12 MY LIFE 



ktter upon my " Island Life." on which I had asked for his 

 criticism : — 



" I have now read your book, and it has interested me 

 deeply. It is quite excellent, and seems to me the best book 

 which you have ever published ; but this may be merely 

 because I have read it last. As I went on I made a few notes, 

 chiefly where I differed slightly from you ; but God knows 

 whether they are worth your reading. You will be disap- 

 pointed with many of them ; but it will show that I had the 

 will, though I did not know the way to do what you wanted. 



" I have said nothing on the infinitely many passages and 

 views, which I admired and which were new to me. My 

 notes are badly expressed, but I thought that you would excuse 

 my taking any pains with my style. I wish my confounded 

 handwriting was better. I had a note the other day from 

 Hooker, and I can see that he is much pleased with the dedi- 

 cation." 



With this came seven foolscap pages of notes, many giving 

 facts from his extensive reading which I had not seen. There 

 were also a good many doubts and suggestions on the very 

 difficult questions in the discussion of the causes of the glacial 

 epochs. Chapter xxiii, discussing the Arctic element in south 

 temperate floras, was the part he most objected to, saying, 

 This is rather too speculative for my old noddle. I must 

 think that you overrate the importance of new surfaces on 

 mountains and dispersal from mountain to mountain. I still 

 believe in Alpine plants having lived on the lowlands and in 

 the southern tropical regions having been cooled during glacial 

 periods, and thus only can I understand character of floras 

 on the isolated African mountains. It appears to me that you 

 are not justified in arguing from dispersal to oceanic islands 

 to mountains. Not only in latter cases currents of sea are 

 absent, but what is there to make birds fly direct from one 

 Alpine summit to another? There is left only storms of wind, 

 and if it is probable or possible that seeds may thus be carried 

 for great distances, I do not believe that there is at present 

 any evidence of their being thus carried more than a few 

 miles." 



