Your whole paper seems to me
admirably clear and well put. I may remark that Ruetimeyer has shown that
several wild mammals in Switzerland since the neolithic period have had
their dentition and, I _think_, general size _slightly_ modified. I
cannot believe that the Isthmus of Panama has been open since the
commencement of the glacial period; for, notwithstanding the fishes, so
few shells, crustaceans, and, according to Agassiz, not one echinoderm
is common to the sides. I am very glad you are going to publish all your
papers on Natural Selection: I am sure you are right, and that they will
do our cause much good.
But I groan over Man--you write like a metamorphosed (in retrograde
direction) naturalist, and you the author of the best paper that ever
appeared in the _Anthropological Review_! Eheu! Eheu! Eheu!--Your
miserable friend,
C. DARWIN.
* * * * *
_Down, Beckenham, Kent. March 31, 1870._
My dear Wallace,--Many thanks for the woodcut, which, judging from the
rate at which I crawl on, will hardly be wanted till this time next
year.
Pages:
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392