35^ 



EVOLUTION [Chap. V 



Letter 262 woman, and possibly it was here that I thought that you 

 would have profited by the doctrine. I fear that this note 

 will be almost illegible, but I am very tired. 



Letter 263 G. J. Romanes 1 to C. Darwin. 



This is, we believe, the first letter addressed by the late Mr. Romanes 

 to Mr. Darwin. It was put away with another on the same subject, and 

 inscribed " Romanes on Abortion, with my answer (very important)." Mr. 

 Darwin's answer given below is printed from his rough draft, which is 

 in places barely decipherable. On, the subject of these letters consult 

 Romanes, Darwin and after Darwin, Vol. II., p. 99. l8 95- 



Dunskaithj Paxkhill, Ross-shire, July 10th, 1874. 

 Knowing that you do not dissuade the more attentive of 

 your readers from communicating directly to yourself any 

 ideas they may have upon subjects connected with your 

 writings, I take the liberty of sending the enclosed copy of 

 a letter, which I have recently addressed to Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer. You will perceive that the subject dealt with is the 

 same as that to which a letter of mine in last week's Mature 

 [July 2nd, p. 164] refers — viz., "Disuse as a Reducing Cause 

 in Species." In submitting this more detailed exposition of 

 my views to your consideration, I should like to state again 

 what I stated in Nature some weeks ago, viz., that in pro- 

 pounding the cessation of selection as a reducing cause, I do 

 not suppose that I am suggesting anything which has not 

 occurred to you already. Not only is this principle embodied 

 in the theory set forth in the article on Rudimentary Organs 



characters not possessed by the male : for instance, the high degree of 

 intuitive power of reading the mental states of others and of concealing 

 her own— characters which Mr. Spencer shows to be accounted for by 

 the relations between the husband and wife in a state of savagery. If 

 so, the man should resemble " the young of both sexes " in the absence 

 of' these special qualities. This seems to be the case with some 

 masculine characteristics, and childishness of man is not without recog- 

 nition among women : for instance, by Dolly Winthrop in Silas Marncr, 

 who is content with bread for herself, but bakes cake for children and 

 men, whose " stomichs are made so comical, they want a change— they 

 do, I know, God help 'em." 



1 G. J. Romanes (1848-94) was one of Mr. Darwin's most devoted 

 disciples. The letters published in Mrs. Romanes' interesting Life and 

 Letters of her husband (1896) make clear the warm feelings of regard and 

 respect which Darwin entertained for his correspondent. 



