PleasereturnLyell’sletters。
WhatacapitalletterofLyell’sthattoyouis，andwhatawonderfulmanheis。IdifferfromhimgreatlyinthinkingthatthosewhobelievethatspeciesareNOTfixedwillmultiplyspecificnames:IknowinmyowncasemymostfrequentsourceofdoubtwaswhetherotherswouldnotthinkthisorthatwasaGod—createdBarnacle，andsurelydeservedaname。OtherwiseI
shouldonlyhavethoughtwhethertheamountofdifferenceandpermanencewassufficienttojustifyaname:Iam，also，surprisedathisthinkingitimmaterialwhetherspeciesareabsoluteornot:wheneveritisprovedthatallspeciesareproducedbygeneration，bylawsofchange，whatgoodevidenceweshallhaveofthegapsinformations。AndwhatascienceNaturalHistorywillbe，whenweareinourgraves，whenallthelawsofchangearethoughtoneofthemostimportantpartsofNaturalHistory。
IcannotconceivewhyLyellthinkssuchnotionsasmineorof’Vestiges，’
willinvalidatespecificcentres。ButImustnotrunonandtakeupyourtime。MyMS。willnot，Ifear，becopiedbeforeyougoabroad。Withheartythanks。