1863 'MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE' 295 



ledgment by writers of repute ; and finally it achieved 

 the fate, which is the euthanasia of a scientific work, of 

 being enclosed among the rubble of the foundations of 

 later knowledge, and forgotten. 



To my observation, human nature has not sensibly 

 changed during the last thirty years. I doubt not that 

 there are truths as plainly obvious and as generally denied 

 as those contained in Man's Place in Nature, now await- 

 ing enunciation. If there is a young man of the present 

 generation who has taken as much trouble as I did to 

 assure himself that they are truths, let him come out 

 with them, without troubling his head about the barking 

 of the dogs of St. Ernulphus. Veritas prcevalebit some 

 day ; and even if she does not prevail in his time, he 

 himself will be all the better and wiser for having tried 

 to help her. And let him recollect that such great 

 reward is full payment for all his labour and pains. 



The following letter refers to the newly-published 

 Man's Place in Nature. Miss H. Darwin had suggested 

 a couple of corrections : 



JERMYN STREET, Feb. 25, 1863. 



MY DEAR DARWIN Please to say to Miss Henrietta 

 Minos Rhadamanthus Darwin that I plead guilty to the 

 justice of both criticisms, and throw myself on the mercy 

 of the court. 



As extenuating circumstances with respect to indict- 

 ment No. 1, see prefatory notice. Extenuating circum- 

 stance No. 2 that I picked up " Atavism " in Pritchard 

 years ago, and as it is a much more convenient word than 

 " Hereditary transmission of variations," it slipped into 

 equivalence in my mind, and I forgot all about the 

 original limitation. 



But if these excuses should in your judgment tend to 

 aggravate my offences, suppress 'em like a friend. One 



