sometimes see
gleams of light. All my other letters have prevented me indulging myself
in writing to you; but I suddenly found the locust grass (221/3. No
doubt the plants raised from seeds taken from locust dung sent by Mr.
Weale from South Africa. The case is mentioned in the fifth edition of
the "Origin," published in 1869, page 439.) yesterday in flower, and had
to despatch it at once. I suppose some of your assistants will be able
to make the genus out without great trouble. I have done little in
experiment of late, but I find that mignonette is absolutely sterile
with pollen from the same plant. Any one who saw stamen after stamen
bending upwards and shedding pollen over the stigmas of the same flower
would declare that the structure was an admirable contrivance for
self-fertilisation. How utterly mysterious it is that there should be
some difference in ovules and contents of pollen-grains (for the tubes
penetrate own stigma) causing fertilisation when these are taken from
any two distinct plants, and invariably leading to impotence when taken
from the same plant! By Jove, even Pan. (221/4. Pangenesis.) won't
explain this. It is a comfort to me to think that you will be surely
haunted on your death-bed for not honouring the great god Pan. I am
quite delighted at what you say about my book, and about Bentham; when
writing it, I was much interested in some parts, but latterly I thought
quite as poorly of it as even the "Athenaeum." It ought to be read
abroad for the sake of the booksellers, for five editions have come or
are coming out abroad! I am ashamed to say that I have read only the
organic part of Lyell, and I admire all that I have read as much as
you. It is a comfort to know that possibly when one is seventy years old
one's brain may be good for work. It drives me mad, and I know it does
you too, that one has no time for reading anything beyond what must be
read: my room is encumbered with unread books. I agree about Wallace's
wonderful cleverness, but he is not cautious enough in my opinion.
I find I must (and I always distrust myself when I differ from him)
separate rather widely from him all about birds' nests and protection;
he is riding that hobby to death. I never read anything so miserable as
Andrew Murray's criticism on Wallace in the last number of his Journal.
(221/5. See "Journal of Travel and Natural History," Volume I., No.
3, page 137, London, 1868, for Andrew Murray's "Reply to Mr. Wallace's
T