My dear Sir.

I am heartily glad to hear of your intended marriage—¹ A good wife is the supreme blessing in this life, & I hope & believe from what you say, that you will be as happy as I have been in this respect— May your future geological work be as valuable as that which you have already done; & more than this need not be wished for any man; the practical teaching of Geology seems an excellent idea.²

Many thanks for Neumayr; but I have already received & read a copy of the same, or at least of a very similar essay—& admirably good it seemed to me—³

This essay and one by Mojsisovics which I have lately read, show what Palæontology in the future will do for the classification & sequence of Formations—⁴ It delighted me to see so inverted an order of proceeding,—viz the assuming the descent of species as certain & then taking the changes of closely allied forms as the standard of geological time— My health is better than it was a few years ago, but I never pass a day without much discomfort and the sense of extreme fatigue.

With all good wishes. | Yours very sincerely— | Ch. Darwin.