46 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [1859. 



this head. But I answered that though perhaps it would 

 have been more prudent not to have put it in, I would not, 

 strike it out, as it seemed to me probable, and I give it on 

 no other grounds. You will see in your mind the kind of 

 arguments which made me think it probable, and no one 

 fact had so great an effect on me as your most curious remarks 

 on the apparent homologies of the head of Vertebrata and 

 Articulata. 



You have done a real good turn in the Agency business * 

 (I never before heard of a hard-working, unpaid agent besides 

 yourself), in talking with Sir H. H., for he will have great 

 influence over many. He floored me from my ignorance 

 about the bones of the ear, and I made a mental note to ask 

 y^ou what the facts were. 



With hearty thanks and real admiration for your generous 

 zeal for the subject. 



Yours most truly, 



C. DARWIN. 



You may smile about the care and precautions I have taken 

 about my ugly MS. ;f it is not so much the value I set on 

 them, but the remembrance of the intolerable labour for 

 instance, in tracing the history of the breeds of pigeons. 



C. Darwin to J. D, Hooker. 



Down, 25th [December, 1859]. 



... I shall not write to Decaisne ; \ I have always had 

 a strong feeling that no one had better defend his own 

 priority. I cannot say that I am as indifferent to the subject 

 as I ought to be, but one can avoid doing anything in 

 consequence. 



I do not believe one iota about your having assimilated any 



* " My General Agent " was a sobriquet applied at this time by my 

 father to Mr. Huxley. 



f Manuscript left with Mr. Huxley for his perusal. 



\ With regard to Naudin's paper in the ' Revue Horticole,' 1852. 



