1^2 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861. 



any historical details which may be necessary. Murray likes 

 lots of wood-cuts — give some by all means of ants. The 

 public appreciate monkeys — our poor cousins. What sexual 

 differences are there in monkeys ? Have you kept them 

 tame ? if so, about their expression. I fear that you will 

 hardly read my vile hand-writing, but I cannot without kill- 

 ing trouble write better. 



You shall have my candid opinion on your MS., but 

 remember it is hard to judge from MS., one reads slowly, and 

 heavy parts seem much heavier. A first-rate judge thought 

 my Journal very poor ; now that it is in print, I happen to 

 know, he likes it. I am sure you will understand why I am 

 so egotistical. 



I was a little disappointed in Wallace's book * on the 

 Amazon ; hardly facts enough. On other hand, in Gosse's 

 book f there is not reasoning enough to my taste. Heaven 

 knows whether you will care to read all this scribbling. . . . 



I am glad you had a pleasant day with Hooker, \ he is an 

 admirably good man in every sense. 



[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Bates on 

 the same subject is interesting as giving an idea of the 

 plan followed by my father in writing his ' Naturalist's 

 Voyage : ' 



" As an old hackneyed author, let me give you a bit of 

 advice, viz. to strike out every word which is not quite 

 necessary to the current subject, and which could not interest 

 a stranger. I constantly asked myself. Would a stranger 

 care for this .'' and struck out or left in accordingly. I think 

 too much pains cannot be taken in making the style trans- 

 \ parently clear and throwing eloquence to the dogs." 



Mr. Bates's book, ' The Naturalist on the Amazons,' was 



* ' Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,' 1S53. 



f Probably the ' Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851. 



\ In a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker (Dec. 1861), my father wrote : " I am 

 very glad to hear that you like Bates. I have seldom in my life been more 

 struck with a man's power of mind." 



