1886 LETTER TO H. SPENCER 



135 



The secret of this he finds in the broad and simple 

 design peculiar to the building, and then shows in detail 

 how 



the round hut, the ^des Vesta?, and the Pantheon are so many- 

 stages in a process of architectural evolution which was effected 

 between the first beginnings of Roman history and the Au- 

 gustan age. 



The relation between the beehive hut, the tcrrcmarc, and 

 the pile-dwellings of Italy lead to many suggestive bits of 

 early anthropology, which, it may be hoped, bore fruit in 

 the minds of some of his youthful readers. 



We find him also reading over proofs for Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer, who, although he might hesitate to ask for his 

 criticism with respect to a subject on which they had a 

 " standing difference," still 



concluded that to break through the long-standing usage, in pur- 

 suance of which I have habitually submitted my biological writ- 

 ing to your castigation, and so often profited by so doing, would 

 seem like a distrust of your candour — a distrust which I cannot 

 entertain. 



So he wrote in January ; and on March 19 he wrote 

 again, with another set of proofs — 



Toujours l'audace ! More proofs to look over. Don't write 

 a critical essay, only marginal notes. Perhaps you will say, like 

 the Roman poet to the poetaster who asked him to erase any 

 passages he did not like, and who replied, " One erasure will 

 suffice " — perhaps you will say, " There needs only one marginal 

 note." 



To this he received answer : — 



Casalini, W. Bournemouth, March 22, 1886. 



My dear Spencer — More power to your elbow ! You will 

 find my blessing at the end of the proof. 



But please look very carefully at some comments which are 

 not merely sceptical criticisms, but deal with matters of fact. 



I see the difference between us on the speculative question 

 lies in the conception of the primitive protoplasm. I conceive 

 it as a mechanism set going by heat — as a sort of active crystal 

 with the capacity of giving rise to a great number of pseudo- 

 morphs ; and I conceive that external conditions favour one or 



