Readers will learn, from these selections, about Darwin the family man, as well as the context of Darwin's achievements in several developing research fields of the Victorian Age. Darwin knew and cultivated the friendship of such scientists as Sir Joseph Hooker, Alfred Russell Wallace, Richard Owen, Adam Sedgwick, and Thomas Henry Huxley. He conducted an enormous correspondence with all who could aid him in his work. Their name is legion; it is sampled here, and constitutes one of the marvels of Darwin's century.