To the President of the Geological Society.—

I have read M^r Darwin’s paper¹ and think that it ought to be printed. If possible, the early, or historical part, should be made shorter. The concluding or theoretical part is not all clearly brought out, & might be reconsidered by the author with some advantage: Not with any view of altering his theoretical opinions (for he only is responsible for them) but for the purpose of making them more definite & unequivocal— The main facts on which the paper hinges & the immediate deductions deduced from them appear incontrovertible.

A Sedgwick—