54 THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [i860. 



.... The list of naturalised plants is extremely interest- 

 ing, but why at the end, in the name of all that is good and 

 bad, do you not sum up and comment on your facts ? Come, 

 I will have a sneer at you in return for the many which you 

 will have launched at this letter. Should you [not] have re- 

 marked on the number of plants naturalised in Australia and 

 the United States tinder extremely different climates, as show- 

 ing that climate is so important, and [on] the considerable 

 sprinkling of plants from India, North America, and South 

 Africa, as showing that the frequent introduction of seeds is 

 so important? With respect to "abundance of unoccupied 

 ground in Australia," do you believe that European plants 

 introduced by man now grow on spots in Australia which 

 were absolutely bare ? But I am an impudent dog, one must 

 defend one's own fancy theories against such cruel men as 

 you. I dare say this letter will appear very conceited, but 

 one must form an opinion on what one reads with attention, 

 and in simple truth, I cannot find words strong enough to ex- 

 press my admiration of your essay. 



My dear old friend, yours affectionately, 



C. Darwin. 



P. S. — I differ about the Saturday Review* One cannot 

 expect fairness in a reviewer, so I do not complain of all 

 the other arguments besides the * Geological Record ' being 

 omitted. Some of the remarks about the lapse of years are 

 very good, and the reviewer gives me some good and well- 

 deserved raps — confound it. I am sorry to confess the truth : 

 but it does not at all concern the main argument. That was 

 a nice notice in the Gardeners' Chronicle. I hope and imagine 

 that Lindley is almost a convert. Do not forget to tell me if 

 Bentham gets all the more staggered. 



* Saturday Review, Dec. 24, 1859. The" hostile arguments of the re- 

 viewer are geological, and he deals especially with the denudation of the 

 Weald. The reviewer remarks that, " if a million of centuries, more or 

 less, is needed for any part of his argument, he feels no scruple in taking 

 them to suit his purpose." 



