My dear Lyell

The same post that brought the enclosed,¹ brought Dana’s pamphlet on same subject.—² The whole seems to me utterly wild. If there had not been the foregone wish to separate man, I can never believe that Dana or anyone w^d have relied on so small a distinction, as grown man not using forelimbs for locomotion, seeing that monkeys use these limbs in all other respect for same purpose as man.—³ To carry on analogous principles (for they are not identical, for in Crustacea the cephalic limbs are brought close to mouth) from Crustacea to the classification of Mammals seems to me madness.—⁴ Who would dream of making fundamental distinction in Birds, from fore-limbs not being used at all in Birds, or used as fins in Penguins & for flight in other Birds?—

I get on slowly with your grand work,⁵ for I am overwhelmed with odds & ends & letters—so farewell | My dear Lyell | C. Darwin—

17^th Down Bromley Kent