ch. xii.] OCTOBER 1859, TO DECEMBER 1859. 227 



extreme unction, I can now sing " nunc dimittis." I should 

 have been more than contented with one quarter of what 

 you have said. Exactly fifteen months ago, when I put pen 

 to paper for this volume, I had awful misgivings; and 

 thought perhaps I had deluded myself, like so many have 

 done, and I then fixed in my mind three judges, on whose 

 decision I determined mentally to abide. The judges were 

 Lyell, Hooker, and yourself. It was this which made me 

 so excessively anxious for yonr verdict. I am now con- 

 tented, and can sing my " nunc dimittis." What a joke it 

 would be if I pat you on the back when you attack some 

 immovable creationists ! You have most cleverly hit on 

 one point, which has greatly troubled me; if, as I must 

 think, external conditions produce little direct effect, what 

 the devil determines each particular variation? What 

 makes a tuft of feathers come on a cock's head, or moss on a 

 moss-rose ? I shall much like to talk over this with you. . . . 

 My dear Huxley, I thank you cordially for your letter. 



Yours very sincerely. 



Erasmus Darwin* to C. Darwin. November 23rd [1859]. 



Dear Charles, I am so much weaker 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.f has said. He has not 

 read much above half, so, as he says, he can give no definite 

 conclusion, and keeps stating that he is not tied down to 

 either view, and that he has always left an escape by the 

 way he has spoken of varieties. I happened to speak of the 

 eye before he had read that part, and it took away his breath 

 utterly impossible structure function, &c, &c, &c, 

 but when he had read it he hummed and hawed, and per- 

 haps it was partly conceivable, and then he fell back on the 

 bones of the ear, which were beyond all probability or con- 

 ceivability. He mentioned a slight blot, which I also ob- 

 served, that in speaking of the slave- ants carrying one an- 

 other, you change the species without giving notice first, 

 and it makes one turn back. . . . 



. . . For myself I really think it is the most interesting 

 book I ever read, and can only compare it to the first knowl- 

 edge of chemistry, getting into a new world or rather behind 

 the scenes. To me the geographical distribution, I mean 



* His brother. + Dr., afterwards Sir Henry, Holland. 



