1858.] THE LETTER TO DR. GRAY. 477 



I will do anything. God bless you, my dear kind friend. 

 I can write no more. I send this by my servant to Kew. 



Yours, 



C. Darwin. 



[The following letter is that already referred to as form- 

 ing part of the joint paper pubHshed in the Linnean Society's 

 'Journal,' 1858]:— 



C. Darwin to Asa Gray. 

 \ Down, Sept.* 5th [1857]. 



My dear Gray, — I forget the exact words which I used 

 in my former letter, but I dare say I said that I thought you 

 would utterly despise me when I told you what views I had 

 arrived at, which I did because I thought I was bound as an 

 honest man to do so. I should have been a strange mortal, 

 seeing how much I owe to your quite extraordinary kindness, 

 if in saying this I had meant to attribute the least bad feeling 

 to you. Permit me to tell you that, before I had ever corre- 

 sponded with you, Hooker had shown me several of your let- 

 ters (not of a private nature), and these gave me the warmest 

 feeling of respect to you ; and I should indeed be ungrateful 

 if your letters to me, and all I have heard of you, had not 

 strongly enhanced this feeling. But I did not feel in the least 

 sure that when you knew whither I was tending, that you 

 might not think me so wild and foolish in my views (God 

 knows, arrived at slowly enough, and I hope conscientiously), 

 that you would think me worth no more notice or assistance. 

 To give one example : the last time I saw my dear old friend 

 Falconer, he attacked me most vigorously, but quite kindly, 

 and told me, "You will do more harm than any ten Naturalists 

 will do good. I can see that you have already corrupted and 



* The date is given as October in the ' Linnean Journal.' The ex- 

 tracts were printed from a duplicate undated copy in my father's posses- 

 sion, on which he had written, " This was sent to Asa Gray 8 or 9 months 

 ago, I think October 1857. 



