My Dear Darwin.

You have such a way of putting things, and you write in such a captivating way. One can only say.

Almost thou persuadest me to have been “a hairy quadruped, of arboreal habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears” &c.¹

But I have read only the first part of the book, and the closing chapters—have left all the sexual selection till I can read it leisurely next summer, and have lent it to a judicious friend who has just returned it.

I have been besought to write notices of the book, But I decline. You don’t know how distracted I am in these days—doing the work of Professor, gardener, builder, financier, & what not all at once—²

But I must not let this mail pass without sending you the little I could get as to Laura Bridgman³

Thro’ D^r. Jarvis—a medical man &c—I got the queries put to the woman who has now the personal charge of Laura, & he brought me the enclosed,—which I think I should not much rely on.⁴

When D^r. Howe is on hand, some day, I will see if I can get anything authentic & particular,—not, I fear in time for you.⁵

My wife⁶ joins in kindest regards— In great haste, Ever Yours sincerely | Asa Gray

P.S. My wife asks—Have you read “The Innocents Abroad’, by your favorite author—i.e. the author of The Jumping Frog.’⁷ Apropos to Californian literature—& science, she sends you—by this post—Bret Harte’s poems—which she admires, & thinks will amuse you.⁸ | A.G.