24 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



It is impossible to do justice on the present 

 occasion to the numerous letters in which Darwin 

 expressed his gratitude for the splendid manner 

 in which Asa Gray kept his word and fought ' like 

 a hero in defence'. 1 At a time when few 

 naturalists were able to understand the drift of 

 Darwin's argument, the acute and penetrating 

 mind of Asa Gray had in a moment mastered 

 every detail. Thus Darwin wrote on July 22, 1860, 

 concerning the article in the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy for April 10 : 



1 . . . I cannot resist expressing my sincere admiration for 

 your most clear powers of reasoning. As Hooker lately said 

 in a note to me, you are more than any one else the 

 thorough master of the subject. I declare that you know 

 my book as well as I do myself; and bring to the question 

 new lines of illustration and argument in a manner which 

 excites my astonishment and almost my envy ! . . . Every 

 single word seems weighed carefully, and tells like a 

 32-pound shot.' * 



Some weeks later, on Sept. 26, 1860, Darwin 

 again expressed the same admiration, and 

 stated that Asa Gray understood him more 

 perfectly than any other friend : 



'. . . you never touch the subject without making it 

 clearer. I look at it as even more extraordinary that you 

 never say a word or use an epithet which does not express 

 fully my meaning. Now Lyell, Hooker, and others, who 

 perfectly understand my book, yet sometimes use expressions 

 to which I demur.' 3 



1 Life and Letters, ii. 310. J Ibid., 326. 



3 Ibid., 344, 345. 



