2 6 PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859. 



I thank you cordially for all the generous zeal and interest 

 you have shown about my book, and I remain, my dear Lyell, 

 Your affectionate friend and disciple, 



Charles Darwin. 



Sir J. Herschel, to whom I sent a copy, is going to read 

 my book. He says he leans to the side opposed to me. If 

 you should meet him after he has read me, pray find out what 

 he thinks, for, of course, he will not write ; and I should ex- 

 cessively like to hear whether I produce any effect on such a 

 mind. 



T. H. Huxley to C. Darwin. 



Jermyn Street, W., 

 November 23rd, 1859. 



My dear Darwin, — I finished your book yesterday, a 

 lucky examination having furnished me with a few hours of 

 continuous leisure. 



Since I read Von Bar's * essays, nine years ago, no work 

 on Natural History Science I have met with has made so 

 great an impression upon me, and I do most heartily thank 

 you for the great store of new views you have given me. 

 Nothing, I think, can be better than the tone of the book, it 

 impresses those who know nothing about the subject. As for 

 your doctrine, I am prepared to go to the stake, if requisite, 

 in support of Chapter IX., and most parts of Chapters X., 

 XL, XII., and Chapter XIII. contains much that is most 

 admirable, but on one or two points I enter a caveat until I 

 can see further into all sides of the question. 



As to the first four chapters, I agree thoroughly and fully 

 with all the principles laid down in them. I think you have 

 demonstrated a true cause for the production of species, and 

 have thrown the onus probandi that species did not arise in 

 the way you suppose, on your adversaries. 



* Karl Ernst von Baer, b. 1792, d. at Dorpat 1876 — one of the most 

 distinguished biologists of the century. He practically founded the mod- 

 ern science of embryology. 



