36 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



of Darwin's own experience of these feelings, re- 

 lating how he at first thought that they were most 

 excited by the magnificent prospect surveyed 

 from one of the summits of the Cordilleras, but 

 afterwards came down from his bed on purpose 

 to correct this impression, saying that he felt 

 most of the subhme in the forests of Brazil. 



We may first observe that the remarkable feel- 

 ings induced by such experiences are very far 

 from unpleasant, as we should expect them to be 

 on the theory which refers them to the apprehen- 

 sions and dangers of our primitive ancestors. 

 Thus, on May 18, 1832, when the first impres- 

 sions of a Brazihan forest were freshest in Dar- 

 win's mind, he wrote to Henslow, telUng him of 

 an expedition of 150 miles from Rio de Janeiro 

 to the R. Macao. 



" Here I first saw a tropical forest in all its sublime 

 grandeur — ^nothing but the reality can give any idea 

 how wonderful, how magnificent the scene is. . . . 

 I never experienced such intense delight. I formerly 

 admired Humboldt, I now almost adore him; he alone 

 gives any notion of the feelings which are raised in 

 my mind on first entering the tropics." ^ 



Furthermore, how are we to account on any 

 such hypothesis for the similarity of the feelings 

 excited by the forest, where enemies might lurk 

 unseen, and the mountain peak, the very spot 

 which offers the best facihty for seeing them? It 

 is also difficult to understand why the terrors of 

 primitive man should be specially associated with 



> Life and Letters, I, pp. 336, 237. 



