lyell's slow conversion. 107 



began to produce an effect, and Darwin wrote 

 (September 26th, 1860) to Asa Gray :— 



" I can perceive in my immense correspondence with Lyell, 

 who objected to much at first, that he has, perhaps un- 

 consciously to himself, converted himself very much during 

 the last six months, and I think this is the case even with 

 Hooker. This fact gives me far more confidence than any 

 other fact." 



Later on Darwin evidently became a little annoyed 

 that Lyell still delayed to declare his belief one way 

 or the other. Thus he wrote to Asa Gray (May 11th, 

 1863) :— 



" You speak of Lyell as a judge ; now what I complain of 

 is that he declines to be a judge. . . I have sometimes almost 

 wished that Lyell had pronounced against me. When I say 

 ' me,' I only mean change of species by descent. That seems to 

 me the turning-point. Personally, of course, I care much about 

 Natural Selection ; but that seems to me utterly unimportant, 

 compared to the question of Creation or Modification." 



Shortly before this date, on February 24th, he 

 wrote to Hooker in nuich the same style. These 

 communications were called forth by the appearance 

 of " The Antiquity of Man," and it is clear that 

 Darwin's disappointment at Lyell's suspended judg- 

 ment was due to their correspondence, which had 

 encouraged him to expect some definite opinion on 

 the question. "From all my communications with 

 him, I must ever think that he has really entirely 

 lost faith in the immortality of species," he wrote 

 in his letter to Hooker. On March 6th he wrote to 

 Lyell himself, expressing his disappointment, and 



