1867.] EVOLUTION AND RELIGION. 63 



[The^Jollpwing letter, from Mrs. Boole^is one of those 

 referred to in the last letter to Sir J. D. Hooker :] 



DEAR SIR, Will you excuse my venturing to ask you a 

 question, to which no one's answer but your own would be 

 quite satisfactory ? 



Do you consider the holding of your theory of Natural 

 Selection, in its fullest and most unreserved sense, to be 

 inconsistent I do not say with any particular scheme of 

 theological doctrine but with the following belief, namely : 



That knowledge is given to man by the direct inspiration 

 of the Spirit of God. 



That God is a personal and Infinitely good Being. 



That the effect of the action of the Spirit of God on the 

 brain of man is especially a moral effect. 



And that each individual man has within certain limits 

 a power of choice as to how far he will yield to his hereditary 

 animal impulses, and how far he will rather follow the 

 guidance of the Spirit, who is educating him into a power of 

 resisting those impulses in obedience to moral motives ? 



The reason why I ask you is this : my own impression has 

 always been, not only that your theory was perfectly com- 

 patible with the faith to which I have just tried to give 

 expression, but that your books afforded me a clue which 

 would guide me in applying that faith to the solution of 

 certain complicated psychological problems which it was 

 of practical importance to me as a mother to solve. I felt 

 that you had supplied one of the missing links not to say 

 the missing link between the facts of science and the pro- 

 mises of religion. Every year's experience tends to deepen 

 in me that impression. 



But I have lately read remarks on the probable bearing of 

 your theory on religious and moral questions which have 

 perplexed and pained me sorely. I know that the persons 

 who make such remarks must be cleverer and wiser than 



