104 WORK ON 'MAN.' [l868. 



C. Darwin to E. HaeckeL 



Down, Nov. 19 [1868]. 



My DEAR HAECKEL, — I must write to you again, for two 

 reasons. Firstly, to thank you for your letter about your 

 baby, which has quite charmed both me and my wife ; I 

 heartily congratulate you on its birth. I remember being 

 surprised in my own case how soon the paternal instincts 

 became developed, and in you they seem to be unusually 

 strong, ... I hope the large blue eyes and the principles of 

 inheritance will make your child as good a naturalist as you 

 are ; but, judging from my own experience, you will be 

 astonished to find how the whole mental disposition of your 

 children changes with advancing years. A young child, and 

 the same when nearly grown, sometimes differ almost as much 

 as do a caterpillar and butterfly. 



The second point is to congratulate you on the projected 

 translation of your great work,* about which I heard from 

 Huxley last Sunday, I am heartily glad of it, but how it has 

 been brought about, I know not, for a friend who supported 

 the proposed translation at Norwich, told me he thought 

 there would be no chance of it. Huxley tells me that you 

 consent to omit and shorten some parts, and I am confident 

 that this is very wise. As I know your object is to instruct 

 the public, you will assuredly thus get many more readers 

 in England. Indeed, I believe that almost every book 

 would be improved by condensation. I have been reading a 

 good deal of your last book,f and the style is beautifully 

 clear and easy to me; but why it should differ so much 

 in this respect from your great work I cannot imagine. I 

 have not yet read the first part, but began with the 

 chapter on Lyell and myself, which you will easily believe 



* ' Generelle Morphologie,' 1866. Geschichte,' 1*68. It was trans- 

 No English translation of this lated and published in 1876, under 

 book has appeared. the title, ' The History of Creation.* 



f l Die Naturliche Schopfungs- 



