1882 LETTER TO ROMANES 317 



4 MARLBO ROUGH PLACE, May 9, 1882. 



MY DEAR EOMANES I feel it very difficult to offer 

 any useful criticism on what you have written about 

 Darwin, because, although it does not quite please me, 

 I cannot exactly say how I think it might be improved. 

 My own way is to write and re-write things, until by 

 some sort of instinctive process they acquire the condensa- 

 tion and symmetry which satisfies me. And I really 

 could not say how my original drafts are improved until 

 they somehow improve themselves. 



Two things however strike me. I think there is too 

 much of the letter about Henslow. I should be disposed 

 to quote only the most characteristic passages. 



The other point is that I think strength would be 

 given to your panegyric by a little pruning here and 

 there. 



I am not likely to take a low view of Darwin's position 

 in the history of science, but I am disposed to think that 

 Buffon and Lamarck would run him hard in both genius 

 and fertility. In breadth of view and in extent of % 

 knowledge these two men were giants, though we are 

 apt to forget their services. Von Bar was another man 

 of the same stamp ; Cuvier, in a somewhat lower rank, 

 another ; and J. Muller another. 



" Colossal " does not seem to me to be the right epithet 

 for Darwin's intellect. He had a clear rapid intelligence, 

 a great memory, a vivid imagination, and what made his 

 greatness was the strict subordination of all these to his 

 love of truth. 



But you will be tired of my carping, and you had 

 much better write what seems right and just to yourself. 

 Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



Two scientific papers published this year were on 

 subjects connected with his work on the fisheries, 

 one "A Contribution to the Pathology of the Epidemic 



