Ill LECTURES ON EVOLUTION 137 



we have been discussing is not one to be dealt 

 with by rhetorical flourishes, or by loose and 

 superficial talk ; but that it requires the keen 

 attention of the trained intellect and the patience 

 of the accurate observer. 



When I commenced this series of lectures, I 

 did not think it necessary to preface them with 

 a prologue, such as might be expected from a 

 stranger and a foreigner ; for during my brief 

 stay in your country, I have found it very hard 

 to believe that a stranger could be possessed of 

 so many friends, and almost harder that a 

 foreigner could express himself in your language 

 in such a way as to be, to all appearance, so 

 readily intelligible. So far as I can judge, that 

 most intelligent, and perhaps, I may add, most 

 singularly active and enterprising body, your 

 press reporters, do not seem to have been de- 

 terred by my accent from giving the fullest 

 account of everything that I happen to have 

 said. 



But the vessel in which I take my departure 

 to-morrow morning is even now ready to slip 

 her moorings ; I awake from my delusion that 

 I am other than a stranger and a foreigner. I 

 am ready to go back to my place and country ; 

 but, before doing so, let me, by way of epilogue, 

 tender to you my most hearty thanks for the 

 kind and cordial reception which you have ac- 

 corded to me ; and let me thank you still more 



