1893 LETTERS ON HIS ILLNESS 345 



As regards Weismannism, I do not include under 

 this term the question of the inheritance of acquired 

 characters. That has been a question for me since 

 the publication of Galton's ' theory of heredity ' in 

 1875. Indeed, even before that, everybody knew the 

 contrast between congenital and acquired characters 

 in respect of hereditability ; and you may remember, 

 the first time we met you gave me a lot of good 

 advice regarding my experiments on this subject. 



Please remember both of us very kindly to your 

 wife when you write to her, and with our united best 

 wishes to yourself, 



Believe me, ever yours sincerely, 



G. J. EOMANES. 



To Francis Darwin, Esq. 



St. Aldate's, Oxford : October 8, 1893. 



My dear Darv\;in, Your very kind letter has been 

 one ray of light to me in my gloom. Yet you must 

 not think it is the only one. 



It is comparatively easy to set our teeth and face 

 the inevitable with ' a grin ; ' but the ' highest 

 bravery ' is to hide our anguish with a smile. I do 

 think I make a decently good Stoic, but confess that 

 in times like this Christians have the pull. Never- 

 theless,! have often thought of the words, ' I am not in 

 the least afraid to die,' l and wondered whether, when 

 my time should come, I would be able to say them. 

 But now I know that I can, and this even in the 

 bitterness of feeling that one's work is prematurely 



1 See Life and Letters of C. Darwin, vol. iii. p. 358. 



