18591863] GLACIAL PERIOD 



that ; but the timid adders which run away would be saved, Letter 141 

 and in time they would never sting at all." Natural selection 

 of cowards ! 



H. Falconer to C. Darwin. Letter 142 



This refers to the MS. of Falconer's paper "On the American Fossil 

 Elephant of the Regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico (E. Columbi, 

 Falc.)," published in the Natural History Review, January, 1863, p. 43. 

 The section dealing with the bearing of his facts on Darwin's views is 

 at p. 77. He insists strongly (p. 78) on the " persistence and uniformity 

 of the characters of the molar teeth in the earliest known mammoth, and 

 his most modern successor." Nevertheless, he adds that the " inferences 

 I draw from these facts are not opposed to one of the leading propositions 

 of Darwin's theory." These admissions were the more satisfactory since, 

 as Falconer points out (p. 77), " I have been included by him in the 

 category of those who have vehemently maintained the persistence of 

 specific characters." 



21, Park Crescent, Portland Place, N.W., 



Sept. 24th [1862]. 



Do not be frightened at the enclosure. I wish to set 

 myself right by you before I go to press. I am bringing 

 out a heavy memoir on elephants an omnium gatherum 

 affair, with observations on the fossil and recent species. 

 One section is devoted to the persistence in time of the 

 specific characters of the mammoth. I trace him from before 

 the Glacial period, through it and after it, unchangeable and 

 unchanged as far as the organs of digestion (teeth) and 

 locomotion are concerned. Now, the Glacial period was no 

 joke : it would have made ducks and drakes of your dear 

 pigeons and doves. 



With all my shortcomings, I have such a sincere and 

 affectionate regard for you and such admiration of your work, 

 that I should be pained to find that I had expressed my 

 honest convictions in a way that would be open to any objec- 

 tion by you. The reasoning may be very stupid, but I believe 

 that the observation is sound. Will you, therefore, look over 

 the few pages which I have sent, and tell me whether you find 

 any flaw, or whether you think I should change the form of 

 expression ? You have been so unhandsomely and uncandidly 

 dealt with by a friend of yours and mine that I should be sorry 

 to find myself in the position of an opponent to you, and more 

 particularly with the chance of making a fool of myself. 



