1860.] VON BAER. I2 - 



letter reached me two days ago. When I find it I will let you 

 know what there is in it. 



Ever yours faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley. 



Down, August 8 [1860]. 



MY DEAR HUXLEY Your note contained magnificent 

 news, and thank you heartily for sending it me. Von 

 Baer weighs down with a vengeance all the virulence of [the 

 ' Edinburgh ' reviewer] and weak arguments of Agassiz. If 

 you write to Von Baer, for heaven's sake tell him that we 

 should think one nod of approbation on our side, of the 

 greatest value ; and if he does write anything, beg him to 

 send us a copy, for I would try and get it translated and 

 published in the Athenaum and in * Silliman ' to touch up 



Agassiz Have you seen Agassiz's weak metaphysical 



and theological attack on the ' Origin ' in the last ' Silliman ' ? * 

 I would send it you, but apprehend it would be less trouble 

 for you to look at it in London than return it to me. R. 

 Wagner has sent me a German pamphlet,f giving an ab- 

 stract of Agassiz's ' Essay on Classification,' " mit Rticksicht 

 auf Darwins Ansichten," &c. &c. He won't go very " dan- 

 gerous lengths," but thinks the truth lies half-way between 

 Agassiz and the ' Origin.' As he goes thus far he will, nolens 

 volens, have to go further. He says he is going to review 



* The ' American Journal of Science and Arts' (commonly called 'Sil- 

 liman's Journal '), July 1860. Printed from advanced sheets of vol. iii. of 

 ' Contributions to the Nat. Hist, of the U. S.' My father's copy has a 

 pencilled " Truly " opposite the following passage : " Unless Darwin and 

 his followers succeed in showing that the struggle for life tends to some- 

 thing beyond favouring the existence of certain individuals over that of 

 other individuals, they will soon find that they are following a shadow." 



f ' Louis Agassiz's Prinzipien der Classification, &c., mit Rticksicht 

 auf Darwins Ansichten. Separat-Abdruck aus den Gottingischen ge 

 lehrten Anzeigen,' 1860. 



