Darwin Correspondence Project

Nov 23

Dear Charles

I am so weak 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 has said. He has not read much above half, so as he says he can give no definite conclusion, & it is my private belief he wishes to remain in that state, till others have, & a day or two ago, the book was not published even if it is now. He is evidently in a dreadful state of indecision & keeps stating that he is not tied down to either view & that he has always left an escape by the way in which he has spoken of varieties. I happened to speak of the eye before he had read that part, & it took away his breath—utterly impossible—structure—function &c &c &c. but when he had read it he hummed & hawed & perhaps it was partly conceivable, & then he fell back on the bones of the ear which were beyond all possibility or conceivability. 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, & it makes one turn back. The great fact of all was that he has written an article on Relation of Man to other animals, bringing them much closer together & that he has withdrawn it, as it would be necessary to notice your book, & he would not like to controvert you or interfere with the review upon you. &c &c

In regard to your boils, he asked if you had considered how far they followed or were connected with the water cure to which he evidently attributed them.

For myself I really think it is the most interesting book I ever read, & 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 convincing of the proofs, & the relation of the oldest forms to the existing species. I dare say I dont feel enough the absence of varieties, but then I dont in the least know if every thing now living were fossilized whether the palæontologists could distinguish them. In fact the a priori reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts wont 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 thro' the process of natural selection.

yours affec | E D