1 8/0.] SEDGWICK. 125 



makes me constantly distrust myself. I fear we shall never 

 quite understand each other. I value the cases of bright- 

 coloured, incubating male fishes, and brilliant female butter- 

 flies, solely as showing that one sex may be made brilliant 

 without any necessary transference of beauty to the other 

 sex ; for in these cases I cannot suppose that beauty in the 

 other sex was checked by selection. 



I fear this letter will trouble you to read it. A very short 

 answer about your belief in regard to the $ finches and 

 gallinacese would suffice. 



Believe me, my dear Wallace, 



Yours very sincerely, 



CH. DARWIN. 



C. Darwin to y. D. Hooker. 



Down, May 25 [1870]. 



.... Last Friday we all went to the Bull Hotel at 

 Cambridge to see the boys, and for a little rest and enjoyment. 

 The backs of the Colleges are simply paradisaical. On 

 Monday I saw Sedgwick, who was most cordial and kind ; in 

 the morning I thought his brain was enfeebled ; in the evening 

 he was brilliant and quite himself. His affection and kind- 

 ness charmed us all. My visit to him was in one way un- 

 fortunate ; for after a long sit he proposed to take me to the 

 museum, and I could not refuse, and in consequence he utterly 

 prostrated me ; so that we left Cambridge next morning, and 

 I have not recovered the exhaustion yet. Is it not humiliating 

 to be thus killed by a man of eighty-six, who evidently never 

 dreamed that he was killing me ? As he said to me, " Oh, I 

 consider you as a mere baby to me ! " I saw Newton several 

 times, and several nice friends of F.'s. But Cambridge with- 

 out dear Henslow was not itself ; I tried to get to the two 

 old houses, but it was too far for me. . . . 



