12 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



write to me occasionally, either referring kindly to my own 

 work or sending me facts or suggestions which he thought 

 would be of interest to me. I will here give only some 

 extracts from a few of the latest of the letters I received 

 from him. 



On November 3, 1880, he wrote me the following very 

 kind letter upon my " Island Life," on which I had asked for 

 his criticism : — 



" I have now read your book, and it has interested me 

 deeply. It is quite excellent, and seems to me the best book 

 which you have ever published ; but this may be merely 

 because I have read it last. As I went on I made a few 

 notes, chiefly where I differed slightly from you ; but God 

 knows whether they are worth your reading. You will be 

 disappointed with many of them ; but it will show that I 

 had the will, though I did not know the way to do what 

 you wanted. 



" I have said nothing on the infinitely many passages 

 and views, which I admired and which were new to me. 

 My notes are badly expressed, but I thought that you would 

 excuse my taking any pains with my style. I wish my 

 confounded handwriting was better. I had a note the other 

 day from Hooker, and I can see that he is much pleased 

 with the dedication." 



With this came seven foolscap pages of notes, many 

 giving facts from his extensive reading which I had not 

 seen. There were also a good many doubts and suggestions 

 on the very difficult questions in the discussion of the causes 

 of the glacial epochs. Chapter xxiii., discussing the Arctic 

 element in south temperate floras, was the part he most 

 objected to, saying, " This is rather too speculative for my old 

 noddle. I must think that you overrate the importance of 

 new surfaces on mountains and dispersal from mountain to 

 mountain. I still believe in Alpine plants having lived on 

 the lowlands and in the southern tropical regions having 

 been cooled during glacial periods, and thus only can I 

 understand character of floras on the isolated African 

 mountains. It appears to me that you are not justified 



