1 868.] haeckel's books. 105 



pleased me very much. I think Lyell, who was apparently 

 much pleased by your sending him a copy, is also much 

 gratified by this chapter.* Your chapters on the affinities and 

 genealogy of the animal kingdom strike me as admirable 

 and full of original thought. Your boldness, however, 

 sometimes makes me tremble, but as Huxley remarked, 

 some one must be bold enough to make a beginning in 

 drawing up tables of descent. Although you fully admit the 

 imperfection of the geological record, yet Huxley agreed with 

 me in thinking that you are sometimes rather rash in venturing 

 to say at what periods the several groups first appeared. I have 

 this advantage over you, that I remember how wonderfully 

 different any statement on this subject made 20 years ago, 

 would have been to what would now be the case, and I 

 expect the next 20 years will make quite as great a difference. 

 Reflect on the monocotyledonous plant just discovered in the 

 primordial formation in Sweden. 



I repeat how glad I am at the prospect of the translation, 

 for I fully believe that this work and all your works will 

 have a great influence in the advancement of Science. 



Believe me, my dear Hackel, your sincere friend, 



Charles Darwin. 



[It was in November of this year that he sat for the bust 

 by Mr. Woolner : he wrote : — 



" I should have written long ago, but I have been pestered 

 with stupid letters, and am undergoing the purgatory of 

 sitting for hours to Woolner, who, however, is wonderfully 

 pleasant, and lightens as much as man can, the penance ; as 

 far as I can judge, it will make a fine bust." 



If I may criticise the work of so eminent a sculptor as 



* See Lyell's interesting letter to Haeckel. ' Life of Sir C. Lyell,' ii. 

 P- 435- 



