1878 THE ECLIPSE OF FAITH 79 



Dunskaith, Eoss-shire, N.B. : Sept, 10, 1878. 



My dear Mr. Darwin, — Having been away for a 

 week's deer-stalking in the hills, I have only to-day 

 received your letter together with the book. Thank 

 you very much for both, and also for the hints about 

 Espinas and Bartlett. I am glad you thought well 

 of the letter to the ' Times.' In a book I shall be able 

 to make more evident what I mean. 



Frank's idea of ' a happy family ' is a very good 

 one ; but I think my mother would begin to wish 

 that my scientific inquiries had taken some other 

 direction. 



The baby too, I fear, would stand a poor chance 

 of showing itself the fittest in the struggle for exist- 

 ence. 



I am now going to write my concluding paper on 

 Medusge, also to try some experiments on luminosity 

 of marine animals. 



Ever sincerely and most respectfully yours, 



GrEo. J. Romanes. 



In addition to other scientific and purely philo- 

 sophical work, Mr. Romanes had, even while writing 

 his Bumey Prize, entered on that period of conflict 

 between faith and scepticism which grew more and 

 more strenuous, more painful, as the years went on, 

 which never really ceased until within a few weeks 

 of his death, and which was destined to end in a 

 chastened, a purified, and a victorious faith. His 

 was a religious nature, keenly ahve to religious 

 emotion, profoundly influenced by Christian ideals, 

 by Christian modes of thought. As time went on he 

 felt, like all philosophically minded men, the impossi- 

 bility of a purely materialistic position, and as he 



