212 WRITING OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, [ch. xi. 



by his offer. Hence he does not want more MS., and you 

 can send my Geographical chapter when it pleases you." 



Part of the MS. seems to have been lost on its way back 

 to my father. He wrote (April 14) to Sir J. D. Hooker : 



" 1 have the old MS., otherwise the loss would have 

 killed me ! The worst is now that it will cause delay in 

 getting to press, and far worst of all, I lose all advantage 

 of your having looked over my chapter,* except the third 

 part returned. I am very sorry Mrs. Hooker took the trou- 

 ble of copying the two pages." 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. [April or May, 1859.] 



. . . Please do not say to any one that I thought my 

 book on species would be fairly popular, and have a fairly 

 remunerative sale (which was the height of my ambition), 

 for if it prove a dead failure, it would make me the more 

 ridiculous. 



I enclose a criticism, a taste of the future 



Rev. S. Hauglitoii's Address to the Geological Society, Dub- 

 lin^ 



" This speculation of Messrs. Darwin and Wallace would 

 not be worthy of notice were it not for the weight of au- 

 thority of the names {i.e. Ly ell's and yours), under whose 

 auspices it has been brought forward. If it means what it 

 says, it is a truism ; if it means anything more, it is con- 

 trary to fact." Q. E. D. 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. Down, May 11th [1859]. 



My dear Hooker, Thank you for telling me about 

 obscurity of style. But on my life no nigger with lash over 

 him could have worked harder at clearness than I have 

 done. But the very difficulty to me, of itself leads to the 

 probability that I fail. Yet one lady who has read all my 

 MS. has found only two or three obscure sentences; but 

 Mrs. Hooker having so found it, makes me tremble. I will 



* The following characteristic acknowledgment of the help he received 

 occurs in a letter to Hooker, of about this time : " I never did pick any one's 

 pocket, but whilst writing my present chapter I keep on feeling (even when 

 ditf'ering most from you) just as if I were stealing from you, so much do I 

 owe to your writings and conversation, so much more than mere* acknowledg- 

 ments show." 



+ Feb. 9th, 1858. 



