of wit are delightful. I particularly
enjoyed the pithy judgment in about five words on Comte. (292/2.
Possibly the passage referred to is on page 52.) Notwithstanding the
clearness of every sentence, the subjects are in part so difficult that
I found them stiff reading. I fear, therefore, that it will be too stiff
for the general public; but I heartily hope that this will prove to be a
mistake, and in this case the intelligence of the public will be greatly
exalted in my eyes. The writing of this book must have been awfully hard
work, I should think.

LETTER 293. TO F. MULLER. Down, March 4th [1879].

I thank you cordially for your letter. Your facts and discussion on the
loss of the hairs on the legs of the caddis-flies seem to me the most
important and interesting thing which I have read for a very long time.
I hope that you will not disapprove, but I have sent your letter to
"Nature" (293/1. Fritz Muller, "On a Frog having Eggs on its Back--On
the Abortion of the Hairs on the Legs of certain Caddis-Flies, etc.":
Muller's letter and one from Charles Darwin were published in "Nature,"
Volume XIX., page 462, 1879.), with a few prefatory remarks, pointing
out to the general reader the importance of your view, and stating
that I have been puzzled for many years on this very point. If, as I
am inclined to believe, your view can be widely extended, it will be a
capital gain to the doctrine of evolution. I see by your various papers
that you are working away energetically, and, wherever you look, you
seem to discover something quite new and extremely interesting. Your
brother also continues to do fine work on the fertilisation of flowers
and allied subjects.

I have little or nothing to tell you about myself. I go slowly crawling
on with my present subject--the various and complicated movements of
plants. I have not been very well of late, and am tired to-day, so will
write no more. With the most cordial sympathy in all your work, etc.

LETTER 294. TO T.H. HUXLEY. Down, April 19th, 1879.

Many thanks for the book. (294/1. Ernst Hackel's "Freedom in Science and
Teaching," with a prefatory note by T.H. Huxley, 1879. Professor Hackel
has recently published (without permission) a letter in which Mr. Darwin
comments severely on Virchow. It is difficult to say which would have
pained Mr. Darwin more--the affront to a colleague, or the breach of
confidence in a friend.) I have read only the preface...It is capital,
and I