96 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1867. 



intended giving a chapter on man, inasmuch as many call 

 him (not quite truly) an eminently domesticated animal, but 

 I found the subject too large for a chapter. Nor shall I be 

 capable of treating the subject well, and my sole reason for 

 taking it up is, that I am pretty well convinced that sexual 

 selection has played an important part in the formation of 

 races, and sexual selection has always been a subject which 

 has interested me much. I have been very glad to see your 

 impression from memory on the expression of Malays. I 

 fully agree with you that the subject is in no way an im- 

 portant one ; it is simply a " hobby-horse " with me, about 

 twenty-seven years old ; and after thinking that I would write 

 an essay on Man, it flashed on me that I could work in some 

 " supplemental remarks on expression." After the horrid, 

 tedious, dull work of my present huge, and I fear unreadable, 

 book [' The Variation of Animals and Plants '], I thought 

 I would amuse myself with my hobby-horse. The subject is, 

 I think, more curious and more amenable to scientific treat- 

 ment than you seem willing to allow. I want, anyhow, to 

 upset Sir C. Bell's view, given in his most interesting work, 

 1 The Anatomy of Expression,' that certain muscles have 

 been given to man solely that he may reveal to other men 

 his feelings. I want to try and show how expressions have 

 arisen. That is a good suggestion about newspapers, but my 

 experience tells me that private applications are generally 

 most fruitful. I will, however, see if I can get the queries 

 inserted in some Indian paper. I do not know the names or 

 addresses of any other papers. 



. . . My two female amanuenses are busy with friends, and 

 I fear this scrawl will give you much trouble to read. With 

 many thanks, 



Yours very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



[The following letter is worth giving, as an example 



