FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 27 



of Natural Selection. From this latter letter 

 Darwin chose the extracts which formed part of 

 his section of the joint essay published July 1, 

 1858. 



Asa Gray's opinion on first reading the Origin 

 was expressed not to Darwin but to Hooker in 

 a letter written January 5, 1860 : — 



" It is done in a masterly manner. It might well 

 have taken twenty years to produce it. It is crammed 

 full of most interesting matter — thoroughly digested — 

 well expressed — close, cogent, and taken as a system it 

 makes out a better case than I had supposed pos- 

 sible. ...» 



After attending to Agassiz's unfavorable 

 opinion of the book, he continues : " Tell Darwin 

 all this. I will write to him when I get a chance. 

 As I have promised, he and you shall have fair 

 play here. . . . " ^ A little later, when on Jan- 

 uary 23, he wrote to Darwin himself, Asa Gray 

 concluded : " I am free to say that I never learnt 

 so much from one book as I have from yours." ^ 



It is impossible to do justice on the present 

 occasion to the numerous letters in which Darwin 

 expressed his gratitude for the splendid manner 

 in which Asa Gray kept his word and " fought 

 , like a hero in defense." ' At a time when few 

 naturahsts were able to understand the drift of ; 

 Darwin's argument, the acute and penetrating 

 mind of Asa Gray had in a moment mastered 

 every detail. Thus Darwin wrote on July 22, 



'■ Life and Letters, II, p. 368. 



' L. v., p. 272. • L. c, p. 310. 



