214 DARWIN'S LETTERS TO R. TRIMEN 



Insect Room identifying and comparing the insects col- 

 lected with those in the National Collection. One day 

 I was at work in the r.ext compartment to that in which 

 Adam White sat, and heard someone come in and 

 a cheery, mellow voice say, " Good-morning, Mr. White ; 

 I'm afraid you won't speak to me any more ! " While 

 I was conjecturing who the visitor could be, I was elec- 

 trified by hearing White reply, in the most solemn and 

 earnest way, " Ah, Sir ! if ye had only stopped with the 

 Voyage of the Beagle \ " There was a real lament in his 

 voice, pathetic to any one who knew how to this kindly 

 Scot, in his rigid orthodoxy and limited scientific view, 

 the epoch-making Origin, then just published, was more 

 than a stumbling-block it was a grievous and painful 

 lapse into error of the most pernicious kind. Mr. Darwin 

 came almost directly into the compartment where I was 

 working, and White was most warmly thanked by him 

 for pointing out the insects he wished to see. Though 

 I was longing for White to introduce me, I knew 

 perfectly well that he would not do so ; and after Mr. 

 Darwin's departure White gave me many warnings 

 against being lured into acceptance of the dangerous 

 doctrines so seductively set forth by this most eminent 

 but mistaken naturalist. 



1 A little while afterwards, on the same day, I again 

 saw Darwin in the Bird Galleries, where it was, I think, 

 G. R. Gray who was showing him some mounted birds. 

 A clerical friend with me, also a naturalist, curiously 

 enough echoed White's warning by indicating Darwin 

 as " the most dangerous man in England ". 



' Years afterwards, when I had reached the honour 

 of correspondence and personal acquaintance with 

 Mr. Darwin, I gave him some amusement by my 

 account of the impressive manner in which, on the 

 first day of my seeing him, I had been warned by two 



