1870-1882] BRITISH ASSOCIATION 323 



spontaneous combustion : tens of thousands of cases of things Letter 23S 

 having been seen to be set on fire would be no true argument 

 against any one who maintained that flames sometimes spon- 

 taneously burst forth. I am delighted at the apotheosis of 

 Sir Roderick ; I can fancy what neat and appropriate 

 speeches he would make to each nobleman as he entered the 

 gates of heaven. You ask what I think about Tyndall's 

 lecture l : it seemed to me grand and very interesting, though 

 I could not from ignorance quite follow some parts, and I 

 longed to tell him how immensely it would have been im- 

 proved if all the first part had been made very much less 

 egotistical. George independently arrived at the same 

 conclusion, and liked all the latter part extremely. He 

 thought the first part not only egotistical, but rather 

 clap-trap. 



How well Tyndall puts the "as if" manner of philoso- 

 phising, and shows that it is justifiable. Some of those 

 confounded Frenchmen have lately been pitching into me 

 for using this form of proof or argument. 



I have just read Rolleston's address in Nature- : his style 

 is quite unparalleled ! I see he quotes you about seed, so 

 yesterday I went and observed more carefully the case given 

 in the enclosed paper, which perhaps you might like to read 

 and burn. 



How true and good what you say about Lyell. He is 

 always the same ; Dohrn was here yesterday, and was remark- 

 ing that no one stood higher in the public estimation of 

 Germany than Lyell. 



I am truly and profoundly glad that you are thinking of 

 some general work on Geographical Distribution, or so forth ; 

 I hope to God that your incessant occupations may not inter- 

 rupt this intention. As for my book, I shall not have done 

 the accursed proofs till the end of November 3 : good Lord, 

 what a muddled head I have got on my wretched old 

 shoulders. 



1 Tyndall's lecture was " On the Scientific Uses of the Imagination.'' 

 - Presidential Address to the Biological Section, British Association, 

 1870. Nature^ Sept. 22nd, 1870, p. 423. Rolleston referred to the 

 vitality of seeds in soil, a subject on which Darwin made occasional 

 observations. See Life and Letters ; II., p. 65. 



3 The proofs of the Descent of Man were finished on Jan. 15th, 1871. 



