140 EVOLUTION [Chap. Ill 



Letter 94 doctrine of Natural Selection as an hypothesis, which, if it 

 explained several large classes of facts, would deserve to be 

 ranked as a theory deserving acceptance ; and this, of course, 

 is my own opinion. But, as Huxley has never alluded to my 

 explanation of classification, morphology, embryology, etc., 

 I thought he was thoroughly dissatisfied with all this part of 

 my book. But to my joy I find it is not so, and that he 

 agrees with my manner of looking at the subject ; only that 

 he rates higher than I do the necessity of Natural Selection 

 being shown to be a vera causa always in action. He tells 

 me he is writing a long review in the Westminster. It was 

 really provoking how he wasted time over the idea of a 

 species as exemplified in the horse, and over Sir J. Hall's 

 old experiment on marble. Murchison was very civil to me 

 over my book after the lecture, in which he was disappointed. 

 I have quite made up my mind to a savage onslaught ; but 

 with Lyell, you, and Huxley, I feel confident wc are right, 

 and in the long run shall prevail. I do not think Asa Gray 

 has quite done you justice in the beginning of the review 1 of 

 me. The review seemed to me very good, but I read it very 

 hastily. 



Letter 95 



To C. Lyell. 



Down, [Feb.] 1 8th [i860]. 



I send by this post Asa Gray, which seems to me very 

 good, with the stamp of originality on it. Also Bronn's 2 

 Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie. 



The united intellect of my family has vainly tried to make 

 it out. I never tried such confoundedly hard gcrman ; nor 

 does it seem worth the labour. He sticks to Priestley's Green 

 Matter, and seems to think that till it can be shown how 

 life arises it is no good showing how the forms of life arise. 

 This seems to me about as logical (comparing very great 

 things with little) as to say it was no use in Newton showing 

 the laws of attraction of gravity and the consequent move- 



1 " Review of Darwin's Theory on the Origin of Species by means of 

 Natural Selection," by "A. G." (Amer.Jour. Set., Vol. XXIX., p. 153, 

 i860). In a letter to Asa Gray on Feb. 18th, i860, Darwin writes: 

 " Your review seems to me admirable ; by far the best which I have 

 read." {Life and Letters, II., 18S7, p. 286.) 



3 See Letter 93. 



