Autograph Letter Signed to "Mr Crow" [W.B. Crow, author of "Contributions to the Principles of Morphology "], essentially reviewing Crow's book, but also givinf a Testament..

Two pages, 4to, fold marks, four small closed tears. A difficult hand. He thanks Crow for his book, "Contributions to the Principles of Morphology", just published, suggesting that Crow must have enjoyed reviewing "older views", adding, "The Philosophy on which Biology has [?] based is much neglected ...I never came across any Botanist for example who thought the two [?] of Goethe, & his theory of meta-morphosis has been a great curse ... for 100 years. The mistake of [?] was, that we had no 'definitions' of a leaf to begin with. ... I note you are rather keener on zoological side also. For example, you don't mention Hofmeister [underlined], who was the real founder of Comparative morphology & the Plant from 1850...." He continues in the same vein for another page, concluding, "The egocentric zoologist can never escape anthropomorphic views and arguments. The botanist remains wholly free, since still inside [underlined] the range plant-life, which he can thus view from a distance - as it were. With many thanks, & best wishes for more volumes."