3IO LIFE AT DOWN. ^TAT. 33-45. [1845. 



should perhaps annoy you, and most certainly myself. I 

 have exhaled myself with a paragraph or two in my Journal 

 on the sin of Brazilian slavery ; you perhaps will think that 

 it is in answer to you ; but such is not the case. I have 

 remarked on nothing which I did not hear on the coast of 

 South America. My few sentences, however, are merely an 

 explosion of feeling. How could you relate so placidly that 

 atrocious sentiment * about separating children from their 

 parents ; and in the next page speak of being distressed at 

 the whites not having prospered; I assure you the contrast 

 made me exclaim out. But I have broken my intention, and 

 so no more on this odious deadly subject. 



There is a favourable, but not strong enough review on 

 you, in the Gardeners' Chronicle. I am sorry to see that Lind- 

 ley abides by the carbonic acid gas theory. By the way, I 

 was much pleased by Lindley picking out my extinction para- 

 graphs and giving them uncurtailed. To my mind, putting 

 the comparative rarity of existing species in the same cate- 

 gory with extinction has removed a great weight ; though of 

 course it does not explain anything, it shows that until we can 

 explain comparative rarity, we ought not to feel any surprise 

 at not explaining extinction. . . . 



I am much pleased to hear of the call for a new edition of 

 the ' Principles ' : what glorious good that work has done. I 

 fear this time you will not be amongst the old rocks ; how I 

 shall rejoice to live to see you publish and discover another 

 stage below the Silurian — it would be the grandest step pos- 

 sible, I think. I am very glad to hear what progress Bunbury 

 is making in fossil Botany ; there is a fine hiatus for him to 

 fill up in this country. I will certainly call on him this winter. 

 ... From what little I saw of him, I can quite believe every- 

 thing which you say of his talents. . . . 



* In the passage referred to, Lyell does not give his own views, but 

 those of a planter. 



