It was very good of you to write so long an account. Though the seance did tire you so much it was, I think, really worth the exertion, as the same sort of things are done at all the seances, even at --'s; and now to my mind an enormous weight of evidence would be requisite to make one believe in anything beyond mere trickery... I am pleased to think that I declared to all my family, the day before yesterday, that the more I thought of all that I had heard happened at Queen Anne St., the more convinced I was it was all imposture... my theory was that [the medium] managed to get the two men on each side of him to hold each other's hands, instead of his, and that he was thus free to perform his antics. I am very glad that I issued my ukase to you to attend. Yours affectionately, CH. DARWIN. [In the spring of this year (1874) he read a book which gave him great pleasure and of which he often spoke with admiration:--'The Naturalist in Nicaragua,' by the late Thomas Belt. Mr. Belt, whose untimely death may well be deplored by naturalists, was by profession an Engineer, so that all his admirable observations in Natural History in Nicaragua and elsewhere were the fruit of his leisure. The book is direct and vivid in style and is full of description and suggestive discussions. With reference to it my father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- "Belt I have read, and I am delighted that you like it so much, it appears to me the best of all natural history journals which have ever been published."] CHARLES DARWIN TO THE MARQUIS DE SAPORTA. Down, May 30, 1874. Dear Sir, I have been very neglectful in not having sooner thanked you for your kindness in having sent me your 'Etudes sur la Vegetation,' etc., and other memoirs. I have read several of them with very great interest, and nothing can be more important, in my opinion, than your evidence of the extremely slow and gradual manner in which specific forms change. I observe that M. A. De Candolle has lately quoted you on this head versus Heer. I hope that you may be able to throw light on the question whether such protean, or polymorphic forms, as those of Rubus, Hieracium, etc., at the present day, are those which generate new species; as for myself, I have always felt some doubt on this head. I trust that you may soon bring many of your countrymen to believe in Evolution, and my name will then perhaps cease to be scorned. With the most sincere respect, I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, CH. DARWIN. CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. Down, June 5 [1874]. My dear Gray,