106 CHARLES DARWIN. 



admitted for one, instead of a purely unknown and imaginary- 

 one, such as the word ' Creation/ all the consequences 

 must follow." 



To this letter Darwin replied (October lltK) at 

 great length, in a most instructive letter, arguing 

 in considerable detail on all the points alluded to 

 by Lyell. He evidently thought that Ly ell's opinion 

 was of the utmost importance for the success of 

 Natural Selection. " If ever you are [perverted]," he 

 wrote at the end of the letter, " I shall know that 

 the theory of Natural Selection is, in the main, 

 safe." 



About this time Darwin seems to have heard 

 that Lyell had made up his mind to admit the 

 doctrine of evolution into a new edition of the 

 "Manual," and he wrote (November 23rd): — 



" I honour you most sincerely. To have maintained in the 

 position of a master, one side of a question for thirty years, 

 and then deliberately give it up, is a fact to which I much 

 doubt whether the records of science offer a parallel." 



Lyell's public confession of faith was, however, not 

 to be made for some years, and Darwin's letter w^as 

 a little premature. 



♦ Space will not permit me to quote from the long 

 correspondence with Lyell in the years folloAving the 

 appearance of the " Origin," although these letters 

 are of the deepest interest, and deal in the most 

 luminous manner with the difficulties of natural 

 selection and evolution, as they appeared to one of 

 the acutest intellects of that time. The letters soon 



