i860,] ATTACKS. IO9 



.... I have begun reading the ' North British,'* which 

 so far strikes me as clever. 



Phillips's Lecture at Cambridge is to be published. 



All these reiterated attacks will tell heavily ; there will be 

 no more converts, and probably some will go back. I hope 

 you do not grow disheartened, I am determined to fight to 

 the last. I hear, however, that the great Buckle highly ap- 

 proves of my book. 



I have had a note from poor Blyth, f of Calcutta, who 

 is much disappointed at hearing that Lord Canning will not 

 grant any money ; so I much fear that all your great pains 

 will be thrown away. Blyth says (and he is in many respects 

 a .very good judge) that his ideas on species are quite revo- 

 lutionized. . 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down, June 5th [1860]. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, It is a pleasure to me to write to 

 you, as I have no one to talk about such matters as we write 



more damning review than has as yet appeared ! " A second notice by 

 Hopkins appeared in the July number of ' Eraser's Magazine.' 



* May 1860. 



f Edward Blyth, born 1810, died 1873. His indomitable love of 

 natural history made him neglect the druggist's business with which he 

 started in life, and he soon got into serious difficulties. After supporting 

 himself for a few years as a writer on Field Natural History, he ultimately 

 went out to India as Curator of the Museum of the R. Asiatic Soc. of Ben- 

 gal, where the greater part of his working life was spent. His chief publi- 

 cations were the monthly reports made as part of his duty to the Society. 

 He had stored in his remarkable memory a wonderful wealth of knowledge, 

 especially with regard to the mammalia and birds of India knowledge of 

 which he freely gave to those who asked. His letters to my father give 

 evidence of having been carefully studied, and the long list of entries after 

 his name in the index to 'Animals and Plants,' show how much help was 

 received from him. His life was an unprosperous and unhappy one, full 

 of money difficulties and darkened by the death of his wife after a few 

 years of marriage. 



