1865.] M. FLOURENS — DUKE OF ARGYLL. 3 1 



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

 good work is spreading in France. He speaks of the 

 i engouement ' about this book ■ so full of empty and 

 presumptuous thoughts.' " The passage here alluded to is 

 as follows : — 



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

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

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

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

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

 Quel langage pretentieux et vide ! Quelles personnifications 

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

 francais, 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 

 my life, my dear fellow, it is a very good book, but oh ! my 

 gracious, it is tough reading, and I wish it were done." * 



The following letter refers to the Duke of Argyll's address 

 to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, December 5th, 1864, in 

 which he criticises the ' Origin of Species.' My father seems 

 to have read the Duke's address as reported in the Scotsman 

 of December 6th, 1865. In a letter to my father (Jan. 16, 



* Towards the end of the year my the distinguished American natural- 

 father received the news of a new ist Lesquereux. He wrote to Sir J. D. 

 convert to his views, in the person of Hooker : " I have had an enormous 



