LETTER FROM CHARLES LYELL 



soon as it is ready, which I hope will be in less than a 

 fortnight. 



I have made a good many corrections and given a list 

 of the most important ones in the Appendix for the 

 benefit of those who possess the first edition. As to my 

 Manual, it has been out of print more than a year and 

 much asked for, but I found it more agreeable to indulge 

 in a new book, and when I shall find time to re-edit the 

 old one, I cannot say. In the meantime I am glad you 

 have started a Manual, with American illustrations, by 

 which we shall all profit. 



' Your theory of the hands of man being at the service 

 of the head and not wanted for locomotion struck me 

 much, though the comparison with beings so remote as 

 the crustaceans appeared rather dangerous. I have al- 

 ways doubted the quadrumanous character of the an- 

 thropoid apes as a mark of inferiority, and have felt sure 

 that had man possessed an opposable great toe, which 

 might, for aught I see, be reconcilable with an erect 

 position, there would have been no end in Bridgewater 

 treatises of praises of the Creator for having given four 

 hands for the service of the head when we were not 

 moving from place to place. 



" Allow me again to thank you for your new edition, 

 about which, when I have studied it, you will, I hope, 

 let me write again. I was truly glad to hear that you 

 had been able so vigorously to resume work. 



" Darwin is not well, and talks of another water cure. 

 He might, I think, dispense with this violent remedy if 

 he could lie fallow for some months." 



The next three letters illustrate Dana's wide-spread 

 fame. Unexpected tributes from Humboldt, Gladstone, 

 and Thiers. 



S. F. B. MORSE TO DANA 

 A word from Baron Humboldt 



" BERLIN, PRUSSIA, August 25, 1856. 



" I cannot refrain from occupying a brief moment to 

 acquaint you with an incident which occurred on 



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