Page 26 - Confessions of the Evolutionists

24 CONFESSIONS OF THE EVOLUTIONISTS

The introduc-
tion of The Life
and Letters of
Charles Darwin,
edited by
Darwin's son
Francis.

From a letter to Asa Gray, a close friend and Professor of Biology at
Harvard University:
I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds
of true science. 11
From his letter to E. Haeckel:

You will do a wonderful amount of good in spreading the doctrine of
Evolution, supporting it as you do by so many original observations....
Has the problem of the later stages of reduction of useless structures ever
perplexed you? This problem has of late caused me much perplexity. 12

From a letter to his second cousin William Darwin Fox:
All nature is perverse and will not do as I wish it, and just at present I
wish I had my old barnacles to work at and nothing new. 13
Sometimes I fear I shall break down, for my subject gets bigger and big-
ger with each month... 14
From a letter to his friend and botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker:
I sometimes suspect I shall soon entirely fail. 15

I fancy I have lately removed many great difficulties opposed to my no-
tions, but God knows it may be all hallucination. 16