^H 



310 LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1845. 



should perhaps annoy you, and most certainly myself. I 

 have exhaled myself with a paragraph or two in my Journal 

 on the sin of Brazilian slavery ; you perhaps will think that 

 it is in answer to you ; but such is not the case. I have 

 remarked on nothing which I did not hear on the coast of 

 South America. My few sentences, however, are merely an 

 explosion of feeling. How could you relate so placidly that 

 atrocious sentiment ''' about separating children from their 

 parents ; and in the next page speak of being distressed at 

 the whites not having prospered ; I assure you the contrast 

 made me exclaim out. But I have broken my intention, and 

 so no more on this odious deadly subject. 



There is a favourable, but not strong enough review on 

 you, in the Gardeners' Chro7iicle. I am sorry to see that Lind- 

 ley abides by the carbonic acid gas theory. By the way, I 

 was much pleased by Lindley picking out my extinction para- 

 graphs and giving them uncurtailed. To my mind, putting 

 the comparative rarity of existing species in the same cate- 

 gory with extinction has removed a great weight ; though of 

 course it does not explain anything, it shows that until we can 

 explain comparative rarity, we ought not to feel any surprise 

 at not explaining extinction. . . . 



I am much pleased to hear of the call for a new edition of 

 the * Principles ' : what glorious good that work has done. I 

 fear this time you will not be amongst the old rocks ; hov/ I 

 shall rejoice to live to see you publish and discover another 

 stage below the Silurian — it would be the grandest step pos- 

 sible, I think. I am very glad to hear what progress Bunbury 

 is making in fossil Botany ; there is a fine hiatus for him to 

 fill up in this country. I will certainly call on him this winter. 

 . . . From what little I saw of him, I can quite believe every- 

 thing which you say of his talents. . . . 



* In the passage referred to, Lyell does not give his own views, but 



those of a planter. 



6 







