76 THE COMING [CH. 



Thus Darwin, from the horrors he had witnessed 

 in South America, had come to entertain a most 

 fanatical hatred of slavery his abhorrence of which 

 he used to express in most unmeasured terms. Lyell, 

 in his travels in the Southern United States, was equally 

 convinced of the undesirability of the institution ; 

 but he thought it just to state the grounds on which 

 it was defended, by those who had been his hosts in 

 the Slave-states. Even this, however, was too much 

 for Darwin, and he felt that he must l explode' to 

 his friend 'How could you relate so placidly that 

 atrocious sentiment' (it was of course only quoted 

 by Lyell) 'about separating children from their 

 parents ; and in the next page speak of being 

 distressed at the whites not having prospered : I 

 assure you the contrast made me exclaim out. But 

 I have broken my intention (that is not to write 

 about the matter), so no more of this odious deadly 

 subject 69 / 



It was just the same in their mode of viewing 

 scientific questions. Thus in 1838, while they were 

 in the midst of the fierce battle with the 'Old 

 Guard ' at the Geological Society, Lyell wrote to his 

 brother-in-arms as follows : 



*I really find, when bringing up my Preliminary Essays in 

 Principles to the science of the present day, so far as I know it, 

 that the great outline, and even most of the details, stand so 

 uninjured, and in many cases they are so much strengthened by 



