26 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



the other thirty-six years later, a few months be- 

 fore Darwin's death. The first shows the instant 

 growth of their friendship : " Farewell ! What 

 a good thing is community of tastes ! I feel as if 

 I had known you for fifty years. Adios." 



The second letter expresses at the end of Dar- 

 win's hfe the same feelings which find utterance 

 ever and again throughout the long years of his 

 friendship. 



" Your letter has cheered me, and the world does not 

 look a quarter so black this morning as it did when 

 I wrote before. Your friendly words are worth their 

 weight in gold." 



The friendship with Asa Gray began with a 

 meeting at Kew some years before the publica- 

 tion of Natural Selection. Darwin soon began 

 to ask for help in the work, which was ultimately 

 to appear as the Origin. The following letter to 

 Hooker, June 10, 1855, shows what he thought 

 of the great American botanist : — 



" I have written him a very long letter, telling him 

 some of the points about which I should feel curious. 

 But on my life it is sublimely ridiculous, my making 

 suggestions to such a man." ^ 



The friendship ripened very quickly, so that on 

 July 20, 1856, Darwin gave Asa Gray an account 

 of his views on evolution,^ and on September 5 

 of the following year a tolerably full description * 



'■ More Letters, I, p. 418. Asa Gray's generous reply is printed 

 on p. 421. 

 ' Life and Letters, II, p. 78. 

 ' L. c, pp. 119, 120. 



