348 'DESCENT OF MAN 'EXPRESSION. [1872 



nent part in the work. How grand is the onward rush of sci- 

 ence ; it is enough to console us for the many errors which 

 we have committed, and for our efforts being overlaid and 

 forgotten in the mass of new facts and new views which are 

 daily turning up. 



This is all I have to say about Dr. Bastian's book, and it 

 certainly has not been worth saying. . . . 



C. Darwin to A. De Candolle. 



Down, December n, 1872. 



MY DEAR SIR I began reading your new book * sooner 

 than I intended, and when I once began, I could not stop ; 

 and now you must allow- me to thank you for the very great 

 pleasure which it has given me. I have hardly ever read 

 anything more original and interesting than your treatment 

 of the causes which favour the development of scientific men. 

 The whole was quite new to me, and most curious. When 

 I began your essay I was afraid that you were going to attack 

 the principle of inheritance in relation to mind, but I soon 

 found myself fully content to follow you and accept your 

 limitations. I have felt, of course, special interest in the 

 latter part of your work, but there was here less novelty to 

 me. In many parts you do me much honour, and everywhere 

 more than justice. Authors generally like to hear what 

 points most strike different readers, so I will mention that of 

 your shorter essays, that on the future prevalence of lan- 

 guages, and on vaccination interested me the most, as, in- 

 deed, did that on statistics, and free will. Great liability to 

 certain diseases, being probably liable to atavism, is quite a 

 new idea to me. At p. 322 you suggest that a young swal- 

 low ought to be separated, and then let loose in order to test 

 the power of instinct ; but nature annually performs this ex- 

 periment, as old cockoos migrate in England some weeks be- 

 fore the young birds of the same year. By the way, I have 

 just used the forbidden word " nature," which, after reading 



* ' Histoire des Sciences et des Savants,' 1873. 



