The Apostle of Evolution. 



88 KENSINGTON (, \KI.KNS SQUARE, LONDON, \V., October 14,1864. 



. . . The batch of opinions of the press which Mrs. 

 Youmans was so kind as to collect for me, and the accom- 

 panying letter, in which she was at so much trouble in 

 giving me accounts of their writers, &c., reached me while 

 in Scotland. The receipt of them formed a very pleasant 

 little episode in my Highland life calling me back to 

 things which were for the time wholly out of my thoughts; 

 for when with my friends at Ardtonish, occupied with vari- 

 ous sports and amusements, I get wholly absorbed in sur- 

 rounding things forgetting all about philosophy and the 

 writing of books. I have to thank Mrs. Youmans for re- 

 minding me of them in so agreeable a way. 



I have but little to report respecting the progress of 

 things here. Your American style of doing things makes 

 me somewhat dissatisfied with the very small results 

 achieved in England. The most hopeful fact is that I 

 gain the suffrages of all the most highly cultivated men ; 

 and I suppose that the suffrages of a wider public will 

 follow in due time. I am very glad that I published when 

 I did the essay on the Classification of the Sciences, 

 for I was surprised to find how widely there was spread 

 the erroneous impression that I was an adherent of 

 Comte. I hope the pamphlet has been well circulated with 

 you. 



Thanks for the photograph of Mr. Fiske which you sent 

 me. Do you know who is the author of the article on A 

 Physical Theory of the Universe (or some such title) in the 

 July number of the North American Review ? I suppose it 

 is one of your astronomers. 



The article in question was by Chauncey Wright, 

 containing a discussion of the nebular and meteoric 

 theories of stellar evolution. It betrayed a misunder- 

 standing of the general principles of evolution, which 



