To speak
according to pangenesis, the gemmules of hybrids are not injured, for
hybrids propagate freely by buds; but their reproductive organs are
somehow affected, so that they cannot accumulate the proper gemmules, in
nearly the same manner as the reproductive organs of a pure species
become affected when exposed to unnatural conditions.
This is a very ill-expressed and ill-written letter. Do not answer it,
unless the spirit urges you. Life is too short for so long a discussion.
We shall, I _greatly_ fear, never agree.--My dear Wallace, most
sincerely yours,
CH. DARWIN.
* * * * *
_Hurstpierpoint. [?] April 8, 1868._
Dear Darwin,--I am sorry you should have given yourself the trouble to
answer my ideas on Sterility. If you are not convinced, I have little
doubt but that I am wrong; and in fact I was only _half convinced_ by my
own arguments, and I now think there is about an even chance that
Natural Selection may or not be able to accumulate sterility. If my
first proposition is modified to _the existence of a species and a
variety in the same area_, it will do just as well for my argument.
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