18790 



SOCIALISM. 



237 



Dr. Scherzer, the author of the ' Voyage of the NovaraJ gives 

 a hint of my father's views on this once burning question : — 



" What a foolish idea seems to prevail in Germany on the 

 connection between Socialism and Evolution through Natural 

 Selection."] 



C. Darwin to H. N. Moseley* 



Down, January 20, 1879. 



DEAR MOSELEY, — I have just received your book, and I 

 declare that never in my life have I seen a dedication which 

 I admired so much.t Of course I am not a fair judge, but I 

 hope that I speak dispassionately, though you have touched 

 me in my very tenderest point, by saying that my old Journal 

 mainly gave you the wish to travel as a Naturalist. I shall 

 begin to read your book this very evening, and am sure that 

 I shall enjoy it much. 



Yours very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



C. Darwin to H. N. Moseley. 



Down, February 4, 1879. 



DEAR MOSELEY, — I have at last read every word of your 

 book, and it has excited in me greater interest than any other 

 scientific book which I have read for a long time. You will 

 perhaps be surprised how slow I have been, but my head 

 prevents me reading except at intervals. If I were asked 

 which parts have interested me most, I should be somewhat 



* Professor of Zoology at Oxford. 

 The book alluded to is Prof. Mose- 

 ley 's ' Notes by a Naturalist on the 

 Challenger? 



f " To Charles Darwin, Esquire, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., &c, from the study 

 of whose ' Journal of Researches ' I 

 mainly derived my desire to travel 



round the world ; to the develop- 

 ment of whose theory I owe the 

 principal pleasures and interests of 

 my life, and who has personally 

 given me much kindly encourage- 

 ment in the prosecution of my 

 studies, this book is, by permission, 

 gratefully dedicated." 



