I 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER 



from Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, 

 o.m., g.c.s.i., c.b., m.d., d.c.l., ll.d., f.r.s., etc. 



The Camp, 



near Sunningpale, 



January 15, 1909. 



Dear Professor Seward, 



The publication of a Series of Essays in Commemoration 

 of the century of the birth of Charles Darwin and of the fiftieth 

 anniversary of the publication of "The Origin of Species" is assuredly 

 welcome and is a subject of congratulation to all students of Science. 



These Essays on the progress of Science and Philosophy as 

 affected by Darwin's labours have been written by men known for 

 their ability to discuss the problems which he so successfully worked 

 to solve. They cannot but prove to be of enduring value, whether 

 for the information of the general reader or as guides to investigators 

 occupied with problems similar to those which engaged the attention 

 of Darwin. 



The essayists have been fortunate in having for reference the five 

 published volumes of Charles Darwin's Life and Correspondence. 

 For there is set forth in his own words the inception in his mind 

 of the problems, geological, zoological and botanical, hypothetical 

 and theoretical, which he set himself to solve and the steps by which 

 he proceeded to investigate them with the view of correlating the 

 phenomena of life with the evolution of living things. In hiss Letters 

 he expressed himself in language so lucid and so little burthened 

 with technical terms that they may be regarded as models for those 

 who were asked to address themselves primarily to the educated 

 reader rather than to the expert. 



I may add that by no one can the perusal of the Essays be more 

 vividly appreciated than by the writer of these lines. It was my 

 privilege for forty years to possess the intimate friendship of Charles 



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