362 MISCELLANEA. [1874. 



however, hardly believe in the former presence of as many 

 banks (there having been no subsidence) as there are atolls 

 in the great oceans, within a reasonable depth, on which mi- 

 nute oceanic organisms could have accumulated to the thick- 

 ness of many hundred feet, . . . Pray forgive me for troubling 

 you at such length, but it has occurred [to me] that you 

 might be disposed to give, after your wide experience, your 

 judgment. If I am wrong, the sooner I am knocked on the 

 head and annihilated so much the better. It still seems to 

 me a marvellous thing that there should not have been much, 

 and long continued, subsidence in the beds of the great 

 oceans. I wish that some doubly rich millionaire would take 

 it into his head to have borings made in some of the Pacific 

 and Indian atolls, and bring home cores for slicing from a 

 depth of 500 or 600 feet. . . . 



[The second edition of the ' Descent of Man * was published 

 in the autumn of 1874. Some severe remarks on the " mo- 

 nistic hypothesis " appeared in the July * number of the 

 * Quarterly Review ' (p. 45). The Reviewer expresses his 

 astonishment at the ignorance of certain elementary distinc- 

 tions and principles (e. g. with regard to the verbimi mentale) 

 exhibited, among others, by Mr. Darwin, who does not ex- 

 hibit the faintest indication of having grasped them, yet a 

 clear perception of them, and a direct and detailed exami- 

 nation of his facts with regard to them, " was a sine qua iion 

 for attempting, with a chance of success, the solution of the 

 mystery as to the descent of man." 



Some further criticisms of a later date may be here alluded 

 to. In the * Academy,' 1876 (pp. 562, 587), appeared a re- 

 view of Mr. Mivart's ' Lessons from Nature,' by Mr. Wallace. 

 When considering the part of Mr. Mivart's book relating to 

 Natural and Sexual Selection, Mr. Wallace says : '' In his 

 violent attack on Mr. Darwin's theories our author uses unu- 

 sually strong language. Not content with mere argument, he 



* The review necessarily deals with the first edition of the ' Descent 

 of Man.* 



