13^ 'DESCENT OF MAN' — EXPRESSION. [1871, 



of the necessity of altering a number of characters together, 

 he ought to have thought of man having power by selection 

 to modify simultaneously or almost simultaneously many 

 points, as in making a greyhound or racehorse — as enlarged 

 upon in my ' Domestic Animals.' Mivart is savage or con- 

 temptuous about my " moral sense," and so probably will you 

 be. I am extremely pleased that he agrees with my position, 

 as far as animal nature is concerned, of man in the series ; or 

 if anything, thinks I have erred in making him too distinct. 



Forgive me for scribbling at such length. You have put me 

 quite in good spirits ; I did so dread having been uninten- 

 tionally unfair towards your views. I hope earnestly the 

 second volume will escape as well. I care now very little what 

 others say. As for our not quite agreeing, really in such 

 complex subjects, it is almost impossible for two men who 

 arrive independently at their conclusions to agree fully, it 

 would be unnatural for them to do so. 



Yours ever, very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



[Professor Haeckel seems to have been one of the first to 

 write to my father about the ' Descent of Man.' I quote from 

 his reply : — 



" I must send you a few words to thank you for your inter- 

 esting, and I may truly say, charming letter. I am delighted 

 that you approve of my book, as far as you have read it. I 

 felt very great difficulty and doubt how often I ought to 

 allude to what you have published ; strictly speaking every 

 idea, although occurring independently to me, if published by 

 you previously ought to have appeared as if taken from 

 your works, but this would have made my book very dull 

 reading ; and I hoped that a full acknowledgment at the 

 beginning would suffice.* I cannot tell you how glad I am to 



* In the introduction to the ' De- " This last naturalist [Haeckel] . . . 

 scent of Man ' the author wrote : — has recently . . . published his 'Na- 



