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equest that observations should be made on the manner of fertilisation
in the bee-and in the fly-orchis.), as it involves a curious point, and
as you cared about my paper on kidney beans; but as you are so busy, I
will not.

LETTER 106. TO C. LYELL. Down [June?] 20th [1860].

I send Blyth (106/1. See Letter 27.); it is a dreadful handwriting; the
passage is on page 4. In a former note he told me he feared there was
hardly a chance of getting money for the Chinese expedition, and spoke
of your kindness.

Many thanks for your long and interesting letter. I wonder at, admire,
and thank you for your patience in writing so much. I rather demur to
Deinosaurus not having "free will," as surely we have. I demur also
to your putting Huxley's "force and matter" in the same category with
Natural Selection. The latter may, of course, be quite a false view; but
surely it is not getting beyond our depth to first causes.

It is truly very remarkable that the gestation of hounds (106/2. In
a letter written to Lyell on June 25th, 1860, the following paragraph
occurs: "You need not believe one word of what I said about gestation
of dogs. Since writing to you I have had more correspondence with the
master of hounds, and I see his [record?] is worth nothing. It may,
of course, be correct, but cannot be trusted. I find also different
statements about the wolf: in fact, I am all abroad.") should vary so
much, while that of man does not. It may be from multiple origin. The
eggs from the Musk and the common duck take an intermediate period in
hatching; but I should rather look at it as one of the ten thousand
cases which we cannot explain--namely, when one part or function varies
in one species and not in another.

Hooker has told me nothing about his explanation of few Arctic forms; I
knew the fact before. I had speculated on what I presume, from what you
say, is his explanation (106/3. "Outlines of the Distribution of Arctic
Plants," J.D. Hooker, "Trans. Linn. Soc." Volume XXIII., page 251, 1862.
[read June 21st, 1860.] In this paper Hooker draws attention to the
exceptional character of the Greenland flora; but as regards the paucity
of its species and in its much greater resemblance to the floras of
Arctic Europe than to those of Arctic America, he considers it difficult
to account for these facts, "unless we admit Mr. Darwin's hypotheses"
(see "Origin," Edition VI., 1872, Chapter XII., page 330) of a southern
migration due to the cold of the glacial period and the subsequent
return of the northern types during the succeeding warmer period. Many
of the Greenland species, being confined to the peninsula, "would, as it
were, be driven into the sea--that is exterminated" (Hooker, op. cit.,
pages 253-4).); but there must have been at all times an Arctic region.
I found the speculation got too complex, as it seemed to me, to be worth
following out.

I have been doing some more interesting work with orchids. Talk of
adaptation in woodpeckers (106/4. "Can a more striking instance of
adaptation be given than that of a woodpecker for climbing trees and
seizing insects in the chinks of the bark?" (Origin of Species," Edition
HAVE I., page 141).), some of the orchids beat it.

I showed the case to Elizabeth Wedgwood, and her remark was, "Now you
have upset your own book, for you won't persuade me that this could be
effected by Natural Selection."

LETTER 107. TO T.H. HUXLEY. July 20th [1860].

Many thanks for your pleasant letter. I agree to every word you say
about "Fraser" and the "Quarterly." (107/1. Bishop Wilberforce's review
of the "Origin" in the "Quarterly Review," July, 1860, was republished
in his "Collected Essays," 1874. See "Life and Letters, II., page 182,
and II., page 324, where some quotations from the review are given.
For Hopkins' review in "Fraser's Magazine," June, 1860, see "Life and
Letters," II., 314.) I have had some really admirable letters
from Hopkins. I do not suppose he has ever troubled his head about
geographical distribution, classification, morphologies, etc., and it
is only those who have that will feel any relief in having some sort of
rational explanation of such facts. Is it not grand the way in which the
Bishop asserts that all such facts are explained by ideas in God's mind?
The "Quarterly" is uncommonly clever; and I chuckled much at the way
my grandfather and self are quizzed. I could here and there see Owen's
hand. By the way, how comes it that you were not attacked? Does Owen
begin to find it more prudent to leave you alone? I would give five
shillings to know what tremendous blunder the Bishop made; for I see
that a page has been cancelled and a new page gummed in.

I am indeed most thoroughly contented with the progress of opinion.
From all that I hear from several quarters, it seems that Oxford did
the subject great good. (107/2. An account of the meeting of the British
Association at Oxford in 1860 is given in the "Life and Letters,"
II., page 320, and a fuller account in the one-volume "Life of Charles
Darwin," 1892, page 236. See also the "Life and Letters of T.H. Huxley,"
Volume I., page 179, and the amusing account of the meeting in Mr.
Tuckwell's "Reminiscences of Oxford," London, 1900, page 50.) It is of
enormous importance the showing the world that a few first-rate men
are not afraid of expressing their opinion. I see daily more and more
plainly that my unaided book would have done absolutely nothing. Asa
Gray is fighting admirably in the United States. He is thorough master
of the subject, which cannot be said by any means of such men as even
Hopkins.

I have been thinking over what you allude to about a natural history
review. (107/3. In the "Life and Letters of T.H. Huxley," Volume I.,
page 209, some account of the founding of the "Natural History Review"
is given in a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker of July 17th, 1860. On August
2nd Mr. Huxley added: "Darwin wrote me a very kind expostulation about
it, telling me I ought not to waste myself on other than original work.
In reply, however, I assured him that I MUST waste myself willy-nilly,
and that the 'Review' was only a save-all.") I suppose you mean really
a REVIEW and not journal for original communications in Natural History.
Of the latter there is now superabundance. With respect to a good
review, there can be no doubt of its value and utility; nevertheless, if
not too late, I hope you will consider deliberately before you decide.
Remember what a deal of work you have on your shoulders, and though you
can do much, yet there is a limit to even the hardest worker's power of
working. I should deeply regret to see you sacrificing much time which
could be given to original research. I fear, to one who can review as
well as you do, there would be the same temptation to waste time, as
there notoriously is for those who can speak well.

A review is only temporary; your work should be perennial. I know well
that you may say that unless good men will review there will be no good
reviews. And this is
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