1859.] CREATION. 45 



thor of the * Vestiges ') and prophesy of things not yet in the 

 womb of time, nor (if we are to trust the accumulated experi- 

 ence of human sense and the inferences of its logic) ever 

 likely to be found anywhere but in the fertile womb of man's 

 imagination. And now to say a word about a son of a mon- 

 key and an old friend of yours : I am better, far better, than 

 I was last year. I have been lecturing three days a week 

 (formerly I gave six a week) without much fatigue, but I find 

 by the loss of activity and memory, and of ail productive 

 powers, that my bodily frame is sinking slowly towards the 

 earth. But I have visions of the future. They are as much 

 a part of myself as my stomach and my heart, and these vis- 

 ions are to have their antitype in solid fruition of what is 

 best and greatest. But on one condition only — that I hum- 

 bly accept God's revelation of Himself both in his works and 

 in His word, and do my best to act in conformity with that 

 knowledge which He only can give me, and He only can 

 sustain me in doing. If you and I do all this we shall meet 

 in heaven. 



" I have written in a hurry, and in a spirit of brotherly love, 

 therefore forgive any sentence you happen to dislike ; and 

 believe me, spite of any disagreement in some points of the 

 deepest moral interest, your true-hearted old friend, 



A. Sedgv/ick. 



C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley. 



Down, Dec. 25th [1859]. 

 My dear Huxley, — One part of your note has pleased 

 me so much that I must thank you for it. Not only Sir 

 II. H. [Holland], but several others, have attacked me about 

 analogy leading to belief in one primordial created form.* 

 (By which I mean only that we know nothing as yet [of] how 

 life originates.) I thought I was universally condemned on 



* ' Origin,' edit. i. p. 484. — " Therefore I should infer from analogy that 

 probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have 

 descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first 

 breathed." 



