LETTER 344. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, March 30th, 1859.

Many thanks for your agreeable note. Please keep the geographical MS. till you hear from me, for I may have to beg you to send it to Murray; as through Lyell's intervention I hope he will publish, but he requires first to see MS. (344/1. "The Origin of Species"; see a letter to Lyell in "Life and Letters," II., page 151.)

I demur to what you say that we change climate of the world to account for "migration of bugs, flies, etc." WE do nothing of the sort; for WE rest on scored rocks, old moraines, arctic shells, and mammifers. I have no theory whatever about cause of cold, no more than I have for cause of elevation and subsidence; and I can see no reason why I should not use cold, or elevation, or subsidence to explain any other phenomena, such as distribution. I think if I had space and time I could make a pretty good case against any great continental changes since the Glacial epoch, and this has mainly led me to give up the Lyellian doctrine as insufficient to explain all mutations of climate.

I was amused at the British Museum evidence. (344/2. This refers to the letter to Murchison (Letter 65), published with the evidence of the 1858 enquiry by the Trustees of the British Museum.) I am made to give my opinion so authoritatively on botanical matters!...

As for our belief in the origin of species making any difference in descriptive work, I am sure it is incorrect, for I did all my barnacle work under this point of view. Only I often groaned that I was not allowed simply to decide whether a difference was sufficient to deserve a name.

I am glad to hear about Huxley--a wonderful man.