3i6 'DESCENT OF MAN '—EXPRESSION. [1871, 



tic Animals.' Mivart is savage or contemptuous about my 

 ''moral sense," and so probably will you be. I am extremely 

 pleased that he agrees with my position, as far as animal na- 

 ture is concerned^ of man in the series ; or if anything, thinks 

 I have erred in making him too distinct. 



Forgive me for scribbling at such length. You have put 

 me quite in good spirits ; I did so dread having been unin- 

 tentionally unfair towards your views, I hope earnestly the 

 second volume will escape as well. I care now very little 

 what others say. As for our not quite agreeing, really in 

 such complex subjects, it is almost impossible for two men 

 who arrive independently at their conclusions to agree fully, 

 it would be unnatural for them to do so. 



Yours ever, very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



[Professor Haeckel seems to have been one of the first to 

 write to my father about the ' Descent of Man.' I quote 

 from his reply : — 



'' I must send you a few words to thank you for your in- 

 teresting, and I may truly say, charming letter. I am de- 

 lighted that you approve of my book, as far as you have read 

 it. I felt very great difficulty and doubt how often I ought 

 to allude to what you have published ; strictly speaking every 

 idea, although occurring independently to me, if published by 

 you previously ought to have appeared as if taken from your 

 works, but this would have made my book very dull reading ; 

 and I hoped that a full acknowledgment at the beginning 

 would suffice.* I cannot tell you how glad I am to find that 

 I have expressed my high admiration of your labours with 



* In the introduction to the ' Descent of Man ' the author wrote : — 

 " This last naturalist [Haeckel] . . . has recently . . . published his 

 ' Natiirliche Schopfungs-geschichte,' in which he fully discusses the gene- 

 alogy of man. If this work had appeared before my essay had been writ- 

 ten, I should probably never have completed it. Almost all the conclusions 

 at which I have arrived, I find confirmed by this naturalist, whose knowl- 

 edge on many points is much fuller than mine." 



