658 TRAVEL IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. [1876, 



the idea of fixity and clear limitation which does 

 not well or wholly represent the reality, is natural 

 enough ; is, indeed, inevitable. The object in these 

 works is to set forth the differences, and put them in 

 the strongest and clearest light, so that the forms may 

 be readily discriminated. The nearer two forms are 

 alike, the more pains the naturalist takes to set forth 

 the differences, while the likeness " goes without say- 

 ing," and is therefore overlooked by the outsider, 

 though it may have been almost an even chance that 

 the describer merged the two in one. 



The thoughtful and experienced naturalist does not 

 get a wrong impression from all this, but the out- 

 sider almost certainly will. A. G. 



January 14, 1876. 



DEAR MR. WRIGHT, Thanks for your line of the 

 8th. 



By this week's " Nation," 1 you see that, long as 

 the talk is, I have not yet touched the critical ques- 

 tion, nor have I yet got an opportunity to apply myself 

 to it. But I hope to do so soon. 



Meanwhile, the number of the " Westminster Re- 

 view," which you called my attention to, has passed 

 through my hands in our book club, and I shall soon 

 have it in my hands again. It makes a very stron'g 

 presentation, and the question is, how its points are 

 to be met on purely scientific grounds. If I can meet 

 them fairly, and reestablish the evidence of design on 

 the basis it ought to stand upon, I shall be satisfied 

 and happy. Anyway, it is a help to me to have this 

 able presentation brought before me. . . . 



1 Review of Darwin's Insectivorous and Climbing Plants, in The 

 Nation, Nos. 549 and 550. 



