1893 LETTEES ON HIS ILLNESS 317 



men. I have, indeed, often wondered how you and 

 and can have so persistently misunder- 

 stood my ideas, seeing that neither on the Continent 

 nor in America has there been any difficulty in 

 making myself inteUigible. But this, of com-se, is 

 quite another matter. 



As regards Weismannism, I do not include under 

 this term the question of the inheritance of acqmred 

 characters. That has been a question for me since 

 the pubMcation of Galton's ' theory of heredity ' in 

 1875. Indeed, even before that, everybody knew the 

 contrast between congenital and acquired characters 

 in respect of heritabihty ; and you may remember, 

 the first time we met you gave me a lot of good 

 advice regarding my experiments on this subject. 



Please remember both of us very kindly to your 

 wife when you write to her, and with our united best 

 wishes to yourself, 



BeHeve me, ever yours sincerely, 



G. J. EOMAUES. 



To Francis Darwin, Esq. 



St. Aldate's, Oxford: October 8, 1893. 



My dear Darwin, — ^Your very kind letter has been 

 one ray of Hght to me in my gloom. Yet you must 

 not think it is the only one. 



It is comparatively easy to set ovir teeth and face 

 the inevitable with ' a grin ; ' but the ' highest 

 bravery ' is to hide our anguish with a smile. I do 

 think I make a decently good Stoic, but confess that 



