To L. H. Morgan   9 July [1877]¹

My dear Sir

I thank you sincerely for your very kind, long & interesting letter.² I write in fact merely to thank you, for I have nothing else to say. I have lately been working so hard on plants, that I have not had time even to glance at H. Spencers recent work, & hardly to do more than glance at your last work.³ But I hope before long to find more time: It is, however, a great misfortune for me that reading now tires me more than writing,—that is if the subject sets me thinking.— I am as great an admirer as any man can be of H. Spencer’s genius; but his deductive style of putting almost everything never satisfies me, & the conclusion which I continually draw is that “here is a grand suggestion for many years work.”.—⁴

Your last work must have cost you very much labour & therefore I infer that you are strong & well.—⁵ I can assure you that I have by no means forgotten my short & very pleasant interview with you.—⁶

Believe me, my dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin