xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 213 



February-March), which was chiefly devoted to showing that 

 the views of Mr. Francis Galton, and of Mr. Bateson in his 

 book on " Discontinuous Variations," are erroneous ; and 

 that such variations, which are usually termed " sports," and 

 in extreme cases " monstrosities," do not indicate the method 

 of evolution. Darwin gave special attention to this view, 

 and finally rejected it ; and I think I have shown why it is 

 not effective in nature. It is a view which is continually 

 cropping up as if it were a new discovery, and a Dutch 

 botanist, De Vries, has recently written a large work claiming 

 that new species are produced in this manner, through what 

 he terms "mutations." It was therefore important to show 

 that all such methods are fallacious, and that owing to the 

 constancy, universality, and extreme severity of elimination 

 through survival of the fittest, such large and abrupt varia- 

 tions, except through some extraordinary and almost im- 

 possible concurrence of favourable conditions, can never 

 permanently maintain themselves. 



Another article (in the October issue of the same Review) 

 on " The Expressiveness of Speech " develops a new principle 

 in the origin of language, and brought me a holograph (and 

 partly unintelligible) letter from Mr. Gladstone, expressing 

 his concurrence with it. I also brought out a new edition of 

 my " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," containing two new 

 chapters, and a new preface giving a sketch of the changes of 

 opinion on the subject during the preceding half century. 



In July I went with my friend Mr. William Mitten for a 

 short botanizing tour in Switzerland. We walked a good deal 

 of the time, and I thus had a further opportunity of examining 

 glacial phenomena. We went to Lucerne, whence we ascended 

 the Stanzerhorn by the electric railway, and found a very 

 interesting flora on the summit. Then to the head of the 

 lake, and to Gceschenen, whence we walked to Andermatt ; 

 then over the Furca pass to the Rhone glacier, staying two 

 days at the hotel ; then over the Grimsel pass, where we 

 greatly enjoyed both the flowers and the wonderful indications 

 of glacial action, especially on the slope down to and around 

 the Hotel Grimsel, where we stayed the night. The valley 



