114 CHARLES DARWIN. 



certainty as one can say what will happen to the 

 vapour of the breath on a cold winter's day." J 

 ("Genealogy of Animals," The Academy, 1869, re- 

 printed in " Critiques and Addresses," and quoted in 

 his chapter " On the Reception of the ' Origin of 

 Species ' " in the " Life and Letters," Vol. II.) 



But at the time of the appearance of the " Origin," 

 many who sympathised with the general drift of the 

 argument were not yet prepared for the " wider 

 teleology." Of these Asa Gray may be taken as the 

 representative ; and it will be of interest to follow the 

 controversy between him and Darwin as regards 

 design and natural selection. The recently published 

 " Letters of Asa Gray to Charles Darwin " (Macmillan) 

 enable us to follow the correspondence from the side 

 of the great American evolutionist. 



Writing November 26th, 1860, Darwin refers to 

 one of Asa Gray's articles on the " Origin " : — 



"I grieve to say that I cannot honestly go as far as you do 

 about Design. I am conscious that I am in an utterly hopeless] 

 muddle. I cannot think that the world, as we see it, is the] 

 result of chance ; and yet I cannot look at each separate thing! 

 as the result of Design. To take a crucial example, you lead] 

 me to infer — that you believe ' that variation has been led 

 along certain beneficial lines.' I cannot believe this ; and I 

 think you would have to believe, that the tail of the Fantail 

 was led to vary in tlie number and direction of its feathers in 

 order to gratify the caprice of a few men. Yet if the Fantail 

 had been a wild bird, and had used its abnormal tail for some 

 special end, as to sail before the wind, unlike other birds, 

 everyone would have said, 'What a beautiful and designed 

 adaptation.' Again, I say. I am, and shall ever remain, in a 

 hopeless muddle." 



