54 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ [1860. 



.... The list of naturalised plants is extremely interest- 

 ing, but why at the end, in the name of all that is good and 

 bad, do you not sum up and comment on your facts? Come, 

 I will have a sneer at you in return for the many which you 

 will have launched at this letter. Should you have re- 

 marked on the number of plants naturalised in Australia and 

 the United States under extremely different climates, as show- 

 ing that climate is so important, and [on] the considerable 

 sprinkling of plants from India, North America, and South 

 Africa, as showing that the frequent introduction of seeds is 

 so important ? With respect to " abundance of unoccupied 

 ground in Australia," do you believe that European plants 

 introduced by man now grow on spots in Australia which 

 were absolutely bare ? But I am an impudent dog, one must 

 defend one's own fancy theories against such cruel men as 

 you. I dare say this letter will appear very conceited, but 

 one must form an opinion on what one reads with attention, 

 and in simple truth, I cannot find words strong enough to ex- 

 press my admiration of your essay. 



My dear old friend, yours affectionately, 



C. DARWIN. 



P. S. I differ about the Saturday Review* One cannot 

 expect fairness in a reviewer, so I do not complain of all 

 the other arguments besides the * Geological Record ' being 

 omitted. Some of the remarks about the lapse of years are 

 very good, and the reviewer gives me some good and well- 

 deserved raps confound it. I am sorry to confess the truth : 

 but it does not at all concern the main argument. That was 

 a nice notice in the Gardeners' Chronicle. I hope and imagine 

 ihat Lindley is almost a convert. Do not forget to tell me if 

 Bentham gets all the more staggered. 



* Saturday Review, Dec. 24, 1859. The hostile arguments of the re- 

 viewer are geological, and he deals especially with the denudation of the 

 Weald. The reviewer remarks that, " if a million of centuries, more or 

 less, is needed for any part of his argument, he feels no scruple in taking 

 them to suit his purpose." 



