Letters 2 1 



these last months had merely been my old doubts over 

 again, whether I had rightly or wrongly interpreted 

 the manner and the words that had given me hope. 



We will begin the new love of woman and man, no 

 longer that of boy and girl, conscious that we have aims 5 

 and purposes as well as affections, and that, if love is 

 sweet, life is dreadfully stern and earnest. 



[To Charles Darwin. London, November 23, 1859. O 

 The Origin of Species.] 



My dear Darwin I finished your book yesterday, 10 

 a lucky examination having furnished me with a few hours 

 of continuous leisure. 



Since I read Von Bar's essays, nine years ago, no work 

 on Natural History Science I have met with has made so 

 great an impression upon me, and I do most heartily thank 15 

 you for the great store of new views you have given me. 

 Nothing, I think, can be better than the tone of the book; 

 it impresses those who know about the subject. As for 

 your doctrine, I am prepared to go to the stake, if re- 

 quisite, in support of Chapter IX and most parts of 20 

 Chapters X, XI, XII; and Chapter XIII contains much 

 that is most admirable, but on one or two points I enter a 

 caveat until I can see further into all sides of the question. 



As to the first four chapters, I agree thoroughly and 

 fully with all the principles laid down in them. I think 25 

 you have demonstrated a true cause for the production of 

 species, and have thrown the onus probandi, that species 

 did not arise in the way you suppose, on your adversaries. 



But I feel that I have not yet by any means fully 

 realized the bearings of those most remarkable and original 30 

 Chapters III, IV, and V; and I will write no more 

 about them just now. 



