28 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



1860, concerning the article in the Proceedings 

 of the American Academy for April 10: — 



" I can not resist expressing my sincere admiration 

 of your most clear powers of reasoning. As Hooker 

 lately said in a note to me, you are more than any 

 one else the thorough master of the subject. I declare 

 that you know my book as well as I do myself; 

 and bring to the question new lines of illustration and 

 argument in a manner which excites my astonishment 

 and almost my envy ! . . . Every single word seems 

 weighed carefully, and tells like a 32-pound shot." ^ 



Some weeks later, on September 26, 1860, 

 Darwin again expressed the same admiration, 

 and stated that Asa Gray understood him more 

 perfectly than any other friend : — 



"... You never touch the subject without making 

 it clearer. I look at it as even more extraordinary 

 that you never say a word or use an epithet which does 

 not express fully my meaning. Now LyeU, Hooker, 

 and others, who perfectly understand my book, yet 

 sometimes use expressions to which I demur." ^ 



Darwin also sent ^ Asa Gray's defense of the 

 Origin to Sir Charles LyeU, whom he was ex- 

 tremely anxious to convince of the truth of evolu- 

 tion. Asa Gray's religious convictions pre- 

 vented the full acceptance of Natural Selection. 

 He was ever inclined to believe in the Providen- 

 tial guidance of the stream of variation. He also 

 differed from Darwin in the interpretation of 

 all instincts as congenital habits.* 



' Life and Letters, II, p. 326. ' L. c, pp. 344, 345. 



' More Letters, I, p. 169. 

 * Life and Letters, HI, p. 170. 



