My dear Huxley

I write one line to thank you for your note.¹ I felt so strongly convinced that Häckel could not get aid from the two channels suggested by him, that I offered and pressed him to accept £100 from me in aid of his undertaking.² But this will do nothing for him without some further aid, and I do not know any millionaire to whom I could apply, and indeed the case is not urgent emough to justify application to hardly any stranger.

I am very sorry to hear about Du Bois Reymond, as I liked much what I saw of him on one occasion, and he has always been most civil towards me as an evolutionist.—³ I am not in the least surprised about Virchow.⁴

I am glad to hear you have got a house at Grassmere. We thought it two years ago most beautiful, as is this place, and Borrowdale even more beautiful.⁵ I had no idea there was such lovely scenery in England. The inhabitants of this country might say, what a Yankee said to an English lord, who was admiring the Hudson river, “Yes, lord, we take a deal of pains with our scenery.”⁶

Ever, my dear Huxley | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin.