11872.] PUBLICATION OF THE EXPRESSION BOOK. 171 



Once again allow me to thank you for having sent me your 

 work, and for the very unusual amount of pleasure which I 

 have received in reading it. 



With much respect, I remain, my dear Sir, 



Yours very sincerely, 



CHARLES DARWIN. 



[The last revise of the ' Expression of the Emotions ' was 

 finished on August 22nd, 1872, and he wrote in his Diary: 

 " Has taken me about twelve months." As usual he had no 

 belief in the possibility of the book being generally successful. 

 The following passage in a letter to Haeckel serves to show 

 that he had felt the writing of this book as a somewhat 

 severe strain : 



" I have finished my little book on ' Expression,' and when 

 it is published in November I will of course send you a copy, 

 in case you would like to read it for amusement. I have 

 resumed some old botanical work, and perhaps I shall never 

 .again attempt to discuss theoretical views. 



" I am growing old and weak, and no man can tell when 

 his intellectual powers begin to fail. Long life and happiness 

 to you for your own sake, and for that of science." 



It was published in the autumn. The edition consisted of 

 7000, and of these 5267 copies were sold at Mr. Murray's sale 

 in November. Two thousand were printed at the end of the 

 year, and this proved a misfortune, as they did not afterwards 

 .sell so rapidly, and thus a mass of notes collected by the 

 author was never employed for a second edition during his 

 lifetime. 



Among the reviews of the ' Expression of the Emotions J 

 maybe mentioned the not unfavourable notices in the Athe- 

 .n&um, Nov. 9, 1872, and the Times, Dec. 13, 1872. A good 

 review by Mr. Wallace appeared in the ' Quarterly Journal 

 of Science,' Jan. 1873. Mr. Wallace truly remarks that the 

 .book exhibits certain " characteristics of the author's mind in 



