1872.] 'DESCENT OF MAN.' 1 63 



Linnaeus, who was so good a judge of affinity. The man 

 who in England knows most about the structure of the 

 Simiae, namely, Mr. Mivart, and who is bitterly opposed 

 to my doctrines about the derivation of the mental powers, 

 yet has publicly admitted that I have not put man too 

 close to the higher Simiae, as far as bodily structure is 

 concerned. I do not think the absence of reversions of 

 structure in man is of much weight ; C. Vogt, indeed, argues 

 that [the existence of] Micro-cephalous idiots is a case of 

 reversion. No one who believes in Evolution will doubt that 

 the Phocae are descended from some terrestrial Carnivore. 

 Yet no one would expect to meet with any such reversion 

 in them. The lesser divergence of character in the races of 

 man in comparison with the species of Simiadae may perhaps 

 be accounted for by man having spread over the world at a 

 much later period than did the Simiadae. I am fully 

 prepared to admit the high antiquity of man ; but then we 

 have evidence, in the Dryopithecus, of the high antiquity of 

 the Anthropomorphous Simiae. 



I am glad to hear that you are at work on your fossil 

 plants, which of late years have afforded so rich a field for 

 discovery. With my best thanks for your great kindness, 

 and with much respect, I remain, 



Dear Sir, yours very faithfully, 



Charles Darwin. 



[In April, 1872, he was elected to the Royal Society of 

 Holland, and wrote to Professor Donders : — 



" Very many thanks for your letter. The honour of being 

 elected a foreign member of your Royal Society has pleased 

 me much. The sympathy of his fellow workers has always 

 appeared to me by far the highest reward to which any 

 scientific man can look. My gratification has been not a 

 little increased by first hearing of the honour from you."] 



M 2 



