The Wallace-Darwin Correspondence 



far in some cases, as with the stripes on the tiger. I 

 have also this morning read an excellent abstract in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle of your paper on nests ;^ I was not 

 by any means fully converted by your letter, but I think 

 now I am so; and I hope it will be published somewhere 

 in extenso. It strikes me as a capital generalisation, and 

 appears to me even more original than it did at first. 



I have had an excellent and cautious letter from Mr. 

 Geach of Singapore with some valuable answers on expres- 

 sion, which I owe to you. 



I heartily congratulate you on the birth of ** Herbert 

 Spencer," and may he deserve his name, but I hope he 

 will copy his father's style and not his namesake's. Pray 

 observe, though I fear I am a month too late, when tears 

 are first secreted enough to overflow; and write down 

 date. 



I have finished Vol. I. of my book, and I hope the whole 

 will be out by the end of November ; if you have the patience 

 to read it through, which is very doubtful, you will find, I 

 think, a large accumulation of facts which will be of ser- 

 vice to you in your future papers, and they could not be 

 put to better use, for you certainly are a master in the noble 

 art of reasoning. 



Have you changed your house to Westbourne Grove ? 



Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



This letter is so badly expressed that it is barely in- 

 telligible, but I am tired with proofs. 



P.S. — Mr. Warington has lately read an excellent and 

 spirited abstract of the ^' Origin '' before the Victoria In- 

 stitute, and as this is a most orthodox body he has gained 



1 Abstract of a paper on " Birds' Nests and Plumage," read before the British 

 Association. Sec Card. Cbron., 1867, p. 1047. 



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