Alfred Russel Wallace 



Nor shall I be capable of treating the subject well, and my 

 sole reason for taking it up is that I am pretty well con- 

 vinced that sexual selection has played an important part 

 in the formation of races, and sexual selection has always 

 been a subject which has interested me much. 



I have been very glad to see your impression from 

 memory on the expressions of Malays. I fully agree with 

 you that the subject is in no way an important one : it is 

 simply a ^^ hobby-horse '' with me about twenty-seven years 

 old; and after thinking that I would write an essay on 

 Man, it flashed on me that I could work in some " supple- 

 mental remarks on expression." After the horrid, tedious, 

 dull work of my present huge and, I fear, unreadable 

 book, I thought I would amuse myself with my hobby- 

 horse. The subject is, I think, more curious and more 

 amenable to scientific treatment than you seem willing to 

 allow. I want, anyhow, to upset Sir C. Bell's view, given 

 in his most interesting work, " The Anatomy of Expres- 

 sion," that certain muscles have been given to man solely 

 that he may reveal to other men his feelings. I want to 

 try and show how expressions have arisen. 



That is a good suggestion about newspapers; but my 

 experience tells me that private applications are generally 

 most fruitful. I will, however, see if I can get the queries 

 inserted in some Indian paper. I do not know names or 

 addresses of any other papers. 



I have just ordered, but not yet received, Murray's 

 book : Lindley used to call him a blunder-headed man. It 

 is very doubtful whether I shall ever have strength to pub- 

 lish the latter part of my materials. 



My two female amanuenses are busy with friends, and 

 I fear this scrawl will give you much trouble to read.— 

 With many thanks, yours very sincerely, ch- Darwin. 



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