Com'K/toiuh'itn' irith Clmrh'n Dtinrt'ii 



165 



nor d(x»* thin necin iinprulxililo, cmiHidering the steady circulation of tli« bluo«i, thu ctintiiiiiuuH 



iiiovuinuiit, mid tlut riiiuly diiruaion of otlier fluids, and thu fact thnt the conli'iLi U |>ollen 



grain have U.i piuM throu^li tho coats, Ixith of thi- [xilhtn U\\tv and of the rinl> k." (I 



extract thesti latter addt'iuia fnmi Mr Darwin's letter.) 



I do not much coiu|>laiu of having lM;cn sunt on a falso qut^st liy ainliiguoua langnni^^. for I 

 know how conscientious Mr Darwin is in all ho writes, how dilhcult it in to put tli ito 



accuratt" sptNx^h, and, again, how words have convcytxl falst! irn|ir(»i.sionH on the sirnji •■n 



from the earliest times. Nay, uvon in that idyllic sceno which Mr Darwin has sketchMl of the 

 first inventicm of language, awkwani hlunders must of necessity have oft^ui occurred. I refer 

 to the passage in which he HUppusoa some unusually wise apu-liku animal to have first thought 

 of imitating the growl of a beast of prey so as to indicate to his fellow-monkuys the nature of 

 expected ilanger. For my [lart, I feel an if I had just been assisting at such a scene. Am if, 

 having heanl my trusted leiuler utter a cry, not particularly well articulated, but to my ears 

 more like that of a hyena than any other animal, and .s(>eing none of my com|Minion8 stir a step, 

 I had, like a loyal memlH^r of thu Hock, daMhed down a path of which I had happily caught 

 sight, into the jilain Imlow, followed by the approving nods and kindly grunts of my wise and 

 most res|>uct<Ml chief. And I now feel, aft«'r returning from my iiard expedition, full of infor- 

 mation that the suspected danger was a mistake, for there was no sign of a hyena anywhere in 

 the neighbourhotHl. I am given to understand for the first time that my leader's cry had no 

 reference to a hyena down in the plain, but to a leo|)ard somewhere up in the trees; his throat 

 had botMi a little out of order— that was all. Well, my labour has not been in vain; it is some- 

 thing to have established thu fact that there are no hyenas in the plain, and I think I see my 

 way to a good position for a look out for leopards among the branches of the trees. In the 

 meantime, Vive Pangenesis! Francis Galton. 



Ill view of the previous correspondence lasting for nearly two years — 

 referred to only in words which Darwin alone could appreciate: "followed 

 by the appioving nods and kindly grunts of my wise and most respected 

 chief"^ — 1 tliink this letter of Galton's to Nature is one of the finest things 

 he ever wrote in his life ; it is few men who have such a great opportunity 

 and use it so bravely. Vive Pangenesis! 



Darwin may have saved his theory — for a time, but Galton saved by 

 his restraint his own peace of mind. It suggests the spirit of the old Quaker 

 David Barclay, his ancestor': 



Yet with calm and stately mien. 

 Up the streets of Aberdeen 

 Came he slowly riding... 



It is certain tliat those who reverence (ialton will aj)|>reoiaU' what lie 

 did, and those who reverence both (Jalton and Darwin will rejoice that their 

 friendship remained unbroken. Nay, not only seemed intensified, but mira- 

 hifc (lirtii Darwin now took even an empluusised part in the bloo<l trans- 

 fusion e.Kperiments, which went on for another three years at least! The 

 rabbits now passed to and fro between London and Down and several of 

 Darwin's and Galton's letters exist'-'. I cannot help thinking that Darwin 

 still thought some argument for Pangenesis might arise from this further 



' For some account of this ancestor of Francis Galton, see Vol. I, p. 29. 



" It is a grave misfortune that Dar>\'in never put the i/ear on any of these letters. Galton 

 attempted but not very successfully to date them in 1S96. When I wrote my Frauei* Galton, 

 A Centenary Appreciation (University Press, Cambridge), I thought some of Darwin's rabbit 

 letters referred to the first rabbit experiments, but 1 now feel sure this is not correct. I think 

 I have got them into proper seipience with Galton's, and they all bt'long to the ffcotui and 

 unpublished rabbit series. 



