W.T.

THISELTON-DYER TO THE EDITOR OF "NATURE." (289/1.

The following letter ("Nature," Volume XLIII., page 535) criticises the interpretation given by the Duke to Mr.Darwin's letter.) Royal Gardens, Kew, March 27th [1891].
In "Nature" of March 5th (page 415), the Duke of Argyll has printed a very interesting letter of Mr.Darwin's, from which he drew the inference that the writer "assumed mankind to have arisen...in a single pair." I do not think myself that the letter bears this interpretation.
But the point in its most general aspect is a very important one, and is often found to present some difficulty to students of Mr.Darwin's writings.
Quite recently I have found by accident, amongst the papers of the late Mr.Bentham at Kew, a letter of friendly criticism from Mr.Darwin upon the presidential address which Mr.Bentham delivered to the Linnean Society on May 24th, 1869.

This letter, I think, has been overlooked and not published previously.

In it Mr.Darwin expresses himself with regard to the multiple origin of races and some other points in very explicit language.