of Nov. 9th,
and your magnificent work on the fossil animals of Attica. (569/1. The
"Geologie de l'Attique," 2 volumes 4to, 1862-7, is the only work of
Gaudry's of this date in Mr. Darwin's library.) I assure you that I feel
very grateful for your generosity, and for the honour which you have
thus conferred on me. I know well, from what I have already read of
extracts, that I shall find your work a perfect mine of wealth. One long
passage which Sir C. Lyell quotes from you in the 10th and last edition
of the "Principles of Geology" is one of the most striking which I
have ever read on the affiliation of species. (569/2. The quotation
in Lyell's "Principles," Edition X., Volume II., page 484, is from M.
Gaudry's "Animaux Fossiles de Pikermi," 1866, page 34:--

"In how different a light does the question of the nature of species now
present itself to us from that in which it appeared only twenty years
ago, before we had studied the fossil remains of Greece and the allied
forms of other countries. How clearly do these fossil relics point to
the idea that species, genera, families, and orders now so distinct have
had common ancestors. The more we advance and fill up the gaps, the more
we feel persuaded that the remaining voids exist rather in our knowledge
than in nature. A few blows of the pickaxe at the foot of the Pyrenees,
of the Himalaya, of Mount Pentelicus in Greece, a few diggings in the
sandpits of Eppelsheim, or in the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, have
revealed to us the closest connecting links between forms which seemed
before so widely separated. How much closer will these links be drawn
when Palaeontology shall have escaped from its cradle!")

LETTER 570. A. SEDGWICK TO CHARLES DARWIN.

(570/1. In May, 1870, Darwin "went to the Bull Hotel, Cambridge, to see
the boys, and for a little rest and enjoyment." (570/2. See "Life and
Letters," III., 125.) The following letter was received after his return
to Down.)

Trinity College, Cambridge, May 30th, 1870.

My dear Darwin,

Your very kind letter surprised me. Not that I was surprised at the
pleasant and very welcome feeling with which it was written. But I could
not make out what I had done to deserve the praise of "extraordinary
kindness to yourself and family." I would most willingly have done
my best to promote the objects of your visit, but you gave me no
opportunity of doing so. I was truly grieved to find that my joy at
seeing you again was almost t