1865.] FRITZ MULLER. 221 



politics; but after reading this last chapter, you must let me 

 say : oh, dear ! oh, dear ! oh dear ! 



Yours affectionately, 



Ch. Darwin. 



P.S. — You pay me a superb compliment,* but I fear you 

 will be quizzed for it by some of your friends as too exag- 

 gerated. 



[The following letter refers to Fritz Muller's book, ' Fur 

 Darwin,' which was afterwards translated, at my father's sug- 

 gestion, by Mr. Dallas. It is of interest as being the first of 

 the long series of letters which my father wrote to this distin- 

 guished naturalist. They never met, but the correspondence 

 with Muller, which continued to the close of my father's life, 

 was a source of very great pleasure to him. My impression 

 is that of all his unseen friends Fritz Muller was the one for 

 whom he had the strongest regard. Fritz Muller is the 

 brother of another distinguished man, the late Hermann 

 Muller, the author of ' Die Befruchtung der Blumen,' and of 

 much other valuable work :] 



C. Darwin to F. Muller. 



Down, August 10 [1865]. 

 My dear Sir, — I have been for a long time so ill that I 

 have only just finished hearing read aloud your work on spe- 

 cies. And now you must permit me to thank you cordially 

 for the great interest with which I have read it. You have 

 done admirable service in the cause in which we both believe. 

 Many of your arguments seem to me excellent, and many of 

 your facts wonderful. Of the latter, nothing has surprised 

 me so much as the two forms of males. I have lately inves- 

 tigated the cases of dimorphic plants, and I should much like 

 to send you one or two of my papers if I knew how. I did 



* ' Prehistoric Times,' p. 487, where the words, " the discoveries of a 

 Newton or a Darwin," occur. 



