multitude of letters."

The first and a few of the subsequent letters refer to proof sheets, and to
early copies of the 'Origin' which were sent to friends before the book was
published.]

C. LYELL TO CHARLES DARWIN. (Part of this letter is given in the 'Life of
Sir Charles Lyell,' volume ii. page 325.)
October 3d, 1859.

My dear Darwin,

I have just finished your volume and right glad I am that I did my best
with Hooker to persuade you to publish it without waiting for a time which
probably could never have arrived, though you lived till the age of a
hundred, when you had prepared all your facts on which you ground so many
grand generalizations.

It is a splendid case of close reasoning, and long substantial argument
throughout so many pages; the condensation immense, too great perhaps for
the uninitiated, but an effective and important preliminary statement,
which will admit, even before your detailed proofs appear, of some
occasional useful exemplification, such as your pigeons and cirripedes, of
which you make such excellent use.

I mean that, when, as I fully expect, a new edition is soon called for, you
may here and there insert an actual case to relieve the vast number of
abstract propositions. So far as I am concerned, I am so well prepared to
take your statements of facts for granted, that I do not think the "pieces
justificatives" when published will make much difference, and I have long