The reference is to MM. Marten's (381/4. For Marten's read
Martins' [the name is wrongly spelt in the "Origin of Species."])
experiments on seeds "in a box in the actual sea.") that my observations
on the effects of sea-water have been confirmed. I still suspect that
the legs of birds which roost on the ground may be an efficient means;
but I was interrupted when going to make trials on this subject, and
have never resumed it.

We shall be in London in the middle of latter part of November, when I
shall much enjoy seeing you. Emma sends her love, and many thanks for
Lady Lyell's note.

LETTER 382. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, Wednesday [1867].

I daresay there is a great deal of truth in your remarks on the glacial
affair, but we are in a muddle, and shall never agree. I am bigoted to
the last inch, and will not yield. I cannot think how you can attach so
much weight to the physicists, seeing how Hopkins, Hennessey, Haughton,
and Thomson have enormously disagreed about the rate of cooling of the
crust; remembering Herschel's speculations about cold space (382/1.
The reader will find some account of Herschel's views in Lyell's
"Principles," 1872, Edition XI., Volume I., page 283.), and bearing in
mind all the recent speculations on change of axis, I will maintain to
the death that your case of Fernando Po and Abyssinia is worth ten
times more than the belief of a dozen physicists. (382/2. See "Origin,"
Edition VI., page 337: "Dr. Hooker has also lately shown that several of
the plants living on the upper parts of the lofty island of Fernando Po
and on the neighbouring Cameroon mountains, in the Gulf of Guinea, are
closely related to those in the mountains of Abyssinia, and likewise to
those of temperate Europe." Darwin evidently means that such facts as
these are better evidence of the gigantic periods of time occupied by
evolutionary changes than the discordant conclusions of the physicists.
See "Linn. Soc. Journ." Volume VII., page 180, for Hooker's general
conclusions; also Hooker and Ball's "Marocco," Appendix F, page 421. For
the case of Fernando Po see Hooker ("Linn. Soc. Journ." VI., 1861, page
3, where he sums up: "Hence the result of comparing Clarence Peak flora
[Fernando Po] with that of the African continent is--(1) the intimate
relationship with Abyssinia, of whose flora it is a member, and from
which it is separated by 1800 miles of absolutely unexplored country;
(2) the curious relationship with the East Afr