1865.] M. FLOURKNS. 21 5 



Je vous ai deja dit que vous vous trompiez ; une distinction 

 absolue separe les varietes d'avec les especes." Mr. Huxley 

 remarks on this, '' Being devoid of the blessings of an Acade- 

 my in England, we are unaccustomed to see our ablest men 

 treated in this way even by a Perpetual Secretary." After 

 demonstrating M. Flourens' misapprehension of Natural Se- 

 lection, Mr. Huxley says, " How one knows it all by heart, 

 and with what relief one reads at p. 65, 'Je laisse M. Dar- 



win.' " 



On the same subject my father wrote to Mr. Wallace : — 

 ^' A great gMn, Flourens, has written a little dull book 

 against me which pleases me much, for it is plain that our 

 good work is spreading in France. He speaks of the 

 " engouement " about this book [the ' Origin 'J " so full of 

 empty and presumptuous thoughts." The passage here al- 

 luded to is as follows : — 



" Enfin I'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut 

 qu'etre frappe du talent de I'auteur. Mais que d'idees ob- 

 scures, que d'idees fausses ! Quel jargon metaphysique jete 

 mal a propos dans I'histoire naturelle, qui tombe dans le 

 galimatias des qu'elle sort des idees claires, des idees justes. 

 Quel langage pretentieux et vide ! Quelles personifications 

 pueriles et surannees ! O lucidite ! O solidite de I'esprit 

 frangais, que devenez-vous ? "] 



1865. 



[This was again a time of much ill-health, but towards the 

 close of the year he began to recover under the care of the 

 late Dr. Bence-Jones, who dieted him severely, and as he 

 expressed it, ''half-starved him to death." He was able to 

 work at ' Animals and Plants ' until nearly the end of April, 

 and from that time until December he did practically no work, 

 with the exception of looking over the ' Origin of Species * 

 for a second French edition. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker : 

 — " I am, as it were, reading the ' Origin ' for the first time, 

 for I am correcting for a second French edition : and upon 



