigerous frena, in certain cirripedes, are nascent
branchiae — in [illegible] the swim bladder is almost rudi-
mentary for this purpose, and is nascent as a lung. The
small wing of penguin, used only as a fin, might be nascent
as a wing ; not that I think so ; for the whole structure of
the bird is adapted for flight, and a penguin so closely re-
sembles other birds, that we may infer that its wings have prob-
ably been modified, and reduced by natural selection, in ac-
cordance with its sub-aquatic habits. Analogy thus often
serves as a guide in distinguishing whether an organ is rudi-
mentary or nascent. I believe the Os coccyx gives attachment
to certain muscles, but I can not doubt that it is a rudiment-
ary tail. The bastard wing of birds is a rudimentary digit ; and
I believe that if fossil birds are found very low down in the
series, they will be seen to have a double or bifurcated wing.
Here is a bold prophecy !

To admit prophetic germs, is tantamount to rejecting the
theory of Natural Selection.

I am very glad you think it worth while to run through
my book again, as much, or more, for the subject's sake as
for my own sake. But I look at your keeping the subject
for some little time before your mind — raising your own diffi-
culties and solving them — as far more important than reading
my book. If you think enough, I expect you will be per-
verted, and if you ever are, I shall know that the theory of
Natural Selection is, in the main, safe ; that it includes, as
now put forth, many errors, is almost certain, though I can-
not see them. Do not, of course, think of answering this ;
but if you have other occasion to write again, just say whether
I have, in ever so slight a degree, shaken any of your objec-
tions. Farewell With my cordial thanks for your long let-
ters and valuable remarks,

Believe me, yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

P. S.— You often allude to Lamarck's work ; I do not know
what you think about it, but it appeared to me extremely
poor ; I got not a fact or idea from it.

1859.J AGASSIZ— DE CANDOLLE. II

C. Darwin to L. Agassiz*

Down, November nth [1859].

My dear Sir,— I have ventured to send you a copy of
my book (as yet only an abstract) on the ' Origin of Species/
As the conclusions at which I have arrived on several points
differ so widely from yours, I have thought (should you at
any time read my volume) that you might think that I had
sent it to you out of a spirit of defiance or bravado ; but I
assure you that I act under a wholly different frame of mind.
I hope that you will at least give me credit, however errone-
ous you may think my conclusions, for having earnestly
endeavoured to arrive at the truth. With sincere respect, I

beg leave to remain,

Yours, very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to A, De Candolle.

Down, November nth [1859].
Dear Sir, — I have thought that you would permit me to
send you (by Messrs. Williams and Norgate, booksellers)
a copy of my work (as yet only an abstract) on the ' Origin of
Species/ I wish to do this, as the only, though quite inade-
quate manner, by which I can testify to you the extreme

* Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, born at Mortier, on the lake of Morat
in Switzerland, on May 28, 1807. He emigrated to America in 1846,
where he spent the rest of his life, and died Dec. 14, 1873. His ' Life,'
written by his widow, was published in 1885. The following extract
from a letter to Agassiz (1850) is worth giving, as showing how my father
regarded him, and it may be added that his cordial feelings towards the
great American naturalist remained strong to the end of his life : —

" I have seldom been more deeply gratified than by receiving your
most kind present of * Lake Superior.' I had heard of it, and had much
wished to read it, but I confess that it was the very great honour of having
in my possession a work with your autograph as a presentation copy that
has given me such lively and sincere pleasure. I cordially thank you for
it. I have begun to read it with uncommon interest, which I see will in-
crease as I go on."

33

I2 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

interest which I have felt, and the great advantage which I
have derived, from studying your grand and noble work on
Geographical Distribution. Should you be induced to read
my volume, I venture to remark that it will be intelligible
only by reading the whole straight through, as it is very much
condensed. It would be a high gratification to me if any
portion interested you. But I am perfectly well aware that
you will entirely disagree with the conclusion at which I
have arrived.

You will probably have quite forgotten me ; but many
years ago you did me the honour of dining at my house in
London to meet M. and Madame Sismondi,* the uncle and
aunt of my wife. With sincere respect, I beg to remain,

Yours, very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to Hugh Falconer.

Down, November nth [1859].
My dear Falconer, — I have told Murray to send you a
copy of my book on the i Origin of Species,' which as yet
is only an abstract.

If you read it, you must read it straight through, other-
wise from its extremely condensed state it will be unin-
telligible.

Lord, how savage you will be, if you read it, and how
you will long to crucify me alive ! I fear it will produce no
other effect on you ; but if it should stagger you in ever so
slight a degree, in this case, I am fully convinced that you
will become, year after year, less fixed in your belief in the
immutability of species. With this audacious and presump-
tuous conviction,

I remain, my dear Falconer,
Yours most truly,

Charles Darwin.

* Jessie Allen, sister of Mrs Josiah Wedgwood of Maer.

1859-] GRAY— HENSLOW. 1 3

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, November nth [1859].

My dear Gray, — I have directed a copy of my book (as
yet only an abstract) on the i Origin of Species ' to be sent
you. I know how you are pressed for time ; but if you can
read it, I shall be infinitely gratified .... If ever you do
read it, and can screw out time to send me (as I value your
opinion so highly), however short a note, telling me what you
think its weakest and best parts, I should be extremely grate-
ful. As you are not a geologist, you will excuse my conceit
in telling you that Lyell highly approves of the two Geologi-
cal chapters, and thinks that on the Imperfection of the Geo-
logical Record not exaggerated. He is nearly a convert to
my views. . . .

Let me add I fully admit that there are very many diffi-
culties not satisfactorily explained by my theory of descent
with modification, but I cannot possibly believe that a false
theory would explain so many classes of facts as I think it
certainly does explain. On these grounds I drop my anchor,
and believe that the difficulties will slowly disappear. . . .

C. Darwin to J. S. Henslow.

Down, November nth, 1859.

My dear Henslow, — I have told Murray to send a copy
of my book on Species to you, my dear old master in Natural
History ; I fear, however, that you will not approve of your
pupil in this case. The book in its present state does not
show the amount of labour which I have bestowed on the
subject.

If you have time to read it carefully, and would take the
trouble to point out what parts seem weakest to you and
what best, it would be a most material aid to me in writing
my bigger book, which I hope to commence in a few months.
You know also how highly I value your judgment. But I
am not so unreasonable as to wish or expect you to write

I4 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

detailed and lengthy criticisms, but merely a few general
remarks, pointing out the weakest parts.

If you are in even so slight a degree staggered (which I
hardly expect) on the immutability of species, then I am
convinced with further reflection you will become more and
more staggered, for this has been the process through which
my mind has gone. My dear Henslow,

Yours affectionately and gratefully,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to John Lubbock*

Ilkley, Yorkshire,
Saturday [November 12th, 1859].

. . . Thank you much for asking me to Brighton. I hope
much that you will enjoy your holiday. I have told Murray
to send a copy for you to Mansion House Street, and I am
surprised that you have not received it. There are so many
valid and weighty arguments against my notions, that you,
or any one, if you wish on the other side, will easily persuade
yourself that I am wholly in error, and no doubt I am in part
in error, perhaps wholly so, though I cannot see the blindness
of my ways, I dare say when thunder and lightning were
first proved to be due to secondary causes, some regretted to
give up the idea that each flash was caused by the direct
hand of God.

Farewell, I am feeling very unwell to-day, so no more.

Yours very truly,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to John Lubbock.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,
Tuesday [November 15th, 1859].

My dear Lubbock, — I beg pardon for troubling you
again. I do not know how I blundered in expressing myself
in making you believe that we accepted your kind invitation

* The present Sir John Lubbock.

I859-] LUBBOCK— JENYNS. 1 5

to Brighton. I meant merely to thank you sincerely for wish-
ing to see such a worn-out old dog as myself. I hardly
know when we leave this place, — not under a fortnight, and
then we shall wish to rest under our own roof-tree.

I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than
Paley's • Natural Theology/ I could almost formerly have
said it by heart.

I am glad you have got my book, but I fear that you value
it far too highly. I should be grateful for any criticisms. I
care not for Reviews ; but for the opinion of men like you
and Hooker and Huxley and Lyell, &c.

Farewell, with our joint thanks to Mrs. Lubbock and
yourself. Adios.

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Z. Jenyns*

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

November 13th, 1859.

My dear Jenyns, — I must thank you for your very kind
note forwarded to me from Down. I have been much out
of health this summer, and have been hydropathising here for
the last six weeks with very little good as yet. I shall stay
here for another fortnight at least. Please remember that my
book is only an abstract, and very much condensed, and, to
be at all intelligible, must be carefully read. I shall be very
grateful for any criticisms. But I know perfectly well that
you will not at all agree with the lengths which I go. It took
long years to convert me. I may, of course, be egregiously
wrong ; but I cannot persuade myself that a theory which
explains (as I think it certainly does) several large classes
of facts, can be wholly wrong ; notwithstanding the several
difficulties which have to be surmounted somehow, and which
stagger me even to this day.

I wish that my health had allowed me to publish in

* Now Rev. L. Blomefield.

iC PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

extenso ; if ever I get strong enough I will do so, as the
greater part is written out, and of which MS. the present
volume is an abstract.

I fear this note will be almost illegible ; but I am poorly,
and can hardly sit up. Farewell ; with thanks for your kind
note and pleasant remembrance of good old days.

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Ilkley, November 13th, 1859.

My dear Sir, — I have told Murray to send you by post
(if possible) a copy of my book, and I hope that you will
receive it at nearly the same time with this note. (N.B. I
have got a bad finger, which makes me write extra badly.)
If you are so inclined, I should very much like to hear your
general impression of the book, as you have thought so pro-
foundly on the subject, and in so nearly the same channel
with myself. I hope there will be some little new to you, but
I fear not much. Remember it is only an abstract, and very
much condensed. God knows what the public will think. No
one has read it, except Lyell, with whom I have had much
correspondence. Hooker thinks him a complete convert, but
he does not seem so in his letters to me ; but is evidently
deeply interested in the subject. I do not think your share
in the theory will be overlooked by the real judges, as Hooker,
Lyell, Asa Gray, &c. I have heard from Mr. Slater that your
paper on the Malay Archipelago has been read at the Linnean
Society, and that he was extremely much interested by it.

I have not seen one naturalist for six or nine months,
owing to the state of my health, and therefore I really have
no hews to tell you. I am writing this at Ilkley Wells, where I
have been with my family for the last six weeks, and shall
stay for some few weeks longer. As yet I have profited very
little. God knows when I shall have strength for my bigger
book.

I sincerely hope that you keep your health ; I suppose

I859-] FOX.— CARPENTER. 1 7

that you will be thinking of returning * soon with your mag-
nificent collections, and still grander mental materials. You
will be puzzled how to publish. The Royal Society fund will
be worth your consideration. With every good wish, pray
believe me, Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

P. S. I think that I told you before that Hooker is a com-
plete convert. If I can convert Huxley I shall be content.

C. Darwin to W. D. Fox.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,
Wednesday [November 16th, 1859].

I like the place very much, and the children

have enjoyed it much, and it has done my wife good. It
did H. good at first, but she has gone back again. I have
had a series of calamities ; first a sprained ankle, and then a
badly swollen whole leg and face, much rash, and a frightful
succession of boils — four or five at once. I have felt quite
ill, and have little faith in this " unique crisis/' as the doctor

calls it, doing me much good You will probably

have received, or will very soon receive, my weariful book on
species. I naturally believe it mainly includes the truth, but
you will not at all agree with me. Dr. Hooker, whom I con-
sider one of the best judges in Europe, is a complete con-
vert, and he thinks Lyell is likewise ; certainly, judging from
LyelFs letters to me on the subject, he is deeply staggered.
Farewell. If the spirit moves you, let me have a line. . . .

C. Darwin to W, B. Carpenter.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

November 18th [1859].

My dear Carpenter, — I must thank you for your letter
on my own account, and if I know myself, still more warmly
for the subject's sake. As you seem to have understood my

* Mr. Wallace was in the Malay Archipelago.

!8 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

last chapter without reading the previous chapters, you must
have maturely and most profoundly self-thought out the sub-
ject ; for I have found the most extraordinary difficulty in
making even able men understand at what I was driving.
There will be strong opposition to my views. If I am in the
main right (of course including partial errors unseen by me),
the admission in my views will depend far more on men, like
yourself, with well-established reputations, than on my own
writings. Therefore, on the supposition that when you have
read my volume you think the view in the main true, I thank
and honour you for being willing to run the chance of un-
popularity by advocating the view. I know not in the least
whether any one will review me in any of the Reviews. I do
not see how an author could enquire or interfere ; but if you
are willing to review me anywhere, I am sure from the admi-
ration which I have long felt and expressed for your i Com-
parative Physiology/ that your review will be excellently
done, and will do good service in the cause for which I think
I am not selfishly deeply interested. I am feeling very unwell
to-day, and this note is badly, perhaps hardly intelligibly,
expressed ; but you must excuse me, for I could not let a
post pass, without thanking you for your note. You will have
a tough job even to shake in the slightest degree Sir H. Hol-
land. I do not think (privately I say it) that the great man
has knowledge enough to enter on the subject. Pray believe
me with sincerity, Yours truly obliged,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — As you are not a practical geologist, let me add
that Lyeli thinks the chapter on the Imperfection of the
Geological Record not exaggerated.

C. Darwin to W. B. Carpenter.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

November 19th [1859].

My dear Carpenter, — -I beg pardon for troubling you
again. If, after reading my book, you are able to come to a

1859.I OPINIONS AND REVIEWS. ig

conclusion in any degree definite, will you think me very un-
reasonable in asking you to let me hear from you. I do not
ask for a long discussion, but merely for a brief idea of your
general impression. From your widely extended knowledge,
habit of investigating the truth, and abilities, I should value
your opinion in the very highest rank. Though I, of course,
believe in the truth of my own doctrine, I suspect that no
belief is vivid until shared by others. As yet I know only
one believer, but I look at him as of the greatest authority,
viz., Hooker. When I think of the many cases of men who
have studied one subject for years, anji have persuaded them-
selves of the truth of the foolishest doctrines, I feel sometimes
a little frightened, whether I may not be one of these mono-
maniacs.

Again pray excuse this, I fear, unreasonable request. A
short note would suffice, and I could bear a hostile verdict,
and shall have to bear many a one.

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. £>. Hooker.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

Sunday [November, 1859].

My dear Hooker, — I have just read a review on my
book in the Athenceutn* and it excites my curiosity much
who is the author. If you should hear who writes in the
Athenceum I wish you would tell me. It seems to me well
done, but the reviewer gives no new objections, and, being
hostile, passes over every single argument in favour of the
doctrine, ... I fear from the tone of the review, that I have
written in a conceited and cocksure style,f which shames
me a little. There is another review of which I should like
to know the author, viz., of H. C. Watson in the Gardener's

* Nov. 19, 1859.

\ The Reviewer speaks of the author's " evident self-satisfaction," and
of his disposing of all difficulties M more or less confidently."

20 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

Chronicle. Some of the remarks are like yours, and he does
deserve punishment ; but surely the review is too severe.
Don't you think so ?

I hope you got the three copies for Foreign Botanists in
time for your parcel, and your own copy. I have heafd from
Carpenter, who, I think, is likely to be a convert. Also from
Quatrefages, who is inclined to go a long way with us. He
says that he exhibited in his lecture a diagram closely like
mine !

I shall stay here one fortnight more, and then go to Down,
staying on the road at Shrewsbury a week. I have been very
unfortunate : out of seven weeks I have been confined for
five to the house. This has been bad for me, as I have not
been able to help thinking to a foolish extent about my book.
If some four or five good men came round nearly to our view,
I shall not fear ultimate success. I long to learn what Hux-
ley thinks. Is your introduction * published ? I suppose
that you will sell it separately. Please answer this, for I
want an extra copy to send away to Wallace. I am very
bothersome, farewell.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

I was very glad to see the Royal Medal for Mr. Bentham.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, December 21st, 1859.

My dear Hooker, — Pray give my thanks to Mrs. Hooker
for her extremely kind note, which has pleased me much.
We are very sorry she cannot come here, but shall be delighted
to see you and W. (our boys will be at home) here in the
2nd week of January, or any other time. I shall much enjoy
discussing any points in my book with you. . . .

I hate to hear you abuse your own work. I, on the con-

* Introduction to the ' Flora of Australia/

I859-] H- c- WATSON. 21

trary, so sincerely value all that you have written. It is an
old and firm conviction of mine, that the Naturalists who
accumulate facts and make many partial generalisations are
the real benefactors of science. Those who merely accumu-
late facts I cannot very much respect.

I had hoped to have come up for the Club to-morrow, but
very much doubt whether I shall be able. Ilkley seems to
have done me no essential good. I attended the Bench on
Monday, and was detained in adjudicating some troublesome
cases i J hours longer than usual, and came home utterly
knocked up, and cannot rally. I am not worth an old but-
ton Many thanks for your pleasant note.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — I feel confident that for the future progress of the
subject of the origin and manner of formation of species, the
assent and arguments and facts of working naturalists, like
yourself, are far more important than my own book ; so for
God's sake do not abuse your Introduction.

H. C. Watson to C. Darwin.

Thames Ditton,* November 21st [1859].

My dear Sir, — Once commenced to read the ' Origin,'
I could not rest till I had galloped through the whole. I shall
now begin to re-read it more deliberately. Meantime I am
tempted to write you the first impressions, not doubting that
they will, in the main, be the permanent impressions : —

1st. Your leading idea will assuredly become recognised as
an established truth in science, i e. u Natural Selection. " It
has the characteristics of all great natural truths, clarifying
what was obscure, simplifying what was intricate, adding
greatly to previous knowledge. You are the greatest revo-
lutionist in natural history of this century, if not of all cen-
turies.

2nd. You will perhaps need, in some degree, to limit or

22 PUBLICATION OF THE * ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

modify, possibly in some degree also to extend, your present
applications of the principle of natural selection. Without
going to matters of more detail, it strikes me that there is
one considerable primary inconsistency, by one failure in the
analogy between varieties and species ; another by a sort of
barrier assumed for nature on insufficient grounds and arising
from " divergence." These may, however, be faults in my
own mind, attributable to yet incomplete perception of your
views. And I had better not trouble you about them before
again reading the volume.

3rd. Now these novel views are brought fairly before the
scientific public, it seems truly remarkable how so many of
them could have failed to see their right road sooner. How
could Sir C. Lyell, for instance, for thirty years read, write,
and think, on the subject of species and their succession, and
yet constantly look down the wrong road !

A quarter of a century ago, you and I must have been in
something like the same state of mind on the main question,
But you were able to see and work out the quo modo of the
succession, the all-important thing, while I failed to grasp it.
I send by this post a little controversial pamphlet of old
date — Combe and Scott. If you will take the trouble to
glance at the passages scored on the margin, you will see
that, a quarter of a century ago, I was also one of the few
who then doubted the absolute distinctness of species, and
special creations of them. Yet I, like the rest, failed to detect
the quo modo which was reserved for your penetration to dis-
cover, and your discernment to apply.

You answered my query about the hiatus between Satyrus
and Homo as was expected. The obvious explanation really
never occurred to me till some months after I had read the
papers in the ' Linnean Proceedings.' The first species of
Fere-homo * would soon make direct and exterminating war
upon his Infra-homo cousins. The gap would thus be made,
and then go on increasing, into the present enormous and

* " Almost-man."

1859.] THE 'ATHEN.EUM.' 23

still widening hiatus. But how greatly this, with your chro-
nology of animal life, will shock the ideas of many men !

Very sincerely,

Hewett C. Watson.

/. D. Hooker to C. Darwin.

Athenaeum, Monday [Nov. 21st, 1859].

My dear Darwin, — I am a sinner not to have written
you ere this, if only to thank you for your glorious book —
what a mass of close reasoning on curious facts and fresh
phenomena — it is capitally written, and will be very success-
ful. I say this on the strength of two or three plunges into
as many chapters, for I have not yet attempted to read it.
Lyell, with whom we are staying, is perfectly enchanted, and
is absolutely gloating over it. I must accept your compli-
ment to me, and acknowledgment of supposed assistance
from me, as the warm tribute of affection from an honest
(though deluded) man, and furthermore accept it as very
pleasing to my vanity ; but, my dear fellow, neither my name
nor my judgment nor my assistance deserved any such com-
pliments, and if I am dishonest enough to be pleased with
what I don't deserve, it must just pass. How different the
book reads from the MS. I see I shall have much to talk
over with you. Those lazy printers have not finished my
luckless Essay ; which, beside your book, will look like a
ragged handkerchief beside a Royal Standard. . . .
All well, ever yours affectionately,

Jos. D. Hooker.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Ilkley, Yorkshire [November, 1859].

My dear Hooker, — I cannot help it, I must thank you
for your affectionate and most kind note. My head will be
turned. By Jove, I must try and get a bit modest. I was a

24 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

little chagrined by the review.* I hope it was not . As

advocate, he might think himself justified in giving the argu-
ment only on one side. But the manner in which he drags
in immortality, and sets the priests at me, and leaves me to
their mercies, is base. He would, on no account, burn me,
but he will get the wood ready, and tell the black beasts how
to catch me. ... It would be unspeakably grand if Huxley
were to lecture on the subject, but I can see this is a mere
chance ; Faraday might think it too unorthodox.

... I had a letter from [Huxley] with such tremendous
praise of my book, that modesty (as I am trying to cultivate
that difficult herb) prevents me sending it to you, which I
should have liked to have done, as he is very modest about
himself.

You have cockered me up to that extent, that I now feel I
can face a score of savage reviewers. I suppose you are still
with the Lyells. Give my kindest remembrance to them. I
triumph to hear that he continues to approve.

Believe me, your would-be modest friend,

C. D.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley Wells, Yorkshire,

November 23 [1859].

My dear Lyell, — You seemed to have worked admira-
bly on the species question; there could not have been a
better plan than reading up on the opposite side. I rejoice
profoundly that you intend admitting the doctrine of modifi-
cation in your new edition ; f nothing, I am convinced, could
be more important for its success. I honour you most sin-
cerely. To have maintained in the position of a master, one

* This refers to the review in the Athenceum^ Nov. 19, 1859, where
the reviewer, after touching on the theological aspects of the book, leaves
the author to " the mercies of the Divinity Hall, the College, the Lecture
Room, and the Museum."

f It appears from Sir Charles Lyell's published letters that he intended
to admit the doctrine of evolution in a new edition of the \ Manual,' but

1859.] c- LYELL. 25

side of a question for thirty years, and then deliberately give
it up, is a fact to which I much doubt whether the records of
science offer a parallel. For myself, also, I rejoice pro-
foundly ; for, thinking of so many cases of men pursuing an
illusion for years, often and often a cold shudder has run
through me, and I have asked myself whether I may not have
devoted my life to a phantasy. Now I look at it as morally
impossible that investigators of truth, like you and Hooker,
can be wholly wrong, and therefore I rest in peace. Thank
you for criticisms, which, if there be a second edition, I will
attend to. I have been thinking that if I am much execrated
as an atheist, &c, whether the admission of the doctrine of
natural selection could injure your works ; but I hope and
think not, for as far as I can remember, the virulence of
bigotry is expended on the first offender, and those who
adopt his views are only pitied as deluded, by the wise and
cheerful bigots.

I cannot help thinking that you overrate the importance of
the multiple origin of dogs. The only difference is, that in the
case of single origins, all difference of the races has origi-
nated since man domesticated the species. In the case of
multiple origins part of the difference was produced under
natural conditions. I should infinitely prefer the theory of
single origin in all cases, if facts would permit its reception.
But there seems to me some a priori improbability (seeing
how fond savages are of taming animals), that throughout all
times, and throughout all the world, that man should have
domesticated one single species alone, of the widely distrib-
uted genus Canis. Besides this, the close resemblance of
at least three kinds of American domestic dogs to wild spe-
cies still inhabiting the countries where they are now domes-
ticated, seem to almost compel admission that more than one
wild Canis has been domesticated by man.

this was not published till 1865. He was, however, at work on the 'An-
tiquity of Man ' in i860, and had already determined to discuss the ' Ori-
gin ' at the end of the book.

26 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

I thank you cordially for all the generous zeal and interest
you have shown about my book, and I remain, my dear Lyell,
Your affectionate friend and disciple,

Charles Darwin.

Sir J. Herschel, to whom I sent a copy, is going to read
my book. He says he leans to the side opposed to me. If
you should meet him after he has read me, pray find out what
he thinks, for, of course, he will not write ; and I should ex-
cessively like to hear whether I produce any effect on such a
mind.

T. H. Huxley to C. Darwin.

Jermyn Street, W.,
November 23rd, 1859.

My dear Darwin, — I finished your book yesterday, a
lucky examination having furnished me with a few hours of
continuous leisure.

Since I read Von Bar's * essays, nine years ago, no work
on Natural History Science I have met with has made so
great an impression upon me, and I do most heartily thank
you for the great store of new views you have given me.
Nothing, I think, can be better than the tone of the book, it
impresses those who know nothing about the subject. As for
your doctrine, I am prepared to go to the stake, if requisite,
in support of Chapter IX., and most parts of Chapters X.,
XL, XII., and Chapter XIII. contains much that is most
admirable, but on one or two points I enter a caveat until I
can see further into all sides of the question.

As to the first four chapters, I agree thoroughly and fully
with all the principles laid down in them. I think you have
demonstrated a true cause for the production of species, and
have thrown the onus probandi that species did not arise in
the way you suppose, on your adversaries.

* Karl Ernst von Baer, b. 1792, d. at Dorpat 1876 — one of the most
distinguished biologists of the century. He practically founded the mod-
ern science of embryology.

I859-] MR. HUXLEY'S ADHERENCE. 2J

But J feel that I have not yet by any means fully realized
the bearings of those most remarkable and original Chapters
III., IV. and V., and I will write no more about them just
now.

The only objections that have occurred to me are, ist that
you have loaded yourself with an unnecessary difficulty in
adopting Natura non facit saltum so unreservedly. . . . And
2nd, it is not clear to me why, if continual physical conditions
are of so little moment as you suppose, variation should occur
at all.

However, I must read the book two or three times more
before I presume to begin picking holes.

I trust you will not' allow yourself to be in any way dis-
gusted or annoyed by the considerable abuse and misrepre-
sentation which, unless I greatly mistake, is in store for you.
Depend upon it you have earned the lasting gratitude of all
thoughtful men. And as to the curs which will bark and
yelp, you must recollect that some of your friends, at any
rate, are endowed with an amount of combativeness which
(though you have often and justly rebuked it) may stand you
in good stead.

I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness.

Looking back over my letter, it really expresses so feebly
all I think about you and your noble book that I am half
ashamed of it; but you will understand that, like the parrot
in the story, " I think the more."

Ever yours faithfully,

T. H. Huxley.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley,

Ilkley, Nov. 25th [1859].
My dear Huxley, — Your letter has been forwarded to
me from Down. Like a good Catholic who has received
extreme unction, I can now sing " nunc dimittis." I should
have been more than contented with one quarter of what you
have said. Exactly fifteen months ago, when I put pen to
39

28 PUBLICATION OF THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

paper for this volume, I had awful misgivings ; and thought
perhaps I had deluded myself, like so many have done, and
I then fixed in my mind three judges, on whose decision I
determined mentally to abide. The judges were Lyell,
Hooker, and yourself. It was this which made me so exces-
sively anxious for your verdict. I am now contented, and
can sing my nunc dimittis. What a joke it would be if I
pat you on the back when you attack some immovable crea-
tionist ! You have most cleverly hit on one point, which has
greatly troubled me ; if, as I must think, external conditions
produce little direct effect, what the devil determines each
particular variation ? What makes a tuft of feathers come
on a cock's head, or moss on a moss-rose ? I shall much like
to talk over this with you. . . .

My dear Huxley, I thank you cordially for your letter.

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — Hereafter I shall be particularly curious to hear
what you think of my explanation of Embryological similar-
ity. On classification I fear we shall split. Did you per-
ceive the argumentum ad hominem Huxley about kangaroo
and bear ?

Erasmus Darwin * to C. Darwin.

November 23rd [1859].
Dear Charles, — I am so much weaker in the head, that
I hardly know if I can write, but at all events I will jot
down a few things that the Dr. f has said. He has not read
much above half, so as he says he can give no definite con-
clusion, and it is my private belief he wishes to remain in
that state. . . . He is evidently in a dreadful state of inde-
cision, and keeps stating that he is not tied down to either
view, and that he has always left an escape by the way he
has spoken of varieties. I happened to speak of the eye be-

* His brother. f Dr., afterwards Sir Henry Holland.

1859.J NEW EDITION. 29

fore he had read that part, and it took away his breath —
utterly impossible — structure — -function, &c, &c, &c., but
when he had read it he hummed and hawed, and perhaps it
was partly conceivable, and then he fell back on the bones
of the ear, which were beyond all probability or conceivabil-
ity. He mentioned a slight blot, which I also observed, that
in speaking of the slave-ants carrying one another, you
change the species without giving notice first, and it makes
one turn back. . . .

. . . For myself I really think it is the most interesting
book I ever read, and can only compare it to the first
knowledge of chemistry, getting into a new world or rather
behind the scenes. To me the geographical distribution, I
mean the relation of islands to continents, is the most con-
vincing of the proofs, and the relation of the oldest forms to
the existing species-. I dare say I don't feel enough the
absence of varieties, but then I don't in the least know if
everything now living were fossilized whether the paleontolo-
gists could distinguish them. In fact the a priori reasoning
is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won't fit in,
why so much the worse for the facts is my feeling. My
ague has left me in such a state of torpidity that I wish I
had gone through the process of natural selection.

Yours affectionately,

E. A. D.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley, November [24th, 1859].

My dear Lyell, — Again I have to thank you for a most
valuable lot of criticisms in a letter dated 22nd.

This morning I heard also from Murray that he sold the
whole edition * the first day to the trade. He wants a new
edition instantly, and this utterly confounds me. Now, under
water-cure, with all nervous power directed to the skin, I

* First edition, 1250 copies.

3o PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [1859.

cannot possibly do head-work, and I must make only actually
necessary corrections. But I will, as far as I can without
my manuscript, take advantage of your suggestions : I must
not attempt much. Will you send me one line to say whether
I must strike out about the secondary whale,* it goes to my
heart. About the rattle-snake, look to my Journal, under
Trigonocephalus, and you will see the probable origin of the
rattle, and generally in transitions it is the premier pas qui
coute.

Madame Belloc wants to translate my book into French ;
I have offered to look over proofs for scientific errors. Did
you ever hear of her ? I believe Murray has agreed at my
urgent advice, but I fear I have been rash and premature.
Quatrefages has written to me, saying he agrees largely with
my views. He is an excellent naturalist. I am pressed for
time. Will you give us one line about the whales ? Again
I thank you for never-tiring advice and assistance ; I do in
truth reverence your unselfish and pure love of truth.

My dear Lyell, ever yours,

C. Darwin.

[With regard to a French translation, he wrote to Mr.
Murray in Nov. 1859 : "I am extremely anxious, for the
subject's sake (and God knows not for mere fame), to have
my book translated ; and indirectly its being known abroad
will do good to the English sale. If it depended on me, I
should agree without payment, and instantly send a copy,
and only beg that she [Mme. Belloc] would get some scien-
tific man to look over the translation. . . . You might say
that, though I am a very poor French scholar, I could detect
any scientific mistake, and would read over the French
proofs."

The proposed translation was not made, and a second
plan fell through in the following year. He wrote to M. de
Quatrefages : " The gentleman who wished to translate my

* The passage was omitted in the second edition.

I859-] GERMAN EDITION. 3 1

' Origin of Species ' has failed in getting a publisher.
Balliere, Masson, and Hachette all rejected it with con-
tempt. It was foolish and presumptuous in me, hoping to
appear in a French dress ; but the idea would not have en-
tered my head had it not been suggested to me. It is a
great loss. I must console myself with the German edition
which Prof. Bronn is bringing out." *

A sentence in another letter to M. de Quatrefages shows
how anxious he was to convert one of the greatest of con-
temporary Zoologists : " How I should like to know whether
Milne Edwards had read the copy which I sent him, and
whether he thinks I have made a pretty good case on our
side of the question. There is no naturalist in the world for
whose opinion I have so profound a respect. Of course I
am not so silly as to expect to change his opinion. "]

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley, [November 26th, 1859].

My dear Lyell, — I have received your letter of the
24th. It is no use trying to thank you ; your kindness is
beyond thanks. I will certainly leave out the whale and
bear . . .

The edition was 1250 copies. When I was in spirits, I
sometimes fancied that my book would be successful, but I
never even built a castle in the air of such success as it has
met with ; I do not mean the sale, but the impression it has
made on you (whom I have always looked at as chief judge)
and Hooker and Huxley. The whole has infinitely exceed •
ed my wildest hopes.

Farewell, I am tired, for I have been going over the
sheets.

My kind friend, farewell, yours,

C. Darwin.

* See letters to Bronn, p. 70.

32 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

December 2nd [1859].

My dear Lyell, — Every note which you have sent me
has interested me much. Pray thank Lady Lyell for her
remark. In the chapters she refers to, I was unable to mod-
ify the passage in accordance with your suggestion ; but in
the final chapter I have modified three or four. Kingsley, in
a note * to me, had a capital paragraph on such notions as
mine being not opposed to a high conception of the Deity.
I have inserted it as an extract from a letter to me from a
celebrated author and divine. I have put in about nascent
organs. I had the greatest difficulty in partially making out
Sedgwick's letter, and I dare say I did greatly underrate its
clearness. Do what I could, I fear I shall be greatly abused.
In answer to Sedgwick's remark that my book would be
u mischievous," I asked him whether truth can be known ex-
cept by being victorious over all attacks. But it is no use.
H. C. Watson tells me that one zoologist says he will read
my book, u but I will never believe it." What a spirit to
read any book in ! Crawford writes to me that his notice f
will be hostile, but that '' he will not calumniate the author."
He says he has read my book, Ci at least such parts as he
could understand." He sent me some notes and sugges-
tions (quite unimportant), and they show me that I have un-
avoidably done harm to the subject, by publishing an ab-
stract. He is a real Pallasian ; nearly all our domestic
races descended from a multitude of wild species now com-

* The letter is given at p. 82.

t John Crawford, orientalist, ethnologist, &c., b. 1783, d. 1868. The
review appeared in the Examiner, and, though hostile, is free from bigotry,
as the following citation will show : ** We cannot help saying that piety
must be fastidious indeed that objects to a theory the tendency of which
is to show that all organic beings, man included, are in a perpetual prog-
ress of amelioration, and that is expounded in the reverential language
which we have quoted.'*

I859-] PROGRESS OF OPINION. 33

mingled. I expected Murchison to be outrageous. How
little he could ever have grappled with the subject of denu-
dation ! How singular so great a geologist should have so
unphilosophical a mind ! I have had several notes from

, very civil and less decided. Says he shall not pronounce

against me without much reflection, perhaps will say nothing

on the subject. X. says will go to that part of hell,

which Dante tells us is appointed for those who are neither
on God's side nor on that of the devil.

I fully believe that I owe the comfort of the next few
years of my life to your generous support, and that of a very
few others. I do not think I am brave enough to have
stood being odious without support-; now I feel as bold as a
lion. But there is one thing I can see I must learn, viz., to
think less of myself and my book. Farewell, with cordial
thanks. Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

I return home on the 7th, and shall sleep at Erasmus's.
I will call on you about ten o'clock, on Thursday, the 8th,
and sit with you, as I have so often sat, during your break-
fast.

I wish there was any chance of Prestwich being shaken ;
but I fear he is too much of a catastrophist.

[In December there appeared in ' Macmillan's Magazine '
an article, " Time and Life," by Professor Huxley. It is
mainly occupied by an analysis of the argument of the
' Origin,' but it also gives the substance of a lecture deliv-
ered at the Royal Institution before that book was published.
Professor Huxley spoke strongly in favor of evolution in his
Lecture, and explains that in so doing he was to a great
extent resting on a knowledge of " the general tenor of the
researches in which Mr. Darwin had been so long engaged,"
and was supported in so doing by his perfect confidence in
his knowledge, perseverance, and " high-minded love of

34 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

truth." My father was evidently deeply pleased by Mr. Hux-
ley's words, and wrote :

" I must thank you for your extremely kind notice of my
book in ' Macmillan.' No one could receive a more de-
lightful and honourable compliment. I had not heard of your
Lecture, owing to my retired life. You attribute much too
much to me from our mutual friendship. You have explained
my leading idea with admirable clearness. What a gift you
have of writing (or more properly) thinking clearly."]

C. Darwin to W. B. Carpenter.

Ilkley, Yorkshire,

December 3rd [1859].

My dear Carpenter, — I am perfectly delighted at your
letter. It is a great thing to have got a great physiologist on
our side. I say " our " for we are now a good and compact
body of really good men, and mostly not old men. In the
long run we shall conquer. I do not like being abused, but
I feel that I can now bear it ; and, as I told Lyell, I am well
convinced that it is the first offender who reaps the rich
harvest of abuse. You have done an essential kindness in
checking the odium theologicum in the E. R.* It much
pains all one's female relations and injures the cause.

I look at it as immaterial whether we go quite the same
lengths ; and I suspect, judging from myself, that you will
go further, by thinking of a population of forms like Orni-
thorhyncus, and by thinking of the common homological and
embryological structure of the several vertebrate orders. But
this is immaterial. I quite agree that the principle is every-
thing. In my fuller MS. I have discussed a good many
instincts ; but there will surely be more unfilled gaps here
than with corporeal structure, for we have no fossil instincts,

* This must refer to Carpenter's critique which would now have been
ready to appear in the January number of the Edinburgh Review, i86o5
and in which the odium theologicum is referred to.

I859-] SIR J. D. HOOKER. 35

and know scarcely any except of European animals. When
I reflect how very slowly I came round myself, I am in truth
astonished at the candour shown by Lyell, Hooker, Huxley,
and yourself. In my opinion it is grand. I thank you cor-
dially for taking the trouble of writing a review for the
1 National/ God knows I shall have few enough in any
degree favourable.*

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Saturday [December 5th, 1859].

... I have had a letter from Carpenter this morning. He
reviews me in the ' National/ He is a convert, but does not
go quite so far as I, but quite far enough, for he admits that
all birds are from one progenitor, and probably all fishes and
reptiles from another parent. But the last mouthful chokes
him. He can hardly admit all vertebrates from one parent.
He will surely come to this from Homology and Embryology.
I look at it as grand having brought round a great physiolo-
gist, for great I think he certainly is in that line. How curi-
ous I shall be to know what line Owen will take ; dead
against us, I fear ; but he wrote me a most liberal note on
the reception of my book, and said he was quite prepared to
consider fairly and without prejudice my line of argument.

J. D. Hooker to C. Darwin.

Kew, Monday.
Dear Darwin, — You have, I know, been drenched with
letters since the publication of your book, and I have hence
forborne to add my mite. I hope now that you are well
through Edition II., and I have heard that you were flour-
ishing in London. I have not yet got half-through the
book, not from want of will, but of time — for it is the very
hardest book to read, to full profits, that I ever tried — it is so
cram-full of matter and reasoning. I am all the more glad

* See a letter to Dr. Carpenter, p. 57.

36 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

that you have published in this form, for the three volumes,
unprefaced by this, would have choked any Naturalist of the
nineteenth century, and certainly have softened my brain in
the operation of assimilating their contents. I am perfectly
tired of marvelling at the wonderful amount of facts you have
brought to bear, and your skill in marshalling them and
throwing them on the enemy; it is also extremely clear as
far as I have gone, but very hard to fully appreciate. Some-
how it reads very different from the MS., and I often fancy
I must have been very stupid not to have more fully followed
it in MS. Lyell told me of his criticisms. I did not appre-
ciate them all, and there are many little matters I hope one
day to talk over with you. I saw a highly flattering notice
in the ' English Churchman/ short and not at all entering
into discussion, but praising you and your book, and talking
patronizingly of the doctrine ! . . . Bentham and Henslow
will still shake their heads I fancy. . . .

Ever yours affectionately,

Jos. D. Hooker.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, Saturday [December 12th, 1859].

... I had very long interviews with , which perhaps

you would like to hear about. ... I infer from several
expressions that, at bottom, he goes an immense way with
us

He said to the effect that my explanation was the best
ever published of the manner of formation of species. I said
I was very glad to hear it. He took me up short : " You
must not at all suppo.se that I agree with you in all respects."
I said I thought it no more likely that I should be right in
nearly all points, than that I should toss up a penny and get
heads twenty times running. I asked him what he thought
the weakest part. He said he had no particular objection to
any part. He added : —

" If I must criticise, I should say, ' we do not want to know
what Darwin believes and is convinced of, but what he can

I859-] NEW EDITION. 37

prove/" I agreed most fully and truly that I have probably
greatly sinned in this line, and defended my general line of
argument of inventing a theory and seeing how many classes
of facts the theory would explain. I added that I would en-
deavour to modify the u believes " and " convinceds." He took
me up short : " You will then spoil your book, the charm of
(!) it is that it is Darwin himself." He added another objec-
tion, that the book was too teres atque roticndus — that it ex-
plained everything, and that it was improbable in the highest
degree that I should succeed in this. I quite agree with this
rather queer objection, and it comes to this that my book
must be very bad or very good. . . .

I have heard, by roundabout channel, that Herschel says
my book" is the law of higgledy-piggledy." What this ex-
actly means I do not know, but it is evidently very con-
temptuous. If true this is a great blow and discouragement.

C. Darwin to John Lubbock.

December 14th [1859].

. . . The latter part of my stay at Ilkley did me much
good, but I suppose I never shall be strong, for the work I
have had since I came back has knocked me up a little
more than once. I have been busy in getting a reprint (with
a very few corrections) through the press.

My book has been as yet very muck move successful than
I ever dreamed of : Murray is now printing 3000 copies.
Have you finished it ? If so, pray tell me whether you are
with me on the general issue, or against me. If you are
against me, I know well how honourable, fair, and candid an
opponent I shall have, and which is a good deal more than
I can say of all my opponents . . .

Pray tell me what you have been doing. Have you had
time for any Natural History ? . . .

P. S. — I have got — I wish and hope I might say that we
have got — a fair number of excellent men on our side of the
question on the mutability of species.

38 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, December 14th [1859].

My dear Hooker, — Your approval of my book, for many
reasons, gives me intense satisfaction ; but I must make some
allowance for your kindness and sympathy. Any one with
ordinary faculties, if he had patience enough and plenty of
time, could have written my book. You do not know how I
admire your and Lyell's generous and unselfish sympathy, I
do not believe either of you would have cared so much about
your own work. My book, as yet, has been far more suc-
cessful than I ever even formerly ventured in the wildest day-
dreams to anticipate. We shall soon be a good body of
working men, and shall have, I am convinced, all young and
rising naturalists on our side. I shall be intensely interested
to hear whether my book produces any effect on A. Gray ;
from what I heard at Lyell's, I fancy your correspondence
has brought him some way already. I fear that there is no
chance of Bentham being staggered. Will he read my book ?
Has he a copy ? I would send him one of the reprints if he
has not. Old J. E. Gray,* at the British Musuem, attacked
me in fine style : " You have just reproduced Lamarck's doc-
trine and nothing else, and here Lyell and others have been
attacking him for twenty years, and because you (with a sneer
and laugh) say the very same thing, they are all coming
round ; it is the most ridiculous inconsistency, &c, &c."

You must be very glad to be settled in your house, and I
hope all the improvements satisfy you. As far as my expe-
rience goes, improvements are never perfection. I am very

* John Edward Gray (born 1800, died 1875) was the son of S. F. Gray,
author of the Supplement to the Pharmacopoeia.' In 1821 he published
in his father's name ' The Natural Arrangement of British Plants,' one of
the earliest works in English on the natural method. In 1824 he became
connected with the Natural History Department of the British Museum,
and was appointed Keeper of the Zoological collections in 1840. He was
the author of c Illustrations of Indian Zoology,' ' The Knowsley Menage-
rie,' &c, and of innumerable descriptive Zoological papers.

1859.] AMERICAN EDITION. 39

sorry to hear that you are still so very busy, and have so much
work. And now for the main purport of my note, which is
to ask and beg you and Mrs. Hooker (whom it is really an
age since I have seen), and all your children, if you like, to
come and spend a week here. It would be a great pleasure
to me and to my wife. ... As far as we can see, we shall be
at home all the winter ; and all times probably would be
equally convenient ; but if you can, do not put it off very
late, as it may slip through. Think of this and persuade Mrs.
Hooker, and be a good man and come.

Farewell, my kind and dear friend,

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — I shall be very curious to hear what you think of my
discussion on Classification in Chap. XIII. ; I believe Huxley
demurs to the whole, and says he has nailed his colours to
the mast, and I would sooner die than give up ; so that we
are in as fine a frame of mind to discuss the point as any two
religionists.

Embryology is my pet bit in my book, and, confound my
friends, not one has noticed this to me.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, December 21st [1859].
My dear Gray, — I have just received your most kind,
long, and valuable letter. I will write again in a few days,
for I am at present unwell and much pressed with business :
to-day's note is merely personal. I should, for several rea-
sons, be very glad of an American Edition. I have made up
my mind to be well abused ; but I think it of importance
that my notions should be read by intelligent men, accus-
tomed to scientific argument, though not naturalists. It may
seem absurd, but I think such men will drag after them those
naturalists who have too firmly fixed in their heads that a
species is an entity. The first edition of 1250 copies was sold

4o PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

on the first day, and now my publisher is printing off, as
rapidly as possible, 3000 more copies. I mention this solely
because it renders probable a remunerative sale in America.
I should be infinitely obliged if you could aid an American
reprint ; and could make, for my sake and the publisher's,
any arrangement for any profit. The new edition is only a
reprint, yet I have made a few important corrections. I will
have the clean sheets sent over in a few days of as many
sheets as are printed off, and the remainder afterwards, and
you can do anything you like, — if nothing, there is no harm
done. I should be glad for the new edition to be reprinted
and not the old. — In great haste, and with hearty thanks,

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.
I will write soon again.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, 22nd [December, 1859].

My dear Lyell, — Thanks about ** Bears," * a word of
ill-omen to me.

I am too unwell to leave home, so shall not see you.

I am very glad of your remarks on Hooker, f I have
not yet got the essay. The parts which I read in sheets
seemed to me grand, especially the generalization about the
Australian flora itself. How superior to Robert Brown's
celebrated essay ! I have not seen Naudin's paper,J and
shall not be able till I hunt the libraries. I am very anxious

* See ■ Origin,' ed. i., p. 184.

f Sir C. Lyell wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker, Dec. 19, 1859 (' Life,' ii. p.
327) : " I have just finished the reading of your splendid Essay [the
1 Flora of Australia '] on the origin of species, as illustrated by your wide
botanical experience, and think it goes very far to raise the variety- making
hypothesis to the rank of a theory, as accounting for the manner in which
new species enter the world."

% " Revue Horticole,' 1852 See Historical Sketch in the later edi-
tions of the ' Origin of Species.'

I859-] NAUDIN. 41

to see it. Decaisne seems to think he gives my whole the-
ory. I do not know when I shall have time and strength to
grapple with Hooker. . . .

P. S. — I have heard from Sir W. Jardine : * his criticisms
are quite unimportant ; some of the Galapagos so-called
species ought to be called varieties, which I fully expected ;
some of the sub-genera, thought to be wholly endemic, have
been found on the Continent (not that he gives his author-
ity), but I do not make out that the species are the same.
His letter is brief and vague, but he says he will write again.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [23rd December, 1859].
My dear Hooker, — I received last night your fc Intro-
duction,' for which very many thanks ; I am surprised to see
how big it is : I shall not be able to read it very soon. It
was very good of you to send Naudin, for I was very curi-
ous to see it. I am surprised that Decaisne should say it
was the same as mine. Naudin gives artificial selection, as
well as a score of English writers, and when he says species
were formed in the same manner, I thought the paper would

* Jardine, Sir William, Bart, b. 1800, d. 1874, was the son of Sir A.
Jardine of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire. He was educated at Edinburgh,
and succeeded to the title on his father's decease in 182 1. He published,
jointly with Mr. Prideaux J. Selby, Sir Stamford Raffles, Dr. Horsfield,
and other ornithologists, * Illustrations of Ornithology,' and edited the
* Naturalist's Library,' in 40 vols., which included the four branches :
Mammalia, Ornithology, Ichnology, and Entomology. Of these 40 vols.
14 were written by himself. In 1836 he became editor of the ' Magazine
of Zoology and Botany,' which, two years later, was transformed into
1 Annals of Natural History,' but remained under his direction. For
Bohn's Standard Library he edited White's ' Natural History of Selborne.'
Sir W. Jardine was also joint editor of the ' Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal,' and was author of ' British Salmonidae,' ' Ichthyology of Annan-
dale,' ' Memoirs of the late Hugh Strickland,' ' Contributions to Ornithol-
ogy,' ' Ornithological Synonyms,' &c. — (Taken from Ward, ' Men of the
Reign,' and Cates, ' Dictionary of General Biography.')

42 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

certainly prove exactly the same as mine. But I cannot find
one word like the struggle for existence and natural selection.
On the contrary, he brings in his principle (p. 103) of final-
ity (which I do not understand), which, he says, with some
authors is fatality, with others providence, and which adapts
the forms of every being, and harmonises them all through-
out nature.

He assumes like old geologists (who assumed that the
forces of nature were formerly greater), that species were at
first more plastic. His simile of tree and classification is
like mine (and others), but he cannot, I think, have reflected
much on the subject, otherwise he would see that genealogy
by itself does not give classification ; I declare I cannot see a
much closer approach to Wallace and me in Naudin than in
Lamarck — we all agree in modification and descent. If I
do not hear from you I will return the ' Revue ' in a few
days (with the cover). I dare say Lyell would be glad to see
it. By the way, I will retain the volume till I hear whether
I shall or not send it to Lyell. I should rather like Lyell
to see this note, though it is foolish work sticking up for
independence or priority.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

A, Sedgwick * to C. Darwin.

Cambridge, December 24th, 1859.
My dear Darwin, — I write to thank you for your work on
the - Origin of Species/ It came, I think, in the latter part
of last week ; but it may have come a few days sooner, and
been overlooked among my book-parcels, which often remain
unopened when I am lazy or busy with any work before me.
So soon as I opened it I began to read it, and I finished it,
after many interruptions, on Tuesday. Yesterday I was em-
ployed— 1 st, in preparing for my lecture; 2ndly, in attending

* Rev. Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology in the
University of Cambridge. Born 1785, died 1873.

I859-] SEDGWICK. 43

a meeting of my brother Fellows to discuss the final proposi-
tions of the Parliamentary Commissioners ; 3rdly, in lecturing ;
4thly, in hearing the conclusion of the discussion and the
College reply, whereby, in conformity with my own wishes,
we accepted the scheme of the Commissioners ; 5thly, in
dining with an old friend at Clare College ; 6thly, in ad-
journing to the weekly meeting of the Ray Club, from which
I returned at 10 p. m., dog-tired, and hardly able to climb my
staircase. Lastly, in looking through the Times to see what
was going on in the busy world.

I do not state this to fill space (though I believe that
Nature does abhor a vacuum), but to prove that my reply
and my thanks are sent to you by the earliest leisure I have,
though that is but a very contracted opportunity. If I did
not think you a good-tempered and truth-loving man, I
should not tell you that (spite of the great knowledge, store
of facts, capital views of the correlation of the various parts
of organic nature, admirable hints about the diffusion,
through wide regions, of many related organic beings, &c,
&c.) I have read your book with more pain than pleasure.
Parts of it I admired greatly, parts I laughed at till my sides
were almost sore ; other parts I read with absolute sorrow,
because I think them utterly false and grievously mischiev-
ous. You have deserted — after a start in that tram-road of
all solid physical truth — the true method of induction, and
started us in machinery as wild, I think, as Bishop Wilkins's
locomotive that was to sail with us to the moon. Many of
your wide conclusions are based upon assumptions which can
neither be proved nor disproved, why then express them in
the language and arrangement of philosophical induction ?
As to your grand principle — natural selection— what is it but
a secondary consequence of supposed, or known, primary
facts ! Development is a better word, because more close to
the cause of the fact ? For you do not deny causation. I
call (in the abstract) causation the will of God ; and I can
prove that He acts for the good of His creatures. He also

acts by laws which we can study and comprehend. Acting
40

44 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

by law, and under what is called final causes, comprehends, I
think, your whole principle. You write of " natural selec-
tion " as if it were done consciously by the selecting agent.
'Tis but a consequence of the presupposed development, and
the subsequent battle for life. This view of nature you have
stated admirably, though admitted by all naturalists and de-
nied by no one of common sense. We all admit develop-
ment as a fact of history : but how came it about ? Here, in
language, and still more in logic, we are point-blank at issue.
There is a moral or metaphysical part of nature as well a
physical. A man who denies this is deep in the mire of folly.
'Tis the crown and glory of organic science that it does
through final cause ', link material and moral ; and yet does
not allow us to mingle them in our first conception of laws,
and our classification of such laws, whether we consider one
side of nature or the other. You have ignored this link ;
and? if I do not mistake your meaning, you have done your
best in one or two pregnant cases to break it. Were it pos-
sible (which, thank God, it is not) to break it, humanity, in
my mind, would suffer a damage that might brutalize it, and
sink the human race into a lower grade of degradation than
any into which it has fallen since its written records tell us of
its history. Take the case of the bee-cells. If your develop-
ment produced the successive modification of the bee and its
cells (which no mortal can prove), final cause would stand
good as the directing cause under which the successive gen-
erations acted and gradually improved. Passages in your
book, like that to which I have alluded (and there are others
almost as bad), greatly shocked my moral taste. I think, in
speculating on organic descent, you over-state the evidence
of geology ; and that you under-state it while you are talk-
ing of the broken links of your natural pedigree : but my
paper is nearly done, and I must go to my lecture-room.
Lastly, then, I greatly dislike the concluding chapter — not as
a summary, for in that light it appears good — but I dislike it
from the tone of triumphant confidence in which you appeal
to the rising generation (in a tone I condemned in the au-

I859-] CREATION. 45

thor of the ' Vestiges ') and prophesy of things not yet in the
womb of time, nor (if we are to trust the accumulated experi-
ence of human sense and the inferences of its logic) ever
likely to be found anywhere but in the fertile womb of man's
imagination. And now to say a word about a son of a mon-
key and an old friend of yours : I am better, far better, than
I was last year. I have been lecturing three days a week
(formerly I gave six a week) without much fatigue, but I find
by the loss of activity and memory, and of all productive
powers, that my bodily frame is sinking slowly towards the
earth. But I have visions of the future. They are as much
a part of myself as my stomach and my heart, and these vis-
ions are to have their antitype in solid fruition of what is
best and greatest. But on one condition only — that I hum-
bly accept God's revelation of Himself both in his works and
in His word, and do my best to act in conformity with that
knowledge which He only can give me, and He only can
sustain me in doing. If you and I do all this we shall meet
in heaven.

I have written in a hurry, and in a spirit of brotherly love,
therefore forgive any sentence you happen to dislike ; and
believe me, spite of any disagreement in some points of the
deepest moral interest, your true-hearted old friend,

A. Sedgwick.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, Dec. 25th [1859].
My dear Huxley, — One part of your note has pleased
me so much that I must thank you for it. Not only Sir
II. H. [Holland], but several others, have attacked me about
analogy leading to belief in one primordial created form.*
(By which I mean only that we know nothing as yet [of] how
life originates.) I thought I was universally condemned on

* ' Origin/ edit. i. p. 484. — " Therefore I should infer from analogy that
probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have
descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first
breathed."

46 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [1859.

this head. But I answered that though perhaps it would
have been more prudent not to have put it in, I would not
strike it out, as it seemed to me probable, arid I give it on
no other grounds. You will see in your mind the kind of
arguments which made me think it probable, and no one
fact had so great an effect on me as your most curious remarks
on the apparent homologies of the head of Vertebrata and
Articulata.

You have done a real good turn in the Agency business *
(I never before heard of a hard-working, unpaid agent besides
yourself), in talking with Sir H. H., for he will have great
influence over many. He floored me from my ignorance
about the bones of the ear, and I made a mental note to ask
you what the facts were*.

With hearty thanks and real admiration for your generous
zeal for the subject.

Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

You may smile about the care and precautions I have taken
about my ugly MS. ; f it is not so much the value I set on
them, but the remembranee of the intolerable labour — for
instance, in tracing the history of the breeds of pigeons.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, 25th [December, 1859].

... I shall not write to Decaisne ; % I have always had
a strong feeling that no one had better defend his own
priority. I cannot say that I am as indifferent to the subject
as I ought to be, but one can avoid doing anything in
consequence.

I do not believe one iota about your having assimilated any

* " My General Agent " was a sobriquet applied at this time by my
father to Mr. Huxley.

f Manuscript left with Mr. Huxley for his perusal.

% With regard to Naudin's paper in the ' Revue Horticole,' 1852.

1859.] THE ■ TIMES' REVIEW. 47

of my notions unconsciously. You have always done me more
than justice. But I do think I did you a bad turn by getting
you to read the old MS., as it must have checked your own
original thoughts. There is one thing I am fully convinced
of, that the future progress (which is the really important
point) of the subject will have depended on really good and
well-known workers, like yourself, Lyell, and Huxley, having
taken up the subject, than on my own work. I see plainly it
is this that strikes my non-scientific friends.

Last night I said to myself, I would just cut your Intro-
duction, but would not begin to read, but I broke down, and
had a good hour's read.

Farewell, yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

December 28th, 1859.

. . . Have you seen the splendid essay and notice of my
book in the Times 2* I cannot avoid a strong suspicion that
it is by Huxley ; but I never heard that he wrote in the
Times. It will do grand service, . . .

C. Darwin to T H Huxley.

Down, Dec. 28th [1859].
My dear Huxley, — Yesterday evening, when I read the
Times of a previous day, I was amazed to find a splendid
essay and review of me. Who can the author be ? I am
intensely curious. It included an eulogium of me which quite
touched me, though I am not vain enough to think it all
deserved. The author is a literary man, and German scholar.
He has read my book very attentively; but, what is very
remarkable, it seems that he is a profound naturalist. He
knows my Barnacle-book, and appreciates it too highly.
Lastly, he writes and thinks with quite uncommon force and

* Dec. 26th.

48 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1359.

clearness ; and what is even still rarer, his writing is seasoned
with most pleasant wit. We all laughed heartily over some
of the sentences. I was charmed with those unreasonable
mortals, who know anything, all thinking fit to range them-
selves on one side.* Who can it be ? Certainly I should
have said that there was only one man in England who could
have written this essay, and that you were the man. But I
suppose I am wrong, and that there is some hidden genius of
great calibre. For how could you influence Jupiter Olympius
and make him give three and a half columns to pure science ?
The old fogies will think the world will come to an end.
Well, whoever the man is, he has done great service to the
cause, far more than by a dozen reviews in common peri-
odicals. The grand way he soars above common religious
prejudices, and the admission of such views into the Times ,
I look at as of the highest importance, quite independently
of the mere question of species. If you should happen to
be acquainted with the author, for Heaven-sake tell me who
he is ?

My dear Huxley, yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

[It is impossible to give in a short space an adequate idea
of Mr. Huxley's article in the Times of December 26. It is
admirably planned, so as to claim for the i Origin ' a respect-
ful hearing, and it abstains from anything like dogmatism m
asserting the truth of the doctrinces therein upheld. A few
passages may be quoted : — " That this most ingenious

* The reviewer proposes to pass by the orthodox view, according to
which the phenomena of the organic world are " the immediate product
of a creative fiat, and consequently are out of the domain of science alto-
gether." And he does so "with less hesitation, as it so happens that
those persons who are practically conversant with the facts of the case
(plainly a considerable advantage) have always thought tit to range them-
selves " in the category of those holding " views which profess to rest on a
scientific basis only, and therefore admit of being argued to their conse-
quences."

I859-] THE ' TIMES' REVIEW. 49

hypothesis enables us to give a reason for many apparent
anomalies in the distribution of living beings in time and
space, and that it is not contradicted by the main phenomena
of life and organisation, appear to us to be unquestionable."
Mr. Huxley goes on to recommend to the readers of the
1 Origin ' a condition of " thdtige Skepsis " — a state of " doubt
which so loves truth that it neither dares rest in doubting, nor
extinguish itself by unjustified belief.', The final paragraph
is in a strong contrast to Professor Sedgwick and his " ropes
of bubbles " (see p. 92). Mr. Huxley writes : " Mr. Darwin
abhors mere speculation as nature abhors a vacuum. He is as
greedy of cases and precedents as any constitutional lawyer, and
all the principles he lays down are capable of being brought
to the test of observation and experiment. The path he bids
us follow professes to be not a mere airy track, fabricated of
ideal cobwebs, but a solid and broad bridge of facts. If it
be so, it will carry us safely over many a chasm in our know-
ledge, and lead us to a region free from the snares of those
fascinating but barren virgins, the Final Causes, against whom
a high authority has so justly warned us."

There can be no doubt that this powerful essay, appearing
as it did in the leading daily Journal, must have had a strong
influence on the reading public. Mr. Huxley allows me to
quote from a letter an account of the happy chance that threw
into his hands the opportunity of writing it.

" The ' Origin ' was sent to Mr. Lucas, one of the staff of
the Times writers at that day, in what I suppose was the
ordinary course of business. Mr. Lucas, though an excellent
journalist, and, at a later period, editor of ' Once a Week/
was as innocent of any knowledge of science as a babe, and
bewailed himself to an acquaintance on having to deal with
such a book. Whereupon he was recommended to ask me to
get him out of his difficulty, and he applied to me according-
ly, explaining, however, that it would be necessary for him
formally to adopt anything I might be disposed to write, by
prefacing it with two or three paragraphs of his own.

" I was too anxious to seize upon the opportunity thus

50 PUBLICATION OF THE * ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859.

offered of giving the book a fair chance with the multitudi-
nous readers of the Times to make any difficulty about condi-
tions; and being then very full of the subject, I wrote the
article faster, I think, than I ever wrote anything in my life,
and sent it to Mr. Lucas, who duly prefixed his opening
sentences.

" When the article appeared, there was much speculation
as to its authorship. The secret leaked out in time, as all
secrets will, but not by my aid ; and then I used to derive a
good deal of innocent amusement from the vehement asser-
tions of some of my more acute friends, that they knew it
was mine from the first paragraph !

" As the Times some years since, referred to my connec-
tion with the review, I suppose there will be no breach of
confidence in the publication of this little history, if you think
it worth the space it will occupy."]

CHAPTER II.
the i origin of SPECIES' — {continued).

i860.

[I extract a few entries from my father's Diary : —

"Jan. 7th. The second edition, 3000 copies, of ' Origin '

was published."

" May 22nd. The first edition of ' Origin ' in the United

States was 2500 copies/'

My father has here noted down the sums received for the

'Origin.'

First Edition .. .. .. ^180 o o

Second Edition . . . . . . 636 13 4

^816 13 4

After the publication of the second edition he began at
once, on Jan. 9th, looking over his materials for the i Variation
of Animals and Plants ; ' the only other work of the year was
on Drosera.

He was at Down during the whole of this year, except for
a visit to Dr. Lane's Water-cure Establishment at Sudbrooke,
in June, and for visits to Miss Elizabeth Wedgwood's house
at Hartfield, in Sussex (July), and to Eastbourne, Sept. 22
to Nov. 16.]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, January 3rd [i860].
My dear Hooker, — I have finished your Essay.* As
probably you would like to hear my opinion, though a non-

* * Australian Flora.'

52

THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

botanist, I will give it without any exaggeration. To my
judgment it is by far the grandest and most interesting essay,
on subjects of the nature discussed, I have ever read. You
know how I admired your former essays, but this seems to
me far grander. I like all the part after p. xxvi better than
the first part, probably because newer to me. I dare say you
Will demur to this, for I think every author likes the most
speculative parts of his own productions. How superior your
essay is to the famous one of Brown (here will be sneer 1st
from you). You have made all your conclusions so admira-
bly clear, that it would be no use at all to be a botanist (sneer
No. 2). By Jove, it would do harm to affix any idea to the
long names of outlandish orders. One can look at your con-
clusions with the philosophic abstraction with which a mathe-
matician looks at his a X x + V z2, &c- &c. I hardly know
which parts have interested me most ; for over and over again
I exclaimed, "this beats all." The general comparison of the
Flora of Australia with the rest of the world, strikes me (as
before) as extremely original, good, and suggestive of many
reflections.

.... The invading Indian Flora is very interesting, but
I think the fact you mention towards the close of the essay —
that the Indian vegetation, in contradistinction to the Ma-
layan vegetation, is found in low and level parts of the Malay
Islands, greatly lessens the difficulty which at first (page 1)
seemed so great. There is nothing like one's own hobby-
horse. I suspect it is the same case as of glacial migration,
and of naturalised production — of production of greater area
conquering those of lesser; of course the Indian forms would
have a greater difficulty in seizing on the cool parts of Aus-
tralia. I demur to your remarks (page 1), as not " conceiving
anything in soil, climate, or vegetation of India," which could
stop the introduction of Australian plants. Towards the
close of the essay (page civ), you have admirable remarks on
our profound ignorance of the cause of possible naturalisation
or introduction ; I would answer p. 1, by a later page, viz.
p. civ.

i860.] AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 53

Your contrast of the south-west and south-east corners is
one of the most wonderful cases I ever heard of. . . . You
show the case with wonderful force. Your discussion on
mixed invaders of the south-east corner (and of New Zealand)
is as curious and intricate a problem as of the races of men
in Britain. Your remark on mixed invading Flora keeping
down or destroying an original Flora, which was richer in
number of species, strikes me as eminently new and important.
I am not sure whether to me the discussion on the New Zea-
land Flora is not even more instructive. I cannot too much
admire both. But it will require a long time to suck in all
the facts. Your case of the largest Australian orders having
none, or very few, species in New Zealand, is truly marvel-
lous. Anyhow, you have now demonstrated (together with
no mammals in New Zealand) (bitter sneer No. 3), that New
Zealand has never been continuously, or even nearly con-
tinuously, united by land to Australia ! ! At p. lxxxix, is the
only sentence (on this subject) in the whole essay at which I
am much inclined to quarrel, viz. that no theory of trans-
oceanic migration can explain, &c. &c. Now I maintain
against all the world, that no man knows anything about the
power of trans-oceanic migration. You do not know
whether or not the absent orders have seeds which are
killed by sea-water, like almost all Leguminosae, and like
another order which I forget. Birds do not migrate from
Australia to New Zealand, and therefore floatation seems the
only possible means ; but yet I maintain that we do not know
enough to argue on the question, especially as we do not
know the main fact whether the seeds of Australian orders
are killed by sea-water.

The discussion on European Genera is profoundly inter-
esting; but here alone I earnestly beg for more information,
viz. to know which of these genera are absent in the Tropics
of the world, i.e. confined to temperate regions. I excessive-
ly wish to know, on the notion of Glacial Migration, how much
modification has taken place in Australia. I had better ex-
plain when we meet, and get you to go over and mark the list

54

THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

.... The list of naturalised plants is extremely interest-
ing, but why at the end, in the name of all that is good and
bad, do you not sum up and comment on your facts ? Come,
I will have a sneer at you in return for the many which you
will have launched at this letter. Should you have re-
marked on the number of plants naturalised in Australia and
the United States under extremely different climates, as show-
ing that climate is so important, and [on] the considerable
sprinkling of plants from India, North America, and South
Africa, as showing that the frequent introduction of seeds is
so important ? With respect to " abundance of unoccupied
ground in Australia," do you believe that European plants
introduced by man now grow on spots in Australia which
were absolutely bare ? But I am an impudent dog, one must
defend one's own fancy theories against such cruel men as
you. I dare say this letter will appear very conceited, but
one must form an opinion on what one reads with attention,
and in simple truth, I cannot find words strong enough to ex-
press my admiration of your essay.

My dear old friend, yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — I differ about the Saturday Review* One cannot
expect fairness in a reviewer, so I do not complain of all
the other arguments besides the ' Geological Record ' being
omitted. Some of the remarks about the lapse of years are
very good, and the reviewer gives me some good and well-
deserved raps — confound it. I am sorry to confess the truth :
but it does not at all concern the main argument. That was
a nice notice in the Gardeners' Chronicle, I hope and imagine
that Lindley is almost a convert. Do not forget to tell me if
Bentham gets all the more staggered.

* Saturday Review ', Dec. 24, 1859. The hostile arguments of the re-
viewer are geological, and he deals especially with the denudation of the
Weald. The reviewer remarks that, " if a million of centuries, more or
less, is needed for any part of his argument, he feels no scruple in taking
them to suit his purpose."

i860.] AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 55

With respect to tropical plants during the Glacial period,
I throw in your teeth your own facts, at the base of the Hima-
laya, on the possibility of the co-existence of at least forms of
the tropical and temperate regions. I can give a parallel case
for animals in Mexico. Oh ! my dearly beloved puny child,
how cruel men are to you ! I am very glad you approve of
the Geographical chapters. . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [January 4th, i860].

My dear L. — Gardeners' Chronicle returned safe. Thanks
for note. I am beyond measure glad that you get more and
more roused on the subject of species, for, as I have always
said, I am well convinced that your opinions and writings
will do far more to convince the world than mine. You will
make a grand discussion on man. You are very bold in this,
and I honour you. I have been, like you, quite surprised at
the want of originality in opposed arguments and in favour
too. Gwyn Jeffreys attacks me justly in his letter about
strictly littoral shells not being often embedded at least in
Tertiary deposits. I was in a muddle, for I was thinking of
Secondary, yet Chthamalus applied to Tertiary

Possibly you might like to see the enclosed note * from
Whewell, merely as showing that he is not horrified with us.
You can return it whenever you have occasion to write, so as
not to waste your time.

C. D.

* Dr. Whewell wrote (Jan. 2, i860) : "... I cannot, yet at least, be-
come a convert, But there is so much of thought and of fact in what you
have written that it is not to be contradicted without careful selection of
the ground and manner of the dissent." Dr. Whewell dissented in a prac-
tical manner for some years, by refusing to allow a copy of the ' Origin of
Species ' to be placed in the Library of Trinity College.

56 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

C. Darwin to C. Lye 11.

Down, [January 4th? i860].

I have had a brief note from Keyserling,* but

not worth sending you. He believes in change of species,
grants that natural selection explains well adaptation of form,
but thinks species change too regularly, as if by some chemi-
cal law, for natural selection to be the sole cause of change.
I can hardly understand his brief note, but this is I think the
upshot.

I will send A. Murray's paper whenever pub-
lished, f It includes speculations (which he perhaps will
modify) so rash, and without a single fact in support, that
had I advanced them he or other reviewers would have hit
me very hard. I am sorry to say that I have no " consolatory
view " on the dignity of man. I am content that man will
probably advance, and care not much whether we are looked
at as mere savages in a remotely distant future. Many thanks

for your last note.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

I have received, in a Manchester newspaper, rather a good
squib, showing that I have proved "might is right," and there-

* Joint author with Murchison of the ' Geology of Russia,' 1845.

t The late Andrew Murray wrote two papers on the 4 Origin ' in the
Proc. R. Soc. Edin. i860. The one referred to here is dated Jan. 16, i860.
The following is quoted from p. 6 of the separate copy : " But the second,
and, as it appears to me, by much the most important phase of reversion to
type (and which is practically, if not altogether ignored by Mr. Darwin), is
the instinctive inclination which induces individuals of the same species
by preference to intercross with those possessing the qualities which they
themselves want, so as to preserve the purity or equilibrium of the breed.
. . . It is trite to a proverb, that tall men marry little women ... a man
of genius marries a fool . . . and we are told that this is the result of the
charm of contrast, or of qualities admired in others because we do not pos-
sess them. I do not so explain it. I imagine it it is the effort of nature
to preserve the typical medium of the race."

i86o.l REV. L. BLOMEFIELD. 57

fore that Napoleon is right, and every cheating tradesman is
also right.

C. Darwin to W. B. Carpenter.

Down, January 6th [i860] ?

My dear Carpenter, — I have just read your excellent
article in the ' National.' It will do great good ; especially if
it becomes known as your production. It seems to me to
give an excellently clear account of Mr. Wallace's and my
views. How capitally you turn the flanks of the theological
opposers by opposing to them such men as Bentham and the
more philosophical of the systematists ! I thank you sincere-
ly for the extremely honourable manner in which you mention
me. I should have liked to have seen some criticisms or re-
marks on embryology, on which subject you are so well in-
structed. I do not think any candid person can read your
article without being much impressed with it. The old doc-
trine of immutability of specific forms will surely but slowly
die away. It is a shame to give you trouble, but I should be
very much obliged if you could tell me where differently col-
oured eggs in individuals of the cuckoo have been described,
and their laying in twenty-seven kinds of nests. Also do you
know from your own observation that the limbs of sheep im-
ported into the West Indies change colour ? I have had de-
tailed information about the loss of wool ; but my accounts
made the change slower than you describe.

With most cordial thanks and respect, believe me, my
dear Carpenter, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Z. Jenyns*

Down, January 7th, i860.
My dear Jenyns, — I am very much obliged for your
letter. It is of great use and interest to me to know what

* Rev. L. Blomefield.

58 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' |"i86o.

impression my book produces on philosophical and instructed
minds. I thank you for the kind things which you say ; and
you go with me much further than I expected. You will
think it presumptuous, but I am convinced, if circumstances
lead you to keep the subject in mind, that you will go further.
No one has yet cast doubts on my explanation of the sub-
ordination of group to group, on homologies, embryology,
and rudimentary organs ; and if my explanation of these
classes of tacts be at all right, whole classes of organic beings
must be included in one line of descent.

The imperfection of the Geological Record is one of the
greatest difficulties. . . . During the earliest period the
record would be most imperfect, and this seems to me suffi-
cient to account for our not finding intermediate forms be-
tween the classes in the same great kingdoms. It was cer-
tainly rash in me putting in my belief of the probability of
all beings having descended from one primordial form; but
as this seems yet to me probable, I am not willing to strike
it out. Huxley alone supports me in this, and something
could be said in its favour. With respect to man, I am very
far from wishing to obtrude my belief; but I thought it
dishonest to quite conceal my opinion. Of course it is
open to every one to believe that man appeared by a sepa-
rate miracle, though I do not myself see the necessity or
probability.

Pray accept my sincere thanks for your kind note. Your
going some way with me gives me great confidence that I am
not very wrong. For a very long time I halted half way ; but
I do not believe that any enquiring mind will rest half-way.
People will have to reject all or admit all ; by all I mean
only the members of each great kingdom.

My dear Jenyns, yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

i860.] SECOND EDITION. 59

C. Darwin to C. Lye 11.

Down, January 10th [i860].
.... It is perfectly true that I owe nearly all the correc-
tions * to you, and several verbal ones to you and others ; I
am heartily glad you approve of them, as yet only two things
have annoyed me ; those confounded millions f of years (not
that I think it is probably wrong), and my not having (by
inadvertance) mentioned Wallace towards the close of the
book in the summary, not that any one has noticed this to me.
I have now put in Wallace's name at p. 484 in a conspicuous
place. I cannot refer you to tables of mortality of children,
&c. &c. I have notes somewhere, but I have not the least
idea where to hunt, and my notes would now be old. I shall
be truly glad to read carefully any MS. on man, and give my
opinion. You used to caution me to be cautious about man.
I suspect I shall have to return the caution a hundred fold !
Yours will, no doubt, be a grand discussion ; but it will
horrify th^ world at first more than my whole volume ;
although by the sentence (p. 489, new edition J) I show that
I believe man is in the same predicament with other animals.
It is, in fact, impossible to doubt it. I have thought (only
vaguely) on man. With respect to the races, one of my best
chances of truth has broken down from the impossibility of
getting facts. I have one good speculative line, but a man
must have entire credence in Natural Selection before he will
even listen to it. Psychologically, I have done scarcely any-

* The second edition of 3000 copies of the ' Origin ' was published on
January 7th.

f This refers to the passage in the ' Origin of Species ' (2nd edit., p.
285), in which the lapse of time implied by the denudation of the Weald is
discussed. The discussion closes with the sentence : " So that it is not im-
probable that a longer period than 300 million years has elapsed since
the latter part of the Secondary period." This passage is omitted in the
later editions of the ' Origin,' against the advice of some of his friends, as
appears from the pencil notes in my father's copy of the 2nd edition.

% First edition, p. 488.
41

60 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

thing. Unless, indeed, expression of countenance can be
included, and on that subject I have collected a good many-
facts, and speculated, but I do not suppose I shall ever
publish, but it is an uncommonly curious subject. By the
way, I sent off a lot of questions the day before yesterday
to Tierra del Fuego on expression ! I suspect (for I have
never read it) that Spencer's ' Psychology ' has a bearing on
Psychology as we should look at it. By all means read the
Preface, in about 20 pages, of Hensleigh Wedgwood's new
Dictionary on the first origin of Language ; Erasmus would
lend it. I agree about Carpenter, a very good article, but
with not much original. . . . Andrew Murray has criticised,
in an address to the Botanical Society of Edinburg, the
notice in the ' Linnean Journal/ and " has disposed of " the
whole theory by an ingenious difficulty, which I was very
stupid not to have thought of ; for I express surprise at more
and analogous cases not being known. The difficulty is, that
amongst the blind insects of the caves in distant parts of the
world there are some of the same genus, and yet the genus is
not found out of the caves or living in the free world. I have
little doubt that, like the fish Amblyopsis, and like Proteus in
Europe, these insects are " wrecks of ancient life,'' or " living
fossils," saved from competition and extermination. But
that formerly seeing insects of the same genus roamed over
the whole area in which the cases are included.

Farewell, yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water,
had a swim bladder, a great swimming tail, an imperfect
skull, and undoubtedly was an hermaphrodite !

Here is a pleasant genealogy for mankind.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, January 14th [i860].
... I shall be much interested in reading your man dis-
cussion, and will give my opinion carefully, whatever that

i860.] * GARDENERS' CHRONICLE.' 6l

may be worth ; but I have so long looked at you as the type
of cautious scientific judgment (to my mind one of the high-
est and most useful qualities), that I suspect my opinion will
be superfluous. It makes me laugh to think what a joke it
will be if I have to caution you, after your cautions on the
same subject to me !

I will order Owen's book ; * I am very glad to hear
Huxley's opinion on his classification of man ; without
having due knowledge, it seemed to me from the very first
absurd ; all classifications founded on single characters I
believe have failed.

. . . What a grand, immense benefit you conferred on me
by getting Murray to publish my book. I never till to-day
realised that it was getting widely distributed ; for in a letter
from a lady to-day to E., she says she heard a man enquiring
for it at the Railway Station! ! ! at Waterloo Bridge ; and the
bookseller said that he had none till the new edition was out.
The bookseller said he had not read it, but had heard it was
a very remarkable book !!!....

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, 14th [January, i860].
.... I heard from Lyell this morning, and he tells me
a piece of news. You are a good-for-nothing man ; here you
are slaving yourself to death with hardly a minute to spare,
and you must write a review of my book ! I thought it f a
very good one, and was so much struck with it that I sent it
to Lyell. But I assumed, as a matter of course, that it was
Lindley's. Now that I know it is yours, I have re-read it,
and, my kind and good friend, it has warmed my heart with
all the honourable and noble things you say of me and it. I
was a good deal surprised at Lindley hitting on some of the
remarks, but I never dreamed of you. I admired it chiefly as

* * Classification of the Mammalia,' 1859.

f Gardeners Chronicle, i860. Referred to above, at p. 54. Sir J. D.
Hooker took the line of complete impartiality, so as not to commit Lindley,

62 THE -ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

so well adapted to tell on the readers of the Gardeners'
Chronicle ; but now I admired it in another spirit. Farewell,
with hearty thanks. . . . Lyell is going at man with an au-
dacity that frightens me. It is a good joke ; he used always
to caution me to slip over man.

[In the Gardeners1 Chronicle, Jan. 21, i860, appeared a
short letter from my father which was called forth by
Mr. Westwood's communication to the previous number of
the journal, in which certain phenomena of cross-breeding are
discussed in relation to the ' Orig'n of Species/ Mr. West-
wood wrote in reply (Feb. 11) and adduced further evidence
against the doctrine of descent, such as the identity of the
figures of ostriches on the ancient " Egyptian records/' with
the bird as we now know it. The correspondence is hardly
worth mentioning, except as one of the very few cases in
which my father was enticed into anything resembling a con-
troversy.]

Asa Gray to J. D. Hooker.

Cambridge, Mass.,

January 5th, i860.

My dear Hooker, — Your last letter, which reached me
just before Christmas, has got mislaid during the upturnings
in my study which take place at that season, and has not yet
been discovered. I should be very sorry to lose it, for there
were in it some botanical mems. which I had not secured. . . .

The principal part of your letter was high laudation of
Darwin's book.

Well, the book has reached me, and I finished its careful
perusal four days ago ; and I freely say that your laudation
is not out of place.

It is done in a masterly manner. It might well have taken
twenty years to produce it. It is crammed full of most inter-
esting matter — thoroughly digested — well expressed — close,
cogent, and taken as a system it makes out a better case than
I had supposed possible. . . .

i860.] DR. GRAY'S APPROVAL. 63

Agassiz, when I saw him last, had read but a part of it.
He says it is poor — very poor ! ! (entre nous). The fact [is]
he is very much annoyed by it, ... . and I do not wonder
at it. To bring all ideal systems within the domain of science,
and give good physical or natural explanations of all his
capital points, is as bad as to have Forbes take the glacier
materials . . . and give scientific explanation of all the phe-
nomena.

Tell Darwin all this. I will write to him when I get a
chance. As I have promised, he and you shall have fair-play
here. ... I must myself write a review of Darwin's book for
•' Silliman's Journal ' (the more so that I suspect Agassiz means
to come out upon it) for the next (March) No., and I am now
setting about it (when I ought to be every moment working
the Exploring] Expedition Compositae, which I know far
more about). And really it is no easy job, as you may well
imagine.

I doubt if I shall please you altogether. I know I shall
not please Agassiz at all. I hear another reprint is in the
Press, and the book will excite much attention here, and
some controversy. ...

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, January 28th [i860].

My dear Gray, — Hooker has forwarded to me your letter
to him ; and I cannot express how deeply it has gratified
me. To receive the approval of a man whom one has long
sincerely respected, and whose judgment and knowledge are
most universally admitted, is the highest reward an author
can possibly wish for; and I thank you heartily for your
most kind expressions.

I have been absent from home for a few days, and so could
not earlier answer your letter to me of the 10th of January.
You have been extremely kind to take so much trouble and
interest about the edition. It has been a mistake of my
publisher not thinking of sending over the sheets. I had

64 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

entirely and utterly forgotten your offer of receiving the
sheets as printed off. But I must not blame my publisher,
for had I remembered your most kind offer I feel pretty
sure I should not have taken advantage of it ; for I never
dreamed of my book being so successful with general readers ;
I believe I should have laughed at the idea of sending the
sheets to America.*

After much consideration, and on the strong advice of
Lyell and others, I have resolved to leave the present book as
it is (excepting correcting errors, or here and there inserting
short sentences) and to use all my strength, which is but little,
to bring out the first part (forming a separate volume, with
index, &c.) of the three volumes which will make my bigger
work ; so that I am very unwilling to take up time in making
corrections for an American edition. I enclose a list of a few
corrections in the second reprint, which you will have re-
ceived by this time complete, and I could send four or five
corrections or additions of equally small importance, or rather
of equal brevity. I also intend to write a short preface with
a brief history of the subject. These I will set about, as they
must some day be done, and I will send them to you in a short
time — the few corrections first, and the preface afterwards,
unless I hear that you have given up all idea of a separate
edition. You will then be able to judge whether it is worth
having the new edition with your review prefixed. Whatever
be the nature of your review, I assure you I should feel it a
great honour to have my book thus preceded. . . .

Asa Gray to C. Darwin.

Cambridge, January 23rd, i860.
My dear Darwin, — You have my hurried letter telling
you of the arrival of the remainder of the sheets of the re-
print, and of the stir I had made for- a reprint in Boston,

* In a letter to Mr. Murray, i860, my father wrote : — " I am amused
by Asa Gray's account of the excitement -my book has made amongst
naturalists in the U. States. Agassiz has denounced it in a newspaper,

i860.] DR. GRAY'S CRITICISMS. 65

Well, all looked pretty well, when, lo, we found that a second
New York publishing house had announced a reprint also !
I wrote then to both New York publishers, asking them to
give way to the author and his reprint of a revised edition.
I got an answer from the Harpers that they withdraw — from
the Appletons that they had got the book out (and the next
day I saw a copy); but that, "if the work should have any
considerable sale, we certainly shall be disposed to pay the
author reasonably and liberally."

The Appletons being thus out with their reprint, the Bos-
ton house declined to go on. So I wrote to the Appletons
taking them at their word, offering to aid their reprint, to
give them the use of the alterations in the London reprint, as
soon as I find out what they are, &c. &c. And I sent
them the first leaf, and asked them to insert in their future
issue the additional matter from Butler,* which tells just
right. So there the matter stands. If you furnish any mat-
ter in advance of the London third edition, I will make them
pay for it.

I may get something for you. All got is clear gain ; but
it will not be very much, I suppose.

Such little notices in the papers here as have yet appeared
are quite handsome and considerate.

I hope next week to get printed sheets of my review from
New Haven, and send [them] to you, and will ask you to
pass them on to Dr. Hooker.

To fulfil your request, I ought to tell you what I think
the weakest, and what the best, part of your book. But this
is not easy, nor to be done in a word or two. The best part,
I think, is the whole, i. e. its plan and treatment, the vast
amount of facts and acute inferences handled as if you had a

but yet in such terms that it is in fact a fine advertisement ! " This seems
to refer to a lecture given before the Mercantile Library Association.

* A quotation from Butler's ' Analogy/ on the use of the word natural,
which in the second edition is placed with the passages from Whewell and
Bacon on p. li, opposite the title-page.

66 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

perfect mastery of them. I do not think twenty years too
much time to produce such a book in.

Style clear and good, but now and then wants revision for
little matters (p. 97, self-fertilises itself, &c).

Then your candour is worth everything to your cause. It
is refreshing to find a person with a new theory who frankly
confesses that he finds difficulties, insurmountable, at least
for the present. I know some people who never have any
difficulties to speak of.

The moment I understood your premisses, I felt sure you
had a real foundation to hold on. Well, if one admits your
premisses, I do not see how he is to stop short of your con-
clusions, as a probable hypothesis at least.

It naturally happens that my review of your book does
not exhibit anything like the full force of the impression the
book has made upon me. Under the circumstances I sup-
pose I do your theory more good here, by bespeaking for it
a fair and favourable consideration, and by standing non-
committed as to its full conclusions, than I should if I an-
nounced myself a convert ; nor could I say the latter, with
truth.

Well, what seems to me the weakest point in the book is
the attempt to account for the formation of organs, the mak-
ing of eyes, &c, by natural selection. Some of this reads
quite Lamarckian.

The chapter on Hybridism is not a weak, but a strong
chapter. You have done wonders there. But still' you have
not accounted, as you may be held to account, for divergence
up to a certain extent producing increased fertility of the
crosses, but carried one short almost imperceptible step more,
giving rise to sterility, or reversing the tendency. Very likely
you are on the right track ; but you have something to do yet
in that department.

Enough for the present.

I am not insensible to your compliments, the

very high compliment which you pay me in valuing my opin-
ion. You evidently think more of it than I do, though from

i860.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. §j

the way I write [to] you, and especially [to] Hooker, this
might not be inferred from the reading of my letters.

L am free to say that I never learnt so much from one
book as I have from yours. There remain a thousand things
I long to say about it.

Ever yours,

Asa Gray.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

[February? i860.]

Now I will just run through some points in your

letter. What you say about my book gratifies me most
deeply, and I wish I could feel all was deserved by me. I
quite think a review from a man, who is not an entire convert,
if fair and moderately favourable, is in all respects the best
kind of review. About the weak points I agree. The eye
to this day gives me a cold shudder, but when I think of the
fine known gradations, my reason tells me I ought to conquer
the cold shudder.

Pray kindly remember and tell Prof. Wyman how very
grateful I should be for any hints, information, or criticisms.
I have the highest respect for his opinion. I am so sorry
about Dana's health. I have already asked him to pay me a
visit.

Farewell, you have laid me under a load of obligation —
not that I feel it a load. It is the highest possible gratification
to me to think that you have found my book worth reading
and reflection ; for you and three others I put down in my own
mind as the judges whose opinions I should value most of all.
My dear Gray, yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — I feel pretty sure, from my own experience, that if
you are led by your studies to keep the subject of the origin
of species before your mind, you will go further and further
in your belief. It took me long years, and I assure you I am

68 THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

astonished at the impression my book has made on many
minds. I fear twenty years ago, I should not have been half
as candid and open to conviction.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [January 31st, 1860],
My dear Hooker,— I have resolved to publish a little
sketch of the progress of opinion on the change of species.
Will you or Mrs. Hooker do me the favour to copy one
sentence out of Naudin's paper in the ' Revue Horticole,'
1852, p. 103, namely, that on his principle of Finalite. Can
you let me have it soon, with those confounded dashes over
the vowels put in carefully ? Asa Gray, I believe, is going to
get a second edition of my book, and I want to send this little
preface over to him soon. I did not think of the necessity of
having Naudin's sentence on finality, otherwise I would have
copied it.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — I shall end by just alluding to your Australian
Flora Introduction. What was the date of publication :
December 1859, or January i860? Please answer this.

My preface will also do for the French edition, which, /
believe, is agreed on

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

February [i860].

.... As the ' Origin ' now stands, Harvey's * is a good
hit against my talking so much of the insensibly fine grada-

* William Henry Harvey was descended from a Quaker family of
Youghal, and was born in February, 181 1, at Summerville, a country
house on the banks of the Shannon. He died at Torquay in 1866. In
1835, Harvey went to Africa (Table Bay) to pursue his botanical studies,
the results of which were given in his 'Genera of South African Plants.
In 1838, ill-health compelled him to obtain leave of absence, and return

i860.] DR. HARVEY. 69

tions ; and certainly it has astonished me that I should be
pelted with the fact, that I had not allowed abrupt and great
enough variations under nature. It would take a good deal
more evidence to make me admit that forms have often
changed by sal turn.

Have you seen Wollaston's attack in the ' Annals ' ? * The
stones are beginning to fly. But Theology has more to do
with these two attacks than Science. . . .

[In the above letter a paper by Harvey in the Gardeners"
Chronicle, Feb. 18, i860, is alluded to. He describes a case
of monstrosity in Begonia frigida, in which the " sport " dif-
fered so much from a normal Begonia that it might have
served as the type of a distinct natural order. Harvey goes
on to argue that such a case is hostile to the theory of natural
selection, according to which changes are not supposed to
take place per saltum, and adds that "a few such cases would
overthrow it [Mr. Darwin's hypothesis] altogether." In the
following number of the Gardeners' Chronicle Sir J. D. Hooker
showed that Dr. Harvey had misconceived the bearing of the
Begonia case, which he further showed to be by no means
calculated to shake the validity of the doctrine of modification
by means of natural selection. My father mentions the Be-
gonia case in a letter to Lyell (Feb. 18, i860) : —

" I send by this post an attack in the Gardeners' Chronicle,
by Harvey (a first-rate Botanist, as you probably know). It
seems to me rather strange ; he assumes the permanence of
monsters, whereas, monsters are generally sterile, and not

to England for a time ; in 1840 he returned to Cape Town, to be again
compelled by illness to leave. In 1843 he obtained the appointment of
Botanical Professor at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1854, 1855, and 1856
he visited Australia, New Zealand, the Friendly and Fiji Islands. In
1857 Dr. Harvey reached home, and was appointed the successor of Pro-
fessor Allman to the Chair of Botany in Dublin University. He was
author of several botanical works, principally on Algae. — (From a Memoir
published in 1869.)

* 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' i860.

j0 THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

often inheritable. But grant his case, it comes that I have
been too cautious in not admitting great and sudden varia-
tions. Here again comes in the mischief of my abstract. In
the fuller MS, I have discussed a parallel case of a normal
fish like the monstrous gold-fish. "
•
With reference to Sir J. D. Hooker's reply, my father
wrote :]

Down [February 26th, i860].

My dear Hooker, — Your answer to Harvey seems to me
admirably good. You would have made a gigantic fortune as
a barrister. What an omission of Harvey's about the gradu-
ated state of the flowers ! But what strikes me most is that
surely I ought to know my own book best, yet, by Jove, you
have brought forward ever so many arguments which I did
not think of! Your reference to classification (viz. I pre-
sume to such cases as Aspicarpa) is excellent, for the mons-
trous Begonia no doubt in all details would be Begonia. I
did not think of this, nor of the retrograde step from separ-
ated sexes to an hermaphrodite state ; nor of the lessened
fertility of the monster. Proh pudor to me.

The world would say what a lawyer has been lost in a mere
botanist !

Farewell, my dear master in my own subject,

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

I am so heartily pleased to see that you approve of the
chapter on Classification.

I wonder what Harvey will say. But no one hardly, I
think, is able at first to see when he is beaten in an argument.

[The following letters refer to the first translation (i860)
of the ' Origin of Species ' into German, which was superin-
tended by H. G. Bronn, a good zoologist and palaeontologist,
who was at the time at Freiburg, but afterwards Professor at
Heidelberg. I have been told that the translation was not a

i860.] GERMAN TRANSLATION. j\

success, it remained an obvious translation, and was cor-
respondingly unpleasant to read. Bronn added to the trans-
lation an appendix of the difficulties that occurred to him.
For instance, how can natural selection account for differ-
ences between species, when these differences appear to be of
no service to their possessors ; e. g., the length of the ears and
tail, or the folds in the enamel of the teeth of various species
of rodents? Krause, in his book, 'Charles Darwin,' p. 91,
criticises Bronn's conduct in this matter, but it will be seen
that my father actuilly suggested the addition of Bronn's re-
marks. A more serious charge against Bronn made by Krause
{op. cit. p. 87) is that he left out passages of which he did not
approve, as, for instance, the passage (' Origin/ first edition,
p. 488) " Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his
history." I have no evidence as to whether my father did or
did not know of these alterations.]

C. Darwin to H. G. Bronn.

Down, Feb. 4 [i860].

Dear and much honoured Sir, — I thank you sincerely
for your most kind letter; I feared that you would much dis-
approve of the l Origin,' and I sent it to you merely as a mark
of my sincere respect. I shall read with much interest your
work on the productions of Islands whenever I receive it. I
thank you cordially for the notice in the i Neues Jahrbuch
fur Mineralogie,' and still more for speaking to Schweitzer-
bart about a translation ; for I am most anxious that the great
and intellectual German people should know something about
my book.

I have told my publisher to send immediately a copy of
the new* edition to Schweitzerbart, and I have written to
Schweitzerbart that I gave up all right to profit for myself, so
that I hope a translation will appear. I fear that*the book
will be difficult to translate, and if you could advise Schweit-
zerbart about a good translator, it would be of very great

* Second edition.

72 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

service. Still more, if you would run your eye over the more
difficult parts of the translation ; but this is too great a favour
to expect. I feel sure that it will be difficult to translate,
from being so much condensed.

Again I thank you for your noble and generous sympathy,
and I remain, with entire respect,

Yours, truly obliged,

C. Darwin.

P. S. — The new edition has some few corrections, and I
will send in MS. some additional corrections, and a short his-
torical preface, to Schweitzerbart.

How interesting you could make the work by editing (I do
not mean translating) the work, and appending notes of refu-
tation or confirmation. The book has sold so very largely in
England, that an editor would, I think, make profit by the
translation.

•
C. Darwin to H. G. Bronn.

Down, Feb. 14 [i860].
My dear and much honoured Sir, — I thank you cor-
dially for your extreme kindness in superintending the trans-
lation. I have mentioned this to some eminent scientific men,
and they all agree that you have done a noble and generous
service. If I am proved quite wrong, yet I comfort myself
in thinking that my book may do some good, as truth can
only be known by rising victorious from every attack. I
thank you also much for the review, and for the kind manner
in which you speak of me. I send with this letter some cor-
rections and additions to M. Schweitzerbart, and a short his-
torical preface. I am not much acquainted with German
authors, as I read German very slowly ; therefore I do not
know whether any Germans have advocated similar views
with mine ; if they have, would you do me the favour to in-
sert a foot-note to the preface ? M. Schweitzerbart has now
the reprint ready for a translator to begin. Several scientific
men have thought the term " Natural Selection " good, be-

i860.] GERMAN TRANSLATION. 73

cause its meaning is not obvious, and each man could not put
on it his own interpretation, and because it at once connects
variation under domestication and nature. Is there any anal-
ogous term used by German breeders of animals ? " Adelung,"
ennobling, would, perhaps, be too metaphorical. It is folly
in me, but I cannot help doubting whether " Wahl der Lebens-
weise " expresses my notion. It leaves the impression on my
mind of the Lamarckian doctrine (which I reject) of habits of
life being all-important. Man has altered, and thus improved
the English race-horse by selecting successive fleeter individ-
uals ; and I believe, owing to the struggle for existence, that
similar slight variations in a wild horse, if advantageous to ity
would be selected ox preserved by nature ; hence Natural Selec-
tion. But I apologise for troubling you with these remarks
on the importance of choosing good German terms for " Nat-
ural Selection/' With my heartfelt thanks, and with sincere
respect,

I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin,

C. Darwin to H. G. Bronn.

Down, July 14 [1860J.
Dear and honoured Sir,— -On my return home, after an
absence of some time, I found the translation of the third
part* of the 'Origin,' and I have been delighted to see a final
chapter of criticisms by yourself. I have read the first few
paragraphs and final paragraph, and am perfectly contented,
indeed more than contented, with the generous and candid
spirit with which you have considered my views. You speak
with too much praise of my work. I shall, of course, care-
fully read the whole chapter ; but though I can read descrip-
tive books like Gaertner's pretty easily, when any reasoning
comes in, I find German excessively difficult to understand.
At some future time I should very much like to hear how my

* The German translation was published in three pamphlet-like
numbers.

74 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

book has been received in Germany, and I most sincerely
hope M. Schweitzerbart will not lose money by the publica-
tion. Most of the reviews have been bitterly opposed to me
in England, yet I have made some converts, and several
naturalists who would not believe in a word of it, are now
coming slightly round, and admit that natural selection may
have done something. This gives me hope that more will
ultimately come round to a certain extent to my views.

I shall ever consider myself deeply indebted to you for the
immense service and honour which you have conferred on me
in making the excellent translation of my book. Pray believe
me, with most sincere respect,

Dear Sir, yours gratefully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down [February 12th, i860].

... I think it was a great pity that Huxley wasted so
much time in the lecture on the preliminary remarks ; . . .
but his lecture seemed to me very fine and very bold. I have
remonstrated (and he agrees) against the impression that he
would leave, that sterility was a universal and infallible cri-
terion of species.

You will, I am sure, make a grand discussion on man. I
am so glad to hear that you and Lady Lyell will come here.
Pray fix your own time ; and if it did not suit us we would
say so. We could then discuss man well. . . .

How much I owe to you and Hooker ! I do not suppose
I should hardly ever have published had it not been for you.

[The lecture referred to in the last letter was given at the
Royal Institution, February 10, i860. The following letter
was written in reply to Mr. Huxley's request for information
about breeding, hybridisation, &c. It is of interest as giving
a vivid retrospect of the writer's experience on the subject.]

i860.] PIGEON FANCIERS. 75

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Ilkley, Yorks, Nov. 27 [1859].

My Dear Huxley, — Gartner grand, Kolreuter grand, but
papers scattered through many volumes and very lengthy. I
had to make an abstract of the whole. Herbert's volume on
Amaryllidaceae very good, and two excellent papers in the
' Horticultural Journal/ For animals, no resume to be trusted
at all ; facts are to be collected from all original sources.*
I fear my MS. for the bigger book (twice or thrice as long
as in present book), with all references, would be illegible,
but it would save you infinite labour ; of course I would
gladly lend it, but I have no copy, so care would have to be
taken of it. But my accursed handwriting would be fatal, I
fear.

About breeding, I know of no one book. I did not think
well of Lowe, but I can name none better. Youatt I look at
as a far better and more practical authority ; but then his views
and facts are scattered through three or four thick volumes.
I have picked up most by reading really numberless special
treatises and all agricultural and horticultural journals ; but
it is a work of long years. The difficulty is to know what to
trust. No one or two statements are worth a farthing; the
facts are so complicated. I hope and think I have been
really cautious in what I state on this subject, although all

* This caution is exemplified in the following extract from an earlier
letter to Professor Huxley : — " The inaccuracy of the blessed gang (of
which I am one) of compilers passes all bounds. Monsters have frequently
been described as hybrids without a tittle of evidence. I must give one
other case to show how we jolly fellows work. A Belgian Baron (I forget
his name at this moment) crossed two distinct geese and got seven hybrids,
which he proved subsequently to be quite sterile ; well, compiler the first,
Chevreul, says that the hybrids were propagated for seven generations
inter se. Compiler second (Morton) mistakes the French name, and gives
Latin names for two more distinct geese, and says Chevreul himself propa-
gated them inter se for seven generations ; and the latter statement is
copied from book to book."
42

76 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

that I have given, as yet, is far too briefly. I have found it
very important associating with fanciers and breeders. For
instance, I sat one evening in a gin palace in the Borough
amongst a set of pigeon fanciers, when it was hinted that
Mr. Bull had crossed his Pouters with Runts to gain size; and
if you had seen the solemn, the mysterious, and awful shakes
of the head which all the fanciers gave at this scandalous
proceeding, you would have recognised how little crossing
has had to do with improving breeds, and how dangerous for
endless generations the process was. All this was brought
home far more vividly than by pages of mere statements, &c.
But I am scribbling foolishly. I really do not know how to
advise about getting up facts on breeding and improving
breeds. Go to Shows is one way. Read all treatises on any
one domestic animal, and believe nothing without largely
confirmed. For your lectures I can give you a few amusing
anecdotes and sentences, if you want to make the audience
laugh.

I thank you particularly for telling me what naturalists
think. If we can once make a compact set of believers we
shall in time conquer. I am eminently glad Ramsey is on
our side, for he is, in my opinion, a first-rate geologist. I sent
him a copy. I hope he got it. I shall be very curious to
hear whether any effect has been produced on Prestwich ; I
sent him a copy, not as a friend, but owing to a sentence or
two in some paper, which made me suspect he was doubting.

Rev. C. Kingsley has a mind to come round. Quatrefages
writes that he goes some long way with me ; says he exhibited
diagrams like mine. With most hearty thanks,

Yours very tired, .

C. Darwin.

[I give the conclusion of Professor Huxley's lecture, as
being one of the earliest, as well us one of the most eloquent
of his utterances in support of the ' Origin of Species' :

14 1 have said that the man of science is the sworn inter-
preter of nature in the high court of reason. But of what

186a] MR. HUXLEY'S LECTURE. jj

avail is his honest speech, if ignorance is the assessor of the
judge, and prejudice the foreman of the jury ? I hardly know
of a great physical truth, whose universal reception has not
been preceded by an epoch in which most estimable per-
sons have maintained that the phenomena investigated were
directly dependent on the Divine Will, and that the attempt
to investigate them was not only futile, but blasphemous.
And there is a wonderful tenacity of life about this sort of
opposition to physical science. Crushed and maimed in every
battle, it yet seems never to be slain ; and after a hundred
defeats it is at this day as rampant, though happily not so
mischievous, as in the time of Galileo.

"But to those whose life is spent, to use Newton's noble
words, in picking up here a pebble and there a pebble on the
shores of the great ocean of truth — who watch, day by day,
the slow but sure advance of that mighty tide, bearing on its
bosom the thousand treasures wherewith man ennobles and
beautifies his life — it would be laughable, if it were not so
sad, to see the little Canutes of the hour enthroned in solemn
state, bidding that great wave to stay, and threatening to
check its beneficent progress. The wave rises and they fly ;
but, unlike the brave old Dane, they learn no lesson of hu-
mility : the throne is pitched at what seems a safe distance,
and the folly is repeated.

" Surely it is the duty of the public to discourage anything
of this kind, to discredit these foolish meddlers who think
they do the Almighty a service by preventing a thorough study
of His works.

" The Origin of Species is not the first, and it will not be
the last, of the great questions born of science, which will
demand settlement from this generation. The general mind
is seething strangely, and to those who watch the signs of the
times, it seems plain that this nineteenth century will see revo-
lutions of thought and practice as great as those which the
sixteenth witnessed Through what trials and sore contests
the civilised world will rnve to pass in the course of this new
reformation, who can tell ?

J>8 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

" But I verily believe that come what will, the part which
England may play in the battle is a grand and a noble one.
She may prove to the world that, for one people, at any rate,
despotism and demagogy are not the necessary alternatives of
government; that freedom and order are not incompatible;
that reverence is the handmaid of knowledge; that free dis-
cussion is the life of truth, and of true unity in a nation.

" Will England play this part ? That depends upon how
you, the public, deal with science. Cherish her, venerate
her, follow her methods faithfully and implicitly in their ap-
plication to all branches of human thought, and the future of
this people will be greater than the past.

" Listen to those who would silence and crush her, and I
fear our children will see the glory of England vanishing like
Arthur in the mist ; they will cry too late the woful cry of
Guinever: —

1 It was my duty to have loved the highest ;
It surely was my profit had I known ;
It would have been my pleasure had I seen.' "]

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [February 15th, i860].

... I am perfectly convinced (having read this morning)

that the review in the ' Annals ' * is by Wollaston ; no one

else in the world would have used so many parentheses. I

have written to him, and told him that the " pestilent " fellow

* Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist, third series, vol. 5, p. 132. My father
has obviously taken the expression " pestilent " from the following passage
(p. 138) : " But who is this Nature, we have a right to ask, who has such
tremendous power, and to whose efficiency such marvellous performances
are ascribed ? What are her image and attributes, when dragged from her
wordy lurking-place ? Is she aught but a pestilent abstraction, like dust
cast in our eyes to obscure the workings of an Intelligent First Cause of
all ? " The reviewer pays a tribute to my father's candour, " so manly
and outspoken as almost to ' cover a multitude of sins.' " The parentheses
(to which allusion is made above) are so frequent as to give a characteristic
appearance to Mr. Wollaston's pages.

1860.J WOLLASTON'S REVIEW. 79

thanks him for his kind manner of speaking about him. I
have also told him that he would be pleased to hear that the
Bishop of Oxford says it is the most unphilosophical * work
he ever read. The review seems to me clever, and only, mis-
interprets me in a few places. Like all hostile men, he passes
over the explanation given of Classification, Morphology,
Embryology, and Rudimentary Organs, &c. I read Wallace's
paper in MS.,f and thought it admirably good ; he does not
know that he has been anticipated about the depth of inter-
vening s.ea determining distribution. . . . The most curious
point in the paper seems to me that about the African charac-
ter of the Celebes productions, but I should require further
confirmation. . . .

Henslow is staying here ; I have had some talk with him ;
he is in much the same state as Bunbury, J and will go a very
little way with us, but brings up no real argument against
going further. He also shudders at the eye ! It is really
curious (and perhaps is an argument in our favour) how differ-
ently different opposers view the subject. Henslow used to
rest his opposition on the imperfection of the Geological Rec-
ord, but he now thinks nothing of this, and says I have got
well out of it ; I wish I could quite agree with him. Baden
Powell says he never read anything so conclusive as my state-
ment about the eye ! ! A stranger writes to me about sexual
selection, and regrets that I boggle about such a trifle as the
brush of hair on the male turkey, and so on. As L. Jenyns
has a really philosophical mind, and as you say you like to
see everything, I send an old letter of his. In a later letter
to Henslow, which I have seen, he is more candid than any
opposer I have heard of, for he says, though he cannot go so
far as I do, yet he can give no good reason why he should not

* Another version of the words is given by Lyell, to whom they were
spoken, viz. " the most illogical book ever written." — ' Life,' vol. ii. p. 358.

\ " On the Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago." — Linn.
Soc. Journ. i860.

% The late Sir Charles Bunbury, well known as a Palseo-botanist.

g0 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

It is funny how each man draws his own imaginary line at
which to halt. It reminds me so vividly what I was told*
about you when I first commenced geology — to believe a
little y but on no account to believe all.

Ever yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray,

Down, February 1 8th [i860].
My dear Gray, — I received about a week ago two sheets
of your Review ; f read them, and sent them to Hooker ; they
are now returned and re-read with care, and to-morrow I
send them to Lyell. Your Review seems to me admirable ;
by far the best which I have read. I thank you from my
heart both for myself, but far more for the subject's sake.
Your contrast between the views of Agassiz and such as mine
is very curious and instructive. J By the way, if Agassiz
writes anything on the subject, I hope you will tell me. I am
charmed with your metaphor of the streamlet never running
against the force of gravitation. Your distinction between
an hypothesis and theory seems to me very ingenious ; but I
do not think it is ever followed. Every one now speaks of
the undulatory theory of light ; yet the ether is itself hypotheti-
cal, and the undulations are inferred only from explaining the
phenomena of light. Even in the theory of gravitation is the
attractive power in any way known, except by explaining the
fall of the apple, and the movements of the Planets ? It seems
to me that an hypothesis is developed into a theory solely by
explaining an ample lot of facts. Again and again I thank

* By Professor Henslow.

f The ' American Journal of Science and Arts,' March, i860. Re-
printed in ' Darwiniana,' 1876.

% The contrast is briefly summed up thus : " The theory of Agassiz re-
gards the origin of species and their present general distribution over the
world as equally primordial, equally supernatural ; that of Darwin as
equally derivative, equally natural." — ' Darwiniana,' p. 14.

i860.] CLERICAL OPINIONS. 8 1

you for your generous aid in discussing a view, about which
you very properly hold yourself unbiassed.

My dear Gray, yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — Several clergymen go far with me. Rev. L. Jenyns,
a very good naturalist. Henslow will go a very little way
with me, and is not shocked with me. He has just been
visiting me.

[With regard to the attitude of the more liberal repre-
sentatives of the Church, the following letter (already referred
to) from Charles Kingsley is of interest :]

C. Kingsley to C. Darwin.

Eversley Rectory, Winchfield,

November 18th, 1859.

Dear Sir, — I have to thank you for the unexpected
honour of your book. That the Naturalist whom, of all
naturalists living, I most wish to know and to learn from,
should have sent a scientist like me his book, encourages me
at least to observe more carefully, and think more slowly.

I am so poorly (in brain), that I fear I cannot read your
book just now as I ought. All I have seen of it awes me ;
both with the heap of facts and the prestige of your name,
and also with the clear intuition, that if you be right, I must
give up much that I have believed and written.

In that I care little. Let God be true, and every man a
liar ! Let us know what is, and, as old Socrates has it,
eweo-Oat rw Aoya>— follow up the villainous shifty fox of an ar-
gument, into whatsoever unexpected bogs and brakes he may
lead us, if we do but run into him at last.

From two common superstitions, at least, I shall be free
while judging of your books : —

(1.) I have long since, from watching the crossing of do-
mesticated animals and plants, learnt to disbelieve the dogma
of the permanence of species.

g2 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

(2.) I have gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble
a conception of Deity, to believe that he created primal
forms capable of self development into all forms needful pro
te?npore and pro loco, as to believe that He required a fresh
act of intervention to supply the lacunas which He Himself
had made. I question whether the former be not the loftier
thought.

Be it as it may, I shall prize your book, both for itself,

and as a proof that you are aware of the existence of such a

person as

Your faithful servant,

C. Kingsley.

[My father's old friend, the Rev. J. Brodie Innes, of Mil-
ton Brodie, who was for many years Vicar of Down, writes
in the same spirit :

" We never attacked each other. Before I knew Mr. Dar-
win I had adopted, and publicly expressed, the principle that
the study of natural history, geology, and science in general,
should be pursued without reference to the Bible, That the
Book of Nature and Scripture came from the same Divine
source, ran in parallel lines, and when properly understood
would never cross

" His views on this subject were very much to the same
effect from his side. Of course any conversations we may
have had on purely religious subjects are as sacredly private
now as in his life ; but the quaint conclusion of one may be
given. We had been speaking of the apparent contradiction
of some supposed discoveries with the Book of Genesis ; he
said, ' you are (it would have been more correct to say you
ought to be) a theologian, I am a naturalist, the lines are
separate. I endeavour to discover facts without considering
what is said in the Book of Genesis. I do not attack Moses^
and I think Moses can take care of himself/ To the same
effect he wrote more recently, 'I cannot remember that I
ever published a word directly against religion or the clergy;
but if you were to read a little pamphlet which I received a

i860.] CLERICAL OPINIONS. 83

couple of days ago by a clergyman, you would laugh, and ad-
mit that I had some excuse for bitterness. After abusing me
for two or three pages, in language sufficiently plain and em-
phatic to have satisfied any reasonable man, he sums up by
saying that he has vainly searched the English language to
find terms to express his contempt for me and all Darwini-
ans.' In another letter, after I had left Down, he writes,
4 We often differed, but you are one of those rare mortals
from whom one can differ and yet feel no shade of animosity,
and that is a thing [of] which I should feel very proud, if any
one could say [it] of me.'

" On my last visit to Down, Mr. Darwin said, at his din-
ner-table, ' Brodie Innes and I have been fast friends for
thirty years, and we never thoroughly agreed on any subject
but once, and then we stared hard at each other, and thought
one of us must be very ill.' "]

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, February 23rd [i860].

My dear Lyell, — That is a splendid answer of the
father of Judge Crompton. How curious that the Judge
should have hit on exactly the same points as yourself. It
shows me what a capital lawyer you would have made, how
many unjust acts you would have made appear just ! But
how much grander a field has science been than the law,
though the latter might have made you Lord Kinnordy. I
will, if there be another edition, enlarge on gradation in the
eye, and on all forms coming from one prototype, so as to
try and make both less glaringly improbable. . . .

With respect to Bronn's objection that it cannot be shown
how life arises, and likewise to a certain extent Asa Gray's
remark that natural selection is not a vera causa, I was much
interested by finding accidentally in Brewster's ' Life of
Newton,' that Leibnitz objected to the law of gravity because
Newton could not show what gravity itself is. As it has
chanced, I have used in letters this very same argument,

84 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

little knowing that any one had really thus objected to the
law of gravity Newton answers by saying that it is philoso-
phy to make out the movements of a clock, though you do
not know why the weight descends to the ground. Leibnitz
further objected that the law of gravity was opposed to Natu-
ral Religion ! Is this not curious ? I really think I shall use
the facts for some introductory remarks for my bigger book.

. . . You ask (I see) why we do not have monstrosities in
higher animals ; but when they live they are almost always
sterile (even giants and dwarfs are generally sterile), and we
do not know that Harvey's monster would have bred. There
is I believe only one case on record of a peloric flower be-
ing fertile, and I cannot remember whether this reproduced
itself.

To recur to the eye. I really think it would have been
dishonest, not to have faced the difficulty ; and worse (as
Talleyrand would have said), it would have been impolitic I
think, for it would have been thrown in my teeth, as H. Hol-
land threw the bones of the ear, till Huxley shut him up by
showing what a fine gradation occurred amongst living crea-
tures.

I thank you much for your most pleasant letter.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — I send a letter by Herbert Spencer, which you can
read or not as you think fit. He puts, to my mind, the phi-
losophy of the argument better than almost any one, at the
close of the letter. I could make nothing of Dana's idealistic
notions about species; but then, as Wollaston says, I have
not a metaphysical head.

By the way, I have thrown at Wollaston's head, a paper
by Alexander Jordan, who demonstrates metaphysically that
all our cultivated races are God-created species.

Wollaston misrepresents "accidentally, to a wonderful ex-
tent, some passages in my book. He reviewed, without relook-
ing at certain passages.

i860.] PROGRESS OF OPINION. 85

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, February 25th [i860].
.... I cannot help wondering at your zeal about my
book. I declare to heaven you seem to care as much about
my book as I do myself. You have no right to be so
eminently unselfish ! I have taken off my spit [/. e. file] a
letter of Ramsay's, as every geologist convert I think very
important. By the way, I saw some time ago a letter from
H. D. Rogers * to Huxley, in which he goes very far with
us. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Saturday, March 3rd, [i860].

My dear Hooker, — What a day's work you had on that
Thursday ! I was not able to go to London till Monday, and
then I was a fool for going, for, on Tuesday night, I had an
attack of fever (with a touch of pleurisy), which came on
like a lion, but went off as a lamb, but has shattered me a
good bit.

I was much interested by your last note. ... I think you
expect too much in regard to change of opinion on the sub-
ject of Species. One large class of men, more especially I
suspect of naturalists, never will care about any general ques-
tion, of which old Gray, of the British Museum, may be taken
as a type ; and secondly, nearly all men past a moderate age,
either in actual years or in mind, are, I am fully convinced,
incapable of looking at facts under a new point of view.
Seriously, I am astonished and rejoiced at the progress which
the subject has made ; look at the enclosed memorandum.!

says my book will be forgotten in ten years, perhaps so ;

but, with such a list, I feel convinced the subject will not
The outsiders, as you say, are strong.

* Professor of Geology in the University of Glasgow. Born in the
United States 1809, died 1866.
f See table of names, p. 87.

86 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

You say that you think that Benthan is touched, " but,
like a wise man, holds his tongue." Perhaps you only mean
that he cannot decide, otherwise I should think such silence
the reverse of magnanimity ; for if others behaved the same
way, how would opinion ever progress ? It is a dereliction of
actual duty.*

I am so glad to hear about Thwaites.f ... I have had an
astounding letter from Dr. Boott ; J it might be turned into
ridicule against him and me, so I will not send it to any one.
He writes in a noble spirit of love of truth.

I wonder what Lindley thinks ; probably too busy to read
or think on the question.

I am vexed about Bentham's reticence, for it would have
been of real value to know what parts appeared weakest to a
man of his powers of observation.

Farewell, my dear Hooker, yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — Is not Harvey in the class of men who do not at all
care for generalities? I remember your saying you could
not get him to write on Distribution. I have found his works
very unfruitful in every respect.

[Here follows the memorandum referred to :]

* In a subsequent letter to Sir J. D. Hooker (March 12th, i860), my
father wrote, " I now quite understand Bentham's silence."

f Dr. G. J. K. Thwaites, who was born in 181 1, established a reputa-
tion in this country as an expert microscopist, and an acute observer, work-
ing especially at cryptogamic botany. On his appointment as Director of
the Botanic Gardens at Peradenyia, Ceylon, Dr. Thwaites devoted himself
to the flora of Ceylon. As a result of this he has left numerous and valu-
able collections, a description of which he embodied in his ' Enumeratio
Plantarum Zeylaniae ' (1864). Dr. Thwaites was a Fellow of the Linnean
Society, but beyond the above facts little seems to have been recorded of
his life. His death occurred in Ceylon on September nth, 1882, in his
seventy-second year. Athen<zurn, October 14th, 1882, p. 500.

% The letter is enthusiastically laudatory, and obviously full of genuine
feeling.

i860.]

LIST OF EVOLUTIONISTS.

87

Geologists.

Lyell.
Ramsay.*
Jukes.f
H. D. Rogers.

Zoologists and
Palaeontologists.

Huxley.

J. Lubbock.

L. Jenyns
(to large extent).

Searles Wood 4

Physiologists.

Carpenter.

Sir H. Holland
(to large extent).

Botanists.

Hooker.

H. C, Watson.

Asa Gray
(to some extent).

Dr. Boott
(to large extent),

ThwaiteSo

[The following letter is of interest in connection with the
mention of Mr. Bentham in the last letter :]

G. Bentham to Francis Darwin.

25 Wilton Place, S. W.,

May 30th, 1882.

My dear Sir, — In compliance with your note which I re-
ceived last night, I send herewith the letters I have from your
father. I should have done so on seeing the general request
published in the papers, but that I did not think there were
any among them which could be of any use to you. Highly
flattered as I was by the kind and friendly notice with which
Mr. Darwin occasionally honoured me, I was never admitted
into his intimacy, and he therefore never made any com-
munications to me in relation to his views and labours. I
have been throughout one of his most sincere admirers, and

* Andrew Ramsay, late Director-General of the Geological Survey.

f Joseph Beete Jukes, M. A., F. R. S., born 1811, died 1869. He was
educated at Cambridge, and from 1842 to 1846 he acted as naturalist to
H. M. S. Fly, on an exploring expedition in Australia and New Guinea.
He was afcerwards appointed Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland.
He was the author of many papers, and of more than one good hand-book
of geology.

% Searles Valentine Wood, born Feb. 14, T798, died 1880. Chiefly
known for his work on the Mollusca of the ' Crag.'

8 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

fully adopted his theories and conclusions, notwithstanding
the severe pain and disappointment they at first occasioned
me. On the day that his celebrated paper was read at the
Linnean Society, July 1st, 1858, a long paper of mine had
been set down for reading, in which, in commencing on the
British Flora, I had collected a number of observations and
facts illustrating what I then believed to be a fixity in species,
however difficult it might be to assign their limits, and show-
ing a tendency of abnormal forms produced by cultivation
or otherwise, to withdraw within those original limits when
left to themselves. Most fortunately my paper had to give
way to Mr. Darwin's and when once that was read, I felt
bound to defer mine for reconsideration ; I began to enter-
tain doubts on the subject, and on the appearance of the
' Origin of Species/ I was forced, however reluctantly, to
give up my long-cherished convictions, the results of much
labour and study, and I cancelled all that part of my paper
which urged original fixity, and published only portions of
the remainder in another form, chiefly in the ' Natural History
Review/ I have since acknowledged on various occasions
my full adoption of Mr. Darwin's views, and chiefly in my
Presidential Address of 1863, and in my thirteenth and last
address, issued in the form of a report to the British Associa-
tion at its meeting at Belfast in 1874.

I prize so highly the letters that I have of Mr. Darwin's,
that I should feel obliged by your returning them to me when
you have done with them. Unfortunately I have not kept
the envelopes, and Mr. Darwin usually only dated them by
the month not by the year, so that they are not in any

chronological order.

Yours very sincerely,
George Bentham.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [March] 12th [i860].
My dear Lyell, — Thinking over what we talked about,
the high state of intellectual development of the old Grecians

i860.] EVOLUTION AND HISTORY. 89

with the little or no subsequent improvement, being an appa-
rent difficulty, it has just occurred to me that in fact the case
harmonises perfectly with our views. The case would be a
decided difficulty on the Lamarckian or Vestigian doctrine
of necessary progression, but on the view which I hold of
progression depending on the conditions, it is no objection at
all, and harmonises with the other facts of progression in
the corporeal structure of other animals. For in a state of
anarchy, or despotism, or bad government, or after irruption
of barbarians, force, strength, or ferocity, and not intellect,
would be apt to gain the day.

We have so enjoyed your and Lady LyeH's visit.

Good-night.

C. Darwin.

P.S. — By an odd chance (for I had not alluded even to the
subject) the ladies attacked me this evening, and threw the
high state of old Grecians into my teeth, as an unanswerable
difficulty, but by good chance I had my answer all pat, and
silenced them. Hence I have thought it worth scribbling to
you. . . .

C. Darwin to J. Presiwich*

Down, March 12th [i860].

... At some future time, when you have a little leisure,
and when you have read my ' Origin of Species/ I should
esteem it a singular favour if you would send me any general
criticisms. I do not mean of unreasonable length, but such
as you could include in a letter. I have always admired your
various memoirs so much that I should be eminently glad to
receive your opinion, which might be of real service to me.

Pray do not suppose that I expect to convert or pervert
you ; if I could stagger you in ever so slight a degree I
should be satisfied ; nor fear to annoy me by severe criticisms,
for I have had some hearty kicks from some of my best

* Now Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford.

go THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

friends. If it would not be disagreeable to you to send me
your opinion, I certainly should be truly obliged. . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, April 3rd [1S60],
.... I remember well the time when the thought of the
eye made me cold all over, but I have got over this stage of
the complaint, and now small trifling particulars of structure
often make me very uncomfortable. The sight of a feather
in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick ! . . .
You may like to hear about reviews on my book. Sedg-
wick (as I and Lyell feel certain from internal evidence) has
reviewed me savagely and unfairly in the Spectator* The
notice includes much abuse, and is hardly fair in several
respects. He would actually lead any one, who was ignorant
of geology, to suppose that I had invented the great gaps
between successive geological formations, instead of its being
an almost universally admitted dogma. But my dear old
friend Sedgwick, with his noble heart, is old, and is rabid with
indignation. It is hard to please every one ; you may re-
member that in my last letter I asked you to leave out
about the Weald denudation : I told Jukes this (who is head
man of the Irish geological survey), and he blamed me much,
for he believed every word of it, and thought it not at all
exaggerated ! In fact, geologists have no means of gauging
the infinitude of past time. There has been one prodigy of a
review, namely, an opposed one (by Pictet,f the palaeontologist,
in the Bib. Universelle of Geneva) which is perfectly fair and

* See the quotations which follow the present letter.

f Francois Jules Pictet, in the ' Archives des Sciences de la Biblio-
theque Universelle,' Mars i860. The article is written in a courteous and
considerate tone, and concludes by saying that the ' Origin ' will be of
real value to naturalists, especially if they are not led away by its seduc-
tive arguments to believe in the dangerous doctrine of modification. A
passage which seems to have struck my father as being valuable, and op-
posite which he has made double pencil marks and written the word
"good," is worth quoting: " La theorie de M. Darwin s'accorde mal avec

i860.] PICTET.— SEDGWICK. gj.

just, and I agree to every word he says ; our only difference
being that he attaches less weight to arguments in favour,
and more to arguments opposed, than I do. Of all the op-
posed reviews, I think this the only quite fair one, and I never
expected to see one. Please observe that I do not class your
review by any means as opposed, though you think so your-
self ! It has done me much too good service ever to appear
in that rank in my eyes. But I fear I shall weary you with
so much about my book. I should rather think there was a
good chance of my becoming the most egotistical man in all
Europe ! What a proud pre-eminence ! Well, you have
helped to make me so and therefore you must forgive me if
you can.

My dear Gray, ever yours most gratefully,

C. Darwin.

[In a letter to Sir Charles Lyell reference is made to
Sedgwick's review in the Spectator. March 24 :

" 1 now feel certain that Sedgwick is the author of the
article in the Spectator. No one else could use such abusive
terms. And what a misrepresentation of my notions ! Any
ignoramus would suppose that I had first broached the doc-
trine, that the breaks between successive formations marked
long intervals of time. It is very unfair. But poor dear old
Sedgwick seems rabid on the question. " Demoralised under-
standing ! " If ever I talk with him I will tell him that I
never could believe that an inquisitor could be a good man ;
but now I know that a man may roast another, and yet have
as kind and noble a heart as Sedgwick's."

The following passages are taken from the review :

" I need hardly go on any further with these objections.
But I cannot conclude without expressing my detestation of

l'liistoire des types a formes bien tranchees et definies qui paraissent
n'avoir vecu que pendant un temps limite. On en pourrait citer des cen-
taines d'exemples, tel que les reptiles volants, les ichthyosaures, les be-
lemnites, les ammonites, &c." Pictet was born in 1809, died 1872 ; he
was Professor of Anatomy and Zoology at Geneva.

43

Q2 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

the theory, because of its unflinching materalism ; — because
it has deserted the inductive track, the only track that leads
to physical truth ; — because it utterly repudiates final causes,
and thereby indicates a demoralised understanding on the
part of its advocates.,,

" Not that I believe that Darwin is an atheist ; though I
cannot but regard his materialism as atheistical. I think it
untrue, because opposed to the obvious course of nature, and
the very opposite of inductive truth. And I think it intensely
mischievous. "

u Each series of facts is laced together by a series of
assumptions, and repetitions of the one false principle. You
cannot make a good rope out of a string of air bubbles."

" But any startling and (supposed) novel paradox, main-
tained very boldly and with something of imposing plausi-
bility, produces in some minds a kind of pleasing excitement
which predisposes them in its favour ; and if they are unused
to careful reflection, and averse to the labour of accurate in-
vestigation, they will be likely to conclude that what is
(apparently) original, must be a production of original genius,
and that anything very much opposed to prevailing notions
must be a grand discovery, — in short, that whatever comes
from the ' bottom of a well ' must be the ' truth ' supposed to
be hidden there."

In a review in the December number of i Macmillan's
Magazine/ i860, Fawcett vigorously defended my father from
the charge of employing a false method of reasoning ; a charge
which occurs in Sedgwick's review, and was made at the time
ad nauseam, in such phrases as : " This is not the true
Baconian method. " Fawcett repeated his defence at the
meeting of the British Association in 1861.*]

* See an interesting letter from my father in Mr. Stephen's * Life of
Henry Fawcett,' 1886, p. 101.

i860.] DR. CARPENTER. 93

C. Darwin to W. B. Carpenter.

Down, April 6th [i860].
My dear Carpenter, — I have this minute finished your
review in the ' Med. Chirurg. Review/* You must let me
express my admiration at this most able essay, and I hope to
God it will be largely read, for it must produce a great effect.
I ought not, however, to express such warm admiration, for
you give my book, I fear, far too much praise. But you have
gratified me extremely ; and though I hope I do not care
very much for the approbation of the non-scientific readers, I
cannot say that this is at all so with respect to such few men
as yourself. I have not a criticism to make, for I object to
not a word ; and I admire all, so that I cannot pick out one
part as better than the rest. It is all so well balanced. But
it is impossible not to be struck with your extent of knowl-
edge in geology, botany, and zoology. The extracts which
you give from Hooker seem to me excellently chosen, and most
forcible. I am so much pleased in what you say also about
Lyell. In fact I am in a fit of enthusiasm, and had better
write no more. With cordial thanks,

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, April 10th [i860].
My dear Lyell, — Thank you much for your note of the
4th ; I am very glad to hear that you are at Torquay. I
should have amused myself earlier by writing to you, but I
have had Hooker and Huxley staying here, and they have
fully occupied my time, as a little of anything is a full dose
for me. . . . There has been a plethora of reviews, and I am
really quite sick of myself. There is a very long review by
Carpenter in the i Medical and Chirurg. Review/ very good

* April i860.

g4 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

and well balanced, but not brilliant. He discusses Hooker's
books at as great length as mine, and makes excellent ex-
tracts ; but I could not get Hooker to feel the least interest
in being praised.

Carpenter speaks of you in thoroughly proper terms.
There is a brilliant review by Huxley,* with capital hits, but
I do not know that he much advances the subject. I think
I have convinced him that he has hardly allowed weight
enough to the case of varieties of plants being in some degrees
sterile.

To diverge from reviews : Asa Gray sends me from Wy-
man (who will write), a good case of all the pigs being black
in the Everglades of Virginia. On asking about the cause, it
seems (I have got capital analogous cases) that when the
black pigs eat a certain nut their bones become red, and they
suffer to a certain extent, but that the white pigs lose their
hoofs and perish, " and we aid by selection, for we kill most
of the young white pigs." This was said by men who could
hardly read. By the way, it is a great blow to me that you
cannot admit the potency of natural selection. The more I
think of it, the less I doubt its power for great and small
changes. I have just read the l Edinburgh,' f which without

doubt is by . It is extremely malignant, clever, and I

fear will be very damaging. He is atrociously severe on
Huxley's lecture, and very bitter against Hooker. So we
three enjoyed it together. Not that I really enjoyed it, for it
made me uncomfortable for one night; but I have got quite
over it to-day. It requires much study to appreciate all the
bitter spite of many of the remarks against me ; indeed I did
not discover all myself. It scandalously misrepresents many
parts. He misquotes some passages, altering words within
inverted commas. . . .

It is painful to be hated in the intense degree with which
hates me.

* Westminster Review,' April i860,
f .' Edinburgh Review,' April i860.

i860.! THE 'EDINBURGH REVIEW/ 95

Now for a curious thing about my book, and then I have
done. In last Saturday's Gardeners' Chronicle* a Mr. Patrick
Matthew publishes a long extract from his work on ' Naval
Timber and Arboriculture/ published in 1831, in which he
briefly but completely anticipates the theory of Natural Selec-
tion. I have ordered the book, as some few passages are
rather obscure, but it is certainly, I think, a complete but
not developed anticipation ! Erasmus always said that surely
this would be shown to be the case some day. Anyhow, one
may be excused in not having discovered the fact in a work
on Naval Timber.

I heartily hope that your Torquay work may be success-
ful. Give my kindest remembrances to Falconer, and I hope
he is pretty well. Hooker and Huxley (with Mrs. Huxley)
were extremely pleasant. But poor dear Hooker is tired to
death of my book, and it is a marvel and a prodigy if you are
not worse tired — if that be possible. Farewell, my dear

Lyell,

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [April 13th, i860].
My dear Hooker, — Questions of priority so often lead
to odious quarrels, that I should esteem it a great favour if
you would read the enclosed, f If you think it proper that I

* April 7th, i860.

f My father wrote [Gardeners' Chronicle, i860, p. 362, April 21st) : " I
have been much interested by Mr. Patrick Matthew's communication in
the number of your paper dated April 7th. I freely acknowledge that Mr.
Matthew has anticipated by many years the explanation which I have
offered of the origin of species, under the name of natural selection. I
think that no one will feel surprised that neither I, nor apparently any
other naturalist, had heard of Mr. Matthew's views, considering how brief-
ly they are given, and that they appeared in the appendix to a work on
Naval Timber and Arboriculture. I can do no more than offer my apol-
ogies to Mr. Matthew for my entire ignorance of this publication. If an-

96 THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

should send it (and of this there can hardly be any question),
and if you think it full and ample enough, please alter the
date to the day on which you post it, and let that be soon.
The case in the Gardeners' Chronicle seems a little stronger
than in Mr. Matthew's book, for the passages are therein
scattered in three places ; but it would be mere hair-splitting
to notice that. If you object to my letter, please return it ;
but I do not expect that you will, but I thought that you
would not object to run your eye over it. My dear Hooker,
it is a great thing for me to have so good, true, and old a
friend as you. I owe much for science to my friends.

Many thanks for Huxley's lecture. The latter part
seemed to be grandly eloquent,

... I have gone over [the ' Edinburgh '] review again,
and compared passages, and I am astonished at the misrepre-
sentations. But I am glad I resolved not to answer. Per-
haps it is selfish, but to answer and think more on the subject
is too unpleasant. I am so sorry that Huxley by my means
has been thus atrociously attacked. I do not suppose you
much care about the gratuitous attack on you.

Lyell in his letter remarked that you seemed to him as if
you were overworked. Do, pray, be cautious, and remember
how many and many a man has done this — who thought it
absurd till too late. I have often thought the same. You
know that you were bad enough before your Indian journey.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, April [i860].
My dear Lyell, — I was very glad to get your nice long
letter from Torquay. A press of letters prevented me writing

other edition of my work is called for, I will insert to the foregoing
effect." In spite of my father's recognition of his claims, Mr. Matthew re-
mained unsatisfied, and complained that an article in the 4 Saturday Ana-
lyst and Leader' was "scarcely fair in alluding to Mr. Darwin as the
parent of the origin of species, seeing that I published the whole that Mr.
Darwin attempts to prove, more than twenty-nine years ago." — Saturday
Analyst and Leader, Nov. 24, i860.

i860.] DESIGNED VARIATION. gy

to Wells. I was particularly glad to hear what you thought
about not noticing [the ' Edinburgh '] review. Hooker
and Huxley thought it a sort of duty to point out the altera-
tion of quoted citations, and there is truth in this remark ;
but I so hated the thought that I resolved not to do so. I
shall come up to London on Saturday the 14th, for Sir B.
Brodie's party, as I have an accumulation of things to do in
London, and will (if I do not hear to the contrary) call about
a quarter before ten on Sunday morning, and sit with you at
breakfast, but will not sit long, and so take up much of your
time. I must say one more word about our quasi-theological
controversy about natural selection, and let me have your
opinion when we meet in London. Do you consider that the
successive variations in the size of the crop of the Pouter
Pigeon, which man has accumulated to please his caprice,
have been due to "the creative and sustaining powers of
Brahma ? " In the sense that an omnipotent and omniscient
Deity must order and know everything, this must be admit-
ted ; yet, in honest truth, I can hardly admit it. It seems
preposterous that a maker of a universe should care about the
crop of a pigeon solely to please man's silly fancies. But if
you agree with me in thinking such an interposition of the
Deity uncalled for, I can see no reason whatever for believ-
ing in such interpositions in the case of natural beings, in
which strange and admirable peculiarities have been naturally
selected for the creature's own benefit. Imagine a Pouter
in a state of nature wading into the water and then, being
buoyed up by its inflated crop, sailing about in search of
food. What admiration this would have excited — adaptation
to the laws of hydrostatic pressure, &c. &c. For the life of
me I cannot see any difficulty in natural selection producing
the most exquisite structure, if such structure can be arrived at
by gradation, and I know from experience how hard it is to
name any structure towards which at least some gradations
are not known.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

98 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

P.S. — The conclusion at which I have come, as I have
told Asa Gray, is that such a question, as is touched on in
this note, is beyond the human intellect, like " predestination
and free will," or the " origin of evil."

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [April 18th, i860].

My dear Hooker, — I return 's letter. . . . Some of

my relations say it cannot possibly be 's article,* because

the reviewer speaks so very highly of . Poor dear sim-
ple folk ! My clever neighbour, Mr. Norman, says the arti-
cle is so badly written, with no definite object, that no one
will read it. . . . Asa Gray has sent me an article f from the
United States, clever, and dead against me. But one argu-
ment is funny. The reviewer says, that if the doctrine were
true, geological strata would be full of monsters which have
failed ! A very clear view this writer had of the struggle for
existence !

.... I am glad you like Adam Bede so much. I was
charmed with it. . . .

We think you must by mistake have taken with your own
numbers of the ' National Review ' my precious number. J
I wish you would look.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, April 25th [i860].
My dear Gray, — I have no doubt I have to thank you
for the copy of a review on the * Origin ' in the ' North

* The * Edinburgh Review.'

f ' North American Review,' April, i860. " By Professor Bowen," is
written on my father's copy. The passage referred to occurs at p. 488,
where the author says that we ought to find " an infinite number of other
varieties — gross, rude, and purposeless — the unmeaning creations of an un-
conscious cause."

% This no doubt refers to the January number, containing Dr. Car-
penter's review of the ' Origin.'

i860.] ' NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.' 99

American Review/ It seems to me clever, and I do not
doubt will damage my book. I had meant to have made
some remarks on it ; but Lyell wished much to keep it, and
my head is quite confused between the many reviews which
I have lately read. I am sure the reviewer is wrong about
bees' cells, i.e. about the distance ; any lesser distance would
do, or even greater distance, but then some of the places
would lie outside the generative spheres ; but this would
not add much difficulty to the work. The reviewer takes a
strange view of instinct : he seems to regard intelligence as
a developed instinct ; which I believe to be wholly false. I
suspect he has never much attended to instinct and the
minds of animals, except perhaps by reading.

My chief object is. to ask you if you could procure for me
a copy of the New York Times for Wednesday, March 28th.
It contains a very striking review of my book, which I should
much like to keep. How curious that the two most striking
reviews {i.e. yours and this) should have appeared in America.
This review is not really useful, but somehow is impressive.
There was a good review in the ' Revue des Deux Mondes/
April 1 st, by M. Laugel, said to be a very clever man.

Hooker, about a fortnight ago, stayed here a few days, and
was very pleasant ; but I think he overworks himself. What
a gigantic undertaking, I imagine, his and Bentham's ' Genera
Plantarum ' will be ! I hope he will not get too much im-
mersed in it, so as not to spare some time for Geographical
Distribution and other such questions.

I have begun to work steadily, but very slowly as usual, at
details on variation under domestication.
My dear Gray,

Yours always truly and gratefully,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [May 8th, i860].

I have sent for the ' Canadian Naturalist/ If I

cannot procure a copy I will borrow yours. I had a letter

ICO THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [186a

from Henslow this morning, who says that Sedgwick was, on
last Monday night, to open a battery on me at the Cambridge
Philosophical Society. Anyhow, I am much honoured by
being attacked there, and at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

I do not think it worth while to contradict sing1 2 cases, nor
is it worth while arguing against those who do not attend to
what I state. A moment's reflection will show you that there
must be (on our doctrine) large genera not varying (see p. 56
on the subject, in the second edition of the ' Origin '). Though
I do not there discuss the case in detail.

It may be sheer bigotry for my own notions, but I prefer
to the Atlantis, my notion of plants and animals having mi-
grated from the Old to the New World, or conversely, when
the climate was much hotter, by approximately the line of
Behring's Straits. It is most important, as you say, to see
living forms of plants going back so far in time. I wonder
whether we shall ever discover the flora of the dry land of
the coal period, and find it not so anomalous as the swamp
or coal-making flora. I am working away over the blessed
Pigeon Manuscript ; but, from one cause or another, I get on
very slowly. . . .

This morning I got a letter from the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia, announcing that I am elected a cor-
respondent. ... It shows that some Naturalists there do not
think me such a scientific profligate as many think me here.
My dear Lyell, yours gratefully,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — What a grand fact about the extinct stag's horn
worked by man !

C. Darwin to J, D. Hooker.

Down [May 13th, i860].
My dear Hooker, — I return Henslow, which I was very
glad to see. How good of him to defend me.* I will write
and thank him.

* Against Sedgwick's attack before the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

i860.] CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. IOi

As you said you were curious to hear Thomson's * opinion,
I send his kind letter. He is evidently a strong opposer
to us

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [May 15th, i860].

How paltry it is in such men as X, Y and Co.

not reading your essay. It is incredibly paltry. f They
may all attack me to their hearts' content. I am got case-
hardened. As for the old fogies in Cambridge, it really signi-
fies nothing. I look at their attacks as a proof that our work
is worth the doing. It makes me resolve to buckle on my
armour. I see plainly tnat it will be a long uphill fight.
But think of Lyell's progress with Geology. One thing I
see most plainly, that without Lyell's, yours, Huxley's, and
Carpenter's aid, my book would have been a mere flash in
the pan. But if we all stick to it, we shall surely gain the
day. And I now see that the battle is worth fighting. I
deeply hope that you think so. Does Bentham progress at
all ? I do not know what to say about Oxford. J I should
like it much with you, but it must depend on health. . . .

Yours most affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, May 18th [i860].

My dear Lyell, — I send a letter from Asa Gray to show

how hotly the battle rages there. Also one from Wallace,

very just in his remarks, though too laudatory and too modest,

and how admirably free from envy or jealousy. He must be

* Dr. Thomas Thomson the Indian Botanist. He was a collabora-
teur in Hooker and Thomson's Flora Indica. 1855.

f These remarks do not apply to Dr. Harvey, who was, however, in a
somewhat similar position. See p. 107.

% His health prevented him from going to Oxford for the meeting of
the British Association.

I02 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860

a good fellow. Perhaps I will enclose a letter from Thomson
of Calcutta ; not that it is much, but Hooker thinks so highly
of him. . . .

Henslow informs me that Sedgwick* and then Professor
Clarke [sic] f made a regular and savage onslaught on my
book lately at the Cambridge Philosophical Society, but
Henslow seems to have defended me well, and maintained
that the subject was a legitimate one for investigation. Since
then Phillips J has given lectures at Cambridge on the same
subject, but treated it very fairly. How splendidly Asa Gray
is fighting the battle. The effect on me of these multiplied
attacks is simply to show me that the subject is worth fight-
ing for, and assuredly I will do my best. ... I hope all the
attacks make you keep up your courage, and courage you
assuredly will require. . . .

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, May 18th, i860.
My dear Mr. Wallace, — I received this morning your
letter from Amboyna, dated February 16th, containing some
remarks and your too high approval of my book. Your letter
has pleased me very much, and I most completely agree with
you on the parts which are strongest and which are weakest.
The imperfection of the Geological Record is, as you say, the
weakest of all ; but yet I am pleased to find that there are
almost more geological converts than of pursuers of other

* Sedgwick's address is given somewhat abbreviated in The Cambridge
Chronicle, May 19th, i860.

f The late William Clark, Professor of Anatomy. My father seems
to have misunderstood his informant. I am assured by Mr. J. W. Clark
that his father (Prof. Clark) did not support Sedgwick in the attack.

% John Phillips, M. A., F. R. S., born 1800, died 1874, from the effects
of a fall. Professor of Geology at King's College, London, and afterwards
at Oxford. He gave the ' Rede ' lecture at Cambridge on May 15th, i860,
on ' The Succession of Life on the earth.' The Rede Lecturer is appointed
annually by the Vice-Chancellor, and is paid by an endowment left in 1524
by Sir Robert Rede, Lord Chief Justice, in the reign of Henry VIII.

i860.] REVIEWS. IO3

branches of natural science. ... I think geologists are more
easily converted than simple naturalists, because more accus-
tomed to reasoning. Before telling you about the progress
of opinion on the subject, you must let me say how I admire
the generous manner in which you speak of my book. Most
persons would in your position have felt some envy or jeal-
ousy. How nobly free you seem to be of this common failing
of mankind. But you speak far too modestly of yourself.
You would, if you had my leisure, have done the work just as

well, perhaps better, than I have done it

. . . Agassiz sends me a personal civil message, but inces-
santly attacks me ; but Asa Gray fights like a hero in defence.
Lyell keeps as firm as a tower, and this Autumn will publish
on the ' Geological History of Man/ and will then declare his
conversion, which now is universally known. I hope that
you have received Hooker's splendid essay. . . . Yesterday
I heard from Lyell that a German, Dr. Schaaffhausen,* has
sent him a pamphlet published some years ago, in which the
same view is nearly anticipated ; but I have not yet seen this
pamphlet. My brother, who is a very sagacious man, always
said, "you will find that some one will have been before you."
I am at work at my larger work, which I shall publish in a
separate volume. But from ill-health and swarms of letters,
I get on very very slowly. I hope that I shall not have
wearied you with these details. With sincere thanks for your
letter, and with most deeply felt wishes for your success in
science, and in every way, believe me,

Your sincere well-wisher,

C. Darwin.

* Hermann Schaaff hausen ' Ueber Bestandigkeit und Umwandlung der
Arten.' Verhandl. d. Naturhist. Vereins, Bonn, 1853. See 'Origin,' His-
torical Sketch.

J04 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' I"i86o<

C. Darwin to Asa Gray,

Down, May 22nd [i860].

My dear Gray, — Again I have to thank you for one of
your very pleasant letters of May 7th, enclosing a very plea-
sant remittance of ^22. I am in simple truth astonished at
all the kind trouble you have taken for me. I return Apple-
ton's account. For the chance of your wishing for a formal
acknowledgment I send one. If you have any further com-
munication to the Appietons, pray express my acknowledg-
ment for [their] generosity ; for it is generosity in my opinion.
I am not at all surprised at the sale diminishing; my extreme
surprise is at the greatness of the sale. No doubt the public
has been shamefully imposed on ! for they bought the book
thinking that it would be nice easy reading. I expect the sale
to stop soon in England, yet Lyell wrote to me the other day
that calling at Murray's he heard that fifty copies had gone in
the previous forty-eight hours. I am extremely glad that you
will notice in ' Silliman ' the additions in the ' Origin.' Judg-
ing from letters (and I have just seen one from Thwaites to
Hooker), and from remarks, the most serious omission in my
book was not explaining how it is, as I believe, that all forms
do not necessarily advance, how there can now be simple or-
ganisms still existing. ... I hear there is a very severe review
on me in the ' North British,' by a Rev. Mr. Dunns,* a Free
Kirk minister, and dabbler in Natural History. I should be
very glad to see any good American reviews, as they are all
more or less useful. You say that you shall touch on other
reviews. Huxley told me some time ago that after a time he
would write a review on all the reviews, whether he will I
know not. If you allude to the ' Edinburgh,' pray notice some
of the points which I will point out on a separate slip. In
the Saturday Review (one of our cleverest periodicals) of May
5th, p. 573, there is a nice article on [the ' Edinburgh '] re-

* This statement as to authorship was made on the authority of Robert
Chambers,

i860.] THE 'EDINBURGH REVIEW/ 105

view, defending Huxley, but not Hooker ; and the latter, I
think, [the ' Edinburgh ' reviewer] treats most ungenerously.*
But surely you will get sick unto death of me and my reviewers.
With respect to the theological view of the question. This
is always painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no inten-
tion to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as
plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of
design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to
me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself
that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly
created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their
feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat
should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity
in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. On the
other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this won-
derful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to con-
clude that everything is the result of brute force. I am in-
clined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws,
with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out
of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all
satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too
profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well
speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and
believe what he can. Certainly I agree with you that my
views are not at all necessarily atheistical. The lightning kills
a man, whether a good one or bad one, owing to the exces-
sively complex action of natural laws. A child (who may
turn out an idiot) is born by the action of even more complex
laws, and I can see no reason why a man, or other animal,
may not have been aboriginally produced by other laws, and
that all these laws may have been expressly designed by an

* In a letter to Mr. Huxley my father wrote : M Have you seen the last
Saturday Review ? I am very glad of the defence of you and of myself.
I wish the reviewer had noticed Hooker. The reviewer, whoever he is, is
a jolly good fellow, as this review and the last on me showed. He writes
capitally, and understands well his subject. I wish he had slapped [the
'Edinburgh' reviewer] a little bit harder."

106 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

omniscient Creator, who foresaw every future event and con-
sequence. But the more I think the more bewildered I be-
come ; as indeed I probably have shown by this letter.

Most deeply do I feel your generous kindness and interest.
Yours sincerely and cordially,

Charles Darwin.

[Here follow my father's criticisms on the ' Edinburgh
Review ' :

" What a quibble to pretend he did not understand what I
meant by inhabitants of South America ; and any one would
suppose that I had not throughout my volume touched on
Geographical Distribution. He ignores also everything
which I have said on Classification, Geological Succession,
Homologies, Embryology, and Rudimentary Organs — p. 496.

He falsely applies what I said (too rudely) about " blind-
ness of preconceived opinions " to those who believe in crea-
tion, whereas I exclusively apply the remark to those who give
up multitudes of species as true species, but believe in the
remainder — p. 500.

He slightly alters what I say, — -I ask whether creationists
really believe that elemental atoms have flashed into life. He
says that I describe them as so believing, and this, surely, is a
difference — p. 501.

He speaks of my " clamouring against " all who believe
in creation, and this seems to me an unjust accusation —
p, 501.

He makes me say that the dorsal vertebrae vary ; this is
simply false : I nowhere say a word about dorsal vertebrae —
p. 522.

What an illiberal sentence that is about my pretension to
candour, and about my rushing through barriers which stopped
Cuvier : such an argument would stop any progress in science

—p. 525-

How disingenuous to quote from my remark to you about

my brief letter [published in the ' Linn. Soc. Journal '], as if

it applied to the whole subject — p. 530.

i860.] THE 'EDINBURGH REVIEW.' IQy

How disingenuous to say that we are called on to accept
the theory, from the imperfection of the geological record,
when I over and over again [say] how grave a difficulty
the imperfection offers — p. 530."]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, May 30th [i860].

My dear Hooker, — I return Harvey's letter, I have been
very glad to see the reason why he has not read your Essay.
I feared it was bigotry, and I am glad to see that he goes a
little way {very much further than I supposed) with us. . . .

I was not sorry for a natural opportunity of writing to
Harvey, just to show that I was not piqued at his turning
me and my book into ridicule,* not that I think it was a pro-
ceeding which I deserved, or worthy of him. It delights me
that you are interested in watching the progress of opinion
on the change of Species; I feared that you were weary of
the subject ; and therefore did not send A. Gray's letters.
The battle rages furiously in the United States. Gray
says he was preparing a speech, which would take 1^ hours to
deliver, and which he "fondly hoped would be a stunner."
He is fighting splendidly, and there seems to have been
many discussions with Agassiz and others at the meetings.
Agassiz pities me much at being so deluded. As for the
progress of opinion, I clearly see that it will be excessively
slow, almost as slow as the change of species. ... I am
getting wearied at the storm of hostile reviews and hardly any
useful. ...

* A " serio-comic squib," read before the ' Dublin University Zoologi-
cal and Botanical Association,' Feb. 17, i860, and privately printed. My
father's presentation copy is inscribed, " With the writer's repentance^ Oct.
i860."

44

I08 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [ib6o.

C. Darwin to C. Lye 11.

Down, Friday night [June 1st, i860].
. . . Have you seen Hopkins * in the new ' Fraser ' ? the
public will, I should think, find it heavy. He will be dead
against me, as you prophesied ; but he is generously civil to
me personally.! On his standard of proof, natural science
would never progress, for without the making of theories I
am convinced there would be no observation.

* William Hopkins died in 1866, "in his seventy-third year." He be-
gan life with a farm in Suffolk, but ultimately entered, comparatively late
in life, at Peterhouse, Cambridge ; he took his degree in 1827, and after-
ward became an Esquire Bedell of the University. He was chiefly known
as a mathematical " coach," and was eminently successful in the manufac-
ture of Senior Wranglers. Nevertheless Mr. Stephen says (' Life of Faw-
cett,' p. 26) that he "was conspicuous for inculcating" a " liberal view of
the studies of the place. He endeavored to stimulate a philosophical in-
terest in the mathematical sciences, instead of simply rousing an ardour
for competition." He contributed many papers on geological and mathe-
matical subjects to the scientific journals. He had a strong influence for
good over the younger men with whom he came in contact. The letter
which he wrote to Henry Fawcett on the occasion of his blindness illus-
trates this. Mr. Stephen says ('Life of Fawcett,' p. 48) that by " this
timely word of good cheer," Fawcett was roused from "his temporary
prostration," and enabled to take a " more cheerful and resolute tone."

f ' Fraser's Magazine,' June i860. My father, no doubt, refers to the
following passage, p. 752, where the Reviewer expresses his " full partici-
pation in the high respect in which the author is universally held, both as
a man and a naturalist ; and the more so, because in the remarks which
will follow in the second part of this Essay we shall be found to differ
widely from him as regards many of his conclusions and the reasonings on
which he has founded them, and shall claim the full right to express such
differences of opinion with all that freedom which the interests of scientific
truth demands, and which we are sure Mr. Darwin would be one of the
last to refuse to any one prepared to exercise it with candour and courtesy."
Speaking of this review, my father wrote to Dr. Asa Gray: " I have remon-
strated with him [Hopkins] for so coolly saying that I base my views on
what I reckon as great difficulties. Any one, by taking these difficulties
alone, can make a most strong case against me. I could myself write a

i860.] ATTACKS. IO9

.... I have begun reading the ' North British,'* which
so far strikes me as clever.

Phillips's Lecture at Cambridge is to be published.

All these reiterated attacks will tell heavily ; there will be
no more converts, and probably some will go back. I hope
you do not grow disheartened, I am determined to fight to
the last. I hear, however, that the great Buckle highly ap-
proves of my book.

I have had a note from poor Blyth, f of Calcutta, who
is much disappointed at hearing that Lord Canning will not
grant any money ; so I much fear that all your great pains
will be thrown away. Blyth says (and he is in many respects
a very good judge) that his ideas on species are quite revo-
lutionized. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, June 5th [i860].
My dear Hooker, — It is a pleasure to me to write to
you, as I have no one to talk about such matters as we write

more damning review than has as yet appeared ! " A second notice by
Hopkins appeared in the July number of ' Fraser's Magazine.'

* May i860.

f Edward Blyth, born 1810, died 1873. His indomitable love of
natural history made him neglect the druggist's business with which he
started in life, and he soon got into serious difficulties. After supporting
himself for a few years as a writer on Field Natural History, he ultimately
went out to India as Curator of the Museum of the R. Asiatic Soc. of Ben-
gal, where the greater part of his working life was spent. His chief publi-
cations were the monthly reports made as part of his duty to the Society.
He had stored in his remarkable memory a wonderful wealth of knowledge,
especially with regard to the mammalia and birds of India — knowledge of
which he freely gave to those who asked. His letters to my father give
evidence of having been carefully studied, and the long list of entries after
his name in the index to 'Animals and Plants,' show how much help was
received from him. His life was an unprosperous and unhappy one, full
of money difficulties and darkened by the death of his wife after a few
years of marriage.

IIO THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860,

on. But I seriously beg you not to write to me unless so
inclined ; for busy as you are, and seeing many people, the
case is very different between us. . . .

Have you seen 's abusive article on me ? ... It out-
does even the ' North British ' and ' Edinburgh ' in misap-
prehension and misrepresentation. I never knew anything
so unfair as in discussing cells of bees, his ignoring the case of
Melipona, which builds combs almost exactly intermediate

between hive and humble bees. What has done that

he feels so immeasurably superior to all us wretched natur-
alists, and to all political economists, including that great
philosopher Malthus ? This review, however, and Harvey's
letter have convinced me that I must be a very bad explainer.
Neither really understand what I mean by Natural Selec-
tion. I am inclined to give up the attempt as hopeless.
Those who do not understand, it seems, cannot be made to
understand.

By the way, I think, we entirely agree, except perhaps that
I use too forcible language about selection. I entirely agree,
indeed would almost go further than you when you say that
climate (/. e. variability from all unknown causes) is " an active
handmaid, influencing its mistress most materially. " Indeed,
I have never hinted that Natural Selection is " the efficient
cause to the exclusion of the other," i. e. variability from
Climate, &c. The very term selection implies something, i. e.
variation or difference, to be selected. . . .

How does your book progress (I mean your general sort
of book on plants), I hope to God you will be more success-
ful than I have been in making people understand your
meaning. I should begin to think myself wholly in the
wrong, and that I was an utter fool, but then I cannot yet
persuade myself, that Lyell, and you and Huxley, Carpenter,
Asa Gray, and Watson, &c, are all fools together. Well,
time will show, and nothing but time. Farewell . . .

i860.] ATTACKS. 1 1 1

C. Darwin to C. Lyell,

Down, June 6th [i860].

... It consoles me that sneers at Malthus, for that

clearly shows, mathematician though he may be, he cannot
understand common reasoning. By the way what a dis-
couraging example Malthus is, to show during what long
years the plainest case may be misrepresented and misunder-
stood. I have read the ' Future ' ; how curious it is that
several of my reviewers should advance such wild arguments,
as that varieties of dogs and cats do not mingle ; and should
bring up the old exploded doctrine of definite analogies . . .
I am beginning to despair of ever making the majority under-
stand my notions. Even Hopkins does not thoroughly. By
the way, I have been so much pleased by the way he person-
ally alludes to me. I must be a very bad explainer. I hope
to Heaven that you will succeed better. Several reviews and
several letters have shown me too clearly how little I am un-
derstood. I suppose " natural selection " was a bad term ;
but to change it now, I think, would make confusion worse
confounded, nor can I think of a better ; " Natural Preserva-
tion " would not imply a preservation of particular varieties,
and would seem a truism, and would not bring man's and
nature's selection under one point of view. I can only hope
by reiterated explanations finally to make the matter clearer.
If my MS. spreads out, I think I shall publish one volume
exclusively on variation of animals and plants under domes-
tication. I want to show that I have not been quite so rash
as many suppose.

Though weary of reviews, I should like to see Lowell's *
some time. ... I suppose Lowell's difficulty about instinct
is the same as Bowen's ; but it seems to me wholly to rest on
the assumption that instincts cannot graduate as finely as

* The late J. A. Lowell in the * Christian Examiner ' (Boston, U. S.,
May, i860.

H2 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' ["i860.

structures. I have stated in my volume that it is hardly
possible to know which, u e. whether instinct or structure,
change first by insensible steps. Probably sometimes in-
stinct, sometimes structure. When a British insect feeds on
an exotic plant, instinct has changed by very small steps, and
their structures might change so as to fully profit by the new
food. Or structure might change first, as the direction of
tusks in one variety of Indian elephants, which leads it to
attack the tiger in a different manner from other kinds of
elephants. Thanks for your letter of the 2nd, chiefly about
Murray. (N.B. Harvey of Dublin gives me, in a letter, the
argument of tall men marrying short women, as one of great
weight ! *)

I do not quite understand what you mean by saying, " that
the more they prove that you underrate physical conditions,
the better for you, as Geology comes in to your aid."

... I see in Murray and many others one incessant fal-
lacy, when alluding to slight differences of physical conditions
as being very important ; namely, oblivion of the fact that all
species, except very local ones, range over a considerable
area, and though exposed to what the world calls considerable
diversities, yet keep constant. I have just alluded to this in
the ' Origin ' in comparing the productions of the Old and
the New Worlds. Farewell, shall you be at Oxford ? If H.
gets quite well, perhaps I shall go there.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down [June 14th, i860].
... Lowell's review f is pleasantly written, but it is clear
that he is not a naturalist. He quite overlooks the impor-
tance of the accumulation of mere individual differences, and
which, I think I can show, is the great agency of change

* See footnote, ante, p. 56.

f J. A. Lowell in the ' Christian Examiner,' May i860.

i860.] SCHAAFi HAUSEN. 1 1 3

under domestication. I have not finished Schaaffhausen, as
1 read German so badly. I have ordered a copy for myself,
and should like to keep yours till my own arrives, but will re-
turn it to you instantly if wanted. He admits statements
rather rashly, as I dare say I do. I see only one sentence as
yet at all approaching natural selection.

There is a notice of me in the penultimate number of 'All
the Year Round,' but not worth consulting; chiefly a well-
done hash of my own wx>rds. Your last note was very inter-
esting and consolatory to me.

I have expressly stated that I believe physical conditions
have a more direct effect on plants than on animals. But the
more I study, the more I am led to think that natural selec-
tion regulates, in a state of nature, most trifling differences.
As squared stone, or bricks, or timber, are the indispensable
materials for a building, and influence its character, so is varia-
bility not only indispensable, but influential. Yet in the
same manner as the architect is the all important person in a
building, so is selection with organic bodies

[The meeting of the British Association at Oxford in i860
is famous for two pitched battles over the * Origin of Species/
Both of them originated in unimportant papers. On Thurs-
day, June 28, Dr. Daubeny of Oxford made a communication
to Section D : " On the final causes of the sexuality of plants,
with particular reference to Mr. Darwin's work on the ' Origin
of Species.' " Mr. Huxley was called on by the President, but
tried (according to the Athenmirn report) to avoid a discus-
sion, on the ground " that a general audience, in which senti-
ment would unduly interfere with intellect, was not the public
before which such a discussion should be carried on." How-
ever, the subject was not allowed to drop. Sir R. Owen (I
quote from the Athenceum^ July 7, i860), who "wished to ap-
proach this subject in the spirit of the philosopher," expressed
his " conviction that there were facts by which the public
could come to some conclusion with regard to the probabili-
ties of the truth of Mr. Darwin's theory." He went on to

1 14 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

say that the brain of the gorilla " presented more differences,
as compared with the brain of man, than it did when com-
pared with the brains of the very lowest and most proble-
matical of the Quadrumana." Mr. Huxley replied, and gave
these assertions a " direct and unqualified contradiction,"
pledging himself to "justify that unusual procedure else-
where/' * a pledge which he amply fulfilled. f On Friday
there was peace, but on Saturday 30th, the battle arose with
redoubled fury over a paper by Dr. Draper of New York, on
the * Intellectual development of Europe considered with ref-
erence to the views of Mr. Darwin.'

The following account is from an eye-witness of the scene,
" The excitement was tremendous. The Lecture-room, in
which it had been arranged that the discussion should be held,
proved far too small for the audience, and the meeting ad-
journed to the Library of the Museum, which was crammed
to suffocation long before the champions entered the lists.
The numbers were estimated at from 700 to 1000. Had it
been term-time, or had the general public been admitted, it
would have been impossible to have accommodated the rush
to hear the oratory of the bold Bishop. Professor Henslow,
the President of Section D, occupied the chair and wisely an-
nounced in limine that none who had not valid arguments to
bring forward on one side or the other, would be allowed to
address the meeting : a caution that proved necessary, for no
fewer than four combatants had their utterances burked by
him, because of their indulgence in vague declamation.

" The Bishop was up to time, and spoke for full half-an-
hour with inimitable spirit, emptiness and unfairness. It was
evident from his handling of the subject that he had been
- crammed ' up to the throat, and that he knew nothing at first
hand ; in fact, he used no argument not to be found in his
' Quarterly ' article. He ridiculed Darwin badly, and Huxley
savagely, but all in such dulcet tones, so persuasive a manner,

* ' Man's Place in Nature,' by T. H. Huxley, 1863, p. 114.
\ See the 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1861.

i860.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. II5

and in such well-turned periods, that I who had been inclined
to blame the President for allowing a discussion that could
serve no scientific purpose now forgave him from the bottom
of my heart. Unfortunately the Bishop, hurried along on the
current of his own eloquence, so far forgot himself as to push
his attempted advantage to the verge of personality in a tell-
ing passage in which he turned round and addressed Huxley :
I forget the precise words, and quote from Lyell. ''The
Bishop asked whether Huxley was related by his grand-
father's or grandmother's side to an ape.' * Huxley replied
to the scientific argument of his opponent with force and elo-
quence, and to the personal allusion with a self-restraint, that
gave dignity to his crushing rejoinder."

Many versions of Mr. Huxley's speech were current : the
following report of his conclusion is from a letter addressed
by the late John Richard Green, then an undergraduate, to
a fellow-student, now Professor Boyd Dawkins. " I asserted,
and I repeat, that a man has no reason to be ashamed of
having an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor
whom I should feel shame in recalling, it would be a man, a
man of restless and versatile intellect, who, not content with
an equivocal f success in his own sphere of activity, plunges
into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaint-
ance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and dis-
tract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue
by eloquent digressions, and skilled appeals to religious
prejudice."

The letter above quoted continues :

14 The excitement was now at its height ; a lady fainted
and had to be carried out, and it was some time before the
discussion was resumed. Some voices called for Hooker, and
his name having been handed up, the President invited him

* Lyell's ' Letters/ vol. ii. p. 335.

t Prof. V. Carus, who has a distinct recollection of the scene, does not
remember the word equivocal. He believes too that Lyell's version of the
" ape " sentence is slightly incorrect.

Il6 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

to give his view of the theory from the Botanical side. This
he did, demonstrating that the Bishop, by his own showing,
had never grasped the principles of the ' Origin/ * and that
he was absolutely ignorant of the elements of botanical sci-
ence. The Bishop made no reply, and the meeting broke up.
" There was a crowded conversazione in the evening at
the rooms of the hospitable and genial Professor of Botany,
Dr. Daubeny, where the almost sole topic was the battle of
the 'Origin,' and I was much struck with the fair and unpre-
judiced way in which the black coats and white cravats of
Oxford discussed the question, and the frankness with which
they offered their congratulations to the winners in the
combat."]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Sudbrook Park, Monday night

[July 2nd, i860].

My dear Hooker, — I have just received your letter. I
have been very poorly, with almost continuous bad headache
for forty-eight hours, and I was low enough, and thinking
what a useless burthen I was to myself and all others, when
your letter came, and it has so cheered me ; your kindness
and affection brought tears into my eyes. Talk of fame,
honour, pleasure, wealth, all are dirt compared with affection ;
and this is a doctrine with which, I know, from your letter,
that you will agree with from the bottom of your heart.
. . . How I should have liked to have wandered about
Oxford with you, if I had been well enough ; and how still
more I should have liked to have heard you triumphing
over the Bishop. I am astonished at your success and
audacity. It is something unintelligible to me how any one
can argue in public like orators do. I had no idea you had
this power. I have read lately so many hostile views, that I
was beginning to think that perhaps I was wholly in the

* With regard to the Bishop's 4 Quarterly Review,' my father wrote :
11 These very clever men think they can write a review with a very
slight knowledge of the book reviewed or subject in question."

i860.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. hj

wrong, and that was right when he said the whole subject

would be forgotten in ten years ; but now that I hear that you
and Huxley will fight publicly (which I am sure I never
could do), I fully believe that our cause will, in the long-
run, prevail. I am glad I was not in Oxford, for I should
have been overwhelmed, with my [health] in its present state.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Sudbrook Park, Richmond,

July 3rd (i860).

.... I had a letter from Oxford, written by Hooker late
on Sunday night, giving me some account of the awful battles
which have raged about species at Oxford. He tells me you
fought nobly with Owen (but I have heard no particulars),
and that you answered the B. of O. capitally. I often think
that my friends (and you far beyond others) have good cause
to hate me, for having stirred up so much mud, and led them
into so much odious trouble. If I had been a friend of
myself, I should have hated me. (How to make that sentence
good English, I know not.) But remember, if I had not
stirred up the mud, some one else certainly soon would. I
honour your pluck ; I would as soon have died as tried to
answer the Bishop in such an assembly. . . .

[On July 20th, my father wrote to Mr. Huxley :

" From all that I hear from several quarters, it seems that
Oxford did the subject great good. It is of enormous im-
portance, the showing the world that a few first-rate men are
not afraid of expressing their opinion."]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

[July i860.]

.... I have just read the ' Quarterly.' * It is uncom-
monly clever ; it picks out with skill all the most conjectural

* 'Quarterly Review,' July i860. The article in question was by Wil-
berforce, Bishop of Oxford, and was afterwards published in his " Essays

n8 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

parts, and brings forward well all the difficulties. It quizzes
me quite splendidly by quoting the ' Anti- Jacobin ' versus
my Grandfather. You are not alluded to, nor, strange to say,

Huxley ; and I can plainly see, here and there, 's hand.

The concluding pages will make Lyell shake in his shoes.
By Jove, if he sticks to us, he will be a real hero. Good-
night. Your well-quizzed, but not sorrowful, and affectionate
friend. ' C. D.

I can see there has been some queer tampering with the
Review, for a page has been cut out and reprinted.

[Writing on July 22 to Dr. Asa Gray my father thus refers
to Lyell's position : —

Contributed to the 'Quarterly Review,' 1874." The passage from the
4 Anti-Jacobin ' gives the history of the evolution of space from the " pri-
maeval point or punctum saliens of the universe," which is conceived to
have moved " forward in a right line, ad infinitum, till it grew tired ;
after which the right line, which it had generated, would begin to put it-
self in motion in a lateral direction, describing an area of infinite extent.
This area, as soon as it became conscious of its own existence, would be-
gin to ascend or descend according as its specific gravity would determine
it, forming an immense solid space filled with vacuum, and capable of
containing the present universe."

The following (p. 263) may serve as an example of the passages in
which the reviewer refers to Sir Charles Lyell : — " That Mr. Darwin
should have wandered from this broad highway of nature's works into the
jungle of fanciful assumption is no small evil. We trust that he is mis-
taken in believing that he may count Sir C. Lyell as one of his converts.
We know, indeed, that the strength of the temptations which he can bring
to bear upon his geological brother. . . . Yet no man has been more dis-
tinct and more logical in the denial of the transmutation of species than
Sir C. Lyell, and that not in the infancy of his scientific life, but in its full
vigour and' maturity." The Bishop goes on to appeal to Lyell, in order
that with his help " this flimsy speculation may be as completely put down
as was what in spite of all denials we must venture to call its twin though
less instructed brother, the ' Vestiges of Creation.' "

With reference to this article, Mr. Brodie Innes, my father's old friend
and neighbour, writes : — " Most men would have been annoyed by an ar-
ticle written with the Bishop's accustomed vigour, a mixture of argument

i860.] 'QUARTERLY REVIEW.' II9

" Considering his age, his former views and position in so-
ciety, I think his conduct has been heroic on this subject."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

[Hartfield, Sussex] July 22nd [i860].
My dear Gray, — Owing to absence from home at water-
cure and then having to move my sick girl to whence I am
now writing, I have only lately read the discussion in Proc.
American Acad.,* and now I cannot resist expressing my
sincere admiration of your most clear powers of reasoning.
As Hooker lately said in a note to me, you are more than
any one else the thorough master of the subject. I declare
that you know my book as well as I do myself ; and bring
to the question new lines of illustration and argument in a
manner which excites my astonishment and almost my envy !
I admire these discussions, I think, almost more than your
article in Silliman's Journal. Every single word seems
weighed carefully, and tells like a 32-pound shot. It makes
me much wish (but I know that you have not time) that
you could write more in detail, and give, for instance, the
facts on the variability of the American wild fruits. The
Athenczum has the largest circulation, and I have sent my
copy to the editor with a request that he would republish
the first discussion ; I much fear he will not, as he reviewed
the subject in so hostile a spirit. ... I shall be curious [to
see] and will order the August number, as soon as I know that
it contains your review of Reviews. My conclusion is that

and ridicule. Mr. Darwin was writing on some parish matter, and put a
postscript — * If you have not seen the last 'Quarterly,' do get it; the
Bishop of Oxford has made such capital fun of me and my grandfather/
By a curious coincidence, when I received the letter, I was staying in the
same house with the Bishop, and showed it to him. He said, ' I am very
glad he takes it in that way, he is such a capital fellow.' "

* April 10, i860. Dr. Gray criticised in detail " several of the positions
taken at the preceding meeting by Mr. [J. A.] Lowell, Prof. Bowen and
Prof. Agassiz." It was reprinted in the Athenceum, Aug. 4, i860.

120 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

you have made a mistake in being a botanist, you ought
to have been a lawyer.

.... Henslow * and Daubeny are shaken. I hear from
Hooker that he hears from Hochstetter that my views are
making very considerable progress in Germany, and the good
workers are discussing the question. Bronn at the end of his
translation has a chapter of criticism, but it is such difficult
German that I have not yet read it. Hopkins's review in
' Fraser ' is thought the best which has appeared against us.
I believe that Hopkins is so much opposed because his course
of study has never led him to reflect much on such subjects
as geographical distribution, classification, homologies, &c,
so that he does not feel it a relief, to have some kind of
explanation.

C. Danvin to C. Lyell.

Hartfield [Sussex], July 30th [i860].

I had lots of pleasant letters about the Brit.

Assoc, and our side seems to have got on very well. There
has been as much discussion on the other side of the Atlantic
as on this. No one I think understands the whole case better
than Asa Gray, and he has been fighting nobly. He is a
capital reasoner. I have sent one of his printed discussions
to our Athenceuni, and the editor says he will print it. The
' Quarterly ' has been out some time. It contains no malice,

* Professor Henslow was mentioned in the December number of ' Mac-
millan's Magazine ' as being an adherent of Evolution. In consequence
of this he published, in the February number of the following year, a let-
ter denning his position. This he did by means of an extract from a let-
ter addressed to him by the Rev. L. Jenyns (Blomefield) which " very
nearly," as he says, expressed his views. Mr. Blomefield wrote, " I was
not aware that you had become a convert to his (Darwin's) theory, and can
hardly suppose you have accepted it as a whole, though, like myself, you
may go to the length of imagining that many of the smaller groups, both of
animals and plants, may at some remote period have had a common parent-
age. I do not with some say that the whole of his theory cannot be true
— but that it is very far from proved ; and I doubt its ever being possible
to prove it."

i860.] « NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW/ 121

which is wonderful. ... It makes me say many things which
I do not say. At the end it quotes all your conclusions against
Lamarck, and makes a solemn appeal to you to keep firm in

the true faith. I fancy it will make you quake a little.

has ingeniously primed the Bishop (with Murchison) against
you as head of the uniformitarians. The only other review
worth mentioning, which I can think of, is in the third No. of
the ' London Review,' by some geologist, and favorable for a
wonder. It is very ably done, and I should like much to
know who is the author. I shall be very curious to hear on
your return whether Bronn's German translation of the
* Origin ' has drawn any attention to the subject. Huxley
is eager about a 4 Natural History Review/ which he and
others are going to edit, and he has got so many first-rate
assistants, that I really believe he will make it a first-rate
production. I have been doing nothing, except a little
botanical work as amusement. I shall, hereafter be very
anxious to hear how your tour has answered. I expect your
book on the geological history of Man will, with a vengeance,
be a bomb-shell. I hope it will not be very long delayed.
Our kindest remembrances to Lady Lyell. This is not
worth sending, but I have nothing better to say.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to F. Watkins*

Down, July 30th, [i860?]

My dear Watkins, — Your note gave me real pleasure.
Leading the retired life which I do, with bad health, I oftener
think of old times than most men probably do ; and your
face now rises before me, with the pleasant old expression, as
vividly as if I saw you.

My book has been well abused, praised, and splendidly
quizzed by the Bishop of Oxford ; but from what I see of its
influence on really good workers in science, I feel confident

* See Vol. I. p. 144.

122 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

that, in the main, I am on the right road. With respect to
your question, I think the arguments are valid, showing that
all animals have descended from four or five primordial
forms ; and that analogy and weak reasons go to show that
all have descended from some single prototype.

Farewell, my old friend. I look back to old Cambridge
days with unalloyed pleasure.

Believe me, yours most sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

T. H. Huxley io C. Darwin.

August 6th, i860.

My dear Darwin, — I have to announce a new and
great ally for you

Von Bar writes to me thus : — " Et outre cela, je trouve que
vous ecrivez encore des redactions. Vous avez ecrit sur
l'ouvrage de M. Darwin une critique dont je n'ai trouve que
des debris dans un journal allemand. J'ai oublie le nom terri-
ble du journal anglais dans lequel se trouve votre recension.
En tout cas aussi je ne peux pas trouver le journal ici. Comme
je m'interesse beaucoup pour les idees de M. Darwin, sur les-
quelles j'ai parle publiquement et sur lesquelles je ferai peut-
etre imprimer quelque chose — vous m'obligeriez infiniment si
vous pourriez me faire parvenir ce que vous avez ecrit sur ces
idees.

" J 'ai enonce les memes idees sur la transformation des types
ou origine d'especes que M. Darwin.* Mais c'est seulement
sur la geographie zoologique que je m'appuie. Vous trouve-
rez, dans le dernier chapitre du traite ' Ueber Papuas und
Alfuren/ que j'en parle tres decidement sans savoir que
M. Darwin s'occupait de cet obje^^

The treatise to which Von Bar refers he gave me when over
here, but I have not been able to lay hands on it since this

* See footnote, Vol. I. p. 540.

i860.] VON BAER. 12$

letter reached me two days ago. When I find it I will let you
know what there is in it.

Ever yours faithfully,

T. H. Huxley.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, August 8 [i860].
My dear Huxley — Your note contained magnificent
news, and thank you heartily for sending it me. Von
Baer weighs down with a vengeance all the virulence of [the
' Edinburgh ' reviewer] and weak arguments of Agassiz. If
you write to Von Baer, for heaven's sake tell him that we
should think one nod of approbation on our side, of the
greatest value ; and if he does write anything, beg him to
send us a copy, for I would try and get it translated and
published in the Athenczuni and in * Silliman ' to touch up

Agassiz Have you seen Agassiz's weak metaphysical

and theological attack on the ' Origin ' in the last * Silliman ' ? *
I would send it you, but apprehend it would be less trouble
for you to look at it in London than return it to me, R.
Wagner has sent me a German pamphlet, f giving an ab-
stract of Agassiz's i Essay on Classification/ " mit Riicksicht
auf Darwins Ansichten,,, &c. &c. He won't go very " dan-
gerous lengths/' but thinks the truth lies half-way between
Agassiz and the ' Origin/ As he goes thus far he will, nolens
volens, have to go further. He says he is going to review

* The * American Journal of Science and Arts* (commonly called *Sil-
liman's Journal '), July i860. Printed from advanced sheets of vol. iii. of
1 Contributions to the Nat. Hist, of the U. S.' My father's copy has a
pencilled " Truly " opposite the following passage : — " Unless Darwin and
his followers succeed in showing that the struggle for life tends to some-
thing beyond favouring the existence of certain individuals over that of
other individuals, they will soon find that they are following a shadow."

f ' Louis Agassiz's Prinzipien der Classification, &c, mit Riicksicht
auf Darwins Ansichten. Separat-Abdruck aus den Gottingischen ge-
lehrten Anzeigen,' i860.
45

I24 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

me in [his] yearly Report. My good and kind agent for the
propagation of the Gospel — i. e. the devil's gospel.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, August nth [i860].

... I have laughed at Woodward thinking that you were
a man who could be influenced in your judgment by the voice
of the public ; and yet after mortally sneering at him, I was
obliged to confess to myself, that I had had fears, what the
effect might be of so many heavy guns fired by great men.
As I have (sent by Murray) a spare ' Quarterly Review/ I
send it by this post, as it may amuse you. The Anti-Jacobin
part amused me. It is full of errors, and Hooker is thinking
of answering it. There has been a cancelled page; I should
like to know what gigantic blunder it contained. Hooker

says that has played on the Bishop, and made him

strike whatever note he liked; he has wished to make the
article as disagreeable to you as possible. I will send the
AthencEum in a day or two.

As you wish to hear what reviews have appeared, I may
mention that Agassiz has fired off a shot in the last ' Silliman,'
not good at all, denies variations and rests on the perfection
of Geological evidence. Asa Gray tells me that a very clever
friend has been almost converted to our side by this review
of Agassiz's . . . Professor Parsons * has published in
the same ' Silliman ' a speculative paper correcting my
notions, worth nothing. In the * Highland Agricultural
Journal ■ there is a review by some Entomologist, not worth
much. This is all that I can remember. ... As Huxley
says, the platoon firing must soon cease. Hooker and
Huxley, and Asa Gray, I see, are determined to stick to the
battle and not give in ; I am fully convinced that whenever

* Theophilus Parsons, Professsor of Law in Harvard University,

i860.] AGASSIZ, WAGNER. I2c;

you publish, it will produce a great effect on all trimmers, and
on many others. By the way I forgot to mention Daubeny's
pamphlet,* very liberal and candid, but scientifically weak.
I believe Hooker is going nowhere this summer ; he is ex-
cessively busy . . . He has written me many, most nice
letters. I shall be very curious to hear on your return some
account of your Geological doings. Talking of Geology, you
used to be interested about the " pipes " in the chalk. About
three years ago a perfectly circular hole suddenly appeared
in a flat grass field to everyone's astonishment, and was filled
up with many waggon loads of earth ; and now two or three
days ago, again it has circularly subsided about two feet
more. How clearly this shows what is still slowly going on.
This morning I recommenced work, and am at dogs ; when
I have written my short discussion on them, I will have it
copied, and if you like, you can then see how the argument
stands, about their multiple origin. As you seemed to think
this important, it might be worth your reading ; though I do
not feel sure that you will come to the same probable conclu-
sion that I have done. By the way, the Bishop makes a
very telling case against me, by accumulating several instances
where I speak very doubtfully ; but this is very unfair, as in
such cases as this of the dog, the evidence is and must be
very doubtful . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, August n [i860].
My dear Gray, — On my return home from Sussex about
a week ago, I found several articles sent by you. The first
article, from the ' Atlantic Monthly/ I am very glad to
possess. By the way, the editor of the Athenceum\ has
inserted your answer to Agassiz, Bowen, and Co., and when

* ' Remarks on the final causes of the sexuality of plants with particu-
lar reference to Mr. Darwin's work on the " Origin of Species." ' — Brit.
Assoc. Report, i860.

f Aug. 4, i860.

I26 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

I therein read them, I admired them even more than at first.
They really seemed to be admirable in their condensation,
force, clearness and novelty.

I am surprised that Agassiz did not succeed in writing
something better. How absurd that logical quibble — " if
species do not exist, how can they vary?" As if any one
doubted their temporary existence. How coolly he assumes
that there is some clearly defined distinction between indi-
vidual differences and varieties. It is no wonder that a man
who calls identical forms, when found in two countries, dis-
tinct species, cannot find variation in nature. Again, how
unreasonable to suppose that domestic varieties selected by
man for his own fancy (p. 147) should resemble natural
varieties or species. The whole article seems to me poor ; it
seems to me hardly worth a detailed answer (even if I could
do it, and I much doubt whether I possess your skill in
picking out salient points and driving a nail into them), and
indeed you have already answered several points. Agassiz's
name, no doubt, is a heavy weight against us. . . .

If you see Professor Parsons, will you thank him for the
extremely liberal and fair spirit in which his Essay * is written.
Please tell him that I reflected much on the chance of favour-
able monstrosities (/. e. great and sudden variation) arising. I
have, of course, no objection to this, indeed it would be a great
aid, but I did not allude to the subject, for, after much labour,
I could find nothing which satisfied me of the probability of
such occurrences. There seems to me in almost every case
too much, too complex, and too beautiful adaptation, in every
structure, tobelieve in its sudden production. I have alluded
under the head of beautifully hooked seeds to such possi-
bility. Monsters are apt to be sterile, or not to transmit
monstrous peculiarities. Look at the fineness of gradation in
the shells of successive sub-stages of the same great forma-
tion ; I could give many other considerations which made me
doubt such view. It holds, to a certain extent, with domestic

* t

Silliman's Journal,' July, i860.

i860.] THE GALAPAGOS. 12/

productions no doubt, where man preserves some abrupt
change in structure. It amused me to see Sir R. Murchison
quoted as a judge of affinities of animals, and it gave me a
cold shudder to hear of any one speculating about a true
crustacean giving birth to a true fish ! *

Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, September 1st [i860].

My Dear Lyell, — I have been much interested by your
letter of the 28th, received this morning. It has delighted me,
because it demonstrates that you have thought a good deal
lately on Natural Selection. Few things have surprised me
more than the entire paucity of objections and difficulties
new to me in the published reviews. Your remarks are of
a different stamp and new to me. I will run through them,
and make a few pleadings such as occur to me.

I put in the possibility of the Galapagos having been con-
tinuously joined to America, out of mere subservience to the
many who believe in Forbes's doctrine, and did not see the
danger of admission, about small mammals surviving there
in such case. The case of the Galapagos, from certain facts
on littoral sea-shells (viz. Pacific Ocean and South American
littoral species), in fact convinced me more than in any other
case of other islands, that the Galapagos had never been
continuously united with the mainland ; it was mere base
subservience, and terror of Hooker and Co.

With respect to atolls, I think mammals would hardly sur-
vive very long, even if the main islands (for as I have said in
the Coral Book, the outline of groups of atolls do not look

* Parson's,/^, cit. p. 5, speaking of Pterichthys and Cephalaspis, says : —
" Now is it too much to infer from these facts that either of these animals,
if a crustacean, was so nearly a fish that some of its ova may have become
fish ; or, if itself a fish, was so nearly a crustacean that it may have been
born from the ovum of a crustacean ? "

128 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i36a

like a former continent) had been tenanted by mammals, from
the extremely small area, the very peculiar conditions, and
the probability that during subsidence all or nearly all atolls
have been breached and flooded by the sea many times dur-
ing their existence as atolls.

I cannot conceive any existing reptile being converted
into a mammal. From homologies I should look at it as cer-
tain that all mammals had descended from some single pro-
genitor. What its nature was, it is impossible to speculate.
More like, probably, the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna than
any known form ; as these animals combine reptilian charac-
ters (and in a less degree bird character) with mammalian.
We must imagine some form as intermediate, as is Lepidosi-
ren now, between reptiles and fish, between mammals and
birds on the one hand (for they retain longer the same em-
bryological character) and reptiles on the other hand. With
respect to a mammal not being developed on any island,
besides want of time for so prodigious a development, there
must have arrived on the island the necessary and peculiar
progenitor, having a character like the embryo of a mammal ;
and not an already developed reptile, bird or fish.

We might give to a bird the habits of a mammal, but in-
heritance would retain almost for eternity some of the bird-
like structure, and prevent a new creature ranking as a true
mammal.

I have often speculated on antiquity of islands, but not
with your precision, or at all under the point of view of
Natural Selection not having done what might have been an-
ticipated. The argument of littoral Miocene shells at the
Canary Islands is new to me. I was deeply impressed (from
the amount of the denudation) [with the] antiquity of St.
Helena, and its age agrees with the peculiarity of the flora.
With respect to bats at New Zealand (N. B. There are two
or three European bats in Madeira, and I think in the Canary
Islands) not having given rise to a group of non-volant bats,
it is, now you put the case, surprising ; more especially as
the genus of bats in New Zealand is very peculiar, and there-

i860.] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. 1 29

fore has probably been long introduced, and they now speak
of Cretacean fossils there. But the first necessary step has
to be shown, namely, of a bat taking to feed on the ground,
or anyhow, and anywhere, except in the air. I am bound
to confess I do know one single such fact, viz. of an Indian
species killing frogs. Observe, that in my wretched Polar
Bear case, I do show the first step by which conversion into
a whale " would be easy," " would offer no difficulty " ! ! So
with seals, I know of no fact showing any the least incipient
variation of seals feeding on the shore. Moreover, seals wan-
der much ; I searched in vain, and could not find one case
of any species of seal confined to any islands. And hence
wanderers would be apt to cross with individuals undergoing
any change on an island, as in the case of land birds of Ma-
deira and Bermuda. The same remark applies even to bats,
as they frequently come to Bermuda from the mainland,
though about 600 miles distant. With respect to the Ambly-
rhynchus of the Galapagos, one may infer as probable, from
marine habits being so rare with Saurians, and from the ter-
restrial species being confined to a few central islets, that its
progenitor first arrived at the Galapagos ; from what country
it is impossible to say, as its affinity I believe is not very
clear to any known species. The offspring of the terrestrial
species was probably rendered marine. Now in this case I
do not pretend I can show variation in habits ; but we have
in the terrestrial species a vegetable feeder (in itself a rather
unusual circumstance), largely on lichens, and it would not
be a great change for its offspring to feed first on littoral
algae and then on submarine algae. I have said what I can
in defence, but yours is a good line of attack. We should,
however, always remember that no change will ever be
effected till a variation in the habits or structure or of both
chance to occur in the right direction, so as to give the organ-
ism in question an advantage over other already established
occupants of land or water, and this may be in any particu-
lar case indefinitely long. I am very glad you will read my
dogs MS., for it will be important to me to see what you think

130 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

of the balance of evidence. After long pondering on a sub-
ject it is often hard to judge. With hearty thanks for your
most interesting letter. Farewell.

My dear old master,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, September 2nd [i860].

My dear Hooker, — I am astounded at your news re-
ceived this morning. I am become such an old fogy that I
am amazed at your spirit. For God's sake do not go and
get your throat cut. Bless my soul, I think you must be a
little insane. I must confess it will be a most interesting
tour ; and, if you get to the top of Lebanon, I suppose ex-
tremely interesting — you ought to collect any beetles under
stones there ; but the Entomologists are such slow coaches.
I dare say no result could be made out of them. [They] have
never worked the Alpines of Britain.

If you come across any Brine lakes, do attend to their
minute flora and fauna ; I have often been surprised how lit-
tle this has been attended to.

I have had a long letter from Lyell, who starts ingenious
difficulties opposed to Natural Selection, because it has not
done more than it has. This is very good, as it shows that
he has thoroughly mastered the subject ; and shows he is in
earnest. Very striking letter altogether and it rejoices the
cockles of my heart.

.... How I shall miss you, my best and kindest of
friends. God bless you.

Yours ever affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Sept. 10 [i860].
.... You will be weary of my praise, but it * does strike
me as quite admirably argued, and so well and pleasantly

* Dr. Gray in the ' Atlantic Monthly ' for July, i860.

i860.] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. 131

written. Your many metaphors are inimitably good. I said
in a former letter that you were a lawyer, but I made a gross
mistake, I am sure that you are a poet. No, by Jove, I will
tell you what you are, a hybrid, a complex cross of lawyer,
poet, naturalist and theologian ! Was there ever such a mon-
ster seen before ?

I have just looked through the passages which I have
marked as appearing to me extra good, but I see that they
are too numerous to specify, and this is no exaggeration.
My eye just alights on the happy comparison of the colours
of the prism and our artificial groups. I see one little error
of fossil cattle in South America.

It is curious how each one, I suppose, weighs arguments
in a different balance : embryology is to me by far the strong-
est single class of facts in favour of change of forms, and not
one, I think, of my reviewers has alluded to this. Variation
not coming on at a very early age, and being inherited at not
a very early corresponding period, explains, as it seems to
me, the grandest of all facts in natural history, or rather in
zoology, viz. the resemblance of embryos.

[Dr. Gray wrote three articles in the * Atlantic Monthly ' for
July, August, and October, which were reprinted as a pam-
phlet in 1861, and now form chapter iii. in * Darwiniana '
(1876), with the heading ■ Natural Selection not inconsistent
with Natural Theology. 'J

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, September I2th [i860].
My dear Lyell, — I never thought of showing your letter
to any one. I mentioned in a letter to Hooker that I had
been much interested by a letter of yours with original objec-
tions, founded chiefly on Natural Selection not having done
so much as might have been expected. . ... In your letter
just received, you have improved your case versus Natural
Selection ; and it would tell with the public (do not be

132 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

tempted by its novelty to make it too strong) ; yet it seems
to me, not really very killing, though I cannot answer your
case, especially, why Rodents have not become highly devel-
oped in Australia. You must assume that they have inhab-
ited Australia for a very long period, and this may or may
not be the case. But I feel that our ignorance is so pro-
found, why one form is preserved with nearly the same struct-
ure, or advances in organisation or even retrogrades, or be-
comes extinct, that I cannot put very great weight on the
difficulty. Then, as you say often in your letter, we know
not how many geological ages it may have taken to make any
great advance in organisation. Remember monkeys in the
Eocene formations : but I admit that you have made out an
excellent objection and difficulty, and I can give only unsat-
isfactory and quite vague answers, such as you have yourself
put ; however, you hardly put weight enough on the abso-
lute necessity of variations first arising in the right direction,
videlicet, of seals beginning to feed on the shore.

I entirely agree with what you say about only one species
of many becoming modified. I remember this struck me
much when tabulating the varieties of plants, and I have a
discussion somewhere on this point. It is absolutely implied
in my ideas of classification and divergence that only one or
two species, of even large genera, give birth to new species ;
and many whole genera become wholly extinct. .... Please
see p. 341 of the ' Origin/ But I cannot remember that I
have stated in the ' Origin ' the fact of only very few species
in each genus varying. You have put the view much better
in your letter. Instead of saying, as I often have, that very
few species vary at the same time, I ought to have said, that
very few species of a genus ever vary so as to become modi-
fied ; for this is the fundamental explanation of classification,
and is shown in my engraved diagram. . . .

I quite agree with you on the strange and inexplicable
fact of Ornithorhynchus having been preserved, and Austral-
ian Trigonia, or the Silurian Lingula. I always repeat to
myself that we hardly know why any one single species is

i860] LYELL'S CRITICISMS. 1 33

rare or common in the best-known countries. I have got a
set of notes somewhere on the inhabitants of fresh water ;
and it is singular how many. of these are ancient, or interme-
diate forms ; which I think is explained by the competition
having been less severe, and the rate of change of organic
forms having been slower in small confined areas, such as all
the fresh waters make compared with sea or land.

I see that you do allude in the last page, as a difficulty, to
Marsupials not having become Placentals in Australia ; but
this I think you have no right at all to expect ; for we ought
to look at Marsupials and Placentals as having descended
from some intermediate and lower form. The argument of
Rodents not having become highly developed in Australia
(supposing that they have long existed there) is much stronger.
I grieve to see you hint at the creation " of distinct succes-
sive types, as well as of a certain number of distinct aborigi-
nal types." Remember, if you admit this, you give up the
embryological argument {the 7veightiest of all to me), and the
morphological or homological argument. You cut my throat,
and your own throat; and I believe will live to be sorry for
it. So much for species.

The striking extract which E. copied was your own writ-
ing ! ! in a note to me, many long years ago — which she
copied and sent to Mme. Sismondi ; and lately my aunt, in
sorting her letters, found E.'s and returned them to her.
. . . . I have been of late shamefully idle, i. e. observing *
instead of writing, and how much better fun observing is than
writing.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.
C. Darwin to C. LyelL

15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne,

Sunday [September 23rd, i860].

My dear Lyell,— I got your letter of the 18th just be-
fore starting here. You speak of saving me trouble in an-

* Drosera.

134 THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

swering. Never think of this, for I look at every letter of
yours as an honor and pleasure, which is. a pretty deal more
than I can say of some of the letters which I receive. I have
now one of 13 closely written folio pages to answer on spe-
cies ! . . . .

I have a very decided opinion that all mammals must
have descended from a single parent. Reflect on the multi-
tude of details, very many of them of extremely little impor-
tance to their habits (as the number of bones of the head, &c,
covering of hair, identical embryological development, &c.
&c). Now this large amount of similarity I must look at as
certainly due to inheritance from a common stock. I am
aware that some cases occur in which a similar or nearly
similar organ has been acquired by independent acts of nat-
ural selection. But in most of such cases of these apparent-
ly so closely similar organs, some important homological dif-
ference may be detected. Please read p. 193, beginning,
" The electric organs," and trust me that the sentence, " In
all these cases of two very distinct species," &c. &c, was not
put in rashly, for I went carefully into every case. Apply
this argument to the whole frame, internal and external, of
mammifers, and you will see why I think so strongly that all
have descended from one progenitor. I have just re-read your
letter, and I am not perfectly sure that I understand your point.

I enclose two diagrams showing the sort of manner I con-
jecture that mammals have been developed. I thought a little
on this when writing page 429, beginning, " Mr. Waterhouse."
(Please read the paragraph.) I have not knowledge enough
to choose between these two diagrams. If the brain of Mar-
supials in embryo closely resembles that of Placentals, I
should strongly prefer No. 2, and this agrees with the antiq-
uity of Microlestes. As a general rule I should prefer No. 1
diagram ; whether or not Marsupials have gone on being
developed, or rising in rank, from a very early period would
depend on circumstances too complex for even a conjecture.
Lingula has not risen since the Silurian epoch, whereas other
molluscs may have risen.

i860.]

PEDIGREE OF MAMMALIA.

135

A, in the following diagrams, represents an unknown form,
probably intermediate between Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds,
as intermediate as Lepidosiren now is between Fish and

DIAGRAM I.

A

MAMMALS,
NOT TRUE MARSUPIALS INOR TRUE PLACENTALS.

TRUE/
PLACENTAL.

\TRUE
MARSUPIAL.

./

/ \>

\

KANGAROO
FAM.

DIDELP'HYS
FAM.

DIAGRAM II.

/

/

/

V \

TRUE MARSUPIALS,
LOWLY DEVELOPED.

TRUE MARSUPIALS,
HIGHLY DEVELOPED.

,♦' i

PLACENTALS

l
■

PRESENT

MARSUPIALS

•

4

/

/ »

/ \

4 \

• » \

■ ' \
. *. *

KANGAROO
FAM.

DIDELPHYS
FAM.

Batrachians. This unknown form is probably more closely
related to Ornithorhynchus than to any other known form.
I do not think that the multiple origin of dogs goes against

136 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

the single origin of man All the races of man are so

infinitely closer together than to any ape, that (as in the case
of descent of all mammals from one progenitor), I should
look at all races of men as having certainly descended from
one parent. I should look at it as probable that the races of
men were less numerous and less divergent formerly than
now, unless, indeed, some lower and more aberrant race even
than the Hottentot has become extinct. Supposing, as I do
for one believe, that our dogs have descended from two or
three wolves, jackals, &c: ; yet these have, on our view, de-
scended from a single remote unknown progenitor. With
domestic dogs the question is simply whether the whole
amount of difference has been produced since man domesti-
cated a single species ; or whether part of the difference
arises in the state of nature. Agassiz and Co. think the
negro and Caucasian are now distinct species, and it is a
mere vain discussion whether, when they were rather less
distinct, they would, on this standard of specific value, de-
serve to be called species.

I agree with your answer which you give to yourself on
this point ; and the simile of man now keeping down any new
man which might be developed, strikes me as good and new.
The white man is " improving off the face of the earth " even
races nearly his equals. With respect to islands, I think I
would trust to want of time alone, and not to bats and Ro-
dents.

N.B. — I know of no rodents on oceanic islands (except
my Galapagos mouse, which may have been introduced by
man) keeping down the development of other classes. Still
much more weight I should attribute to there being now,
neither in islands nor elsewhere, [any] known animals of a
grade of organisation intermediate between mammals, fish,
reptiles, &c, whence a new mammal could be developed. If
every vertebrate were destroyed throughout the world, except
our now well-established reptiles, millions of ages might elapse
before reptiles could become highly developed on a scale
equal to mammals ; and, on the principle of inheritance,

i860.] LETTER TO ASA GRAY. 1 37

they would make some quite new class, and not mammals ;
though possibly more intellectual ! I have not an idea that
you will care for this letter, so speculative.

Most truly yours,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Sept. 26 [i860].

.... I have had a letter of fourteen folio pages from
Harvey against my book, with some ingenious and new
remarks; but it is an extraordinary fact that he does not
understand at all what I mean by Natural Selection. I have
begged him to read the Dialogue in next ' Silliman,' as you
never touch the subject without making it clearer. I look at
it as even more extraordinary that you never say a word or
use an epithet which does not express fully my meaning.
Now Lyell, Hooker, and others, who perfectly understand my
book, yet sometimes use expressions to which I demur. Well,
your extraordinary labour is over; if there is any fair amount
of truth in my view, I am well assured that your great labour
has not been thrown away. . . .

I yet hope and almost believe, that the time will- come
when you will go further, in believing a very large amount of
modification of species, than you did at first or do now. Can
you tell me whether you believe further or more firmly than
you did at first ? I should really like to know this. I can
perceive in my immense correspondence with Lyell, who
objected to much at first, that he has, perhaps unconsciously
to himself, converted himself very much during the last six
months, and I think this is the case even with Hooker. This
fact gives me far more confidence than any other fact.

I38 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne,

Friday evening [September 28th, i860].

.... I am very glad to hear about the Germans reading
my book. No one will be converted who has not independ-
ently begun to doubt about species. Is not Krohn * a good
fellow ? I have long meant to write to him. He has been
working at Cirripedes, and has detected two or three

gigantic blunders, about which, I thank Heaven, I

spoke rather doubtfully. Such difficult dissection that even
Huxley failed. It is chiefly the interpretation which I put on
parts that is so wrong, and not the parts which I describe.
But they were gigantic blunders, and why I say all this is be-
cause Krohn, instead of crowing at all, pointed out my errors
with the utmost gentleness and pleasantness. I have always
meant to write to him and thank him. I suppose Dr. Krohn,
Bonn, would reach him.

I cannot see yet how the multiple origin of dog can be
properly brought as argument for the multiple origin of man.
Is not your feeling a remnant of the deeply impressed one on
all our minds, that a species is an entity, something quite dis-
tinct from a variety ? Is it not that the dog case injures the
argument from fertility, so that one main argument that the
races of man are varieties and not species — i.e., because they
are fertile inter se, is much weakened ?

I quite agree with what Hooker says, that whatever varia-
tion is possible under culture, is possible under nature ; not that
the same form would ever be accumulated and arrived at by
selection for man's pleasure, and by natural selection for the
organism's own good.

Talking of " natural selection ; " if I had to commence de

* There are two papers by Aug. Krohn, one on the Cement Glands,
and the other on the development of Cirripedes, ' Wiegmann's Archiv,'
xxv. and xxvi. My father has remarked that he a blundered dreadfully
about the cement glands," ' Autobiography,' p. 66-

r86o.] BRONN'S OBJECTIONS. T^g

novo, I would have used " natural preservation/' For I find

men like Harvey of Dublin cannot understand me, though he

has road the book twice. Dr. Gray of the British Museum

remarked to me that, "selection was obviously impossible with

plants ! No one could tell him how it could be possible ! "

And he may now add that the author did not attempt it to

him !

Yours ever affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne,

October 8th [i860].

My dear Lyell, — I send the [English] translation of
Bronn,* the first part of the chapter with generalities and praise
is not translated. There are some good hits. He makes an
apparently, and in part truly, telling case against me, says
that I cannot explain why one rat has a longer tail and
another longer ears, &c. But he seems to muddle in assuming
that these parts did not all vary together, or one part so in-
sensibly before the other, as to be in fact contemporaneous.
I might ask the creationist whether he thinks these differences
in the two rats of any use, or as standing in some relation from
laws of growth ; and if he admits this, selection might come
into play. He who thinks that God created animals unlike
for mere sport or variety, as man fashions his clothes, will
not admit any force in my argumentum ad hominem.

Bronn blunders about my supposing several Glacial peri-
ods, whether or no such ever did occur.

He blunders about my supposing that development goes
on at the same rate in all parts of the world. I presume that
he has misunderstood this from the supposed migration into
all regions of the more dominant forms.

* A MS. translation of Bronn's chapter of objections at the end of his
German translation of the ' Origin of Species.'
40

I40 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [i860.

I have ordered Dr. Bree,* and will lend it to you, if you
like, and if it turns out. good.

I am very glad that I misunderstood you about

species not having the capacity to vary, though in fact few do
give birth to new species. It seems that I am very apt to mis-
understand you ; I suppose I am always fancying objections.
Your case of the Red Indian shows me that we agree en-
tirely. . . '. .

I had a letter yesterday from Thwaites of Ceylon, who
was much opposed to me. He now says, " I find that the
more familiar I become with your views in connection with
the various phenomena of nature, the more they commend
themselves to my mind."

C. Darwin to J. M. Ro dwell. \

15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne.

November 5th [i860].

Mv dear Sir, — I am extremely much obliged for your
letter, which I can compare only to a plum-pudding, so full
it is of good things. I have been rash about the cats : J yet
I spoke on what seemed to me, good authority. The Rev.
W. D. Fox gave me a list of cases of various foreign breeds
in which he had observed the correlation, and for years he
had vainly sought an exception. A French paper also gives
numerous cases, and one very curious case of a kitten which
gradually lost the blue colour in its eyes and as gradually
acquired its power of hearing. I had not heard of your
uncle, Mr. Kirby's case # (whom I, for as long as I can re-

* * Species not Transmutable,' by C. R. Bree, i860.

f Rev. J. M. Rodwell, who was at Cambridge with my father, remem-
bers him saying : — " It strikes me that all our knowledge about the struct-
ure of our earth is very much like what an old hen would know of a hun-
dred acre field, in a corner of which she is scratching."

% " Cats with blue eyes are invariably deaf," ' Origin of Species,' ed. i.
p. 12.

# William Kirby, joint author with Spence, of the well-known * Intro-
duction to Entomology/ 18 18.

i860.] REVIEWS. I4I

member, have venerated) of care in breeding cats. I do not
know whether Mr. Kirby was your uncle by marriage, but
your letters show me that you ought to have Kirby blood in
your veins, and that if you had not taken to languages you
would have been a first-rate naturalist.

I sincerely hope that you will be able to carry out your in-
tention of writing on the " Birth, Life, and Death of Words."
Anyhow, you have a capital title, and some think this the
most difficult part of a book. I remember years ago at the
Cape of Good Hope, Sir J. Herschel saying to me, I wish
some one would treat language as Lyell has treated geology.
What a linguist you must be to translate the Koran ! Having
a vilely bad head for languages, I feel an awful respect for
linguists.

I do not know whether my brother-in-law, Hensleigh
Wedgwood's 'Etymological Dictionary* would be at all in
your line ; but he treats briefly on the genesis of words ; and,
as it seems to me, very ingeniously. You kindly say that
you would communicate any facts which might occur to you,
and I am sure that I should be most grateful. Of the multi-
tude of letters which I receive, not one in a thousand is like
yours in value.

With my cordial thanks, and apologies for this untidy let-
ter written in haste, pray believe me, my dear Sir,

Yours sincerely obliged,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C, Lyell.

November 20th [i860].
.... I have not had heart to read Phillips * yet, or a
tremendous long hostile review by Professor Bowen in the
4to Mem. of the American Academy of Sciences. f (By the

* * Life on the Earth.'

f " Remarks on the latest form of the Development Theory." By
Francis Bowen, Professor of Natural Religion and Moral Philosophy, at
Harvard University. * American Academy of Arts and Sciences,' vol. viii.

I42 THE < ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

way, I hear Agassiz is going to thunder against me in the
next part of the ' Contributions/) Thank you for telling me
of the sale of the ' Origin/ of which I had not heard. There
will be some time, I presume, a new edition, and I especially
want your advice on one point, and you know I think you
the wisest of men, and I shall be absolutely guided by your
advice. It has occurred to me, that it would perhaps be a
good plan to put a set of notes (some twenty to forty or fifty)
to the ' Origin/ which now has none, exclusively devoted to
errors of my reviewers. It has occurred to me that where a
reviewer has erred, a common reader might err. Secondly,
it will show the reader that he must not trust implicitly to
reviewers. Thirdly, when any special fact has been attacked,
I should like to defend it. I would show no sort of anger.
I enclose a mere rough specimen, done without any care or
accuracy — done from memory alone — to be torn up, just to
show the sort of thing that has occurred to me. Will you do
me the great kindness to consider this well ?

It seems to me it would have a good effect, and give some
confidence to the reader. It would [be] a horrid bore going
through all the reviews.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[Here follow samples of foot-notes, the references to vol-
ume and page being left blank. It will be seen that in some
cases he seems to have forgotten that he was writing foot-
notes, and to have continued as if writing to Lyell : —

* Dr. Bree (p. ) asserts that saying that the " dorsal vertebrae of
I explain the structure of the cells pigeons vary in number, and dis-
of the Hive Bee by " the exploded putes the fact." I nowhere even
doctrine of pressure." But I do not allude to the dorsal vertebrae, only
say one word which directly or indi- to the sacral and caudal vertebrae,
rectly can be interpreted into any * The ' Edinburgh ' Reviewer
reference to pressure. throws a doubt on these organs be-

* The * Edinburgh ' Reviewer ing the Branchiae of Cirripedes.
(vol. , p. ) quotes my work as But Professor Owen in 1854 admits,

i860.]

REVIEWS.

143

without hesitation, that they are
Branchiae, as did John Hunter long
ago.

* The confounded Wealden Cal-
culation to be struck out, and a note
to be inserted to the effect that I am
convinced of its inaccuracy from a
review in the Saturday Review^ and
from Phillips, as I see in his Table
of Contents that he alludes to it.

* Mr. Hopkins (' Fraser,' vol.
, p. ) states — I am quoting

only from vague memory — that, " I
argue in favour of my views from the
extreme imperfection of the Geo-
logical Record," and says this is the
first time in the history of Science
he has ever heard of ignorance be-
ing adduced as an argument. But
I repeatedly admit, in the most em-
phatic language which I can use,
that the imperfect evidence which
Geology offers in regard to transito-
rial forms is most strongly opposed
to my views. Surely there is a wide
difference in fully admitting an ob-
jection, and then in endeavoring to
show that it is not so strong as it at
first appears, and in Mr. Hopkins's
assertion that I found my argument
on the Objection.

* I would also put a note to
" Natural Selection," and show how
variously it has been misunder-
stood.

* A writer in the • Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal ' denies my
statement that the Woodpecker
of La Plata never frequents trees.
I observed its habits during two
years, but, what is more to the pur-
pose, Azara, whose accuracy all ad-
mit, is more emphatic than I am in
regard to its never frequenting trees.
Mr. A. Murray denies that it ought
to be called a woodpecker ; it has
two toes in front and two behind,
pointed tail feathers, a long pointed
tongue, and the same general form
of body, the same manner of flight,
colouring and voice. It was classed,
until recently, in the same genus —
Picus — with all other woodpeckers,
but now has been ranked as a dis-
tinct genus amongst the Picidae. It
differs from the typical Picus only
in the beak, not being quite so
strong, and in the upper mandible
being slightly arched. I think these
facts fully justify my statement that
it is " in all essential parts of its or-
ganisation " a Woodpecker.]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, Nov. 22 [i860].
My dear Huxley, — For heaven's sake don't write an
anti-Darwinian article ; you would do it so confoundedly
well. I have sometimes amused myself with thinking how
I could best pitch into myself, and I believe I could give two
or three good digs ; but I will see you first before I will

144 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [186a

try. I shall be very impatient to see the Review.* If it

succeeds it may really do much, very much good

I heard to-day from Murray that I must set to work at
once on a new edition f of the ' Origin/ [Murray] says the
Reviews have not improved the sale. I shall always think
those early reviews, almost entirely yours, did the subject an
enormous service. If you have any important suggestions or
criticisms to make on any part of the ' Origin,' I should, of
course, be very grateful for [them]. For I mean to correct
as far as I can, but not enlarge. How you must be wearied
with and hate the subject, and it is God's blessing if you do
not get to hate me. Adios.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, November 24th [i860].

My dear Lyell, — I thank you much for your letter. I
had got to take pleasure in thinking how I could best snub
my reviewers ; but I was determined, in any case, to follow
your advice, and, before I had got to the end of your letter,
I was convinced of the wisdom of your advice.J What an
advantage it is to me to have such friends as you. I shall
follow every hint in your letter exactly.

I have just heard from Murray ; he says he sold 700 copies
at his sale, and that he has not half the number to supply ; so
that I must begin at once.# ....

* The first number of the new series of the 4 Nat. Hist. Review ' ap-
peared in 1861.

f The 3rd edition.

\ u I get on slowly with my new edition. I find that your advice was
excellent. I can answer all reviews, without any direct notice of them, by
a little enlargement here and there, with here and there a new paragraph.
Bronn alone I shall treat with the respect of giving his objections with his
name. I think I shall improve my book a good deal, and add only some
twenty pages." — From a letter to Lyell, December 4th, i860.

* On the third edition of the 4 Origin of Species,' published in April
1861.

i860.] DESIGN. I45

P.S. — I must tell you one little fact which has pleased
me. You may remember that I adduce electrical organs of
fish as one of the greatest difficulties which have occurred
to "me, and notices the passage in a singularly disingenu-
ous spirit. Well, McDonnell, of Dublin (a first-rate man),
writes to me that he felt the difficulty of the whole case as
overwhelming against me. Not only are the fishes which
have electric organs very remote in scale, but the organ is
near the head in some, and near the tail in others, and
supplied by wholly different nerves. It seems impossible
that there could be any transition. Some friend, who is
much opposed to me, seems to have crowed over McDonnell,
who reports that he said to himself, that if Darwin is right,
there must be homologous organs both near the head and tail
in other non-electric fish. He set to work, and, by Jove,
he has found them ! * so that some of the difficulty is re-
moved ; and is it not satisfactory that my hypothetical no-
tions should have led to pretty discoveries ? McDonnell
seems very cautious ; he says, years must pass before he will
venture to call himself a believer in my doctrine, but that on
the subjects which he knows well, viz., Morphology and Em-
bryology, my views accord well, and throw light on the whole
subject.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray*

Down, November 26th, i860.
My dear Gray, — I have to thank you for two letters.
The latter with corrections, written before you received my
letter asking for an American reprint, and saying that it was
hopeless to print your reviews as a pamphlet, owing to the
impossibility of getting pamphlets known. I am very glad
to say that the August or second ' Atlantic ' article has been
reprinted in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' ;

* ' On an organ in the Skate, which appears to be the homologue of the
electrical organ of the Torpedo,' by R. McDonnell, * Nat. Hist. Review/
1861, p. 57.

I46 THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

but I have not yet seen it there. Yesterday I read over with
care the third article ; and it seems to me, as before, admi-
rable. But I grieve to say that I cannot honestly go as far
as you do about Design. I am conscious that I am in an
utterly hopeless muddle. I cannot think that the world, as
we see it, is the result of chance ; and yet I cannot look at
each separate thing as the result of Design. To take a cru-
cial example, you lead me to infer (p. 414) that you believe
" that variation has been led along certain beneficial lines/'
I cannot believe this ; and I think you would have to believe,
that the tail of the Fantail was led to vary in the number
and direction of its feathers in order to gratify the caprice of
a few men. Yet if the Fantail had been a wild bird, and had
used its abnormal tail for some special end, as to sail before
the wind, unlike other birds, every one would have said,
"What a beautiful and designed adaptation." Again, I say
I am, and shall ever remain, in a hopeless muddle.

Thank you much for Bowen's 4to. review.* The coolness
with which he makes all animals to be destitute of reason is
simply absurd. It is monstrous at p. 103, that he should
argue against the possibility of accumulative variation, and
actually leave out, entirely, selection ! The chance that an
improved Short-horn, or improved Pouter-pigeon, should
be produced by accumulative variation without man's selec-
tion is as almost infinity to nothing ; so with natural species
without natural selection. How capitally in the ' Atlantic ' you
show that Geology and Astronomy are, according to Bowen,
Metaphysics ; but he leaves out this in the 4to Memoir.

I have not much to tell you about my Book. I have just
heard that Du Bois-Reymond agrees with me. The sale of
my book goes on well, and the multitude of reviews has not
stopped the sale , . . ; so I must begin at once on a new
corrected edition. I will send you a, copy for the chance of
your ever re-reading ; but, good Heavens, how sick you must
be of it !

* ' Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences/ vol. viii.

i860.] DR. GRAY'S PAMPHLET. 147

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, Dec. 2nd [i860].

.... I have got fairly sick of hostile reviews. Never-
theless, they have been of use in showing me when to expati-
ate a little and to introduce a few new discussions. Of course
I will send you a copy of the new edition.

I entirely agree with you, that the difficulties on my
notions are terrific, yet having seen what all the Reviews have
said against me, I have far more confidence in the general
truth of the doctrine than I formerly had. Another thing
gives me confidence, viz. that some who went half an inch
with me now go further, and some who were bitterly opposed
are now less bitterly opposed. And this makes me feel a
little disappointed that you are not inclined to think the
general view in some slight degree more probable than you
did at first. This I consider rather ominous. Otherwise I
should be more contented with your degree of belief. I can
pretty plainly see that, if my view is ever to be generally
adopted, it will be by young men growing up and replacing
the old workers, and then young ones finding that they can
group facts and search out new lines of investigation better
on the notion of descent, than on that of creation. But
forgive me for running on so egotistically. Living so solitary
as I do, one gets to think in a silly manner of one's own
work.

Ever yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, December nth [i860].
I heard from A. Gray this morning; at my sug-
gestion he is going to reprint the three ' Atlantic ' articles as a
pamphlet, and send 250 copies to England, for which I intend
to pay half the cost of the whole edition, and shall give away,

I48 THE ■ ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860.

and try to sell by getting a few advertisements put in, and if
possible notices in Periodicals.

David Forbes has been carefully working the

Geology of Chile, and as I value praise for accurate observa-
tion far higher than for any other quality, forgive (if you can)
the insufferable vanity of my copying the last sentence in his
note : " I regard your Monograph on Chile as, without ex-
ception, one of the finest specimens of Geological enquiry."
I feel inclined to strut like a Turkey-cock !

CHAPTER III.

Spread of Evolution.

1861-1862.

[The beginning of the year 1861 saw my father with the
third chapter of ' The Variation of Animals and Plants ' still
on his hands. It had been begun in the previous August,
and was not finished until March 1861. He was, however, for
part of this time (I believe during December i860 and
January 1861) engaged in a new edition (2000 copies) of the
1 Origin/ which was largely corrected and added to, and was
published in April 1861.

With regard to this, the third edition, he wrote to Mr.
Murray in December i860 : —

" I shall be glad to hear when you have decided how
many copies you will print off — the more the better for me
in all ways, as far as compatible with safety ; for I hope
never again to make so many corrections, or rather additions,
which I have made in hopes of making my many rather
stupid reviewers at least understand what is meant. I hope
and think I shall improve the book considerably.,,

An interesting feature in the new edition was the " His-
torical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin
of Species "* which now appeared for the first time, and was
continued in the later editions of the work. It bears a strong

* The Historical Sketch had already appeared in the first German
edition (i860) and the American edition. Bronn states in the German
edition (footnote, p. 1) that it was his critique in the * N. Jahrbuch fiir
Mineralogie ' that suggested the idea of such a sketch to my father.

150 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

impress of the author's personal character in the obvious wish
to do full justice to all his predecessors, — though even in
this respect it has not escaped some adverse criticism.

Towards the end of the present year (1861), the final
arrangements for the first French edition of the i Origin ' were
completed, and in September a copy of the third English
edition was despatched to Mdlle. Clemence Royer, who under-
took the work of translation. The book was now spreading
on the Continent, a Dutch edition had appeared, and, as we
have seen, a German translation had been published in i860.
In a letter to Mr. Murray (September 10, 1861), he wrote,
" My book seems exciting much attention in Germany,
judging from the number of discussions sent me." The
silence had been broken, and in a few years the voice of
German science was to become one of the strongest of the
advocates of evolution.

During all the early part of the year (1861) he was working
at the mass of details which are marshalled in order in the early
chapter of ' Animals and Plants/ Thus in his Diary occur
the laconic entries, "May 16, Finished Fowls (eight weeks) ;
May 31, Ducks."

On July 1, he started, with his family, for Torquay, where
he remained until August 27 — a holiday which he character-
istically enters in his diary as " eight weeks and a day." The
house he occupied was in Hesketh Crescent, a pleasantly
placed tow of houses close above the sea, somewhat removed
from what was then the main body of the town, and not far
from the beautiful cliffed coast-line in the neighbourhood of
Anstey's Cove.

During the Torquay holiday, and for the remainder of the
year, he worked at the fertilisation of orchids. This part of
the year 1861 is not dealt with in the present chapter, because
(as explained in the preface) the record of his life, as told in
his letters, seems to become clearer when the whole of his
botanical work is placed together and treated separately.
The present series of chapters will, therefore, include only
the progress of his works in the direction of a general

i86i.] HUXLEY'S ARTICLE. 151

amplification of the * Origin of Species ' — e.g., the publication
of ' Animals and Plants/ c Descent of Man/ &c]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Jan. 15 [1861].

My dear Hooker,— The sight of your handwriting always
rejoices the very cockles of my heart

I most fully agree to what you say about Huxley's Ariicle,*

and the power of writing The whole review seems to

me excellent. How capitally Oliver has done the resume
of botanical books. Good Heavens, how he must have
read ! . . . .

I quite agree that Phillips f is unreadably dull. You need
not attempt Bree.J ....

* ' Natural History Review,' 1861, p. 67, M On the Zoological Rela-
tions of Man with the Lower Animals." This memoir had its origin in a
discussion at the previous meeting of the British Association, when Pro-
fessor Huxley felt himself " compelled to give a diametrical contradiction
to certain assertions respecting the differences which obtain between the
brains of the higher apes and of man, which fell from Professor Owen/'
But in order that his criticisms might refer to deliberately recorded words,
he bases them on Professor Owen's paper, " On the Characters, &c, of the
Class Mammalia," read before the Linnean Society in February and April,
1857, in which he proposed to place man not only in a distinct order, but
in " a distinct sub-class of the Mammalia " — the Archencephala.

f ' Life on the Earth ' (i860), by Prof. Phillips, containing the sub-
stance of the Rede Lecture (May i860).

% The following sentence (p. 16) from * Species not Transmutable,' by
Dr. Bree, illustrates the degree in which he understood the ' Origin of
Species ' : "The only real difference between Mr. Darwin and his two
predecessors" [Lamarck and the * Vestiges '] "is this: — that while the
latter have each given a mode by which they conceive the great changes
they believe in have been brought about, Mr. Darwin does no such thing."
After this we need not be surprised at a passage in the preface : " No one
has derived greater pleasure than I have in past days from the study of
Mr. Darwin's other works, and no one has felt a greater degree of regret
that he should have imperilled his fame by the publication of his treatise
upon the ' Origin of Species.' "

!j2 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

If you come across Dr. Freke on ' Origin of Species by
means of Organic Affinity,' read a page here and there. . . .
He tells the reader to observe [that his result] has been ar-
rived at by " induction," whereas all my results are arrived
at only by " analogy." I see a Mr. Neale has read a paper
before the Zoological Society on ' Typical Selection ; ' what
it means I know not. I have not read H. Spencer, for I find
that I must more and more husband the very little strength
which I have. I sometimes suspect I shall soon entirely fail.
. ... As soon as this dreadful weather gets a little milder, I
must try a little water cure. Have you read the ' Woman in
White ' ? the plot is wonderfully interesting. I can recom-
mend a book which has interested me greatly, viz., Olmsted's
1 Journey in the Back Country.' It is an admirably lively
picture of man and slavery in the Southern States

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

February 2, 1 86 1.

My dear Lyell, — I have thought you would like to read
the enclosed passage in a letter from A. Gray (who is print-
ing his reviews as a pamphlet,* and will send copies to Eng-
land), as I think his account is really favourable in high
degree to us : —

" I wish I had time to write you an account of the lengths
to which Bowen and Agassiz, each in their own way, are
going. The first denying all heredity (all transmission ex-
cept specific) whatever. The second coming near to deny
that we are genetically descended from our great-great-grand-
fathers ; and insisting that evidently affiliated languages, e. g.
Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, owe none of their similarities to a
community of origin, are all autochthonal ; Agassiz admits
that the derivation of languages, and that of species or forms,

* " Natural Selection not inconsistent with Natural Theology," from
the ' Atlantic Monthly ' for July, August, and October, i860 ; published by
Trubner.

i86i.] MR. BATES. 1 53

stand on the same foundation, and that he must allow the

latter if he allows the former, which I tell him is perfectly

logical."

Is not this marvellous ?

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

C Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Feb. 4 [1861].

My dear Hooker, — I was delighted to get your long
chatty letter, and to hear that you are thawing towards sci-
ence. I almost wish you had remained frozen rather longer;
but do not thaw too quickly and strongly. No one can work
long as you used to do. Be idle ; but I am a pretty man to
preach, for I cannot be idle, much as I wish it, and am never
comfortable except when at work. The word holiday is writ-
ten in a dead language for me, and much I grieve at it. We
thank you sincerely for your kind sympathy about poor H.

[his daughter] She has now come up to her old point,

and can sometimes get up for an hour or two twice a day.
. . . Never to look to the future or as little as possible is be-
coming our rule of life. What a different thing life was in
youth with no dread in the future'; all golden, if baseless,
hopes.

.... With respect to the i Natural History Review ' I
can hardly think that ladies would be so very sensitive about
" lizards' guts ; " but the publication is at present certainly a
sort of hybrid, and original illustrated papers ought hardly
to appear in a review. I doubt its ever paying; but I shall
much regret if it dies. All that you say seems very sensible,
but could a review in the strict sense of the word be filled
with readable matter ?

I have been doing little, except finishing the new edition
of the ' Origin,' and crawling on most slowly with my volume
of ' Variation under Domestication.' ....

[The following letter refers to Mr. Bates's paper, "Contri-

!jj4 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

butions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley," in the
'Transactions of the Entomological Society/ vol. 5, n.s.*
Mr. Bates points out that with the return, after the glacial
period, of a warmer climate in the equatorial regions, the
"species then living near the equator would retreat north
and south to their former homes, leaving some of their con-
geners, slowly modified subsequently ... to re-people the
zone they had forsaken." In this case the species now living
at the equator ought to show clear relationship to the species
inhabiting the regions about the 25th parallel, whose distant
relatives they would of course be. But this is not the case,
and this is the difficulty my father refers to. Mr. Belt has
offered an explanation in his • Naturalist in Nicaragua '
(1874), p. 266. " I believe the answer is that there was much
extermination during the glacial period, that many species
(and some genera, &c, as, for instance, the American horse),
did not survive it ... . but that a refuge was found for
many species on lands now below the ocean, that were un-
covered by the lowering of the sea, caused by the immense
quantity of water that was locked up in frozen masses on the
land."]

C. Darwin to J. Z>. Hooker.

Down, 27th [March 1861].
My dear Hooker, — I had intended to have sent you
Bates's article this very day. I am so glad you like it. I
have been extremely much struck with it. How well he
argues, and with what crushing force against the glacial doc-
trine. I cannot wriggle out of it : I am dumbfounded ; yet
I do believe that some explanation some day will appearand
I cannot give up equatorial cooling. It explains so much
and harmonises with so much. When you write (and much
interested I shall be in your letter) please say how far floras
are generally uniform in generic character from o° to 25 ° N.
and S.

* The paper was read Nov. 24, i860.

i86i.] MR. BATES. 1 55

Before reading Bates, I had become thoroughly dissatis-
fied with what I wrote to you. 1 hope you may get Bates to
write in the * Linnean.*

Here is a good joke : H. C. Watson (who, I fancy and
hope, is going to review the new edition * of the ' Origin ')
says that in the first four paragraphs of the introduction, the
words " I," "me," "my," occur forty-three times! I was
dimly conscious of the accursed fact. He says it can be ex-
plained phrenologically, which I suppose civilly means, that
I am the most egotistically self-sufficient man alive ; perhaps
so. I wonder whether he will print this pleasing fact ; it
beats hollow the parentheses in Wollaston's writing.
/ am, my dear Hooker, ever yours,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — Do not spread this pleasing joke ; it is rather too
biting.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, [April] 23 ? [186 1.]
.... I quite agree with what you say on Lieutenant
Hutton's Review f (who he is I know not) ; it struck me as
very original. He is one of the very few who see that the
change of species cannot be directly proved, and that the
doctrine must sink or swim according as it groups and ex-
plains phenomena. It is really curious how few judge it in
this way, which is clearly the right way. I have been much
interested by Bentham's paper \ in the N. H. R., but it would
not, of course, from familiarity strike you as it did me. I
liked the whole ; all the facts on the nature of close and
varying species. Good Heavens ! to think of the British

* Third edition of 2000 copies, published in April, 1 86 1.

f In the 'Geologist,' 1861, p. 132, by Lieutenant Frederick Wollaston
Hutton, now Professor of Biology and Geology at Canterbury College,
New Zealand.

± "On the Species and Genera of Plants, &c," 'Natural History Re-
view,' 1861, p. 133.
47

r 56 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [i36i.

botanists turning up their noses, and saying that he knows
nothing of British plants ! I was also pleased at his remarks
on classification, because it showed me that I wrote truly on
this subject in the ' Origin/ I saw Bentham at the Linnean
Society, and had some talk with him and Lubbock, and
Edgeworth, AV allien, and several others. I asked Bentham
to give us his ideas of species ; whether partially with us or
dead against us, he would write excellent matter. He made
no answer, but his manner made me think he might do so if
urged ; so do you attack him. Every one was speaking with
affection and anxiety of Henslow.* I dined with Bell at the

Linnean Club, and liked my dinner Dining out is

such a novelty to me that I enjoyed it. Bell has a real good
heart. I liked Rolleston's paper, but I never read anything
so obscure and not self-evident as his ' Canons. 'f .... I
called on R. Chambers, at his very nice house in St. John's
Wood, and had a very pleasant half-hour's talk ; he is really
a capital fellow. He made one good remark and chuckled
over it, that the laymen universally had treated the contro-
versy on the 'Essays and Reviews' as a merely professional
subject, and had not joined in it, but had left it to the clergy.
I shall be anxious for your next letter about Henslow.J
Farewell, with sincere sympathy, my old friend,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — We are very much obliged for the ' London Re-
view.' We like reading much of it, and the science is in-
comparably better than in the Athenceum. You shall not go
on very long sending it, as you will be ruined by pennies and
trouble, but I am under a horrid spell to the Athenceum and

* Prof. Henslow was in his last illness.

f George Rolleston, M. D., F. R. S., b. 1829, d. 1881. Linacre Pro-
fessor of Anatomy and Physiology at Oxford. A man of much learning,
who left but few published works, among which may be mentioned his
handbook, ' Forms of Animal Life.' For the' Canons,' see ' Nat. Hist. Re-
view,' 1861, p. 206.

% Sir Joseph Hooker was Prof. Henslow's son-in-law.

i86i.] LYELL'S WORK. ^7

the Gardener s Chronicle, but I have taken them in for so
many years, that I cannot give them up.

[The next letter refers to Lyell's visit to the Biddenham
gravel-pits near Bedford in April 1861. The visit was made
at the invitation of Mr. James Wyatt, who had recently dis-
covered two stone implements " at the depth of thirteen feet
from the surface of the soi],,, resting " immediately on solid
beds of oolitic-limestone/' * Here, says Sir C. Lyell, " I .
. . . for the first time, saw evidence which satisfied me of
the chronological relations of those three phenomena — the
antique tools, the extinct mammalia, and the glacial forma-
tion."]

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, April 12 [1861].

My dear Lyell, — I have been most deeply interested
by your letter. You seem to have done the grandest work,
and made the greatest step, of any one with respect to man.

It is an especial relief to hear that you think the French
superficial deposits are deltoid and semi-marine ; but two
days ago I was saying to a friend, that the unknown manner
of the accumulation of these deposits, seemed the great blot
in all the work done. I could not stomach debacles or lacus-
trine beds. It is grand. I remember Falconer told me that
he thought some of the remains in the Devonshire caverns
were pre-glacial, and this, I presume, is now your conclusion
for the older celts with hyena and hippopotamus. It is grand.
What a fine long pedigree you have given the human race !

I am sure I never thought of parallel roads having been
accumulated during subsidence. I think I see some diffi-
culties on this view, though, at first reading your note, I
jumped at the idea. But I will think over all I saw there. I
am (stomacho volente) coming up to London on Tuesday to
work on cocks and hens, and on Wednesday morning, about
a quarter before ten, I will call on you (unless I hear to the

* ' Antiquity of Man/ fourth edition, p. 214,

I j8 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

contrary), for I long to see you. I congratulate you on your
grand work.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — Tell Lady Lyell that I was unable to digest the
funereal ceremonies of the ants, notwithstanding that Erasmus
has often told me that I should find some day that they have
their bishops. After a battle I have always seen the ants
carry away the dead for food. Ants display the utmost
economy, and always carry away a dead fellow-creature as
food. But I have just forwarded two most extraordinary
letters to Busk, from a backwoodsman in Texas, who has evi-
dently watched ants carefully, and declares most positively
that they plant and cultivate a kind of grass for store food,
and plant other bushes for shelter ! I do not know what to
think, except that the old gentleman is not fibbing intention-
ally. I have left the responsibility with Busk whether or no
to read the letters.*

C. Darwin to Thomas Davidson. \

Down, April 26, 1 86 1.
My dear Sir, — I hope that you will excuse me for ven-
turing to make a suggestion to you which I am perfectly well
aware it is a very remote chance that you would adopt. I do
not know whether you have read my ' Origin of Species ' ; in
that book I have made the remark, wThich I apprehend will
be universally admitted, that as a whole, the fauna of any
formation is intermediate in character between that of the

* /. e. to read them before the Linnean Society.

f Thomas Davidson, F.R.S., born in Edinburgh, May 17, 1817 ; died
T885. His researches were chiefly connected with the sciences of geology
and palaeontology, and were directed especially to the elucidation of the
characters, classification, history, geological and geographical distribution
of recent and fossil Brachiopoda. On this subject he brought out an im-
portant work, 4 British Fossil Brachiopoda,' 5 vols. 4to. (Cooper, ' Men of
the Time,' 1884.)

i86i.] DAVIDSON ON BRACHIOPODA. tJq

formations above and below. But several really good judges
have remarked to me how desirable it would be that this
should be exemplified and worked out in some detail and
with some single group of beings. Now every one will ad-
mit that no one in the world could do this better than you
with Brachiopods. The result might turn out very unfavour-
able to the views which I hold ; if so, so much the better for
those who are opposed to me.* But I am inclined to suspect
that on the whole it would be favourable to the notion of
descent with modification ; for about a year ago, Mr. Salter f
in the Musuem in Jermyn Street, glued on a board some
Spirifers, &c, from three palaeozoic stages, and arranged them
in single and branching lines, with horizontal lines marking
the formations (like the diagram in my book, if you know
it), and the result seemed to me very striking, though I was
too ignorant fully to appreciate the lines of affinities. I
longed to have had these shells engraved, as arranged by
Mr. Salter, and connected by dotted lines, and would have
gladly paid the expense : but I could not persuade Mr. Salter
to publish a little paper on the subject. I can hardly doubt
that many curious points would occur to any one thoroughly
instructed in the subject, who would consider a group of
beings under this point of view of descent with modification.
All those forms which have come down from an ancient
period very slightly modified ought, I think, to be omitted,
and those forms alone considered which have undergone

* " Mr. Davidson is not at all a full believer in great changes of species,
which will make his work all the more valuable." — C. Darwin to R. Cham-
bers (April 30, 1861).

f John William Salter ; b. 1820, d. 1869. He entered the service of
the Geological Survey in 1846, and ultimately became its Palaeontologist,
on the retirement of Edward Forbes, and gave up the office in 1863. He
was associated with several well-known naturalists in their work — with
Sedgwick, Murchison, Lyell, Ramsay, and Huxley. There are sixty en-
tries under his name in the Royal Society Catalogue. The above facts
are taken from an obituary notice of Mr. Salter in the * Geological Maga-
zine/ 1869.

!6o SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

considerable change at each successive epoch. My fear is
whether brachiopods have changed enough. The absolute
amount of difference of the forms in such groups at the
opposite extremes of time ought to be considered, and how
far the early forms are intermediate in character between
those which appeared much later in time. The antiquity of
a group is not really diminished, as some seem vaguely to
think, because it has transmitted to the present day closely
allied forms. Another point is how far the succession of each
genus is unbroken, from the first time it appeared to its
extinction, with due allowance made for formations poor in
fossils. I cannot but think that an important essay (far more
important than a hundred literary reviews) might be written
by one like yourself, and without very great labour. I know
it is highly probable that you may not have leisure, or not
care for, or dislike the subject, but I trust to your kindness
to forgive me for making this suggestion. If by any extra-
ordinary good fortune you were inclined to take up this
notion, 1 would ask you to read my Chapter X. on Geologi-
cal Succession. And I should like in this case to be per-
mitted to send you a copy of the new edition, just published,
in which I have added and corrected somewhat in Chapters
IX. and X.

Pray excuse this long letter, and believe me,

My dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — I write so bad a hand that I have had this note
copied.

C. Darwin to Thomas Davidson.

Down, April 30, 1861.
My dear Sir, — I thank you warmly for your letter ; I did
not in the least know that you had attended to my work. I
assure you that the attention which you have paid to it, con-
sidering your knowledge and the philosophical tone of your
mind (for I well remember one remarkable letter you wrote

i86i.] CONDITIONS OF LIFE. l6l

to me, and have looked through your various publications),
I consider one of the highest, perhaps the very highest, com-
pliments which I have received. I live so solitary a life that
I do not often hear what goes on, and I should much like to
know in what work you have published some remarks on my
book. I take a deep interest in the subject, and I hope not
simply an egotistical interest ; therefore you may believe how
much your letter has gratified me ; I am perfectly contented
if any one will fairly consider the subject, whether or not he
fully or only very slightly agrees with me. Pray do not
think that I feel the least surprise at your demurring to a
ready acceptance ; in fact, I should not much respect anyone's
judgment who did so : that is, if I may judge others from
the long time which it has taken me to go round. Each
stage of belief cost me years. The difficulties are, as you say,
many and very great ; but the more I reflect, the more they
seem to me to be due to our underestimating our ignorance.
I belong so much to old times that I find that I weigh
the difficulties from the imperfection of the geological
record, heavier than some of the younger men. I find, to
my astonishment and joy, that such good men as Ramsay,
Jukes, Geikie, and one old worker, Lyell, do not think that
I have in the least exaggerated the imperfection of the
record,* If my views ever are proved true, our current geo-
logical views will have to be considerably modified. My
greatest trouble is, not being able to weigh the direct effects

* Professor Sedgwick treated this part of the ' Origin of Species ' very
differently, as might have been expected from his vehement objection to
Evolution in general. In the article in the Spectator of March 24, i860,
already noticed, Sedgwick wrote : " We know the complicated organic
phenomena of the Mesozoic (or Oolitic) period. It defies the trasmuta-
tionist at every step. Oh ! but the document, says Darwin, is a fragment ;
I will interpolate long periods to account for all the changes. I say, in re-
ply, if you deny my conclusion, grounded on positive evidence, I toss back
your conclusion, derived from negative evidence, — the inflated cushion on
which you try to bolster up the defects of your hypothesis." [The punc-
tuation of the imaginary dialogue is slightly altered from the original,
which is obscure in one place.]

162 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

of the long-continued action of changed conditions of life
without any selection, with the action of selection on mere
accidental (so to speak) variability. I oscillate much on this
head, but generally return to my belief that the direct action
of the conditions of life has not been great. At least
this direct action can have played an extremely small part
in producing all the numberless and beautiful adaptations in
every living creature. With respect to a person's belief, what
does rather surprise me is that any one (like Carpenter)
should be willing to go so very far as to believe that all birds
may have descended from one parent, and not go a little
farther and include all the members of the same great division ;
for on such a scale of belief, all the facts in Morphology and
in Embryology (the most important in my opinion of all sub-
jects) become mere Divine mockeries I cannot express

how profoundly glad I am that some day you will publish
your theoretical view on the modification and endurance of
Brachiopodous species ; I am sure it will be a most vgj.uaoie
contribution to knowledge.

Pray forgive this very egotistical letter, but you yourself
are partly to blame for having pleased me so much. I have
told Murray to send a copy of my new edition to you, and
have written your name.

With cordial thanks, pray believe me, my dear Sir,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[In Mr. Davidson's Monograph on British Brachiopoda,
published shortly afterwards by the Palaeontographical Society,
results such as my father anticipated were to some extent
obtained. " No less than fifteen commonly received species
are demonstrated by Mr. Davidson by the aid of a long series
of transitional forms to appertain to . . . one type."*

In the autumn of i860, and the early part of 1861, my

* Lyell, * Antiquity of Man,' first edition, p. 428.

i86i.] DR. GRAY'S PAMPHLET—DESCENT THEORY. 163

father had a good deal of correspondence with Professor
Asa Gray on a subject to which reference has already been
made — the publication in the form of a pamphlet, of Pro-
fessor Gray's three articles in the July, August, and October
numbers of the i Atlantic Monthly,' i860. The pamphlet was
published by Messrs. Triibner, with reference to whom my
father wrote, " Messrs. Triibner have been most liberal and
kind, and say they shall make no charge for all their trouble.
I have settled about a few advertisements, and they will
gratuitously insert one in their own periodicals."

The reader will find these articles republished in Dr. Gray's
1 Darwiniana,' p. 87, under the title '* Natural Selection not
inconsistent with Natural Theology." The pamphlet found
many admirers among those most capable of judging of its
merits, and my father believed that it was of much value in
lessening opposition, and making converts to Evolution. His
high opinion of it is shown not only in his letters, but by the
fact that he inserted a special notice of it in a most prominent
place in the third edition of the ' Origin.' Lyell, among
others, recognised its value as an antidote to the kind of
criticism from which the cause of Evolution suffered. Thus
my father wrote to Dr. Gray : — " Just to exemplify the use
of your pamphlet, the Bishop of London was asking Lyell
what he thought of the review in the ' Quarterly,' and Lyell
answered, i Read Asa Gray in the ' Atlantic.' " It comes out
very clearly that in the case of such publications as Dr. Gray's,
my father did not rejoice over the success of his special view
of Evolution, viz. that modification is mainly due to Natural
Selection ; on the contrary, he felt strongly that the really
important point was that the doctrine of Descent should be
accepted. Thus he wrote to Professor Gray (May 11, 1863),
with reference to Lyell's ' Antiquity of Man ' : —

"' You speak of Lyell as a judge ; now what I complain of
is that he declines to be a judge. ... I have sometimes
almost wished that Lyell had pronounced against me. When
I say * me,' I only mean change of species by descent. That
seems to me the turning-point. Personally, of course, I care

164 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

much about Natural Selection ; but that seems to me utterly-
unimportant, compared to the question of Creation or Modifi-
fication."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, April 11 [1861].

My dear Gray, — I was very glad to get your photograph :
I am expecting mine, which I will send off as soon as it comes.
It is an ugly affair, and I fear the fault does not lie with the

photographer Since writing last, I have had several

letters full of the highest commendation of your Essay ; all
agree that it is by far the best thing written, and I do not
doubt it has done the ' Origin' much good. I have not yet
heard how it has sold. You will have seen a review in the
Gardeners' Chronicle. Poor dear Henslow, to whom I owe
much, is dying, and Hooker is with him. Many thanks for
two sets of sheets of your Proceedings. I cannot understand
what Agassiz is driving at. You once spoke, I think, of Pro-
fessor Bowen as a very clever man. I should have thought
him a singularly unobservant man from his writings. He
never can have seen much of animals, or he would have
seen the difference of old and wise dogs and young ones.
His paper about hereditariness beats everything. Tell a
breeder that he might pick out his worst individual animals
and breed from them, and hope to win a prize, and he would
think you insane.

[Professor Henslow died on May 16, 1861, from a compli-
cation of bronchitis, congestion of the lungs, and enlargement
of the heart. His strong constitution was slow in giving way,
and he lingered for weeks in a painful condition of weakness,
knowing that his end was near, and looking at death with
fearless eyes. In Mr. Blomefield's (Jenyns) ' Memoir of
Henslow' (1862) is a dignified and touching description of
Prof. Sedgwick's farewell visit to his old friend. Sedgwick
said afterwards that he had never seen " a human being whose
soul was nearer heaven."

My father wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker on hearing of Hens-

i86i.] . HENSLOW'S DEATH. ^65

low's death, " I fully believe a better man never walked this
earth."

He gave his impressions of Henslow's character in Mr.
Blomefield's ' Memoir/ In reference to these recollections
he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (May 30, 1861) : —

" This morning I wrote my recollections and impressions
of character of poor dear Henslow about the year 1830. I
liked the job, and so have written four or five pages, now
being copied. I do not suppose you will use all, of course
you can chop and change as much as you like. If more than
a sentence is used, I should like to see a proof-page, as I
never can write decently till I see it in print. Very likely
some of my remarks may appear too trifling, but I thought it
best to give my thoughts as they arose, for you or Jenyns to
use as you think fit.

u You will see that I have exceeded your request, but, as
I said when I began, I took pleasure in writing my impres-
sion of his admirable character."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 5 [1861].
My dear Gray, — I have been rather extra busy, so have
been slack in answering your note of May 6th. I hope you
have received long ago the third edition of the * Origin." ....
I have heard nothing from Trubner of the sale of your Essay,
hence fear it has not been great ; I wrote to say you could
supply more. I sent a copy to Sir J. Herschel, and in his
new edition of his ' Physical Geography* he has a note on
the ' Origin of Species,' and agrees, to a certain limited extent,

but puts in a caution on design — much like yours

I have been led to think more on this subject of late, and
grieve to say that I come to differ more from you. It is not
that designed variation makes, as it seems to me, my deity
■" Natural Selection " superfluous, but rather from studying,
lately, domestic variation, and seeing what an enormous
field of undesigned variability there is ready for natural

l66 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

selection to appropriate for any purpose useful to each
creature.

I thank you much for sending me your review of Phillips.*
I remember once telling you a lot of trades which you ought
to have followed, but now I am convinced that you are a
born reviewer. By Jove, how well and often you hit the nail
on the head ! You rank Phillips's book higher than I do, or
than Lyell does, who thinks it fearfully retrograde. I amused
myself by parodying Phillips's argument as applied to domes-
tic variation ; and you might thus prove that the duck or
pigeon has not varied because the goose has not, though more
anciently domesticated, and no good reason can be assigned
why it has not produced many varieties

I never knew the newspapers so profoundly interesting.
North America does not do England justice ; I have not
seen or heard of a soul who is not with the North. Some
few, and I am one of them, even wish to God, though at the
loss of millions of lives, that the North would proclaim a
crusade against slavery. In the long-run, a million horrid
deaths would be amply repaid in the cause of humanity.
What wonderful times we live in ! Massachusetts seems to
show noble enthusiasm. Great God ! how I should like to
see the greatest curse on earth — slavery — abolished !

Farewell. Hooker has been absorbed with poor dear
revered Henslow's affairs. Farewell.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

Hugh Falconer to C. Darivin.

31 Sackville St., W., Jwe 23, 1861.
My dear Darwin. — I have been to Adelsberg cave and
brought back with me a live Proteus anguinus, designed for
you from the moment I got it ; i.e. if you have got an
aquarium and would care to have it. I only returned last
night from the continent, and hearing from your brother that

* «

Life on the Earth,' i860.

x86i.] DR. FALCONER. 167

you are about to go to Torquay, I lose no time in making
you the offer. The poor dear animal is still alive — although
it has had no appreciable means of sustenance for a month —
and I am most anxious to get rid of the responsibility of
starving it longer. In your hands it will thrive and have a
fair chance of being developed without delay into some type
of the Columbidse — say a Pouter or a Tumbler.

My dear Darwin, I have been rambling through the north
of Italy, and Germany lately. Everywhere have I heard
your views and your admirable essay canvassed — the views of
course often dissented from, according to the special bias of
the speaker — but the work, its honesty of purpose, grandeur
of conception, felicity of illustration, and courageous exposi-
tion, always referred to in terms of the highest admiration.
And among your warmest friends no one rejoiced more
heartily in the just appreciation of Charles Darwin than did

Yours very truly,

H. Falconer.

C. Darwin to Hugh Falconer.

Down [June 24, 1861].

My dear Falconer. — I have just received your note, and
by good luck a day earlier than properly, and I lose not a
moment in answering you, and thanking you heartily for your
offer of the valuable specimen ; but I have no aquarium and
shall soon start for Torquay, so that it would be a thousand
pities that I should have it. Yet I should certainly much
like to see it, but I fear it is impossible. Would not the Zoo-
logical Society be the best place ? and then the interest which
many would take in this extraordinary animal would repay
you for your trouble.

Kind as you have been in taking this trouble and offering
me this specimen, to tell the truth I value your note more
than the specimen. I shall keep your note amongst a very
few precious letters. Your kindness has quite touched me.
Yours affectionately and gratefully,

Cil Darwin.

l68 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. ,i86i

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

2 Hesketh Crescent, Torquay,

July 13 [1861].

... I hope Harvey is better; I got his review * of me a
day or two ago, from which I infer he must be convalescent ;
it's very good and fair ; but it is funny to see a man argue on
the succession of animals from Noah's Deluge ; as God did
not then wholly destroy man, probably he did not wholly
destroy the races of other animals at each geological period !
I never expected to have a helping hand from the Old
Testament. . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

2, Hesketh Crescent, Torquay,

July 20 [1861].

My dear Lyell. — I sent you two or three days ago a
duplicate of a good review of the ' Origin ' by a Mr. Maw,f
evidently a thoughtful man, as I thought you might like to
have it, as you have so many. . . .

This is quite a charming place, and I have actually walked,
I believe, good two miles out and back, which is a grand
feat.

I saw Mr. Pengelly J the other day, and was pleased at
his enthusiasm. I do not in the least know whether you are
in London. Your illness must have lost you much time, but
I hope you have nearly got your great job of the new edition
finished. You must be very busy, if in London, so I will be

* The ' Dublin Hospital Gazette,' May 15, 1861. The passage re-
ferred to is at p. 150.

f Mr. George Maw, of Benthall Hall. The review was published in
the ' Zoologist,' July, 1861. On the back of my father's copy is written,
" Must be consulted before new edit, of ' Origin ' " — words which are want-
ing on many more pretentious notices, on which frequently occur my
father's brief o/-, or "nothing new."

% William Pengelly, the geologist, and well-known explorer of the
Devonshire caves.

i86i.] AMERICAN WAR— DESIGN. ifig

generous, and on honour bright do not expect any answer to
this dull little note. . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, September 17 [1861 ?]
My dear Gray. — I thank you sincerely for your very long
and interesting letter, political and scientific, of August 27th
and 29th, and Sept 2nd received this morning. I agree with
much of what you say, and I hope to God we English are
utterly wrong in doubting (1) whether the N. can conquer
the S. ; (2) whether the N. has many friends in the South, and
(3) whether you noble men of Massachusetts are right in
transferring your own good feelings to the men of Washing-
ton. Again I say I hope to God we are wrong in doubting
on these points. It is number (3) which alone causes Eng-
land not to be enthusiastic with you. What it may be in
Lancashire I know not, but in S. England cotton has nothing
whatever to do with our doubts. If abolition does follow
with your victory, the whole world will look brighter in my
eyes, and in many eyes. It would be a great gain even to
stop the spread of slavery into the Territories ; if that be
possible without abolition, which I should have doubted.
You ought not to wonder so much at England's coldness,
when you recollect at the commencement of the war how
many propositions were made to get things back to the old
state with the old line of latitude, but enough of this, all
I can say is that Massachusetts and the adjoining States
have the full sympathy of every good man whom I see ;
and this sympathy would be extended to the whole Federal
States, if we could be persuaded that your feelings were at
all common to them. But enough of this. It is out of my
line, though I read every word of news, and formerly well

studied Olmsted

Your question what would convince me of Design is a
poser. If I saw an angel come down to teach us good, and I
was convinced from others seeing him that I was not mad? I

^o SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

should believe in design. If I could be convinced thoroughly
that life and mind was in an unknown way a function of other
imponderable force, I should be convinced. If man was
made of brass or iron and no way connected with any other
organism which had ever lived, I should perhaps be con-
vinced. But this is childish writing.

I have lately been corresponding with Lyell, who, I think,
adopts your idea of the stream of variation having been led
or designed. I have asked him (and he says he will hereafter
reflect and answer me) whether he believes that the shape of
my nose was designed. If he does I have nothing more to
say. If not, seeing what Fanciers have done by selecting
individual differences in the nasal bones of pigeons, I must
think that it is illogical to suppose that the variations, which
natural selection preserves for the good of any being have
been designed. But I know that I am in the same sort of
muddle (as I have said before) as all the world seems to be
in with respect to free will, yet with everything supposed to
have been foreseen or pre-ordained.

Farewell, my dear Gray, with many thanks for your
interesting letter.

Your unmerciful correspondent,

C. Darwin,

C. Darwin to H. W. Bates.

Down, Dec. 3 [1861].
My dear Sir. — I thank you for your extremely interesting
letter, and valuable references, though God knows when I
shall come again to this part of my subject. One cannot of
course judge of style when one merely hears a paper,* but
yours seemed to me very clear and good. Believe me that I
estimate its value most highly. Under a general point of view,
I am quite convinced (Hooker and Huxley took the same
view some months ago) that a philosophic view of nature can

* On Mimetic Butterflies, read before the Linnean Soc, Nov. 21, 1861.
For my father's opinion of it when published, see p. 183.

i86ij MR. BATES. 171

solely be driven into naturalists by treating special subjects
as you have done. Under a special point of view, I think you
have solved one of the most perplexing problems which
could be given to solve. I am glad to hear from Hooker
that the Linnean Society will give . plates if you can get
drawings. . . .

Do not complain of want of advice during your travels ; I
dare say part of your great originality of views may be due to
the necessity of self-exertion of thought. I can understand
that your reception at the British Museum would damp you ;
they are a very good set of men, but not the sort to appre-
ciate your work. In fact I have long thought that too much
systematic work [and] description somehow blunts the facul-
ties. The general public appreciates a good dose of reason-
ing, or generalisation, with new and curious remarks on
habits, final causes, &c. &c, far more than do the regular
naturalists.

I am extremely glad to hear that you have begun your
travels ... I am very busy, but I shall be truly glad to
render any aid which I can by reading your first chapter or
two. I do not think I shall be able to correct style, for this
reason, that after repeated trials I find I cannot correct my
own style till I see the MS. in type. Some are born with a
power of good writing, like Wallace ; others like myself and
Lyell have to labour very hard and slowly at every sentence.
I find it a very good plan, when I cannot get a difficult
discussion to please me, to fancy that some one comes into
the room and asks me what I am doing; and then try at
once and explain to the imaginary person what it is all about.
I have done this for one paragraph to myself several times,
and sometimes to Mrs. Darwin, till I see how the subject
ought to go. It is, I think, good to read one's MS. aloud.
But style to me is a great difficulty ; yet some good judges
think I have succeeded, and I say this to encourage you.

What / think I can do will be to tell you whether parts
had better be shortened. It is good, I think, to dash " in

medias res," and work in later any descriptions of country or

48

iy2 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

any historical details which may be necessary. Murray likes
lots of wood-cuts — give some by all means of ants. The
public appreciate monkeys — our poor cousins. What sexual
differences are there in -monkeys? Have you kept them
tame ? if so, about their expression. I fear that you will
hardly read my vile hand-writing, but I cannot without kill-
ing trouble write better.

You shall have my candid opinion on your MS., but
remember it is hard to judge from MS., one reads slowly, and
heavy parts seem much heavier. A first-rate judge thought
my Journal very poor ; now that it is in print, I happen to
know, he likes it. I am sure you will understand why I am
so egotistical.

I was a little disappointed in Wallace's book * on the
Amazon ; hardly facts enough. On other hand, in Gosse's
book f there is not reasoning enough to my taste. Heaven
knows whether you will care to read all this scribbling. . . .

I am glad you had a pleasant day with Hooker, J he is an
admirably good man in every sense.

[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Bates on
the same subject is interesting as giving an idea of the
plan followed by my father in writing his ' Naturalist's
Voyage : '

" As an old hackneyed author, let me give you a bit of
advice, viz. to strike out every word which is not quite
necessary to the current subject, and which could not interest
a stranger. I constantly asked myself, Would a stranger
care for this ? and struck out or left in accordingly. I think
too much pains cannot be taken in making the style trans-
parently clear and throwing eloquence to the dogs."

Mr. Bates's book, ' The Naturalist on the Amazons,' was

* ' Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,' 1853.

f Probably the ' Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica,' 185 1.

\ In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker (Dec. 1861), my father wrote : "lam
very glad to hear that you like Bates. I have seldom in my life been more
struck with a man's power of mind."

i86i.] BATES'S BOOK— AMERICAN WAR. T73

published in 1865, but the following letter may be given here
rather than in its due chronological position :]

C. Darwin to H. W. JSates.

Down, April 18, 1863.

Dear Bates, — I have finished vol. i. My criticisms may
be condensed into a single sentence, namely, that it is the
best work of Natural History Travels ever published in
England. Your style seems to me admirable. Nothing can
be better than the discussion on the struggle for existence,
and nothing better than the description of the Forest scenery.*
It is a grand book, and wThether or not it sells quickly, it will
last. You have spoken out boldly on Species ; and boldness
on the subject seems to get rarer and rarer. How beautifully
illustrated it is. The cut on the back is most tasteful. I
heartily congratulate you on its publication.

The Athenceum f was rather cold, as it always is, and inso-
lent in the highest degree about your leading facts. Have
you seen the Reader ? I can send it to you if you have not
seen it. . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Dec. 11 [1861].
My dear Gray, — Many and cordial thanks for your two
last most valuable notes. What a thing it is that when you
receive this we may be at war, and we two be bound, as good
patriots, to hate each other, though I shall find this hating
you very hard work. How curious it is to see two countries,
just like two angry and silly men, taking so opposite a view

* In a letter to Lyell my father wrote : " He [i. e. Mr. Bates] is second
only to Humboldt in describing a tropical forest."

f " I have read the first volume of Bates's Book ; it is capital, and I
think the best Natural History Travels ever published in England. He
is bold about Species, &c, and the Athenceum coolly says 'he bends his
facts ' for this purpose."— (From a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker.)

174 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861.

of the same transaction ! I fear there is no shadow of doubt
we shall fight if the two Southern rogues are not given up.*
And what a wretched thing it will be if we fight on the side
of slavery. No doubt it will be said that we fight to get
cotton ; but I fully believe that this has not entered into the
motive in the least. Well, thank Heaven, we private indi-
viduals have nothing to do with so awful a responsibility.
Again, how curious it is that you seem to think that you can
conquer the South ; and I never meet a soul, even those who
would most wish it, who thinks it possible — that is, to conquer
and retain it. I do not suppose the mass of people in your
country will believe it, but I feel sure if we do go to war it
will be with the utmost reluctance by all classes, Ministers of
Government and all. Time will show, and it is no use writing
or thinking about it. I called the other day on Dr. Boott,
and was pleased to find him pretty well and cheerful. I see,
by the way, he takes quite an English opinion of American
affairs, though an American in heart, f Buckle might write
a chapter on opinion being entirely dependent on longi-
tude !

. . . With respect to Design, I feel more inclined to show
a white flag than to fire my usual long-range shot. I like to
try and ask you a puzzling question, but when you return the
compliment I have great doubts whether it is a fair way of
arguing. If anything is designed, certainly man must be :
one's " inner consciousness " (though a false guide) tells one
so ; yet I cannot admit that man's rudimentary mammae . . .
were designed. If I was to say I believed this, I should
believe it in the same incredible manner as the orthodox
believe the Trinity in Unity. You say that you are in a
haze ; I am in thick mud ; the orthodox would say in fetid,

* The Confederate Commissioners Slidell and Mason were forcibly re-
moved from the Trent, a West India mail steamer on Nov. 8, 1861. The
news that the U. S. agreed to release them reached England on Jan. 8t
1862.

f Dr. Boott was born in the U. S.

i862.] BOURNEMOUTH. 1 75

abominable mud ; yet I cannot keep out of the question.
My dear Gray, I have written a deal of nonsense.

Yours most cordially,

C. Darwin.

1862.

[Owing to the illness from scarlet fever of one of his boys,
he took a house at Bournemouth in the autumn. He wrote
to Dr. Gray from Southampton (Aug. 21, 1862) : —

" We are a wretched family, and ought to be exterminated.
We slept here to rest our poor boy on his journey to Bourne-
mouth, and my poor dear wife sickened with scarlet fever,
and has had it pretty sharply, but is recovering well. There
is no end of trouble in this weary world. I shall not feel
safe till we are all at home together, and when that will be I
know not. But it is foolish complaining."

Dr. Gray used to send postage stamps to the scarlet fever
patient ; with regard to this good-natured deed my father
wrote —

" I must just recur to stamps ; my little man has calcu-
lated that he will now have 6 stamps which no other boy in
the school has. Here is a triumph. Your last letter was
plaistered with many coloured stamps, and he long surveyed
the envelope in bed with much quiet satisfaction.,,

The greater number of the letters of 1862 deal with the
Orchid work, but the wave of conversion to Evolution was
still spreadingrand reviews and letters bearing on the subject
still came in numbers. As an example of the odd letters he
received may be mentioned one which arrived in January of
this year "from a German homoeopathic doctor, an ardent
admirer of the ' Origin/ Had himself published nearly the
same sort of book, but goes much deeper. Explains the
origin of plants and animals on the principles of homoeopa-
thy or by the law of spirality. Book fell dead in Germany.
Therefore would I translate it and publish it in England. "]

Ij6 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1S62.

C. Darwin to T. II. Huxley.

Down, [Jan.?] 14 [1862].

My dear Huxley,— I am heartily glad of your success
in the North,* and thank you for your note and slip. By
Jove you have attacked Bigotry in its stronghold. I thought
you would have been mobbed. I am so glad that you will
publish your Lectures. You seem to have kept a due medi-
um between extreme boldness and caution. I am heartily
glad that all went off so well. I hope Mrs. Huxley is pretty

well I must say one word on the Hybrid question.

No doubt you are right that here is a great hiatus in the argu-
ment ; yet I think you overrate it — you never allude to the
excellent evidence of varieties of Verbascum and Nicotiana
being partially sterile together. It is curious to me to read
(as I have to-day) the greatest crossing Gardener utterly
pooh-poohing the distinction which Botanists make on this
head, and insisting how frequently crossed varieties produce
sterile offspring. Do oblige me by reading the latter half of
my Primula paper in the ' Linn. Journal/ for it leads me to
suspect that sterility will hereafter have to be largely viewed
as an acquired or selected character — a view which I wish I
had had facts to maintain in the ' Origin.' f

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Jan. 25 [1862].

My dear Hooker, — Many thanks for your last Sunday's

letter, which was one of the pleasantest I ever received in my

life. We are all pretty well redivivus, and I am at work

again. I thought it best to make a clean breast to Asa Gray;

* This refers to two of Mr. Huxley's lectures, given before the Philo-
sophical Institution of Edinburgh in 1 862. The substance of them is
given in ' Man's Place in Nature.'

f The view here given will be discussed in the chapter on hetero-styled
plants.

1862.] EVOLUTION AND TORYISM. jyy

and told him that the Boston dinner, &c. &c., had quite
turned my stomach, that I almost thought it would be good
for the peace of the world if the United States were split up;
en the other hand, I said that I groaned to think of the
slave-htlders being triumphant, and that the difficulties of
making a line of separation were fearful. I wonder what he
will say Your notion of the Aristocrat being ken-
speckle, and the best men of a good lot being thus easily
selected is new to me, and striking. The ' Origin ' having
made you in fact a jolly old Tory, made us all laugh heartily.
I have sometimes speculated on this subject ; primogeniture*
is dreadfully opposed to selection ; suppose the first-born
bull was n'ecessarily made by each farmer the begetter of his
stock ! On the other hand, as you say, ablest men are con-
tinually raised to the peerage, and get crossed with the older
Lord-breeds, and the Lords continually select the most beau-
tiful and charming women out of the lower ranks ; so that a
good deal of indirect selection improves the Lords. Certain-
ly I agree with you the present American row has a very
Torifying influence on us all. I am very glad to hear you
are beginning to print the ' Genera ; ' it is a wonderful satis-
faction to be thus brought to bed, indeed it is one's chief
satisfaction, I think, though one knows that another bantling
will soon be developing. ...

* My father had a strong feeling as to the injustice of primogeniture,
and in a* similar spirit was often indignant over the unfair wills that ap-
pear from time to time. He would declare energetically that if he were
law-giver no will should be valid that was not published in the testator's
lifetime ; and this he maintained would prevent much of the monstrous
injustice and meanness apparent in so many wills.

!^8 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1862.

C. Darwin to Maxivell Masters, *

Down, Feb. 26 [1862].
My dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for sending
me your article,f which I have just read with much interest.
The history, and a good deal besides, was quite new to me.
It seems to me capitally done, and so clearly written. You
really ought to write your larger work. You speak too gen-
erously of my book ; but I must confess that you have
pleased me not a little ; for no one, as far as I know, has
ever remarked on what I say on classification — a part, which
when I wrote it, pleased me. With many thanks to you for
sending me your article, pray believe me,

My dear Sir, yours sincerely,

C. Darwin.

[In the spring of this year (1862) my father read the sec-
ond volume of Buckle's ' History of Civilization.' The fol-
lowing strongly expressed opinion about it may be worth
quoting :—

" Have you read Buckle's second volume? it has inter-
ested me greatly ; I do not care whether his views are right
or wrong, but I should think they contained much truth.
There is a noble love of advancement and truth throughout ;
and to my taste he is the very best writer of the English lan-
guage that ever lived, let the other be who he may."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, March 15 [1862].
Mv dear Gray, — Thanks for the newspapers (though
they did contain digs at England), and for your note of Feb.

* Dr. Masters is a well-known vegetable teratologist, and has been for
many years the editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle.

f Refers to a paper on " Vegetable Morphology," by Dr. Masters, in
the 4 British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review ' for 1862.

1862.] GRAY'S PAMPHLET. iyg

18th. It is really almost a pleasure to receive stabs from so
smooth, polished, and sharp a dagger as your pen. I hearti-
ly wish I could sympathise more fully with you, instead of
merely hating the South. We cannot enter into your feel-
ings ; if Scotland were to rebel, I presume we should be very
wrath, but I do not think we should care a penny what other
nations thought. The millennium must come before nations
love each other ; but try and do not hate me. Think of me,
if you will as a poor blinded fool. I fear the dreadful state
of affairs must dull your interest in Science

I believe that your pamphlet has done my book great good ;
and I thank you from my heart for myself ; and believing
that the views are in large part true, I must think that you
have done natural science a good turn. Natural Selection
seems to be making a little progress in England and on
the Continent ; a new German edition is called for, and a
French* one has just appeared. One of the best men,
though at present unknown, who has taken up these views,
is Mr. Bates ; pray read his ' Travels in Amazonia/ when they
appear; they will be very good, judging from MS. of the first
two chapters.

.... Again I say, do not hate me.

Ever yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

* In June, 1862, my father wrote to Dr. Gray : " I received, 2 or 3
days ago, a French translation of the ' Origin,' by a Madlle. Royer, who
must be one of the cleverest and oddest women in Europe : is an ardent
Deist, and hates Christianity, and declares that natural selection and the
struggle for life will explain all morality, nature of man, politics, &c. &c. !
She makes some very curious and good hits, and says she shall publish a
book on these subjects." Madlle. Royer added foot-notes to her transla-
tion, and in many places where the author expresses great doubt, she ex-
plains the difficulty, or points out that no real difficulty exists.

l8o SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1862.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

1 Carlton Terrace, Southampton,*
Aug. 22, [1862].

.... I heartily hope that you \ will be out in October.
. . . . You say that the Bishop and Owen will be down on
you; the latter hardly can, for I was assured that Owen
in his Lectures this spring advanced as a new idea that
wingless birds had lost their wings by disuse, also that
magpies stole spoons, &c, from a remnant of some instinct
like that of the Bower-Bird, which ornaments its playing-
passage with pretty feathers. Indeed, I am told that he
hinted plainly that all birds are descended from one ....

Your P.S. touches on, as it seems to me, very difficult
points. I am glad to see [that] in the ' Origin/ I only say
that the naturalists generally consider that low organisms
vary more than high ; and this I think certainly is the
general opinion. I put the statement this way to show that
I considered it only an opinion probably true. I must own
that I do not at all trust even Hookers contrary opinion, as
I feel pretty sure that he has not tabulated any result. I
have some materials at home, I think I attempted to make
this point out, but cannot remember the result.

Mere variability, though the necessary foundation of all
modifications, I believe to be almost always present, enough
to allow of any amount of selected change ; so that it does
not seem to me at all incompatible that a group which at any
one period (or during all successive periods) varies less,
should in the long course of time have undergone more mod-
ification than a group which is generally more variable.

Placental animals, e. g. might be at each period less vari-
able than Marsupials, and nevertheless have undergone more
differentiation and development than marsupials, owing to
some advantage, probably brain development.

* The house of his son William.
\ I.e.' The Antiquity of Man.'

1862.] FALCONER ON SPECIES. l8i

I am surprised, but do not pretend to form an opinion at
Hooker's statement that higher species, genera, &c., are best
limited. It seems to me a bold statement.

Looking to the ' Origin,' I see that I state that the pro-
ductions of the land seem to change quicker than those of
the sea (Chapter X., p. 339, 3d edition), and I add there is
some reason to believe that organisms considered high in the
scale change quicker than those that are low. I remember

writing these sentences after much deliberation I

remember well feeling much hesitation about putting in even
the guarded sentences which I did. My doubts, I remember,
related to the rate of change of the Radiata in the Secondary
formation, and of the Foraminifera in the oldest Tertiary

beds Good night,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, Oct. 1 [1862].
, . . . I found here * a short and very kind note of Fal-
coner, with some pages of his i Elephant Memoir,' which will
be published, in which he treats admirably on long persistence
of type. I thought he was going to make a good and crush-
ing attack on me, but to my great satisfaction, he ends by
pointing out a loophole, and adds, f "with him I have no faith
that the mammoth and other extinct elephants made their

appearance suddenly The most rational view seems

to be that they are the modified descendants of earlier pro-
genitors, &c." This is capital. There will not be soon one
good palaeontologist who believes in immutability. Falconer
does not allow for the Proboscidean group being a failing one,
and therefore not likely to be giving off new races.

* On his return from Bournemouth.

f Falconer, " On the American Fossil Elephant," in the ' Nat. Hist.
Review,' 1863, p. 81. The words preceding those cited by my father
make the meaning of his quotation clearer. The passage begins as follows :
" The inferences which I draw from these facts are not opposed to one of
the leading propositions of Darwin's theory. With him," &c. &c.

1 82 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1862.

He adds that he does not think Natural Selection suffices.
I do not quite see the force of his argument, and he appar-
ently overlooks that I say over and over again that Natural
Selection can do nothing without variability, and that varia-
bility is subject to the most complex fixed laws

[In his letters to Sir J. D. Hooker, about the end of this
year, are occasional notes on the progress of the ' Variation
of Animals and Plants/ Thus on November 24th he wrote:
" I hardly know why I am a little sorry, but my present
work is leading me to believe rather more in the direct action
of physical conditions. I presume I regret it, because it
lessens the glory of natural selection, and is so confoundedly
doubtful. Perhaps I shall change again when I get all my
facts under one point of view, and a pretty hard job this
will be."

Again, on December 22nd, " To-day I have begun to
think of arranging my concluding chapters on Inheritance,
Reversion, Selection, and such things, and am fairly paralyzed
how to begin and how to end, and what to do, with my huge
piles of materials."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Nov. 6 [1862].
My dear Gray, — When your note of October 4th and 13th
(chiefly about Max Mliller) arrived, I was nearly at the end
of the same book,* and had intended recommending you to
read it. I quite agree that it is extremely interesting, but the
latter part about the first origin of language much the least

satisfactory. It is a marvellous problem [There are]

covert sneers at me, which he seems to get the better of
towards the close of the book. I cannot quite see how it
will forward " my cause," as you call it ; but I can see how
any one with literary talent (I do not feel up to it) could

* ' Lectures on the Science of Language, 1st edit. 1861.

1862.] BOOKS— MIMICRY. ^3

make great use of the subject in illustration.* What pretty
metaphors you would make from it ! I wish some one would
keep a lot of the most noisy monkeys, half free, and study
their means of communication !

A book has just appeared here which will, I suppose,
make a noise, by Bishop Colenso,f who, judging from ex-
tracts, smashes most of the Old Testament. Talking of
books, I am in the middle of one which pleases me, though
it is very innocent food, viz., Miss Cooper's * Journal of a
Naturalist.' Who is she? She seems a very clever woman,
and gives a capital account of the battle between our and
your weeds. Does it not hurt your Yankee pride that we
thrash you so confoundedly? I am sure Mrs. Gray will
stick up for your own weeds. Ask her whether they are not
more honest, downright good sort of weeds. The book gives
an extremely pretty picture of one of your villages ; but I see
your autumn, though so much more gorgeous than ours, comes
on sooner, and that is one comfort

C. Darwin to H. W. Bates.

Down, Nov. 20 [1862].
Dear Bates, — I have just finished, after several reads,
your paper. J In my opinion it is one of the most remarkable

* Language was treated in the manner here indicated by Sir C. Lyell
in the ' Antiquity of Man.' Also by Prof. Schleicher, whose pamphlet was
fully noticed in the Reader, Feb. 27, 1864 (as I learn from one of Prof.
Huxley's * Lay Sermon's ').

f ' The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined,' six parts,
1862-71.

% This refers to Mr. Bates's paper, " Contributions to an Insect Fauna
of the Amazons Valley " (' Linn. Soc. Trans.' xxiii., 1862), in which the now
familiar subject of mimicry was founded. My father wrote a short review
of it in the * Natural History Review,' 1863, p. 219, parts of which occur
in this review almost verbatim in the later editions of the 'Origin of Spe-
cies.' A striking passage occurs showing the difficulties of the case from a
creationist's point of view : —

11 By what means, it may be asked, have so many butterflies of the Ama-
zonian region acquired their deceptive dress ? Most naturalists will answer

1 84 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1862.

and admirable papers I ever read in my life. The mimetic
cases are truly marvellous, and you connect excellently a
host of analogous facts. The illustrations are beautiful, and
seem very well chosen ; but it would have saved the reader
not a little trouble, if the name of each had been engraved
below each separate figure. No doubt this would have put
the engraver into fits, as it would have destroyed the beauty
of the plate. I am not at all surprised at such a paper hav-
ing consumed much time. I am rejoiced that I passed over
the whole subject in the * Origin/ for I should have made
a precious mess of it. You have most clearly stated and
solved a wonderful problem. No doubt with most people
this will be the cream of the paper ; but I am not sure that
all your facts and reasonings on variation, and on the segre-
gation of complete and semi-complete species, is not really
more, or at least as valuable, a part. I never conceived the
process nearly so clearly before; one feels present at the
creation of new forms. I wish, however, you had enlarged

that they were thus clothed from the hour of their creation — an answer
which will generally be so far triumphant that it can be met only by long-
drawn arguments ; but it is made at the expense of putting an effectual bar
to all further inquiry. In this particular case, moreover, the creationist will
meet with special difficulties ; for many of the mimicking forms of Leptalis
can be shown by a graduated series to be merely varieties of one species ;
other mimickers are undoubtedly distinct species, or even distinct genera.
So again, some of the mimicked forms can be shown to be merely varie-
ties ; but the greater number must be ranked as distinct species. Hence
the creationist will have to admit that some of these forms have become
imitators, by means of the laws of variation, whilst others he must look at
as separately created under their present guise ; he will further have to
admit that some have been created in imitation of forms not themselves
created as we now see them, but due to the laws of variation? Prof.
Agassiz, indeed, would think nothing of this difficulty ; for he believes that
not only each species and each variety, but that groups of individuals,
though identically the same, when inhabiting distinct countries, have been
all separately created in due proportional numbers to the wants of each
land. Not many naturalists will be content thus to believe that varieties
and individuals have been turned out all ready made, almost as a manu-
facturer turns out toys according to the temporary demand of the market."

1862.] MIMICRY. 185

a little more on the pairing of similar varieties ; a rather
more numerous body of facts seems here wanted. Then,
again, what a host of curious miscellaneous observations there
are — as on related sexual and individual variability : these
will some day, if I live, be a treasure to me.

With respect to mimetic resemblance being so common
with insects, do you not think it may be connected with their
small size ; they cannot defend themselves ; they cannot es-
cape by flight, at least, from birds, therefore they escape by
trickery and deception?

I have one serious criticism to make, and that is about
the title of the paper ; I cannot but think that you ought to
have called prominent attention in it to the mimetic resem-
blances. Your paper is too good to be largely appreciated
by the mob of naturalists without souls ; but, rely on it, that
it will have lasting value, and I cordially congratulate you on
your first great work. You will find, I should think, that
Wallace will fully appreciate it. How gets on your book ?
Keep your spirits up. A book is no light labour. I have
been better lately, and working hard, but my health is very
indifferent. How is your health ? Believe me, dear Bates,

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin,

CHAPTER IV.

The Spread of Evolution.

' Variation of Animals and Plants.5

1863-1866.

[His book on animals and plants under domestication was
my father's chief employment in the year 1863. His diary
records the length of time spent over the composition of its
chapters, and shows the rate at which he arranged and wrote
out for printing the observations and deductions of several
years.

The three chapters in vol. ii. on inheritance, which oc-
cupy 84 pages of print, were begun in January and finished
on April 1st; the five on crossing, making 106 pages, were
written in eight weeks, while the two charters on selection,
covering 57 pages, were begun on June 16th and finished on
July 20th.

The work was more than once interrupted by ill health,
and in September, what proved to be the beginning of a six
month's illness, forced him to leave home for the water-cure
at Malvern. He returned in October and remained ill and
depressed, in spite of the hopeful opinion of one of the most
cheery and skilful physicians of the day. Thus he wrote to
Sir J. D. Hooker in November : —

"Dr. Brinton has been here (recommended by Busk) ; he
does not believe my brain or heart are primarily affected, but
I have been so steadily going down hill, I cannot help doubt-
ing whether I can ever crawl a little uphill again. Unless I
can, enough to work a little, I hope my life may be very

1863.] CIRRIPEDES. i%j

short, for to lie on a sofa all day and do nothing but give
trouble to the best and kindest of wives and good dear chil-
dren is dreadful."

The minor works in this year were a short paper in the
' Natural History Review ' (N.S. vol. iii. p. 115), entitled "On
the so-called Auditory-Sac of Cirripedes," and one in the
* Geological Society's Journal ' (vol. xix), on the " Thickness
of the Pampaean Formation near Buenos Ayres." The paper
on Cirripedes was called forth by the criticisms of a German
naturalist Krohn,* and is of some interest in illustration of
my father's readiness to admit an error.

With regard to the spread of a belief in Evolution, it could
not yet be said that the battle was won, but the growth of
belief was undoubtedly rapid. So that, for instance, Charles
Kingsley could write to F. D. Maurice f :

" The state of the scientific mind is most curious ; Dar-
win is conquering everywhere, and rushing in like a flood, by
the mere force of truth and fact."

Mr. Huxley was as usual active in guiding and stimulat-
ing the growing tendency to tolerate or accept the views set
forth in the i Origin of Species.' He gave a series of lectures
to working men at the School of Mines in November, 1862.
These were printed in 1863 from the shorthand notes of Mr.
May, as six little blue books, price \d. each, under the title,
'Our Knowledge of the Causes of Organic Nature.' When
published they were read with interest by my father, who
thus refers to them in a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker : —

" I am very glad you like Huxley's lectures. I have been
very much struck with them, especially with the ' Philosophy
of Induction.' I have quarrelled with him for overdoing
sterility and ignoring cases from Gartner and Kolreuter about

* Krohn stated that the structures described by my father as ovaries
were in reality salivary glands, also that the oviduct runs down to the ori-
fice described in the 'Monograph of the Cirripedia' as the auditory
meatus.

f Kingsley's ' Life,' ii, p. 171.
49

1 88 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

sterile varieties. His Geology is obscure ; and I rather doubt
about man's mind and language. But it seems to me ad-
mirably done, and, as you say, " Oh my," about the praise of
the ' Origin/ I can't help liking it, which makes me rather
ashamed of myself."

My father admired the clearness of exposition shown in
the lectures, and in the following letter urges their author to
make use of his powers for the advantage of students :]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Nov. 5 [1864].

I want to make a suggestion to you, but which may prob-
ably have occurred to you. was reading your Lectures

and ended by saying, "I wish he would write a book." I
answered, " he has just written a great book on the skull." " I
don't call that a book," she replied, and added, " I want
something that people can read ; he does write so well."
Now, with your ease in writing, and with knowledge at your
fingers' ends, do you not think you could write a popular
Treatise on Zoology ? Of course it would be some waste of
time, but I have been asked more than a dozen times to
recommend something for a beginner and could only think of
Carpenter's Zoology. I am sure that a striking Treatise
would do real service to science by educating naturalists. If
you were to keep a portfolio open for a couple of years, and
throw in slips of paper as subjects crossed your mind, you
would soon have a skeleton (and that seems to me the diffi-
culty) on which to put the flesh and colours in your inimitable
manner. I believe such a book might have a brilliant success,
but I did not intend to scribble so much about it.

Give my kindest remembrance to Mrs. Huxley, and tell
her I was looking at ' Enoch Arden,' and as I know how she
admires Tennyson, I must call her attention to two sweetly
pretty lines (p. 105) . . .

. . . and he meant, he said he meant,
Perhaps he meant, or partly meant, you well.

1863.] TEXT BOOKS. ^9

Such a gem as this is enough to make me young again, and
like poetry with pristine fervour.

My dear Huxley,

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[In another letter (Jan. 1865) he returns to the above sugges-
tion, though he was in general strongly opposed to men of
science giving up to the writing of text-books, or to teaching,
the time that might otherwise have been given to original re-
search.

" I knew there was very little chance of your having time
to write a popular Treatise on Zoology, but you are about the
one man who could do it. At the time I felt it would be
almost a sin for you to do it, as it would of course destroy
some original work. On the other hand I sometimes think
that general and popular treatises are almost as important for
the progress of science as original work.'*

The series of letters will continue the history of the year

1863.]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Jan. 3 [1863].

My dear Hooker. — I am burning with indignation and
must exhale. ... I could not get to sleep till past 3 last
night for indignation.* ....

Now for pleasanter subjects ; we were all amused at your
defence of stamp collecting and collecting generally. . . . But,
by Jove, I can hardly stomach a grown man collecting stamps.
Who would ever have thought of your collecting Wedgwood-
ware ! but that is wholly different, like engravings or pictures.
We are degenerate descendants of old Josiah W., for we have
not a bit of pretty ware in the house.

* It would serve no useful purpose if I were to go into the matter which
so strongly roused my father's anger. It was a question of literary dishon-
esty, in which a friend was the sufferer, but which in no way affected him-
self.

I90 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

. . . Notwithstanding the very pleasant reason you give for
our not enjoying a holiday, namely, that we have no vices, it
is a horrid bore. I have been trying for health's sake to be
idle, with no success. What I shall now have to do, will be to
erect a tablet in Down Church, " Sacred to the Memory, &c.,"
and officially die, and then publish books, " by the late Charles
Darwin," for I cannot think what has come over me of late ; I
always suffered from the excitement of talking, but now it has
become ludicrous. I talked lately 1^ hours (broken by tea
by myself) with my nephew, and I was [ill] half the night.
It is a fearful evil for self and family.

Good-night. Ever yours.

C. Darwin.

[The following letter to Sir Julius von Haast,* is an
example of the sympathy which he felt with the spread and
growth of science in the colonies. It was a feeling not ex-
pressed once only, but was frequently present in his
mind, and often found utterance. When we, at Cambridge,
had the satisfaction of receiving Sir J. von Haast into our
body as a Doctor of Science (July 1886), I had the oppor-
tunity of hearing from him of the vivid pleasure which this,
and other letters from my father, gave him. It was pleasant
to see how strong had been the impression made by my
father's warm-hearted sympathy — an impression which seemed,
after more than twenty years, to be as fresh as when it was
first received :]

C. Darwin to Julius von Haast.

Down, Jan. 22 [1863].
Dear Sir, — I thank you most sincerely for sending me
your Address and the Geological Report. f I have seldom in

* Sir Julius von Haast was a German by birth, but had long been resi-
dent in New Zealand. He was, in 1862, Government Geologist to the
Province of Canterbury.

f Address to the ' Philosophical Institute of Canterbury (N. Z.).' The

i863.] SIR J. VON HAAST. igi

my life read anything more spirited and interesting than your
address. The progress of your colony makes one proud, and
it is really admirable to see a scientific institution founded in
so young a nation. I thank you for the very honorable
notice of my ' Origin of Species/ You will easily believe
how much I have been interested by your striking facts on
the old glacial period, and I suppose the world might be
searched in vain for so grand a display of terraces. You
have, indeed, a noble field for scientific research and dis-
covery. I have been extremely much interested by what you
say about the tracks of supposed [living] mammalia. Might
I ask, if you succeed in discovering what the creatures are,
you would have the great kindness to inform me ? Perhaps
they may turn out something like the Solenhofen bird
creature, with its long tail and fingers, with claws to its
wings ! I may mention that in South America, in com-
pletely uninhabited regions, I found spring rat-traps, baited
with cheese, were very successful in catching the smaller
mammals. I would venture to suggest to you to urge on
some of the capable members of your institution to observe
annually the rate and manner of spreading of European
weeds and insects, and especially to observe what native
plants most fail j this latter point has never been attended to.
Do the introduced hive-bees replace any othe^r insect ? &c.
All such points are, in my opinion, great desiderata in
science. What an interesting discovery that of the remains
of prehistoric man !

Believe me, dear Sir,

With the most cordial respect and thanks,
Yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

"Report" is given in The New Zealand Government Gazette, Province of
Canterbury \ Oct. 1862.

I92 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

C. Darwin to Camille Dareste*

Down, Feb. 16 [1863].
Dear and respected Sir. — I thank you sincerely for
your letter and your pamphlet. I had heard (I think in one
of M. Quatrefage's books) of your work, and was most
anxious to read it, but did not know where to find it. You
could not have made me a more valuable present. I have
only just returned home, and have not yet read your work ;
when I do if I wish to ask any questions I will venture to
trouble you. Your approbation of my book on Species has
gratified me extremely. Several naturalists in England,
North America, and Germany, have declared that their
opinions on the subject have in. some degree been modified,
but as far as I know, my book has produced no effect what-
ever in France, and this makes me the more gratified by your
very kind expression of approbation. Pray believe me, dear
Sir, with much respect,

Yours faithfully and obliged,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Feb. 24 [1863].
My dear Hooker. — I am astonished at your note, I have
not seen the Athenceum,\ but I have sent for it, and may get
it to-morrow ; and will then say what I thinks

* Professor Dareste is a well-known worker in Animal Teratology. He
was in 1863 living at Lille, but has since then been called to Paris. My
father took a special interest in Dareste's work on the production of mon-
sters, as bearing on the causes of variation.

f In the 'Antiquity of Man,' first edition, p. 480, Lyell criticised some-
what severely Owen's account of the difference between the Human and
Simian brains. The number of the Atkenceum here referred to (1863, p.
262) contains a reply by Professor Owen to Lyell's strictures. The sur-
prise expressed by my father was at the revival of a controversy which
every one believed to be closed. Prof. Huxley {Medical Times, Oct. 25,

1863.] 'ANTIQUITY OF MAN.' I93

I have read Lyell's book. [' The Antiquity of Man.']
The whole certainty struck me as a compilation, but of the
highest class, for when possible the facts have been verified
on the spot, making it almost an original work. The Glacial
chapters seem to me best, and in parts magnificent. I could
hardly judge about Man, as all the gloss of novelty was com-
pletely worn off. But certainly the aggregation of the evi-
dence produced a very striking effect on my mind. The
chapter comparing language and changes of species, seems
most ingenious and interesting. He has shown great skill in
picking out salient points in the argument for change of
species ; but I am deeply disappointed (I do not mean per-
sonally) to find that his timidity prevents him giving any
judgment. . . . From all my communications with him I
must ever think that he has really entirely lost faith in the
immutability of species ; and yet one of his strongest sen-
tences is nearly as follows : "If it should ever* be rendered
highly probable that species change by variation and natural
selection," &c, &c. I had hoped he would have guided the
public as far as his own belief went. . . . One thing does
please me on this subject, that he seems to appreciate your
work. No doubt the public or a part may be induced to
think that as he gives to us a larger space than to Lamarck,
he must think there is something in our viewsr When read-
ing the brain chapter, it struck me forcibly that if he had
said openly that he believed in change of species, and as a
consequence that man was derived from some Quadruma-
nous animal, it would have been very proper to have dis-
cussed by compilation the differences in the most important
organ, viz. the brain. As it is, the chapter seems to me to
come in rather by the head and shoulders. I do not think
(but then I am as prejudiced as Falconer and Huxley, or

1862, quoted in ' Man's Place in Nature,' p. 117) spoke of the " two years
during which this preposterous controversy has dragged its weary length."
And this no doubt expressed a very general feeling.
* The italics are not Lyell's.

I94 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

more so) that it is too severe ; it struck me as given with
judicial force. It might perhaps be said with truth that he
had no business to judge on a subject on which he knows
nothing ; but compilers must do this to a certain extent.
(You know I value and rank high compilers, being one my-
self !) I have taken you at your word, and scribbled at great
length. If I get the Athenceum to-morrow, I will add my
impression of Owen's letter.

.... The Lyells are coming here on Sunday evening to
stay till Wednesday. I dread it, but I must say how much
disappointed I am that he has not spoken out on species, still
less on man. And the best of the joke is that he thinks he
has acted with the courage of a martyr of old. I hope I may
have taken an exaggerated view of his timidity, and shall
particularly be glad of your opinion on this head.* When
I got his book I turned over the pages, and saw he had dis-
cussed the subject of species, and said that I thought he
would do more to convert the public than all of us, and now
(which makes the case worse for me) I must, in common
honesty, retract. I wish to Heaven he had said not a word
on the subject.

Wednesday morning : I have read the Athenceum. I do
not think Lyell will be nearly so much annoyed as you ex-
pect. The concluding sentence is no doubt very stinging.
No one but a good anatomist could unravel Owen's letter ;
at least it is quite beyond me.

. . . Lyell's memory plays him false when he says all
anatomists were astonished at Owen's paper ; f it was often
quoted with approbation. I well remember Lyell's admira-
tion at this new classification! (Do not repeat this.) I re-
member it, because, though I knew nothing whatever about

* On this subject my father wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker : <4 Cordial
thanks for your deeply interesting letters about Lyell, Owen, and Co. I
cannot say how glad I am to hear that I have not been unjust about the
species-question towards Lyell. I feared I had been unreasonable."

f " On the Characters, &c, of the Class Mammalia." ■ Linn. Soc. Jour-
nal,' ii, 1858.

1863.] * ANTIQUITY OF MAN.' 195

the brain, I felt a conviction that a classification thus founded
on a single character would break down, and it seemed to
me a great error not to separate more completely the Mar-
supialia. . . .

What an accursed evil it is that there should be all this
quarreling within, what ought to be, the peaceful realms of
science.

I will go to my own present subject of inheritance and
forget it all for a time. Farewell, my dear old friend,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, Feb. 23 [1863].

... If you have time to read you will be interested by
parts of LyelFs book on man ; but I fear that the best part,
about the Glacial period, may be too geological for any one
except a regular geologist. He quotes you at the end with
gusto. By the way, he told me the other day how pleased
some had been by hearing that they could purchase your
pamphlet. The Parthenon also speaks of it as the ablest
contribution to the literature of the subject. It delights me
when I see your work appreciated.

The Lyells come here this day week, and I fhall grumble
at his excessive caution. . . . The public may well say, if
such a man dare not or will not speak out his mind, how can
we who are ignorant form even a guess on the subject ? Lyell
was pleased when I told him lately that you thought that
language might be used as an excellent illustration of deriva-
tion of species ; you will see that he has an admirable chapter
on this. . . .

I read Cairns's excellent Lecture,* which shows so well
how your quarrel arose from Slavery. It made me for a time
wish honestly for the North ; but I could never help, though I
tried, all the time thinking how we should be bullied and

* Prof. J. E. Cairns, * The Slave Power, &c. : an attempt to explain the
real issues involved in the American contest.' 1862,

196 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

forced into a war by you, when you were triumphant. But I
do most truly think it dreadful that the South, with its
accursed slavery, should triumph, and spread the evil. I think
if I had power, which thank God, I have not, I would let you
conquer the border States, and all west of the Mississippi, and
then force you to acknowledge the cotton States. For do
you not now begin to doubt whether you can conquer and
hold them ? I have inflicted a long tirade on you.

The Times is getting more detestable (but that is too weak
a word) than ever. My good wife wishes to give it up, but I
tell her that is a pitch of heroism to which only a woman is
equal. To give up the " Bloody Old Times" as Cobbett
used to call it, would be to give up meat, drink and air.
Farewell, my dear Gray,

Yours most truly,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, March 6, [1863].
... I have been of course deeply interested by your book.*
I have hardly any remarks worth sending, but will scribble a
little on what most interested me. But I will first get out
what I hate saying, viz., that I have been greatly disappointed
that you have not given judgment and spoken fairly out what
you think about the derivation of species. I should have
been contented if you had boldly said that species have not
been separately created, and had thrown as much doubt as
you like on how far variation and natural selection suffices.
I hope to Heaven I am wrong (and from what you say about
Whewell it seems so), but I cannot see how your chapters can
do more good than an extraordinary able review. I think
the Parthenon is right, that you will leave the public in a fog.
No doubt they may infer that as you give more space to
myself, Wallace, and Hooker, than to Lamarck, you think
more of us. But I had always thought that your judgment

* ' Antiquity of Man.'

1863.] ' ANTIQUITY OF MAN.' jgy

would have been an epoch in the subject. All that is over
with me, and I will only think on the admirable skill with
which you have selected the striking points, and explained
them. No praise can be too strong, in my opinion, for the
inimitable chapter on language in comparison with species.

* p. 505 — A sentence at the top of the page makes me
groan. . . .

I know you will forgive me for writing with perfect freedom,
for you must know how deeply I respect you as my old
honoured guide and master. I heartily hope and expect that
your book will have gigantic circulation and may do in many
ways as much good as it ought to do. I am tired, so no more.
I have written so briefly that you will have to guess my
meaning. I fear my remarks are hardly worth sending.
Farewell, with kindest remembrance to Lady Lyell.

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

[Mr. Huxley has quoted (vol. i. p. 546) some passages from
Lyell's letters which show his state of mind at this time. The
following passage, from a letter of March nth to my father,
is also of much interest : —

"My feelings, however, more than any thought about
policy or expediency, prevent me from dogmatising as to
the descent of man from the brutes, which, though I am
prepared to accept it, takes away much of the charm from
my speculations on the past relating to such matters. . . .
But you ought to be satisfied, as I shall bring hundreds
towards you who, if I treated the matter more dogmatically,
would have rebelled."]

* After speculating on the sudden appearance of individuals far above
the average of the human race, Lyell asks if such leaps upwards in the
scale of intellect may not " have cleared at one bound the space which
separated the higher stage of the unprogressive intelligence of the inferior
animals from the first and lowest form of improvable reason manifested by

198 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863,

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, 12 [March, 1863].
My Dear Lyell, — I thank you for your very interesting
and kind, I may say, charming letter. I feared you might be
huffed for a little time with me. I know some men would
have been so. I have hardly any more criticisms, anyhow,
worth writing. But I may mention that I felt a little surprise
that old B. de Perthes * was not rather more honourably men-
tioned. I would suggest whether you could not leave out
some references to the ' Principles ; ' one for the real student
is as good as a hundred, and it is rather irritating, and gives
a feeling of incompleteness to the general reader to be often
referred to other books. As you say that you have gone as far
as you believe on the species question, I have not a word to
say ; but I must feel convinced that at times, judging from
conversation, expressions, letters, &c, you have as completely
given up belief in immutability of specific forms as I have
done. I must still think a clear expression from you, if you
could have given it, would have been potent with the public,
and all the more so, as you formerly held opposite opinions.
The more I work the more satisfied I become with variation
and natural selection, but that part of the case I look at as
less important, though more interesting to me personally. As
you ask for criticisms on this head (and believe me that
I should not have made them unasked), I may specify
(pp. 412, 413) that such words as u Mr. D. labours to show,"
" is believed by the author to throw light/' would lead a
common reader to think that you yourself do not at all agree,
but merely think it fair to give my opinion. Lastly, you
refer repeatedly to my view as a modification of Lamarck's
doctrine of development and progression. If this is your
deliberate opinion there is nothing to be said, but it does
not seem so to me. Plato, Buffon, my grandfather before

* Born 1788, died 1868. See footnote, p. 200.

1863.] 'ANTIQUITY OF MAN.' I99

Lamarck, and others, propounded the obvious views that if
species were not created separately they must have descended
from other species, and I can see nothing else in common
between the * Origin ' and Lamarck. I believe this way of
putting the case is very injurious to its acceptance, as it
implies necessary progression, and closely connects Wallace's
and my views with what I consider, after two deliberate
readings, as a wretched book, and one from which (I well
remember my surprise) I gained nothing. But I know you
rank it higher, which is curious, as it did not in the least
shake your belief. But enough, and more than enough.
Please remember you have brought it all down on yourself ! !

I am very sorry to hear about Falconer's " reclamation. " *
I hate the very word, and have a sincere affection for him.

Did you ever read anything so wretched as the Athenceum
reviews of you, and of Huxley f especially. Your object to
make man old, and Huxley's object to degrade him. The
wretched writer has not a glimpse what the discovery of
scientific truth means. How splendid some pages are in
Huxley, but I fear the book will not be popular. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

0-

Down [March 13, 1863].
I should have thanked you sooner for the Athenceum and
very pleasant previous note, but I have been busy, and not a
little uncomfortable from frequent uneasy feeling of fullness,
slight pain and tickling about the heart. But as I have no
other symptoms of heart complaint I do not suppose it is
affected I have had a most kind and delightfully can-
did letter from Lyell, who says he spoke out as far as he be-

* " Falconer, whom I referred to oftener than to any other author, says
I have not done justice to the part he took in resuscitating the cave ques-
tion, and says he shall come out with a separate paper to prove it. I of-
fered to alter anything in the new edition, but this he declined."— C. Lyell
to C. Darwin, March n, 1863 ; Ly ell's ' Life,' vol. ii. p. 364.

f ' Man's Place in Nature,' 1863.

200 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

lieves. I have no doubt his belief failed him as he wrote, for
I feel sure that at times he no more believed in Creation than
you or I. I have grumbled a bit in my answer to him at his
always classing my work as a modification of Lamarck's,
which it is no more than any author who did not believe in
immutability of species, and did believe in descent. I am
very sorry to hear from Lyell that Falconer is going to pub-
lish a formal reclamation of his own claims. . . .

It is cruel to think of it, but we must go to Malvern in
the middle of April ; it is ruin to me.* . . .

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, March 17 [1863].

My dear Lyell, — I have been much interested by your
letters and enclosure, and thank you sincerely for giving me
so much time when you must be so busy. What a curious
letter from B. de P. [Boucher de Perthes]. He seems per-
fectly satisfied, and must be a very amiable man. I know
something about his errors, and looked at his book many
years ago, and am ashamed to think that I concluded the
whole was rubbish ! Yet he has done for man something
like what Agassiz did for glaciers.f

I cannot say that I agree with Hooker about the public
not liking to be told what to conclude, if coming fro??i one in
your position. But I am heartily sorry that I was led to make
complaints, or something very like complaints, on the man-
ner in which you have treated the subject, and still more so
anything about myself. I steadily endeavour never to forget
my firm belief that no one can at all judge about his own

* He went to Hartfield in Sussex, on April 27, and to Malvern in the
autumn.

f In his * Antiquites Celtiques' (1847), Boucher de Perthes described
the flint tools found at Abbeville with bones of rhinoceros, hycena, &c.
" But the scientific world had no faith in the statement that works of art,
however rude, had been met with in undisturbed beds of such antiquity."
(' Antiquity of Man/ first edition, p. 95).

1863.] 'ANTIQUITY OF MAN.' 201

work. As for Lamarck, as you have such a man as Grove
with you, you are triumphant ; not that I can alter my opin-
ion that to me it was an absolutely useless book. Perhaps
this was owing to my always searching books for facts, per-
haps from knowing my grandfather's earlier and identically
the same speculation. I will only further say that if I can
analyse my own feelings (a very doubtful process), it is near-
ly as much for your sake as for my own, that I so much wish
that your state of belief could have permitted you to say
boldly and distinctly out that species were not separately
created. I have generally told you the progress of opinion,
as I have heard it, on the species question, A first-rate Ger-
man naturalist * (I now forget the name !), who has lately
published a grand folio, has spoken out to the utmost extent
on the ' Origin/ De Candolle, in a very good paper on
"Oaks/' goes, in Asa Gray's opinion, as far as he himself
does ; but De Candolle, in writing to me, says we, " we think
this and that ; " so that I infer he really goes to the full ex-
tent with me, and tells me of a French good botanical palae-
ontologist (name forgotten), f who writes to De Candolle that
he is sure that my views will ultimately prevail. But I did
not intend to have written all this. It satisfies me with the
final results, but this result, I begin to see, wffl take two or
three lifetimes. The entomologists are enough to keep the
subject back for half a century. I really pity your having to
balance the claims of so many eager aspirants for notice ; it
is clearly impossible to satisfy all. . . . Certainly I was struck
with the full and due honour you conferred on Falconer.
I have just had a note from Hooker. ... I am heartily glad
that you have made him so conspicuous ; he is so honest, so
candid, and so modest. . . .

I have read . I could find nothing to lay hold of,

* No doubt Haeckel, whose monograph on the Radiolaria was pub-
lished in 1862. In the same year Professor W. Preyer of Jena published
a Dissertation on A lea impennis, which was one of the earliest pieces of
special work on the basis of the ' Origin of Species.'

f The Marquis de Saporta.

202 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

which in one sense I am very glad of, as I should hate a con-
troversy ; but in another sense I am very sorry for, as I long
to be in the same boat with all my friends. ... I am hearti-
ly glad the book is going off so well.

Ever yours,

C* Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down [March 29, 1863].
. . . Many thanks for Athenceum, received this morning,
and to be returned to-morrow morning. Who would have
ever thought of the old stupid Athenceum taking to Oken-like
transcendental philosophy written in Owenian style ! * . . . .
It will be some time before we see u slime, protoplasm, &c.,"
generating a new animal.f But I have long regretted that I

* This refers to a review of Dr. Carpenter's € Introduction to the study
of Foraminifera, ' that appeared in the Athence urn of March 28, 1863 (p.
417). The reviewer attacks Dr. Carpenter's views in as much as they sup-
port the doctrine of Descent ; and he upholds spontaneous generation
(Heterogeny) in place of what Dr. Carpenter, naturally enough, believed
in, viz. the genetic connection of living and extinct Foraminifera. In the
next number is a letter by Dr. Carpenter, which chiefly consists of a pro-
test against the reviewer's somewhat contemptuous classification of Dr.
Carpenter and my father as disciple and master. In the course of the let-
ter Dr. Carpenter says — p. 461 : —

" Under the influence of his foregone conclusion that I have accepted
Mr. Darwin as my master, and his hypothesis as my guide, your reviewer
represents me as blind to the significance of the general fact stated by me,
that ' there has been no advance in the foraminiferous type from the palaeo-
zoic period to the present time/ But for such a foregone conclusion he
would have recognised in this statement the expression of my conviction
that the present state of scientific evidence, instead of sanctioning the idea
that the descendants of the primitive type or types of Foraminifera can ever
rise to any higher grade, justifies the anti- Darwinian inference, that how-
ever widely they diverge from each other and from their originals, they
still remain Foraminifera"

\ On the same subject my father wrote in 1871 : " It is often said that
all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now
present, which could ever have been present. But if (and oh ! what a big

1863.] THE 'ATHEN^ZUM/ 203

truckled to public opinion, and used the Pentateuchal term
of creation,* by which I really meant " appeared " by some
wholly unknown process. It is mere rubbish, thinking at
present of the origin of life ; one might as well think of the
origin of matter.

C. Darwin to J, D. Hooker.

Down, Friday night [April 17, 1863].

My dear Hooker, — I have heard from Oliver that you
will be now at Kew, and so I am going to amuse myself by
scribbling a bit. I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed your
tour. I never in my life saw anything like the spring flowers
this year. What a lot of interesting things have been lately
published. I liked extremely your review of De Candolle.
What an awfully severe article that by Falconer on Lyell ; \
I am very sorry for it ; I think Falconer on his side does not

if !) we could conceive in some warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia
and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity, &c, present, that a proteine
compound was chemically formed ready to undergo still more complex
changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured or
absorbed, which would not have been the case before living#ereatures were
formed."

* This refers to a passage in which the reviewer of Dr. Carpenter's
books speaks of " an operation of force," or " a concurrence of forces which
have now no place in nature," as being, aa creative force, in fact, which
Darwin could only express in Pentateuchal terms as the primordial form
* into which life was first breathed.' " The conception of expressing a
creative force as a primordial form is the Reviewer's.

f Athenceum, April 4, 1863, p. 459. The writer asserts that justice has

not been done either to himself or Mr. Prestwich — that Lyell has not made

it clear that it was their original work which supplied certain material for

the l Antiquity of Man.' Falconer attempts to draw an unjust distinction

between a " philosopher " (here used as a polite word for compiler) like

Sir Charles Lyell, and original observers, presumably such as himself, and

Mr. Prestwich. Ly ell's reply was published in the Athenceum, April 18,

1863. It ought to be mentioned that a letter from Mr. Prestwich (Athe-

ncBwn, p. 555), which formed part of the controversy, though of the nature

of a reclamation, was written in a very different spirit and tone from Dr,

Falconer's.

50

204 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

do justice to old Perthes and Schmerling. .... I shall be
very curious to see how he [Lyell] answers it to-morrow. (I
have been compelled to take in the Athenaeum for a while.) I
am very sorry that Falconer should have written so spitefully,
even if there is some truth in his accusations ; I was rather
disappointed in Carpenter's letter, no one could have given a
better answer, but the chief object of his letter seems to me
to be to show that though he has touched pitch he is not de-
filed. No one would suppose he went so far as to believe all
birds came from one progenitor. I have written a letter to
the Athenaeum,* (the first and last time I shall take such a step)
to say, under the cloak of attacking Heterogeny, a word in
my own defence. My letter is to appear next week, so the
Editor says ; and I mean to quote Lyell's sentence f in his
second edition, on the principle if one puffs oneself, one had
better puff handsomely. . . .

* Athenceum^ 1863, p. 554: " The view given by me on the origin or
derivation of species, whatever its weaknesses may be, connects (as has
been candidly admitted by some of its opponents, such as Pictet, Bronn,
&c), by an intelligible thread of reasoning, a multitude of facts: such as
the formation of domestic races by man's selection, — the classification and
affinities of all organic beings, — the innumerable gradations in structure
and instincts, — the similarity of pattern in the hand, wing, or paddle of
animals of the same great class, — the existence of organs become rudimen-
tary by disuse, — the similarity of an embryonic reptile, bird, and mammal,
with the retention of traces of an apparatus fitted for aquatic respiration ;
the retention in the young calf of incisor teeth in the upper jaw, &c. — the
distribution of animals and plants, and their mutual affinities within the
same region, — their general geological succession, and the close relation-
ship of the fossils in closely consecutive formations and within the same
country ; extinct marsupials having preceded living marsupials in Aus-
tralia, and armadillo-like animals having preceded and generated armadil-
loes in South America, — and many other phenomena, such as the gradual
extinction of old forms and their gradual replacement by new forms better
fitted for their new conditions in the struggle for life. When the advocate
of Heterogeny can thus connect large classes of facts, and not until then,
he will have respectful and patient listeners."

f See the next letter.

1863.] LETTER IN THE 'ATHENAEUM/ 205

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, April 18 [1863].
My dear Lyell, — I was really quite sorry that you had
sent me a second copy * of your valuable book. But after a
few hours my sorrow vanished for this reason : I have written
a letter to the Athenceurn, in order, under the cloak of attack-
ing the monstrous article on Heterogeny, to say a word for
myself in answer to Carpenter, and now I have inserted a
few sentences in allusion to your analagous objection f about
bats on islands, and then with infinite slyness have quoted
your amended sentence, with your parenthesis (" as I fully
believe ") J ; I do not think you can be annoyed at my doing
this, and you see, that I am determined as far as I can, that
the public shall see how far you go. This is the first time I
have ever said a word for myself in any journal, and it shall,
I think, be the last. My letter is short, and no great things.
I was extremely concerned to see Falconer's disrespectful
and virulent letter. I like extremely your answer just read ;
you take a lofty and dignified position, to which you are so

well entitled. §

■ -+

* The second edit, of the * Antiquity of Man' was published a few
months after the first had appeared.

f Lyell objected that the mammalia (e.g. bats and seals) which alone
have been able to reach oceanic islands ought to have become modified
into various terrestrial forms fitted to fill various places in their new home.
My father pointed out in the Athceenum that Sir Charles has in some measu
answered his own objection, and went on to quote the "amended sen-
tence" (' Antiquity of Man,' 2nd Edit. p. 469) as showing how far Lyell
agreed with the general doctrines of the ' Origin of Species ' : " Yet we
ought by no means to undervalue the importance of the step which will
have been made, should it hereafter become the generally received opin-
ion of men of science (as I fully expect it will) that the past changes of
the organic world have been brought about by the subordinate agency of
such causes as Variation and Natural Selection." In the first edition the
words " as I fully expect it will," do not occur.

% My father here quotes Lyell incorrectly ; see the previous foot-
note.

§ In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker he wrote : " I much like Lyell's letter.

206 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

I suspect that if you had inserted a few more superlatives
in speaking of the* several authors there would have been
none of this horrid noise. No one, I am sure, who knows you
could doubt about your hearty sympathy with every one who
makes any little advance in science. I still well remember my
surprise at the manner in which you listened to me in Hart
Street on my return from the Beagle's voyage. You did me
a world of good. It is horridly vexatious that so frank and
apparently amiable a man as Falconer should have behaved
so.* Well it will all soon be forgotten. . . .

[In reply to the above-mentioned letter of my father's
to the Athenceum, an article appeared in that Journal (May
2nd, 1863, p. 586), accusing my father of claiming for his
views the exclusive merit of " connecting by an intelligible
thread of reasoning " a number of facts in morphology, &c.
The writer remarks that, " The different generalizations cited
by Mr. Darwin as being connected by an intelligible thread
of reasoning exclusively through his attempt to explain
specific transmutation are in fact related to it in this wise,
that they have prepared the minds of naturalists for a better
reception of such attempts to explain the way of the origin of
species from species."

To this my father replied in the Athenceum of May 9th,
1863 :]

Down, May 5 [1863].
I hope that you will grant me space to own that your
reviewer is quiet correct when he states that any theory of
descent will connect, " by an intelligible thread of reasoning,"
the several generalizations before specified. I ought to have
made this admission expressly; with the reservation, how-

But all this squabbling will greatly sink scientific men. I have seen sneers
already in the Times."

**It is to this affair that the extract from a letter to Falconer, given
vol. i. p. 134, refers.

1863.] LETTER IN THE 'ATHENAEUM.' 207

ever, that, as far as I can judge, no theory so well explains
or connects these several generalizations (more especially the
formation of domestic races in comparison with natural spe-
cies, the principles of classification, embryonic resemblance,
&c.) as the theory, or hypothesis, or guess, if the reviewer so
likes to call it, of Natural Selection. Nor has any other
satisfactory explanation been ever offered of the almost per-
fect adaptation of all organic beings to each other, and to
their physical conditions of life. Whether the naturalist
believes in the views given by Lamarck, by Geoffroy St.
Hilaire, by the author of the ' Vestiges,' by Mr. Wallace and
myseif, or in any other such view, signifies extremely little in
comparison with the admission that species have descended
from other species, and have not been created immutable ;
for he who admits this as a great truth has a wide field
opened to him for further inquiry. I believe, however, from
what I see of the progress of opinion on the Continent, and
in this country, that the theory of Natural Selection will
ultimately be adopted, with, no doubt, many subordinate
modifications and improvements.

Charles Darwin.

[In the following, he refers to the above letter to^he Athe-
naeum, .•]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Leith Hill Place,

Saturday [May II, 1863].

My dear Hooker, — You give good advice about not
writing in newspapers ; I have been gnashing my teeth at my

own folly ; and this not caused by — 's sneers, which

were so good that I almost enjoyed them. I have written
once again to own to a certain extent of truth in what he
says, and then if I am ever such a fool again, have no mercy
on me. I have read the squib in Public Opinion ; * it is capi-

* Public Opinion, April 23, 1863. A lively account of a police case, in
which the quarrels of scientific men are satirised. Mr. John Bull gives
evidence that —

2o8 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

tal ; if there is more, and you have a copy, do lend it. It
shows well that a scientific man had better be trampled in
dirt than squabble. I have been drawing diagrams, dissect-
ing shoots, and muddling my brains to a hopeless degree
about the divergence of leaves, and have of course utterly
failed. But I can see that the subject is most curious, and
indeed astonishing

[The next letter refers to Mr. Bentham's presidential ad-
dress to the Linnean Society (May 25, 1863). Mr. Bentham
does not yield to the new theory of Evolution, "cannot sur-
render at discretion so long as many important outworks re-
main contestable/' But he shows that the great body of
scientific opinion is flowing in the direction of belief.

The mention of Pasteur by Mr. Bentham is in reference
to the promulgation "as it were ex cathedrd" of a theory of
spontaneous generation by the reviewer of Dr. Carpenter in
the Athenczum (March 28, 1863). Mr. Bentham points out
that in ignoring Pasteur's refutation of the supposed facts of
spontaneous generation, the writer fails to act with " that im-
partiality which every reviewer is supposed to possess."]

" The whole neighbourhood was unsettled by their disputes ; Huxley
quarrelled with Owen, Owen with Darwin, Lyell with Owen, Falconer
and Prestwich with Lyell, and Gray the menagerie man with everybody.
He had pleasure, however, in stating that Darwin was the quietest of the
set. They were always picking bones with each other and fighting over
their gains. If either of the gravel sifters or stone breakers found any-
thing, he was obliged to conceal it immediately, or one of the old bone
collectors would be sure to appropriate it first and deny the theft after-
wards, and the consequent wrangling and disputes were as endless as they
were wearisome.

"Lord Mayor. — Probably the clergyman of the parish might exert
some influence over them ?

" The gentleman smiled, shook his head, and stated that he regretted
to say that no class of men paid so little attention to the opinions of the
clergy as that to which these unhappy men belonged."

1863.] MR. BENTHAM. 209

C. Darwin to G. Bentham.

Down, May 22 [1863].

My dear Bentham, — I am much obliged for your kind
and interesting letter. I have no fear of anything that a man
like you will say annoying me in the very least degree. On
the other hand, any approval from one whose judgment and
knowledge I have for many years so sincerely respected, will
gratify me much. The objection which you well put, of cer-
tain forms remaining unaltered through long time and space,
is no doubt formidable in appearance, and to a certain ex-
tent in reality according to my judgment. But does not the
difficulty rest much on our silently assuming that we know
more than we do ? I have literally found nothing so difficult
as to try and always remember our ignorance. I am never
weary, when walking in any new adjoining district or country,
of reflecting how absolutely ignorant we are why certain old
plants are not there present, and other new ones are, and
others in different proportions. If we once fully feel this,
then in judging the theory of Natural Selection, which im-
plies that a form will remain unaltered unless some alteration
be to its benefit, is it so very wonderful that some forms should
change much slower and much less, and some few shouid have
changed not at all under conditions which to us (who really
know nothing what are the important conditions) seem very
different. Certainly a priori we might have anticipated that
all the plants anciently introduced into Australia would have
undergone some modification ; but the fact that they have
not been modified does not seem to me a difficulty of weight
enough to shake a belief grounded on other arguments. I
have expressed myself miserably, but I am far from well
to-day.

I am very glad that you are going to allude to Pasteur ; I
was struck with infinite admiration at his work. With cordial
thanks, believe me, dear Bentham,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

210 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1863.

P.S. — In fact, the belief in Natural Selection must at pres-
ent be grounded entirely on general considerations. (1) On
its being a vera causa, from the struggle for existence ; and
the certain geological fact that species do somehow change.
(2) From the analogy of change under domestication by
man's selection. (3) And chiefly from this view connecting
under an intelligible point of view a host of facts. When we
descend to details, we can prove that no one species has
changed [/. e. we cannot prove that a single species has
changed] ; nor can we prove that the supposed changes are
beneficial, which is the groundwork of the theory. Nor can
we explain why some species have changed and others have
not. The latter case seems to me hardly more difficult to
understand precisely and in detail than the former case of
supposed change. Bronn may ask in vain, the old creationist
school and the new school, why one mouse has longer ears
than another mouse, and one plant more pointed leaves than
another plant.

C. Darwin to G. Benthani.

Down, June 19 [1863].
My dear Bentham, — I have been extremely much pleased
and interested by your address, which you kindly sent me.
It seems to be excellently done, with as much judicial calm-
ness and impartiality as the Lord Chancellor could have
shown. But whether the " immutable " gentlemen would
agree with the impartiality may be doubted, there is too much
kindness shown towards me, Hooker, and others, they might
say. Moreover I verily believe that your address, written as
it is, will do more to shake the unshaken and bring on those
leaning to our side, than anything written directly in favor of
transmutation. I can hardly tell why it is, but your address
has pleased me as much as Lyell's book disappointed me,
that is, the part on species, though so cleverly written. I
agree with all your remarks on the reviewers. By the way,
Lecoq * is a believer in the change of species. I, for one, can

* Author of ' G£ographie Botanique.' 9 vols. 1854-58.

1864.] ILLNESS. 211

conscientiously declare that I never feel surprised at any one
sticking to the belief of immutability ; though I am often not
a little surprised at the arguments advanced on this side. I
remember too well my endless oscillations of doubt and diffi-
culty. It is to me really laughable when I think of the years
which elapsed before I saw what I believe to be the explana-
tion of some parts of the case ; I believe it was fifteen years
after I began before I saw the meaning and cause of the di-
vergence of the descendants of any one pair. You pay me
some most elegant and pleasing compliments. There is much
in your address which has pleased me much, especially your
remarks on various naturalists. I am so glad that you have
alluded so honourably to Pasteur. I have just read over this
note ; it does not express strongly enough the interest which
I have felt in reading your address. You have done, I be-
lieve, a real good turn to the right side. Believe me, dear
Bentham,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

1864.

[In my father's diary for 1864 is the entry, " 111 all Janu-
ary, February, March/' About the middle of Aprif(seven
months after the beginning of the illness in the previous
autumn) his health took a turn for the better. As soon as he
was able to do any work, he began to write his papers on
Lythrum, and on Climbing Plants, so that the work which
now concerns us did not begin until September, when he
again set to work on 'Animals and Plants.' A letter to Sir
J. D. Hooker gives some account of the re-commencement
of the work : " I have begun looking over my old MS., and
it is as fresh as if I had never written it ; parts are astonish-
ingly dull, but yet worth printing, I think ; and other parts
strike me as very good. I am a complete millionaire in odd
and curious little facts, and I have been really astounded at
my own industry whilst reading my chapters on Inheritance
and Selection. God knows when the book will ever be com-

212 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1864.

pleted, for I find that I am very weak and on ray best days
cannot do more than one or one and a half hours' work. It
is a good deal harder than writing about my dear climbing
plants/'

In this year he received the greatest honour which a sci-
entific man can receive in this country — the Copley Medal of
the Royal Society. It is presented at the Anniversary Meet-
ing on St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30), the medalist being usu-
ally present to receive it, but this the state of my father's
health prevented. He wrote to Mr. Fox on this subject : —

" I was glad to see your hand-writing. The Copley, be-
ing open to all sciences and all the world, is reckoned a great
honor ; but excepting from several kind letters, such things
make little difference to me. It shows, however, that Natural
Selection is making some progress in this country, and that
pleases me. The subject, however, is safe in foreign lands."

To Sir J. D. Hooker, also, he wrote : —

" How kind you have been about this medal ; indeed, I
am blessed with many good friends, and I have received four
or five notes which have warmed my heart. I often wonder
that so old a worn-out dog as I am is not quite forgotten.
Talking of medals, has Falconer had the Royal ? he surely
ought to have it, as ought John Lubbock. By the way, the
latter tells me that some old members of the Royal are quite
shocked at my having the Copley. Do you know who ? "

He wrote to Mr. Huxley : —

" I must and will answer you, for it is a real pleasure for
me to thank you cordially for your note. Such notes as this
of yours, and a few others, are the real medal to me, and not
the round bit of gold. These have given me a pleasure
which will long endure ; so believe in my cordial thanks for
your note."

Sir Charles Lyell, writing to my father in November 1864
(' Life,' vol. ii. p. 384), speaks of the supposed malcontents
as being afraid to crown anything so unorthodox as the
'Origin.' But he adds that if such were their feelings "they
had the good sense to draw in their horns." It appears, how-

1864.] COPLEY MEDAL. 21 3

ever, from the same letter, that the proposal to give the Cop-
ley Medal to my father in the previous year failed owing to
a similar want of courage — to Lyell's great indignation.

In the Reader, December 3, 1864, General Sabine's presi-
dential address at the Anniversary Meeting is reported at
some length. Special weight was laid on my father's work
in Geology, Zoology, and Botany, but the ' Origin of Species '
is praised chiefly as containing "a. mass of observations," &c.
It is curious that as in the case of his election to the French
Institute, so in this case, he was honored not for the great
work of his life, but for his less important work in special
lines. The paragraph in General Sabine's address which re-
fers to the ' Origin of Species,' is as follows : —

"In his most recent work i On the Origin of Species,' al-
though opinions may be divided or undecided with respect to
its merits in some respects, all will allow that it contains a
mass of observations bearing upon the habits, structure, af-
finities, and distribution of animals, perhaps unrivalled for
interest, minuteness, and patience of observation. Some
amongst us may perhaps incline to accept the theory indi-
cated by the title of this work, while others may perhaps in-
cline to refuse, or at least to remit it to a future time, when
increased knowledge shall afford stronger grounds for its ulti-
mate acceptance or rejection. Speaking generally and col-
lectively, we have expressly omitted it from the grounds of
our award."

I believe I am right in saying that no little dissatisfaction
at the President's manner of allusion to the ' Origin ' was felt
by some Fellows of the Society.

The presentation of the Copley Medal is of interest in
another way, inasmuch as it led to Sir C. Lyell making, in
his after-dinner speech, a " confession of faith as to the
1 Origin.' " He wrote to my father (' Life,' vol. ii. p. 384), " I
said I had been forced to give up my old faith without thor-
oughly seeing my way to a new one. But I think you would
have been satisfied with the length I went."]

214 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1864.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, Oct. 3 [1864].

My dear Huxley, — If I do not pour out my admiration
of your article * on Kolliker, I shall explode. I never read
anything better done. I had much wished his article an-
swered, and indeed thought of doing so myself, so that I con-
sidered several points. You have hit on all, and on some in
addition, and oh ! by Jove, how well you have done it. As
I read on and came to point after point on which I had
thought, I could not help jeering and scoffing at myself, to
see how infinitely better you had done it than I could have
done. Well, if any one, who does not understand Natural
Selection, will read this, he will be a blockhead if it is not as
as clear as daylight. Old Flourens f was hardly worth the
powder and shot ; but how capitally you bring in about the
Academician, and your metaphor of the sea-sand is inimitable.

It is a marvel to me how you can resist becoming a regu-
lar reviewer. Well, I have exploded now, and it has done
me a deal of good. . . .

[In the same article in the ' Natural History Review/ Mr.
Huxley speaks of the book above alluded to by Flourens, the
Secretaire Perpetuel of the Acad£mie des Sciences, as one of
the two " most elaborate criticisms " of the ' Origin of Spe-
cies ' of the year. He quotes the following passage : —

" M. Darwin continue: * Aucune distinction absolue n'a
£te et ne peut etre £tablie entre les especes et les varietesf

* "Criticisms on the Origin of Species," 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1864.
Republished in 'Lay Sermons,' 1870, p. 328. The work of Professor
Kolliker referred to is ' Ueber die Darwin'sche Schopfungstheorie' (Leip-
zig, 1864). Toward Professor Kolliker my father felt not only the respect
due to so distinguished a naturalist (a sentiment well expressed in Pro-
fessor Huxley's review), but he had also a personal regard for him, and
often alluded with satisfaction to the visit which Professor Kolliker paid
at DowTn.

f ' Examen du livre de M. Darwin sur l'origine des especes.' Par P.
Flourens. 8vo. Paris, 1864.

1865.] M. FLOURENS. 21 5

Je vous ai deja dit que vous vous trompiez; une distinction
absolue separe les varietes d'avec les especes." Mr. Huxley
remarks on this, " Being devoid of the blessings of an Acade-
my in England, we are unaccustomed to see our ablest men
treated in this way even by a Perpetual Secretary." After
demonstrating M. Flourens' misapprehension of Natural Se-
lection, Mr. Huxley says, " How one knows it all by heart,
and with what relief one reads at p. 65, 'Je laisse M. Dar-
win/ "

On the same subject my father wrote to Mr. Wallace : —
"A great gun, Flourens, has written a little dull book
against me which pleases me much, for it is plain that our
good work is spreading in France. He speaks of the
" engouement " about this book [the ' Origin 'J "so full of
empty and presumptuous thoughts." The passage here al-
luded to is as follows : —

" Enfln Touvrage' de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut
qu'etre frappe du talent de l'auteur. Mais que d'idees ob-
scures, que d'idees fausses ! Quel jargon metaphysique jete
mal a propos dans Thistoire naturelle, qui tombe dans le
galimatias des qu'elle sort des idees claires, des idees justes.
Quel langage pretentieux et vide ! Quelles personifications
pueriles et surannees ! O lucidite ! O solidite* de Pesprit
francais, que devenez-vous ? "]

1865.

[This was again a time of much ill-health, but towards the
close of the year he began to recover under the care of the
late Dr. Bence-Jones, who dieted him severely, and as he
expressed it, " half-starved him to death." He was able to
work at ' Animals and Plants ' until nearly the end of April,
and from that time until December he did practically no work,
with the exception of looking over the ' Origin of Species '
for a second French edition. He wrote to Sir J* D. Hooker :
— " I am, as it were, reading the ' Origin * for the first time,
for I am correcting for a second French edition : and upon

2i6 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1865.

my life, my dear fellow, it is a very good book, but oh ! my
gracious, it is tough reading, and I wish it were done." *

The following letter refers to the Duke of Argyll's address
to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, December 5th, 1864, in
which he criticises the ' Origin of Species.' My father seems
to have read the Duke's address as reported in the Scotsman
of December 6th, 1865. In a letter to my father (Jan. 16,
1865, 'Life,' vol. ii. p. 385), Lyell wrote, " The address is a
great step towards your views — far greater, I believe, than
it seems when read merely with reference to criticisms and
objections."]

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, January 22, 1865.
My dear Lyell, — I thank you for your very interesting
letter. I have the true English instinctive reverence for rank,
and therefore liked to hear about the Princess Royal. f You
ask what I think of the Duke's address, and I shall be glad to
tell you. It seems to me extremely clever, like everything I
have read of his ; but I am not shaken — perhaps you will say
that neither gods nor men could shake me. I demur to the
Duke reiterating his objection that the brilliant plumage of
the male humming-bird could not have been acquired through
selection, at the same time entirely ignoring my discussion
(p. 93, 3rd edition) on beautiful plumage being acquired

* Towards the end of the year my father received the news of a new
convert to his views, in the person of the distinguished American natural-
ist Lesquereux. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : " I have had an enormous
letter from Leo Lesquereux (after doubts, I did not think it worth send-
ing you) on Coal Flora. He wrote some excellent articles in ' Silliman '
against ' Origin ' views ; but he says now, after repeated reading of the
book, he is a convert ! "

f " I had ... an animated conversation on Darwinism with the Prin-
cess Royal, who is a worthy daughter of her father, in the reading of good
books, and thinking of what she reads. She was very much au fait at the
'Origin,' and Huxley's book, the \ Antiquity,' &c."— (Lyell's ■ Life,' vol.
ii. p. 385.)

1865.] DUKE OF ARGYLL. 217

through sexual selection. The duke may think this insuffi-
cient, but that is another question. All analogy makes me
quite disagree with the Duke that the difference in the beak,
wing and tail, are not of importance to the several species.
In the only two species which I have watched, the difference
in flight and in the use of the tail was conspicuously great.

The Duke, who knows my Orchid book so well, might
have learnt a lesson of caution from it, with respect to his
doctrine of differences for mere variety or beauty. It may be
confidently said that no tribe of plants presents such grotesque
and beautiful differences, which no one until lately, con-
jectured were of any use ; but now in almost every case I
have been able to show their important service. It should
be remembered that with humming-birds or orchids, a modi-
fication in one part will cause correlated changes in other
parts. I agree with what you say about beauty. I formerly
thought a good deal on the subject, and was led quite to
repudiate the doctrine of beauty being created for beauty's
sake. I demur also to the Duke's expression of " new
births." That may be a very good theory, but it is not mine,
unless indeed he calls a bird born with a beak ToTtri °f an
inch longer than usual " a new birth ; " but this is not the
sense in which the term would usually be understood. The
more I work the more I feel convinced that it is by the
accumulation of such extremely slight variations that new
species arise. I do not plead guilty to the Duke's charge
that I forget that natural selection means only the preserva-
tion of variations which independently arise.* I have ex-
pressed this in as strong language as I could use, but it would
have been infinitely tedious had I on every occasion thus
guarded myself. I will cry " peccavi " when I hear of the
Duke or you attacking breeders for saying that man has

* " Strickly speaking, therefore, Mr. Darwin's theory is not a theory on
the Origin of Species at all, but only a theory on the causes which lead to
the relative success and failure of such new forms as may be born into the
world." — Scotsman, Dec. 6, 1864.

2l8 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1865.

made his improved shorthorns, or pouter pigeons, or ban-
tams. And I could quote still stronger expressions used by-
agriculturists. Man does make his artificial breeds, for his
selective power is of such importance relatively to that of the
slight spontaneous variations. But no one will attack breeders
for using such expressions, and the rising generation will not
blame me.

Many thanks for your offer of sending me the 4 Ele-
ments.' * I hope to read it all, but unfortunately reading
makes my head whiz more than anything else. I am able
most days to work for two or three hours, and this makes all
the difference in my happiness. I have resolved not to be
tempted astray, and to publish nothing till my volume on
Variation is completed. You gave me excellent advice about
the footnotes in my Dog chapter, but their alteration gave
me infinite trouble, and I often wished all the dogs, and I
fear sometimes you yourself, in the nether regions.

We (dictator and writer) send our best love to Lady LyelL

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — If ever you should speak with the Duke on the sub-
ject, please say how much interested I was with his address.

[In his autobiographical sketch my father has remarked
(p. 36) that owing to certain early memories he felt the hon-
our of being elected to the Royal and Royal Medical Socie-
ties of Edinburgh " more than any similar honour/' The
following extract from a letter to Sir Joseph Hooker refers
to his election to the former of these societies. The latter
part of the extract refers to the Berlin Academy, to which he
was elected in 1878 : —

" Here is a really curious thing, considering that Brewster
is President and Balfour Secretary. I have been elected
Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. And

* Sixth edition in one volume.

i865.] LYELL'S 'ELEMENTS/ 219

this leads me to a third question. Does the Berlin Academy
of Sciences send their Proceedings to Honorary Members ?
I want to know, to ascertain whether I am a member ; I sup-
pose not, for I think it would have made some impression
on me ; yet I distinctly remember receiving some diploma
signed by Ehrenberg. I have been so careless ; I have lost
several diplomas, and now I want to know what Societies I
belong to, as I observe every [one] tacks their titles to their
names in the catalogue of the Royal Soc."]

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, Feb. 21 [1865]. '

My dear Lyell, — I have taken a long time to thank you
very much for your present of the * Elements/

I am going through it all, reading what is new, and what
I have forgotten, and this is a good deal,

I am simply astonished at the amount of labour, knowl-
edge, and clear thought condensed in this work. The whole
strikes me as something quite grand. I have been particu-
larly interested by your account of Heer's work and your
discussion on the Atlantic Continent. I am particularly de-r
lighted at the view which you take on this subject ; for I have
long thought Forbes did an ill service in so freely making
continents.

I have also been very glad to read your argument on the
denudation of the Weald, and your excellent resume on the
Purbeck Beds ; and this is the point at which I have at pres-
ent arrived in your book. I cannot say that I am quite con-
vinced that there is no connection beyond that pointed out
by you, between glacial action and the formation of lake
basins ; but you will not much value my opinion on this head,
as I have already changed my mind some half-dozen times.

I want to make a suggestion to you. I found the weight

of your volume intolerable, especially when lying down, so

with great boldness cut it into two pieces, and took it out of

its cover; now could not Murray without any other change

51

220 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1865,

add to his advertisement a line saying, " if bound in two vol-
umes, one shilling or one shilling and sixpence extra." You
thus might originate a change which would be a blessing to
all weak-handed readers.

Believe me, my dear Lyell,

Yours most sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

Originate a second real blessing and have the edges of the
sheets cut like a bound book.*

C. Darwin to John Lubbock.

Down, June 11 [1865].

My dear Lubbock, — The latter half of your book f has
been read aloud to me, and the style is so clear and easy (we
both think it perfection) that I am now beginning at the be-
ginning. I cannot resist telling you how excellently well, in
my opinion, you have done the very interesting chapter on
savage life. Though you have necessarily only compiled the
materials the general result is most original. But I ought to
keep the term original for your last chapter, which has struck
me as an admirable and profound discussion. It has quite
delighted me, for now the public will see what kind of man
you are, which I am proud to think I discovered a dozen
years ago.

I do sincerely wish you all success in your election and in

* This was a favourite reform of my father's. He wrote to the A the-
nceum on the subject, Feb. 5, 1867, pointing out how that a book cut, even
carefully, with a paper knife collects dust on its edges far more than a ma-
chine-cut book. He goes on to quote the case of a lady of his acquaint-
ance who was in the habit of cutting books with her thumb, and finally
appeals to the Athenaum to earn the gratitude of children "who have to
cut through dry and pictureless books for the benefit of their elders." He
tried to introduce the reform in the case of his own books, but found the
conservatism of booksellers too strong for him. The presentation copies,
however, of all his later books were sent out with the edges cut.

f * Prehistoric Times,' 1865.

1865.] FRITZ MULLER. 221

politics; but after reading this last chapter, you must let me
say : oh, dear ! oh, dear ! oh dear !

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — You pay me a superb compliment,* but I fear you
will be quizzed for it by some of your friends as too exag-
gerated.

[The following letter refers to Fritz Miiller's book, 'Fur
Darwin,' which was afterwards translated, at my father's sug-
gestion, by Mr. Dallas. It is of interest as being the first of
the long series of letters which my father wrote to this distin-
guished naturalist. They never met, but the correspondence
with Miiller, which continued to the close of my father's life,
was a source of very great pleasure to him. My impression
is that of all his unseen friends Fritz Miiller was the one for
whom he had the strongest regard. Fritz Miiller is the
brother of another distinguished man, the late Hermann
Miiller, the author of ' Die Befruchtung der Bluraen,' and of
much other valuable work :]

C. Darwin to &\ Miiller.

Down, August 10 [1865].
My bear Sir, — I have been for a long time so ill that I
have only just finished hearing read aloud your work on spe-
cies. And now you must permit me to thank you cordially
for the great interest with which I have read it. You have
done admirable service in the cause in which we both believe.
Many of your arguments seem to me excellent, and many of
your facts wonderful. Of the latter, nothing has surprised
me so much as the two forms of males. I have lately inves-
tigated the cases of dimorphic plants, and I should much like
to send you one or two of my papers if I knew how. I did

* * Prehistoric Times,' p. 487, where the words, " the discoveries of a
Newton or a Darwin/' occur.

222 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1865.

send lately by post a paper on climbing plants, as an experi-
ment to see whether it would reach you. One of the points
which has struck me most in your paper is that on the differ-
ences in the air-breathing apparatus of the several forms.
This subject appeared to me very important when I formerly
considered the electric apparatus of fishes. Your observa-
tions on Classification and Embryology seem to me very good
and original. They show what a wonderful field there is for
enquiry on the development of Crustacea, and nothing has
convinced me so plainly what admirable results we shall ar-
rive at in Natural History in the course of a few years. What
a marvellous range of structure the Crustacea present, and
how well adapted they are for your enquiry ! Until reading
your book I knew nothing of the Rhizocephala ; pray look at
my account and figures of Anelasma, for it seems to me that
this latter cirripede is a beautiful connecting link with the
Rhizocephala.

If ever you have any opportunity, as you are so skilful a
dissector, I much wish that you would look to the orifice at
the base of the first pair of cirrhi in cirripedes, and at the
curious organ in it, and discover what its nature is; I suppose
I was quite in error, yet I cannot feel fully satisfied at
Krohn's * observations. Also if you ever find any species of
Scalpellum, pray look for complemental males; a German
author has recently doubted my observations for no reason
except that the facts appeared to him so strange.

Permit me again to thank you cordially for the pleasure
which I have derived from your work and to express my sin-
cere admiration for your valuable researches.

Believe me, dear Sir, with sincere respect,

Yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — I do not know whether you care at all about plants,
but if so, I should much like to send you my little work on

* See vol. ii., pp. 138, 187.

1865.J CHILDREN AND PARENTS. 223

the ' Fertilization of Orchids/ and I think I have a German
copy.

Could you spare me a photograph of yourself ? I should
much like to possess one.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Thursday, 27th [Sept., 1865].
My dear Hooker, — I had intended writing this morning
to thank Mrs. Hooker most sincerely for her last and several
notes about you, and now your own note in your hand has
rejoiced me. To walk between five and six miles is splendid,
with a little patience you must soon be well. I knew you had
been very ill, but I hardly knew how ill, until yesterday, when
Bentham (from the Cranworths*) called here, and I was able
to see him for ten minutes. He told me also a little about
the last days of your father ; f I wish I had known your father
better, my impression is confined to his remarkably cordial,
courteous, and frank bearing. I fully concur and understand
what you say about the difference of feeling in the loss of a
father and child. I do not think any one could love a father
much more than I did mine, and I do not believe three or
four days ever pass without my still thinking of him, but his
death at eighty-four caused me nothing of that insufferable
grief J which the loss of poor dear Annie caused. And this

* Robert Rolfe, Lord Cranworth, and Lord Chancellor of England,
lived at Holwood, near Down.

f Sir William Hooker ; b. 1785, d. 1865. He took charge of the
Royal Gardens at Kew, in 1840, when they ceased to be the private gar-
dens of the Royal Family. In doing so, he gave up his professorship at
Glasgow — and with it half of his income. He founded the herbarium and
library, and within ten years he succeeded in making the gardens the first
in the world. It is, thus, not too much to say that the creation of the es-
tablishment at Kew is due to the abilities and self-devotion of Sir William
Hooker. While, for the subsequent development of the gardens up to
their present magnificent condition, the nation must thank Sir Joseph
Hooker, in whom the same qualities are so conspicuous.

\ I may quote here a passage from a letter of November, 1863. It was

224 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1865.

seems to me perfectly natural, for one knows that for years
previously that one's father's death is drawing slowly nearer
and nearer, while the death of one's child is a sudden and
dreadful wrench. What a wonderful deal you read ; it is a
horrid evil for me that I can read hardly anything, for it
makes my head almost immediately begin to sing violently.
My good womenkind read to me a great deal, but I dare not
ask for much science, and am not sure that I could stand it.
I enjoyed Tylor* extremely, and the first part ofLecky;f
but I think the latter is often vague, and gives a false appear-
ance of throwing light on his subject by such phrases as
"spirit of the age," "spread of civilization," &c. I confine
my reading to a quarter or half hour per day in skimming
through the back volumes of the Annals and Magazine of
Natural History, and find much that interests me. I miss
my climbing plants very much, as I could observe them when
very poorly.

I did not enjoy the i Mill on the Floss ' so much as you,
but from what you say we will read it again. Do you know
' Silas Marner ' ? it is a charming little story ; if you run
short, and like to have it, we could send it by post. . . . We
have almost finished the first volume of Palgrave,J and I like
it much ; but did you ever see a book so badly arranged ?
The frequency of the allusions to what will be told in the
future are quite laughable. ... By the way, I was very
much pleased with the foot-note # about Wallace in Lubbock's
last chapter. I had not heard that Huxley had backed up

written to a friend who had lost his child : " How well I remember your
feeling, when we lost Annie. It was my greatest comfort that I had never
spoken a harsh word to her. Your grief has made me shed a few teati
over our poor darling ; but believe me that these tears have lost that un-
utterable bitterness of former days."

* ' Researches into the Early History of Mankind,' by E B. Tylor. 1865.
f ' The Rise of Rationalism in Europe,' by W. E. H. Lecky. 1865.

X William Gifford Palgrave's * Travels in Arabia,' published in 1865.

# The passage which seems to be referred to occurs in the text (p. 47q)
of ' Prehistoric Times.' It expresses admiration of Mr. Wallace's paper in

1865.] DR. WELLS— CANON FARRAR. 225

Lubbock about Parliament. . . . Did you see a sneer some
time ago in the Times about how incomparably more interest-
ing politics were compared with science even to scientific
men ? Remember what Trollope says, in * Can you Forgive
her/ about getting into Parliament, as the highest earthly
ambition. Jeffrey, in one of his letters, I remember, says
that making an effective speech in Parliament is a far grander
thing than writing the grandest history. All this seems to
me a poor short-sighted view. I cannot tell you how it has
rejoiced me once again seeing your handwriting — my best of

old friends.

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[In October he wrote Sir J. D. Hooker : —
u Talking of the l Origin,' a Yankee has called my atten-
tion to a paper attached to Dr. Wells's famous i Essay on
Dew/ which was read in 1813 to the Royal Soc, but not
[then] printed, in which he applies most distinctly the prin-
ciple of Natural Selection to the Races of Man. So poor old
Patrick Matthew is not the first, and he cannot, or ought not,
any longer to put on his title-pages, ' Discoverer of the prin-
ciple of Natural Selection ' ! "]

C. Darwin to F. W. Farrar*

Down, Nov. 2 [1865 ?].
Dear Sir, — As I have never studied the science of lan-
guage, it may perhaps seem presumptuous, but I cannot re-
sist the pleasure of telling you what interest and pleasure I
have derived from hearing read aloud your volume. f

I formerly read Max Miiller, and thought his theory (if it
deserves to be called so) both obscure and weak ; and now,

the * Anthropological Review ' (May, 1864), and speaks of the author's
" characteristic unselfishness " in ascribing the theory of Natural Selection
M unreservedly to Mr. Darwin."

* Canon of Westminster.

f * Chapters on Language,' 1865.

226 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

after hearing what you say, I feel sure that this is the case,
aad that your cause will ultimately triumph. My indirect
interest in your book has been increased from Mr. Hensleigh
Wedgwood, whom you often quote, being my brother-in-law.

No one could dissent from my views on the modification
of species with more courtesy than you do. But from the
tenor of your mind I feel an entire and comfortable convic-
tion (and which cannot possibly be disturbed) that if your
studies led you to attend much to general questions in nat-
ural history you would come to the same conclusion that I
have done. *

Have you ever read Huxley's little book of Lectures? I
would gladly send you a copy if you think you would read it.

Considering what Geology teaches us, the argument from
the supposed immutability of specific types seems to me
much the same as if, in a nation which had no old writings,
some wise old savage was to say that his language had never
changed ; but my metaphor is too long to fill up.

Pray believe me, dear Sir, yours very sincerely obliged,

C. Darwin.

1866.

[The year 1866 is given in my father's Diary in the fol-
lowing words : —

" Continued correcting chapters of ' Domestic Animals.'

March 1st. — Began on 4th edition of ' Origin ' of 1250
copies (received for it ^238), making 7500 copies altogether.

May 10th. — Finished ' Origin/- except revises, and began
going over Chapter XIII. of ' Domestic Animals.'

Nov. 21st. — Finished i Pangenesis.'

Dec. 21st. — Finished re-going over all chapters, and sent
them to printers.

Dec. 22nd. — Began concluding chapter of book."

He was in London on two occasions for a week at a time,
staying with his brother, and for a few days (May 29th-June
2nd) in Surrey ; for the rest of the year he was at Down.

There seems to have been a gradual mending in his

1866.] PANGENESIS. 227

health; thus he wrote to Mr. Wallace (January 1866) : —
" My health is so far improved that I am able to work one or
two hours a day."

With respect to the 4th edition he wrote to sir Sir J. D.
Hooker : —

" The new edition of the 4 Origin ' has caused me two
great vexations. I forgot Bates's paper on variation,* but I
remembered in time his mimetic work, and now, strange to
say, I find I have forgotten your Arctic paper ! I know how
it arose ; I indexed for my bigger work, and never expected
that a new edition of the ' Origin ' would be wanted.

lt I cannot say how all this has vexed me. Everything
which I have read during the last four years I find is quite
washy in my mind." As far as I know, Mr. Bates's paper
was not mentioned in the later editions of the ' Origin/ for
what reason I cannot say.

In connection with his work on * The Variation of Ani-
mals and Plants,' I give here extracts from three letters ad-
dressed to Mr. Huxley, which are of interest as giving some
idea of the development of the theory of ' Pangenesis,' ulti-
mately published in 1868 in the book in question :]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, May 27, [1865 ?].

... I write now to ask a favour of you, a very great
favour from one so hard worked as you are. It is to read
thirty pages of MS., excellently copied out and give me, not
lengthened criticism, but your opinion whether I may ven-
ture to publish it. You may keep the MS. for a month or
two. I would not ask this favour, but I really know no one
else whose judgment on the subject would be final with me.

The case stands thus : in my next book I shall publish
long chapters on bud- and seminal-variation, on inheritance,

* This appears to refer to " Notes on South American Butterflies/1
Trans, Entomolog. Soc., vol. v. (n.s.).

228 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866,

reversion, effects of use and disuse, &c. I have also for
many years speculated on the different forms of reproduc-
tion. Hence it has come to be a passion with me to try to
connect all such facts by some sort of hypothesis. The MS.
which I wish to send you gives such a hypothesis ; it is a
very rash and crude hypothesis, yet it has been a consider-
able relief to my mind, and I can hang on it a good many
groups of facts. I well know that a mere hypothesis, and
this is nothing more, is of little value ; but it is very useful to
me as serving as a kind of summary for certain chapters.
Now I earnestly wish for your verdict given briefly as, " Burn
it " — or, which is the most favourable verdict I can hope for,
" It does rudely connect together certain facts, and I do not
think it will immediately pass out of my mind.,, If you can
say this much, and you do not think it absolutely ridiculous,
I shall publish it in my concluding chapter. Now will you
grant me this favour ? You must refuse if you are too much
overworked.

I must say for myself that I am a hero to expose my hy-
pothesis to the fiery ordeal of your criticism.

July 12, [1865?].
My dear Huxley, — I thank you most sincerely for hav-
ing so carefully considered my MS. It has been a real act
of kindness. It would have annoyed me extremely to have
re-published Buffon's views, which I did not know of, but I
will get the book; and if I have strength I will also read
Bonnet. I do not doubt your judgment is perfectly just,
and I will try to persuade myself not to publish. The whole
affair is much too speculative ; yet I think some such view
will have to be adopted, when I call to mind such facts as
the inherited effects of use and disuse, &c. But I will try to
be cautious. . . .

[1865?].
My dear Huxley, — Forgive my writing in pencil, as I
can do so lying down. I have read Buffon : whole pages

1866.] PANGENESIS. 229

are laughably like mine. It is surprising how candid it
makes one to see one's views in another man's words. I am
rather ashamed of the whole affair, but not converted to a
no-belief. What a kindness you have done me with your
" vulpine sharpness." Nevertheless, there is a fundamental
distinction between Buffon's views and mine. He does not
suppose that each cell or atom of tissue throws off a little
bud ; but he supposes that the sap or blood includes his " or-
ganic molecules," which are ready formed, fit to nourish each
organ, and when this is fully formed, they collect to form
buds and the sexual elements. It is all rubbish to speculate
as I have done ; yet, if I ever have strength to publish my
next book, I fear I shall not resist " Pangenesis," but I assure
you I will put it humbly enough. The ordinary course of
development of beings, such as the Echinodermata, in which
new organs are formed at quite remote spots from the analo-
gous previous parts, seem to me extremely difficult to recon-
cile on any view except the free diffusion in the parent of
the germs or gemmules of each separate new organ ; and so
in cases of alternate generation. But I will not scribble any
more. Hearty thanks to you, you best of critics and most
learned man

[The letters now take up the history of the year 1866.]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, July 5 [1866].

My dear Wallace, — I have been much interested by

your letter, which is as clear as daylight. I fully agree with

all that you say on the advantages of H. Spencer's excellent

expression of "the survival of the fittest."* This, however,

* Extract from a letter of Mr. Wallace's, July 2, 1866: "The term
* survival of the fittest ' is the plain expression of the fact ; ' natural selec-
tion' is a metaphorical expression of it, and to a certain degree indirect
and incorrect, since . . . Nature . . . does not so much select special
varieties as exterminate the most unfavourable ones."

230 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

had not occurred to me till reading your letter. It is, how-
ever, a great objection to this term that it cannot be used as
a substantive governing a verb ; and that this is a real ob-
jection I infer from H. Spencer continually using the words,
natural selection. I formerly thought, probably in an exag-
gerated degree, that it was a great advantage to bring into con-
nection natural and artificial selection ; this indeed led me to
use a term in common, and I still think it some advantage.
I wish I had received your letter two months ago, for I would
have worked in "the survival, &c.,', often in the new edition
of the ' Origin,' which is now almost printed off, and of which
I will of course send you a copy. I will use the term in
my next book on Domestic Animals, &c, from which, by the
way, I plainly see that you expect much^ too much. The term
Natural Selection has now been so largely used abroad and
at home, that I doubt whether it could be given up, and with
all its faults I should be sorry to see the attempt made.
Whether it will be rejected must now depend "on the sur-
vival of the fittest.,, As in time the term must grow intelli-
gible the objections to its use will grow weaker and weaker.
I doubt whether the use of any term would have made the
subject intelligible to some minds, clear as it is to others ;
for do we not see even to the present day Malthus on Popu-
lation absurdly misunderstood ? This reflection about Mal-
thus has often comforted me when I have been vexed at the
misstatement of my views. As for M. Janet,* he is a meta-
physician, and such gentlemen are so acute that I think they
often misunderstand common folk. Your criticism on the
double sense f in which I have used Natural Selection is new
to me and unanswerable ; but my blunder has done no harm,
for I do not believe that any one, excepting you, has ever

* This no doubt refers to Janet's ' Materialisme Contemporain.'
f " I find you use * Natural Selection ' in two senses. 1st, for the sim-
ple preservation of favourable and rejection of unfavourable variations, in
which case it is equivalent to the * survival of the fittest/ — and 2ndly, for
the effect or change produced by this preservation." Extract from Mr,
Wallace's letter above quoted.

i866.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 231

observed it. Again, I agree that I have said too much about
" favourable variations; " but I am inclined to think that you
put the opposite side too strongly ; if every part of every
being varied, I do not think we should see the same end, or
object, gained by such wonderfully diversified means.

I hope you are enjoying the country, and are in good
health, and are working hard at your Malay Archipelago book,
for I will always put this wish in every note I write to you,
like some good people always put in a text. My health keeps
much the same, or rather improves, and I am able to work
some hours daily. With many thanks for your interesting
letter.

Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Aug. 30 [1866].

My dear Hooker, — I was very glad to get your note
and the Notts. Newspaper. I have seldom been more pleased
in my life than at hearing how successfully your lecture*
went off. Mrs. H. Wedgwood sent us an account, saying
that you read capitally, and were listened too with profound
attention and great applause. She says, when your final
allegory f began, " for a minute or two we were all mystified,
and then came such bursts of applause from the audience.
It was thoroughly enjoyed amid roars of laughter and noise,
making a most brilliant conclusion. "

I am rejoiced that you will publish your lecture, and felt
sure that sooner or later it would come to this, indeed it

* At the Nottingham meeting of the British Association, Aug. 27, 1866.
The subject of the lecture was * Insular Floras.' See Gardener's Chronicle,
1866.

f Sir Joseph Hooker allegorized the Oxford meeting of the British
Association as the gathering of a tribe of savages who believed that the
new moon was created afresh each month. The anger of the priests and
medicine man at a certain heresy, according to which the new moon is but
the offspring of the old one, is excellently given.

232 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

would have been a sin if you had not done so. I am espe-
cially rejoiced as you give the arguments for occasional trans-
port, with such perfect fairness ; these will now receive a
fair share of attention, as coming from you a professed bota-
nist. Thanks also for Grove's address ; as a whole it strikes
me as very good and original, but I was disappointed in the
part about Species ; it dealt in such generalities that it would

apply to any view or no view in particular

And now farewell. I do most heartily rejoice at your
success, and for Grove's sake at the brilliant success of the

whole meeting.

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

[The next letter is of interest, as giving the beginning of
the connection which arose between my father and Professor
Victor Carus. The translation referred to is the third Ger-
man edition made from the fourth English one. From this
time forward Professor Carus continued to translate my
father's books into German. The conscientious care with
which this work was done was of material service, and I well
remember the admiration (mingled with a tinge of vexation
at his own short-comings) with which my father used to
receive the lists of oversights, &c, which Professor Carus
discovered in the course of translation. The connection was
not a mere business one, but was cemented by warm feelings
of regard on both sides.]

C. Darwin to Victor Carus.

Down, November 10, 1866.
My dear Sir, — I thank you for your extremely kind
letter. I cannot express too strongly my satisfaction that you
have undertaken the revision of the new edition, and I feel
the honour which you have conferred on me. I fear that
you will find the labour considerable, not only on account of
the additions, but I suspect that Bronn's translation is very
defective, at least I have heard complaints on this head from

1866,] PROF. VICTOR CARUS. 233

quite a large number of persons. It would be a great gratifi-
cation to me to know that the translation was a really good
one, such as I have no doubt you will produce. According
to our English practice, you will be fully justified in entirely
omitting Bronn's Appendix, and I shall be very glad of its
omission. A new edition may be looked at as a new work.
.... You could add anything of your own that you liked,
and I should be much pleased. Should you make any addi-
tions or append notes, it appears to me that Nageli " Ent-
stehung und Begriff," &c.,* would be worth noticing, as one of
the most able pamphlets on the subject. I am, however, far
from agreeing with him that the acquisition of certain char-
acters which appear to be of no service to plants, offers any
great difficulty, or affords a proof of some innate tendency
in plants towards perfection. If you intend to notice this
pamphlet, I should like to write hereafter a little more in
detail on the subject.

.... I wish I had known when writing my Historical
Sketch that you had in 1853 published your views on the
genealogical connection of past and present forms.

I suppose you have the sheets of the last English edition
on which I marked with pencil all the chief additions, but
many little corrections of style were not marked.

Pray believe that I feel sincerely grateful for the great
service and honour which you do me by the present trans-
lation.

I remain, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — I should be very much pleased to possess your
photograph, and I send mine in case you should like to have
a copy.

* ' Entstehung und Begriff der Naturhistorischen Art.' An Address
given at a public meeting of the ' R. Academy of Sciences' at Munich,
Mar. 28, 1865.

234 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. fi866.

C. Darwin to C. Nageli*

Down, June 12 [1866].

Dear Sir, — I hope you will excuse the liberty which I
take in writing to you. I have just read, though imperfectly,
your ' Entstehung und Begriff,' and have been so greatly
interested by it, that I have sent it to be translated, as I am
a poor German scholar. I have just finished a new [4th]
edition of my ' Origin,' which will be translated into German,
and my object in writing to you is to say that if you should
see this edition you would think that I had borrowed from
you, without acknowledgment, two discussions on the beauty
of flowers and fruit ; but I assure you every word was printed
off before I had opened your pamphlet. Should you like to
possess a copy of either the German or English new edition,
I should be proud to send one. I may add, with respect to the
beauty of flowers, that I have already hinted the same views
as you hold in my paper on Lythrum.

Many of your criticisms on my views are the best which I
have met with, but I could answer some, at least to my own
satisfaction ; and I regret extremely that I had not read your
pamphlet before printing my new edition. On one or two
points, I think, you have a little misunderstood me, though I
dare say I have not been cautious in expressing myself. The
remark which has struck me most, is that on the position of
the leaves not having been acquired through natural selec-
tion, from not being of any special importance to the plant.
I well remember being formerly troubled by an analogous
difficulty, namely, the position of the ovules, their anatropous
condition, &c. It was owing to forgetfulness that I did not
notice this difficulty in the ' Origin/ f Although I can offer
no explanation of such facts, and only hope to see that they
may be explained, yet I hardly see how they support the
doctrine of some law of necessary development, for it is not

* Professor of Botany at Munich.

f Nageli's Essay is noticed in the 5th edition.

1866.] NAGELI ON SPECIES. 235

clear to me that a plant, with its leaves placed at some par-
ticular angle, or with its ovules in some particular position,
thus stands higher than another plant. But I must apologise
for troubling you with these remarks.

As I much wish to possess your photograph, I take the
liberty of enclosing my own, and with sincere respect I re-
main, dear Sir, Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[I give a few extracts from letters of various dates show-
ing my fathers interest, alluded to in the last letter, in the
problem of the arrangement of the leaves on the stems of
plants. It may be added that Professor Schwendener of
Berlin has successfully attacked the question in his'Mechan-
ische Theorie der Blattstellungen,' 1878.

To Dr. Falconer.

August 26 [1863].

u Do you remember telling me that I ought to study Phyllo-
taxy ? well I have often wished you at the bottom of the sea ;
for I could not resist, and I muddled my brains with dia-
grams, &c, and specimens, and made out, as might have
been expected, nothing. Those angles are a most wonderful
problem and I wish I could see some one give a rational ex-
planation of them.,,

To Dr. Asa Gray.

May 11 [1861].

" If you wish to save me from a miserable death, do tell
me why the angles |-, -J, f, -§-, &c ., series occur, and no other
angles. It is enough to drive the quietest man mad. Did
you and some mathematician * publish some paper on, the
subject? Hooker says you did; where is it?

* Probably my father was thinking of Chauncey Wright's work on
Phyllotaxy, in Gould's 'Astronomical Journal/ No. 99, 1856, and in the
* Mathematical Monthly,' 1859. These papers are mentioned in the ' Let-
ters of Chauncey Wright.' Mr. Wright corresponded with my father on
the subject.

52

236 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

To Dr. Asa Gray.

[May 3T, 1863?].

"I have been looking at Nageli's work on this subject,
and am astonished to see that the angle is not always the same
in young shoots when the leaf-buds are first distinguishable,
as in full-grown branches. This shows, I think, that there
must be some potent cause for those angles which do occur :
I dare say there is some explanation as simple as that for the
angles of the Bees-cells."

My father also corresponded with Dr. Hubert Airy and
was interested in his views on the subject, published in the
Royal Soc. Proceedings, 1873, p. 176.

We now return to the year 1866.

In November, when the prosecution of Governor Eyre
was dividing England into two bitterly opposed parties, he
wrote to Sir J. Hooker : —

" You will shriek at me when you hear that I have just
subscribed to the Jamaica Committee." *

On this subject I quote from a letter of my brother's : —

" With respect to Governor Eyre's conduct in Jamaica,
he felt strongly that J. S. Mill was right in prosecuting him.
I remember one evening, at my Uncle's, we were talking on
the subject, and as I happened to think it was too strong a
measure to prosecute Governor Eyre for murder, I made
some foolish remark about the prosecutors spending the sur-
plus of the fund in a dinner. My father turned on me almost
with fury, and told, me if those were my feelings, I had bet-
ter go back to Southampton ; the inhabitants having given a
dinner to Governor Eyre on his landing, but with which I
had had nothing to do." The end of the incident, as told by
my brother, is so characteristic of my father that I cannot
resist giving it, though it has no bearing on the point at issue.
" Next morning at 7 o'clock, or so, he came into my bed-

* He subscribed £\o.

x866.] GOVERNOR EYRE. 237

room and sat on my bed, and said that he had not been able
to sleep from the thought that he had been so angry with me,
and after a few more kind words he left me."

The same restless desire to correct a disagreeable or in-
correct impression is well illustrated in an extract which I
quote from some notes by Rev. J. Brodie Innes : —

" Allied to the extreme carefulness of observation was his
most remarkable truthfulness in all matters. On one occa-
sion, when a parish meeting had been held on some disputed
point of no great importance, I was surprised by a visit from
Mr. Darwin at night. He came to say that, thinking over
the debate, though what he had said was quite accurate, he
thought I might have drawn an erroneous conclusion, and he
would not sleep till he had explained it. I believe that if on
any day some certain fact had come to his knowledge which
contradicted his most cherished theories, he would have
placed the fact on record for publication before he slept."

This tallies with my father's habits, as described by him-
self. When a difficulty or an objection occurred to him, he
thought it of paramount importance to make a note of it in-
stantly because he found hostile facts to be especially eva-
nescent.

The same point is illustrated by the following incident,
for which I am indebted to Mr. Romanes : —

" I have always remembered the following little incident
as a good example of Mr. Darwin's extreme solicitude on the
score of accuracy. One evening at Down there was a gen-
eral conversation upon the difficulty of explaining the evolu-
tion of some of the distinctively human emotions, especially
those appertaining to the recognition of beauty in natural
scenery. I suggested a view of my own upon the subject,
which, depending upon the principle of association, required
the supposition that a long line of ancestors should have in-
habited regions, the scenery of which is now regarded as
beautiful. Just as I was about to observe that the chief diffi-
culty attaching to my hypothesis arose from feelings of the
sublime (seeing that these are associated with awe, and might

238 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

therefore be expected not to be agreeable), Mr. Darwin an-
ticipated the remark, by asking how the hypothesis was to
meet the case of these feelings. In the conversation which
followed, he said the occasion in his own life, when he was
most affected by the emotions of the sublime was when he
stood upon one of the summits of the Cordillera, and sur-
veyed the magnificent prospect all around. It seemed, as he
quaintly observed, as if his nerves had become fiddle-strings,
and had all taken to rapidly vibrating. This remark was
only made incidentally, and the conversation passed into
some other branch. About an hour afterwards Mr. Darwin
retired to rest, while I sat up in the smoking-room with one
of his sons. We continued smoking and talking for several
hours, when at about one o'clock in the morning the door
gently opened and Mr. Darwin appeared, in his slippers and
dressing-gown. As nearly as I can remember, the following
are the words he used : —

" ' Since I went to bed I have been thinking over our con-
versation in the drawing-room, and it has just occurred to
me that I was wrong in telling you I felt most of the sublime
when on the top of the Cordillera ; I am quite sure that I
felt it even more when in the forests of Brazil. I thought it
best to come and tell you this at once in case I should be
putting you wrong. I am sure now that I felt most sublime
in the forests/

" This was all he had come to say, and it was evident that
he had come to do so, because he thought that the fact of his
feeling ' most sublime in forests ' was more in accordance
with the hypothesis which we had been discussing, than the
fact which he had previously stated. Now, as no one knew
better than Mr. Darwin the difference between a speculation
and a fact, I thought this little exhibition of scientific con-
scientiousness very noteworthy, where the only question con-
cerned was of so highly speculative a character. I should not
have been so much impressed if he had thought that by his
temporary failure of memory he had put me on a wrong scent
in any matter of fact, although even in such a case he is the

1866.] DISTRIBUTION. 239

only man I ever knew who would care to get out of bed at
such a time at night in order to make the correction immedi-
ately, instead of waiting till next morning. But as the cor-
rection only had reference to a flimsy hypothesis, I certainly
was very much impressed by this display of character."]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, December 10 [1866].

.... I have now read the last No. of H. Spencer.* I
do not know whether to think it better than the previous
number, but it is wonderfully clever, and I dare say mostly
true. I feel rather mean when I read him : I could bear, and
rather enjoy feeling that he was twice as ingenious and clever
as myself, but when I feel that he is about a dozen times
my superior, even in the master art of wriggling, I feel ag-
grieved. If he had trained himself to observe more, even if
at the expense, by the law of balancement, of some loss of
thinking power, he would have been a wonderful man.

.... I am heartily glad you are taking up the Distribu-
tion of Plants in New Zealand, and suppose it will make
part of your new book. Your view, as I understand it,
that New Zealand subsided and formed two or more small
islands, and then rose again, seems to me extremely proba-
ble When I puzzled my brains about New Zealand, I

remember I came to the conclusion, as indeed I state in the
1 Origin/ that its flora, as well as that of other southern lands,
had been tinctured by an Antarctic flora, which must have ex-
isted before the Glacial period. I concluded that New Zea-
land never could have been closely connected with Australia,
though I supposed it had received some few Australian forms
by occasional means of transport. Is there any reason to
suppose that New Zealand could have been more closely
connected with South Australia during the glacial period,
when the Eucalypti, &c, might have been driven further
North ? Apparently there remains only the line, which I

# <

Principles of Biology.'

240 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1866.

think you suggested, of sunken islands from New Caledonia.

Please remember that the Edwardsia was certainly drifted

there by the sea.

I remember in old days speculating on the amount of life,

i.e. of organic chemical change, at different periods. There

seems to me one very difficult element in the problem,

namely, the state of development of the organic beings at each

period, for I presume that a Flora and Fauna of cellular

cryptogamic plants, of Protozoa and Radiata would lead to

much less chemical change than is now going on. But I have

scribbled enough.

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[The following letter is in acknowledgment of Mr. Rivers'
reply to an earlier letter in which my father had asked for
information on bud-variation :

It may find a place here in illustration of the manner of
my father's intercourse with those " whose avocations in life,
had to do with the rearing or use of living things " * — an in-
tercourse which bore such good fruit in the ' Variation of
Animals and Plants.' Mr. Dyer has some excellent remarks
on the unexpected value thus placed on apparently trivial facts
disinterred from weekly journals, or amassed by correspond-
ence. He adds : " Horticulturists who had .... moulded
plants almost at their will at the impulse of taste or profit
were at once amazed and charmed to find that they had been
doing scientific work and helping to establish a great theory."]

C. Darwin to T. River s.\

Down, December 28 [1866?]
My dear Sir, — Permit me to thank you cordially for
your most kind letter. For years I have read with interest

* " Mr. Dyer in ' Charles Darwin,' " Nature Series, 1882, p. 39.
f The late Mr. Rivers was an eminent horticulturist and writer on
horticulture.

1866.] SCIENCE AND HORTICULTURE. 241

every scrap which you have written in periodicals, and ab-
stracted in MS. your book on Roses, and several times I
thought I would write to you, but did not know whether you
would think me too intrusive. I shall, indeed, be truly
obliged for any information you can supply me on bud-varia-
tion or sports. When any extra difficult points occur to me
in my present subject (which is a mass of difficulties), I will
apply to you, but I will not be unreasonable. It is most true
what you say that any one to study well the physiology of the
life of plants, ought to have under his eye a multitude of
plants. I have endeavoured to do what I can by comparing
statements by many writers and observing what I could my-
self. Unfortunately few have observed like you have done.
As you are so kind, I will mention one other point on which
I am collecting facts ; namely, the effect produced on the
stock by the graft ; thus, it is said, that the purple-leaved fil-
bert affects the leaves of the common hazel on which it is
grafted (I have just procured a plant to try), so variegated
jessamine is said to affect its stock. I want these facts partly
to throw light on the marvellous laburnum Adami, trifacial
oranges, &c. That laburnum case seems one of the strangest
in physiology. I have now growing splendid, fertile, yellow
laburnums (with a long raceme like the so-called Waterer's
laburnum) from seed of yellow flowers on the C. Adami, To
a man like myself, who is compelled to live a solitary life,
and sees few persons, it is no slight satisfaction to hear that I
have been able at all [to] interest by my books observers like
yourself.

As I shall publish on my present subject, I presume, within
a year, it will be of no use your sending me the shoots of peaches
and nectarines which you so kindly offer ; I have recorded
your facts.

Permit me again to thank you cordially ; I have not often
in my life received a kinder letter.

My dear Sir, yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

CHAPTER V.

the publication of the * variation of animals and
plants under domestication.'

January 1867, to June 1868.

[At the beginning of the year 1867 he was at work on the
final chapter — u Concluding Remarks " of the" ' Variation of
Animals and Plants under Domestication/ which was begun
after the rest of the MS. had been sent to the printers in the
preceding December. With regard to the publication of the
book he wrote to Mr. Murray, on January 3 : —

" I cannot tell you how sorry I am to hear of the enor-
mous size of my book.* I fear it can never pay. But I can-
not shorten it now ; nor, indeed, if I had foreseen its length,
do I see which parts ought to have been omitted.

" If you are afraid to publish it, say so at once, I beg you,
and I will consider your note as cancelled. If you think fit,
get any one whose judgment you rely on, to look over some
of the more legible chapters, namely, the Introduction, and
on dogs and plants, the latter chapters being in my opinion,
the dullest in the book. . . . The list of chapters, and the
inspection of a few here and there, would give a good judge

* On January 9 he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : " I have been these
last few days vexed and annoyed to a foolish degree by hearing that my
MS. on Dom. An. and Cult. Plants will make 2 vols., both bigger than the
* Origin.' The volumes will have to be full-sized octavo, so I have writ-
ten to Murray to suggest details to be printed in small type. But I feel
that the size is quite ludicrous in relation to the subject. I am ready to
swear at myself and at every fool who writes a book."

t867.] 'JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES/ 243

a fair idea of the whole book. Pray do not publish blindly,
as it would vex me all my life if I led you to heavy loss."

Mr. Murray referred the MS. to a literary friend, and, in
spite of a somewhat adverse opinion, willingly agreed to pub-
lish the book. My father wrote : —

" Your note has been a great relief to me. I am rather
alarmed about the verdict of your friend, as he is not a man
of science. I think if you had sent the ' Origin ' to an un-
scientific man, he would have utterly condemned it. I am,
however, very glad that you have consulted any one on whom
you can rely.

" I must add, that my i Journal of Researches ' was seen
in MS. by an eminent semi-scientific man, and was pronounced
unfit for publication.,,

The proofs were begun in March, and the last revise was
finished on November 15th, and during this period the only
intervals of rest were two visits of a week each at his brother
Erasmus's house in Queen Anne Street. He notes in his
Diary : —

"I began this book [in the] beginning of i860 (and then
had some MS.), but owing to interruptions from my illness,
and illness of children ; from various editions of the ' Origin/
and Papers, especially Orchis book and Tendrils, I have
spent four years and two months over it."

The edition of ' Animals and Plants' was of 1500 copies,
and of these 1260 were sold at Mr. Murray's autumnal sale,
but it was not published until January 30, 1868. A new edi-
tion of 1250 copies was printed in February of the same year.

In 1867 ne received the distinction of being made a
knight of the Prussian Order " Pour le Merite." * He seems

* The Order " Pour le Merite " was founded in 1740 by Frederick II.
by the re-christening of an "Order of Generosity," founded in 1665. It
was at one time strictly military, having been previously both civil and
military, and in 1840 the Order was again opened to civilians. The order
consists of thirty members of German extraction, but distinguished foreign-
ers are admitted to a kind of extraordinary membership. Faraday, Her-
schel, and Thomas Moore, have belonged to it in this way. From the

244 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

not to have known how great the distinction was, for in June
1868 he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : —

"What a man you are for sympathy. I was made
" Eques " some months ago, but did not think much about it.

Now, by Jove, we all do ; but you, in fact, have knighted

it
me.

The letters may now take up the story.]

C. Darwin to J. JD. Hooker.

Down, February 8 [1867].
My dear Hooker, — I am heartily glad that you have
been offered the Presidentship of the British Association, for
it is a great honour, and as you have so much work to do, I
am equally glad that you have declined it. I feel, however,
convinced that you would have succeeded very well ; but if
I fancy myself in such a position, it actually makes my blood
run cold. I look back with amazement at the skill and taste
with which the Duke of Argyll made a multitude of little
speeches at Glasgow. By the way, I have not seen the
Duke's book,* but I formerly thought that some of the arti-
cles which appeared in periodicals were very clever, but not
very profound. One of these was reviewed in the Saturday
Review f some years ago, and the fallacy of some main argu-
ment was admirably exposed, and I sent the article to you,
and you agreed strongly with it. . . . There was the other
day a rather good review of the Duke's book in the Spectator,
and with a new explanation, either by the Duke or the re-
viewer (I could not make out which), of rudimentary organs,
namely, that economy of labour and material was a great

thirty members a chancellor is elected by the king (the first officer of this
kind was Alexander v. Humboldt) ; and it is the duty of the chancellor to
notify a vacancy in the Order to the remainder of the thirty, who then
elect by vote the new member — but the king has technically the appoint-
ment in his own hands.

* ' The Reign of Law/ 1867.

f Sat. Review ■, Nov. 15, 1862, * The Edinburgh Review on the Su-
pernatural.' Written by my cousin, Mr. Henry Parker.

1867.] 'REIGN OF LAW.' 245

guiding principle with God (ignoring waste of seed and of
young monsters, &c), and that making a new plan for the
structure of animals was thought, and thought was labour,
and therefore God kept to a uniform plan, and left rudiments.
This is no exaggeration. In short, God is a man, rather
cleverer than us. ... I am very much obliged for the Nation
(returned by this post) ; it is admirably good. You say I al-
ways guess wrong, but I do not believe any one, except Asa
Gray, could have done the thing so well. I would bet even,
or three to two, that it is Asa Gray, though one or two pas-
sages staggered me.

I finish my book on ' Domestic Animals,' &c, by a single
paragraph, answering, or rather throwing doubt, in so far as
so little space permits, on Asa Gray's doctrine that each
variation has been specially ordered or led along a beneficial
line. It is foolish to touch such subjects, but there have been
so many allusions to what I think about the part which God
has played in the formation of organic beings,* that I
thought it shabby to evade the question. ... I have even
received several letters on the subject. ... I overlooked
your sentence about Providence, and suppose I treated it as
Buckland did his own theology, when his Bridgewater Treat-
ise was read aloud to him for correction. . . .

[The following letter, from Mrs. Boole, is one of those
referred to in the last letter to Sir J. D. Hooker :]

Dear Sir, — Will you excuse my venturing to ask you a
question, to which no one's answer but your own would be
quite satisfactory?

* Prof. Judd allows me to quote from some notes which he has kindly
given me : — " Lyell once told me that he had frequently been asked if
Darwin was not one of the most unhappy of men, it being suggested that
his outrage upon public opinion should have filled him with remorse." Sir
Charles Lyell must have been able, I think, to give a satisfactory answer
on this point. Professor Judd continues : —

" I made a note of this and other conversations of Lyell's at the time.

246 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

Do you consider the holding of your theory of Natural
Selection, in its fullest and most unreserved sense, to be
inconsistent — I do not say with any particular scheme of
theological doctrine — but with the following belief, namely : —

That knowledge is given to man by the direct inspiration
of the Spirit of God.

That God is a personal and Infinitely good Being.

That the effect of the action of the Spirit of God on the
brain of man is especially a moral effect.

And that each individual man has within certain limits a
power of choice as to how far he will yield to his hereditary
animal impulses, and how far he will rather follow the guid-
ance of the Spirit, who is educating him into a power of re-
sisting those impulses in obedience to moral motives ?

The reason why I ask you is this : my own impression has
always been, not only that your theory was perfectly com-
patible with the faith to which I have just tried to give
expression, but that your books afforded me a clue which
would guide me in applying that faith to the solution of
certain complicated psychological problems which it was
of practical importance to me as a mother to solve. I felt
that you had supplied one of the missing links — not to say
the missing link — between the facts of science and the prom-
ises of religion. Every year's experience tends to deepen
in me that impression.

But I have lately read remarks on the probable bearing of
your theory on religious and moral questions which have
perplexed and pained me sorely. I know that the persons
who make such remarks must be cleverer and wiser than
myself. I cannot feel sure that they are mistaken, unless
you will tell me so. And I think — I cannot know for certain
— but I think — that if I were an author, I would rather that
the humblest student of my works should apply to me directly

At the present time such statements must appear strange to any one wh*
does not recollect the revolution in opinion which has taken place during
the last 23 years [1882]."

1867.] EVOLUTION AND RELIGION. 247

in a difficulty, than that she should puzzle too long over
adverse and probably mistaken or thoughtless criticisms.

At the same time I feel that you have a perfect right to
refuse to answer such questions as I have asked you. Science
must take her path, and Theology hers, and they will meet
when and where and how God pleases, and you are in no
sense responsible for it if the meeting-point should still be
very far off. If I receive no answer to this letter I shall infer
nothing from your silence, except that you felt I had no right
to make such inquiries of a stranger.

[My father replied as follows :]

Down, December 14, [1866].

Dear Madam, — It would have gratified me much if I
could have sent satisfactory answers to your questions, or,
indeed, answers of any kind. But I cannot see how the be-
lief that all organic beings, including man, have been geneti-
cally derived from some simple being, instead of having been
separately created, bears on your difficulties. These, as it
seems to me, can be answered only by widely different evi-
dence from science, or by the so-called " inner consciousness. "
My opinion is not worth more than that of any other man
who has thought on such subjects, and it would be folly in
me to give it. I may, however, remark that it has always ap-
peared to me more satisfactory to look at the immense amount
of pain and suffering in this world as the inevitable result of
the natural sequence of events, i.e. general laws, rather than
from the direct intervention of God, though I am aware this
is not logical with reference to an omniscient Deity. Your
last question seems to resolve itself into the problem of free
will and necessity, which has been found by most persons
insoluble. I sincerely wish that this note had not been as
utterly valueless as it is. I would have sent full answers,
though I have little time or strength to spare, had it been in
my power. I have the honour to remain, dear Madam,

Yours very faithfully,
Charles Darwin.

248 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

P.S. — I am grieved that my views should incidentally have
caused trouble to your mind, but I thank you for your judg-
ment, and honour you for it, that theology and science should
each run its own course, and that in the present case I am
not responsible if their meeting-point should still be far off.

[The next letter discusses the ' Reign of Law/ referred
to a few pages back :]

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, June 1 [1867].

... I am at present reading the Duke, and am very much
interested by him ; yet I cannot but think, clever as the whole
is, that parts are weak, as when he doubts whether each curva-
ture of the beak of humming-birds is of service to each spe-
cies. He admits, perhaps too fully, that I have shown the
use of each little ridge and shape of each petal in orchids,
and how strange he does not extend the view to humming-
birds. Still odder, it seems to me, all that he says on beauty,
which I should have thought a nonentity, except in the mind
of some sentient being. He might have as well said that love
existed during the secondary or Palaeozoic periods. I hope
you are getting on with your book better than I am with
mine, which kills me with the labour of correcting, and is
intolerably dull, though I did not think so when I was writ-
ing it. A naturalist's life would be a happy one if he had
only to observe, and never to write.

We shall be in London for a week in about a fortnight's
time, and I shall enjoy having a breakfast talk with you.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[The following letter refers to the new and improved
translation of the ' Origin,' undertaken by Professor Carus :]

1867.] GERMAN 'ORIGIN/ 249

C. Darwin to J. Victor Carus.

Down, February 17 [1867].
My dear Sir, — I have read your preface with care. It
seems to me that you have treated Bronn with complete
respect and great delicacy, and that you have alluded to your
own labour with much modesty. I do not think that any of
Bronn's friends can complain of what you say and what you
have done. For my own sake, I grieve that you have not
added notes, as I am sure that I should have profited much
by them; but as you have omitted Bronn's objections, I
believe that you have acted with excellent judgment and
fairness in leaving the text without comment to the inde-
pendent verdict of the reader. I heartily congratulate you
that the main part of your labour is over ; it would have been
to most men a very troublesome task, but you seem to have
indomitable powers of work, judging from those two wonder-
ful and most useful volumes on zoological literature * edited
by you, and which I never open without surprise at their ac-
curacy, and gratitude for their usefulness. I cannot suffi-
ciently tell you how much I rejoice that you were persuaded
to superintend the translation of the present edition of my
book, for I have now the great satisfaction of knowing that
the German public can judge fairly of its merits and de-
merits

With my cordial and sincere thanks, believe me,
My dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[The earliest letter which I have seen from my father to
Professor Haeckel, was written in 1865, and from that time
forward they corresponded (though not, I think, with any regu-
larity) up to the end of my father's life. His friendship with
Haeckel was not merely growth of correspondence, as was

* i

Bibliotheca Zoologica/ 1861.

250 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

the case with some others, for instance, Fritz Miiller. Haeckel
paid more than one visit to Down, and these were thoroughly
enjoyed by my father. The following letter will serve to
show the strong feeling of regard which he entertained for his
correspondent — a feeling which I have often heard him em-
phatically express, and which was warmly returned. The
book referred to is Haeckel's ' Generelle Morphologic,' pub-
lished in 1866, a copy of which my father received from the
author in January 1867.

Dr. E. Krause * has given a good account of Professor
Haeckel's services to the cause of Evolution. After speak-
ing of the lukewarm reception which the ' Origin ' met with
in Germany on its first publication, he goes on to describe
the first adherents of the new faith as more or less popular
writers, not especially likely to advance its acceptance with
the professorial or purely scientific world. And he claims for
Haeckel that it was his advocacy of Evolution in his ' Radio-
laria' (1862), and at the " Versammlung " of Naturalists at
Stettin in 1863, that placed the Darwinian question for the
first time publicly before the forum of German science, and
his enthusiastic propagandism that chiefly contributed to its
success.

Mr. Huxley, writing in 1869, paid a high tribute to Pro-
fessor Haeckel as the Coryphaeus of the Darwinian move-
ment in Germany. Of his ' Generelle Morphologic/ " an
attempt to work out the practical application " of the doctrine
of Evolution to their final results, he says that it has the
" force and suggestiveness, and . . . systematising power
of Oken without his extravagance. " Professor Huxley also
testifies to the value of Haeckel's 6 Schopfungs-Geschichte ' as
an exposition of the ' Generelle Morphologie ' " for an edu-
cated public."

Again, in his ' Evolution in Biology,' f Mr. Huxley wrote :

* ■ Charles Darwin und sein Verhaltniss zu Deutschland,' 1885.
f An article in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 9th edit., reprinted in
* Science and Culture,' 1881, p. 298.

1867.] PROFESSOR HAECKEL. 25 I

" Whatever hesitation may, not unfrequently, be felt by less
daring minds, in following Haeckel in many of his specula-
tions, his attempt to systematise the doctrine of Evolution,
and to exhibit its influence as the central thought of modern
biology, cannot fail to have a far-reaching influence on the
progress of science.,,

In the following letter my father alludes to the somewhat
fierce manner in which Professor Haeckel fought the battle of
1 Darwinismus,' and on this subject Dr. Krause has some good
remarks (p. 162). He asks whether much that happened in
the heat of the conflict might not well have been otherwise,
and adds that Haeckel himself is the last man to deny this.
Nevertheless he thinks that even these things may have worked
well for the cause of Evolution, inasmuch as Haeckel " con-
centrated on himself by his ' Ursprung des Menschen-
Geschlechts,' his i Generelle Morphologic/ and i Schopfungs-
Geschichte,' all the hatred and bitterness which Evolution
excited in certain quarters," so that, " in a surprisingly short
time it became the fashion in Germany that Haeckel alone
should be abused, while Darwin was held up as the ideal of
forethought and moderation."]

C. Darwin to E. Haeckel.

Down, May 21, 1867.

Dear Haeckel. — Your letter of the 18th has given me

great pleasure, for you have received what I said in the most

kind and cordial manner. You have in part taken what I

said much stronger than I had intended. It never occurred

to me for a moment to doubt that your work, with the whole

subject so admirably and clearly arranged, as well as fortified

by so many new facts and arguments, would not advance our

common object in the highest degree. All that I think is

that you will excite anger, and that anger so completely

blinds every one, that your arguments would have no chance

of influencing those who are already opposed to our views.

Moreover, I do not at all like that you, towards whom I feel
53

252 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

so much friendship, should unnecessarily make enemies, and
there is pain and vexation enough in the world without more
being caused. But I repeat that I can feel no doubt that
your work will greatly advance our subject, and I heartily
wish it could be translated into English, for my own sake and
that of others. With respect to what you say about my ad-
vancing too strongly objections against my own views, some
of my English friends think that I have erred on this side ;
but truth compelled me to write what I did, and I am inclined
to think it was good policy. The belief in the descent theory
is slowly spreading in England,* even amongst those who can
give no reason for their belief. No body of men were at first
so much opposed to my views as the members of the London
Entomological Society, but now I am assured that, with the
exception of two or three old men, all the members concur
with me to a certain extent. It has been a great disappoint-
ment to me that I have never received your long letter writ-
ten to me from the Canary Islands. I am rejoiced to hear
that your tour, which seems to have been a most interesting
one, has done your health much good. I am working away
at my new book, but make very slow progress, and the work
tries my health, which is much the same as when you were
here.

Victor Carus is going to translate it, but whether it is
worth translation, I am rather doubtful. I am very glad to
hear that there is some chance of your visiting England this
autumn, and all in this house will be delighted to see you
here.

Believe me, my dear Haeckel,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

* In October 1867 he wrote to Mr. Wallace : — " Mr. Warrington has
lately read an excellent and spirited abstract of the ' Origin ' before the
Victoria Institute, and as this is a most orthodox body, he has gained the
name of the Devil's Advocate. The discussion which followed during
three consecutive meetings is very rich from the nonsense talked. If you
would care to see the number I could send it you."

1867.] FRITZ MULLER. 253

C, Darwin to F. Miiller.

Down, July 31 [1867^
My dear Sir, — I received a week ago your letter of
June 2, full as usual of valuable matter and specimens. It
arrived at exactly the right time, for I was enabled to give a
pretty full abstract of your observations on the plant's own
pollen being poisonous. I have inserted this abstract in the
proof-sheets in my chapter on sterility, and it forms the most
striking part of my whole chapter.* I thank you very sin-
cerely for the most interesting observations, which, however,
I regret that you did not publish independently. I have been
forced to abbreviate one or two parts more than I wished.
. . . Your letters always surprise me, from the number of
points to which you attend. I wish I could make my letters
of any interest to you, for I hardly ever see a naturalist, and
live as retired a life as you in Brazil. With respect to mi-
metic plants, I remember Hooker many years ago saying he
believed that there were many, but I agree with you that
it would be most difficult to distinguish between mimetic
resemblance and the effects of peculiar conditions. Who
can say to which of these causes to attribute the several
plants with heath-like foliage at the Cape of Good Hope ?
Is it not also a difficulty that quadrupeds appear to recognise
plants more by their [scent] than their appearance ? What I
have just said reminds me to ask you a question. Sir J. Lub-
bock brought me the other day what appears to be a terres-
trial Planaria (the first ever found in the northern hem-
isphere) and which was coloured exactly like our dark-
coloured slugs. Now slugs are not devoured by birds, like
the shell-bearing species, and this made me remember that I
found the Brazilian Planariae actually together with striped
Vaginuli which I believe were similarly coloured. Can you
throw any light on this ? I wish to know, because I was
puzzled some months ago how it would be possible to ac-

* In ' The Variation of Animals and Plants.

254 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

count for the bright colours of the Planariae in reference to
sexual selection. By the way, I suppose they are herma-
phrodites.

Do not forget to aid me, if in your power, with answers
to any of my questions on expression, for the subject interests
me greatly. With cordial thanks for your never-failing kind-
ness, believe me,

Yours very sincerely,
Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, July 18 [1867].

My dear Lyell, — Many thanks for your long letter. I
am sorry to hear that you are in despair about your book ; *
I well know that feeling, but am now getting out of the lower
depths. I shall be very much pleased, if you can make the
least use of my present book, and do not care at all whether
it is published before yours. Mine will appear towards the
end of November of this year ; you speak of yours as not
coming out till November, 1868, which I hope may be an
error. There is nothing about Man in my book which can
interfere with you, so I will order all the completed clean
sheets to be sent (and others as soon as ready) to you, but
please observe you will not care for the .first volume, which
is a mere record of the amount of variation ; but I hope the
second will be somewhat more interesting. Though I fear
the whole must be dull.

I rejoice from my heart that you are going to speak out
plainly about species. My book about Man, if published,
will be short, and a large portion will be devoted to sexual
selection, to which subject I alluded in the ' Origin ' as bear-
ing on Man. . . .

* The 2nd volume of the 10th Edit, of the * Principles.'

1867.] ENCOURAGEMENT. 255

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, August 22 [1867].

My dear Lyell, — I thank you cordially for your last two
letters. The former one did me real good, for I had got so
wearied with the subject that I could hardly bear to correct
the proofs,* and you gave me fresh heart. I remember
thinking that when you came to the Pigeon chapter you
would pass it over as quite unreadable. Your last letter has
interested me in very many ways, and I have been glad to
hear about those horrid unbelieving Frenchmen. I have been
particularly pleased that you have noticed Pangenesis. I do
not know whether you ever had the feeling of having thought
so much over a subject that you had lost all power of judging
it. This is my case with Pangenesis (which is 26 or 27 years
old), but I am inclined to think that if it be admitted as a
probable hypothesis it will be a somewhat important step in
Biology.

I cannot help still regretting that you have ever looked at
the slips, for I hope to improve the whole a good deal. It is
surprising to me, and delightful, that you should care in the
least about the plants. Altogether you have given me one of
the best cordials I ever had in my life, and I heartily thank
you. I despatched this morning the French edition. f The
introduction was a complete surprise to me, and I dare say
has injured the book in France ; nevertheless ... it shows,
I think, that the woman is uncommonly clever. Once again
many thanks for the renewed courage with which I shall at-
tack the horrid proof-sheets.

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

* The proofs of * Animals and Plants/ which Lyell was then reading.

\ Of the 4 Origin.' It appears that my father was sending a copy of
the French edition to Sir Charles. The introduction was by Mdlle.
Royer, who translated the book.

256 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1867.

P.S. — A Russian who is translating my new book into
Russian has been here, and says you are immensely read in
Russia, and many editions — how many I forget. Six editions
of Buckle and four editions of the ' Origin.'

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, October 16 [1867].
My dear Gray, — I send by this post clean sheets of Vol.
I. up to p. 336, and there are only 411 pages in this vol. I
am very glad to hear that you are going to review my book ;
but if the Nation * is a newspaper I wish it were at the bot-
tom of the sea, for I fear that you will thus be stopped re-
viewing me in a scientific journal. The first volume is all
details, and you will not be able to read it ; and you must
remember that the chapters on plants are written for natural-
ists who are not botanists. The last chapter in Vol. I. is,
however, I think, a curious compilation of facts ; it is on
bud-variation. In Vol. II. some of the chapters are more
interesting; and I shall be very curious to hear your verdict
on the chapter on close inter-breeding. The chapter on what
I call Pangenesis will be called a mad dream, and I shall be
pretty well satisfied if you think it a dream worth publishing;
but at the bottom of my own mind I think it contains a great
truth. I finish my book with a semi-theological paragraph,
in which I quote and differ from you ; what you will think of
it, I know not. . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, November 17 [1867].
My dear Hooker, — Congratulate me, for I have finished
the last revise of the last sheet of my book. It has been an
awful job : seven and a half months correcting the press : the
book, from much small type, does not look big, but is really
very big. I have had hard work to keep up to the mark, but

* The book was reviewed by Dr. Gray in the Nation, Mar. 19, 1868.

1868.] PUBLICATION. 257

during the last week only few revises came, so that I have
rested and feel more myself. Hence, after our long mutual
silence, I enjoy myself by writing a note to you, for the sake
of exhaling, and hearing from you. On account of the
index,* I do not suppose that you will receive your copy till
the middle of next month. I shall be intensely anxious to
hear what you think about Pangenesis ; though I can see how
fearfully imperfect, even in mere conjectural conclusions, it
'is ; yet it has been an infinite satisfaction to me somehow to
connect the various large groups of facts, which I have long
considered, by an intelligible thread. I shall not be at all
surprised if you attack it and me with unparalleled ferocity.
It will be my endeavor to do as little as possible for some
time, but [I] shall soon prepare a paper or two for the Lin-
nean Society. In a short time we shall go to London for ten
days, but the time is not yet fixed. Now I have told you a
deal about myself, and do let me hear a good deal about your
own past and future doings. Can you pay us a visit, early in
December ? .... I have seen no one for an age, and heard
no news.

. . . About my book I will give you a bit of advice. Skip
the whole of Vol. I., except the last chapter (and that need
only be skimmed) and skip largely in the 2nd volume ; and
then you will say it is a very good book.

1868.

[' The Variation of Animals and Plants ' was, as already
mentioned, published on January 30, 1868, and on that day
he sent a copy to Fritz Mliller, and wrote to him : —

" I send by this post, by French packet, my new book, the
publication of which has been much delayed. The greater
part, as you will see, is not meant to be read ; but I should
very much like to hear what you think of ' Pangenesis,' though
I fear it will appear to every one far too speculative."]

* The index was made by Mr. W. S. Dallas ; I have often heard my
father express his admiration of this excellent piece of work.

258 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION/ [1868.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

February 3 [1868].
... I am very much pleased at what you say about my
Introduction ; after it was in type I was as near as possible
cancelling the whole. I have been for some time in despair
about my book, and if I try to read a few pages I feel fairly
nauseated, but do not let this make you praise it ; for I have
made up my mind that it is not worth a fifth part of the
enormous labour it has cost me. I assure you that all that is
worth your doing (if you have time for so much) is glancing
at Chapter VI., and reading parts of the later chapters. The
facts on self-impotent plants seem to me curious, and I have
worked out to my own satisfaction the good from crossing and
evil from interbreeding, I did read Pangenesis the other
evening, but even this, my beloved child, as I had fancied,
quite disgusted me. The devil take the whole book ; and
yet now I am at work again as hard as I am able. It is really
a great evil that from habit I have pleasure in hardly anything
except Natural History, for nothing else makes me forget my
ever-recurrent uncomfortable sensations. But I must not
howl any more, and the critics may say what they like ; I
did my best, and man can do no more. What a splendid
pursuit Natural History would be if it was all observing and
no writing ! . . . .

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, February 10 [1868].
My dear Hooker, — What is the good of having a friend,
if one may not boast to him ? I heard yesterday that Mur-
ray has sold in a week the whole edition of 1500 copies of my
book, and the sale so pressing that he has agreed with Clowes
to get another edition in fourteen days ! This has done me
a world of good, for I had got into a sort of dogged hatred
of my book. And now there has appeared a review in the
Pall Mall which has pleased me excessively, more perhaps

1868.] REVIEWS. 259

than is reasonable. I am quite content, and do not care how

much I may be pitched into. If by any chance you should

hear who wrote the article in the Pall Mall, do please tell

me ; it is some one who writes capitally, and who knows the

subject. I went to luncheon on Sunday, to Lubbock's, partly

in hopes of seeing you, and, be hanged to you, you were not

there.

Your cock-a-hoop friend,

C. D.

[Independently of the favourable tone of the able series
of notices in the Pall Mall Gazette (Feb. 10, 15, 17, 1868),
my father may well have been gratified by the following pas-
sages : —

"We must call attention to the rare and noble calmness
with which he expounds his own views, undisturbed by the
heats of polemical agitation which those views have excited,
and persistently refusing to retort on his antagonists by ridi-
cule, by indignation, or by contempt. Considering the amount
of vituperation and insinuation which has come from the
other side, this forbearance is supremely dignified."

And again in the third notice, Feb. 17 : —

" Nowhere has the author a word that could wound the
most sensitive self-love of an antagonist ; nowhere does he, in
text or note, expose the fallacies and mistakes of brother in-
vestigators . . . but while abstaining from impertinent cen-
sure, he is lavish in acknowledging the smallest debts he may
owe ; and his book will make many men happy."

I am indebted to Messrs. Smith & Elder for the informa-
tion that these articles were written by Mr. G. H. Lewes.]

C. Darwin to J. Z). Hooker.

Down, February 23 [1868].
My dear Hooker, — I have had almost as many letters
to write of late as you can have, viz. from 8 to 10 per diem,

26o 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1868.

chiefly getting up facts on sexual selection, therefore I have
felt no inclination to write to you, and now I mean to write
solely about my book for my own satisfaction, and not at all
for yours. The first edition was 1500 copies, and now the
second is printed off ; sharp work. Did you look ar the re-
view in the Athenceum* showing profound contempt of me?
... It is a shame that he should have said that I have taken
much from Pouchet, without acknowledgment ; for I took
literally nothing, there being nothing to take. There is a
capital review in the Gardeners' Chronicle which will sell the
book if anything will. I don't quite see whether I or the
writer is in a muddle about man causing variability. If a
man drops a bit of iron into sulphuric acid he does not cause
the affinities to come into play, yet he may be said to make
sulphate of iron. I do not know how to avoid ambiguity.

After what the Pall Mall Gazette and the Chronicle have
said I do not care a d .

I fear Pangenesis is stillborn ; Bates says he has read it
twice, and is not sure that he understands it. H. Spencer
says the view is quite different from his (and this is a great
relief to me, as I feared to be accused of plagiarism, but

* Athenceum, February 15, 1868. My father quoted Pouchet's assertion
that "variation under domestication throws no light on the natural modifi-
cation of species." The reviewer quotes the end of a passage in which my
father declares that he can see no force in Pouchet's arguments, or rather
assertions, and then goes on : " We are sadly mistaken if there are not
clear proofs in the pages of the book before us that, on the contrary, Mr.
Darwin has perceived, felt, and yielded to the force of the arguments or
assertions of his French antagonist." The following may serve as samples
of the rest of the review : —

11 Henceforth the rhetoricians will have a better illustration of anti-cli-
max than the mountain which brought forth a mouse, ... in the dis-
coverer of the origin of species, who tried to explain the variation of
pigeons !

" A few summary words. On the ' Origin of Species ' Mr. Darwin has
nothing, and is never likely to have anything, to say ; but on the vastly
important subject of inheritance, the transmission of peculiarities once ac-
quired through successive generations, this work is a valuable store-house
of facts for curious students and practical breeders."

1868.] REVIEWS. 261

utterly failed to be sure what he meant, so thought it safest
to give my view as almost the same as his), and he says he is
not sure he understands it. . . . Am I not a poor devil ? yet
I took such pains, I must think that I expressed myself
clearly. Old Sir H. Holland says he has read it twice, and
thinks it very tough ; but believes that sooner or later " some
view akin to it " will be accepted.

You will think me very self-sufficient, when I declare that
I feel sure if Pangenesis is now stillborn it will, thank God,
at some future time reappear, begotten by some other father,
and christened by some other name.

Have you ever met with any tangible and clear view of
what takes place in generation, whether by seeds or buds, or
how a long-lost character can possibly reappear ; or how the
male element can possibly affect the mother plant, or the
mother animal, so that her future progeny are affected ? Now
all these points and many others are connected together,
whether truely or falsely is another question, by Pangenesis.
You see I die hard, and stick up for my poor child.

This letter is written for my own satisfaction, and not for

yours. So bear it.

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. Newton*

Down, February 9 [1870].

Dear Newton, — I suppose it would be universally held
extremely wrong for a defendant to write to a Judge to
express his satisfaction at a judgment in his favour ; and yet
I am going thus to act. I have just read what you have said
in the ' Record ' f about my pigeon chapters, and it has grati-
fied me beyond measure. I have sometimes felt a little dis-
appointed that the labour of so many years seemed to be
almost thrown away, for you are the first man capable of

* Prof, of Zoology at Cambridge.

f ' Zoological Record.' The volume for 1868, published Dec. 1869.

262 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1868.

forming a judgment (excepting partly Quatrefages), who

seems to have thought anything of this part of "my work.

The amount of labour, correspondence, and care, which the

subject cost me, is more than you could well suppose. I

thought the article in the Athenceum was very unjust ; but

now I feel amply repaid, and I cordially thank you for your

sympathy and too warm praise. What labour you have

bestowed on your part of the ' Record ' ! I ought to be

ashamed to speak of my amount of work. I thoroughly

enjoyed the Sunday, which you and the others spent here,

and

I remain, dear Newton, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, February 27 [1868].

My dear Wallace, — You cannot well imagine how much
I have been pleased by what you say about ' Pangenesis.'
None of my friends will speak out. . . . Hooker, as far as I
understand him, which I hardly do at present, seems to
think that the hypothesis is little more than saying that
organisms have such and such potentialities. What you
say exactly and fully expresses my feeling, viz. that it is a
relief to have some feasible explanation of the various facts,
which can be given up as soon as any better hypothesis is
found. It has certainly been an immense relief to my mind ;
for I have been stumbling over the subject for years, dimly
seeing that some relation existed between the various classes
of facts. I now hear from H. Spencer that his views quoted
in my foot-note refer to something quite distinct, as you
seem to have perceived.

I shall be very glad to hear at some future day your criti-
cisms on the " causes of variability." Indeed I feel sure that
I am right about sterility and natural selection. ... I do not
quite understand your case, and we think that a word or two
is misplaced. I wish sometime you would consider the case
under the following point of view : — If sterility is caused or

1868.] PANGENESIS. 263

accumulated through natural selection, then as every degree
exists up to absolute barrenness, natural selection must have
the power of increasing it. Now take two species, A and B,
and assume that they are (by any means) half-sterile, i.e.
produce half the full number of offspring. Now try and
make (by natural selection) A and B absolutely sterile when
crossed, and you will find how difficult it is. I grant indeed,
it is certain, that the degree of sterility of the individuals A
and B will vary, but any such extra-sterile individuals of, we
will say A, if they should hereafter breed with other indi-
viduals of A, will bequeath no advantage to their progeny, by
which these families will tend to increase in number over
other families of A, which are not more sterile when crossed
with B. But I do not know that I have made this any clearer
than in the chapter in my book. It is a most difficult bit of
reasoning, which I have gone over and over again on paper
with diagrams.

. . . Hearty thanks for your letter. You have indeed
pleased me, for I had given up the great god Pan as a still-
born deity. I wish you could be induced to make it clear
with your admirable powers of elucidation in one of the
scientific journals. ...

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, February 28 [1868].
My dear Hooker, — I have been deeply interested by
your letter, and we had a good laugh over Huxley's remark,
which was so deuced clever that you could not recollect it. I
cannot quite follow your train of thought, for in the last page
you admit all that I wish, having apparently denied all, or
thought all mere words in the previous pages of your note ;
but it may be my muddle. I see clearly that any satisfaction
which Pan may give will depend on the constitution of each
man's mind. If you have arrived already at any similar
conclusion, the whole will of course appear stale to you. I
heard yesterday from Wallace, who says (excuse horrid

264 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1868.

vanity), " I can hardly tell you how much I admire the
chapter on ' Pangenesis/ It is a. positive comfort to me to
have any feasible explanation of a difficulty that has always
been haunting me, and I shall never be able to give it up till
a better one supplies its place, and that I think hardly possi-
ble, &c." Now his foregoing [italicised] words express my
sentiments exactly and fully : though perhaps I feel the
relief extra strongly from having during many years vainly
attempted to form some hypothesis. When you or Huxley
say that a single cell of a plant, or the stump of an amputa-
ted limb, have the " potentiality " of reproducing the whole
— or "diffuse an influence/' these words give me no positive
idea ; — but when it is said that the cells of a plant, or stump,
include atoms derived from every other cell of the whole
organism and capable of development, I gain a distinct idea.
But this idea would not be worth a rush, if it applied to one
case alone ; but it seems to me to apply to all the forms of
reproduction — inheritance — metamorphosis — to the abnormal
transposition of organs — to the direct action of the male ele-
ment on the mother plant, &c. Therefore I fully believe
that each cell does actually throw off an atom or gemmule of
its contents ; — but whether or not, this hypothesis serves as
a useful connecting link for various grand classes of physio-
logical facts, which at present stand absolutely isolated.

I have touched on the doubtful point (alluded to by
Huxley) how far atoms derived from the same cell may
become developed into different structure accordingly as they
are differently nourished ; I advanced as illustrations galls
and polypoid excrescences. . . .

It is a real pleasure to me to write to you on this subject,
and I should be delighted if we can understand each other;
but you must not let your good nature lead you on. Re-
member, we always fight tooth and nail. We go to London
on Tuesday, first for a week to Queen Anne Street, and after-
wards to Miss Wedgwood's, in Regent's Park, and stay the
whole month, which, as my gardener truly says, is a " terrible
thing " for my experiments.

i868.] PANGENESIS. 265

C. Darwin to W. Ogle*

Down, March 6 [1868].

Dear Sir, — I thank you most sincerely for your letter,
which is very interesting to me. I wish I had known of these
views of Hippocrates before I had published, for they seem
almost identical with mine — merely a change of terms — and
an application of them to classes of facts necessarily unknown
to the old philosopher. The whole case is a good illustration
of how rarely anything is new.

Hippocrates has taken the wind out of my sails, but I
care very little about being forestalled. I advance the views
merely as a provisional hypothesis, but with the secret expec-
tation that sooner or later some such view will have to be
admitted.

... I do not expect the reviewers will be so learned as
you: otherwise, no doubt, I shall be accused of wilfully
stealing Pangenesis from Hippocrates, — for this is the spirit
some reviewers delight to show.

C. Darwin to Victor Car us.

Down, March 21 [1868].
... I am very much obliged to you for sending me so
frankly your opinion on Pangenesis, and I am sorry it is un-
favourable, but I cannot quite understand your remark on
pangenesis, selection, and the struggle for life not being more
methodical. I am not at all surprised at your unfavourable
verdict ; I know many, probably most, will come to the same
conclusion. One English Review says it is much too com-
plicated. . . . Some of my friends are enthusiastic on the
hypothesis. ... Sir C. Lyell says to every one, " You may
not believe in ' Pangenesis,' but if you once understand it, you
will never get it out of your mind.,, And with this criticism

* Dr. William Ogle, now the Superintendent of Statistics to the
Registrar-General.

266 ' VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1868.

I am perfectly content. All cases of inheritance and re-
version and development now appear to me under a new
light. . . .

[An extract from a letter to Fritz Miiller, though of later
date (June), may be given here : —

11 Your letter of April 22 has much interested me. I am
delighted that you approve of my book, for I value your
opinion more than that of almost any one. I have yet hopes
that you will think well of Pangenesis. I feel sure that our
minds are somewhat alike, and I find it a great relief to have
some definite, though hypothetical view, when I reflect on the
wonderful transformations of animals, — the re-growth of
parts, — and especially the direct action of pollen on the
mother-form, &c. It often appears to me almost certain that
the characters of the parents are " photographed " on the
child, only by means of material atoms derived from each
cell in both parents, and developed in the child."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, May 8 [1868].

My dear Gray, — I have been a most ungrateful and un-
gracious man not to have written to you an immense time ago
to thank you heartily for the Nation, and for all your most
kind aid in regard to the American edition [of ' Animals and
Plants']. But I have been of late overwhelmed with letters,
which I was forced to answer, and so put off writing to you.
This morning I received the American edition (which looks
capital), with your nice preface, for which hearty thanks. I
hope to heaven that the book will succeed well enough to
prevent you repenting of your aid. This arrival has put the
finishing stroke to my conscience, which will endure its
wrongs no longer.

. . . Your article in the Nation [Mar. 19] seems to me very
good, and you give an excellent idea of Pangenesis — an infant
cherished by few as yet, except his tender parent, but which
will live a long life. There is parental presumption for you !

1868.] MR. BENTHAM. 267

You give a good slap at my concluding metaphor:* un-
doubtedly I ought to have brought in and contrasted natural
and artificial selection ; but it seemed so obvious to me that
natural selection depended on contingencies even more com-
plex than those which must have determined the shape of
each fragment at the base of my precipice. What I wanted
to show was that in reference to pre-ordainment whatever
holds good in the formation of a pouter pigeon holds good in
the formation of a natural species of pigeon. 1 cannot see
that this is false. If the right variations occurred, and no
others, natural selection would be superfluous. A reviewer in
an Edinburgh paper, who treats me with profound contempt,
says on this subject that Professor Asa Gray could with the
greatest ease smash me into little pieces. f

Believe me, my dear Gray, '

Your ungrateful but sincere friend,
Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to G. Benthcwi.

Down, June 23, 1868.

My dear Mr. Bentham, — As your address J is somewhat
of the nature of a verdict from a judge, I do not know whether

* A short abstract of the precipice metaphor is given at p. 307, vol. i.
Dr. Gray's criticism on this point is as follows : <4 But in Mr. Darwin's
parallel, to meet the case of nature according to his own view of it, not
only the fragments of rock (answering to variation) should fall, but the edi-
fice (answering to natural selection) should rise, irrespective of will or
choice ! " But my father's parallel demands that natural selection shall be
the architect, not the edifice — the question of design only comes in with
regard to the form of the building materials.

f The Daily Review, April 27, 1868. My father has given rather a
highly coloured version of the reviewer's remarks : " We doubt not that
Professor Asa Gray . . . could show that natural selection ... is simply
an instrument in the hands of an omnipotent and omniscient creator."
The reviewer goes on to say that the passage in question is a " very melan-
choly one," and that the theory is the "apotheosis of materialism."

% Presidential Address to the Linnean Society.
54

268 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.' [1868.

it is proper for me to do so, but I must and will thank v you

for the pleasure which you have given me. I am delighted at

what you say about my book. 1 got so tired of it, that for

months together I thought myself a perfect fool for having

given up so much time in collecting and observing little facts,

but now I do not care if a score of common critics speak as

contemptuously of the book as did the Athenceutn. I feel

justified in this, for I have so complete a reliance on your

judgment that I feel certain that I should have bowed to your

judgment had it been as unfavourable as it is the contrary.

What you say about Pangenesis quite satisfies me, and is as

much perhaps as any one is justified in saying. I have read

your whole Address with the greatest interest. It must have

cost you a vast amount of trouble. With cordial thanks,

1 pray believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — I fear that it is not likely that you have a superfluous
copy of your Address ; if you have, I should much like to
send one to Fritz Mtiller in the interior of Brazil. By the
way let me add that I discussed bud-variation chiefly from a
belief which is common to several persons, that all variability
is related to sexual generation ; I wished to show clearly that
this was an error.

[The above series of letters may serve to show to some
extent the reception which the new book received. Before
passing on (in the next chapter) to the ' Descent of Man,' I
give a letter referring to the translation of Fritz Muller's book,
'Fur Darwin/ It was originally published in 1864, but the
English translation, by Mr. Dallas, which bore the title sug-
gested by Sir C. Lyell, of ' Facts and Arguments for Darwin/
did not appear until 1869 :]

t868.] M. GAUDRY. 269

C. Darwin to F. Milller.

Down, March 16 [1868].
My dear Sir, — Your brother, as you will have heard from
him, felt so convinced that you would not object to a transla-
tion of * Fur Darwin,' * that I have ventured to arrange for a
translation. Engelmann has very liberally offered me cliches
of the woodcuts for 22 thalers ; Mr. Murray has agreed to
bring out a translation (and he is our best publisher) on com-
mission, for he would not undertake the work on his own
risk ; and I have agreed with Mr. W. S. Dallas* (who has
translated Von Siebold on Parthenogenesis, and many Ger-
man works, and who writes very good English) to translate
the book. He thinks (and he is a good judge) that it is im-
portant to have some few corrections or additions, in order
to account for a translation appearing so lately [i.e. at such a
long interval of time] after the original; so that I hope you
will be able to send some

[Two letters may be placed here as bearing on the spread
of Evolutionary ideas in France and Germany :]

C. Darwin to A. Gaudry.

Down, January 21 [1868].
Dear Sir, — I thank you for your interesting essay on the
influence of the Geological features of the country on the
mind and habits of the Ancient Athenians,f and for your
very obliging letter. I am delighted to hear that you intend
to consider the relations of fossil animals in connection with
their genealogy ; it will afford you a fine field for the exercise
of your extensive knowledge and powers of reasoning. Your

* In a letter to Fritz Miiller, my father wrote : — " I am vexed to see
that on the title my name is more conspicuous than yours, which I espe-
cially objected to, and I cautioned the printers after seeing one proof."

f This appears to refer to M. Gaudry's paper translated in the * GeoL
Mag.,' 1868, p. 372.

270 'VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.* [1868.

belief will I suppose, at present, lower you in the estimation
of your countrymen ; but judging from the rapid spread in
all parts of Europe, excepting France, of the belief in the
common descent of allied species, I must think that this
belief will before long become universal. How strange it is
that the country which gave birth to Bufifon, the elder
Geoffroy, and especially to Lamarck, should now cling so
pertinaciously to the belief that species are immutable cre-
ations.

My work on Variation, &c, under domestication, will ap-
pear in a French translation in a few months' time, and I will
do myself the pleasure and honour of directing the publisher
to send a copy to you to the same address as this letter.
With sincere respect, I remain, dear sir,
Yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

[The next letter is of especial interest, as showing how
high a value my father placed on the support of the younger
German naturalists :]

C. Darwin to W. Preyer*

March 31, 1868.
. ... I am delighted to hear that you uphold the doctrine
of the Modification of Species, and defend my views. The
support which I receive from Germany is my chief ground
for hoping that our views will ultimately prevail. To the
present day I am continually abused or treated with con-
tempt by writers of my own country ; but the younger natural-
ists are almost all on my side, and sooner or later the public
must follow those who make the subject their special .study.
The abuse and contempt of ignorant writers hurts me very
little. . . .

* Now Professor of Physiology at Jena.

CHAPTER VI.

Work on i Man.'

1864-1870.

[In the autobiographical chapter (vol. i. p. 76), my father
gives the circumstances which led to his writing the ' Descent
of Man/ He states that his collection of facts, begun in 1837
or 1838, was continued for many years without any definite
idea of publishing on the subject. The following letter to
Mr. Wallace shows that in the period of ill-health and de-
pression about 1864 he despaired of ever being able to do so :]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, [May?] 28 [1864].

Dear Wallace, — I am so much better that I have just
finished a paper for Linnean Society ; * but I am not yet at
all strong, I felt much disinclination to write, and therefore
you must forgive me for not having sooner thanked you for
your paper on 'Man,'f received on the nth. But first let
me say that I have hardly ever in my life been more struck
by any paper than that on ' Variation/ &c. &c, in the Reader. \
I feel sure that such papers will do more for the spreading of
our views on the modification of species than any separate
Treatises on the simple subject itself. It is really admirable;
but you ought not in the Man paper to speak of the theory

* On the three forms, &c, of Lythrum.
f ' Anthropological Review/ March 1864.

\ Reader, Ap. 16, 1864. "On the Phenomena of Variation," &c. Ab-
stract of a paper read before the Linnean Society, March 17, 1864.

272 WORK ON ■ MAN/ [1864.

as mine ; it is just as much yours as mine. One correspond-
ent has already noticed to me your " high-minded " conduct
on this head. But now for your Man paper, about which I
should like to write more than I can. The great leading
idea is quite new to me, viz. that during late ages, the mind
will have been modified more than the body ; yet I had got
as far as to see with you that the struggle between the races
of man depended entirely on intellectual and moral qualities.
The latter part of the paper I can designate only as grand
and most eloquently done. I have shown your paper to two
or three persons who have been here, and they have been
equally struck with it. I am not sure that I go with you on
all minor points : when reading Sir G. Grey's account of the
constant battles of Australian savages, I remember thinking
that natural selection would come in; and likewise with the
Esquimaux, with whom the art of fishing and managing ca-
noes is said to be hereditary. I rather differ on the rank,
under a classificatory point of view, which you assign to man ;
I do not think any character simply in excess ought ever to
be used for the higher divisions. Ants would not be sepa-
rated from other hymenopterous insects, however high the
instinct of the one, and however low the instincts of the other.
With respect to the differences of race, a conjecture has oc-
curred to me that much may be due to the correlation of
complexion (and consequently hair) with constitution. As-
sume that a dusky individual best escaped miasma, and you
will readily see what I mean. I persuaded the Director-
General of the Medical Department of the Army to send
printed forms to the surgeons of all regiments in tropical
countries to ascertain this point, but I dare say I shall never
get any returns. Secondly, I suspect that a sort of sexual
selection has been the most powerful means of changing the
races of man. I can show that the different races have a
widely different standard of beauty. Among savages the
most powerful men will have the pick of the women, and they
will generally leave the most descendants. I have collected
a few notes on man, but I do not suppose that I shall ever

1867.] MR. WALLACE. 273

use them. Do you intend to follow out your views, and it
so, would you like at some future time to have my few refer-
ences and notes ? I am sure I hardly know whether they are
of any value, and they are at present in a state of chaos.

There is much more that I should like to write, but I
have not strength.

Believe me, dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — Our aristocracy is handsomer (more hideous ac-
cording to a Chinese or Negro) than the middle classes, from
(having the) pick of the women ; but oh, what a scheme is
primogeniture for destroying natural selection ! I fear my
letter will be barely intelligible to you.

[In February 1867, when the manuscript of ' Animals and
. Plants ' had been sent to Messrs. Clowes to be printed, and
before the proofs began to come in, he had an interval of
spare time, and began a "chapter on Man," but he soon
found it growing under his hands, and determined to publish
it separately as a "very small volume."

The work was interrupted by the necessity of correcting
the proofs of ' Animals and Plants/ and by some botanical
work, but was resumed in the following year, 1868, the mo-
ment he could give himself up to it.

He recognized with regret the gradual change in his mind
that rendered continuous work more and more necessary to
him as he grew older. This is expressed in a letter to Sir J.
D. Hooker, June 17, 1868, which repeats to some extent what
is expressed in the Autobiography : —

" I am glad you were at the ' Messiah/ it is the one thing
that I should like to hear again, but I dare say I should find
my soul too dried up to appreciate it as in old days ; and
then I should feel very flat, for it is a horrid bore to feel as I
constantly do, that I am a withered leaf for every subject
except Science. It sometimes makes me hate Science, though
God knows I ought to be thankful for such a perennial inter-

274

WORK ON 'MAN.' [1867.

est, which makes me forget for some hours every day my
accursed stomach.''

The work on Man was interrupted by illness in the early
summer of 1868, and he left home on July 16th for Fresh-
water, in the Isle of Wight, where he remained with his
family until August 21st. Here he made the acquaintance
of Mrs. Cameron. She received the whole family with open-
hearted kindness and hospitality, and my father always re-
tained a warm feeling of friendship for her. She made an
excellent photograph of him, which was published with the
inscription written by him : " I like this photograph very
much better than any other which has been taken of me."
Further interruption occurred in the autumn so that continu-
ous work on the ' Descent of Man ' did not begin until 1869.
The following letters give some idea of the earlier work in
1867 :]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, February 22, [1867?]
My dear Wallace, — I am hard at work on sexual selec-
tion, and am driven half mad by the number of collateral
points which require investigation, such as the relative num-
ber of the two sexes, and especially on polygamy. Can you
aid me with respect to birds which have strongly marked sec-
ondary sexual characters, such as birds of paradise, humming-
birds, the Rupicola, or any other such cases ? Many gallina-
ceous birds certainly are polygamous. I suppose that birds
may be known not to be polygamous if they are seen during
the whole breeding seasion to associate in pairs, or if the
male incubates or aids in feeding the young. Will you have
the kindness to turn this in your mind ? But it is a shame
to trouble you now that, as I am heartily glad to hear, you are
at work on your Malayan travels. I am fearfully puzzled
how far to extend your protective views with respect to the
females in various classes. The more I work the more im-
portant sexual selection apparently comes out.

I867-] SEXUAL SELECTION. 275

Can butterflies be polygamous ! i. c. will one male impreg-
nate more than one female ? Forgive me troubling you, and
I dare say I shall have to ask forgiveness again. . . .

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, February 23 [1867].

Dear Wallace, — I much regretted that I was unable to
call on you, but after Monday I was unable even to leave the
house. On Monday evening I called on Bates, and put a
difficulty before him, which he could not answer, and, as on
some former similar occasion, his first suggestion was, " You
had better ask Wallace." My difficulty is, why are caterpil-
lars sometimes so beautifully and artistically coloured ? See-
ing that many are coloured to escape danger, I can hardly
attribute their bright color in other cases to mere physical
conditions. Bates says the most gaudy caterpillar he ever
saw in Amazonia (of a sphinx) was conspicuous at the dis-
tance of yards, from its black and red colours, whilst feeding
on large green leaves. If any one objected to male butter-
flies having been made beautiful by sexual selection, and
asked why should they not have been made beautiful as well
as their caterpillars, what would you answer ? I could not
answer, but should maintain my ground. Will you think
over this, and some time, either by letter or when we meet,
tell me what you think ? Also I want to know whether your
female mimetic butterfly is more beautiful and brighter than
the male. When next in London I must get you to show me
your kingfishers. My health is a dreadful evil ; I failed in
half my engagements during this last visit to London.
Believe me, yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

2/6 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1867.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, February 26 [1867].

My dear Wallace, — Bates was quite right ; you are the
man to apply to in a difficulty. I never heard anything more
ingenious than your suggestion,* and I hope you may be able
to prove it true. That is a splendid fact about the white
moths ; it warms one's very blood to see a theory thus almost
proved to be true.f With respect to the beauty of male but-
terflies, I must as yet think that it is due to sexual selection.
There is some evidence that dragon-flies are attracted by
bright colours ; but what leads me to the above belief is, so
many male Orthoptera and Cicadas having musical instru-
ments. This being the case, the analogy of birds makes me
believe in sexual selection with respect to colour in insects.
I wish I had strength and time to make some of the experi-
ments suggested by you, but I thought butterflies would not
pair in confinement. I am sure I have heard of some such
difficulty. Many years ago I had a dragon-fly painted with
gorgeous colours, but I never had an opportunity of fairly
trying it.

The reason of my being so much interested just at present
about sexual selection is, that I have almost resolved to
publish a little essay on the origin of Mankind, and I still
strongly think (though I failed to convince you, and this, to
me, is the heaviest blow possible) that sexual selection has
been the main agent in forming the races of man.

By the way, there is another subject which I shall intro-
duce in my essay, namely, expression of countenance. Now,

* The suggestion that conspicuous caterpillars or perfect insects (e. g.
white butterflies), which are distasteful to birds, are protected by being
easily recognised and avoided. See Mr. Wallace's * Natural Selection,'
2nd edit., p. 117.

f Mr. Jenner Weir's observations published in the Transactions of the
Entomolog. Soc. (1S69 and 1870) give strong support to the theory in
question.

1367.] SEXUAL SELECTION. 277

do you happen to know by any odd chance a very good-
natured and acute observer in the Malay Archipelago, who
you think would make a few easy observations for me on the
expression of the Malays when excited by various emotions ?
For in this case I would send to such person a list of queries.
I thank you for your most interesting letter, and remain,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, March [1867].
My dear Wallace, — I thank you much for your two
notes. The case of Julia Pastrana* is a splendid addition to
my other cases of correlated teeth and hair, and I will add it
in correcting the press of my present volume. Pray let me
hear in the course of the summer if you get any evidence
about the gaudy caterpillars. I should much like to give
(or quote if published) this idea of yours, if in any way sup-
ported, as suggested by you. It will, however, be a long
time hence, for I can see that sexual selection is growing
into quite a large subject, which I shall introduce into my
essay on Man, supposing that I ever publish it. I had
intended giving a chapter on man, inasmuch as many call
him (not quite truly) an eminently domesticated animal, but
I found the subject too large for a chapter. Nor shall I be
capable of treating the subject well, and my sole reason for
taking it up is, that I am pretty well convinced that sexual
selection has played an important part in the formation of
races, and sexual selection has always been a subject which
has interested me much. I have been very glad to see your
impression from memory on the expression of Malays. I
fully agree with you that the subject is in no way an im-
portant one ; it is simply a " hobby-horse " with me, about
twenty-seven years old ; and after thinking that I would write

* A bearded woman having an irregular double set of teeth. ' Animals
and Plants,* vol. ii. p. 328.

278 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1868.

an essay on man, it flashed on me that I could work in some
" supplemental remarks on expression. " After the horrid,
tedious, dull work of my present huge, and I fear unreadable,
book ['The Variation of Animals and Plants'], I thought I
would amuse myself with my hobby-horse. The subject is,
I think, more curious and more amenable to scientific treat-
ment than you seem willing to allow. I want, anyhow, to
upset Sir C. Bell's view, given in his most interesting work,
'The Anatomy of Expression,' that certain muscles have
been given to man solely that he may reveal to other men
his feelings. I want to try and show how expressions have
arisen. That is a good suggestion about newspapers, but my
experience tells me that private applications are generally
most fruitful. I will, however, see if I can get the queries
inserted in some Indian paper. I do not know the names or
addresses of any other papers.

. . . My two female amanuenses are busy with friends, and
I fear this scrawl will give you much trouble to read. With

many thanks,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[The following letter may be worth giving, as an example
of his sources of information, and as showing what were the
thoughts at this time occupying him :]

C. Darwin to F. Miiller.

Down, February 22 [1867].
. . . Many thanks for all the curious facts about the un-
equal number of the sexes in Crustacea, but the more I in-
vestigate this subject the deeper I sink in doubt and difficulty.
Thanks also for the confirmation of the rivalry of Cicadae. I
have often reflected with surprise on the diversity of the means
for producing music with insects, and still more with birds.
We thus get a high idea of the importance of song in the ani-
mal kingdom. Please to tell me where I can find any account
of the auditory organs in the Orthoptera. Your facts are

i868.] SEXUAL SELECTION. 279

quite new to me. Scudder has described an insect in the
Devonian strata, furnished with a stridulating apparatus.
I believe he is to be trusted, and, if so, the apparatus is of
astonishing antiquity. After reading Landois's paper I have
been working at the stridulating organ in the Lamellicorn
beetles, in expectation of finding it sexual ; but I have only
found it as yet in two cases, and in these it was equally de-
veloped in both sexes. I wish you would look at any of
your common lamellicorns, and take hold of both males
and females, and observe whether they make the squeaking
or grating noise equally. If they do not, you could, perhaps,
send me a male and female in a light little box. How
curious it is that there should be a special organ for an object
apparently so unimportant as squeaking. Here is another
point ; have you any toucans ? if so, ask any trustworthy
hunter whether the beaks of the males, or of both sexes, are
more brightly coloured during the breeding season than at
other times of the year. . . . Heaven knows whether I shall
ever live to make use of half the valuable facts which you
have communicated to me ! Your paper on Balanus ar-
matus, translated by Mr. Dallas, has just appeared in our
' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' and I have read
it with the greatest interest. I never thought that I should
live to hear of a hybrid Balanus ! I am very glad that you
have seen the*cement tubes; they appear to me extremely
curious, and, as far as I know, you are the first man who has
verified my observations on this point.

With most cordial thanks for all your kindness, my dear
Sir,

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. De Candolle.

Down, July 6, 1868.
My dear Sir, — I return you my sincere thanks for your
long letter, which I consider a great compliment, and which
is quite full of most interesting facts and views. Your

2g0 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1868.

references and remarks will be of great use should a new
edition of my book * be demanded, but this is hardly prob-
able, for the whole edition was sold within the first week,
and another large edition immediately reprinted, which I
should think would supply the demand for ever. You ask
me when I shall publish on the ' Variation of Species in a
State of Nature.' 1 have had the MS. for another volume
almost ready during several years, but I was so much
fatigued by my last book that I determined to amuse myself
by publishing a short essay on the 4 Descent of Man.' I was
partly led to do this by having been taunted that I concealed
my views, but chiefly from the interest which I had long
taken in the subject. Now this essay has branched out into
some collateral subjects, and I suppose will take me more
than a year to complete. I shall then begin on ' Species/
but my health makes me a very slow workman. I hope that
you will excuse these details, which I have given to show
that you will have plenty of time to publish your views first,
which will be a great advantage to me. Of all the curious
facts which you mention in your letter, I think that of the
strong inheritance of the scalp-muscles has interested me
most. I presume that you would not object to my giving
this very curious case on your authority. As I believe all
anatomists look at the scalp-muscles as a remnant of the
Panniculus carnosus which is common to all the lower quad-
rupeds, I should look at the unusual development and inheri-
tance of these muscles as probably a case of reversion. Your
observation on so many remarkable men in noble families
having been illegitimate is extremely curious ; and should I
ever meet any one capable of writing an essay on this subject,
I will mention your remarks as a good suggestion. Dr.
Hooker has several times remarked to me that morals and
politics would be very interesting if discussed like any branch
of natural history, and this is nearly to the same effect with
your remarks. . . .

* ■ Variation of Animals and Plants/

1868.] „ AGASSIZ. 28l

C. Darwin to L. Agassiz.

Down, August 19, 1868.

Dear Sir, — I thank you cordially for your very kind
letter. I certainly thought that you had formed so low an
opinion of my scientific work that it might have appeared
indelicate in me to have asked for information from you, but
it never occurred to me that my letter would have been
shown to you. I have never for a moment doubted your
kindness and generosity, and I hope you will not think it
presumption in me to say, that when we met, many years ago,
at the British Association at Southampton, I felt for you the
warmest admiration.

Your information on the Amazonian fishes has interested
me extremely ', and tells me exactly what I wanted to know.
I was aware, through notes given me by Dr. Glinther, that
many fishes differed sexually in colour and other characters,
but I was particularly anxious to learn how far this was the
case with those fishes in which the male, differently from
what occurs with most birds, takes the largest share in
the care of the ova and young. Your letter has not only
interested me much, but has greatly gratified me in other
respects, and I return you my sincere thanks for your kind-
ness. Pray believe me, my dear Sir,

Yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, Sunday, August 23 [1868].

My dear old Friend, — I have received your note. I

can hardly say how pleased I have been at the success of

your address,* and of the whole meeting. I have seen the

Times, Telegraph, Spectator, and Athenceum, and have heard

* Sir Joseph Hooker was President of the British Association at the
Norwich Meeting in 1868.

282 WORK ON 'MAN/ 1 1868.

of other favourable newspapers, and have ordered a bundle.
There is a " chorus of praise." The Times reported miserably,
i.e. as far as errata was concerned ; but I was very glad at
the leader, for I thought the way you brought in the mega-
lithic monuments most happy.* I particularly admired Tyn-
dall's little speech. f . . . The Spectator pitches a little into
you about Theology, in accordance with its usual spirit. . . .
Your great success has rejoiced my heart. I have just
carefully read the whole address in the Athenceum ; and
though, as you know, I liked it very much when you read it
to me, yet, as I was trying all the time to find fault, I missed
to a certain extent the effect as a whole ; and this now
appears to me most striking and excellent. How you must
rejoice at all your bothering labour and anxiety having had
so grand an end. I must say a word about myself ; never
has such a eulogium been passed on me, and it makes me
very proud. I cannot get over my amazement at what you
say about my botanical work. By Jove, as far as my memory
goes, you have strengthened instead of weakened some of the
expressions. What is far more important than anything per-
sonal, is the conviction which I feel that you will have im-
mensely advanced the belief in the evolution of species.
This will follow from the publicity of the occasion, your posi-
tion, so responsible, as President, and your own high reputa-
tion. It will make a great step in public opinion. I feel sure,
and I had not thought of this before. The Athenceum takes
your snubbing \ with the utmost mildness. I certainly do
rejoice over the snubbing, and hope [the reviewer] will feel
it a little. Whenever you have spare time to write again,
tell me whether any astronomers § took your remarks in ill

* The British Association was desirous of interesting the Government
in certain modern cromlech builders, the Khasia race of East Bengal, in
order that their megalithic monuments might be efficiently described.

f Professor Tyndall was President of Section A.

% Sir Joseph Hooker made some reference to the review of ' Animals
and Plants ' in the Athenceum of Feb. 15, 1868.

§ In discussing the astronomer's objection to Evolution, namely that

1868.] THE 'ATHEN.EUM.' 283

part ; as they now stand they do not seem at all too harsh
and presumptuous. Many of your sentences strike me as
extremely felicitous and eloquent. That of Lyell's " under-
pinning," * is capital. Tell me, was Lyell pleased ? I am so
glad that you remembered my old dedication.! Was Wallace
pleased ?

How about photographs ? Can you spare time for a line
to our dear Mrs. Cameron ? J She came to see us off, and
loaded us with presents of photographs, and Erasmus called
after her, " Mrs. Cameron, there are six people in this house
all in love with you." When I paid her, she cried out, " Oh
what a lot of money ! " and ran to boast to her husband.

I must not write any more, though I am in tremendous
spirits at your brilliant success.

Yours ever affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[In the Athenceum of November 29, 1868, appeared an
article which was in fact a reply to Sir Joseph Hooker's re-
marks at Norwich. He seems to have consulted my father
as to the wisdom of answering the article. My father wrote
on September 1 :

" In my opinion Dr. Joseph Dalton Hooker need take no
notice of the attack in the Athenceum in reference to Mr.
Charles Darwin. What an ass the man is to think he cuts
one to the quick by giving one's Christian name in full. How
transparently false is the statement that my sole groundwork

our globe has not existed for a long enough period to give time for the
as umed transmutation of living beings, Hooker challenged Whe well's
dictum that, astronomy is the queen of sciences — the only perfect science.

* After a eulogium on Sir Charles Lyell's heroic renunciation of his
old views in accepting Evolution, Sir J. D. Hooker continued, " Well may
he be proud of a superstructure, raised on the foundations of an insecure
doctrine, when he finds that he can underpin it and substitute a new
foundation ; and after all is finished, survey his edifice, not only more
secure but more harmonious in its proportion than it was before."

\ The * Naturalist's Voyage ' was dedicated to Lyell.

% See p. 274.

55

284 WORK ON 'MAN. [1868.

is from pigeons, because I state I have worked them out more
fully than other beings ! He muddles together two books of
Flourens."

The following letter refers to a paper * by Judge Caton,
of which my father often spoke with admiration :]

C. Darwin to John D. Caton.

Down, September 18, 1868.

Dear Sir, — I beg leave to thank you very sincerely for
your kindness in sending me, through Mr. Walsh, your ad-
mirable paper on American Deer.

It is quite full of most interesting observations, stated with
the greatest clearness. I have seldom read a paper with
more interest, for it abounds with facts of direct use for my
work. Many of them consist of little points which hardly
any one besides yourself has observed, or perceived the im-
portance of recording. I would instance the age at which
the horns are developed (a point on which I have lately been
in vain searching for information), the rudiment of horns in
the female elk, and especially the different nature of the
plants devoured by the deer and elk, and several other
points. With cordial thanks for the pleasure and instruction
which you have afforded me, and with high respect for your
power of observation, I beg leave to remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully and obliged,

Charles Darwin.

[The following extract from a letter (Sept. 24, 1868) to
the Marquis de Saporta, the eminent palseo-botanist, refers
to the growth of evolutionary views in France : — f

"As I have formerly read with great interest many of
your papers on fossil plants, you may believe with what high

'""'Transactions of the Ottawa Academy of Natural Sciences,' 1868.
By John D. Caton, late Chief Justice of Illinois.

f In 1868 he was pleased at being asked to authorise a French transla-
tion of his ' Naturalist's Voyage/

1868.] HAECKEL'S BOOKS. 28$

satisfaction I hear that you are a believer in the gradual evo-
lution of species. I had supposed that my book on the
' Origin of Species ' had made very little impression in
France, and therefore it delights me to hear a different state-
ment from you. All the great authorities of the Institute
seem firmly resolved to believe in the immutability of spe-
cies, and this has always astonished me. . . . Almost the one
exception, as far as I know, is M. Gaudry, and I think he
will be soon one of the chief leaders in Zoological Palaeon-
tology in Europe ; and now I am delighted to hear that in
the sister department of Botany you take nearly the same
view."]

C. Darwin to E. Haeckel.

Down, Nov. 19 [1868].

My dear Haeckel, — I must write to you again, for two
reasons. Firstly, to thank you for your letter about your
baby, which has quite charmed both me and my wife; I
heartily congratulate you on its birth. I remember being
surprised in my own case how soon the paternal instincts
became developed, and in you they seem to be unusually
strong, ... I hope the large blue eyes and the principles of
inheritance will make your child as good a naturalist as you
are ; but, judging from my own experience, you will be aston-
ished to find how the whole mental disposition of your chil-
dren changes with advancing years. A young child, and the
same when nearly grown, sometimes differ almost as much as
do a caterpillar and butterfly.

The second point is to congratulate you on the projected
translation of your great work,* about which I heard from
Huxley last Sunday. I am heartily glad of it, but how it has
been brought about, I know not, for a friend who supported
the supposed translation at Norwich, told me he thought
there would be no chance of it. Huxley tells me that you

* * Generelle Morphologic/ 1866. No English translation of this book
has appeared.

286 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1868.

consent to omit and shorten some parts, and I am confident
that this is very wise. As I know your object is to instruct
the public, you will assuredly thus get many more readers in
England. Indeed, I believe that almost every book would
be improved by condensation. I have been reading a good
deal of your last book,* and the style is beautifully clear and
easy to me ; but why it should differ so much in this respect
from your great work I cannot imagine. I have not yet read
the first part, but began with the chapter on Lyell and myself,
which you will easily believe pleased me very much, I think
Lyell, who was apparently much pleased by your sending
him a copy, is also much gratified by this chapter.f Your
chapters on the affinities and genealogy of the animal king-
dom strike me as admirable and full of original thought.
Your boldness, however, sometimes makes me tremble, but
as Huxley remarked, some one must be bold enough to make
a beginning in drawing up tables of descent. Although you
fully admit the imperfection of the geological record, yet
Huxley agreed with me in thinking that you are sometimes
rather rash in venturing to say at what periods the several
groups first appeared. I have this advantage over you, that
I remember how wonderfully different any statement on this
subject made 20 years ago, would have been to what would
now be the case, and I expect the next 20 years will make
quite as great a difference. Reflect on the monocotyle-
donous plant just discovered in the primordial formation in
Sweden.

I repeat how glad I am at the prospect of the translation,
for I fully believe that this work and all your works will have
a great influence in the advancement of Science.

Believe me, my dear Hackel, your sincere friend,

Charles Darwin.

* ' Die Naturliche Schopfungs-Geschichte,' 1868. It was translated
and published in 1876, under the title, ' The History of Creation.'

f See Lyell's interesting letter to Haeckel. i Life of Sir C. Lyell,' ii.
P. 435-

1869.] FIFTH EDITION OF THE 'ORIGIN.' 287

[It was in November of this year that he sat for the bust
by Mr. Woolner : he wrote : —

" I should have written long ago, but I have been pestered
with stupid letters, and am undergoing the purgatory of sit-
ting for hours to Woolner, who, however, is wonderfully pleas-
ant, and lightens as much as man can, the penance ; as far as
I can judge, it will make a fine bust."

If I may criticise the work of so eminent a sculptor as
Mr. Woolner, I should say that the point in which the bust
fails somewhat as a portrait, is that it has a certain air,
almost of pomposity, which seems to me foreign to my fa-
ther's expression.]

1869.

[At the beginning of the year he was at work in preparing
the fifth edition of the ' Origin. ' This work was begun on
the day after Christmas, 1868, and was continued for "forty-
six days," as he notes in his diary, i.e. until February 10th,
1869. He then, February nth, returned to Sexual Selection,
and continued at this subject (excepting for ten days given
up to Orchids, and a week in London), until June 10th, when
he went with his family to North Wales, where he remained
about seven weeks, returning to Down on July 31st.

Caerdeon, the house where he stayed, is built on the north
shore of the beautiful Barmouth estuary, and is pleasantly
placed, in being close to wild hill country behind, as well as
to the picturesque wooded " hummocks," between the steeper
hills and the river. My father was ill and somewhat de-
pressed throughout this visit, and I think felt saddened at
being imprisoned by his want of strength, and unable even to
reach the hills over which he had once wandered for days
together.

He wrote from Caerdeon to Sir J. D. Hooker (June
22nd) : —

u We have been here for ten days, how I wish it was pos-
sible for you to pay us a visit here ; we have a beautiful
house with a terraced garden, and a really magnificent view

288 WORK ON ■ MAN.' [1869.

of Cader, right opposite. Old Cader is a grand fellow, and
shows himself off superbly with every changing light. We
remain here till the end of July, when the H. Wedgwoods
have the house. I have been as yet in a very poor way ; it
seems as soon as the stimulus of mental work stops, my whole
strength gives way. As yet I have hardly crawled half a
mile from the house, and then have been fearfully fatigued.
It is enough to make one wish oneself quiet in a comfortable
tomb."

With regard to the fifth edition of the ' Origin/ he wrote
to Mr. Wallace (January 22, 1869) : —

" I have been interrupted in my regular work in prepar-
ing a new edition of the ' Origin/ which has cost me much
labour, and which I hope I have considerably improved in
two or three important points. I always thought individual
differences more important than single variations, but now I
have come to the conclusion that they are of paramount im-
portance, and in this I believe I agree with you. Fleeming
Jenkin's arguments haye convinced me."

This somewhat obscure sentence was explained, February
2, in another letter to Mr. Wallace : —

u I must have expressed myself atrociously ; I meant to
say exactly the reverse of what you have understood. F. Jen-
kin argued in the ' North British Review ' against single
variations ever being perpetuated, and has convinced me,
though not in quite so broad a manner as here put. I always
thought individual differences more important ; but I was
blind and thought that single variations might be preserved
much oftener than I now see is possible or probable. I men-
tioned this in my former note merely because I believed that
you had come to a similar conclusion, and I like much to be
in accord with you. I believe I was mainly deceived by
single variations offering such simple illustrations, as when
man selects. "

The late Mr. Fleeming Jenkin's review, on the i Origin of
Species/ was published in the ' North Britfsh Review' for
June 1867. It is not a little remarkable that the criticisms,

1869.] FLEEMING JENKIN. 289

which my father, as I believe, felt to be the most valuable
ever made on his views should have come, not from a pro-
fessed naturalist but from a Professor of Engineering.

It is impossible to give in a short compass an account of
Fleeming Jenkin's argument. My father's copy of the paper
(ripped out of the volume as usual, and tied with a bit of
string) is annotated in pencil in many places. I may quote
one passage opposite which my father has written " good
sneers " — but it should be remembered that he used the word
"sneer" in rather a special sense, not as necessarily implying
a feeling of bitterness in the critic, but rather in the sense of
"banter." Speaking of the 'true believer,' Fleeming Jenkin
says, p. 293 :—

" He can invent trains of ancestors of whose existence
there is no evidence ; he can marshal hosts of equally imagi-
nary foes; he can call up continents, floods, and peculiar
atmospheres ; he can dry up oceans, split islands, and parcel
out eternity at will ; surely with these advantages he must be
a dull fellow if he cannot scheme some series of animals and
circumstances explaining our assumed difficulty quite natu-
rally. Feeling the difficulty of dealing with adversaries who
command so huge a domain of fancy, we will abandon these
arguments, and trust to those which at least cannot be as-
sailed by mere efforts of imagination."

In the fifth edition of the ' Origin/ my father altered a
passage in the Historical Sketch (fourth edition p. xviii.).
He thus practically gave up the difficult task of understand-
ing whether or no Sir R. Owen claims to have discovered the
principle of Natural Selection. Adding, "As far as the mere
enunciation of the principle of Natural Selection is concerned,
it is quite immaterial whether or not Professor Owen preceded
me, for both of us. . . . were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells
and Mr. Matthew."

A somewhat severe critique on the fifth edition, by Mr.
John Robertson, appeared in the Athenceum, August 14, 1869.
The writer comments with some little bitterness on the suc-
cess of the ' Origin : ' " Attention is not acceptance. Many

2Q0 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1869.

editions do not mean real success. The book has sold ; the
guess has been talked over ; and the circulation and discus-
sion sum up the significance of the editions." Mr. Robert-
son makes the true, but misleading statement : " Mr. Darwin
prefaces his fifth English edition with an Essay, which he
calls ' An Historical Sketch/ &c." As a matter of fact the
Sketch appeared in the third edition in 1861.

Mr. Robertson goes on to say that the Sketch ought to
be called a collection of extracts anticipatory or corroborative
of the hypothesis of Natural Selection. " For no account is
given of any hostile opinions. The fact is very significant.
This historical sketch thus resembles the histories of the
reign of Louis XVIII., published after the Restoration, from
which the Republic and the Empire, Robespierre and Buo-
naparte were omitted."

The following letter to Prof. Victor Carus gives an idea
of the character of the new edition of the ' Origin : ']

C. Darwin to Victor Carus.

Down, May 4, 1869.

... I have gone very carefully through the whole, trying
to make some parts clearer, and adding a few discussions and
facts of some importance. The new edition is only two
pages at the end longer than the old ; though in one part
nine pages in advance, for I have condensed several parts
and omitted some passages. The translation I fear will cause
you a great deal of trouble ; the alterations took me six weeks,
besides correcting the press ; you ought to make a special
agreement with M. Koch [the publisher]. Many of the cor-
rections are only a few words, but they have been made from
the evidence on various points appearing to have become a
little stronger or weaker.

Thus I have been led to place somewhat more value on
the definite and direct action of external conditions ; to think
the lapse of time, as measured by years, not quite so great as
most geologists have thought ; and to infer that single varia-

1869] FIFTH EDITION OF THE 'ORIGIN.' 29 1

tions are of even less importance, in comparison with indi-
vidual differences, than I formerly thought. I mention these
points because I have been thus led to alter in many places
a few words ; and unless you go through the whole new edi-
tion, one part will not agree with another, which would be a
great blemish. ...

[The desire that his views might spread in France was
always strong with my father, and he was therefore justly an-
noyed to find that in 1869 the Editor of the first French edi-
tion had brought out a third edition without consulting the
author. He was accordingly glad to enter into an arrange-
ment for a French translation of the fifth edition ; this was
undertaken by M. Reinwald, with whom he continued to
have pleasant relations as the publisher of many of his books
into French.

He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : —

"I must enjoy myself and tell you about Mdlle. C. Royer,
who translated the ' Origin ' into French, and for whose sec-
ond edition I took infinite trouble. She has now just brought
out a third edition without informing me, so that all the cor-
rections, &c, in the fourth and fifth English editions are
lost. Besides her enormously long preface to the first edi-
tion, she has added a second preface abusing me like a pick-
pocket for Pangenesis, which of course has no relation to the
'Origin.' So I wrote to Paris ; and Reinwald agrees to bring
out at once a new translation from the fifth English edition,
in competition with her third edition. . . . This fact shows
that "evolution of species" must at last be spreading in
France. "

With reference to the spread of Evolution among the
orthodox, the following letter is of some interest. In March
he received, from the author, a copy of a lecture by Rev. T.
R. R. Stebbing, given before the Torquay Natural History
Society, February 1, 1869, bearing the title "Darwinism."
My father wrote to Mr. Stebbing :]

292 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1869.

Down, March 3, 1869.
Dear Sir, — I am very much obliged to you for your
kindness in sending me your spirited and interesting lecture ;
if a layman had delivered the same address, he would have
done good service in spreading what, as I hope and believe,
is to a large extent the truth ; but a clergyman in delivering
such an address does, as it appears to me, much more good
by his power to shake ignorant prejudices, and by setting, if
I may be permitted to say so, an admirable example of lib-
erality.

With sincere respect, I beg leave to remain,

Dear Sir, yours faithfully and obliged,

Charles Darwin.

[The references to the subject of expression in the follow-
ing letter are explained by the fact that my father's original
intention was to give his essay on this subject as a chapter in
the i Descent of Man/ which in its turn grew, as we have
seen, out of a proposed chapter in i Animals and Plants : ']

C. Darwin io F. Miiller.

Down, February 22 [1869?]
. . . Although you have aided me to so great an extent in
many ways, I am going to beg for any information on two
other subjects. I am preparing a discussion on "Sexual Se-
lection, " and I want much to know how low down in the ani-
mal scale sexual selection of a particular kind extends. Do
you know of any lowly organised animals, in which the sexes
are separated, and in which the male differs from the female
in arms of offence, like the horns and tusks of male mammals,
or in gaudy plumage and ornaments, as with birds and but-
terflies ? I do not refer to secondary sexual characters, by
which the male is able to discover the female, like the plumed
antennae of moths, or by which the male is enabled to seize
the female, like the curious pincers described by you in some
of the lower Crustaceans. But what I want to know is, how

1869.] DR. H. THIEL. 293

low in the scale sexual differences occur which require some
degree of self-consciousness in the males, as weapons by
which they fight for the female, or ornaments which attract
the opposite sex. Any differences between males and females
which follow different habits of life would have to be ex-
cluded. I think you will easily see what I wish to learn. A
priori, it would never have been anticipated that insects
would have been attracted by the beautiful colouring of the
opposite sex, or, by the sounds emitted by the various musical
instruments of the male Orthoptera. I know no one so likely
to answer this question as yourself, and should be grateful for
any information, however small.

My second subject refers to expression of countenance, to
which I have long attended, and on which I feel a keen in-
terest ; but to which, unfortunately, I did not attend when I
had the opportunity of observing various races of man. It
has occurred to me that you might, without much trouble,
make a few observations for me, in the course of some
months, on Negroes, or possibly on native South Americans,
though I care most about Negroes ; accordingly I enclose
some questions as a guide, and if you could answer me even
one or two I should feel truly obliged. I am thinking of
writing a little essay on the Origin of Mankind, as I have
been taunted with concealing my opinions, and I should do
this immediately after the completion of my present book.
In this case I should add a chapter on the cause or meaning
of expression. . . .

[The remaining letters of this year deal chiefly with the
books, reviews, &c, which interested him.]

C. Darwin to H. ThieL

Down, February 25 1869.
Dear Sir, — On my return home after a short absence, I
found your very courteous note, and the pamphlet,* and I

* ' Ueber einige Formen der Landwirthschaftlichen Genossenschaften.*
By Dr. H. Thiel, then of the Agricultural Station at Poppelsdorf.

294 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1869.

hasten to thank you for both, and for the very honourable
mention which you make of my name. You will readily be-
lieve how much interested I am in observing that you apply
to moral and social questions analogous views to those which
I have used in regard to the modification of species. It did
not occur to me formerly that my views could be extended
to such widely different, and most important, subjects. With
much respect, I beg leave to remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully and obliged,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, March 19 [1869].
My dear Huxley, — Thanks for your ' Address/ * Peo-
ple complain of the unequal distribution of wealth, but it is a
much greater shame and injustice that any one man should
have the power to write so many brilliant essays as you have
lately done. There is no one who writes likes you. ... If I
were in your shoes, I should tremble for my life. I agree
with all you say, except that I must think that you draw
too great a distinction between the evolutionists and the uni-
formitarians.

I find that the few sentences which I have sent to press in
the ' Origin ' about the age of the world will do fairly well . , .

Ever yours,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace,

Down, March 22 [1869].
My dear Wallace, — I have finished your book ; f it
seems to me excellent, and at the same time most pleasant to
read. That you ever returned alive is wonderful after all

* In his ' Anniversary Address ' to the Geological Society, 1869, Mr.
Huxley criticised Sir William Thomson's paper (' Trans. Geol. Soc, Glas-
gow,' vol. iii.) "On Geological Time."

f ' The Malay Archipelago,' &c, 1869.

1869.] MR. WALLACE ON LYELL. 295

your risks from illness and sea voyages, especially that most
interesting one to Waigiou and back. Of all the impressions
which I have received from your book, the strongest is that
your perseverance in the cause of science was heroic. Your
descriptions of catching the splendid butterflies have made
me quite envious, and at the same time have made me feel
almost young again, so vividly have they brought before my
mind old days when I collected, though I never made such
captures as yours. Certainly collecting is the best sport in
the world. I shall be astonished if your book has not a great
success ; and your splendid generalizations on Geographical
Distribution, with which I am familiar from your papers, will
be new to most of your readers. I think I enjoyed most the
Timor case, as it is best demonstrated ; but perhaps Celebes
is really the most valuable. I should prefer looking at the
whole Asiatic continent as having formerly been more African
in its fauna, than admitting the former existence of a conti-
nent across the Indian Ocean. . . .

[The following letter refers to Mr. Wallace's article in the
April number of the ' Quarterly Review/* 1869, which to a
large extent deals with the tenth edition of Sir Charles Lyell's
' Principles/ published in 1867 and 1868. The review con-
tains a striking passage on Sir Charles Lyell's confession of
evolutionary faith in the tenth edition of his ' Principles/
which is worth quoting : " The history of science hardly pre-
sents so striking an instance of youthfulness of mind in ad-
vanced life as is shown by this abandonment of opinions so
long held and so powerfully advocated; and if we bear in
mind the extreme caution, combined with the ardent love of
truth which characterise every work which our author has
produced, we shall be convinced that so great a change was
not decided on without long and anxious deliberation, and

* My father wrote to Mr. Murray : " The article by Wallace is inimit-
ably good, and it is a great triumph that such an article should appear in

the * Quarterly,' and will make the Bishop of Oxford and gnash their

teeth."

296 work on 'man; [1869.

that the views now adopted must indeed be supported by ar-
guments of overwhelming force. If for no other reason than
that Sir Charles Lyell in his tenth edition has adopted it, the
theory of Mr. Darwin deserves an attentive and respectful
consideration from every earnest seeker after truth."]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace,

Down, April 14, 1869.

My dear Wallace, — I have been wonderfully interested
by your article, and I should think Lyell will be much grati-
fied by it. I declare if I had been editor, and had the power
of directing you, I should have selected for discussion the
very points which you have chosen. I have often said to
younger geologists (for I began in the year 1830) that they
did not know what a revolution Lyell had effected ; neverthe-
less, your extracts from Cuvier have quite astonished me.
Though not able really to judge, I am inclined to put more
confidence in Croll than you seem to do ; but I have been
much struck by many of your remarks on degradation.
Thomson's views of the recent age of the world have been for
some time one of my sorest troubles, and so I have been glad
to read what you say. Your exposition of Natural Selection
seems to me inimitably good ; there never lived a better ex-
pounder than you. I was also much pleased at your dis-
cussing the difference between our views and Lamarck's. One
sometimes sees the odious expression, " Justice to myself
compels me to say," &c, but you are the only man I ever
heard of who persistently does himself an injustice, and never
demands justice. Indeed, you ought in the review to have
alluded to your paper in the i Linnean Journal/ and I feel
sure all our friends will agree in this. But you cannot
" Burke " yourself, however much you may try, as may be
seen in half the articles which appear. I was asked but the
other day by a German professor for your paper, which I
sent him. Altogether I look at your article as appearing in
the ' Quarterly ' as an immense triumph for our cause. I pre-

1869.] MAN. 297

sume that your remarks on Man are those to which you
alluded in your note. If you had not told me I should have
thought that they had been added by some one else. As you
expected, I differ grievously from you, and I am very sorry
for it. I can see no necessity for calling in an additional and
proximate cause in regard to man.* But the subject is too
long for a letter. I have been particularly glad to read your
discussion because I am now writing and thinking much
about man.

I hope that your Malay book sells well ; I was extremely
pleased with the article in the ' Quarterly Journal of Science/
inasmuch as it is thoroughly appreciative of your work : alas !
you will probably agree with what the writer says about the
uses of the bamboo.

I hear that there is also a good article in the Saturday
Review, but have heard nothing more about it. Believe me

my dear Wallace,

Yours ever sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to C. Lyell.

Down, May 4 [1869].

My dear Lyell, — I have been applied to for some pho-
tographs (carte de visite) to be copied to ornament the diplo-
mas of honorary members of a new Society in Servia ! Will
you give me one for this purpose ? I possess only a full-
length one of you in my own album, and the face is too small,
I think, to be copied.

I hope that you get on well with your work, and have sat-
isfied yourself on the difficult point of glacier lakes. Thank

* Mr. Wallace points out that any one acquainted merely with the
" unaided productions of nature," might reasonably doubt whether a dray-
horse, for example, could have been developed by the power of man direct-
ing the " action of the laws of variation, multiplication, and survival, for
his own purpose. We know, however, that this has been done, and we
must therefore admit the possibility that in the development of the human
race, a higher intelligence has guided the same laws for nobler ends."

298 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1869.

heaven, I have finished correcting the new edition of the
' Origin,' and am at my old work of Sexual Selection.

Wallace's article struck me as admirable ; how well he
brought out the revolution which you effected some 30 years
ago. I thought I had fully appreciated the revolution, but I
was astounded at the extracts from Cuvier. What a good
sketch of natural selection ! but I was dreadfully disappointed
about Man, it seems to me incredibly strange . . . ; and had
I not known to the contrary, would have sworn it had been
inserted by some other hand. But I believe that you will
not agree quite in all this.

My dear Lyell, ever yours sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. L. A. de Quatrefages.

Down, May 28 [1869 or 1870].
Dear Sir, — I have received and read your volume,* and
am much obliged for your present. The whole strikes me as
a wonderfully clear and able discussion, and I was much
interested by it to the last page. It is impossible that any
account of my views could be fairer, or, as far as space per-
mitted, fuller, than that which you have given. The way in
which you repeatedly mention my name is most gratifying to
me. When I had finished the second part, I thought that
you had stated the case so favourably that you would make
more converts on my side than on your own side. On read-
ing the subsequent parts I had to change my sanguine view.
In these latter parts many of your strictures are severe
enough, but all are given with perfect courtesy and fairness.
I can truly say I would rather be criticised by you in this
manner than praised by many others. I agree with some of
your criticisms, but differ entirely from the remainder ; but I
will not trouble you with any remarks. I may, however, say,
that you must have been deceived by the French translation,

* Essays reprinted from the ' Revue des Deux Mondes,' under the title
1 Histoire Naturelle Generale,' &c, 1869.

1869.] MR. HUXLEY ON HAECKEL. 299

as you infer that I believe that the Parus and the Nuthatch
(or Sitta) are related by direct filiation. I wished only to
show by an imaginary illustration, how either instincts or
structures might first change. If you had seen Cam's Magel-
lanicus alive you would have perceived how foxlike its appear-
ance is, or if you had heard its voice, I think that you would
never have hazarded the idea that it was a domestic dog run
wild ; but this does not much concern me. It is curious how
nationality influences opinion ; a week hardly passes without
my hearing of some naturalist in Germany who supports my
views, and often puts an exagg rated value on my works ;
whilst in France I have not heard of a single zoologist, except
M. Gaudry (and he only partially), who supports my views.
But I must have a good many readers as my books are trans-
lated, and I must hope, notwithstanding your strictures, that
I may influence some embryo naturalists in France.

You frequently speak of my good faith, and no compli-
ment can be more delightful to me, but I may return you the
compliment with interest, for every word which you write
bears the stamp of your cordial love for the truth. Believe
me, dear Sir, with sincere respect,

Yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, October 14 [1869].
My dear Huxley, — I have been delighted to see your
review of Hackel,* and as usual you pile honours high on my
head. But I write now {requiring no answer) to groan a little
over what you have said about rudimentary organs. f Many
heretics will take advantage of what you have said. I cannot

* A review of Haeckel's ' Schopfungs-Geschichte.' The Academy, 1869.
Reprinted in ' Critiques and Addresses,' p. 303.

f In discussing Teleology and Haeckel's " Dysteleology," Prof. Huxley

says : — " Such cases as the existence of lateral rudiments of toes, in the

foot of a horse, place us in a dilemma. For either these rudiments are of

no use to the animals, in which case . . . they surely ought to have dis-

56

300 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1870.

but think that the explanation given at p. 541 of the last
edition of the i Origin ' of the long retention of rudimentary
organs and of their greater relative size during early life, is
satisfactory. Their final and complete abortion seems to me
a much greater difficulty. Do look in my ' Variations under
Domestication,' vol. ii. p. 397, at what Pangenesis suggests on
this head, though I did not dare to put in the ' Origin/
The passage bears also a little on the struggle between the
molecules or gemmules.* There is likewise a word or two
indirectly bearing on this subject at pp. 394-395. It won't
take you five minutes, so do look at these passages. I am
very glad that you have been bold enough to give your idea
about Natural Selection amongst the molecules, though I can
not quite follow you.

1870 AND BEGINNING OF 1871.

[My father wrote in his Diary : — " The whole of this year
[1870] at work on the ' Descent of Man/ . . . Went to Press
August 30, 1870."

The letters are again of miscellaneous interest, dealing, not
only with his work, but also serving to indicate the course of
his reading.]

C. Darwin to E. Ray Lankester.

Down, March 15 [1870].
My dear Sir, — I do not know whether you will consider
me a very troublesome man, but I have just finished your

appeared ; or they are of some use to the animal, in which case they are
of no use as arguments against Teleology." — ('Critiques and Addresses,'
p. 308.)

* " It is a probable hypothesis, that what the world is to organisms in
general, each organism is to the molecules of which it is composed. Mul-
titudes of these having diverse tendencies, are competing with one another
for opportunity to exist and multiply ; and the organism, as a whole, is as
much the product of the molecules which are victorious as the Fauna, or
Flora, of a country is the product of the victorious organic beings in it."—
('Critiques and Addresses,' p. 309.)

1870.] MR. WALLACE'S 'NATURAL SELECTION/ 301

book,* and can not resist telling ycu how the whole has much
interested me. No doubt, as you say, there must be much
speculation on such a subject, and certain results can not be
reached ; but all your views are highly suggestive, and to my
mind that is high praise. I have been all the more interested
as I am now writing on closely allied though not quite identi-
cal points. I was pleased to see you refer to my much
despised child, ' Pangenesis/ who I think will some day, under
some better nurse, turn out a fine stripling. It has also
pleased me to see how thoroughly you appreciate (and I do
not think that this is general with the men of science)
H. Spencer ; I suspect that hereafter he will be looked at as
by far the greatest living philosopher in England ; perhaps
equal to any that have lived. But I have no business to
trouble you with my notions. With sincere thanks for the
interest which your work has given me,

I remain, yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[The next letter refers to Mr. Wallace's ' Natural Selec-
tion ' (1870), a collection of essays reprinted with certain al-
terations of which a list is given in the volume :]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, April 20 [1870].
My dear Wallace, — I have just received your book,
and read the preface. There never has been passed on me,
or indeed on any one, a higher eulogium than yours. I wish
that I fully deserved it. Your modesty and candour are very
far from new to me. I hope it is a satisfaction to you to
reflect — and very few things in my life have been more satis-
factory to me — that we have never felt any jealousy towards
each other, though in one sense rivals. I believe that I can
say this of myself with truth, and I am absolutely sure that
it is true of you.

* ' Comparative Longevity.'

302 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1870,

You have been a good Christian to give a list of your
additions, for I want much to read them, and I should hardly
have had time just at present to have gone through all your
articles. Of course I shall immediately read those that are
new or greatly altered, and I will endeavour to be as honest
as can reasonably be expected. Your book looks remarkably
well got up.

Believe me, my dear Wallace, to remain,

Yours very cordially,

Ch. Darwin.

[Here follow one or two letters indicating the progress of
the ' Descent of Man ; ' the woodcuts referred to were being
prepared for that work •]

C. Darwin to A, Gunther*

March 23, [1870?]
Dear Gunther, — As. I do not know Mr. Ford's address,
will you hand him this note, which is written solely to express
my unbounded admiration of the woodcuts. I fairly gloat
over them. The only evil is that they will make all the other
woodcuts look very poor ! They are all excellent, and for
the feathers I declare I think it the most wonderful woodcut
I ever saw ; I can not help touching it to make sure that it is
smooth. How I wish to see the two other, and even more
important, ones of the feathers, and the four [of] reptiles, &c.
Once again accept my very sincere thanks for all your kind-
ness. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ford. Engravings have
always hitherto been my greatest misery, and now they are a

real pleasure to me.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P. S. — I thought I should have been in press by this time,
but my subject has branched off into sub-branches, which

* Dr. Gunther, Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum,

1870.] DR. GUNTHER'S HELP. 303

have cost me infinite time, and heaven knows when I shall
have all my MS ready ; but I am never idle.

C. Darwin to A. Giinther.

May 15 [1870].
My dear Dr. Gunther, — Sincere thanks. Your answers
are wonderfully clear and complete. I have some analogous
questions on reptiles, &c, which I will send in a few days,
and then I think I shall cause no more trouble. I will get
the books you refer me to. The case of the Solenostoma* is
magnificent, so exactly analogous to that of those birds in
which the female is the more gay, but ten times better for me,
as she is the incubator. As I crawl on with the successive
classes I am astonished to find how similar the rules are about
the nuptial or " wedding dress " of all animals. The subject
has begun to interest me in an extraordinary degree ; but I
must try not to fall into my common error of being too
speculative. But a drunkard might as well say he would
drink a little and not too much ! My essay, as far as fishes,
batrachians and reptiles are concerned, will be in fact yours,
only written by me. With hearty thanks.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[The following letter is of interest, as showing the exces-
sive care and pains which my father took in forming his
opinion on a difficult point :]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, September 23 [undated].
My dear Wallace, — I am very much obliged for all your
trouble in writing me your long letter, which I will keep by

* In most of the Lophobranchii the male has a marsupial sack in which
the eggs are hatched, and in these species the male is slightly brighter col-
oured than the female. But in Solenostoma the female is the hatcher, and
is also the more brightly coloured. — ' Descent of Man,' ii. 21.

304 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1870.

me and ponder over. To answer it would require at least
200 folio pages ! If you could see how often I have re-written
some pages you would know how anxious I am to arrive as
near as I can to the truth. I lay great stress on what I know
takes place under domestication ; I think we start with
different fundamental notions on inheritance. I find it is
most difficult, but not I think impossible, to see how, for in-
stance, a few red feathers appearing on the head of a male
bird, and which are at first transmitted to both sexes, could
come to be transmitted to males alone. It is not enough that
females should be produced from the males with red feathers,
which should be destitute of red feathers ; but these females
must have a latent tendency to produce such feathers, other-
wise they would cause deterioration in the red head-feathers
of their male offspring. Such latent tendency would be
shown by their producing the red feathers when old, or dis-
eased in their ovaria. But I have no difficulty in making the
whole head red if the few red feathers in the male from the
first tended to be sexually transmitted. I am quite willing
to admit that the female may have been modified, either at
the same time or subsequently, for protection by the accumu-
lation of variations limited in their transmission to the female
sex. I owe to your writings the consideration of this latter
point. But I cannot yet persuade myself that females alone
have often been modified for protection. Should you grudge
the trouble briefly to tell me whether you believe that the
plainer head and less bright colours of 9 chaffinch,* the less
red on the head and less clean colours of 9 goldfinch, the
much less red on the breast of 9 bull-finch, the paler crest of
golden-crested wren, &c, have been acquired by them for
protection. I cannot think so any more than I can that the
considerable differences between 9 and 8 house sparrow, or
much greater brightness of $ Parus ccendeus (both of which
build under cover) than of 9 Parus, are related to protection.
I even mis-doubt much whether the less blackness of 9 black-
bird is for protection.

* The symbols $ $ stand for male and female.

1S70J SEDGWICK. 305

Again, can you give me reasons for believing that the
moderate differences between the female pheasant, the female
Gallus bankiva, the female black grouse, the pea-hen, the
female partridge, [and their respective males,] have all special
references to protection under slightly different conditions ?
I, of course, admit that they are all protected by dull colours,
derived, as I think, from some dull-ground progenitor; and I
account partly for their difference by partial transference of
colour from the male and by other means too long to speci-
fy ; but I earnestly wish to see reason to believe that each is
specially adapted for concealment to its environment.

I grieve to differ from you, and it actually terrifies me and
makes me constantly distrust myself. I fear we shall never
quite understand each other. I value the cases of bright-
coloured, incubating male fishes, and brilliant female butter-
flies, solely as showing that one sex may be made brilliant
without any necessary transference of beauty to the other sex ;
for in these cases I cannot suppose that beauty in the other
sex was checked by selection.

I fear this letter will trouble you to read it. A very short
answer about your belief in regard to the 9 finches and gal-
linaceae would suffice.

Believe me, my dear Wallace,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, May 25 [1870].
.... Last Friday we all went to the Bull Hotel at
Cambridge to see the boys, and for a little rest and enjoy-
ment. The backs of the Colleges are simply paradisaical. On
Monday I saw Sedgwick, who was most cordial and kind ; in
the morning I thought his brain was enfeebled ; in the evening
he was brilliant and quite himself. His affection and kind-
ness charmed us all. My visit to him was in one way un-
fortunate ; for after a long sit he proposed to take me to the
museum, and I could not refuse, and in consequence he utterly

306 WORK ON ' MAN.' [187a

prostrated me ; so that we left Cambridge next morning, and
I have not recovered the exhaustion yet. Is it not humiliating
to be thus killed by a man of eighty-six, who evidently never
dreamed that he was killing me ? As he said to me, " Oh, 1
consider you as a mere baby to me ! " I saw Newton several
times, and several nice friends of F.'s. But Cambridge with-
out dear Henslow was not itself ; I tried to get to the two
old houses, but it was too far for me. . . .

C. Darwin to B. J. Sulivan*

Down, June 30 [1870].
My dear Sulivan, — It was very good of you to write to
me so long a letter, telling me much about yourself and your
children, which I was extremely glad to hear. Think what a
benighted wretch I am, seeing no one and reading but little
in the newspapers, for I did not know (until seeing the paper
of your Natural History Society) that you were a K.C.B.
Most heartily glad I am that the Government have at last
appreciated your most just claim for this high distinction. On
the other hand, I am sorry to hear so poor an account of your
health ; but you were surely very rash to do all that you did
and then pass through so exciting a scene as a ball at the
Palace. It was enough to have tired a man in robust health.
Complete rest will, however, I hope, quite set you up again.
As for myself, I have been rather better of late, and if noth-
ing disturbs me I can do some hours' work every day. I shall
this autumn publish another book partly on man, which I
dare say many will decry as very wicked. I could have
travelled to Oxford, but could no more have withstood the
excitement of a commemoration \ than I could a ball at

* Admiral Sir James Sulivan was a lieutenant on board the Beagle.

f This refers to an invitation to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L.
He was one of those nominated for the degree by Lord Salisbury on as-
suming the office of Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The fact
that the honour was declined on the score of ill-health was published in
the Oxford University Gazette, June 17, 1870.

1870.] SOUTH AMERICAN MISSION. 307

Buckingham Palace. Many thanks for your kind remarks
about my boys. Thank God, all give me complete satisfac-
tion ; my fourth stands second at Woolwich, and will be an
Engineer Officer at Christmas. My wife desires to be very
kindly remembered to Lady Sulivan, in which I very sincere-
ly join, and in congratulation about your daughter's marriage.
We are at present solitary, for all our younger children are
gone a tour in Switzerland. I had never heard a word about
the success of the T. del Fuego mission. It is most wonder-
ful, and shames me, as I always prophesied utter failure. It
is a grand success. I shall feel proud if your Committee
think fit to elect me an honorary member of your society.
With all good wishes and affectionate remembrances of ancient
days,

Believe me, my dear Sulivan,

Your sincere friend,

Ch. Darwin.

[My father's connection with the South American Mission,
which is referred to in the above letter, has given rise to some
public comment, and has been to some extent misunderstood.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking at the annual meet-
ing of the South American Missionary Society, April 21st,
1885,* said that the Society " drew the attention of Charles
Darwin, and made him, in his pursuit of the wonders of the
kindom of nature, realise that there was another kingdom just
as wonderful and more lasting." Some discussion on the
subject appeared in the Daily News of April 23rd, 24th, 29th,
1885, and finally Admiral Sir James Sulivan, on April 24th,
wrote to the same journal, giving a clear account of my fath-
er's connection with the Society : —

u Your article in the Daily News of yesterday induces me
to give you a correct statement of the connection between the
South American Missionary Society and Mr. Charles Darwin,
my old friend and shipmate for five years. I have been

* I quote a ' Leaflet,' published by the Society.

3o8 WORK ON ' MAN.' [1870.

closely connected with the Society from the time of Captain
Allen Gardiner's death, and Mr. Darwin has often expressed
to me his conviction that it was utterly useless to send Mis-
sionaries to such a set of savages as the Fuegians, probably
the very lowest of the human race. I had always replied that
I did not believe any human beings existed too low to compre-
hend the simple message of the Gospel of Christ. After
many years, I think about 1869,* but I cannot find the letter,
he wrote to me that the recent accounts of the Mission proved
to him that he had been wrong and I right in our estimates
of the native character, and the possibility of doing them good
through Missionaries ; and he requested me to forward to the
Society an enclosed cheque for ^5, as a testimony of the
interest he took in their good work. On June 6th, 1874, he
wrote : 'lam very glad to hear so good an account of the
Fuegians, and it is wonderful.' On June 10th, 1879: 'The
progress of the Fuegians is wonderful, and had it not oc-
curred would have been to me quite incredible.' On Janu-
ary 3rd, 1880 : ' Your extracts ' [from a journal] 'about the
Fuegians are extremely curious, and have interested me much.
I have often said that the progress of Japan was the greatest
wonder in the world, but I declare that the progress of
Fuegia is almost equally wonderful. On March 20th, 1881 :
' The account of the Fuegians interested not only me, but all
my family. It is truly wonderful what you have heard from
Mr. Bridges about their honesty and their language. I cer-
tainly should have predicted that not all the Missionaries in
the world could have done what has been done.' On De-
cember 1st, 1881, sending me his annual subscription to the
Orphanage at the Mission Station, he wrote : ' Judging from
the Missionary Journal, the Mission in Tierra del Fuego
seems going on quite wonderfully well.' "]

* It seems to have been in 1867.

1870.] COUSIN MARRIAGES. 309

C. Darwin to John Lubbock,

Down, July 17, 1870.

My dear Lubbock, — As I hear that the Census will be
brought before the House to-morrow, I write to say how
much I hope that you will express your opinion on the de-
sirability of queries in relation to consanguineous marriages
being inserted. As you are aware, I have made experiments
on the subject during several years ; and it is my clear con-
viction that there is now ample evidence of the existence of a great
physiological law, rendering an enquiry with reference to mankind
of much importance. In England and many parts of Europe the
marriages of cousins are objected to from their supposed injurious
consequences ; but this belief rests on no direct evidence. It is
therefore manifestly desirable that the belief should either be proved
false, or should be confirmed, so that in this latter case the
marriages of cousins might be discouraged. If the proper
queries are inserted, the returns would show whether married
cousins have in their households on the night of the census
as many children as have parents who are not related ; and
should the number prove fewer, we might safely infer either
lessened fertility in the parents, or which is more probable,
lessened vitality in the offspring.

It is, moreover, much to be wished that the truth of the
often repeated assertion that consanguineous marriages lead
to deafness, and dumbness, blindness, &c, should be ascer-
tained ; and all such assertions could be easily tested by the
returns from a single census.

Believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[When the Census Act was passing through the House of
Commons, Sir John Lubbock and Dr. Playfair attempted to
carry out this suggestion. The question came to a division,
which was lost, but not by many votes.

3io

WORK ON ' MAN,

[1870.

The subject of cousin marriages was afterwards investi-
gated by my brother.* The results of this laborious piece
of work were negative ; the author sums up in the sen-
tence : —

" My paper is far from giving any thing like a satisfactory
solution of the question as to the effects of consanguineous
marriages, but it does, I think, show that the assertion that
this question has already been set at rest, cannot be sub-
stantiated. "]

* " Marriages between First Cousins in England, and their EfFects0?:
By George Darwin. 'Journal of the Statistical Society,' June, 1875.

CHAPTER VIL
Publication of the ' Descent of Man.

Work on ' Expression.'

1871-1873.

[The last revise of the ' Descent of Man ' was corrected on
January 15th, 1871, so that the book occupied him for about
three years. He wrote to Sir J. Hooker : " I finished the
last proofs of my book a few days ago, the work half-killed
me, and I have not the most remote idea whether the book
is worth publishing/'

He also wrote to Dr. Gray : —

" I have finished my book on the ' Descent of Man,' &c,
and its publication is delayed only by the Index : when pub-
lished, I will send you a copy, but I do not know that you
will care about it. Parts, as on the moral sense, will, I dare
say, aggravate you, and if I hear from you, I shall probably
receive a few stabs from your polished stiletto of a pen."

The book was published on February 24, 1871. 2500
copies were printed at first, and 5000 more before the end of
the year. My father notes that he received for this edition
^"1470. The letters given in the present chapter deal with
its reception, and also with the progress of the work on Ex-
pression. The letters are given, approximately, in chrono-
logical order, an arrangement which necessarily separates
letters of kindred subject-matter, but gives perhaps a truer
picture of the mingled interests and labours of my father's life.

Nothing can give a better idea (in small compass) of the

312

DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION.

[1871.

growth of Evolutionism and its position at this time, than a
quotation from Mr. Huxley * : —

" The gradual lapse of time has now separated us by more
than a decade from the date of the publication of the ' Origin
of Species ; ' and whatever may be thought or said about
Mr. Darwin's doctrines, or the manner in which he has pro-
pounded them, this much is certain, that in a dozen years the
6 Origin of Species ' has worked as complete a revolution in
Biological Science as the * Principia ' did in Astronomy;'*
and it has done so, " because, in the words of Helmholtz, it
contains ' an essentially new creative thought.' And, as time
has slipped by, a happy change has come over Mr. Darwin's
critics. The mixture of ignorance and insolence which at
first characterised a large proportion of the attacks with which
he was assailed, is no longer the sad distinction of anti-Dar-
winian criticism."

A passage in the Introduction to the ' Descent of Man \
shows that the author recognised clearly this improvement in
the position of Evolution. "When a naturalist like Carl
Vogt ventures to say in his address, as President of the Na-
tional Institution of Geneva (1869), 'personne, en Europe au
moins, n'ose plus soutenir la creation independante et de
toutes pieces, des especes,' it is manifest that at least a large
number of naturalists must admit that species are the modi-
fied descendants of other species ; and this especially holds
good with the younger and rising naturalists. ... Of the
older and honoured chiefs in natural science, many, unfortu-
nately, are still opposed to Evolution in every form."

In Mr. James Hague's pleasantly written article, " A Rem-
iniscence of Mr. Darwin " (' Harper's Magazine,' October
1884), he describes a visit to my father u early in 1871,"!
shortly after the publication of the ' Descent of Man.' Mr.
Hague represents my father as " much impressed by the gen-

* 'Contemporary Review,' 1871.

f It must have been at the end of February, within a week after the
publication of the book.

1871J 'EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS/ 313

eral assent with which his views had been received, " and as
remarking that " everybody is talking about it without being
shocked."

Later in the year the reception of the book is described
in different language in the ' Edinburgh Review':* "On
every side it is raising a storm of mingled wrath, wonder,
and admiration."

With regard to the subsequent reception of the ' Descent
of Man/ my father wrote to Dr. Dohrn, February 3, 1872 : —

u I did not know until reading your article, f that my
' Descent of Man ' had excited so much furore in Germany.
It has had an immense circulation in this country and in
America, but has met the approval of hardly any naturalists
as far as I know. Therefore I suppose it was a mistake on
my part to publish it ; but, anyhow, it will pave the way for
some better work."

The book on the ' Expression of the Emotions ' was begun
on January 17th, 187 1, the last proof of the ' Descent of Man '
having been finished on January 15th. The rough copy was
finished by April 27th, and shortly after this (in June) the
work was interrupted by the preparation of a sixth edition of
the ' Origin.' In November and December the proofs of the
* Expression ' book were taken in hand, and occupied him
until the following year, when the book was published.

Some references to the work on Expression have occurred
in letters already given, showing that the foundation of the
book was, to some extent, laid down for some years before he
began to write it. Thus he wrote to Dr. Asa Gray, April 15,
1867 :—

" I have been, lately getting up and looking over my old
notes on Expression, and fear that I shall not make so much
of my hobby-horse as I thought I could ; nevertheless, it

* July 1 871. An adverse criticism. The reviewer sums up by saying
that: "Never perhaps in the history of philosophy have such wide gen-
eralisations been derived from such a small basis of fact."

f In 'Das Ausland.'

314 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

seems to me a curious subject which has been strangely
neglected."

It should, however, be remembered that the subject had
been before his mind, more or less, from 1837 or 1838, as
I judge from entries in his early note-books. It was in
December, 1839, that he began to make observations on
children.

The work required much correspondence, not only with
missionaries and others living among savages, to whom he
sent his printed queries, but among physiologists and phy-
sicians. He obtained much information from Professor
Donders, Sir W. Bowman, Sir James Paget, Dr. W. Ogle,
Dr. Crichton Browne, as well as from other observers.

The first letter refers to the i Descent of Man.']

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, January 30 [1871].
My dear Wallace, — Your note * has given me very great
pleasure, chiefly because I was so anxious not to treat you
with the least disrespect, and it is so difficult to speak fairly
when differing from any one. If I had offended you, it
would have grieved me more than you will readily believe.
Secondly, I am greatly pleased to hear that Vol. I. interests

* In the note referred to, dated January 27, Mr. Wallace wrote : —
" Many thanks for your first volume which I have just finished reading
through with the greatest pleasure and interest ; and I have also to thank
you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my
heresies."

The heresy is the limitation of natural selection as applied to man.
My father wrote (' Descent of Man,' i. p. 137) : — " I cannot therefore un-
derstand how it is that Mr. Wallace maintains that ' natural selection
could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that
of an ape.' " In the above quoted letter Mr. Wallace wrote : — " Your
chapters on ' Man ' are of intense interest, but as touching my special
heresy not as yet altogether convincing, though of course I fully agree
with every word and every argument which goes to prove the evolution or
development of man out of a lower form."

I87i.] 'DESCENT OF MAN.' 315

you ; I have got so sick of the whole subject that I felt in
utter doubt about the value of any part. I intended, when
speaking of females not having been specially modified for
protection, to include the prevention of characters acquired
by the S being transmitted to ? ; but I now see it would
have been better to have said li specially acted on," or some
such term. Possibly my intention may be clearer in Vol. II.
Let me say that my conclusions are chiefly founded on the
consideration of all animals taken in a body, bearing in mind
how common the rules of sexual differences appear to be in
all classes. The first copy of the chapter on Lepidoptera
agreed pretty closely with you. I then worked on, came back
to Lepidoptera, and thought myself compelled to alter it-
finished Sexual Selection and for the last time went over
Lepidoptera, and again I felt forced to alter it. I hope to
God there will be nothing disagreeable to you in Vol. II., and
that I have spoken fairly of your views ; I am fearful on this
head, because I have just read (but not with sufficient care)
Mivart's book,* and I feel absolutely certain that he meant to
be fair (but he was stimulated by theological fervour) ; yet I
do not think he has been quite fair. . . . The part which, I
think, will have most influence is where he gives the whole
series of cases like that of the whalebone, in which we can-
not explain the gradational steps ; but such cases have no
weight on my mind — if a few fish were extinct, who on earth
would have ventured even to conjecture that lungs had
originated in a swim-bladder ? In such a case as the Thy-
lacine, I think he was bound to say that the resemblance of
the jaw to that of the dog is superficial ; the number and
correspondence and development of teeth being widely dif-
ferent. I think again when speaking of the necessity of
altering a number of characters together, he ought to have
thought of man having power by selection to modify simul-
taneously or almost simultaneously many points, as in making
a greyhound or racehorse — as enlarged upon in my \ Domes-

* * The Genesis of Species/ by St. G. Mivart, 1871.

57

316 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871,

tic Animals.' Mivart is savage or contemptuous about my
"moral sense," and so probably will you be. I am extremely
pleased that he agrees with my position, as far as animal na-
ture is concerned, of man in the series ; or if anything, thinks
I have erred in making him too distinct.

Forgive me for scribbling at such length. You have put
me quite in good spirits ; I did so dread having been unin-
tentionally unfair towards your views. I hope earnestly the
second volume will escape as well. I care now very little
what others say. As for our not quite agreeing, really in
such complex subjects, it is almost impossible for two men
who arrive independently at their conclusions to agree fully,
it would be unnatural for them to do so.

Yours ever, very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[[Professor Haeckel seems to have been one of the first to
write to my father about the * Descent of Man/ I quote
.from his reply : —

"I must send you a few words to thank you for your in-
teresting, and I may truly say, charming letter. I am de-
lighted that you approve of my book, as far as you have read
it. I felt very great difficulty and doubt how often I ought
to allude to what you have published ; strictly speaking every
idea, although occurring independently to me, if published by
you previously ought to have appeared as if taken from your
works, but this would have made my book very dull reading ;
and I hoped that a full acknowledgment at the beginning
would suffice.* I cannot tell you how glad I am to find that
I have expressed my high admiration of your labours with

* In the introduction to the 'Descent of Man' the author wrote: —
"This last naturalist [Haeckel] . . . has recently . . . published his
VNaturliche Schopfungs-geschichte,' in which he fully discusses the gene-
alogy of man. If this* work had appeared before my essay had been writ-
ten, I should pijobably.never have completed it. Almost all the conclusions
at which I have arrived, I find confirmed by this naturalist, whose knowl-
edge on many points is_ much, fuller than mine."

1871.] MR. WALLACE'S REVIEW. 317

sufficient clearness ; I am sure that I have not expressed it
too strongly/']

C. Darwin to A, R% Wallace.

Down, March 16, 1871.
My dear Wallace, — I have just read your grand re-
view.* It is in every way as kindly expressed towards my-
self as it is excellent in matter. The Lyells have been here,
and Sir C. remarked that no one wrote such good scientific
reviews as you, and as Miss Buckley added, you delight in
picking out all that is good, though very far from blind to
the bad. In all this I most entirely agree. I shall always
consider your review as a great honour ; and however much
my book may hereafter be abused, as no doubt it will be,
your review will console me, notwithstanding that we differ
so greatly. I will keep your objections to my views in my
mind, but I fear that the latter are almost stereotyped in my
mind. I thought for long weeks about the inheritance and
selection difficulty, and covered quires of paper with notes in
trying to get out of it, but could not, though clearly seeing
that it would be a great relief if I could. I will confine my-
self to two or three remarks. I have been much impressed
with what you urge against colour f in the case of insects,
having been acquired through sexual selection. I always
saw that the evidence was very weak ; but I still think, if it
be admitted that the musical instruments of insects have been
gained through sexual selection, that there is not the least
improbability in colour having been thus gained. Your argu-
ment with respect to the denudation of mankind and also to
insects, that taste on the part of one sex would have to re-

* Academy, March 15, 187 1.

f Mr. Wallace says that the pairing of butterflies is probably deter-
mined by the fact that one male is stronger-winged, or more pertinacious
than the rest, rather than by the choice of the females. He quotes the
case of caterpillars which are brightly coloured and yet sexless. Mr. Wal-
lace also makes the good criticism that the * Descent of Man* consists of
two books mixed together.

318 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

main nearly the same during many generations, in order that
sexual selection should produce any effect, I agree to ; and I
think this argument would be sound if used by one who de-
nied that, for instance, the plumes of birds of Paradise had
been so gained. I believe you admit this, and if so I do not
see how your argument applies in other cases. I have recog-
nized for some short time that I have made a great omission
in not having discussed, as far as I could, the acquisition of
taste, its inherited nature, and its permanence within pretty
close limits for long periods.

[With regard to the success of the ' Descent of Man/ I
quote from a letter to Professor Ray Lankester (March 22,

1871):-

" I think you will be glad to hear, as a proof of the in-
creasing liberality of England, that my book has sold wonder-
fully .... and as yet no abuse (though some, no doubt, will
come, strong enough), and only contempt even in the poor
old Athenceum"

As to reviews that struck him he wrote to Mr. Wallace
(March 24, 1871) : —

" There is a very striking second article on my book in
the Pall Mall, % The articles in the Spectator* have also in-
terested me much."

On March 20 he wrote to Mr. Murray : —

" Many thanks for the Nonconformist [March 8, 1871]. I
like to see all that is written, and it is of some real use. If
you hear of reviewers in out-of-the-way papers, especially the
religious, as Record, Guardian, Tablet, kindly inform me. It
is wonderful that there has been no abuse \ as yet, but I

* Spectator, March 11 and 18, 1871. With regard to the evolution of
conscience the reviewer thinks that my father comes much nearer to the
" kernel of the psychological problem " than many of his predecessors.
The second article contains a good discussion of the bearing of the book
on the question of design, and concludes by finding in it a vindication of
Theism more wonderful than that in Paley's ' Natural Theology.'

f " I feel a full conviction that my chapter on man will excite attention

i87i.] REVIEWS. 319

suppose I shall not escape. On the whole, the reviews have
been highly favourable."

The following extract from a letter to Mr. Murray (April
13, 1871) refers to a review in the Times.\

"I have no idea who wrote the Times review. He has no
knowledge of science, and seems to me a wind-bag full of
metaphysics and classics, so that I do net much regard his
adverse judgment, though I suppose it will injure the sale."

A review of the ' Descent of Man/ which my father spoke
of as "capital," appeared in the Saturday Review (Mar. 4
and 11, 1 871). A passage from the first notice (Mar. 4) may
be quoted in illustration of the broad basis as regards general
acceptance, on which the doctrine of Evolution now stood :
" He claims to have brought man himself, his origin and con-
stitution, within that unity which he had previously sought
to trace through all lower animal forms. The growth of
opinion in the interval, due in chief measure to his own in-
termediate works, has placed the discussion of this problem
in a position very much in advance of that held by it fifteen
years ago. The problem of Evolution is hardly any longer to
be treated as one of first principles ; nor has Mr. Darwin to
do battle for a first hearing of his central hypothesis, upborne
as it is by a phalanx of names full of distinction and promise,
in either hemisphere."

The infolded point of the human ear, discovered by Mr.
Woolner, and described in the ' Descent of Man,' seems
especially to have struck the popular imagination ; my father
wrote to Mr. Woolner: —

and plenty of abuse, and I suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a
book." — (From a letter to Mr. Murray, Jan. 31, 1867.)

\ Times, April 7 and 8, 187 1. The review is not only unfavourable as
regards the book under discussion, but also as regards Evolution in general,
as the following citation will show : " Even had it been rendered highly
probable, which we doubt, that the animal creation has been developed
into its numerous and widely different varieties by mere evolution, it would
still require an independent investigation of overwhelming force and com-
pleteness to justify the presumption that man is but a term in this self-
evolving series."

320 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

" The tips to the ears have become quite celebrated. One
reviewer (' Nature ') says they ought to be called, as I sug-
gested in joke, Angulus Woolnerianus* A German is very
proud to find that he has the tips well developed, and I
believe will send me a photograph of his ears."]

C. Darwin to John Brodie Innes.\

Down, May 29 [1871].
My dear Innes, — I have been very glad to receive your
pleasant letter, for to tell you the truth, I have sometimes
wondered whether you would not think me an outcast and a
reprobate after the publication of my last book [' Descent ']. J
I do not wonder at all at your not agreeing with me, for a
good many professed naturalists do not. Yet when I see in
how extraordinary a manner the judgment of naturalists has
changed since I published the ' Origin/ I feel convinced that
there will be in ten years quite as much unanimity about man,
as far as his corporeal frame is concerned. . . .

[The following letters addressed to Dr. Ogle deal with
the progress of the work on expression.]

Down, March 12 [1871].
My dear Dr. Ogle, — I have received both your letters,
and they tell me all that I wanted to know in the clearest
possible way, as, indeed, all your letters have ever done. I
thank you cordially. I will give the case of the murderer *
in my hobby-horse essay on expression. I fear that the Eu-
stachian tube question must have cost you a deal of labour ;

* ' Nature ' Ap. 6, 1871. The term suggested is Angulus Woolnerii.
f Rev. J. Brodie Innes, of Milton Brodie, formerly Vicar of Down.
|Ina former letter of my father's to Mr. Innes : — " We often differed,

but you are one of those rare mortals from whom one can differ and yet
feel no shade of animosity, and that is a thing which I should feel very
proud of, if any one could say it of me."

* ' Expression of the Emotions,' p. 294. The arrest of a murderer, as
witnessed by Dr. Ogle in a hospital.

i87i.] EXPRESSION. 321

it is quite a complete little essay. It is pretty clear that the
mouth is not opened under surprise merely to improve the
hearing. Yet why do deaf men generally keep their mouths
open ? The other day a man here was mimicking a deaf
friend, leaning his head forward and sideways to the speaker,
with his mouth well open; it was a lifelike representation of
a deaf man. Shakespeare somewhere says : " Hold your
breath, listen" or "hark," I forget which. Surprise hurries
the breath, and it seems to me one can breathe, at least hur-
riedly, much quieter through the open mouth than through
the nose. I saw the other day you doubted this. As objec-
tion is your province at present, I think breathing through
the nose ought to come within it likewise, so do pray consider
this point, and let me hear your judgment. Consider the
nose to be a flower to be fertilised, and then you will make
out all about it.* I have had to allude to your paper on
1 Sense of Smell ; ' f is the paging right, namely, 1, 2, 3 ? If
not, I protest by all the gods against the plan followed by
some, of having presentation copies falsely paged ; and so
does Rolleston, as he wrote to me the other day. In haste.

Yours very sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to W. Ogle,

Down, March 25 [1871].
My dear Dr. Ogle, — You will think me a horrid bore,
but I beg you, in relation to a new point for observation, to
imagine as well as you can that you suddenly come across
some dreadful object, and act with a sudden little start, a
shudder of horror ; please do this once or twice, and observe
yourself as well as you can, and afterwards read the rest of
this note, which I have consequently pinned down. I find,
to my surprise, whenever I act thus my platysma contracts.

• * Dr. Ogle had corresponded with my father on his own observations
on the fertilisation of flowers.
f Medico-chirurg. Trans, liii.

322 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

Does yours ? (N.B. — See what a man will do for science ; I
began this note with a horrid lib, namely, that I want you to
attend to a new point.*) I will try and get some persons
thus to act who are so lucky as not to know that they even
possess this muscle, so troublesome for any one making out
about expression. Is a shudder akin to the rigor or shiver-
ing before fever? If so, perhaps the platysma could be ob-
served in such cases. Paget told me that he had attended
much to shivering, and had written in MS. on the subject,
and been much perplexed about it. He mentioned that pass-
ing a catheter often causes shivering. Perhaps I will write
to him about the platysma. He is always most kind in aiding
me in all ways, but he is so overworked that it hurts my con-
science to trouble him, for I have a conscience, little as you
have reason to think so. Help me if you can, and forgive
me. Your murderer case has come in splendidly as the acme
of prostration from fear.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Dr. Ogle.

Down, April 29 [1871].
My dear Dr. Ogle, — I am truly obliged for all the great
trouble which you have so kindly taken. I am sure you have
no cause to say that you are sorry you can give me no definite
information, for you have given me far more than I ever ex-
pected to get. The action of the platysma is not very im-
portant for me, but I believe that you will fully understand
(for I have always fancied that our minds were very similar)
the intolerable desire I had not to be utterly baffled. Now I
know that it sometimes contracts from fear and from shud-
dering, but not apparently from a prolonged state of fear
such as the insane suffer

* The point was doubtless described as a new one, to avoid the possi-
bility of Dr. Ogle's attention being directed to the platysma, a muscle
which had been the subject of discussion in other letters.

1871.] EXPRESSION. 323

[Mr. Mivart's ' Genesis of Species/ — a eontribution to the
literature of Evolution, which excited much attention — was
published in 1871, before the appearance of the ' Descent of
Man.' To this book the following letter (June 21, 187 1) from
the late Chauncey Wright * to my father refers] :

" I send . . . revised proofs of an article which will be
published in the July number of the ' North American Re-
view/ sending it in the hope that it will interest or even be
of greater value to you. Mr. Mivart's book [' Genesis of
Species '] of which this article is substantially a review, seems
to me a very good background from which to present the
considerations which I have endeavoured to set forth in the
article, in defence and illustration of the theory of Natural
Selection. My special purpose has been to contribute to the
theory by placing it in its proper relations to philosophical
inquiries in general.,, f

With regard to the proofs received from Mr. Wr right, my
father wrote to Mr. Wallace :]

Down, July 9 [1871].
My dear Wallace, — I send by this post a review by
Chauncey Wright, as I much want your opinion of it as soon
as you can send it. I consider you an incomparably better
critic than I am. The article, though not very clearly
written, and poor in parts from want of knowledge, seems
to me admirable. Mivart's book is producing a great effect

* Chauncey Wright was. born at Northampton, Massachusetts, Sept. 20,
1830, and came of a family settled in that town since 1654. He became in
1852 a computer in the Nautical Almanac office at Cambridge, Mass., and
lived a quiet uneventful life, supported by the small stipend of his office,
and by what he earned from his occasional articles, as well as by a little
teaching. He thought and read much on metaphysical subjects, but on
the whole with an outcome (as far as the world was concerned) not com-
mensurate to the power of his mind. He seems to have been a man of
strong individuality, and to have made a lasting impression on his friends.
He died in Sept., 1875.

t ' Letters of Chauncey Wright,' by J. B. Thayer. Privately printed,
1878, p. 230.

324 * DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

against Natural Selection, and more especially against me.
Therefore if you think the article even somewhat good I will
write and get permission to publish it as a shilling pamphlet,
together with the MS. additions (enclosed), for which there
was not room at the end of the review. . . .

I am now at work at a new and cheap edition of the
' Origin,' and shall answer several points in Mivart's book,
and introduce a new chapter for this purpose ; but I treat the
subject so much more concretely, and I dare say less philo-
sophically, than Wright, that we shall not interfere with each
other. You will think me a bigot when I say, after studying
Mivart, I was never before in my life so convinced of the
general (i. e. not in detail) truth of the views in the ' Origin/
I grieve to see the omission of the words by Mivart, detected
by Wright.* I complained to Mivart that in two cases he
quotes only the commencement of sentences by me, and thus
modifies my meaning ; but I never supposed he would have
omitted words. There are other cases of what I consider
unfair treatment. I conclude with sorrow that though he
means to be honourable he is so bigoted that he cannot act
fairly. . . .

C. Darwin to Chauncey Wright.

Down, July 14, 18 71.
My dear Sir, — I have hardly ever in my life read an
article which has given me so much satisfaction as the review
which you have been so kind as to send me. I agree to al-
most everything which you say. Your memory must be won-
derfully accurate, for you know my works as well as I do
myself, and your power of grasping other men's thoughts is
something quite surprising ; and this, as far as my experience

* * North American Review,' vol. 113, pp. 83, 84. Chauncey Wright
points out that the words omitted are " essential to the point on which he
[Mr. Mivart] cites Mr. Darwin's authority." It should be mentioned that
the passage from which words are omitted is not given within inverted
commas by Mr. Mivart.

1871.] 'GENESIS OF SPECIES/ 325

goes, is a very rare quality. As I read on I perceived how
you have acquired this power, viz. by thoroughly analyzing
each word.

. . . Now I am going to beg a favour. Will you pro-
visionally give me permission to reprint your article as a
shilling pamphlet ? I ask only provisionally, as I have not
yet had time to reflect on the subject. It would cost me, 1
fancy, with advertisements, some ^20 or ^30 ; but the
worst is that, as I hear, pamphlets never will sell. And this
makes me doubtful. Should you think it too much trouble
to send me a title for the chance ? The title ought, I think,
to have Mr. Mivart's name on it.

... If you grant permission and send a title, you will
kindly understand that I will first make further enquiries
whether there is any chance of a pamphlet being read.
Pray believe me yours very sincerely obliged,

Ch. Darwin.

[The pamphlet was published in the autumn, and on Oc-
tober 23 my father wrote to Mr. Wright : —

" It pleases me much that you are satisfied with the ap-
pearance of your pamphlet. I am sure it will do our cause
good service ; and this same, opinion Huxley has expressed
to me. (' Letters of Chauncey Wright,' p. 235)"]

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, July 12 [1871].
.... I feel very doubtful how far I shall succeed in an-
swering Mivart, it is so difficult to answer objections to
doubtful points, and make the discussion readable. I. shall
make only a selection. The worst of it is, that I cannot
possibly hunt through all my references for isolated points, it
would take me three weeks of intolerably hard work. I wish
I had your power of arguing clearly. At present I feel sick
of everything, and if I could occupy my time and forget my
daily discomforts, or rather miseries, I would never publish

326 ' DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

another word. But I shall cheer up, I dare say, soon, having
only just got over a bad attack. Farewell ; God knows why
I bother you about myself. I can say nothing more about
missing-links than what I have said. I should rely much on
pre-silurian times; but then comes Sir W. Thomson like an
odious spectre. Farewell.

. . . There is a most cutting review of me in the ' Quar-
terly ';* I have only read a few pages. The skill and style
make me think of Mivart. I shall soon be viewed as the
most despicable of men. This ' Quarterly Review ' tempts
me to republish Ch. Wright, even if not read by any one, just
to show some one will say a word against Mivart, and that
his (i.e. Mivart's) remarks ought not to be swallowed without
some reflection. . . . God knows whether my strength and
spirit will last out to write a chapter versus Mivart and others;
I do so hate controversy and feel I shall do it so badly.

[The above-mentioned ' Quarterly ' review was the subject
of an article by Mr. Huxley in the November number of the
' Contemporary Review.' Here, also, are discussed Mr. Wal-
lace's ' Contribution to the Theory of Natural Selection/ and
the second edition of Mr. Mivart 's ' Genesis of Species.'
What follows is taken from Mr. Huxley's article. The
1 Quarterly ' reviewer, though being to some extent an evolu-
tionist, believes that Man " differs more from an elephant or
a gorilla, than do these from the dust of the earth on which
they tread." The reviewer also declares that my father has
" with needless opposition, set at naught the first principles
of both philosophy and religion." Mr. Huxley passes from
the ' Quarterly ' reviewer's further statement, that there is no
necessary opposition between evolution and religion, to the
more definite position taken by Mr. Mivart, that the orthodox
authorities of the Roman Catholic Church agree in distinctly
asserting derivative creation, so that " their teachings har-
monize with all that modern science can possibly require."
Here Mr. Huxley felt the want of that " study of Christian

* July 1871.

1871.] 'QUARTERLY REVIEW.' 327

philosophy " (at any rate, in its Jesuitic garb), which Mr.
Mivart speaks of, and it was a want he at once set to work to
fill up. He was then staying at St. Andrews, whence he wrote
to my father : —

" By great good luck there is an excellent library here,
with a good copy of Suarez,* in a dozen big folios. Among
these I dived, to the great astonishment of the librarian, and
looking into them ' as the careful robin eyes the delver's toil '
(vide i Idylls'), 1 carried off the two venerable clasped vol-
umes which were most promising." Even those who know
Mr. Huxley's unrivalled power of tearing the heart out of a
book must marvel at the skill with which he has made Suarez
speak on his side. " So I have come out," he wrote, "in the
new character of a defender of Catholic orthodoxy, and up-
set Mivart out of the mouth of his own prophet."

The remainder of Mr. Huxley's critique is largely occu-
pied with a dissection of the ' Quarterly ' reviewer's psychol-
ogy, and his ethical views. He deals, too, with Mr. Wal-
lace's objections to the doctrine of Evolution by natural
causes when applied to the mental faculties of Man. Finally,
he devotes a couples of pages to justifying his description of
the ' Quarterly ' reviewer's " treatment of Mr. Darwin as alike
unjust and unbecoming."

It will be seen that the two following letters were written
before the publication of Mr. Huxley's article.]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley,

Down, September 21 [1871].
My dear Huxley, — Your letter has pleased me in many
ways, to a wonderful degree. . . . What a wonderful man you
are to grapple with those old metaphisico-divinity books. It
quite delights me that you are going to some extent to answer
and attack Mivart. His book, as you say, has produced a
great effect ; yesterday I perceived the reverberations from it,
even from Italy. It was this that made me ask Chauncey

* The learned Jesuit on whom Mr. Mivart mainly relies.

328 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

Wright to publish at my expense his article, which seems
to me very clever, though ill-written. He has not knowledge
enough to grapple with Mivart in detail. I think there can
be no shadow of doubt that he is the author of the article in
the ' Quarterly Review ' ... I am preparing a new edition
of the 'Origin,' and shall introduce a new chapter in answer
to miscellaneous objections, and shall give up the greater part
to answer Mivart's cases of difficulty of incipient structures
being of no use : and I find it can be done easily. He never
states his case fairly, and makes wonderful blunders. . . .
The pendulum is now swinging against our side, but I feel
positive it will soon swing the other way ; and no mortal man
will do half as much as you in giving it a start in the right
direction, as you did at the first commencement. God for-
give me for writing so long and egotistical a letter ; but it
is your fault, for you have so delighted me ; I never dreamed
that you would have time to say a word in defence of the
cause which you have so often defended. It will be a long
battle, after we are dead and gone. . . . Great is the power
of misrepresentation. ...

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, September 30 [1871].
My dear Huxley,— It was very good of you to send the
proof-sheets, for I was very anxious to read your article. I
have been delighted with it. How you do smash Mivart's
theology : it is almost equal to your article versus Comte— *
that never can be transcended. ... But I have been pre-
eminently glad to read your discussion on [the ' Quarterly '
reviewer's] metaphysics, especially about reason and his de-
finition of it. I felt sure he was wrong, but having only

* ■ Fortnightly Review/ 1869. With regard to the relations of Posi-
tivism to Science my father wrote to Mr. Spencer in 1875 : " How curi-
ous and amusing it is to see to what an extent the Positivists hate all men
of science ; I fancy they are dimly conscious what laughable and gigantic
blunders their prophet made in predicting the course of science."

1871.] MR. HUXLEY'S REVIEW. 329

common observation and sense to trust to, I did not know
what to say in my second edition of my • Descent/ Now a
footnote and reference to you will do the work. . . . For me,
this is one of the most important parts of the review. But for
pleasure, I have been particularly glad that my few words *
on the distinction, if it can be so called, between Mivart's two
forms of morality, caught your attention. I am so pleased
that you take the same view, and give authorities for it ; but I
searched Mill in vain on this head. How well you argue the
whole case. I am mounting climax on climax ; for after all
there is nothing, I think, better in your whole review than
your arguments v. Wallace on the intellect of savages. I must
tell you what Hooker said to me a few years ago. " When I
read Huxley, I feel quite infantile in intellect.,, By Jove I
have felt the truth of this throughout your review. What a
man you are. There are scores of splendid passages, and
vivid flashes of wit. I have been a good deal more than
merely pleased by the concluding part of your review ; and
all the more, as I own I felt mortified by the accusation of
bigotry, arrogance, &c, in the ' Quarterly Review/ But I
assure you, he may write his worst, and he will never mortify
me again.

My dear Huxley, yours gratefully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to F. Muller.

Haredene, Albury, August 2 [18 71].
My dear Sir, — Your last letter has interested me greatly;
it is wonderfully rich in facts and original thoughts. First,
let me say that I have been much pleased by what you say
about my book. It has had a. very large sale; but I have
been much abused for it, especially for the chapter on the
moral sense ; and most of my reviewers consider the book as
a poor affair. God knows what its merits may really be ; all

* ' Descent of Man/ vol. i. p. 87. A discussion on the question whether
an act done impulsively or instinctively can be called moral.

330 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871.

that I know is that I did my best. With familiarity I think
naturalists will accept sexual selection to a greater extent
than they now seem inclined to do. I should very much like
to publish your letter, but I do not see how it could be made
intelligible, without numerous coloured illustrations, but I will
consult Mr. Wallace on this head. I earnestly hope that you
keep notes of all your letters, and that some day you will
publish a book : l Notes of a Naturalist in S. Brazil/ or some
such title. Wallace will hardly admit the possibility of
sexual selection with Lepidoptera, and no doubt it is very
improbable. Therefore, I am very glad to hear of your cases
(which I will quote in the next edition) of the two sets of
Hesperiadae, which display their wings differently, according
to which surface is coloured. I cannot believe that such dis-
play is accidental and purposeless. ...

No fact of your letter has interested me more than that
about mimicry. It is a capital fact about the males pursuing
the wrong females. You put the difficulty of the first steps in
imitation in a most striking and convincing manner. Your
idea of sexual selection having aided protective imitation
interests me greatly, for the same idea had occurred to me in
quite different cases, viz. the dulness of all animals in the
Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, &c, and in some other cases ;
but I was afraid even to hint at such an idea. Would you
object to my giving some such sentence as follows : il F.
Mliller suspects that sexual selection may have come into
play, in aid of protective imitation, in a very peculiar manner,
which will appear extremely improbable to those who do not
fully believe in sexual selection. It is that the appreciation
of certain colour is developed in those species which fre-
quently behold other species thus ornamented." Again let
me thank you cordially for your most interesting letter. . . .

1872.] 'PRIMITIVE CULTURE.' 33 1

C. Darwin to E. B. Tybr*

Down [Sept. 24, 1871].
My dear Sir, — I hope that you will allow me to have the
pleasure of telling you how greatly I have been interested by
your ' Primitive Culture,' now that I have finished it. It
seems to me a most profound work, which will be certain to
have permanent value, and to be referred to for years to come.
It is wonderful how you trace animism from the lower races
up to the religious belief of the highest races. It will make
me for the future look at religion — a belief in the soul, &c. —
from a new point of view. How curious, also, are the survi-
vals or rudiments of old customs. . . . You will perhaps be
surprised at my writing at so late a period, but I have had the
book read aloud to me, and from much ill-health of late could
only stand occasional short reads. The undertaking must
have cost you gigantic labour. Nevertheless, I earnestly hope
that you may be induced to treat morals in the same enlarged
yet careful manner, as you have animism. I fancy from the
last chapter that you have thought of this. No man could do
the work so well as you, and the subject assuredly is a most
important and interesting one. You must now possess refer-
ences which would guide you to a sound estimation of the
morals of savages ; and how writers like Wallace, Lubbock,
&c, &c, do differ on this head. Forgive me for troubling
you, and believe me, with much respect,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

1872.

[At the beginning of the year the sixth edition of the
1 Origin/ which had been begun in June, 1871, was nearly
completed. The last sheet was revised on January 10, 1872,
and the book was published in the course of the month.
This volume differs from the previous ones in appearance

* Keeper of the Museum, and Reader in Anthropology at Oxford.
58

332 ' DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

and size — it consists of 458 pp. instead of 596 pp. and is
a few ounces lighter ; it is printed on bad paper, in small
type, and with the lines unpleasantly close together. It had,
however, one advantage over previous editions, namely that
it was issued at a lower price. It is to be regretted that this
the final edition of the ' Origin ' should have appeared in
so unattractive a form ; a form which has doubtless kept off
many readers from the book.

The discussion suggested by the i Genesis of Species ' was
perhaps the most important addition to the book. The ob-
jection that incipient structures cannot be of use was dealt
with in some detail, because it seemed to the author that
this was the point in Mr. Mivart's book which has struck
most readers in England.

It is a striking proof of how wide and general had become
the acceptance of his views that my father found it necessary
to insert (sixth edition, p. 424), the sentence : " As a record
of a former state of things, I have retained in the foregoing
paragraphs and also elsewhere, several sentences which imply
that naturalists believe in the separate creation of each
species ; and I have been much censured for having thus
expressed myself. But undoubtedly this was the general
belief when the first edition of the present work appeared. . .
Now things are wholly changed, and almost every naturalist
admits the great principle of evolution.,,

A small correction introduced into this sixth edition is
connected with one of his minor papers : " Note on the habits
of the Pampas Woodpecker." * In the fifth edition of the
* Origin,' p. 220, he wrote : —

" Yet as I can assert not only from my own observation,
but from that of the accurate Azara, it [the ground wood-
pecker] never climbs a tree." The paper in question was a
reply to Mr. Hudson's remarks on the woodpecker in a pre-
vious number of the same journal. The last sentence of
my father's paper is worth quoting for its temperate tone :

* Zoolog. Soc. Proc. 1870.

1872.] 'ORIGIN— SIXTH EDITION. 333

u Finally, I trust that Mr. Hudson is mistaken when he says
that any one acquainted with the habits of this bird might be
induced to believe that I ' had purposely wrested the truth '
in order to prove my theory. He exonerates me from this
charge ; but I should be loath to think that there are many
naturalists who, without any evidence, would accuse a fellow-
worker of telling a deliberate falsehood to prove his theory."
In the sixth edition, p. 142, the passage runs " in certain
large districts it does not climb trees." And he goes on to
give Mr. Hudson's statement that in other regions it does
frequent trees.

One of the additions in the sixth edition (p. 149), was a
reference to Mr. A. Hyatt's and Professor Cope's theory of
"acceleration." With regard to this he wrote (October 10,
1872) in characteristic words to Mr. Hyatt: —

" Permit me to take this opportunity to express my sincere
regret at having committed two grave errors in the last
edition of my * Origin of Species,' in my allusion to yours and
Professor Cope's views on acceleration and retardation of de-
velopment. I had thought that Professor Cope had preceded
you ; but I now well remember having formerly read with
lively interest, and marked, a paper by you somewhere in my
library, on fossil Cephalapods with remarks on the subject.
It seems also that I have quite misrepresented your joint
view. This has vexed me much. I confess that I have
never been able to grasp fully what you wish to show, and I
presume that this must be owing to some dulness on my
part."

Lastly, it may be mentioned that this cheap edition being
to some extent intended as a popular one, was made to in-
clude a glossary of technical terms, " given because several
readers have complained. . . . that some of the terms used
were unintelligible to them." The glossary was compiled
by Mr. Dallas, and being an excellent collection of clear
and sufficient definitions, must have proved useful to many
readers.]

334 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

C. Darwin to J. L. A. de Quatrefages.

Down, January 15, 1872.
My dear Sir, — I am much obliged for your very kind
letter and exertions in my favour. I had thought that the
publication of my last book [' Descent of Man '] would have
destroyed all your sympathy with me, but though I estimated
very highly your great liberality of mind, it seems that I
underrated it.

I am gratified to hear that M. Lacaze-Duthiers will vote *
for me, for I have long honoured his name. I cannot help
regretting that you should expend your valuable time in
trying to obtain for me the honour of election, for I fear,
judging from the last time, that all your labour will be in vain.
Whatever the result may be, I shall always retain the most
lively recollection of your sympathy and kindness, and this
will quite console me for my rejection.

With much respect and esteem, I remain, dear Sir,

Yours truly obliged,
Charles Darwin.

P.S. — With respect to the great stress which you lay on
man walking on two legs, whilst the quadrumana go on all
fours, permit me to remind you that no one much values the
great difference in the mode of locomotion, and consequently
in structure, between seals and the terrestrial carnivora, or
between the almost biped kangaroos and other marsupials.

C. Darwin to August Weismann. f

Down, April 5, 1872.
My dear Sir, — I have now read your essay J with very
great interest. Your view of the i Origin ' of local races

* He was not elected as a corresponding member of the French Acad-
emy until 1878.

f Professor of Zoology in Freiburg.

% ' Ueber den Einfluss der Isolirung auf die Artbildung.' Leipzig,

1872.

1872.] ISOLATION. 33$

through "Amixie," is altogether new to me, and seems to
throw an important light on an obscure problem. There is,
however, something strange about the periods or endurance
of variability. I formerly endeavoured to investigate the
subject, not by looking to past time, but 'to species of the
same genus widely distributed ; and I found in many cases
that all the species, with perhaps one or two exceptions, were
variable. It would be a very interesting subject for a con-
chologist to investigate, viz., whether the species of the same
genus were variable during many successive geological forma-
tions. I began to make inquiries on this head, but failed in
this, as in so many other things, from the want of time and
strength. In your remarks on crossing, you do not, as it
seems to me, lay nearly stress enough on the increased vigour
of the offspring derived from parents which have been exposed
to different conditions. I have during the last five years
been making experiments on this subject with plants, and
have been astonished at the results, which have not yet been
published.

In the first part of your essay, I thought that you wasted
(to use an English expression) too much powder and shot on
M. Wagner ; * but I changed my opinion when I saw how
admirably you treated the whole case, and how well you
used the facts about the Planorbis. I wish I had studied this
latter case more carefully. The manner in which, as you
show, the different varieties blend together and make a con-
stant whole, agrees perfectly with my hypothetical illustrations.
. Many years ago the late E. Forbes described three closely
consecutive beds in a secondary formation, each with repre-
sentative forms of the same fresh-water shells : the case is
evidently analogous with that of Hilgendorf, f but the inter-

* Prof. Wagner has written two essays on the same subject. ' Die Dar-
win'sche Theorie und das Migrationsgesetz, in 1868, and ' Ueber den Ein-
fluss der Geographischen Isolirung, &c.,' an address to the Bavarian Acad-
emy of Sciences at Munich, 1870.

f " Ueber Planorbis multiformis im Steinheimer Siisswasser-kalk."
Monatsbericht of the Berlin Academy, 1866.

336 'DESCENT OF MAN —EXPRESSION. [1872.

esting connecting varieties or links were here absent. I re-
joice to think that I formerly said as emphatically as I could,
that neither isolation nor time by themselves do anything for
the modification of species. Hardly anything in your essay
has pleased me so much personally, as to find that you believe
to a certain extent in sexual selection. As far as I can judge,
very few naturalists believe in this. I may have erred on
many points, and extended the doctrine too far, but I feel
a strong conviction that sexual selection will hereafter be
admitted to be a powerful agency. I cannot agree with what
you say about the taste for beauty in animals not easily vary-
ing. It may be suspected that even the habit of viewing
differently coloured surrounding objects would influence their
taste, and Fritz Miiller even goes so far as to believe that the
sight of gaudy butterflies might influence the taste of distinct
species. There are many remarks and statements in your
essay which have interested me greatly, and I thank you for
the pleasure which I have received from reading it.
With sincere respect, I remain,

My dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — If you should ever be induced to consideV the whole
doctrine of sexual selection, I think that you will be led to
the conclusion, that characters thus gained by one sex are
very commonly transferred in a greater or less degree to the
other sex.

[With regard to Moritz Wagner's first Essay, my father
wrote to that naturalist, apparently in 1868 :]

Dear and respected Sir, — I thank you sincerely for
sending me your ' Migrationsgesetz, &c.,' and for the very
kind and most honourable notice which you have taken of my
works. That a naturalist who has travelled into so many and
such distant regions, and who has studied animals of so many
classes,* should, to a considerable extent, agree with me, is, I

1872.] ISOLATION. 337

can assure you, the highest gratification of which I am capa-
ble. . . . Although I saw the effects of isolation in the case
of islands and mountain-ranges, and knew of a few instances
of rivers, yet the greater number of your facts were quite un-
known to me. I now see that from the want of knowledge I
did not make nearly sufficient use of the views which you
advocate; and I almost wish I could believe in its impor-
tance to the same extent with you ; for you well show, in a
manner which never occurred to me, that it removes many
difficulties and objections. But I must still believe that in
many large areas all the individuals of the same species have
been slowly modified, in the same manner, for instance, as the
English race-horse has been improved, that is by the con-
tinued selection of the fleetest individuals, without any sepa-
ration. But I admit that by this process two or more new
species could hardly be found within the same limited area ;
some degree of separation, if not indispensable, would be
highly advantageous ; and here your facts and views will be
of great value. . . .

[The following letter bears on the same subject. It refers
to Professor M. Wagner's Essay, published in Das Ausland,
May 31, 1875 :]

C. Darwin to Moritz Wagner,

Down, October 13, 1876.
Dear Sir, — I have now finished reading your essays,
which have interested me in a very high degree, notwith-
standing that I differ much from you on various points. For
instance, several considerations make me doubt whether spe-
cies are much more variable at one period than at another,
except through the agency of changed conditions. I wish,
however, that I could believe in this doctrine, as it removes
many difficulties. But my strongest objection to your theory
is that it does not explain the manifold adaptations in struc-
ture in every organic being — for instance in a Picus for
climbing trees and catching insects — or in a Strix for catching

338 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

animals at night, and so on ad infinitum. No theory is in
the least satisfactory to me unless it clearly explains such
adaptations. I think that you misunderstand my views on
isolation. I believe that all the individuals of a species can
be slowly modified within the same district, in nearly the
same manner as man effects by what I have called the pro-
cess of unconscious selection. ... I do not believe that one
species will give birth to two or more new species as long as
they are mingled together within the same district. Never-
theless I cannot doubt that many new species have been
simultaneously developed within the same large continental
area ; and in my ' Origin of Species ' I endeavoured to ex-
plain how two new species might be developed, although
they met and intermingled on the borders of their range. It
would have been a strange fact if I had overlooked the
importance of isolation, seeing that it was such cases as that
of the Galapagos Archipelago, which chiefly led me to study
the origin of species. In my opinion the greatest error
which I have committed, has been not allowing sufficient
weight to the direct action of the environment, i.e. food,
climate, &c, independently of natural selection. Modifica-
tions thus caused, which are neither of advantage nor disad-
vantage to the modified organism, would be especially fa-
voured, as I can now see chiefly through your observations,
by isolation in a small area, where only a few individuals
lived under nearly uniform conditions.

When I wrote the i Origin/ and for some years afterwards,
I could find little good evidence of the direct action of the
environment ; now there is a large body of evidence, and your
case of the Saturnia is one of the most remarkable of which I
have heard. Although we differ so greatly, I hope that you
will permit me to express my respect for your long-continued
and successful labours in the good cause of natural science.
I remain, dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

[The two following letters are also of interest as bearing

1872.] ISOLATION. ^9

on my fathers views on the action of isolation as regards the
origin of new species :]

C. Darwin to K. Semper.

Down, November 26, 1878.

My dear Professor Semper, — -When I published the
sixth edition of the i Origin/ I thought a good deal on the
subject to which you refer, and the opinion therein expressed
was my deliberate conviction. I went as far as I could, per-
haps too far in agreement with Wagner ; since that time I
have seen no reason to change my mind, but then I must add
that my attention has been absorbed on other subjects.
There are two different classes of cases, as it appears to me,
viz. those in which a species becomes slowly modified in the
same country (of which I cannot doubt there are innumerable
instances) and those cases in which a species splits into two
or three or more new species, and in the latter case, I should
think nearly perfect separation would greatly aid in their
" specification, " to coin a new word.

I am very glad that you are taking up this subject, for you
will be sure to throw much light on it. I remember well,
long ago, oscillating much ; when I thought of the Fauna and
Flora of the Galapagos Islands I was all for isolation, when I
thought of S. America I doubted much. Pray believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — I hope that this letter will not be quite illegible,
but I have no amanuensis at present.

C. Darwin to K. Semper.

Down, November 30, 1878.
Dear Professor Semper, — Since writing I have recalled
some of the thoughts and conclusions which have passed
through my mind of late years. In North America, in going
from north to south or from east to west, it is clear that the
changed conditions of life have modified the organisms in the

340 * DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

different regions, so that they now form distinct races or even
species. It is further clear that in isolated districts, however
small, the inhabitants almost always get slightly modified, and
how far this is due to the nature of the slightly different
conditions to which they are exposed, and how far to mere
interbreeding, in the manner explained by Weismann, I can
form no opinion. The same difficulty occurred to me (as
shown in my ' Variation of Animals and Plants under Do-
mestication ') with respect to the aboriginal breeds of cattle,
sheep, &c, in the separated districts of Great Britain, and
indeed throughout Europe. As our knowledge advances,
very slight differences, considered by systematists as of no
importance in structure, are continually found to be function-
ally important ; and I have been especially struck with this
fact in the case of plants to which my observations have of
late years been confined. Therefore it seems to me rather
rash to consider the slight differences between representative
species, for instance those inhabiting the different islands of
the same archipelago, as of no functional importance, and as
not in any way due to natural selection. With respect to all
adapted structures, and these are innumerable, I cannot see
how M. Wagner's view throws any light, nor indeed do I see
at all more clearly than I did before, from the numerous cases
which he has brought forward, how and why it is that a long
isolated form should almost always become slightly modified.
I do not know whether you will care about hearing my
further opinion on the point in question, for as before re-
marked 1 have not attended much of late years to such ques-
tions, thinking it prudent, now that I am growing old, to
work at easier subjects.

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

I hope and trust that you will throw light on these points.

P.S. — I will add another remark which I remember oc-
curred to me when I first read M. Wagner. When a species

1872.] 'DESCENT OF MAN.' 34I

first arrives on a small island, it will probably increase rapidly,
and unless all the individuals change instantaneously (which
is improbable in the highest degree), the slowly, more or less,
modifying offspring must intercross one with another, and
with their unmodified parents, and any offspring not as yet
modified. The case will then be like that of domesticated
animals which have slowly become modified, either by the
action of the external conditions or by the process which I
have called the unconscious selection by man — i.e., in contrast
with methodical selection.

[The letters continue the history of the year 1872, which
has been interrupted by a digression on Isolation.]

C. Darwin to the Marquis de Saporta.

Down, April 8, 1872.

Dear Sir, — I thank you very sincerely and feel much
honoured by the trouble which you have taken in giving me
your reflections on the origin of Man. It gratifies me ex-
tremely that some parts of my work have interested you, and
that we agree on the main conclusion of the derivation of
man from some lower form.

I will reflect on what you have said, but I cannot at pres-
ent give up my belief in the close relationship of Man to the
higher Simiae. I do not put much trust in any single char-
acter, even that of dentition ; but I put the greatest faith in
resemblances in many parts of the whole organisation, for I
cannot believe that such resemblances can be due to any
cause except close blood relationship. That man is closely
allied to the higher Simiae is shown by the classification of
Linnaeus, who was so good a judge of affinity. The man
who in England knows most about the structure of the
Simiae, namely, Mr. Mivart, and who is bitterly opposed to
my doctrines about the derivation of the mental powers,
yet has publicly admitted that I have not put man too
close to the higher Simiae, as far as bodily structure is con-
cerned. I do not think the absence of reversions of struct-

342 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

ure in man is of much weight ; C. Vogt, indeed, argues that
[the existence of] Micro-cephalous idiots is a case of rever-
sion. No one who believes in Evolution will doubt that the
Phocae are descended from some terrestrial Carnivore. Yet
no one would expect to meet with any such reversion in
them. The lesser divergence of character in the races of
man in comparison with the species of Simiadae may perhaps
be accounted for by man having spread over the world at a
much later period than did the Simiadae. I am fully pre-
pared to admit the high antiquity of man ; but then we have
evidence, in the Dryopithecus, of the high antiquity of the
Anthropomorphous Simiae.

I am glad to hear that you are at work on your fossil
plants, which of late years have afforded so rich a field for
discovery. With my best thanks for your great kindness,
and with much respect, I remain,

Dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

[In April, 1872, he was elected to the Royal Society of
Holland, and wrote to Professor Donders : —

" Very many thanks for your letter. The honour of being
elected a foreign member of your Royal Society has pleased
me much. The sympathy of his fellow workers has always
appeared to me by far the highest reward to which any
scientific man can look. My gratification has been not a
little increased by first hearing of the honour from you."]

C. Darwin to Chauncey Wright.

Down, June 3, 1872.

My dear Sir, — Many thanks for your article * in the
' North American Review/ which I have read with great

* The proof-sheets of an article which appeared in the July number of
the • North American Review.' It was a rejoinder to Mr. Mivart's reply
(' N. Am. Review,' April 1872) to Mr. Chauncey Wright's pamphlet.
Chauncey Wright says of it (* Letters,' p. 238) : — " It is not properly a re-
joinder but a new article, repeating and expounding some of the points of
my pamphlet, and answering some of Mr. Mivart's replies incidentally."

1872.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 343

interest. Nothing can be clearer than the way in which you
discuss the permanence or fixity of species. It never oc-
curred to me to suppose that any one looked at the case as
it seems Mr. Mivart does. Had I read his answer to you,
perhaps I should have perceived this ; but I have resolved
to waste no more time in reading reviews of my works or on
Evolution, excepting when I hear that they are good and
contain new matter. ... It is pretty clear that Mr. Mivart
has come to the end of his tether on this subject.

As your mind is so clear, and as you consider so carefully
the meaning of wTords, I wish you would take some incidental
occasion to consider when a thing may properly be said to be
effected by the will of man. I have been led to the wish by
reading an article by your Professor Whitney versus Schleicher.
He argues, because each step of change in language is made
by the will of man, the whole language so changes ; but I do
not think that this is so, as man has no intention or wish to
change the language. It is a parallel case with what I have
called " unconscious selection/' which depends on men con-
sciously preserving the best individuals, and thus uncon-
sciously altering the breed.

My dear Sir, yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[Not long afterwards (September) Mr. Chauncey Wright
paid a visit to Down,* which he described in a letter f to Miss

* Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Brace, who had given much of their lives to
philanthropic work in New York, also paid a visit at Down in this sum-
mer. Some of their work is recorded in Mr. Brace's ' The Dangerous
Classes of New York,' and of this book my father wrote to the author : —

" Since you were here my wife has read aloud to me more than half of
your work, and it has interested us both in the highest degree, and we
shall read every word of the remainder. The facts seem to me very well
told, and the inferences very striking. But after all this is but a weak
part of the impression left on our minds by what we have read ; for we are
both filled with earnest admiration at the heroic labours of yourself and
others."

f * Letters,' p. 246-248.

344 * DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [18725.

S. Sedgwick (now Mrs. William Darwin) : " If you can imag-
ine me enthusiastic — absolutely and unqualifiedly so, without
a but or criticism, then think of my last evening's and this
morning's talks with Mr. Darwin. . . . [ was never SO worked
up in my life, and did QOt sleep many hours under the hospi-
table roof. ... It would be quite impossible to give by way
of report any idea of these talks before and at and after
dinner, at breakfast, and at leave-taking; and yet I dislike
the egotism of ' testifying ' like other religious enthusiasts,
without any verification, or hint of similar experience."]

C. Darwin to Herbert Spencer.

Bassett, Southampton, June eo 1 1872].
Dear SPENCER, — I dare say you will think me a foolish
fellow, but I cannot resist the wish to express my unbounded
admiration of your article* in answer to Mr. Martin eau. It
is, indeed, admirable, and hardly less so your second article
on Sociology (which, however, I have not yet finished) : I
never believed in the reigning influence of great men on the
world's progress ; but if asked why I did not believe, I should
have been sorely perplexed to have given a good answer.
Every one with eyes to see and ears to hear (the number, I
fear, are not many) ought to bow their knee to you, and 1
for one do.

Believe me, yours most sincerely,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, July 12 [1872],

My DEAR Hooker, — I must exhale and express my joy at
the way in which the newspapers have taken up your case.
I have seen the Times, the Daily Navs, and the Pall Mall,
and hear that others have taken up the case.

The Memorial has done great good this way, whatever

*'Mr. Martinean on Evolution,' by Herbert Spencer, •Contemporary

Review,' July 1872.

i<72.] TROUBLES AT KKW. 345

may be the result in the action of our wretched Government.
On my soul, it is enough to make one turn into an old honest
Tory, . . .

If you answer this, I shall be sorry that I have relieved
my toolings by writing.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[ rhe memorial here referred to was addressed to Mr.
Gladstone, and was signed by a number of distinguished men,
including Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. Bentham, Mr. Huxley, and
Sir James Fagot. It gives a complete account of the arbi-
trary and unjust treatment received by Sir J. I). Hooker at
the hands ot" his official chief, the First Commissioner of
Works. The document is published in full in ' Nature ' (July
11, iS;j), and is well worth studying as an example of the
treatment which it is possible for science to receive from offi-
cialism. As 'Nature' observes, it is a paper which must be
read with the greatest indignation by scientific men in c\ v\
part of the world, and with shame by all Englishmen, The
signatories oi the memorial conclude by protesting against
the expected consequences ^t Sir Joseph Hooker's persecu-
tion— namely his resignation, and the loss of "a man hon-
oured for his integrity, beloved for his courtesy and kindli-
ness o\ heart ; and who has spent in the public service not

Only a stainless but an illustrious lite."

Happily this misfortune was averted, and Sir Joseph was
freed from further molestation. |

C Darwin to A. A\ Wall*

Down, August 3 [ 187a],

My im\k Wai.i wt, - 1 hate controversy, chiefly perhaps

because I <\o it badly; but as Dr. l>re< ;es you* of

"blundering," I have thought myself bound to send the en

1 Mi. Wallace had reviewed Dr, Bree'a hook)4 An 1
laciet In the Hypothesis oi Mr, Darwin,' in ' Mature)1 \^\ 15, 1S72.

346 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

closed letter * to ' Nature/ that is if you in the least desire it.
In this case please post it. If you do not at all wish it, I
should rather prefer not sending it, and in this case please to
tear it up. And I beg you to do the same, if you intend an-
swering Dr. Bree yourself, as you will do it incomparably
better than I should. Also please tear it up if you don't like
the letter.

My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

Down, August 28, 1872.

My dear Wallace, — I have at last finished the gigantic
job of reading Dr. Bastian's book,f and have been deeply,
interested by it. You wished to hear my impression, but it
is not worth sending.

He seems to me an extremely able man, as, indeed, I
thought when I read his first essay. His general argument
in favour of Archebiosis J is wonderfully strong, though I
cannot think much of some few of his arguments. The re-
sult is that I am bewildered and astonished by his statements,
but am not convinced, though, on the whole, it seems to me
probable that Archebiosis is true. I am not convinced, part-

* The letter is as follows : — i: Bree on Darwinism." ' Nature,' Aug. 8,
1872. Permit me to state — though the statement is almost superfluous —
that Mr. Wallace, in his review of Dr. Bree's work, gives with perfect cor-
rectness what I intended to express, and what I believe was expressed
clearly, with respect to the probable position of man in the early part of
his pedigree. As I have not seen Dr. Bree's recent work, and as his let-
ter is unintelligible to me, I cannot even conjecture how he has so com-
pletely mistaken my meaning : but, perhaps, no one who has read Mr.
Wallace's article, or who has read a work formerly published by Dr. Bree
on the same subject as his recent one, will be surprised at any amount of
misunderstanding on his part. — Charles Darwin.
Aug. 3.

f ' The Beginnings of Life.' H. C. Bastian, 1872.

X That is to say, Spontaneous Generation. For the distinction be-
tween Archebiosis and Heterogenesis, see Bastian, chapter vi.

1872.] * BEGINNING OF LIFE/ 347

ly I think owing to the deductive cast of much of his reason-
ing ; and I know not why, but I never feel convinced by de-
duction, even in the case of H. Spencer's writings. If Dr.
Bastian's book had been turned upside dowm, and he had
begun with the various cases of Heterogenesis, and then gone
on to organic, and afterwards to saline solutions, and had
then given his general arguments, I should have been, I be-
lieve, much more influenced. I suspect, however, that my
chief difficulty is the effect of old convictions being stereo-
typed on my brain. I must have more evidence that germs,
or the minutest fragments of the lowest forms, are always
killed by 2120 of Fahr. Perhaps the mere reiteration of the
statements given by Dr. Bastian [by] other men, whose judg-
ment I respect, and who have worked long on the lower or-
ganisms, would suffice to convince me. Here is a fine con-
fession of intellectual weakness; but what an inexplicable
frame of mind is that of belief !

As for Rotifers and Tardigrades being spontaneously gen-
erated, my mind can no more digest such statements, whether
true or false, than my stomach can digest a lump of lead.
Dr. Bastian is always comparing Archebiosis, as well as
growth, to crystallisation ; but, on this view, a Rotifer or
Tardigrade is adapted to its humble conditions of life by a
happy accident, and this I cannot believe. . . . He must
have worked with very impure materials in some cases, as
plenty of organisms appeared in a saline solution not con-
taining an atom of nitrogen.

I wholly disagree with Dr. Bastian about many points in
his latter chapters. Thus the frequency of generalised forms
in the older strata seems to me clearly to indicate the com-
mon descent with divergence of more recent forms. Not-
withstanding all his sneers, I do not strike my colours as yet
about Pangenesis. I should like to live to see Archebiosis
proved true, for it would be a discovery of transcendent im-
portance ; or, if false, I should like to see it disproved, and
the facts otherwise explained ; but I shall not live to see all
this. If ever proved, Dr. Bastian will have taken a promi-
59

348 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

nent part in the work. How grand is the onward rush of sci-
ence ; it is enough to console us for the many errors which
we have committed, and for our efforts being overlaid and
forgotten in the mass of new facts and new views which are
daily turning up.

This is all I have to say about Dr. Bastian's book, and it
certainly has not been worth saying. . . .

C. Darwin to A, De Candolle.

Down, December 11, 1872.
My dear Sir — I began reading your new book * sooner
than I intended, and when I once began, I could not stop ;
and now you must allow me to thank you for the very great
pleasure which it has given me. I have hardly ever read
anything more original and interesting than your treatment
of the causes which favour the development of scientific men.
The whole was quite new to me, and most curious. When
I began your essay I was afraid that you were going to attack
the principle of inheritance in relation to mind, but I soon
found myself fully content to follow you and accept your
limitations. I have felt, of course, special interest in the
latter part of your work, but there was here less novelty to
me. In many parts you do me much honour, and everywhere
more than justice. Authors generally like to hear what
points most strike different readers, so I will mention that of
your shorter essays, that on the future prevalence of lan-
guages, and on vaccination interested me the most, as, in-
deed, did that on statistics, and free will. Great liability to
certain diseases, being probably liable to atavism, is quite a
new idea to me. At p. 322 you suggest that a young swal-
low ought to be separated, and then let loose in order to test
the power of instinct ; but nature annually performs this ex-
periment, as old cockoos migrate in England some weeks be-
fore the young birds of the same year. By the way, I have
just used the forbidden word " nature," which, after reading

* ' Histoire des Sciences et des Savants/ 1873.

1872.] PUBLICATION OF THE EXPRESSION BOOK. 349

your essay, I almost determined never to use again. There
are very few remarks in your book to which I demur, but
when you back up Asa Gray in saying that all instincts are
congenital habits, I must protest.

Finally, will you permit me to ask you a question : have
you yourself, or some one who can be quite trusted, observed
(p. 322) that the butterflies on the Alps are tamer than those
on the lowlands ? Do they belong to the same species ?
Has this fact been observed with more than one species ?
Are they brightly coloured kinds ? I am especially curious
about their alighting on the brightly coloured parts of ladies*
dresses, more especially because I have been more than once
assured that butterflies like bright colours, for instance, in
India the scarlet leaves of Pointsettia.

Once again allow me to thank you for having sent me
your work, and for the very unusual amount of pleasure
which I have received in reading it.

With much respect, I remain, my dear Sir,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[The last revise of the ' Expression of the Emotions ' was
finished on August 22nd, 1872, and he wrote in his Diary : —
" Has taken me about twelve months/' As usual he had no
belief in the possibility of the book being generally success-
ful. The following passage in a letter to Haeckel gives the
impression that he had felt the writing of this book as a some-
what severe strain : —

" I have finished my little book on ' Expression,' and when
it is published in November I will of course send you a copy,
in case you would like to read it for amusement. I have re-
sumed some old botanical work, and perhaps I shall never
again attempt to discuss theoretical views.

" I am growing old and weak, and no man can tell
when his intellectual powers begin to fail. Long life
and happiness to you for your own sake and for that of
science."

350 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

It was published in the autumn. The edition consisted of
7000, and of these 5267 copies were sold at Mr. Murray's sale
in November. Two thousand were printed at the end of the
year, and this proved a misfortune, as they did not afterwards
sell so rapidly, and thus a mass of notes collected by the
author was never employed for a second edition daring his
lifetime.

Among the reviews of the ' Expression of the Emotions '
may be mentioned the unfavourable notices in the Athenoeum,
Nov. 9, 1872, and the Times, Dec. 13, 1872. A good review
by Mr. Wallace appeared in the ' Quarterly Journal of Sci-
ence/ Jan. 1873. Mr. Wallace truly remarks that the book
exhibits certain " characteristics of the author's mind in an
eminent degree," namely, " the insatiable longing to discover
the causes of the varied and complex phenomena presented
by living things." He adds that in the case of the author
" the restless curiosity of the child to know the ' what for ? '
the ' why ? ' and the ' how ? ' of everything " seems " never to
have abated its force."

A writer in one of the theological reviews describes the
book as the most " powerful and insidious " of all the author's
works.

Professor Alexander Bain criticised the book in a post-
script to the ' Senses and the Intellect ; ' to this essay the fol-
lowing letter refers :]

C. Darwin to Alexander Bain.

Down, October 9, 1873.
My dear Sir, — I am particularly obliged to you for hav-
ing sent me your essay. Your criticisms are all written in a
quite fair spirit, and indeed no one who knows you or your
works would expect anything else. What you say about the
vagueness of what I have called the direct action of the nerv-
ous system, is perfectly just. I felt it so at the time, and even
more of late. I confess that I have never been able fully to

1872.] 'EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS.' 351

grasp your principle of spontaneity,* as well as some other of
your points, so as to apply them to special cases. But as we
look at everything from different points of view, it is not likely
that we should agree closely.

I have been greatly pleased by what you say about the
crying expression and about blushing. Did you read a re-
view in a late ' Edinburgh ? ' f It was magnificently contempt-
uous towards myself and many others.

I retain a very pleasant recollection of our sojourn together
at that delightful place, Moor Park.

With my renewed thanks, I remain, my dear Sir,

Yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

* Professor Bain expounded his theory of Spontaneity in the essay
here alluded to. It would be impossible to do justice to it within the
limits of a foot-note. The following quotations may give some notion
of it :—

" By Spontaneity I understand the readiness to pass into movement in
the absence of all stimulation whatever ; the essential requisite being that

the nerve-centres and muscles shall be fresh and vigorous The

gesticulations and the carols of young and active animals are mere overflow
of nervous energy ; and although they are very apt to concur with pleasing

emotion, they have an independent source They are not properly

movements of expression ; they express nothing at all except an abundant
stock of physical power."

f The review on the ' Expression of the Emotions ' appeared in the
April number of the ' Edinburgh Review,' 1873. The opening sentence is
a fair sample of the general tone of the article : "Mr. Darwin has added
another volume of amusing stories and grotesque illustrations to the re-
markable series of works already devoted to the exposition and defence of
the evolutionary hypothesis." A few other quotations may be worth giv-
ing. " His one-sided devotion to an a priori scheme of interpretation
seems thus steadily tending to impair the author's hitherto unrivalled pow-
ers as an observer. However this may be, most impartial critics will, we
think, admit that there is a marked falling off both in philosophical tone
and scientific interest in the works produced since Mr. Darwin committed
himself to the crude metaphysical conception so largely associated with
his name." The article is directed against Evolution as a whole, almost
as much as against the doctrines of the book under discussion. We find
throughout plenty of that effective style of criticism which consists in the

352 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1872.

C. Darwin to Mrs. Haliburton*

Down, November 1 [1872].

My dear Mrs. Haliburton, — I dare say you will be
surprised to hear from me. My object in writing now is to
say that I have just published a book on the ' Expression of
the Emotions in Man and Animals ; ' and it has occurred to
me that you might possibly like to read some parts of it ; and
I can hardly think that this would have been the case with
any of the books which I have already published. So I send
by this post my present book. Although I have had no
communication with you or the other members of your family
for so long a time, no scenes in my whole life pass so fre-
quently or so vividly before my mind as those which relate
to happy old days spent at Woodhouse. I should very much
like to hear a little news about yourself and the other mem-
bers of your family, if you will take the trouble to write to
me. Formerly I used to glean some news about you from my
sisters.

I have had many years of bad health and have not been
able to visit anywhere ; and now I feel very old. As long as
I pass a perfectly uniform life, I am able to do some daily
work in Natural History, which is still my passion, as it was
in old days, when you used to laugh at me for collecting
beetles with such zeal at Woodhouse. Excepting from my
continued ill-health, which has excluded me from society, my
life has been a very happy one ; the greatest drawback being

use of such expressions as " dogmatism," " intolerance," "presumptuous,"
" arrogant." Together with accusations of such various faults a " virtual
abandonment of the inductive method," and the use of slang and vulgar-
isms.

The part of the article which seems to have interested my father is the
discussion on the use which he ought to have made of painting and
sculpture.

* Mrs. Haliburton was a daughter of my father's old friend, Mr. Owen
of Woodhouse. Her husband, Judge Haliburton, was the well-known
author of * Sam Slick.'

I873-] * DESCENT '—SECOND EDITION. 353

that several of my children have inherited from me feeble
health. I hope with all my heart that you retain, at least to
a large extent, the famous " Owen constitution. " With sin-
cere feelings of gratitude and affection for all bearing the name
of Owen, I venture to sign myself,'

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to Mrs. Haliburton.

Down, November 6 [1872].
My dear Sarah, — I have been very much pleased by
your letter, which I must call charming. I hardly ventured
to think that you would have retained a friendly recollection
of me for so many years. Yet I ought to have felt assured
that you would remain as warm-hearted and as true-hearted
as you have ever been from my earliest recollection. I know
well how many grievous sorrows you have gone through ; but
I am very sorry to hear that your health is not good. In the
spring or summer, when the weather is better, if you can
summon up courage to pay us a visit here, both my wife, as
she desires me to say, and myself, would be truly glad to see
you, and I know that you would not care about being rather
dull here. It would be a real pleasure to me to see you.
— Thank you much for telling about your family, — much of
which was new to me. How kind you all were to me as
a boy, and you especially, and how much happiness I owe to
you. Believe me your affectionate and obliged friend,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — Perhaps you would like to see a photograph of me
now that I am old.

1873.

[The only work (other than botanical) of this year was the

preparation of a second edition of the i Descent of Man,' the

publication of which is referred to in the following chapter.

This work was undertaken much against the grain, as he was

354 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1873.

at the time deeply immersed in the manuscript of * Insect-
ivorous Plants.' Thus he wrote to Mr. Wallace (Novem-
ber 19), " I never in my lifetime regretted an interruption so
much as this new edition of the ' Descent/ " And later (in
December) he wrote to Mr. Huxley : " The new edition of
the * Descent ' has turned out an awful job. It took me ten
days merely to glance over letters and reviews with criticisms
and new facts. It is a devil of a job."

The work was continued until April 1, 1874, when he was
able to return to his much loved Drosera. He wrote to
Mr. Murray: —

" I have at last finished, after above three months as hard
work as I have ever had in my life, a corrected edition of the
' Descent/ and I much wish to have it printed off as soon as
possible. As it is to be stereotyped I shall never touch it
again."

The first of the miscellaneous letters of 1873 refers to a
pleasant visit received from Colonel Higginson of Newport,
U.S.]

C. Darwin to Thos. Wentworth Higginson.

Down, February 27th [1873].

My dear Sir, — My wife has just finished reading aloud
your t Life with a Black Regiment/ and you must allow me
to thank you heartily for the very great pleasure which it has
in many ways given us. I always thought well of the negroes,
from the little which I have seen of them ; and I have been
delighted to have my vague impressions confirmed, and their
character and mental powers so ably discussed. When you
were here I did not know of the noble position which you had
filled. I had formerly read about the black regiments, but
failed to connect your name with your admirable undertaking.
Although we enjoyed greatly your visit to Down, my wife
and myself have over and over again regretted that we did
not know about the black regiment, as we should have greatly
liked to have heard a little about the South from your own lips.

Your descriptions have vividly recalled walks taken forty

1873]

MR. GALTON'S QUESTIONS.

355

years ago in Brazil. We have your collected Essays, which
were kindly sent us by Mr. [Moncure] Conway, but have not
yet had time to read them. I occasionally glean a little news
of you in the ' Index ' ; and within the last hour have read an
interesting article of yours on the progress of Free Thought.
Believe me, my dear Sir, with sincere admiration,

Yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[On May 28th he sent the following answers to the ques-
tions that Mr. Galton was at that time addressing to various
scientific men, in the course of the inquiry which is given in
his ' English Men of Science, their Nature and Nurture/ 1874.
With regard to the questions, my father wrote, " I have filled
up the answers as well as I could, but it is simply impossible
for me to estimate the degrees.,, For the sake of conven-
ience, the questions and answers relating to Nurture are
made to precede those on Nature :

rHow taught?

Conducive to or restrictive of
habits of observation ?

^ . Conducive to health or other-
^ ' wise?

Peculiar merits ?
Chief omissions ?

Has the religious creed taught
in your youth had any deter-
rent effect on the freedom of
your researches ?

Do

o your scientific tastes appear
to have been innate ?

Were they determined by any
and what events?

I consider that all I have learnt of any
value has been self-taught.

Restrictive of observation, being al-
most entirely classical.

Yes.

None whatever.

No mathematics or modern languages,
nor any habits of observation or
reasoning.

No.

Certainly innate.

My innate taste for natural history
strongly confirmed and directed by
the voyage in the Beagle.

356

'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION.

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358 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1873.

The following letter refers inter alia to a letter which
appeared in i Nature' (Sept. 25, 1873), "On the Males and
Complemental Males of certain Cirripedes, and on Rudi-
mentary Organs :"]

C. Darwin to E. Haeckel.

Down, September 25, 1873.

My dear Hackel, — I thank you for the present of your
book,* and I am heartily glad to see its great success. You
will do a wonderful amount of good in spreading the doctrine
of Evolution, supporting it as you do by so many original
observations. I have read the new preface with very great
interest. The delay in the appearance of the English trans-
lation vexes and surprises me, for I have never been able to
read it thoroughly in German, and I shall assuredly do so
when it appears in English. Has the problem of the later
stages of reduction of useless structures ever perplexed you ?
This problem has of late caused me much perplexity. I have
just written a letter to i Nature ' with a hypothetical explana-
tion of this difficulty, and I will send you the paper with the
passage marked. I will at the same time send a paper which
has interested me ; it need not be returned. It contains a
singular statement bearing on so-called Spontaneous Gener-
ation. I much wish that this latter question could be settled,
but I see no prospect of it. If it could be proved true this
would be most important to us. . . .

Wishing you every success in your admirable labours,
I remain, my dear Hackel, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

* * Schopfungs-geschichte,' 4th ed. The translation (' The History of
Creation ') was not published until 1876.

CHAPTER VIII.

Miscellanea, including Second Editions of * Coral
Reefs/ the ' Descent of Man/ and the ' Varia-
tions of Animals and Plants/

1874 and 1875.

[The year 1874 was given up to ' Insectivorous Plants/
with the exception of the months (see vol. ii, p. 353) devoted
to the second edition of the ' Descent of Man/ and with the
further exception of the time given to a second edition of his
' Coral Reefs ' (1874). The Preface to the latter states that
new facts have been added, the whole book revised, and " the
latter chapters almost rewritten.,, In the Appendix some ac-
count is given of Professor Semper's objections, and this was
the occasion of correspondence between that naturalist and
my father. In Professor Semper's volume, ' Animal Life '
(one of the International Series), the author calls attention
to the subject in the following passage which I give in Ger-
man, the published English translation being, as it seems to
me, incorrect : " Es scheint mir als ob er in der zweiten
Ausgabe seines allgemein bekannten Werks iiber KorallenrirTe
einem Irrthume iiber meine Beobachtungen zum Opfer gefal-
len ist, indem er die Angaben, die ich allerdings bisher immer
nur sehr kurz gehalten hatte, vollstandig falsch wiedergegeben
hat."

The proof-sheets containing this passage were sent by
Professor Semper to my father before ' Animal Life ' was pub-
lished, and this was the occasion for the following letter,
which was afterwards published in Professor Semper's book.]

360 MISCELLANEA. [1874.

C. Darwin to K. Semper.

Down, October 2, 1879.

My dear Professor Semper, — I thank you for your
extremely kind letter of the 19th, and for the proof-sheets. I
believe that I understand all, excepting one or two sentences,
where my imperfect knowledge of German has interfered.
This is my sole and poor excuse for the mistake which 1
made in the second edition of my ' Coral ' book. Your ac-
count of the Pellew Islands is a fine addition to our knowl-
edge on coral reefs. I have very little to say on the subject,
even if I had formerly read your account and seen your
maps, but had known nothing of the proofs of recent eleva-
tion, and of your belief that the islands have not since sub-
sided. I have no doubt that I should have considered them
as formed during subsidence. But I should have been much
troubled in my mind by the sea not being so deep as it usu-
ally is round atolls, and by the reef on one side sloping so
gradually beneath the sea ; for this latter fact, as far as my
memory serves me, is a very unusual and almost unparalleled
case. I always foresaw that a bank at the proper depth be-
neath the surface would give rise to a reef which could not
be distinguished from an atoll, formed during subsidence. I
must still adhere to my opinion that the atolls and barrier
reefs in the middle of the Pacific and Indian Oceans indicate
subsidence ; but I fully agree with you that such cases as that
of the Pellew Islands, if of at all frequent occurrence, would
make my general conclusions of very little value. Future
observers must decide between us. It will be a strange fact
if there has not been subsidence of the beds of the great
oceans, and if this has not affected the forms of the coral
veefs.

In the last three pages of the last sheet sent I am extremely
glad to see that you are going to treat of the dispersion of
animals. Your preliminary remarks seem to me quite excel-
lent. There is nothing about M. Wagner, as I expected to

I874-] 'CORAL REEFS'— SECOND EDITION. 361

find. I suppose that you have seen Moseley's last book,
which contains some good observations on dispersion.

I am glad that your book will appear in English, for then
I can read it with ease. Pray believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[The most recent criticism on the Coral-reef theory is by
Mr. Murray, one of the staff of the Challenger, who read a
paper before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, April 5, 1880*
The chief point brought forward is the possibility of the
building up of submarine mountains, which may serve as
foundations for coral reefs. Mr. Murray also seeks to prove
that " the chief features of coral reefs and islands can be
accounted for without calling in the aid of great and general
subsidence." The following letter refers to this subject :]

C. Darwin to A. Agassi z.

Down, May 5, 1881.
. . . You will have seen Mr. Murray's views on the forma-
tion of atolls and barrier reefs. Before publishing my book, I
thought long over the same view, but only as far as ordinary ma-
rine organisms are concerned, for at that time little was known
of the multitude of minute oceanic organisms. I rejected
this view, as from the few dredgings made in the Beagle, in
the south temperate regions, I concluded that shells, the
smaller corals, &c, decayed, and were dissolved, when not
protected by the deposition of sediment, and sediment could
not accumulate in the open ocean. Certainly, shells, &c, were
in several cases completely rotten, and crumbled into mud
between my fingers ; but you will know well whether this is
in any degree common. I have expressly said that a bank at
the proper depth would give rise to an atoll, which could not
be distinguished from one formed during subsidence. I can,

* An abstract is published in vol. x. of the * Proceedings/ p. 505, and
in 'Nature,' August 12, 1880.

362 MISCELLANEA. [1874,

however, hardly believe in the former presence of as many-
banks (there having been no subsidence) as there are atolls
in the great oceans, within a reasonable depth, on which mi-
nute oceanic organisms could have accumulated to the thick-
ness of many hundred feet. . . . Pray forgive me for troubling
you at such length, but it has occurred [to me] that you
might be disposed to give, after your wide experience, your
judgment. If I am wrong, the sooner I am knocked on the
head and annihilated so much the better. It still seems to
me a marvellous thing that there should not have been much,
and long continued, subsidence in the beds of the great
oceans. I wish that some doubly rich millionaire would take
it into his head to have borings made in some of the Pacific
and Indian atolls, and bring home cores for slicing from a
depth of 500 or 600 feet. . . .

[The second edition of the ' Descent of Man ' was published
in the autumn of 1874. Some severe remarks on the " mo-
nistic hypothesis " appeared in the July * number of the
' Quarterly Review' (p. 45). The Reviewer expresses his
astonishment at the ignorance of certain elementary distinc-
tions and principles (e. g. with regard to the verbum mentale)
exhibited, among others, by Mr. Darwin, who does not ex-
hibit the faintest indication of having grasped them, yet a
clear perception of them, and a direct and detailed exami-
nation of his facts with regard to them, "was a sine qua non
for attempting, with a chance of success, the solution of the
mystery as to the descent of man."

Some further criticisms of a later date may be here alluded
to. In the i Academy/ 1876 (pp. 562, 587), appeared a re-
view of Mr. Mivart's ' Lessons from Nature/ by Mr. Wallace.
When considering the part of Mr. Mivart's book relating to
Natural and Sexual Selection, Mr. Wallace says : li In his
violent attack on Mr. Darwin's theories our author uses unu-
sually strong language. Not content with mere argument, he

* The review necessarily deals with the first edition of the ' Descent
of Man/

1874.] MR. MIVART. 363

expresses ' reprobation of Mr. Darwin's views ' ; and asserts
that though he (Mr. Darwin) has been obliged, virtually, to
give up his theory, it is still maintained by Darwinians with
i unscrupulous audacity,' and the actual repudiation of it
concealed by the ' conspiracy of silence.' " Mr. Wallace
goes on to show that these charges are without foundation,
and points out that, " If there is one thing more than another
for which Mr. Darwin is pre-eminent among modern literary
and scientific men, it is for his perfect literary honesty, his
self-abnegation in confessing himself wrong, and the eager
haste with which he proclaims and even magnifies small errors
in his works, for the most part discovered by himself."

The following extract from a letter to Mr. Wallace (June
17th) refers to Mr. Mivart's statement ('Lessons from Na-
ture/ p. 144) that Mr. Darwin at first studiously disguised his
views as to the " bestiality of man " : —

" I have only just heard of and procured your two articles
in the Academy. I thank you most cordially for your gener-
ous defence of me against Mr. Mivart. In the ' Origin' I did
not discuss the derivation of any one species ; but that I
might not be accused of concealing my opinion, I went out
of my way, and inserted a sentence which seemed to me
(and still so seems) to disclose plainly my belief. This was
quoted in my ' Descent of Man.' Therefore it is very unjust,
.... of Mr. Mivart to accuse me of base fraudulent con-
cealment."

The letter which here follows is of interest in connection
with the discussion, in the ' Descent of Man,' on the origin of
the musical sense in man :]

C. Darwin to E. Gurney*

Down, July 8, 1876.
My dear Mr. Gurney, — I have read your article \ with
much interest, except the latter part, which soared above my

* Author of ' The Power of Sound.'

f " Some disputed Points in Music." — * Fortnightly Review,' July, 1876.
60

364 MISCELLANEA. [1874.

ken. I am greatly pleased that you uphold my views to a
certain extent. Your criticism of the rasping noise made by
insects being necessarily rhythmical is very good ; but though
not made intentionally, it may be pleasing to the females
from the nerve cells being nearly similar in function through-
out the animal kingdom. With respect to your letter, I be-
lieve that I understand your meaning, and agree with you. I
never supposed that the different degrees and kinds of pleas-
ure derived from different music could be explained by the
musical powers of our semi-human progenitors. Does not
the fact that different people belonging to the same civilized
nation are very differently affected by the same music, almost
show that these diversities of taste and pleasure have been
acquired during their individual lives ? Your simile of archi-
tecture seems to me particularly good ; for in this case the
appreciation almost must be individual, though possibly the
sense of sublimity excited by a grand cathedral, may have
some connection with the vague feelings of terror and super-
stition in our savage ancestors, when they entered a great
cavern or gloomy forest. I wish some one could analyse the
feeling of sublimity. It amuses me to think how horrified
some high flying aesthetic men will be at your encouraging
such low degraded views as mine.

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[The letters which follow are of a miscellaneous inter-
est. The first extract (from a letter, Jan. 18, 1874) refers
to a spiritualistic seance, held at Erasmus Darwin's house, 6
Queen Anne Street, under the auspices of a well-known
medium :]

". . .. We had grand fun, one afternoon, for George hired a
medium, who made the chairs, a flute, a bell, and candle-
stick, and fiery points jump about in my brother's dining-
room, in a manner that astounded every one, and took away
all their breaths. It was in the dark, but George and Hens-

1874.] SPIRITUALISM. 365

leigh Wedgwood held the medium's hands and feet on both
sides all the time. I found it so hot and tiring that I went
away before all these astounding miracles, or jugglery, took
place. How the man could possibly do what was done passes
my understanding. I came downstairs, and saw all the chairs,
&c, on the table, which had been lifted over the heads of
those sitting round it.

The Lord have mercy on us all, if we have to believe
in such rubbish. F. Gal ton was there, and says it was a good
seance. ..."

The seance in question led to a smaller and more carefully
organised one being undertaken, at which Mr. Huxley was
present, and on which he reported to my father :]

C Darwin to Professor T. Zf, Huxley.

Down, January 29 [1874].

My dear Huxley, — It was very good of you to write so
long an account. Though the seance did tire you so much
it was, I think, really worth the exertion, as the same sort of

things are done at all the seances, even at 's ; and now to

my mind an enormous weight of evidence would be requisite
to make one believe in anything beyond mere trickery. . . .
I am pleased to think that I declared to all my family, the
day before yesterday, that the more I thought of all that I
had heard happened at Queen Anne St., the more convinced
I was it was all imposture .... my theory was that [the
medium] managed to get the two men on each side of him to
hold each other's hands, instead of his, and that he was thus
free to perform his antics. I am very glad that I issued my
ukase to you to attend.

Yours affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[In the spring of this year (1874) he read a book which
gave him great pleasure and of which he often spoke with ad-
miration : — The ' Naturalist in Nicaragua/ by the late Thomas

366 MISCELLANEA. [1874.

Belt. Mr. Belt, whose untimely death may well be deplored
by naturalists, was by profession an Engineer, so that all his
admirable observations in Natural History in Nicaragua and
elsewhere were the fruit of his leisure. The book is direct
and vivid in style and is full of description and suggestive
discussions. With reference to it my father wrote to Sir J.
D. Hooker : —

" Belt I have read, and I am delighted that you like it so
much, it appears to me the best of all natural history journals
which have ever been published/']

C. Darwin to the Marquis de Saporta.

Down, May 30, 1874.
Dear Sir, — I have been very neglectful in not having
sooner thanked you for your kindness in having sent me your
1 Etudes sur la Vegetation/ &c, and other memoirs. I have
read several of them with very great interest, and nothing can
be more important, in my opinion, than your evidence of the
extremely slow and gradual manner in which specific forms
change. I observe that M. A. De Candolle has lately quoted
you on this head versus Heer. I hope that you may be able
to throw light on the question whether such protean, or poly-
morphic forms, as those of Rubus, Hieracium, &c, at the
present day, are those which generate new species ; as for
myself, I have always felt some doubt on this head. I trust
that you may soon bring many of your countrymen to be-
lieve in Evolution, and my name will then perhaps cease to
be scorned. With the most sincere respect, I remain, Dear
Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

1874.J DR. GRAY. 367

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 5 [1874].

My dear Gray, — I have now read your article* in ' Na-
ture/ and the last two paragraphs were not included in the
slip sent before. I wrote yesterday and cannot remember
exactly Vhat I said, and now cannot be easy without again
telling you how profoundly I have been gratified. Every one,
I suppose, occasionally thinks that he has worked in vain,
and when one of these fits overtakes me, I will think of your
article, and if that does not dispel the evil spirit, I shall know
that I am at the time a little bit insane, as we all are occa-
sionally.

What you say about Teleology f pleases me especially, and
I do not think any one else has ever noticed the point.J I
have always said you were the man to hit the nail on the
head.

Yours gratefully and affectionately,

Ch. Darwin.

[As a contribution to the history of the reception of the
' Origin of Species/ the meeting of the British Association in
1874, at Belfast, should be mentioned. It is memorable for
Professor Tyndall's brilliant presidential address, in which a
sketch of the history of Evolution is given culminating in an
eloquent analysis of the ' Origin of Species/ and of the nature
of its great success. With regard to Prof. Tyndall's address,
Lyell wrote (' Life/ ii. p. 455) congratulating my father on the

* The article, " Charles Darwin," in the series of Scientific Worthies
(' Nature,' June 4, 1874). This admirable estimate of my father's work in
science is given in the form of a comparison and contrast between Robert
Brown and Charles Darwin.

f " Let us recognise Darwin's great service to Natural Science in bring-
ing back to it Teleology : so that instead of Morphology versus Teleology,
we shall have Morphology wedded to Teleology."

% See, however, Mr. Huxley's chapter on the ' Reception of the Origin
of Species' in vol. i., p. 554.

368 MISCELLANEA. [1874.

meeting, "on which occasion you and your theory of Evolu-
tion may be fairly said to have had an ovation/* In the same
letter Sir Charles speaks of a paper * of Professor Judd's, and
it is to this that the following letter refers :]

C. Darwin to C. LyelL

Down, September 23, 1874.

My dear Lyell, — I suppose that you have returned, or
will soon return, to London ; \ and, I hope, reinvigorated by
your outing. In your last letter you spoke of Mr. Judd's pa-
per on the Volcanoes of the Hebrides. I have just finished it,
and to ease my mind must express my extreme admiration.

It is years since I have read a purely geological paper
which has interested me so greatly. I was all the more in-
terested, as in the Cordillera I often speculated on the sources
of the deluges of submarine porphyritic lavas, of which they
are built ; and, as I have stated, I saw to a certain extent the
causes of the obliteration of the points of eruption. I was
also not a little pleased to see my volcanic book quoted, for
I thought it was completely dead and forgotten. What fine
work will Mr. Judd assuredly do ! . . . Now I have eased
my mind; and so farewell, with both E. D.'s and C. D.'s very
kind remembrances to Miss Lyell.

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

[Sir Charles Lyell's reply to the above letter must have
been one of the latest that my father received from his old
friend, and it is with this letter that the volumes of his pub-
lished correspondence closes.]

* On the Ancient Volcanoes of the Highlands, 'Journal of Geolog.
Soc.,' 1874.

f Sir Charles Lyell returned from Scotland towards the end of Sep-
tember.

1874.] ANTS. 36g

C. Darwin to Aug. For el.

Down, October 15, 1874.

My dear Sir, — I have now read the whole of your admir-
able work * and seldom in my life have I been more inter-
ested by any book. There are so many interesting facts and
discussions, that I hardly know which to specify ; but I think,
firstly, the newest points to me have been about the size of
the brain in the three sexes, together with your suggestion
that increase of mind power may have led to the sterility of
the workers. Secondly about the battles of the ants, and
your curious account of the enraged ants being held by their
comrades until they calmed down. Thirdly, the evidence of
ants of the same community being the offspring of brothers
and sisters. You admit, I think, that new communities will
often be the product of a cross between not-related ants.
Fritz Muller has made some interesting observations on this
head with respect to Termites. The case of Anergates is
most perplexing in many ways, but I have such faith in the
law of occasional crossing that I believe an explanation will
hereafter be found, such as the dimorphism of either sex and
the occasional production of winged males. I see that you
are puzzled how ants of the same community recognize each
other; I once placed two (F. rufd) in a pill-box smelling
strongly of asafcetida and after a day returned them to their
homes ; they were threatened, but at last recognized. I made
the trial thinking that they might know each other by their
odour ; but this cannot have been the case, and I have often
fancied that they must have some common signal. Your
last chapter is one great mass of wonderful facts and sugges-
tions, and the whole profoundly interesting. I have seldom
been more gratified than by [your] honourable mention of my
work.

I should like to tell you one little observation which 1
made with care many years ago ; I saw ants {Formica rufd)

* ' Les Fourmis de la Suisse,' 4to, 1874.

370 MISCELLANEA. [1874.

carrying cocoons from a nest which was the largest I ever saw
and which was well known to all the country people near,
and an old man, apparently about eighty years of age, told
me that he had known it ever since he was a boy. The ants
carrying the cocoons did not appear to be emigrating ; fol-
lowing the line, I saw many ascending a tall fir tree still car-
rying their cocoons. But when I looked closely I found that
all the cocoons were empty cases. This astonished me, and
next day I got a man to observe with me, and we again saw
ants bringing empty cocoons out of the nest; each of us fixed
on one ant and slowly followed it, and repeated the observa-
tion on many others. We thus found that some ants soon
dropped their empty cocoons ; others carried them for many
yards, as much as thirty paces, and others carried them high
up the fir tree out of sight. Now here I think we have one
instinct in contest with another and mistaken one. The first
instinct being to carry the empty cocoons out of the nest, and
it would have been sufficient to have laid them on the heap
of rubbish, as the first breath of wind would have blown them
away. And then came in the contest with the other very
powerful instinct of preserving and carrying their cocoons as
long as possible ; and this they could not help doing although
the cocoons were empty. According as the one or other
instinct was the stronger in each individual ant, so did it
carry the empty cocoon to a greater or less distance. If this
little observation should ever prove of any use to you, you
are quite at liberty to use it. Again thanking you cordially
for the great pleasure which your work has given me, I re-
main with much respect,

Yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — If you read English easily I should like to send
you Mr. Belt's book, as I think you would like it as much as
did Fritz Muller.

I874-] ' COSMIC PHILOSOPHY/ 37 1

C. Darwin to J. Fiske.

Down, December 8, 1874.
My dear Sir, — You must allow me to thank you for the
very great interest with which I have at last slowly read the
whole of your work.* I have long wished to know some-
thing about the views of the many great men whose doctrines
you give. With the exception of special points I did not
even understand H. Spencer's general doctrine ; for his style
is too hard work for me. I never in my life read so lucid an
expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are ; and I think
that I understand nearly the whole — perhaps less clearly
about Cosmic Theism and Causation than other parts. It is
hopeless to attempt out of so much to specify what has inter-
ested me most, and probably you would not care to hear. I
wish some chemist would attempt to ascertain the result of
the cooling of heated gases of the proper kinds, in relation
to your hypothesis of the origin of living matter. It pleased
me to find that here and there I had arrived from my own
crude thoughts at some of the same conclusions with you ;
though I could seldom or never have given my reasons for
such conclusions. I find that my mind is so fixed by the
inductive method, that I cannot appreciate deductive reason-
ing : I must begin with a good body of facts and not from a
principle (in which I always suspect some fallacy) and then
as much deduction as you please. This may be very narrow-
minded ; but the result is that such parts of H. Spencer, as I
have read with care impress my mind with the idea of his
inexhaustible wealth of suggestion, but never convince me ;
and so I find it with some others. I believe the cause to lie
in the frequency with which I have found first-formed theo-
ries [to be] erroneous. I thank you for the honourable men-
tion which you make of my works. Parts of the i Descent of
Man ' must have appeared laughably weak to you : never-
theless, I have sent you a new edition just published. Thank-

* 1

Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy,' 2 vols. 8vo. 1874.

372 MISCELLANEA. [1875.

ing you for the profound interest and profit with which I have
read your work. I remain,

My dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

1875.

[The only work, not purely botanical, which occupied my
father in the present year was the correction of the second
edition of ' The Variation of Animals and Plants/ and on
this he was engaged from the beginning of July till October
3rd. The rest of the year was taken up with his work on in-
sectivorous plants, and on cross-fertilisation, as will be shown
in a later chapter. The chief alterations in the second edi-
tion of ' Animals and Plants ' are in the eleventh chapter on
" Bud-variation and on certain anomalous modes of repro-
duction ; " the chapter on Pangenesis "was also largely al-
tered and remodelled." He mentions briefly some of the au-
thors who have noticed the doctrine. Professor Delpino's
' Sulla Darwiniana Teoria della Pangenesi ' (1869), an adverse
but fair criticism, seems to have impressed him as valuable.
Of another critique my father characteristically says,* " Dr.
Lionel Beale ('Nature/ May n, 1871, p. 26) sneers at the
whole doctrine with much acerbity and some justice." He
also points out that, in Mantegazza's ' Elementi di Igiene/
the theory of Pangenesis was clearly foreseen.

In connection with this subject, a letter of my father's to
■ Nature ' (April 27, 1871) should be mentioned. A paper by
Mr. Galton had been read before the Royal Society (March
30, 1 871) in which were described experiments, on intertrans-
fusion of blood, designed to test the truth of the hypothesis
of pangenesis. My father, while giving all due credit to Mr.
Galton for his ingenious experiments, does not allow that
pangenesis has " as yet received its death-blow, though from
presenting so many vulnerable points its life is always in
jeopardy."

* ■ Animals and Plants,' 2nd edit. vol. ii. p. 350.

18751 'ANIMALS AND PLANTS '—SECOND EDITION. 373

He seems to have found the work of correcting very
wearisome, for he wrote : —

" I have no news about myself, as I am merely slaving
over the sickening work of preparing new editions. I wish I
could get a touch of poor Lyell's feelings, that it was delight-
ful to improve a sentence, like a painter improving a pic-
ture."

The feeling of effort or strain over this piece of work, is
shown in a letter to Professor Haeckel : —

" What I shall do in future if I live, Heaven only knows ;
I ought perhaps to avoid general and large subjects, as too
difficult for me with my advancing years, and I suppose en-
feebled brain. "

At the end of March, in this year, the portrait for which
he was sitting to Mr. Ouless was finished. He felt the sit-
tings a great fatigue, in spite of Mr. Ouless's considerate de-
sire to spare him as far as was possible. In a letter to Sir J.
D. Hooker he wrote, " I look a very venerable, acute, melan-
choly old dog; whether I really look so I do not know."
The picture is in the possession of the family, and is known
to many through M. Rajon's etching. Mr. Ouless's portrait
is, in my opinion, the finest representation of my father that
has been produced.

The following letter refers to the death of Sir Charles
Lyell, which took place on February 22nd, 1875, m his sev-
enty-eighth year.]

C. Darwin to Miss Buckley (now Mrs. Fisher)*

Down, February 23, 1875.
My dear Miss Buckley,— I am grieved to hear of the
death of my old and kind friend, though I knew that it could
not be long delayed, and that it was a happy thing that his
life should not have been prolonged, as I suppose that his
mind would inevitably have suffered. I am glad that Lady

Mrs. Fisher acted as Secretary to Sir Charles Lyell.

374 MISCELLANEA. [1875.

Lyell * has been saved this terrible blow. His death makes
me think of the time when I first saw him, and how full of
sympathy and interest he was about what I could tell him of
coral reefs and South America. I think that this sympathy
with the work of every other naturalist was one of the finest
features of his character. How completely he revolutionised
Geology : for I can remember something of pre-Lyellian
days.

I never forget that almost everything which I have done
in science I owe to the study of his great works. Well, he
has had a grand and happy career, and no one ever worked
with a truer zeal in a noble cause. It seems strange to me
that I shall never again sit with him and Lady Lyell at their
breakfast. I am very much obliged to you for having so
kindly written to me.

Pray give our kindest remembrances to Miss Lyell, and I
hope that she has not suffered much in health, from fatigue
and anxiety.

Believe me, my dear Miss Buckley,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, February 25 [1875J.

My dear Hooker, — Your letter so full of feeling has
interested me greatly. I cannot say that I felt his [Lyell's]
death much, for I fully expected it, and have looked for some
little time at his career as finished.

I dreaded nothing so much as his surviving with impaired
mental powers. He was, indeed, a noble man in very many
ways ; perhaps in none more than in his warm sympathy with
the work of others. How vividly I can recall my first con-
versation with him, and how he astonished me by his interest
in what I told him. How grand also was his candour and

* Lady Lyell died in 1873.

1875.] LYELL'S DEATH. 375

pure love of truth. Well, he is gone, and I feel as if we were
all soon to go. ... I am deeply rejoiced about Westminster
Abbey,* the possibility of which had not occurred to me
when I wrote before. I did think that his works were the
most enduring of all testimonials (as you say) to him ; but
then I did not like the idea of his passing away with no out-
ward sign of what scientific men thought of his merits. Now
all this is changed, and nothing can be better than West-
minster Abbey. Mrs. Lyell has asked me to be one of the
pall-bearers, but I have written to say that I dared not, as I
should so likely fail in the midst of the ceremony, and have
my head whirling off my shoulders. All this affair must have
cost you much fatigue and worry, and how I do wish you
were out of England. . . .

[In 1881 he wrote to Mrs. Fisher in reference to her article
on Sir Charles Lyell in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' : —

" For such a publication I suppose you do not want to say
much about his private character, otherwise his strong sense
of humour and love of society might have been added. Also
his extreme interest in the progress of the world, and in the
happiness of mankind. Also his freedom from all religious
bigotry, though these perhaps would be a superfluity."

The following refers to the Zoological station at Naples,
a subject on which my father felt an enthusiastic interest :]

C. Darwin to Anton Dohrn.

Down [1875 ?].
My dear Dr. Dohrn, — Many thanks for your most kind
letter, I most heartily rejoice at your improved health and at
the success of your grand undertaking, which will have so
much influence on the progress of Zoology throughout
Europe.

If we look to England alone, what capital work has already
been done at the Station by Balfour and Ray Lankester. . . .

* Sir C. Lyell was buried in Westminster Abbey.

376 MISCELLANEA. [1875.

When you come to England, I suppose that you will bring
Mrs. Dohrn, and we shall be delighted to see you both here.
I have often boasted that I have had a live Uhlan in my
house ! It will be very interesting to me to read your new
views on the ancestry of the Vertebrates. I shall be sorry to
give up the Ascidians, to whom I feel profound gratitude;
but the great thing, as it appears to me, is that any link what-
ever should be found between the main divisions of the Ani-
mal Kingdom. . . .

C. Darwin to August Weismann.

Down, December 6, 1875.

My dear Sir, — I have been profoundly interested by your
essay on Amblystoma,* and think that you have removed a
great stumbling-block in the way of Evolution. I once thought
of reversion in this case ; but in a crude and imperfect manner.
I write now to call your attention to the sterility of moths
when hatched out of their proper season ; I give references in
chapter 18 of my i Variation under Domestication* (vol. ii.
p. 157, of English edition), and these cases illustrate, I think,
the sterility of Amblystoma. Would it not be worth while to
examine the reproductive organs of those individuals of wing-
less Hemiptera which occasionally have wings, as in the case
of the bed-bug. I think I have heard that the females of
Mutilla sometimes have wings. These cases must be due to
reversion. I dare say many anomalous cases will be here-
after explained on the same principle.

I hinted at this explanation in the extraordinary case of
the black-shouldered peacock, the so-called Pavo nigripennis
given in my * Var. under Domest. ; ' and I might have been
bolder, as the variety is in many respects intermediate between
the two known species.

With much respect,

Yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

* ' Umwandlung des Axolotl.'

1875.] VIVISECTION. 377

THE VIVISECTION QUESTION.

[It was in November 1875 tnat mv father gave his evidence
before the Royal Commission on Vivisection.* I have, there-
fore, placed together here the matter relating to this subject,
irrespective of date. Something has already been said of my
father's strong feeling with regard to suffering both in man
and beast. It was indeed one of the strongest feelings in his
nature, and was exemplified in matters small and great, in
his sympathy with the educational miseries of dancing dogs,
or in his horror at the sufferings of slaves.f

The remembrance of screams, or other sounds heard in
Brazil, when he was powerless to interfere with what he
believed to be the torture of a slave, haunted him for years,
especially at night. In smaller matters, where he could inter-
fere, he did so vigorously. He returned one day from his
walk pale and faint from having seen a horse ill-used, and from
the agitation of violently remonstrating with the man. On
another occasion he saw a horse-breaker teaching his son to
ride, the little boy was frightened and the man was rough ;
my father stopped, and jumping out of the carriage reproved
the man in no measured terms.

One other little incident may be mentioned, showing that
his humanity to animals was well known in his own neigh-
bourhood. A visitor, driving from Orpington to Down, told

* See vol. i. p. 118.

f He once made an attempt to free a patient in a mad-house, who (as
he wrongly supposed) was sane. He had some correspondence with the
gardener at the asylum, and on one occasion he found a letter from a
patient enclosed with one from the gardener. The letter was rational in
tone and declared that the writer was sane and wrongfully confined.

My father wrote to the Lunacy Commissioners (without explaining the
source of his information) and in due time heard that the man had been
visited by the Commissioners, and that he was certainly insane. Some
time afterwards the patient was discharged, and wrote to thank my father
for his interference, adding that he had undoubtedly been insane, when
he wrote his former letter.

378 MISCELLANEA. [1875.

the man to go faster, "Why," said the driver, "If 1 had
whipped the horse this much, driving Mr. Darwin, he would
have got out of the carriage and abused me well."

With respect to the special point under consideration, —
the sufferings of animals subjected to experiment, — nothing
could show a stronger feeling than the following extract from
a letter to Professor Ray Lankester (March 22, 1871) : —

" You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree
that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology ; but
not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a
subject which makes me sick with horror, so I will not say
another word about it, else I shall not sleep to-night."

An extract from Sir Thomas Farrer's notes shows how
strongly he expressed himself in a similar manner in con-
versation : —

" The last time I had any conversation with him was at my
house in Bryanston Square, just before one of his last seizures.
He was then deeply interested in the vivisection question ;
and what he said made a deep impression on me. He was a
man eminently fond of animals and tender to them ; he would
not knowingly have inflicted pain on a living creature ; but
he entertained the strongest opinion that to prohibit experi-
ments on living animals, would be to put a stop to the know-
ledge of and the remedies for pain and disease."

The Anti-Vivisection agitation, to which the following
letters refer, seems to have become specially active in 1874,
as may be seen, e.g. by the index to ' Nature ' for that year,
in which the word " Vivisection," suddenly comes into promi-
nence. But before that date the subject had received the
earnest attention of biologists. Thus at the Liverpool Meet-
ing of the British Association in 1870, a Committee was ap-
pointed, which reported, defining the circumstances and
conditions under which, in the opinion of the signatories, ex-
periments on living animals were justifiable. In the spring of
1875, Lord Hartismere introduced a Bill into the Upper
House to regulate the course of physiological research. Short-
ly afterwards a Bill more just towards science in its provisions

1875-1 VIVISECTION. 379

was introduced to the House of Commons by Messrs. Lyon
Playfair, Walpole, and Ashley. It was however, withdrawn
on the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into
the whole question. The Commissioners were Lords Card-
well and Winmarleigh, Mr. W. E. Forster, Sir J. B. Karslake,
Mr. Huxley, Professor Erichssen, and Mr. R. H. Hutton :
they commenced their inquiry in July, 1875, and the Report
was published early in the following year.

In the early summer of 1876, Lord Carnarvon's Bill, en-
titled, "An Act to amend the Law relating to Cruelty to
Animals/' was introduced. It cannot be denied that the
framers of this Bill, yielding to the unreasonable clamour of
the public, went far beyond the recommendations of the Royal
Commission. As a correspondent in ' Nature ' put it (1876,
p. 248), "the evidence on the strength of which legislation
was recommended went beyond the facts, the Report went
beyond the evidence, the Recommendations beyond the
Report ; and the Bill can hardly be said to have gone be-
yond the Recommendations ; but rather to have contradicted
them.,,

The legislation which my father worked for, as described
in the following letters, was practically what was introduced
as Dr. Lyon Playfair's Bill]

C. Darwin to Mrs. Litchfield*

January 4, 1875.
My dear H. — Your letter has led me to think over vivi-
section (I wish some new word like anses-section could be
invented f) for some hours, and I will jot down my conclusions,
which will appear very unsatisfactory to you. I have long
thought physiology one of the greatest of sciences, sure sooner,

* His daughter.

f He communicated to * Nature* (Sep. 30, 1880) an article by Dr.
Wilder, of Cornell University, an abstract of which was published (p. 517).
Dr. Wilder advocated the use of the word ' Callisection ' for painless opera-
tions on animals.
61

380 MISCELLANEA. [1875.

or more probably later, greatly to benefit mankind ; but,
judging from all other sciences, the benefits will accrue only
indirectly in the search for abstract truth. It is certain that
physiology can progress only by experiments on living ani-
mals. Therefore the proposal to limit research to points of
which we can now see the bearings in regard to health, &c,
I look at as puerile. 1 thought at first it would be good to
limit vivisection to public laboratories ; but I have heard only
of those in London and Cambridge, and I think Oxford ; but
probably there may be a few others. Therefore only men
living in a few great towns would carry on investigation, and
this I should consider a great evil. If private men were per-
mitted to work in their own houses, and required a licence, I
do not see who is to determine whether any particular man
should receive one. It is young unknown men who are the
most likely to do good work. I would gladly punish severely
any one who operated on an animal not rendered insensible,
if the experiment made this possible ; but here again I do not
see that a magistrate or jury could possibly determine such a
point. Therefore I conclude, if (as is likely) some experi-
ments have been tried too often, or anaesthetics have not been
used when they could have been, the cure must be in the
improvement of humanitarian feelings. Under this point of
view I have rejoiced at the present agitation. If stringent
laws are passed, and this is likely, seeing how unscientific the
House of Commons is, and that the gentlemen of England
are humane, as long as their sports are not considered, which
entailed a hundred or thousand-fold more suffering than the
experiments of physiologists — if such laws are passed, the re-
sult will assuredly be that physiology, which has been until
within the last few years at a standstill in England, will lan-
guish or quite cease. It will then be carried on solely on the
Continent; and there will be so many the fewer workers on
this grand subject, and this I should greatly regret. By the
way, F. Balfour, who has worked for two or three years in the
laboratory at Cambridge, declares to George that he has never
seen an experiment, except with animals rendered insensible.

I875-] VIVISECTION. 381

No doubt the names of Doctors will have great weight with
the House of Commons ; but very many practitioners neither
know nor care anything about the progress of knowledge. I
cannot at present see my way to sign any petition, without
hearing what physiologists thought would be its effect, and
then judging for myself. I certainly could not sign the paper
sent me by Miss Cobbe, with its monstrous (as it seems to
me) attack on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae.
I am tired and so no more.

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, April 14 [1875].
My dear Hooker, — I worked all the time in London on
the vivisection question ; and we now think it advisable to go
further than a mere petition. Litchfield * drew up a sketch
of a Bill, the essential features of which have been approved
.by Sanderson, Simon and Huxley, and from conversation,
will, I believe, be approved by Paget, and almost certainly, I
think, by Michael Foster. Sanderson, Simon and Paget wish
me to see Lord Derby, and endeavour to gain his advocacy
with the Home Secretary. Now, if this is carried into effect,
it will be of great importance to me to be able to say that the
Bill in its essential features has the approval of some half-
dozen eminent scientific men. I have therefore asked Litch-
field to enclose a copy to you in its first rough form ; and if
it is not essentially modified may I say that it meets with your
approval as President of the Royal Society ? The object is
to protect animals, and at the same time not to injure Physi-
ology, and Huxley and Sanderson's approval almost suffices
on this head. Pray let me have a line from you soon.

Yours affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

* Mr. R. B. Litchfield, his son-in-law.

382 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

[The Physiological Society, which was founded in 1876, was
in some measure the outcome of the anti-vivisection move-
ment, since it was this agitation which impressed on Physiolo-
gists the need of a centre for those engaged in this particular
branch of science. With respect to the Society, my father
wrote to Mr. Romanes (May 29, 1876) : —

" I was very much gratified by the wholly unexpected
honour of being elected one of the Honorary Members.
This mark of sympathy has pleased me to a very high
degree.1'

The following letter appeared in the Tinies, April 18th,
1881 :]

C. Darwin to Frithiof Holmgren*

Down, April 14, 1881.
Dear Sir, — In answer to your courteous letter of April 7,
I have no objection to express my opinion with respect to
the right of experimenting on living animals. I use this latter
expression as more correct and comprehensive than that of
vivisection. You are at liberty to make any use of this letter,
which you may think fit, but if published I should wish the
whole to appear. I have all my life been a strong advocate
for humanity to animals, and have done what I could in my
writings to enforce this duty. Several years ago, when the
agitation against physiologists commenced in England, it
was asserted that inhumanity was here practised, and useless
suffering caused to animals; and I was led to think that it
might be advisable to have an Act of Parliament on the
subject. I then took an active part in trying to get a Bill
passed, such as would have removed all just cause of com-
plaint, and at the same time have left physiologists free to
pursue their researches, — a Bill very different from the Act
which has since been passed. It is right to add that the
investigation of the matter by a Royal Commission proved
that the accusations made against our English physiologists

* Professor of Physiology at Upsala.

i88i.] VIVISECTION. 383

were false. From all that I have heard, however, I fear that
in some parts of Europe little regard is paid to the sufferings
of animals, and if this be the case, I should be glad to hear of
legislation against inhumanity in any such country. On the
other hand, I know that physiology cannot possibly progress
except by means of experiments on living animals, and I
feel the deepest conviction that he who retards the progress
of physiology commits a crime against mankind. Any one
who remembers, as I can, the state of this science half a
century ago, must admit that it has made immense progress,
and it is now progressing at an ever-increasing rate. What
improvements in medical practice may be directly attributed
to physiological research is a question which can be properly
discussed only by those physiologists and medical practitioners
who have studied the history of their subjects ; but, as far as
I can learn, the benefits are already great. However this may
be, no one, unless he is grossly ignorant of what science has
done for mankind, can entertain any doubt of the incalculable
benefits which will hereafter be derived from physiology, not
only by man, but by the lower animals. Look for instance
at Pasteur's results in modifying the germs of the most
malignant diseases, from which, as it so happens, animals will
in the first place receive more relief than man. Let it be
remembered how many lives and what a fearful amount of
suffering have been saved by the knowledge gained of
parasitic worms through the experiments of Virchow and
others on living animals. In the future every one will be
astonished at the ingratitude shown, at least in England, to
these benefactors of mankind. As for myself, permit me to
assure you that I honour, and shall always honour, every one
who advances the noble science of physiology.

Dear Sir, yours faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

[In the Times of the following day appeared a letter
headed "Mr. Darwin and Vivisection, " signed by Miss
Frances Power Cobbe. To this my father replied in the

384 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

Times of April 22, 1881. On the same day he wrote to Mr.
Romanes : —

" As I have a fair opportunity, I sent a letter to the Times
on Vivisection, which is printed to-day. I thought it fair to
bear my share of the abuse poured in so atrocious a manner
on all physiologists."]

C. Darwin to the Editor of the Times,

Sir, — I do not wish to discuss the views expressed by
Miss Cobbe in the letter which appeared in the Times of the
19th inst. ; but as she asserts that I have "misinformed " my
correspondent in Sweden in saying that u the investigation of
the matter by a Royal Commission proved that the accu-
sations made against our English physiologists were false,"
I will merely ask leave to refer to some other sentences from
the Report of the Commission.

(1.) The sentence — "It is not to be doubted that in-
humanity may be found in persons of very high position as
physiologists," which Miss Cobbe quotes from page 17 of the
report, and which, in her opinion, " can necessarily concern
English physiologists alone and not foreigners," is immediate-
ly followed by the words " We have seen that it was so in
Magendie." Magendie was a French physiologist who became
notorious some half century ago for his cruel experiments on
living animals.

(2). The Commissioners, after speaking of the "general
sentiment of humanity" prevailing in this country, say
(p. 10) :—

" This principle is accepted generally by the very highly
educated men whose lives are devoted either to scientific
investigation and education or to the mitigation or the
removal of the sufferings of their fellow-creatures ; though
differences of degree in regard to its practical application
will be easily discernible by those who study the evidence as
it has been laid before us."

Again, according to the Commissioners (p. 10) : —

i88i.] VIVISECTION. 385

" The secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals, when asked whether the general tendency

of the scientific world in this country is at variance with

humanity, says he believes it to be very different, indeed,

from that of foreign physiologists ; and while giving it as the

opinion of the society that experiments are performed which

are in their nature beyond any legitimate province of science,

and that the pain which they inflict is pain which it is not

justifiable to inflict even for the scientific object in view, he

readily acknowledges that he does not know a single case of

wanton cruelty, and that in general the English physiologists

have used anaesthetics where they think they can do so with

safety to the experiment."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Charles Darwin.
April 21.

[In the Times of Saturday, April 23, 1881, appeared a
letter from Miss Cobbe in reply :]

C. Darwin to G. J. Romanes.

Down, April 25, 1881.
My dear Romanes, — I was very glad to read your last
note with much news interesting to me. But I write now to
say how I, and indeed all of us in the house have admired
your letter in the Times* It was so simple and direct. I was
particularly glad about Burton Sanderson, of whom I have
been for several years a great admirer. I was also especially
glad to read the last sentences. I have been bothered with
several letters, but none abusive. Under a selfish point of
view I am very glad of the publication of your letter, as I
was at first inclined to think that I had done mischief by
stirring up the mud. Now I feel sure that I have done good.
Mr. Jesse has written to me very politely, he says his Society
has had nothing to do with placards and diagrams against

* April 25, 1881. — Mr. Romanes defended Dr. Sanderson against the
accusations made by Miss Cobbe.

386 MISCELLANEA. [i88i<

physiology, and I suppose, therefore, that these all originate

with Miss Cobbe Mr. Jesse complains bitterly that the

Times will " burke " all his letters to this newspaper, nor am
I surprised, judging from the laughable tirades advertised in
Nature. Ever yours, very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[The next letter refers to a projected conjoint article on
vivisection, to which Mr. Romanes wished my father to con-
tribute :]

C. Darwin to G. J. Romanes.

Down, September 2, 1881.

My dear Romanes, — Your letter has perplexed me be-
yond all measure. I fully recognise the duty of every one
whose opinion is worth anything, expressing his opinion pub-
licly on vivisection ; and this made me send my letter to the
Times. I have been thinking at intervals all morning what I
could say, and it is the simple truth that I have nothing worth
saying. You and men like you, whose ideas flow freely, and
who can express them easily, cannot understand the state of
mental paralysis in which I find myself. What is most
wanted is a careful and accurate attempt to show what physi-
ology has already done for man, and even still more strongly
what there is every reason to believe it will hereafter do.
Now I am absolutely incapable of doing this, or of discussing
the other points suggested by you.

If you wish for my name (and I should be glad that it
should appear with that of others in the same cause), could
you not quote some sentence from my letter in the Times
which I enclose, but please return it. If you thought fit you
might say you quoted it with my approval, and that after still
further reflection I still abide most strongly in my expressed
conviction.

For Heaven's sake, do think of this. I do not grudge the
labour and thought ; but I could write nothing worth any one
reading.

i88i.] VIVISECTION. 387

Allow me to demur to your calling your conjoint article a
" symposium " strictly a " drinking party." This seems to me
very bad taste, and I do hope every one of you will avoid any
semblance of a joke on ,the subject I know that words, like
a joke, on this subject have quite disgusted some persons not
at all inimical to physiology. One person lamented to me
that Mr. Simon, in his truly admirable Address at the Medi-
cal Congress (by far the best thing which I have read), spoke
of the fantastic sensuality* (or some such term) of the many
mistaken, but honest men and women who are half mad on
the subject. . . .

[To Dr. Lauder Brunton my father wrote in February
1882 :—

u Have you read Mr. [Edmund] Gurney's articles in the
1 Fortnightly ' f and * Cornhill ? ' J They seem to me very
clever, though obscurely written, and I agree with almost
everything he says, except with some passages which appear
to imply that no experiments should be tried unless some im-
mediate good can be predicted, and this is a gigantic mistake
contradicted by the whole history of science."]

* * Transactions of the International Medical Congress,' 188 1, vol. iv.
p. 413. The expression " lackadaisical " (not fantastic), and "feeble sen-
suality," are used with regard to the feelings of the anti-vivisectionists.

f " A chapter in the Ethics of Pain," 'Fortnightly Review,' 1881, vol.
xxx. p. 778.

X "An Epilogue on Vivisection," 'Cornhill Magazine,' 1882, vol. xlv.
p. 191.

CHAPTER IX.

MISCELLANEA {continued} — A REVIVAL OF GEOLOGICAL WORK
THE BOOK ON EARTHWORMS — LIFE OF ERASMUS DAR-
WIN— MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS.

1876-1882.

[We have now to consider the work (other than botanical)
which occupied the concluding six years of my father's life.
A letter to his old friend Rev. L. Blomefield (Jenyns), written
in March, 1877, shows what was my father's estimate of his
own powers of work at this time : —

" My dear Jenyns (I see I have forgotten your proper
names). — Your extremely kind letter has given me warm
pleasure. As one gets old, one's thoughts turn back to the
past rather than to the future, and I often think of the
pleasant, and to me valuable, hours which I spent with you
on the borders of the Fens.

" You ask about my future work ; I doubt whether I shall
be able to do much more that is new, and I always keep

before my mind the example of poor old , who in his old

age had a cacoethes for writing. But I cannot endure doing
nothing, so I suppose that I shall go on as long as I can
without obviously making a fool of myself. I have a great
mass of matter with respect to variation under nature ; but so
much has been published since the appearance of the ' Origin
of Species,' that I very much doubt whether I retain power of
mind and strength to reduce the mass into a digested whole.
I have sometimes thought that I would try, but dread the
attempt. . . ."

1876.] GEOLOGY. 389

His prophecy proved to be a true one with regard to any
continuation of any general work in the direction of Evolu-
tion, but his estimate of powers which could afterwards prove
capable of grappling with the i Power of Movement in Plants,'
and with the work on ' Earthworms,' was certainly a low one.

The year 1876, with which the present chapter begins,
brought with it a revival of geological work. He had been
astonished, as I hear from Professor Judd, and as appears in
his letters, to learn that his books on * Volcanic Islands,'
1844, and on ' South America/ 1846, were still consulted by
geologists, and it was a surprise to him that new editions
should be required. Both these works were originally pub-
lished by Messrs. Smith and Elder, and the new edition of
1876 was also brought out by them. This appeared in one
volume with the title ' Geological Observations on the Vol-
canic Islands, and Parts of South America visited during the
Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle' He has explained in the preface
his reasons for leaving untouched the text of the original edi-
tions : " They relate to parts of the world which have been
so rarely visited by men of science, that I am not aware that
much could be corrected or added from observations subse-
quently made. Owing to the great progress which Geology
has made within recent times, my views on some few points
may be somewhat antiquated ; but I have thought it best to
leave them as they originally appeared."

It may have been the revival of geological speculation,
due to the revision of his early books, that led to his recording
the observations of which some account is given in the fol-
lowing letter. Part of it has been published in Professor
James Geikie's ' Prehistoric Europe/ chaps, vii. and ix.,* a
few verbal alterations having been made at my father's re-
quest in the passages quoted. Mr. Geikie lately wrote to me :
" The views suggested in his letter as to the origin of the

* My father's suggestion is also noticed in Prof. Geikie's address on the
* Ice Age in Europe and North America/ given at Edinburgh, Nov. 20,
1884.

390 MISCELLANEA. [1876.

angular gravels, &c, in the South of England will, I believe,
come to be accepted as the truth. This question has a much
wider bearing than might at first appear. In point of fact
it solves one of the most difficult problems in Quaternary
Geology — and has already attracted the attention of German
geologists/']

C. Darwin to James Geikie.

Down, November 16, 1876.

My dear Sir, — I hope that you will forgive me for troub-
ling you with a very long letter. But first allow me to tell
you with what extreme pleasure and admiration I have just
finished reading your ' Great Ice Age.' It seems to me ad-
mirably done, and most clear. Interesting as many chapters
are in the history of the world, I do not think that any one
comes [up] nearly to the glacial period or periods. Though
I have steadily read much on the subject, your book makes
the whoie appear almost new to me.

I am now going to mention a small observation, made by
me two or three years ago, near Southampton, but not fol-
lowed out, as I have no strength for excursions. I need say
nothing about the character of the drift there (which includes
palaeolithic celts), for you have described its essential feat-
ures in a few words at p. 506. It covers the whole country
[in an] even plain-like surface, almost irrespective of the
present outline of the land.

The coarse stratification has sometimes been disturbed.
I find that you allude " to the larger stones often standing on
end ; " and this is the point which struck me so much. Not
only moderately sized angular stones, but small oval pebbles
often stand vertically up, in a manner which I have never
seen in ordinary gravel beds. This fact reminded me of what
occurs near my home, in the stiff red clay, full of unworn
flints over the chalk, which is no doubt the residue left un-
dissolved by rain water. In this clay, flints as long and thin
as my arm often stand perpendicularly up ; and I have been
told by the tank- diggers that it is their ." natural position! "

1876.] GEOLOGY. 39I

I presume that this position may safely be attributed to the
differential movement of parts of the red clay as it subsided
very slowly from the dissolution of the underlying chalk; so
that the flints arrange themselves in the lines of least resist-
ance. The similar but less strongly marked arrangement of
the stones in the drift near Southampton makes me suspect
that it also must have slowly subsided ; and the notion has
crossed my mind that during the commencement and height
of the glacial period great beds of frozen snow accumulated
over the south of England, and that, during the summer,
gravel and stones were washed from the higher land over its
surface, and in superficial channels. The larger streams may
have cut right through the frozen snow, and deposited gravel
in lines at the bottom. But on each succeeding autumn,
when the running water failed, I imagine that the lines of
drainage would have been filled up by blown snow afterwards
congealed, and that, owing to great surface accumulations of
snow, it would be a mere chance whether the drainage, to-
gether with gravel and sand, would follow the same lines dur-
ing the next summer. Thus, as I apprehend, alternate layers
of frozen snow and drift, in sheets and lines, would ultimate-
ly have covered the country to a great thickness, with lines
of drift probably deposited in various directions at the bot-
tom by the larger streams. As the climate became warmer,
the lower beds of frozen snow would have melted with ex-
treme slowness, and the many irregular beds of interstrati-
fied drift would have sunk down with equal slowness ; and
during this movement the elongated pebbles would have ar-
ranged themselves more or less vertically. The drift would
also have been deposited almost irrespective of the outline
of the underlying land. When I viewed the country I could
not persuade myself that any flood, however great, could
have deposited such coarse gravel over the almost level
platforms between the valleys. My view differs from that of
Hoist, p. 415 [' Great Ice Age '], of which I had never heard,
as his relates to channels cut through glaciers, and, mine to
beds of drift interstratified with frozen snow where no gla-

392 MISCELLANEA. [1876.

ciers existed. The upshot of this long letter is to ask you to
keep my notion in your head, and look out for upright peb-
bles in any lowland country which you may examine, where
glaciers have not existed. Or if you think the notion de-
serves any further thought, but not otherwise, to tell any one
of it, for instance Mr. Skertchly, who is examining such dis-
tricts. Pray forgive me for writing so long a letter, and
again thanking you for the great pleasure derived from your
book,

I remain yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. ... I am glad that you have read Blytt ; * his paper
seemed to me a most important contribution to Botanical
Geography. How curious that the same conclusions should
have been arrived at by Mr. Skertchly, who seems to be a
first-rate observer ; and this implies, as I always think, a
sound theoriser.

I have told my publisher to send you in two or three days
a copy (second edition) of my geological work during the
voyage of the Beagle, The sole point which would perhaps
interest you is about the steppe-like plains of Patagonia.

For many years past I have had fearful misgivings that it
must have been the level of the sea, and not that of the land
which has changed.

I read a few months ago your [brother's] very interesting
life of Murchison.f Though I have always thought that he
ranked next to W. Smith in the classification of formations,
and though I knew how kind-hearted [he was], yet the book
has raised him greatly in my respect, notwithstanding his
foibles and want of broad philosophical views.

[The only other geological work of his later years was
embodied in his book on earthworms (1881), which may

* Axel Blytt. — ' Essay on the Immigration of the Norwegian Flora
during alternate rainy and dry Seasons.' Christiania, 1876.
f By Mr. Archibald Geikie.

1877] WORMS. 393

therefore be conveniently considered in this place. This
subject was one which had interested him many years before
this date, and in 1838 a paper on the formation of mould
was published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society
(see vol. i. p. 255).

Here he showed that " fragments of burnt marl, cinders,
&c, which had been thickly strewed over the surface of sev-
eral meadows were found after a few years lying at a depth
of some inches beneath the turf, but still forming a layer."
For the explanation of this fact, which forms the central idea
of the geological part of the book, he was indebted to his
uncle Josiah Wedgwood, who suggested that worms, by bring-
ing earth to the surface in their castings, must undermine
any objects lying on the surface and cause an apparent
sinking.

In the book of 1881 he extended his observations on this
burying action, and devised a number of different ways of
checking his estimates as to the amount of work done.* He
also added a mass of observations on the habits, natural his-
tory and intelligence of worms, a part of the work which
added greatly to its popularity.

In 1877 Sir Thomas Farrer had discovered close to his
garden the remains of a building of Roman-British times,
and thus gave my father the opportunity of seeing for him-
self the effects produced by earthworms' work on the old
concrete-floors, walls, &c. On his return he wrote to Sir
Thomas Farrer : —

" I cannot remember a more delightful week than the last.
I know very well that E. will not believe me, but the worms
were by no means the sole charm."

* He received much valuable help from Dr. King, of the Botanical
Gardens, Calcutta. The following passage is from a letter to Dr. King,
dated January 18, 1873 : —

" I really do not know how to thank you enough for the immense
trouble which you have taken. You have attended exactly and fully to
the points about which I was most anxious. If I had been each evening
by your side, I could not have suggested anything else."

394 MISCELLANEA. [1877.

In the autumn of 1880, when the * Power of Movement
in Plants ' was nearly finished, he began once more on the
subject. He wrote to Professor Cams (September 21) : —

" In the intervals of correcting the press, I am writing a
very little book, and have done nearly half of it. Its title
will be (as at present designed) * The Formation of Vegetable
Mould through the Action of Worms.'* As far as I can
judge it will be a curious little book/'

The manuscript was sent to the printers in April, 1881,
and when the proof-sheets were coming in he wrote to Pro-
fessor Cams : " The subject has been to me a hobby-horse,
and I have perhaps treated it in foolish detail."

It was published on October 10, and 2000 copies were
sold at once. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker, " I am glad that
you approve of the * Worms/ When in old days I used to
tell you whatever I was doing, if you were at all interested, I
always felt as most men do when their work is finally pub-
lished/'

To Mr. Mellard Reade he wrote (November 8) : " It has
been a complete surprise to me how many persons have cared
for the subject." And to Mr. Dyer (in November) : " My
book has been received with almost laughable enthusiasm,
and 3500 copies have been sold ! ! ! " Again, to his friend
Mr. Anthony Rich, he wrote on February 4, 1882, "I have
been plagued with an endless stream of letters on the sub-
ject ; most of them very foolish and enthusiastic ; but some
containing good facts which I have used in correcting yes-
terday the i Sixth Thousand.' " The popularity of the book
may be roughly estimated by the fact that, in the three years
following its publication, 8500 copies were sold — a sale rela-
tively greater than that of the ' Origin of Species.'

It is not difficult to account for its success with the non-
scientific public. Conclusions so wide and so novel, and so
easily understood, drawn from the study of creatures so fa-

* The full title is ' The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the
Action of Worms with Observations on their Habits,' 1881.

1879.] ERASMUS DARWIN. 395

miliar, and treated with unabated vigor and freshness, may
well have attracted many readers. A reviewer remarks : " In
the eyes of most men . . . the earthworm is a mere blind,
dumb, senseless, and unpleasantly slimy annelid. Mr. Darwin
undertakes to rehabilitate his character, and the earthworm
steps forth at once as an intelligent and beneficent person-
age, a worker of vast geological changes, a planer down of
mountain sides. ... a friend of man. . . and an ally of the
Society for the preservation of ancient monuments.,, The St.
James's Gazette, October 17, 1881, pointed out that the teach-
ing of the cumulative importance of the infinitely little is the
point of contact between this book and the author's previous
work.

One more book remains to be noticed, the ' Life of Eras-
mus Darwin.'

In February 1879 an essay by Dr. Ernst Krause, on the
scientific work of Erasmus Darwin, appeared in the evolu-
tionary journal, ' Kosmos.' The number of ' Kosmos ' in
question was a " Gratulationsheft," * or special congratulatory
issue in honour of my father's birthday, so that Dr. Krause's
essay, glorifying the older evolutionist, was quite in its place.
He wrote to Dr. Krause, thanking him cordially for the hon-
our paid to Erasmus, and asking his permission to publish \
an English translation of the Essay.

His chief reason for writing a notice of his grandfather's
life was " to contradict flatly some calumnies by Miss Sew-
ard." This appears from a letter of March 27, 1879, to his
cousin Reginald Darwin, in which he asks for any documents
and letters which might throw light on the character of Eras-
mus. This led to Mr. Reginald Darwin placing in my father's
hands a quantity of valuable material, including a curious

* The same number contains a good biographical sketch of my father,
of which the material was to a large extent supplied by him to the writer,
Professor Preyer of Jena. The article contains an excellent list of my
father's publications.

f The wish to do so was shared by his brother, Erasmus Darwin the
younger, who continued to be associated with the project.
62

396 MISCELLANEA. [1879.

folio common-place book, of which he wrote : " I have been
deeply interested by the great book, .... reading and look-
ing at it is like having communion with the dead .... [it]
has taught me a good d al about the occupations and tastes
of our grandfather.,, A subsequent letter (April 8) to the
same correspondent describes the source of a further supply
of material : —

" Since my last letter I have made a strange discovery ;
for an old box from my father marked " Old Deeds," and
which consequently I had never opened, I found full of let-
ters— hundreds from Dr. Erasmus — and others from old mem-
bers of the Family : some few very curious. Also a drawing
of Elston before it was altered, about 1750, of which I think
I will give a copy/'

Dr. Krause's contribution formed the second part of the
* Life of Erasmus Darwin/ my father supplying a " prelimi-
nary notice. " This expression on the title-page is somewhat
misleading ; my father's contribution is more than half the
book, and should have been described as a biography. Work
of this kind was new to him, and he wrote doubtfully to Mr.
Thiselton Dyer, June 18th : " God only knows what I shall
make of his life, it is such a new kind of work to me." The
strong interest he felt about his forebears helped to give zest
to the work, which became a decided enjoyment to him.
With the general public the book was not markedly success-
ful, but many of his friends recognised its merits. Sir J. D.
Hooker was one of these, and to him my father wrote, " Your
praise of the Life of Dr. D. has pleased me exceedingly, for I
despised my work, and thought myself a perfect fool to have
undertaken such a job."

To Mr. Galton, too, he wrote, November 14 : —

" I am extremely glad that you approve of the little ' Life '
of our grandfather, for I have been repenting that I ever un-
dertook it, as the work was quite beyond my tether."

The publication of the ' Life of Erasmus Darwin ' led to
an attack by Mr. Samuel Butler, which amounted to a charge
of falsehood against my father. After consulting his friends,

i88o.] ERASMUS DARWIN. 397

he came to the determination to leave the charge unanswered,
as unworthy of his notice.* Those who wish to know more
of the matter, may gather the facts of the case from Ernst
Krause's * Charles Darwin/ and they will find Mr. Butler's
statement of his grievance in the Athenceuni, January 31, 1880,
and in the St. James's Gazette \ December 8, 1880. The affair
gave my father much pain, but the warm sympathy of thooe
whose opinion he respected soon helped him to let it pass
into a well-merited oblivion.

The following letter refers to M. J. H. Fabre's ' Souvenirs
Entomologiques.' It may find a place here, as it contains a
defence of Erasmus Darwin on a small point. The postscript
is interesting, as an example of one of my father's bold ideas
both as to experiment and theory :]

C. Darwin to J. H. Fabre.

Down, January 31, 1880.

My dear Sir, — I hope that you will permit me to have
the satisfaction of thanking you cordially for the lively pleas-
ure which I have derived from reading your book. Never
have the wonderful habits of insects been more vividly de-
scribed, and it is almost as good to read about them as to
see them. I feel sure that you would not be unjust to even
an insect, much less to a man. Now, you have been misled
by some translator, for my grandfather, Erasmus Darwin,
states ('Zoonomia,' vol. i. p. 183, 1794) that it was a wasp
(guepe) which he saw cutting off the wings of a large fly. I
have no doubt that you are right in saying that the wings are
generally cut off instinctively ; but in the case described by
my grandfather, the wasp, after cutting off the two ends of
the body, rose in the air, and was turned round by the wind ;
he then alighted and cut off the wings. I must believe, with
Pierre Huber, that insects have " une petite dose de raison."

* He had, in a letter to Mr. Butler, expressed his regret at the over-
sight which caused so much offence.

398 MISCELLANEA. [1880.

In the next edition of your book, I hope that you will alter
part of what you say about my grandfather.

I am sorry that you are so strongly opposed to the Descent
theory ; I have found the searching for the history of each
structure or instinct an excellent aid to observation ; and
wonderful observer as you are, it would suggest new points
to you. If I were to write on the evolution of instincts. I
could make good use of some of the facts which you give.
Permit me to add, that when I read the last sentence in your
book, I sympathised deeply with you.*

With the most sincere respect,

I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
Charles Darwin.

P.S. — Allow me to make a suggestion in relation to your
wonderful account of insects finding their way home. I for-
merly wished to try it with pigeons : namely, to carry the
insects in their paper " cornets," about a hundred paces in the
opposite direction to that which you ultimately intended to
carry them ; but before turning round to return, to put the
insect in a circular box, with an axle which could be made to
revolve very rapidly, first in one direction, and then in
another, so as to destroy for a time all sense of direction in
the insects. I have sometimes imagined that animals may
feel in which direction they were at the first start carried. \
If this plan failed, I had intended placing the pigeons within

* The book is intended as a memorial of the early death of M. Fabre's
son, who had been his father's assistant in his observations on insect
life.

+ This idea was a favourite one with him, and he has described in
1 Nature' (vol. vii. 1873, p. 360) the behaviour of his cob Tommy, in whom
he fancied he detected a sense of direction. The horse had been taken by
rail from Kent to the Isle of Wight ; when there he exhibited a marked
desire to go eastward, even when his stable lay in the opposite direction.
In the same volume of ' Nature,' p. 417, is a letter on the ' Origin of
Certain Instincts,' which contains a short discussion on the sense of di-
rection.

i88o.] PORTRAITS. 399

an induction coil, so as to disturb any magnetic or dia-mag-
netic sensibility, which it seems just possible that they may
possess. C. D.

[During the latter years of my father's life there was a
growing tendency in the public to do him honour. In 1877
he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Univer-
sity of Cambridge. The degree was conferred on November
17, and with the customary Latin speech from the Public
Orator, concluding with the words : " Tu vero, qui leges na-
turae tarn docte illustraveris, legum doctor nobis esto."

The honorary degree led to a movement being set on foot
in the University to obtain some permanent memorial of my
father. A sum of about ^400 was subscribed, and after the
rejection of the idea that a bust would be the best memorial,
a picture was determined on. In June 1879 he sat to Mr.
W. Richmond for the portrait in the possession of the Uni-
versity, now placed in the Library of the philosophical So-
ciety at Cambridge. He is represented seated in his Doctor's
gown, the head turned towards the spectator : the picture has
many admirers, but, according to my own view, neither the
attitude nor the expression are characteristic of my father.

A similar wish on the part of the Linnean Society — with
which my father was so closely associated — led to his sitting
in August, 1881, to Mr. John Collier, for the portrait now in
the possession of the Society. Of the artist, he wrote,
" Collier was the most considerate, kind and pleasant painter
a sitter could desire." The portrait represents him standing
facing the observer in the loose cloak so familiar to those who
knew him, and with his slouch hat in his hand. Many of
those who knew his face most intimately, think that Mr.
Collier's picture is the best of the portraits, and in this judg-
ment the sitter himself was inclined to agree. According to
my feeling it is not so simple or strong a representation of
him as that given by Mr. Ouless. There is a certain expres-
sion in Mr. Collier's portrait which I am inclined to consider
an exaggeration of the almost painful expression which

400 MISCELLANEA. [1880.

Professor Cohn has described in my father's face, and which
he had previously noticed in Humboldt. Professor Cohn's
remarks occur in a pleasantly written account of a visit to
Down* in 1876, published in the Breslauer Zeitung, April 23,
1882.

Besides the Cambridge degree, he received about the same
time honours of an academic kind from some foreign socie-
ties.

On August 5, 1878, he was elected a Corresponding Mem-
ber of the French Institute f in the Botanical Section, % and
wrote to Dr. Asa Gray : —

" I see that we are both elected Corresponding Members

* In this connection may be mentioned a visit (1881) from another dis-
tinguished German, Hans Richter. The occurrence is otherwise worthy
of mention, inasmuch as it led to the publication, after my father's death,
of Herr Richter's recollections of the visit. The sketch is simply and sym-
pathetically written, and the author has succeeded in giving a true picture
of my father as he lived at Down. It appeared in the Neue Tagblatt of
Vienna, and was republished by Dr. O. Zacharias in his * Charles R. Dar-
win,' Berlin, 1882.

f " Lyell always spoke of it as a great scandal that Darwin was so long
kept out of the French Institute. As he said, even if the development
hypothesis were objected to, Darwin's original works on Coral Reefs, the
Cirripedia, and other subjects, constituted a more than sufficient claim." —
From Professor Judd's notes.

% The statement has been more than once published that he was
elected to the Zoological Section, but this was not the case.

He received twenty-six votes out of a possible 39, five blank papers
were sent in, and eight votes were recorded for the other candidates.

In 1872 an attempt had been made to elect him to the Section of Zo-
ology, when, however, he only received 15 out of 48 votes, and Loven was
chosen for the vacant place. It appears (' Nature,' August 1, 1872) that
an eminent member of the Academy wrote to Les Mondes to the follow-
ing effect : —

" What has closed the doors of the Academy to Mr. Darwin is that the
science of those of his books which have made his chief title to fame — the
'Origin of Species,' and still more the 'Descent of Man,' is not science,
but a mass of assertions and absolutely gratuitous hypotheses, often evi-
dently fallacious. This kind of publication and these theories are a bad
example, which a body that respects itself cannot encourage."

i88i.] BRESSA PRIZE. 401

of the Institute. It is rather a good joke that I should be
elected in the Botanical Section, as the extent of my knowl-
edge is little more than that a daisy is a Compositous plant
and a pea a Leguminous one.,,

In the early part of the same year he was elected a Corre-
sponding Member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and he
wrote (March 12) to Professor Du Bois Reymond, who had
proposed him for election : —

" I thank you sincerely for your most kind letter, in which
you announce the great honour conferred on me. The
knowledge of the names of the illustrious men, who seconded
the proposal is even a greater pleasure to me than the honour
itself."

The seconders were Helmholtz, Peters, Ewald, Pringsheim
and Virchow.

In 1879 he received the Baly Medal of the Royal College
of Physicians.*

Again in 1879 he received from the Royal Academy of
Turin the Bressa Prize for the years 1875-78, amounting to
the sum of 12,000 francs. In the following year he received
on his birthday, as on previous occasions, a kind letter of
congratulation from Dr. Dohrn of Naples. In writing (Feb-
ruary 15th) to thank him and the other naturalists at the
Zoological Station, my father added : —

"Perhaps you saw in the papers that the Turin Society
honoured me to an extraordinary degree by awarding me
the Bressa Prize. Now it occurred to me that if your station

* The visit to London, necessitated by the presentation of the Baly
Medal, was combined with a visit to Miss Forster's house at Abinger, in
Surrey, and this was the occasion of the following characteristic letter : —
" I must write a few words to thank you cordially for lending us your
house. It was a most kind thought, and has pleased me greatly ; but I
know well that I do not deserve such kindness from any one. On the
other hand, no one can be too kind to my dear wife, who is worth her
weight in gold many times over, and she was anxious that I should get
some complete rest, and here I cannot rest. Your house will be a delight-
ful haven, and again I thank you truly."

402 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

wanted some pieces of apparatus, of about the value of ^100,
I should very much like to be allowed to pay for it. Will
you be so kind as to keep this in mind, and if any want
should occur to you, I would send you a cheque at any time.,,

I find from my father's accounts that ^100 was presented
to the Naples Station.

He received also several tokens of respect and sympathy
of a more private character from various sources. With re-
gard to such incidents and to the estimation of the public
generally, his attitude may be illustrated by a passage from a
letter to Mr. Romanes : — *

"You have indeed passed a most magnificent eulogium
upon me, and I wonder that you were not afraid of hearing
'oh ! oh! ' or some other sign of disapprobation. Many per-
sons think that what I have done in science has been much
overrated, and I very often think so myself ; but my comfort
is that I have never consciously done anything to gain ap-
plause. Enough and too much about my dear self."

Among such expressions of regard he valued very highly
the two photographic albums received from Germany and
Holland on his birthday, 1877. Herr Emil Rade of Minister,
originated the idea of the German birthday gift, and under-
took the necessary arrangements. To him my father wrote
(February 16, 1877) : —

" I hope that you will inform the one hundred and fifty-
four men of science, including some of the most highly hon-
oured names in the world, how grateful I am for their kind-
ness and generous sympathy in having sent me their photo-
graphs on my birthday."

To Professor Haeckel he wrote (February 16, 1877) : —

" The album has just arrived quite safe. It is most su-
perb, f It is by far the greatest honour which I have ever re-

* The lecture referred to was given at the Dublin meeting of the Brit-
ish Association.

f The album is magnificently bound and decorated with a beautifully
illuminated title page, the work of an artist, Herr A. Fitger of Bremen,
who also contributed the dedicatory poem.

1881.] BIRTHDAY GIFTS. 403

ceived, and my satisfaction has been greatly enhanced by
your most kind letter of February 9. ... I thank you all
from my heart. I have written by this post to Herr Rade,
and I hope he will somehow manage to thank all my generous
friends."

To Professor A. van Bemmelen he wrote, on receiving a
similar present from a number of distinguished men and
lovers of Natural History in the Netherlands : —

"Sir, — I received yesterday the magnificent present of
the album, together with your letter. I hope that you will
endeavour to find some means to express to the two hundred
and seventeen distinguished observers and lovers of natural
science, who have sent me their photographs, my gratitude
for their extreme kindness. I feel deeply gratified by this
gift, and I do not think that any testimonial more honourable
to me could have been imagined. I am well aware that my
books could never have been written, and would not have
made any impression on the public mind, had not an immense
amount of material been collected by a long series of admir-
able observers ; and it is to them that honour is chiefly due.
I suppose that every worker at science occasionally feels de-
pressed, and doubts whether what he has published has been
worth the labour which it has cost him, but for the few re-
maining years of my life, whenever I want cheering, I will
look at the portraits of my distinguished co-workers in the
field of science, and remember their generous sympathy.
When I die, the album will be a most precious bequest to my
children. I must further express my obligation for the very
interesting history contained in your letter of the progress of
opinion in the Netherlands, with respect to Evolution, the
whole of which is quite new to me. I must again thank all
my kind friends, from my heart, for their ever-memorable
testimonial, and I remain, Sir,

Your obliged and grateful servant,

Charles R. Darwin."

[In the June of the following year (1878) he was gratified

404 MISCELLANEA. [1882.

by learning that the Emperor of Brazil had expressed a wish
to meet him. Owing to absence from home my father was
unable to comply with this wish ; he wrote to Sir J. D.
Hooker : —

" The Emperor has done so much for science, that every
scientific man is bound to show him the utmost respect, and
I hope that you will express in the strongest language, and
which you can do with entire truth, how greatly I feel hon-
oured by his wish to see me ; and how much I regret my ab-
sence from home.',

Finally it should be mentioned that in 1880 he received
an address personally presented by members of the Council
of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, as well as a memo-
rial from the Yorkshire Naturalist Union presented by some
of the members, headed by Dr. Sorby. He also received in
the same year a visit from some of the members of the Lewis-
ham and Blackheath Scientific Association, — a visit which
was, I think, enjoyed by both guests and host.]

MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS — 1876-1882.

[The chief incident of a personal kind (not already dealt
with) in the years which we are now considering was the
death of his brother Erasmus, who died at his house in Queen
Anne Street, on August 26th, 1881. My father wrote to Sir
J. D. Hooker (Aug. 30) : —

" The death of Erasmus is a very heavy loss to all of us,
for he had a most affectionate disposition. He always ap-
peared to me the most pleasant and clearest headed man,
whom I have ever known. London will seem a strange place
to me without his presence ; I am deeply glad that he died
without any great suffering, after a very short illness from
mere weakness and not from any definite disease.*

" I cannot quite agree with you about the death of the old

* " He was not, I think, a happy man, and for many years did not
value life, though never complaining." — From a letter to Sir Thomas
Farrer.

1876.] MR. WALLACE. 405

and young. Death in the latter case, when there is a bright
future ahead, causes grief never to be wholly obliterated."

An incident of a happy character may also be selected for
especial notice, since it was one which strongly moved my
father's sympathy. A letter (Dec. 17, 1879) to Sir Joseph
Hooker shows that the possibility of a Government Pension
being conferred on Mr. Wallace first occurred to my father at
this time. The idea was taken up by others, and my father's
letters show that he felt the most lively interest in the success
of the plan. He wrote, for instance, to Mrs. Fisher, " I hard-
ly ever wished for anything more than I do for the success
of our plan." He was deeply pleased when this thoroughly
deserved honour was bestowed on his friend, and wrote to
the same correspondent (January 7, 1881), on receiving a let-
ter from Mr. Gladstone announcing the fact : " How extraor-
dinarily kind of Mr. Gladstone to find time to write under
the present circumstances.* Good heavens ! how pleased I
am!"

The letters which follow are of a miscellaneous character
and refer principally to the books he read, and to his minor
writings.]

C. Darwin to Miss Buckley {Mrs, Fisher).

Down, February II [1876].

My dear Miss Buckley, — You must let me have the
pleasure of saying that I have just finished reading with very
great interest your new book.f The idea seems to me a
capital one, and as far as I can judge very well carried out.
There is much fascination in taking a bird's eye view of all
the grand leading steps in the progress of science. At first I
regretted that you had not kept each science more separate ;
but I dare say you found it impossible. I have hardly any

* Mr. Gladstone was then in office, and the letter must have been writ-
ten when he was overwhelmed with business connected with the opening
of Parliament (Jan. 6).

f * A Short History of Natural Science.'

4o6 MISCELLANEA. [1876.

criticisms, except that I think you ought to have introduced
Murchison as a great classifier of formations, second only to
W. Smith. You have done full justice, and not more than
justice, to our dear old master, Lyell. Perhaps a little more
ought to have been said about botany, and if you should ever
add this, you would find Sachs* ' History,' lately published,
very good for your purpose.

You have crowned Wallace and myself with much honour
and glory. I heartily congratulate you on having produced
so novel and interesting a work, and remain,

My dear Miss Buckley, yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to A. R. Wallace.

[Hopedene] *, June 5, 1876.
My dear Wallace, — I must have the pleasure of ex-
pressing to you my unbounded admiration of your book,f
tho' I have read only to page 184 — my object having been to
do as little as possible while resting. I feel sure that you
have laid a broad and safe foundation for all future work on
Distribution. How interesting it will be to see hereafter
plants treated in strict relation to your views ; and then all-
insects, pulmonate molluscs and fresh-water fishes, in greater
detail than I suppose you have given to these lower animals.
The point which has interested me most, but I do not say the
most valuable point, is your protest against sinking imaginary
continents in a quite reckless manner, as was stated by Forbes,
followed, alas, by Hooker, and caricatured by Wollaston and
[Andrew] Murray ! By the way, the main impression that
the latter author has left on my mind is his utter want of all
scientific judgment. I have lifted up my voice against the
above view with no avail, but I have no doubt that you will
succeed, owing to your new arguments and the coloured
chart. Of a special value, as it seems to me, is the conclusion

* Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.
f * Geographical Distribution/ 1876.

1876.] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 407

that we must determine the areas, chiefly by the nature of the
mammals. When I worked many years ago on this subject,
I doubted much whether the now called Palaearctic and Ne-
arctic regions ought to be separated ; and I determined if I
made another region that it should be Madagascar. I have,
therefore, been able to appreciate your evidence on these
points. What progress Palaeontology has made during the
last 20 years ; but if it advances at the same rate in the future,
our views on the migration and birth-place of the various
groups will, I fear, be greatly altered. I cannot feel quite
easy about the Glacial period, and the extinction of large
mammals, but I must hope that you are right. I think you
will have to modify your belief about the difficulty of dispersal
of land molluscs ; I was interrupted when beginning to ex-
perimentize on the just hatched young adhering to the feet
of ground-roosting birds. I differ on one other point, viz.
in the belief that there must have existed a Tertiary Ant-
arctic continent, from which various forms radiated to the
southern extremities of our present continents. But I could
go on scribbling for ever. You have written, as I believe, a
grand and memorable work which will last for years as the
foundation for all future treatises on Geographical Distribu-
tion. My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — You have paid me the highest conceivable com-
pliment, by what you say of your work in relation to my
chapters on distribution in the ' Origin,' and I heartily thank
you foi it.

[The following letters illustrate my father's power of tak-
ing a vivid interest in work bearing on Evolution, but uncon-
nected with his own special researches at the time. The
books referred to in the first letter are Professor Weismann's
* Studien zur Descendenzlehre,' * being part of the series of

* My father contributed a prefatory note to Mr. Meldola's translation
of Prof. Weismann's * Studein,' 1880-81.

408 MISCELLANEA. [1876.

essays by which the author has done such admirable service
to the cause of evolution :]

C. Darwin to Aug. Weisniann.

January 12, 1877.

... I read German so slowly, and have had lately to read
several other papers, so that I have as yet finished only half
of your first essay and two-thirds of your second. They
have excited my interest and admiration in the highest de-
gree, and whichever I think of last, seems to me the most
valuable. I never expected to see the coloured marks on
caterpillars so well explained ; and the case of the ocelli de-
lights me especially. . . .

. . . There is one other subject which has always seemed
to me more difficult to explain than even the colours of cater-
pillars, and that is the colour of birds' eggs, and I wish you
would take this up.

C. Darwin to Melchior Newnayr* Vienna.

Down, Beckenham, Kent, March 9, 1877.

Dear Sir, — From having been obliged to read other
books, I finished only yesterday your essay on * Die Conge-
rien,' &c.f

I hope that you will allow me to express my gratitude for
the pleasure and instruction which I have derived from read-
ing it. It seems to me to be an admirable work ; and is by
far the best case which I have ever met with, showing the
direct influence of the conditions of life on the organization.

Mr. Hyatt, who has been studying the Hilgendorf case,
writes to me with respect to the conclusions at which he has
arrived, and these are nearly the same as yours. He insists
that closely similar forms may be derived from distinct lines
of descent ; and this is what I formerly called analogical
variation. There can now be no doubt that species may be-
come greatly modified through the direct action of the envi-

* Professor of Palaeontology at Vienna.

f ' Die Congerien und Paludinenschichten Slavoniens,' 4to, 1875.

1877] MR. ALLEN'S WORKS. 409

ronment. I have some excuse for not having formerly in-
sisted more strongly on this head in my i Origin of Species,'
as most of the best facts have been observed since its publi-
cation.

With my renewed thanks for your most interesting essay,
and with the highest respect, I remain, dear Sir,

Yours very faithfully,

Charles Darwin.

C. Darwin to £. S. Morse.

Down, April 23, 1877.

My dear Sir, — You must allow me just to tell you how
very much I have been interested with the excellent Address *
which you have been so kind as to send me, and which I had
much wished to read. I believe that I had read all, or very
nearly all, the papers by your countrymen to which you refer,
but I have been fairly astonished at their number and im-
portance when seeing them thus put together. I quite agree
about the high value of Mr. Allen's works, f as showing how
much change may be expected apparently through the direct
action of the conditions of life. As for the fossil remains in
the West, no words will express how wonderful they are.
There is one point which I regret that you did not make clear
in your Address, namely what is the meaning and importance
of Professors Cope and Hyatt's views on acceleration and
retardation. I have endeavoured, and given up in despair,
the attempt to grasp their meaning.

Permit me to thank you cordially for the kind feeling
shown towards me through your Address, and I remain, my
dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

* " What American Zoologists have done for Evolution," an Address
to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August,
1876. Vol. xxv. of the Proceedings of the Association.

f Mr. J. A. Allen shows the existence of geographical races of birds
and mammals. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. xv.

4io MISCELLANEA. [1877

[The next letter refers to his i Biographical Sketch of
an Infant/ written from notes made 37 years previously, and
published in ' Mind/ July, 1877. The article attracted a good
deal of attention, and was translated at the time in ' Kosmos/
and the i Revue Scientifique/ and has been recently pub-
lished in Dr. Krause's ' Gesammelte kleinere Schriften von
Charles Darwin/ 1887 :]

C. Darwin to G. Croom Robertson*

Down, April 27, 1877.
Dear Sir, — I hope that you will be so good as to take the
trouble to read the enclosed MS., and if you think it fit for
publication in your admirable journal of ' Mind/ I shall be
gratified. If you do not think it fit, as is very likely, will you
please to return it to me. I hope that you will read it in an
extra critical spirit, as I cannot judge whether it is worth
publishing from having been so much interested in watching
the dawn of the several faculties in my own infant. I may
add that I should never have thought of sending you the
MS., had not M. Taine's article appeared in your Journal. f
If my MS. is printed, I think that I had better see a proof.

I remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[The two following extracts show the lively interest he
preserved in diverse fields of inquiry. Professor Cohn, of
Breslau had mentioned, in a letter, Koch's researches on
Splenic Fever, my father replied, January 3 : —

" I well remember saying to myself, between twenty and
thirty years ago, that if ever the origin of any infectious
disease could be proved, it would be the greatest triumph to
science ; and now I rejoice to have seen the triumph."

* The editor of ' Mind.'

\ 1877, P- 252. The original appeared in the * Revue Philosophique'
1876.

1878.] GEOLOGY. 411

In the spring he received a copy of Dr. E. von Mojsisovics*
1 Dolomit Riffe,' his letter to the author (June 1, 1878) is
interesting as bearing on the influence of his own work on
the methods of geology.

" I have at last found time to read the first chapter of your
' Dolomit Riffe,' and have been exceedingly interested by it.
What a wonderful change in the future of Geological chro-
nology you indicate, by assuming the descent theory to be
established, and then taking the graduated changes of the
same group of organisms as the true standard ! I never
hoped to live to see such a step even proposed by any one."

Another geological research which roused my father's
admiration was Mr. D. Mackintosh's work on erratic blocks.
Apart from its intrinsic merit the work keenly excited his
sympathy from the conditions under which it was executed,
Mr. Mackintosh being compelled to give nearly his whole
time to tuition. The following passage is from a letter to
Mr. Mackintosh of October 9, 1879, and refers to his paper
in the Journal of the Geological Society, 1878 : —

" I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of
thanking you for the very great pleasure which I have derived
from just reading your paper on erratic blocks. The map
is wonderful, and what labour each of those lines show ! I
have thought for some years that the agency of floating ice,
which nearly half a century ago was overrated, has of late
been underrated. You are the sole man who has ever noticed
the distinction suggested by me * between flat or planed
scored rocks, and mammillated scored rocks."]

C. Darwin to C. Ridley,

Down, November 28, 1878.
Dear Sir, — I just skimmed through Dr. Pusey's sermon,
as published in the Guardian, but it did [not] seem to me

w — ■ ■

* In his paper on the ' Ancient Glaciers of Carnarvonshire,' Phil. Mag,
xxi. 1842. See p. 187.
63

4I2 MISCELLANEA. [1878.

worthy of any attention. As I have never answered criti-
cisms excepting those made by scientific men, I am not will-
ing that this letter shoald be published; but I have no ob-
jection to your saying that you sent me the three questions,
and that I answered that Dr. Pusey was mistaken in imagin-
ing that I wrote the ' Origin ' with any relation whatever to
Theology. I should have thought that this would have been
evident to any one who had taken the trouble to read the
book, more especially as in the opening lines of the introduc-
tion I specify how the subject arose in my mind. This an-
swer disposes of your two other questions ; but I may add
that many years ago, when I was collecting facts for the
i Origin/ my belief in what is called a personal God was as
firm as that of Dr. Pusey himself, and as to the eternity of
matter I have never troubled myself about such insoluble
questions. Dr. Pusey's attack will be as powerless to retard
by a day the belief in Evolution, as were the virulent attacks
made by divines fifty years ago against Geology, and the still
older ones of the Catholic Church against Galileo, for the
public is wise enough always to follow Scientific men when
they agree on any subject ; and now there is almost complete
unanimity amongst Biologists about Evolution, though there
is still considerable difference as to the means, such as how
far natural selection has acted, and how far external condi-
tions, or whether there exists some mysterious innate ten-
dency to perfectability. I remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[Theologians were not the only adversaries of freedom in
science. On Sept. 22, 1877, Prof. Virchow delivered an ad-
dress at the Munich meeting of German Naturalists and
Physicians, which had the effect of connecting Socialism with
the Descent theory. This point of view was taken up by
anti-evolutionists to such an extent that, according to Haeckel,
the Kreuz Zeitung threw " all the blame of" the l( treason-
able attempts of the democrats Hodel and Nobiling . . .

I879-] SOCIALISM. 413

directly on the theory of Descent." Prof. Haeckel replied
with vigour and ability in his * Freedom in Science and
Teaching' (Eng. Transl. 1879), an essay which must have
the sympathy of all lovers of freedom.

The following passage from a letter (December 26, 1879)
to Dr. Scherzer, the author of the ' Voyage of the Novara*
gives a hint of my father's views on this once burning ques-
tion : —

" What a foolish idea seems to prevail in Germany on the
connection between Socialism and Evolution through Natu-
ral Selection."]

C. Darwin to H. N. Moseley*

Down, January 20, 1879.
Dear Moseley, — I have just received your book, and I
declare that never in my life have I seen a dedication which
I admired so much.f Of course I am not a fair judge, but I
hope that I speak dispassionately, though you have touched
me in my very tenderest point, by saying that my old Journal
mainly gave you the wish to travel as a Naturalist. I shall
begin to read your book this very evening, and am sure that
I shall enjoy it much.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to H. N. Moseley.

Down, February 4, 1879.
Dear Moseley, — I have at last read every word of your
book, and it has excited in me greater interest than any other

* Professor of Zoology at Oxford. The book alluded to is Prof. Mose-
ley's ' Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger'

t " To Charles Darwin, Esquire, LL. D., F. R. S., &c, from the study
of whose * Journal of Researches ' I mainly derived my desire to travel
round the world ; to the development of whose theory I owe the princi-
pal pleasures and interests of my life, and who has personally given me
much kindly encouragement in the prosecution of my studies, this book is,
by permission, gratefully dedicated."

414 MISCELLANEA. [1879.

scientific book which I have read for a long time. You will
perhaps be surprised how slow I have been, but my head
prevents me reading except at intervals. If I were asked
which parts have interested me most, I should be somewhat
puzzled to answer. I fancy that the general reader would
prefer your account of Japan. For myself I hesitate between
your discussions and description of the Southern ice, which
seems to me admirable, and the last chapter which contained
many facts and views new to me, though I had read your
papers on the stony Hydroid Corals, yet your re'sunie' made
me realise better than I had done before, what a most curious
case it is.

You have also collected a surprising number of valuable
facts bearing on the dispersal of plants, far more than in any
other book known to me. In fact your volume is a mass of
interesting facts and discussions, with hardly a superfluous
word ; and I heartily congratulate you on its publica-
tion.

Your dedication makes me prouder than ever.

Believe me, yours sincerely,

Ch; Darwin.

[In November, 1879, he answered for Mr. Galton a series
of questions utilised in his ' Inquiries into Human Faculty,'
1883. He wrote to Mr. Galton :—

" I have answered the questions as well as I could, but
they are miserably answered, for I have never tried looking
into my own mind. Unless others answer very much better
than I can do, you will get no good from your queries. Do
you not think you ought to have the age of the answerer ? I
think so, because I can call up faces of many schoolboys, not
seen for sixty years, with much distinctness, but nowadays I
may talk with a man for an hour, and see him several times
consecutively, and, after a month, I am utterly unable to
recollect what he is at all like. The picture is quite washed
out. The greater number of the answers are given in the
annexed table. "]

1879.]

VISUALISING.

415

Questions on the Faculty of Visualising.

QUESTIONS.

REPLIES.

I

Illumination ?

Moderate, but my solitary breakfast was early,
and the morning dark.

2

Definition ?

Some objects quite defined, a slice of cold
beef, some grapes and a pear, the state of
my plate when I had finished, and a few
other objects, are as distinct as if I had
photo's before me.

3

Completeness ?

Very moderately so.

4

Colouring?

The objects above named perfectly colored.

5

Extent of Field of

View ?

Rather small.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF

IMAGERY.

6

Pt inted pages.

I cannot remember a single sentence, but I
remember the place of the sentence and the
kind of type.

7

Furniture ?

I have never attended to it.

8

Persons ?

I remember the faces of persons formerly
well-known vividly, and can make them do
anything I like.

9

Scenery?

Remembrance vivid and distinct, and gives me
pleasure.

10

Geography ?

No.

11

Military movements ?

No.

12

Mechanism ?

Never tried.

13

Geometry ?

I do not think I have any power of the
kind.

14

Numerals ?

When I think of any number, printed fig-
ures arise before my mind. I can't re-
member for an hour four consecutive fig-
ures.

15

Card playing?

Have not played for many years, but I am
sure should not remember.

16

Chess ?

Never played.
— — ■■■■■■■ — ■ 1 . — .... — ■ ,, »

4i6 MISCELLANEA. [1880.

[in 1880 he published a short paper in * Nature ' (vol.
xxi. p. 207) on the " Fertility of Hybrids from the common
and Chinese goose." He received the hybrids from the
Rev. Dr. Goodacre, and was glad of the opportunity of test-
ing the accuracy of the statement that these species are fer-
tile inter se. This fact, which was given in the ' Origin ' on
the authority of Mr. Eyton, he considered the most remark-
able as yet recorded with respect to the fertility of hybrids.
The fact (as confirmed by himself and Dr. Goodacre) is of
interest as giving another proof that sterility is no criterion
of specific difference, since the two species of goose now
shown to be fertile inter se are so distinct that they have
been placed by some authorities in , distinct genera or sub-
genera.

The following letter refers to Mr. Huxley's lecture : " The
Coming of Age of the Origin of Species," * given at the
Royal Institution, April 9, 1880, published in i Nature/ and
in ' Science and Culture,' p. 310 :]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Abinger Hall, Dorking, Sunday, April 1 1, 1880.
My dear Huxley, — I wished much to attend your Lec-
ture, but I have had a bad cough, and we have come here to
see whether a change would do me good, as it has done.
What a magnificent success your lecture seems to have been,
as I judge from the reports in the Standard and Daily News,
and more especially from the accounts given me by three
of my children. I suppose that you have not written out
your lecture, so I fear there is no chance of its being printed
in extenso. You appear to have piled, as on so many other
occasions, honours high and thick on my old head. But I
well know how great a part you have played in establishing

* This same " Coming of Age " was the subject of an address from the
Council of the Otago Institute. It is given in ' Nature,' February 24,
1881.

i88o.] MR. HUXLEY'S LECTURE. 417

and spreading the belief in the descent-theory, ever since
that grand review in the Times and the battle royal at Ox-
ford up to the present day.

Ever my dear Huxley,

Yours sincerely and gratefully,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — It was absurdly stupid in me, but I had read the
announcement of your Lecture, and thought that you meant
the maturity of the subject, until my wife one day remarked,
"it is almost twenty-one years since the ' Origin ' appeared,"
and then for the first time the meaning of your words flashed
on me !

[In the above-mentioned lecture Mr. Huxley made a
strong point of the accumulation of palaeontological evidence
which the years between 1859 and 1880 have given us in fa-
vour of Evolution. On this subject my father wrote (August
31, 1880) :]

My dear Professor Marsh, — I received some time ago
your very kind note of July 28th, and yesterday the mag-
nificent volume.* I have looked with renewed admiration at
the plates, and will soon read the text. Your work on these
old birds, and on the many fossil animals of North America
has afforded the best support to the theory of Evolution,
which has appeared within the last twenty years, f The
general appearance of the copy which you have sent me is

* Odontornithes. A monograph on the extinct Toothed Birds of N.
America. 1880. By O. C. Marsh.

f Mr. Huxley has well pointed out (' Science and Culture,' p. 317)
that: "In 1875, the discovery of the toothed birds of the cretaceous for-
mation in N. America, by Prof. Marsh, completed the series of transitional
forms between birds and reptiles, and removed Mr. Darwin's proposition
that, * many animal forms of life have been utterly lost, through which the
early progenitors of birds were formerly connected with the early progeni-
tors of the other vertebrate classes,' from the region of hypothesis to that
of demonstrable fact."

4Ig MISCELLANEA. [1880.

worthy of its contents, and I can say nothing stronger than

this.

With cordial thanks, believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[In November, 1880, he received an account of a flood in
Brazil, from which his friend Fritz Miiller had barely escaped
» with his life. My father immediately wrote to Hermann
Miiller anxiously enquiring whether his brother had lost books,
instruments, &c, by this accident, and begging in that case
" for the sake of science, so that science should not suffer," to
be allowed to help in making good the loss. Fortunately,
however, the injury to Fritz Mullens possessions was not so
great as was expected, and the incident remains only as a
memento, which I trust cannot be otherwise than pleasing to
the survivor, of the friendship of the two naturalists.

In ' Nature ' (November n, 1880) appeared a letter from
my father, which is, I believe, the only instance in which he
wrote publicly with anything like severity. The late Sir
Wyville Thomson wrote, in the Introduction to the ' Voyage
of the Challenger ' : " The character of the abyssal fauna re-
fuses to give the least support to the theory which refers the
evolution of species to extreme variation guided only by
natural selection." My father, after characterising these re-
marks as a " standard of criticism, not uncommonly reached
by theologians and metaphysicians," goes on to take excep-
tion to the term " extreme variation," and challenges Sir
Wyville to name any one who has u said that the evolution
of species depends only on natural selection." The letter
closes with an imaginary scene between Sir Wyville and a
breeder, in which Sir Wyville criticises artificial selection in
a somewhat similar manner. The breeder is silent, but on
the departure of his critic he is supposed to make use of
" emphatic but irreverent language about naturalists." The
letter, as originally written, ended with a quotation from
Sedgwick on the invulnerability of those who write on what

i88i.] * WORMS/ 4!9

they do not understand, but this was omitted on the advice
of a friend, and curiously enough a friend whose combative-
ness in the good cause my father had occasionally curbed.]

C. Darwin to G. J, Romanes,

Down, April 16, 188 1.

My dear Romanes, — My MS. on ' Worms ' has been sent
to the printers, so I am going to amuse myself by scribbling
to you on a few points ; but you must not waste your time in
answering at any length this scribble.

Firstly, your letter on intelligence was very useful to me
and I tore up and re-wrote what I sent to you. I have not
attempted to define intelligence ; but have quoted your
remarks on experience, and have shown how far they apply
to worms. It seems to me that they must be said to work
with some intelligence, anyhow they are not guided by a
blind instinct.

Secondly, I was greatly interested by the abstract in
* Nature ' of your work on Echinoderms,* the complexity with
simplicity, and with such curious co-ordination of the nervous
system is marvellous ; and you showed me before what splen-
did gymnastic feats they can perform.

Thirdly, Dr. Roux has sent me a book just published by
him: l Der Kampf der Theile,' &c, 1881 (240 pages in
length).

He is manifestly a well-read physiologist and pathologist,
and from his position a good anatomist. It is full of reason-
ing, and this in German is very difficult to me, so that I have
only skimmed through each page ; here and there reading
with a little more care. As far as I can imperfectly judge, it
is the most important book on Evolution, which has appeared
for some time. I believe that G. H. Lewes hinted at the
same fundamental idea, viz. that there is a struggle going on
within every organism between the organic molecules, the

* " On the locomotor system of Echinoderms," by G. J. Romanes and
J. Cossar Ewart. ' Philosophical Transactions,' 1881, p, 82Q.

420 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

cells and the organs. I think that his basis is, that every cell
which best performs its function is, in consequence, at the
same time best nourished and best propagates its kind. The
book does not touch on mental phenomena, but there is much
discussion on rudimentary or atrophied parts, to which sub-
ject you formerly attended. Now if you would like to read
this book, I would send it. . . . If you read it, and are
struck with it (but I may be wholly mistaken about its value),
you would do a public service by analysing and criticising it
in ' Nature/

Dr. Roux makes, I think, a gigantic oversight in never
considering plants ; these would simplify the problem for
him.

Fourthly, I do not know whether you will discuss in your
book on the mind of animals any of the more complex and
wonderful instincts. It is unsatisfactory work, as there can
be no fossilised instincts, and the sole guide is their state in
other members of the same order, and mere probability.

But if you do discuss any (and it will perhaps be expected
of you), I should think that you could not select a better case
than that of the sand wasps, which paralyse their prey, as
formerly described by Fabre, in his wonderful paper in the
* Annales des Sciences/ and since amplified in his admirable
'Souvenirs.'

Whilst reading this latter book, I speculated a little on the
subject. Astonishing nonsense is often spoken of the sand
wasp's knowledge of anatomy. Now will any one say that
the Gauchos on the plains of La Plata have such knowledge,
yet I have often seen them pith a struggling and lassoed cow
on the ground with unerring skill, which no mere anatomist
could imitate. The pointed knife was infallibly driven in
between the vertebrae by a single slight thrust. I presume
that the art was first discovered by chance, and that each
young Gaucho sees exactly how the others do it, and then
with a very little practice learns the art. Now I suppose that
the sand wasps originally merely killed their prey by stinging
them in many places (see p. 129 of Fabre's 'Souvenirs/ and

!88i.] PROFESSOR AGASSIZ. 421

p. 241) on the lower and softest side of the body — and that
to sting a certain segment was found by far the most suc-
cessful method ; and was inherited like the tendency of a
bulldog to pin the nose of a bull, or of a ferret to bite the
cerebellum. It would not be a very great step in advance to
prick the ganglion of its prey only slightly, and thus to give
its larvae fresh meat instead of old dried meat. Though
Fabre insists so strongly on the unvarying character of in-
stinct, yet it is shown that there is some variability, as at p.
176, 177.

I fear that I shall have utterly wearied you with my scrib-
bling and bad handwriting.

My dear Romanes, yours, very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

Postscript of a Letter to Professor A. Agassiz, May $th,

1 88 1 :—

I read with much interest your address before the Ameri-
can Association. However true your remarks on the gene-
alogies of the several groups may be, I hope and believe that
you have over-estimated the difficulties to be encountered in
the future : — A few days after reading your address, I inter-
preted to myself your remarks on one point (I hope in some
degree correctly) in the following fashion : —

Any character of an ancient, generalised, or intermediate
form may, and often does, re-appear in its descendants, after
countless generations, and this explains the extraordinarily
complicated affinities of existing groups. This idea seems
to me to throw a flood of light on the lines, sometimes used
to represent affinities, which radiate in all directions, often to
very distant sub-groups, — a difficulty which has haunted me
for half a century. A strong case could be made out in
favour of believing in such reversion after immense intervals
of time. I wish the idea had been put into my head in old
days, for I shall never again write on difficult subjects, as I
have seen too many cases of old men becoming feeble in

422 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

their minds, without being in the least conscious of it. If I
have interpreted your ideas at all correctly, I hope that you
will re-urge, on any fitting occasion, your view. I have men-
tioned it to a few persons capable of judging, and it seemed
quite new to them. I beg you to forgive the proverbial gar-
rulity of old age.

C. D.

[The following letter refers to Sir J. D. Hooker's Geo-
graphical address at the York Meeting (1881) of the British
Association :]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, August 6, 1881.

My dear Hooker, — For Heaven's sake never speak of
boring me, as it would be the greatest pleasure to aid you in
the slightest degree and your letter has interested me ex-
ceedingly. I will go through your points seriatim, but I have
never attended much to the history of any subject, and my
memory has become atrociously bad. It will therefore be a
mere chance whether any of my remarks are of any use.

Your idea, to show what travellers have done, seems to me
a brilliant and just one, especially considering your audience.

1. I know nothing about Tournefort's works.

2. I believe that you are fully right in calling Humboldt
the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived, I have lately
read two or three volumes again. His Geology is funny
stuff ; but that merely means that he was not in advance of
his age. I should say he was wonderful, more for his near
approach to omniscience than for originality. Whether or
not his position as a scientific man is as eminent as we think,
you might truly call him the parent of a grand progeny of
scientific travellers, who, taken together, have done much for
science.

3. It seems to me quite just to give Lyell (and secondari-
ly E. Forbes) a very prominent place.

4. Dana was, I believe, the first man who maintained the

i88i.] SIR JOSEPH HOOKER'S ADDRESS. 423

permanence of continents and the great oceans. . . . When
I read the i Challenger's ' conclusion that sediment from the
land is not deposited at greater distances than 200 to 300
miles from the land, I was much strengthened in my old be-
lief. Wallace seems to me to have argued the case excellent-
ly. Nevertheless, I would speak, if I were in your place,
rather cautiously; for T. Mellard Reade has argued lately
with some force against the view ; but I cannot call to mind
his arguments. If forced to express a judgment, I should
abide by the view of approximate permanence since Cambrian
days.

5. The extreme importance of the Arctic fossil-plants, is
self-evident. Take the opportunity of groaning over [our]
ignorance of the Lignite Plants of Kerguelen Land, or any
Antarctic land. It might do good.

6. I cannot avoid feeling sceptical about the travelling of
plants from the North except during the Tertiary period. It
may of course have been so and probably was so from one
of the two poles at the earliest period, during Pre-Cambrian
ages ; but such speculations seem to me hardly scientific see-
ing how little we know of the old Floras.

I will now jot down without any order a few miscellaneous
remarks.

I think you ought to allude to Alph. De Candolle's
great book, for though it (like almost everything else)
is washed out of my mind, yet I remember most distinctly
thinking it a very valuable work. Anyhow, you might
allude to his excellent account of the history of all culti-
vated plants.

How shall you manage to allude to your New Zealand
and Tierra del Fuego work ? if you do not allude to them you
will be scandalously unjust.

The many Angiosperm plants in the Cretacean beds of
the United States (and as far as I can judge the age of these
beds has been fairly well made out) seems to me a fact of
very great importance, so is their relation to the existing flora
of the United States under an Evolutionary point of view.

424 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

Have not some Australian extinct forms been lately found in
Australia ? or have I dreamed it ?

Again, the recent discovery of plants rather low down in
our Silurian beds is very important.

Nothing is more extraordinary in the history of the Vege-
table Kingdom, as it seems to me, than the apparently very
sudden or abrupt development of the higher plants. I have
sometimes speculated whether there did not exist somewhere
during long ages an extremely isolated continent, perhaps
near the South Pole.

Hence I was greatly interested by a view which Saporta
propounded to me, a few years ago, at great length in MS*
and which I fancy he has since published, as I urged him to
do — viz., that as soon as flower-frequenting insects were de-
veloped, during the latter part of the secondary period, an
enormous impulse was given to the development of the
higher plants by cross-fertilization being thus suddenly formed.

A few years ago I was much struck with Axel Blytt's*
Essay showing from observation, on the peat beds in Scandi-
navia, that there had apparently been long periods with more
rain and other with less rain (perhaps connected with Croll's
recurrent astronomical periods), and that these periods had
largely determined the present distribution of the plants of Nor-
way and Sweden. This seemed to me, a very important essay.

I have just read over my remarks and I fear that they will
not be of the slightest use to you.

I cannot but think that you have got through the hardest,
or at least the most difficult, part of your work in having
made so good and striking a sketch of what you intend to
say ; but I can quite understand how you must groan over
the great necessary labour.

I most heartily sympathise with you on the successes of
B. and R. : as years advance what happens to oneself becomes
of very little consequence, in comparison with the careers of
our children.

* See footnote, p. 392.

i88i.] SIR JOSEPH HOOKER'S ADDRESS. 425

Keep your spirits up, for I am convinced that you will
make an excellent address.

Ever yours, affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

[In September he wrote : —

" I have this minute finished reading your splendid but
too short address. I cannot doubt that it will have been
fully appreciated by the Geographers of York ; if not, they
are asses and fools."]

C. Darwin to John Lubbock.

Sunday evening [1881].
My dear L., — Your address * has made me think over
what have been the great steps in Geology during the last
fifty years, and there can be no harm in telling you my im-
pression. But it is very odd that I cannot remember what
you have said on Geology. I suppose that the classification
of the Silurian and Cambrian formations must be considered
the greatest or most important step ; for I well remember
when all these older rocks were called grau-wacke, and
nobody dreamed of classing them ; and now we have three
azoic formations pretty well made out beneath the Cambrian !
But the most striking step has been the discovery of the
Glacial period : you are too young to remember the pro-
digious effect this produced about the year 1840 (?) on all our
minds. Elie de Beaumont never believed in it to the day of
his death ! the study of the glacial deposits led to the study
of the superficial drift, which was formerly never studied and
called Diluvium, as I well remember. The study under the
microscope of rock-sections is another not inconsiderable step.
So again the making out of cleavage and the foliation of the
metamorphic rocks. But I will not run on, having now
eased my mind. Pray do not waste even one minute in ac-
knowledging my horrid scrawls. Ever yours,

Ch. Darwin.

* Presidential Address at the York meeting of the British Association.

426 MISCELLANEA. [1881.

[The following extracts referring to the late Francis Mait-
land Balfour,* show my father's estimate of his work and
intellectual qualities, but they give merely an indication of
his strong appreciation of Balfour's most lovable personal
character : —

From a letter to Fritz Miiller, January 5, 1882 : —
" Your appreciation of Balfour's book [' Comparative Em-
bryology '] has pleased me excessively, for though I could not
properly judge of it, yet it seemed to me one of the most
remarkable books which have been published for some con-
siderable time. He is quite a young man, and if he keeps
his health, will do splendid work. . . . He has a fair fortune
of his own, so that he can give up his whore time to Biology.
He is very modest, and very pleasant, and often visits here
and we like him very much."

From a letter to Dr. Dohrn, February 13, 1882 : —

" I have got one very bad piece of news to tell you, that

F. Balfour is very ill at Cambridge with typhoid fever

I hope that he is not in a very dangerous state ; but the
fever is severe. Good Heavens, what a loss he would be to
Science, and to his many loving friends ! "]

C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley.

Down, January 12, 1882.
My dear Huxley, — Very many thanks for ' Science and
Culture/ and I am sure that I shall read most of the essays
with much interest. With respect to Automatism,f I wish
that you could review yourself in the old, and of course for-
gotten, trenchant style, and then you would here answer
yourself with equal incisiveness ; and thus, by Jove, you

* Professor of Animal Morphology at Cambridge. He was born in
185 1, and was killed, with his guide, on the Aiguille Blanche, near Cour-
mayeur, in July, 1882.

f " On the hypothesis that animals are automata and its history/' an
Address given at the Belfast meeting of the British Association, 1874, and
published in the ' Fortnightly Review,' 1874, and in ' Science and Culture.5

1882.] DR. OGLE'S TRANSLATION. 427

might go on ad infinitum^ to the joy and instruction of the
world. Ever yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[The following letter refers to Dr. Ogle's translation of
Aristotle, 'On the Parts of Animals' (1882):]

C. Darwin to W. Ogle.

Down, February 22, 1882.

My dear Dr. Ogle, — You must let me thank you for
the pleasure which the introduction to the Aristotle book
has given me. I have rarely read anything which has inter-
ested me more, though I have not read as yet more than a
quarter of the book proper.

From quotations which I had seen, I had a high notion of
Aristotle's merits, but I had not the most remote notion what
a wonderful man he was. Linnaeus and Cuvier have been
my two gods, though in veTy different ways, but they were
mere schoolboys to old Aristotle. How very curious, also,
his ignorance on some points, as on muscles as the means of
movement. I am glad that you have explained in so probable
a manner some of the grossest mistakes attributed to him. I
never realized, before reading your book, to what an enormous
summation of labour we owe even our common knowledge.
I wish old Aristotle could know what a grand Defender of
the Faith he had found in you. Believe me, my dear Dr.

Ogle,

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[In February, he received a letter and a specimen from a
Mr. W. D. Crick, which illustrated a curious mode of dispersal
of bivalve shells, namely, by closure of their valves so as to
hold on to the leg of a water-beetle. This class of fact had
a special charm for him, and he wrote to i Nature,' describing
the case.*

* ■ Nature/ April 6, 1882.
64

428 MISCELLANEA. [1882.

In April he received a letter from Dr. W. Van Dyck,
Lecturer in Zoology at the Protestant College of Beyrout.
The letter showed that the street dogs of Beyrout had been
rapidly mongrelised by introduced European dogs, and the
facts have an interesting bearing on my father's theory of
Sexual Selection.]

C. Darwin to W. T. Van Dyck.

Down, April 3, 1882.

Dear Sir, — After much deliberation, I have thought it
best to send your very interesting paper to the Zoological
Society, in hopes that it will be published in their Journal.
This journal goes to every scientific institution in the world,
and the contents are abstracted in all year-books on Zoology.
Therefore I have preferred it to i Nature/ though the latter
has a wider circulation, but is ephemeral.

I have prefaced your essay by a few general remarks, to
which I hope that you will not object.

Of course I do not know that the Zoological Society,
which is much addicted to mere systematic work, will publish
.your essay. If it does, I will send you copies of your essay,
but ■ these will not be ready for some months. If not pub-
lished by the Zoological Society, I will endeavour to get
1 Nature ' to publish it. I am very anxious that it should be
published and preserved. Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[The paper was read at a meeting of the Zoological So-
ciety on April 18th — the day before my father's death.

The preliminary remarks with which Dr. Van Dyck's pa-
per is prefaced aTe thus the latest of my father's writings.]

We must now return to an early period of his life, and
give a connected . account of his botanical work, which has
hitherto been omitted.

CHAPTER X.

Fertilisation of Flowers.

[In the letters already given we have had occasion to
notice the general bearing of a number of botanical problems
on the wider question of Evolution. The detailed work in
botany which my father accomplished by the guidance of the
light cast on the study of natural history by his own work on
Evolution remains to be noticed. In a letter to Mr. Murray,
September 24th, 1861, speaking of his book on the ' Ferti-
lisation of Orchids/ he says : "It will perhaps serve to illus-
trate how Natural History may be worked under the belief
of the modification of species.,, This remark gives a sugges-
tion as to the value and interest of his botanical work, and
it might be expressed in far more emphatic language without
danger of exaggeration.

In the same letter to Mr. Murray, he says : " I think this
little volume will do good to the 'Origin/ as it will show that
I have worked hard at details." It is true that his botanical
work added a mass of corroborative detail to the case for
Evolution, but the chief support to his doctrines given by
these researches was of another kind. They supplied an
argument against those critics who have so freely dogma-
tised as to the uselessness of particular structures, and as to
the consequent impossibility of their having been developed
by means of natural selection. His observations on Orchids
enabled him to say : u I can show the meaning of some of
the apparently meaningless ridges, horns, who will now ven-
ture to say that this or that structure is useless ? " A kindred
point is expressed in a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker (May 14th,
1862) :—

43o FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1862.

" When many parts of structure, as in the woodpecker,
show distinct adaptation to external bodies, it is preposterous
to attribute them to the effects of climate, &c., but when a
single point alone, as a hooked seed, it is conceivable it may
thus have arisen. I have found the study of Orchids emi-
nently useful in showing me how nearly all parts of the flower
are co-adapted for fertilization by insects, and therefore the
results of natural selection — even the most trifling details of
structure/'

One of the greatest services rendered by my father to the
study of Natural History is the revival of Teleology. The
evolutionist studies the purpose or meaning of organs with
the zeal of the older Teleology, but with far wider and more
coherent purpose. He has the invigorating knowledge that
he is gaining not isolated conceptions of the economy of the
present, but a coherent view of both past and present. And
even where he fails to discover the use of any part, he may,
by a knowledge of its structure, unravel the history of the
past vicissitudes in the life of the species. In this way a
vigour and unity is given to the study of the forms of organised
beings, which before it lacked. This point has already been
discussed in Mr. Huxley's chapter on the ' Reception of the
Origin of Species,' and need not be here considered. It does,
however, concern us to recognize that this "great service
to natural science," as Dr. Gray describes it, was effected
almost as much by his special botanical work as by the ' Ori-
gin of Species/

For a statement of the scope and influence of my father's
botanical work, I may refer to Mr. Thiselton Dyer's article
in ' Charles Darwin,' one of the Nature Series. Mr. Dyer's
wide knowledge, his friendship with my father, and especially
his power of sympathising with the work of others, combine
to give this essay a permanent value. The following passage
(p. 43) gives a true picture : —

" Notwithstanding the extent and variety of his botanical
work, Mr. Darwin always disclaimed any right to be regarded
as a professed botanist. He turned his attention to plants,

1875.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS, 43 1

doubtless because they were convenient objects for studying
organic phenomena in their least complicated forms ; and
this point of view, which, if one may use the expression
without disrespect, had something of the amateur about it,
was in itself of the greatest importance. For, from not being,
till he took up any point, familiar with the literature bearing
on it, his mind was absolutely free from any prepossession.
He was never afraid of his facts, or of framing any hypothe-
sis, however startling, which seemed to explain them. . . .
In any one else such an attitude would have produced much
work that was crude and rash. But Mr. Darwin — if one may
venture on language which will strike no one who had con-
versed with him as over-strained — seemed by gentle persua-
sion to have penetrated that reserve of nature which baffles
smaller men. In other words, his long experience had given
him a kind of instinctive insight into the method of attack of
any biological problem, however unfamiliar to him, while he
rigidly controlled the fertility of his mind in hypothetical
explanations by the no less fertility of ingeniously devised
experiment."

To form any just idea of the greatness of the revolution
worked by my father's researches in the study of the fertilisa-
tion of flowers, it is necessary to know from what a condition
this branch of knowledge has emerged. It should be remem-
bered that it was only during the early years of the present
century that the idea of sex, as applied to plants, became at
all firmly established. Sachs, in his i History of Botany*
(1875), nas given some striking illustrations of the remark-
able slowness with which its acceptance gained ground. He
remarks that when we consider the experimental proofs given
by Camerarius (1694), and by Kolreuter (1761-66), it appears
incredible that doubts should afterwards have been raised as
to the sexuality of plants. Yet he shows that such doubts
did actually repeatedly crop up. These adverse criticisms
rested for the most part on careless experiments, but in many
cases on a priori arguments. Even as late as 1820, a book of
this kind, which would now rank with circle squaring, or

432 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1837.

flat-earth philosophy, was seriously noticed in a botanical
journal.

A distinct conception of sex as applied to plants, had not
long emerged from the mists of profitless discussion and
feeble experiment, at the time when my father began botany
by attending Henslow's lectures at Cambridge.

When the belief in the sexuality of plants had become
established as an incontrovertible piece of knowledge, a
weight of misconception remained, weighing down any rational
view of the subject. Camerarius* believed (naturally enough
in his day) that hermaphrodite flowers are necessarily self-
fertilised. He had the wit to be astonished at this, a degree
of intelligence which, as Sachs points out, the majority of his
successors did not attain to.

The following extracts from a note-book show that this
point occurred to my father as early as 1837 : —

u Do not plants which have male and female organs to-
gether [i.e. in the same flower] yet receive influence from
other plants? Does not Lyell give some argument about
varieties being difficult to keep [true] on account of pollen
from other plants ? Because this may be applied to show all
plants do receive intermixture."

Sprengel,f indeed, understood that the hermaphrodite
structure of flowers by no means necessarily leads to self- fer-
tilisation. But although he discovered that in many cases
pollen is of necessity carried to the stigma of another flower,
he did not understand that in the advantage gained by the
intercrossing of distinct plants lies the key to the whole ques-
tion. Hermann Mtiller has well remarked that this " omis-
sion was for several generations fatal to Sprengel's work. . .
. . For both at the time and subsequently, botanists felt
above all the weakness of his theory, and they set aside, along
with his defective ideas, his rich store of patient and acute
observations and his comprehensive and accurate interpreta-

* Sachs, ' Geschichte/ p. 419.

f Christian Conrad Sprengel, born 1750, died 1816.

1839.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 433

tions." It remained for my father to convince the world
that the meaning hidden in the structure of flowers was to
be found by seeking light in the same direction in which
Sprengel, seventy years before, had laboured. Robert
Brown was the connecting link between them, for it was
at his recommendation that my father in 1841 read Spren-
gel's now celebrated ' Secret of Nature Displayed/ * The
book impressed him as being " full of truth," although
" with some little nonsense." It not only encouraged him
in kindred speculation, but guided him in his work, for in
1844 he speaks of verifying Sprengel's observations. It
may be doubted whether Robert Brown ever planted a
more beautiful seed than in putting such a book into such
hands.

A passage in the ' Autobiography ' (vol. i. p. 73) shows
how it was that my father was attracted to the subject of
fertilisation: il During the summer of 1839, and I believe
during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-
fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come
to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species,
that crossing played an important part in keeping specific
forms constant."

The- original connection between the study of flowers
and the problem of evolution is curious, and could hardly
have been predicted. Moreover, it was not a permanent
bond. As soon as the idea arose that the offspring of
cross-fertilisation is, in the struggle for life, likely to con-
quer the seedlings of self-fertilised parentage, a far more
vigorous belief in the potency of natural selection in mould-
ing the structure of flowers is attained. A central idea is
gained towards which experiment and observation may be
directed.

Dr. Gray has well remarked with regard to this central

* l Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Baue und in der Befruch-
tung der Blumen.' Berlin, 1793.

434 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1857.

idea ('Nature/ June 4, 1874):— "The aphorism, ' Nature
abhors a vacuum/ is a characteristic specimen of the science
of the middle ages. The aphorism, ' Nature abhors close
fertilisation/ and the demonstration of the principle, belong
to our age and to Mr. Darwin. To have originated this, and
also the principle of Natural Selection .... and to have
applied these principles to the system of nature, in such a
manner as to make, within a dozen years, a deeper impres-
sion upon natural history than has been made since Linnaeus,
is ample title for one man's fame.,,

The flowers of the Papilionaceae attracted his attention
early, and were the subject of his first paper on fertilisation.*
The following extract from an undated letter to Dr. Asa
Gray seems to have been written before the publication of
this paper, probably in 1856 or 1857 : —

u . . . . What you say on Papilionaceous flowers is very
true ; and I have no facts to show that varieties are crossed ;
but yet (and the same remark is applicable in a beautiful way
to Fumaria and Dielytra, as I noticed many years ago), I
must believe that the flowers are constructed partly in direct
relation to the visits of insects ; and how insects can avoid
bringing pollen from other individuals I cannot understand.
It is really pretty to watch the action of a Humble-bee on
the scarlet kidney bean, and in this genus (and in Lathyrus
grandiflorus) the honey is so placed that the bee invariably
alights on that one side of the flower towards which the spiral
pistil is protruded (bringing out with it pollen), and by the
depression of the wing-petal is forced against the bee's side
all dusted with pollen.f In the broom the pistil is rubbed
on the centre of the back of the bee. I suspect there is some-

* Gardeners' Chronicle, 1857, p. 725. It appears that this paper was a
piece of "over-time" work. He wrote to a friend, "that confounded
leguminous paper was done in the afternoon, and the consequence was I
had to go to Moor Park for a week."

\ If you will look at a bed of scarlet kidney beans you will find that
the wing-petals on the left side alone are all scratched by the tarsi of the
bees. [Note in the original letter by C. Darwin.]

1857.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 435

thing to be made out about the Leguminosae, which will
bring the case within our theory ; though I have failed to do
so. Our theory will explain why in the vegetable and animal
kingdom the act of fertilisation even in hermaphrodites usu-
ally takes place sub-jove, though thus exposed to great injury
from damp and rain. In animals which cannot be [fertilised]
by insects or wind, there is no case of /ana7- animals being her-
maphrodite without the concourse of two individuals."

A letter to Dr. Asa Gray (Sept. 5th, 1857) gives the sub-
stance of the paper in the Gardeners* Chronicle : —

" Lately I was led to examine buds of kidney bean with
the pollen shed ; but I was led to believe that the pollen
could hardly get on the stigma by wind or otherwise, except
by bees visiting [the flower] and moving the wing petals :
hence I included a small bunch of flowers in two bottles in
every way treated the same : the flowers in one I daily just
momentarily moved, as if by a bee ; these set three fine pods,
the other not one. Of course this little experiment must be
tried again, and this year in England it is too late, as the
flowers seem now seldom to set. If bees are necessary to
this flower's self-fertilisation, bees must almost cross them, as
their dusted right-side of head and right legs constantly
touch the stigma.

"I have, also, lately been re-observing daily Lobelia ful-
gens — this in my garden is never visited by insects, and never
sets seeds, without pollen be put on the stigma (whereas the
small blue Lobelia is visited by bees and does set seed) ; I
mention this because there are such beautiful contrivances to
prevent the stigma ever getting its own pollen ; which seems
only explicable on the doctrine of the advantage of crosses."

The paper was supplemented by a second in 1858.* The
chief object of these publications seems to have been to obtain

* Gardeners' Chronicle, 1858, p. 828. In 1861 another paper on Fer-
tilisation appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle, p. 552, in which he ex-
plained the action of insects on Vinca major. He was attracted to the
periwinkle by the fact that it is not visited by insects and never sets seeds.

436 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1858.

information as to the possibility of growing varieties of legu-
minous plants near each other, and yet keeping them true.
It is curious that the Papilionaceae should not only have been
the first flowers which attracted hib attention by their obvious
adaptation to the visits of insects, but should also have con-
stituted one of his sorest puzzles. The common pea and the
sweet pea gave him much difficulty, because, although they
are as obviously fitted for insect-visits as the rest of the
order, yet their varieties keep true. The fact is that neither
of these plants being indigenous, they are not perfectly
adapted for fertilisation by British insects. He could not,
at this stage of his observations, know that the co-ordination
between a flower and the particular insect which fertilises
it may be as delicate as that between a lock and its
key, so that this explanation was not likely to occur to
him *

Besides observing the Leguminosae, he had already begun,
as shown in the foregoing extracts, to attend to the structure
of other flowers in relation to insects. At the beginning of
i860 he worked at Leschenaultia,f which at first puzzled him,
but was ultimately made out. A passage in a letter chiefly
relating to Leschenaultia seems to show that it was only in
the spring of i860 that he began widely to apply his knowledge
to the relation of insects to other flowers. This is somewhat
surprising, when we remember that he had read Sprengel
many years before. He wrote (May 14) : — ,

" I should look at this curious contrivance as specially re-
lated to visits of insects ; as I begin to think is almost univer-
sally the case."

Even in July 1862 he wrote to Dr. Asa Gray : —

" There is no end to the adaptations. Ought not these
cases to make one very cautious when one doubts about the

* He was of course alive to variety in the habits of insects. He pub-
lished a short note in the Entomologists Weekly Intelligencer, i860, asking
whether the Tineina and other small moths suck flowers.

f He published a short paper on the manner of fertilisation of this
flower, in the Gardeners Chronicle, 1871, p. 11 66.

i860.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 437

use of all parts ? I fully believe that the structure of all
irregular flowers is governed in relation to insects. Insects
are the Lords of the floral (to quote the witty Athenceum)
world."

He was probably attracted to the study of Orchids by
the fact that several kinds are common near Down. The
letters of i860 show that these plants occupied a good deal of
his attention ; and in 1861 he gave part of the summer and
and all the autumn to the subject. He evidently considered
himself idle for wasting time on Orchids, which ought to
have been given to ' Variation under Domestication/ Thus
he wrote : —

" There is to me incomparably more interest in observing
than in writing ; but I feel quite guilty in trespassing on these
subjects, and not sticking to varieties of the confounded
cocks, hens and ducks. I hear that Lyell is savage at me. I
shall never resist Linum next summer."

It was in the summer of i860 that he made out one of the
most striking and familiar facts in the book, namely, the
manner in which the pollen masses in Orchis are adapted
for removal by insects. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker July
12 : —

"I have been examining Orchis pyramidalis, and it almost
equals, perhaps even beats, your Listera case ; the sticky
glands are congenitally united into a saddle-shaped organ,
which has great power of movement, and seizes hold of a
bristle (or proboscis) in an admirable manner, and then
another movement takes place in the pollen masses, by
which they are beautifully adapted to leave pollen on the
two lateral stigmatic surfaces. I never saw anything so beau-
tiful."

In June of the same year he wrote : —

"You speak of adaptation being rarely visible, though
present in plants. I have just recently been looking at the
common Orchis, and I declare I think its adaptations in
every part of the flower quite as beautiful and plain, or even
more beautiful than in the Woodpecker. I have written and

438 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. L1860.

sent a notice for the Gardeners' Chronicle* on a curious diffi-
culty in the Bee Orchis, and should much like to hear what
you think of the case. In this article I have incidentally
touched on adaptation to visits of insects ; but the contriv-
ance to keep the sticky glands fresh and sticky beats almost
everything in nature. I never remember having seen it de-
scribed, but it must have been, and, as I ought not in my book
to give the observation as my own, I should be very glad to
know where this beautiful contrivance is described."

He wrote also to Dr. Gray, June 8, i860 : —

" Talking of adaptation, I have lately been looking at our
common orchids, and I dare say the facts are as old and well-
known as the hills, but I have been so struck with admiration
at the contrivances, that I have sent a notice to the Garden-
ers' Chronicle. The Ophrys apifera, offers, as you will see, a
curious contradiction in structure.',

Besides attending to the fertilisation of the flowers he was
already, in i860, busy with the homologies of the parts, a
subject of which he made good use in the Orchid book. He
wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker (July) : —

" It is a real good joke my discussing homologies of Or-
chids with you, after examining only three or four genera;
and this very fact makes me feel positive I am right ! I do
not quite understand some of your terms ; but sometime I
must get you to explain the homologies ; for I am intensely
interested on the subject, just as at a game of chess."

This work was valuable from a systematic point of view.
In 1880 he wrote to Mr. Bentham : —

" It was very kind in you to write to me about the Or-
chidese, for it has pleased me to an extreme degree that I
could have been of the least use to you about the nature of
the parts."

The pleasure which his early observations on Orchids gave

* June 9, i860. This seems to have attracted some attention, espe-
cially among entomologists, as it was reprinted in the Entomologists Weekly
Intelligencer, i860.

i86i.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 439

him is shown in such extracts as the following from a letter
to Sir J. D. Hooker (July 27, 1861) :—

"You cannot conceive how the Orchids have delighted
me. They came safe, but box rather smashed ; cylindrical
old cocoa- or snuff-canister much safer. I enclose postage.
As an account of the movement, I shall allude to what I sup-
pose is Oncidium, to make certain, — is the enclosed flower
with crumpled petals this genus ? Also I most specially want
to know what the enclosed little globular brown Orchid is.
I have only seen pollen of a Cattleya on a bee, but surely
have you not unintentionally sent me what I wanted most
(after Catasetum or Mormodes), viz. one of the Epidendreae ? !
1 particularly want (and will presently tell you why) another
spike of this little Orchid, with older flowers, some even al-
most withered. "

His delight in observation is again shown in a letter to
Dr. Gray (1863). Referring to Cruger's letters from Trini-
dad, he wrote : — " Happy man, he has actually seen crowds of
bees flying round Catasetum, with the pollinia sticking to
their backs ! "

The following extracts of letters to Sir J. D. Hooker illus-
trate further the interest which his work excited in him : —

" Veitch sent me a grand lot this morning. What wonder-
ful structures !

" I have now seen enough, and you must not send me more,
for though I enjoy looking at them much, and it has been
very useful to me, seeing so many different forms, it is idle-
ness. For my object each species requires studying for
days. I wish you had time to take up the group. I would
give a good deal to know what the rostellum is, of which I
have traced so many curious modifications. I suppose it
cannot be one of the stigmas,* there seems a great tendency
for two lateral stigmas to appear. My paper, though touch-
ing on only subordinate points will run, I fear, to 100 MS.
folio pages ! The beauty of the adaptation of parts seems

* It is a modification of the upper stigma.

440 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1861,

co me unparalleled. I should think or guess waxy pollen
was most differentiated. In Cypripedium which seems least
modified, and a much exterminated group, the grains are
single. In all others, as far as I have seen, they are in packets
of four ; and these packets cohere into many wedge-formed
masses in Orchis ; into eight, four, and finally two. It seems
curious that a flower should exist, which could at most fertil-
ise only two other flowers, seeing how abundant pollen gen-
erally is ; this fact I look at as explaining the perfection of
the contrivance by which the pollen, so important from its
fewness, is carried from flower to flower" (1861).

" I was thinking of writing to you to-day, when your note
with the Orchids came. What frightful trouble you have
taken about Vanilla ; you really must not take an atom
more ; for the Orchids are more play than real work. I have
been much interested by Epidendrum, and have worked all
morning at them ; for heaven's sake, do not corrupt me by
any more " (August 30, 1861).

He originally intended to publish his notes on Orchids
as a paper in the Linnean Society's Journal, but it soon be-
came evident that a separate volume would be a more suitable
form of publication. In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker, Sept.
24, 1861, he writes : —

" I have been acting, I fear that you will think, like a
goose ; and perhaps in truth I have. When I finished a few
days ago my Orchis paper, which turns out 140 folio pages! !
and thought of the expense of woodcuts, I said to myself, I
will offer the Linnean Society to withdraw it, and publish it
in a pamphlet. It then flashed on me that perhaps Murray
would publish it, so I gave him a cautious description, and
offered to share risks and profits. This morning he writes
that he will publish and take all risks, and share profits and pay
for all illustrations. It is a risk, and heaven knows whether
it will not be a dead failure, but I have not deceived Murray,
and [have] told him that it would interest those alone who
cared much for natural history. I hope I do not exaggerate
the curiosity of the many special contrivances.,,

i86i,] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 441

He wrote the two following letters to Mr. Murray about
the publication of*the book :]

Down, Sept. 21 [1861].

My dear Sir, — Will you have the kindness to give me
your opinion, which I shall implicitly follow. I have just
finished a very long paper intended for Linnean Society
(the title is enclosed), and yesterday for the first time it
occurred to me that possibly it might be worth publishing
separately which would save me trouble and delay. The
facts are new, and have been collected during twenty years
and strike me as curious. Like a Bridgewater treatise, the
chief object is to show the perfection of the many contrivances
in Orchids. The subject of propagation is interesting to
most people, and is treated in my paper so that any woman
could read it. Parts are dry and purely scientific ; but I
think my paper would interest a good many of such persons
who care for Natural History, but no others.

... It would be a very little book, and I believe you think
very little books objectionable. I have myself great doubts
on the subject. I am very apt to think that my geese are
swans ; but the subject seems to me curious and interesting.

I beg you not to be guided in the least in order to oblige
me, but as far as you can judge, please give me your opinion.
If I were to publish separately, I would agree to any terms,
such as half risk and half profit, or what you liked ; but I
would not publish on my sole risk, for to be frank, I have
been told that no publisher whatever, under such circum-
stances, cares for the success of a book.

C. Darwin to J. Murray.

Down, Sept. 24 [1861].
My dear Sir, — I am very much obliged for your note and
very liberal offer. I have had some qualms and fears. All
that I can feel sure of is that the MS. contains many new and
curious facts, and I am sure the Essay would have interested
me, and will interest those who feel lively interest in the

442 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [i86i0

wonders of nature ; but how far the public will care for such
minute details, I cannot at all tell. It is a bold experiment ;
and at worst, cannot entail much loss ; as a certain amount
of sale will, I think, be pretty certain. A large sale is out of
the question. As far as I can judge, generally the points
which interest me I find interest others ; but I make the
experiment with fear and trembling, — not for my own sake,
but for yours. ... ,

[On Sept. 28th he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : —

" What a good soul you are not to sneer at me, but to pat
me on the back. I have the greatest doubt whether I am not
going to do, in publishing my paper, a most ridiculous thing.
It would annoy me much, but only for Murray's sake, if the
publication were a dead failure/'

There was still much work to be done, and in October
he was still receiving Orchids from Kew, and wrote to
Hooker : —

" It is impossible to thank you enough. I was almost mad
at the wealth of Orchids. " And again —

" Mr. Veitch most generously has sent me two splendid
buds of Mormodes, which will be capital for dissection, but
I fear will never be irritable ; so for the sake of charity and
love of heaven do, I beseech you, observe what movement
takes place in Cychnoches, and what part must be touched.
Mr. V. has also sent me one splendid flower of Catasetum,
the most wonderful Orchid I have seen."

On Oct. 13th he wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker : —

" It seems that I cannot exhaust your good nature. I
have had the hardest day's work at Catasetum and buds of
Mormodes, and believe I understand at last the mechanism of
movements and the functions. Catasetum is a beautiful case
of slight modification of structure leading to new functions.
I never was more interested in any subject in my life than in
this of Orchids. I owe very much to you."

Again to the same friend, Nov. 1, 1861 : —

i86i.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 443

"If you really can spare another Catasetum, when nearly
ready, I shall be most grateful ; had I not better send for it ?
The case is truly marvellous ; the (so-called) sensation, or
stimulus from a light touch is certainly transmitted through
the antennae for more than one inch instantaneously. ... A
cursed insect or something let my last flower off last night."

Professor de Candolle has remarked* of my father, " Ce
n'est pas lui qui aurait demande de construire des palais pour
y loger des laboratoires." This was singularly true of his
orchid work, or rather it would be nearer the truth to say
that he had no laboratory, for it was only after the publication
of the ' Fertilisation of Orchids/ that he built himself a green-
house. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (Dec. 24th, 1862) : —

" And now I am going to tell you a most important piece
of news ! ! I have almost resolved to build a small hot-house ;
my neighbour's really first-rate gardener has suggested it,
and offered to make me plans, and see that it is well done,
and he is really a clever fellow, who wins lots of prizes, and
is very observant. He believes that we should succeed with
a little patience; it will be a grand amusement for me to
experiment with plants."

Again he wrote (Feb. 15 th, 1863) : —

" I write now because the new hot-house is ready, and I
long to stock it, just like a schoolboy. Could you tell me
pretty soon what plants you can give me ; and then I shall
know what to order ? And do advise me how I had better
get such plants as you can spare. Would it do to send my
tax-cart early in the morning, on a day that was not frosty,
lining the cart with mats, and arriving here before night ?
I have no idea whether this degree of exposure (and of course
the cart would be cold) could injure stove-plants ; they would
be about five hours (with bait) on the journey home."

A week later he wrote : —

" You cannot imagine what pleasure your plants give me

* * Darwin considere, &c.,' ' Archives des Sciences Physiques et Natu-
relles/ 3eme periode. Tome vii. 481, 1882 (May).
65

444 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1861.

(far more than your dead Wedgwood ware can give you) ;
and I go and gloat over them, but we privately confessed to
each other, that if they were not our own, perhaps we should
not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf."

And in March, when he was extremely unwell he wrote : —

"A few words about the Stove-plants; they do so amuse
me. I have crawled to see them two or three times. Will
you correct and answer, and return enclosed. I have hunted
in all my books and cannot find these names,* and I like
much to know the family."

The book was published May 15th, 1862. Of its reception
he writes to Murray, June 13th and 18th : —

" The Botanists praise my Orchid-book to the skies. Some
one sent me (perhaps you) the ' Parthenon/ with a good re-
view. The Athenceum f treats me with very kind pity and
contempt ; but the reviewer knew nothing of his subject."

" There is a superb, but I fear exaggerated, review in the
' London Review.' J But I have not been a fool, as I thought
I was, to publish ; # for Asa Gray, about the most competent
judge in the world, thinks almost as highly of the book as
does the ' London Review/ The Athenczurn will hinder the
sale greatly."

The Rev. M. J. Berkeley was the author of the notice in
the ' London Review/ as my father learned from Sir J. D.

* His difficulty with regard to the names of plants is illustrated, with
regard to a Lupine on which he was at work, in an extract from a letter
(July 21, 1866) to Sir J. D. Hooker : " I sent to the nursery garden, whence
I bought the seed, and could only hear that it was * the common blue Lu-
pine,' the man saying 'he was no scholard, and did not know Latin, and
that parties who make experiments ought to find out the names.' "

f May 24, 1862.
% June 14, 1862.

# Doubts on this point still, however, occurred to him about this time.
He wrote to Prof. Oliver (June 8): "I am glad that you have read my
Orchis-book and seem to approve of it ; for I never published anything
which I so much doubted whether it was worth publishing, and indeed I
still doubt. The subject interested me beyond what, I suppose, it is
worth."

i862.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 445

Hooker, who added, " I thought it very well done indeed. I
have read a good deal of the Orchid-book, and echo all he
says/'

To this my father replied (June 30th, 1862) : —
" My dear Old Friend, — You speak of my warming the
cockles of your heart, but you will never know how often you
have warmed mine. It is not your approbation of my scien-
tific work (though I care for that more than for any one's) : it
is something deeper. To this day I remember keenly a letter
you wrote to me from Oxford, when I was at the Water-cure,
and how it cheered me when I was utterly weary of life.
Well, my Orchis-book is a success (but I do not know
whether it sells). "

In another letter to the same friend, he wrote : —
" You have pleased me much by what you say in regard to
Bentham and Oliver approving of my book ; for I had got a
sort of nervousness, and doubted whether I had not made an
egregious fool of myself, and concocted pleasant little stinging
remarks for reviews, such as 'Mr. Darwin's head seems to
have been turned by a certain degree of success, and he
thinks that the most trifling observations are worth publica-
tion/ "

Mr. Bentham's approval was given in his Presidential
Address to the Linnean Society, May 24, 1862, and was all
the more valuable because it came from one who was by
no means supposed to be favourable to evolutionary doc-
trines.]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 10 [1862].
My dear Gray, — Your generous sympathy makes you
overestimate what you have read of my Orchid-book. But
your letter of May i8th and 26th has given me an almost
foolish amount of satisfaction. The subject interested me, I
knew, beyond its real value ; but I had lately got to think
that I had made myself a complete fool by publishing in a
semi-popular form. Now I shall confidently defy the world

446 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1862.

I have heard that Bentham and Oliver approve of it ; but I
have heard the opinion of no one else whose opinion is worth
a farthing. . . . No doubt my volume contains much error :
how curiously difficult it is to be accurate, though I try my
utmost. Your notes have interested me beyond measure. I
can now afford to d — my critics with ineffable complacency
of mind. Cordial thanks for this benefit. It is surprising to
me that you should have strength of mind to care for science,
amidst the awful events daily occurring in your country. I
daily look at the Times with almost as much interest as an
American could do. When will peace come ? it is dreadful
to think of the desolation of large parts of your magnificent
country ; and all the speechless misery suffered by many. I
hope and think it not unlikely that we English are wrong in
concluding that it will take a long time for prosperity to re-
turn to you. It is an awful subject to reflect on. . , .

[Dr. Asa Gray reviewed the book in 'Silliman's Journal/*
where he speaks, in strong terms, of the fascination which it
must have for even slightly instructed readers. He made, too,
some original observations on an American orchid, and these
first-fruits of the subject, sent in MS. or proof sheet to my
father, were welcomed by him in a letter (July 23rd) : —

" Last night, after writing the above, I read the great
bundle of notes. Little did I think what I had to read.
What admirable observations ! You have distanced me on
my own hobby-horse ! I have not had for weeks such a glow
of pleasure as your observations gave me."

The next letter refers to the publication of the review:]

* ' Silliman's Journal,' vol. xxiv. p. 138. Here is given an account of
the fertilisation of Platanthera Hookeri. P. hyperborea is discussed in Dr.
Gray's * Enumeration ' in the same volume, p. 259 ; also, with other
species, in a second notice of the Orchid-book at p. 420.

i862.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 447

C Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, July 28 [1862].

My dear Gray, — I hardly know what to thank for first.
Your stamps gave infinite satisfaction. I took him * first one
lot, and then an hour afterwards another lot. He actually-
raised himself on one elbow to look at them. It was the first
animation he showed. He said only : " You must thank Pro-
fessor Gray awfully. " In the evening after a long silence,
there came out the oracular sentence : u He is awfully kind."
And indeed you are, overworked as you are, to take so much
trouble for our poor dear little man. — And now I must begin
the "awfullys" on my own account: what a capital notice
you have published on the orchids ! It could not have been
better ; but I fear that you overrate it. I am very sure that I
had not the least idea that you or any one would approve of it
so much. I return your last note for the chance of your pub-
lishing any notice on the subject ; but after all perhaps you
may not think it worth while ; yet in my judgment several of
your facts, especially Platanthera hyperborea, are much too
good to be merged in a reyiew. But I have always noticed
that you are prodigal in originality in your reviews. . . .

[Sir Joseph Hooker reviewed the book in the Gardeners'
Chronicle, writing in a successful imitation of the style of
Lindley, the Editor. My father wrote to Sir Joseph (Nov.
12, 1862) : —

" So you did write the review in the Gardeners' Chronicle.
Once or twice I doubted whether it was Lindley ; but when
I came to a little slap at R. Brown, I doubted no longer.
You arch-rogue ! I do not wonder you have deceived others
also. Perhaps I am a conceited dog ; but if so, you have
much to answer for ; I never received so much praise, and
coming from you I value it much more than from any other."

With regard to botanical opinion generally, he wrote to

* One of his boys who was ill.

4^8 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1862.

Dr. Gray, " I am fairly astonished at the success of my book
with botanists." Among naturalists who were not botanists,
Lyell was pre-eminent in his appreciation of the book. I
have no means of knowing when he read it, but in later life,
as I learn from Professor Judd, he was enthusiastic in praise
of the i Fertilisation of Orchids/ which he considered " next
to the ' Origin/ as the most valuable of all Darwin's works."
Among the general public the author did not at first hear of
many disciples, thus he wrote to his cousin Fox in September
1862: " Hardly any one not a botanist, except yourself, as
far as I know, has cared for it."

A favourable notice appeared in the Saturday Review,
October 18th, 1862 ; the reviewer points out that the book
would escape the angry polemics aroused by the i Origin.' *
This is illustrated by a review in the Literary Churchman, in
which only one fault found, namely, that Mr. Darwin's ex-
pression of admiration at the contrivances in orchids is too
indirect a way of saying, " O Lord, how manifold are Thy
works ! "

A somewhat similar criticism occurs in the ' Edinburgh
Review' (October 1862). The writer points out that Mr.
Darwin constantly uses phrases, *such as " beautiful contri-
vance," "the labellum is . . . in order to attract," "the
nectar is purposely lodged." The Reviewer concludes his
discussion thus: "We know, too, that these purposes
and ideas are not our own, but the ideas and purposes of
Another."

The ' Edinburgh ' reviewer's treatment of this subject was
criticised in the Saturday Reviezvy November 15th, 1862 :
With reference to this article my father wrote to Sir Joseph
Hooker (December 29th, 1862) : —

" Here is an odd chance ; my nephew Henry Parker, an
Oxford Classic, and Fellow of Oriel, came here this evening ;

* Dr. Gray pointed out that if the Orchid-book (with a few trifling
omissions) had appeared before the ' Origin,' the author would have been
canonised rather than anathematised by the natural theologians.

1862.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 449

and I asked him whether he knew who had written the little
article in the Saturday, smashing the [Edinburgh reviewer],
which we liked ; and after a little hesitation he owned he had.
I never knew that he wrote in the Saturday ; and was it not
an odd chance ? "

The ' Edinburgh ' article was written by the Duke of
Argyll, and has since been made use of in his ' Reign of Law/
1867. Mr. Wallace replied * to the Duke's criticisms, making
some specially good remarks on those which refer to orchids.
He shows how, by a u beautiful self-acting adjustment," the
nectary of the orchid Angraecum (from 10 to 14 inches in
length), and the proboscis of a moth sufficiently long to reach
the nectar, might be developed by natural selection. He goes
on to point out that on any other theory we must suppose
that the flower was created with an enormously long nectary,
and that then by a special act, an insect was created fitted to
visit the flower, which would otherwise remain sterile. With
regard to this point my father wrote (October 12 or 13,

1867):-

" I forgot to remark how capitally you turn the tables on
the Duke, when you make him create the Angraecum and
Moth by special creation.,,

If we examine the literature relating to the fertilisation of
flowers, we do not find that this new branch of study showed
any great activity immediately after the publication of the
Orchid-book, There are a few papers by Asa Gray, in 1862
and 1863, by Hildebrand in 1864, and by Moggridge in 1865,
but the great mass of work by Axell, Delpino, Hildebrand,
and the Mtillers, did not begin to appear until about 1867.
The period during which the new views were being assimi-
lated, and before they became thoroughly fruitful, was, how-
ever, surprisingly short. The later activity in this department
may be roughly gauged by the fact that the valuable ' Biblio-
graphy,' given by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson in his translation

* * Quarterly Journal of Science,' October 1867. Republished in
4 Natural Selection,' 1871.

450 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1862.

of Miiller's ' Befruchtung ' (1883), contains references to 814
papers.

Besides the book on Orchids, my father wrote two or
three papers on the subject, which will be found mentioned
in the Appendix. The earliest of these, on the three sexual
forms of Catasetum, was published in 1862 ; it is an antici-
pation of part of the Orchid-book, and was merely published
in the Linnean Society's Journal, in acknowledgment of the
use made of a specimen in the Society's possession. The
possibility of apparently distinct species being merely sex-
ual forms of a single species, suggested a characteristic ex-
periment, which is alluded to in the following letter to one
of his earliest disciples in the study of the fertilisation of
flowers :]

C. Darwin to J. Traherne Moggridge*

Down, October 13 [1865].

My dear Sir, — I am especially obliged to you for your
beautiful plates and letter-press ; for no single point in natu-
ral history interests and perplexes me so much as the self-
fertilisation f of the Bee-orchis. You have already thrown
some light on the subject, and your present observations
promise to throw more.

I formed two conjectures : first, that some insect during
certain seasons might cross the plants, but I have almost given
up this ; nevertheless, pray have a look at the flowers next
season. Secondly, I conjectured that the Spider and Bee-
orchids might be a crossing and self-fertile form of the same
species. Accordingly I wrote some years ago to an acquaint-
ance, asking him to mark some Spider-orchids, and observe

* The late Mr. Moggridge, author of ' Harvesting Ants and Trap-door
Spiders,' ' Flora of Men tone,' &c.

f He once remarked to Dr. Norman Moore that one of the things that
made him wish to live a few thousand years, was his desire to see the ex-
tinction of the Bee-orchis, — an end to which he believed its self-fertilising
habit was leading.

1868.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 45!

whether they retained the same character ; but he evidently-
thought the request as foolish as if I had asked him to mark
one of his cows with a ribbon, to see if it would turn next
spring into a horse. Now will you be so kind as to tie a string
round the stem of a half-a-dozen Spider-orchids, and when
you leave Mentone dig them up, and I would try and culti-
vate them and see if they kept constant ; but I should require
to know in what sort of soil and situations they grow. It
would be indispensable to mark the plant so that there could
be no mistake about the individual. It is also just possible
that the same plant would throw up, at different seasons dif-
ferent flower-scapes, and the marked plants would serve as
evidence.

With many thanks, my dear sir,

Yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — I send by this post my paper on climbing plants,
parts of which you might like to read.

[Sir Thomas Farrer and Dr. W. Ogle were also guided and
encouraged by my father in their observations. The follow-
ing refers to a paper by Sir Thomas Farrer, in the ' Annals
and Magazine of Natural History/ 1868, on the fertilisation
of the Scarlet Runner :]

C. Darwin to T. H. Farrer.

Down, Sept. 15, 1868.
My dear Mr. Farrer,— I grieve to say that the main
features of your case are known. I am the sinner and de-
scribed them some ten years ago. But I overlooked many
details, as the appendage to the single stamen, and several
other points. I send my notes, but I must beg for their re-
turn, as I have no other copy. I quite agree, the facts are
most striking, especially as you put them. Are you sure that
the Hive-bee is the cutter ? it is against my experience. If
sure, make the point more prominent, or if not sure, erase it.
I do not think the subject is quite new enough for the Lin-

452 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1868.

nean Society ; but I dare say the ' Annals and Magazine of
Natural History/ or Gardeners'' Chronicle would gladly pub-
lish your observations, and it is a great pity they should be
lost. If you like I would send your paper to either quarter
with a note. In this case you must give a title, and your
name, and perhaps it would be well to premise your remarks
with a line of reference to my paper stating that you had ob-
served independently and more fully.

I have read my own paper over after an interval of sev-
eral years, and am amused at the caution with which I put
the case that the final end was for crossing distinct individ-
uals, of which I was then as fully convinced as now, but I
knew that the doctrine would shock all botanists. Now the
opinion is becoming familiar.

To see penetration of pollen-tubes is not difficult, but in
most cases requires some practice with dissecting under a
one-tenth of an inch focal distance single lens ; and just at
first this will seem to you extremely difficult.

What a capital observer you are — a first-rate Naturalist
has been sacrificed, or partly sacrificed to Public life.
Believe me, yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — If you come across any large Salvia, look at it — the
contrivance is admirable. It went to my heart to tell a man
who came here a few weeks ago with splendid drawings and
MS. on Salvia, that the work had been all done in Germany.*

[The following extract is from a letter, November 26th,
1868, to Sir Thomas Farrer, written as I learn from him, "in
answer to a request for some advice as to the best modes of
observation. "

* Dr. W. Ogle, the observer of the fertilisation of Salvia here alluded
to, published his results in the ' Pop. Science Review,' 1869.

He refers both gracefully and gratefully to his relationship with my
father in the introduction to his translation of Kerner's ' Flowers and their
Unbidden Guests/

i868.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 453

" In my opinion the best plan is to go on working and
making copious notes, without much thought of publication,
and then if the results tarn out striking publish them. It
is my impression, but I do not feel sure that I am right, that
the best and most novel plan would be, instead of describing
the means of fertilisation in particular plants, to investigate
the part which certain structures play with all plants or
throughout certain orders ; for instance, the brush of hairs
on the style, or the diadelphous condition of the stamens, in
the Leguminosae, or the hairs within the corolla, &c. &c.
Looking to your note, I think that this is perhaps the plan
which you suggest.

"It is well to remember that Naturalists value observations
far more than reasoning ; therefore your conclusions should
be as often as possible fortified by noticing how insects actu-
ally do the work."

In 1869, Sir Thomas Farrer corresponded with my father
on the fertilisation of Passiflora and of Tacsonia. He has
given me his impressions of the correspondence :—

" I had suggested that the elaborate series of chevaux-de-
frise, by which the nectary of the common Passiflora is
guarded, were specially calculated to protect the flower from
the stiff-beaked humming birds which would not fertilise it,
and to facilitate the access of the little proboscis of the hum-
ble bee, which would do so ; whilst, on the other hand, the
long pendent tube and flexible valve-like corona which re-
tains the nectar of Tacsonia would shut out the bee, which
would not, and admit the humming bird which would, fertil-
ise that flower. The suggestion is very possibly worthless,
and could only be verified or refuted by examination of flow-
ers in the countries where they grow naturally. . . . What
interested me was to see that on this as on almost any other
point of detailed observation, Mr. Darwin could always say,
' Yes ; but at one time I made some observations myself on
this particular point ; and I think you will find, &c. &c.'
That he should after years of interval remember that he had
noticed the peculiar structure to which I was referring in the

454 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1866.

Passiflora princeps struck me at the time as very remark-
able."

With regard to the spread of a belief in the adaptation of
flowers for cross-fertilisation, my father wrote to Mr. Ben-
tham April 22, 1868 :

" Most of the criticisms which I sometimes meet with in
French works against the frequency of crossing, I am certain
are the result of mere ignorance. I have never hitherto
found the rule to fail that when an author describes the
structure of a flower as specially adapted for self-fertilisation,
it is really adapted for crossing. The Fumariaceae offer a
good instance of this, and Treviranus threw this order in my
teeth ; but in Corydalis, Hildebrand shows how utterly false
the idea of self-fertilisation is. This author's paper on Salvia
is really worth reading, and I have observed some species,
and know that he is accurate.,,

The next letter refers to Professor Hildebrand's paper on
Corydalis, published in the ' Proc. Internat. Hort. Congress,'
London, 1866, and in Pringsheim's ' Jahrbiicher/ vol. v. The
memoir on Salvia alluded to is contained in the previous vol-
ume of the same Journal :]

C. Darwin to F. Hildebrand*

Down, May 16 [1866].
My dear Sir, — The state of my health prevents my at-
tending the Hort. Congress ; but I forwarded yesterday your
paper to the secretary, and if they are not overwhelmed with
papers, yours will be gladly received. I have made many
observations on the Fumariaceae, and convinced myself that
they were adapted for insect agency ; but I never observed
anything nearly so curious as your most interesting facts. I
hope you will repeat your experiments on the Corydalis on a
larger scale, and especially on several distinct plants ; for your
plant might have been individually peculiar, like certain indi-

* Professor of Botany at Freiburg.

1873.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 455

vidual plants of Lobelia, &c, described by Gartner, and of
Passiflora and Orchids described by Mr. Scott. . . .

Since writing to you before, I have read your admirable
memoir on Salvia, and it has interested me almost as much
as when I first investigated the structure of Orchids. Your
paper illustrates several points in my ' Origin of Species/
especially the transition of organs. Knowing only two or
three species in the genus, I had often marvelled how one
cell of the anther could have been transformed into the mov-
able plate or spoon ; and how well you show the gradations ;
but I am surprised that you did not more strongly insist on
this point.

I shall be still more surprised if you do not ultimately
come to the same belief with me, as shown by so many beau-
tiful contrivances, that all plants require, from some unknown
cause, to be occasionally fertilized by pollen from a distinct
individual. With sincere respect, believe me, my dear Sir,

Yours very faithfully,

Ch. Darwin.

[The following letter refers to the late Hermann MuTler's
'Befruchtung der Blumen,' by far the most valuable of the
mass of literature originating in the ' Fertilisation of Orchids.'
An English translation, by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson was
published in 1883. My father's " Prefatory Notice" to this
work is dated February 6, 1882, and is therefore almost the
last of his writings :]

C. Darwin to H. Miiller.

Down, May 5, 1873.
My dear Sir, — Owing to all sorts of interruptions and
to my reading German so slowly, I have read only to p. %% of
your book ; but I must have the pleasure of telling you how
very valuable a work it appears to me. Independently of the
many original observations, which of course form the most
important part, the work will be of the highest use as a means
of reference to all that has been done on the subject. I am

456 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1878.

fairly astonished at the number of species of insects, the visits
of which to different flowers you have recorded. You must
have worked in the most indefatigable manner. About half
a year ago the editor of ' Nature ' suggested that it would be
a grand undertaking if a number of naturalists were to do
what you have already done on so large a scale with respect
to the visits of insects. I have been particularly glad to read
your historical sketch, for I had never before seen all the
references put together. I have sometimes feared that I was
in error when I said that C. K. Sprengel did not fully per-
ceive that cross-fertilisation was the final end of the structure
of flowers ; but now this fear is relieved, and it is a great
satisfaction to me to believe that I have aided in making his
excellent book more generally known. Nothing has surprised
me more than to see in your historical sketch how much I
myself have done on the subject, as it never before occurred
to me to think of all my papers as a whole. But I do not
doubt that your generous appreciation of the labours of others
has led you to over-estimate what I have done. With very
sincere thanks and respect, believe me,

Yours faithfully,
Charles Darwin.

P.S. — I have mentioned your book to almost every one
who, as far as I know, cares for the subject in England ; and
I have ordered a copy to be sent to our Royal Society.

[The next letter, to Dr. Behrens, refers to the same sub-
ject as the last :]

C. Darwin to W. Behrens.

Down, August 29 [1878].
Dear Sir, — I am very much obliged to you for having
sent me your 'Geschichte der Bestaubungs-Theorie,'* and
which has interested me much. It has put some things in a

* Progr. der K. Gewerbschule zu Elberfeld, 1877, 1878.

I874-] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 457

new light, and has told me other things which I did not
know. I heartily agree with you in your high appreciation of
poor old C. Sprengel's work ; and one regrets bitterly that he
did not live to see his labours thus valued. It rejoices me
also to notice how highly you appreciate H. Miiller, who has
always seemed to me an admirable observer and reasoner. I
am at present endeavoring to persuade an English publisher
to bring out a translation of his ' Befruchtung.'

Lastly, permit me to thank you for your very generous
remarks on my works. By placing what I have been able to
do on this subject in systematic order, you have made me
think more highly of my own work than I ever did before !
Nevertheless,, I fear that you have done me more than justice.

I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully and obliged,

Charles Darwin.

[The letter which follows was called forth by Dr. Gray's
article in * Nature/ to which reference has already been made,
and which appeared June 4, 1874 :]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 3 [1874].
My dear Gray, — I was rejoiced to see your hand-writ-
ing again in your note of the 4th, of which more anon. I was
astonished to see announced about a week ago that you were
going to write in ' Nature ' an article on me, and this morning
I received an advance copy. It is the grandest thing ever
written about me, especially as coming from a man like your-
self. It has deeply pleased me, particularly some of your
side remarks. It is a wonderful thing to me to live to see
my name coupled in any fashion with that of Robert Brown.
But you are a bold man, for I am sure that you will be
sneered at by not a few botanists. I have never been so
honoured before, and I hope it will do me good and make
me try to be as careful as possible ; and good heavens, how
difficult accuracy is ! I feel a very proud man, but I hope
this won't last. . . .

458 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1877.

[Fritz Mullerhas observed that the flowers of Hedychium
are so arranged that the pollen is removed by the wings of
hovering butterflies. My father's prediction of this observa-
tion is given in the following letter :]

C. Darwin to H. Milller.

Down, August 7, 1876.
. ; . . I was much interested by your brothers article on
Hedychium ; about two years ago I was so convinced that
the flowers were fertilized by the tips of the wings of large
moths, that I wrote to India to ask a man to observe the flow-
ers and catch the moths at work, and he sent me 20 to 30
Sphinx-moths, but so badly packed that they all arrived in
fragments ; and I could make out nothing. . . .

Yours sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[The following extract from a letter (Feb. 25, 1864), to
Dr. Gray refers to another prediction fulfilled : —

" I have of course seen no one, and except good dear
Hooker, I hear from no one. He, like a good and true friend,
though so overworked, often writes to me.

" I have had one letter which has interested me greatly,
with a paper, which will appear in the Linnean Journal, by
Dr. Criiger of Trinidad, which shows that I am all right about
Catasetum, even to the spot where the pollinia adhere to the
bees, which visit the flower, as I said, to gnaw the labellum.
Criiger's account of Coryanthes and the use of the bucket-
like labellum full of water beats everything : I suspect that
the bees being well wetted flattens their hairs, and allows the
viscid disc to adhere."]

C. Darwin to the Marquis de Saporta.

Down, December 24, 1877.

My dear Sir, — I thank you sincerely for your long and
most interesting letter, which I should have answered sooner

1877] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 459

had it not been delayed in London. I had not heard before
that I was to be proposed as a Corresponding Member of the
Institute. Living so retired a life as I do, such honours
affect me very little, and I can say with entire truth that your
kind expression of sympathy has given and will give me much
more pleasure than the election itself, should I be elected.

Your idea that dicotyledonous plants were not developed
in force until sucking insects had been evolved seems to me
a splendid one. I am surprised that the idea never occurred
to me, but this is always the case when one first hears a new
and simple explanation of some mysterious phenomenon. , . .
I formerly showed that we might fairly assume that the
beauty of flowers, their sweet odour and copious nectar, may
be attributed to the existence of flower-haunting insects, but
your idea, which I hope you will publish, goes much further
and is much more important. With respect to the great
development of mammifers in the later Geological periods
following from the development of dicotyledons, I think it
ought to be proved that such animals as deer, cows, horses,
&c. could not flourish if fed exclusively on the gramineae and
other anemophilous monocotyledons ; and I do not suppose
that any evidence on this head exists.

Your suggestion of studying the manner of fertilisation of
the surviving members of the most ancient forms of the
dicotyledons is a very good one, and I hope that you will
keep it in mind yourself, for I have turned my attention to
other subjects. Delpino I think says that Magnolia is fer-
tilised by insects which gnaw the petals, and I should not be
surprised if the same fact holds good with Nymphaea.
Whenever I have looked at the flowers of these latter plants
I have felt inclined to admit the view that petals are modified
stamens, and not modified leaves ; though Poinsettia seems
to show that true leaves might be converted into coloured
petals. I grieve to say that I have never been properly
grounded in Botany and have studied only special points—
therefore I cannot pretend to express any opinion on your

remarks on the origin of the flowers of the Comferae, Gneta-
66

46o FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1878.

ceae, &c. ; but I have been delighted with what you say on the
conversion of a monoecious species into a hermaphrodite one
by the condensations of the verticils on a branch bearing
female flowers near the summit, and male flowers below.

I expect Hooker to come here before long, and I will then
show him your drawing, and if he makes any important re-
marks I will communicate with you. He is very busy at
present in clearing off arrears after his American Expedition,
so that I do not like to trouble him, even with the briefest
note. I am at present working with my son at some Physio-
logical subjects, and we are arriving at very curious results,
but they are not as yet sufficiently certain to be worth com-
municating to you. . . .

[In 1877 a second edition of the ' Fertilisation of Orchids'
was published, the first edition having been for some time out
of print. The new edition was remodelled and almost re-
written, and a large amount of new matter added, much of
which the author owed to his friend Fritz M tiller.

With regard to this edition he wrote to Dr. Gray : —

" I do not suppose I shall ever again touch the book.
After much doubt I have resolved to act in this way with all
my books for the future ; that is to correct them once and
never touch them again, so as to use the small quantity of
work left in me for new matter."

He may have felt a diminution of his powers of reviewing
large bodies of facts, such as would be needed in the prepa-
ration of new editions, but his powers of observation were
certainly not diminished. He wrote to Mr. Dyer on July 14,

i878:]

My dear Dyer, — Thalia dealbata was sent me from Kew :
it has flowered and after looking casually at the flowers, they
have driven me almost mad, and I have worked at them for
a week : it is as grand a case as that of Catasetum.

Pistil vigorously motile (so that whole flower shakes when
pistil suddenly coils up) ; when excited by a touch the two

1878.] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 461

filaments [are] produced laterally and transversely across the
flower (just over the nectar) from one of the petals or modi-
fied stamens. It is splendid to watch the phenomenon under
a weak power when a bristle is inserted into a young flower
which no insect has visited. As far as I know Stylidium is the
sole case of sensitive pistil and here it is the pistil+stamens.
In Thalia* cross-fertilisation is ensured by the wonderful
movement, if bees visit several flowers.

I have now relieved my mind and will tell the purport of
this note — viz. if any other species of Thalia besides T. deal-
bata should flower with you, for the love of heaven and all
the saints, send me a few in tin box with damp moss.

Your insane friend,

Ch. Darwin.

[In 1878 Dr. Ogle's translation of Kerner's interesting
book, ' Flowers and their Unbidden Guests,' was published.
My father, who felt much interest in the translation (as
appears in the following letter), contributed some prefatory
words of approval :]

C. Darwin to W. Ogle,

Down, December 16 [1878].
.... I have now read Kerner's book, which is better
even than I anticipated. The translation seems to me as
clear as daylight, and written in forcible and good familiar
English. I am rather afraid that it is too good for the
English public, which seems to like very washy food, unless
it be administered by some one whose name is well known,
and then I suspect a good deal of the unintelligible is very
pleasing to them. I hope to heaven that I may be wrong.
Anyhow, you and Mrs. Ogle have done a right good service
for Botanical Science. Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

* Hildebrand has described an explosive arrangement in some of the
Maranteae— the tribe to which Thalia belongs.

4g2 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1880.

P.S. — You have done me much honour in your prefatory
remarks.

[One of the latest references to his Orchid-work occurs in
a letter to Mr. Bentham, February 16, 1880. It shows the
amount of pleasure which this subject gave to my father, and
(what is characteristic of him) that his reminiscence of the
work was one of delight in the observations which preceded
its publication, not to the applause which followed it : —

" They are wonderful creatures, these Orchids, and I
sometimes think with a glow of pleasure, when I remember
making out some little point in their method of fertilisation/']

CHAPTER XL

THE 'EFFECTS OF CROSS- AND SELF-FERTILISATION IN THE
VEGETABLE KINGDOM.' 1876.

[This book, as pointed out in the ' Autobiography,' is a
complement to the ■ Fertilisation of Orchids,' because it shows
how important are the results of cross-fertilisation which are
ensured by the mechanisms described in that book. By
proving that the offspring of cross-fertilisation are more
vigorous than the offspring of self- fertilisation, he showed that
one circumstance which influences the fate of young plants in
the struggle for life is the degree to which their parents are
fitted for cross-fertilisation. He thus convinced himself that
the intensity of the struggle (which he had elsewhere shown
to exist among young plants) is a measure of the strength
of a selective agency perpetually sifting out every modifica-
tion in the structure of flowers which can effect its capabili-
ties for cross-fertilisation.

The book is also valuable in another respect, because it
throws light on the difficult problems of the origin of sexuality.
The increased vigour resulting from cross-fertilisation is allied
in the closest manner to the advantage gained by change of
conditions. So strongly is this the case, that in some instances
cross-fertilisation gives no advantage to the offspring, unless
the parents have lived under slightly different conditions.
So that the really important thing is not that two individuals
of different blood shall unite, but two individuals which have
been subjected to different conditions. We are thus led to
believe that sexuality is a means for infusing vigour into the
offspring by the coalescence of differentiated elements, an

464 THE 'EFFECTS OF CROSS- [1876.

advantage which could not follow if reproductions were en-
tirely asexual.

It is remarkable that this book, the result of eleven years
of experimental work, owed its origin to a chance observa-
tion. My father had raised two beds of Linaria vulgaris —
one set being the offspring of cross- and the other of self-fertili-
sation. These plants were grown for the sake of some obser-
vations on inheritance, and not with any view to cross-breed-
ing, and he was astonished to observe that the offspring of
self-fertilisation were clearly less vigorous than the others.
It seemed incredible to him that this result could be due to
a single act of self-fertilisation, and it was only in the following
year when precisely the same result occurred in the case of
a similar experiment on inheritance in Carnations, that his
attention was " thoroughly aroused " and that he determined
to make a series of experiments specially directed to the
question. The following letters give some account of the
work in question :]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

September 10, [1866?]
. . . . I have just begun a large course of experiments on
the germination of the seed, and on the growth of the young
plants when raised from a pistil fertilised by pollen from the
same flower, and from pollen from a distinct plant of the
same, or of some other variety. I have not made sufficient
experiments to judge certainly, but in some cases the differ-
ence in the growth of the young plants is highly remarkable.
I have taken every kind of precaution in getting seed from the
same plant, in germinating the seed on my own chimney-
piece, in planting the seedlings in the same flower-pot, and
under this similar treatment I have seen the young seedlings
from the crossed seed exactly twice as tall as the seedlings
from the self-fertilised seed ; both seeds having germinated
on same day. If, I can establish this fact (but perhaps it will
all go to the dogs), in some fifty cases, with plants of different

1876.] AND SELF-FERTILISATION/ 465

orders, I think it will be very important, for then we shall
positively know why the structure of every flower permits, or
favours, or necessitates an occasional cross with a distinct
individual. But all this is rather cooking my hare before I
have caught it. But somehow it is a great pleasure to me to
tell you what I am about. Believe me, my dear Gray,

, Ever yours most truly, and with cordial thanks,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to G. Benthani.

April 22, 1868.
.... I am experimenting on a very large scale on the
difference in power of growth between plants raised from
self-fertilised and crossed seeds ; and it is no exaggeration to
say that the difference in growth and vigour is sometimes
truly wonderful. Lyell, Huxley and Hooker have seen
some of my plants, and been astonished ; and I should much
like to show them to you. I always supposed until lately
that no evil effects would be visible until after several genera-
tions of self-fertilisation ; but now I see that one generation
sometimes suffices; and the existence of dimorphic plants
and all the wonderful contrivances of orchids are quite in-,
telligible to me.

With cordial thanks for your letter, which has pleased me
greatly,

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[An extract from a letter to Dr. Gray (March 11, 1873)
mentions the progress of the work : —

" I worked last summer hard at Drosera, but could not
finish till I got fresh plants, and consequently took up the
effects of crossing and self-fertilising plants, and am got so
interested that Drosera must go to the dogs till I finish with
this, and get it published ; but then I will resume my beloved
Drosera, and I heartily apologise for having sent the precious
little things even for a moment to the dogs."

466 THE ' EFFECTS OF CROSS- [1868.

The following letters give the author's impression of his
own book.]

C. Darwin to J. Murray.

Down, September 16, 1876.
My dear Sir, — I have just received proofs in sheet of
five sheets, so you will have to decide soon how many copies
will have to be struck off. I do not know what to advise.
The greater part of the book is extremely dry, and the whole
on a special subject. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the
book is of value, and I am convinced that for many years
copies will be occasionally sold. Judging from the sale of
my former books, and from supposing that some persons will
purchase it to complete the set of my works, I would suggest
1500. But you must be guided by your larger experience.
I will only repeat that I am convinced the book is of some
permanent value. . . .

C. Darwin to Victor Carus.

Down, September 27, 1876.

My dear Sir, — I sent by this morning's post the four
first perfect sheets of my new book, the title of which you
will see on the first page, and which will be published early
in November.

I am sorry to say that it is only shorter by a few pages
than my 4 Insectivorous Plants.' The whole is now in type,
though I have corrected finally only half the volume. You
will, therefore, rapidly receive the remainder. The book is
very dull. Chapters II. to VI., inclusive, are simply a record
of experiments. Nevertheless, I believe (though a man can
never judge his own books) that the book is valuable. You
will have to decide whether it is worth translating. I hope
so. It has cost me very great labour, and the results seem
to me remarkable and well established.

If you translate it, you could easily get aid for Chapters
II. to VI., as there is here endless, but I have thought

I868J AND SELF-FERTILISATION.' 467

necessary repetition. I shall be anxious to hear what you

decide

I most sincerely hope that your health has been fairly
good this summer.

My dear Sir, yours very truly,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, October 28, 1876.

My dear Gray, — I send by this post all the clean sheets
as yet printed, and I hope to send the remainder within a
fortnight. Please observe that the first six chapters are not
readable, and the six last very dull. Still I believe that the
results are valuable. If you review the book, I shall be very
curious to see what you think of it, for I care more for your
judgment than for that of almost any one else. I know also
that you will speak the truth, whether you approve or dis-
approve. Very few will take the trouble to read the book,
and I do not expect you to read the whole, but I hope you
will read the latter chapters.

... I am so sick of correcting the press and licking my
horrid bad style into intelligible English.

[The * Effects of Cross and Self-fertilisation ' was published
on November 10, 1876, and 1500 copies were sold before the
end of the year. The following letter refers to a review in
' Nature : ' *]

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

Down, February 16, 1877.

Dear Dyer, — I must tell you how greatly I am pleased

and honoured by your article in ' Nature/ which I have just

read. You are an adept in saying what will please an author,

not that I suppose you wrote with this express intention.

* February 15, 1877.

468 CROSS- AND SELF-FERTILISATION. [1877.

I should be very well contented to deserve a fraction of your
praise. I have also been much interested, and this is better
than mere pleasure, by your argument about the separation
of the sexes. I dare say that I am wrong, and will hereafter
consider what you say more carefully : but at present I can-
not drive out of my head that the sexes must have originated
from two individuals, slightly different, which conjugated.
But I am aware that some cases of conjugation are opposed
to any such views.

With hearty thanks,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin,

CHAPTER XII.

* different forms of flowers on plants of the same

species/ 1877.

[The volume bearing the above title was published in 1877,
and was dedicated by the author to Professor Asa Gray, "as
a small tribute of respect and affection. " It consists of cer-
tain earlier papers re-edited, with the addition of a quantity
of new matter. The subjects treated in the book are : —

(i.) Heterostyled Plants.

(ii.) Polygamous, Dioecious, and Gynodicecious Plants.

(iii.) Cleistogamic Flowers.

The nature of heterostyled plants may be illustrated in the
primrose, one of the best known examples of the class. If a
number of primroses be gathered, it will be found that some
plants yield nothing but " pin-eyed " flowers, in which the
style (or organ for the. transmission of the pollen to the ovule)
is long, while the others yield only " thrum-eyed " flowers with
short styles. Thus primroses are divided into two sets or
castes differing structurally from "each other. My father
showed that they also differ sexually, and that in fact the bond
between the two castes more nearly resembles that between
separate sexes than any other known relationship. Thus for
example a long-styled primrose, though it can be fertilised by
its own pollen, is not fully fertile unless it is impregnated by
the pollen of a short-styled flower. Heterostyled plants are
comparable to hermaphrodite animals, such as snails, which
require the concourse of two individuals, although each pos-
sesses both the sexual elements. The difference is that in
the case of the primrose it is perfect fertility, and not simply

470 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1862.

fertility, that depends on the mutual action of the two sets of
individuals.

The work on heterostyled plants has a special bearing, to
which the author attached much importance, on the problem
of origin of species.*

He found that a wonderfully close parallelism exists be-
tween hybridisation and certain forms of fertilisation among
heterostyled plants. So that it is hardly an exaggeration to
say that the "illegitimately" reared seedlings are hybrids,
although both their parents belong to identically the same
species. In a letter to Professor Huxley, given in the second
volume (p. 176), my father writes as if his researches on
heterostyled plants tended to make him believe that sterility
is a selected or acquired quality. But in his later publica-
tions, e.g. in the sixth edition of the ' Origin/ he adheres to
the belief that sterility is an incidental rather than a selected
quality. The result of his work on heterostyled plants is of
importance as showing that sterility is no test of specific dis-
tinctness, and that it depends on differentiation of the sexual
elements which is independent of any racial difference. I
imagine that it was his instinctive love of making out a diffi-
culty which to a great extent kept him at work so patiently
on the heterostyled plants. But it was the fact that general
conclusions of the above character could be drawn from his
results which made him think his results worthy of publica-
tion.f

The papers which on this subject preceded and contribu-
ted to ' Forms of Flowers ' were the following : —

" On the two Forms or Dimorphic Condition in the Spe-
cies of Primula, and on their remarkable Sexual Relations.''
Linn. Soc. Journal, 1862.

" On the Existence of Two Forms, and on their Reciprocal
Sexual Relations, in several Species of the Genus Linum."
Linn. Soc. Journal, 1863.

* See ■ Autobiography,' vol. i. p. 97.
f See ' Forms of Flowers,' p. 243.

i860.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES.' 471

M On the Sexual Relations of the Three Forms of Ly thrum
salicaria" Ibid. 1864.

" On the Character and Hybrid-like Nature of the Off-
spring from the Illegitimate Unions of Dimorphic and Tri-
morphic Plants." Ibid. 1869.

" On the Specific Differences between Primula verts, Brit.
Fl. (var. officinalis y Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis,
Linn.), and P. elatior, Jacq. ; and on the Hybrid Nature of
the Common Oxlip. With Supplementary Remarks on Nat-
urally Produced Hybrids in the Genus Verbascum." Ibid.
1869.

The following letter shows that he began the work on
heterostyled plants with an erroneous view as to the meaning
of the facts.]

C. Darwin to J, D. Hooker.

Down, May 7 [i860].
.... I have this morning been looking at my experi-
mental cowslips, and I find some plants have all flowers with
long stamens and short pistils, which I will call " male plants/*
others with short stamens and long pistils, which I will call
"female plants." This I have somewhere seen noticed, I
think by Henslow ; but I find (after looking at my two sets
of plants) that the stigmas of the male and female are of
slightly different shape, and certainly different degree of
roughness, and what has astonished me, the pollen of the
so-called female plant, though very abundant, is more trans-
parent, and each granule is exactly only § of the size of the
pollen of the so-called male plant. Has this been observed ?
I cannot help suspecting [that] the cowslip is in fact dioecious,
but it may turn out all a blunder, but anyhow I will mark with
sticks the so-called male and female plants and watch their
seeding. It would be a fine case of gradation between an
hermaphrodite and unisexual condition. Likewise a sort of
case of balancement of long and short pistils and stamens.
Likewise perhaps throws light on oxlips. . . .

472 ' DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [i860.

I have now examined primroses and find exactly the same
difference in the size of the pollen, correlated with the same
difference in the length of the style and roughness of the
stigmas.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray,

June 8 [i860].

.... I have been making some little trifling observations
which have interested and perplexed me much. I find with
primroses and cowslips, that about an equal number of plants
are thus characterised.

So-called (by me) male plant. Pistil much shorter than
stamens ; stigma rather smooth,— pollen grains large, throat
of corolla short.

So-called female plant. Pistil much longer than stamens,
stigma rougher, pollen-grains smaller, — throat of corolla long.

I have marked a lot of plants, and expected to find the so-
called male plant barren ; but judging from the feel of the
capsules, this is not the case, and I am very much surprised at
the difference in the size of the pollen. ... If it should
prove that the so-called male plants produce less seed than
the so-called females, what a beautiful case of gradation from
hermaphrodite to unisexual condition it will be ! If they pro-
duce about equal number of seed, how perplexing it will be.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, December 17, [1863?]

.... I have just been ordering a photograph of myself for
a friend ; and have ordered one for you, and for heaven's sake
oblige me, and burn that now hanging up in your room. — It
makes me look atrociously wicked.

.... In the spring I must get you to look for long pistils
and short pistils in the rarer species of Primula and in some
allied Genera. It holds with P. Sinensis. You remember
all the fuss I made on this subject last spring ; well, the other
day at last I had time to weigh the seeds, and by Jove the
plants of primroses and cowslip with short pistils and large

i860.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES/ 473

grained pollen * are rather more fertile than those with long
pistils, and small-grained pollen. I find that they require the
action of insects to set them, and I never will believe that
these differences are without some meaning.

Some of my experiments lead me to suspect that the large-
grained pollen suits the long pistils and the small-grained
pollen suits the short pistils ; but I am determined to see if I
cannot make out the mystery next spring.

How does your book on plants brew in your mind ? Have
you begun it ? . . . .

Remember me most kindly to Oliver. He must be
astonished at not having a string of questions, I fear he will
get out of practice !

[The Primula-work was finished in the autumn of 1861,
and on Nov. 8th he wrote to Sir J. D, Hooker : —

"I have sent my paper on dimorphism in Primula to the
Linn. Soc. I shall go up and read it whenever it comes on ;
I hope you may be able to attend, for I do not suppose many
will care a penny for the subject.,,

With regard to the reading of the paper (on Nov. 21st), he
wrote to the same friend : —

"I by no means thought that I produced a " tremendous
effect" in the Linn. Soc, but by Jove the Linn. Soc. pro-
duced a tremendous effect on me, for I could not get out of
bed till late next evening, so that I just crawled home. I
fear I must give up trying to read any paper or speak ; ft is
a horrid bore, I can do nothing like other people."

To Dr. Gray he wrote, (Dec. 1861) : —

' You may rely on it, I will send you a copy of my Primula
paper as soon as I can get one ; but I believe it will not be
printed till April ist,and therefore after my Orchid Book. I
care more for your and Hooker's opinion than for that of all
the rest of the world, and for Lyell's on geological points.
Bentham and Hooker thought well of my paper when read ;

* Thus the plants which he imagined to be tending towards a male
condition were more productive than the supposed females.

474 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1861.

but no one can judge of evidence by merely hearing a
paper.'*

The work on Primula was the means of bringing my
father in contact with the late Mr. John Scott, then working
as a gardener in the Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh, — an
employment which he seems to have chosen in order to
gratify his passion for natural history. He wrote one or two
excellent botanical papers, and ultimately obtained a post in
India.* He died in 1880.

A few phrases may be quoted from letters to Sir J. D.
Hooker, showing my father's estimate of Scott : —

" If you know, do please tell me who is John Scott of the
Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh ; I have been correspond-
ing largely with him ; he is no common man."

" If he had leisure he would make a wonderful observer ;
to my judgment I have come across no one like him.,,

" He has interested me strangely, and I have formed a
very high opinion of his intellect. I hope he will accept
pecuniary assistance from me ; but he has hitherto refused."
(He ultimately succeeded in being allowed to pay for Mr.
Scott's passage to India.)

" I know nothing of him excepting from his letters ; these
show remarkable talent, astonishing perseverance, much
modesty, and what I admire, determined difference from me
on many points/'

So highly did he estimate Scott's abilities that he formed
a plan (which however never went beyond an early stage of
discussion) of employing him to work out certain problems
connected with intercrossing.

The following letter refers to my father's investigations
on Lythrum,f a plant which reveals even a more wonderful

* While in India he made some admirable observations on expression
for my father.

f He was led to this, his first case of trimorphism by Lecoq's * Geo-
graphic Botanique,' and this must have consoled him for the trick this
work played him in turning out to be so much larger than he expected.
He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : M Here is a good joke : I saw an extract

1862.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES.' 475

condition of sexual complexity than that of Primula. For
in Lythrum there are not merely two, but three castes, differ-
ing structurally and physiologically from each other :]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, August 9 [1862].

My dear Gray, — It is late at night, and I am going to
write briefly, and of course to beg a favour.

The Mitchella very good, but pollen apparently equal-
sized. I have just examined Hottonia, grand difference in
pollen. Echium vulgare, a humbug, merely a case like Thy-
mus. But I am almost stark staring mad over Lythrum ; *
if I can prove what I fully believe, it is a grand case of
Trimorphism, with three different pollens and three stigmas;
I have castrated and fertilised above ninety flowers, trying all
the eighteen distinct crosses which are possible within the
limits of this one species ! I cannot explain, but I feel sure
you would think it a grand case. I have been writing to
Botanists to see if I can possibly get L. hyssopifolia, and it has
just flashed on me that you might have Lythrum in North
America, and I have looked to your Manual. For the love
of heaven have a look at some of your species, and if you
can get me seed, do ; I want much to try species with few
stamens, if they are dimorphic ; JVescea verticillata I should
expect to be trimorphic. Seed ! Seed ! Seed ! I should rather
like seed of Mitchella. But oh, Lythrum !

Your utterly mad friend,

C. Darwin.

P.S. — There is reason in my madness, for I can see that to
those who already believe in change of species, these facts

from Lecoq, 'Geograph. Bot.,' and ordered it and hoped that it was a good
sized pamphlet, and nine thick volumes have arrived ! "

* On another occasion he wrote (to Dr. Gray) with regard to Lyth-
rum : " I must hold hard, otherwise I shall spend my life over dimor-
phism."

67

476 ' DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1862.

will modify to a certain extent the whole view of Hy-
bridity.*

[On the same subject he wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker in
August 1862 : —

" Is Oliver at Kew ? When I am established at Bourne-
mouth I am completely mad to examine any fresh flowers of
any Lythraceous plant, and I would write and ask him if any
are in bloom."

Again he wrote to the same friend in October : —

" If you ask Oliver, I think he will tell you I have got a
real odd case in Lythrum, it interests me extremely, and
seems to me the strangest case of propagation recorded
amongst plants or animals, viz. a necessary triple alliance
between three hermaphrodites. I feel sure I can now prove
the truth of the case from a multitude of crosses made this
summer."

In an article, ' Dimorphism in the Genitalia of Plants '
('Silliman's Journal/ 1862, vol. xxxiv. p. 419), Dr. Gray
pointed out that the structural difference between the two
forms of Primula had already been denned in the ' Flora of
N. America,' as dioecio- dimorphism. The use of this term
called forth the following remarks from my father. The
letter also alludes to a review of the ' Fertilisation of Orchids '
in the same volume of * Silliman's Journal/]

* A letter to Dr. Gray (July, 1862) bears on this point : " A few days
ago I made an observation which has surprised me more than it ought to
do— it will have to be repeated several times, but I have scarcely a doubt
of its accuracy. I stated in my Primula paper that the long-styled form
of Linum grandiflorum was utterly sterile with its own pollen ; I have
lately been putting the pollen of the two forms on the stigma of the same
flower ; and it strikes me as truly wonderful, that the stigma distinguishes
the pollen ; and is penetrated by the tubes of the one and not by those of
the other ; nor are the tubes exserted. Or (which is the same thing) the
stigma of the one form acts on and is acted on by pollen, which produces
not the least effect on the stigma of the other form. Taking sexual power
as the criterion of difference, the two forms of this one species may be said
to be generically distinct."

i862.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES.1 477

C. Darwin to Asa Gray,

Down, November 26 [1862].

My dear Gray, — The very day after my last letter, yours
of November 10th, and the review in ' Silliman/ which I
feared might have been lost, reached me. We were all very
much interested by the political part of your letter ; and in
some odd way one never feels that information and opinions
painted in a newspaper come from a living source ; they seem
dead, whereas all that you write is full of life. The reviews
interested me profoundly ; you rashly ask for my opinion,
and you must consequently endure a long letter. First for
Dimorphism ; I do not at present like the term u Dioecio-
dimorphism ; " for I think it gives quite a false notion, that
the phenomena are connected with a separation of the sexes.
Certainly in Primula there is unequal fertility in the two
forms, and I suspect this is the case with Linum ; and, there-
fore I felt bound in the Primula paper to state that it might
be a step towards a dioecious condition ; though I believe
there are no dioecious forms in Primulaceae or Linaceae.
But the three forms in Lythrum convince me that the phe-
nomenon is in no way necessarily connected with any ten-
dency to separation of sexes. The case seems to me in re-
sult or function to be almost identical with what old C. K.
Sprengel called " dichogamy," and which is so frequent in
truly hermaphrodite groups ; namely, the pollen and stigma
of each flower being mature at different periods. If I
am right, it is very advisable not to use the term "dioe-
cious," as this at once brings notions of separation of
sexes.

... I was much perplexed by Oliver's remarks in the
i Natural History Review ' on the Primula case, on the lower
plants having sexes more often separated than in the high-
er plants, — so exactly the reverse of what takes place in
animals. Hooker in his review of the * Orchids ' repeats
this remark. There seems to be much truth in what you

478 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1862.

say,* and it did not occur to me, about no improbability of
specialisation in certain lines in lowly organised beings. I
could hardly doubt that the hermaphrodite state is the
aboriginal one. But how is it in the conjugation of Con-
fervse — is not one of the two individuals here in fact male,
and the other female ? I have been much puzzled by this
contrast in sexual arrangements between plants and animals.
Can there be anything in the following consideration : By
roughest calculation about one-third of the British genera of
aquatic plants belong to the Linnean classes of Mono and
Dicecia; whilst of terrestrial plants (the aquatic genera being
subtracted) only one-thirteenth of the genera belong to these
two classes. Is there any truth in this fact generally ? Can
aquatic plants, being confined to a small area or small com-
munity of individuals, require more free crossing, and there-
fore have separate sexes ? But to return to our point, does
not Alph. de Candoile say that aquatic plants taken as a
whole are lowly organised, compared with terrestrial ; and
may not Oliver's remark on the separation of the sexes in
lowly organised plants stand in some relation to their being
frequently aquatic ? Or is this all rubbish ?

.... What a magnificent compliment you end your re-
view with ! You and Hooker seem determined to turn my
head with conceit and vanity (if not already turned) and make
me an unbearable wretch.

With most cordial thanks, my good and kind friend,

Farewell,

C. Darwin.

[The following passage from a letter (July 28, 1863), to
Prof. Hildebrand, contains a reference to the reception of the
dimorphic work in France : —

" I am extremely much pleased to hear that you have been

* " Forms which are low in the scale as respects morphological com-
pleteness may be high in the scale of rank founded on specialisation of
structure and function." — Dr. Gray, in ' Silliman's Journal.'

1864.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES/ 479

looking at the manner of fertilisation of your native Orchids,
and still more pleased to hear that you have been experi-
menting on Linum. I much hope that you may publish the
result of these experiments ; because I was told that the most
eminent French botanists of Paris said that my paper on
Primula was the work of imagination, and that the case was
so improbable they did not believe in my results."]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

April 19 [1864].

.... I received a little time ago a paper with a good
account of your Herbarium and Library, and a long time
previously your excellent review of Scott's ' Primulaceae/ and
I forwarded it to him in India, as it would much please him.
I was very glad to see in it a new case of Dimorphism (I for-
get just now the name of the plant) ; I shall be grateful to
hear of any other cases, as I still feel an interest in the sub-
ject. I should be very glad to get some seed of your dimor-
phic Plantagos ; for I cannot banish the suspicion that they
must belong to a very different class like that of the common
Thyme.* How could the wind, which is the agent of fertilisa-
tion, with Plantago, fertilise " reciprocally dimorphic " flowers
like Primula ? Theory says this cannot be, and in such cases
of one's own theories I follow Agassiz and declare, ■' that na-
ture never lies." I should even be very glad to examine the
two dried forms of Plantago. Indeed, any dried dimorphic
plants would be gratefully received. . . .

Did my Lythrum paper interest you ? I crawl on at the
rate of two hours per diem, with ' Variation under Domestic-
ation/

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, November 26 [1864].
.... You do not know how pleased I am that you have
read my Lythrum paper ; I thought you would not have time,

* In this prediction he was right. See ' Forms of Flowers,' p. 307.

480 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1868.

and I have for long years looked at you as my Public, and
care more for your opinion than that of all the rest of the
world. I have done nothing which has interested me so
much as Ly thrum, since making out the complemental males
of Cirripedes. I fear that I have dragged in too much mis-
cellaneous matter into the paper.

... I get letters occasionally, which show me that Nat-
ural Selection is making great progress in Germany, and
some amongst the young in France. I have just received a
pamphlet from Germany, with the complimentary title of
" Darwinische Arten-Enstehung-Humbug " !

Farewell, my best of old friends,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

September 10, [1867?]
.... The only point which I have made out this sum-
mer, which could possibly interest you, is that the common
Oxlip found everywhere, more or less commonly in England,
is certainly a hybrid between the primrose and cowslip ;
whilst the P. elatior (Jacq.), found only in the Eastern Coun-
ties, is a perfectly distinct and good species ; hardly distin-
guishable from the common oxlip, except by the length of the
seed-capsule relatively to the calyx. This seems to me
rather a horrid fact for all systematic botanists. . . .

C. Darwin to F. Hildebrand.

Down, November 16, 1868.
My dear Sir, — I wrote my last note in such a hurry
from London, that I quite forgot what I chiefly wished to
say, namely to thank you for your excellent notices in the
\ Bot. Zeitung' of my paper on the offspring of dimorphic
plants. The subject is so obscure that I did not expect that
any one would have noticed my paper, and I am accordingly
very much pleased that you should have brought the subject
before the many excellent naturalists of Germany.

1862.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES/ 481

Of all the German authors (but they are not many) whose
works I have read, you write by far the clearest style, but
whether this is a compliment to a German writer I do not
know.

[The two following letters refer to the small bud-like
" Cleistogamic " flowers found in the violet and many other
plants. They do not open and are necessarily self-fertilised :]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, May 30 [1862].

.... What will become of my book on Variation ? I am
involved in a multiplicity of experiments. I have been
amusing myself by looking at the small flowers of Viola.
If Oliver* has had time to study them, he will have seen the
curious case (as it seems to me) which I have just made
clearly out, viz. that in these flowers, the few pollen grains
are never shed, or never leave the anther-cells, but emit long
pollen tubes, which penetrate the stigma. To-day I got the
anther with the included pollen grain (now empty) at one
end, and a bundle of tubes penetrating the stigmatic tissue
at the other end ; I got the whole under a microscope with-
out breaking the tubes ; I wonder whether the stigma pours
some fluid into the anther so as to excite the included grains.
It is a rather odd case of correlation, that in the double sweet
violet the little flowers are double ; i. e.y have a multitude of
minute scales representing the petals. What queer little flow-
ers they are.

Have you had time to read poor dear Henslow's life ?
it has interested me for the man's sake, and, what I did
not think possible, has even exalted his character in my
estimation

* Shortly afterwards he wrote : " Oliver, the omniscient, has sent me a
paper in the * Bot. Zeitung,' with most accurate description of all that I
saw in Viola."

482 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [1862.

[The following is an extract from the letter given in
part at p. 477, and refers to Dr. Gray's article on the sexual
differences of plants :]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray,

November 26 [1862].
.... You will think that I am in the most unpleasant,
contradictory, fractious humour, when I tell you that I do
not like your term of "precocious fertilisation " for your
second class of dimorphism [/. e. for cleistogamic fertilisa-
tion]. If I can trust my memory, the state of the corolla, of
the stigma, and the pollen-grains is different from the state
of the parts in the bud ; that they are in a condition of spe-
cial modification. But upon my life I am ashamed of myself
to differ so much from my betters on this head. The tempo-
rary theory * which I have formed on this class of dimorphism,
just to guide experiment, is that the perfect flowers can only
be perfectly fertilised by insects, and are in this case abun-
dantly crossed ; but that the flowers are not always, especially
in early spring, visited enough by insects, and therefore the
little imperfect self-fertilising flowers are developed to ensure
a sufficiency of seed for present generations. Viola canina
is sterile, when not visited by insects, but when so visited
forms plenty of seed. I infer from the structure of three
or four forms of Balsaminece, that these require insects ; at
least there is almost as plain adaptation to insects as in the
Orchids. I have Oxalis acetosella ready in pots for experi-
ment next spring ; and I fear this will upset my little theory.
. . . Campanula carpathica, as I found this summer, is abso-
lutely sterile if insects are excluded. Specularia speculum is
fairly fertile when enclosed ; and this seemed to me to be
partially effected by the frequent closing of the flower ; the
inward angular folds of the corolla corresponding with the
clefts of the open stigma, and in this action pushing pollen

* This view is now generally accepted.

1878.] ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES/ 483

from the outside of the stigma on to its surface. Now can
you tell me, does S. perfoliata close its flower like S. specu-
lum, with angular inward folds ? if so, I am smashed without
some fearful " wriggling.'* Are the imperfect flowers of your
Specularia the early or the later ones ? very early or very
late ? It is rather pretty to see the importance of the closing
of flowers of S. speculum.

[' Forms of Flowers ' was published in July ; in June,
1877, he wrote to Professor Carus with regard to the trans-
lation : —

" My new book is not a long one, viz. 350 pages, chiefly
of the larger type, with fifteen simple woodcuts. All the
proofs are corrected except the Index, so that it will soon be
published.

". . . . I do not suppose that I shall publish anymore
books, though perhaps a few more papers. I cannot endure
being idle, but heaven knows whether I am capable of any
more good work."

The review alluded to in the next letter is at p. 445 of the
volume of ' Nature ' for 1878 :]

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

Down, April 5, 1878.
My dear Dyer, — I have just read in ' Nature ' the re-
view of ' Forms of Flowers/ and I am sure that it is by you.
I wish with all my heart that it deserved one quarter of the
praises which you give it. Some of your remarks have in-
terested me greatly. . . . Hearty thanks for your generous
and most kind sympathy, which does a man real good, when
he is as dog-tired as I am at this minute with working all day,
so gDod-bye.

C. Darwin.

CHAPTER XIII.

CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

[My father mentions in his ' Autobiography ' (vol. i. p. 75)
that he was led to take up the subject of climbing plants
by reading Dr. Gray's paper, " Note on the Coiling of the
Tendrils of Plants.'' * This essay seems to have been read
in 1862, but I am only able to guess at the date of the letter
in which he asks for a reference to it, so that the precise
date of his beginning this work cannot be determined.

In June 1863 he was certainly at work, and wrote to Sir. J.
D. Hooker for information as to previous publications on the
subject, being then in ignorance of Palm's and H. v. Mohl's
works on climbing plants, both of which were published in

1827.]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down [June] 25 [1863].

My dear Hooker, — I have been observing pretty care-
fully a little fact which has surprised me ; and I want to know
from you and Oliver whether it seems new or odd to you, so
just tell me whenever you write ; it is a very trifling fact, so do
not answer on purpose.

I have got a plant of Echinocystis lobata to observe the
irritability of the tendrils described by Asa Gray, and which
of course, is plain enough. Having the plant in my study,
I have been surprised to find that the uppermost part of each
branch (/. e. the stem between the two uppermost leaves ex-

* 'Proc. Amer. Acad, of Arts and Sciences,' 1858.

1863.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 485

eluding the growing tip) is constantly and slowly twisting round
making a circle in from one-half to two hours ; it will some-
times go round two or three times, and then at the same rate
untwists and twists in opposite directions. It generally rests
half an hour before it retrogrades. The stem does not become
permanently twisted. The stem beneath the twisting portion
does not move in the least, though not tied. The movement
goes on all day and all early night. It has no relation to light
for the plant stands in my window and twists from the light
just as quickly as towards it. This may be a common
phenomenon for what I know, but it confounded me quite,
when I began to observe the irritability of the tendrils. I do
not say it is the final cause, but the result is pretty, for the
plant every one and a half or two hours sweeps a circle (ac-
cording to the length of the bending shoot and the length of
the tendril) of from one foot to twenty inches in diameter,
and immediately that the tendril touches any object its sensi-
tiveness causes it immediately to seize it ; a clever gardener,
my neighbour, who saw the plant on my table last night, said :
" I believe, Sir, the tendrils can see, for wherever I put a
plant it finds out any stick near enough." I believe the
above is the explanation, viz. that it sweeps slowly round and
round. The tendrils have some sense, for they do not grasp
each other when young.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, July 14 [1863].
My dear Hooker, — I am getting very much amused by
my tendrils, it is just the sort of niggling work which suits
me, and takes up no time and rather rests me whilst writing.
So will you just think whether you know any plant, which
you could give or lend me, or I could buy, with tendrils, re-
markable in any way for development, for odd or peculiar
structure, or even for an odd place in natural arrangement. I
have seen or can see Cucurbitaceae, Passion-flower, Virginian-

486 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1863.

creeper, Cissus discolor, Common-pea and Everlasting-pea. It
is really curious the diversification of irritability (I do not
mean the spontaneous movement, about which I wrote be-
fore and correctly, as further observation shows) : for in-
stance, I find a slight pinch between the thumb and finger at
the end of the tendril of the Cucurbitaceae causes prompt
movement, but a pinch excites no movement in Cissus. The
cause is that one side alone (the concave) is irritable in the
former ; whereas both sides are irritable in Cissus, so if you
excite at the same time both opposite sides there is no move-
ment, but by touching with a pencil the two branches of the
tendril, in any part whatever, you cause movement towards
that point; so that I can mould, by a mere touch, the two
branches into any shape I like. . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, August 4 [1863].
My present hobby-horse I owe to you, viz. the tendrils :
their irritability is beautiful, as beautiful in all its modifica-
tions as anything in Orchids. About the spontaneous move-
ment (independent of touch) of the tendrils and upper inter-
nodes, I am rather taken aback by your saying, "is it not
well known ? M I can find nothing in any book which I have.
. . . The spontaneous movement of the tendrils is independ-
ent of the movement of the upper internodes, but both work
harmoniously together in sweeping a circle for the tendrils to
grasp a stick. So with all climbing plants (without tendrils)
as yet examined, the upper internodes go on night and day
sweeping a circle in one fixed direction. It is surprising to
watch the Apocyneae with shoots 18 inches long (beyond the
supporting stick), steadily searching for something to climb
up. When the shoot meets a stick, the motion at that point
is arrested, JDut in the upper part is continued ; so that the
climbing of all plants yet examined is the simple result of the
spontaneous circulatory movement of the upper internodes.
Pray tell me whether anything has been published on this

1864.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 487

subject ? I hate. publishing what is old ; but I shall hardly
regret my work if it is old, as it has much amused me. . . .

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

May 28, 1864.
.... An Irish nobleman on his death-bed declared that
he could conscientiously say that he had never throughout
life denied himself any pleasure ; and I can conscientiously
say that I have never scrupled to trouble you ; so here goes.
— Have you travelled South, and can you tell me whether
the trees, which Bignonia capreolata climbs, are covered with
moss or filamentous lichen or Tillandsia ?* I ask because its
tendrils abhor a simple stick, do not much relish rough bark,
but delight in wool or moss. They adhere in a curious man-
ner by making little disks, like the Ampelopsis. ... By the
way, I will enclose some specimens, and if you think it worth
while, you can put them under the simple microscope. It is
remarkable how specially adapted some tendrils are ; those
of Eccremocarpus scaber do not like a stick, will have nothing
to say to wool ; but give them a bundle of culms of grass, or
a bundle of bristles and they seize them well.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Down, June 10 [1864].
... I have now read two German books, and all I be-
lieve that has been written on climbers, and it has stirred me
up to find that I have a good deal of new matter. It is
strange, but I really think no one has explained simple twin-
ing plants. These books have stirred me up, and made me
wish for plants specified in them. I shall be very glad of
those you mention. I have written to Veitch for young
Nepenthes and Vanilla (which I believe will turn out a grand

* He subsequently learned from Dr. Gray that Polypodium incanum
abounds on the trees in the districts where this species of Bignonia grows.
See ' Climbing Plants,' p. 103.

488 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1864.

case, though a root creeper), and if I cannot buy young
Vanilla I will ask you. I have ordered a leaf-climbing fern,
Lygodium. All this work about climbers would hurt my
conscience, did I think I could do harder work.*

[He continued his observations on climbing plants during
the prolonged illness from which he suffered in the autumn
of 1863, and in the following spring. He wrote to Sir J. D.
Hooker, apparently in March 1864 : —

" For several days I have been decidedly better, and what
I lay much stress on (whatever doctors say), my brain feels
far stronger, and I have lost many dreadful sensations. The
hot-house is such an amusement to me, and my amusement
I owe to you, as my delight is to look at the many odd
leaves and plants from Kew. . . . The only approach to
work which I can do is to look at tendrils and climbers, this
does not distress my weakened brain. Ask Oliver to look
over the enclosed queries (and do you look) and amuse a
broken-down brother naturalist by answering any which he
can. If you ever lounge through your houses, remember me
and climbing plants/'

On October 29, 1864, he wrote to Dr. Gray : —

" I have not been able to resist doing a little more at your
godchild, my climbing paper, or rather in size little book,
which by Jove I will have copied out, else I shall never stop.
This has been new sort of work for me, and I have been
pleased to find what a capital guide for observations a full
conviction of the change of species is."

On Jan. 19, 1865, he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : —

" It is working hours, but I am trying to take a day's
holiday, for I finished and despatched yesterday my climbing
paper. For the last ten days I have done nothing but correct
refractory sentences, and I loathe the whole subject."

A letter to Dr. Gray, April 9, 1865, has a word or two on
the subject : —

" I have begun correcting proofs of my paper on ' Climb-

* He was much out of health at this time.

1865.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 489

ing Plants/ I suppose. I shall be able to send you a copy in
four or five weeks. ■ I think it contains a good deal new and
some curious points, but it is so fearfully long, that no one
will ever read it. If, however, you do not skim through it,
you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child. "

Dr. Gray not only read it but approved of it, to my father's
great satisfaction, as the following extracts show : —

"I was much pleased to get your letter of July 24th.
Now that I can do nothing, I maunder over old subjects,
and your approbation of my climbing paper gives me very
great satisfaction. I made my observations when I could
do nothing else and much enjoyed it, but always doubted
whether they were worth publishing. I demur to its not be-
ing necessary to explain in detail about the spires in caught
tendrils running in opposite directions ; for the fact for a long
time confounded me, and I have found it difficult enough to
explain the cause to two or three persons." (Aug. 15, 1865.)

" I received yesterday your article * on climbers, and it
has pleased me in an extraordinary and even silly manner.
You pay me a superb compliment, and as I have just said to
my wife, I think my friends must perceive that I like praise,
they give me such hearty doses. I always admire your skill
in reviews or abstracts, and you have done this article ex-
cellently and given the whole essence of my paper I

have had a letter from a good Zoologist in S. Brazil, F.
Mliller, who has been stirred up to observe climbers and gives
me some curious cases of branch-c\\mhtrsy in which branches
are converted into tendrils, and then continue to grow and
throw out leaves and new branches, and then lose their ten-
dril character." (October 1865.)

The paper on Climbing Plants was republished in 1875, as
a separate book. The author had been unable to give his
customary amount of care to the style of the original essay,
owing to the fact that it was written during a period of con-

* In the September number of * Silliman's Journal,' concluded in the
January number, 1866.

490 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [i860.

tinued ill-health, and it was now found to require a great
deal of alteration. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (March 3,
1875) : " It is lucky for authors in general that they do not
require such dreadful work in merely licking what they write
into shape." And to Mr. Murray in September he wrote ;
"The corrections are heavy in ' Climbing Plants/ and yet I
deliberately went over the MS. and old sheets three times.,,
The book was published in September 1875, an edition of
1500 copies was struck off; the edition sold fairly well, and
500 additional copies were printed in June of the following
year.]

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

[In the summer of i860 he was staying at the house of his
sister-in-law, Miss Wedgwood, in Ashdown Forest, whence he
wrote (July 29, i860), to Sir Joseph Hooker : —

" Latterly I have done nothing here ; but at first I
amused myself with a few observations on the insect-catch-
ing power of Drosera ; and I must consult you some time
whether my i twaddle ' is worth communicating to the Lin-
nean Society."

In August he wrote to the same friend : —

" I will gratefully send my notes on Drosera when copied
by my copier : the subject amused me when I had nothing
to do."

He has described in the ' Autobiography ' (vol. i. p. 77),
the general nature of these early experiments. He noticed
insects sticking to the leaves, and finding that flies, &c,
placed on the adhesive glands were held fast and embraced,
he suspected that the leaves were adapted to supply nitro-
genous food to the plant. He therefore tried the effect on
the leaves of various nitrogenous fluids — with results which,
as far as they went, verified his surmise. In September,
i860, he wrote to Dr. Gray : —

" I have been infinitely amused by working at Drosera :
the movements are really curious ; and the manner in which
the leaves detect certain nitrogenous compounds is marvel-

i860.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 491

lous. You will laugh ; but it is, at present, my full belief
(after endless experiments) that they detect (and move in
consequence of) the -g-gVo Part of a single grain of nitrate of
ammonia ; but the muriate and sulphate of ammonia bother
their chemical skill, and they cannot make anything of the
nitrogen in these salts ! I began this work on Drosera in re-
lation to gradation as throwing light on Dionaea."

Later in the autumn he was again obliged to leave home
for Eastbourne, where he continued his work on Drosera.
The work was so new to him that he found himself in diffi-
culties in the preparation of solutions, and became puzzled
over fluid and solid ounces, &c. &c. To a friend, the late
Mr. E. Cresy, who came to his help in the matter of weights
and measures, he wrote giving an account of the experiments.
The extract (November 2, i860) which follows illustrates
the almost superstitious precautions he often applied to his
researches : —

" Generally I have scrutinised every gland and hair on the
leaf before experimenting ; but it occurred to me that I might
in some way affect the leaf ; though this is almost impossible,
as I scrutinised with equal care those that I put into distilled
water (the same water being used for dissolving the carbonate
of ammonia). I then cut off four leaves (not touching them
with my fingers), and put them in plain water, and four other
leaves into the weak solution, and after leaving them for an
hour and a half, I examined every hair on all eight leaves ;
no change on the four in water ; every gland and hair affected
in those in ammonia.

" I had measured the quantity of weak solution, and I

counted the glands which had absorbed the ammonia, and

were plainly affected ; the result convinced me that each

gland could not have absorbed more than 64ooo or 6g^00 of

a grain. I have tried numbers of other experiments all

pointing to the same result. Some experiments lead me to

believe that very sensitive leaves are acted on by much

smaller doses. Reflect how little ammonia a plant can get

growing on poor soil — yet it is nourished. The really sur-
68

492 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [i860.

prising part seems to me that the effect should be visible,
and not under very high power ; for after trying a high pow-
er, I thought it would be safer not to consider any effect
which was not plainly visible under a two-thirds object glass
and middle eye-piece. The effect which the carbonate of
ammonia produces is the segregation of the homogeneous
fluid in the cells into a cloud of granules and colourless fluid ;
and subsequently the granules coalesce into larger masses,
and for hours have the oddest movements — coalescing, divid-
ing, coalescing ad infinitum. I do not know whether you will
care for these ill-written details ; but, as you asked, I am
sure I am bound to comply, after all the very kind and great
trouble which you have taken."

On his return home he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (No-
vember 21, i860) : —

"I have been working like a madman at Drosera. Here
is a fact for you which is certain as you stand where you are,
though you won't believe it, that a bit of hair ts o"or °f one
grain in weight placed on gland, will cause one of the gland-
bearing hairs of Drosera to curve inwards, and will alter the
condition of the contents of every cell in the foot-stalk of
the gland/'

And a few days later to Lyell : —

" I will and must finish my Drosera MS., which will take
me a week, for, at the present moment, I care more about
Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world. But
I will not publish on Drosera till next year, for I am fright-
ened and astounded at my results. I declare it is a certain
fact, that one organ is so sensitive to touch, that a weight
seventy-eight times less than that, viz., toVo" of a grain, which
will move the best chemical balance, suffices to cause a con-
spicuous movement. Is it not curious that a plant should be
far more sensitive to the touch than any nerve in the human
body ? Yet I am perfectly sure that this is true. When I
am on my hobby-horse, I never can resist telling my friends
how well my hobby goes, so you must forgive the rider.,,

The work was continued, as a holiday task, at Bourne-

i862.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 493

mouth, where he s-tayed during the autumn of 1862. The
discussion in the following letter on u nervous matter " in
Drosera is of interest in relation to recent researches on the
continuity of protoplasm from cell to cell :]

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker.

Cliff Cottage, Bournemouth.
September 26 [1862].

My dear Hooker, — Do not read this till you have leis-
ure. If that blessed moment ever comes, I should be very
glad to have your opinion on the subject of this letter. I
am led to the opinion that Drosera must have diffused matter
in organic connection, closely analogous to the nervous mat-
ter of animals. When the glands of one of the papillae or
tentacles, in its natural position is supplied with nitrogenised
fluid and certain other stimulants, or when loaded with an
extremely slight weight, or when struck several times with a
needle, the pedicel bends near its base in under one minute.
These varied stimulants are conveyed down the pedicel by
some means ; it cannot be vibration, for drops of fluid put on
quite quietly cause the movement ; it cannot be absorption
of the fluid from cell to cell, for I can see the rate of absorp-
tion, which though quick, is far slower, and in Dionaea the
transmission is instantaneous ; analogy from animals would
point to transmission through nervous matter. Reflecting on
the rapid power of absorption in the glands, the extreme
sensibility of the whole organ, and the conspicuous move-
ment caused by varied stimulants, I have tried a number of

substances which are not caustic or corrosive,

but most of which are known to have a remarkable action on
the nervous matter of animals. You will see the results in
the enclosed paper. As the nervous matter of different ani-
mals are differently acted on by the same poisons, one would
not expect the same action on plants and animals ; only, if
plants have diffused nervous matter, some degree of analo-
gous action. And this is partially the case. Considering

494 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1862.

these experiments, together with the previously made remarks
on the functions of the parts, I cannot avoid the conclusion,
that Drosera possesses matter at least in some degree analo-
gous in constitution and function to nervous matter. Now
do tell me what you think, as far as you can judge from my
abstract; of course many more experiments would have to be
tried ; but in former years I tried on the whole leaf, instead
of on separate glands, a number of innocuous* substances,
such as sugar, gum, starch, &c, and they produced no effect.
Your opinion will aid me in deciding some future year in
going on with this subject. I should not have thought it
worth attempting, but I had nothing on earth to do.

My dear Hooker, Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

P.S. — We return home on Monday 28th. Thank Heaven !

[A long break now ensued in his work on insectivorous
plants, and it was not till 1872 that the subject seriously oc-
cupied him again. A passage in a letter to Dr. Asa Gray,
written in 1863 or 1864, shows, however, that the question
was not altogether absent from his mind in the interim : —

" Depend on it you are unjust on the merits of my beloved
Drosera ; it is a wonderful plant, or rather a most sagacious
animal. I will stick up for Drosera to the day of my death.
Heaven knows whether I shall ever publish my pile of experi-
ments on it."

He notes in his diary that the last proof of the ' Expres-
sion of the Emotions' was finished on August 22, 1872, and
that he began to work on Drosera on the following day.]

* This line of investigation made him wish for information on the ac-
tion of poisons on plants ; as in many other cases he applied to Professor
Oliver, and in reference to the result wrote to Hooker : " Pray thank Oli-
ver heartily for his heap of references on poisons."

1872.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 495

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

[Sevenoaks], October 22 [1872].
... I have worked pretty hard for four or five weeks on
Drosera, and then broke down ; so that we took a house near
Sevenoaks for three weeks (where I now am) to get complete
rest. I have very little power of working now, and must put
off the rest of the work on Drosera till next spring, as my
plants are dying. It is an endless subject, and I must cut it
short, and for this reason shall not do much on Dionaea.
The point which has interested me most is tracing the nerves !
which follow the vascular bundles. By a prick with a sharp
lancet at a certain point, I can paralyse one-half the leaf, so
that a stimulus to the other half causes no movement. It is
just like dividing the spinal marrow of a frog : — no stimulus
can be sent from the brain or anterior part of the spine to the
hind legs ; but if these latter are stimulated, they move by
reflex action. I find my old results about the astonishing
sensitiveness of the nervous system (! ?) of Drosera to various
stimulants fully confirmed and extended. . . .

[His work on digestion in Drosera and other points in
the physiology of the plant soon led him into regions where
his knowledge was defective, and here the advice and assistance
which he received from Dr. Burdon Sanderson was of much
value :]

C. Darwin to J. Burdon Sanderson.

Down, July 25, 1873.

My dear Dr. Sanderson, — I should like to tell you a little
about my recent work with Drosera, to show that I have
profited by your suggestions, and to ask a question or two.

1. It is really beautiful how quickly and well Drosera and
Dionsea dissolve little cubes of albumen and gelatine. I kept
the same sized cubes on wet moss for comparison. When
you were here I forgot that I had tried gelatine, but albumen
is far better for watching its dissolution and absorption.
Frankland has told me how to test in a rough way for pep-

4g6 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1873.

sin ; and in the autumn he will discover what acid the digest-
ive juice contains.

2. A decoction of cabbage-leaves and green peas causes
as much inflection as an infusion of raw meat ; a decoction
of grass is less powerful. Though I hear that the chemists
try to precipitate all albumen from the extract of belladonna,
I think they must fail, as the extract causes inflection, whereas
a new lot of atropine, as well as the valerianate [of atropine],
produce no effect.

3. I have been trying a good many experiments with
heated water. . . . Should you not call the following case
one of heat rigor ? Two leaves were heated to 1300, and had
every tentacle closely inflected ; one was taken out and placed
in cold water, and it re-expanded ; the other was heated to
145°, and had not the least power of re-expansion. Is not
this latter case heat rigor? If you can inform me, I should
very much like to hear at what temperature cold-blooded and
invertebrate animals are killed.

4. I must tell you my final result, of which I am sure, [as
to] the sensitiveness of Drosera. I made a solution of one
part of phosphate of ammonia by weight to 218,750 of water;
of this solution I gave so much that a leaf got 80\0 of a grain
of the phosphate. I then counted the glands, and each could
have got only ttswoo" °f a grain ; this being absorbed by the
glands, sufficed to cause the tentacles bearing these glands to
bend through an angle of 1800. Such sensitiveness requires
hot weather, and carefully selected young yet mature leaves.
It strikes me as a wonderful fact. I must add that I took
every precaution, by trying numerous leaves at the same time
in the solution and in the same water which was used for
making the solution.

5. If you can persuade your friend to try the effects of
carbonate of ammonia on the aggregation of the white blood
corpuscles, I should very much like to hear the result.

I hope this letter will not have wearied you.

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

1874.] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 497

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

Down, 24 [December 1873 ?]
My dear Mr. Dyer, — I fear that you will think me a
great bore, but I cannot resist telling you that I have just
found out that the leaves of Pinguicula possess a beautifully
adapted power of movement. Last night I put on a row of
little flies near one edge of two youngish leaves ; and after 14
hours these edges are beautifully folded over so as to clasp
the flies, thus bringing the glands into contact with the upper
surfaces of the flies, and they are now secreting copiously
above and below the flies and no doubt absorbing. The acid
secretion has run down the channelled edge and has collected
in the spoon-shaped extremity, where no doubt the glands
are absorbing the delicious soup. The leaf on one side looks
just like the helix of a human ear, if you were to stuff flies

within the fold. Yours most sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 3 [1874].

.... I am now hard at work getting my book on Dro-
sera & Co. ready for the printers, but it will take some time,
for I am always finding out new points to observe. I think
you will be interested by my observations on the digestive
process in Drosera ; the secretion contains an acid of the
acetic series, and some ferment closely analogous to, but not
identical with, pepsin ; for I have been making a long series
of comparative trials. No human being will believe what I
shall publish about the smallness of the doses of phosphate
of ammonia which act.

.... I began reading the Madagascar squib * quite
gravely, and when I found it stated that Felis and Bos in-
habited Madagascar, I thought it was a false story, and did
not perceive it was a hoax till I came to the woman. . . .

* A description of a carnivorous plant supposed to subsist on human
beings.

498 CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1874.

C. Darwin to F. C. Donders*

Down, July 7, 1874.

My deaji Professor Bonders, — My son George writes
to me that he has seen you, and that you have been very
kind to him, for which I return to you my cordial thanks.
He tells me on your authority, of a fact which interests me
in the highest degree, and which I much wish to be allowed
to quote. It relates to the action of one millionth of a grain
of atropine on the eye. Now will you be so kind, whenever
you can find a little leisure, to tell me whether you yourself
have observed this fact, or believe it on good authority. I
also wish to know what proportion by weight the atropine
bore to the water solution, and how much of the solution was
applied to the eye. The reason why I am so anxious on
this head is that it gives some support to certain facts repeat-
edly observed by me with respect to the action of phosphate
of ammonia on Drosera. The 40ooofo of a gram absorbed
by a gland clearly makes the tentacle which bears this gland
become inflected ; and I am fully convinced that -g~o 0 oVomor of
a grain of the crystallised salt (i.e. containing about one-third
of its weight of water of crystallisation) does the same. Now
I am quite unhappy at the thought of having to publish such
a statement. It will be of great value to me to be able to
give any analogous facts in support. The case of Drosera is
all the more interesting as the absorption of the salt or any
other stimulant applied to the gland causes it to transmit a
motor influence to the base of the tentacle which bears the
gland.

Pray forgive me for troubling you, and do not trouble
yourself to answer this until your health is fully re-estab-
lished.

Pray believe me,

Yours very sincerely,
Charles Darwin.

* Professor Donders, the well-known physiologist of Utrecht.

I874-] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 499

[During the summer of 1874 he was at work on the genus
Utricularia, and he wrote (July 16th) to Sir J. D. Hooker
giving some account of the progress of his work : —

" I am rather glad you have not been able to send Utricu-
laria, for the common species has driven F. and me almost
mad. The structure is most complex. The bladders catch
a multitude of Entomostraca, and larvae of insects. The
mechanism for capture is excellent. But there is much that
we cannot understand. From what I have seen to-day, I
strongly suspect that it is necrophagous, i.e. that it cannot
digest, but absorbs decaying matter."

He was indebted to Lady Dorothy Nevill for specimens of
the curious Utricularia montana, which is not aquatic like the
European species, but grows among the moss and debris on
the branches of trees. To this species the following letter
refers :]

C. Darwin to Lady Dorothy Nevill.

Down September 18 [1874].

Dear Lady Dorothy Nevill, — I am so much obliged
to you. I was so convinced that the bladders were with the
leaves that I never thought of removing the moss, and this
was very stupid of me. The great solid bladder-like swell-
ings almost on the surface are wonderful objects, but are not
the true bladders. These I found on the roots near the sur-
face, and down to a depth of two inches in the sand. They
are as transparent as glass, from -^ to y^- of an inch in size,
and hollow. They have all the important points of structure
of the bladders of the floating English species, and I felt
confident I should find captured prey. And so I have to my
delight in two bladders, with clear proof that they had ab-
sorbed food from the decaying mass. For Utricularia is a
carrion-feeder, and not strictly carnivorous like Drosera.

The great solid bladder-like bodies, I believe, are reser-
voirs of water like a earners stomach. As soon as I have
made a few more observations, I mean to be so cruel as to
give your plant no water, and observe whether the great

5oo

CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. [1875.

bladders shrink and contain air instead of water ; I shall
then also wash all earth from all roots, and see whether there
are true bladders for capturing subterranean insects down to
the very bottom of the pot. Now shall you think me very
greedy, if I say that supposing the species is not very pre-
cious, and you have several, will you give me one more plant,
and if so, please to send it to "Orpington Station, S. E. R.,
to be forwarded by foot messenger/'

I have hardly ever enjoyed a day more in my life than I
have this day's work ; and this I owe to your Ladyship's
great kindness.

The seeds are very curious monsters ; I fancy of some

plant allied to Medicago, but I will show them to Dr.

Hooker.

Your Ladyship's very gratefully,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker,

Down, September 30, 1874.
My dear H., — Your magnificent present of Aldrovanda
has arrived quite safe. I have enjoyed greatly a good look
at the shut leaves, one of which I cut open. It is an aquatic
Dionsea, which has acquired some structures identical with
those of Utricularia !

If the leaves open and I can transfer them open under
the microscope, I will try some experiments, for mortal
man cannot resist the temptation. If I cannot transfer, I
will do nothing, for otherwise it would require hundreds of
leaves.

You are a good man to give me such pleasure.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

[The manuscript of 'Insectivorous Plants' was finished
in March 1875. He seems t0 nave been more than usually
oppressed by the writing of this book, thus he wrote to Sir
J. D. Hooker in February : —

I875-] CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 501

u You ask about my book, and all that I can say is that
I am ready to commit suicide ; I thought it was decently
written, but find so much wants rewriting, that it will not be
ready to go to printers for two months, and will then make
a confoundedly big book. Murray will say that it is no use
publishing in the middle of summer, so I do not know what
will be the upshot ; but I begin to think that every one who
publishes a book is a fool.,,

The book was published on July 2nd, 1875, and 27°°
copies were sold out of the edition of 3000.]

CHAPTER XIV.

THE 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS,' lb8o.

[The few sentences in the autobiographical chapter give
with sufficient clearness the connection between the ' Power
of Movement/ and one of the author's earlier books, that on
1 Climbing Plants/ The central idea of the book is that the
movements of plants in relation to light, gravitation, &c, are
modifications of a spontaneous tendency to revolve or cir-
cumnutate, which is widely inherent in the growing parts of
plants. This conception has not been generally adopted, and
has not taken a place among the canons of orthodox physi-
ology. The book has been treated by Professor Sachs with
a few words of professorial contempt ; and by Professor
Wiesner it has been honoured by careful and generously ex-
pressed criticism.

Mr. Thiselton Dyer* has well said: " Whether this mas-
terly conception of the unity of what has hitherto seemed a
chaos of unrelated phenomena will be sustained, time alone
will show. But no one can doubt the importance of what
Mr. Darwin has done, in showing that for the future the phe-
nomena of plant movement can and indeed must be stud-
ied from a single point of view."

The work was begun in the summer of 1877, after the
publication of i Different Forms of Flowers/ and by the
autumn his enthusiasm for the subject was thoroughly estab-
lished, and he wrote to Mr. Dyer : " I am all on fire at the
work." At this time he was studying the movements of

* i

Charles Darwin ' (' Nature ' Series), p. 41.

1878.] 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS/ 503

cotyledons, in which the sleep of plants is to be observed in
its simplest form ; in the following spring he was trying to
discover what useful purpose these sleep-movements could
serve, and wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker (March 25th, 1878) : —

11 I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to
lessen the injury to the leaves from radiation. This has in-
terested me much, and has cost us great labor, as it has been
a problem since the time of Linnaeus. But we have killed or
badly injured a multitude of plants : N. B. — Oxalis carnosa
was most valuable, but last night was killed.,>

His letters of this period do not give any connected ac-
count of the progress of the work. The two following are
given as being characteristic of the author :]

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

Down, June 2, 1878.

My dear Dyer, — I remember saying that I should die a
disgraced man if I did not observe a seedling Cactus and
Cycas, and you have saved me from this horrible fate, as they
move splendidly and normally. But I have two questions to
ask : the Cycas observed was a huge seed in a broad and very
shallow pot with cocoa-nut fibre as I suppose. It was named
only Cycas. Was it Cycas pectinata ? I suppose that I can-
not be wrong in believing that what first appears above ground
is a true leaf, for I can see no stem or axis. Lastly, you may
remember that I said that we could not raise Opuntia nigri-
cans ; now I must confess to a piece of stupidity ; one did
come up, but my gardener and self stared at it, and concluded
that it could not be a seedling Opuntia, but now that I have
seen one of O. basilaris, I am sure it was ; I observed it only
casually, and saw movements, which makes me wish to ob-
serve carefully another. If you have any fruit, will Mr.
Lynch * be so kind as to send one more ?

I am working away like a slave at radicles [roots] and at

* Mr. R. I. Lynch, now Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge,
was at this time in the Royal Gardens, Kew.

504 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS.' [1878.

movements of true leaves, for I have pretty well, done with
cotyledons. . . .

That was an excellent letter about the Gardens : * I had
hoped that the agitation was over. Politicians are a poor
truckling lot, for [they] must see the wretched effects of keep-
ing the gardens open all day long.

Your ever troublesome friend,

Ch. Darwin.

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

m 4 Bryanston St., Portman Square,

November 21 [1878].

My dear Dyer, — I must thank you for all the wonderful
trouble which you have taken about the seeds of fmpatiens,
and on scores of other occasions. It in truth makes me feel
ashamed of myself, and I cannot help thinking : " Oh Lord,
when he sees our book he will cry out, is this all for which I
have helped so much ! " In seriousness, I hope that we have
made out some points, but I fear that we have done very little
for the labour which we have expended on our worl^ We are
here for a week for a little rest, which I needed.

If I remember right, November 30th, is the anniversary at
the Royal, and I fear Sir Joseph must be almost at the last
gasp. I shall be glad when he is no longer President.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

[In the spring of the following year, 1879, when he was
engaged in putting his results together, he wrote somewhat
despondingly to Mr. Dyer : " I am overwhelmed with my
notes, and almost too old to undertake the job which I have
in hand — />., movements of all kinds. Yet it is worse to be
idle."

Later on in the year, when the work was approaching

* This refers to an attempt to induce the Government to open the
Royal Gardens at Kew in the morning.

i88o.] 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS/ 505

completion, he wrote to Prof. Carus (July 17, 1879), with re-
spect to a translation : —

" Together with my son Francis, I am preparing a rather
large volume on the general movements of Plants, and I think
that we have made out a good many new points and views.

" I fear that our views will meet a good deal of opposition
in Germany ; but we have been working very hard for some
years at the subject.

" I shall be much pleased if you think the book worth
translating, and proof-sheets shall be sent you, whenever they
are ready/'

In the autumn he was hard at work on the manuscript,
and wrote to Dr. Gray (October 24, 1879) : —

" I have written a rather big book — more is the pity — on
the movements of plants, and I am now just beginning to go
over the MS. for the second time, which is a horrid bore."

Only the concluding part of the next letter refers to the
i Power of Movements ' :]

C. Darwin to A. JDe Candolle.

May 28, 1880.
My dear Sir, — I am particularly obliged to you for hav-
ing so kindly sent me your ' Phytographie ;' * for if I had
merely seen it advertised, I should not have supposed that it
could have concerned me. As it is, I have read with very
great interest about a quarter, but will not delay longer
thanking you. AH that you say seems to me very clear and
convincing, and as in all your writings I find a large number
of philosophical remarks new to me, and no doubt shall find
many more. They have recalled many a puzzle through
which I passed when monographing the Cirripedia ; and your
book in those days would have been quite invaluable to me.
It has pleased me to find that I have always followed your

* A book on the methods of botanical research, more especially of sys-
tematic work.

jo6 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS/ [1880.

plan of making notes on separate pieces of paper ; I keep
several scores of large portfolios, arranged on very thin shelves
about two inches apart, fastened to the walls of my study,
and each shelf has its proper name or title ; and I can thus
put at once every memorandum into its proper place. Your
book will, I am sure, be very useful to many young students,
and I shall beg my son Francis (who intends to devote him-
self to the physiology of plants) to read it carefully.

As for myself I am taking a fortnight's rest, after sending
a pile of MS. to the printers, and it was a piece of good
fortune that your book arrived as I was getting into my
carriage, for I wanted something to read whilst away from
home. My MS. relates to the movements of plants, and I
think that I have succeeded in showing that all the more
important great classes of movements are due to the modifi-
cation of a kind of movement common to all parts of all
plants from their earliest youth.

Pray give my kind remembrances to your son, and with
my highest respect and best thanks,

Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

P.S. — It always pleases me to exalt plants in the organic
scale, and if you will take the trouble to read my last chapter
when my book (which will be sadly too big) is published and
sent to you, I hope and think that you also will admire some
of the beautiful adaptations by which seedling plants are
enabled to perform their proper functions.

[The book was published on November 6, 1880, and 1500
copies were disposed of at Mr. Murray's sale. With regard
to it he wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker (November 23) : —

" Your note has pleased me much — for I did not expect
that you would have had time to read any of it. Read the
last chapter, and you will know the whole result, but without
the evidence. The case, however, of radicles bending after
exposure for an hour to geotropism, with their tips (or brains)

i88o.] 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS/ 507

cut off is, I think, worth your reading (bottom of p. 525) ; it
astounded me. The next most remarkable fact, as it ap-
peared to me (p. 148), is the discrimination of the tip of the
radicle between a slightly harder and softer object affixed
on opposite sides of tip. But I will bother you no more
about my book. The sensitiveness of seedlings to light is
marvellous."

To another friend, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, he wrote (Novem-
ber 28, 1880) :—

" Very many thanks for your most kind note, but you
think too highly of our work, not but what this is very
pleasant Many of the Germans are very contempt-
uous about making out the use of organs ; but they may
sneer the souls out of their bodies, and I for one shall think
it the most interesting part of Natural History. Indeed you
are greatly mistaken if you doubt for one moment on the very
great value of your constant and most kind assistance to us."

The book was widely reviewed, and excited much interest
among the general public. The following letter refers to a
leading article in the Times, November 20, 1880 :]

C. Darwin to Mrs. Haliburton*

Down, November 22, 1880.
My dear Sarah, — You see how audaciously I begin;
but I have always loved and shall ever love this name. Your
letter has done more than please me, for its kindness has
touched my heart. I often think of old days and of the
delight of my visits to Woodhouse, and of the deep debt of
gratitude which I owe to your father. It was very good of
you to write. I had quite forgotten my old ambition about
the Shrewsbury newspaper ; f but I remember the pride

* Mrs. Haliburton was a daughter of my father's early friend, the late
Mr. Owen, of Woodhouse.

f Mrs. Haliburton had reminded him of his saying as a boy that if
Eddowes' newspaper ever alluded to him as " our deserving fellow-towns-
man," his ambition would be amply gratified.

69

jo8 ' POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS.' [1881.

which I felt when I saw in a book about beetles the impres-
sive words " captured by C. Darwin." Captured sounded so
grand compared with caught. This seemed to me glory
enough for any man ! I do not know in the least what made
the Times glorify me,* for it has sometimes pitched into me
ferociously.

I should very much like to see you again, but you would
find a visit here very dull, for we feel very old and have no
amusement, and lead a solitary life. But we intend in a few
weeks to spend a few days in London, and then if you have
anything else to do in London, you would perhaps come and
lunch with us. \

Believe me, my dear Sarah,

Yours gratefully and affectionately,

Charles Darwin.

[The following letter was called forth by the publication
of a volume devoted to the criticism of the ' Power of
Movement in Plants ' by an accomplished botanist, Dr. Julius
Wiesner, Professor of Botany in the University of Vienna :]

C. Darwin to Julius Wiesner.

Down, October 25th, 1881.

My dear Sir, — I have now finished your book, J and have
understood the whole except a very few passages. In the
first place, let me thank you cordially for the manner in which
you have everywhere treated me. You have shown how a
man may differ from another in the most decided manner,
and yet express his difference with the most perfect courtesy.
Not a few English and German naturalists might learn a
useful lesson from your example; for the coarse language

* The following is the opening sentence of the leading article : — " Of
all our living men of science none have laboured longer and to more splen-
did purpose than Mr. Darwin."

f My father had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Haliburton at his brother's
house in Queen Anne Street.

% ' Das Bewegungsvermogen der Pflanzen/ Vienna, 188 1.

i88i.] - POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS.' ~ 509

often used by scientific men towards each other does no good,
and only degrades science.

I have been profoundly interested by your book, and some
of your experiments are so beautiful, that I actually felt
pleasure while being vivisected. It would take up too much
space to discuss all the important topics in your book. I fear
that you have quite upset the interpretation which I have
given of the effects of cutting off the tips of horizontally
extended roots, and of those laterally exposed to moisture ;
but I cannot persuade myself that the horizontal position of
lateral branches and roots is due simply to their lessened
power of growth. Nor when I think of my experiments with
the cotyledons of Phalaris, can I give up the belief of the
transmission of some stimulus due to light from the upper
to the lower part. At p. 60 you have misunderstood my
meaning, when you say that I believe that the effects from
light are transmitted to a part which is not itself heliotropic.
I never considered whether or not the short part beneath the
ground was heliotropic ; but I believe that with young seed-
lings the part which bends near, but above the ground is
heliotropic, and I believe so from this part bending only
moderately when the light is oblique, and bending rectan-
gularly when the light is horizontal. Nevertheless the bend-
ing of this lower part, as I conclude from my experiments
with opaque caps, is influenced by the action of light on the
upper part. My opinion, however, on the above and many
other points, signifies very little, for I have no doubt that
your book will convince most botanists that I am wrong in all
the points on which we differ.

Independently of the question of transmission, my mind is
so full of facts leading me to believe that light, gravity, &c.,
act not in a direct manner on growth, but as stimuli, that I
am quite unable to modify my judgment on this head. I
could not understand the passage at p. 78, until I consulted
my son George, who is a mathematician. He supposes that
your objection is founded on the diffused light from the lamp
illuminating both sides of the object, and not being reduced,

jio 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS.' [1881.

with increasing distance in the same ratio as the direct light ;
but he doubts whether this necessary correction will account
for the very little difference in the heliotropic curvature of
the plants in the successive pots.

With respect to the sensitiveness of the tips of roots to
contact, I cannot admit your view until it is proved that I am
in error about bits of card attached by liquid gum causing
movement ; whereas no movement was caused if the card
remained separated from the tip by a layer of the liquid gum.
The fact also of thicker and thinner bits of card attached on
opposite sides of the same root by shellac, causing movement
in one direction, has to be explained. You often speak of
the tip having been injured ; but externally there was no sign
of injury : and when the tip was plainly injured, the extreme
part became curved towards the injured side. I can no more
believe that the tip was injured by the bits of card, at least
when attached by gum- water, than that the glands of Drosera
are injured by a particle of thread or hair placed on it, or that
the human tongue [is so] when it feels any such object.

About the most important subject in my book, namely
circumnutation, I can only say that I feel utterly bewildered
at the difference in our conclusions ; but I could not fully
understand some parts which my son Francis will be able to
translate to me when he returns home. The greater part of
your book is beautifully clear.

Finally, I wish that I had enough strength and spirit to
commence a fresh set of experiments, and publish the results,
with a full recantation of my errors when convinced of them ;
but I am too old for such an undertaking, nor do I suppose
that I shall be able to do much, or any more, original work.
I imagine that I see one possible source of error in your
beautiful experiment of a plant rotating and exposed to a
lateral light.

With high respect and with sincere thanks for the kind
manner in which you have treated me and my mistakes, I
remain, my dear Sir, yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

CHAPTER XV.

MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS.

1873-1882.

[The present chapter contains a series of miscellaneous let-
ters on botanical subjects. Some of them show my father's
varied interests in botanical science, and others give account
of researches which never reached completion.]

BLOOM ON LEAVES AND FRUIT.

[His researches into the meaning of the "bloom," or
waxy coating found on many leaves, was one of those in-
quiries which remained unfinished at the time of his death.
He amassed a quantity of notes on the subject, part of which
I hope to publish at no distant date.*

One of his earliest letters on this subject was addressed in
August, 1873, to Sir Joseph Hooker : —

" I want a little information from you, and if you do not
yourself know, please to enquire of some of the wise men of
Kew.

" Why are the leaves and fruit of so many plants protected
by a thin layer of waxy matter (like the common cabbage),
or with fine hair, so that when such leaves or fruit are im-

* A small instalment on the relation between bloom and the distribu-
tion of the stomata on leaves has appeared in the * Journal of the Linnean
Society,' 1886. Tschirsch {Linncea, 1881) has published results identical
with some which my father and myself obtained, viz. that bloom dimin-
ishes transpiration. The same fact was previously published by Garreau
in 1850.

jI2 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1873.

mersed in water they appear as if encased in thin glass ? It
is really a pretty sight to put a pod of the common pea, or a
raspberry into water. I find several leaves are thus pro-
tected on the under surface and not on the upper.

" How can water injure the leaves if indeed this is at all
the case ? "

On this latter point he wrote to Sir Thomas Farrer : —

"I am now become mad about drops of water injuring
leaves. Please ask Mr. Paine * whether he believes, from his
own experience, that drops of water injure leaves or fruit in his
conservatories. It is said that the drops act as burning-
glasses ; if this is true, they would not be at all injurious on
cloudy days. As he is so acute a man, I should very much
like to hear his opinion. I remember when I grew hot-house
orchids I was cautioned not to wet their leaves ; but I never
then thought on the subject.

" I enjoyed my visit greatly with you, and I am very sure
that all England could not afford a kinder and pleasanter
host."

Some years later he took up the subject again, and wrote
to Sir Joseph Hooker (May 25, 1877) : —

"I have been looking over my old notes about the
" bloom " on plants, and I think that the subject is well
worth pursuing, though I am very doubtful of any success.
Are you inclined to aid me on the mere chance of success,
for without your aid I could do hardly anything ? "]

C. Darwin to Asa Gray.

Down, June 4 [1877].
.... I am now trying to make out the use or function of
"bloom," or the waxy secretion on the leaves and fruit of
plants, but am very doubtful whether I shall succeed. Can
you give me any light? Are such plants commoner in warm
than in colder climates ? I ask because I often walk out in

* Sir Thomas Farrer's gardener.

I877-] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 513

heavy rain, and the leaves of very few wild dicotyledons can
be here seen with drops of water rolling off them like quick-
silver. Whereas in my flower garden, greenhouse, and hot-
houses there are several. Again, are bloom-protected plants
common on your dry western plains ? Hooker thinks that they
are common at the Cape of Good Hope. It is a puzzle to me
if they are common under very dry climates, and I find bloom
very common on the Acacias and Eucalypti of Australia.
Some of the Eucalypti which do not appear to be covered
with bloom have the epidermis protected by a layer of some
substance which is dissolved in boiling alcohol. Are there
any bloom-protected leaves or fruit in the Arctic regions ?
If you can illuminate me, as you so often have done, pray do
so ; but otherwise do not bother yourself by answering.

Yours affectionately,

C. Darwin.

C. Darwin to W. Thiselton Dyer.

Down, September 5 [1877].
My dear Dyer, — One word to thank you. I declare
had it not been for your kindness, we should have broken
down. As it is we have made out clearly that with some
plants (chiefly succulent) the bJoom checks evaporation —
with some certainly prevents attacks of insects; with some
sea-shore plants prevents injury from salt-water, and, I be-
lieve, with a few prevents injury from pure water resting on
the leaves. This latter is as yet the most doubtful and the
most interesting point in relation to the movements of
plants. . . .

C. Darwin to F. Miiller.

Down, July 4 [1881].
My dear Sir, — Your kindness is unbounded, and I can-
not tell you how much your last letter (May 31) has inter-
ested me. I have piles of notes about the effect of water
resting on leaves, and their movements (as I supposed) to
shake off the drops. But I have not looked over these notes

514 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1876.

for a long time, and had come to think that perhaps my no-
tion was mere fancy, but I had intended to begin experiment-
ing as soon as I returned home ; and now with your invaluable
letter about the position of the leaves of various plants dur-
ing rain (I have one analogous case with Acacia from South
Africa), I shall be stimulated to work in earnest.

Variability.

[The following letter refers to a subject on which my
father felt the strongest interest : — the experimental investi-
gation of the causes of variability. The experiments alluded
to were to some extent planned out, and some preliminary
work was begun in the direction indicated below, but the re-
search was ultimately abandoned.]

C. Darwin to J. H. Gilbert*

Down, February 16, 1876.
My dear Sir, — When I met you at the Linnean Society,
you were so kind as to say that you would aid me with ad-
vice, and this will be of the utmost value to me and my son.
I will first state my object, and hope that you will excuse a
long letter. It is admitted by all naturalists that no problem
is so perplexing as what causes almost every cultivated plant
to vary, and no experiments as yet tried have thrown any
light on the subject. Now for the last ten years I have been
experimenting in crossing and self-fertilising plants ; and one
indirect result has surprised me much ; namely, that by tak-
ing pains to cultivate plants in pots under glass during several
successive generations, under nearly similar conditions, and
by self-fertilising them in each generation, the color of the
flowers often changes, and, what is very remarkable, they be-
came in some of the most variable species, such as Mimulus,
Carnation, &c, quite constant, like those of a wild species.

* Dr. Gilbert, F.R.S., joint author with Sir John Bennett Lawes of a
long series of valuable researches in Scientific Agriculture.

1876.] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 515

This fact and several others have led me to the suspicion
that the cause of variation must be in different substances
absorbed from the soil by these plants when their powers of
absorption are not interfered with by other plants with which
they grow mingled in a state of nature. Therefore my son
and I wish to grow plants in pots in soil entirely, or as nearly
entirely as is possible, destitute of all matter which plants
absorb, and then to give during several successive generations
to several plants of the same species as different solutions as
may be compatible with their life and health. And now, can
you advise me how to make soil approximately free of all the
substances which plants naturally absorb ? I suppose white
silver sand, sold for cleaning harness, &c, is nearly pure sili-
ca, but what am I to do for alumina ? Without some alumina
I imagine that it would be impossible to keep the soil damp
and fit for the growth of plants. I presume that clay washed
over and over again in water would still yield mineral matter
to the carbonic acid secreted by the roots. I should want a
good deal of soil, for it would be useless to experimentise
unless we could fill from twenty to thirty moderately sized
flower-pots every year. Can you suggest any plan ? for un-
less you can it would, I fear, be useless for us to commence
an attempt to discover whether variability depends at all on
matter absorbed from the soil. After obtaining the requisite
kind of soil, my notion is to water one set of plants with
nitrate of potassium, another set with nitrate of sodium, and
another with nitrate of lime, giving all as much phosphate of
ammonia as they seemed to support, for I wish the plants to
grow as luxuriantly as possible. The plants watered with
nitrate of Na and of Ca would require, I suppose, some K ; but
perhaps they would get what is absolutely necessary from such
soil as I should be forced to employ, and from the rain-water
collected in tanks. I could use hard wTater from a deep well
in the chalk, but then all the plants would get lime. If the
plants to which I give Nitrate of Na and of Ca would not
grow I might give them a little alum.

I am well aware how very ignorant I am, and how crude

Ji6 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1881.

my notions are ; and if you could suggest any other solutions
by which plants would be likely to be affected it would be a
very great kindness. I suppose that there are no organic
fluids which plants would absorb, and which I could pro-
cure ?

I must trust to your kindness to excuse me for troubling
you at such length, and,

I remain, dear Sir, yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[The next letter to Professor Semper * bears on the same
subject :]

From C. Darwin to K. Semper.

Down, July 19, 1881.

My dear Professor Semper, — I have been much pleased
to receive your letter, but I did not expect you to answer my

former one I cannot remember what I wrote to you,

but I am sure that it must have expressed the interest which
I felt in reading your book.f I thought that you attributed
too much weight to the direct action of the environment ; but
whether I said so I know not, for without being asked I
should have thought it presumptuous to have criticised your
book, nor should I now say so had I not during the last few
days been struck with Professor Hoffmann's review of his
own work in the ' Botanische Zeitung,' on the variability of
plants ; and it is really surprising how little effect he pro-
duced by cultivating certain plants under unnatural condi-
tions, as the presence of salt, lime, zinc, &c, &c, during
several generations. Plants, moreover, were selected which
were the most likely to vary under such conditions, judging
from the existence of closely-allied forms adapted for these
conditions. No doubt I originally attributed too little weight

* Professor of Zoology at Wurzburg.

f Published in the ' International Scientific Series/ in 1881, under the
title, * The Natural Conditions of Existence as thoy affect Animal Life.'

i88i.] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 517

to the direct action of conditions, but Hoffmann's paper has
staggered me. Perhaps hundreds of generations of exposure
are necessary. It is a most perplexing subject. I wish I
was not so old, and had more strength, for I see lines of re-
search to follow. Hoffmann even doubts whether plants
vary more under cultivation than in their native home and
under their natural conditions. If so, the astonishing varia-
tions of almost all cultivated plants must be due to selection
and breeding from the varying individuals. This idea crossed
my mind many years ago, but I was afraid to publish it, as I
thought that people would say, " how he does exaggerate the
importance of selection.,,

I still must believe that changed conditions give the im-
pulse to variability, but that they act in most cases in a very
indirect manner. But, as I said, it is a most perplexing prob-
lem. Pray forgive me for writing at such length ; I had no
intention of doing so when I sat down to write.

I am extremely sorry to hear, for your own sake and for
that of Science, that you are so hard worked, and that so
much of your time is consumed in official labour.
Pray believe me, dear Professor Semper,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

Galls.

[Shortly before his death, my father began to experiment-
ise on the possibility of producing galls artificially. A letter
to Sir J. D. Hooker (Nov. 3, 1880) shows the interest which
he felt in the question : —

" I was delighted with Paget's Essay ; * I hear that he has
occasionally attended to this subject from his youth ....
I am very glad he has called attention to- galls : this has
always seemed to me a profoundly interesting subject ; and if
I had been younger would take it up."

His interest in this subject was connected with his ever-

* * Disease in Plants,' by Sir James Paget. — See Gardeners' Chronicle,
1880.

5 18 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1881.

present wish to learn something of the causes of variation.
He imagined to himself wonderful galls caused to appear on
the ovaries of plants, and by these means he thought it pos-
sible that the seed might be influenced, and thus new varieties
arise. He made a considerable number of experiments by
injecting various reagents into the tissues of leaves, and with
some slight indications of success.]

Aggregation.

[The following letter gives an idea of the subject of the
last of his published papers.* The appearances which he
observed in leaves and roots attracted him, on account of
their relation to the phenomena of aggregation which had so
deeply interested him when he was at work on Drosera :]

C. Darwin to S. If. Vines, f

Down, November 1, 1881.
My dear Mr. Vines, — As I know how busy you are, it
is a great shame to trouble you. But you are so rich in
chemical knowledge about plants, and I am so poor, that I
appeal to your charity as a pauper. My question is — Do you
know of any solid substance in the cells of plants which
glycerine and water dissolves ? But you will understand my
perplexity better if I give you the facts : I mentioned to you
that if a plant of Euphorbia peplus is gently dug up and the
roots placed for a short time in a weak solution (1 to 10,000
of water, suffices in 24 hours) of carbonate of ammonia the
(generally) alternate longitudinal rows of cells in every root-
let, from the root-cap up to the very top of the root (but not
as far as I have yet seen in the green stem) become filled
with translucent, brownish grains of matter. These rounded
grains often cohere and even become confluent. Pure phos-
phate and nitrate of ammonia produce (though more slowly)
the same effect, as does pure carbonate of soda.

* * Journal of the Linnean Society.' Vol. xix., 1882, pp. 239 arid 262.
f Reader in Botany in the University of Cambridge.

1878.] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 519

Now, if slices of root uncter a cover-glass are irrigated
with glycerine and water, every one of the innumerable grains
in the cells disappear after some hours. What am I to think
of this ? . . . .

Forgive me for bothering you to such an extent ; but I
must mention that if the roots are dipped in boiling water
there is no deposition of matter, and carbonate of ammonia
afterwards produces no effect. I should state that I now find
that the granular matter is formed in the cells immediately
beneath the thin epidermis, and a few other cells near the
vascular tissue. If the granules consisted of living proto-
plasm (but I can see no traces of movement in them), then I
should infer that the glycerine killed them and aggregation
ceased with the diffusion of invisibly minute particles, for I
have seen an analogous phenomenon in Drosera.

If you can aid me, pray do so, and anyhow forgive me.

Yours very sincerely,

Ch. Darwin.

Mr. Torbitt's Experiments on the Potato-Disease.

[Mr. James Torbitt, of Belfast, has been engaged for the
last twelve years in the difficult undertaking, in which he
has been to a large extent successful, of raising fungus-proof
varieties of the potato. My father felt great interest in Mr.
Torbitt's work, and corresponded with him from 1876 on-
wards. The following letter, giving a clear account of Mr.
Torbitt's method and of my father's opinion of the proba-
bility of its success, was written with the idea that Govern-
ment aid for the work might possibly be obtainable :]

C. Darwin to T. If. Farrer.

Down, March 2, 1878.
My dear Farrer, — Mr. Torbitt's plan of overcoming the
potato-disease seems to me by far the best which has ever
been suggested. It consists, as you know from his printed

J20 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1878.

letter, of rearing a vast number of seedlings from cross-fer-
tilised parents, exposing them to infection, ruthlessly destroy-
ing all that suffer, saving those which resist best, and re-
peating the process in successive seminal generations. My
belief in the probability of good results from this process
rests on the fact of all characters whatever occasionally va-
rying. It is known, for instance, that certain species and
varieties of the vine resist phylloxera better than others.
Andrew Knight found in one variety or species of the ap-
ple which was not in the least attacked by coccus, and
another variety has been observed in South Australia. Cer-
tain varieties of the peach resist mildew, and several other
such cases could be given. Therefore there is no great
improbability in a new variety of potato arising which would
resist the fungus completely, or at least much better than
any existing variety. With respect to the cross-fertilisation
of two distinct seedling plants, it has been ascertained that
the offspring thus raised inherit much more vigorous con-
stitutions and generally are more prolific than seedlings
from self-fertilised parents. It is also probable that cross-
fertilisation would be especially valuable in the case of the
potato, as there is reason to believe that the flowers are
seldom crossed by our native insects ; and some varieties
are absolutely sterile unless fertilised with pollen from a dis-
tinct variety. There is some evidence that the good effects
from a cross are transmitted for several generations ; it
would not, therefore be necessary to cross-fertilise the seed-
lings in each generation, though this would be desirable, as
it is almost certain that a greater number of seeds would
thus be obtained. It should be remembered that a cross
between plants raised from the tubers of the same plant,
though growing on distinct roots, does no more good than
a cross between flowers on the same individual. Consid-
ering the whole subject, it appears to me that it would
be a national misfortune if the cross-fertilised seeds in
Mr. Torbitt's possession produced by parents which have
already shown some power of resisting the disease, are

1878.J MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 52 1

not utilised by the Government, or some public body,
and the process of selection continued during several more
generations.

Should the Agricultural Society undertake the work, Mr.
Torbitt's knowledge gained by experience would be especially
valuable ; and an outline of the plan is given in his printed
letter. It would be necessary that all the tubers produced
by each plant should be collected separately, and carefully
examined in each succeeding generation.

It would be advisable that some kind of potato eminently
liable to the disease should be planted in considerable num-
bers near the seedlings so as to infect them.

Altogether the trial would be one requiring much care and
extreme patience, as I know from experience with analogous
work, and it may be feared that it would be difficult to find
any one who would pursue the experiment with sufficient
energy. It seems, therefore, to me highly desirable that
Mr. Torbitt should be aided with some small grant so as to
continue the work himself.

Judging from his reports, his efforts have already been
crowned in so short a time with more success than could
have been anticipated ; and I think you will agree with me,
that any one who raises a fungus-proof potato will be a public
benefactor of no common kind.

My dear Farrer, yours sincerely,

Charles Darwin.

[After further consultation with Sir Thomas Farrer and
with Mr. Caird, my father became convinced that it was
hopeless to attempt to obtain Government aid. He wrote to
Mr. Torbitt to this effect, adding, " it would be less trouble
to get up a subscription from a few rich leading agriculturists
than from Government. This plan I think you cannot object
to, as you have asked nothing, and will have nothing whatever
to do with the subscription. In fact, the affair is, in my
opinion, a compliment to you." The idea here broached was
carried out, and Mr. Torbitt was enabled to continue his work

522 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1881-2.

by the aid of a sum to which Sir T. Farrer, Mr. Caird, my
father, and a few friends, subscribed.

My father's sympathy and encouragement were highly
valued by Mr. Torbitt, who tells me that without them he
should long ago have given up his attempt. A few extracts
will illustrate my father's fellow feeling with Mr. Torbitt's
energy and perseverance : —

"I admire your indomitable spirit. If any one ever
deserved success, you do so, and I keep to my original
opinion that you have a very good chance of raising a fungus-
proof variety of the potato.

" A pioneer in a new undertaking is sure to meet with
many disappointments, so I hope that you will keep up your
courage, though we have done so very little for you."

Mr. Torbitt tells me that he still (1887) succeeds in raising
varieties possessing well-marked powers of resisting disease;
but this immunity is not permanent, and, after some years,
the varieties become liable to the attacks of the fungus.]

The Kew Index of Plant-Names, or ' Nomenclator

Darwinianus \

[Some account of my father's connection with the Index of
Plant-names now (1887) in course of preparation at Kew will
be found in Mr. B. Daydon Jackson's paper in the ' Journal
of Botany,' 1887, p. 151. Mr. Jackson quotes the following
statement by Sir J. D. Hooker : —

" Shortly before his death, Mr. Charles Darwin informed
Sir Joseph Hooker that it was his intention to devote a con-
siderable sum of money annually for some years in aid or
furtherance of some work or works of practical utility to bio-
logical science, and to make provisions in his will in the
event of these not being completed during his lifetime.

"Amongst other objects connected with botanical science,
Mr. Darwin regarded with especial interest the importance of
a complete index to the names and authors of the genera and

1882.] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 523

species of plants known to botanists, together with their
native countries. Steudel's ' Nomenclator ' is the only exist-
ing work of this nature, and although now nearly half a cen-
tury old, Mr. Darwin had found it of great aid in his own
researches. It has been indispensable to every botanical insti-
tution, whether as a list of all known flowering plants, as an
indication of their authors, or as a digest of botanical geo-
graphy/'

Since 1840, when the ' Nomenclator ' was published, the
number of described plants may be said to have doubled, so
that the ' Nomenclator ' is now seriously below the require-
ments of botanical work. To remedy this want, the ' Nomen-
clator ' has been from time to time posted up in an inter-
leaved copy in the Herbarium at Kew, by the help of u funds
supplied by private liberality." *

My father, like other botanists, had as Sir Joseph Hooker
points out, experienced the value of Steudel's work. He
obtained plants from all sorts of sources, which were often
incorrectly named, and he felt the necessity of adhering to
the accepted nomenclature, so that he might convey to other
workers precise indications as to the plants which he had
studied. It was also frequently a matter of importance to
him to know the native country of his experimental plants.
Thus it was natural that he should recognize the desirability
of completing and publishing the interleaved volume at Kew.
The wish to help in this object was heightened by the admi-
ration he felt for the results for which the world has to thank
the Royal Gardens at Kew, and by his gratitude for the in-
valuable aid which for so many years he received from its
Director and his staff. He expressly stated that it was his
wish " to aid in some way the scientific work carried on at
the Royal Gardens " \ — which induced him to offer to supply
funds for the completion of the Kew ' Nomenclator.'

* Kew Gardens Report, 1881, p. 62.

f See ' Nature,' January 5, 1882.
70

524 MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. [1882.

The following passage, for which I am indebted to Pro-
fessor Judd, is of much interest, as illustrating the motives
that actuated my father in this matter. Professor Judd
writes : —

" On the occasion of my last visit to him, he told me that
his income having recently greatly increased, while his wants
remained the same, he was most anxious to devote what he
could spare to the advancement of Geology or Biology. He
dwelt in the most touching manner on the fact that he owed
so much happiness and fame to the natural-history sciences,
which had been the solace of what might have been a painful
existence ; — and he begged me, if I knew of any research
which could be aided by a grant of a few hundreds of pounds,
to let him know, as it would be a delight to him to feel that
he was helping in promoting the progress of science. He
informed me at the same time that he was making the same
suggestion to Sir Joseph Hooker and Professor Huxley with
respect to Botany and Zoology respectively. I was much
impressed by the earnestness, and, indeed, deep emotion, with
which he spoke of his indebtedness to Science, and his desire
to promote its interests."

Sir Joseph Hooker was asked by my father " to take into
consideration, with the aid of the botanical staff at Kew and
the late Mr. Bentham, the extent and scope of the proposed
work, and to suggest the best means of having it executed.
In doing this, Sir Joseph had further the advantage of the
great knowledge and experience of Professor Asa Gray, of
Cambridge, U.S.A., *and of Mr. John Ball, F.R.S."*

The plan of the proposed work having been carefully
considered, Sir Joseph Hooker was able to confide its elabor-
ation in detail to Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, Secretary of the
Linnean Society, whose extensive knowledge of botanical
literature qualifies him for the task. My father's original
idea of producing a modern edition of Steudel's ' Nomencla-
tor ' has been practically abandoned, the aim now kept in

* ' Journal of Botany,' loc, cit

i887.] MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. 525

view is rather to construct a list of genera and species (with
references) founded on Bentham and Hooker's ' Genera
Plantarum.' The colossal nature of the work in progress at
Kew may be estimated by the fact that the manuscript of the
' Index* is at the present time (1887) believed to weigh more
than a ton. Under Sir Joseph Hooker's supervision the
work goes steadily forward, being carried out with admirable
zeal by Mr. Jackson, who devotes himself unsparingly to the
enterprise, in which, too, he has the advantage of the active
interest in the work felt by Professor Oliver and Mr. Thisel-
ton Dyer.

The Kew ' Index,' which will, in all probability, be ready
to go to press in four or five years, will be a fitting memorial
of my father: and his share in its completion illustrates a
part of his character — his ready sympathy with work outside
his own lines of investigation — and his respect for minute
and patient labour in all branches of science.]

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUSION.

Some idea of the general course of my father's health may-
have been gathered from the letters given in the preceding
pages. The subject of health appears more prominently
than is often necessary in a Biography, because it was, un-
fortunately, so real an element in determining the outward
form of his life.

During the last ten years of his life the condition of his
health was a cause of satisfaction and hope to his family.
His condition showed signs of amendment in several particu-
lars. He suffered less distress and discomfort, and was able
to work more steadily. Something has been already said of
Dr. Bence Jones's treatment, from which my father certainly
derived benefit. In later years he became a patient of
Sir Andrew Clark, under whose care he improved greatly
in general health. It was not only for his generously ren-
dered service that my father felt a debt of gratitude towards
Sir Andrew Clark. He owed to his cheering personal influ-
ence an often-repeated encouragement, which latterly added
something real to his happiness, and he found sincere pleas-
ure in Sir Andrew's friendship and kindness towards himself
and his children.

Scattered through the past pages are one or two refer-
ences to pain or uneasiness felt in the region of the heart.
How far these indicate that the heart was affected early in
life, I cannot pretend to say ; in any case it is certain that
he had no serious or permanent trouble of this nature until

i88i.] CONCLUSION. 527

shortly before his death. In spite of the general improve-
ment in his health, which has been above alluded to, there
was a certain loss of physical vigour occasionally apparent
during the last few years of his life. This is illustrated by
a sentence in a letter to his old friend Sir James Sullivan,
written on January 10, 1879 : " My scientific work tires me
more than it used to do, but I have nothing else to do, and
whether one is worn out a year or two sooner or later signi-
fies but little."

A similar feeling is shown in a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker
of June 15, 1881. My father was staying at Patterdale, and
wrote : " I am rather despondent about myself .... I have
not the heart or strength to begin any investigation lasting
years, which is the only thing which I enjoy, and I have no
little jobs which I can do."

In July, 1881, he wrote to Mr. Wallace, "We have just
returned home after spending five weeks on Ullswater ; the
scenery is quite charming, but I cannot walk, and everything
tires me, even seeing scenery .... What I shall do with my
few remaining years of life I can hardly tell. I have every-
thing to make me happy and contented, but life has become
very wearisome to me." He was, however, able to do a good
deal of work, and that of a trying sort,* during the autumn
of 1 88 1, but towards the end of the year he was clearly in
need of rest ; and during the winter was in a lower condition
than was usual with him.

On December 13 he went for a week to his daughter's
house in Bryanston Street. During his stay in London he
went to call on Mr. Romanes, and was seized when on the
door-step with an attack apparently of the same kind as
those which afterwards became so frequent. The rest
of the incident, which I give in Mr. Romanes' words, is
interesting too from a different point of view, as giving one
more illustration of my father's scrupulous consideration for
others : —

* On the action of carbonate of ammonia on roots and leaves.

528 CONCLUSION. [1881.

" I happened to be out, but my butler, observing that Mr.
Darwin was ill, asked him to come in. He said he would
prefer going home, and although the butler urged him to
wait at least until a cab could be fetched, he said he would
rather not give so much trouble. For the same reason he
refused to allow the butler to accompany him. Accordingly
he watched him walking with difficulty towards the direction
in which cabs were to be met with, and saw that, when he
had got about three hundred yards from the house, he stag-
gered and caught hold of the park-railings as if to prevent
himself from falling. The butler therefore hastened to his
assistance, but after a few seconds saw him turn round with
the evident purpose of retracing his steps to my house. How-
ever, after he had returned part of the way he seems to have
felt better, for he again changed his mind, and proceeded to
find a cab.,,

During the last week of February and in the beginning of
March, attacks of pain in the region of the heart, with irre-
gularity of the pulse, became frequent, coming on indeed
nearly every afternoon. A seizure of this sort occurred about
March 7, when he was walking alone at a short distance from
the house ; he got home with difficulty, and this was the last
time that he was able to reach his favourite ' Sand- walk.'
Shortly after this, his illness became obviously more serious
and alarming, and he was seen by Sir Andrew Clark, whose
treatment was continued by Dr. Norman Moore, of St. Bar-
tholomew's Hospital, and Mr. Alfrey, of St. Mary Cray. He
suffered from distressing sensations of exhaustion and faint-
ness, and seemed to recognise with deep depression the fact
that his working days were over. He gradually recovered
from this condition, and became more cheerful and hopeful,
as is shown in the following letter to Mr. Huxley, who was
anxious that my father should have closer medical super-
vision than the existing arrangements allowed :

i882.] CONCLUSION. 529

Down, March 27, 1882.
lt My dear Huxley, — Your most kind letter has been a
real cordial to me. I have felt better to-day than for three
weeks, and have felt as yet no pain. Your plan seems an ex-
cellent one, and I will probably act upon it, unless I get very
much better. Dr. Clark's kindness is unbounded to me, but
he is too busy to come here. Once again, accept my cordial
thanks, my dear old friend. I wish to God there were more
automata * in the world like you.

Ever yours,

Ch. Darwin."

The allusion to Sir Andrew Clark requires a word of ex-
planation. Sir Andrew Clark himself was ever ready to
devote himself to my father, who, however, could not endure
the thought of sending for him, knowing how severely his
great practice taxed his strength.

No especial change occurred during the beginning of
April, but on Saturday 15th he was seized with giddiness
while sitting at dinner in the evening, and fainted in an at-
tempt to reach his sofa. On the 17 th he was again better,
and in my temporary absence recorded for me the progress of
an experiment in which I was engaged. During the night of
April 1 8th, about a quarter to twelve, he had a severe attack
and passed into a faint, from which he was brought back to
consciousness with great difficulty. He seemed to recognise
the approach of death, and said, "I am not the least afraid
to die." All the next morning he suffered from terrible
nausea and faintness, and hardly rallied before the end
came.

He died at about four o'clock on Wednesday, April 19th,
1882, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

I close the record of my father's life with a few words of

* The allusion is to Mr. Huxley's address 4 On the Hypothesis that Ani-
mals are Automata, and its History,' given at the Belfast meeting of the
British Association in 1874, and republished in ' Science and Culture/

530 CONCLUSION. [1881.

retrospect added to the manuscript of his ' Autobiography '
in 1879 : —

"As for myself, I believe that I have acted rightly in
steadily following, and devoting my life to Science. I feel no
remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often
and often regretted that I have not done more direct good to
my fellow creatures."

APPENDIX I.

The Funeral in Westminster Abbey.

On the Friday succeeding my father's death, the following letter,
signed by twenty members of Parliament, was addressed to Dr. Brad-
ley, Dean of Westminster : —

House of Commons, April 21, 1882.

Very Rev. Sir, — We hope you will not think we are taking a

liberty if we venture to suggest that it would be acceptable to a very

large number of our fellow-countrymen of all classes and opinions

that our illustrious countryman, Mr. Darwin, should be buried in

Westminster Abbey.

We remain, your obedient servants,

John Lubbock,
Nevil Storey Maskelyne,
a. j. mundella, <
G. O. Trevelyan,
Lyon Playfair,
Charles W. Dilke,
David Wedderburn,
Arthur Russel,
Horace Davey,
Benjamin Armitage,

Richard B. Martin,

Francis W. Buxton,

E. L. Stanley,

Henry Broadhurst,

John Barran,

J. F. Cheetham,

H. S. Holland,

H. Campbell-Bannerman,

Charles Bruce,

Richard Fort.

The Dean was abroad at the time, and telegraphed his cordial
acquiescence.

The family had desired that my father should be buried at Down :
with regard to their wishes, Sir John Lubbock wrote : —

532

APPENDIX I.

House of Commons, April 25, 1882.
My dear Darwin, — I quite sympathise with your feeling, and
personally I should greatly have preferred that your father should
have rested in Down amongst us all. It is, I am sure, quite under-
stood that the initiative was not taken by you. Still, from a national
point of view, it is clearly right that he should be buried in the Abbey.
I esteem it a great privilege to be allowed to accompany my dear

master to the grave.

Believe me, yours most sincerely,

John Lubbock.
W. E. Darwin, Esq.

The family gave up their first-formed plans, and the funeral took
place in Westminster Abbey on April 26th. The pall-bearers were : —

Sir John Lubbock, Canon Farrar,

Mr. Huxley, Sir J. D. Hooker,

Mr. James Russell Lowell Mr. Wm. Spottiswoode
(American Minister), (President of the Royal

Society),

Mr. A. R. Wallace, The Earl of Derby,
The Duke of Devonshire, The Duke of Argyll.

The funeral was attended by the representatives of France, Ger-
many, Italy, Spain, Russia, and by those of the Universities, and
learned Societies, as well as by large numbers of personal friends and
distinguished men.

The grave is in the North aisle of the Nave, close to the angle of
the choir-screen, and a few feet from the grave of Sir Isaac Newton.
The stone bears the inscription —

CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN.

Born 12 February, 1809.

Died 19 April, 1882.

APPENDIX II

L— List of Works by C. Darwin.

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of Her Majesty's Ships ' Adven-
ture ' and ' Beagle ' between the years 1 826 and 1 836, describing
their examination of the Southern shores of South America, and
the ' Beagle's ' circumnavigation of the globe. Vol. iii. Journal
and Remarks, 1 832-1 836. By Charles Darwin. 8vo. London,

1839.
Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the

countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. ' Beagle ' round the

world, under the command of Capt. Fitz-Roy, R.N. 2nd edition,

corrected, with additions. 8vo. London, 1845. (Colonial and

Home Library.)

A Naturalist's Voyage. Journal of Researches, &c. 8vo. London,
i860. [Contains a postscript dated Feb. 1, i860.]

Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle.' Edited and superin-
tended by Charles Darwin. Part I. Fossil Mammalia, by Rich-
ard Owen. With a Geological Introduction, by Charles Darwin.
4to. London, 1840.

Part II. Mammalia, by George R. Waterhouse. With a notice

of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin. 4to. London,

1839.
Part III. Birds, by John Gould. An "Advertisement" (2 pp.)

states that in consequence of Mr. Gould's having left England for

Australia, many descriptions were supplied by Mr. G. R. Gray of

the British Museum. 4to. London, 1841.

Part IV. Fish, by Rev. Leonard Jenyns. 4to. London, 1842.

Part V. Reptiles, by Thomas Bell. 4to. London, 1843.

534

APPENDIX II.

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Being the First
Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the ■ Beagle.' 8vo. Lon-
don, 1842.

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. 2nd edition. 8vo.
London, 1874.

Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, visited during the
Voyage of H.M.S. ' Beagle.' Being the Second Part of the Geol-
ogy of the Voyage of the ' Beagle.' 8vo. London, 1844.

Geological Observations on South America. Being the Third Part
of the Geology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle.' 8vo. London,
1846.

Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands and parts of South
America visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. ' Beagle.' 2nd edi-
tion. 8vo. London, 1876.

A Monograph of the Fossil Lepadidae ; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes
of Great Britain. 4to. London, 1851. (Palasontographical So-
ciety.)

A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all the
Species. The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes. 8vo.
London, 185 1. (Ray Society.)

The Balanidas (or Sessile Cirripedes) ; the Verrucidae, &c. 8vo.

London, 1854. (Ray Society.)

A Monograph of the Fossil Balanidas and Verrucidas of Great Brit-
ain. 4to. London, 1854. (Palaeontographical Society.)

On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. 8vo.
London, 1859. (Dated Oct. 1st, 1859, published Nov. 24,
1859.)

Fifth thousand. 8vo. London, i860.

Third edition, with additions and corrections. (Seventh thou-
sand.) 8vo. London, 1861. (Dated March, 1861.)

Fourth edition, with additions and corrections. (Eighth thou-
sand.) 8vo. London, 1866. (Dated June, 1866.)

Fifth edition, with additions and corrections. (Tenth thou-
sand.) 8vo. London, 1869. (Dated May, 1869.)

Sixth edition, with additions and corrections to 1872. (Twenty-

fourth thousand.) 8vo. London, 1882. (Dated Jan., 1872.)
On the various contrivances by which Orchids are fertilised by In-
sects. 8vo. London, 1862.

Second edition. 8vo. London, 1877. [In the second edition the

word "On " is omitted from the title.]

APPENDIX II.

535

The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. Second edition.

8vo. London, 1875. [First appeared in the ninth volume of the

* Journal of the Linnean Society.']
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. 2 vols.

8vo. London, 1868.

Second edition, revised. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1875.

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. 2 vols. 8vo.

London, 1871.

Second edition. 8vo. London, 1874. (In 1 vol.)

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. 8vo. Lon-
don, 1872.
Insectivorous Plants. 8vo. London, 1875.
The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.

8vo. London, 1876.

Second edition. 8vo. London, 1878.

The different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species. 8vo.

London, 1877.

Second edition. 8vo. London, 1880.

The Power of Movement in Plants. By Charles Darwin, assisted by

Francis Darwin. 8vo. London, 1880.
The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms,

with Observations on their Habits. 8vo. London, 1881.

II.— List of Books containing Contributions by C. Dar-
win.

A Manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the use of Her Majes-
ty's Navy: and adapted for travellers in general. Ed. by Sir
John F. W. Herschel, Bart. 8vo. London, 1849. (Section VI.
Geology. By Charles Darwin.)

Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow. By the Rev. Leonard
Jenyns, 8vo. London, 1862. [In Chapter III., Recollections by
C. Darwin.]

A letter (1876) on the 'Drift' near Southampton, published in Prof.
J. Geikie's ' Prehistoric Europe.'

Flowers and their unbidden guests. By A. Kerner. With a Prefatory
Letter by Charles Darwin. The translation revised and edited by
W. Ogle. 8vo. London, 1878.

Erasmus Darwin. By Ernst Krause. Translated from the German
by W. S. Dallas. With a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin.
8vo. London, 1879.

Studies in the Theory of Descent. By Aug. Weismann. Translated

536

APPENDIX II.

and edited by Raphael Meldola. With a Prefatory Notice by
Charles Darwin. 8vo. London, 1880 — .

The Fertilisation of Flowers. By Hermann Miiller. Translated and
edited by D'Arcy W. Thompson. With a Preface by Charles
Darwin. 8vo. London, 1883.

Mental Evolution in Animals. By G. J. Romanes. With a posthu-
mous essay on instinct by Charles Darwin, 1883. [Also published
in the Journal of the Linnean Society.]

Some Notes on a curious habit of male humble bees were sent to
Prof. Hermann Miiller, of Lippstadt, who had permission from
Mr. Darwin to make what use he pleased of them. After Midler's
death the Notes were given by his son to Dr. E. Krause, who
published them under the title, " Ueber die Wege der Hummel-
Mannchen " in his book, ' Gesammelte kleinere Schriften von
Charles Darwin' (1886).

III.— List of Scientific Papers, including a selection of
Letters and Short Communications to Scientific
Journals.

Letters to Professor Henslow, read by him at the meeting of the
Cambridge Philosophical Society, held Nov. 16, 1835. 31 pp.
8vo. Privately printed for distribution among the members of the
Society.

Geological Notes made during a survey of the East and West
Coasts of South America in the years 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1835 ;
with an account of a transverse section of the Cordilleras of the
Andes between Valparaiso and Mendoza. [Read Nov. 18, 1835.]
Geol. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pp. 210-212. [This Paper is incorrectly
described in Geol. Soc. Proc. ii., p. 210 as follows : — " Geological
notes, &c, by F. Darwin, Esq., of St. John's College, Cambridge :
communicated by Prof. Sedgwick." It is Indexed under C.
Darwin.]

Notes upon the Rhea Americana. Zool. Soc. Proc.; Part v. 1837,

PP. 35-36.

Observations of proofs of recent elevation on the coast of Chili,
made during the survey of H.M.S. " Beagle," commanded by Capt
FitzRoy. [1837.] Geol. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pp. 446-449.

A sketch of the deposits containing extinct Mammalia in the neigh-
bourhood of the Plata. [1837.] Geol. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pp.
542-544.

On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and In-

APPENDIX II,

537

dian oceans, as deduced from the'study of coral formations. [1837.]
Geol. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pp. 552-554.

On the Formation of Mould. [Read Nov. 1, 1837.] Geol. Soc.
Proc. ii. 1838, pp. 574-576 ; Geol. Soc. Trans, v. 1840, pp. 505-510.

On the Connexion of certain Volcanic Phenomena and on the forma-
tion of mountain-chains and the effects of continental elevations.
[Read March 7, 1838.] Geol. Soc. Proc. ii. 1838, pp. 654-660;
Geol. Soc. Trans, v. 1840, pp. 601-632. [In the Society's Trans-
actions the wording of the title is slightly different.]

Origin of saliferous deposits. Salt Lakes of Patagonia and La Plata.
Geol. Soc. Journ. ii. (Part ii.), 1838, pp. 127-128.

Note on a Rock seen on an Iceberg in 160 South Latitude. Geogr.
Soc. Journ. ix. 1839, PP- 528-529.

Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of other parts
of Lochaber in Scotland, with an attempt to prove that they are of
marine origin. Phil. Trans. 1839, PP- 39~82.

On a remarkable Bar of Sandstone off Pernambuco, on the Coast of
Brazil. Phil. Mag. xix. 1841, pp. 257-260.

On the Distribution of the Erratic Boulders and on the Contem-
poraneous Unstratified Deposits of South America. [1841.] Geol.
Soc. Proc. iii. 1842, pp. 425-430; Geol. Soc. Trans, vi. 1842, pp.
415-432.

Notes on the Effects produced by the Ancient Glaciers of Caernar-
vonshire, and on the Boulders transported by Floating Ice. Lon-
don Philosoph. Mag. vol. xxi. p. 180. 1842.

Remarks on the preceding paper, in a Letter from Charles Darwin,
Esq., to Mr. Maclaren. Edinb. New Phil. Journ. xxxiv. 1843,
pp. 47-50. [The " preceding " paper is : " On Coral Islands and
Reefs as described by Mr. Darwin. By Charles Maclaren, Esq.,
F.R.S.E."]

Observations on the Structure and Propagation of the genus Sagitta.
Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. xiii. 1844, pp. 1-6.

Brief Descriptions of several Terrestrial Planar ice, and of some re-
markable Marine Species, with an Account of their Habits. Ann.
and Mag. Nat. Hist. xiv. 1844, pp. 241-251.

An account of the Fine Dust which often falls on Vessels in the At-
lantic Ocean. Geol. Soc. Journ. ii. 1846, pp. 26-30.

On the Geology of the Falkland Islands. Geol. Soc. Journ. ii. 1846,
pp. 267-274.

A review of Waterhouse's ' Natural History of the Mammalia.' [Not
signed.] Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. 1847. Vol. xix. p. 530

538

APPENDIX II.

On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders from a lower to a higher level.
Geol. Soc. Journ. iv. 1848, pp. 315-323.

On British fossil Lepadidae. Geol. Soc. Journ. vi. 1850, pp. 439-440.
[The G. S. J. says, " This paper was withdrawn by the author with
the permission of the Council."]

Analogy of the Structure of some Volcanic Rocks with that of
Glaciers. Edinb. Roy. Soc. Proc. ii. 1851, pp. 17-18.

On the power of Icebergs to make rectilinear, uniformly-directed
Grooves across a Submarine Undulatory Surface. Phil. Mag. x.
1855, pp. 96-98.

Vitality of Seeds. Gardeners' Chronicle, Nov. 17, 1855, p. 758.

On the action of Sea- water on the Germination of Seeds. [1856.]
Linn. Soc. Journ. i. 1857 {Botany), pp. 130-140.

On the Agency of Bees in the Fertilisation of Papilionaceous Flowers.
Gardeners Chronicle, p. 725, 1857.

On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties ; and on the Per-
petuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection.
By Charles Darwin, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., and F.G.S., and Alfred
Wallace, Esq. [Read July 1st, 1858.] Journ. Linn. Soc. 1859,
vol. iii. {Zoology), p. 45.

Special titles of C. Darwin's contributions to the foregoing : —
(i) Extract from an unpublished work on Species by C. Dar-
win, Esq., consisting of a portion of a chapter entitled, " On
the Variation of Organic Beings in a State of Nature ; on the
Natural Means of Selection ; on the Comparison of Domestic
Races and true Species." (ii) Abstract of a Letter from C.
Darwin, Esq., to Professor Asa Gray, of Boston, U. S., dated
Sept. 5, 1857.

On the Agency of Bees in the Fertilisation of Papilionaceous Flow-
ers, and on the Crossing of Kidney Beans. Gardeners Chronicle,
1858, p. 828 and Ann. Nat. Hist. 3rd series ii. 1858, pp. 459-465.

Do the Tineina or other small Moths suck Flowers, and if so what
Flowers? Entom. Weekly Int ell. vol. viii. i860, p. 103.

Note on the achenia of Pumilio Argyrolepis. Gardeners Chronicle,
Jan. 5, 1861, p. 4.

Fertilisation of Vincas. Gardeners Chronicle, pp. 552, 831, 832.
1861.

On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition, in the species of Pri-
mula, and on their remarkable Sexual Relations. Linn. Soc. Journ.
vi. 1862 {Botany), pp. 77-96.

On the Three remarkable Sexual Forms of Catasetum tridentatum,

APPENDIX II.

539

an Orchid in the possession of the Linnean Society. Linn. Soc.

Journ. vi. 1862 {Botany), pp. 1 51-157.
Yellow Rain. Gardeners Chronicle, July 18, 1863, p. 675.
On the thickness of the Pampean formation near Buenos Ayres.

Geol. Soc. Journ. xix. 1863, pp. 68-71.
On the so-called " Auditory-sac " of Cirripedes. Nat. Hist. Review,

1863, pp. 1 1 5-1 16.
A review of Mr. Bates' paper on ' Mimetic Butterflies.' Nat. Hist.

Review, 1863, p. 221 — . [Not signed.]
On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual rela-
tion, in several species of the genus Linum. Linn. Soc. Journ. vii.

1864 {Botany), pp. 69 83.
On the Sexual Relations of the Three Forms of Lythrum salicaria.

[1864.] Linn. Soc. Journ. viii. 1865 {Botany), pp. 169-196.
On the Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants. [1865.] Linn.

Soc. Journ. ix. 1867 {Botany), pp. 1-118.
Note on the Common Broom {Cytisus scoparius). [1866.] Linn.

Soc. Journ. ix. 1867 {Botany), p. 358.
Notes on the Fertilization of Orchids. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th

series, iv. 1869, pp. 141-159.
On the Character and Hybrid-like Nature of the Offspring from the

Illegitimate Unions of Dimorphic and Trimorphic Plants. [1868.]

Linn. Soc. Jour. x. 1869 {Botany), pp. 393-437.
On the Specific Difference between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var.

officinalis, of Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.),

and P. elatior, Jacq. ; and on the Hybrid Nature of the common

Oxslip. With Supplementary Remarks on naturally produced

Hybrids in the genus Verbascum. [1868.] Linn. Soc. Journ. x.

1869 {Botany), pp. 437-454.
Note on the Habits of the Pampas Woodpecker {Colaptes campes-

tris). Zool. Soc. Proc. Nov. 1, 1870, pp. 705-706.
Fertilisation of Leschenaultia. Gardeners Chronicle, p. 11 66, 1871.
The Fertilisation of Winter-flowering Plants. ' Nature,' Nov. 18,

1869, vol. i. p. 85.
Pangenesis. ' Nature,' April 27, 1871, vol. iii. p. 502.
A new view of Darwinism. ' Nature,' July 6, 1871, vol. iv. p. 180.
Bree on Darwinism. ' Nature,' Aug. 8, 1872, vol. vi. p. 279.
Inherited Instinct. ' Nature,' Feb. 13, 1873, vol. vii. p. 281.
Perception in the Lower Animals. 'Nature,' March 13, 1873, v°l«

vii. p. 360.
Origin of certain instincts. ■ Nature,' April 3, 1873, v°l- vii. p. 417.
7i

S40

APPENDIX II.

Habits of Ants. ' Nature,' July 24, 1873, vol. viii. p. 244.
On the Males and Complemental Males of Certain Cirripedes, and on
Rudimentary Structures. 'Nature,' Sept. 25, 1873, vol. viii. p.

43i-
Recent researches on Termites and Honey-bees. 'Nature,' Feb. 19,

1874, vol. ix. p. 308.
Fertilisation of the Fumariaceas. ' Nature,' April 16, 1874, vol. ix-

p. 460.
Flowers of the Primrose destroyed by Birds. ' Nature,' April 23,

1874, vol. ix. p. 482 ; May 14, 1874, vol. x. p. 24.
Cherry Blossoms. ' Nature,' May 11, 1876, vol. xiv. p. 28.
Sexual Selection in relation to Monkeys. ' Nature,' Nov. 2, 1876, vol. xv.

p. 18. Reprinted as a supplement to the ' Descent of Man,' 18. .
Fritz Miiller on Flowers and Insects. 'Nature,' Nov. 29, 1877, vol.

xvii. p. 78.
The Scarcity of Holly Berries and Bees. Gardeners Chronicle,

Jan. 20, 1877, p. 83.
Note on Fertilization of Plants. Gardeners Chronicle, vol. vii. p.

246, 1877.
A biographical sketch of an infant. ' Mind,' No. 7, July, 1877.
Transplantation of Shells. ' Nature,' May 30, 1878, vol. xviii. p. 120.
Fritz Miiller on a Frog having Eggs on its back — on the abortion of

the hairs on the legs of certain Caddis-Flies, &c. ' Nature,' March

20, 1879, vol. xix. p. 462.
Rats and Water-Casks. ' Nature,' March 27, 1879, vol. xix. p. 481.
Fertility of Hybrids from the common and Chinese Goose. ' Nature/

Jan. 1, 1880, vol. xxi. p. 207.
The Sexual Colours of certain Butterflies. ' Nature/ Jan. 8, 1880,

vol. xxi. p. 237.
The Omori Shell Mounds. ' Nature,' April 15, 1880, vol. xxi. p. 561.
Sir Wyville Thomson and Natural Selection. 'Nature,' Nov. 11,

1880, vol. xxiii. p. 32.
Black Sheep. 'Nature,' Dec. 30, 1880, vol. xxiii. p. 193.
Movements of Plants. ' Nature,' March 3, 1881, vol. xxiii. p. 409.
The Movements of Leaves. 'Nature,' April 28, 1881, vol xxiii. p.

603.
Inheritance. ' Nature/ July 21, 1881, vol. xxiv. p. 257.
Leaves injured at Night by Free Radiation. ' Nature,' Sept. 15, 1881.

vol. xxiv. p. 459.
The Parasitic Habits of Molothrus. ' Nature,' Nov. 17, 1881, vol.

xxv. p. 51.

APPENDIX II.

541

On the Dispersal of Freshwater Bivalves. ' Nature/ April 6, 1882,

vol. xxv. p. 529.
The Action of Carbonate of Ammonia on the Roots of certain Plants.

[Read March 16, 1882.] Linn. Soc. Journ. {Botany), vol. xix.

1882, pp. 239-261.
The Action of Carbonate of Ammonia on Chlorophyll-bodies. [Read

March 6, 1882.] Linn. Soc. Journ. {Botany), vol. xix. 1882, pp.

262-284.
On the modification of a Race of Syrian Street-Dogs by means of

Sexual Selection. By W. Van Dyck. With a preliminary notice

by Charles Darwin. [Rxad April 18, 1882.] Proc. Zoolog. Soc.

1882, pp. 367-370.

APPENDIX III.

Portraits.

Date.

Description.

Artist.

In the Possession of

1838

Water-colour

G. Richmond

The Family.

1851

Lithograph . .

Ipswich British Assn.
Series.

1853

Chalk Drawing .

Samuel Lawrence

The Family.

1853?

Chalk Drawing*

Samuel Lawrence

Prof. Hughes, Cam-
bridge.

1869

Bust, marble

T. Woolner, R. A.

The Family.

1875

Oil Paintingf .

W. Ouless, R. A.

The Family.

Etched by

P. Rajon.

1879

Oil Painting

W. B. Richmond.

The University of
Cambridge.

l88l

Oil Painting % .

Hon. John Collier

The Linnaean So-
ciety.

Etched by

Leopold Flameng

Chief Portraits a

nd Memorials not t

AKEN FROM LlFE.

Statue ....

Joseph Boehm, R. A.

Museum, South Ken-
sington.

Bust ....

Chr. Lehr, Junr.

Plaque ....

T. Woolner, R. A.,

Christ's College, in

and Josiah Wedg-

Charles Darwin's

wood and Sons.

Room.

Deep Medallion .

J. Boehm, R. A.

To be placed in West-
minster Abbey.

* Probably a sketch made at one of the sittings for the last-mentioned.

f A replica by the artist is in the possession of Christ's College, Cam-
bridge.

% A replica by the artist is in the possession of W. E. Darwin, Esq.,
Southampton.

APPENDIX III.

Chief Engravings from Photographs.

543

* 1854? By Messrs. Maull and Fox, engraved on wood for ' Harper's

Magazine' (Oct. 1884).
*i87o? By O. J. Rejlander, engraved on steel by C. H. Jeens for
1 Nature ' (June 4, 1874).

* 1874? By Capt. Darwin, R. E., engraved on wood for the ' Century-

Magazine ' (Jan. 1883). Frontispiece, vol. i.
1 88 1 By Messrs. Elliott and Fry, engraved on wood by G. Kru-
ells, for vol. ii. of the present work.

* The dates of these photographs must, from various causes, remain
uncertain. Owing to a loss of books by fire, Messrs. Maull and Fox can
give only an approximate date. Mr. Rejlander died some years ago, and
his business was broken up. My brother, Captain Darwin, has no record
of the date at which his photograph was taken.

APPENDIX IV*

HONOURS, DEGREES, SOCIETIES, &C.

Order, — Prussian Order, ' Pour le Merite.'
Office.— County Magistrate. 1857.

c B.A. 1831 [i832].t
Degrees. — Cambridge < M. A. 1837.

( Hon. LL.D. 1877.

1867.

Breslau
Bonn .
Leyden
Societies. — London

Hon. Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. 1862.

Hon. Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. 1868.

Hon. M.D. 1875.

Zoological. Corresp. Member. 18314

Entomological. 1833, Orig. Member.

Geological. 1836. Wollaston Medal, 1859.

Royal Geographical. 1838.

Royal. 1839. Royal Medal, 1853. Copley
Medal, 1864.

Linnean. 1854.

Ethnological. 1861.

Medico-Chirurgical. Hon. Member. 1868.

Baly Medal of the Royal College of Physi-
cians, 1879.

* The list has been compiled from the diplomas and letters in my
father's possession, and is no doubt incomplete, as he seems to have lost
or mislaid some of the papers received from foreign Societies. Where the
name of a foreign Society (excluding those in the United States) is given
in English, it is a translation of the Latin (or in one case Russian) of the
original Diploma.

\ See vol. i. p. 139.

% He afterwards became a Fellow of the Society.

APPENDIX IV.

Societies. — Provincial, Colonial and Indian.

545

Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1865.

Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, 1826. Hon. Member, 1861.

Royal Irish Academy. Hon. Member, 1866.

Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. Hon. Member,

1868.
Watford Nat. Hist. Society. Hon. Member, 1877.
Asiatic Society of Bengal. Hon. Member, 1871,
Royal Society of New South Wales. Hon. Member, 1879.
Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand. Hon. Member,

1863.
New Zealand Institute. Hon. Member, 1872.

Foreign Societies,

America.

Sociedad Cientifica Argentina. Hon. Member 1877.

Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Argentine Republic. Hon. Member,

1878.
Sociedad Zoolojica Arjentina. Hon. Member, 1874.
Boston Society of Natural History. Hon. Member, 1873.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston). Foreign Hon.

Member, 1874.
California Academy of Sciences. Hon. Member, 1872.
California State Geological Society. Corresp. Member, 1877.
Franklin Literary Society, Indiana. Hon. Member, 1878.
Sociedad de Naturalistas Neo-Granadinos. Hon. Member, i860.
New York Academy of Sciences. Hon. Member, 1879.
Gabinete Portuguez de Leitura em Pernambuco. Corresp. Member,

1879.
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Correspondent, i860.
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Member, 1869.

Austria-Hungary.

Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna. Foreign Corresponding

Member, 1871; Hon. Foreign Member, 1875.
Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien. Hon. Member, 1872.
K. k. Zoologisch- botanische Gesellschaft in Wien. Member, 1867.
Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia, Pest, 1872.

546 APPENDIX IV.

Belgium.

Societe Royale des Sciences Medicales et Naturelles de Bruxelles.

Hon. Member, 1878.
Societe Royale de Botanique de Belgique. ' Membre Associe,' 1881.
Academie Royale des Sciences, &c, de Belgique. 'Associe de la

Classe des Sciences.' 1870.

Denmark.
Royal Society of Copenhagen. Fellow, 1879.

France.

Societe d 'Anthropologic de Paris. Foreign Member, 1871.
Societe Entomologique de France. Hon. Member, 1874.
Societe Geologique de France (Life Member), 1837.
Institut de France. ' Correspondant ' Section of Botany, 1878.

Germany.

Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (Berlin). Corresponding

Member, 1863; Fellow, 1878.
Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, &c. Corresponding

Member, 1877.
Schlesische Gesellschaft fur Vaterlandische Cultur (Breslau). Hon.

Member, 1878.
Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Academia Naturae Curiosorum (Dres-
den).* 1857.
Senkenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Frankfurt am Main.

Corresponding Member, 1873.
Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Halle. Member 1 879.
Siebenbiirgische Verein ftir Naturwissenschaften (Hermannstadt).

Hon. Member, 1877.
Medicinisch - naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft zu Jena. Hon.

Member, 1878.

* The diploma contains the words " accipe ... ex antiqua nostra
consuetudine cognomen Forster." It was formerly the custom in the
Ccesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Academia, that each new member should re-
ceive as a * cognomen,' a name celebrated in that branch of science to
which he belonged. Thus a physician might be christened Boerhave, or
an astronomer, Kepler. My father seems to have been named after the
traveler John Reinhold Forster.

APPENDIX IV.

547

Royal Bavarian Academy of Literature and Science (Munich).
Foreign Member, 1878.

Holland.
Koninklijke Natuurkundige Vereeniging in Nederlandsch - Indie

(Batavia). Corresponding Member, 1880.
Societe Hollandaise des Sciences a Harlem. Foreign Member, 1877.
Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen te Middleburg. Foreign

Member, 1877.

Italy.

Societa Geografica Italiana (Florence). 1870.

Societa Italiana di Antropologia e di Etnologia (Florence). Hon.

Member, 1872.
Societa dei Naturalisti in Modena. Hon. Member, 1875.
Academia de' Lincei di Roma. Foreign Member, 1875.
La Scuola Italica, Academia Pitagorica, Reale ed Imp. Societa

(Rome). "Presidente Onoraria degli Anziani Pitagonci," 1880.
Royal Academy of Turin. 1873. Bressa Prize, 1879.

Portugal.

Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa (Lisbon). Corresponding Mem-
ber, 1877.

Russia.

Society of Naturalists of the Imperial Kazan University. Hon.

Member, 1875.
Societas Caesarea Naturae Curiosorum (Moscow). Hon. Member,

1870.
Imperial Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). Corresponding

Member, 1867.

Spain.
Institucion Libre de Ensenanza (Madrid). Hon. Professor, 1877.

Sweden.

Royal Swedish Acad, of Sciences (Stockholm). Foreign Member,

1865.
Royal Society of Sciences (Upsala). Fellow, i860.

Switzerland.

Societe des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel. Corresponding
Member, 1863.

INDEX.

Abbot, F. E., letter to, i. 275.

Academy of Natural Sciences (Phila-
delphia) elects Darwin a member,
ii. 100.

Agassiz, Alexander, letter to, ii. 421.

Agassiz, Louis, Darwin's estimate
of, i. 403 ; letters to, ii0 11, 281,
361 ; his attitude toward the ' Ori-
gin of Species,' 63, 64 note, 80,
103, 123, 152; reviews the * Ori-
gin of Species,' 123.

Aggregation, studied by Darwin, ii.

518.

' Almanack, The Naturalists' Pock-
et,' mentioned, i. 321.

Andes, Darwin crosses the, i. 231.

'Annals and Magazine of Natural
History,' mentioned, ii. 78.

Anticipation of Darwin's views, ii.
40-42, 95, 103, 113, 225, 289.

Ants, observations on, i. 485 ; ii.
158, 369-

Appleton, D., & Co., publish ' Ori-
gin of Species ' in America, ii. 65.

Argyll, Duke of, criticises the ' Ori-
gin of Species,' ii. 216 ; Darwin's
comments on his criticisms, 216-
218; Darwin on his 'Reign of
Law/ 244, 248 ; reviews the ' Fer-
tilisation of Orchids,' 449.

Aristotle, Darwin's estimate of, ii.
427.

Arrangement of leaves on the stems
of plants, ii. 234-236.

'Athenaeum,' Darwin on its review
of the ' Origin of Species,' ii. 19,
24 ; reports British Association
discussion, 113 ; Darwin's letters
to, in his own defence, 204, 206 ;
criticises Darwin, 206.

Australia, development of animals

in, ii. 132.
Australian flora, i. 500, 527.
Austrian expedition, i. 451.
Autobiography, i. 25-86 ; extracts

from, 277, 287, 314.
Aveling, Dr., on Darwin's religious

views, i. 286 note.

Bain, Alexander, letter to, ii. 350.

Balfour, Francis M., Darwin's esti-
mate of, ii. 426.

Baly medal presented to Darwin, ii.
401.

Bar, K. E. von, agrees with Dar-
win, ii. 122.

Bastian, H. C, Darwin on his ' Be-
ginnings of Life,' ii. 346-348.

Bates, H. W., Darwin on his insect
fauna of the Amazon valley, ii.
154; letters to, 170, 173, 183;
Darwin on his mimetic variations
of butterflies, 183-185.

Bats, ii. 128.

Beagle, voyage of, i. 49-57 ; Darwin
offered an appointment to the,
165 ; her equipments, 188 ; object
of her voyage, 191 ; her crew, 194.

Beetles, collecting, i. 496.

Behrens, W., letter to, ii. 456.

Bell, T., describes Darwin's rep-
tiles, i. 246.

Bell-stone of Shrewsbury men-
tioned, i. 36.

Belt, Thomas, Darwin on his • Natu-
ralist in Nicaragua,' ii. 365.

Bemmelen, A. van, letter to, ii. 403.

Bentham, George, his silence on
natural selection, ii. 86 ; letter to
Francis Darwin on his adoption

55o

INDEX.

of Darwin's views, 87 ; his view
of natural selection, 208 ; letters
to, 209, 210, 267, 454, 465.

Berkeley, Rev. M. J., reviews the
1 Fertilisation of Orchids,' ii. 444.

Berlin Academy of Sciences elects
Darwin corresponding member,
ii. 401.

Bet made by Darwin, i. 249.

Blomefield, Rev. Leonard, Darwin
becomes acquainted with, i. 46 ;
letters to, 161, 163, 252, 321, 392,
393, 395 J ii- I5> 57, 3%% \ Darwin
on his ' Observations in Natural
History,' i. 392, 395.

Bloom on leaves and fruit, Darwin's
work on, ii. 511.

Blyth, Edward, mentioned, ii. 109.

Boole, Mrs., her letter on natural
selection and religion, ii. 245-247;
letter to, 247.

Boott, Francis, mentioned, i. 264.

Botany, Darwin's work on, and its
relation to natural selection, ii.
429.

Bowen, Francis, reviews the Ori-
gin of Species,' ii. 98.

Brace, C. L., and wife, Darwin on
their philanthropic work, ii. 343.

Brazil, Emperor of, wishes to meet
Darwin, ii. 402.

Bree, C. R., his work ' Species not
Transmutable,' ii. 151 ; accuses
Wallace of blundering, and is an-
swered by Darwin, 345.

Breeding, sources of information on,

ii- 75-
Bressa prize presented to Darwin,

ii. 401.
British Association discusses the

'Origin of Species,' ii. 113-116 ;

Oxford meeting of, allegorized,

231 ; Belfast meeting, 1874, 367.
Bronn, H. G., edits the ' Origin of

Species' in German, ii. 31, 71,

232 ; letters to, 71, 72, 73 ; criti-
cisms on the ' Origin of Species,

139.
Brown, Robert, mentioned, i. 57,

60.

Brunton, T. Lauder, letter to, ii.

387.
Buckle, his system of collecting facts,
i. 61 ; Darwin on his ' History of
Civilisation,' ii. 178.

Buckley, Miss A. B., letters to, ii

373, 405.
Buffon, Darwin on, ii. 228.
Bunbury, Sir C, mentioned, i. 327.
Butler, Samuel, charges Darwin of

falsehood, ii. 396.
Butler, Dr., his school at Shrews

bury, i. 28.
Button, Jemmy, a visit to, i. 223.

Cairns, J. E., his lecture on ' The

Slave Power,' ii. 195.
Cambridge, University of, makes

Darwin LL. D., ii. 399 ; obtains

memorial portrait of him, 399.
Cameron, Mrs., makes a photograph

of Darwin, ii. 274.
Canary Islands, projected trip to, i.

165.
Candolle, Alphonse de, letters to, ii.

11, 279, 348, 505 ; his view of the

1 Origin of Species,' 201 ; Darwin

on his ' Histoire des Sciences et

des Savants,' 348.
Carlyle, Thomas, on Erasmus A.

Darwin, i. 21 ; his interesting talk,

63.

Carpenter, W. B., letters to, ii. 17,
18, 34, 57, 93; reviews the 'Ori-
gin of Species,' 93 ; his work on
' Foraminifera,' 202.

Cams, J. Victor, letters to, ii. 232,
249, 265, 290, 466, 505.

Caton, John D., letter to, ii. 284.

Chambers, R., Darwin on his geo-
logical views, i. 329, 330.

Chance, not implied in evolution, i.

Chimney-sweeps, Darwin s efforts
for, i. 350.

Cirripedia, monograph of the, i.
314-318 ; nomenclature of, 337 ;
work on, 345 ; the so-called auti-
tory sac of, ii. 187.

Civil war in the United States,
Darwin on, ii. 166, 169, 174, 177,
179, 195, 446.

Clark, William, mentioned, ii. 102.

Clark, Sir Andrew, is Darwin's phy-
sician, ii. 526, 528.

Climate and migration, i. 491.

4 Climbing Plants,' written and pub-
lished, i. 74 ; work on, ii. 484-
490 ; republished in book-form,
489.

INDEX.

551

Coal, discussion on submarine, i.

324-327.

Cohn, Prof., describes a visit to
Darwin, ii. 400.

Colenso, Bishop, his ' Pentateuch
and the Book of Joshua,' ii. 181.

Collecting, Darwin on, ii. 189; but-
terflies, 295.

Collier, John, paints Darwin's por-
trait, ii. 399.

Colors of insects, ii. 275, 276, 317.

Continental extension, i. 431-436 ;
Darwin's reasons against, 467.

Continents, permanence of, ii. 422.

Cope, E. D., Darwin on his theory
of acceleration, ii. 333.

Copley medal presented to Darwin,
ii. 212.

* Coral Reefs,' at work upon, i. 270 ;

opinions on, 292 ; criticised by
Semper, ii. 359 ; Darwin's answer
to Semper, 360 ; Darwin on Mur-
ray's criticisms of, 361 ; second
edition, 359.

Crawford, John, reviews the * Origin
of Species,' ii. 32.

Creative power, ii. 6.

* Creed of Science,' read by Darwin,

i. 284.

Cresy, E., letter to, ii. 491.

Crick, W. D., communicates to Dar-
win a mode of dispersal of bivalve
shells, ii. 427.

Cutting edges of books, Darwin on,
ii. 220.

Dana, Prof. , sends Darwin ' Geology
of U. S. Expedition,' i. 342.

Dareste, Camille, letter to, ii. 192.

Darwin family, i. 1-24.

Darwin, Annie, Darwin's account of,
i. 109 ; death of, 348.

Darwin, Miss C, letter to, i. 217.

Darwin, Catherine, letters to, i. 223,
228.

Darwin, Charles (1758-1778), stud-
ies medicine at Edinburgh, i. 7 ;
young man of great promise, 7.

Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882),
table of relationship, i. 5 ; ances-
tors, 1-24 ; personal characteris-
tics as traced from his forefathers,
4 ; love and respect for his father's
memory, 10 ; his affection for his
brother Erasmus, 20 ; autobiog- i

raphy, 25-86 ; mother dies, 26 ;
taste for natural history, 26 ;
school-boy experiences, 27 ; hu-
mane disposition toward animals,

28, 142 ; ii. 377 ; goes to Dr. But-
ler's school at Shrewsbury, 1818,
i. 28 ; taste for long, solitary walks,
29 ; inability to master a language,

29, 103 ; leaves school with strong
and diversified tastes, 30 ; fond-
ness for poetry in early life, 30 ;
a wish to travel first roused by
reading ' Wonders of the World/
31 ; fondness for shooting, 31, 37,
53 ; collects minerals and becomes
interested in insects and birds, 31 ;
studies chemistry, 32 ; goes to Ed-
inburgh University, 1825, and at-
tends medical lectures, 32 ; col-
lects and dissects marine animals,
34 ; attends meetings of the Plin-
ian Royal Medical and Wernerian
societies, 35 ; attends lectures on
geology and zoology, 36 ; meets
Sir J. Mackintosh, 38 ; spends
three years at Cambridge study-
ing for the ministry, 39 ; phren-
ological characteristics, 39 ; reads
Paley with delight, 41 ; attends
Henslow's lectures on botany,
41 ; his taste for pictures and
music, 42, 81, 101, 146 ; his inter-
est in entomology, 43, 148-157 ;
friendship of Prof. Henslow and
its influence upon his career, 44 ;
meets Dr. Whewell, 46 ; reads
Humboldt's * Personal Narrative '
and Herschel's ' Introduction to
the Study of Natural History,'
47 ; begins the study of geology,
47 ; field-work in North Wales,
48, 58, 272 ; voyage of the Beagle,
49-56 ; receives a proposal to sail
in the Beagle, 49 ; starts for Cam-
bridge and thence to London, 50 ;
1 voyage of the Beagle the most
important event in my life,' 51 ;
sails in the Beagle, 53 ; his letters
read before the Philosophical So-
ciety of Cambridge, 55 ; returns
to England, 56 ; begins his ' Jour-
nal of Travels,' 56 ; takes lodg-
ings in London, 56 ; begins pre-
paring MS. for his ' Geological
Observations,' 56 ; arranges for

552

INDEX.

publication of 4 Zoology of the
Voyage of the Beagle] 56 : opens
first note-book of ' Origin of Spe-
cies,' 56 ; meets Lyell and Robert
Brown, 56; marries, 57, 269; works
on his 'Coral Reefs,' 58 ; reads
papers before Geological Society,
58 , acts as secretary of the Geo-
logical Society, 64 ; residence at
Down, 64-86 ; his absorption in
science, 65 ; ii. 273, 352 ; his pub-
lications, i. 65 ; ' Geological Ob-
servations ' published, 65 ; success
of the ' Journal of Researches,'

65 ; begins work on * Cirripedia,'

66 ; visits to water-cure establish-
ments, 66, 108, 340., 449 ; work
on the ' Origin of Species,' 67, 70 ;
reads * Malthus on Population,'
68 ; begins notes on ' Variation
of Animals and Plants under Do-
mestication,' 73 ; becomes inter-
ested in cross-fertilisation of flow-
ers, 73 ; publishes papers on di-
morphic and trimorphic plants,

74 ; publishes ' Descent of Man,'

75 ; first child born, 76, 270 ; pub-
lishes translation and sketch of
* Life of Erasmus Darwin,' 78 ;
methods of work, 80, 121, 129-
131 ; ii. 491 ; mental qualities, i.
81-86 ; fond of novel reading, 81,
102 ; a good observer, 83 ; habits
and personal appearance, 87-102 ;
ill health, 89, 105, 135, 243,
318; ii. 186, 211, 215, 526-529;
fondness for dogs, i. 91; cor-
respondence, 97 ; business hab-
its, 98 ; scientific reading, 103 ;
wide interest in science, 104 ;
journals of daily events, 106 ; holi-
days, 106 ; relation to his family
and friends, 109, 119 ; his account
of his little daughter Annie, 109-
iii ; how he brought up his chil-
dren, in; manner towards serv-
ants, 115 ; as a host, 115; modesty,
117 ; not quick at argument, 117 ;
intercourse with strangers, 120 ;
use of simple methods and few
instruments, 122 ; perseverance,
125 ; theorizing power, 126 ; books
used only as tools, 127 ; use of
note-books and portfolios, 128 ;
courteous tone toward his reader, i

132; illustration of his books,
132 ; consideration for other au-
thors, 133 ; his wife's tender care,
135 ; Cambridge life, I39-J59 ;
his character, 143, 195 ; ii.

236 ; intention of going into the
church, i. 146; appointment to
the Beagle, 160-190 ; the voyage,
191-242 ; life at sea, 194-199,
205 ; views on slavery, 218, 220 ;
excursion across the Andes, 231 ;
meets Sir J. Herschel, 239 ; reach-
es home, 240 ; life at London
and Cambridge, 1836-1842, 243- '
273 ; residence at Cambridge, 249 ;
works on his ' Journal of Research-
es,' 250 ; appointed secretary of
Geological Society, 258 ; visits
Glen Roy, 260, 263 ; admiration
for Lyell's ' Elements,' 262 ; in-
creasing ill-health, 270 ; at work
on ' Coral Reefs,' 270 ; his re-
ligious views, 274-286 ; life at
Down, 1842-1854, 287-362 ; rea-
sons for leaving London, 288 ;
early impressions of Down, 290 ;
theory of coral islands, 292 ; time
spent on geological books, 1842-
1854, 296 ; purchases farm in Lin-
colnshire, 311 ; dines with Lord
Mahon, 344 ; daughter Annie dies,
348 ; his children, 348 ; growth
of views on ' Origin of Species/
363-425 ; plan for publishing

* Sketch of 1844,' in case of his
sudden death, 377 ; pigeon fancy-
ing enterprise, 411 ; collecting
plants, 411 ; general acceptance
of his work, 533 ; publishes * Ori-
gin of Species,' ii, 1 ; elected corre-
spondent of the Academy of Nat-
ural Sciences (Philadelphia), 100 ;
his views on the civil war in the
United States, 166, 169, 174, I77»
179, 195 ; at Bournemouth, 175 ;
his view of Lyell's ' Antiquity of
Man,' 193, 196, 198 ; receives the
Copley medal, 212 ; elected to
Royal Society of Edinburgh, 218 ;
his conscientiousness in argument,

237 ; his intercourse with horti-
culturists and stock-raisers, 240 ;
elected to the Royal Society of
Holland, 342 ; made a knight of
the Prussian order Pour le Merite,

INDEX.

553

243 ; sits for a bust, 287 ; declines
a nomination for the degree of
D. C. L. because of ill-health, 306 ;
his connection with the South
American Missionary Society,
307 ; his answers to Galton's
questions on nature and nurture,
355-357 J Slts f°r portrait to W.
Ouless, 373 ; elected to Physiologi-
cal Society, 382 ; replies to Miss
Cobbe on vivisection in the
Times, 384 ; publishes the * Life
of Erasmus Darwin,' 396 ; sits
for memorial portraits, 399 ; re-
ceives various honors, 399-404 ;
makes a present to the Naples
Zoological Station, 402 ; his an-
swers to Galton's questions on the
faculty of visualising, 415 ; offers
aid to Fritz Miiller, 418 ; replies
to Sir W. Thomson on abyssal
fauna, 418 ; his botanical work,
429-525 ; builds a greenhouse,
443 ; publishes work on the ferti-
lisation of orchids, 444 ; studies
the bloom on leaves and fruit,
5 1 1-5 14; studies the causes of
variability, 514-517 ; studies the
production of galls, 517 ; studies
aggregation, 518 ; encourages
Torbitt's work on the potato dis-
ease, 519-522 ; aids the prepara-
tion of the Kew * Index of Plant-
names,' 522-525 ; death, 529 ;
burial in Westminster Abbey,
531 ; list of works, 533.

Darwin & Wallace's joint paper on
variation, i. 472.

Darwin, Edward, author of ' Game-
keeper's Manual,' i. 4.

Darwin, Mrs. Emma (Wedgwood)
letter to, i. 377, 471.

Darwin, Erasmus (b. 1731), poet
and philosopher, i. 4 ; character
of, 6 ; life published in English,
ii. 396.

Darwin, Erasmus (b. 1759), *• 7-

Darwin, Erasmus Alvey (1804-1881),
educated as a physician, i. 20 ;
character of, 21 ; Carlyle's sketch
of his character, 21 ; Miss Wedg-
wood's letter on his character, 22 ;
letter from, ii. 28 ; his death, 404.

Darwin, Robert, of Elston Hall,
Charles Darwin's estimate of, i. 3.

Darwin, Robert Waring (b. 1724),
publishes * Principia Botanica,'
i. 4.

Darwin, Robert Waring (b. 1767),
studies medicine at Leyden, i. 8 ;
settles in Shrewsbury, 8 ; marries
Susannah Wedgwood, 9 ; his son
Charles's description of him, 11-
19 ; his six children, 20 ; letters
to, 170, 172, 200.

Darwin, Susan, letters to, i. 174,
175, 180, 181, 231, 236.

Darwin, William, of Marton, first
known ancestor of Charles, i. 1.

Darwin, William, son of Richard,
i. 1 ; appointed yeoman of the
Royal Armoury, 2.

Darwin, William (1655), i. 2.

Darwyn, Richard, of Marton, men-
tioned, i. 1.

Davidson, Thomas, letter to, asking
him to investigate brachiopod's,
ii. 158 ; letter to, 160 ; on British
brachiopoda, 162.

De Candolle, A. See Candolle, A.
De.

Descent, doctrine of, ii. 163.

Descent of animals, ii. 128.

'Descent of Man,' published, i. 75 ;
ii. 311; workon, 271, 273, 274, 280,
300; reviews of, 313, 317, 318,319,
326, 362 ; reception in Germany,
313 ; Wallace's views on, 314
note ; second edition, 353 ; con-
nected with socialism, 412.

Design in nature, doctrine of, i. 278,
283 ; ii. 146, 169, 174, 245.

Diagrams of descent of mammals,
ii. 135.

1 Different Forms of Flowers,' pub-
lished, i. 78 ; ii. 469 ; reviewed in
'Nature,' 483.

Digestion of plants, Darwin's work
on, ii. 495-499-

Distribution of animals, ii. 406.

Divergence of character, principle
of, i. 376.

Dogs, multiple origin of, ii. 25, 125,

138.

Dohrn, Anton, letter to, ii. 375.
Donders, F. C, letters to, ii. 342,

498.
Down, description of, i. 288.
Drift near Southampton, stones

standing on end in, ii. 390.

554

INDEX.

Du Bois-Reymond agrees with Dar-
win, ii. 146.

Dyck, W. T. van, letter to, ii. 428.

Dyer, W. Thiselton, on Darwin's
botanical work, ii. 430, 502 ; let-
ters to, 460, 467, 483, 497, 503,
504, 507, 513-

Ear, human, infolded point of, ii.

319.
Earthquakes, paper read on, i. 58.
Eaton, J., extract from his book on

4 Pigeons,' i. 411.

* Edinburgh Review,' Darwin's criti-

cisms on, ii. 106.

Education, Darwin on, i. 353, 354.

4 Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisa-
tion,' published, i. 78 ; ii. 467 ;
work on, 463-468.

Electrical organs in fish, ii. 145.

Erratic boulders of South America,
paper on, read, i. 58.

Evolution, doctrine of, objections to,
answered, i. 553-557 ; not a doc-
trine of chance, 553 ; and tele-
ology, 554 ; neither anti-theistic
nor theistic, 555 ; mental, ii. 272.

Expression, facial, origin of, ii. 276-
278.

4 Expression of the Emotions,' pub-
lished, i. 76 ; ii. 349 ; work on,
313, 320 ; reviews of, 350, 351.

Eyre, Gov., Darwin's views on the
prosecution of, ii. 236.

Fabre, J. H., letter to, ii. 397.

Falconer, Hugh, letters to, i. 134 ;
ii. 12, 167, 235 ; mentioned, i.
320 ; letter to Darwin, ii. 166 ;
views on the origin of elephants,
181 ; reclamation from Lyell's
* Antiquity of Man,' 203.

Farrar, F. W., letter to, ii. 225.

Farrer, Sir Thomas H., aids Dar-
win's researches on earthworms,
ii. 393; letters to, 451, 453, 512,

519-
Fawcett, Henry, defends Darwin's
reasoning, ii. 92.

* Fertilisation of Orchids,' published,

i. 73.
Fiske, John, letter to, ii. 371.
Fisher, Mrs., letters to, ii. 373, 405.
Fitton, W. H., mentioned, i. 264.
Fitz-Roy, R., captain of the Beagle,

his character, i. 50 ; meets Dar-
win, 176 ; letters to, 187, 240,
243, 287, 299, 300, 303 note, 317 ;
his intention of resigning, 229.

Flint instruments, i. 515, 522.

Flourens, P., on the ' Origin of Spe-
cies,' ii. 214.

Flowers, fertilisation of, ii. 429-483.

Forbes, David, praises Darwin's
work on Chile, ii. 148.

Forbes, Edward, his theory of
change of level, i. 398.

Fordyce, J., letter to, i. 274.

Forel, Aug., letter to, ii. 369.

4 Formation of Vegetable Mould,'
paper read on, i. 58, 255 ; pub-
lished, i. 79 ; ii. 394 ; work on,
392 ; its reception, 394.

Fox, William Darwin, Darwin's
friendship with, i. 4, 43, 147 ; let-
ters to, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155,
156, 157, 158, 179, 185, 206, 233,
248, 249, 250, 251, 271, 290, 301,
341, 348, 350, 352, 353, 355, 406,
408, 409, 410, 413, 430, 442, 467,
468, 496, 505, 522 ; ii. 17.

France, Institute of, elects Darwin
corresponding member, ii. 400.

Frauds, scientific, i. 84.

Free-will, doctrine of, ii. 246, 247.

Freke, Dr., his 'Origin of Species
by Means of Organic Affinity,' ii.
152.

Fuegians, Darwin's impressions of,
i. 215, 227.

Galapagos animals and plants, ii. 4,
5, 127-129, 136.

Galls, production of, studied by
Darwin, ii. 517.

Galton, Francis, mentioned, i. 4 ; his
questions on nature and nurture,
and Darwin's answers, ii. 355-
357 ; his questions on the faculty
of visualising, and Darwin's an-
swers, 414.

4 Gardener's Chronicle,' Darwin an-
swers Mr. West wood in, ii. 62.

Gaudry, A., letter to, ii. 269.

Geikie, Archibald, his opinion of
Darwin's geological works, i. 261,
273, 292, 294, 295, 297.

Geikie, James, letter to, ii. 390.

Genera, varying of large, i. 461-465.

Generation, spontaneous, ii. 340-348.

INDEX.

555

Geographical distribution, i. 437.

'Geological Observations,' MS. be-
gun, i. 56.

1 Geological Observations on Vol-
canic Islands ' published, i. 292 ;
opinions on, 292 ; second edition,

ii. 389.

* Geological Observations on South
America,' opinions on, i. 295.

Geological record, imperfection of,
ii. 18, 54, 102, 161, 286 ; succes-
sion in, 158-160.

Geological Society, Darwin wishes
to become a member, i. 238 ; pa-
pers contributed to, 250, 255, 270.

Geological specimens secured dur-
ing voyage, i. 244 ; disposed of,
247.

Geology, importance of, i. 52 ; of
St. Jago, 54 ; article on, in ' Ad-
miralty Manual,' 297; Darwin
on the progress of, ii. 425.

Germany, progress of natural selec-
tion in, ii. 120, 150, 250.

Germination, experiments in, 413-
416.

Gilbert, J. H., letter to, ii. 514.

Glacial period, its effect on species,
ii. 154 ; phenomena at Cwm Id-
wal, i. 49.

Glaciers, paper on ancient, in Wales,
i. 272.

Glen Roy, Darwin visits, i. 57, 260;
1 Observations' on, published, 260;
work criticised by D. Milne, 329.

Gourmet Club and its members, i.

145.
Government aid in publication of
1 Zoology of Voyage of Beagle] i.

255.

Graham, W., letter to, i. 284.

Gray, Asa, his papers on natural se-
lection and natural theology, ii.
131, 162-164; letters to, i. 284, 42b,

437, 446, 463, 476, 491, 5io; ii.
13, 39, 63, 67, 80, 90, 98, 104, 119,
125, 130, 137, 145, 164, 165, 169,
173, 175, 178, 182, 195, 235, 236,
256, 266, 367, 400, 434, 435, 436,

438, 439, 445, 447, 457, 458, 464,
465, 467, 472, 475, 477, 479, 480,
482, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 495,
497, 512 ; letter to Hooker on the
1 Origin of Species,' 62 ; on the

' Origin of Species,' 64-67 ; re- |
72

views the 'Fertilisation of Or-
chids,' 446; reviews the 'Varia-
tion of Animals and Plants,' 256.

Gray, J. E., mentioned, ii. 38, 85.

Giinther, A., letters to, ii. 302, 303.

Gurney, E., letter to, ii. 363.

Haast, Sir Julius von, letter to, ii.
190.

Hackel, E., his views on the ' Origin
of Species,' ii. 201 ; Darwin's
friendship with, 249 ; his work for
natural selection in Germany, 250;
letters to, 251, 285, 316, 358, 402.

Haliburton, Mrs., letters to, ii. 352,

353, 507.

Harvey, W. H., criticises the ' Origin
of Species,' ii. 68-70, 107, 168.

Haughton, Rev. S., criticises Dar-
win and Wallace's joint paper, i.
512.

Henslow, J. S., his friendship with
Darwin, i. 44, 161 ; his character,
45, 157 ; letter from, 167 ; letters to,
164, 166, 169, 174, 178, 188, 189,
208, 215, 221, 235, 238, 240, 244,
254, 256, 258 ; ii. 13; presides at the
Oxford discussion on the ' Origin
of Species,' 114; his views on
natural selection, 120 ; his death,
164.

Herbert, John Maurice, Darwin's
friendship with, i. 42, 140-142 ;
letters to, 148, 211, 219, 302.

Herschel, Sir J., Darwin's opinion
of, i. 61 ; ii. 26 ; meets Darwin, i.

239.
Heterogeny, Darwin on, ii. 204.
Higginson, T. W., letter to, ii. 354.
Hildebrand, F., letters to, ii. 454,

478, 480.
Hippocrates anticipates Darwin on

pangenesis, ii. 265.
Holmgren, Frithiof, letter to, ii. 382.
Holland, Royal Society of, elects

Darwin a member, ii. 342.
Holland, Sir Henry, his view of the

' Origin of Species,' ii. 28, 45.
Homoeopathy, Darwin's estimate of,

i. 341.
Honors conferred on Darwin, list of,

ii. 544-547.
Hooker, Sir Joseph D., Darwin's

friendship for, i. 119; letters to,

301, 303, 3"f 313, 319, 320, 322,

556

INDEX.

324, 325, 328, 329, 332, 340, 343,
346, 356, 359, 382, 384, 385, 388,
389* 39°> 39*> 397. 398, 400, 401,
402, 404, 413, 414, 415, 417, 4i8,
419, 424, 427, 428, 431, 438, 440,
441, 443, 444, 446, 448, 449, 454,
456, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 465,
468, 469, 476, 482, 484, 486, 488,
489, 490, 493, 494, 495, 498, 499,
500, 502, 504, 508, 5 nt 512, 513,

515, 518, 520, 525,529 ; »• 19, 20,

38, 41, 46, 47, 61, 68, 70, 85, 95, 23,
98, 100, 101, 107, 109, 116, 130,
147, 151, 154, 168, 189, 192, 199,
202, 203, 207, 223, 231, 239, 244,
256, 258, 259, 263, 281, 305, 344,
374, 381, 404, 422, 430, 437, 438,
439, 440, 442, 443, 445, 447, 448,
471, 472, 476, 479, 481, 484,485,
487, 488, 490, 492, 493, 499, 500,
506, 511, 517 ; letter from^i.315 ;
his reminiscences of Darwin, 380,
387 ; on the ■ Origin of Species,'
ii- 23, 35 ; Darwin on his * Aus-
tralian Flora/ 51-55 ; answers
Harvey, 69 ; memorial on his
treatment by the First Commis-
sioner of Works, 344 ; reviews
the ' Fertilisation of Orchids,'

447.

Hooker, Sir William, mentioned, ii.
223.

Hopkins, William, reviews the ' Ori-
gin of Species,' ii. 108.

Hudson, Darwin's reply to, ii. 332.

Humboldt, Darwin's estimate of, i.
61, 387, 403 ; ii. 422.

Hutton, F. W., reviews the * Origin
of Species,' ii. 155.

Huxley, Thomas Henry, mentioned,
i. 119 ; ii. 17 ; his opinion of Dar-
win's work on * Cirripedes,' i, 315 ;
on the * Vestiges of Creation,'
541 ; on the * Philosophic Zoolo-
gique,' 542 ; on the * Principles of
Geology,' 543 ; on the reception
of the ' Origin of Species,' 532-
558 ; letters to, $26 ; ii. 27, 45,
47, 75, ii7, 123, 143, 147, 176,
188, 214, 227, 228, 294, 299,
327, 328, 365, 416, 426, 529;
on the ' Origin of Species,' 26, 33,
47-5°, 76-78 ; reviews the ' Ori-
gin of Species * in * Westminster
Review,' 94 ; defends Darwin be-

fore the British Association, 113-
115 ; contradicts R. Owen, 114,
151 ; letter from, 122 ; lectures to
woikingmen on natural selection,
187 ; asked by Darwin to write a
text-book on zoology, 188 ; replies
to the * Quarterly ' reviewer on the
'Descent of Man,' 326.

Hyatt, Alpheus, letter to, on his
theory of acceleration, ii. 333.

Hybrid geese, fertility of, ii. 416.

Hybridism, ii. 9, 66, 74-76, 176,
470.

Immortality, Darwin's views upon,

i. 282.
* Infant, Biographical Sketch of an,'

ii. 410.
Inferiority inherited by the forms

which are beaten, ii. 8.
Innes, Rev. J. Brodie, on Darwin's

interest in village affairs, i. 120 ;

on the 'Origin of Species' and

the Bible, ii. 82 ; on Darwin's

conscientiousness, 237 ; letter to,

320.
1 Insectivorous Plants,' published, i.

77 ; ii. 501 ; work on, 354, 359,

490-501.
Insects, instinct of, ii. 397 ; as car-
riers of pollen, 434.
Instinct, Darwin on, ii. 397, 419-

421.
Islands, animals of, ii. 127-129.
Isolation, effect of, on the origin of

species, ii. 334-341.

Jardine, Sir W., mentioned, ii. 41.

Jeffreys, Gwyn, mentioned, ii. 55.

Jenkins, Fleeming, reviews the ' Ori-
gin of Species,' ii. 288 ; Darwin on
his criticisms, 288.

Jenyns, Rev. Leonard, mentioned,
i. 46, 166; letters to, 161, 163,
252, 321, 392, 393, 395 ; ii- 15, 57,
388 ; letter from, i. 321 ; his ■ Ob-
servations in Natural History,'

392,395. . ^ . , .

Jones, Dr. Bence, is Darwin s physi-
cian, ii. 526.

'Journal of Researches,' work on,
i. 56, 250 ; Lyell's opinion of, 291 ;
the German translation and its
reception, 291 ; second edition
published, 305 ; dedication of,

INDEX.

557

306 ; condemned in manuscript,
ii. 243.

Judd, Prof. , his paper on ' Volcanoes
of the Hebrides/ ii. 368 ; on Dar-
win's desire to promote the prog-
ress of science, 524.

Jukes, Joseph B., mentioned, ii. 87.

Kew, ' Index of Plant Names/ ii.
522-525.

Kingsley, Rev. C, letter from, on
the ' Origin of Species/ ii. 81.

Koch's researches on splenic fever,
Darwin on, ii. 410.

Kolliker, Prof., is reviewed by Hux-
ley, ii. 214.

Krause, Ernst, criticises Bronn's
German edition of the ' Origin of
Species/ ii. 71 ; his essay ori Eras-
mus Darwin published, ii. 395.

Krohn, Aug., finds mistakes in the
1 Origin of Species,' ii. 138.

Lamarck's discussion of the species
question, its insufficiency, i. 542 ;
Darwin on, ii. 198.

Lane, Dr., his recollections of Dar-
win, i. 108.

Langel reviews the * Origin of Spe-
cies,' ii. 99.

Lankaster, E. Ray, letter to, ii. 300.

Lansdowne, Marquis of, anecdote
of, i. 14.

Lee, Samuel, mentioned, i. 260.

Lesquereux, Leo, accepts the doc-
trine of natural selection, ii. 216.

Lewes, G. H., reviews the 'Varia-
tion of Animals and Plants,' ii.

259-
Lindley, John, mentioned, i. 356.
Linnean Society obtains memorial

portrait of Darwin, ii. 399.
Litchfield, Mrs., on Darwin's style,

i. 130 ; letter to, ii. 379.
Lizards, i. 413.
Lonsdale, William, mentioned i.

246.
Lowell, J. A., reviews the ' Origin

of Species,' ii. in, 112.
Lubbock, Sir John, letters to, i. 461,

496 ; ii. 14, 37, 220, 309, 425 ; on

the burial of Darwin, 532.
Lyell, Sir Charles, estimate of his

character as a geologist, i. 59 ;

letters to, 263, 266, 271, 296 note,

306, 307, 309, 311, 330, 331, 342,
344, 357, 426, 430, 43i, 432, 443,
470, 473, 474, 475, 485, 506, 508,
515, 519, 520, 524, 527, 530 ; ii.
24, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 40, 55, 56,
59, 60, 74, 78, 83, 85, 88, 91, 93,
96, 99, 101, 108, nr, 112, 120,
124, 127, 131, 133, 138, 139, 141,
144, 152, 157, 168, 180, 181, 196,
198, 200, 205, 216, 219, 248, 254,
255, 297, 368, 492 ; letters from,
i. 291, 293 ; opinion of ' Coral
Reefs,' 293, 294 ; his views of the
'Origin of Species,' 520 ; ii. 2-4 ;
on the origin of species by natu-
ral causes, i. 543-547 ; admission
of the doctrine of natural selec-
tion, ii. 24, 103, 213, 295 ; Dar-
win on his ■ Antiquity of Man,'
193, 196, 198 ; Falconer's recla-
mation from his 'Antiquity of
Man,' 203 ; Darwin on his ' Ele-
ments of Geology,' 219 ; his death,
373 ; Darwin's opinion of, 374.

Macaulay and his memory, i. 62.

McDonnell, R., his study of elec-
trical organs in fish, ii. 145.

Mackintosh, D., his work on erratic
blocks, ii. 411.

Macleay, W. S., mentioned, i. 252.

Madeira and Bermuda birds not pe-
culiar, ii. 4, 5.

Malay Archipelago/ Wallace's ' Zoo-
logical Geography of, i. 576.

Mammals, descent of, from a single
type, ii. 134.

Man, all races of, descended from
one type, ii. 136 ; antiquity of,
x57 ; origin of, 59, 197 ; relation-
ship to apes, 341.

Marriages, consanguineous, ii. 309.

Marsh, O. C, letter to, ii. 417.

Masters, Maxwell, letter to, ii. 178.

Matthew, Patrick, anticipates the
doctrine of natural selection, ii.

95.

Maw, George, reviews the * Origin
of Species,' ii. 168.

Medal of Royal Society awarded to
Darwin, i. 355.

Megatherium sent down from heav-
en, i. 328.

Mesmerism, Darwin's estimate of, i.
341.

558

INDEX.

Milne, D., criticises Glen Roy pa-
per, i. 329.
Mimetic modifications in plants, ii.

253.

Mivart, St. G., Darwin on his * Gene-
sis of Species, ii. 315, 323-329; his
4 Genesis of Species ' reviewed by
Chauncey Wright, 323, 342 ; criti-
cised by Huxley, 326 ; his * Les-
sons from Nature ' reviewed in
the ' Academy,' 362.

Modification, ii. 180.

Modifications, absence of, ii. 209.

Moggridge, J. T., letter to, ii. 450.

Mojsisovic, E. von, Darwin on his
4Dolomit Riffe,' ii. 411.

Monads, persistence of, ii. 6.

Monsters, ii. 75, 126.

Monstrosities are sterile, ii. 84.

Morse, E. S., letter to, ii. 409.

Moseley, H. N., letters to, ii. 413.

Muller, Fritz, letters to, ii. 221, 253,
266, 269, 278, 292, 329, 513; his
1 Fur Darwin ' translated, 268 ; re-
ceives offer of aid from Darwin,
418.

Muller, Hermann, letters to, ii. 455,
458.

Muller, Max, his ' Lectures on the
Science of Language,' ii. 182.

Murray, Andrew, quoted on the
4 Origin of Species,' ii. 56, 60.

Murray, John, letters to, i. 510, 514,
516, 532; ii. 429,441, 466.

Music of insects, ii. 278, 364.

Mutability of species, i. 389-393.

Nageli, C., his * Entstehung und
Begriff der Naturhistorischen Art,'
ii. 233, 234 ; letter to, 234.

Naples Zoological Station receives
a present from Darwin, ii. 402.

Natural history, Darwin's passion
for, ii. 352.

Natural selection. See Selection,
natural.

Naudin, Darwin on, ii. 41.

Neumayr, Melchior, letter to, ii.
408.

Nevill, Lady Dorothy, letter to,

ii. 499-

Newton, A., letter to, ii. 261 ; re-
views the 4 Variation of Animals
and Plants,' 261.

New Zealand, animals of, ii. 128,

191 ; plants of, i. 401 ; ii. 191,

239-
Nobility, natural selection among,

ii. 177.
Nomenclature of species, discussion

on, i. 332-340.
Norman, E., Darwin's secretary, i.

129.
Novara expedition, i. 451.

4 Observations on Parallel Roads of
Glen Roy,' published, i. 260 ; ex-
tract from, 261.

Ogle, William, letter to, ii. 265, 320,
321, 322, 427, 461.

4 Orchids, Fertilisation of,' work on,
ii. 437-462 ; published, 444 ; re-
views of, 444-449 ; second edition
published, 460.

4 Orchis Bank ' described, i. 94.

Organs, rudimentary, ii. 9.

4 Origin of Species,' first note-book
of, opened, i. 56 ; growth of the,
°7, 363-425 ; published, 70 ; ii.
1 ; its success, i. 70, 533-558 ;
second edition, 73 ; ii. 1, 51 ;
Darwin's change of views upon, i.
364 ; description of sketch of
1844, 373 ; Huxley's view of
sketch of 1844, 375 ; Prof. New-
ton's view of same, 376 ; the writ-
ing of, 472-532 ; abstract book,
487 ; un orthodoxy of, 507 ; faults
of style, 512, 514, 515, 519 ; Lyell
on, 520, 524 ; ii. 2 ; Huxley on,
i. 533-558 ; ii. 26, 76-78 ; Bishop
Wilberforce on, i. 536 ; Huxley's
summary of reviews of, 536-539 ;
answer to Lyell on, ii. 4-16 ; H.
C. Watson on, 21 ; Jos. D. Hook-
er on, 23 ; French translation pro-
posed, 30 ; first German edition,
31, 70-74, 120 ; reviewed in the
Times, 47-50 ; first American edi-
tion, 51, 64; Asa Gray on, 62;
Kingsley on, 81 ; and the Bible,
Rev. J. Brodie Innes on, 82 ; re-
viewed in the 4 Edinburgh Re-
view,' 94 ; reviewed in the 4 North
American Review,' 98 ; reviewed
in the 4 Revue des deux Mondes/
99 ; reviewed in the New York
Times, 99 ; reviewed in the Chris-
tian Examiner, ill, 112 ; dis-
cussed by the British Association,

INDEX.

559

113-116; reviewed in 'Quarterly
Review,' 117; reviewed in the
1 London Review/ T.21 ; reviewed
in the * American Journal of Sci-
ence and Arts,' 123, 124 ; Bronn's
criticisms of, 139 ; reviewed in the
1 Memoirs of the American Acade-
my of Arts and Sciences,' 141,
146 ; answers to criticisms on,
142 ; third edition, 144, 149, 155 ;

* Historical Sketch of the Recent
Progress of Opinion on the,' 149 ;
Dutch edition, 150 ; first French
edition, 150, 179 ; reviewed in the

* Geologist,' 155 ; reviewed in the
1 Dublin Hospital Gazette,' 168 ;
reviewed in the ' Zoologist,' 168 ;
De Candolle's view of, 201 ;
Haeckel's view of, 201 ; Gen. Sa-
bine on, 213 ; Flourens on, 214;
second French edition, 215, 255 ;
criticised by the Duke of Argyll,
216 ; fourth edition, 226, 227 ;
third German edition, 232, 249 ;
Russian editions of, 256 ; fifth
edition, 287, 288 ; reviewed in the
' North British Review,' 288 ; re-
viewed in the * Athenaeum,' 289 ;
third and fourth French editions,
291 ; sixth edition, 331 ; criticised
by Pusey, 412 ; ' Coming of age
of/ 416.

Ostrich, Darwin discovers a new
species of, i. 221.

Ouless, W., paints Darwin's por-
trait, ii. 373-

Owen, Sir R., criticises Darwin's
theory, ii. 113; contradicted by
Huxley, 114, 151 ; his views on
variation by descent, 180.

Paley's argument of design in na-
ture no longer good, i. 278 ; his
1 Natural Theology mentioned,
ii. 15.

Pampaean formation, Darwin on, ii.
187.

Pangenesis, hypothesis of, i. 75 ; ii.
372 ; opinions on, 260, 262, 265,
266 ; anticipated by Hippocrates,
265.

Parker, Henry, defends the * Ferti-
lisation of Orchids/ ii. 448.

Parsons, Theophilus, reviews the
4 Origin of Species/ ii. 124, 126.

I Peacock, George, letter on appoint-
ment of naturalist to Beagle, i.
166 ; letter from, appointing Dar-
win to Beagle, 169.

Pengelly, William, mentioned, ii.
168.

Perthes, Boucher de, Darwin on, ii.
198, 200.

Petrels as agents of distribution, i.
502.

Phillips, John, mentioned, ii. 102.

Philosophical Club, its nature, i.
402.

1 Philosophic Zoologique,' Huxley
on, i. 542.

Photographs, albums of, presented
to Darwin by German and Dutch
scientists, ii. 402.

Physiological Society elects Darwin
an honorary member, ii. 382.

Pictet, Francois Jules, reviews the
1 Origin of Species,' ii. 90.
j Pigeons, Darwin's interest in, i. 411.

Plants, fossil, ii. 423 ; sexuality of,
a recent discovery, 431.

Piatysma, contraction of, from shud-
dering, ii. 321.

Portraits of Darwin, list of, ii. 542.

Potato disease, Torbitt's experiments
on, ii. 519-522.

Pour le Merite, Darwin admitted to
order, ii. 243.

Pouter pigeon, variation in, ii. 97.

* Power of Movement in Plants/

published, i. 79 ; ii. 506 ; work

on, 502-506.
Prestwich, J., letter to, ii. 89.
Preyer, W., letter to, ii. 270.
Primogeniture, law of, Darwin on,

ii. 177.

* Principles of Geology,' Huxley on,

i. 543-
Priority, nomenclature of species by,

i. 332-340.
Progression, necessary, ii. 89.
Protection, modification for, ii. 304,

330.
Pusey's criticisms of the ' Origin of

Species,' ii. 412.

* Quarterly Review,' recognises mer-

its of ' Journal of Researches,' i.
291.
Quatrefages, J. L. A. de, letters to,
1 ii. 298, 334.

560

INDEX.

Religious views of Darwin, i. 274-
286 ; difficulties not created by
science, 556.

Reminiscences of Darwin by Hook-
er, i. 380.

Revelation, Darwin's disbelief in, i.

277-
Reversion, Darwin on, ii. 421.

Reymond, Du Bois-, letter to, ii. 401.

Richmond, W. B., paints Darwin's
portrait, ii. 399.

Ridley, C, letter to, ii. 411.

Rivers, T., letter to, ii. 240.

Robertson, G. Croom, letter to, ii.
410.

Robertson, John, reviews the ' Ori-
gin of Species,' ii. 289.

Rodwell, Rev. J. M., letter to, ii.
140.

Rolleston, George, his ' Canons,' ii.
156.

Roman Catholic church on evolu-
tion, ii. 326.

Romanes, G. J., on Darwin's con-
scientiousness, ii. 237 ; letters to,
385, 386, 402, 419

Royal College of Physicians pre-
sents the Baly medal to Darwin,
ii. 401.

Royal Society of Edinburgh elects
Darwin honorary member, ii. 218.

Royer, Mile. Ciemence, translates
the ' Origin of Species,' ii. 150,
179 ; publishes third French edi-
tion, 291.

Rudimentary organs, ii. 9.

Sabine, Gen., on the ' Origin of
Species,' ii. 213.

Salter, J. W., his diagram of spiri-
fers, ii. 159; 'Sand-walk* de-
scribed, i. 93.

Sanderson, J. Burdon, letter to, ii.

495.

Saporta, Marquis de, letter to, ii.
3ir, 366,458.

Schaaffhausen, H., claims to antici-
pate Darwin, ii. 103, 113.

Scott, John, Darwin's estimate of,
ii. 474.

Sedgwick, Rev. Adam, mentioned,
i. 47 ; ii. 305 ; on the ' Origin of
Species/ 42-45 ; his review of the
1 Origin of Species,' 91 ; criticises
the ' Origin of Species,' 100 ; on

the imperfection of the geological
record, 161 note.

Seeds, vitality of, i. 425.

Selection, natural, ii. 6-8, 9, no,
in, 138, 206, 209, 210, 217 ; doc-
trine of, clearly conceived by Dar-
win about 1839, i. 71 ; opposed to
doctrine of design, 278 ; ii. 97 ;
effect of, on the scientific mind, i.
550 ; and religion, ii. 105,. 131,
162-164, 245-248, 412 ; small ef-
fects of, in changing species,
128-130, 131-133 ; among the no-
bility, 177 ; Huxley's lectures to
workingmen on, 187 ; progress of-
187, 201, 312, 328, 332, 367 ; Dar,
win anticipated on, 225 ; use of
the term, 230 ; effect on sterility,
263 ; progress among the clergy,
291 ; progress of, in Germany, 270,
299 ; progress of, in France, 269,
299.

Selection, sexual, ii. 272, 274, 275,
276, 277, 292, 317, 330, 336 ; in-
stance of, in the dogs of Beyrout,
428.

Semper, K., letters to, ii. 339, 360,
516.

Shelburne, Lord, anecdote of, i. 14.

Slavery, Darwin's opinion of, i, 309 ;
in the United States, ii. 166, 169,
177, 196.

Smith, Sydney, inexplicably amus-
ing, i. 62.

Socialism and the descent of man,
ii. 412.

Societies, learned, DarwTin's mem-
bership in, ii. 218, 544.

South American Missionary Society,
Darwin's connection with, ii. 307.

Species, mutability of, i. 389-393,
409 ; origin of, effect of isolation
on, ii. 334-341 ; specific centres,
i. 441.

Spencer, Herbert, letters to, i. 497 ;
ii. 344 ; Prof. Huxley's friendship
with, i. 542 ; Darwin on, ii. 84,
152, 239, 301, 371 ; originates the
term i survival of the fittest,' 229 ;
his impression of ' Pangenesis,'
260.

Spiritism, Darwin on, ii. 364.

Spontaneity, Bain's theory of, ii. 351.

Sprengel, C. C, his work on the fer-
tilisation of flowers, ii. 432.

INDEX.

56l

Stanhope, Lord, his parties of his-
torians, i. 62.

Stebbing, Rev. T. R. R., letter to,
ii. 292.

Stendel's ' Nomenclator,' ii. 523.

Sterility, effect of natural selection
on, ii. 262 ; of moths, 376.

Stokes, Admiral, Lord, extract from
letter of, i. 197.

Stones standing on end in the South-
ampton drift, ii. 390.

Strickland, Hugh, letters to, i. 333*
337, 339; letter from, 335.

Striped horses, i. 469.

Struggle for life, i. 393.

Style of Darwin, i. 129, 131.

Sublimity, where felt most by Dar-
win, ii. 237-239.

Suiivan, B. J., letter to, ii. 306.

Sulivan, Admiral Sir James, extract
from letter of, i. 192, 195.

Survival of the fittest, use of the
term, ii. 229.

Tegetmeier, W. B., extract from

letter to, i. 412.
Teleology, evolution and, i. 554 ;

Darwin's revival of, ii. 430.
Teneriffe, projected trip to, i. 165.
Thiel, H., letter to, ii. 293.
Thomson, Thomas, mentioned, ii.

101.
Thomson, Sir Wyville, on abyssal

fauna, ii. 418.
Thorley, Miss, botanical work with,

i. 418.
Thwaites, G. J. K., mentioned, ii.

86, 140.
Tierra del Fuego Mission, Darwin's

connection with, ii. 307.
Times, its review of the * Origin of

Species,' ii. 47-50 ; Darwin on,

196.
Torbitt, James, his work on the po-
tato disease, ii. 519-522.
Turin, Royal Academy of, presents

Darwin the Bressa prize, ii. 401.
Tylor, E. B., letter to, ii, 331.
Tyndail, John, praises the 4 Origin

of Species,' ii. 367.

Usborne, A. B., extract from a letter
of, i. 198.

Van Dyck, W. T., letter to, i 428.

Variations in species, i. 397, 455—
460 ; ii. 180 ; Wallace's essay on,
i. 472 ; Darwin and Wallace's
joint paper on, 472, 482, 512 ; sud-
den, ii. 126 ; governed by design,
146; cause of, 170; mimetic, of
butterflies, 183-185 ; governed by
design, 245 ; mimetic, of plants,
253 ; in colors of insects, 275,
276 ; transmission of, 304 ; ana-
logical, 408 ; Darwin studies the
causes of, 514-517.

* Variation of Animals and Plants
under Domestication,' work on, i.
73 ; ii. 149, 150, 182, 186, 211,
226, 256 ; publication of, 242 ; re-
viewed in the Nation, 256 , Rus-
sian edition, 256 ; second edition,
258, 280, 372 ; reviewed in the
Pall Mall Gazette, 258; reviewed
in the Gardener's Chronicle, 260 ;
reviewed in the Athenceum, 260;
reviewed in the * Zoological Rec-
ord,' 261 ; American edition, 266.

Varieties, production of, ii. 132 ; and
species, collecting facts about, i.
271.

1 Vestiges of Creation ' read by Dar-
win, i. 301 ; Huxley on, 541.

Vines, S. H., letter to, ii. 518.

Virchow connects the descent of
man with socialism, ii. 412.

Visualising, questions and answers
on the faculty of, ii. 414.

Vivisection, ii. 377-387.

Wagner, Moritz, criticised by A.
Weismann, ii. 334 ; letters to, 336,

337.

Wagner, R., mentioned, ii. 123.

Wallace, A. R., sends essay to Dar-
win, i. 69 ; letters to, 372, 452,
405, 501, 516; ii- 16, 102, 229,
263, 271, 274, 275, 276, 277, 294,
296, 301, 303, 317, 323, 325, 345,
346, 363, 406 ; essay on variation,
i. 472 ; his * Zoological Geogra-
phy,' 516; ii. 79; reviews the
* Descent of Man,' 317; reviews
Mivart's * Lessons from Nature,'
362 ; pension granted to, 405 ;
defends the * Fertilisation of Or-
chids,' 449.

Watkins, Archdeacon, reminiscence
of Darwin, i. 144.

562

INDEX.

Watkins, Archdeacon, letter to, i.

213 ; ii. 121.
Watson, H. C, mentioned, i. 320;

on the ' Origin of Species,' ii. 21-

23.
Wedgwood, Josiah, his character,

i. 38 ; mentioned, 170 ; letter from,

172.
Wedgwood, Miss Julia, on Eras-
mus Darwin, in Spectator^ i 22 ;

letter to, 283.
Weismann, August, letters to, ii. 334,

376, 408.
Wells, Dr., anticipates Darwin on

natural selection, ii. 225.
Westminster Abbey, Darwin buried

in, ii. 531.
Whewell, Dr., mentioned, i. 46 ; ii.

55 ; on the succession of species,

i. 547-
Whitley, C, letter to, i. 226.
Wiesner, Julius, letter to, ii. 508.
Wilberforce, Bishop, criticises the

* Origin of Species,' ii. 114-116.

William IV, coronation of, i. 183.

Woodpecker, Pampas, Darwin on,
ii. 332.

Woolner, T., makes a bust of Dar-
win, ii. 287 ; discovers infolded
point of the human ear, 319.

Wollaston medal, i. 500, 507.

Wollaston's * Insecta Maderemia,'
i. 404 ; his ' Variation of Species '
referred to, 431.

Works by Darwin, list of, ii. 533-

541-
Wright, Chauncey, letter from, ii.
323 ; letters to, 324, 342 ; on his
visit to Darwin at Down, 343.

Yarrell, William, mentioned, i. 182.

Zoological Society, Darwin visits, 1.
245 ; reads a paper at, 250.

'Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S.
Beagle J arrangement for publica-
tion, i. 56, 251-255.

THE END.

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