l$2 SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. [1861, 



If you come across Dr. Freke on ' Origin of Species by 

 means of Organic Affinity,' read a page here and there. . . . 

 He tells the reader to observe [that his result] has been ar- 

 rived at by " induction," whereas all my results are arrived 

 at only by "analogy." I see a Mr. Neale has read a paper 

 before the Zoological Society on ' Typical Selection ; ' what 

 it means I know not. I have not read H. Spencer, for I find 

 that I must more and more husband the very little strength 

 which I have. I sometimes suspect I shall soon entirely fail. 

 .... As soon as this dreadful weather gets a little milder, I 

 must try a little water cure. Have you read the ' Woman in 

 White ' ? the plot is wonderfully interesting. I can recom- 

 mend a book which has interested me greatly, viz., Olmsted's 

 4 Journey in the Back Country/ It is an admirably lively 

 picture of man and slavery in the Southern States 



C. Darwin to C. Lyell. 



February 2, 1861. 



MY DEAR LYELL, I have thought you would like to read 

 the enclosed passage in a letter from A. Gray (who is print- 

 ing his reviews as a pamphlet,* and will send copies to Eng- 

 land), as I think his account is really favourable in high 

 degree to us : 



" I wish I had time to write you an account of the lengths 

 to which Bowen and Agassiz, each in their own way, are 

 going. The first denying all heredity (all transmission ex- 

 cept specific) whatever. The second coming near to deny 

 that we are genetically descended from our great-great-grand- 

 fathers ; and insisting that evidently affiliated languages, e. g. 

 Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, owe none of their similarities to a 

 community of origin, are all autochthonal ; Agassiz admits 

 that the derivation of languages, and that of species or forms, 



* " Natural Selection not inconsistent with Natural Theology," from 

 the ' Atlantic Monthly ' for July, August, and October, 1860 ; published by 

 TrUbner. 



