156 THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' [1859. 



am very sorry Mrs. Hooker took the trouble of copying the 

 two pages."] 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



[April or May, 1859.] 



. . . Please do not say to any one that I thought my 

 book on Species would be fairly popular, and have a fairly 

 remunerative sale (which was the height of my ambition), 

 for if it prove a dead failure, it would make me the more 

 ridiculous. 



I enclose a criticism, a taste of the future 



Rev. S. HangJiton's Address to the Geological Society, Dublin* 



" This speculation of Messrs. Darwin and Wallace would 

 not be worthy of notice were it not for the weight of authority 

 of the names (i.e. Lyell's and yours), under whose auspices it 

 has been brought forward. If it means what it says, it is a 

 truism ; if it means anything more, it is contrary to fact." 



Q. E. D. 



C. Darwin to y. D. Hooker. 



Down, May nth [1859]. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, Thank you for telling me about 

 obscurity of style. But on my life no nigger with lash over 

 him could have worked harder at clearness than I have done. 

 But the very difficulty to me, of itself leads to the probability 

 that I fail. Yet one lady who has read all my MS. has 

 found only two or three obscure sentences, but Mrs. Hooker 

 having so found it, makes me tremble. I will do my best in 

 proofs. You are a good man to take the trouble to write 

 about it. 



With respect to our mutual muddle,f I never for a moment 



* Feb. 9, 1858. mutual mu,ddle with respect to each 



f " When I go over the chapter other, from starting from some 



I will see what I can do, but I fundamentally different notions." 



hardly know how I am obscure, Letter of May 6, 1859. j 

 and I think we are somehow in a 



