My dear Mr. Darwin,—

I only returned here yesterday and found your letter awaiting me.¹

Your letter has made me as proud as Punch, and as you have such a good opinion of the line of work, I think I shall adopt your plan of working up the subject well before I publish the book.² The greatest difficulty I had in writing the lecture was to make it short enough, but it will be splendid to be able to spread oneself over the whole subject in a book. I was at one time in doubt whether it would be better to spend time over this subject or over something more purely physiological, but of late I had begun to incline towards the former, and your opinion has now settled mine.

I have not previously heard of the book by the Belgian physicist, and should much like to read it.³ I have already such a number of your books that I fear you must sometimes miss them; but I can return any of them at a minute’s notice.

I had thought of keeping a monkey and teaching its young ideas how to shoot, and wrote to Frank Buckland for his advice as to the best kind to get, but he has never answered my letter. The case about the lens is a capital one.⁴

I have such a host of letters to answer, which have accumulated during my absence, that I must make this a short one. Your ‘congratulations’ are of more value to me than any of the others, and I thank you for them much.

Ever your devoted disciple, | Geo. J. Romanes.

P.S.— Science is not a world where a man need trouble himself about getting more credit than is due.