76 EVOLUTION [CHAP. II 



Letter 35 To J. D. Hooker. 



Down [1854]. 



With respect to " highness ' and " lowness," my ideas are 

 only eclectic and not very clear. It appears to me that an 

 unavoidable wish to compare all animals with men, as 

 supreme, causes some confusion ; and I think that nothing 

 besides some such vague comparison is intended, or perhaps 

 is even possible, when the question is whether two kingdoms 

 such as the Articulata or Mollusca are the highest. Within 

 the same kingdom I am inclined to think that "highest" 

 usually means that form which has undergone most " morpho- 

 logical differentiation " from the common embryo or arche- 

 type of the class ; but then every now and then one is 

 bothered (as Milne Edwards has remarked) by " retrograde 

 development," i.e., the mature animal having fewer and less 

 important organs than its own embryo. The specialisation of 

 parts to different functions, or " the division of physiological 

 labour " 1 of Milne Edwards exactly agrees (and to my mind 

 is the best definition, when it can be applied) with what you 

 state is your idea in regard to plants. I do not think 

 zoologists agree in any definite ideas on this subject ; and my 

 ideas are not clearer than those of my brethren. 



Letter 36 To J- D - Hooker. 



Down, July 2nd [1854]. 



I have had the house full of visitors, and when I talk I 

 can do absolutely nothing else ; and since then I have been 

 poorly enough, otherwise I should have answered your letter 

 long before this, for I enjoy extremely discussing such points 

 as those in your last note. But what a villain you are to 

 heap gratuitous insults on my elastic theory : you might as 

 well call the virtue of a lady elastic, as the virtue of a theory 

 accommodating in its favours. Whatever you may say, I 

 feel that my theory does give me some advantages in dis- 

 cussing these points. But to business : I keep my notes in 

 such a way, viz., in bulk, that I cannot possibly lay my hand 

 on any reference ; nor as far as the vegetable kingdom is 

 concerned do I distinctly remember having read any dis- 

 cussion on general highness or lowness, excepting Schleiden 



1 A slip of the pen for " physiological division of labour," 



