The Wallace-Darwin Correspondence 



of the shortened age of the sun and earth. Your whole 

 paper seems to me admirably clear and well put. I may 

 remark that Etitimeyer has shown that several wild mam- 

 mals in Switzerland since the neolithic period have had 

 their dentition and, I think ^ general size slightly modified. 

 I cannot believe that the Isthmus of Panama has been open 

 since the commencement of the glacial period ; for, notwith- 

 standing the fishes, so few shells, crustaceans, and, accord- 

 ing to Agassiz, not one echinoderm is common to the sides. 

 I am very glad you are going to publish all your papers 

 on Natural Selection : I am sure you are right, and that 

 they will do our cause much good. 



But I groan over Man — you write like a metamorphosed 

 (in retrograde direction) naturalist, and you the author of 

 the best paper that ever appeared in the Anthropological 

 Review! Eheu ! Eheu! Eheu!—- Your miserable friend, 



C. Darwin. 



Down, Beckenham, Kent. March 31, 1870. 



My dear Wallace, — Many thanks for the woodcut, which, 

 judging from the rate at which I crawl on, will hardly be 

 wanted till this time next year. Whether I shall have it 

 reduced, or beg Mr. Macmillan for a stereotype, as you 

 said I might, I have not yet decided. 



I heartily congratulate you on your removal being over, 

 and I much more heartily condole with myself at your having 

 left London, for I shall thus miss my talks with you which 

 I always greatly enjoy. 



I was excessively pleased at your review of Galton, and 

 I agree to every word of it. I must add that I have just 

 re-read your article in the Anthropological Review^ and I 

 defy you to upset your own doctrine. — Ever yours very 

 sincerely, Ch. Darwin. 



251 



