5 16 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859. 



came to the conclusion that they were angular fragments 

 broken by ice action. 



Did crossing the Acacia do any good ? I am so hard 

 worked, that I can make no experiments. I have got only 

 to 150 pages in first proof. 



Adios, my dear Hooker, ever yours, 



C. Darwin. 



C. Darwin to J. Murray. 



Down, July 25th [1859]. 

 My dear Sir, — I write to say that five sheets are returned 

 to the printers ready to strike off, and two more sheets require 

 only a revise ; so that I presume you will soon have to decide 

 what number of copies to print off. 



I am quite incapable of forming an opinion. I think I 

 have got the style fairly good and clear, with infinite trouble. 

 But whether the book will be successful to a degree to satisfy 

 you, I really cannot conjecture. I heartily hope it may. 

 My dear Sir, yours very sincerely, 



C. Darwin. 



C. Darwin to A. JZ. Wallace. 



Down, Aug. 9th, 1859. 

 My dear Mr. Wallace, — I received your letter and 

 memoir* on the 7th, and will forward it to-morrow to the 

 Linnean Society. But you will be aware that there is no 

 meeting till the beginning of November. Your paper seems 

 to me admirable in matter, style, and reasoning ; and I thank 

 you for allowing me to read it. Had I read it some months 

 ago, I should have profited by it for my forthcoming volume. 

 But my two chapters on this subject are in type, and, though 

 not yet corrected, I am so wearied out and weak in health, 

 that I am fully resolved not to add one word, and merely 

 improve the style. So you will see that my views are nearly 



* This seems to refer to Mr. Wallace's paper, " On the Zoological 

 Geography of the Malay Archipelago," 'Linn. Soc. Journ,' i860. 



