“MY DEAR SIR,--I send my little Preface, which I do not at all like, but which I cannot improve. I should like hereafter to see it in type. Mr. Bates tells me that Hardwick and Bohn of Piccadilly intend to go in for publishing solid books; and if your present publisher should change his mind: Mr. Bohn might be worth applying to. “Yours sincerely, “CH. DARWIN.” Professor Meldola then wrote, suggesting that Darwin should, in his Preface, point out, by references to the “Origin of Species” and his other writings, how far he had already traced out the lines which Weismann had pursued in his researches. The suggestion was made because in a great many of the Continental writings upon the theory of descent a number of the points which had been clearly foreshadowed, and in some cases even explicitly stated, by Darwin had been independently rediscovered and published as though original. In the editorial notes to Meldola’s translation full justice to Darwin has been done in this respect. Darwin’s characteristic reply is deeply interesting. “_Nov 26^{th}_ [1878]. “4 Bryanston St. “MY DEAR SIR,--I am very sorry to say that I cannot agree to your suggestion.--An author is never a fit judge of his own work, and I should dislike extremely pointing out when and how Weismann’s conclusions and work, agreed with my own.--I feel sure that I ought not to do this, and it would be to me an intolerable task. Nor does it seem to me the proper office of the Preface, which is to show what the book contains and that the contents appear to me valuable. But I can see no objection for you, if you think fit, to write an introduction with remarks or criticisms of any kind. Of course I would be glad to advise you on any point as far as lay in my power, but as a whole I could have nothing to do with it, on the grounds above specified that an author cannot and ought not to attempt to judge his own works or compare them with others. I am sorry to refuse to do anything which you wish.-- “We return home early to-morrow morning.--Your green silk seems to me a splendid colour, whatever the æsthetics may say.--My dear Sir, yours faithfully, “CH. DARWIN.”