q8 the 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860. 



P.S. — The conclusion at which I have come, as I have 

 told Asa Gray, is that such a question, as is touched on in 

 this note, is beyond the human intellect, like " predestination 

 and free will," or the " origin of evil." 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down [April i8th, i860]. 



My dear Hooker, — I return 's letter. . . . Some of 



my relations say it cannot possibly be 's article,* because 



the reviewer speaks so very highly of . Poor dear sim- 

 ple folk ! My clever neighbour, Mr. Norman, says the arti- 

 cle is so badly written, with no definite object, that no one 

 will read it. . . . Asa Gray has sent me an article \ from the 

 United States, clever, and dead against me. But one argu- 

 ment is funny. The reviewer says, that if the doctrine were 

 true, geological strata would be full of monsters which have 

 failed ! A very clear view this writer had of the struggle for 

 existence ! 



.... I am glad you like Adam Bede so much. I was 

 charmed with it. . . . 



We think you must by mistake have taken with your own 

 numbers of the * National Review ' my precious number.J 

 I wish you would look. 



C. Darwin to Asa Gray. 



Down, April 25lh [i860]. 



My dear Gray, — I have no doubt I have to thank you 

 for the copy of a review on the ' Origin ' in the ' North 



* The * Edinburgh Review.' 



f ' North American Review,' April, i860. " By Professor Bowen," is 

 written on my father's copy. The passage referred to occurs at p. 4S8, 

 where the author says that we ought to find *' an infinite number of other 

 varieties — gross, rude, and purposeless — the unmeaning creations of an un- 

 conscious cause." 



X This no doubt refei's to the January number, containing Dr. Car- 

 penter's review of the ' Origin.' 



