i868 i88i] MORPHOLOGY 377 



like it much ; but you look down so sharp on me that I Letter 697 

 shall never be bold enough to wriggle myself out of any 

 contradiction. 



Owen pitches into me and Lyell in grand style in the last 

 chapter of vol. 3 of Anat. of Vertebrates. He is a cool 

 hand. He puts words from me in inverted commas and 

 alters them. 1 



To J. D. Hooker. Letter 698 



Down, Dec. 29th, 1868. 



Your letter is quite invaluable, for Nageli's essay 2 is so 

 clever that it will, and indeed I know it has produced a great 

 effect ; so that I shall devote three or four pages to an answer. 

 I have been particularly struck by your statements about 

 erect and suspended ovules. You have given me heart, and 

 I will fight my battle better than I should otherwise have 



1 The passage referred to seems to be in Owen's Anatomy of 

 Vertebrata, III., pp. 798, 799, note. "I deeply regretted, therefore, to 

 see in a ' Historical Sketch' of the Progress of Enquiry into the origin 

 of species, prefixed to the fourth edition of that work (1866), that 

 Mr. Darwin, after affirming inaccurately and without evidence, that I 

 admitted Natural Selection to have done something toward that end, 

 to wit, the 'origin of species,' proceeds to remark : ' It is surprising that 

 this admission should not have been made earlier, as Prof. Owen now 

 believes that he promulgated the theory of Natural Selection in a 

 passage read before the Zoological Society in February, 1850, (Trans., 

 Vol. IV., p. 15).'" The first of the two passages quoted by Owen from 

 the fourth edition of the Origin runs: "Yet he [Prof. Owen] at the 

 same time admits that Natural Selection may [our italics] have done 

 something towards this end." In the sixth edition of the Origin, p. xviii., 

 Darwin, after referring to a correspondence in the London Review 

 between the Editor of that Journal and Owen, goes on : " It appeared 

 manifest to the editor, as well as to myself, that Prof. Owen claimed 

 to have promulgated the theory of Natural Selection before I had 

 done so ; ... but as far as it is possible to understand certain recently 

 published passages (Ibid. \Anat. of VertJ], Vol. III., p. 798), I have 

 either partly or wholly again fallen into error. It is consolatory to 

 me that others find Prof. Owen's controversial writings as difficult to 

 understand and to reconcile with each other, as I do. As far as the 

 mere enunciation of the principle of Natural Selection is concerned, it 

 is quite immaterial whether or no Prof. Owen preceded me, for both 

 of us, as shown in this historical sketch, were long ago preceded by 

 Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthews." 



See preceding Letter. 



