212 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1864. 



pleted, for I find that I am very weak and on my best days 

 cannot do more than one or one and a half hours' work. It 

 is a good deal harder than writing about my dear climbing 

 plants." 



In this year he received the greatest honour which a sci- 

 entific man can receive in this country — the Copley Medal of 

 the Royal Society. It is presented at the Anniversary Meet- 

 ing on St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30), the medalist being usu- 

 ally present to receive it, but this the state of my father's 

 health prevented. He wrote to Mr. Fox on this subject : — 



'' I was glad to see your hand-writing. The Copley, be- 

 ing open to all sciences and all the world, is reckoned a great 

 honor ; but excepting from several kind letters, such things 

 make little difference to me. It shows, however, that Natural 

 Selection is making some progress in this country, and that 

 pleases me. The subject, however, is safe in foreign lands." 



To Sir J. D. Hooker, also, he wrote : — 



" How kind you have been about this medal ; indeed, I 

 am blessed with many good friends, and I have received four 

 or five notes which have warmed my heart. I often wonder 

 that so old a worn-out dog as I am is not quite forgotten. 

 Talking of medals, has Falconer had the Royal ? he surely 

 ought to have it, as ought John Lubbock. By the way, the 

 latter tells me that some old members of the Royal are quite 

 shocked at my having the Copley. Do you know who ? " 



He wrote to Mr. Huxley : — 



"I must and will answer you, for it is a real pleasure for 

 me to thank you cordially for your note. Such notes as this 

 of yours, and a few others, are the real medal to me, and not 

 the round bit of gold. These have given me a pleasure 

 which will long endure ; so believe in my cordial thanks for 

 your note." 



Sir Charles Lyell, writing to my father in November 1864 

 ('Life,' vol. ii. p. 384), speaks of the supposed malcontents 

 as being afraid to crown anything so unorthodox as the 

 'Origin.' But he adds that if such were their feelings "they 

 had the good sense to draw in their horns." It appears, how- 



