1860.] REVIEWS. 349 



I do not know whether my brother-in-law, Hensleigh 

 Wedgwood's ' Etymological Dictionary ' would be at all in 

 your line ; but he treats briefly on the genesis of words ; and, 

 as it seems to me, very ingeniously. You kindly say that 

 you would communicate any facts which might occur to you, 

 and I am sure that I should be most grateful. Of the multi- 

 tude of letters which I receive, not one in a thousand is like 

 yours in value. 



With my cordial thanks, and apologies for this untidy letter 

 written in haste, pray believe me, my dear Sir, 



Yours sincerely obliged, 



CH. DARWIN. 



C. Darwin to C. Lyell. 



November 2oth [1860]. 



.... I have not had heart to read Phillips* yet, or a 

 tremendous long hostile review by Professor Bowen in the 

 4to Mem. of the American Academy of Sciences.f (By the 

 way, I hear Agassiz is going to thunder against me in the 

 next part of the ' Contributions.') Thank you for telling me of 

 the sale of the ' Origin,' of which I had not heard. There will 

 be some time, I presume, a new edition, and I especially want 

 your advice on one point, and you know I think you the 

 wisest of men, and I shall be absolutely guided by your advice. 

 It has occurred to me, that it would perfiaps be a good plan 

 to put a set of notes (some twenty to forty or fifty) to the 

 ' Origin,' which now has none, exclusively devoted to errors 

 of my reviewers. It has occurred to me that where a reviewer 

 has erred, a common reader might err. Secondly, it will 

 show the reader that he must not trust implicitly to reviewers. 

 Thirdly, when any special fact has been attacked, I should like 



* ' Life on the Earth.' Religion and Moral Philosophy, at 



f "Remarks on the latest form Harvard University. 'American 



of the Development Theory." By Academy of Arts and Sciences,' 



Francis Bowen, Professor of Natural vol. viii. 



