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diff --git a/old/2000-02-2llcd10.txt b/old/2000-02-2llcd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7e8001 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2000-02-2llcd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21361 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume 2 +#8 in our series by or about Charles Darwin + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher <asschers@aia.net.au> + + + + + +THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN + +INCLUDING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTER + +EDITED BY HIS SON + +FRANCIS DARWIN + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOLUME II + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +VOLUME II. + + +CHAPTER 2.I.--The Publication of the 'Origin of Species'--October 3, 1859, +to December 31, 1859. + +CHAPTER 2.II.--The 'Origin of Species' (continued)--1860. + +CHAPTER 2.III.--The Spread of Evolution--1861-1862. + +CHAPTER 2.IV.--The Spread of Evolution. 'Variation of Animals and Plants' +--1863-1866. + +CHAPTER 2.V.--The Publication of the 'Variation of Animals and Plants under +Domestication'--January 1867-June 1868. + +CHAPTER 2.VI.--Work on 'Man'--1864-1870. + +CHAPTER 2.VII.--The Publication of the 'Descent of Man.' Work on +'Expression'--1871-1873. + +CHAPTER 2.VIII.--Miscellanea, including Second Editions of 'Coral Reefs,' +the 'Descent of Man,' and the 'Variation of Animals and Plants'--1874 and +1875. + +CHAPTER 2.IX.--Miscellanea (continued). A Revival of Geological Work--The +Book on Earthworms--Life of Erasmus Darwin--Miscellaneous Letters--1876- +1882. + +BOTANICAL LETTERS. + +CHAPTER 2.X.--Fertilisation of Flowers--1839-1880. + +CHAPTER 2.XI.--The 'Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilisation in the +Vegetable Kingdom'--1866-1877. + +CHAPTER 2.XII.--'Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species' +--1860-1878. + +CHAPTER 2.XIII.--Climbing and Insectivorous Plants--1863-1875. + +CHAPTER 2.XIV.--The 'Power of Movement in Plants'--1878-1881. + +CHAPTER 2.XV.--Miscellaneous Botanical Letters--1873-1882. + +... + +CHAPTER 2.XVI.--Conclusion. + + +APPENDICES. + +I.--The Funeral in Westminster Abbey. + +II.--List of Works by C. Darwin. + +III.--Portraits. + +IV.--Honours, Degrees, Societies, etc. + + + + +TRANSCRIPT OF A FACSIMILE OF A PAGE FROM A NOTE-BOOK OF 1837. + +--led to comprehend true affinities. My theory would give zest to recent & +Fossil Comparative Anatomy: it would lead to study of instincts, heredity, +& mind heredity, whole metaphysics, it would lead to closest examination of +hybridity & generation, causes of change in order to know what we have come +from & to what we tend, to what circumstances favour crossing & what +prevents it, this & direct examination of direct passages of structure in +species, might lead to laws of change, which would then be main object of +study, to guide our speculations. + + + + +LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. + + +VOLUME II. + + +CHAPTER 2.I. + +THE PUBLICATION OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' + +OCTOBER 3, 1859, TO DECEMBER 31, 1859. + + +1859. + +[Under the date of October 1st, 1859, in my father's Diary occurs the +entry: "Finished proofs (thirteen months and ten days) of Abstract on +'Origin of Species'; 1250 copies printed. The first edition was published +on November 24th, and all copies sold first day." + +On October 2d he started for a water-cure establishment at Ilkley, near +Leeds, where he remained with his family until December, and on the 9th of +that month he was again at Down. The only other entry in the Diary for +this year is as follows: "During end of November and beginning of +December, employed in correcting for second edition of 3000 copies; +multitude of letters." + +The first and a few of the subsequent letters refer to proof sheets, and to +early copies of the 'Origin' which were sent to friends before the book was +published.] + +C. LYELL TO CHARLES DARWIN. (Part of this letter is given in the 'Life of +Sir Charles Lyell,' volume ii. page 325.) +October 3d, 1859. + +My dear Darwin, + +I have just finished your volume and right glad I am that I did my best +with Hooker to persuade you to publish it without waiting for a time which +probably could never have arrived, though you lived till the age of a +hundred, when you had prepared all your facts on which you ground so many +grand generalizations. + +It is a splendid case of close reasoning, and long substantial argument +throughout so many pages; the condensation immense, too great perhaps for +the uninitiated, but an effective and important preliminary statement, +which will admit, even before your detailed proofs appear, of some +occasional useful exemplification, such as your pigeons and cirripedes, of +which you make such excellent use. + +I mean that, when, as I fully expect, a new edition is soon called for, you +may here and there insert an actual case to relieve the vast number of +abstract propositions. So far as I am concerned, I am so well prepared to +take your statements of facts for granted, that I do not think the "pieces +justificatives" when published will make much difference, and I have long +seen most clearly that if any concession is made, all that you claim in +your concluding pages will follow. It is this which has made me so long +hesitate, always feeling that the case of Man and his races, and of other +animals, and that of plants is one and the same, and that if a "vera causa" +be admitted for one, instead of a purely unknown and imaginary one, such as +the word "Creation," all the consequences must follow. + +I fear I have not time to-day, as I am just leaving this place, to indulge +in a variety of comments, and to say how much I was delighted with Oceanic +Islands--Rudimentary Organs--Embryology--the genealogical key to the +Natural System, Geographical Distribution, and if I went on I should be +copying the heads of all your chapters. But I will say a word of the +Recapitulation, in case some slight alteration, or at least, omission of a +word or two be still possible in that. + +In the first place, at page 480, it cannot surely be said that the most +eminent naturalists have rejected the view of the mutability of species? +You do not mean to ignore G. St. Hilaire and Lamarck. As to the latter, +you may say, that in regard to animals you substitute natural selection for +volition to a certain considerable extent, but in his theory of the changes +of plants he could not introduce volition; he may, no doubt, have laid an +undue comparative stress on changes in physical conditions, and too little +on those of contending organisms. He at least was for the universal +mutability of species and for a genealogical link between the first and the +present. The men of his school also appealed to domesticated varieties. +(Do you mean LIVING naturalists?) (In the published copies of the first +edition, page 480, the words are "eminent living naturalists.") + +The first page of this most important summary gives the adversary an +advantage, by putting forth so abruptly and crudely such a startling +objection as the formation of "the eye," not by means analogous to man's +reason, or rather by some power immeasurably superior to human reason, but +by superinduced variation like those of which a cattle-breeder avails +himself. Pages would be required thus to state an objection and remove it. +It would be better, as you wish to persuade, to say nothing. Leave out +several sentences, and in a future edition bring it out more fully. +Between the throwing down of such a stumbling-block in the way of the +reader, and the passage to the working ants, in page 460, there are pages +required; and these ants are a bathos to him before he has recovered from +the shock of being called upon to believe the eye to have been brought to +perfection, from a state of blindness or purblindness, by such variations +as we witness. I think a little omission would greatly lessen the +objectionableness of these sentences if you have not time to recast and +amplify. + +...But these are small matters, mere spots on the sun. Your comparison of +the letters retained in words, when no longer wanted for the sound, to +rudimentary organs is excellent, as both are truly genealogical. + +The want of peculiar birds in Madeira is a greater difficulty than seemed +to me allowed for. I could cite passages where you show that variations +are superinduced from the new circumstances of new colonists, which would +require some Madeira birds, like those of the Galapagos, to be peculiar. +There has been ample time in the case of Madeira and Porto Santo... + +You enclose your sheets in old MS., so the Post Office very properly charge +them as letters, 2 pence extra. I wish all their fines on MS. were worth +as much. I paid 4 shillings 6 pence for such wash the other day from +Paris, from a man who can prove 300 deluges in the valley of the Seine. + +With my hearty congratulations to you on your grand work, believe me, + +Ever very affectionately yours, +CHAS. LYELL. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +October 11th [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I thank you cordially for giving me so much of your valuable time in +writing me the long letter of 3d, and still longer of 4th. I wrote a line +with the missing proof-sheet to Scarborough. I have adopted most +thankfully all your minor corrections in the last chapter, and the greater +ones as far as I could with little trouble. I damped the opening passage +about the eye (in my bigger work I show the gradations in structure of the +eye) by putting merely "complex organs." But you are a pretty Lord +Chancellor to tell the barrister on one side how best to win the cause! +The omission of "living" before eminent naturalists was a dreadful blunder. + +MADEIRA AND BERMUDA BIRDS NOT PECULIAR. + +You are right, there is a screw out here; I thought no one would have +detected it; I blundered in omitting a discussion, which I have written out +in full. But once for all, let me say as an excuse, that it was most +difficult to decide what to omit. Birds, which have struggled in their own +homes, when settled in a body, nearly simultaneously in a new country, +would not be subject to much modification, for their mutual relations would +not be much disturbed. But I quite agree with you, that in time they ought +to undergo some. In Bermuda and Madeira they have, as I believe, been kept +constant by the frequent arrival, and the crossing with unaltered +immigrants of the same species from the mainland. In Bermuda this can be +proved, in Madeira highly probable, as shown me by letters from E.V. +Harcourt. Moreover, there are ample grounds for believing that the crossed +offspring of the new immigrants (fresh blood as breeders would say), and +old colonists of the same species would be extra vigorous, and would be the +most likely to survive; thus the effects of such crossing in keeping the +old colonists unaltered would be much aided. + +ON GALAPAGOS PRODUCTIONS HAVING AMERICAN TYPE ON VIEW OF CREATION. + +I cannot agree with you, that species if created to struggle with American +forms, would have to be created on the American type. Facts point +diametrically the other way. Look at the unbroken and untilled ground in +La Plata, COVERED with European products, which have no near affinity to +the indigenous products. They are not American types which conquer the +aborigines. So in every island throughout the world. Alph. De Candolle's +results (though he does not see its full importance), that thoroughly well +naturalised [plants] are in general very different from the aborigines +(belonging in large proportion of cases to non-indigenous genera) is most +important always to bear in mind. Once for all, I am sure, you will +understand that I thus write dogmatically for brevity sake. + +ON THE CONTINUED CREATION Of MONADS. + +This doctrine is superfluous (and groundless) on the theory of Natural +Selection, which implies no NECESSARY tendency to progression. A monad, if +no deviation in its structure profitable to it under its EXCESSIVELY SIMPLE +conditions of life occurred, might remain unaltered from long before the +Silurian Age to the present day. I grant there will generally be a +tendency to advance in complexity of organisation, though in beings fitted +for very simple conditions it would be slight and slow. How could a +complex organisation profit a monad? if it did not profit it there would be +no advance. The Secondary Infusoria differ but little from the living. +The parent monad form might perfectly well survive unaltered and fitted for +its simple conditions, whilst the offspring of this very monad might become +fitted for more complex conditions. The one primordial prototype of all +living and extinct creatures may, it is possible, be now alive! Moreover, +as you say, higher forms might be occasionally degraded, the snake Typhlops +SEEMS (?!) to have the habits of earth-worms. So that fresh creatures of +simple forms seem to me wholly superfluous. + +"MUST YOU NOT ASSUME A PRIMEVAL CREATIVE POWER WHICH DOES NOT ACT WITH +UNIFORMITY, OR HOW COULD MAN SUPERVENE?" + +I am not sure that I understand your remarks which follow the above. We +must under present knowledge assume the creation of one or of a few forms +in the same manner as philosophers assume the existence of a power of +attraction without any explanation. But I entirely reject, as in my +judgment quite unnecessary, any subsequent addition "of new powers and +attributes and forces;" or of any "principle of improvement," except in so +far as every character which is naturally selected or preserved is in some +way an advantage or improvement, otherwise it would not have been selected. +If I were convinced that I required such additions to the theory of natural +selection, I would reject it as rubbish, but I have firm faith in it, as I +cannot believe, that if false, it would explain so many whole classes of +facts, which, if I am in my senses, it seems to explain. As far as I +understand your remarks and illustrations, you doubt the possibility of +gradations of intellectual powers. Now, it seems to me, looking to +existing animals alone, that we have a very fine gradation in the +intellectual powers of the Vertebrata, with one rather wide gap (not half +so wide as in many cases of corporeal structure), between say a Hottentot +and a Ourang, even if civilised as much mentally as the dog has been from +the wolf. I suppose that you do not doubt that the intellectual powers are +as important for the welfare of each being as corporeal structure; if so, I +can see no difficulty in the most intellectual individuals of a species +being continually selected; and the intellect of the new species thus +improved, aided probably by effects of inherited mental exercise. I look +at this process as now going on with the races of man; the less +intellectual races being exterminated. But there is not space to discuss +this point. If I understand you, the turning-point in our difference must +be, that you think it impossible that the intellectual powers of a species +should be much improved by the continued natural selection of the most +intellectual individuals. To show how minds graduate, just reflect how +impossible every one has yet found it, to define the difference in mind of +man and the lower animals; the latter seem to have the very same attributes +in a much lower stage of perfection than the lowest savage. I would give +absolutely nothing for the theory of Natural Selection, if it requires +miraculous additions at any one stage of descent. I think Embryology, +Homology, Classification, etc., etc., show us that all vertebrata have +descended from one parent; how that parent appeared we know not. If you +admit in ever so little a degree, the explanation which I have given of +Embryology, Homology and Classification, you will find it difficult to say: +thus far the explanation holds good, but no further; here we must call in +"the addition of new creative forces." I think you will be driven to +reject all or admit all: I fear by your letter it will be the former +alternative; and in that case I shall feel sure it is my fault, and not the +theory's fault, and this will certainly comfort me. With regard to the +descent of the great Kingdoms (as Vertebrata, Articulata, etc.) from one +parent, I have said in the conclusion, that mere analogy makes me think it +probable; my arguments and facts are sound in my judgment only for each +separate kingdom. + +THE FORMS WHICH ARE BEATEN INHERITING SOME INFERIORITY IN COMMON. + +I dare say I have not been guarded enough, but might not the term +inferiority include less perfect adaptation to physical conditions? + +My remarks apply not to single species, but to groups or genera; the +species of most genera are adapted at least to rather hotter, and rather +less hot, to rather damper and dryer climates; and when the several species +of a group are beaten and exterminated by the several species of another +group, it will not, I think, generally be from EACH new species being +adapted to the climate, but from all the new species having some common +advantage in obtaining sustenance, or escaping enemies. As groups are +concerned, a fairer illustration than negro and white in Liberia would be +the almost certain future extinction of the genus ourang by the genus man, +not owing to man being better fitted for the climate, but owing to the +inherited intellectual inferiority of the Ourang-genus to Man-genus, by his +intellect, inventing fire-arms and cutting down forests. I believe from +reasons given in my discussion, that acclimatisation is readily effected +under nature. It has taken me so many years to disabuse my mind of the TOO +great importance of climate--its important influence being so conspicuous, +whilst that of a struggle between creature and creature is so hidden--that +I am inclined to swear at the North Pole, and, as Sydney Smith said, even +to speak disrespectfully of the Equator. I beg you often to reflect (I +have found NOTHING so instructive) on the case of thousands of plants in +the middle point of their respective ranges, and which, as we positively +know, can perfectly well withstand a little more heat and cold, a little +more damp and dry, but which in the metropolis of their range do not exist +in vast numbers, although if many of the other inhabitants were destroyed +[they] would cover the ground. We thus clearly see that their numbers are +kept down, in almost every case, not by climate, but by the struggle with +other organisms. All this you will perhaps think very obvious; but, until +I repeated it to myself thousands of times, I took, as I believe, a wholly +wrong view of the whole economy of nature... + +HYBRIDISM. + +I am so much pleased that you approve of this chapter; you would be +astonished at the labour this cost me; so often was I, on what I believe +was, the wrong scent. + +RUDIMENTARY ORGANS. + +On the theory of Natural Selection there is a wide distinction between +Rudimentary Organs and what you call germs of organs, and what I call in my +bigger book "nascent" organs. An organ should not be called rudimentary +unless it be useless--as teeth which never cut through the gums--the +papillae, representing the pistil in male flowers, wing of Apteryx, or +better, the little wings under soldered elytra. These organs are now +plainly useless, and a fortiori, they would be useless in a less developed +state. Natural Selection acts exclusively by preserving successive slight, +USEFUL modifications. Hence Natural Selection cannot possibly make a +useless or rudimentary organ. Such organs are solely due to inheritance +(as explained in my discussion), and plainly bespeak an ancestor having the +organ in a useful condition. They may be, and often have been, worked in +for other purposes, and then they are only rudimentary for the original +function, which is sometimes plainly apparent. A nascent organ, though +little developed, as it has to be developed must be useful in every stage +of development. As we cannot prophesy, we cannot tell what organs are now +nascent; and nascent organs will rarely have been handed down by certain +members of a class from a remote period to the present day, for beings with +any important organ but little developed, will generally have been +supplanted by their descendants with the organ well developed. The mammary +glands in Ornithorhynchus may, perhaps, be considered as nascent compared +with the udders of a cow--Ovigerous frena, in certain cirripedes, are +nascent branchiae--in [illegible] the swim bladder is almost rudimentary +for this purpose, and is nascent as a lung. The small wing of penguin, +used only as a fin, might be nascent as a wing; not that I think so; for +the whole structure of the bird is adapted for flight, and a penguin so +closely resembles other birds, that we may infer that its wings have +probably been modified, and reduced by natural selection, in accordance +with its sub-aquatic habits. Analogy thus often serves as a guide in +distinguishing whether an organ is rudimentary or nascent. I believe the +Os coccyx gives attachment to certain muscles, but I can not doubt that it +is a rudimentary tail. The bastard wing of birds is a rudimentary digit; +and I believe that if fossil birds are found very low down in the series, +they will be seen to have a double or bifurcated wing. Here is a bold +prophecy! + +To admit prophetic germs, is tantamount to rejecting the theory of Natural +Selection. + +I am very glad you think it worth while to run through my book again, as +much, or more, for the subject's sake as for my own sake. But I look at +your keeping the subject for some little time before your mind--raising +your own difficulties and solving them--as far more important than reading +my book. If you think enough, I expect you will be perverted, and if you +ever are, I shall know that the theory of Natural Selection, is, in the +main, safe; that it includes, as now put forth, many errors, is almost +certain, though I cannot see them. Do not, of course, think of answering +this; but if you have other OCCASION to write again, just say whether I +have, in ever so slight a degree, shaken any of your objections. Farewell. +With my cordial thanks for your long letters and valuable remarks, + +Believe me, yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--You often allude to Lamarck's work; I do not know what you think +about it, but it appeared to me extremely poor; I got not a fact or idea +from it. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. AGASSIZ. (Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, born at +Mortier, on the lake of Morat in Switzerland, on May 28, 1807. He +emigrated to America in 1846, where he spent the rest of his life, and died +December 14, 1873. His 'Life,' written by his widow, was published in +1885. The following extract from a letter to Agassiz (1850) is worth +giving, as showing how my father regarded him, and it may be added that his +cordial feelings towards the great American naturalist remained strong to +the end of his life:-- + +"I have seldom been more deeply gratified than by receiving your most kind +present of 'Lake Superior.' I had heard of it, and had much wished to read +it, but I confess that it was the very great honour of having in my +possession a work with your autograph as a presentation copy that has given +me such lively and sincere pleasure. I cordially thank you for it. I have +begun to read it with uncommon interest, which I see will increase as I go +on.") +Down, November 11th [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +I have ventured to send you a copy of my book (as yet only an abstract) on +the 'Origin of Species.' As the conclusions at which I have arrived on +several points differ so widely from yours, I have thought (should you at +any time read my volume) that you might think that I had sent it to you out +of a spirit of defiance or bravado; but I assure you that I act under a +wholly different frame of mind. I hope that you will at least give me +credit, however erroneous you may think my conclusions, for having +earnestly endeavoured to arrive at the truth. With sincere respect, I beg +leave to remain, + +Yours, very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. DE CANDOLLE. +Down, November 11th [1859]. + +Dear Sir, + +I have thought that you would permit me to send you (by Messrs. Williams +and Norgate, booksellers) a copy of my work (as yet only an abstract) on +the 'Origin of Species.' I wish to do this, as the only, though quite +inadequate manner, by which I can testify to you the extreme interest which +I have felt, and the great advantage which I have derived, from studying +your grand and noble work on Geographical Distribution. Should you be +induced to read my volume, I venture to remark that it will be intelligible +only by reading the whole straight through, as it is very much condensed. +It would be a high gratification to me if any portion interested you. But +I am perfectly well aware that you will entirely disagree with the +conclusion at which I have arrived. + +You will probably have quite forgotten me; but many years ago you did me +the honour of dining at my house in London to meet M. and Madame Sismondi +(Jessie Allen, sister of Mrs. Josiah Wedgwood of Maer.), the uncle and aunt +of my wife. With sincere respect, I beg to remain, + +Yours, very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HUGH FALCONER. +Down, November 11th [1859]. + +My dear Falconer, + +I have told Murray to send you a copy of my book on the 'Origin of +Species,' which as yet is only an abstract. + +If you read it, you must read it straight through, otherwise from its +extremely condensed state it will be unintelligible. + +Lord, how savage you will be, if you read it, and how you will long to +crucify me alive! I fear it will produce no other effect on you; but if it +should stagger you in ever so slight a degree, in this case, I am fully +convinced that you will become, year after year, less fixed in your belief +in the immutability of species. With this audacious and presumptuous +conviction, + +I remain, my dear Falconer, +Yours most truly, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, November 11th [1859]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have directed a copy of my book (as yet only an abstract) on the 'Origin +of Species' to be sent you. I know how you are pressed for time; but if +you can read it, I shall be infinitely gratified...If ever you do read it, +and can screw out time to send me (as I value your opinion so highly), +however short a note, telling me what you think its weakest and best parts, +I should be extremely grateful. As you are not a geologist, you will +excuse my conceit in telling you that Lyell highly approves of the two +Geological chapters, and thinks that on the Imperfection of the Geological +Record not exaggerated. He is nearly a convert to my views... + +Let me add I fully admit that there are very many difficulties not +satisfactorily explained by my theory of descent with modification, but I +cannot possibly believe that a false theory would explain so many classes +of facts as I think it certainly does explain. On these grounds I drop my +anchor, and believe that the difficulties will slowly disappear... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW. +Down, November 11th, 1859. + +My dear Henslow, + +I have told Murray to send a copy of my book on Species to you, my dear old +master in Natural History; I fear, however, that you will not approve of +your pupil in this case. The book in its present state does not show the +amount of labour which I have bestowed on the subject. + +If you have time to read it carefully, and would take the trouble to point +out what parts seem weakest to you and what best, it would be a most +material aid to me in writing my bigger book, which I hope to commence in a +few months. You know also how highly I value your judgment. But I am not +so unreasonable as to wish or expect you to write detailed and lengthy +criticisms, but merely a few general remarks, pointing out the weakest +parts. + +If you are IN EVEN SO SLIGHT A DEGREE staggered (which I hardly expect) on +the immutability of species, then I am convinced with further reflection +you will become more and more staggered, for this has been the process +through which my mind has gone. My dear Henslow, + +Yours affectionately and gratefully, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. (The present Sir John Lubbock.) +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +Saturday [November 12th, 1859]. + +...Thank you much for asking me to Brighton. I hope much that you will +enjoy your holiday. I have told Murray to send a copy for you to Mansion +House Street, and I am surprised that you have not received it. There are +so many valid and weighty arguments against my notions, that you, or any +one, if you wish on the other side, will easily persuade yourself that I am +wholly in error, and no doubt I am in part in error, perhaps wholly so, +though I cannot see the blindness of my ways. I dare say when thunder and +lightning were first proved to be due to secondary causes, some regretted +to give up the idea that each flash was caused by the direct hand of God. + +Farewell, I am feeling very unwell to-day, so no more. + +Yours very truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +Tuesday [November 15th, 1859]. + +My dear Lubbock, + +I beg pardon for troubling you again. I do not know how I blundered in +expressing myself in making you believe that we accepted your kind +invitation to Brighton. I meant merely to thank you sincerely for wishing +to see such a worn-out old dog as myself. I hardly know when we leave this +place,--not under a fortnight, and then we shall wish to rest under our own +roof-tree. + +I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than Paley's 'Natural +Theology.' I could almost formerly have said it by heart. + +I am glad you have got my book, but I fear that you value it far too +highly. I should be grateful for any criticisms. I care not for Reviews; +but for the opinion of men like you and Hooker and Huxley and Lyell, etc. + +Farewell, with our joint thanks to Mrs. Lubbock and yourself. Adios. + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS. (Now Rev. L. Blomefield.) +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +November 13th, 1859. + +My dear Jenyns, + +I must thank you for your very kind note forwarded to me from Down. I have +been much out of health this summer, and have been hydropathising here for +the last six weeks with very little good as yet. I shall stay here for +another fortnight at least. Please remember that my book is only an +abstract, and very much condensed, and, to be at all intelligible, must be +carefully read. I shall be very grateful for any criticisms. But I know +perfectly well that you will not at all agree with the lengths which I go. +It took long years to convert me. I may, of course, be egregiously wrong; +but I cannot persuade myself that a theory which explains (as I think it +certainly does) several large classes of facts, can be wholly wrong; +notwithstanding the several difficulties which have to be surmounted +somehow, and which stagger me even to this day. + +I wish that my health had allowed me to publish in extenso; if ever I get +strong enough I will do so, as the greater part is written out, and of +which MS. the present volume is an abstract. + +I fear this note will be almost illegible; but I am poorly, and can hardly +sit up. Farewell; with thanks for your kind note and pleasant remembrance +of good old days. + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Ilkley, November 13th, 1859. + +My dear Sir, + +I have told Murray to send you by post (if possible) a copy of my book, and +I hope that you will receive it at nearly the same time with this note. +(N.B. I have got a bad finger, which makes me write extra badly.) If you +are so inclined, I should very much like to hear your general impression of +the book, as you have thought so profoundly on the subject, and in so +nearly the same channel with myself. I hope there will be some little new +to you, but I fear not much. Remember it is only an abstract, and very +much condensed. God knows what the public will think. No one has read it, +except Lyell, with whom I have had much correspondence. Hooker thinks him +a complete convert, but he does not seem so in his letters to me; but is +evidently deeply interested in the subject. I do not think your share in +the theory will be overlooked by the real judges, as Hooker, Lyell, Asa +Gray, etc. I have heard from Mr. Slater that your paper on the Malay +Archipelago has been read at the Linnean Society, and that he was EXTREMELY +much interested by it. + +I have not seen one naturalist for six or nine months, owing to the state +of my health, and therefore I really have no news to tell you. I am +writing this at Ilkley Wells, where I have been with my family for the last +six weeks, and shall stay for some few weeks longer. As yet I have +profited very little. God knows when I shall have strength for my bigger +book. + +I sincerely hope that you keep your health; I suppose that you will be +thinking of returning (Mr. Wallace was in the Malay Archipelago.) soon with +your magnificent collections, and still grander mental materials. You will +be puzzled how to publish. The Royal Society fund will be worth your +consideration. With every good wish, pray believe me, + +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S. I think that I told you before that Hooker is a complete convert. If +I can convert Huxley I shall be content. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.D. FOX. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +Wednesday [November 16th, 1859]. + +...I like the place very much, and the children have enjoyed it much, and +it has done my wife good. It did H. good at first, but she has gone back +again. I have had a series of calamities; first a sprained ankle, and then +a badly swollen whole leg and face, much rash, and a frightful succession +of boils--four or five at once. I have felt quite ill, and have little +faith in this "unique crisis," as the doctor calls it, doing me much +good...You will probably have received, or will very soon receive, my +weariful book on species, I naturally believe it mainly includes the truth, +but you will not at all agree with me. Dr. Hooker, whom I consider one of +the best judges in Europe, is a complete convert, and he thinks Lyell is +likewise; certainly, judging from Lyell's letters to me on the subject, he +is deeply staggered. Farewell. If the spirit moves you, let me have a +line... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.B. CARPENTER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +November 18th [1859]. + +My dear Carpenter, + +I must thank you for your letter on my own account, and if I know myself, +still more warmly for the subject's sake. As you seem to have understood +my last chapter without reading the previous chapters, you must have +maturely and most profoundly self-thought out the subject; for I have found +the most extraordinary difficulty in making even able men understand at +what I was driving. There will be strong opposition to my views. If I am +in the main right (of course including partial errors unseen by me), the +admission in my views will depend far more on men, like yourself, with +well-established reputations, than on my own writings. Therefore, on the +supposition that when you have read my volume you think the view in the +main true, I thank and honour you for being willing to run the chance of +unpopularity by advocating the view. I know not in the least whether any +one will review me in any of the Reviews. I do not see how an author could +enquire or interfere; but if you are willing to review me anywhere, I am +sure from the admiration which I have long felt and expressed for your +'Comparative Physiology,' that your review will be excellently done, and +will do good service in the cause for which I think I am not selfishly +deeply interested. I am feeling very unwell to-day, and this note is +badly, perhaps hardly intelligibly, expressed; but you must excuse me, for +I could not let a post pass, without thanking you for your note. You will +have a tough job even to shake in the slightest degree Sir H. Holland. I +do not think (privately I say it) that the great man has knowledge enough +to enter on the subject. Pray believe me with sincerity, Yours truly +obliged, + +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--As you are not a practical geologist, let me add that Lyell thinks +the chapter on the Imperfection of the Geological Record NOT exaggerated. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.B. CARPENTER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +November 19th [1859]. + +My dear Carpenter, + +I beg pardon for troubling you again. If, after reading my book, you are +able to come to a conclusion in any degree definite, will you think me very +unreasonable in asking you to let me hear from you. I do not ask for a +long discussion, but merely for a brief idea of your general impression. +From your widely extended knowledge, habit of investigating the truth, and +abilities, I should value your opinion in the very highest rank. Though I, +of course, believe in the truth of my own doctrine, I suspect that no +belief is vivid until shared by others. As yet I know only one believer, +but I look at him as of the greatest authority, viz., Hooker. When I think +of the many cases of men who have studied one subject for years, and have +persuaded themselves of the truth of the foolishest doctrines, I feel +sometimes a little frightened, whether I may not be one of these mono- +maniacs. + +Again pray excuse this, I fear, unreasonable request. A short note would +suffice, and I could bear a hostile verdict, and shall have to bear many a +one. + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +Sunday [November 1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just read a review on my book in the "Athenaeum" (November 19, +1859.), and it excites my curiosity much who is the author. If you should +hear who writes in the "Athenaeum" I wish you would tell me. It seems to +me well done, but the reviewer gives no new objections, and, being hostile, +passes over every single argument in favour of the doctrine,...I fear from +the tone of the review, that I have written in a conceited and cocksure +style (The Reviewer speaks of the author's "evident self-satisfaction," and +of his disposing of all difficulties "more or less confidently."), which +shames me a little. There is another review of which I should like to know +the author, viz., of H.C. Watson in the "Gardener's Chronicle". Some of +the remarks are like yours, and he does deserve punishment; but surely the +review is too severe. Don't you think so? + +I hope you got the three copies for Foreign Botanists in time for your +parcel, and your own copy. I have heard from Carpenter, who, I think, is +likely to be a convert. Also from Quatrefages, who is inclined to go a +long way with us. He says that he exhibited in his lecture a diagram +closely like mine! + +I shall stay here one fortnight more, and then go to Down, staying on the +road at Shrewsbury a week. I have been very unfortunate: out of seven +weeks I have been confined for five to the house. This has been bad for +me, as I have not been able to help thinking to a foolish extent about my +book. If some four or five GOOD men came round nearly to our view, I shall +not fear ultimate success. I long to learn what Huxley thinks. Is your +introduction (Introduction to the 'Flora of Australia.') published? I +suppose that you will sell it separately. Please answer this, for I want +an extra copy to send away to Wallace. I am very bothersome, farewell. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +I was very glad to see the Royal Medal for Mr. Bentham. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 21st, 1859. + +My dear Hooker, + +Pray give my thanks to Mrs. Hooker for her extremely kind note, which has +pleased me much. We are very sorry she cannot come here, but shall be +delighted to see you and W. (our boys will be at home) here in the 2nd week +of January, or any other time. I shall much enjoy discussing any points in +my book with you... + +I hate to hear you abuse your own work. I, on the contrary, so sincerely +value all that you have written. It is an old and firm conviction of mine, +that the Naturalists who accumulate facts and make many partial +generalisations are the REAL benefactors of science. Those who merely +accumulate facts I cannot very much respect. + +I had hoped to have come up for the Club to-morrow, but very much doubt +whether I shall be able. Ilkley seems to have done me no essential good. +I attended the Bench on Monday, and was detained in adjudicating some +troublesome cases 1 1/2 hours longer than usual, and came home utterly +knocked up, and cannot rally. I am not worth an old button...Many thanks +for your pleasant note. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I feel confident that for the future progress of the subject of the +origin and manner of formation of species, the assent and arguments and +facts of working naturalists, like yourself, are far more important than my +own book; so for God's sake do not abuse your Introduction. + + +H.C. WATSON TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Thames Ditton, November 21st [1859]. + +My dear Sir, + +Once commenced to read the 'Origin,' I could not rest till I had galloped +through the whole. I shall now begin to re-read it more deliberately. +Meantime I am tempted to write you the first impressions, not doubting that +they will, in the main, be the permanent impressions:-- + +1st. Your leading idea will assuredly become recognised as an established +truth in science, i.e. "Natural Selection." It has the characteristics of +all great natural truths, clarifying what was obscure, simplifying what was +intricate, adding greatly to previous knowledge. You are the greatest +revolutionist in natural history of this century, if not of all centuries. + +2nd. You will perhaps need, in some degree, to limit or modify, possibly +in some degree also to extend, your present applications of the principle +of natural selection. Without going to matters of more detail, it strikes +me that there is one considerable primary inconsistency, by one failure in +the analogy between varieties and species; another by a sort of barrier +assumed for nature on insufficient grounds and arising from "divergence." +These may, however, be faults in my own mind, attributable to yet +incomplete perception of your views. And I had better not trouble you +about them before again reading the volume. + +3rd. Now these novel views are brought fairly before the scientific +public, it seems truly remarkable how so many of them could have failed to +see their right road sooner. How could Sir C. Lyell, for instance, for +thirty years read, write, and think, on the subject of species AND THEIR +SUCCESSION, and yet constantly look down the wrong road! + +A quarter of a century ago, you and I must have been in something like the +same state of mind on the main question, but you were able to see and work +out the quo modo of the succession, the all-important thing, while I failed +to grasp it. I send by this post a little controversial pamphlet of old +date--Combe and Scott. If you will take the trouble to glance at the +passages scored on the margin, you will see that, a quarter of a century +ago, I was also one of the few who then doubted the absolute distinctness +of species, and special creations of them. Yet I, like the rest, failed to +detect the quo modo which was reserved for your penetration to DISCOVER, +and your discernment to APPLY. + +You answered my query about the hiatus between Satyrus and Homo as was +expected. The obvious explanation really never occurred to me till some +months after I had read the papers in the 'Linnean Proceedings.' The first +species of Fere-homo ("Almost-man.") would soon make direct and +exterminating war upon his Infra-homo cousins. The gap would thus be made, +and then go on increasing, into the present enormous and still widening +hiatus. But how greatly this, with your chronology of animal life, will +shock the ideas of many men! + +Very sincerely, +HEWETT C. WATSON. + + +J.D. HOOKER TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Athenaeum, Monday [November 21st, 1859]. + +My dear Darwin, + +I am a sinner not to have written you ere this, if only to thank you for +your glorious book--what a mass of close reasoning on curious facts and +fresh phenomena--it is capitally written, and will be very successful. I +say this on the strength of two or three plunges into as many chapters, for +I have not yet attempted to read it. Lyell, with whom we are staying, is +perfectly enchanted, and is absolutely gloating over it. I must accept +your compliment to me, and acknowledgment of supposed assistance from me, +as the warm tribute of affection from an honest (though deluded) man, and +furthermore accept it as very pleasing to my vanity; but, my dear fellow, +neither my name nor my judgment nor my assistance deserved any such +compliments, and if I am dishonest enough to be pleased with what I don't +deserve, it must just pass. How different the BOOK reads from the MS. I +see I shall have much to talk over with you. Those lazy printers have not +finished my luckless Essay; which, beside your book, will look like a +ragged handkerchief beside a Royal Standard... + +All well, ever yours affectionately, +JOS. D. HOOKER. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire [November 1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I cannot help it, I must thank you for your affectionate and most kind +note. My head will be turned. By Jove, I must try and get a bit modest. +I was a little chagrined by the review. (This refers to the review in the +"Athenaeum", November 19, 1859, where the reviewer, after touching on the +theological aspects of the book, leaves the author to "the mercies of the +Divinity Hall, the College, the Lecture Room, and the Museum.") I hope it +was NOT --. As advocate, he might think himself justified in giving the +argument only on one side. But the manner in which he drags in +immortality, and sets the priests at me, and leaves me to their mercies, is +base. He would, on no account, burn me, but he will get the wood ready, +and tell the black beasts how to catch me...It would be unspeakably grand +if Huxley were to lecture on the subject, but I can see this is a mere +chance; Faraday might think it too unorthodox. + +...I had a letter from [Huxley] with such tremendous praise of my book, +that modesty (as I am trying to cultivate that difficult herb) prevents me +sending it to you, which I should have liked to have done, as he is very +modest about himself. + +You have cockered me up to that extent, that I now feel I can face a score +of savage reviewers. I suppose you are still with the Lyells. Give my +kindest remembrance to them. I triumph to hear that he continues to +approve. + +Believe me, your would-be modest friend, +C.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley Wells, Yorkshire, +November 23 [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +You seemed to have worked admirably on the species question; there could +not have been a better plan than reading up on the opposite side. I +rejoice profoundly that you intend admitting the doctrine of modification +in your new edition (It appears from Sir Charles Lyell's published letters +that he intended to admit the doctrine of evolution in a new edition of the +'Manual,' but this was not published till 1865. He was, however, at work +on the 'Antiquity of Man' in 1860, and had already determined to discuss +the 'Origin' at the end of the book.); nothing, I am convinced, could be +more important for its success. I honour you most sincerely. To have +maintained in the position of a master, one side of a question for thirty +years, and then deliberately give it up, is a fact to which I much doubt +whether the records of science offer a parallel. For myself, also, I +rejoice profoundly; for, thinking of so many cases of men pursuing an +illusion for years, often and often a cold shudder has run through me, and +I have asked myself whether I may not have devoted my life to a phantasy. +Now I look at it as morally impossible that investigators of truth, like +you and Hooker, can be wholly wrong, and therefore I rest in peace. Thank +you for criticisms, which, if there be a second edition, I will attend to. +I have been thinking that if I am much execrated as an atheist, etc., +whether the admission of the doctrine of natural selection could injure +your works; but I hope and think not, for as far as I can remember, the +virulence of bigotry is expended on the first offender, and those who adopt +his views are only pitied as deluded, by the wise and cheerful bigots. + +I cannot help thinking that you overrate the importance of the multiple +origin of dogs. The only difference is, that in the case of single +origins, all difference of the races has originated since man domesticated +the species. In the case of multiple origins part of the difference was +produced under natural conditions. I should INFINITELY prefer the theory +of single origin in all cases, if facts would permit its reception. But +there seems to me some a priori improbability (seeing how fond savages are +of taming animals), that throughout all times, and throughout all the +world, that man should have domesticated one single species alone, of the +widely distributed genus Canis. Besides this, the close resemblance of at +least three kinds of American domestic dogs to wild species still +inhabiting the countries where they are now domesticated, seem to almost +compel admission that more than one wild Canis has been domesticated by +man. + +I thank you cordially for all the generous zeal and interest you have shown +about my book, and I remain, my dear Lyell, + +Your affectionate friend and disciple, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +Sir J. Herschel, to whom I sent a copy, is going to read my book. He says +he leans to the side opposed to me. If you should meet him after he has +read me, pray find out what he thinks, for, of course, he will not write; +and I should excessively like to hear whether I produce any effect on such +a mind. + + +T.H. HUXLEY TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Jermyn Street W., +November 23rd, 1859. + +My dear Darwin, + +I finished your book yesterday, a lucky examination having furnished me +with a few hours of continuous leisure. + +Since I read Von Baer's (Karl Ernst von Baer, born 1792, died at Dorpat +1876--one of the most distinguished biologists of the century. He +practically founded the modern science of embryology.) essays, nine years +ago, no work on Natural History Science I have met with has made so great +an impression upon me, and I do most heartily thank you for the great store +of new views you have given me. Nothing, I think, can be better than the +tone of the book, it impresses those who know nothing about the subject. +As for your doctrine, I am prepared to go to the stake, if requisite, in +support of Chapter IX., and most parts of Chapters X., XI., XII., and +Chapter XIII. contains much that is most admirable, but on one or two +points I enter a caveat until I can see further into all sides of the +question. + +As to the first four chapters, I agree thoroughly and fully with all the +principles laid down in them. I think you have demonstrated a true cause +for the production of species, and have thrown the onus probandi that +species did not arise in the way you suppose, on your adversaries. + +But I feel that I have not yet by any means fully realized the bearings of +those most remarkable and original Chapters III., IV. and V., and I will +write no more about them just now. + +The only objections that have occurred to me are, 1st that you have loaded +yourself with an unnecessary difficulty in adopting Natura non facit saltum +so unreservedly...And 2nd, it is not clear to me why, if continual physical +conditions are of so little moment as you suppose, variation should occur +at all. + +However, I must read the book two or three times more before I presume to +begin picking holes. + +I trust you will not allow yourself to be in any way disgusted or annoyed +by the considerable abuse and misrepresentation which, unless I greatly +mistake, is in store for you. Depend upon it you have earned the lasting +gratitude of all thoughtful men. And as to the curs which will bark and +yelp, you must recollect that some of your friends, at any rate, are +endowed with an amount of combativeness which (though you have often and +justly rebuked it) may stand you in good stead. + +I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness. + +Looking back over my letter, it really expresses so feebly all I think +about you and your noble book that I am half ashamed of it; but you will +understand that, like the parrot in the story, "I think the more." + +Ever yours faithfully, +T.H. HUXLEY. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Ilkley, November 25th [1859]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Your letter has been forwarded to me from Down. Like a good Catholic who +has received extreme unction, I can now sing "nunc dimittis." I should +have been more than contented with one quarter of what you have said. +Exactly fifteen months ago, when I put pen to paper for this volume, I had +awful misgivings; and thought perhaps I had deluded myself, like so many +have done, and I then fixed in my mind three judges, on whose decision I +determined mentally to abide. The judges were Lyell, Hooker, and yourself. +It was this which made me so excessively anxious for your verdict. I am +now contented, and can sing my nunc dimittis. What a joke it would be if I +pat you on the back when you attack some immovable creationist! You have +most cleverly hit on one point, which has greatly troubled me; if, as I +must think, external conditions produce little DIRECT effect, what the +devil determines each particular variation? What makes a tuft of feathers +come on a cock's head, or moss on a moss-rose? I shall much like to talk +over this with you... + +My dear Huxley, I thank you cordially for your letter. + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Hereafter I shall be particularly curious to hear what you think of +my explanation of Embryological similarity. On classification I fear we +shall split. Did you perceive the argumentum ad hominem Huxley about +kangaroo and bear? + + +ERASMUS DARWIN (His brother.) TO CHARLES DARWIN. +November 23rd [1859]. + +Dear Charles, + +I am so much weaker in the head, that I hardly know if I can write, but at +all events I will jot down a few things that the Dr. (Dr., afterwards Sir +Henry Holland.) has said. He has not read much above half, so as he says +he can give no definite conclusion, and it is my private belief he wishes +to remain in that state...He is evidently in a dreadful state of +indecision, and keeps stating that he is not tied down to either view, and +that he has always left an escape by the way he has spoken of varieties. I +happened to speak of the eye before he had read that part, and it took away +his breath--utterly impossible--structure, function, etc., etc., etc., but +when he had read it he hummed and hawed, and perhaps it was partly +conceivable, and then he fell back on the bones of the ear, which were +beyond all probability or conceivability. He mentioned a slight blot, +which I also observed, that in speaking of the slave-ants carrying one +another, you change the species without giving notice first, and it makes +one turn back... + +...For myself I really think it is the most interesting book I ever read, +and can only compare it to the first knowledge of chemistry, getting into a +new world or rather behind the scenes. To me the geographical +distribution, I mean the relation of islands to continents, is the most +convincing of the proofs, and the relation of the oldest forms to the +existing species. I dare say I don't feel enough the absence of varieties, +but then I don't in the least know if everything now living were fossilized +whether the paleontologists could distinguish them. In fact the a priori +reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won't fit in, +why so much the worse for the facts is my feeling. My ague has left me in +such a state of torpidity that I wish I had gone through the process of +natural selection. + +Yours affectionately, +E.A.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, November [24th, 1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Again I have to thank you for a most valuable lot of criticisms in a letter +dated 22nd. + +This morning I heard also from Murray that he sold the whole edition (First +edition, 1250 copies.) the first day to the trade. He wants a new edition +instantly, and this utterly confounds me. Now, under water-cure, with all +nervous power directed to the skin, I cannot possibly do head-work, and I +must make only actually necessary corrections. But I will, as far as I can +without my manuscript, take advantage of your suggestions: I must not +attempt much. Will you send me one line to say whether I must strike out +about the secondary whale (The passage was omitted in the second edition.), +it goes to my heart. About the rattle-snake, look to my Journal, under +Trigonocephalus, and you will see the probable origin of the rattle, and +generally in transitions it is the premier pas qui coute. + +Madame Belloc wants to translate my book into French; I have offered to +look over proofs for SCIENTIFIC errors. Did you ever hear of her? I +believe Murray has agreed at my urgent advice, but I fear I have been rash +and premature. Quatrefages has written to me, saying he agrees largely +with my views. He is an excellent naturalist. I am pressed for time. +Will you give us one line about the whales? Again I thank you for never- +tiring advice and assistance; I do in truth reverence your unselfish and +pure love of truth. + +My dear Lyell, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[With regard to a French translation, he wrote to Mr. Murray in November +1859: "I am EXTREMELY anxious, for the subject's sake (and God knows not +for mere fame), to have my book translated; and indirectly its being known +abroad will do good to the English sale. If it depended on me, I should +agree without payment, and instantly send a copy, and only beg that she +[Mme. Belloc] would get some scientific man to look over the +translation...You might say that, though I am a very poor French scholar, I +could detect any scientific mistake, and would read over the French +proofs." + +The proposed translation was not made, and a second plan fell through in +the following year. He wrote to M. de Quatrefages: "The gentleman who +wished to translate my 'Origin of Species' has failed in getting a +publisher. Balliere, Masson, and Hachette all rejected it with contempt. +It was foolish and presumptuous in me, hoping to appear in a French dress; +but the idea would not have entered my head had it not been suggested to +me. It is a great loss. I must console myself with the German edition +which Prof. Bronn is bringing out." (See letters to Bronn, page 70.) + +A sentence in another letter to M. de Quatrefages shows how anxious he was +to convert one of the greatest of contemporary Zoologists: "How I should +like to know whether Milne Edwards had read the copy which I sent him, and +whether he thinks I have made a pretty good case on our side of the +question. There is no naturalist in the world for whose opinion I have so +profound a respect. Of course I am not so silly as to expect to change his +opinion."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, [November 26th, 1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have received your letter of the 24th. It is no use trying to thank you; +your kindness is beyond thanks. I will certainly leave out the whale and +bear... + +The edition was 1250 copies. When I was in spirits, I sometimes fancied +that my book would be successful, but I never even built a castle in the +air of such success as it has met with; I do not mean the sale, but the +impression it has made on you (whom I have always looked at as chief judge) +and Hooker and Huxley. The whole has infinitely exceeded my wildest hopes. + +Farewell, I am tired, for I have been going over the sheets. + +My kind friend, farewell, yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +December 2nd [1859]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Every note which you have sent me has interested me much. Pray thank Lady +Lyell for her remark. In the chapters she refers to, I was unable to +modify the passage in accordance with your suggestion; but in the final +chapter I have modified three or four. Kingsley, in a note (The letter is +given below) to me, had a capital paragraph on such notions as mine being +NOT opposed to a high conception of the Deity. I have inserted it as an +extract from a letter to me from a celebrated author and divine. I have +put in about nascent organs. I had the greatest difficulty in partially +making out Sedgwick's letter, and I dare say I did greatly underrate its +clearness. Do what I could, I fear I shall be greatly abused. In answer +to Sedgwick's remark that my book would be "mischievous," I asked him +whether truth can be known except by being victorious over all attacks. +But it is no use. H.C. Watson tells me that one zoologist says he will +read my book, "but I will never believe it." What a spirit to read any +book in! Crawford writes to me that his notice (John Crawford, +orientalist, ethnologist, etc., 1783-1868. The review appeared in the +"Examiner", and, though hostile, is free from bigotry, as the following +citation will show: "We cannot help saying that piety must be fastidious +indeed that objects to a theory the tendency of which is to show that all +organic beings, man included, are in a perpetual progress of amelioration, +and that is expounded in the reverential language which we have quoted.") +will be hostile, but that "he will not calumniate the author." He says he +has read my book, "at least such parts as he could understand." He sent me +some notes and suggestions (quite unimportant), and they show me that I +have unavoidably done harm to the subject, by publishing an abstract. He +is a real Pallasian; nearly all our domestic races descended from a +multitude of wild species now commingled. I expected Murchison to be +outrageous. How little he could ever have grappled with the subject of +denudation! How singular so great a geologist should have so +unphilosophical a mind! I have had several notes from --, very civil and +less decided. Says he shall not pronounce against me without much +reflection, PERHAPS WILL SAY NOTHING on the subject. X. says -- will go to +that part of hell, which Dante tells us is appointed for those who are +neither on God's side nor on that of the devil. + +I fully believe that I owe the comfort of the next few years of my life to +your generous support, and that of a very few others. I do not think I am +brave enough to have stood being odious without support; now I feel as bold +as a lion. But there is one thing I can see I must learn, viz., to think +less of myself and my book. Farewell, with cordial thanks. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +I return home on the 7th, and shall sleep at Erasmus's. I will call on you +about ten o'clock, on Thursday, the 8th, and sit with you, as I have so +often sat, during your breakfast. + +I wish there was any chance of Prestwich being shaken; but I fear he is too +much of a catastrophist. + + +[In December there appeared in 'Macmillan's Magazine' an article, "Time and +Life," by Professor Huxley. It is mainly occupied by an analysis of the +argument of the 'Origin,' but it also gives the substance of a lecture +delivered at the Royal Institution before that book was published. +Professor Huxley spoke strongly in favour of evolution in his Lecture, and +explains that in so doing he was to a great extent resting on a knowledge +of "the general tenor of the researches in which Mr. Darwin had been so +long engaged," and was supported in so doing by his perfect confidence in +his knowledge, perseverance, and "high-minded love of truth." My father +was evidently deeply pleased by Mr. Huxley's words, and wrote: + +"I must thank you for your extremely kind notice of my book in 'Macmillan.' +No one could receive a more delightful and honourable compliment. I had +not heard of your Lecture, owing to my retired life. You attribute much +too much to me from our mutual friendship. You have explained my leading +idea with admirable clearness. What a gift you have of writing (or more +properly) thinking clearly."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.B. CARPENTER. +Ilkley, Yorkshire, +December 3rd [1859]. + +My dear Carpenter, + +I am perfectly delighted at your letter. It is a great thing to have got a +great physiologist on our side. I say "our" for we are now a good and +compact body of really good men, and mostly not old men. In the long run +we shall conquer. I do not like being abused, but I feel that I can now +bear it; and, as I told Lyell, I am well convinced that it is the first +offender who reaps the rich harvest of abuse. You have done an essential +kindness in checking the odium theologicum in the E.R. (This must refer to +Carpenter's critique which would now have been ready to appear in the +January number of the "Edinburgh Review", 1860, and in which the odium +theologicum is referred to.) It much pains all one's female relations and +injures the cause. + +I look at it as immaterial whether we go quite the same lengths; and I +suspect, judging from myself, that you will go further, by thinking of a +population of forms like Ornithorhyncus, and by thinking of the common +homological and embryological structure of the several vertebrate orders. +But this is immaterial. I quite agree that the principle is everything. +In my fuller MS. I have discussed a good many instincts; but there will +surely be more unfilled gaps here than with corporeal structure, for we +have no fossil instincts, and know scarcely any except of European animals. +When I reflect how very slowly I came round myself, I am in truth +astonished at the candour shown by Lyell, Hooker, Huxley, and yourself. In +my opinion it is grand. I thank you cordially for taking the trouble of +writing a review for the 'National.' God knows I shall have few enough in +any degree favourable. (See a letter to Dr. Carpenter below.) + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Saturday [December 5th, 1859]. + +...I have had a letter from Carpenter this morning. He reviews me in the +'National.' He is a convert, but does not go quite so far as I, but quite +far enough, for he admits that all birds are from one progenitor, and +probably all fishes and reptiles from another parent. But the last +mouthful chokes him. He can hardly admit all vertebrates from one parent. +He will surely come to this from Homology and Embryology. I look at it as +grand having brought round a great physiologist, for great I think he +certainly is in that line. How curious I shall be to know what line Owen +will take; dead against us, I fear; but he wrote me a most liberal note on +the reception of my book, and said he was quite prepared to consider fairly +and without prejudice my line of argument. + + +J.D. HOOKER TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Kew, Monday. + +Dear Darwin, + +You have, I know, been drenched with letters since the publication of your +book, and I have hence forborne to add my mite. I hope now that you are +well through Edition II., and I have heard that you were flourishing in +London. I have not yet got half-through the book, not from want of will, +but of time--for it is the very hardest book to read, to full profits, that +I ever tried--it is so cram-full of matter and reasoning. I am all the +more glad that you have published in this form, for the three volumes, +unprefaced by this, would have choked any Naturalist of the nineteenth +century, and certainly have softened my brain in the operation of +assimilating their contents. I am perfectly tired of marvelling at the +wonderful amount of facts you have brought to bear, and your skill in +marshalling them and throwing them on the enemy; it is also extremely clear +as far as I have gone, but very hard to fully appreciate. Somehow it reads +very different from the MS., and I often fancy I must have been very stupid +not to have more fully followed it in MS. Lyell told me of his criticisms. +I did not appreciate them all, and there are many little matters I hope one +day to talk over with you. I saw a highly flattering notice in the +'English Churchman,' short and not at all entering into discussion, but +praising you and your book, and talking patronizingly of the +doctrine!...Bentham and Henslow will still shake their heads I fancy... + +Ever yours affectionately, +JOS. D. HOOKER. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, Saturday [December 12th, 1859]. + +...I had very long interviews with --, which perhaps you would like to hear +about...I infer from several expressions that, at bottom, he goes an +immense way with us... + +He said to the effect that my explanation was the best ever published of +the manner of formation of species. I said I was very glad to hear it. He +took me up short: "You must not at all suppose that I agree with you in +all respects." I said I thought it no more likely that I should be right +in nearly all points, than that I should toss up a penny and get heads +twenty times running. I asked him what he thought the weakest part. He +said he had no particular objection to any part. He added:-- + +"If I must criticise, I should say, 'we do not want to know what Darwin +believes and is convinced of, but what he can prove.'" I agreed most fully +and truly that I have probably greatly sinned in this line, and defended my +general line of argument of inventing a theory and seeing how many classes +of facts the theory would explain. I added that I would endeavour to +modify the "believes" and "convinceds." He took me up short: "You will +then spoil your book, the charm of (!) it is that it is Darwin himself." +He added another objection, that the book was too teres atque rotundus--- +that it explained everything, and that it was improbable in the highest +degree that I should succeed in this. I quite agree with this rather queer +objection, and it comes to this that my book must be very bad or very +good... + +I have heard, by roundabout channel, that Herschel says my book "is the law +of higgledy-piggledy." What this exactly means I do not know, but it is +evidently very contemptuous. If true this is a great blow and +discouragement. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +December 14th [1859]. + +...The latter part of my stay at Ilkley did me much good, but I suppose I +never shall be strong, for the work I have had since I came back has +knocked me up a little more than once. I have been busy in getting a +reprint (with a very few corrections) through the press. + +My book has been as yet VERY MUCH more successful than I ever dreamed of: +Murray is now printing 3000 copies. Have you finished it? If so, pray +tell me whether you are with me on the GENERAL issue, or against me. If +you are against me, I know well how honourable, fair, and candid an +opponent I shall have, and which is a good deal more than I can say of all +my opponents... + +Pray tell me what you have been doing. Have you had time for any Natural +History?... + +P.S.--I have got--I wish and hope I might say that WE have got--a fair +number of excellent men on our side of the question on the mutability of +species. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 14th [1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your approval of my book, for many reasons, gives me intense satisfaction; +but I must make some allowance for your kindness and sympathy. Any one +with ordinary faculties, if he had PATIENCE enough and plenty of time, +could have written my book. You do not know how I admire your and Lyell's +generous and unselfish sympathy, I do not believe either of you would have +cared so much about your own work. My book, as yet, has been far more +successful than I ever even formerly ventured in the wildest day-dreams to +anticipate. We shall soon be a good body of working men, and shall have, I +am convinced, all young and rising naturalists on our side. I shall be +intensely interested to hear whether my book produces any effect on A. +Gray; from what I heard at Lyell's, I fancy your correspondence has brought +him some way already. I fear that there is no chance of Bentham being +staggered. Will he read my book? Has he a copy? I would send him one of +the reprints if he has not. Old J.E. Gray (John Edward Gray (1800-1875), +was the son of S.F. Gray, author of the 'Supplement to the Pharmacopoeia.' +In 1821 he published in his father's name 'The Natural Arrangement of +British Plants,' one of the earliest works in English on the natural +method. In 1824 he became connected with the Natural History Department of +the British Museum, and was appointed Keeper of the Zoological collections +in 1840. He was the author of 'Illustrations of Indian Zoology,' 'The +Knowsley Menagerie,' etc., and of innumerable descriptive Zoological +papers.), at the British Museum, attacked me in fine style: "You have just +reproduced Lamarck's doctrine and nothing else, and here Lyell and others +have been attacking him for twenty years, and because YOU (with a sneer and +laugh) say the very same thing, they are all coming round; it is the most +ridiculous inconsistency, etc., etc." + +You must be very glad to be settled in your house, and I hope all the +improvements satisfy you. As far as my experience goes, improvements are +never perfection. I am very sorry to hear that you are still so very busy, +and have so much work. And now for the main purport of my note, which is +to ask and beg you and Mrs. Hooker (whom it is really an age since I have +seen), and all your children, if you like, to come and spend a week here. +It would be a great pleasure to me and to my wife...As far as we can see, +we shall be at home all the winter; and all times probably would be equally +convenient; but if you can, do not put it off very late, as it may slip +through. Think of this and persuade Mrs. Hooker, and be a good man and +come. + +Farewell, my kind and dear friend, +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I shall be very curious to hear what you think of my discussion on +Classification in Chapter XIII.; I believe Huxley demurs to the whole, and +says he has nailed his colours to the mast, and I would sooner die than +give up; so that we are in as fine a frame of mind to discuss the point as +any two religionists. + +Embryology is my pet bit in my book, and, confound my friends, not one has +noticed this to me. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, December 21st [1859]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have just received your most kind, long, and valuable letter. I will +write again in a few days, for I am at present unwell and much pressed with +business: to-day's note is merely personal. I should, for several +reasons, be very glad of an American Edition. I have made up my mind to be +well abused; but I think it of importance that my notions should be read by +intelligent men, accustomed to scientific argument, though NOT naturalists. +It may seem absurd, but I think such men will drag after them those +naturalists who have too firmly fixed in their heads that a species is an +entity. The first edition of 1250 copies was sold on the first day, and +now my publisher is printing off, as RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE, 3000 more copies. +I mention this solely because it renders probable a remunerative sale in +America. I should be infinitely obliged if you could aid an American +reprint; and could make, for my sake and the publisher's, any arrangement +for any profit. The new edition is only a reprint, yet I have made a FEW +important corrections. I will have the clean sheets sent over in a few +days of as many sheets as are printed off, and the remainder afterwards, +and you can do anything you like,--if nothing, there is no harm done. I +should be glad for the new edition to be reprinted and not the old.--In +great haste, and with hearty thanks, + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +I will write soon again. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, 22nd [December, 1859]. + +My dear Lyell, +Thanks about "Bears" (See 'Origin,' edition i., page 184.), a word of ill- +omen to me. + +I am too unwell to leave home, so shall not see you. + +I am very glad of your remarks on Hooker. (Sir C. Lyell wrote to Sir J.D. +Hooker, December 19, 1859 ('Life,' ii. page 327): "I have just finished +the reading of your splendid Essay [the 'Flora of Australia'] on the origin +of species, as illustrated by your wide botanical experience, and think it +goes very far to raise the variety-making hypothesis to the rank of a +theory, as accounting for the manner in which new species enter the +world.") I have not yet got the essay. The parts which I read in sheets +seemed to me grand, especially the generalization about the Australian +flora itself. How superior to Robert Brown's celebrated essay! I have not +seen Naudin's paper ('Revue Horticole,' 1852. See historical Sketch in the +later editions of the 'Origin of Species.'), and shall not be able till I +hunt the libraries. I am very anxious to see it. Decaisne seems to think +he gives my whole theory. I do not know when I shall have time and +strength to grapple with Hooker... + +P.S.--I have heard from Sir W. Jardine (Jardine, Sir William, Bart., 1800- +1874, was the son of Sir A. Jardine of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire. He was +educated at Edinburgh, and succeeded to the title on his father's decease +in 1821. He published, jointly with Mr. Prideaux, J. Selby, Sir Stamford +Raffles, Dr. Horsfield, and other ornithologists, 'Illustrations of +Ornithology,' and edited the 'Naturalist's Library,' in 40 volumes, which +included the four branches: Mammalia, Ornithology, Ichnology, and +Entomology. Of these 40 volumes 14 were written by himself. In 1836 he +became editor of the 'Magazine of Zoology and Botany,' which, two years +later, was transformed into 'Annals of Natural History,' but remained under +his direction. For Bohn's Standard Library he edited White's 'Natural +History of Selborne.' Sir W. Jardine was also joint editor of the +'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' and was author of 'British Salmonidae,' +'Ichthyology of Annandale,' 'Memoirs of the late Hugh Strickland,' +'Contributions to Ornithology,' 'Ornithological Synonyms,' etc.--(Taken +from Ward, 'Men of the Reign,' and Cates, 'Dictionary of General +Biography.'): his criticisms are quite unimportant; some of the Galapagos +so-called species ought to be called varieties, which I fully expected; +some of the sub-genera, thought to be wholly endemic, have been found on +the Continent (not that he gives his authority), but I do not make out that +the species are the same. His letter is brief and vague, but he says he +will write again. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [23rd December, 1859]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I received last night your 'Introduction,' for which very many thanks; I am +surprised to see how big it is: I shall not be able to read it very soon. +It was very good of you to send Naudin, for I was very curious to see it. +I am surprised that Decaisne should say it was the same as mine. Naudin +gives artificial selection, as well as a score of English writers, and when +he says species were formed in the same manner, I thought the paper would +certainly prove exactly the same as mine. But I cannot find one word like +the struggle for existence and natural selection. On the contrary, he +brings in his principle (page 103) of finality (which I do not understand), +which, he says, with some authors is fatality, with others providence, and +which adapts the forms of every being, and harmonises them all throughout +nature. + +He assumes like old geologists (who assumed that the forces of nature were +formerly greater), that species were at first more plastic. His simile of +tree and classification is like mine (and others), but he cannot, I think, +have reflected much on the subject, otherwise he would see that genealogy +by itself does not give classification; I declare I cannot see a MUCH +closer approach to Wallace and me in Naudin than in Lamarck--we all agree +in modification and descent. If I do not hear from you I will return the +'Revue' in a few days (with the cover). I dare say Lyell would be glad to +see it. By the way, I will retain the volume till I hear whether I shall +or not send it to Lyell. I should rather like Lyell to see this note, +though it is foolish work sticking up for independence or priority. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +A. SEDGWICK (Rev. Adam Sedgwick, 1785-1873, Woodwardian Professor of +Geology in the University of Cambridge.) TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Cambridge, December 24th, [1859]. + +My dear Darwin, + +I write to thank you for your work on the 'Origin of Species.' It came, I +think, in the latter part of last week; but it MAY have come a few days +sooner, and been overlooked among my book-parcels, which often remain +unopened when I am lazy or busy with any work before me. So soon as I +opened it I began to read it, and I finished it, after many interruptions, +on Tuesday. Yesterday I was employed--1st, in preparing for my lecture; +2ndly, in attending a meeting of my brother Fellows to discuss the final +propositions of the Parliamentary Commissioners; 3rdly, in lecturing; +4thly, in hearing the conclusion of the discussion and the College reply, +whereby, in conformity with my own wishes, we accepted the scheme of the +Commissioners; 5thly, in dining with an old friend at Clare College; 6thly, +in adjourning to the weekly meeting of the Ray Club, from which I returned +at 10 P.M., dog-tired, and hardly able to climb my staircase. Lastly, in +looking through the "Times" to see what was going on in the busy world. + +I do not state this to fill space (though I believe that Nature does abhor +a vacuum), but to prove that my reply and my thanks are sent to you by the +earliest leisure I have, though that is but a very contracted opportunity. +If I did not think you a good-tempered and truth-loving man, I should not +tell you that (spite of the great knowledge, store of facts, capital views +of the correlation of the various parts of organic nature, admirable hints +about the diffusion, through wide regions of many related organic beings, +etc., etc.) I have read your book with more pain than pleasure. Parts of +it I admired greatly, parts I laughed at till my sides were almost sore; +other parts I read with absolute sorrow, because I think them utterly false +and grievously mischievous. You have DESERTED--after a start in that tram- +road of all solid physical truth--the true method of induction, and started +us in machinery as wild, I think, as Bishop Wilkins's locomotive that was +to sail with us to the moon. Many of your wide conclusions are based upon +assumptions which can neither be proved nor disproved, why then express +them in the language and arrangement of philosophical induction? As to +your grand principle--NATURAL SELECTION--what is it but a secondary +consequence of supposed, or known, primary facts! Development is a better +word, because more close to the cause of the fact? For you do not deny +causation. I call (in the abstract) causation the will of God; and I can +prove that He acts for the good of His creatures. He also acts by laws +which we can study and comprehend. Acting by law, and under what is called +final causes, comprehends, I think, your whole principle. You write of +"natural selection" as if it were done curiously by the selecting agent. +'Tis but a consequence of the presupposed development, and the subsequent +battle for life. This view of nature you have stated admirably, though +admitted by all naturalists and denied by no one of common sense. We all +admit development as a fact of history: but how came it about? Here, in +language, and still more in logic, we are point-blank at issue. There is a +moral or metaphysical part of nature as well a physical. A man who denies +this is deep in the mire of folly. 'Tis the crown and glory of organic +science that it DOES through FINAL CAUSE, link material and moral; and yet +DOES NOT allow us to mingle them in our first conception of laws, and our +classification of such laws, whether we consider one side of nature or the +other. You have ignored this link; and, if I do not mistake your meaning, +you have done your best in one or two pregnant cases to break it. Were it +possible (which, thank God, it is not) to break it, humanity, in my mind, +would suffer a damage that might brutalize it, and sink the human race into +a lower grade of degradation than any into which it has fallen since its +written records tell us of its history. Take the case of the bee-cells. +If your development produced the successive modification of the bee and its +cells (which no mortal can prove), final cause would stand good as the +directing cause under which the successive generations acted and gradually +improved. Passages in your book, like that to which I have alluded (and +there are others almost as bad), greatly shocked my moral taste. I think, +in speculating on organic descent, you OVER-state the evidence of geology; +and that you UNDER-state it while you are talking of the broken links of +your natural pedigree: but my paper is nearly done, and I must go to my +lecture-room. Lastly, then, I greatly dislike the concluding chapter--not +as a summary, for in that light it appears good--but I dislike it from the +tone of triumphant confidence in which you appeal to the rising generation +(in a tone I condemned in the author of the 'Vestiges') and prophesy of +things not yet in the womb of time, nor (if we are to trust the accumulated +experience of human sense and the inferences of its logic) ever likely to +be found anywhere but in the fertile womb of man's imagination. And now to +say a word about a son of a monkey and an old friend of yours: I am +better, far better, than I was last year. I have been lecturing three days +a week (formerly I gave six a week) without much fatigue, but I find by the +loss of activity and memory, and of all productive powers, that my bodily +frame is sinking slowly towards the earth. But I have visions of the +future. They are as much a part of myself as my stomach and my heart, and +these visions are to have their antitype in solid fruition of what is best +and greatest. But on one condition only--that I humbly accept God's +revelation of Himself both in his works and in His word, and do my best to +act in conformity with that knowledge which He only can give me, and He +only can sustain me in doing. If you and I do all this we shall meet in +heaven. + +I have written in a hurry, and in a spirit of brotherly love, therefore +forgive any sentence you happen to dislike; and believe me, spite of any +disagreement in some points of the deepest moral interest, your true- +hearted old friend, + +A. SEDGWICK. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, December 25th [1859]. + +My dear Huxley, + +One part of your note has pleased me so much that I must thank you for it. +Not only Sir H.H. [Holland], but several others, have attacked me about +analogy leading to belief in one primordial CREATED form. ('Origin,' +edition i. page 484.--"Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably +all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended +from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed.") (By +which I mean only that we know nothing as yet [of] how life originates.) I +thought I was universally condemned on this head. But I answered that +though perhaps it would have been more prudent not to have put it in, I +would not strike it out, as it seemed to me probable, and I give it on no +other grounds. You will see in your mind the kind of arguments which made +me think it probable, and no one fact had so great an effect on me as your +most curious remarks on the apparent homologies of the head of Vertebrata +and Articulata. + +You have done a real good turn in the Agency business ("My General Agent" +was a sobriquet applied at this time by my father to Mr. Huxley.) (I never +before heard of a hard-working, unpaid agent besides yourself), in talking +with Sir H.H., for he will have great influence over many. He floored me +from my ignorance about the bones of the ear, and I made a mental note to +ask you what the facts were. + +With hearty thanks and real admiration for your generous zeal for the +subject. + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + +You may smile about the care and precautions I have taken about my ugly MS. +(Manuscript left with Mr. Huxley for his perusal.); it is not so much the +value I set on them, but the remembrance of the intolerable labour--for +instance, in tracing the history of the breeds of pigeons. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 25th [December, 1859]. + +...I shall not write to Decaisne (With regard to Naudin's paper in the +'Revue Horticole,' 1852.); I have always had a strong feeling that no one +had better defend his own priority. I cannot say that I am as indifferent +to the subject as I ought to be, but one can avoid doing anything in +consequence. + +I do not believe one iota about your having assimilated any of my notions +unconsciously. You have always done me more than justice. But I do think +I did you a bad turn by getting you to read the old MS., as it must have +checked your own original thoughts. There is one thing I am fully +convinced of, that the future progress (which is the really important +point) of the subject will have depended on really good and well-known +workers, like yourself, Lyell, and Huxley, having taken up the subject, +than on my own work. I see plainly it is this that strikes my non- +scientific friends. + +Last night I said to myself, I would just cut your Introduction, but would +not begin to read, but I broke down, and had a good hour's read. + +Farewell, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +December 28th, 1859. + +...Have you seen the splendid essay and notice of my book in the "Times"? +(December 26th.) I cannot avoid a strong suspicion that it is by Huxley; +but I never heard that he wrote in the "Times". It will do grand +service,... + + +C. DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, December 28th [1859]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Yesterday evening, when I read the "Times" of a previous day, I was amazed +to find a splendid essay and review of me. Who can the author be? I am +intensely curious. It included an eulogium of me which quite touched me, +though I am not vain enough to think it all deserved. The author is a +literary man, and German scholar. He has read my book very attentively; +but, what is very remarkable, it seems that he is a profound naturalist. +He knows my Barnacle-book, and appreciates it too highly. Lastly, he +writes and thinks with quite uncommon force and clearness; and what is even +still rarer, his writing is seasoned with most pleasant wit. We all +laughed heartily over some of the sentences. I was charmed with those +unreasonable mortals, who know anything, all thinking fit to range +themselves on one side. (The reviewer proposes to pass by the orthodox +view, according to which the phenomena of the organic world are "the +immediate product of a creative fiat, and consequently are out of the +domain of science altogether." And he does so "with less hesitation, as it +so happens that those persons who are practically conversant with the facts +of the case (plainly a considerable advantage) have always thought fit to +range themselves" in the category of those holding "views which profess to +rest on a scientific basis only, and therefore admit of being argued to +their consequences.") Who can it be? Certainly I should have said that +there was only one man in England who could have written this essay, and +that YOU were the man. But I suppose I am wrong, and that there is some +hidden genius of great calibre. For how could you influence Jupiter +Olympius and make him give three and a half columns to pure science? The +old fogies will think the world will come to an end. Well, whoever the man +is, he has done great service to the cause, far more than by a dozen +reviews in common periodicals. The grand way he soars above common +religious prejudices, and the admission of such views into the "Times", I +look at as of the highest importance, quite independently of the mere +question of species. If you should happen to be ACQUAINTED with the +author, for Heaven-sake tell me who he is? + +My dear Huxley, yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +[It is impossible to give in a short space an adequate idea of Mr. Huxley's +article in the "Times" of December 26. It is admirably planned, so as to +claim for the 'Origin' a respectful hearing, and it abstains from anything +like dogmatism in asserting the truth of the doctrines therein upheld. A +few passages may be quoted:--"That this most ingenious hypothesis enables +us to give a reason for many apparent anomalies in the distribution of +living beings in time and space, and that it is not contradicted by the +main phenomena of life and organisation, appear to us to be +unquestionable." Mr. Huxley goes on to recommend to the readers of the +'Origin' a condition of "thatige Skepsis"--a state of "doubt which so loves +truth that it neither dares rest in doubting, nor extinguish itself by +unjustified belief." The final paragraph is in a strong contrast to +Professor Sedgwick and his "ropes of bubbles" (see below). Mr. Huxley +writes: "Mr. Darwin abhors mere speculation as nature abhors a vacuum. He +is as greedy of cases and precedents as any constitutional lawyer, and all +the principles he lays down are capable of being brought to the test of +observation and experiment. The path he bids us follow professes to be not +a mere airy track, fabricated of ideal cobwebs, but a solid and broad +bridge of facts. If it be so, it will carry us safely over many a chasm in +our knowledge, and lead us to a region free from the snares of those +fascinating but barren virgins, the Final Causes, against whom a high +authority has so justly warned us." + +There can be no doubt that this powerful essay, appearing as it did in the +leading daily Journal, must have had a strong influence on the reading +public. Mr. Huxley allows me to quote from a letter an account of the +happy chance that threw into his hands the opportunity of writing it. + +"The 'Origin' was sent to Mr. Lucas, one of the staff of the "Times" +writers at that day, in what I suppose was the ordinary course of business. +Mr. Lucas, though an excellent journalist, and, at a later period, editor +of 'Once a Week,' was as innocent of any knowledge of science as a babe, +and bewailed himself to an acquaintance on having to deal with such a book. +Whereupon he was recommended to ask me to get him out of his difficulty, +and he applied to me accordingly, explaining, however, that it would be +necessary for him formally to adopt anything I might be disposed to write, +by prefacing it with two or three paragraphs of his own. + +"I was too anxious to seize upon the opportunity thus offered of giving the +book a fair chance with the multitudinous readers of the "Times" to make +any difficulty about conditions; and being then very full of the subject, I +wrote the article faster, I think, than I ever wrote anything in my life, +and sent it to Mr. Lucas, who duly prefixed his opening sentences. + +"When the article appeared, there was much speculation as to its +authorship. The secret leaked out in time, as all secrets will, but not by +my aid; and then I used to derive a good deal of innocent amusement from +the vehement assertions of some of my more acute friends, that they knew it +was mine from the first paragraph! + +"As the "Times" some years since, referred to my connection with the +review, I suppose there will be no breach of confidence in the publication +of this little history, if you think it worth the space it will occupy."] + + +CHAPTER 2.II. + +THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES' (continued). + +1860. + +[I extract a few entries from my father's Diary:-- + +"January 7th. The second edition, 3000 copies, of 'Origin' was published." + +"May 22nd. The first edition of 'Origin' in the United States was 2500 +copies." + +My father has here noted down the sums received for the 'Origin.' + +First Edition......180 pounds +Second Edition.....636 pounds 13 shillings 4 pence + +Total..............816 pounds 13 shillings 4 pence. + +After the publication of the second edition he began at once, on January +9th, looking over his materials for the 'Variation of Animals and Plants;' +the only other work of the year was on Drosera. + +He was at Down during the whole of this year, except for a visit to Dr. +Lane's Water-cure Establishment at Sudbrooke, and in June, and for visits +to Miss Elizabeth Wedgwood's house at Hartfield, in Sussex (July), and to +Eastbourne, September 22 to November 16.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 3rd [1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have finished your Essay. ('Australian Flora.') As probably you would +like to hear my opinion, though a non-botanist, I will give it without any +exaggeration. To my judgment it is by far the grandest and most +interesting essay, on subjects of the nature discussed, I have ever read. +You know how I admired your former essays, but this seems to me far +grander. I like all the part after page xxvi better than the first part, +probably because newer to me. I dare say you will demur to this, for I +think every author likes the most speculative parts of his own productions. +How superior your essay is to the famous one of Brown (here will be sneer +1st from you). You have made all your conclusions so admirably clear, that +it would be no use at all to be a botanist (sneer No. 2). By Jove, it +would do harm to affix any idea to the long names of outlandish orders. +One can look at your conclusions with the philosophic abstraction with +which a mathematician looks at his a times x + the square root of z +squared, etc. etc. I hardly know which parts have interested me most; for +over and over again I exclaimed, "this beats all." The general comparison +of the Flora of Australia with the rest of the world, strikes me (as +before) as extremely original, good, and suggestive of many reflections. + +...The invading Indian Flora is very interesting, but I think the fact you +mention towards the close of the essay--that the Indian vegetation, in +contradistinction to the Malayan vegetation, is found in low and level +parts of the Malay Islands, GREATLY lessens the difficulty which at first +(page 1) seemed so great. There is nothing like one's own hobby-horse. I +suspect it is the same case as of glacial migration, and of naturalised +production--of production of greater area conquering those of lesser; of +course the Indian forms would have a greater difficulty in seizing on the +cool parts of Australia. I demur to your remarks (page 1), as not +"conceiving anything in soil, climate, or vegetation of India," which could +stop the introduction of Australian plants. Towards the close of the essay +(page civ), you have admirable remarks on our profound ignorance of the +cause of possible naturalisation or introduction; I would answer page 1, by +a later page, viz. page civ. + +Your contrast of the south-west and south-east corners is one of the most +wonderful cases I ever heard of...You show the case with wonderful force. +Your discussion on mixed invaders of the south-east corner (and of New +Zealand) is as curious and intricate a problem as of the races of men in +Britain. Your remark on mixed invading Flora keeping down or destroying an +original Flora, which was richer in number of species, strikes me as +EMINENTLY NEW AND IMPORTANT. I am not sure whether to me the discussion on +the New Zealand Flora is not even more instructive. I cannot too much +admire both. But it will require a long time to suck in all the facts. +Your case of the largest Australian orders having none, or very few, +species in New Zealand, is truly marvellous. Anyhow, you have now +DEMONSTRATED (together with no mammals in New Zealand) (bitter sneer No. +3), that New Zealand has never been continuously, or even nearly +continuously, united by land to Australia!! At page lxxxix, is the only +sentence (on this subject) in the whole essay at which I am much inclined +to quarrel, viz. that no theory of trans-oceanic migration can explain, +etc. etc. Now I maintain against all the world, that no man knows anything +about the power of trans-oceanic migration. You do not know whether or not +the absent orders have seeds which are killed by sea-water, like almost all +Leguminosae, and like another order which I forget. Birds do not migrate +from Australia to New Zealand, and therefore floatation SEEMS the only +possible means; but yet I maintain that we do not know enough to argue on +the question, especially as we do not know the main fact whether the seeds +of Australian orders are killed by sea-water. + +The discussion on European Genera is profoundly interesting; but here alone +I earnestly beg for more information, viz. to know which of these genera +are absent in the Tropics of the world, i.e. confined to temperate regions. +I excessively wish to know, ON THE NOTION OF GLACIAL MIGRATION, how much +modification has taken place in Australia. I had better explain when we +meet, and get you to go over and mark the list. + +...The list of naturalised plants is extremely interesting, but why at the +end, in the name of all that is good and bad, do you not sum up and comment +on your facts? Come, I will have a sneer at you in return for the many +which you will have launched at this letter. Should you have remarked on +the number of plants naturalised in Australia and the United States UNDER +EXTREMELY DIFFERENT CLIMATES, as showing that climate is so important, and +[on] the considerable sprinkling of plants from India, North America, and +South Africa, as showing that the frequent introduction of seeds is so +important? With respect to "abundance of unoccupied ground in Australia," +do you believe that European plants introduced by man now grow on spots in +Australia which were absolutely bare? But I am an impudent dog, one must +defend one's own fancy theories against such cruel men as you. I dare say +this letter will appear very conceited, but one must form an opinion on +what one reads with attention, and in simple truth, I cannot find words +strong enough to express my admiration of your essay. + +My dear old friend, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I differ about the "Saturday Review". ("Saturday Review", December +24, 1859. The hostile arguments of the reviewer are geological, and he +deals especially with the denudation of the Weald. The reviewer remarks +that, "if a million of centuries, more or less, is needed for any part of +his argument, he feels no scruple in taking them to suit his purpose.") +One cannot expect fairness in a reviewer, so I do not complain of all the +other arguments besides the 'Geological Record' being omitted. Some of the +remarks about the lapse of years are very good, and the reviewer gives me +some good and well-deserved raps--confound it. I am sorry to confess the +truth: but it does not at all concern the main argument. That was a nice +notice in the "Gardeners' Chronicle". I hope and imagine that Lindley is +almost a convert. Do not forget to tell me if Bentham gets all the more +staggered. + +With respect to tropical plants during the Glacial period, I throw in your +teeth your own facts, at the base of the Himalaya, on the possibility of +the co-existence of at least forms of the tropical and temperate regions. +I can give a parallel case for animals in Mexico. Oh! my dearly beloved +puny child, how cruel men are to you! I am very glad you approve of the +Geographical chapters... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, [January 4th, 1860]. + +My dear L. + +"Gardeners' Chronicle" returned safe. Thanks for note. I am beyond +measure glad that you get more and more roused on the subject of species, +for, as I have always said, I am well convinced that your opinions and +writings will do far more to convince the world than mine. You will make a +grand discussion on man. You are very bold in this, and I honour you. I +have been, like you, quite surprised at the want of originality in opposed +arguments and in favour too. Gwyn Jeffreys attacks me justly in his letter +about strictly littoral shells not being often embedded at least in +Tertiary deposits. I was in a muddle, for I was thinking of Secondary, yet +Chthamalus applied to Tertiary... + +Possibly you might like to see the enclosed note (Dr. Whewell wrote +(January 2, 1860): "...I cannot, yet at least, become a convert. But +there is so much of thought and of fact in what you have written that it is +not to be contradicted without careful selection of the ground and manner +of the dissent." Dr. Whewell dissented in a practical manner for some +years, by refusing to allow a copy of the 'Origin of Species' to be placed +in the Library of Trinity College.) from Whewell, merely as showing that he +is not horrified with us. You can return it whenever you have occasion to +write, so as not to waste your time. + +C.D. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, [January 4th? 1860]. + +...I have had a brief note from Keyserling (Joint author with Murchison of +the 'Geology of Russia,' 1845.), but not worth sending you. He believes in +change of species, grants that natural selection explains well adaptation +of form, but thinks species change too regularly, as if by some chemical +law, for natural selection to be the sole cause of change. I can hardly +understand his brief note, but this is I think the upshot. + +...I will send A. Murray's paper whenever published. (The late Andrew +Murray wrote two papers on the 'Origin' in the Proc. R. Soc. Edin. 1860. +The one referred to here is dated January 16, 1860. The following is +quoted from page 6 of the separate copy: "But the second, and, as it +appears to me, by much the most important phase of reversion to type (and +which is practically, if not altogether ignored by Mr. Darwin), is the +instinctive inclination which induces individuals of the same species by +preference to intercross with those possessing the qualities which they +themselves want, so as to preserve the purity or equilibrium of the +breed...It is trite to a proverb, that tall men marry little women...a man +of genius marries a fool...and we are told that this is the result of the +charm of contrast, or of qualities admired in others because we do not +possess them. I do not so explain it. I imagine it is the effort of +nature to preserve the typical medium of the race.") It includes +speculations (which he perhaps will modify) so rash, and without a single +fact in support, that had I advanced them he or other reviewers would have +hit me very hard. I am sorry to say that I have no "consolatory view" on +the dignity of man. I am content that man will probably advance, and care +not much whether we are looked at as mere savages in a remotely distant +future. Many thanks for your last note. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +I have received, in a Manchester newspaper, rather a good squib, showing +that I have proved "might is right," and therefore that Napoleon is right, +and every cheating tradesman is also right. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.B. CARPENTER. +Down, January 6th [1860]? + +My dear Carpenter, + +I have just read your excellent article in the 'National.' It will do +great good; especially if it becomes known as your production. It seems to +me to give an excellently clear account of Mr. Wallace's and my views. How +capitally you turn the flanks of the theological opposers by opposing to +them such men as Bentham and the more philosophical of the systematists! I +thank you sincerely for the EXTREMELY honourable manner in which you +mention me. I should have liked to have seen some criticisms or remarks on +embryology, on which subject you are so well instructed. I do not think +any candid person can read your article without being much impressed with +it. The old doctrine of immutability of specific forms will surely but +slowly die away. It is a shame to give you trouble, but I should be very +much obliged if you could tell me where differently coloured eggs in +individuals of the cuckoo have been described, and their laying in twenty- +seven kinds of nests. Also do you know from your own observation that the +limbs of sheep imported into the West Indies change colour? I have had +detailed information about the loss of wool; but my accounts made the +change slower than you describe. + +With most cordial thanks and respect, believe me, my dear Carpenter, yours +very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. JENYNS. (Rev. L. Blomefield.) +Down, January 7th, 1860. + +My dear Jenyns, + +I am very much obliged for your letter. It is of great use and interest to +me to know what impression my book produces on philosophical and instructed +minds. I thank you for the kind things which you say; and you go with me +much further than I expected. You will think it presumptuous, but I am +convinced, IF CIRCUMSTANCES LEAD YOU TO KEEP THE SUBJECT IN MIND, that you +will go further. No one has yet cast doubts on my explanation of the +subordination of group to group, on homologies, embryology, and rudimentary +organs; and if my explanation of these classes of facts be at all right, +whole classes of organic beings must be included in one line of descent. + +The imperfection of the Geological Record is one of the greatest +difficulties...During the earliest period the record would be most +imperfect, and this seems to me sufficient to account for our not finding +intermediate forms between the classes in the same great kingdoms. It was +certainly rash in me putting in my belief of the probability of all beings +having descended from ONE primordial form; but as this seems yet to me +probable, I am not willing to strike it out. Huxley alone supports me in +this, and something could be said in its favour. With respect to man, I am +very far from wishing to obtrude my belief; but I thought it dishonest to +quite conceal my opinion. Of course it is open to every one to believe +that man appeared by a separate miracle, though I do not myself see the +necessity or probability. + +Pray accept my sincere thanks for your kind note. Your going some way with +me gives me great confidence that I am not very wrong. For a very long +time I halted half way; but I do not believe that any enquiring mind will +rest half-way. People will have to reject all or admit all; by ALL I mean +only the members of each great kingdom. + +My dear Jenyns, yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, January 10th [1860]. + +...It is perfectly true that I owe nearly all the corrections (The second +edition of 3000 copies of the 'Origin' was published on January 7th.) to +you, and several verbal ones to you and others; I am heartily glad you +approve of them, as yet only two things have annoyed me; those confounded +millions (This refers to the passage in the 'Origin of Species' (2nd +edition, page 285), in which the lapse of time implied by the denudation of +the Weald is discussed. The discussion closes with the sentence: "So that +it is not improbable that a longer period than 300 million years has +elapsed since the latter part of the Secondary period." This passage is +omitted in the later editions of the 'Origin,' against the advice of some +of his friends, as appears from the pencil notes in my father's copy of the +second edition.) of years (not that I think it is probably wrong), and my +not having (by inadvertance) mentioned Wallace towards the close of the +book in the summary, not that any one has noticed this to me. I have now +put in Wallace's name at page 484 in a conspicuous place. I cannot refer +you to tables of mortality of children, etc. etc. I have notes somewhere, +but I have not the LEAST idea where to hunt, and my notes would now be old. +I shall be truly glad to read carefully any MS. on man, and give my +opinion. You used to caution me to be cautious about man. I suspect I +shall have to return the caution a hundred fold! Yours will, no doubt, be +a grand discussion; but it will horrify the world at first more than my +whole volume; although by the sentence (page 489, new edition (First +edition, page 488.)) I show that I believe man is in the same predicament +with other animals. It is, in fact, impossible to doubt it. I have +thought (only vaguely) on man. With respect to the races, one of my best +chances of truth has broken down from the impossibility of getting facts. +I have one good speculative line, but a man must have entire credence in +Natural Selection before he will even listen to it. Psychologically, I +have done scarcely anything. Unless, indeed, expression of countenance can +be included, and on that subject I have collected a good many facts, and +speculated, but I do not suppose I shall ever publish, but it is an +uncommonly curious subject. By the way, I sent off a lot of questions the +day before yesterday to Tierra del Fuego on expression! I suspect (for I +have never read it) that Spencer's 'Psychology' has a bearing on Psychology +as we should look at it. By all means read the Preface, in about 20 pages, +of Hensleigh Wedgwood's new Dictionary on the first origin of Language; +Erasmus would lend it. I agree about Carpenter, a very good article, but +with not much original...Andrew Murray has criticised, in an address to the +Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the notice in the 'Linnean Journal,' and +"has disposed of" the whole theory by an ingenious difficulty, which I was +very stupid not to have thought of; for I express surprise at more and +analogous cases not being known. The difficulty is, that amongst the blind +insects of the caves in distant parts of the world there are some of the +same genus, and yet the genus is not found out of the caves or living in +the free world. I have little doubt that, like the fish Amblyopsis, and +like Proteus in Europe, these insects are "wrecks of ancient life," or +"living fossils," saved from competition and extermination. But that +formerly SEEING insects of the same genus roamed over the whole area in +which the cases are included. + +Farewell, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--OUR ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim bladder, +a great swimming tail, an imperfect skull, and undoubtedly was an +hermaphrodite! + +Here is a pleasant genealogy for mankind. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, January 14th [1860]. + +...I shall be much interested in reading your man discussion, and will give +my opinion carefully, whatever that may be worth; but I have so long looked +at you as the type of cautious scientific judgment (to my mind one of the +highest and most useful qualities), that I suspect my opinion will be +superfluous. It makes me laugh to think what a joke it will be if I have +to caution you, after your cautions on the same subject to me! + +I will order Owen's book ('Classification of the Mammalia,' 1859.); I am +very glad to hear Huxley's opinion on his classification of man; without +having due knowledge, it seemed to me from the very first absurd; all +classifications founded on single characters I believe have failed. + +...What a grand, immense benefit you conferred on me by getting Murray to +publish my book. I never till to-day realised that it was getting widely +distributed; for in a letter from a lady to-day to E., she says she heard a +man enquiring for it at the RAILWAY STATION!!! at Waterloo Bridge; and the +bookseller said that he had none till the new edition was out. The +bookseller said he had not read it, but had heard it was a very remarkable +book!!!... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 14th [January, 1860]. + +...I heard from Lyell this morning, and he tells me a piece of news. You +are a good-for-nothing man; here you are slaving yourself to death with +hardly a minute to spare, and you must write a review of my book! I +thought it ('Gardeners' Chronicle', 1860. Referred to above. Sir J.D. +Hooker took the line of complete impartiality, so as not to commit +Lindley.) a very good one, and was so much struck with it that I sent it to +Lyell. But I assumed, as a matter of course, that it was Lindley's. Now +that I know it is yours, I have re-read it, and, my kind and good friend, +it has warmed my heart with all the honourable and noble things you say of +me and it. I was a good deal surprised at Lindley hitting on some of the +remarks, but I never dreamed of you. I admired it chiefly as so well +adapted to tell on the readers of the 'Gardeners' Chronicle'; but now I +admired it in another spirit. Farewell, with hearty thanks...Lyell is +going at man with an audacity that frightens me. It is a good joke; he +used always to caution me to slip over man. + + +[In the "Gardeners' Chronicle", January 21, 1860, appeared a short letter +from my father which was called forth by Mr. Westwood's communication to +the previous number of the journal, in which certain phenomena of cross- +breeding are discussed in relation to the 'Origin of Species.' Mr. +Westwood wrote in reply (February 11) and adduced further evidence against +the doctrine of descent, such as the identity of the figures of ostriches +on the ancient "Egyptian records," with the bird as we now know it. The +correspondence is hardly worth mentioning, except as one of the very few +cases in which my father was enticed into anything resembling a +controversy.] + + +ASA GRAY TO J.D. HOOKER. +Cambridge, Mass., +January 5th, 1860. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your last letter, which reached me just before Christmas, has got mislaid +during the upturnings in my study which take place at that season, and has +not yet been discovered. I should be very sorry to lose it, for there were +in it some botanical mems. which I had not secured... + +The principal part of your letter was high laudation of Darwin's book. + +Well, the book has reached me, and I finished its careful perusal four days +ago; and I freely say that your laudation is not out of place. + +It is done in a MASTERLY MANNER. It might well have taken twenty years to +produce it. It is crammed full of most interesting matter--thoroughly +digested--well expressed--close, cogent, and taken as a system it makes out +a better case than I had supposed possible... + +Agassiz, when I saw him last, had read but a part of it. He says it is +POOR--VERY POOR!! (entre nous). The fact [is] he is very much annoyed by +it,...and I do not wonder at it. To bring all IDEAL systems within the +domain of science, and give good physical or natural explanations of all +his capital points, is as bad as to have Forbes take the glacier +materials...and give scientific explanation of all the phenomena. + +Tell Darwin all this. I will write to him when I get a chance. As I have +promised, he and you shall have fair-play here...I must myself write a +review of Darwin's book for 'Silliman's Journal' (the more so that I +suspect Agassiz means to come out upon it) for the next (March) No., and I +am now setting about it (when I ought to be every moment working the +Expl[oring] Expedition Compositae, which I know far more about). And +really it is no easy job, as you may well imagine. + +I doubt if I shall please you altogether. I know I shall not please +Agassiz at all. I hear another reprint is in the Press, and the book will +excite much attention here, and some controversy... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, January 28th [1860]. + +My dear Gray, + +Hooker has forwarded to me your letter to him; and I cannot express how +deeply it has gratified me. To receive the approval of a man whom one has +long sincerely respected. And whose judgment and knowledge are most +universally admitted, is the highest reward an author can possibly wish +for; and I thank you heartily for your most kind expressions. + +I have been absent from home for a few days, and so could not earlier +answer your letter to me of the 10th of January. You have been extremely +kind to take so much trouble and interest about the edition. It has been a +mistake of my publisher not thinking of sending over the sheets. I had +entirely and utterly forgotten your offer of receiving the sheets as +printed off. But I must not blame my publisher, for had I remembered your +most kind offer I feel pretty sure I should not have taken advantage of it; +for I never dreamed of my book being so successful with general readers; I +believe I should have laughed at the idea of sending the sheets to America. +(In a letter to Mr. Murray, 1860, my father wrote:--"I am amused by Asa +Gray's account of the excitement my book has made amongst naturalists in +the United States. Agassiz has denounced it in a newspaper, but yet in +such terms that it is in fact a fine advertisement!" This seems to refer +to a lecture given before the Mercantile Library Association.) + +After much consideration, and on the strong advice of Lyell and others, I +have resolved to leave the present book as it is (excepting correcting +errors, or here and there inserting short sentences) and to use all my +strength, WHICH IS BUT LITTLE, to bring out the first part (forming a +separate volume with index, etc.) of the three volumes which will make my +bigger work; so that I am very unwilling to take up time in making +corrections for an American edition. I enclose a list of a few corrections +in the second reprint, which you will have received by this time complete, +and I could send four or five corrections or additions of equally small +importance, or rather of equal brevity. I also intend to write a SHORT +preface with a brief history of the subject. These I will set about, as +they must some day be done, and I will send them to you in a short time-- +the few corrections first, and the preface afterwards, unless I hear that +you have given up all idea of a separate edition. You will then be able to +judge whether it is worth having the new edition with YOUR REVIEW PREFIXED. +Whatever be the nature of your review, I assure you I should feel it a +GREAT honour to have my book thus preceded... + + +ASA GRAY TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Cambridge, January 23rd, 1860. + +My dear Darwin, + +You have my hurried letter telling you of the arrival of the remainder of +the sheets of the reprint, and of the stir I had made for a reprint in +Boston. Well, all looked pretty well, when, lo, we found that a second New +York publishing house had announced a reprint also! I wrote then to both +New York publishers, asking them to give way to the AUTHOR and his reprint +of a revised edition. I got an answer from the Harpers that they withdraw +--from the Appletons that they had got the book OUT (and the next day I saw +a copy); but that, "if the work should have any considerable sale, we +certainly shall be disposed to pay the author reasonably and liberally." + +The Appletons being thus out with their reprint, the Boston house declined +to go on. So I wrote to the Appletons taking them at their word, offering +to aid their reprint, to give them the use of the alterations in the London +reprint, as soon as I find out what they are, etc. etc. And I sent them +the first leaf, and asked them to insert in their future issue the +additional matter from Butler (A quotation from Butler's 'Analogy,' on the +use of the word natural, which in the second edition is placed with the +passages from Whewell and Bacon on page ii, opposite the title-page.), +which tells just right. So there the matter stands. If you furnish any +matter in advance of the London third edition, I will make them pay for it. + +I may get something for you. All got is clear gain; but it will not be +very much, I suppose. + +Such little notices in the papers here as have yet appeared are quite +handsome and considerate. + +I hope next week to get printed sheets of my review from New Haven, and +send [them] to you, and will ask you to pass them on to Dr. Hooker. + +To fulfil your request, I ought to tell you what I think the weakest, and +what the best, part of your book. But this is not easy, nor to be done in +a word or two. The BEST PART, I think, is the WHOLE, i.e., its PLAN and +TREATMENT, the vast amount of facts and acute inferences handled as if you +had a perfect mastery of them. I do not think twenty years too much time +to produce such a book in. + +Style clear and good, but now and then wants revision for little matters +(page 97, self-fertilises ITSELF, etc.). + +Then your candour is worth everything to your cause. It is refreshing to +find a person with a new theory who frankly confesses that he finds +difficulties, insurmountable, at least for the present. I know some people +who never have any difficulties to speak of. + +The moment I understood your premisses, I felt sure you had a real +foundation to hold on. Well, if one admits your premisses, I do not see +how he is to stop short of your conclusions, as a probable hypothesis at +least. + +It naturally happens that my review of your book does not exhibit anything +like the full force of the impression the book has made upon me. Under the +circumstances I suppose I do your theory more good here, by bespeaking for +it a fair and favourable consideration, and by standing non-committed as to +its full conclusions, than I should if I announced myself a convert; nor +could I say the latter, with truth. + +Well, what seems to me the weakest point in the book is the attempt to +account for the formation of organs, the making of eyes, etc., by natural +selection. Some of this reads quite Lamarckian. + +The chapter on HYBRIDISM is not a WEAK, but a STRONG chapter. You have +done wonders there. But still you have not accounted, as you may be held +to account, for divergence up to a certain extent producing increased +fertility of the crosses, but carried one short almost imperceptible step +more, giving rise to sterility, or reversing the tendency. Very likely you +are on the right track; but you have something to do yet in that +department. + +Enough for the present. + +...I am not insensible to your compliments, the very high compliment which +you pay me in valuing my opinion. You evidently think more of it than I +do, though from the way I write [to] you, and especially [to] Hooker, this +might not be inferred from the reading of my letters. + +I am free to say that I never learnt so much from one book as I have from +yours, there remain a thousand things I long to say about it. + +Ever yours, +ASA GRAY. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +[February? 1860]. + +...Now I will just run through some points in your letter. What you say +about my book gratifies me most deeply, and I wish I could feel all was +deserved by me. I quite think a review from a man, who is not an entire +convert, if fair and moderately favourable, is in all respects the best +kind of review. About the weak points I agree. The eye to this day gives +me a cold shudder, but when I think of the fine known gradations, my reason +tells me I ought to conquer the cold shudder. + +Pray kindly remember and tell Prof. Wyman how very grateful I should be for +any hints, information, or criticisms. I have the highest respect for his +opinion. I am so sorry about Dana's health. I have already asked him to +pay me a visit. + +Farewell, you have laid me under a load of obligation--not that I feel it a +load. It is the highest possible gratification to me to think that you +have found my book worth reading and reflection; for you and three others I +put down in my own mind as the judges whose opinions I should value most of +all. + +My dear Gray, yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I feel pretty sure, from my own experience, that if you are led by +your studies to keep the subject of the origin of species before your mind, +you will go further and further in your belief. It took me long years, and +I assure you I am astonished at the impression my book has made on many +minds. I fear twenty years ago, I should not have been half as candid and +open to conviction. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [January 31st, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have resolved to publish a little sketch of the progress of opinion on +the change of species. Will you or Mrs. Hooker do me the favour to copy +ONE sentence out of Naudin's paper in the 'Revue Horticole,' 1852, page +103, namely, that on his principle of Finalite. Can you let me have it +soon, with those confounded dashes over the vowels put in carefully? Asa +Gray, I believe, is going to get a second edition of my book, and I want to +send this little preface over to him soon. I did not think of the +necessity of having Naudin's sentence on finality, otherwise I would have +copied it. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I shall end by just alluding to your Australian Flora Introduction. +What was the date of publication: December 1859, or January 1860? Please +answer this. + +My preface will also do for the French edition, which I BELIEVE, is agreed +on. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +February [1860]. + +...As the 'Origin' now stands, Harvey's (William Henry Harvey was descended +from a Quaker family of Youghal, and was born in February, 1811, at +Summerville, a country house on the banks of the Shannon. He died at +Torquay in 1866. In 1835, Harvey went to Africa (Table Bay) to pursue his +botanical studies, the results of which were given in his 'Genera of South +African Plants.' In 1838, ill-health compelled him to obtain leave of +absence, and return to England for a time; in 1840 he returned to Cape +Town, to be again compelled by illness to leave. In 1843 he obtained the +appointment of Botanical Professor at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1854, +1855, and 1856 he visited Australia, New Zealand, the Friendly and Fiji +Islands. In 1857 Dr. Harvey reached home, and was appointed the successor +of Professor Allman to the Chair of Botany in Dublin University. He was +author of several botanical works, principally on Algae.--(From a Memoir +published in 1869.)) is a good hit against my talking so much of the +insensibly fine gradations; and certainly it has astonished me that I +should be pelted with the fact, that I had not allowed abrupt and great +enough variations under nature. It would take a good deal more evidence to +make me admit that forms have often changed by saltum. + +Have you seen Wollaston's attack in the 'Annals'? ('Annals and Magazine of +Natural History,' 1860.) The stones are beginning to fly. But Theology +has more to do with these two attacks than Science... + + +[In the above letter a paper by Harvey in the "Gardeners' Chronicle", +February 18, 1860, is alluded to. He describes a case of monstrosity in +Begonia frigida, in which the "sport" differed so much from a normal +Begonia that it might have served as the type of a distinct natural order. +Harvey goes on to argue that such a case is hostile to the theory of +natural selection, according to which changes are not supposed to take +place per saltum, and adds that "a few such cases would overthrow it [Mr. +Darwin's hypothesis] altogether." In the following number of the +"Gardeners' Chronicle" Sir J.D. Hooker showed that Dr. Harvey had +misconceived the bearing of the Begonia case, which he further showed to be +by no means calculated to shake the validity of the doctrine of +modification by means of natural selection. My father mentions the Begonia +case in a letter to Lyell (February 18, 1860):-- + +"I send by this post an attack in the "Gardeners' Chronicle", by Harvey (a +first-rate Botanist, as you probably know). It seems to me rather strange; +he assumes the permanence of monsters, whereas, monsters are generally +sterile, and not often inheritable. But grant his case, it comes that I +have been too cautious in not admitting great and sudden variations. Here +again comes in the mischief of my ABSTRACT. In the fuller MS. I have +discussed a parallel case of a normal fish like the monstrous gold-fish." + +With reference to Sir J.D. Hooker's reply, my father wrote:] + +Down, [February 26th, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your answer to Harvey seems to me ADMIRABLY good. You would have made a +gigantic fortune as a barrister. What an omission of Harvey's about the +graduated state of the flowers! But what strikes me most is that surely I +ought to know my own book best, yet, by Jove, you have brought forward ever +so many arguments which I did not think of! Your reference to +classification (viz. I presume to such cases as Aspicarpa) is EXCELLENT, +for the monstrous Begonia no doubt in all details would be Begonia. I did +not think of this, nor of the RETROGRADE step from separated sexes to an +hermaphrodite state; nor of the lessened fertility of the monster. Proh +pudor to me. + +The world would say what a lawyer has been lost in a MERE botanist! + +Farewell, my dear master in my own subject, + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +I am so heartily pleased to see that you approve of the chapter on +Classification. + +I wonder what Harvey will say. But no one hardly, I think, is able at +first to see when he is beaten in an argument. + + +[The following letters refer to the first translation (1860) of the 'Origin +of Species' into German, which was superintended by H.G. Bronn, a good +zoologist and palaeontologist, who was at the time at Freiburg, but +afterwards Professor at Heidelberg. I have been told that the translation +was not a success, it remained an obvious translation, and was +correspondingly unpleasant to read. Bronn added to the translation an +appendix of the difficulties that occurred to him. For instance, how can +natural selection account for differences between species, when these +differences appear to be of no service to their possessors; e.g., the +length of the ears and tail, or the folds in the enamel of the teeth of +various species of rodents? Krause, in his book, 'Charles Darwin,' page +91, criticises Bronn's conduct in this manner, but it will be seen that my +father actually suggested the addition of Bronn's remarks. A more serious +charge against Bronn made by Krause (op. cit. page 87) is that he left out +passages of which he did not approve, as, for instance, the passage +('Origin,' first edition, page 488) "Light will be thrown on the origin of +man and his history." I have no evidence as to whether my father did or +did not know of these alterations.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.G. BRONN. +Down, February 4 [1860]. + +Dear and much honoured Sir, + +I thank you sincerely for your most kind letter; I feared that you would +much disapprove of the 'Origin,' and I sent it to you merely as a mark of +my sincere respect. I shall read with much interest your work on the +productions of Islands whenever I receive it. I thank you cordially for +the notice in the 'Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie,' and still more for +speaking to Schweitzerbart about a translation; for I am most anxious that +the great and intellectual German people should know something about my +book. + +I have told my publisher to send immediately a copy of the NEW (Second +edition.) edition to Schweitzerbart, and I have written to Schweitzerbart +that I gave up all right to profit for myself, so that I hope a translation +will appear. I fear that the book will be difficult to translate, and if +you could advise Schweitzerbart about a GOOD translator, it would be of +very great service. Still more, if you would run your eye over the more +difficult parts of the translation; but this is too great a favour to +expect. I feel sure that it will be difficult to translate, from being so +much condensed. + +Again I thank you for your noble and generous sympathy, and I remain, with +entire respect, + +Yours, truly obliged, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--The new edition has some few corrections, and I will send in MS. some +additional corrections, and a short historical preface, to Schweitzerbart. + +How interesting you could make the work by EDITING (I do not mean +translating) the work, and appending notes of REFUTATION or confirmation. +The book has sold so very largely in England, that an editor would, I +think, make profit by the translation. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.G. BRONN. +Down, February 14 [1860]. + +My dear and much honoured Sir, + +I thank you cordially for your extreme kindness in superintending the +translation. I have mentioned this to some eminent scientific men, and +they all agree that you have done a noble and generous service. If I am +proved quite wrong, yet I comfort myself in thinking that my book may do +some good, as truth can only be known by rising victorious from every +attack. I thank you also much for the review, and for the kind manner in +which you speak of me. I send with this letter some corrections and +additions to M. Schweitzerbart, and a short historical preface. I am not +much acquainted with German authors, as I read German very slowly; +therefore I do not know whether any Germans have advocated similar views +with mine; if they have, would you do me the favour to insert a foot-note +to the preface? M. Schweitzerbart has now the reprint ready for a +translator to begin. Several scientific men have thought the term "Natural +Selection" good, because its meaning is NOT obvious, and each man could not +put on it his own interpretation, and because it at once connects variation +under domestication and nature. Is there any analogous term used by German +breeders of animals? "Adelung," ennobling, would, perhaps, be too +metaphysical. It is folly in me, but I cannot help doubting whether "Wahl +der Lebensweise" expresses my notion. It leaves the impression on my mind +of the Lamarckian doctrine (which I reject) of habits of life being all- +important. Man has altered, and thus improved the English race-horse by +SELECTING successive fleeter individuals; and I believe, owing to the +struggle for existence, that similar SLIGHT variations in a wild horse, IF +ADVANTAGEOUS TO IT, would be SELECTED or PRESERVED by nature; hence Natural +Selection. But I apologise for troubling you with these remarks on the +importance of choosing good German terms for "Natural Selection." With my +heartfelt thanks, and with sincere respect, + +I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.G. BRONN. +Down, July 14 [1860]. + +Dear and honoured Sir, + +On my return home, after an absence of some time, I found the translation +of the third part (The German translation was published in three pamphlet- +like numbers.) of the 'Origin,' and I have been delighted to see a final +chapter of criticisms by yourself. I have read the first few paragraphs +and final paragraph, and am perfectly contented, indeed more than +contented, with the generous and candid spirit with which you have +considered my views. You speak with too much praise of my work. I shall, +of course, carefully read the whole chapter; but though I can read +descriptive books like Gaertner's pretty easily, when any reasoning comes +in, I find German excessively difficult to understand. At some FUTURE time +I should very much like to hear how my book has been received in Germany, +and I most sincerely hope M. Schweitzerbart will not lose money by the +publication. Most of the reviews have been bitterly opposed to me in +England, yet I have made some converts, and SEVERAL naturalists who would +not believe in a word of it, are now coming slightly round, and admit that +natural selection may have done something. This gives me hope that more +will ultimately come round to a certain extent to my views. + +I shall ever consider myself deeply indebted to you for the immense service +and honour which you have conferred on me in making the excellent +translation of my book. Pray believe me, with most sincere respect, + +Dear Sir, yours gratefully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, [February 12th, 1860]. + +...I think it was a great pity that Huxley wasted so much time in the +lecture on the preliminary remarks;...but his lecture seemed to me very +fine and very bold. I have remonstrated (and he agrees) against the +impression that he would leave, that sterility was a universal and +infallible criterion of species. + +You will, I am sure, make a grand discussion on man. I am so glad to hear +that you and Lady Lyell will come here. Pray fix your own time; and if it +did not suit us we would say so. We could then discuss man well... + +How much I owe to you and Hooker! I do not suppose I should hardly ever +have published had it not been for you. + + +[The lecture referred to in the last letter was given at the Royal +Institution, February 10, 1860. The following letter was written in reply +to Mr. Huxley's request for information about breeding, hybridisation, etc. +It is of interest as giving a vivid retrospect of the writer's experience +on the subject.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Ilkley, Yorks, November 27 [1859]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Gartner grand, Kolreuter grand, but papers scattered through many volumes +and very lengthy. I had to make an abstract of the whole. Herbert's +volume on Amaryllidaceae very good, and two excellent papers in the +'Horticultural Journal.' For animals, no resume to be trusted at all; +facts are to be collected from all original sources. (This caution is +exemplified in the following extract from an earlier letter to Professor +Huxley:--"The inaccuracy of the blessed gang (of which I am one) of +compilers passes all bounds. MONSTERS have frequently been described as +hybrids without a tittle of evidence. I must give one other case to show +how we jolly fellows work. A Belgian Baron (I forget his name at this +moment) crossed two distinct geese and got SEVEN hybrids, which he proved +subsequently to be quite sterile; well, compiler the first, Chevreul, says +that the hybrids were propagated for SEVEN generations inter se. Compiler +second (Morton) mistakes the French name, and gives Latin names for two +more distinct geese, and says CHEVREUL himself propagated them inter se for +seven generations; and the latter statement is copied from book to book.") +I fear my MS. for the bigger book (twice or thrice as long as in present +book), with all references, would be illegible, but it would save you +infinite labour; of course I would gladly lend it, but I have no copy, so +care would have to be taken of it. But my accursed handwriting would be +fatal, I fear. + +About breeding, I know of no one book. I did not think well of Lowe, but I +can name none better. Youatt I look at as a far better and MORE PRACTICAL +authority; but then his views and facts are scattered through three or four +thick volumes. I have picked up most by reading really numberless special +treatises and ALL agricultural and horticultural journals; but it is a work +of long years. THE DIFFICULTY IS TO KNOW WHAT TO TRUST. No one or two +statements are worth a farthing; the facts are so complicated. I hope and +think I have been really cautious in what I state on this subject, although +all that I have given, as yet, is FAR too briefly. I have found it very +important associating with fanciers and breeders. For instance, I sat one +evening in a gin palace in the Borough amongst a set of pigeon fanciers, +when it was hinted that Mr. Bull had crossed his Pouters with Runts to gain +size; and if you had seen the solemn, the mysterious, and awful shakes of +the head which all the fanciers gave at this scandalous proceeding, you +would have recognised how little crossing has had to do with improving +breeds, and how dangerous for endless generations the process was. All +this was brought home far more vividly than by pages of mere statements, +etc. But I am scribbling foolishly. I really do not know how to advise +about getting up facts on breeding and improving breeds. Go to Shows is +one way. Read ALL treatises on any ONE domestic animal, and believe +nothing without largely confirmed. For your lectures I can give you a few +amusing anecdotes and sentences, if you want to make the audience laugh. + +I thank you particularly for telling me what naturalists think. If we can +once make a compact set of believers we shall in time conquer. I am +EMINENTLY glad Ramsey is on our side, for he is, in my opinion, a first- +rate geologist. I sent him a copy. I hope he got it. I shall be very +curious to hear whether any effect has been produced on Prestwich; I sent +him a copy, not as a friend, but owing to a sentence or two in some paper, +which made me suspect he was doubting. + +Rev. C. Kingsley has a mind to come round. Quatrefages writes that he goes +some long way with me; says he exhibited diagrams like mine. With most +hearty thanks, + +Yours very tired, +C. DARWIN. + + +[I give the conclusion of Professor Huxley's lecture, as being one of the +earliest, as well as one of the most eloquent of his utterances in support +of the 'Origin of Species': + +"I have said that the man of science is the sworn interpreter of nature in +the high court of reason. But of what avail is his honest speech, if +ignorance is the assessor of the judge, and prejudice the foreman of the +jury? I hardly know of a great physical truth, whose universal reception +has not been preceded by an epoch in which most estimable persons have +maintained that the phenomena investigated were directly dependent on the +Divine Will, and that the attempt to investigate them was not only futile, +but blasphemous. And there is a wonderful tenacity of life about this sort +of opposition to physical science. Crushed and maimed in every battle, it +yet seems never to be slain; and after a hundred defeats it is at this day +as rampant, though happily not so mischievous, as in the time of Galileo. + +"But to those whose life is spent, to use Newton's noble words, in picking +up here a pebble and there a pebble on the shores of the great ocean of +truth--who watch, day by day, the slow but sure advance of that mighty +tide, bearing on its bosom the thousand treasures wherewith man ennobles +and beautifies his life--it would be laughable, if it were not so sad, to +see the little Canutes of the hour enthroned in solemn state, bidding that +great wave to stay, and threatening to check its beneficent progress. The +wave rises and they fly; but, unlike the brave old Dane, they learn no +lesson of humility: the throne is pitched at what seems a safe distance, +and the folly is repeated. + +"Surely it is the duty of the public to discourage anything of this kind, +to discredit these foolish meddlers who think they do the Almighty a +service by preventing a thorough study of His works. + +"The Origin of Species is not the first, and it will not be the last, of +the great questions born of science, which will demand settlement from this +generation. The general mind is seething strangely, and to those who watch +the signs of the times, it seems plain that this nineteenth century will +see revolutions of thought and practice as great as those which the +sixteenth witnessed. Through what trials and sore contests the civilised +world will have to pass in the course of this new reformation, who can +tell? + +"But I verily believe that come what will, the part which England may play +in the battle is a grand and a noble one. She may prove to the world that, +for one people, at any rate, despotism and demagogy are not the necessary +alternatives of government; that freedom and order are not incompatible; +that reverence is the handmaid of knowledge; that free discussion is the +life of truth, and of true unity in a nation. + +"Will England play this part? That depends upon how you, the public, deal +with science. Cherish her, venerate her, follow her methods faithfully and +implicitly in their application to all branches of human thought, and the +future of this people will be greater than the past. + +"Listen to those who would silence and crush her, and I fear our children +will see the glory of England vanishing like Arthur in the mist; they will +cry too late the woful cry of Guinever:-- + +'It was my duty to have loved the highest; +It surely was my profit had I known; +It would have been my pleasure had I seen.'"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down [February 15th, 1860]. + +...I am perfectly convinced (having read this morning) that the review in +the 'Annals' (Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist. third series, vol. 5, page 132. +My father has obviously taken the expression "pestilent" from the following +passage (page 138): "But who is this Nature, we have a right to ask, who +has such tremendous power, and to whose efficiency such marvellous +performances are ascribed? What are her image and attributes, when dragged +from her wordy lurking-place? Is she aught but a pestilent abstraction, +like dust cast in our eyes to obscure the workings of an Intelligent First +Cause of all?" The reviewer pays a tribute to my father's candour, "so +manly and outspoken as almost to 'cover a multitude of sins.'" The +parentheses (to which allusion is made above) are so frequent as to give a +characteristic appearance to Mr. Wollaston's pages.) is by Wollaston; no +one else in the world would have used so many parentheses. I have written +to him, and told him that the "pestilent" fellow thanks him for his kind +manner of speaking about him. I have also told him that he would be +pleased to hear that the Bishop of Oxford says it is the most +unphilosophical (Another version of the words is given by Lyell, to whom +they were spoken, viz. "the most illogical book ever written."--'Life,' +volume ii. page 358.) work he ever read. The review seems to me clever, +and only misinterprets me in a few places. Like all hostile men, he passes +over the explanation given of Classification, Morphology, Embryology, and +Rudimentary Organs, etc. I read Wallace's paper in MS. ("On the Zoological +Geography of the Malay Archipelago."--Linn. Soc. Journ. 1860.), and thought +it admirably good; he does not know that he has been anticipated about the +depth of intervening sea determining distribution...The most curious point +in the paper seems to me that about the African character of the Celebes +productions, but I should require further confirmation... + +Henslow is staying here; I have had some talk with him; he is in much the +same state as Bunbury (The late Sir Charles Bunbury, well-known as a +Palaeo-botanist.), and will go a very little way with us, but brings up no +real argument against going further. He also shudders at the eye! It is +really curious (and perhaps is an argument in our favour) how differently +different opposers view the subject. Henslow used to rest his opposition +on the imperfection of the Geological Record, but he now thinks nothing of +this, and says I have got well out of it; I wish I could quite agree with +him. Baden Powell says he never read anything so conclusive as my +statement about the eye!! A stranger writes to me about sexual selection, +and regrets that I boggle about such a trifle as the brush of hair on the +male turkey, and so on. As L. Jenyns has a really philosophical mind, and +as you say you like to see everything, I send an old letter of his. In a +later letter to Henslow, which I have seen, he is more candid than any +opposer I have heard of, for he says, though he CANNOT go so far as I do, +yet he can give no good reason why he should not. It is funny how each man +draws his own imaginary line at which to halt. It reminds me so vividly +what I was told (By Professor Henslow.) about you when I first commenced +geology--to believe a LITTLE, but on no account to believe all. + +Ever yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, February 18th [1860]. + +My dear Gray, + +I received about a week ago two sheets of your Review (The 'American +Journal of Science and Arts,' March, 1860. Reprinted in 'Darwiniana,' +1876.); read them, and sent them to Hooker; they are now returned and re- +read with care, and to-morrow I send them to Lyell. Your Review seems to +me ADMIRABLE; by far the best which I have read. I thank you from my heart +both for myself, but far more for the subject's sake. Your contrast +between the views of Agassiz and such as mine is very curious and +instructive. (The contrast is briefly summed up thus: "The theory of +Agassiz regards the origin of species and their present general +distribution over the world as equally primordial, equally supernatural; +that of Darwin as equally derivative, equally natural."--'Darwiniana,' page +14.) By the way, if Agassiz writes anything on the subject, I hope you +will tell me. I am charmed with your metaphor of the streamlet never +running against the force of gravitation. Your distinction between an +hypothesis and theory seems to me very ingenious; but I do not think it is +ever followed. Every one now speaks of the undulatory THEORY of light; yet +the ether is itself hypothetical, and the undulations are inferred only +from explaining the phenomena of light. Even in the THEORY of gravitation +is the attractive power in any way known, except by explaining the fall of +the apple, and the movements of the Planets? It seems to me that an +hypothesis is DEVELOPED into a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of +facts. Again and again I thank you for your generous aid in discussing a +view, about which you very properly hold yourself unbiassed. + +My dear Gray, yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Several clergymen go far with me. Rev. L. Jenyns, a very good +naturalist. Henslow will go a very little way with me, and is not shocked +with me. He has just been visiting me. + + +[With regard to the attitude of the more liberal representatives of the +Church, the following letter (already referred to) from Charles Kingsley is +of interest:] + + +C. KINGSLEY TO CHARLES DARWIN. +Eversley Rectory, Winchfield, +November 18th, 1859. + +Dear Sir, + +I have to thank you for the unexpected honour of your book. That the +Naturalist whom, of all naturalists living, I most wish to know and to +learn from, should have sent a scientist like me his book, encourages me at +least to observe more carefully, and perhaps more slowly. + +I am so poorly (in brain), that I fear I cannot read your book just now as +I ought. All I have seen of it AWES me; both with the heap of facts and +the prestige of your name, and also with the clear intuition, that if you +be right, I must give up much that I have believed and written. + +In that I care little. Let God be true, and every man a liar! Let us know +what IS, and, as old Socrates has it, epesthai to logo--follow up the +villainous shifty fox of an argument, into whatsoever unexpected bogs and +brakes he may lead us, if we do but run into him at last. + +From two common superstitions, at least, I shall be free while judging of +your books:-- + +1. I have long since, from watching the crossing of domesticated animals +and plants, learnt to disbelieve the dogma of the permanence of species. + +2. I have gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of +Deity, to believe that he created primal forms capable of self development +into all forms needful pro tempore and pro loco, as to believe that He +required a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas which He Himself +had made. I question whether the former be not the loftier thought. + +Be it as it may, I shall prize your book, both for itself, and as a proof +that you are aware of the existence of such a person as + +Your faithful servant, +C. KINGSLEY. + + +[My father's old friend, the Rev. J. Brodie Innes, of Milton Brodie, who +was for many years Vicar of Down, writes in the same spirit: + +"We never attacked each other. Before I knew Mr. Darwin I had adopted, and +publicly expressed, the principle that the study of natural history, +geology, and science in general, should be pursued without reference to the +Bible. That the Book of Nature and Scripture came from the same Divine +source, ran in parallel lines, and when properly understood would never +cross... + +"His views on this subject were very much to the same effect from his side. +Of course any conversations we may have had on purely religious subjects +are as sacredly private now as in his life; but the quaint conclusion of +one may be given. We had been speaking of the apparent contradiction of +some supposed discoveries with the Book of Genesis; he said, 'you are (it +would have been more correct to say you ought to be) a theologian, I am a +naturalist, the lines are separate. I endeavour to discover facts without +considering what is said in the Book of Genesis. I do not attack Moses, +and I think Moses can take care of himself.' To the same effect he wrote +more recently, 'I cannot remember that I ever published a word directly +against religion or the clergy; but if you were to read a little pamphlet +which I received a couple of days ago by a clergyman, you would laugh, and +admit that I had some excuse for bitterness. After abusing me for two or +three pages, in language sufficiently plain and emphatic to have satisfied +any reasonable man, he sums up by saying that he has vainly searched the +English language to find terms to express his contempt for me and all +Darwinians.' In another letter, after I had left Down, he writes, 'We +often differed, but you are one of those rare mortals from whom one can +differ and yet feel no shade of animosity, and that is a thing [of] which I +should feel very proud, if any one could say [it] of me.' + +"On my last visit to Down, Mr. Darwin said, at his dinner-table, 'Brodie +Innes and I have been fast friends for thirty years, and we never +thoroughly agreed on any subject but once, and then we stared hard at each +other, and thought one of us must be very ill.'"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, February 23rd [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +That is a splendid answer of the father of Judge Crompton. How curious +that the Judge should have hit on exactly the same points as yourself. It +shows me what a capital lawyer you would have made, how many unjust acts +you would have made appear just! But how much grander a field has science +been than the law, though the latter might have made you Lord Kinnordy. I +will, if there be another edition, enlarge on gradation in the eye, and on +all forms coming from one prototype, so as to try and make both less +glaringly improbable... + +With respect to Bronn's objection that it cannot be shown how life arises, +and likewise to a certain extent Asa Gray's remark that natural selection +is not a vera causa, I was much interested by finding accidentally in +Brewster's 'Life of Newton,' that Leibnitz objected to the law of gravity +because Newton could not show what gravity itself is. As it has chanced, I +have used in letters this very same argument, little knowing that any one +had really thus objected to the law of gravity. Newton answers by saying +that it is philosophy to make out the movements of a clock, though you do +not know why the weight descends to the ground. Leibnitz further objected +that the law of gravity was opposed to Natural Religion! Is this not +curious? I really think I shall use the facts for some introductory +remarks for my bigger book. + +...You ask (I see) why we do not have monstrosities in higher animals; but +when they live they are almost always sterile (even giants and dwarfs are +GENERALLY sterile), and we do not know that Harvey's monster would have +bred. There is I believe only one case on record of a peloric flower being +fertile, and I cannot remember whether this reproduced itself. + +To recur to the eye. I really think it would have been dishonest, not to +have faced the difficulty; and worse (as Talleyrand would have said), it +would have been impolitic I think, for it would have been thrown in my +teeth, as H. Holland threw the bones of the ear, till Huxley shut him up by +showing what a fine gradation occurred amongst living creatures. + +I thank you much for your most pleasant letter. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I send a letter by Herbert Spencer, which you can read or not as you +think fit. He puts, to my mind, the philosophy of the argument better than +almost any one, at the close of the letter. I could make nothing of Dana's +idealistic notions about species; but then, as Wollaston says, I have not a +metaphysical head. + +By the way, I have thrown at Wollaston's head, a paper by Alexander Jordan, +who demonstrates metaphysically that all our cultivated races are God- +created species. + +Wollaston misrepresents accidentally, to a wonderful extent, some passages +in my book. He reviewed, without relooking at certain passages. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, February 25th [1860]. + +...I cannot help wondering at your zeal about my book. I declare to heaven +you seem to care as much about my book as I do myself. You have no right +to be so eminently unselfish! I have taken off my spit [i.e. file] a +letter of Ramsay's, as every geologist convert I think very important. By +the way, I saw some time ago a letter from H.D. Rogers (Professor of +Geology in the University of Glasgow. Born in the United States 1809, died +1866.) to Huxley, in which he goes very far with us... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Saturday, March 3rd, [1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +What a day's work you had on that Thursday! I was not able to go to London +till Monday, and then I was a fool for going, for, on Tuesday night, I had +an attack of fever (with a touch of pleurisy), which came on like a lion, +but went off as a lamb, but has shattered me a good bit. + +I was much interested by your last note...I think you expect too much in +regard to change of opinion on the subject of Species. One large class of +men, more especially I suspect of naturalists, never will care about ANY +general question, of which old Gray, of the British Museum, may be taken as +a type; and secondly, nearly all men past a moderate age, either in actual +years or in mind, are, I am fully convinced, incapable of looking at facts +under a new point of view. Seriously, I am astonished and rejoiced at the +progress which the subject has made; look at the enclosed memorandum. (See +table of names below.) -- says my book will be forgotten in ten years, +perhaps so; but, with such a list, I feel convinced the subject will not. +The outsiders, as you say, are strong. + +You say that you think that Bentham is touched, "but, like a wise man, +holds his tongue." Perhaps you only mean that he cannot decide, otherwise +I should think such silence the reverse of magnanimity; for if others +behaved the same way, how would opinion ever progress? It is a dereliction +of actual duty. (In a subsequent letter to Sir J.D. Hooker (March 12th, +1860), my father wrote, "I now quite understand Bentham's silence.") + +I am so glad to hear about Thwaites. (Dr. G.J.K. Thwaites, who was born in +1811, established a reputation in this country as an expert microscopist, +and an acute observer, working especially at cryptogamic botany. On his +appointment as Director of the Botanic Gardens at Peradenyia, Ceylon, Dr. +Thwaites devoted himself to the flora of Ceylon. As a result of this he +has left numerous and valuable collections, a description of which he +embodied in his 'Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniae' (1864). Dr. Thwaites was +a fellow of the Linnean Society, but beyond the above facts little seems to +have been recorded of his life. His death occurred in Ceylon on September +11th, 1882, in his seventy-second year. "Athenaeum", October 14th, 1882, +page 500.)...I have had an astounding letter from Dr. Boott (The letter is +enthusiastically laudatory, and obviously full of genuine feeling.); it +might be turned into ridicule against him and me, so I will not send it to +any one. He writes in a noble spirit of love of truth. + +I wonder what Lindley thinks; probably too busy to read or think on the +question. + +I am vexed about Bentham's reticence, for it would have been of real value +to know what parts appeared weakest to a man of his powers of observation. + +Farewell, my dear Hooker, yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Is not Harvey in the class of men who do not at all care for +generalities? I remember your saying you could not get him to write on +Distribution. I have found his works very unfruitful in every respect. + + +[Here follows the memorandum referred to:] + +Geologists. Zoologists and Physiologists. Botanists. + Palaeontologists. + +Lyell. Huxley. Carpenter. Hooker. + +Ramsay.* J. Lubbock. Sir H. Holland H.C. Watson. + (to large extent). + +Jukes.* L. Jenyns Asa Gray + (to large extent). (to some extent). + +H.D. Rogers. Searles Wood.* Dr. Boott + (to large extent). + + Thwaites. + +(*Andrew Ramsay, late Director-General of the Geological Survey. + +Joseph Beete Jukes, M.A., F.R.S., 1811-1869. He was educated at Cambridge, +and from 1842 to 1846 he acted as naturalist to H.M.S. "Fly", on an +exploring expedition in Australia and New Guinea. He was afterwards +appointed Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland. He was the author +of many papers, and of more than one good hand-book of geology. + +Searles Valentine Wood, February 14, 1798-1880. Chiefly known for his work +on the Mollusca of the 'Crag.') + + +[The following letter is of interest in connection with the mention of Mr. +Bentham in the last letter:] + +G. BENTHAM TO FRANCIS DARWIN. +25 Wilton Place, S.W., +May 30th, 1882. + +My dear Sir, + +In compliance with your note which I received last night, I send herewith +the letters I have from your father. I should have done so on seeing the +general request published in the papers, but that I did not think there +were any among them which could be of any use to you. Highly flattered as +I was by the kind and friendly notice with which Mr. Darwin occasionally +honoured me, I was never admitted into his intimacy, and he therefore never +made any communications to me in relation to his views and labours. I have +been throughout one of his most sincere admirers, and fully adopted his +theories and conclusions, notwithstanding the severe pain and +disappointment they at first occasioned me. On the day that his celebrated +paper was read at the Linnean Society, July 1st, 1858, a long paper of mine +had been set down for reading, in which, in commenting on the British +Flora, I had collected a number of observations and facts illustrating what +I then believed to be a fixity in species, however difficult it might be to +assign their limits, and showing a tendency of abnormal forms produced by +cultivation or otherwise, to withdraw within those original limits when +left to themselves. Most fortunately my paper had to give way to Mr. +Darwin's and when once that was read, I felt bound to defer mine for +reconsideration; I began to entertain doubts on the subject, and on the +appearance of the 'Origin of Species,' I was forced, however reluctantly, +to give up my long-cherished convictions, the results of much labour and +study, and I cancelled all that part of my paper which urged original +fixity, and published only portions of the remainder in another form, +chiefly in the 'Natural History Review.' I have since acknowledged on +various occasions my full adoption of Mr. Darwin's views, and chiefly in my +Presidential Address of 1863, and in my thirteenth and last address, issued +in the form of a report to the British Association at its meeting at +Belfast in 1874. + +I prize so highly the letters that I have of Mr. Darwin's, that I should +feel obliged by your returning them to me when you have done with them. +Unfortunately I have not kept the envelopes, and Mr. Darwin usually only +dated them by the month not by the year, so that they are not in any +chronological order. + +Yours very sincerely, +GEORGE BENTHAM. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down [March] 12th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Thinking over what we talked about, the high state of intellectual +development of the old Grecians with the little or no subsequent +improvement, being an apparent difficulty, it has just occurred to me that +in fact the case harmonises perfectly with our views. The case would be a +decided difficulty on the Lamarckian or Vestigian doctrine of necessary +progression, but on the view which I hold of progression depending on the +conditions, it is no objection at all, and harmonises with the other facts +of progression in the corporeal structure of other animals. For in a state +of anarchy, or despotism, or bad government, or after irruption of +barbarians, force, strength, or ferocity, and not intellect, would be apt +to gain the day. + +We have so enjoyed your and Lady Lyell's visit. + +Good-night. +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--By an odd chance (for I had not alluded even to the subject) the +ladies attacked me this evening, and threw the high state of old Grecians +into my teeth, as an unanswerable difficulty, but by good chance I had my +answer all pat, and silenced them. Hence I have thought it worth +scribbling to you... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. PRESTWICH. (Now Professor of Geology in the +University of Oxford.) +Down, March 12th [1860]. + +...At some future time, when you have a little leisure, and when you have +read my 'Origin of Species,' I should esteem it a SINGULAR favour if you +would send me any general criticisms. I do not mean of unreasonable +length, but such as you could include in a letter. I have always admired +your various memoirs so much that I should be eminently glad to receive +your opinion, which might be of real service to me. + +Pray do not suppose that I expect to CONVERT or PERVERT you; if I could +stagger you in ever so slight a degree I should be satisfied; nor fear to +annoy me by severe criticisms, for I have had some hearty kicks from some +of my best friends. If it would not be disagreeable to you to send me your +opinion, I certainly should be truly obliged... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, April 3rd [1860]. + +...I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all +over, but I have got over this stage of the complaint, and now small +trifling particulars of structure often make me very uncomfortable. The +sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me +sick!... + +You may like to hear about reviews on my book. Sedgwick (as I and Lyell +feel CERTAIN from internal evidence) has reviewed me savagely and unfairly +in the "Spectator". (See the quotations which follow the present letter.) +The notice includes much abuse, and is hardly fair in several respects. He +would actually lead any one, who was ignorant of geology, to suppose that I +had invented the great gaps between successive geological formations, +instead of its being an almost universally admitted dogma. But my dear old +friend Sedgwick, with his noble heart, is old, and is rabid with +indignation. It is hard to please every one; you may remember that in my +last letter I asked you to leave out about the Weald denudation: I told +Jukes this (who is head man of the Irish geological survey), and he blamed +me much, for he believed every word of it, and thought it not at all +exaggerated! In fact, geologists have no means of gauging the infinitude +of past time. There has been one prodigy of a review, namely, an OPPOSED +one (by Pictet (Francois Jules Pictet, in the 'Archives des Sciences de la +Bibliotheque Universelle,' Mars 1860. The article is written in a +courteous and considerate tone, and concludes by saying that the 'Origin' +will be of real value to naturalists, especially if they are not led away +by its seductive arguments to believe in the dangerous doctrine of +modification. A passage which seems to have struck my father as being +valuable, and opposite which he has made double pencil marks and written +the word "good," is worth quoting: "La theorie de M. Darwin s'accorde mal +avec l'histoire des types a formes bien tranchees et definies qui +paraissent n'avoir vecu que pendant un temps limite. On en pourrait citer +des centaines d'exemples, tel que les reptiles volants, les ichthyosaures, +les belemnites, les ammonites, etc." Pictet was born in 1809, died 1872; +he was Professor of Anatomy and Zoology at Geneva.), the palaeontologist, +in the Bib. Universelle of Geneva) which is PERFECTLY fair and just, and I +agree to every word he says; our only difference being that he attaches +less weight to arguments in favour, and more to arguments opposed, than I +do. Of all the opposed reviews, I think this the only quite fair one, and +I never expected to see one. Please observe that I do not class your +review by any means as opposed, though you think so yourself! It has done +me MUCH too good service ever to appear in that rank in my eyes. But I +fear I shall weary you with so much about my book. I should rather think +there was a good chance of my becoming the most egotistical man in all +Europe! What a proud pre-eminence! Well, you have helped to make me so +and therefore you must forgive me if you can. + +My dear Gray, ever yours most gratefully, +C. DARWIN. + + +[In a letter to Sir Charles Lyell reference is made to Sedgwick's review in +the "Spectator", March 24: + +"I now feel certain that Sedgwick is the author of the article in the +"Spectator". No one else could use such abusive terms. And what a +misrepresentation of my notions! Any ignoramus would suppose that I had +FIRST broached the doctrine, that the breaks between successive formations +marked long intervals of time. It is very unfair. But poor dear old +Sedgwick seems rabid on the question. "Demoralised understanding!" If +ever I talk with him I will tell him that I never could believe that an +inquisitor could be a good man: but now I know that a man may roast +another, and yet have as kind and noble a heart as Sedgwick's." + +The following passages are taken from the review: + +"I need hardly go on any further with these objections. But I cannot +conclude without expressing my detestation of the theory, because of its +unflinching materialism;--because it has deserted the inductive track, the +only track that leads to physical truth;--because it utterly repudiates +final causes, and thereby indicates a demoralised understanding on the part +of its advocates." + +"Not that I believe that Darwin is an atheist; though I cannot but regard +his materialism as atheistical. I think it untrue, because opposed to the +obvious course of nature, and the very opposite of inductive truth. And I +think it intensely mischievous." + +"Each series of facts is laced together by a series of assumptions, and +repetitions of the one false principle. You cannot make a good rope out of +a string of air bubbles." + +"But any startling and (supposed) novel paradox, maintained very boldly and +with something of imposing plausibility, produces in some minds a kind of +pleasing excitement which predisposes them in its favour; and if they are +unused to careful reflection, and averse to the labour of accurate +investigation, they will be likely to conclude that what is (apparently) +ORIGINAL, must be a production of original GENIUS, and that anything very +much opposed to prevailing notions must be a grand DISCOVERY,--in short, +that whatever comes from the 'bottom of a well' must be the 'truth' +supposed to be hidden there." + +In a review in the December number of 'Macmillan's Magazine,' 1860, Fawcett +vigorously defended my father from the charge of employing a false method +of reasoning; a charge which occurs in Sedgwick's review, and was made at +the time ad nauseam, in such phrases as: "This is not the true Baconian +method." Fawcett repeated his defence at the meeting of the British +Association in 1861. (See an interesting letter from my father in Mr. +Stephen's 'Life of Henry Fawcett,' 1886, page 101.)] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.B CARPENTER. +Down, April 6th [1860]. + +My dear Carpenter, + +I have this minute finished your review in the 'Med. Chirurg. Review.' +(April 1860.) You must let me express my admiration at this most able +essay, and I hope to God it will be largely read, for it must produce a +great effect. I ought not, however, to express such warm admiration, for +you give my book, I fear, far too much praise. But you have gratified me +extremely; and though I hope I do not care very much for the approbation of +the non-scientific readers, I cannot say that this is at all so with +respect to such few men as yourself. I have not a criticism to make, for I +object to not a word; and I admire all, so that I cannot pick out one part +as better than the rest. It is all so well balanced. But it is impossible +not to be struck with your extent of knowledge in geology, botany, and +zoology. The extracts which you give from Hooker seem to me EXCELLENTLY +chosen, and most forcible. I am so much pleased in what you say also about +Lyell. In fact I am in a fit of enthusiasm, and had better write no more. +With cordial thanks, + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, April 10th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Thank you much for your note of the 4th; I am very glad to hear that you +are at Torquay. I should have amused myself earlier by writing to you, but +I have had Hooker and Huxley staying here, and they have fully occupied my +time, as a little of anything is a full dose for me...There has been a +plethora of reviews, and I am really quite sick of myself. There is a very +long review by Carpenter in the 'Medical and Chirurg. Review,' very good +and well balanced, but not brilliant. He discusses Hooker's books at as +great length as mine, and makes excellent extracts; but I could not get +Hooker to feel the least interest in being praised. + +Carpenter speaks of you in thoroughly proper terms. There is a BRILLIANT +review by Huxley ('Westminster Review,' April 1860.), with capital hits, +but I do not know that he much advances the subject. I THINK I have +convinced him that he has hardly allowed weight enough to the case of +varieties of plants being in some degrees sterile. + +To diverge from reviews: Asa Gray sends me from Wyman (who will write), a +good case of all the pigs being black in the Everglades of Virginia. On +asking about the cause, it seems (I have got capital analogous cases) that +when the BLACK pigs eat a certain nut their bones become red, and they +suffer to a certain extent, but that the WHITE pigs lose their hoofs and +perish, "and we aid by SELECTION, for we kill most of the young white +pigs." This was said by men who could hardly read. By the way, it is a +great blow to me that you cannot admit the potency of natural selection. +The more I think of it, the less I doubt its power for great and small +changes. I have just read the 'Edinburgh' ('Edinburgh Review,' April +1860.), which without doubt is by --. It is extremely malignant, clever, +and I fear will be very damaging. He is atrociously severe on Huxley's +lecture, and very bitter against Hooker. So we three ENJOYED it together. +Not that I really enjoyed it, for it made me uncomfortable for one night; +but I have got quite over it to-day. It requires much study to appreciate +all the bitter spite of many of the remarks against me; indeed I did not +discover all myself. It scandalously misrepresents many parts. He +misquotes some passages, altering words within inverted commas... + +It is painful to be hated in the intense degree with which -- hates me. + +Now for a curious thing about my book, and then I have done. In last +Saturday's "Gardeners' Chronicle" (April 7th, 1860.), a Mr. Patrick Matthew +publishes a long extract from his work on 'Naval Timber and Arboriculture,' +published in 1831, in which he briefly but completely anticipates the +theory of Natural Selection. I have ordered the book, as some few passages +are rather obscure, but it is certainly, I think, a complete but not +developed anticipation! Erasmus always said that surely this would be +shown to be the case some day. Anyhow, one may be excused in not having +discovered the fact in a work on Naval Timber. + +I heartily hope that your Torquay work may be successful. Give my kindest +remembrances to Falconer, and I hope he is pretty well. Hooker and Huxley +(with Mrs. Huxley) were extremely pleasant. But poor dear Hooker is tired +to death of my book, and it is a marvel and a prodigy if you are not worse +tired--if that be possible. Farewell, my dear Lyell, + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [April 13th, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Questions of priority so often lead to odious quarrels, that I should +esteem it a great favour if you would read the enclosed. ((My father wrote +("Gardeners' Chronicle", 1860, page 362, April 21st): "I have been much +interested by Mr. Patrick Matthew's communication in the number of your +paper dated April 7th. I freely acknowledge that Mr. Matthew has +anticipated by many years the explanation which I have offered of the +origin of species, under the name of natural selection. I think that no +one will feel surprised that neither I, nor apparently any other +naturalist, had heard of Mr. Matthew's views, considering how briefly they +are given, and that they appeared in the appendix to a work on Naval Timber +and Arboriculture. I can do no more than offer my apologies to Mr. Matthew +for my entire ignorance of this publication. If any other edition of my +work is called for, I will insert to the foregoing effect." In spite of my +father's recognition of his claims, Mr. Matthew remained unsatisfied, and +complained that an article in the 'Saturday Analyst and Leader' was +"scarcely fair in alluding to Mr. Darwin as the parent of the origin of +species, seeing that I published the whole that Mr. Darwin attempts to +prove, more than twenty-nine years ago."--"Saturday Analyst and Leader", +November 24, 1860.) If you think it proper that I should send it (and of +this there can hardly be any question), and if you think it full and ample +enough, please alter the date to the day on which you post it, and let that +be soon. The case in the "Gardeners' Chronicle" seems a LITTLE stronger +than in Mr. Matthew's book, for the passages are therein scattered in three +places; but it would be mere hair-splitting to notice that. If you object +to my letter, please return it; but I do not expect that you will, but I +thought that you would not object to run your eye over it. My dear Hooker, +it is a great thing for me to have so good, true, and old a friend as you. +I owe much for science to my friends. + +Many thanks for Huxley's lecture. The latter part seemed to be grandly +eloquent. + +...I have gone over [the 'Edinburgh'] review again, and compared passages, +and I am astonished at the misrepresentations. But I am glad I resolved +not to answer. Perhaps it is selfish, but to answer and think more on the +subject is too unpleasant. I am so sorry that Huxley by my means has been +thus atrociously attacked. I do not suppose you much care about the +gratuitous attack on you. + +Lyell in his letter remarked that you seemed to him as if you were +overworked. Do, pray, be cautious, and remember how many and many a man +has done this--who thought it absurd till too late. I have often thought +the same. You know that you were bad enough before your Indian journey. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, April [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I was very glad to get your nice long letter from Torquay. A press of +letters prevented me writing to Wells. I was particularly glad to hear +what you thought about not noticing [the 'Edinburgh'] review. Hooker and +Huxley thought it a sort of duty to point out the alteration of quoted +citations, and there is truth in this remark; but I so hated the thought +that I resolved not to do so. I shall come up to London on Saturday the +14th, for Sir B. Brodie's party, as I have an accumulation of things to do +in London, and will (if I do not hear to the contrary) call about a quarter +before ten on Sunday morning, and sit with you at breakfast, but will not +sit long, and so take up much of your time. I must say one more word about +our quasi-theological controversy about natural selection, and let me have +your opinion when we meet in London. Do you consider that the successive +variations in the size of the crop of the Pouter Pigeon, which man has +accumulated to please his caprice, have been due to "the creative and +sustaining powers of Brahma?" In the sense that an omnipotent and +omniscient Deity must order and know everything, this must be admitted; +yet, in honest truth, I can hardly admit it. It seems preposterous that a +maker of a universe should care about the crop of a pigeon solely to please +man's silly fancies. But if you agree with me in thinking such an +interposition of the Deity uncalled for, I can see no reason whatever for +believing in such interpositions in the case of natural beings, in which +strange and admirable peculiarities have been naturally selected for the +creature's own benefit. Imagine a Pouter in a state of nature wading into +the water and then, being buoyed up by its inflated crop, sailing about in +search of food. What admiration this would have excited--adaptation to the +laws of hydrostatic pressure, etc. etc. For the life of me I cannot see +any difficulty in natural selection producing the most exquisite structure, +IF SUCH STRUCTURE CAN BE ARRIVED AT BY GRADATION, and I know from +experience how hard it is to name any structure towards which at least some +gradations are not known. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--The conclusion at which I have come, as I have told Asa Gray, is that +such a question, as is touched on in this note, is beyond the human +intellect, like "predestination and free will," or the "origin of evil." + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [April 18th, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I return --'s letter...Some of my relations say it cannot POSSIBLY be --'s +article (The 'Edinburgh Review.'), because the reviewer speaks so very +highly of --. Poor dear simple folk! My clever neighbour, Mr. Norman, +says the article is so badly written, with no definite object, that no one +will read it. Asa Gray has sent me an article ('North American Review,' +April, 1860. "By Professor Bowen," is written on my father's copy. The +passage referred to occurs at page 488, where the author says that we ought +to find "an infinite number of other varieties--gross, rude, and +purposeless--the unmeaning creations of an unconscious cause.") from the +United States, clever, and dead against me. But one argument is funny. +The reviewer says, that if the doctrine were true, geological strata would +be full of monsters which have failed! A very clear view this writer had +of the struggle for existence! + +...I am glad you like Adam Bede so much. I was charmed with it... + +We think you must by mistake have taken with your own numbers of the +'National Review' my precious number. (This no doubt refers to the January +number, containing Dr. Carpenter's review of the 'Origin.') I wish you +would look. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, April 25th [1860]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have no doubt I have to thank you for the copy of a review on the +'Origin' in the 'North American Review.' It seems to me clever, and I do +not doubt will damage my book. I had meant to have made some remarks on +it; but Lyell wished much to keep it, and my head is quite confused between +the many reviews which I have lately read. I am sure the reviewer is wrong +about bees' cells, i.e. about the distance; any lesser distance would do, +or even greater distance, but then some of the places would lie outside the +generative spheres; but this would not add much difficulty to the work. +The reviewer takes a strange view of instinct: he seems to regard +intelligence as a developed instinct; which I believe to be wholly false. +I suspect he has never much attended to instinct and the minds of animals, +except perhaps by reading. + +My chief object is to ask you if you could procure for me a copy of the +"New York Times" for Wednesday, March 28th. It contains A VERY STRIKING +review of my book, which I should much like to keep. How curious that the +two most striking reviews (i.e. yours and this) should have appeared in +America. This review is not really useful, but somehow is impressive. +There was a good review in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes,' April 1st, by M. +Laugel, said to be a very clever man. + +Hooker, about a fortnight ago, stayed here a few days, and was very +pleasant; but I think he overworks himself. What a gigantic undertaking, I +imagine, his and Bentham's 'Genera Plantarum' will be! I hope he will not +get too much immersed in it, so as not to spare some time for Geographical +Distribution and other such questions. + +I have begun to work steadily, but very slowly as usual, at details on +variation under domestication. + +My dear Gray, +Yours always truly and gratefully, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, [May 8th, 1860]. + +...I have sent for the 'Canadian Naturalist.' If I cannot procure a copy I +will borrow yours. I had a letter from Henslow this morning, who says that +Sedgwick was, on last Monday night, to open a battery on me at the +Cambridge Philosophical Society. Anyhow, I am much honoured by being +attacked there, and at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. + +I do not think it worth while to contradict single cases nor is it worth +while arguing against those who do not attend to what I state. A moment's +reflection will show you that there must be (on our doctrine) large genera +not varying (see page 56 on the subject, in the second edition of the +'Origin'). Though I do not there discuss the case in detail. + +It may be sheer bigotry for my own notions, but I prefer to the Atlantis, +my notion of plants and animals having migrated from the Old to the New +World, or conversely, when the climate was much hotter, by approximately +the line of Behring's Straits. It is most important, as you say, to see +living forms of plants going back so far in time. I wonder whether we +shall ever discover the flora of the dry land of the coal period, and find +it not so anomalous as the swamp or coal-making flora. I am working away +over the blessed Pigeon Manuscript; but, from one cause or another, I get +on very slowly... + +This morning I got a letter from the Academy of Natural Sciences of +Philadelphia, announcing that I am elected a correspondent...It shows that +some Naturalists there do not think me such a scientific profligate as many +think me here. + +My dear Lyell, yours gratefully, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--What a grand fact about the extinct stag's horn worked by man! + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [May 13th, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I return Henslow, which I was very glad to see. How good of him to defend +me. (Against Sedgwick's attack before the Cambridge Philosophical +Society.) I will write and thank him. + +As you said you were curious to hear Thomson's (Dr. Thomas Thomson the +Indian Botanist. He was a collaborateur in Hooker and Thomson's Flora +Indica. 1855.) opinion, I send his kind letter. He is evidently a strong +opposer to us... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [May 15th, 1860]. + +...How paltry it is in such men as X, Y and Co. not reading your essay. It +is incredibly paltry. (These remarks do not apply to Dr. Harvey, who was, +however, in a somewhat similar position. See below.) They may all attack +me to their hearts' content. I am got case-hardened. As for the old +fogies in Cambridge, it really signifies nothing. I look at their attacks +as a proof that our work is worth the doing. It makes me resolve to buckle +on my armour. I see plainly that it will be a long uphill fight. But +think of Lyell's progress with Geology. One thing I see most plainly, that +without Lyell's, yours, Huxley's and Carpenter's aid, my book would have +been a mere flash in the pan. But if we all stick to it, we shall surely +gain the day. And I now see that the battle is worth fighting. I deeply +hope that you think so. Does Bentham progress at all? I do not know what +to say about Oxford. (His health prevented him from going to Oxford for +the meeting of the British Association.) I should like it much with you, +but it must depend on health... + +Yours must affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, May 18th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I send a letter from Asa Gray to show how hotly the battle rages there. +Also one from Wallace, very just in his remarks, though too laudatory and +too modest, and how admirably free from envy or jealousy. He must be a +good fellow. Perhaps I will enclose a letter from Thomson of Calcutta; not +that it is much, but Hooker thinks so highly of him... + +Henslow informs me that Sedgwick (Sedgwick's address is given somewhat +abbreviated in "The Cambridge Chronicle", May 19th, 1860.) and then +Professor Clarke [sic] (The late William Clark, Professor of Anatomy, my +father seems to have misunderstood his informant. I am assured by Mr. J.W. +Clark that his father (Prof. Clark) did not support Sedgwick in the +attack.) made a regular and savage onslaught on my book lately at the +Cambridge Philosophical Society, but Henslow seems to have defended me +well, and maintained that the subject was a legitimate one for +investigation. Since then Phillips (John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., born +1800, died 1874, from the effects of a fall. Professor of Geology at +King's College, London, and afterwards at Oxford. He gave the 'Rede' +lecture at Cambridge on May 15th, 1860, on 'The Succession of Life on the +earth.' The Rede Lecturer is appointed annually by the Vice-Chancellor, +and is paid by an endowment left in 1524 by Sir Robert Rede, Lord Chief +Justice, in the reign of Henry VIII.) has given lectures at Cambridge on +the same subject, but treated it very fairly. How splendidly Asa Gray is +fighting the battle. The effect on me of these multiplied attacks is +simply to show me that the subject is worth fighting for, and assuredly I +will do my best...I hope all the attacks make you keep up your courage, and +courage you assuredly will require... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, May 18th, 1860. + +My dear Mr. Wallace, + +I received this morning your letter from Amboyna, dated February 16th, +containing some remarks and your too high approval of my book. Your letter +has pleased me very much, and I most completely agree with you on the parts +which are strongest and which are weakest. The imperfection of the +Geological Record is, as you say, the weakest of all; but yet I am pleased +to find that there are almost more geological converts than of pursuers of +other branches of natural science...I think geologists are more easily +converted than simple naturalists, because more accustomed to reasoning. +Before telling you about the progress of opinion on the subject, you must +let me say how I admire the generous manner in which you speak of my book. +Most persons would in your position have felt some envy or jealousy. How +nobly free you seem to be of this common failing of mankind. But you speak +far too modestly of yourself. You would, if you had my leisure, have done +the work just as well, perhaps better, than I have done it... + +...Agassiz sends me a personal civil message, but incessantly attacks me; +but Asa Gray fights like a hero in defence. Lyell keeps as firm as a +tower, and this Autumn will publish on the 'Geological History of Man,' and +will then declare his conversion, which now is universally known. I hope +that you have received Hooker's splendid essay...Yesterday I heard from +Lyell that a German, Dr. Schaaffhausen (Hermann Schaaffhausen 'Ueber +Bestandigkeit und Umwandlung der Arten.' Verhandl. d. Naturhist. Vereins, +Bonn, 1853. See 'Origin,' Historical Sketch.), has sent him a pamphlet +published some years ago, in which the same view is nearly anticipated; but +I have not yet seen this pamphlet. My brother, who is a very sagacious +man, always said, "you will find that some one will have been before you." +I am at work at my larger work, which I shall publish in a separate volume. +But from ill-health and swarms of letters, I get on very very slowly. I +hope that I shall not have wearied you with these details. With sincere +thanks for your letter, and with most deeply felt wishes for your success +in science, and in every way, believe me, + +Your sincere well-wisher, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, May 22nd 1860. + +My dear Gray, + +Again I have to thank you for one of your very pleasant letters of May 7th, +enclosing a very pleasant remittance of 22 pounds. I am in simple truth +astonished at all the kind trouble you have taken for me. I return +Appleton's account. For the chance of your wishing for a formal +acknowledgment I send one. If you have any further communication to the +Appletons, pray express my acknowledgment for [their] generosity; for it is +generosity in my opinion. I am not at all surprised at the sale +diminishing; my extreme surprise is at the greatness of the sale. No doubt +the public has been SHAMEFULLY imposed on! for they bought the book +thinking that it would be nice easy reading. I expect the sale to stop +soon in England, yet Lyell wrote to me the other day that calling at +Murray's he heard that fifty copies had gone in the previous forty-eight +hours. I am extremely glad that you will notice in 'Silliman' the +additions in the 'Origin.' Judging from letters (and I have just seen one +from Thwaites to Hooker), and from remarks, the most serious omission in my +book was not explaining how it is, as I believe, that all forms do not +necessarily advance, how there can now be SIMPLE organisms still +existing...I hear there is a VERY severe review on me in the 'North +British,' by a Rev. Mr. Dunns (This statement as to authorship was made on +the authority of Robert Chambers.), a Free Kirk minister, and dabbler in +Natural History. I should be very glad to see any good American reviews, +as they are all more or less useful. You say that you shall touch on other +reviews. Huxley told me some time ago that after a time he would write a +review on all the reviews, whether he will I know not. If you allude to +the 'Edinburgh,' pray notice SOME of the points which I will point out on a +separate slip. In the "Saturday Review" (one of our cleverest periodicals) +of May 5th, page 573, there is a nice article on [the 'Edinburgh'] review, +defending Huxley, but not Hooker; and the latter, I think, [the 'Edinburgh' +reviewer] treats most ungenerously. (In a letter to Mr. Huxley my father +wrote: "Have you seen the last "Saturday Review"? I am very glad of the +defence of you and of myself. I wish the reviewer had noticed Hooker. The +reviewer, whoever he is, is a jolly good fellow, as this review and the +last on me showed. He writes capitally, and understands well his subject. +I wish he had slapped [the 'Edinburgh' reviewer] a little bit harder.") +But surely you will get sick unto death of me and my reviewers. + +With respect to the theological view of the question. This is always +painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no intention to write +atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as +I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. +There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself +that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the +Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living +bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. Not believing +this, I see no necessity in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. +On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful +universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything +is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as +resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left +to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion AT ALL +satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound +for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of +Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can. Certainly I agree with +you that my views are not at all necessarily atheistical. The lightning +kills a man, whether a good one or bad one, owing to the excessively +complex action of natural laws. A child (who may turn out an idiot) is +born by the action of even more complex laws, and I can see no reason why a +man, or other animal, may not have been aboriginally produced by other +laws, and that all these laws may have been expressly designed by an +omniscient Creator, who foresaw every future event and consequence. But +the more I think the more bewildered I become; as indeed I probably have +shown by this letter. + +Most deeply do I feel your generous kindness and interest. + +Yours sincerely and cordially, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +{Here follow my father's criticisms on the 'Edinburgh Review': + +"What a quibble to pretend he did not understand what I meant by +INHABITANTS of South America; and any one would suppose that I had not +throughout my volume touched on Geographical Distribution. He ignores also +everything which I have said on Classification, Geological Succession, +Homologies, Embryology, and Rudimentary Organs--page 496. + +He falsely applies what I said (too rudely) about "blindness of +preconceived opinions" to those who believe in creation, whereas I +exclusively apply the remark to those who give up multitudes of species as +true species, but believe in the remainder--page 500. + +He slightly alters what I say,--I ASK whether creationists really believe +that elemental atoms have flashed into life. He says that I describe them +as so believing, and this, surely, is a difference--page 501. + +He speaks of my "clamouring against" all who believe in creation, and this +seems to me an unjust accusation--page 501. + +He makes me say that the dorsal vertebrae vary; this is simply false: I +nowhere say a word about dorsal vertebrae--page 522. + +What an illiberal sentence that is about my pretension to candour, and +about my rushing through barriers which stopped Cuvier: such an argument +would stop any progress in science--page 525. + +How disingenuous to quote from my remark to you about my BRIEF letter +[published in the 'Linn. Soc. Journal'], as if it applied to the whole +subject--page 530. + +How disingenuous to say that we are called on to accept the theory, from +the imperfection of the geological record, when I over and over again [say] +how grave a difficulty the imperfection offers--page 530."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 30th [1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I return Harvey's letter, I have been very glad to see the reason why he +has not read your Essay. I feared it was bigotry, and I am glad to see +that he goes a little way (VERY MUCH further than I supposed) with us... + +I was not sorry for a natural opportunity of writing to Harvey, just to +show that I was not piqued at his turning me and my book into ridicule (A +"serio-comic squib," read before the 'Dublin University Zoological and +Botanical Association,' February 17, 1860, and privately printed. My +father's presentation copy is inscribed "With the writer's REPENTANCE, +October 1860."), not that I think it was a proceeding which I deserved, or +worthy of him. It delights me that you are interested in watching the +progress of opinion on the change of Species; I feared that you were weary +of the subject; and therefore did not send A. Gray's letters. The battle +rages furiously in the United States. Gray says he was preparing a speech, +which would take 1 1/2 hours to deliver, and which he "fondly hoped would +be a stunner." He is fighting splendidly, and there seems to have been +many discussions with Agassiz and others at the meetings. Agassiz pities +me much at being so deluded. As for the progress of opinion, I clearly see +that it will be excessively slow, almost as slow as the change of +species...I am getting wearied at the storm of hostile reviews and hardly +any useful... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, Friday night [June 1st, 1860]. + +...Have you seen Hopkins (William Hopkins died in 1866, "in his seventy- +third year." He began life with a farm in Suffolk, but ultimately entered, +comparatively late in life, at Peterhouse, Cambridge; he took his degree in +1827, and afterward became an Esquire Bedell of the University. He was +chiefly known as a mathematical "coach," and was eminently successful in +the manufacture of Senior Wranglers. Nevertheless Mr. Stephen says ('Life +of Fawcett,' page 26) that he "was conspicuous for inculcating" a "liberal +view of the studies of the place. He endeavoured to stimulate a +philosophical interest in the mathematical sciences, instead of simply +rousing an ardour for competition." He contributed many papers on +geological and mathematical subjects to the scientific journals. He had a +strong influence for good over the younger men with whom he came in +contact. The letter which he wrote to Henry Fawcett on the occasion of his +blindness illustrates this. Mr. Stephen says ('Life of Fawcett,' page 48) +that by "this timely word of good cheer," Fawcett was roused from "his +temporary prostration," and enabled to take a "more cheerful and resolute +tone.") in the new 'Fraser'? the public will, I should think, find it +heavy. He will be dead against me, as you prophesied; but he is generally +civil to me personally. ('Fraser's Magazine,' June 1860. My father, no +doubt, refers to the following passage, page 752, where the Reviewer +Expresses his "full participation in the high respect in which the author +is universally held, both as a man and a naturalist; and the more so, +because in the remarks which will follow in the second part of this Essay +we shall be found to differ widely from him as regards many of his +conclusions and the reasonings on which he has founded them, and shall +claim the full right to express such differences of opinion with all that +freedom which the interests of scientific truth demands, and which we are +sure Mr. Darwin would be one of the last to refuse to any one prepared to +exercise it with candour and courtesy." Speaking of this review, my father +wrote to Dr. Asa Gray: "I have remonstrated with him [Hopkins] for so +coolly saying that I base my views on what I reckon as great difficulties. +Any one, by taking these difficulties alone, can make a most strong case +against me. I could myself write a more damning review than has as yet +appeared!" A second notice by Hopkins appeared in the July number of +'Fraser's Magazine.') On his standard of proof, NATURAL science would +never progress, for without the making of theories I am convinced there +would be no observation. + +...I have begun reading the 'North British' (May 1860.), which so far +strikes me as clever. + +Phillips's Lecture at Cambridge is to be published. + +All these reiterated attacks will tell heavily; there will be no more +converts, and probably some will go back. I hope you do not grow +disheartened, I am determined to fight to the last. I hear, however, that +the great Buckle highly approves of my book. + +I have had a note from poor Blyth (Edward Blyth, 1810-1873. His +indomitable love of natural history made him neglect the druggist's +business with which he started in life, and he soon got into serious +difficulties. After supporting himself for a few years as a writer on +Field Natural History, he ultimately went out to India as Curator of the +Museum of the R. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, where the greater part of his +working life was spent. His chief publications were the monthly reports +made as part of his duty to the Society. He had stored in his remarkable +memory a wonderful wealth of knowledge, especially with regard to the +mammalia and birds of India--knowledge of which he freely gave to those who +asked. His letters to my father give evidence of having been carefully +studied, and the long list of entries after his name in the index to +'Animals and Plants,' show how much help was received from him. His life +was an unprosperous and unhappy one, full of money difficulties and +darkened by the death of his wife after a few years of marriage.), of +Calcutta, who is much disappointed at hearing that Lord Canning will not +grant any money; so I much fear that all your great pains will be thrown +away. Blyth says (and he is in many respects a very good judge) that his +ideas on species are quite revolutionised... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, June 5th [1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +It is a pleasure to me to write to you, as I have no one to talk about such +matters as we write on. But I seriously beg you not to write to me unless +so inclined; for busy as you are, and seeing many people, the case is very +different between us... + +Have you seen --'s abusive article on me?...It out does even the 'North +British' and 'Edinburgh' in misapprehension and misrepresentation. I never +knew anything so unfair as in discussing cells of bees, his ignoring the +case of Melipona, which builds combs almost exactly intermediate between +hive and humble bees. What has -- done that he feels so immeasurably +superior to all us wretched naturalists, and to all political economists, +including that great philosopher Malthus? This review, however, and +Harvey's letter have convinced me that I must be a very bad explainer. +Neither really understand what I mean by Natural Selection. I am inclined +to give up the attempt as hopeless. Those who do not understand, it seems, +cannot be made to understand. + +By the way, I think, we entirely agree, except perhaps that I use too +forcible language about selection. I entirely agree, indeed would almost +go further than you when you say that climate (i.e. variability from all +unknown causes) is "an active handmaid, influencing its mistress most +materially." Indeed, I have never hinted that Natural Selection is "the +efficient cause to the exclusion of the other," i.e. variability from +Climate, etc. The very term SELECTION implies something, i.e. variation or +difference, to be selected... + +How does your book progress (I mean your general sort of book on plants), I +hope to God you will be more successful than I have been in making people +understand your meaning. I should begin to think myself wholly in the +wrong, and that I was an utter fool, but then I cannot yet persuade myself, +that Lyell, and you and Huxley, Carpenter, Asa Gray, and Watson, etc., are +all fools together. Well, time will show, and nothing but time. +Farewell... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, June 6th [1860]. + +...It consoles me that -- sneers at Malthus, for that clearly shows, +mathematician though he may be, he cannot understand common reasoning. By +the way what a discouraging example Malthus is, to show during what long +years the plainest case may be misrepresented and misunderstood. I have +read the 'Future'; how curious it is that several of my reviewers should +advance such wild arguments, as that varieties of dogs and cats do not +mingle; and should bring up the old exploded doctrine of definite +analogies...I am beginning to despair of ever making the majority +understand my notions. Even Hopkins does not thoroughly. By the way, I +have been so much pleased by the way he personally alludes to me. I must +be a very bad explainer. I hope to Heaven that you will succeed better. +Several reviews and several letters have shown me too clearly how little I +am understood. I suppose "natural selection" was a bad term; but to change +it now, I think, would make confusion worse confounded, nor can I think of +a better; "Natural Preservation" would not imply a preservation of +particular varieties, and would seem a truism, and would not bring man's +and nature's selection under one point of view. I can only hope by +reiterated explanations finally to make the matter clearer. If my MS. +spreads out, I think I shall publish one volume exclusively on variation of +animals and plants under domestication. I want to show that I have not +been quite so rash as many suppose. + +Though weary of reviews, I should like to see Lowell's (The late J.A. +Lowell in the 'Christian Examiner' (Boston, U.S., May, 1860.) some time...I +suppose Lowell's difficulty about instinct is the same as Bowen's; but it +seems to me wholly to rest on the assumption that instincts cannot graduate +as finely as structures. I have stated in my volume that it is hardly +possible to know which, i.e. whether instinct or structure, change first by +insensible steps. Probably sometimes instinct, sometimes structure. When +a British insect feeds on an exotic plant, instinct has changed by very +small steps, and their structures might change so as to fully profit by the +new food. Or structure might change first, as the direction of tusks in +one variety of Indian elephants, which leads it to attack the tiger in a +different manner from other kinds of elephants. Thanks for your letter of +the 2nd, chiefly about Murray. (N.B. Harvey of Dublin gives me, in a +letter, the argument of tall men marrying short women, as one of great +weight!) + +I do not quite understand what you mean by saying, "that the more they +prove that you underrate physical conditions, the better for you, as +Geology comes in to your aid." + +...I see in Murray and many others one incessant fallacy, when alluding to +slight differences of physical conditions as being very important; namely, +oblivion of the fact that all species, except very local ones, range over a +considerable area, and though exposed to what the world calls considerable +DIVERSITIES, yet keep constant. I have just alluded to this in the +'Origin' in comparing the productions of the Old and the New Worlds. +Farewell, shall you be at Oxford? If H. gets quite well, perhaps I shall +go there. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down [June 14th, 1860]. + +...Lowell's review (J.A. Lowell in the 'Christian Examiner,' May 1860.) is +pleasantly written, but it is clear that he is not a naturalist. He quite +overlooks the importance of the accumulation of mere individual +differences, and which, I think I can show, is the great agency of change +under domestication. I have not finished Schaaffhausen, as I read German +so badly. I have ordered a copy for myself, and should like to keep yours +till my own arrives, but will return it to you instantly if wanted. He +admits statements rather rashly, as I dare say I do. I see only one +sentence as yet at all approaching natural selection. + +There is a notice of me in the penultimate number of 'All the Year Round,' +but not worth consulting; chiefly a well-done hash of my own words. Your +last note was very interesting and consolatory to me. + +I have expressly stated that I believe physical conditions have a more +direct effect on plants than on animals. But the more I study, the more I +am led to think that natural selection regulates, in a state of nature, +most trifling differences. As squared stone, or bricks, or timber, are the +indispensable materials for a building, and influence its character, so is +variability not only indispensable, but influential. Yet in the same +manner as the architect is the ALL important person in a building, so is +selection with organic bodies... + + +[The meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1860 is famous for two +pitched battles over the 'Origin of Species.' Both of them originated in +unimportant papers. On Thursday, June 28, Dr. Daubeny of Oxford made a +communication to Section D: "On the final causes of the sexuality of +plants, with particular reference to Mr. Darwin's work on the 'Origin of +Species.'" Mr. Huxley was called on by the President, but tried (according +to the "Athenaeum" report) to avoid a discussion, on the ground "that a +general audience, in which sentiment would unduly interfere with intellect, +was not the public before which such a discussion should be carried on." +However, the subject was not allowed to drop. Sir R. Owen (I quote from +the "Athenaeum", July 7, 1860), who "wished to approach this subject in the +spirit of the philosopher," expressed his "conviction that there were facts +by which the public could come to some conclusion with regard to the +probabilities of the truth of Mr. Darwin's theory." He went on to say that +the brain of the gorilla "presented more differences, as compared with the +brain of man, than it did when compared with the brains of the very lowest +and most problematical of the Quadrumana." Mr. Huxley replied, and gave +these assertions a "direct and unqualified contradiction," pledging himself +to "justify that unusual procedure elsewhere" ('Man's Place in Nature,' by +T.H. Huxley, 1863, page 114.), a pledge which he amply fulfilled. (See the +'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1861.) On Friday there was peace, but on Saturday +30th, the battle arose with redoubled fury over a paper by Dr. Draper of +New York, on the 'Intellectual development of Europe considered with +reference to the views of Mr. Darwin.' + +The following account is from an eye-witness of the scene. + +"The excitement was tremendous. The Lecture-room, in which it had been +arranged that the discussion should be held, proved far too small for the +audience, and the meeting adjourned to the Library of the Museum, which was +crammed to suffocation long before the champions entered the lists. The +numbers were estimated at from 700 to 1000. Had it been term-time, or had +the general public been admitted, it would have been impossible to have +accommodated the rush to hear the oratory of the bold Bishop. Professor +Henslow, the President of Section D, occupied the chair and wisely +announced in limine that none who had not valid arguments to bring forward +on one side or the other, would be allowed to address the meeting: a +caution that proved necessary, for no fewer than four combatants had their +utterances burked by him, because of their indulgence in vague declamation. + +"The Bishop was up to time, and spoke for full half-an-hour with inimitable +spirit, emptiness and unfairness. It was evident from his handling of the +subject that he had been 'crammed' up to the throat, and that he knew +nothing at first hand; in fact, he used no argument not to be found in his +'Quarterly' article. He ridiculed Darwin badly, and Huxley savagely, but +all in such dulcet tones, so persuasive a manner, and in such well-turned +periods, that I who had been inclined to blame the President for allowing a +discussion that could serve no scientific purpose now forgave him from the +bottom of my heart. Unfortunately the Bishop, hurried along on the current +of his own eloquence, so far forgot himself as to push his attempted +advantage to the verge of personality in a telling passage in which he +turned round and addressed Huxley: I forgot the precise words, and quote +from Lyell. 'The Bishop asked whether Huxley was related by his +grandfather's or grandmother's side to an ape.' (Lyell's 'Letters,' vol. +ii. page 335.) Huxley replied to the scientific argument of his opponent +with force and eloquence, and to the personal allusion with a self- +restraint, that gave dignity to his crushing rejoinder." + +Many versions of Mr. Huxley's speech were current: the following report of +his conclusion is from a letter addressed by the late John Richard Green, +then an undergraduate, to a fellow-student, now Professor Boyd Dawkins. "I +asserted, and I repeat, that a man has no reason to be ashamed of having an +ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel +shame in recalling, it would be a MAN, a man of restless and versatile +intellect, who, not content with an equivocal (Prof. V. Carus, who has a +distinct recollection of the scene, does not remember the word equivocal. +He believes too that Lyell's version of the "ape" sentence is slightly +incorrect.) success in his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific +questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by +an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the +real point at issue by eloquent digressions, and skilled appeals to +religious prejudice." + +The letter above quoted continues: + +"The excitement was now at its height; a lady fainted and had to be carried +out, and it was some time before the discussion was resumed. Some voices +called for Hooker, and his name having been handed up, the President +invited him to give his view of the theory from the Botanical side. This +he did, demonstrating that the Bishop, by his own showing, had never +grasped the principles of the 'Origin' (With regard to the Bishop's +'Quarterly Review,' my father wrote: "These very clever men think they can +write a review with a very slight knowledge of the book reviewed or subject +in question."), and that he was absolutely ignorant of the elements of +botanical science. The Bishop made no reply, and the meeting broke up. + +"There was a crowded conversazione in the evening at the rooms of the +hospitable and genial Professor of Botany, Dr. Daubeny, where the almost +sole topic was the battle of the 'Origin,' and I was much struck with the +fair and unprejudiced way in which the black coats and white cravats of +Oxford discussed the question, and the frankness with which they offered +their congratulations to the winners in the combat.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Sudbrook Park, Monday night +[July 2nd, 1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just received your letter. I have been very poorly, with almost +continuous bad headache for forty-eight hours, and I was low enough, and +thinking what a useless burthen I was to myself and all others, when your +letter came, and it has so cheered me; your kindness and affection brought +tears into my eyes. Talk of fame, honour, pleasure, wealth, all are dirt +compared with affection; and this is a doctrine with which, I know, from +your letter, that you will agree with from the bottom of your heart...How I +should have liked to have wandered about Oxford with you, if I had been +well enough; and how still more I should have liked to have heard you +triumphing over the Bishop. I am astonished at your success and audacity. +It is something unintelligible to me how any one can argue in public like +orators do. I had no idea you had this power. I have read lately so many +hostile views, that I was beginning to think that perhaps I was wholly in +the wrong, and that -- was right when he said the whole subject would be +forgotten in ten years; but now that I hear that you and Huxley will fight +publicly (which I am sure I never could do), I fully believe that our cause +will, in the long-run, prevail. I am glad I was not in Oxford, for I +should have been overwhelmed, with my [health] in its present state. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Sudbrook Park, Richmond, +July 3rd [1860]. + +...I had a letter from Oxford, written by Hooker late on Sunday night, +giving me some account of the awful battles which have raged about species +at Oxford. He tells me you fought nobly with Owen (but I have heard no +particulars), and that you answered the B. of O. capitally. I often think +that my friends (and you far beyond others) have good cause to hate me, for +having stirred up so much mud, and led them into so much odious trouble. +If I had been a friend of myself, I should have hated me. (How to make +that sentence good English, I know not.) But remember, if I had not +stirred up the mud, some one else certainly soon would. I honour your +pluck; I would as soon have died as tried to answer the Bishop in such an +assembly... + + +[On July 20th, my father wrote to Mr. Huxley: + +"From all that I hear from several quarters, it seems that Oxford did the +subject great good. It is of enormous importance, the showing the world +that a few first-rate men are not afraid of expressing their opinion."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +[July 1860]. + +...I have just read the 'Quarterly.' ('Quarterly Review,' July 1860. The +article in question was by Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, and was +afterwards published in his "Essays Contributed to the 'Quarterly Review,' +1874." The passage from the 'Anti-Jacobin' gives the history of the +evolution of space from the "primaeval point or punctum saliens of the +universe," which is conceived to have moved "forward in a right line ad +infinitum, till it grew tired; after which the right line, which it had +generated, would begin to put itself in motion in a lateral direction, +describing an area of infinite extent. This area, as soon as it became +conscious of its own existence, would begin to ascend or descend according +as its specific gravity would determine it, forming an immense solid space +filled with vacuum, and capable of containing the present universe." + +The following (page 263) may serve as an example of the passages in which +the reviewer refers to Sir Charles Lyell:--"That Mr. Darwin should have +wandered from this broad highway of nature's works into the jungle of +fanciful assumption is no small evil. We trust that he is mistaken in +believing that he may count Sir C. Lyell as one of his converts. We know, +indeed, that the strength of the temptations which he can bring to bear +upon his geological brother...Yet no man has been more distinct and more +logical in the denial of the transmutation of species than Sir C. Lyell, +and that not in the infancy of his scientific life, but in its full vigour +and maturity." The Bishop goes on to appeal to Lyell, in order that with +his help "this flimsy speculation may be as completely put down as was what +in spite of all denials we must venture to call its twin though less +instructed brother, the 'Vestiges of Creation.'" + +With reference to this article, Mr. Brodie Innes, my father's old friend +and neighbour, writes:--"Most men would have been annoyed by an article +written with the Bishop's accustomed vigour, a mixture of argument and +ridicule. Mr. Darwin was writing on some parish matter, and put a +postscript--'If you have not seen the last 'Quarterly,' do get it; the +Bishop of Oxford has made such capital fun of me and my grandfather.' By a +curious coincidence, when I received the letter, I was staying in the same +house with the Bishop, and showed it to him. He said, 'I am very glad he +takes it in that way, he is such a capital fellow.'") It is uncommonly +clever; it picks out with skill all the most conjectural parts, and brings +forward well all the difficulties. It quizzes me quite splendidly by +quoting the 'Anti-Jacobin' versus my Grandfather. You are not alluded to, +nor, strange to say, Huxley; and I can plainly see, here and there, --'s +hand. The concluding pages will make Lyell shake in his shoes. By Jove, +if he sticks to us, he will be a real hero. Good-night. Your well- +quizzed, but not sorrowful, and affectionate friend. + +C.D. + +I can see there has been some queer tampering with the Review, for a page +has been cut out and reprinted. + + +[Writing on July 22 to Dr. Asa Gray my father thus refers to Lyell's +position:-- + +"Considering his age, his former views and position in society, I think his +conduct has been heroic on this subject."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +[Hartfield, Sussex] July 22nd [1860]. + +My dear Gray, + +Owing to absence from home at water-cure and then having to move my sick +girl to whence I am now writing, I have only lately read the discussion in +Proc. American Acad. (April 10, 1860. Dr. Gray criticised in detail +"several of the positions taken at the preceding meeting by Mr. [J.A.] +Lowell, Prof. Bowen and Prof. Agassiz." It was reprinted in the +"Athenaeum", August 4, 1860.), and now I cannot resist expressing my +sincere admiration of your most clear powers of reasoning. As Hooker +lately said in a note to me, you are more than ANY ONE else the thorough +master of the subject. I declare that you know my book as well as I do +myself; and bring to the question new lines of illustration and argument in +a manner which excites my astonishment and almost my envy! I admire these +discussions, I think, almost more than your article in Silliman's Journal. +Every single word seems weighed carefully, and tells like a 32-pound shot. +It makes me much wish (but I know that you have not time) that you could +write more in detail, and give, for instance, the facts on the variability +of the American wild fruits. The "Athenaeum" has the largest circulation, +and I have sent my copy to the editor with a request that he would +republish the first discussion; I much fear he will not, as he reviewed the +subject in so hostile a spirit...I shall be curious [to see] and will order +the August number, as soon as I know that it contains your review of +Reviews. My conclusion is that you have made a mistake in being a +botanist, you ought to have been a lawyer. + +...Henslow (Professor Henslow was mentioned in the December number of +'Macmillan's Magazine' as being an adherent of Evolution. In consequence +of this he published, in the February number of the following year, a +letter defining his position. This he did by means of an extract from a +letter addressed to him by the Rev. L. Jenyns (Blomefield) which "very +nearly," as he says, expressed his views. Mr. Blomefield wrote, "I was not +aware that you had become a convert to his (Darwin's) theory, and can +hardly suppose you have accepted it as a whole, though, like myself, you +may go to the length of imagining that many of the smaller groups, both of +animals and plants, may at some remote period have had a common parentage. +I do not with some say that the whole of his theory cannot be true--but +that it is very far from proved; and I doubt its ever being possible to +prove it.") and Daubeny are shaken. I hear from Hooker that he hears from +Hochstetter that my views are making very considerable progress in Germany, +and the good workers are discussing the question. Bronn at the end of his +translation has a chapter of criticism, but it is such difficult German +that I have not yet read it. Hopkins's review in 'Fraser' is thought the +best which has appeared against us. I believe that Hopkins is so much +opposed because his course of study has never led him to reflect much on +such subjects as geographical distribution, classification, homologies, +etc., so that he does not feel it a relief to have some kind of +explanation. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Hartfield [Sussex], July 30th [1860]. + +...I had lots of pleasant letters about the British Association, and our +side seems to have got on very well. There has been as much discussion on +the other side of the Atlantic as on this. No one I think understands the +whole case better than Asa Gray, and he has been fighting nobly. He is a +capital reasoner. I have sent one of his printed discussions to our +"Athenaeum", and the editor says he will print it. The 'Quarterly' has +been out some time. It contains no malice, which is wonderful...It makes +me say many things which I do not say. At the end it quotes all your +conclusions against Lamarck, and makes a solemn appeal to you to keep firm +in the true faith. I fancy it will make you quake a little. -- has +ingeniously primed the Bishop (with Murchison) against you as head of the +uniformitarians. The only other review worth mentioning, which I can think +of, is in the third No. of the 'London Review,' by some geologist, and +favorable for a wonder. It is very ably done, and I should like much to +know who is the author. I shall be very curious to hear on your return +whether Bronn's German translation of the 'Origin' has drawn any attention +to the subject. Huxley is eager about a 'Natural History Review,' which he +and others are going to edit, and he has got so many first-rate assistants, +that I really believe he will make it a first-rate production. I have been +doing nothing, except a little botanical work as amusement. I shall +hereafter be very anxious to hear how your tour has answered. I expect +your book on the geological history of Man will, with a vengeance, be a +bomb-shell. I hope it will not be very long delayed. Our kindest +remembrances to Lady Lyell. This is not worth sending, but I have nothing +better to say. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. WATKINS. (See Volume I.) +Down, July 30th, [1860?]. + +My dear Watkins, + +Your note gave me real pleasure. Leading the retired life which I do, with +bad health, I oftener think of old times than most men probably do; and +your face now rises before me, with the pleasant old expression, as vividly +as if I saw you. + +My book has been well abused, praised, and splendidly quizzed by the Bishop +of Oxford; but from what I see of its influence on really good workers in +science, I feel confident that, IN THE MAIN, I am on the right road. With +respect to your question, I think the arguments are valid, showing that all +animals have descended from four or five primordial forms; and that analogy +and weak reasons go to show that all have descended from some single +prototype. + +Farewell, my old friend. I look back to old Cambridge days with unalloyed +pleasure. + +Believe me, yours most sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +T.H. HUXLEY TO CHARLES DARWIN. +August 6th, 1860. + +My dear Darwin, + +I have to announce a new and great ally for you... + +Von Baer writes to me thus:--Et outre cela, je trouve que vous ecrivez +encore des redactions. Vous avez ecrit sur l'ouvrage de M. Darwin une +critique dont je n'ai trouve que des debris dans un journal allemand. J'ai +oublie le nom terrible du journal anglais dans lequel se trouve votre +recension. En tout cas aussi je ne peux pas trouver le journal ici. Comme +je m'interesse beaucoup pour les idees de M. Darwin, sur lesquelles j'ai +parle publiquement et sur lesquelles je ferai peut-etre imprimer quelque +chose--vous m'obligeriez infiniment si vous pourriez me faire parvenir ce +que vous avez ecrit sur ces idees. + +"J'ai enonce les memes idees sur la transformation des types ou origine +d'especes que M. Darwin. (See Vol. I.) Mais c'est seulement sur la +geographie zoologique que je m'appuie. Vous trouverez, dans le dernier +chapitre du traite 'Ueber Papuas und Alfuren,' que j'en parle tres +decidement sans savoir que M. Darwin s'occupait de cet objet." + +The treatise to which Von Baer refers he gave me when over here, but I have +not been able to lay hands on it since this letter reached me two days ago. +When I find it I will let you know what there is in it. + +Ever yours faithfully, +T.H. HUXLEY. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, August 8 [1860]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Your note contained magnificent news, and thank you heartily for sending it +me. Von Baer weighs down with a vengeance all the virulence of [the +'Edinburgh' reviewer] and weak arguments of Agassiz. If you write to Von +Baer, for heaven's sake tell him that we should think one nod of +approbation on our side, of the greatest value; and if he does write +anything, beg him to send us a copy, for I would try and get it translated +and published in the "Athenaeum" and in 'Silliman' to touch up +Agassiz...Have you seen Agassiz's weak metaphysical and theological attack +on the 'Origin' in the last 'Silliman'? (The 'American Journal of Science +and Arts' (commonly called 'Silliman's Journal'), July 1860. Printed from +advanced sheets of vol. iii. of 'Contributions to the Nat. Hist. of the +U.S.' My father's copy has a pencilled "Truly" opposite the following +passage:--"Unless Darwin and his followers succeed in showing that the +struggle for life tends to something beyond favouring the existence of +certain individuals over that of other individuals, they will soon find +that they are following a shadow.") I would send it you, but apprehend it +would be less trouble for you to look at it in London than return it to me. +R. Wagner has sent me a German pamphlet ('Louis Agassiz's Prinzipien der +Classification, etc., mit Rucksicht auf Darwins Ansichten. Separat-Abdruck +aus den Gottingischen gelehrten Anzeigen,' 1860.), giving an abstract of +Agassiz's 'Essay on Classification,' "mit Rucksicht auf Darwins Ansichten," +etc. etc. He won't go very "dangerous lengths," but thinks the truth lies +half-way between Agassiz and the 'Origin.' As he goes thus far he will, +nolens volens, have to go further. He says he is going to review me in +[his] yearly Report. My good and kind agent for the propagation of the +Gospel--i.e. the devil's gospel. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, August 11th [1860]. + +...I have laughed at Woodward thinking that you were a man who could be +influenced in your judgment by the voice of the public; and yet after +mortally sneering at him, I was obliged to confess to myself, that I had +had fears, what the effect might be of so many heavy guns fired by great +men. As I have (sent by Murray) a spare 'Quarterly Review,' I send it by +this post, as it may amuse you. The Anti-Jacobin part amused me. It is +full of errors, and Hooker is thinking of answering it. There has been a +cancelled page; I should like to know what gigantic blunder it contained. +Hooker says that -- has played on the Bishop, and made him strike whatever +note he liked; he has wished to make the article as disagreeable to you as +possible. I will send the "Athenaeum" in a day or two. + +As you wish to hear what reviews have appeared, I may mention that Agassiz +has fired off a shot in the last 'Silliman,' not good at all, denies +variations and rests on the perfection of Geological evidence. Asa Gray +tells me that a very clever friend has been almost converted to our side by +this review of Agassiz's...Professor Parsons (Theophilus Parsons, Professor +of Law in Harvard University.) has published in the same 'Silliman' a +speculative paper correcting my notions, worth nothing. In the 'Highland +Agricultural Journal' there is a review by some Entomologist, not worth +much. This is all that I can remember...As Huxley says, the platoon firing +must soon cease. Hooker and Huxley, and Asa Gray, I see, are determined to +stick to the battle and not give in; I am fully convinced that whenever you +publish, it will produce a great effect on all TRIMMERS, and on many +others. By the way I forgot to mention Daubeny's pamphlet ('Remarks on the +final causes of the sexuality of plants with particular reference to Mr. +Darwin's work on the "Origin of Species."'--British Association Report, +1860.), very liberal and candid, but scientifically weak. I believe Hooker +is going nowhere this summer; he is excessively busy...He has written me +many, most nice letters. I shall be very curious to hear on your return +some account of your Geological doings. Talking of Geology, you used to be +interested about the "pipes" in the chalk. About three years ago a +perfectly circular hole suddenly appeared in a flat grass field to +everyone's astonishment, and was filled up with many waggon loads of earth; +and now two or three days ago, again it has circularly subsided about two +feet more. How clearly this shows what is still slowly going on. This +morning I recommenced work, and am at dogs; when I have written my short +discussion on them, I will have it copied, and if you like, you can then +see how the argument stands, about their multiple origin. As you seemed to +think this important, it might be worth your reading; though I do not feel +sure that you will come to the same probable conclusion that I have done. +By the way, the Bishop makes a very telling case against me, by +accumulating several instances where I speak very doubtfully; but this is +very unfair, as in such cases as this of the dog, the evidence is and must +be very doubtful... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, August 11 [1860]. + +My dear Gray, + +On my return home from Sussex about a week ago, I found several articles +sent by you. The first article, from the 'Atlantic Monthly,' I am very +glad to possess. By the way, the editor of the "Athenaeum" (August 4, +1860.) has inserted your answer to Agassiz, Bowen, and Co., and when I +therein read them, I admired them even more than at first. They really +seemed to be admirable in their condensation, force, clearness and novelty. + +I am surprised that Agassiz did not succeed in writing something better. +How absurd that logical quibble--"if species do not exist, how can they +vary?" As if any one doubted their temporary existence. How coolly he +assumes that there is some clearly defined distinction between individual +differences and varieties. It is no wonder that a man who calls identical +forms, when found in two countries, distinct species, cannot find variation +in nature. Again, how unreasonable to suppose that domestic varieties +selected by man for his own fancy should resemble natural varieties or +species. The whole article seems to me poor; it seems to me hardly worth a +detailed answer (even if I could do it, and I much doubt whether I possess +your skill in picking out salient points and driving a nail into them), and +indeed you have already answered several points. Agassiz's name, no doubt, +is a heavy weight against us... + +If you see Professor Parsons, will you thank him for the extremely liberal +and fair spirit in which his Essay ('Silliman's Journal,' July, 1860.) is +written. Please tell him that I reflected much on the chance of favourable +monstrosities (i.e. great and sudden variation) arising. I have, of +course, no objection to this, indeed it would be a great aid, but I do not +allude to the subject, for, after much labour, I could find nothing which +satisfied me of the probability of such occurrences. There seems to me in +almost every case too much, too complex, and too beautiful adaptation, in +every structure, to believe in its sudden production. I have alluded under +the head of beautifully hooked seeds to such possibility. Monsters are apt +to be sterile, or NOT to transmit monstrous peculiarities. Look at the +fineness of gradation in the shells of successive SUB-STAGES of the same +great formation; I could give many other considerations which made me doubt +such view. It holds, to a certain extent, with domestic productions no +doubt, where man preserves some abrupt change in structure. It amused me +to see Sir R. Murchison quoted as a judge of affinities of animals, and it +gave me a cold shudder to hear of any one speculating about a true +crustacean giving birth to a true fish! (Parson's, loc. cit. page 5, +speaking of Pterichthys and Cephalaspis, says:--"Now is it too much to +infer from these facts that either of these animals, if a crustacean, was +so nearly a fish that some of its ova may have become fish; or, if itself a +fish, was so nearly a crustacean that it may have been born from the ovum +of a crustacean?") + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 1st [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been much interested by your letter of the 28th, received this +morning. It has DELIGHTED me, because it demonstrates that you have +thought a good deal lately on Natural Selection. Few things have surprised +me more than the entire paucity of objections and difficulties new to me in +the published reviews. Your remarks are of a different stamp and new to +me. I will run through them, and make a few pleadings such as occur to me. + +I put in the possibility of the Galapagos having been CONTINUOUSLY joined +to America, out of mere subservience to the many who believe in Forbes's +doctrine, and did not see the danger of admission, about small mammals +surviving there in such case. The case of the Galapagos, from certain +facts on littoral sea-shells (viz. Pacific Ocean and South American +littoral species), in fact convinced me more than in any other case of +other islands, that the Galapagos had never been continuously united with +the mainland; it was mere base subservience, and terror of Hooker and Co. + +With respect to atolls, I think mammals would hardly survive VERY LONG, +even if the main islands (for as I have said in the Coral Book, the outline +of groups of atolls do not look like a former CONTINENT) had been tenanted +by mammals, from the extremely small area, the very peculiar conditions, +and the probability that during subsidence all or nearly all atolls have +been breached and flooded by the sea many times during their existence as +atolls. + +I cannot conceive any existing reptile being converted into a mammal. From +homologies I should look at it as certain that all mammals had descended +from some single progenitor. What its nature was, it is impossible to +speculate. More like, probably, the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna than any +known form; as these animals combine reptilian characters (and in a less +degree bird character) with mammalian. We must imagine some form as +intermediate, as is Lepidosiren now, between reptiles and fish, between +mammals and birds on the one hand (for they retain longer the same +embryological character) and reptiles on the other hand. With respect to a +mammal not being developed on any island, besides want of time for so +prodigious a development, there must have arrived on the island the +necessary and peculiar progenitor, having a character like the embryo of a +mammal; and not an ALREADY DEVELOPED reptile, bird or fish. + +We might give to a bird the habits of a mammal, but inheritance would +retain almost for eternity some of the bird-like structure, and prevent a +new creature ranking as a true mammal. + +I have often speculated on antiquity of islands, but not with your +precision, or at all under the point of view of Natural Selection NOT +having done what might have been anticipated. The argument of littoral +Miocene shells at the Canary Islands is new to me. I was deeply impressed +(from the amount of the denudation) [with the] antiquity of St. Helena, and +its age agrees with the peculiarity of the flora. With respect to bats at +New Zealand (N.B. There are two or three European bats in Madeira, and I +think in the Canary Islands) not having given rise to a group of non-volant +bats, it is, now you put the case, surprising; more especially as the genus +of bats in New Zealand is very peculiar, and therefore has probably been +long introduced, and they now speak of Cretacean fossils there. But the +first necessary step has to be shown, namely, of a bat taking to feed on +the ground, or anyhow, and anywhere, except in the air. I am bound to +confess I do know one single such fact, viz. of an Indian species killing +frogs. Observe, that in my wretched Polar Bear case, I do show the first +step by which conversion into a whale "would be easy," "would offer no +difficulty"!! So with seals, I know of no fact showing any the least +incipient variation of seals feeding on the shore. Moreover, seals wander +much; I searched in vain, and could not find ONE case of any species of +seal confined to any islands. And hence wanderers would be apt to cross +with individuals undergoing any change on an island, as in the case of land +birds of Madeira and Bermuda. The same remark applies even to bats, as +they frequently come to Bermuda from the mainland, though about 600 miles +distant. With respect to the Amblyrhynchus of the Galapagos, one may infer +as probable, from marine habits being so rare with Saurians, and from the +terrestrial species being confined to a few central islets, that its +progenitor first arrived at the Galapagos; from what country it is +impossible to say, as its affinity I believe is not very clear to any known +species. The offspring of the terrestrial species was probably rendered +marine. Now in this case I do not pretend I can show variation in habits; +but we have in the terrestrial species a vegetable feeder (in itself a +rather unusual circumstance), largely on LICHENS, and it would not be a +great change for its offspring to feed first on littoral algae and then on +submarine algae. I have said what I can in defence, but yours is a good +line of attack. We should, however, always remember that no change will +ever be effected till a variation in the habits or structure or of both +CHANCE to occur in the right direction, so as to give the organism in +question an advantage over other already established occupants of land or +water, and this may be in any particular case indefinitely long. I am very +glad you will read my dogs MS., for it will be important to me to see what +you think of the balance of evidence. After long pondering on a subject it +is often hard to judge. With hearty thanks for your most interesting +letter. Farewell. + +My dear old master, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, September 2nd [1860]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am astounded at your news received this morning. I am become such an old +fogy that I am amazed at your spirit. For God's sake do not go and get +your throat cut. Bless my soul, I think you must be a little insane. I +must confess it will be a most interesting tour; and, if you get to the top +of Lebanon, I suppose extremely interesting--you ought to collect any +beetles under stones there; but the Entomologists are such slow coaches. I +dare say no result could be made out of them. [They] have never worked the +Alpines of Britain. + +If you come across any Brine lakes, do attend to their minute flora and +fauna; I have often been surprised how little this has been attended to. + +I have had a long letter from Lyell, who starts ingenious difficulties +opposed to Natural Selection, because it has not done more than it has. +This is very good, as it shows that he has thoroughly mastered the subject; +and shows he is in earnest. Very striking letter altogether and it +rejoices the cockles of my heart. + +...How I shall miss you, my best and kindest of friends. God bless you. + +Yours ever affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, September 10 [1860]. + +...You will be weary of my praise, but it (Dr. Gray in the 'Atlantic +Monthly' for July, 1860.) does strike me as quite admirably argued, and so +well and pleasantly written. Your many metaphors are inimitably good. I +said in a former letter that you were a lawyer, but I made a gross mistake, +I am sure that you are a poet. No, by Jove, I will tell you what you are, +a hybrid, a complex cross of lawyer, poet, naturalist and theologian! Was +there ever such a monster seen before? + +I have just looked through the passages which I have marked as appearing to +me extra good, but I see that they are too numerous to specify, and this is +no exaggeration. My eye just alights on the happy comparison of the +colours of the prism and our artificial groups. I see one little error of +fossil CATTLE in South America. + +It is curious how each one, I suppose, weighs arguments in a different +balance: embryology is to me by far the strongest single class of facts in +favour of change of forms, and not one, I think, of my reviewers has +alluded to this. Variation not coming on at a very early age, and being +inherited at not a very early corresponding period, explains, as it seems +to me, the grandest of all facts in natural history, or rather in zoology, +viz. the resemblance of embryos. + + +[Dr. Gray wrote three articles in the 'Atlantic Monthly' for July, August, +and October, which were reprinted as a pamphlet in 1861, and now form +chapter iii. in 'Darwiniana' (1876), with the heading 'Natural Selection +not inconsistent with Natural Theology.'] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL +Down, September 12th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I never thought of showing your letter to any one. I mentioned in a letter +to Hooker that I had been much interested by a letter of yours with +original objections, founded chiefly on Natural Selection not having done +so much as might have been expected...In your letter just received, you +have improved your case versus Natural Selection; and it would tell with +the public (do not be tempted by its novelty to make it too strong); yet is +seems to me, not REALLY very killing, though I cannot answer your case, +especially, why Rodents have not become highly developed in Australia. You +must assume that they have inhabited Australia for a very long period, and +this may or may not be the case. But I feel that our ignorance is so +profound, why one form is preserved with nearly the same structure, or +advances in organisation or even retrogrades, or becomes extinct, that I +cannot put very great weight on the difficulty. Then, as you say often in +your letter, we know not how many geological ages it may have taken to make +any great advance in organisation. Remember monkeys in the Eocene +formations: but I admit that you have made out an excellent objection and +difficulty, and I can give only unsatisfactory and quite vague answers, +such as you have yourself put; however, you hardly put weight enough on the +absolute necessity of variations first arising in the right direction, +videlicet, of seals beginning to feed on the shore. + +I entirely agree with what you say about only one species of many becoming +modified. I remember this struck me much when tabulating the varieties of +plants, and I have a discussion somewhere on this point. It is absolutely +implied in my ideas of classification and divergence that only one or two +species, of even large genera, give birth to new species; and many whole +genera become WHOLLY extinct...Please see page 341 of the 'Origin.' But I +cannot remember that I have stated in the 'Origin' the fact of only very +few species in each genus varying. You have put the view much better in +your letter. Instead of saying, as I often have, that very few species +vary at the same time, I ought to have said, that very few species of a +genus EVER vary so as to become modified; for this is the fundamental +explanation of classification, and is shown in my engraved diagram... + +I quite agree with you on the strange and inexplicable fact of +Ornithorhynchus having been preserved, and Australian Trigonia, or the +Silurian Lingula. I always repeat to myself that we hardly know why any +one single species is rare or common in the best-known countries. I have +got a set of notes somewhere on the inhabitants of fresh water; and it is +singular how many of these are ancient, or intermediate forms; which I +think is explained by the competition having been less severe, and the rate +of change of organic forms having been slower in small confined areas, such +as all the fresh waters make compared with sea or land. + +I see that you do allude in the last page, as a difficulty, to Marsupials +not having become Placentals in Australia; but this I think you have no +right at all to expect; for we ought to look at Marsupials and Placentals +as having descended from some intermediate and lower form. The argument of +Rodents not having become highly developed in Australia (supposing that +they have long existed there) is much stronger. I grieve to see you hint +at the creation "of distinct successive types, as well as of a certain +number of distinct aboriginal types." Remember, if you admit this, you +give up the embryological argument (THE WEIGHTIEST OF ALL TO ME), and the +morphological or homological argument. You cut my throat, and your own +throat; and I believe will live to be sorry for it. So much for species. + +The striking extract which E. copied was your own writing!! in a note to +me, many long years ago--which she copied and sent to Mme. Sismondi; and +lately my aunt, in sorting her letters, found E.'s and returned them to +her...I have been of late shamefully idle, i.e. observing (Drosera) instead +of writing, and how much better fun observing is than writing. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne, +Sunday [September 23rd, 1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I got your letter of the 18th just before starting here. You speak of +saving me trouble in answering. Never think of this, for I look at every +letter of yours as an honour and pleasure, which is a pretty deal more than +I can say of some of the letters which I receive. I have now one of 13 +CLOSELY WRITTEN FOLIO PAGES to answer on species!... + +I have a very decided opinion that all mammals must have descended from a +SINGLE parent. Reflect on the multitude of details, very many of them of +extremely little importance to their habits (as the number of bones of the +head, etc., covering of hair, identical embryological development, etc. +etc.). Now this large amount of similarity I must look at as certainly due +to inheritance from a common stock. I am aware that some cases occur in +which a similar or nearly similar organ has been acquired by independent +acts of natural selection. But in most of such cases of these apparently +so closely similar organs, some important homological difference may be +detected. Please read page 193, beginning, "The electric organs," and +trust me that the sentence, "In all these cases of two very distinct +species," etc. etc., was not put in rashly, for I went carefully into every +case. Apply this argument to the whole frame, internal and external, of +mammifers, and you will see why I think so strongly that all have descended +from one progenitor. I have just re-read your letter, and I am not +perfectly sure that I understand your point. + +I enclose two diagrams showing the sort of manner I CONJECTURE that mammals +have been developed. I thought a little on this when writing page 429, +beginning, "Mr. Waterhouse." (Please read the paragraph.) I have not +knowledge enough to choose between these two diagrams. If the brain of +Marsupials in embryo closely resembles that of Placentals, I should +strongly prefer No.2, and this agrees with the antiquity of Microlestes. +As a general rule I should prefer No.1 diagram; whether or not Marsupials +have gone on being developed, or rising in rank, from a very early period +would depend on circumstances too complex for even a conjecture. Lingula +has not risen since the Silurian epoch, whereas other molluscs may have +risen. + +Here appear two diagrams. + +Diagram I. + +A +- +Mammals, not true Marsupials nor true Placentals. +- +2 branches +- +Branch I, True Placental, from which branch off +Rodents, +Insectivora, +a branch terminating in Ruminants and Pachyderms, +Canidae +and terminates in Quadrumana. +- +Branch II, True Marsupial, from which branches off +Kangaroo family +an unnamed branch terminating in 2 unnamed branches +and terminates in Didelphys Family. + +Diagram II. + +A +- +True Marsupials, lowly developed. +- +True Marsupials, highly developed. +- +2 branches +- +Branch I, Placentals, from which branch off +Rodents, +Insectivora, +a branch terminating in Ruminants and Pachyderms, +Canidae +and terminates in Quadrumana. +- +Branch II, Present Marsupials, splitting into two branches terminating in +Kangaroo family (with 2 unnamed branches) and +Didelphys family. + +A, in the two diagrams, represents an unknown form, probably intermediate +between Mammals, Reptiles, and Birds, as intermediate as Lepidosiren now is +between Fish and Batrachians. This unknown form is probably more closely +related to Ornithorhynchus than to any other known form. + +I do not think that the multiple origin of dogs goes against the single +origin of man...All the races of man are so infinitely closer together than +to any ape, that (as in the case of descent of all mammals from one +progenitor), I should look at all races of men as having certainly +descended from one parent. I should look at it as probable that the races +of men were less numerous and less divergent formerly than now, unless, +indeed, some lower and more aberrant race even than the Hottentot has +become extinct. Supposing, as I do for one believe, that our dogs have +descended from two or three wolves, jackals, etc., yet these have, on OUR +VIEW, descended from a single remote unknown progenitor. With domestic +dogs the question is simply whether the whole amount of difference has been +produced since man domesticated a single species; or whether part of the +difference arises in the state of nature. Agassiz and Co. think the negro +and Caucasian are now distinct species, and it is a mere vain discussion +whether, when they were rather less distinct, they would, on this standard +of specific value, deserve to be called species. + +I agree with your answer which you give to yourself on this point; and the +simile of man now keeping down any new man which might be developed, +strikes me as good and new. The white man is "improving off the face of +the earth" even races nearly his equals. With respect to islands, I think +I would trust to want of time alone, and not to bats and Rodents. + +N.B.--I know of no rodents on oceanic islands (except my Galapagos mouse, +which MAY have been introduced by man) keeping down the development of +other classes. Still MUCH more weight I should attribute to there being +now, neither in islands nor elsewhere, [any] known animals of a grade of +organisation intermediate between mammals, fish, reptiles, etc., whence a +new mammal could be developed. If every vertebrate were destroyed +throughout the world, except our NOW WELL-ESTABLISHED reptiles, millions of +ages might elapse before reptiles could become highly developed on a scale +equal to mammals; and, on the principle of inheritance, they would make +some quite NEW CLASS, and not mammals; though POSSIBLY more intellectual! +I have not an idea that you will care for this letter, so speculative. + +Most truly yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, September 26 [1860]. + +...I have had a letter of fourteen folio pages from Harvey against my book, +with some ingenious and new remarks; but it is an extraordinary fact that +he does not understand at all what I mean by Natural Selection. I have +begged him to read the Dialogue in next 'Silliman,' as you never touch the +subject without making it clearer. I look at it as even more extraordinary +that you never say a word or use an epithet which does not express fully my +meaning. Now Lyell, Hooker, and others, who perfectly understand my book, +yet sometimes use expressions to which I demur. Well, your extraordinary +labour is over; if there is any fair amount of truth in my view, I am well +assured that your great labour has not been thrown away... + +I yet hope and almost believe, that the time will come when you will go +further, in believing a very large amount of modification of species, than +you did at first or do now. Can you tell me whether you believe further or +more firmly than you did at first? I should really like to know this. I +can perceive in my immense correspondence with Lyell, who objected to much +at first, that he has, perhaps unconsciousnessly to himself, converted +himself very much during the last six months, and I think this is the case +even with Hooker. This fact gives me far more confidence than any other +fact. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne, +Friday evening [September 28th, 1860]. + +...I am very glad to hear about the Germans reading my book. No one will +be converted who has not independently begun to doubt about species. Is +not Krohn (There are two papers by Aug. Krohn, one on the Cement Glands, +and the other on the development of Cirripedes, 'Wiegmann's Archiv,' xxv. +and xxvi. My father has remarked that he "blundered dreadfully about the +cement glands," 'Autobiography.') a good fellow? I have long meant to +write to him. He has been working at Cirripedes, and has detected two or +three gigantic blunders,...about which, I thank Heaven, I spoke rather +doubtfully. Such difficult dissection that even Huxley failed. It is +chiefly the interpretation which I put on parts that is so wrong, and not +the parts which I describe. But they were gigantic blunders, and why I say +all this is because Krohn, instead of crowing at all, pointed out my errors +with the utmost gentleness and pleasantness. I have always meant to write +to him and thank him. I suppose Dr. Krohn, Bonn, would reach him. + +I cannot see yet how the multiple origin of dog can be properly brought as +argument for the multiple origin of man. Is not your feeling a remnant of +the deeply impressed one on all our minds, that a species is an entity, +something quite distinct from a variety? Is it not that the dog case +injures the argument from fertility, so that one main argument that the +races of man are varieties and not species--i.e., because they are fertile +inter se, is much weakened? + +I quite agree with what Hooker says, that whatever variation is possible +under culture, is POSSIBLE under nature; not that the same form would ever +be accumulated and arrived at by selection for man's pleasure, and by +natural selection for the organism's own good. + +Talking of "natural selection;" if I had to commence de novo, I would have +used "natural preservation." For I find men like Harvey of Dublin cannot +understand me, though he has read the book twice. Dr. Gray of the British +Museum remarked to me that, "SELECTION was obviously impossible with +plants! No one could tell him how it could be possible!" And he may now +add that the author did not attempt it to him! + +Yours ever affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne, +October 8th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I send the [English] translation of Bronn (A MS. translation of Bronn's +chapter of objections at the end of his German translation of the 'Origin +of Species.'), the first part of the chapter with generalities and praise +is not translated. There are some good hits. He makes an apparently, and +in part truly, telling case against me, says that I cannot explain why one +rat has a longer tail and another longer ears, etc. But he seems to muddle +in assuming that these parts did not all vary together, or one part so +insensibly before the other, as to be in fact contemporaneous. I might ask +the creationist whether he thinks these differences in the two rats of any +use, or as standing in some relation from laws of growth; and if he admits +this, selection might come into play. He who thinks that God created +animals unlike for mere sport or variety, as man fashions his clothes, will +not admit any force in my argumentum ad hominem. + +Bronn blunders about my supposing several Glacial periods, whether or no +such ever did occur. + +He blunders about my supposing that development goes on at the same rate in +all parts of the world. I presume that he has misunderstood this from the +supposed migration into all regions of the more dominant forms. + +I have ordered Dr. Bree ('Species not Transmutable,' by C.R. Bree, 1860.), +and will lend it to you, if you like, and if it turns out good. + +...I am very glad that I misunderstood you about species not having the +capacity to vary, though in fact few do give birth to new species. It +seems that I am very apt to misunderstand you; I suppose I am always +fancying objections. Your case of the Red Indian shows me that we agree +entirely... + +I had a letter yesterday from Thwaites of Ceylon, who was much opposed to +me. He now says, "I find that the more familiar I become with your views +in connection with the various phenomena of nature, the more they commend +themselves to my mind." + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.M. RODWELL. (Rev. J.M. Rodwell, who was at Cambridge +with my father, remembers him saying:--"It strikes me that all our +knowledge about the structure of our earth is very much like what an old +hen would know of a hundred acre field, in a corner of which she is +scratching.") +15 Marine Parade, Eastbourne. +November 5th [1860]. + +My dear Sir, + +I am extremely much obliged for your letter, which I can compare only to a +plum-pudding, so full it is of good things. I have been rash about the +cats ("Cats with blue eyes are invariably deaf," 'Origin of Species,' +edition i. page 12.): yet I spoke on what seemed to me, good authority. +The Rev. W.D. Fox gave me a list of cases of various foreign breeds in +which he had observed the correlation, and for years he had vainly sought +an exception. A French paper also gives numerous cases, and one very +curious case of a kitten which GRADUALLY lost the blue colour in its eyes +and as gradually acquired its power of hearing. I had not heard of your +uncle, Mr. Kirby's case (William Kirby, joint author with Spence, of the +well-known 'Introduction to Entomology,' 1818.) (whom I, for as long as I +can remember, have venerated) of care in breeding cats. I do not know +whether Mr. Kirby was your uncle by marriage, but your letters show me that +you ought to have Kirby blood in your veins, and that if you had not taken +to languages you would have been a first-rate naturalist. + +I sincerely hope that you will be able to carry out your intention of +writing on the "Birth, Life, and Death of Words." Anyhow, you have a +capital title, and some think this the most difficult part of a book. I +remember years ago at the Cape of Good Hope, Sir J. Herschel saying to me, +I wish some one would treat language as Lyell has treated geology. What a +linguist you must be to translate the Koran! Having a vilely bad head for +languages, I feel an awful respect for linguists. + +I do not know whether my brother-in-law, Hensleigh Wedgwood's 'Etymological +Dictionary' would be at all in your line; but he treats briefly on the +genesis of words; and, as it seems to me, very ingeniously. You kindly say +that you would communicate any facts which might occur to you, and I am +sure that I should be most grateful. Of the multitude of letters which I +receive, not one in a thousand is like yours in value. + +With my cordial thanks, and apologies for this untidy letter written in +haste, pray believe me, my dear Sir, + +Yours sincerely obliged, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +November 20th [1860]. + +...I have not had heart to read Phillips ('Life on the Earth.') yet, or a +tremendous long hostile review by Professor Bowen in the 4to Mem. of the +American Academy of Sciences. ("Remarks on the latest form of the +Development Theory." By Francis Bowen, Professor of Natural Religion and +Moral Philosophy, at Harvard University. 'American Academy of Arts and +Sciences,' vol. viii.) (By the way, I hear Agassiz is going to thunder +against me in the next part of the 'Contributions.') Thank you for telling +me of the sale of the 'Origin,' of which I had not heard. There will be +some time, I presume, a new edition, and I especially want your advice on +one point, and you know I think you the wisest of men, and I shall be +ABSOLUTELY GUIDED BY YOUR ADVICE. It has occurred to me, that it would +PERHAPS be a good plan to put a set of notes (some twenty to forty or +fifty) to the 'Origin,' which now has none, exclusively devoted to errors +of my reviewers. It has occurred to me that where a reviewer has erred, a +common reader might err. Secondly, it will show the reader that he must +not trust implicitly to reviewers. Thirdly, when any special fact has been +attacked, I should like to defend it. I would show no sort of anger. I +enclose a mere rough specimen, done without any care or accuracy--done from +memory alone--to be torn up, just to show the sort of thing that has +occurred to me. WILL YOU DO ME THE GREAT KINDNESS TO CONSIDER THIS WELL? + +It seems to me it would have a good effect, and give some confidence to the +reader. It would [be] a horrid bore going through all the reviews. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +[Here follow samples of foot-notes, the references to volume and page being +left blank. It will be seen that in some cases he seems to have forgotten +that he was writing foot-notes, and to have continued as if writing to +Lyell:-- + +*Dr. Bree asserts that I explain the structure of the cells of the Hive Bee +by "the exploded doctrine of pressure." But I do not say one word which +directly or indirectly can be interpreted into any reference to pressure. + +*The 'Edinburgh' Reviewer quotes my work as saying that the "dorsal +vertebrae of pigeons vary in number, and disputes the fact." I nowhere +even allude to the dorsal vertebrae, only to the sacral and caudal +vertebrae. + +*The 'Edinburgh' Reviewer throws a doubt on these organs being the +Branchiae of Cirripedes. But Professor Owen in 1854 admits, without +hesitation, that they are Branchiae, as did John Hunter long ago. + +*The confounded Wealden Calculation to be struck out, and a note to be +inserted to the effect that I am convinced of its inaccuracy from a review +in the "Saturday Review", and from Phillips, as I see in his Table of +Contents that he alludes to it. + +*Mr. Hopkins ('Fraser') states--I am quoting only from vague memory--that, +"I argue in favour of my views from the extreme imperfection of the +Geological Record," and says this is the first time in the history of +Science he has ever heard of ignorance being adduced as an argument. But I +repeatedly admit, in the most emphatic language which I can use, that the +imperfect evidence which Geology offers in regard to transitorial forms is +most strongly opposed to my views. Surely there is a wide difference in +fully admitting an objection, and then in endeavouring to show that it is +not so strong as it at first appears, and in Mr. Hopkins's assertion that I +found my argument on the Objection. + +*I would also put a note to "Natural Selection," and show how variously it +has been misunderstood. + +*A writer in the 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal' denies my statement that +the Woodpecker of La Plata never frequents trees. I observed its habits +during two years, but, what is more to the purpose, Azara, whose accuracy +all admit, is more emphatic than I am in regard to its never frequenting +trees. Mr. A. Murray denies that it ought to be called a woodpecker; it +has two toes in front and two behind, pointed tail feathers, a long pointed +tongue, and the same general form of body, the same manner of flight, +colouring and voice. It was classed, until recently, in the same genus-- +Picus--with all other woodpeckers, but now has been ranked as a distinct +genus amongst the Picidae. It differs from the typical Picus only in the +beak, not being quite so strong, and in the upper mandible being slightly +arched. I think these facts fully justify my statement that it is "in all +essential parts of its organisation" a Woodpecker.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, November 22 [1860]. + +My dear Huxley, + +For heaven's sake don't write an anti-Darwinian article; you would do it so +confoundedly well. I have sometimes amused myself with thinking how I +could best pitch into myself, and I believe I could give two or three good +digs; but I will see you -- first before I will try. I shall be very +impatient to see the Review. (The first number of the new series of the +'Nat. Hist. Review' appeared in 1861.) If it succeeds it may really do +much, very much good... + +I heard to-day from Murray that I must set to work at once on a new edition +(The 3rd edition.) of the 'Origin.' [Murray] says the Reviews have not +improved the sale. I shall always think those early reviews, almost +entirely yours, did the subject an ENORMOUS service. If you have any +important suggestions or criticisms to make on any part of the 'Origin,' I +should, of course, be very grateful for [them]. For I mean to correct as +far as I can, but not enlarge. How you must be wearied with and hate the +subject, and it is God's blessing if you do not get to hate me. Adios. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, November 24th [1860]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I thank you much for your letter. I had got to take pleasure in thinking +how I could best snub my reviewers; but I was determined, in any case, to +follow your advice, and, before I had got to the end of your letter, I was +convinced of the wisdom of your advice. ("I get on slowly with my new +edition. I find that your advice was EXCELLENT. I can answer all reviews, +without any direct notice of them, by a little enlargement here and there, +with here and there a new paragraph. Bronn alone I shall treat with the +respect of giving his objections with his name. I think I shall improve my +book a good deal, and add only some twenty pages."--From a letter to Lyell, +December 4th, 1860.) What an advantage it is to me to have such friends as +you. I shall follow every hint in your letter exactly. + +I have just heard from Murray; he says he sold 700 copies at his sale, and +that he has not half the number to supply; so that I must begin at once (On +the third edition of the 'Origin of Species,' published in April 1861.)... + +P.S.--I must tell you one little fact which has pleased me. You may +remember that I adduce electrical organs of fish as one of the greatest +difficulties which have occurred to me, and -- notices the passage in a +singularly disingenuous spirit. Well, McDonnell, of Dublin (a first-rate +man), writes to me that he felt the difficulty of the whole case as +overwhelming against me. Not only are the fishes which have electric +organs very remote in scale, but the organ is near the head in some, and +near the tail in others, and supplied by wholly different nerves. It seems +impossible that there could be any transition. Some friend, who is much +opposed to me, seems to have crowed over McDonnell, who reports that he +said to himself, that if Darwin is right, there must be homologous organs +both near the head and tail in other non-electric fish. He set to work, +and, by Jove, he has found them! ('On an organ in the Skate, which appears +to be the homologue of the electrical organ of the Torpedo,' by R. +McDonnell, 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1861, page 57.) so that some of the +difficulty is removed; and is it not satisfactory that my hypothetical +notions should have led to pretty discoveries? McDonnell seems very +cautious; he says, years must pass before he will venture to call himself a +believer in my doctrine, but that on the subjects which he knows well, +viz., Morphology and Embryology, my views accord well, and throw light on +the whole subject. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, November 26th, 1860. + +My dear Gray, + +I have to thank you for two letters. The latter with corrections, written +before you received my letter asking for an American reprint, and saying +that it was hopeless to print your reviews as a pamphlet, owing to the +impossibility of getting pamphlets known. I am very glad to say that the +August or second 'Atlantic' article has been reprinted in the 'Annals and +Magazine of Natural History'; but I have not seen it there. Yesterday I +read over with care the third article; and it seems to me, as before, +ADMIRABLE. But I grieve to say that I cannot honestly go as far as you do +about Design. I am conscious that I am in an utterly hopeless muddle. I +cannot think that the world, as we see it, is the result of chance; and yet +I cannot look at each separate thing as the result of Design. To take a +crucial example, you lead me to infer (page 414) that you believe "that +variation has been led along certain beneficial lines." I cannot believe +this; and I think you would have to believe, that the tail of the Fantail +was led to vary in the number and direction of its feathers in order to +gratify the caprice of a few men. Yet if the Fantail had been a wild bird, +and had used its abnormal tail for some special end, as to sail before the +wind, unlike other birds, every one would have said, "What a beautiful and +designed adaptation." Again, I say I am, and shall ever remain, in a +hopeless muddle. + +Thank you much for Bowen's 4to. review. ('Memoirs of the American Academy +of Arts and Sciences,' vol. viii.) The coolness with which he makes all +animals to be destitute of reason is simply absurd. It is monstrous at +page 103, that he should argue against the possibility of accumulative +variation, and actually leave out, entirely, selection! The chance that an +improved Short-horn, or improved Pouter-pigeon, should be produced by +accumulative variation without man's selection is as almost infinity to +nothing; so with natural species without natural selection. How capitally +in the 'Atlantic' you show that Geology and Astronomy are, according to +Bowen, Metaphysics; but he leaves out this in the 4to. Memoir. + +I have not much to tell you about my Book. I have just heard that Du Bois- +Reymond agrees with me. The sale of my book goes on well, and the +multitude of reviews has not stopped the sale...; so I must begin at once +on a new corrected edition. I will send you a copy for the chance of your +ever re-reading; but, good Heavens, how sick you must be of it! + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, December 2nd [1860]. + +...I have got fairly sick of hostile reviews. Nevertheless, they have been +of use in showing me when to expatiate a little and to introduce a few new +discussions. OF COURSE I will send you a copy of the new edition. + +I entirely agree with you, that the difficulties on my notions are +terrific, yet having seen what all the Reviews have said against me, I have +far more confidence in the GENERAL truth of the doctrine than I formerly +had. Another thing gives me confidence, viz. that some who went half an +inch with me now go further, and some who were bitterly opposed are now +less bitterly opposed. And this makes me feel a little disappointed that +you are not inclined to think the general view in some slight degree more +probable than you did at first. This I consider rather ominous. Otherwise +I should be more contented with your degree of belief. I can pretty +plainly see that, if my view is ever to be generally adopted, it will be by +young men growing up and replacing the old workers, and then young ones +finding that they can group facts and search out new lines of investigation +better on the notion of descent, than on that of creation. But forgive me +for running on so egotistically. Living so solitary as I do, one gets to +think in a silly manner of one's own work. + +Ever yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 11th [1860]. + +...I heard from A. Gray this morning; at my suggestion he is going to +reprint the three 'Atlantic' articles as a pamphlet, and send 250 copies to +England, for which I intend to pay half the cost of the whole edition, and +shall give away, and try to sell by getting a few advertisements put in, +and if possible notices in Periodicals. + +...David Forbes has been carefully working the Geology of Chile, and as I +value praise for accurate observation far higher than for any other +quality, forgive (if you can) the INSUFFERABLE vanity of my copying the +last sentence in his note: "I regard your Monograph on Chile as, without +exception, one of the finest specimens of Geological enquiry." I feel +inclined to strut like a Turkey-cock! + + +CHAPTER 2.III. + +SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. + +1861-1862. + +[The beginning of the year 1861 saw my father with the third chapter of +'The Variation of Animals and Plants' still on his hands. It had been +begun in the previous August, and was not finished until March 1861. He +was, however, for part of this time (I believe during December 1860 and +January 1861) engaged in a new edition (2000 copies) of the 'Origin,' which +was largely corrected and added to, and was published in April 1861. + +With regard to this, the third edition, he wrote to Mr. Murray in December +1860:-- + +"I shall be glad to hear when you have decided how many copies you will +print off--the more the better for me in all ways, as far as compatible +with safety; for I hope never again to make so many corrections, or rather +additions, which I have made in hopes of making my many rather stupid +reviewers at least understand what is meant. I hope and think I shall +improve the book considerably." + +An interesting feature in the new edition was the "Historical Sketch of the +Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species" (The Historical Sketch +had already appeared in the first German edition (1860) and the American +edition. Bronn states in the German edition (footnote, page 1) that it was +his critique in the 'N. Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie' that suggested the idea +of such a sketch to my father.) which now appeared for the first time, and +was continued in the later editions of the work. It bears a strong impress +of the author's personal character in the obvious wish to do full justice +to all his predecessors,--though even in this respect it has not escaped +some adverse criticism. + +Towards the end of the present year (1861), the final arrangements for the +first French edition of the 'Origin' were completed, and in September a +copy of the third English edition was despatched to Mdlle. Clemence Royer, +who undertook the work of translation. The book was now spreading on the +Continent, a Dutch edition had appeared, and, as we have seen, a German +translation had been published in 1860. In a letter to Mr. Murray +(September 10, 1861), he wrote, "My book seems exciting much attention in +Germany, judging from the number of discussions sent me." The silence had +been broken, and in a few years the voice of German science was to become +one of the strongest of the advocates of evolution. + +During all the early part of the year (1861) he was working at the mass of +details which are marshalled in order in the early chapter of 'Animals and +Plants.' Thus in his Diary occur the laconic entries, "May 16, Finished +Fowls (eight weeks); May 31, Ducks." + +On July 1, he started, with his family, for Torquay, where he remained +until August 27--a holiday which he characteristically enters in his diary +as "eight weeks and a day." The house he occupied was in Hesketh Crescent, +a pleasantly placed row of houses close above the sea, somewhat removed +from what was then the main body of the town, and not far from the +beautiful cliffed coast-line in the neighbourhood of Anstey's Cove. + +During the Torquay holiday, and for the remainder of the year, he worked at +the fertilisation of orchids. This part of the year 1861 is not dealt with +in the present chapter, because (as explained in the preface) the record of +his life, as told in his letters, seems to become clearer when the whole of +his botanical work is placed together and treated separately. The present +series of chapters will, therefore, include only the progress of his works +in the direction of a general amplification of the 'Origin of Species'-- +e.g., the publication of 'Animals and Plants,' 'Descent of Man,' etc.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 15 [1861]. + +My dear Hooker, + +The sight of your handwriting always rejoices the very cockles of my +heart... + +I most fully agree to what you say about Huxley's Article ('Natural History +Review,' 1861, page 67, "On the Zoological Relations of Man with the Lower +Animals." This memoir had its origin in a discussion at the previous +meeting of the British Association, when Professor Huxley felt himself +"compelled to give a diametrical contradiction to certain assertions +respecting the differences which obtain between the brains of the higher +apes and of man, which fell from Professor Owen." But in order that his +criticisms might refer to deliberately recorded words, he bases them on +Professor Owen's paper, "On the Characters, etc., of the Class Mammalia," +read before the Linnean Society in February and April, 1857, in which he +proposed to place man not only in a distinct order, but in "a distinct sub- +class of the Mammalia"--the Archencephala.), and the power of writing...The +whole review seems to me excellent. How capitally Oliver has done the +resume of botanical books. Good Heavens, how he must have read!... + +I quite agree that Phillips ('Life on the Earth' (1860), by Prof. Phillips, +containing the substance of the Rede Lecture (May 1860).) is unreadably +dull. You need not attempt Bree. (The following sentence (page 16) from +'Species not Transmutable,' by Dr. Bree, illustrates the degree in which he +understood the 'Origin of Species': "The only real difference between Mr. +Darwin and his two predecessors" [Lamarck and the 'Vestiges'] "is this:-- +that while the latter have each given a mode by which they conceive the +great changes they believe in have been brought about, Mr. Darwin does no +such thing." After this we need not be surprised at a passage in the +preface: "No one has derived greater pleasure than I have in past days +from the study of Mr. Darwin's other works, and no one has felt a greater +degree of regret that he should have imperilled his fame by the publication +of his treatise upon the 'Origin of Species.'")... + +If you come across Dr. Freke on 'Origin of Species by means of Organic +Affinity,' read a page here and there...He tells the reader to observe +[that his result] has been arrived at by "induction," whereas all my +results are arrived at only by "analogy." I see a Mr. Neale has read a +paper before the Zoological Society on 'Typical Selection;' what it means I +know not. I have not read H. Spencer, for I find that I must more and more +husband the very little strength which I have. I sometimes suspect I shall +soon entirely fail...As soon as this dreadful weather gets a little milder, +I must try a little water cure. Have you read the 'Woman in White'? the +plot is wonderfully interesting. I can recommend a book which has +interested me greatly, viz. Olmsted's 'Journey in the Back Country.' It is +an admirably lively picture of man and slavery in the Southern States... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +February 2, 1861. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have thought you would like to read the enclosed passage in a letter from +A. Gray (who is printing his reviews as a pamphlet ("Natural Selection not +inconsistent with Natural Theology," from the 'Atlantic Monthly' for July, +August, and October, 1860; published by Trubner.), and will send copies to +England), as I think his account is really favourable in high degree to +us:-- + +"I wish I had time to write you an account of the lengths to which Bowen +and Agassiz, each in their own way, are going. The first denying all +heredity (all transmission except specific) whatever. The second coming +near to deny that we are genetically descended from our great-great- +grandfathers; and insisting that evidently affiliated languages, e.g. +Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, owe none of their similarities to a community of +origin, are all autochthonal; Agassiz admits that the derivation of +languages, and that of species or forms, stand on the same foundation, and +that he must allow the latter if he allows the former, which I tell him is +perfectly logical." + +Is not this marvellous? + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 4 [1861]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I was delighted to get your long chatty letter, and to hear that you are +thawing towards science. I almost wish you had remained frozen rather +longer; but do not thaw too quickly and strongly. No one can work long as +you used to do. Be idle; but I am a pretty man to preach, for I cannot be +idle, much as I wish it, and am never comfortable except when at work. The +word holiday is written in a dead language for me, and much I grieve at it. +We thank you sincerely for your kind sympathy about poor H. [his +daughter]...She has now come up to her old point, and can sometimes get up +for an hour or two twice a day...Never to look to the future or as little +as possible is becoming our rule of life. What a different thing life was +in youth with no dread in the future; all golden, if baseless, hopes. + +...With respect to the 'Natural History Review' I can hardly think that +ladies would be so very sensitive about "lizards' guts;" but the +publication is at present certainly a sort of hybrid, and original +illustrated papers ought hardly to appear in a review. I doubt its ever +paying; but I shall much regret if it dies. All that you say seems very +sensible, but could a review in the strict sense of the word be filled with +readable matter? + +I have been doing little, except finishing the new edition of the 'Origin,' +and crawling on most slowly with my volume of 'Variation under +Domestication'... + + +[The following letter refers to Mr. Bates's paper, "Contributions to an +Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley," in the 'Transactions of the +Entomological Society,' vol.5, N.S. (The paper was read November 24, 1860.) +Mr. Bates points out that with the return, after the glacial period, of a +warmer climate in the equatorial regions, the "species then living near the +equator would retreat north and south to their former homes, leaving some +of their congeners, slowly modified subsequently...to re-people the zone +they had forsaken." In this case the species now living at the equator +ought to show clear relationship to the species inhabiting the regions +about the 25th parallel, whose distant relatives they would of course be. +But this is not the case, and this is the difficulty my father refers to. +Mr. Belt has offered an explanation in his 'Naturalist in Nicaragua' +(1874), page 266. "I believe the answer is that there was much +extermination during the glacial period, that many species (and some +genera, etc., as, for instance, the American horse), did not survive +it...but that a refuge was found for many species on lands now below the +ocean, that were uncovered by the lowering of the sea, caused by the +immense quantity of water that was locked up in frozen masses on the +land."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, 27th [March 1861]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I had intended to have sent you Bates's article this very day. I am so +glad you like it. I have been extremely much struck with it. How well he +argues, and with what crushing force against the glacial doctrine. I +cannot wriggle out of it: I am dumbfounded; yet I do believe that some +explanation some day will appear, and I cannot give up equatorial cooling. +It explains so much and harmonises with so much. When you write (and much +interested I shall be in your letter) please say how far floras are +generally uniform in generic character from 0 to 25 degrees N. and S. + +Before reading Bates, I had become thoroughly dissatisfied with what I +wrote to you. I hope you may get Bates to write in the 'Linnean.' + +Here is a good joke: H.C. Watson (who, I fancy and hope, is going to +review the new edition (third edition of 2000 copies, published in April, +1861.) of the 'Origin') says that in the first four paragraphs of the +introduction, the words "I," "me," "my," occur forty-three times! I was +dimly conscious of the accursed fact. He says it can be explained +phrenologically, which I suppose civilly means, that I am the most +egotistically self-sufficient man alive; perhaps so. I wonder whether he +will print this pleasing fact; it beats hollow the parentheses in +Wollaston's writing. + +_I_ am, MY dear Hooker, ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Do not spread this pleasing joke; it is rather too biting. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, [April] 23? [1861]. + +...I quite agree with what you say on Lieutenant Hutton's Review (In the +'Geologist,' 1861, page 132, by Lieutenant Frederick Wollaston Hutton, now +Professor of Biology and Geology at Canterbury College, New Zealand.) (who +he is I know not); it struck me as very original. He is one of the very +few who see that the change of species cannot be directly proved, and that +the doctrine must sink or swim according as it groups and explains +phenomena. It is really curious how few judge it in this way, which is +clearly the right way. I have been much interested by Bentham's paper ("On +the Species and Genera of Plants, etc.," 'Natural History Review,' 1861, +page 133.) in the N.H.R., but it would not, of course, from familiarity +strike you as it did me. I liked the whole; all the facts on the nature of +close and varying species. Good Heavens! to think of the British botanists +turning up their noses, and saying that he knows nothing of British plants! +I was also pleased at his remarks on classification, because it showed me +that I wrote truly on this subject in the 'Origin.' I saw Bentham at the +Linnean Society, and had some talk with him and Lubbock, and Edgeworth, +Wallich, and several others. I asked Bentham to give us his ideas of +species; whether partially with us or dead against us, he would write +EXCELLENT matter. He made no answer, but his manner made me think he might +do so if urged; so do you attack him. Every one was speaking with +affection and anxiety of Henslow. (Prof. Henslow was in his last illness.) +I dined with Bell at the Linnean Club, and liked my dinner...Dining out is +such a novelty to me that I enjoyed it. Bell has a real good heart. I +liked Rolleston's paper, but I never read anything so obscure and not self- +evident as his 'Canons.' (George Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., 1829-1881. +Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Oxford. A man of much +learning, who left but few published works, among which may be mentioned +his handbook 'Forms of Animal Life.' For the 'Canons,' see 'Nat. Hist. +Review,' 1861, page 206.)...I called on R. Chambers, at his very nice house +in St. John's Wood, and had a very pleasant half-hour's talk; he is really +a capital fellow. He made one good remark and chuckled over it, that the +laymen universally had treated the controversy on the 'Essays and Reviews' +as a merely professional subject, and had not joined in it, but had left it +to the clergy. I shall be anxious for your next letter about Henslow. +(Sir Joseph Hooker was Prof. Henslow's son-in-law.) Farewell, with sincere +sympathy, my old friend, + +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--We are very much obliged for the 'London Review.' We like reading +much of it, and the science is incomparably better than in the "Athenaeum". +You shall not go on very long sending it, as you will be ruined by pennies +and trouble, but I am under a horrid spell to the "Athenaeum" and the +"Gardener's Chronicle", but I have taken them in for so many years, that I +CANNOT give them up. + + +[The next letter refers to Lyell's visit to the Biddenham gravel-pits near +Bedford in April 1861. The visit was made at the invitation of Mr. James +Wyatt, who had recently discovered two stone implements "at the depth of +thirteen feet from the surface of the soil," resting "immediately on solid +beds of oolitic-limestone." ('Antiquity of Man,' fourth edition, page +214.) Here, says Sir C. Lyell, "I...for the first time, saw evidence which +satisfied me of the chronological relations of those three phenomena--the +antique tools, the extinct mammalia, and the glacial formation."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, April 12 [1861]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been most deeply interested by your letter. You seem to have done +the grandest work, and made the greatest step, of any one with respect to +man. + +It is an especial relief to hear that you think the French superficial +deposits are deltoid and semi-marine; but two days ago I was saying to a +friend, that the unknown manner of the accumulation of these deposits, +seemed the great blot in all the work done. I could not stomach debacles +or lacustrine beds. It is grand. I remember Falconer told me that he +thought some of the remains in the Devonshire caverns were pre-glacial, and +this, I presume, is now your conclusion for the older celts with hyena and +hippopotamus. It is grand. What a fine long pedigree you have given the +human race! + +I am sure I never thought of parallel roads having been accumulated during +subsidence. I think I see some difficulties on this view, though, at first +reading your note, I jumped at the idea. But I will think over all I saw +there. I am (stomacho volente) coming up to London on Tuesday to work on +cocks and hens, and on Wednesday morning, about a quarter before ten, I +will call on you (unless I hear to the contrary), for I long to see you. I +congratulate you on your grand work. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Tell Lady Lyell that I was unable to digest the funereal ceremonies +of the ants, notwithstanding that Erasmus has often told me that I should +find some day that they have their bishops. After a battle I have always +seen the ants carry away the dead for food. Ants display the utmost +economy, and always carry away a dead fellow-creature as food. But I have +just forwarded two most extraordinary letters to Busk, from a backwoodsman +in Texas, who has evidently watched ants carefully, and declares most +positively that they plant and cultivate a kind of grass for store food, +and plant other bushes for shelter! I do not know what to think, except +that the old gentleman is not fibbing intentionally. I have left the +responsibility with Busk whether or no to read the letters. (I.e. to read +them before the Linnean Society.) + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THOMAS DAVIDSON. (Thomas Davidson, F.R.S., born in +Edinburgh, May 17, 1817; died 1885. His researches were chiefly connected +with the sciences of geology and palaeontology, and were directed +especially to the elucidation of the characters, classification, history, +geological and geographical distribution of recent and fossil Brachiopoda. +On this subject he brought out an important work, 'British Fossil +Brachiopoda,' 5 vols. 4to. (Cooper, 'Men of the Time,' 1884.)) +Down, April 26, 1861. + +My dear Sir, + +I hope that you will excuse me for venturing to make a suggestion to you +which I am perfectly well aware it is a very remote chance that you would +adopt. I do not know whether you have read my 'Origin of Species'; in that +book I have made the remark, which I apprehend will be universally +admitted, that AS A WHOLE, the fauna of any formation is intermediate in +character between that of the formations above and below. But several +really good judges have remarked to me how desirable it would be that this +should be exemplified and worked out in some detail and with some single +group of beings. Now every one will admit that no one in the world could +do this better than you with Brachiopods. The result might turn out very +unfavourable to the views which I hold; if so, so much the better for those +who are opposed to me. ("Mr. Davidson is not at all a full believer in +great changes of species, which will make his work all the more valuable.-- +C. Darwin to R. Chambers (April 30, 1861).) But I am inclined to suspect +that on the whole it would be favourable to the notion of descent with +modification; for about a year ago, Mr. Salter (John William Salter; 1820- +1869. He entered the service of the Geological Survey in 1846, and +ultimately became its Palaeontologist, on the retirement of Edward Forbes, +and gave up the office in 1863. He was associated with several well-known +naturalists in their work--with Sedgwick, Murchison, Lyell, Ramsay, and +Huxley. There are sixty entries under his name in the Royal Society +Catalogue. The above facts are taken from an obituary notice of Mr. Salter +in the 'Geological Magazine,' 1869.) in the Museum in Jermyn Street, glued +on a board some Spirifers, etc., from three palaeozoic stages, and arranged +them in single and branching lines, with horizontal lines marking the +formations (like the diagram in my book, if you know it), and the result +seemed to me very striking, though I was too ignorant fully to appreciate +the lines of affinities. I longed to have had these shells engraved, as +arranged by Mr. Salter, and connected by dotted lines, and would have +gladly paid the expense: but I could not persuade Mr. Salter to publish a +little paper on the subject. I can hardly doubt that many curious points +would occur to any one thoroughly instructed in the subject, who would +consider a group of beings under this point of view of descent with +modification. All those forms which have come down from an ancient period +very slightly modified ought, I think, to be omitted, and those forms alone +considered which have undergone considerable change at each successive +epoch. My fear is whether brachiopods have changed enough. The absolute +amount of difference of the forms in such groups at the opposite extremes +of time ought to be considered, and how far the early forms are +intermediate in character between those which appeared much later in time. +The antiquity of a group is not really diminished, as some seem vaguely to +think, because it has transmitted to the present day closely allied forms. +Another point is how far the succession of each genus is unbroken, from the +first time it appeared to its extinction, with due allowance made for +formations poor in fossils. I cannot but think that an important essay +(far more important than a hundred literary reviews) might be written by +one like yourself, and without very great labour. I know it is highly +probable that you may not have leisure, or not care for, or dislike the +subject, but I trust to your kindness to forgive me for making this +suggestion. If by any extraordinary good fortune you were inclined to take +up this notion, I would ask you to read my Chapter X. on Geological +Succession. And I should like in this case to be permitted to send you a +copy of the new edition, just published, in which I have added and +corrected somewhat in Chapters IX. and X. + +Pray excuse this long letter, and believe me, +My dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I write so bad a hand that I have had this note copied. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THOMAS DAVIDSON. +Down, April 30, 1861. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you warmly for your letter; I did not in the least know that you +had attended to my work. I assure you that the attention which you have +paid to it, considering your knowledge and the philosophical tone of your +mind (for I well remember one remarkable letter you wrote to me, and have +looked through your various publications), I consider one of the highest, +perhaps the very highest, compliments which I have received. I live so +solitary a life that I do not often hear what goes on, and I should much +like to know in what work you have published some remarks on my book. I +take a deep interest in the subject, and I hope not simply an egotistical +interest; therefore you may believe how much your letter has gratified me; +I am perfectly contented if any one will fairly consider the subject, +whether or not he fully or only very slightly agrees with me. Pray do not +think that I feel the least surprise at your demurring to a ready +acceptance; in fact, I should not much respect anyone's judgment who did +so: that is, if I may judge others from the long time which it has taken +me to go round. Each stage of belief cost me years. The difficulties are, +as you say, many and very great; but the more I reflect, the more they seem +to me to be due to our underestimating our ignorance. I belong so much to +old times that I find that I weigh the difficulties from the imperfection +of the geological record, heavier than some of the younger men. I find, to +my astonishment and joy, that such good men as Ramsay, Jukes, Geikie, and +one old worker, Lyell, do not think that I have in the least exaggerated +the imperfection of the record. (Professor Sedgwick treated this part of +the 'Origin of Species' very differently, as might have been expected from +his vehement objection to Evolution in general. In the article in the +"Spectator" of March 24, 1860, already noticed, Sedgwick wrote: "We know +the complicated organic phenomena of the Mesozoic (or Oolitic) period. It +defies the transmutationist at every step. Oh! but the document, says +Darwin, is a fragment; I will interpolate long periods to account for all +the changes. I say, in reply, if you deny my conclusion, grounded on +positive evidence, I toss back your conclusion, derived from negative +evidence,--the inflated cushion on which you try to bolster up the defects +of your hypothesis." [The punctuation of the imaginary dialogue is +slightly altered from the original, which is obscure in one place.]) If my +views ever are proved true, our current geological views will have to be +considerably modified. My greatest trouble is, not being able to weigh the +direct effects of the long-continued action of changed conditions of life +without any selection, with the action of selection on mere accidental (so +to speak) variability. I oscillate much on this head, but generally return +to my belief that the direct action of the conditions of life has not been +great. At least this direct action can have played an extremely small part +in producing all the numberless and beautiful adaptations in every living +creature. With respect to a person's belief, what does rather surprise me +is that any one (like Carpenter) should be willing TO GO SO VERY FAR as to +believe that all birds may have descended from one parent, and not go a +little farther and include all the members of the same great division; for +on such a scale of belief, all the facts in Morphology and in Embryology +(the most important in my opinion of all subjects) become mere Divine +mockeries...I cannot express how profoundly glad I am that some day you +will publish your theoretical view on the modification and endurance of +Brachiopodous species; I am sure it will be a most valuable contribution to +knowledge. + +Pray forgive this very egotistical letter, but you yourself are partly to +blame for having pleased me so much. I have told Murray to send a copy of +my new edition to you, and have written your name. + +With cordial thanks, pray believe me, my dear Sir, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In Mr. Davidson's Monograph on British Brachiopoda, published shortly +afterwards by the Palaeontographical Society, results such as my father +anticipated were to some extent obtained. "No less than fifteen commonly +received species are demonstrated by Mr. Davidson by the aid of a long +series of transitional forms to appertain to...one type." "Lyell, +'Antiquity of Man,' first edition, page 428.) + +In the autumn of 1860, and the early part of 1861, my father had a good +deal of correspondence with Professor Asa Gray on a subject to which +reference has already been made--the publication in the form of a pamphlet, +of Professor Gray's three articles in the July, August, and October numbers +of the 'Atlantic Monthly,' 1860. The pamphlet was published by Messrs. +Trubner, with reference to whom my father wrote, "Messrs. Trubner have been +most liberal and kind, and say they shall make no charge for all their +trouble. I have settled about a few advertisements, and they will +gratuitously insert one in their own periodicals." + +The reader will find these articles republished in Dr. Gray's 'Darwiniana,' +page 87, under the title "Natural Selection not inconsistent with Natural +Theology." The pamphlet found many admirers among those most capable of +judging of its merits, and my father believed that it was of much value in +lessening opposition, and making converts to Evolution. His high opinion +of it is shown not only in his letters, but by the fact that he inserted a +special notice of it in a most prominent place in the third edition of the +'Origin.' Lyell, among others, recognised its value as an antidote to the +kind of criticism from which the cause of Evolution suffered. Thus my +father wrote to Dr. Gray:--"Just to exemplify the use of your pamphlet, the +Bishop of London was asking Lyell what he thought of the review in the +'Quarterly,' and Lyell answered, 'Read Asa Gray in the 'Atlantic.'". It +comes out very clearly that in the case of such publications as Dr. Gray's, +my father did not rejoice over the success of his special view of +Evolution, viz. that modification is mainly due to Natural Selection; on +the contrary, he felt strongly that the really important point was that the +doctrine of Descent should be accepted. Thus he wrote to Professor Gray +(May 11, 1863), with reference to Lyell's 'Antiquity of Man':-- + +"You speak of Lyell as a judge; now what I complain of is that he declines +to be a judge...I have sometimes almost wished that Lyell had pronounced +against me. When I say 'me,' I only mean CHANGE OF SPECIES BY DESCENT. +That seems to me the turning-point. Personally, of course, I care much +about Natural Selection; but that seems to me utterly unimportant, compared +to the question of Creation OR Modification."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, April 11 [1861]. + +My dear Gray, + +I was very glad to get your photograph: I am expecting mine, which I will +send off as soon as it comes. It is an ugly affair, and I fear the fault +does not lie with the photographer...Since writing last, I have had several +letters full of the highest commendation of your Essay; all agree that it +is by far the best thing written, and I do not doubt it has done the +'Origin' much good. I have not yet heard how it has sold. You will have +seen a review in the "Gardeners' Chronicle". Poor dear Henslow, to whom I +owe much, is dying, and Hooker is with him. Many thanks for two sets of +sheets of your Proceedings. I cannot understand what Agassiz is driving +at. You once spoke, I think, of Professor Bowen as a very clever man. I +should have thought him a singularly unobservant man from his writings. He +never can have seen much of animals, or he would have seen the difference +of old and wise dogs and young ones. His paper about hereditariness beats +everything. Tell a breeder that he might pick out his worst INDIVIDUAL +animals and breed from them, and hope to win a prize, and he would think +you...insane. + + +[Professor Henslow died on May 16, 1861, from a complication of bronchitis, +congestion of the lungs, and enlargement of the heart. His strong +constitution was slow in giving way, and he lingered for weeks in a painful +condition of weakness, knowing that his end was near, and looking at death +with fearless eyes. In Mr. Blomefield's (Jenyns) 'Memoir of Henslow' +(1862) is a dignified and touching description of Prof. Sedgwick's farewell +visit to his old friend. Sedgwick said afterwards that he had never seen +"a human being whose soul was nearer heaven." + +My father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker on hearing of Henslow's death, "I fully +believe a better man never walked this earth." + +He gave his impressions of Henslow's character in Mr. Blomefield's +'Memoir.' In reference to these recollections he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker +(May 30, 1861):-- + +"This morning I wrote my recollections and impressions of character of poor +dear Henslow about the year 1830. I liked the job, and so have written +four or five pages, now being copied. I do not suppose you will use all, +of course you can chop and change as much as you like. If more than a +sentence is used, I should like to see a proof-page, as I never can write +decently till I see it in print. Very likely some of my remarks may appear +too trifling, but I thought it best to give my thoughts as they arose, for +you or Jenyns to use as you think fit. + +"You will see that I have exceeded your request, but, as I said when I +began, I took pleasure in writing my impression of his admirable +character."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 5 [1861]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have been rather extra busy, so have been slack in answering your note of +May 6th. I hope you have received long ago the third edition of the +'Origin.'...I have heard nothing from Trubner of the sale of your Essay, +hence fear it has not been great; I wrote to say you could supply more. I +send a copy to Sir J. Herschel, and in his new edition of his 'Physical +Geography' he has a note on the 'Origin of Species,' and agrees, to a +certain limited extent, but puts in a caution on design--much like +yours...I have been led to think more on this subject of late, and grieve +to say that I come to differ more from you. It is not that designed +variation makes, as it seems to me, my deity "Natural Selection" +superfluous, but rather from studying, lately, domestic variation, and +seeing what an enormous field of undesigned variability there is ready for +natural selection to appropriate for any purpose useful to each creature. + +I thank you much for sending me your review of Phillips. ('Life on the +Earth,' 1860.) I remember once telling you a lot of trades which you ought +to have followed, but now I am convinced that you are a born reviewer. By +Jove, how well and often you hit the nail on the head! You rank Phillips's +book higher than I do, or than Lyell does, who thinks it fearfully +retrograde. I amused myself by parodying Phillips's argument as applied to +domestic variation; and you might thus prove that the duck or pigeon has +not varied because the goose has not, though more anciently domesticated, +and no good reason can be assigned why it has not produced many varieties +... + +I never knew the newspapers so profoundly interesting. North America does +not do England justice; I have not seen or heard of a soul who is not with +the North. Some few, and I am one of them, even wish to God, though at the +loss of millions of lives, that the North would proclaim a crusade against +slavery. In the long-run, a million horrid deaths would be amply repaid in +the cause of humanity. What wonderful times we live in! Massachusetts +seems to show noble enthusiasm. Great God! How I should like to see the +greatest curse on earth--slavery--abolished! + +Farewell. Hooker has been absorbed with poor dear revered Henslow's +affairs. Farewell. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +HUGH FALCONER TO CHARLES DARWIN. +31 Sackville St., W., June 23, 1861. + +My dear Darwin, + +I have been to Adelsberg cave and brought back with me a live Proteus +anguinus, designed for you from the moment I got it; i.e. if you have got +an aquarium and would care to have it. I only returned last night from the +continent, and hearing from your brother that you are about to go to +Torquay, I lose no time in making you the offer. The poor dear animal is +still alive--although it has had no appreciable means of sustenance for a +month--and I am most anxious to get rid of the responsibility of starving +it longer. In your hands it will thrive and have a fair chance of being +developed without delay into some type of the Columbidae--say a Pouter or a +Tumbler. + +My dear Darwin, I have been rambling through the north of Italy, and +Germany lately. Everywhere have I heard your views and your admirable +essay canvassed--the views of course often dissented from, according to the +special bias of the speaker--but the work, its honesty of purpose, grandeur +of conception, felicity of illustration, and courageous exposition, always +referred to in terms of the highest admiration. And among your warmest +friends no one rejoiced more heartily in the just appreciation of Charles +Darwin than did + +Yours very truly, +H. FALCONER. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HUGH FALCONER. +Down [June 24, 1861]. + +My dear Falconer, + +I have just received your note, and by good luck a day earlier than +properly, and I lose not a moment in answering you, and thanking you +heartily for your offer of the valuable specimen; but I have no aquarium +and shall soon start for Torquay, so that it would be a thousand pities +that I should have it. Yet I should certainly much like to see it, but I +fear it is impossible. Would not the Zoological Society be the best place? +and then the interest which many would take in this extraordinary animal +would repay you for your trouble. + +Kind as you have been in taking this trouble and offering me this specimen, +to tell the truth I value your note more than the specimen. I shall keep +your note amongst a very few precious letters. Your kindness has quite +touched me. + +Yours affectionately and gratefully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +2 Hesketh Crescent, Torquay, +July 13 [1861]. + +...I hope Harvey is better; I got his review (The 'Dublin Hospital +Gazette,' May 15, 1861. The passage referred to is at page 150.) of me a +day or two ago, from which I infer he must be convalescent; it's very good +and fair; but it is funny to see a man argue on the succession of animals +from Noah's Deluge; as God did not then wholly destroy man, probably he did +not wholly destroy the races of other animals at each geological period! I +never expected to have a helping hand from the Old Testament... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +2, Hesketh Crescent, Torquay, +July 20 [1861]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I sent you two or three days ago a duplicate of a good review of the +'Origin' by a Mr. Maw (Mr. George Maw, of Benthall Hall. The review was +published in the 'Zoologist,' July, 1861. On the back of my father's copy +is written, "Must be consulted before new edit. of 'Origin'"--words which +are wanting on many more pretentious notices, on which frequently occur my +father's brief o/-, or "nothing new."), evidently a thoughtful man, as I +thought you might like to have it, as you have so many... + +This is quite a charming place, and I have actually walked, I believe, good +two miles out and back, which is a grand feat. + +I saw Mr. Pengelly (William Pengelly, the geologist, and well-known +explorer of the Devonshire caves.) the other day, and was pleased at his +enthusiasm. I do not in the least know whether you are in London. Your +illness must have lost you much time, but I hope you have nearly got your +great job of the new edition finished. You must be very busy, if in +London, so I will be generous, and on honour bright do not expect any +answer to this dull little note... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, September 17 [1861?]. + +My dear Gray, + +I thank you sincerely for your very long and interesting letter, political +and scientific, of August 27th and 29th, and September 2nd received this +morning. I agree with much of what you say, and I hope to God we English +are utterly wrong in doubting (1) whether the N. can conquer the S.; (2) +whether the N. has many friends in the South, and (3) whether you noble men +of Massachusetts are right in transferring your own good feelings to the +men of Washington. Again I say I hope to God we are wrong in doubting on +these points. It is number (3) which alone causes England not to be +enthusiastic with you. What it may be in Lancashire I know not, but in S. +England cotton has nothing whatever to do with our doubts. If abolition +does follow with your victory, the whole world will look brighter in my +eyes, and in many eyes. It would be a great gain even to stop the spread +of slavery into the Territories; if that be possible without abolition, +which I should have doubted. You ought not to wonder so much at England's +coldness, when you recollect at the commencement of the war how many +propositions were made to get things back to the old state with the old +line of latitude, but enough of this, all I can say is that Massachusetts +and the adjoining States have the full sympathy of every good man whom I +see; and this sympathy would be extended to the whole Federal States, if we +could be persuaded that your feelings were at all common to them. But +enough of this. It is out of my line, though I read every word of news, +and formerly well studied Olmsted... + +Your question what would convince me of Design is a poser. If I saw an +angel come down to teach us good, and I was convinced from others seeing +him that I was not mad, I should believe in design. If I could be +convinced thoroughly that life and mind was in an unknown way a function of +other imponderable force, I should be convinced. If man was made of brass +or iron and no way connected with any other organism which had ever lived, +I should perhaps be convinced. But this is childish writing. + +I have lately been corresponding with Lyell, who, I think, adopts your idea +of the stream of variation having been led or designed. I have asked him +(and he says he will hereafter reflect and answer me) whether he believes +that the shape of my nose was designed. If he does I have nothing more to +say. If not, seeing what Fanciers have done by selecting individual +differences in the nasal bones of pigeons, I must think that it is +illogical to suppose that the variations, which natural selection preserves +for the good of any being have been designed. But I know that I am in the +same sort of muddle (as I have said before) as all the world seems to be in +with respect to free will, yet with everything supposed to have been +foreseen or pre-ordained. + +Farewell, my dear Gray, with many thanks for your interesting letter. + +Your unmerciful correspondent. +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.W. BATES. +Down, December 3 [1861]. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you for your extremely interesting letter, and valuable references, +though God knows when I shall come again to this part of my subject. One +cannot of course judge of style when one merely hears a paper (On Mimetic +Butterflies, read before the Linnean Soc., November 21, 1861. For my +father's opinion of it when published, see below.), but yours seemed to me +very clear and good. Believe me that I estimate its value most highly. +Under a general point of view, I am quite convinced (Hooker and Huxley took +the same view some months ago) that a philosophic view of nature can solely +be driven into naturalists by treating special subjects as you have done. +Under a special point of view, I think you have solved one of the most +perplexing problems which could be given to solve. I am glad to hear from +Hooker that the Linnean Society will give plates if you can get drawings... + +Do not complain of want of advice during your travels; I dare say part of +your great originality of views may be due to the necessity of self- +exertion of thought. I can understand that your reception at the British +Museum would damp you; they are a very good set of men, but not the sort to +appreciate your work. In fact I have long thought that TOO MUCH systematic +work [and] description somehow blunts the faculties. The general public +appreciates a good dose of reasoning, or generalisation, with new and +curious remarks on habits, final causes, etc. etc., far more than do the +regular naturalists. + +I am extremely glad to hear that you have begun your travels...I am very +busy, but I shall be TRULY glad to render any aid which I can by reading +your first chapter or two. I do not think I shall be able to correct +style, for this reason, that after repeated trials I find I cannot correct +my own style till I see the MS. in type. Some are born with a power of +good writing, like Wallace; others like myself and Lyell have to labour +very hard and slowly at every sentence. I find it a very good plan, when I +cannot get a difficult discussion to please me, to fancy that some one +comes into the room and asks me what I am doing; and then try at once and +explain to the imaginary person what it is all about. I have done this for +one paragraph to myself several times, and sometimes to Mrs. Darwin, till I +see how the subject ought to go. It is, I think, good to read one's MS. +aloud. But style to me is a great difficulty; yet some good judges think I +have succeeded, and I say this to encourage you. + +What I THINK I can do will be to tell you whether parts had better be +shortened. It is good, I think, to dash "in media res," and work in later +any descriptions of country or any historical details which may be +necessary. Murray likes lots of wood-cuts--give some by all means of ants. +The public appreciate monkeys--our poor cousins. What sexual differences +are there in monkeys? Have you kept them tame? if so, about their +expression. I fear that you will hardly read my vile hand-writing, but I +cannot without killing trouble write better. + +You shall have my candid opinion on your MS., but remember it is hard to +judge from MS., one reads slowly, and heavy parts seem much heavier. A +first-rate judge thought my Journal very poor; now that it is in print, I +happen to know, he likes it. I am sure you will understand why I am so +egotistical. + +I was a LITTLE disappointed in Wallace's book ('Travels on the Amazon and +Rio Negro,' 1853.) on the Amazon; hardly facts enough. On the other hand, +in Gosse's book (Probably the 'Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851.) +there is not reasoning enough to my taste. Heaven knows whether you will +care to read all this scribbling... + +I am glad you had a pleasant day with Hooker (In a letter to Sir J.D. +Hooker (December 1861), my father wrote: "I am very glad to hear that you +like Bates. I have seldom in my life been more struck with a man's power +of mind."), he is an admirably good man in every sense. + + +[The following extract from a letter to Mr. Bates on the same subject is +interesting as giving an idea of the plan followed by my father in writing +his 'Naturalist's Voyage:' + +"As an old hackneyed author, let me give you a bit of advice, viz. to +strike out every word which is not quite necessary to the current subject, +and which could not interest a stranger. I constantly asked myself, would +a stranger care for this? and struck out or left in accordingly. I think +too much pains cannot be taken in making the style transparently clear and +throwing eloquence to the dogs." + +Mr. Bates's book, 'The Naturalist on the Amazons,' was published in 1865, +but the following letter may be given here rather than in its due +chronological position:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.W. BATES. +Down, April 18, 1863. + +Dear Bates, + +I have finished volume i. My criticisms may be condensed into a single +sentence, namely, that it is the best work of Natural History Travels ever +published in England. Your style seems to me admirable. Nothing can be +better than the discussion on the struggle for existence, and nothing +better than the description of the Forest scenery. (In a letter to Lyell +my father wrote: "He [i.e. Mr. Bates] is second only to Humboldt in +describing a tropical forest.") It is a grand book, and whether or not it +sells quickly, it will last. You have spoken out boldly on Species; and +boldness on the subject seems to get rarer and rarer. How beautifully +illustrated it is. The cut on the back is most tasteful. I heartily +congratulate you on its publication. + +The "Athenaeum" ("I have read the first volume of Bates's Book; it is +capital, and I think the best Natural History Travels ever published in +England. He is bold about Species, etc., and the "Athenaeum" coolly says +'he bends his facts' for this purpose."--(From a letter to Sir J.D. +Hooker.)) was rather cold, as it always is, and insolent in the highest +degree about your leading facts. Have you seen the "Reader"? I can send +it to you if you have not seen it... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, December 11 [1861]. + +My dear Gray, + +Many and cordial thanks for your two last most valuable notes. What a +thing it is that when you receive this we may be at war, and we two be +bound, as good patriots, to hate each other, though I shall find this +hating you very hard work. How curious it is to see two countries, just +like two angry and silly men, taking so opposite a view of the same +transaction! I fear there is no shadow of doubt we shall fight if the two +Southern rogues are not given up. (The Confederate Commissioners Slidell +and Mason were forcibly removed from the "Trent", a West India mail steamer +on November 8, 1861. The news that the U.S. agreed to release them reached +England on January 8, 1862.) And what a wretched thing it will be if we +fight on the side of slavery. No doubt it will be said that we fight to +get cotton; but I fully believe that this has not entered into the motive +in the least. Well, thank Heaven, we private individuals have nothing to +do with so awful a responsibility. Again, how curious it is that you seem +to think that you can conquer the South; and I never meet a soul, even +those who would most wish it, who thinks it possible--that is, to conquer +and retain it. I do not suppose the mass of people in your country will +believe it, but I feel sure if we do go to war it will be with the utmost +reluctance by all classes, Ministers of Government and all. Time will +show, and it is no use writing or thinking about it. I called the other +day on Dr. Boott, and was pleased to find him pretty well and cheerful. I +see, by the way, he takes quite an English opinion of American affairs, +though an American in heart. (Dr. Boott was born in the U.S.) Buckle +might write a chapter on opinion being entirely dependent on longitude! + +...With respect to Design, I feel more inclined to show a white flag than +to fire my usual long-range shot. I like to try and ask you a puzzling +question, but when you return the compliment I have great doubts whether it +is a fair way of arguing. If anything is designed, certainly man must be: +one's "inner consciousness" (though a false guide) tells one so; yet I +cannot admit that man's rudimentary mammae...were designed. If I was to +say I believed this, I should believe it in the same incredible manner as +the orthodox believe the Trinity in Unity. You say that you are in a haze; +I am in thick mud; the orthodox would say in fetid, abominable mud; yet I +cannot keep out of the question. My dear Gray, I have written a deal of +nonsense. + +Yours most cordially, +C. DARWIN. + + +1862. + +[Owing to the illness from scarlet fever of one of his boys, he took a +house at Bournemouth in the autumn. He wrote to Dr. Gray from Southampton +(August 21, 1862):-- + +"We are a wretched family, and ought to be exterminated. We slept here to +rest our poor boy on his journey to Bournemouth, and my poor dear wife +sickened with scarlet fever, and has had it pretty sharply, but is +recovering well. There is no end of trouble in this weary world. I shall +not feel safe till we are all at home together, and when that will be I +know not. But it is foolish complaining." + + +Dr. Gray used to send postage stamps to the scarlet fever patient; with +regard to this good-natured deed my father wrote-- + +"I must just recur to stamps; my little man has calculated that he will now +have 6 stamps which no other boy in the school has. Here is a triumph. +Your last letter was plaistered with many coloured stamps, and he long +surveyed the envelope in bed with much quiet satisfaction." + + +The greater number of the letters of 1862 deal with the Orchid work, but +the wave of conversion to Evolution was still spreading, and reviews and +letters bearing on the subject still came in numbers. As an example of the +odd letters he received may be mentioned one which arrived in January of +this year "from a German homoeopathic doctor, an ardent admirer of the +'Origin.' Had himself published nearly the same sort of book, but goes +much deeper. Explains the origin of plants and animals on the principles +of homoeopathy or by the law of spirality. Book fell dead in Germany. +Therefore would I translate it and publish it in England."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, [January?] 14 [1862]. + +My dear Huxley, + +I am heartily glad of your success in the North (This refers to two of Mr. +Huxley's lectures, given before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh +in 1862. The substance of them is given in 'Man's Place in Nature.'), and +thank you for your note and slip. By Jove you have attacked Bigotry in its +stronghold. I thought you would have been mobbed. I am so glad that you +will publish your Lectures. You seem to have kept a due medium between +extreme boldness and caution. I am heartily glad that all went off so +well. I hope Mrs. Huxley is pretty well...I must say one word on the +Hybrid question. No doubt you are right that here is a great hiatus in the +argument; yet I think you overrate it--you never allude to the excellent +evidence of VARIETIES of Verbascum and Nicotiana being partially sterile +together. It is curious to me to read (as I have to-day) the greatest +crossing GARDENER utterly pooh-poohing the distinction which BOTANISTS make +on this head, and insisting how frequently crossed VARIETIES produce +sterile offspring. Do oblige me by reading the latter half of my Primula +paper in the 'Linn. Journal,' for it leads me to suspect that sterility +will hereafter have to be largely viewed as an acquired or SELECTED +character--a view which I wish I had had facts to maintain in the 'Origin.' +(The view here given will be discussed in the chapter on hetero-styled +plants.) + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 25 [1862]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Many thanks for your last Sunday's letter, which was one of the pleasantest +I ever received in my life. We are all pretty well redivivus, and I am at +work again. I thought it best to make a clean breast to Asa Gray; and told +him that the Boston dinner, etc. etc., had quite turned my stomach, and +that I almost thought it would be good for the peace of the world if the +United States were split up; on the other hand, I said that I groaned to +think of the slave-holders being triumphant, and that the difficulties of +making a line of separation were fearful. I wonder what he will say...Your +notion of the Aristocrat being kenspeckle, and the best men of a good lot +being thus easily selected is new to me, and striking. The 'Origin' having +made you in fact a jolly old Tory, made us all laugh heartily. I have +sometimes speculated on this subject; primogeniture (My father had a strong +feeling as to the injustice of primogeniture, and in a similar spirit was +often indignant over the unfair wills that appear from time to time. He +would declare energetically that if he were law-giver no will should be +valid that was not published in the testator's lifetime; and this he +maintained would prevent much of the monstrous injustice and meanness +apparent in so many wills.) is dreadfully opposed to selection; suppose the +first-born bull was necessarily made by each farmer the begetter of his +stock! On the other hand, as you say, ablest men are continually raised to +the peerage, and get crossed with the older Lord-breeds, and the Lords +continually select the most beautiful and charming women out of the lower +ranks; so that a good deal of indirect selection improves the Lords. +Certainly I agree with you the present American row has a very Torifying +influence on us all. I am very glad to hear you are beginning to print the +'Genera;' it is a wonderful satisfaction to be thus brought to bed, indeed +it is one's chief satisfaction, I think, though one knows that another +bantling will soon be developing... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MAXWELL MASTERS. (Dr. Masters is a well-known vegetable +teratologist, and has been for many years the editor of the "Gardeners' +Chronicle".) +Down, February 26 [1862]. + +My dear Sir, + +I am much obliged to you for sending me your article (Refers to a paper on +"Vegetable Morphology," by Dr. Masters, in the 'British and Foreign Medico- +Chirurgical Review' for 1862), which I have just read with much interest. +The history, and a good deal besides, was quite new to me. It seems to me +capitally done, and so clearly written. You really ought to write your +larger work. You speak too generously of my book; but I must confess that +you have pleased me not a little; for no one, as far as I know, has ever +remarked on what I say on classification--a part, which when I wrote it, +pleased me. With many thanks to you for sending me your article, pray +believe me, + +My dear Sir, yours sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +[In the spring of this year (1862) my father read the second volume of +Buckle's 'History of Civilisation." The following strongly expressed +opinion about it may be worth quoting:-- + +"Have you read Buckle's second volume? It has interested me greatly; I do +not care whether his views are right or wrong, but I should think they +contained much truth. There is a noble love of advancement and truth +throughout; and to my taste he is the very best writer of the English +language that ever lived, let the other be who he may."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, March 15 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +Thanks for the newspapers (though they did contain digs at England), and +for your note of February 18th. It is really almost a pleasure to receive +stabs from so smooth, polished, and sharp a dagger as your pen. I heartily +wish I could sympathise more fully with you, instead of merely hating the +South. We cannot enter into your feelings; if Scotland were to rebel, I +presume we should be very wrath, but I do not think we should care a penny +what other nations thought. The millennium must come before nations love +each other; but try and do not hate me. Think of me, if you will as a poor +blinded fool. I fear the dreadful state of affairs must dull your interest +in Science... + +I believe that your pamphlet has done my book GREAT good; and I thank you +from my heart for myself; and believing that the views are in large part +true, I must think that you have done natural science a good turn. Natural +Selection seems to be making a little progress in England and on the +Continent; a new German edition is called for, and a French (In June, 1862, +my father wrote to Dr. Gray: "I received, 2 or 3 days ago, a French +translation of the 'Origin,' by a Madlle. Royer, who must be one of the +cleverest and oddest women in Europe: is an ardent Deist, and hates +Christianity, and declares that natural selection and the struggle for life +will explain all morality, nature of man, politics, etc. etc.! She makes +some very curious and good hits, and says she shall publish a book on these +subjects." Madlle. Royer added foot-notes to her translation, and in many +places where the author expresses great doubt, she explains the difficulty, +or points out that no real difficulty exists.) one has just appeared. One +of the best men, though at present unknown, who has taken up these views, +is Mr. Bates; pray read his 'Travels in Amazonia,' when they appear; they +will be very good, judging from MS. of the first two chapters. + +...Again I say, do not hate me. + +Ever yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +1 Carlton Terrace, Southampton (The house of his son William.), +August 22, [1862]. + +...I heartily hope that you (I.e. 'The Antiquity of Man.') will be out in +October...you say that the Bishop and Owen will be down on you; the latter +hardly can, for I was assured that Owen in his Lectures this spring +advanced as a new idea that wingless birds had lost their wings by disuse, +also that magpies stole spoons, etc., from a REMNANT of some instinct like +that of the Bower-Bird, which ornaments its playing-passage with pretty +feathers. Indeed, I am told that he hinted plainly that all birds are +descended from one... + +Your P.S. touches on, as it seems to me, very difficult points. I am glad +to see [that] in the 'Origin,' I only say that the naturalists generally +consider that low organisms vary more than high; and this I think certainly +is the general opinion. I put the statement this way to show that I +considered it only an opinion probably true. I must own that I do not at +all trust even Hooker's contrary opinion, as I feel pretty sure that he has +not tabulated any result. I have some materials at home, I think I +attempted to make this point out, but cannot remember the result. + +Mere variability, though the necessary foundation of all modifications, I +believe to be almost always present, enough to allow of any amount of +selected change; so that it does not seem to me at all incompatible that a +group which at any one period (or during all successive periods) varies +less, should in the long course of time have undergone more modification +than a group which is generally more variable. + +Placental animals, e.g. might be at each period less variable than +Marsupials, and nevertheless have undergone more DIFFERENTIATION and +development than marsupials, owing to some advantage, probably brain +development. + +I am surprised, but do not pretend to form an opinion at Hooker's statement +that higher species, genera, etc., are best limited. It seems to me a bold +statement. + +Looking to the 'Origin,' I see that I state that the productions of the +land seem to change quicker than those of the sea (Chapter X., page 339, 3d +edition), and I add there is some reason to believe that organisms +considered high in the scale change quicker than those that are low. I +remember writing these sentences after much deliberation...I remember well +feeling much hesitation about putting in even the guarded sentences which I +did. My doubts, I remember, related to the rate of change of the Radiata +in the Secondary formation, and of the Foraminifera in the oldest Tertiary +beds... + +Good night, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, October 1 [1862]. + +...I found here (On his return from Bournemouth.) a short and very kind +note of Falconer, with some pages of his 'Elephant Memoir,' which will be +published, in which he treats admirably on long persistence of type. I +thought he was going to make a good and crushing attack on me, but to my +great satisfaction, he ends by pointing out a loophole, and adds (Falconer, +"On the American Fossil Elephant," in the 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1863, page +81. The words preceding those cited by my father make the meaning of his +quotation clearer. The passage begins as follows: "The inferences which I +draw from these facts are not opposed to one of the leading propositions of +Darwin's theory. With him," etc. etc.) "with him I have no faith that the +mammoth and other extinct elephants made their appearance suddenly...The +most rational view seems to be that they are the modified descendants of +earlier progenitors, etc." This is capital. There will not be soon one +good palaeontologist who believes in immutability. Falconer does not allow +for the Proboscidean group being a failing one, and therefore not likely to +be giving off new races. + +He adds that he does not think Natural Selection suffices. I do not quite +see the force of his argument, and he apparently overlooks that I say over +and over again that Natural Selection can do nothing without variability, +and that variability is subject to the most complex fixed laws... + + +[In his letters to Sir J.D. Hooker, about the end of this year, are +occasional notes on the progress of the 'Variation of Animals and Plants.' +Thus on November 24th he wrote: "I hardly know why I am a little sorry, +but my present work is leading me to believe rather more in the direct +action of physical conditions. I presume I regret it, because it lessens +the glory of natural selection, and is so confoundedly doubtful. Perhaps I +shall change again when I get all my facts under one point of view, and a +pretty hard job this will be." + +Again, on December 22nd, "To-day I have begun to think of arranging my +concluding chapters on Inheritance, Reversion, Selection, and such things, +and am fairly paralyzed how to begin and how to end, and what to do, with +my huge piles of materials."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, November 6 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +When your note of October 4th and 13th (chiefly about Max Muller) arrived, +I was nearly at the end of the same book ('Lectures on the Science of +Language,' 1st edition 1861.), and had intended recommending you to read +it. I quite agree that it is extremely interesting, but the latter part +about the FIRST origin of language much the least satisfactory. It is a +marvellous problem...[There are] covert sneers at me, which he seems to get +the better of towards the close of the book. I cannot quite see how it +will forward "my cause," as you call it; but I can see how any one with +literary talent (I do not feel up to it) could make great use of the +subject in illustration. (Language was treated in the manner here +indicated by Sir C. Lyell in the 'Antiquity of Man.' Also by Prof. +Schleicher, whose pamphlet was fully noticed in the "Reader", February 27, +1864 (as I learn from one of Prof. Huxley's 'Lay Sermons').) What pretty +metaphors you would make from it! I wish some one would keep a lot of the +most noisy monkeys, half free, and study their means of communication! + +A book has just appeared here which will, I suppose, make a noise, by +Bishop Colenso ('The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined,' +six parts, 1862-71.), who, judging from extracts, smashes most of the Old +testament. Talking of books, I am in the middle of one which pleases me, +though it is very innocent food, viz., Miss Coopers 'Journal of a +Naturalist.' Who is she? She seems a very clever woman, and gives a +capital account of the battle between OUR and YOUR weeds. Does it not hurt +your Yankee pride that we thrash you so confoundedly? I am sure Mrs. Gray +will stick up for your own weeds. Ask her whether they are not more +honest, downright good sort of weeds. The book gives an extremely pretty +picture of one of your villages; but I see your autumn, though so much more +gorgeous than ours, comes on sooner, and that is one comfort... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.W. BATES. +Down, November 20 [1862]. + +Dear Bates, + +I have just finished, after several reads, your paper. (This refers to Mr. +Bates's paper, "Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazons Valley" +('Linn. Soc. Trans.' xxiii., 1862), in which the now familiar subject of +mimicry was founded. My father wrote a short review of it in the 'Natural +History Review,' 1863, page 219, parts of which occur in this review almost +verbatim in the later editions of the 'Origin of Species.' A striking +passage occurs showing the difficulties of the case from a creationist's +point of view:-- + +"By what means, it may be asked, have so many butterflies of the Amazonian +region acquired their deceptive dress? Most naturalists will answer that +they were thus clothed from the hour of their creation--an answer which +will generally be so far triumphant that it can be met only by long-drawn +arguments; but it is made at the expense of putting an effectual bar to all +further enquiry. In this particular case, moreover, the creationist will +meet with special difficulties; for many of the mimicking forms of Leptalis +can be shown by a graduated series to be merely varieties of one species; +other mimickers are undoubtedly distinct species, or even distinct genera. +So again, some of the mimicked forms can be shown to be merely varieties; +but the greater number must be ranked as distinct species. Hence the +creationist will have to admit that some of these forms have become +imitators, by means of the laws of variation, whilst others he must look at +as separately created under their present guise; he will further have to +admit that some have been created in imitation of forms not themselves +created as we now see them, but due to the laws of variation? Prof. +Agassiz, indeed, would think nothing of this difficulty; for he believes +that not only each species and each variety, but that groups of +individuals, though identically the same, when inhabiting distinct +countries, have been all separately created in due proportional numbers to +the wants of each land. Not many naturalists will be content thus to +believe that varieties and individuals have been turned out all ready made, +almost as a manufacturer turns out toys according to the temporary demand +of the market.") In my opinion it is one of the most remarkable and +admirable papers I ever read in my life. The mimetic cases are truly +marvellous, and you connect excellently a host of analogous facts. The +illustrations are beautiful, and seem very well chosen; but it would have +saved the reader not a little trouble, if the name of each had been +engraved below each separate figure. No doubt this would have put the +engraver into fits, as it would have destroyed the beauty of the plate. I +am not at all surprised at such a paper having consumed much time. I am +rejoiced that I passed over the whole subject in the 'Origin,' for I should +have made a precious mess of it. You have most clearly stated and solved a +wonderful problem. No doubt with most people this will be the cream of the +paper; but I am not sure that all your facts and reasonings on variation, +and on the segregation of complete and semi-complete species, is not really +more, or at least as valuable, a part. I never conceived the process +nearly so clearly before; one feels present at the creation of new forms. +I wish, however, you had enlarged a little more on the pairing of similar +varieties; a rather more numerous body of facts seems here wanted. Then, +again, what a host of curious miscellaneous observations there are--as on +related sexual and individual variability: these will some day, if I live, +be a treasure to me. + +With respect to mimetic resemblance being so common with insects, do you +not think it may be connected with their small size; they cannot defend +themselves; they cannot escape by flight, at least, from birds, therefore +they escape by trickery and deception? + +I have one serious criticism to make, and that is about the title of the +paper; I cannot but think that you ought to have called prominent attention +in it to the mimetic resemblances. Your paper is too good to be largely +appreciated by the mob of naturalists without souls; but, rely on it, that +it will have LASTING value, and I cordially congratulate you on your first +great work. You will find, I should think, that Wallace will fully +appreciate it. How gets on your book? Keep your spirits up. A book is no +light labour. I have been better lately, and working hard, but my health +is very indifferent. How is your health? Believe me, dear Bates, + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.IV. + +THE SPREAD OF EVOLUTION. + +'VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS' + +1863-1866. + +[His book on animals and plants under domestication was my father's chief +employment in the year 1863. His diary records the length of time spent +over the composition of its chapters, and shows the rate at which he +arranged and wrote out for printing the observations and deductions of +several years. + +The three chapters in volume ii. on inheritance, which occupy 84 pages of +print, were begun in January and finished on April 1st; the five on +crossing, making 106 pages, were written in eight weeks, while the two +chapters on selection, covering 57 pages, were begun on June 16th and +finished on July 20th. + +The work was more than once interrupted by ill health, and in September, +what proved to be the beginning of a six month's illness, forced him to +leave home for the water-cure at Malvern. He returned in October and +remained ill and depressed, in spite of the hopeful opinion of one of the +most cheery and skilful physicians of the day. Thus he wrote to Sir J.D. +Hooker in November:-- + +"Dr. Brinton has been here (recommended by Busk); he does not believe my +brain or heart are primarily affected, but I have been so steadily going +down hill, I cannot help doubting whether I can ever crawl a little uphill +again. Unless I can, enough to work a little, I hope my life may be very +short, for to lie on a sofa all day and do nothing but give trouble to the +best and kindest of wives and good dear children is dreadful." + +The minor works in this year were a short paper in the 'Natural History +Review' (N.S. vol. iii. page 115), entitled "On the so-called 'Auditory- +Sac' of Cirripedes," and one in the 'Geological Society's Journal' (vol. +xix), on the "Thickness of the Pampaean Formation near Buenos Ayres." The +paper on Cirripedes was called forth by the criticisms of a German +naturalist Krohn (Krohn stated that the structures described by my father +as ovaries were in reality salivary glands, also that the oviduct runs down +to the orifice described in the 'Monograph of the Cirripedia' as the +auditory meatus.), and is of some interest in illustration of my father's +readiness to admit an error. + +With regard to the spread of a belief in Evolution, it could not yet be +said that the battle was won, but the growth of belief was undoubtedly +rapid. So that, for instance, Charles Kingsley could write to F.D. Maurice +(Kingsley's 'Life,' ii, page 171.): + +"The state of the scientific mind is most curious; Darwin is conquering +everywhere, and rushing in like a flood, by the mere force of truth and +fact." + +Mr. Huxley was as usual active in guiding and stimulating the growing +tendency to tolerate or accept the views set forth in the 'Origin of +Species.' He gave a series of lectures to working men at the School of +Mines in November, 1862. These were printed in 1863 from the shorthand +notes of Mr. May, as six little blue books, price 4 pence each, under the +title, 'Our Knowledge of the Causes of Organic Nature.' When published +they were read with interest by my father, who thus refers to them in a +letter to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"I am very glad you like Huxley's lectures. I have been very much struck +with them, especially with the 'Philosophy of Induction.' I have +quarrelled with him for overdoing sterility and ignoring cases from Gartner +and Kolreuter about sterile varieties. His Geology is obscure; and I +rather doubt about man's mind and language. But it seems to me ADMIRABLY +done, and, as you say, "Oh my," about the praise of the 'Origin.' I can't +help liking it, which makes me rather ashamed of myself." + +My father admired the clearness of exposition shown in the lectures, and in +the following letter urges their author to make use of his powers for the +advantage of students:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +November 5 [1864]. + +I want to make a suggestion to you, but which may probably have occurred to +you. -- was reading your Lectures and ended by saying, "I wish he would +write a book." I answered, "he has just written a great book on the +skull." "I don't call that a book," she replied, and added, "I want +something that people can read; he does write so well." Now, with your +ease in writing, and with knowledge at your fingers' ends, do you not think +you could write a popular Treatise on Zoology? Of course it would be some +waste of time, but I have been asked more than a dozen times to recommend +something for a beginner and could only think of Carpenter's Zoology. I am +sure that a striking Treatise would do real service to science by educating +naturalists. If you were to keep a portfolio open for a couple of years, +and throw in slips of paper as subjects crossed your mind, you would soon +have a skeleton (and that seems to me the difficulty) on which to put the +flesh and colours in your inimitable manner. I believe such a book might +have a brilliant success, but I did not intend to scribble so much about +it. + +Give my kindest remembrance to Mrs. Huxley, and tell her I was looking at +'Enoch Arden,' and as I know how she admires Tennyson, I must call her +attention to two sweetly pretty lines (page 105)... + +...and he meant, he said he meant, +Perhaps he meant, or partly meant, you well. + +Such a gem as this is enough to make me young again, and like poetry with +pristine fervour. + +My dear Huxley, +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In another letter (January 1865) he returns to the above suggestion, +though he was in general strongly opposed to men of science giving up to +the writing of text-books, or to teaching, the time that might otherwise +have been given to original research. + +"I knew there was very little chance of your having time to write a popular +Treatise on Zoology, but you are about the one man who could do it. At the +time I felt it would be almost a sin for you to do it, as it would of +course destroy some original work. On the other hand I sometimes think +that general and popular treatises are almost as important for the progress +of science as original work." + + +The series of letters will continue the history of the year 1863.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, January 3 [1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am burning with indignation and must exhale...I could not get to sleep +till past 3 last night for indignation (It would serve no useful purpose if +I were to go into the matter which so strongly roused my father's anger. +It was a question of literary dishonesty, in which a friend was the +sufferer, but which in no way affected himself.)... + +Now for pleasanter subjects; we were all amused at your defence of stamp +collecting and collecting generally...But, by Jove, I can hardly stomach a +grown man collecting stamps. Who would ever have thought of your +collecting Wedgwoodware! but that is wholly different, like engravings or +pictures. We are degenerate descendants of old Josiah W., for we have not +a bit of pretty ware in the house. + +...Notwithstanding the very pleasant reason you give for our not enjoying a +holiday, namely, that we have no vices, it is a horrid bore. I have been +trying for health's sake to be idle, with no success. What I shall now +have to do, will be to erect a tablet in Down Church, "Sacred to the +Memory, etc.," and officially die, and then publish books, "by the late +Charles Darwin," for I cannot think what has come over me of late; I always +suffered from the excitement of talking, but now it has become ludicrous. +I talked lately 1 1/2 hours (broken by tea by myself) with my nephew, and I +was [ill] half the night. It is a fearful evil for self and family. + +Good-night. Ever yours. +C. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter to Sir Julius von Haast (Sir Julius von Haast was a +German by birth, but had long been resident in New Zealand. He was, in +1862, Government Geologist to the Province of Canterbury.), is an example +of the sympathy which he felt with the spread and growth of science in the +colonies. It was a feeling not expressed once only, but was frequently +present in his mind, and often found utterance. When we, at Cambridge, had +the satisfaction of receiving Sir J. von Haast into our body as a Doctor of +Science (July 1886), I had the opportunity of hearing from him of the vivid +pleasure which this, and other letters from my father, gave him. It was +pleasant to see how strong had been the impression made by my father's +warm-hearted sympathy--an impression which seemed, after more than twenty +years, to be as fresh as when it was first received:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JULIUS VON HAAST. +Down, January 22 [1863]. + +Dear Sir, + +I thank you most sincerely for sending me your Address and the Geological +Report. (Address to the 'Philosophical Institute of Canterbury (N.Z.).' +The "Report" is given in "The New Zealand Government Gazette, Province of +Canterbury", October 1862.) I have seldom in my life read anything more +spirited and interesting than your address. The progress of your colony +makes one proud, and it is really admirable to see a scientific institution +founded in so young a nation. I thank you for the very honourable notice +of my 'Origin of Species.' You will easily believe how much I have been +interested by your striking facts on the old glacial period, and I suppose +the world might be searched in vain for so grand a display of terraces. +You have, indeed, a noble field for scientific research and discovery. I +have been extremely much interested by what you say about the tracks of +supposed [living] mammalia. Might I ask, if you succeed in discovering +what the creatures are, you would have the great kindness to inform me? +Perhaps they may turn out something like the Solenhofen bird creature, with +its long tail and fingers, with claws to its wings! I may mention that in +South America, in completely uninhabited regions, I found spring rat-traps, +baited with CHEESE, were very successful in catching the smaller mammals. +I would venture to suggest to you to urge on some of the capable members of +your institution to observe annually the rate and manner of spreading of +European weeds and insects, and especially to observe WHAT NATIVE PLANTS +MOST FAIL; this latter point has never been attended to. Do the introduced +hive-bees replace any other insect? etc. All such points are, in my +opinion, great desiderata in science. What an interesting discovery that +of the remains of prehistoric man! + +Believe me, dear Sir, +With the most cordial respect and thanks, +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO CAMILLE DARESTE. (Professor Dareste is a well-known +worker in Animal Teratology. He was in 1863 living at Lille, but has since +then been called to Paris. My father took a special interest in Dareste's +work on the production of monsters, as bearing on the causes of variation.) +Down, February 16 [1863]. + +Dear and respected Sir, + +I thank you sincerely for your letter and your pamphlet. I had heard (I +think in one of M. Quatrefages' books) of your work, and was most anxious +to read it, but did not know where to find it. You could not have made me +a more valuable present. I have only just returned home, and have not yet +read your work; when I do if I wish to ask any questions I will venture to +trouble you. Your approbation of my book on Species has gratified me +extremely. Several naturalists in England, North America, and Germany, +have declared that their opinions on the subject have in some degree been +modified, but as far as I know, my book has produced no effect whatever in +France, and this makes me the more gratified by your very kind expression +of approbation. Pray believe me, dear Sir, with much respect, + +Yours faithfully and obliged, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 24 [1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am astonished at your note, I have not seen the "Athenaeum" (In the +'Antiquity of Man,' first edition, page 480, Lyell criticised somewhat +severely Owen's account of the difference between the Human and Simian +brains. The number of the "Athenaeum" here referred to (1863, page 262) +contains a reply by Professor Owen to Lyell's strictures. The surprise +expressed by my father was at the revival of a controversy which every one +believed to be closed. Prof. Huxley ("Medical Times", October 25, 1862, +quoted in 'Man's Place in Nature,' page 117) spoke of the "two years during +which this preposterous controversy has dragged its weary length." And +this no doubt expressed a very general feeling.) but I have sent for it, +and may get it to-morrow; and will then say what I think. + +I have read Lyell's book. ['The Antiquity of Man.'] the whole certainty +struck me as a compilation, but of the highest class, for when possible the +facts have been verified on the spot, making it almost an original work. +The Glacial chapters seem to me best, and in parts magnificent. I could +hardly judge about Man, as all the gloss of novelty was completely worn +off. But certainly the aggregation of the evidence produced a very +striking effect on my mind. The chapter comparing language and changes of +species, seems most ingenious and interesting. He has shown great skill in +picking out salient points in the argument for change of species; but I am +deeply disappointed (I do not mean personally) to find that his timidity +prevents him giving any judgment...From all my communications with him I +must ever think that he has really entirely lost faith in the immutability +of species; and yet one of his strongest sentences is nearly as follows: +"If it should EVER (The italics are not Lyell's.) be rendered highly +probable that species change by variation and natural selection," etc., +etc. I had hoped he would have guided the public as far as his own belief +went...One thing does please me on this subject, that he seems to +appreciate your work. No doubt the public or a part may be induced to +think that as he gives to us a larger space than to Lamarck, he must think +there is something in our views. When reading the brain chapter, it struck +me forcibly that if he had said openly that he believed in change of +species, and as a consequence that man was derived from some Quadrumanous +animal, it would have been very proper to have discussed by compilation the +differences in the most important organ, viz. the brain. As it is, the +chapter seems to me to come in rather by the head and shoulders. I do not +think (but then I am as prejudiced as Falconer and Huxley, or more so) that +it is too severe; it struck me as given with judicial force. It might +perhaps be said with truth that he had no business to judge on a subject on +which he knows nothing; but compilers must do this to a certain extent. +(You know I value and rank high compilers, being one myself!) I have taken +you at your word, and scribbled at great length. If I get the "Athenaeum" +to-morrow, I will add my impression of Owen's letter. + +...The Lyells are coming here on Sunday evening to stay till Wednesday. I +dread it, but I must say how much disappointed I am that he has not spoken +out on species, still less on man. And the best of the joke is that he +thinks he has acted with the courage of a martyr of old. I hope I may have +taken an exaggerated view of his timidity, and shall PARTICULARLY be glad +of your opinion on this head. (On this subject my father wrote to Sir +Joseph Hooker: "Cordial thanks for your deeply interesting letters about +Lyell, Owen, and Co. I cannot say how glad I am to hear that I have not +been unjust about the species-question towards Lyell. I feared I had been +unreasonable.") When I got his book I turned over the pages, and saw he +had discussed the subject of species, and said that I thought he would do +more to convert the public than all of us, and now (which makes the case +worse for me) I must, in common honesty, retract. I wish to Heaven he had +said not a word on the subject. + +WEDNESDAY MORNING: + +I have read the "Athenaeum". I do not think Lyell will be nearly so much +annoyed as you expect. The concluding sentence is no doubt very stinging. +No one but a good anatomist could unravel Owen's letter; at least it is +quite beyond me. + +...Lyell's memory plays him false when he says all anatomists were +astonished at Owen's paper ("On the Characters, etc., of the Class +Mammalia." 'Linn. Soc. Journal,' ii, 1858.); it was often quoted with +approbation. I WELL remember Lyell's admiration at this new +classification! (Do not repeat this.) I remember it, because, though I +knew nothing whatever about the brain, I felt a conviction that a +classification thus founded on a single character would break down, and it +seemed to me a great error not to separate more completely the +Marsupialia... + +What an accursed evil it is that there should be all this quarrelling +within, what ought to be, the peaceful realms of science. I will go to my +own present subject of inheritance and forget it all for a time. Farewell, +my dear old friend, + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, February 23 [1863]. + +...If you have time to read you will be interested by parts of Lyell's book +on man; but I fear that the best part, about the Glacial period, may be too +geological for any one except a regular geologist. He quotes you at the +end with gusto. By the way, he told me the other day how pleased some had +been by hearing that they could purchase your pamphlet. The "Parthenon" +also speaks of it as the ablest contribution to the literature of the +subject. It delights me when I see your work appreciated. + +The Lyells come here this day week, and I shall grumble at his excessive +caution...The public may well say, if such a man dare not or will not speak +out his mind, how can we who are ignorant form even a guess on the subject? +Lyell was pleased when I told him lately that you thought that language +might be used as an excellent illustration of derivation of species; you +will see that he has an ADMIRABLE chapter on this... + +I read Cairns's excellent Lecture (Prof. J.E. Cairns, 'The Slave Power, +etc.: an attempt to explain the real issues involved in the American +contest.' 1862.), which shows so well how your quarrel arose from Slavery. +It made me for a time wish honestly for the North; but I could never help, +though I tried, all the time thinking how we should be bullied and forced +into a war by you, when you were triumphant. But I do most truly think it +dreadful that the South, with its accursed slavery, should triumph, and +spread the evil. I think if I had power, which thank God, I have not, I +would let you conquer the border States, and all west of the Mississippi, +and then force you to acknowledge the cotton States. For do you not now +begin to doubt whether you can conquer and hold them? I have inflicted a +long tirade on you. + +"The Times" is getting more detestable (but that is too weak a word) than +ever. My good wife wishes to give it up, but I tell her that is a pitch of +heroism to which only a woman is equal. To give up the "Bloody Old +'Times'," as Cobbett used to call it, would be to give up meat, drink and +air. Farewell, my dear Gray, + +Yours most truly, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, March 6, [1863]. + +...I have been of course deeply interested by your book. ('Antiquity of +Man.') I have hardly any remarks worth sending, but will scribble a little +on what most interested me. But I will first get out what I hate saying, +viz., that I have been greatly disappointed that you have not given +judgment and spoken fairly out what you think about the derivation of +species. I should have been contented if you had boldly said that species +have not been separately created, and had thrown as much doubt as you like +on how far variation and natural selection suffices. I hope to Heaven I am +wrong (and from what you say about Whewell it seems so), but I cannot see +how your chapters can do more good than an extraordinary able review. I +think the "Parthenon" is right, that you will leave the public in a fog. +No doubt they may infer that as you give more space to myself, Wallace, and +Hooker, than to Lamarck, you think more of us. But I had always thought +that your judgment would have been an epoch in the subject. All that is +over with me, and I will only think on the admirable skill with which you +have selected the striking points, and explained them. No praise can be +too strong, in my opinion, for the inimitable chapter on language in +comparison with species. + +(After speculating on the sudden appearance of individuals far above the +average of the human race, Lyell asks if such leaps upwards in the scale of +intellect may not "have cleared at one bound the space which separated the +higher stage of the unprogressive intelligence of the inferior animals from +the first and lowest form of improvable reason manifested by man.") page +505--A sentence at the top of the page makes me groan... + +I know you will forgive me for writing with perfect freedom, for you must +know how deeply I respect you as my old honoured guide and master. I +heartily hope and expect that your book will have gigantic circulation and +may do in many ways as much good as it ought to do. I am tired, so no +more. I have written so briefly that you will have to guess my meaning. I +fear my remarks are hardly worth sending. Farewell, with kindest +remembrance to Lady Lyell. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +[Mr. Huxley has quoted (vol. i. page 546) some passages from Lyell's +letters which show his state of mind at this time. The following passage, +from a letter of March 11th to my father, is also of much interest:-- + +"My feelings, however, more than any thought about policy or expediency, +prevent me from dogmatising as to the descent of man from the brutes, +which, though I am prepared to accept it, takes away much of the charm from +my speculations on the past relating to such matters...But you ought to be +satisfied, as I shall bring hundreds towards you who, if I treated the +matter more dogmatically, would have rebelled."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, 12 [March, 1863]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I thank you for your very interesting and kind, I may say, charming letter. +I feared you might be huffed for a little time with me. I know some men +would have been so. I have hardly any more criticisms, anyhow, worth +writing. But I may mention that I felt a little surprise that old B. de +Perthes (1788-1868. See footnote below.) was not rather more honourably +mentioned. I would suggest whether you could not leave out some references +to the 'Principles;' one for the real student is as good as a hundred, and +it is rather irritating, and gives a feeling of incompleteness to the +general reader to be often referred to other books. As you say that you +have gone as far as you believe on the species question, I have not a word +to say; but I must feel convinced that at times, judging from conversation, +expressions, letters, etc., you have as completely given up belief in +immutability of specific forms as I have done. I must still think a clear +expression from you, IF YOU COULD HAVE GIVEN IT, would have been potent +with the public, and all the more so, as you formerly held opposite +opinions. The more I work the more satisfied I become with variation and +natural selection, but that part of the case I look at as less important, +though more interesting to me personally. As you ask for criticisms on +this head (and believe me that I should not have made them unasked), I may +specify (pages 412, 413) that such words as "Mr. D. labours to show," "is +believed by the author to throw light," would lead a common reader to think +that you yourself do NOT at all agree, but merely think it fair to give my +opinion. Lastly, you refer repeatedly to my view as a modification of +Lamarck's doctrine of development and progression. If this is your +deliberate opinion there is nothing to be said, but it does not seem so to +me. Plato, Buffon, my grandfather before Lamarck, and others, propounded +the OBVIOUS views that if species were not created separately they must +have descended from other species, and I can see nothing else in common +between the 'Origin' and Lamarck. I believe this way of putting the case +is very injurious to its acceptance, as it implies necessary progression, +and closely connects Wallace's and my views with what I consider, after two +deliberate readings, as a wretched book, and one from which (I well +remember my surprise) I gained nothing. But I know you rank it higher, +which is curious, as it did not in the least shake your belief. But +enough, and more than enough. Please remember you have brought it all down +on yourself!!! + +I am very sorry to hear about Falconer's "reclamation." ("Falconer, whom I +referred to oftener than to any other author, says I have not done justice +to the part he took in resuscitating the cave question, and says he shall +come out with a separate paper to prove it. I offered to alter anything in +the new edition, but this he declined.--C. Lyell to C. Darwin, March 11, +1863; Lyell's 'Life,' vol. ii. page 364.) I hate the very word, and have a +sincere affection for him. + +Did you ever read anything so wretched as the "Athenaeum" reviews of you, +and of Huxley ('Man's Place in Nature,' 1863.) especially. Your OBJECT to +make man old, and Huxley's OBJECT to degrade him. The wretched writer has +not a glimpse what the discovery of scientific truth means. How splendid +some pages are in Huxley, but I fear the book will not be popular... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [March 13, 1863]. + +I should have thanked you sooner for the "Athenaeum" and very pleasant +previous note, but I have been busy, and not a little uncomfortable from +frequent uneasy feeling of fullness, slight pain and tickling about the +heart. But as I have no other symptoms of heart complaint I do not suppose +it is affected...I have had a most kind and delightfully candid letter from +Lyell, who says he spoke out as far as he believes. I have no doubt his +belief failed him as he wrote, for I feel sure that at times he no more +believed in Creation than you or I. I have grumbled a bit in my answer to +him at his ALWAYS classing my work as a modification of Lamarck's, which it +is no more than any author who did not believe in immutability of species, +and did believe in descent. I am very sorry to hear from Lyell that +Falconer is going to publish a formal reclamation of his own claims... + +It is cruel to think of it, but we must go to Malvern in the middle of +April; it is ruin to me. (He went to Hartfield in Sussex, on April 27, and +to Malvern in the autumn.)... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, March 17 [1863]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been much interested by your letters and enclosure, and thank you +sincerely for giving me so much time when you must be so busy. What a +curious letter from B. de P. [Boucher de Perthes]. He seems perfectly +satisfied, and must be a very amiable man. I know something about his +errors, and looked at his book many years ago, and am ashamed to think that +I concluded the whole was rubbish! Yet he has done for man something like +what Agassiz did for glaciers. (In his 'Antiquites Celtiques' (1847), +Boucher de Perthes described the flint tools found at Abbeville with bones +of rhinoceros, hyaena, etc. "But the scientific world had no faith in the +statement that works of art, however rude, had been met with in undisturbed +beds of such antiquity." ('Antiquity of Man,' first edition, page 95).) + +I cannot say that I agree with Hooker about the public not liking to be +told what to conclude, IF COMING FROM ONE IN YOUR POSITION. But I am +heartily sorry that I was led to make complaints, or something very like +complaints, on the manner in which you have treated the subject, and still +more so anything about myself. I steadily ENDEAVOUR never to forget my +firm belief that no one can at all judge about his own work. As for +Lamarck, as you have such a man as Grove with you, you are triumphant; not +that I can alter my opinion that to me it was an absolutely useless book. +Perhaps this was owing to my always searching books for facts, perhaps from +knowing my grandfather's earlier and identically the same speculation. I +will only further say that if I can analyse my own feelings (a very +doubtful process), it is nearly as much for your sake as for my own, that I +so much wish that your state of belief could have permitted you to say +boldly and distinctly out that species were not separately created. I have +generally told you the progress of opinion, as I have heard it, on the +species question. A first-rate German naturalist (No doubt Haeckel, whose +monograph on the Radiolaria was published in 1862. In the same year +Professor W. Preyer of Jena published a dissertation on Alca impennis, +which was one of the earliest pieces of special work on the basis of the +'Origin of Species.') (I now forget the name!), who has lately published a +grand folio, has spoken out to the utmost extent on the 'Origin.' De +Candolle, in a very good paper on "Oaks," goes, in Asa Gray's opinion, as +far as he himself does; but De Candolle, in writing to me, says WE, "we +think this and that;" so that I infer he really goes to the full extent +with me, and tells me of a French good botanical palaeontologist (name +forgotten) (The Marquis de Saporta.), who writes to De Candolle that he is +sure that my views will ultimately prevail. But I did not intend to have +written all this. It satisfies me with the final results, but this result, +I begin to see, will take two or three lifetimes. The entomologists are +enough to keep the subject back for half a century. I really pity your +having to balance the claims of so many eager aspirants for notice; it is +clearly impossible to satisfy all...Certainly I was struck with the full +and due honour you conferred on Falconer. I have just had a note from +Hooker...I am heartily glad that you have made him so conspicuous; he is so +honest, so candid, and so modest... + +I have read --. I could find nothing to lay hold of, which in one sense I +am very glad of, as I should hate a controversy; but in another sense I am +very sorry for, as I long to be in the same boat with all my friends...I am +heartily glad the book is going off so well. + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [March 29, 1863]. + +...Many thanks for "Athenaeum", received this morning, and to be returned +to-morrow morning. Who would have ever thought of the old stupid +"Athenaeum" taking to Oken-like transcendental philosophy written in +Owenian style! (This refers to a review of Dr. Carpenter's 'Introduction +to the study of Foraminifera,' that appeared in the "Athenaeum" of March +28, 1863 (page 417). The reviewer attacks Dr. Carpenter's views in as much +as they support the doctrine of Descent; and he upholds spontaneous +generation (Heterogeny) in place of what Dr. Carpenter, naturally enough, +believed in, viz. the genetic connection of living and extinct +Foraminifera. In the next number is a letter by Dr. Carpenter, which +chiefly consists of a protest against the reviewer's somewhat contemptuous +classification of Dr. Carpenter and my father as disciple and master. In +the course of the letter Dr. Carpenter says--page 461:-- + +"Under the influence of his foregone conclusion that I have accepted Mr. +Darwin as my master, and his hypothesis as my guide, your reviewer +represents me as blind to the significance of the general fact stated by +me, that 'there has been no advance in the foraminiferous type from the +palaeozoic period to the present time.' But for such a foregone conclusion +he would have recognised in this statement the expression of my conviction +that the present state of scientific evidence, instead of sanctioning the +idea that the descendants of the primitive type or types of Foraminifera +can ever rise to any higher grade, justifies the ANTI-DARWINIAN influence, +that however widely they diverge from each other and from their originals, +THEY STILL REMAIN FORAMINIFERA.")...It will be some time before we see +"slime, protoplasm, etc.," generating a new animal. (On the same subject +my father wrote in 1871: "It is often said that all the conditions for the +first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever +have been present. But if (and oh! what a big if!) we could conceive in +some warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, +light, heat, electricity, etc., present, that a proteine compound was +chemically formed ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the +present day such matter would be instantly devoured or absorbed, which +would not have been the case before living creatures were formed.") But I +have long regretted that I truckled to public opinion, and used the +Pentateuchal term of creation (This refers to a passage in which the +reviewer of Dr. Carpenter's books speaks of "an operation of force," or "a +concurrence of forces which have now no place in nature," as being, "a +creative force, in fact, which Darwin could only express in Pentateuchal +terms as the primordial form 'into which life was first breathed.'" The +conception of expressing a creative force as a primordial form is the +Reviewer's.), by which I really meant "appeared" by some wholly unknown +process. It is mere rubbish, thinking at present of the origin of life; +one might as well think of the origin of matter. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Friday night [April 17, 1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have heard from Oliver that you will be now at Kew, and so I am going to +amuse myself by scribbling a bit. I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed your +tour. I never in my life saw anything like the spring flowers this year. +What a lot of interesting things have been lately published. I liked +extremely your review of De Candolle. What an awfully severe article that +by Falconer on Lyell ("Athenaeum", April 4, 1863, page 459. The writer +asserts that justice has not been done either to himself or Mr. Prestwich-- +that Lyell has not made it clear that it was their original work which +supplied certain material for the 'Antiquity of Man.' Falconer attempts to +draw an unjust distinction between a "philosopher" (here used as a polite +word for compiler) like Sir Charles Lyell, and original observers, +presumably such as himself, and Mr. Prestwich. Lyell's reply was published +in the "Athenaeum", April 18, 1863. It ought to be mentioned that a letter +from Mr. Prestwich ("Athenaeum", page 555), which formed part of the +controversy, though of the nature of a reclamation, was written in a very +different spirit and tone from Dr. Falconer's.); I am very sorry for it; I +think Falconer on his side does not do justice to old Perthes and +Schmerling...I shall be very curious to see how he [Lyell] answers it to- +morrow. (I have been compelled to take in the "Athenaeum" for a while.) I +am very sorry that Falconer should have written so spitefully, even if +there is some truth in his accusations; I was rather disappointed in +Carpenter's letter, no one could have given a better answer, but the chief +object of his letter seems to me to be to show that though he has touched +pitch he is not defiled. No one would suppose he went so far as to believe +all birds came from one progenitor. I have written a letter to the +"Athenaeum" ("Athenaeum", 1863, page 554: "The view given by me on the +origin or derivation of species, whatever its weaknesses may be, connects +(as has been candidly admitted by some of its opponents, such as Pictet, +Bronn, etc.), by an intelligible thread of reasoning, a multitude of facts: +such as the formation of domestic races by man's selection,--the +classification and affinities of all organic beings,--the innumerable +gradations in structure and instincts,--the similarity of pattern in the +hand, wing, or paddle of animals of the same great class,--the existence of +organs become rudimentary by disuse,--the similarity of an embryonic +reptile, bird, and mammal, with the retention of traces of an apparatus +fitted for aquatic respiration; the retention in the young calf of incisor +teeth in the upper jaw, etc.--the distribution of animals and plants, and +their mutual affinities within the same region,--their general geological +succession, and the close relationship of the fossils in closely +consecutive formations and within the same country; extinct marsupials +having preceded living marsupials in Australia, and armadillo-like animals +having preceded and generated armadilloes in South America,--and many other +phenomena, such as the gradual extinction of old forms and their gradual +replacement by new forms better fitted for their new conditions in the +struggle for life. When the advocate of Heterogeny can thus connect large +classes of facts, and not until then, he will have respectful and patient +listeners.") (the first and last time I shall take such a step) to say, +under the cloak of attacking Heterogeny, a word in my own defence. My +letter is to appear next week, so the Editor says; and I mean to quote +Lyell's sentence (See the next letter.) in his second edition, on the +principle if one puffs oneself, one had better puff handsomely... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, April 18 [1863]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I was really quite sorry that you had sent me a second copy (The second +edition of the 'Antiquity of Man' was published a few months after the +first had appeared.) of your valuable book. But after a few hours my +sorrow vanished for this reason: I have written a letter to the +"Athenaeum", in order, under the cloak of attacking the monstrous article +on Heterogeny, to say a word for myself in answer to Carpenter, and now I +have inserted a few sentences in allusion to your analogous objection +(Lyell objected that the mammalia (e.g. bats and seals) which alone have +been able to reach oceanic islands ought to have become modified into +various terrestrial forms fitted to fill various places in their new home. +My father pointed out in the "Athenaeum" that Sir Charles has in some +measure answered his own objection, and went on to quote the "amended +sentence" ('Antiquity of Man,' 2nd Edition page 469) as showing how far +Lyell agreed with the general doctrines of the "Origin of Species': "Yet +we ought by no means to undervalue the importance of the step which will +have been made, should it hereafter become the generally received opinion +of men of science (as I fully expect it will) that the past changes of the +organic world have been brought about by the subordinate agency of such +causes as Variation and Natural Selection." In the first edition the words +(as I fully expect it will," do not occur.) about bats on islands, and then +with infinite slyness have quoted your amended sentence, with your +parenthesis ("as I fully believe") (My father here quotes Lyell +incorrectly; see the previous foot-note.); I do not think you can be +annoyed at my doing this, and you see, that I am determined as far as I +can, that the public shall see how far you go. This is the first time I +have ever said a word for myself in any journal, and it shall, I think, be +the last. My letter is short, and no great things. I was extremely +concerned to see Falconer's disrespectful and virulent letter. I like +extremely your answer just read; you take a lofty and dignified position, +to which you are so well entitled. (In a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker he +wrote: "I much like Lyell's letter. But all this squabbling will greatly +sink scientific men. I have seen sneers already in the 'Times'.") + +I suspect that if you had inserted a few more superlatives in speaking of +the several authors there would have been none of this horrid noise. No +one, I am sure, who knows you could doubt about your hearty sympathy with +every one who makes any little advance in science. I still well remember +my surprise at the manner in which you listened to me in Hart Street on my +return from the "Beagle's" voyage. You did me a world of good. It is +horridly vexatious that so frank and apparently amiable a man as Falconer +should have behaved so. (It is to this affair that the extract from a +letter to Falconer, given in volume i., refers.) Well it will all soon be +forgotten... + + +[In reply to the above-mentioned letter of my father's to the "Athenaeum", +an article appeared in that Journal (May 2nd, 1863, page 586), accusing my +father of claiming for his views the exclusive merit of "connecting by an +intelligible thread of reasoning" a number of facts in morphology, etc. +The writer remarks that, "The different generalizations cited by Mr. Darwin +as being connected by an intelligible thread of reasoning exclusively +through his attempt to explain specific transmutation are in fact related +to it in this wise, that they have prepared the minds of naturalists for a +better reception of such attempts to explain the way of the origin of +species from species." + +To this my father replied in the "Athenaeum" of May 9th, 1863:] + +Down, May 5 [1863]. + +I hope that you will grant me space to own that your reviewer is quite +correct when he states that any theory of descent will connect, "by an +intelligible thread of reasoning," the several generalizations before +specified. I ought to have made this admission expressly; with the +reservation, however, that, as far as I can judge, no theory so well +explains or connects these several generalizations (more especially the +formation of domestic races in comparison with natural species, the +principles of classification, embryonic resemblance, etc.) as the theory, +or hypothesis, or guess, if the reviewer so likes to call it, of Natural +Selection. Nor has any other satisfactory explanation been ever offered of +the almost perfect adaptation of all organic beings to each other, and to +their physical conditions of life. Whether the naturalist believes in the +views given by Lamarck, by Geoffrey St. Hilaire, by the author of the +'Vestiges,' by Mr. Wallace and myself, or in any other such view, signifies +extremely little in comparison with the admission that species have +descended from other species, and have not been created immutable; for he +who admits this as a great truth has a wide field opened to him for further +inquiry. I believe, however, from what I see of the progress of opinion on +the Continent, and in this country, that the theory of Natural Selection +will ultimately be adopted, with, no doubt, many subordinate modifications +and improvements. + +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In the following, he refers to the above letter to the "Athenaeum:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Leith Hill Place, +Saturday [May 11, 1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +You give good advice about not writing in newspapers; I have been gnashing +my teeth at my own folly; and this not caused by --'s sneers, which were so +good that I almost enjoyed them. I have written once again to own to a +certain extent of truth in what he says, and then if I am ever such a fool +again, have no mercy on me. I have read the squib in "Public Opinion" +("Public Opinion", April 23, 1863. A lively account of a police case, in +which the quarrels of scientific men are satirised. Mr. John Bull gives +evidence that-- + +"The whole neighbourhood was unsettled by their disputes; Huxley quarrelled +with Owen, Owen with Darwin, Lyell with Owen, Falconer and Prestwich with +Lyell, and Gray the menagerie man with everybody. He had pleasure, +however, in stating that Darwin was the quietest of the set. They were +always picking bones with each other and fighting over their gains. If +either of the gravel sifters or stone breakers found anything, he was +obliged to conceal it immediately, or one of the old bone collectors would +be sure to appropriate it first and deny the theft afterwards, and the +consequent wrangling and disputes were as endless as they were wearisome. + +"Lord Mayor.--Probably the clergyman of the parish might exert some +influence over them? + +"The gentleman smiled, shook his head, and stated that he regretted to say +that no class of men paid so little attention to the opinions of the clergy +as that to which these unhappy men belonged."); it is capital; if there is +more, and you have a copy, do lend it. It shows well that a scientific man +had better be trampled in dirt than squabble. I have been drawing +diagrams, dissecting shoots, and muddling my brains to a hopeless degree +about the divergence of leaves, and have of course utterly failed. But I +can see that the subject is most curious, and indeed astonishing... + + +[The next letter refers to Mr. Bentham's presidential address to the +Linnean Society (May 25, 1863). Mr. Bentham does not yield to the new +theory of Evolution, "cannot surrender at discretion as long as many +important outworks remain contestable." But he shows that the great body +of scientific opinion is flowing in the direction of belief. + +The mention of Pasteur by Mr. Bentham is in reference to the promulgation +"as it were ex cathedra," of a theory of spontaneous generation by the +reviewer of Dr. Carpenter in the "Athenaeum" (March 28, 1863). Mr. Bentham +points out that in ignoring Pasteur's refutation of the supposed facts of +spontaneous generation, the writer fails to act with "that impartiality +which every reviewer is supposed to possess."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G. BENTHAM. +Down, May 22 [1863]. + +My dear Bentham, + +I am much obliged for your kind and interesting letter. I have no fear of +anything that a man like you will say annoying me in the very least degree. +On the other hand, any approval from one whose judgment and knowledge I +have for many years so sincerely respected, will gratify me much. The +objection which you well put, of certain forms remaining unaltered through +long time and space, is no doubt formidable in appearance, and to a certain +extent in reality according to my judgment. But does not the difficulty +rest much on our silently assuming that we know more than we do? I have +literally found nothing so difficult as to try and always remember our +ignorance. I am never weary, when walking in any new adjoining district or +country, of reflecting how absolutely ignorant we are why certain old +plants are not there present, and other new ones are, and others in +different proportions. If we once fully feel this, then in judging the +theory of Natural Selection, which implies that a form will remain +unaltered unless some alteration be to its benefit, is it so very wonderful +that some forms should change much slower and much less, and some few +should have changed not at all under conditions which to us (who really +know nothing what are the important conditions) seem very different. +Certainly a priori we might have anticipated that all the plants anciently +introduced into Australia would have undergone some modification; but the +fact that they have not been modified does not seem to me a difficulty of +weight enough to shake a belief grounded on other arguments. I have +expressed myself miserably, but I am far from well to-day. + +I am very glad that you are going to allude to Pasteur; I was struck with +infinite admiration at his work. With cordial thanks, believe me, dear +Bentham, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--In fact, the belief in Natural Selection must at present be grounded +entirely on general considerations. (1) On its being a vera causa, from +the struggle for existence; and the certain geological fact that species do +somehow change. (2) From the analogy of change under domestication by +man's selection. (3) And chiefly from this view connecting under an +intelligible point of view a host of facts. When we descend to details, we +can prove that no one species has changed [i.e. we cannot prove that a +single species has changed]; nor can we prove that the supposed changes are +beneficial, which is the groundwork of the theory. Nor can we explain why +some species have changed and others have not. The latter case seems to me +hardly more difficult to understand precisely and in detail than the former +case of supposed change. Bronn may ask in vain, the old creationist school +and the new school, why one mouse has longer ears than another mouse, and +one plant more pointed leaves than another plant. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G. BENTHAM. +Down, June 19 [1863]. + +My dear Bentham, + +I have been extremely much pleased and interested by your address, which +you kindly sent me. It seems to be excellently done, with as much judicial +calmness and impartiality as the Lord Chancellor could have shown. But +whether the "immutable" gentlemen would agree with the impartiality may be +doubted, there is too much kindness shown towards me, Hooker, and others, +they might say. Moreover I verily believe that your address, written as it +is, will do more to shake the unshaken and bring on those leaning to our +side, than anything written directly in favour of transmutation. I can +hardly tell why it is, but your address has pleased me as much as Lyell's +book disappointed me, that is, the part on species, though so cleverly +written. I agree with all your remarks on the reviewers. By the way, +Lecoq (Author of 'Geographie Botanique.' 9 vols. 1854-58.) is a believer in +the change of species. I, for one, can conscientiously declare that I +never feel surprised at any one sticking to the belief of immutability; +though I am often not a little surprised at the arguments advanced on this +side. I remember too well my endless oscillations of doubt and difficulty. +It is to me really laughable when I think of the years which elapsed before +I saw what I believe to be the explanation of some parts of the case; I +believe it was fifteen years after I began before I saw the meaning and +cause of the divergence of the descendants of any one pair. You pay me +some most elegant and pleasing compliments. There is much in your address +which has pleased me much, especially your remarks on various naturalists. +I am so glad that you have alluded so honourably to Pasteur. I have just +read over this note; it does not express strongly enough the interest which +I have felt in reading your address. You have done, I believe, a real good +turn to the RIGHT SIDE. Believe me, dear Bentham, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +1864. + +[In my father's diary for 1864 is the entry, "Ill all January, February, +March." About the middle of April (seven months after the beginning of the +illness in the previous autumn) his health took a turn for the better. As +soon as he was able to do any work, he began to write his papers on +Lythrum, and on Climbing Plants, so that the work which now concerns us did +not begin until September, when he again set to work on 'Animals and +Plants.' A letter to Sir J.D. Hooker gives some account of the re- +commencement of the work: "I have begun looking over my old MS., and it is +as fresh as if I had never written it; parts are astonishingly dull, but +yet worth printing, I think; and other parts strike me as very good. I am +a complete millionaire in odd and curious little facts, and I have been +really astounded at my own industry whilst reading my chapters on +Inheritance and Selection. God knows when the book will ever be completed, +for I find that I am very weak and on my best days cannot do more than one +or one and a half hours' work. It is a good deal harder than writing about +my dear climbing plants." + +In this year he received the greatest honour which a scientific man can +receive in this country--the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. It is +presented at the Anniversary Meeting on St. Andrew's Day (November 30), the +medalist being usually present to receive it, but this the state of my +father's health prevented. He wrote to Mr. Fox on this subject:-- + +"I was glad to see your hand-writing. The Copley, being open to all +sciences and all the world, is reckoned a great honour; but excepting from +several kind letters, such things make little difference to me. It shows, +however, that Natural Selection is making some progress in this country, +and that pleases me. The subject, however, is safe in foreign lands." + +To Sir J.D. Hooker, also, he wrote:-- + +"How kind you have been about this medal; indeed, I am blessed with many +good friends, and I have received four or five notes which have warmed my +heart. I often wonder that so old a worn-out dog as I am is not quite +forgotten. Talking of medals, has Falconer had the Royal? he surely ought +to have it, as ought John Lubbock. By the way, the latter tells me that +some old members of the Royal are quite shocked at my having the Copley. +Do you know who?" + +He wrote to Mr. Huxley:-- + +"I must and will answer you, for it is a real pleasure for me to thank you +cordially for your note. Such notes as this of yours, and a few others, +are the real medal to me, and not the round bit of gold. These have given +me a pleasure which will long endure; so believe in my cordial thanks for +your note." + +Sir Charles Lyell, writing to my father in November 1864 ('Life,' vol. ii. +page 384), speaks of the supposed malcontents as being afraid to crown +anything so unorthodox as the 'Origin.' But he adds that if such were +their feelings "they had the good sense to draw in their horns." It +appears, however, from the same letter, that the proposal to give the +Copley Medal to my father in the previous year failed owing to a similar +want of courage--to Lyell's great indignation. + +In the "Reader", December 3, 1864, General Sabine's presidential address at +the Anniversary Meeting is reported at some length. Special weight was +laid on my father's work in Geology, Zoology, and Botany, but the 'Origin +of Species' is praised chiefly as containing "a mass of observations," etc. +It is curious that as in the case of his election to the French +Institution, so in this case, he was honoured not for the great work of his +life, but for his less important work in special lines. The paragraph in +General Sabine's address which refers to the 'Origin of Species,' is as +follows:-- + +"In his most recent work 'On the Origin of Species,' although opinions may +be divided or undecided with respect to its merits in some respects, all +will allow that it contains a mass of observations bearing upon the habits, +structure, affinities, and distribution of animals, perhaps unrivalled for +interest, minuteness, and patience of observation. Some amongst us may +perhaps incline to accept the theory indicated by the title of this work, +while others may perhaps incline to refuse, or at least to remit it to a +future time, when increased knowledge shall afford stronger grounds for its +ultimate acceptance or rejection. Speaking generally and collectively, we +have expressly omitted it from the grounds of our award." + +I believe I am right in saying that no little dissatisfaction at the +President's manner of allusion to the 'Origin' was felt by some Fellows of +the Society. + +The presentation of the Copley Medal is of interest in another way, +inasmuch as it led to Sir C. Lyell making, in his after-dinner speech, a +"confession of faith as to the 'Origin.'" He wrote to my father ('Life,' +vol. ii. page 384), "I said I had been forced to give up my old faith +without thoroughly seeing my way to a new one. But I think you would have +been satisfied with the length I went."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, October 3 [1864]. + +My dear Huxley, + +If I do not pour out my admiration of your article ("Criticisms on the +Origin of Species," 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1864. Republished in 'Lay +Sermons,' 1870, page 328. The work of Professor Kolliker referred to is +'Ueber die Darwin'sche Schopfungstheorie' (Leipzig, 1864). Toward +Professor Kolliker my father felt not only the respect due to so +distinguished a naturalist (a sentiment well expressed in Professor +Huxley's review), but he had also a personal regard for him, and often +alluded with satisfaction to the visit which Professor Kolliker paid at +Down.) on Kolliker, I shall explode. I never read anything better done. I +had much wished his article answered, and indeed thought of doing so +myself, so that I considered several points. You have hit on all, and on +some in addition, and oh! by Jove, how well you have done it. As I read on +and came to point after point on which I had thought, I could not help +jeering and scoffing at myself, to see how infinitely better you had done +it than I could have done. Well, if any one, who does not understand +Natural Selection, will read this, he will be a blockhead if it is not as +clear as daylight. Old Flourens ('Examen du livre de M. Darwin sur +l'origine des especes.' Par P. Flourens. 8vo. Paris, 1864.) was hardly +worth the powder and shot; but how capitally you bring in about the +Academician, and your metaphor of the sea-sand is INIMITABLE. + +It is a marvel to me how you can resist becoming a regular reviewer. Well, +I have exploded now, and it has done me a deal of good... + + +[In the same article in the 'Natural History Review,' Mr. Huxley speaks of +the book above alluded to by Flourens, the Secretaire Perpetuel of the +Academie des Sciences, as one of the two "most elaborate criticisms" of the +'Origin of Species' of the year. He quotes the following passage:-- + +"M. Darwin continue: 'Aucune distinction absolue n'a ete et ne peut etre +entre les especes et les varietes!' Je vous ai deja dit que vous vous +trompiez; une distinction absolue separe les varietes d'avec les especes." +Mr. Huxley remarks on this, "Being devoid of the blessings of an Academy in +England, we are unaccustomed to see our ablest men treated in this way even +by a Perpetual Secretary." After demonstrating M. Flourens' +misapprehension of Natural Selection, Mr. Huxley says, "How one knows it +all by heart, and with what relief one reads at page 65 'Je laisse M. +Darwin.'" + +On the same subject my father wrote to Mr. Wallace:-- + +"A great gun, Flourens, has written a little dull book against me which +pleases me much, for it is plain that our good work is spreading in France. +He speaks of the "engouement" about this book [the 'Origin'] "so full of +empty and presumptuous thoughts." The passage here alluded to is as +follows:-- + +"Enfin l'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut qu'etre frappe du talent +de l'auteur. Mais que d'idees obscures, que d'idees fausses! Quel jargon +metaphysique jete mal a propos dans l'histoire naturelle, qui tombe dans le +galimatias des qu'elle sort des idees claires, des idees justes. Quel +langage pretentieux et vide! Quelles personifications pueriles et +surannees! O lucidite! O solidite de l'esprit francais, que devenez- +vous?"] + + +1865. + +[This was again a time of much ill-health, but towards the close of the +year he began to recover under the care of the late Dr. Bence-Jones, who +dieted him severely, and as he expressed it, "half-starved him to death." +He was able to work at 'Animals and Plants' until nearly the end of April, +and from that time until December he did practically no work, with the +exception of looking over the 'Origin of Species' for a second French +edition. He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:--"I am, as it were, reading the +'Origin' for the first time, for I am correcting for a second French +edition: and upon my life, my dear fellow, it is a very good book, but oh! +my gracious, it is tough reading, and I wish it were done." (Towards the +end of the year my father received the news of a new convert to his views, +in the person of the distinguished American naturalist Lesquereux. He +wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker: "I have had an enormous letter from Leo +Lesquereux (after doubts, I did not think it worth sending you) on Coal +Flora. He wrote some excellent articles in 'Silliman' against 'Origin' +views; but he says now, after repeated reading of the book, he is a +convert!") + + +The following letter refers to the Duke of Argyll's address to the Royal +Society of Edinburgh, December 5th, 1864, in which he criticises the +'Origin of Species.' My father seems to have read the Duke's address as +reported in the "Scotsman" of December 6th, 1865. In a letter to my father +(January 16, 1865, 'Life,' vol. ii. page 385), Lyell wrote, "The address is +a great step towards your views--far greater, I believe, than it seems when +read merely with reference to criticisms and objections."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, January 22, [1865]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I thank you for your very interesting letter. I have the true English +instinctive reverence for rank, and therefore liked to hear about the +Princess Royal. ("I had...an animated conversation on Darwinism with the +Princess Royal, who is a worthy daughter of her father, in the reading of +good books, and thinking of what she reads. She was very much au fait at +the 'Origin,' and Huxley's book, the 'Antiquity,' etc."--(Lyell's 'Life,' +vol. ii. page 385.) You ask what I think of the Duke's address, and I +shall be glad to tell you. It seems to me EXTREMELY clever, like +everything I have read of his; but I am not shaken--perhaps you will say +that neither gods nor men could shake me. I demur to the Duke reiterating +his objection that the brilliant plumage of the male humming-bird could not +have been acquired through selection, at the same time entirely ignoring my +discussion (page 93, 3rd edition) on beautiful plumage being acquired +through SEXUAL selection. The duke may think this insufficient, but that +is another question. All analogy makes me quite disagree with the Duke +that the difference in the beak, wing and tail, are not of importance to +the several species. In the only two species which I have watched, the +difference in flight and in the use of the tail was conspicuously great. + +The Duke, who knows my Orchid book so well, might have learnt a lesson of +caution from it, with respect to his doctrine of differences for mere +variety or beauty. It may be confidently said that no tribe of plants +presents such grotesque and beautiful differences, which no one until +lately, conjectured were of any use; but now in almost every case I have +been able to show their important service. It should be remembered that +with humming birds or orchids, a modification in one part will cause +correlated changes in other parts. I agree with what you say about beauty. +I formerly thought a good deal on the subject, and was led quite to +repudiate the doctrine of beauty being created for beauty's sake. I demur +also to the Duke's expression of "new births." That may be a very good +theory, but it is not mine, unless indeed he calls a bird born with a beak +1/100th of an inch longer than usual "a new birth;" but this is not the +sense in which the term would usually be understood. The more I work the +more I feel convinced that it is by the accumulation of such extremely +slight variations that new species arise. I do not plead guilty to the +Duke's charge that I forget that natural selection means only the +preservation of variations which independently arise. ("Strictly speaking, +therefore, Mr. Darwin's theory is not a theory on the Origin of Species at +all, but only a theory on the causes which lead to the relative success and +failure of such new forms as may be born into the world."--"Scotsman", +December 6, 1864.) I have expressed this in as strong language as I could +use, but it would have been infinitely tedious had I on every occasion thus +guarded myself. I will cry "peccavi" when I hear of the Duke or you +attacking breeders for saying that man has made his improved shorthorns, or +pouter pigeons, or bantams. And I could quote still stronger expressions +used by agriculturists. Man does make his artificial breeds, for his +selective power is of such importance relatively to that of the slight +spontaneous variations. But no one will attack breeders for using such +expressions, and the rising generation will not blame me. + +Many thanks for your offer of sending me the 'Elements.' (Sixth edition in +one volume.) I hope to read it all, but unfortunately reading makes my +head whiz more than anything else. I am able most days to work for two or +three hours, and this makes all the difference in my happiness. I have +resolved not to be tempted astray, and to publish nothing till my volume on +Variation is completed. You gave me excellent advice about the footnotes +in my Dog chapter, but their alteration gave me infinite trouble, and I +often wished all the dogs, and I fear sometimes you yourself, in the nether +regions. + +We (dictator and writer) send our best love to Lady Lyell. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--If ever you should speak with the Duke on the subject, please say how +much interested I was with his address. + + +[In his autobiographical sketch my father has remarked that owing to +certain early memories he felt the honour of being elected to the Royal and +Royal Medical Societies of Edinburgh "more than any similar honour." The +following extract from a letter to Sir Joseph Hooker refers to his election +to the former of these societies. The latter part of the extract refers to +the Berlin Academy, to which he was elected in 1878:-- + +"Here is a really curious thing, considering that Brewster is President and +Balfour Secretary. I have been elected Honorary Member of the Royal +Society of Edinburgh. And this leads me to a third question. Does the +Berlin Academy of Sciences send their Proceedings to Honorary Members? I +want to know, to ascertain whether I am a member; I suppose not, for I +think it would have made some impression on me; yet I distinctly remember +receiving some diploma signed by Ehrenberg. I have been so careless; I +have lost several diplomas, and now I want to know what Societies I belong +to, as I observe every [one] tacks their titles to their names in the +catalogue of the Royal Soc."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, February 21 [1865]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have taken a long time to thank you very much for your present of the +'Elements.' + +I am going through it all, reading what is new, and what I have forgotten, +and this is a good deal. + +I am simply astonished at the amount of labour, knowledge, and clear +thought condensed in this work. The whole strikes me as something quite +grand. I have been particularly interested by your account of Heer's work +and your discussion on the Atlantic Continent. I am particularly delighted +at the view which you take on this subject; for I have long thought Forbes +did an ill service in so freely making continents. + +I have also been very glad to read your argument on the denudation of the +Weald, and your excellent resume on the Purbeck Beds; and this is the point +at which I have at present arrived in your book. I cannot say that I am +quite convinced that there is no connection beyond that pointed out by you, +between glacial action and the formation of lake basins; but you will not +much value my opinion on this head, as I have already changed my mind some +half-dozen times. + +I want to make a suggestion to you. I found the weight of your volume +intolerable, especially when lying down, so with great boldness cut it into +two pieces, and took it out of its cover; now could not Murray without any +other change add to his advertisement a line saying, "if bound in two +volumes, one shilling or one shilling and sixpence extra." You thus might +originate a change which would be a blessing to all weak-handed readers. + +Believe me, my dear Lyell, +Yours most sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +Originate a second REAL BLESSING and have the edges of the sheets cut like +a bound book. (This was a favourite reform of my father's. He wrote to +the "Athenaeum" on the subject, February 5, 1867, pointing out how that a +book cut, even carefully, with a paper knife collects dust on its edges far +more than a machine-cut book. He goes on to quote the case of a lady of +his acquaintance who was in the habit of cutting books with her thumb, and +finally appeals to the "Athenaeum" to earn the gratitude of children "who +have to cut through dry and pictureless books for the benefit of their +elders." He tried to introduce the reform in the case of his own books, +but found the conservatism of booksellers too strong for him. The +presentation copies, however, of all his later books were sent out with the +edges cut.) + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Down, June 11 [1865]. + +My dear Lubbock, + +The latter half of your book ('Prehistoric Times,' 1865.) has been read +aloud to me, and the style is so clear and easy (we both think it +perfection) that I am now beginning at the beginning. I cannot resist +telling you how excellently well, in my opinion, you have done the very +interesting chapter on savage life. Though you have necessarily only +compiled the materials the general result is most original. But I ought to +keep the term original for your last chapter, which has struck me as an +admirable and profound discussion. It has quite delighted me, for now the +public will see what kind of man you are, which I am proud to think I +discovered a dozen years ago. + +I do sincerely wish you all success in your election and in politics; but +after reading this last chapter, you must let me say: oh, dear! oh, dear! +oh dear! + +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--You pay me a superb compliment ('Prehistoric Times,' page 487, where +the words, "the discoveries of a Newton or a Darwin," occur.), but I fear +you will be quizzed for it by some of your friends as too exaggerated. + + +[The following letter refers to Fritz Muller's book, 'Fur Darwin,' which +was afterwards translated, at my father's suggestion, by Mr. Dallas. It is +of interest as being the first of the long series of letters which my +father wrote to this distinguished naturalist. They never met, but the +correspondence with Muller, which continued to the close of my father's +life, was a source of very great pleasure to him. My impression is that of +all his unseen friends Fritz Muller was the one for whom he had the +strongest regard. Fritz Muller is the brother of another distinguished +man, the late Hermann Muller, the author of 'Die Befruchtung der Blumen,' +and of much other valuable work:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, August 10 [1865]. + +My dear Sir, + +I have been for a long time so ill that I have only just finished hearing +read aloud your work on species. And now you must permit me to thank you +cordially for the great interest with which I have read it. You have done +admirable service in the cause in which we both believe. Many of your +arguments seem to me excellent, and many of your facts wonderful. Of the +latter, nothing has surprised me so much as the two forms of males. I have +lately investigated the cases of dimorphic plants, and I should much like +to send you one or two of my papers if I knew how. I did send lately by +post a paper on climbing plants, as an experiment to see whether it would +reach you. One of the points which has struck me most in your paper is +that on the differences in the air-breathing apparatus of the several +forms. This subject appeared to me very important when I formerly +considered the electric apparatus of fishes. Your observations on +Classification and Embryology seem to me very good and original. They show +what a wonderful field there is for enquiry on the development of +crustacea, and nothing has convinced me so plainly what admirable results +we shall arrive at in Natural History in the course of a few years. What a +marvellous range of structure the crustacea present, and how well adapted +they are for your enquiry! Until reading your book I knew nothing of the +Rhizocephala; pray look at my account and figures of Anelasma, for it seems +to me that this latter cirripede is a beautiful connecting link with the +Rhizocephala. + +If ever you have any opportunity, as you are so skilful a dissector, I much +wish that you would look to the orifice at the base of the first pair of +cirrhi in cirripedes, and at the curious organ in it, and discover what its +nature is; I suppose I was quite in error, yet I cannot feel fully +satisfied at Krohn's (See vol. ii., pages 138, 187.) observations. Also if +you ever find any species of Scalpellum, pray look for complemental males; +a German author has recently doubted my observations for no reason except +that the facts appeared to him so strange. + +Permit me again to thank you cordially for the pleasure which I have +derived from your work and to express my sincere admiration for your +valuable researches. + +Believe me, dear Sir, with sincere respect, +Yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I do not know whether you care at all about plants, but if so, I +should much like to send you my little work on the 'Fertilization of +Orchids,' and I think I have a German copy. + +Could you spare me a photograph of yourself? I should much like to possess +one. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Thursday, 27th [September, 1865]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I had intended writing this morning to thank Mrs. Hooker most sincerely for +her last and several notes about you, and now your own note in your hand +has rejoiced me. To walk between five and six miles is splendid, with a +little patience you must soon be well. I knew you had been very ill, but I +hardly knew how ill, until yesterday, when Bentham (from the Cranworths +(Robert Rolfe, Lord Cranworth, and Lord Chancellor of England, lived at +Holwood, near Down.)) called here, and I was able to see him for ten +minutes. He told me also a little about the last days of your father (Sir +William Hooker; 1785-1865. He took charge of the Royal Gardens at Kew, in +1840, when they ceased to be the private gardens of the Royal Family. In +doing so, he gave up his professorship at Glasgow--and with it half of his +income. He founded the herbarium and library, and within ten years he +succeeded in making the gardens the first in the world. It is, thus, not +too much to say that the creation of the establishment at Kew is due to the +abilities and self-devotion of Sir William Hooker. While, for the +subsequent development of the gardens up to their present magnificent +condition, the nation must thank Sir Joseph Hooker, in whom the same +qualities are so conspicuous.); I wish I had known your father better, my +impression is confined to his remarkably cordial, courteous, and frank +bearing. I fully concur and understand what you say about the difference +of feeling in the loss of a father and child. I do not think any one could +love a father much more than I did mine, and I do not believe three or four +days ever pass without my still thinking of him, but his death at eighty- +four caused me nothing of that insufferable grief (I may quote here a +passage from a letter of November, 1863. It was written to a friend who +had lost his child: "How well I remember your feeling, when we lost Annie. +It was my greatest comfort that I had never spoken a harsh word to her. +Your grief has made me shed a few tears over our poor darling; but believe +me that these tears have lost that unutterable bitterness of former days.") +which the loss of our poor dear Annie caused. And this seems to me +perfectly natural, for one knows for years previously that one's father's +death is drawing slowly nearer and nearer, while the death of one's child +is a sudden and dreadful wrench. What a wonderful deal you read; it is a +horrid evil for me that I can read hardly anything, for it makes my head +almost immediately begin to sing violently. My good womenkind read to me a +great deal, but I dare not ask for much science, and am not sure that I +could stand it. I enjoyed Tylor ('Researches into the Early History of +Mankind,' by E.B. Tylor. 1865.) EXTREMELY, and the first part of Lecky +'The Rise of Rationalism in Europe,' by W.E.H. Lecky. 1865.); but I think +the latter is often vague, and gives a false appearance of throwing light +on his subject by such phrases as "spirit of the age," "spread of +civilization," etc. I confine my reading to a quarter or half hour per day +in skimming through the back volumes of the Annals and Magazine of Natural +History, and find much that interests me. I miss my climbing plants very +much, as I could observe them when very poorly. + +I did not enjoy the 'Mill on the Floss' so much as you, but from what you +say we will read it again. Do you know 'Silas Marner'? it is a charming +little story; if you run short, and like to have it, we could send it by +post...We have almost finished the first volume of Palgrave (William +Gifford Palgrave's 'Travels in Arabia,' published in 1865.), and I like it +much; but did you ever see a book so badly arranged? The frequency of the +allusions to what will be told in the future are quite laughable...By the +way, I was very much pleased with the foot-note (The passage which seems to +be referred to occurs in the text (page 479) of 'Prehistoric Times.' It +expresses admiration of Mr. Wallace's paper in the 'Anthropological Review' +(May, 1864), and speaks of the author's "characteristic unselfishness" in +ascribing the theory of Natural Selection "unreservedly to Mr. Darwin." +about Wallace in Lubbock's last chapter. I had not heard that Huxley had +backed up Lubbock about Parliament...Did you see a sneer some time ago in +the "Times" about how incomparably more interesting politics were compared +with science even to scientific men? Remember what Trollope says, in 'Can +you Forgive her,' about getting into Parliament, as the highest earthly +ambition. Jeffrey, in one of his letters, I remember, says that making an +effective speech in Parliament is a far grander thing than writing the +grandest history. All this seems to me a poor short-sighted view. I +cannot tell you how it has rejoiced me once again seeing your handwriting-- +my best of old friends. + +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In October he wrote Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"Talking of the 'Origin,' a Yankee has called my attention to a paper +attached to Dr. Wells's famous 'Essay on Dew,' which was read in 1813 to +the Royal Society, but not [then] printed, in which he applies most +distinctly the principle of Natural Selection to the Races of Man. So poor +old Patrick Matthew is not the first, and he cannot, or ought not, any +longer to put on his title-pages, 'Discoverer of the principle of Natural +Selection'!"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F.W. FARRAR. (Canon of Westminster.) +Down, November 2 [1865?]. + +Dear Sir, + +As I have never studied the science of language, it may perhaps seem +presumptuous, but I cannot resist the pleasure of telling you what interest +and pleasure I have derived from hearing read aloud your volume ('Chapters +on Language,' 1865.) + +I formerly read Max Muller, and thought his theory (if it deserves to be +called so) both obscure and weak; and now, after hearing what you say, I +feel sure that this is the case, and that your cause will ultimately +triumph. My indirect interest in your book has been increased from Mr. +Hensleigh Wedgwood, whom you often quote, being my brother-in-law. + +No one could dissent from my views on the modification of species with more +courtesy than you do. But from the tenor of your mind I feel an entire and +comfortable conviction (and which cannot possibly be disturbed) that if +your studies led you to attend much to general questions in natural history +you would come to the same conclusion that I have done. + +Have you ever read Huxley's little book of Lectures? I would gladly send a +copy if you think you would read it. + +Considering what Geology teaches us, the argument from the supposed +immutability of specific types seems to me much the same as if, in a nation +which had no old writings, some wise old savage was to say that his +language had never changed; but my metaphor is too long to fill up. + +Pray believe me, dear Sir, yours very sincerely obliged, +C. DARWIN. + + +1866. + +[The year 1866 is given in my father's Diary in the following words:-- + +"Continued correcting chapters of 'Domestic Animals.' + +March 1st.--Began on 4th edition of 'Origin' of 1250 copies (received for +it 238 pounds), making 7500 copies altogether. + +May 10th.--Finished 'Origin,' except revises, and began going over Chapter +XIII. of 'Domestic Animals.' + +November 21st.--Finished 'Pangenesis.' + +December 21st.--Finished re-going over all chapters, and sent them to +printers. + +December 22nd.--Began concluding chapter of book." + +He was in London on two occasions for a week at a time, staying with his +brother, and for a few days (May 29th-June 2nd) in Surrey; for the rest of +the year he was at Down. + +There seems to have been a gradual mending in his health; thus he wrote to +Mr. Wallace (January 1866):--"My health is so far improved that I am able +to work one or two hours a day." + +With respect to the 4th edition he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"The new edition of the 'Origin' has caused me two great vexations. I +forgot Bates's paper on variation (This appears to refer to "Notes on South +American Butterflies," Trans. Entomolog. Soc., vol. v. (N.S.).), but I +remembered in time his mimetic work, and now, strange to say, I find I have +forgotten your Arctic paper! I know how it arose; I indexed for my bigger +work, and never expected that a new edition of the 'Origin' would be +wanted. + +"I cannot say how all this has vexed me. Everything which I have read +during the last four years I find is quite washy in my mind." As far as I +know, Mr. Bates's paper was not mentioned in the later editions of the +'Origin,' for what reason I cannot say. + +In connection with his work on 'The Variation of Animals and Plants,' I +give here extracts from three letters addressed to Mr. Huxley, which are of +interest as giving some idea of the development of the theory of +'Pangenesis,' ultimately published in 1868 in the book in question:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, May 27, [1865?]. + +...I write now to ask a favour of you, a very great favour from one so hard +worked as you are. It is to read thirty pages of MS., excellently copied +out and give me, not lengthened criticism, but your opinion whether I may +venture to publish it. You may keep the MS. for a month or two. I would +not ask this favour, but I REALLY know no one else whose judgment on the +subject would be final with me. + +The case stands thus: in my next book I shall publish long chapters on +bud- and seminal-variation, on inheritance, reversion, effects of use and +disuse, etc. I have also for many years speculated on the different forms +of reproduction. Hence it has come to be a passion with me to try to +connect all such facts by some sort of hypothesis. The MS. which I wish to +send you gives such a hypothesis; it is a very rash and crude hypothesis, +yet it has been a considerable relief to my mind, and I can hang on it a +good many groups of facts. I well know that a mere hypothesis, and this is +nothing more, is of little value; but it is very useful to me as serving as +a kind of summary for certain chapters. Now I earnestly wish for your +verdict given briefly as, "Burn it"--or, which is the most favourable +verdict I can hope for, "It does rudely connect together certain facts, and +I do not think it will immediately pass out of my mind." If you can say +this much, and you do not think it absolutely ridiculous, I shall publish +it in my concluding chapter. Now will you grant me this favour? You must +refuse if you are too much overworked. + +I must say for myself that I am a hero to expose my hypothesis to the fiery +ordeal of your criticism. + + +July 12, [1865?]. + +My dear Huxley, + +I thank you most sincerely for having so carefully considered my MS. It +has been a real act of kindness. It would have annoyed me extremely to +have re-published Buffon's views, which I did not know of, but I will get +the book; and if I have strength I will also read Bonnet. I do not doubt +your judgment is perfectly just, and I will try to persuade myself not to +publish. The whole affair is much too speculative; yet I think some such +view will have to be adopted, when I call to mind such facts as the +inherited effects of use and disuse, etc. But I will try to be cautious... + + +[1865?]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Forgive my writing in pencil, as I can do so lying down. I have read +Buffon: whole pages are laughably like mine. It is surprising how candid +it makes one to see one's views in another man's words. I am rather +ashamed of the whole affair, but not converted to a no-belief. What a +kindness you have done me with your "vulpine sharpness." Nevertheless, +there is a fundamental distinction between Buffon's views and mine. He +does not suppose that each cell or atom of tissue throws off a little bud; +but he supposes that the sap or blood includes his "organic molecules," +WHICH ARE READY FORMED, fit to nourish each organ, and when this is fully +formed, they collect to form buds and the sexual elements. It is all +rubbish to speculate as I have done; yet, if I ever have strength to +publish my next book, I fear I shall not resist "Pangenesis," but I assure +you I will put it humbly enough. The ordinary course of development of +beings, such as the Echinodermata, in which new organs are formed at quite +remote spots from the analogous previous parts, seem to me extremely +difficult to reconcile on any view except the free diffusion in the parent +of the germs or gemmules of each separate new organ; and so in cases of +alternate generation. But I will not scribble any more. Hearty thanks to +you, you best of critics and most learned man... + + +[The letters now take up the history of the year 1866.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, July 5 [1866]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have been much interested by your letter, which is as clear as daylight. +I fully agree with all that you say on the advantages of H. Spencer's +excellent expression of "the survival of the fittest." (Extract from a +letter of Mr. Wallace's, July 2, 1866: "The term 'survival of the fittest' +is the plain expression of the fact; 'natural selection' is a metaphorical +expression of it, and to a certain degree indirect and incorrect, +since...Nature...does not so much select special varieties as exterminate +the most unfavourable ones.") This, however, had not occurred to me till +reading your letter. It is, however, a great objection to this term that +it cannot be used as a substantive governing a verb; and that this is a +real objection I infer from H. Spencer continually using the words, natural +selection. I formerly thought, probably in an exaggerated degree, that it +was a great advantage to bring into connection natural and artificial +selection; this indeed led me to use a term in common, and I still think it +some advantage. I wish I had received your letter two months ago, for I +would have worked in "the survival, etc.," often in the new edition of the +'Origin,' which is now almost printed off, and of which I will of course +send you a copy. I will use the term in my next book on Domestic Animals, +etc., from which, by the way, I plainly see that you expect MUCH, too much. +The term Natural Selection has now been so largely used abroad and at home, +that I doubt whether it could be given up, and with all its faults I should +be sorry to see the attempt made. Whether it will be rejected must now +depend "on the survival of the fittest." As in time the term must grow +intelligible the objections to its use will grow weaker and weaker. I +doubt whether the use of any term would have made the subject intelligible +to some minds, clear as it is to others; for do we not see even to the +present day Malthus on Population absurdly misunderstood? This reflection +about Malthus has often comforted me when I have been vexed at the +misstatement of my views. As for M. Janet (This no doubt refers to Janet's +'Materialisme Contemporain.'), he is a metaphysician, and such gentlemen +are so acute that I think they often misunderstand common folk. Your +criticism on the double sense ("I find you use 'Natural Selection' in two +senses. 1st, for the simple preservation of favourable and rejection of +unfavourable variations, in which case it is equivalent to the 'survival of +the fittest,'--and 2ndly, for the effect or CHANGE produced by this +preservation." Extract from Mr. Wallace's letter above quoted.) in which I +have used Natural Selection is new to me and unanswerable; but my blunder +has done no harm, for I do not believe that any one, excepting you, has +ever observed it. Again, I agree that I have said too much about +"favourable variations;" but I am inclined to think that you put the +opposite side too strongly; if every part of every being varied, I do not +think we should see the same end, or object, gained by such wonderfully +diversified means. + +I hope you are enjoying the country, and are in good health, and are +working hard at your Malay Archipelago book, for I will always put this +wish in every note I write to you, like some good people always put in a +text. My health keeps much the same, or rather improves, and I am able to +work some hours daily. With many thanks for your interesting letter. + +Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, August 30 [1866]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I was very glad to get your note and the Notts. Newspaper. I have seldom +been more pleased in my life than at hearing how successfully your lecture +(At the Nottingham meeting of the British Association, August 27, 1866. +The subject of the lecture was 'Insular Floras.' See "Gardeners' +Chronicle", 1866.) went off. Mrs. H. Wedgwood sent us an account, saying +that you read capitally, and were listened to with profound attention and +great applause. She says, when your final allegory (Sir Joseph Hooker +allegorized the Oxford meeting of the British Association as the gathering +of a tribe of savages who believed that the new moon was created afresh +each month. The anger of the priests and medicine man at a certain heresy, +according to which the new moon is but the offspring of the old one, is +excellently given.) began, "for a minute or two we were all mystified, and +then came such bursts of applause from the audience. It was thoroughly +enjoyed amid roars of laughter and noise, making a most brilliant +conclusion." + +I am rejoiced that you will publish your lecture, and felt sure that sooner +or later it would come to this, indeed it would have been a sin if you had +not done so. I am especially rejoiced as you give the arguments for +occasional transport, with such perfect fairness; these will now receive a +fair share of attention, as coming from you a professed botanist. Thanks +also for Grove's address; as a whole it strikes me as very good and +original, but I was disappointed in the part about Species; it dealt in +such generalities that it would apply to any view or no view in +particular... + +And now farewell. I do most heartily rejoice at your success, and for +Grove's sake at the brilliant success of the whole meeting. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The next letter is of interest, as giving the beginning of the connection +which arose between my father and Professor Victor Carus. The translation +referred to is the third German edition made from the fourth English one. +From this time forward Professor Carus continued to translate my father's +books into German. The conscientious care with which this work was done +was of material service, and I well remember the admiration (mingled with a +tinge of vexation at his own short-comings) with which my father used to +receive the lists of oversights, etc., which Professor Carus discovered in +the course of translation. The connection was not a mere business one, but +was cemented by warm feelings of regard on both sides.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO VICTOR CARUS. +Down, November 10, 1866. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you for your extremely kind letter. I cannot express too strongly +my satisfaction that you have undertaken the revision of the new edition, +and I feel the honour which you have conferred on me. I fear that you will +find the labour considerable, not only on account of the additions, but I +suspect that Bronn's translation is very defective, at least I have heard +complaints on this head from quite a large number of persons. It would be +a great gratification to me to know that the translation was a really good +one, such as I have no doubt you will produce. According to our English +practice, you will be fully justified in entirely omitting Bronn's +Appendix, and I shall be very glad of its omission. A new edition may be +looked at as a new work...You could add anything of your own that you +liked, and I should be much pleased. Should you make any additions or +append notes, it appears to me that Nageli "Entstehung und Begriff," etc. +('Entstehung und Begriff der Naturhistorischen Art.' An address given at a +public meeting of the 'R. Academy of Sciences' at Munich, March 28, 1865.), +would be worth noticing, as one of the most able pamphlets on the subject. +I am, however, far from agreeing with him that the acquisition of certain +characters which appear to be of no service to plants, offers any great +difficulty, or affords a proof of some innate tendency in plants towards +perfection. If you intend to notice this pamphlet, I should like to write +hereafter a little more in detail on the subject. + +...I wish I had known when writing my Historical Sketch that you had in +1853 published your views on the genealogical connection of past and +present forms. + +I suppose you have the sheets of the last English edition on which I marked +with pencil all the chief additions, but many little corrections of style +were not marked. + +Pray believe that I feel sincerely grateful for the great service and +honour which you do me by the present translation. + +I remain, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--I should be VERY MUCH pleased to possess your photograph, and I send +mine in case you should like to have a copy. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. NAGELI. (Professor of Botany at Munich.) +Down, June 12 [1866]. + +Dear Sir, + +I hope you will excuse the liberty which I take in writing to you. I have +just read, though imperfectly, your 'Entstehung und Begriff,' and have been +so greatly interested by it, that I have sent it to be translated, as I am +a poor German scholar. I have just finished a new [4th] edition of my +'Origin,' which will be translated into German, and my object in writing to +you is to say that if you should see this edition you would think that I +had borrowed from you, without acknowledgment, two discussions on the +beauty of flowers and fruit; but I assure you every word was printed off +before I had opened your pamphlet. Should you like to possess a copy of +either the German or English new edition, I should be proud to send one. I +may add, with respect to the beauty of flowers, that I have already hinted +the same views as you hold in my paper on Lythrum. + +Many of your criticisms on my views are the best which I have met with, but +I could answer some, at least to my own satisfaction; and I regret +extremely that I had not read your pamphlet before printing my new edition. +On one or two points, I think, you have a little misunderstood me, though I +dare say I have not been cautious in expressing myself. The remark which +has struck me most, is that on the position of the leaves not having been +acquired through natural selection, from not being of any special +importance to the plant. I well remember being formerly troubled by an +analogous difficulty, namely, the position of the ovules, their anatropous +condition, etc. It was owing to forgetfulness that I did not notice this +difficulty in the 'Origin.' (Nageli's Essay is noticed in the 5th +edition.) Although I can offer no explanation of such facts, and only hope +to see that they may be explained, yet I hardly see how they support the +doctrine of some law of necessary development, for it is not clear to me +that a plant, with its leaves placed at some particular angle, or with its +ovules in some particular position, thus stands higher than another plant. +But I must apologise for troubling you with these remarks. + +As I much wish to possess your photograph, I take the liberty of enclosing +my own, and with sincere respect I remain, dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[I give a few extracts from letters of various dates showing my father's +interest, alluded to in the last letter, in the problem of the arrangement +of the leaves on the stems of plants. It may be added that Professor +Schwendener of Berlin has successfully attacked the question in his +'Mechanische Theorie der Blattstellungen,' 1878. + + +TO DR. FALCONER. +August 26 [1863]. + +"Do you remember telling me that I ought to study Phyllotaxy? Well I have +often wished you at the bottom of the sea; for I could not resist, and I +muddled my brains with diagrams, etc., and specimens, and made out, as +might have been expected, nothing. Those angles are a most wonderful +problem and I wish I could see some one give a rational explanation of +them." + + +TO DR. ASA GRAY. +May 11 [1861]. + +"If you wish to save me from a miserable death, do tell me why the angles +1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, etc, series occur, and no other angles. It is enough +to drive the quietest man mad. Did you and some mathematician (Probably my +father was thinking of Chauncey Wright's work on Phyllotaxy, in Gould's +'Astronomical Journal,' No.99, 1856, and in the 'Mathematical Monthly,' +1859. These papers are mentioned in the "Letters of Chauncey Wright.' Mr. +Wright corresponded with my father on the subject.) publish some paper on +the subject? Hooker says you did; where is it? + + +TO DR. ASA GRAY. +[May 31, 1863?]. + +"I have been looking at Nageli's work on this subject, and am astonished to +see that the angle is not always the same in young shoots when the leaf- +buds are first distinguishable, as in full-grown branches. This shows, I +think, that there must be some potent cause for those angles which do +occur: I dare say there is some explanation as simple as that for the +angles of the Bees-cells." + +My father also corresponded with Dr. Hubert Airy and was interested in his +views on the subject, published in the Royal Soc. Proceedings, 1873, page +176. + + +We now return to the year 1866. + +In November, when the prosecution of Governor Eyre was dividing England +into two bitterly opposed parties, he wrote to Sir J. Hooker:-- + +"You will shriek at me when you hear that I have just subscribed to the +Jamaica Committee." (He subscribed 10 pounds.) + +On this subject I quote from a letter of my brother's:-- + +"With respect to Governor Eyre's conduct in Jamaica, he felt strongly that +J.S. Mill was right in prosecuting him. I remember one evening, at my +Uncle's, we were talking on the subject, and as I happened to think it was +too strong a measure to prosecute Governor Eyre for murder, I made some +foolish remark about the prosecutors spending the surplus of the fund in a +dinner. My father turned on me almost with fury, and told me, if those +were my feelings, I had better go back to Southampton; the inhabitants +having given a dinner to Governor Eyre on his landing, but with which I had +had nothing to do." The end of the incident, as told by my brother, is so +characteristic of my father that I cannot resist giving it, though it has +no bearing on the point at issue. "Next morning at 7 o'clock, or so, he +came into my bedroom and sat on my bed, and said that he had not been able +to sleep from the thought that he had been so angry with me, and after a +few more kind words he left me." + +The same restless desire to correct a disagreeable or incorrect impression +is well illustrated in an extract which I quote from some notes by Rev. J. +Brodie Innes:-- + +"Allied to the extreme carefulness of observation was his most remarkable +truthfulness in all matters. On one occasion, when a parish meeting had +been held on some disputed point of no great importance, I was surprised by +a visit from Mr. Darwin at night. He came to say that, thinking over the +debate, though what he had said was quite accurate, he thought I might have +drawn an erroneous conclusion, and he would not sleep till he had explained +it. I believe that if on any day some certain fact had come to his +knowledge which contradicted his most cherished theories, he would have +placed the fact on record for publication before he slept." + +This tallies with my father's habits, as described by himself. When a +difficulty or an objection occurred to him, he thought it of paramount +importance to make a note of it instantly because he found hostile facts to +be especially evanescent. + +The same point is illustrated by the following incident, for which I am +indebted to Mr. Romanes:-- + +"I have always remembered the following little incident as a good example +of Mr. Darwin's extreme solicitude on the score of accuracy. One evening +at Down there was a general conversation upon the difficulty of explaining +the evolution of some of the distinctively human emotions, especially those +appertaining to the recognition of beauty in natural scenery. I suggested +a view of my own upon the subject, which, depending upon the principle of +association, required the supposition that a long line of ancestors should +have inhabited regions, the scenery of which is now regarded as beautiful. +Just as I was about to observe that the chief difficulty attaching to my +hypothesis arose from feelings of the sublime (seeing that these are +associated with awe, and might therefore be expected not to be agreeable), +Mr. Darwin anticipated the remark, by asking how the hypothesis was to meet +the case of these feelings. In the conversation which followed, he said +the occasion in his own life, when he was most affected by the emotions of +the sublime was when he stood upon one of the summits of the Cordillera, +and surveyed the magnificent prospect all around. It seemed, as he +quaintly observed, as if his nerves had become fiddle strings, and had all +taken to rapidly vibrating. This remark was only made incidentally, and +the conversation passed into some other branch. About an hour afterwards +Mr. Darwin retired to rest, while I sat up in the smoking-room with one of +his sons. We continued smoking and talking for several hours, when at +about one o'clock in the morning the door gently opened and Mr. Darwin +appeared, in his slippers and dressing-gown. As nearly as I can remember, +the following are the words he used:-- + +"'Since I went to bed I have been thinking over our conversation in the +drawing-room, and it has just occurred to me that I was wrong in telling +you I felt most of the sublime when on the top of the Cordillera; I am +quite sure that I felt it even more when in the forests of Brazil. I +thought it best to come and tell you this at once in case I should be +putting you wrong. I am sure now that I felt most sublime in the forests.' + +"This was all he had come to say, and it was evident that he had come to do +so, because he thought that the fact of his feeling 'most sublime in +forests' was more in accordance with the hypothesis which we had been +discussing, than the fact which he had previously stated. Now, as no one +knew better than Mr. Darwin the difference between a speculation and a +fact, I thought this little exhibition of scientific conscientiousness very +noteworthy, where the only question concerned was of so highly speculative +a character. I should not have been so much impressed if he had thought +that by his temporary failure of memory he had put me on a wrong scent in +any matter of fact, although even in such a case he is the only man I ever +knew who would care to get out of bed at such a time at night in order to +make the correction immediately, instead of waiting till next morning. But +as the correction only had reference to a flimsy hypothesis, I certainly +was very much impressed by this display of character."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 10 [1866]. + +...I have now read the last No. of H. Spencer. ('Principles of Biology.') +I do not know whether to think it better than the previous number, but it +is wonderfully clever, and I dare say mostly true. I feel rather mean when +I read him: I could bear, and rather enjoy feeling that he was twice as +ingenious and clever as myself, but when I feel that he is about a dozen +times my superior, even in the master art of wriggling, I feel aggrieved. +If he had trained himself to observe more, even if at the expense, by the +law of balancement, of some loss of thinking power, he would have been a +wonderful man. + +...I am HEARTILY glad you are taking up the Distribution of Plants in New +Zealand, and suppose it will make part of your new book. Your view, as I +understand it, that New Zealand subsided and formed two or more small +islands, and then rose again, seems to me extremely probable...When I +puzzled my brains about New Zealand, I remember I came to the conclusion, +as indeed I state in the 'Origin,' that its flora, as well as that of other +southern lands, had been tinctured by an Antarctic flora, which must have +existed before the Glacial period. I concluded that New Zealand never +could have been closely connected with Australia, though I supposed it had +received some few Australian forms by occasional means of transport. Is +there any reason to suppose that New Zealand could have been more closely +connected with South Australia during the glacial period, when the +Eucalypti, etc., might have been driven further North? Apparently there +remains only the line, which I think you suggested, of sunken islands from +New Caledonia. Please remember that the Edwardsia was certainly drifted +there by the sea. + +I remember in old days speculating on the amount of life, i.e. of organic +chemical change, at different periods. There seems to me one very +difficult element in the problem, namely, the state of development of the +organic beings at each period, for I presume that a Flora and Fauna of +cellular cryptogamic plants, of Protozoa and Radiata would lead to much +less chemical change than is now going on. But I have scribbled enough. + +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter is in acknowledgment of Mr. Rivers' reply to an +earlier letter in which my father had asked for information on bud- +variation: + +It may find a place here in illustration of the manner of my father's +intercourse with those "whose avocations in life had to do with the rearing +or use of living things" ("Mr. Dyer in 'Charles Darwin,'" "Nature Series", +1882, page 39.)--an intercourse which bore such good fruit in the +'Variation of Animals and Plants.' Mr. Dyer has some excellent remarks on +the unexpected value thus placed on apparently trivial facts disinterred +from weekly journals, or amassed by correspondence. He adds: +"Horticulturists who had...moulded plants almost at their will at the +impulse of taste or profit were at once amazed and charmed to find that +they had been doing scientific work and helping to establish a great +theory."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T. RIVERS. (The late Mr. Rivers was an eminent +horticulturist and writer on horticulture.) +Down, December 28 [1866?]. + +My dear Sir, + +Permit me to thank you cordially for your most kind letter. For years I +have read with interest every scrap which you have written in periodicals, +and abstracted in MS. your book on Roses, and several times I thought I +would write to you, but did not know whether you would think me too +intrusive. I shall, indeed, be truly obliged for any information you can +supply me on bud-variation or sports. When any extra difficult points +occur to me in my present subject (which is a mass of difficulties), I will +apply to you, but I will not be unreasonable. It is most true what you say +that any one to study well the physiology of the life of plants, ought to +have under his eye a multitude of plants. I have endeavoured to do what I +can by comparing statements by many writers and observing what I could +myself. Unfortunately few have observed like you have done. As you are so +kind, I will mention one other point on which I am collecting facts; +namely, the effect produced on the stock by the graft; thus, it is SAID, +that the purple-leaved filbert affects the leaves of the common hazel on +which it is grafted (I have just procured a plant to try), so variegated +jessamine is SAID to affect its stock. I want these facts partly to throw +light on the marvellous laburnum Adami, trifacial oranges, etc. That +laburnum case seems one of the strangest in physiology. I have now growing +splendid, FERTILE, yellow laburnums (with a long raceme like the so-called +Waterer's laburnum) from seed of yellow flowers on the C. Adami. To a man +like myself, who is compelled to live a solitary life, and sees few +persons, it is no slight satisfaction to hear that I have been able at all +[to] interest by my books observers like yourself. + +As I shall publish on my present subject, I presume, within a year, it will +be of no use your sending me the shoots of peaches and nectarines which you +so kindly offer; I have recorded your facts. + +Permit me again to thank you cordially; I have not often in my life +received a kinder letter. + +My dear Sir, yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.V. + +THE PUBLICATION OF THE 'VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER +DOMESTICATION.' + +JANUARY 1867, TO JUNE 1868. + +[At the beginning of the year 1867 he was at work on the final chapter-- +"Concluding Remarks" of the 'Variation of Animals and Plants under +Domestication,' which was begun after the rest of the MS. had been sent to +the printers in the preceding December. With regard to the publication of +the book he wrote to Mr. Murray, on January 3:-- + +"I cannot tell you how sorry I am to hear of the enormous size of my book. +(On January 9 he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker: "I have been these last few +days vexed and annoyed to a foolish degree by hearing that my MS. on Dom. +An. and Cult. Plants will make 2 volumes, both bigger than the 'Origin.' +The volumes will have to be full-sized octavo, so I have written to Murray +to suggest details to be printed in small type. But I feel that the size +is quite ludicrous in relation to the subject. I am ready to swear at +myself and at every fool who writes a book.") I fear it can never pay. +But I cannot shorten it now; nor, indeed, if I had foreseen its length, do +I see which parts ought to have been omitted. + +"If you are afraid to publish it, say so at once, I beg you, and I will +consider your note as cancelled. If you think fit, get any one whose +judgment you rely on, to look over some of the more legible chapters, +namely, the Introduction, and on dogs and plants, the latter chapters being +in my opinion, the dullest in the book...The list of chapters, and the +inspection of a few here and there, would give a good judge a fair idea of +the whole book. Pray do not publish blindly, as it would vex me all my +life if I led you to heavy loss." + +Mr. Murray referred the MS. to a literary friend, and, in spite of a +somewhat adverse opinion, willingly agreed to publish the book. My father +wrote:-- + +"Your note has been a great relief to me. I am rather alarmed about the +verdict of your friend, as he is not a man of science. I think if you had +sent the 'Origin' to an unscientific man, he would have utterly condemned +it. I am, however, VERY GLAD that you have consulted any one on whom you +can rely. + +"I must add, that my 'Journal of Researches' was seen in MS. by an eminent +semi-scientific man, and was pronounced unfit for publication." + +The proofs were begun in March, and the last revise was finished on +November 15th, and during this period the only intervals of rest were two +visits of a week each at his brother Erasmus's house in Queen Anne Street. +He notes in his Diary:-- + +"I began this book [in the] beginning of 1860 (and then had some MS.), but +owing to interruptions from my illness, and illness of children; from +various editions of the 'Origin,' and Papers, especially Orchis book and +Tendrils, I have spent four years and two months over it." + +The edition of 'Animals and Plants' was of 1500 copies, and of these 1260 +were sold at Mr. Murray's autumnal sale, but it was not published until +January 30, 1868. A new edition of 1250 copies was printed in February of +the same year. + +In 1867 he received the distinction of being made a knight of the Prussian +Order "Pour le Merite." (The Order "Pour le Merite" was founded in 1740 by +Frederick II. by the re-christening of an "Order of Generosity," founded in +1665. It was at one time strictly military, having been previously both +civil and military, and in 1840 the Order was again opened to civilians. +The order consists of thirty members of German extraction, but +distinguished foreigners are admitted to a kind of extraordinary +membership. Faraday, Herschel, and Thomas Moore, have belonged to it in +this way. From the thirty members a chancellor is elected by the king (the +first officer of this kind was Alexander v. Humboldt); and it is the duty +of the chancellor to notify a vacancy in the Order to the remainder of the +thirty, who then elect by vote the new member--but the king has technically +the appointment in his own hands.) He seems not to have known how great +the distinction was, for in June 1868 he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"What a man you are for sympathy. I was made "Eques" some months ago, but +did not think much about it. Now, by Jove, we all do; but you, in fact, +have knighted me." + +The letters may now take up the story.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 8 [1867]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am heartily glad that you have been offered the Presidentship of the +British Association, for it is a great honour, and as you have so much work +to do, I am equally glad that you have declined it. I feel, however, +convinced that you would have succeeded very well; but if I fancy myself in +such a position, it actually makes my blood run cold. I look back with +amazement at the skill and taste with which the Duke of Argyll made a +multitude of little speeches at Glasgow. By the way, I have not seen the +Duke's book ('The Reign of Law,' 1867.), but I formerly thought that some +of the articles which appeared in periodicals were very clever, but not +very profound. One of these was reviewed in the "Saturday Review" +("Saturday Review", November 15, 1862, 'The "Edinburgh Review" on the +Supernatural.' Written by my cousin, Mr. Henry Parker.) some years ago, +and the fallacy of some main argument was admirably exposed, and I sent the +article to you, and you agreed strongly with it...There was the other day a +rather good review of the Duke's book in the "Spectator", and with a new +explanation, either by the Duke or the reviewer (I could not make out +which), of rudimentary organs, namely, that economy of labour and material +was a great guiding principle with God (ignoring waste of seed and of young +monsters, etc.), and that making a new plan for the structure of animals +was thought, and thought was labour, and therefore God kept to a uniform +plan, and left rudiments. This is no exaggeration. In short, God is a +man, rather cleverer than us...I am very much obliged for the "Nation" +(returned by this post); it is ADMIRABLY good. You say I always guess +wrong, but I do not believe any one, except Asa Gray, could have done the +thing so well. I would bet even, or three to two, that it is Asa Gray, +though one or two passages staggered me. + +I finish my book on 'Domestic Animals,' etc., by a single paragraph, +answering, or rather throwing doubt, in so far as so little space permits, +on Asa Gray's doctrine that each variation has been specially ordered or +led along a beneficial line. It is foolish to touch such subjects, but +there have been so many allusions to what I think about the part which God +has played in the formation of organic beings (Prof. Judd allows me to +quote from some notes which he has kindly given me:--"Lyell once told me +that he had frequently been asked if Darwin was not one of the most unhappy +of men, it being suggested that his outrage upon public opinion should have +filled him with remorse." Sir Charles Lyell must have been able, I think, +to give a satisfactory answer on this point. Professor Judd continues:-- + +"I made a note of this and other conversations of Lyell's at the time. At +the present time such statements must appear strange to any one who does +not recollect the revolution in opinion which has taken place during the +last 23 years [1882]."), that I thought it shabby to evade the question...I +have even received several letters on the subject...I overlooked your +sentence about Providence, and suppose I treated it as Buckland did his own +theology, when his Bridgewater Treatise was read aloud to him for +correction... + + +[The following letter, from Mrs. Boole, is one of those referred to in the +last letter to Sir J.D. Hooker:] + +Dear Sir, + +Will you excuse my venturing to ask you a question, to which no one's +answer but your own would be quite satisfactory? + +Do you consider the holding of your theory of Natural Selection, in its +fullest and most unreserved sense, to be inconsistent--I do not say with +any particular scheme of theological doctrine--but with the following +belief, namely:-- + +That knowledge is given to man by the direct inspiration of the Spirit of +God. + +That God is a personal and Infinitely good Being. + +That the effect of the action of the Spirit of God on the brain of man is +especially a moral effect. + +And that each individual man has within certain limits a power of choice as +to how far he will yield to his hereditary animal impulses, and how far he +will rather follow the guidance of the Spirit, who is educating him into a +power of resisting those impulses in obedience to moral motives? + +The reason why I ask you is this: my own impression has always been, not +only that your theory was perfectly COMPATIBLE with the faith to which I +have just tried to give expression, but that your books afforded me a clue +which would guide me in applying that faith to the solution of certain +complicated psychological problems which it was of practical importance to +me as a mother to solve. I felt that you had supplied one of the missing +links--not to say THE missing link--between the facts of science and the +promises of religion. Every year's experience tends to deepen in me that +impression. + +But I have lately read remarks on the probable bearing of your theory on +religious and moral questions which have perplexed and pained me sorely. I +know that the persons who make such remarks must be cleverer and wiser than +myself. I cannot feel sure that they are mistaken, unless you will tell me +so. And I think--I cannot know for certain--but I THINK--that if I were an +author, I would rather that the humblest student of my works should apply +to me directly in a difficulty, than that she should puzzle too long over +adverse and probably mistaken or thoughtless criticisms. + +At the same time I feel that you have a perfect right to refuse to answer +such questions as I have asked you. Science must take her path, and +Theology hers, and they will meet when and where and how God pleases, and +you are in no sense responsible for it if the meeting-point should still be +very far off. If I receive no answer to this letter I shall infer nothing +from your silence, except that you felt I had no right to make such +enquiries of a stranger. + +[My father replied as follows:] + +Down, December 14, [1866]. + +Dear Madam, + +It would have gratified me much if I could have sent satisfactory answers +to your questions, or, indeed, answers of any kind. But I cannot see how +the belief that all organic beings, including man, have been genetically +derived from some simple being, instead of having been separately created, +bears on your difficulties. These, as it seems to me, can be answered only +by widely different evidence from science, or by the so-called "inner +consciousness." My opinion is not worth more than that of any other man +who has thought on such subjects, and it would be folly in me to give it. +I may, however, remark that it has always appeared to me more satisfactory +to look at the immense amount of pain and suffering in this world as the +inevitable result of the natural sequence of events, i.e. general laws, +rather than from the direct intervention of God, though I am aware this is +not logical with reference to an omniscient Deity. Your last question +seems to resolve itself into the problem of free will and necessity, which +has been found by most persons insoluble. I sincerely wish that this note +had not been as utterly valueless as it is. I would have sent full +answers, though I have little time or strength to spare, had it been in my +power. I have the honour to remain, dear Madam, + +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--I am grieved that my views should incidentally have caused trouble to +your mind, but I thank you for your judgment, and honour you for it, that +theology and science should each run its own course, and that in the +present case I am not responsible if their meeting-point should still be +far off. + + +[The next letter discusses the 'Reign of Law,' referred to a few pages +back:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, June 1 [1867]. + +...I am at present reading the Duke, and am VERY MUCH interested by him; +yet I cannot but think, clever as the whole is, that parts are weak, as +when he doubts whether each curvature of the beak of humming-birds is of +service to each species. He admits, perhaps too fully, that I have shown +the use of each little ridge and shape of each petal in orchids, and how +strange he does not extend the view to humming-birds. Still odder, it +seems to me, all that he says on beauty, which I should have thought a +nonentity, except in the mind of some sentient being. He might have as +well said that love existed during the secondary or Palaeozoic periods. I +hope you are getting on with your book better than I am with mine, which +kills me with the labour of correcting, and is intolerably dull, though I +did not think so when I was writing it. A naturalist's life would be a +happy one if he had only to observe, and never to write. + +We shall be in London for a week in about a fortnight's time, and I shall +enjoy having a breakfast talk with you. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter refers to the new and improved translation of the +'Origin,' undertaken by Professor Carus:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. VICTOR CARUS. +Down, February 17 [1867]. + +My dear Sir, + +I have read your preface with care. It seems to me that you have treated +Bronn with complete respect and great delicacy, and that you have alluded +to your own labour with much modesty. I do not think that any of Bronn's +friends can complain of what you say and what you have done. For my own +sake, I grieve that you have not added notes, as I am sure that I should +have profited much by them; but as you have omitted Bronn's objections, I +believe that you have acted with excellent judgment and fairness in leaving +the text without comment to the independent verdict of the reader. I +heartily congratulate you that the main part of your labour is over; it +would have been to most men a very troublesome task, but you seem to have +indomitable powers of work, judging from those two wonderful and most +useful volumes on zoological literature ('Bibliotheca Zoologica,' 1861.) +edited by you, and which I never open without surprise at their accuracy, +and gratitude for their usefulness. I cannot sufficiently tell you how +much I rejoice that you were persuaded to superintend the translation of +the present edition of my book, for I have now the great satisfaction of +knowing that the German public can judge fairly of its merits and +demerits... + +With my cordial and sincere thanks, believe me, + +My dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The earliest letter which I have seen from my father to Professor Haeckel, +was written in 1865, and from that time forward they corresponded (though +not, I think, with any regularity) up to the end of my father's life. His +friendship with Haeckel was not nearly growth of correspondence, as was the +case with some others, for instance, Fritz Muller. Haeckel paid more than +one visit to Down, and these were thoroughly enjoyed by my father. The +following letter will serve to show the strong feeling of regard which he +entertained for his correspondent--a feeling which I have often heard him +emphatically express, and which was warmly returned. The book referred to +is Haeckel's 'Generelle Morphologie,' published in 1866, a copy of which my +father received from the author in January 1867. + +Dr. E. Krause ('Charles Darwin und sein Verhaltniss zu Deutschland,' 1885.) +has given a good account of Professor Haeckel's services to the cause of +Evolution. After speaking of the lukewarm reception which the 'Origin' met +with in Germany on its first publication, he goes on to describe the first +adherents of the new faith as more or less popular writers, not especially +likely to advance its acceptance with the professorial or purely scientific +world. And he claims for Haeckel that it was his advocacy of Evolution in +his 'Radiolaria' (1862), and at the "Versammlung" of Naturalists at Stettin +in 1863, that placed the Darwinian question for the first time publicly +before the forum of German science, and his enthusiastic propagandism that +chiefly contributed to its success. + +Mr. Huxley, writing in 1869, paid a high tribute to Professor Haeckel as +the Coryphaeus of the Darwinian movement in Germany. Of his 'Generelle +Morphologie,' "an attempt to work out the practical application" of the +doctrine of Evolution to their final results, he says that it has the +"force and suggestiveness, and...systematising power of Oken without his +extravagance." Professor Huxley also testifies to the value of Haeckel's +'Schopfungs-Geschichte' as an exposition of the 'Generelle Morphologie' +"for an educated public." + +Again, in his 'Evolution in Biology' (An article in the 'Encyclopaedia +Britannica,' 9th edition, reprinted in 'Science and Culture,' 1881, page +298.), Mr. Huxley wrote: "Whatever hesitation may, not unfrequently, be +felt by less daring minds, in following Haeckel in many of his +speculations, his attempt to systematise the doctrine of Evolution, and to +exhibit its influence as the central thought of modern biology, cannot fail +to have a far-reaching influence on the progress of science." + +In the following letter my father alludes to the somewhat fierce manner in +which Professor Haeckel fought the battle of 'Darwinismus,' and on this +subject Dr. Krause has some good remarks (page 162). He asks whether much +that happened in the heat of the conflict might not well have been +otherwise, and adds that Haeckel himself is the last man to deny this. +Nevertheless he thinks that even these things may have worked well for the +cause of Evolution, inasmuch as Haeckel "concentrated on himself by his +'Ursprung des Menschen-Geschlechts,' his 'Generelle Morphologie,' and +'Schopfungs-Geschichte,' all the hatred and bitterness which Evolution +excited in certain quarters," so that, "in a surprisingly short time it +became the fashion in Germany that Haeckel alone should be abused, while +Darwin was held up as the ideal of forethought and moderation."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E. HAECKEL. +Down, May 21, 1867. + +Dear Haeckel, + +Your letter of the 18th has given me great pleasure, for you have received +what I said in the most kind and cordial manner. You have in part taken +what I said much stronger than I had intended. It never occurred to me for +a moment to doubt that your work, with the whole subject so admirably and +clearly arranged, as well as fortified by so many new facts and arguments, +would not advance our common object in the highest degree. All that I +think is that you will excite anger, and that anger so completely blinds +every one, that your arguments would have no chance of influencing those +who are already opposed to our views. Moreover, I do not at all like that +you, towards whom I feel so much friendship, should unnecessarily make +enemies, and there is pain and vexation enough in the world without more +being caused. But I repeat that I can feel no doubt that your work will +greatly advance our subject, and I heartily wish it could be translated +into English, for my own sake and that of others. With respect to what you +say about my advancing too strongly objections against my own views, some +of my English friends think that I have erred on this side; but truth +compelled me to write what I did, and I am inclined to think it was good +policy. The belief in the descent theory is slowly spreading in England +(In October 1867 he wrote to Mr. Wallace:--"Mr. Warrington has lately read +an excellent and spirited abstract of the 'Origin' before the Victoria +Institute, and as this is a most orthodox body, he has gained the name of +the Devil's Advocate. The discussion which followed during three +consecutive meetings is very rich from the nonsense talked. If you would +care to see the number I could send it you."), even amongst those who can +give no reason for their belief. No body of men were at first so much +opposed to my views as the members of the London Entomological Society, but +now I am assured that, with the exception of two or three old men, all the +members concur with me to a certain extent. It has been a great +disappointment to me that I have never received your long letter written to +me from the Canary Islands. I am rejoiced to hear that your tour, which +seems to have been a most interesting one, has done your health much good. +I am working away at my new book, but make very slow progress, and the work +tries my health, which is much the same as when you were here. + +Victor Carus is going to translate it, but whether it is worth translation, +I am rather doubtful. I am very glad to hear that there is some chance of +your visiting England this autumn, and all in this house will be delighted +to see you here. + +Believe me, my dear Haeckel, +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, July 31 [1867]. + +My dear Sir, + +I received a week ago your letter of June 2, full as usual of valuable +matter and specimens. It arrived at exactly the right time, for I was +enabled to give a pretty full abstract of your observations on the plant's +own pollen being poisonous. I have inserted this abstract in the proof- +sheets in my chapter on sterility, and it forms the most striking part of +my whole chapter. (In 'The Variation of Animals and Plants.') I thank you +very sincerely for the most interesting observations, which, however, I +regret that you did not publish independently. I have been forced to +abbreviate one or two parts more than I wished...Your letters always +surprise me, from the number of points to which you attend. I wish I could +make my letters of any interest to you, for I hardly ever see a naturalist, +and live as retired a life as you in Brazil. With respect to mimetic +plants, I remember Hooker many years ago saying he believed that there were +many, but I agree with you that it would be most difficult to distinguish +between mimetic resemblance and the effects of peculiar conditions. Who +can say to which of these causes to attribute the several plants with +heath-like foliage at the Cape of Good Hope? Is it not also a difficulty +that quadrupeds appear to recognise plants more by their [scent] than their +appearance? What I have just said reminds me to ask you a question. Sir +J. Lubbock brought me the other day what appears to be a terrestrial +Planaria (the first ever found in the northern hemisphere) and which was +coloured exactly like our dark-coloured slugs. Now slugs are not devoured +by birds, like the shell-bearing species, and this made me remember that I +found the Brazilian Planariae actually together with striped Vaginuli which +I believe were similarly coloured. Can you throw any light on this? I +wish to know, because I was puzzled some months ago how it would be +possible to account for the bright colours of the Planariae in reference to +sexual selection. By the way, I suppose they are hermaphrodites. + +Do not forget to aid me, if in your power, with answers to ANY of my +questions on expression, for the subject interests me greatly. With +cordial thanks for your never-failing kindness, believe me, + +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, July 18 [1867]. + +My dear Lyell, + +Many thanks for your long letter. I am sorry to hear that you are in +despair about your book (The 2nd volume of the 10th Edition of the +'Principles.'); I well know that feeling, but am now getting out of the +lower depths. I shall be very much pleased, if you can make the least use +of my present book, and do not care at all whether it is published before +yours. Mine will appear towards the end of November of this year; you +speak of yours as not coming out till November, 1868, which I hope may be +an error. There is nothing about Man in my book which can interfere with +you, so I will order all the completed clean sheets to be sent (and others +as soon as ready) to you, but please observe you will not care for the +first volume, which is a mere record of the amount of variation; but I hope +the second will be somewhat more interesting. Though I fear the whole must +be dull. + +I rejoice from my heart that you are going to speak out plainly about +species. My book about Man, if published, will be short, and a large +portion will be devoted to sexual selection, to which subject I alluded in +the 'Origin' as bearing on Man... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, August 22 [1867]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I thank you cordially for your last two letters. The former one did me +REAL good, for I had got so wearied with the subject that I could hardly +bear to correct the proofs (The proofs of 'Animals and Plants,' which Lyell +was then reading.), and you gave me fresh heart. I remember thinking that +when you came to the Pigeon chapter you would pass it over as quite +unreadable. Your last letter has interested me in very many ways, and I +have been glad to hear about those horrid unbelieving Frenchmen. I have +been particularly pleased that you have noticed Pangenesis. I do not know +whether you ever had the feeling of having thought so much over a subject +that you had lost all power of judging it. This is my case with Pangenesis +(which is 26 or 27 years old), but I am inclined to think that if it be +admitted as a probable hypothesis it will be a somewhat important step in +Biology. + +I cannot help still regretting that you have ever looked at the slips, for +I hope to improve the whole a good deal. It is surprising to me, and +delightful, that you should care in the least about the plants. Altogether +you have given me one of the best cordials I ever had in my life, and I +heartily thank you. I despatched this morning the French edition. (Of the +'Origin.' It appears that my father was sending a copy of the French +edition to Sir Charles. The introduction was by Mdlle. Royer, who +translated the book.) The introduction was a complete surprise to me, and +I dare say has injured the book in France; nevertheless...it shows, I +think, that the woman is uncommonly clever. Once again many thanks for the +renewed courage with which I shall attack the horrid proof-sheets. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--A Russian who is translating my new book into Russian has been here, +and says you are immensely read in Russia, and many editions--how many I +forget. Six editions of Buckle and four editions of the 'Origin.' + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, October 16 [1867]. + +My dear Gray, + +I send by this post clean sheets of Volume I. up to page 336, and there are +only 411 pages in this volume. I am VERY glad to hear that you are going +to review my book; but if the "Nation" (The book was reviewed by Dr. Gray +in the "Nation", March 19, 1868.) is a newspaper I wish it were at the +bottom of the sea, for I fear that you will thus be stopped reviewing me in +a scientific journal. The first volume is all details, and you will not be +able to read it; and you must remember that the chapters on plants are +written for naturalists who are not botanists. The last chapter in Volume +I. is, however, I think, a curious compilation of facts; it is on bud- +variation. In Volume II. some of the chapters are more interesting; and I +shall be very curious to hear your verdict on the chapter on close inter- +breeding. The chapter on what I call Pangenesis will be called a mad +dream, and I shall be pretty well satisfied if you think it a dream worth +publishing; but at the bottom of my own mind I think it contains a great +truth. I finish my book with a semi-theological paragraph, in which I +quote and differ from you; what you will think of it, I know not... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 17 [1867]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Congratulate me, for I have finished the last revise of the last sheet of +my book. It has been an awful job: seven and a half months correcting the +press: the book, from much small type, does not look big, but is really +very big. I have had hard work to keep up to the mark, but during the last +week only few revises came, so that I have rested and feel more myself. +Hence, after our long mutual silence, I enjoy myself by writing a note to +you, for the sake of exhaling, and hearing from you. On account of the +index (The index was made by Mr. W.S. Dallas; I have often heard my father +express his admiration of this excellent piece of work.), I do not suppose +that you will receive your copy till the middle of next month. I shall be +intensely anxious to hear what you think about Pangenesis; though I can see +how fearfully imperfect, even in mere conjectural conclusions, it is; yet +it has been an infinite satisfaction to me somehow to connect the various +large groups of facts, which I have long considered, by an intelligible +thread. I shall not be at all surprised if you attack it and me with +unparalleled ferocity. It will be my endeavour to do as little as possible +for some time, but [I] shall soon prepare a paper or two for the Linnean +Society. In a short time we shall go to London for ten days, but the time +is not yet fixed. Now I have told you a deal about myself, and do let me +hear a good deal about your own past and future doings. Can you pay us a +visit, early in December?...I have seen no one for an age, and heard no +news. + +...About my book I will give you a bit of advice. Skip the WHOLE of Volume +I., except the last chapter (and that need only be skimmed) and skip +largely in the 2nd volume; and then you will say it is a very good book. + + +1868. + +['The Variation of Animals and Plants' was, as already mentioned, published +on January 30, 1868, and on that day he sent a copy to Fritz Muller, and +wrote to him:-- + +"I send by this post, by French packet, my new book, the publication of +which has been much delayed. The greater part, as you will see, is not +meant to be read; but I should very much like to hear what you think of +'Pangenesis,' though I fear it will appear to EVERY ONE far too +speculative."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +February 3 [1868]. + +...I am very much pleased at what you say about my Introduction; after it +was in type I was as near as possible cancelling the whole. I have been +for some time in despair about my book, and if I try to read a few pages I +feel fairly nauseated, but do not let this make you praise it; for I have +made up my mind that it is not worth a fifth part of the enormous labour it +has cost me. I assure you that all that is worth your doing (if you have +time for so much) is glancing at Chapter VI., and reading parts of the +later chapters. The facts on self-impotent plants seem to me curious, and +I have worked out to my own satisfaction the good from crossing and evil +from interbreeding. I did read Pangenesis the other evening, but even +this, my beloved child, as I had fancied, quite disgusted me. The devil +take the whole book; and yet now I am at work again as hard as I am able. +It is really a great evil that from habit I have pleasure in hardly +anything except Natural History, for nothing else makes me forget my ever- +recurrent uncomfortable sensations. But I must not howl any more, and the +critics may say what they like; I did my best, and man can do no more. +What a splendid pursuit Natural History would be if it was all observing +and no writing!... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 10 [1868]. + +My dear Hooker, + +What is the good of having a friend, if one may not boast to him? I heard +yesterday that Murray has sold in a week the whole edition of 1500 copies +of my book, and the sale so pressing that he has agreed with Clowes to get +another edition in fourteen days! This has done me a world of good, for I +had got into a sort of dogged hatred of my book. And now there has +appeared a review in the "Pall Mall" which has pleased me excessively, more +perhaps than is reasonable. I am quite content, and do not care how much I +may be pitched into. If by any chance you should hear who wrote the +article in the "Pall Mall", do please tell me; it is some one who writes +capitally, and who knows the subject. I went to luncheon on Sunday, to +Lubbock's, partly in hopes of seeing you, and, be hanged to you, you were +not there. + +Your cock-a-hoop friend, +C.D. + + +[Independently of the favourable tone of the able series of notices in the +"Pall Mall Gazette" (February 10, 15, 17, 1868), my father may well have +been gratified by the following passages:-- + +"We must call attention to the rare and noble calmness with which he +expounds his own views, undisturbed by the heats of polemical agitation +which those views have excited, and persistently refusing to retort on his +antagonists by ridicule, by indignation, or by contempt. Considering the +amount of vituperation and insinuation which has come from the other side, +this forbearance is supremely dignified." + +And again in the third notice, February 17:-- + +"Nowhere has the author a word that could wound the most sensitive self- +love of an antagonist; nowhere does he, in text or note, expose the +fallacies and mistakes of brother investigators...but while abstaining from +impertinent censure, he is lavish in acknowledging the smallest debts he +may owe; and his book will make many men happy." + +I am indebted to Messrs. Smith & Elder for the information that these +articles were written by Mr. G.H. Lewes.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 23 [1868]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have had almost as many letters to write of late as you can have, viz. +from 8 to 10 per diem, chiefly getting up facts on sexual selection, +therefore I have felt no inclination to write to you, and now I mean to +write solely about my book for my own satisfaction, and not at all for +yours. The first edition was 1500 copies, and now the second is printed +off; sharp work. Did you look at the review in the "Athenaeum" +("Athenaeum", February 15, 1868. My father quoted Pouchet's assertion that +"variation under domestication throws no light on the natural modification +of species." The reviewer quotes the end of a passage in which my father +declares that he can see no force in Pouchet's arguments, or rather +assertions, and then goes on: "We are sadly mistaken if there are not +clear proofs in the pages of the book before us that, on the contrary, Mr. +Darwin has perceived, felt, and yielded to the force of the arguments or +assertions of his French antagonist." The following may serve as samples +of the rest of the review:-- + +"Henceforth the rhetoricians will have a better illustration of anti-climax +than the mountain which brought forth a mouse,...in the discoverer of the +origin of species, who tried to explain the variation of pigeons! + +"A few summary words. On the 'Origin of Species' Mr. Darwin has nothing, +and is never likely to have anything, to say; but on the vastly important +subject of inheritance, the transmission of peculiarities once acquired +through successive generations, this work is a valuable store-house of +facts for curious students and practical breeders."), showing profound +contempt of me?...It is a shame that he should have said that I have taken +much from Pouchet, without acknowledgment; for I took literally nothing, +there being nothing to take. There is a capital review in the "Gardeners' +Chronicle" which will sell the book if anything will. I don't quite see +whether I or the writer is in a muddle about man CAUSING variability. If a +man drops a bit of iron into sulphuric acid he does not cause the +affinities to come into play, yet he may be said to make sulphate of iron. +I do not know how to avoid ambiguity. + +After what the "Pall Mall Gazette" and the "Chronicle" have said I do not +care a d--. + +I fear Pangenesis is stillborn; Bates says he has read it twice, and is not +sure that he understands it. H. Spencer says the view is quite different +from his (and this is a great relief to me, as I feared to be accused of +plagiarism, but utterly failed to be sure what he meant, so thought it +safest to give my view as almost the same as his), and he says he is not +sure he understands it...Am I not a poor devil? yet I took such pains, I +must think that I expressed myself clearly. Old Sir H. Holland says he has +read it twice, and thinks it very tough; but believes that sooner or later +"some view akin to it" will be accepted. + +You will think me very self-sufficient, when I declare that I feel SURE if +Pangenesis is now stillborn it will, thank God, at some future time +reappear, begotten by some other father, and christened by some other name. + +Have you ever met with any tangible and clear view of what takes place in +generation, whether by seeds or buds, or how a long-lost character can +possibly reappear; or how the male element can possibly affect the mother +plant, or the mother animal, so that her future progeny are affected? Now +all these points and many others are connected together, whether truly or +falsely is another question, by Pangenesis. You see I die hard, and stick +up for my poor child. + +This letter is written for my own satisfaction, and not for yours. So bear +it. + +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. NEWTON. (Prof. of Zoology at Cambridge.) +Down, February 9 [1870]. + +Dear Newton, + +I suppose it would be universally held extremely wrong for a defendant to +write to a Judge to express his satisfaction at a judgment in his favour; +and yet I am going thus to act. I have just read what you have said in the +'Record' ('Zoological Record.' The volume for 1868, published December +1869.) about my pigeon chapters, and it has gratified me beyond measure. I +have sometimes felt a little disappointed that the labour of so many years +seemed to be almost thrown away, for you are the first man capable of +forming a judgment (excepting partly Quatrefages), who seems to have +thought anything of this part of my work. The amount of labour, +correspondence, and care, which the subject cost me, is more than you could +well suppose. I thought the article in the "Athenaeum" was very unjust; +but now I feel amply repaid, and I cordially thank you for your sympathy +and too warm praise. What labour you have bestowed on your part of the +'Record'! I ought to be ashamed to speak of my amount of work. I +thoroughly enjoyed the Sunday, which you and the others spent here, and + +I remain, dear Newton, yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, February 27 [1868]. + +My dear Wallace, + +You cannot well imagine how much I have been pleased by what you say about +'Pangenesis.' None of my friends will speak out...Hooker, as far as I +understand him, which I hardly do at present, seems to think that the +hypothesis is little more than saying that organisms have such and such +potentialities. What you say exactly and fully expresses my feeling, viz. +that it is a relief to have some feasible explanation of the various facts, +which can be given up as soon as any better hypothesis is found. It has +certainly been an immense relief to my mind; for I have been stumbling over +the subject for years, dimly seeing that some relation existed between the +various classes of facts. I now hear from H. Spencer that his views quoted +in my foot-note refer to something quite distinct, as you seem to have +perceived. + +I shall be very glad to hear at some future day your criticisms on the +"causes of variability." Indeed I feel sure that I am right about +sterility and natural selection...I do not quite understand your case, and +we think that a word or two is misplaced. I wish sometime you would +consider the case under the following point of view:--If sterility is +caused or accumulated through natural selection, than as every degree +exists up to absolute barrenness, natural selection must have the power of +increasing it. Now take two species, A and B, and assume that they are (by +any means) half-sterile, i.e. produce half the full number of offspring. +Now try and make (by natural selection) A and B absolutely sterile when +crossed, and you will find how difficult it is. I grant indeed, it is +certain, that the degree of sterility of the individuals A and B will vary, +but any such extra-sterile individuals of, we will say A, if they should +hereafter breed with other individuals of A, will bequeath no advantage to +their progeny, by which these families will tend to increase in number over +other families of A, which are not more sterile when crossed with B. But I +do not know that I have made this any clearer than in the chapter in my +book. It is a most difficult bit of reasoning, which I have gone over and +over again on paper with diagrams. + +...Hearty thanks for your letter. You have indeed pleased me, for I had +given up the great god Pan as a stillborn deity. I wish you could be +induced to make it clear with your admirable powers of elucidation in one +of the scientific journals... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 28 [1868]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have been deeply interested by your letter, and we had a good laugh over +Huxley's remark, which was so deuced clever that you could not recollect +it. I cannot quite follow your train of thought, for in the last page you +admit all that I wish, having apparently denied all, or thought all mere +words in the previous pages of your note; but it may be my muddle. I see +clearly that any satisfaction which Pan may give will depend on the +constitution of each man's mind. If you have arrived already at any +similar conclusion, the whole will of course appear stale to you. I heard +yesterday from Wallace, who says (excuse horrid vanity), "I can hardly tell +you how much I admire the chapter on 'Pangenesis.' It is a POSITIVE +COMFORT to me to have any feasible explanation of a difficulty that has +always been haunting me, and I shall never be able to give it up till a +better one supplies its place, and that I think hardly possible, etc." Now +his foregoing [italicised] words express my sentiments exactly and fully: +though perhaps I feel the relief extra strongly from having during many +years vainly attempted to form some hypothesis. When you or Huxley say +that a single cell of a plant, or the stump of an amputated limb, have the +"potentiality" of reproducing the whole--or "diffuse an influence," these +words give me no positive idea;--but when it is said that the cells of a +plant, or stump, include atoms derived from every other cell of the whole +organism and capable of development, I gain a distinct idea. But this idea +would not be worth a rush, if it applied to one case alone; but it seems to +me to apply to all the forms of reproduction--inheritance--metamorphosis-- +to the abnormal transposition of organs--to the direct action of the male +element on the mother plant, etc. Therefore I fully believe that each cell +does ACTUALLY throw off an atom or gemmule of its contents;--but whether or +not, this hypothesis serves as a useful connecting link for various grand +classes of physiological facts, which at present stand absolutely isolated. + +I have touched on the doubtful point (alluded to by Huxley) how far atoms +derived from the same cell may become developed into different structure +accordingly as they are differently nourished; I advanced as illustrations +galls and polypoid excrescences... + +It is a real pleasure to me to write to you on this subject, and I should +be delighted if we can understand each other; but you must not let your +good nature lead you on. Remember, we always fight tooth and nail. We go +to London on Tuesday, first for a week to Queen Anne Street, and afterwards +to Miss Wedgwood's, in Regent's Park, and stay the whole month, which, as +my gardener truly says, is a "terrible thing" for my experiments. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. OGLE. (Dr. William Ogle, now the Superintendent of +Statistics to the Registrar-General.) +Down, March 6 [1868]. + +Dear Sir, + +I thank you most sincerely for your letter, which is very interesting to +me. I wish I had known of these views of Hippocrates before I had +published, for they seem almost identical with mine--merely a change of +terms--and an application of them to classes of facts necessarily unknown +to the old philosopher. The whole case is a good illustration of how +rarely anything is new. + +Hippocrates has taken the wind out of my sails, but I care very little +about being forestalled. I advance the views merely as a provisional +hypothesis, but with the secret expectation that sooner or later some such +view will have to be admitted. + +...I do not expect the reviewers will be so learned as you: otherwise, no +doubt, I shall be accused of wilfully stealing Pangenesis from +Hippocrates,--for this is the spirit some reviewers delight to show. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO VICTOR CARUS. +Down, March 21 [1868]. + +...I am very much obliged to you for sending me so frankly your opinion on +Pangenesis, and I am sorry it is unfavourable, but I cannot quite +understand your remark on pangenesis, selection, and the struggle for life +not being more methodical. I am not at all surprised at your unfavourable +verdict; I know many, probably most, will come to the same conclusion. One +English Review says it is much too complicated...Some of my friends are +enthusiastic on the hypothesis...Sir C. Lyell says to every one, "you may +not believe in 'Pangenesis,' but if you once understand it, you will never +get it out of your mind." And with this criticism I am perfectly content. +All cases of inheritance and reversion and development now appear to me +under a new light... + +[An extract from a letter to Fritz Muller, though of later date (June), may +be given here:-- + +"Your letter of April 22 has much interested me. I am delighted that you +approve of my book, for I value your opinion more than that of almost any +one. I have yet hopes that you will think well of Pangenesis. I feel sure +that our minds are somewhat alike, and I find it a great relief to have +some definite, though hypothetical view, when I reflect on the wonderful +transformations of animals,--the re-growth of parts,--and especially the +direct action of pollen on the mother-form, etc. It often appears to me +almost certain that the characters of the parents are "photographed" on the +child, only by means of material atoms derived from each cell in both +parents, and developed in the child."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, May 8 [1868]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have been a most ungrateful and ungracious man not to have written to you +an immense time ago to thank you heartily for the "Nation", and for all +your most kind aid in regard to the American edition [of 'Animals and +Plants']. But I have been of late overwhelmed with letters, which I was +forced to answer, and so put off writing to you. This morning I received +the American edition (which looks capital), with your nice preface, for +which hearty thanks. I hope to heaven that the book will succeed well +enough to prevent you repenting of your aid. This arrival has put the +finishing stroke to my conscience, which will endure its wrongs no longer. + +...Your article in the "Nation" [March 19] seems to me very good, and you +give an excellent idea of Pangenesis--an infant cherished by few as yet, +except his tender parent, but which will live a long life. There is +parental presumption for you! You give a good slap at my concluding +metaphor (A short abstract of the precipice metaphor is given in Volume I. +Dr. Gray's criticism on this point is as follows: "But in Mr. Darwin's +parallel, to meet the case of nature according to his own view of it, not +only the fragments of rock (answering to variation) should fall, but the +edifice (answering to natural selection) should rise, irrespective of will +or choice!" But my father's parallel demands that natural selection shall +be the architect, not the edifice--the question of design only comes in +with regard to the form of the building materials.): undoubtedly I ought +to have brought in and contrasted natural and artificial selection; but it +seems so obvious to me that natural selection depended on contingencies +even more complex than those which must have determined the shape of each +fragment at the base of my precipice. What I wanted to show was that in +reference to pre-ordainment whatever holds good in the formation of a +pouter pigeon holds good in the formation of a natural species of pigeon. +I cannot see that this is false. If the right variations occurred, and no +others, natural selection would be superfluous. A reviewer in an Edinburgh +paper, who treats me with profound contempt, says on this subject that +Professor Asa Gray could with the greatest ease smash me into little +pieces. (The "Daily Review", April 27, 1868. My father has given rather a +highly coloured version of the reviewer's remarks: "We doubt not that +Professor Asa Gray...could show that natural selection...is simply an +instrument in the hands of an omnipotent and omniscient creator." The +reviewer goes on to say that the passage in question is a "very melancholy +one," and that the theory is the "apotheosis of materialism.") + +Believe me, my dear Gray, +Your ungrateful but sincere friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G. BENTHAM. +Down, June 23, 1868. + +My dear Mr. Bentham, + +As your address (Presidential Address to the Linnean Society.) is somewhat +of the nature of a verdict from a judge, I do not know whether it is proper +for me to do so, but I must and will thank you for the pleasure which you +have given me. I am delighted at what you say about my book. I got so +tired of it, that for months together I thought myself a perfect fool for +having given up so much time in collecting and observing little facts, but +now I do not care if a score of common critics speak as contemptuously of +the book as did the "Athenaeum". I feel justified in this, for I have so +complete a reliance on your judgment that I feel certain that I should have +bowed to your judgment had it been as unfavourable as it is the contrary. +What you say about Pangenesis quite satisfies me, and is as much perhaps as +any one is justified in saying. I have read your whole Address with the +greatest interest. It must have cost you a vast amount of trouble. With +cordial thanks, pray believe me, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I fear that it is not likely that you have a superfluous copy of your +Address; if you have, I should much like to send one to Fritz Muller in the +interior of Brazil. By the way let me add that I discussed bud-variation +chiefly from a belief which is common to several persons, that all +variability is related to sexual generation; I wished to show clearly that +this was an error. + +[The above series of letters may serve to show to some extent the reception +which the new book received. Before passing on (in the next chapter) to +the 'Descent of Man,' I give a letter referring to the translation of Fritz +Muller's book, 'Fur Darwin,' it was originally published in 1864, but the +English translation, by Mr. Dallas, which bore the title suggested by Sir +C. Lyell, of 'Facts and Arguments for Darwin,' did not appear until 1869:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, March 16 [1868]. + +My dear Sir, + +Your brother, as you will have heard from him, felt so convinced that you +would not object to a translation of 'Fur Darwin' (In a letter to Fritz +Muller, my father wrote:--"I am vexed to see that on the title my name is +more conspicuous than yours, which I especially objected to, and I +cautioned the printers after seeing one proof."), that I have ventured to +arrange for a translation. Engelmann has very liberally offered me cliches +of the woodcuts for 22 thalers; Mr. Murray has agreed to bring out a +translation (and he is our best publisher) on commission, for he would not +undertake the work on his own risk; and I have agreed with Mr. W.S. Dallas +(who has translated Von Siebold on Parthenogenesis, and many German works, +and who writes very good English) to translate the book. He thinks (and he +is a good judge) that it is important to have some few corrections or +additions, in order to account for a translation appearing so lately [i.e. +at such a long interval of time] after the original; so that I hope you +will be able to send some... + + +[Two letters may be placed here as bearing on the spread of Evolutionary +ideas in France and Germany:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. GAUDRY. +Down, January 21 [1868]. + +Dear Sir, + +I thank you for your interesting essay on the influence of the Geological +features of the country on the mind and habits of the Ancient Athenians +(This appears to refer to M. Gaudry's paper translated in the 'Geol. Mag.,' +1868, page 372.), and for your very obliging letter. I am delighted to +hear that you intend to consider the relations of fossil animals in +connection with their genealogy; it will afford you a fine field for the +exercise of your extensive knowledge and powers of reasoning. Your belief +will I suppose, at present, lower you in the estimation of your countrymen; +but judging from the rapid spread in all parts of Europe, excepting France, +of the belief in the common descent of allied species, I must think that +this belief will before long become universal. How strange it is that the +country which gave birth to Buffon, the elder Geoffroy, and especially to +Lamarck, should now cling so pertinaciously to the belief that species are +immutable creations. + +My work on Variation, etc., under domestication, will appear in a French +translation in a few months' time, and I will do myself the pleasure and +honour of directing the publisher to send a copy to you to the same address +as this letter. + +With sincere respect, I remain, dear sir, +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The next letter is of especial interest, as showing how high a value my +father placed on the support of the younger German naturalists:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. PREYER. (Now Professor of Physiology at Jena.) +March 31, 1868. + +...I am delighted to hear that you uphold the doctrine of the Modification +of Species, and defend my views. The support which I receive from Germany +is my chief ground for hoping that our views will ultimately prevail. To +the present day I am continually abused or treated with contempt by writers +of my own country; but the younger naturalists are almost all on my side, +and sooner or later the public must follow those who make the subject their +special study. The abuse and contempt of ignorant writers hurts me very +little... + + +CHAPTER 2.VI. + +WORK ON 'MAN.' + +1864-1870. + +[In the autobiographical chapter in Volume I., my father gives the +circumstances which led to his writing the 'Descent of Man.' He states +that his collection of facts, begun in 1837 or 1838, was continued for many +years without any definite idea of publishing on the subject. The +following letter to Mr. Wallace shows that in the period of ill-health and +depression about 1864 he despaired of ever being able to do so:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, [May?] 28 [1864]. + +Dear Wallace, + +I am so much better that I have just finished a paper for Linnean Society +(On the three forms, etc., of Lythrum.); but I am not yet at all strong, I +felt much disinclination to write, and therefore you must forgive me for +not having sooner thanked you for your paper on 'Man' ('Anthropological +Review,' March 1864.), received on the 11th. But first let me say that I +have hardly ever in my life been more struck by any paper than that on +'Variation,' etc. etc., in the "Reader". ('"Reader", April 16, 1864. "On +the Phenomena of Variation," etc. Abstract of a paper read before the +Linnean Society, March 17, 1864.) I feel sure that such papers will do +more for the spreading of our views on the modification of species than any +separate Treatises on the simple subject itself. It is really admirable; +but you ought not in the Man paper to speak of the theory as mine; it is +just as much yours as mine. One correspondent has already noticed to me +your "high-minded" conduct on this head. But now for your Man paper, about +which I should like to write more than I can. The great leading idea is +quite new to me, viz. that during late ages, the mind will have been +modified more than the body; yet I had got as far as to see with you that +the struggle between the races of man depended entirely on intellectual and +MORAL qualities. The latter part of the paper I can designate only as +grand and most eloquently done. I have shown your paper to two or three +persons who have been here, and they have been equally struck with it. I +am not sure that I go with you on all minor points: when reading Sir G. +Grey's account of the constant battles of Australian savages, I remember +thinking that natural selection would come in, and likewise with the +Esquimaux, with whom the art of fishing and managing canoes is said to be +hereditary. I rather differ on the rank, under a classificatory point of +view, which you assign to man; I do not think any character simply in +excess ought ever to be used for the higher divisions. Ants would not be +separated from other hymenopterous insects, however high the instinct of +the one, and however low the instincts of the other. With respect to the +differences of race, a conjecture has occurred to me that much may be due +to the correlation of complexion (and consequently hair) with constitution. +Assume that a dusky individual best escaped miasma, and you will readily +see what I mean. I persuaded the Director-General of the Medical +Department of the Army to send printed forms to the surgeons of all +regiments in tropical countries to ascertain this point, but I dare say I +shall never get any returns. Secondly, I suspect that a sort of sexual +selection has been the most powerful means of changing the races of man. I +can show that the different races have a widely different standard of +beauty. Among savages the most powerful men will have the pick of the +women, and they will generally leave the most descendants. I have +collected a few notes on man, but I do not suppose that I shall ever use +them. Do you intend to follow out your views, and if so, would you like at +some future time to have my few references and notes? I am sure I hardly +know whether they are of any value, and they are at present in a state of +chaos. + +There is much more that I should like to write, but I have not strength. + +Believe me, dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--Our aristocracy is handsomer (more hideous according to a Chinese or +Negro) than the middle classes, from (having the) pick of the women; but +oh, what a scheme is primogeniture for destroying natural selection! I +fear my letter will be barely intelligible to you. + + +[In February 1867, when the manuscript of 'Animals and Plants' had been +sent to Messrs. Clowes to be printed, and before the proofs began to come +in, he had an interval of spare time, and began a "chapter on Man," but he +soon found it growing under his hands, and determined to publish it +separately as a "very small volume." + +The work was interrupted by the necessity of correcting the proofs of +'Animals and Plants,' and by some botanical work, but was resumed in the +following year, 1868, the moment he could give himself up to it. + +He recognized with regret the gradual change in his mind that rendered +continuous work more and more necessary to him as he grew older. This is +expressed in a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker, June 17, 1868, which repeats to +some extent what is expressed in the Autobiography:-- + +"I am glad you were at the 'Messiah,' it is the one thing that I should +like to hear again, but I dare say I should find my soul too dried up to +appreciate it as in old days; and then I should feel very flat, for it is a +horrid bore to feel as I constantly do, that I am a withered leaf for every +subject except Science. It sometimes makes me hate Science, though God +knows I ought to be thankful for such a perennial interest, which makes me +forget for some hours every day my accursed stomach." + +The work on Man was interrupted by illness in the early summer of 1868, and +he left home on July 16th for Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, where he +remained with his family until August 21st. Here he made the acquaintance +of Mrs. Cameron. She received the whole family with open-hearted kindness +and hospitality, and my father always retained a warm feeling of friendship +for her. She made an excellent photograph of him, which was published with +the inscription written by him: "I like this photograph very much better +than any other which has been taken of me." Further interruption occurred +in the autumn so that continuous work on the 'Descent of Man' did not begin +until 1869. The following letters give some idea of the earlier work in +1867:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, February 22, [1867?]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I am hard at work on sexual selection, and am driven half mad by the number +of collateral points which require investigation, such as the relative +number of the two sexes, and especially on polygamy. Can you aid me with +respect to birds which have strongly marked secondary sexual characters, +such as birds of paradise, humming-birds, the Rupicola, or any other such +cases? Many gallinaceous birds certainly are polygamous. I suppose that +birds may be known not to be polygamous if they are seen during the whole +breeding season to associate in pairs, or if the male incubates or aids in +feeding the young. Will you have the kindness to turn this in your mind? +But it is a shame to trouble you now that, as I am HEARTILY glad to hear, +you are at work on your Malayan travels. I am fearfully puzzled how far to +extend your protective views with respect to the females in various +classes. The more I work the more important sexual selection apparently +comes out. + +Can butterflies be polygamous! i.e. will one male impregnate more than one +female? Forgive me troubling you, and I dare say I shall have to ask +forgiveness again... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, February 23 [1867]. + +Dear Wallace, + +I much regretted that I was unable to call on you, but after Monday I was +unable even to leave the house. On Monday evening I called on Bates, and +put a difficulty before him, which he could not answer, and, as on some +former similar occasion, his first suggestion was, "You had better ask +Wallace." My difficulty is, why are caterpillars sometimes so beautifully +and artistically coloured? Seeing that many are coloured to escape danger, +I can hardly attribute their bright colour in other cases to mere physical +conditions. Bates says the most gaudy caterpillar he ever saw in Amazonia +(of a sphinx) was conspicuous at the distance of yards, from its black and +red colours, whilst feeding on large green leaves. If any one objected to +male butterflies having been made beautiful by sexual selection, and asked +why should they not have been made beautiful as well as their caterpillars, +what would you answer? I could not answer, but should maintain my ground. +Will you think over this, and some time, either by letter or when we meet, +tell me what you think? Also I want to know whether your FEMALE mimetic +butterfly is more beautiful and brighter than the male. When next in +London I must get you to show me your kingfishers. My health is a dreadful +evil; I failed in half my engagements during this last visit to London. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, February 26 [1867]. + +My dear Wallace, + +Bates was quite right; you are the man to apply to in a difficulty. I +never heard anything more ingenious than your suggestion (The suggestion +that conspicuous caterpillars or perfect insects (e.g. white butterflies), +which are distasteful to birds, are protected by being easily recognised +and avoided. See Mr. Wallace's 'Natural Selection,' 2nd edition, page +117.), and I hope you may be able to prove it true. That is a splendid +fact about the white moths; it warms one's very blood to see a theory thus +almost proved to be true. (Mr. Jenner Weir's observations published in the +Transactions of the Entomolog. Soc. (1869 and 1870) give strong support to +the theory in question.) With respect to the beauty of male butterflies, I +must as yet think it is due to sexual selection. There is some evidence +that dragon-flies are attracted by bright colours; but what leads me to the +above belief is, so many male Orthoptera and Cicadas having musical +instruments. This being the case, the analogy of birds makes me believe in +sexual selection with respect to colour in insects. I wish I had strength +and time to make some of the experiments suggested by you, but I thought +butterflies would not pair in confinement. I am sure I have heard of some +such difficulty. Many years ago I had a dragon-fly painted with gorgeous +colours, but I never had an opportunity of fairly trying it. + +The reason of my being so much interested just at present about sexual +selection is, that I have almost resolved to publish a little essay on the +origin of Mankind, and I still strongly think (though I failed to convince +you, and this, to me, is the heaviest blow possible) that sexual selection +has been the main agent in forming the races of man. + +By the way, there is another subject which I shall introduce in my essay, +namely, expression of countenance. Now, do you happen to know by any odd +chance a very good-natured and acute observer in the Malay Archipelago, who +you think would make a few easy observations for me on the expression of +the Malays when excited by various emotions? For in this case I would send +to such person a list of queries. I thank you for your most interesting +letter, and remain, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, March [1867]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I thank you much for your two notes. The case of Julia Pastrana (A bearded +woman having an irregular double set of teeth. 'Animals and Plants,' +volume ii. page 328.) is a splendid addition to my other cases of +correlated teeth and hair, and I will add it in correcting the press of my +present volume. Pray let me hear in the course of the summer if you get +any evidence about the gaudy caterpillars. I should much like to give (or +quote if published) this idea of yours, if in any way supported, as +suggested by you. It will, however, be a long time hence, for I can see +that sexual selection is growing into quite a large subject, which I shall +introduce into my essay on Man, supposing that I ever publish it. I had +intended giving a chapter on man, inasmuch as many call him (not QUITE +truly) an eminently domesticated animal, but I found the subject too large +for a chapter. Nor shall I be capable of treating the subject well, and my +sole reason for taking it up is, that I am pretty well convinced that +sexual selection has played an important part in the formation of races, +and sexual selection has always been a subject which has interested me +much. I have been very glad to see your impression from memory on the +expression of Malays. I fully agree with you that the subject is in no way +an important one; it is simply a "hobby-horse" with me, about twenty-seven +years old; and AFTER thinking that I would write an essay on man, it +flashed on me that I could work in some "supplemental remarks on +expression." After the horrid, tedious, dull work of my present huge, and +I fear unreadable, book ['The Variation of Animals and Plants'], I thought +I would amuse myself with my hobby-horse. The subject is, I think, more +curious and more amenable to scientific treatment than you seem willing to +allow. I want, anyhow, to upset Sir C. Bell's view, given in his most +interesting work, 'The Anatomy of Expression,' that certain muscles have +been given to man solely that he may reveal to other men his feelings. I +want to try and show how expressions have arisen. That is a good +suggestion about newspapers, but my experience tells me that private +applications are generally most fruitful. I will, however, see if I can +get the queries inserted in some Indian paper. I do not know the names or +addresses of any other papers. + +...My two female amanuenses are busy with friends, and I fear this scrawl +will give you much trouble to read. With many thanks, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter may be worth giving, as an example of his sources of +information, and as showing what were the thoughts at this time occupying +him:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, February 22 [1867]. + +...Many thanks for all the curious facts about the unequal number of the +sexes in Crustacea, but the more I investigate this subject the deeper I +sink in doubt and difficulty. Thanks also for the confirmation of the +rivalry of Cicadae. I have often reflected with surprise on the diversity +of the means for producing music with insects, and still more with birds. +We thus get a high idea of the importance of song in the animal kingdom. +Please to tell me where I can find any account of the auditory organs in +the Orthoptera. Your facts are quite new to me. Scudder has described an +insect in the Devonian strata, furnished with a stridulating apparatus. I +believe he is to be trusted, and, if so, the apparatus is of astonishing +antiquity. After reading Landois's paper I have been working at the +stridulating organ in the Lamellicorn beetles, in expectation of finding it +sexual; but I have only found it as yet in two cases, and in these it was +equally developed in both sexes. I wish you would look at any of your +common lamellicorns, and take hold of both males and females, and observe +whether they make the squeaking or grating noise equally. If they do not, +you could, perhaps, send me a male and female in a light little box. How +curious it is that there should be a special organ for an object apparently +so unimportant as squeaking. Here is another point; have you any toucans? +if so, ask any trustworthy hunter whether the beaks of the males, or of +both sexes, are more brightly coloured during the breeding season than at +other times of the year...Heaven knows whether I shall ever live to make +use of half the valuable facts which you have communicated to me! Your +paper on Balanus armatus, translated by Mr. Dallas, has just appeared in +our 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' and I have read it with the +greatest interest. I never thought that I should live to hear of a hybrid +Balanus! I am very glad that you have seen the cement tubes; they appear +to me extremely curious, and, as far as I know, you are the first man who +has verified my observations on this point. + +With most cordial thanks for all your kindness, my dear Sir, + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. DE CANDOLLE. +Down, July 6, 1868. + +My dear Sir, + +I return you my SINCERE thanks for your long letter, which I consider a +great compliment, and which is quite full of most interesting facts and +views. Your references and remarks will be of great use should a new +edition of my book ('Variation of Animals and Plants.') be demanded, but +this is hardly probable, for the whole edition was sold within the first +week, and another large edition immediately reprinted, which I should think +would supply the demand for ever. You ask me when I shall publish on the +'Variation of Species in a State of Nature.' I have had the MS. for +another volume almost ready during several years, but I was so much +fatigued by my last book that I determined to amuse myself by publishing a +short essay on the 'Descent of Man.' I was partly led to do this by having +been taunted that I concealed my views, but chiefly from the interest which +I had long taken in the subject. Now this essay has branched out into some +collateral subjects, and I suppose will take me more than a year to +complete. I shall then begin on 'Species,' but my health makes me a very +slow workman. I hope that you will excuse these details, which I have +given to show that you will have plenty of time to publish your views +first, which will be a great advantage to me. Of all the curious facts +which you mention in your letter, I think that of the strong inheritance of +the scalp-muscles has interested me most. I presume that you would not +object to my giving this very curious case on your authority. As I believe +all anatomists look at the scalp-muscles as a remnant of the Panniculus +carnosus which is common to all the lower quadrupeds, I should look at the +unusual development and inheritance of these muscles as probably a case of +reversion. Your observation on so many remarkable men in noble families +having been illegitimate is extremely curious; and should I ever meet any +one capable of writing an essay on this subject, I will mention your +remarks as a good suggestion. Dr. Hooker has several times remarked to me +that morals and politics would be very interesting if discussed like any +branch of natural history, and this is nearly to the same effect with your +remarks... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO L. AGASSIZ. +Down, August 19, 1868. + +Dear Sir, + +I thank you cordially for your very kind letter. I certainly thought that +you had formed so low an opinion of my scientific work that it might have +appeared indelicate in me to have asked for information from you, but it +never occurred to me that my letter would have been shown to you. I have +never for a moment doubted your kindness and generosity, and I hope you +will not think it presumption in me to say, that when we met, many years +ago, at the British Association at Southampton, I felt for you the warmest +admiration. + +Your information on the Amazonian fishes has interested me EXTREMELY, and +tells me exactly what I wanted to know. I was aware, through notes given +me by Dr. Gunther, that many fishes differed sexually in colour and other +characters, but I was particularly anxious to learn how far this was the +case with those fishes in which the male, differently from what occurs with +most birds, takes the largest share in the care of the ova and young. Your +letter has not only interested me much, but has greatly gratified me in +other respects, and I return you my sincere thanks for your kindness. Pray +believe me, my dear Sir, + +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, Sunday, August 23 [1868]. + +My dear old Friend, + +I have received your note. I can hardly say how pleased I have been at the +success of your address (Sir Joseph Hooker was President of the British +Association at the Norwich Meeting in 1868.), and of the whole meeting. I +have seen the "Times", "Telegraph", "Spectator", and "Athenaeum", and have +heard of other favourable newspapers, and have ordered a bundle. There is +a "chorus of praise." The "Times" reported miserably, i.e. as far as +errata was concerned; but I was very glad at the leader, for I thought the +way you brought in the megalithic monuments most happy. (The British +Association was desirous of interesting the Government in certain modern +cromlech builders, the Khasia race of East Bengal, in order that their +megalithic monuments might be efficiently described.) I particularly +admired Tyndall's little speech (Professor Tyndall was President of Section +A.)...The "Spectator" pitches a little into you about Theology, in +accordance with its usual spirit... + +Your great success has rejoiced my heart. I have just carefully read the +whole address in the "Athenaeum"; and though, as you know, I liked it very +much when you read it to me, yet, as I was trying all the time to find +fault, I missed to a certain extent the effect as a whole; and this now +appears to me most striking and excellent. How you must rejoice at all +your bothering labour and anxiety having had so grand an end. I must say a +word about myself; never has such a eulogium been passed on me, and it +makes me very proud. I cannot get over my AMAZEMENT at what you say about +my botanical work. By Jove, as far as my memory goes, you have +strengthened instead of weakened some of the expressions. What is far more +important than anything personal, is the conviction which I feel that you +will have immensely advanced the belief in the evolution of species. This +will follow from the publicity of the occasion, your position, so +responsible, as President, and your own high reputation. It will make a +great step in public opinion, I feel sure, and I had not thought of this +before. The "Athenaeum" takes your snubbing (Sir Joseph Hooker made some +reference to the review of 'Animals and Plants' in the "Athenaeum" of +February 15, 1868.) with the utmost mildness. I certainly do rejoice over +the snubbing, and hope [the reviewer] will feel it a little. Whenever you +have SPARE time to write again, tell me whether any astronomers (In +discussing the astronomer's objection to Evolution, namely that our globe +has not existed for a long enough period to give time for the assumed +transmutation of living beings, Hooker challenged Whewell's dictum that, +astronomy is the queen of sciences--the only perfect science.) took your +remarks in ill part; as they now stand they do not seem at all too harsh +and presumptuous. Many of your sentences strike me as extremely felicitous +and eloquent. That of Lyell's "under-pinning" (After a eulogium on Sir +Charles Lyell's heroic renunciation of his old views in accepting +Evolution, Sir J.D. Hooker continued, "Well may he be proud of a +superstructure, raised on the foundations of an insecure doctrine, when he +finds that he can underpin it and substitute a new foundation; and after +all is finished, survey his edifice, not only more secure but more +harmonious in its proportion than it was before."), is capital. Tell me, +was Lyell pleased? I am so glad that you remembered my old dedication. +(The 'Naturalist's Voyage' was dedicated to Lyell.) Was Wallace pleased? + +How about photographs? Can you spare time for a line to our dear Mrs. +Cameron? She came to see us off, and loaded us with presents of +photographs, and Erasmus called after her, "Mrs. Cameron, there are six +people in this house all in love with you." When I paid her, she cried +out, "Oh what a lot of money!" and ran to boast to her husband. + +I must not write any more, though I am in tremendous spirits at your +brilliant success. + +Yours ever affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +[In the "Athenaeum" of November 29, 1868, appeared an article which was in +fact a reply to Sir Joseph Hooker's remarks at Norwich. He seems to have +consulted my father as to the wisdom of answering the article. My father +wrote on September 1: + +"In my opinion Dr. Joseph Dalton Hooker need take no notice of the attack +in the "Athenaeum" in reference to Mr. Charles Darwin. What an ass the man +is to think he cuts one to the quick by giving one's Christian name in +full. How transparently false is the statement that my sole groundwork is +from pigeons, because I state I have worked them out more fully than other +beings! He muddles together two books of Flourens." + + +The following letter refers to a paper ('Transactions of the Ottawa Academy +of Natural Sciences,' 1868, by John D. Caton, late Chief Justice of +Illinois.) by Judge Caton, of which my father often spoke with admiration:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN D. CATON. +Down, September 18, 1868. + +Dear Sir, + +I beg leave to thank you very sincerely for your kindness in sending me, +through Mr. Walsh, your admirable paper on American Deer. + +It is quite full of most interesting observations, stated with the greatest +clearness. I have seldom read a paper with more interest, for it abounds +with facts of direct use for my work. Many of them consist of little +points which hardly any one besides yourself has observed, or perceived the +importance of recording. I would instance the age at which the horns are +developed (a point on which I have lately been in vain searching for +information), the rudiment of horns in the female elk, and especially the +different nature of the plants devoured by the deer and elk, and several +other points. With cordial thanks for the pleasure and instruction which +you have afforded me, and with high respect for your power of observation, +I beg leave to remain, dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully and obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The following extract from a letter (September 24, 1868) to the Marquis de +Saporta, the eminent palaeo-botanist, refers to the growth of evolutionary +views in France (In 1868 he was pleased at being asked to authorise a +French translation of his 'Naturalist's Voyage.':-- + +"As I have formerly read with great interest many of your papers on fossil +plants, you may believe with what high satisfaction I hear that you are a +believer in the gradual evolution of species. I had supposed that my book +on the 'Origin of Species' had made very little impression in France, and +therefore it delights me to hear a different statement from you. All the +great authorities of the Institute seem firmly resolved to believe in the +immutability of species, and this has always astonished me...almost the one +exception, as far as I know, is M. Gaudry, and I think he will be soon one +of the chief leaders in Zoological Palaeontology in Europe; and now I am +delighted to hear that in the sister department of Botany you take nearly +the same view."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E. HAECKEL. +Down, November 19 [1868]. + +My dear Haeckel, + +I must write to you again, for two reasons. Firstly, to thank you for your +letter about your baby, which has quite charmed both me and my wife; I +heartily congratulate you on its birth. I remember being surprised in my +own case how soon the paternal instincts became developed, and in you they +seem to be unusually strong,...I hope the large blue eyes and the +principles of inheritance will make your child as good a naturalist as you +are; but, judging from my own experience, you will be astonished to find +how the whole mental disposition of your children changes with advancing +years. A young child, and the same when nearly grown, sometimes differ +almost as much as do a caterpillar and butterfly. + +The second point is to congratulate you on the projected translation of +your great work ('Generelle Morphologie,' 1866. No English translation of +this book has appeared.), about which I heard from Huxley last Sunday. I +am heartily glad of it, but how it has been brought about, I know not, for +a friend who supported the supposed translation at Norwich, told me he +thought there would be no chance of it. Huxley tells me that you consent +to omit and shorten some parts, and I am confident that this is very wise. +As I know your object is to instruct the public, you will assuredly thus +get many more readers in England. Indeed, I believe that almost every book +would be improved by condensation. I have been reading a good deal of your +last book ('Die Naturliche Schopfungs-Geschichte,' 1868. It was translated +and published in 1876, under the title, 'The History of Creation.'), and +the style is beautifully clear and easy to me; but why it should differ so +much in this respect from your great work I cannot imagine. I have not yet +read the first part, but began with the chapter on Lyell and myself, which +you will easily believe pleased me VERY MUCH. I think Lyell, who was +apparently much pleased by your sending him a copy, is also much gratified +by this chapter. (See Lyell's interesting letter to Haeckel. 'Life of Sir +C. Lyell,' ii. page 435.) Your chapters on the affinities and genealogy of +the animal kingdom strike me as admirable and full of original thought. +Your boldness, however, sometimes makes me tremble, but as Huxley remarked, +some one must be bold enough to make a beginning in drawing up tables of +descent. Although you fully admit the imperfection of the geological +record, yet Huxley agreed with me in thinking that you are sometimes rather +rash in venturing to say at what periods the several groups first appeared. +I have this advantage over you, that I remember how wonderfully different +any statement on this subject made 20 years ago, would have been to what +would now be the case, and I expect the next 20 years will make quite as +great a difference. Reflect on the monocotyledonous plant just discovered +in the PRIMORDIAL formation in Sweden. + +I repeat how glad I am at the prospect of the translation, for I fully +believe that this work and all your works will have a great influence in +the advancement of Science. + +Believe me, my dear Haeckel, your sincere friend, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[It was in November of this year that he sat for the bust by Mr. Woolner: +he wrote:-- + +"I should have written long ago, but I have been pestered with stupid +letters, and am undergoing the purgatory of sitting for hours to Woolner, +who, however, is wonderfully pleasant, and lightens as much as man can, the +penance; as far as I can judge, it will make a fine bust." + +If I may criticise the work of so eminent a sculptor as Mr. Woolner, I +should say that the point in which the bust fails somewhat as a portrait, +is that it has a certain air, almost of pomposity, which seems to me +foreign to my father's expression.] + + +1869. + +[At the beginning of the year he was at work in preparing the fifth edition +of the 'Origin.' This work was begun on the day after Christmas, 1868, and +was continued for "forty-six days," as he notes in his diary, i.e. until +February 10th, 1869. He then, February 11th, returned to Sexual Selection, +and continued at this subject (excepting for ten days given up to Orchids, +and a week in London), until June 10th, when he went with his family to +North Wales, where he remained about seven weeks, returning to Down on July +31st. + +Caerdeon, the house where he stayed, is built on the north shore of the +beautiful Barmouth estuary, and is pleasantly placed, in being close to +wild hill country behind, as well as to the picturesque wooded "hummocks," +between the steeper hills and the river. My father was ill and somewhat +depressed throughout this visit, and I think felt saddened at being +imprisoned by his want of strength, and unable even to reach the hills over +which he had once wandered for days together. + +He wrote from Caerdeon to Sir J.D. Hooker (June 22nd):-- + +"We have been here for ten days, how I wish it was possible for you to pay +us a visit here; we have a beautiful house with a terraced garden, and a +really magnificent view of Cader, right opposite. Old Cader is a grand +fellow, and shows himself off superbly with every changing light. We +remain here till the end of July, when the H. Wedgwoods have the house. I +have been as yet in a very poor way; it seems as soon as the stimulus of +mental work stops, my whole strength gives way. As yet I have hardly +crawled half a mile from the house, and then have been fearfully fatigued. +It is enough to make one wish oneself quiet in a comfortable tomb." + +With regard to the fifth edition of the 'Origin,' he wrote to Mr. Wallace +(January 22, 1869):-- + +"I have been interrupted in my regular work in preparing a new edition of +the 'Origin,' which has cost me much labour, and which I hope I have +considerably improved in two or three important points. I always thought +individual differences more important than single variations, but now I +have come to the conclusion that they are of paramount importance, and in +this I believe I agree with you. Fleeming Jenkin's arguments have +convinced me." + +This somewhat obscure sentence was explained, February 2, in another letter +to Mr. Wallace:-- + +"I must have expressed myself atrociously; I meant to say exactly the +reverse of what you have understood. F. Jenkin argued in the 'North +British Review' against single variations ever being perpetuated, and has +convinced me, though not in quite so broad a manner as here put. I always +thought individual differences more important; but I was blind and thought +that single variations might be preserved much oftener than I now see is +possible or probable. I mentioned this in my former note merely because I +believed that you had come to a similar conclusion, and I like much to be +in accord with you. I believe I was mainly deceived by single variations +offering such simple illustrations, as when man selects." + +The late Mr. Fleeming Jenkin's review, on the 'Origin of Species,' was +published in the 'North British Review' for June 1867. It is not a little +remarkable that the criticisms, which my father, as I believe, felt to be +the most valuable ever made on his views should have come, not from a +professed naturalist but from a Professor of Engineering. + +It is impossible to give in a short compass an account of Fleeming Jenkin's +argument. My father's copy of the paper (ripped out of the volume as +usual, and tied with a bit of string) is annotated in pencil in many +places. I may quote one passage opposite which my father has written "good +sneers"--but it should be remembered that he used the word "sneer" in +rather a special sense, not as necessarily implying a feeling of bitterness +in the critic, but rather in the sense of "banter." Speaking of the 'true +believer,' Fleeming Jenkin says, page 293:-- + +"He can invent trains of ancestors of whose existence there is no evidence; +he can marshal hosts of equally imaginary foes; he can call up continents, +floods, and peculiar atmospheres; he can dry up oceans, split islands, and +parcel out eternity at will; surely with these advantages he must be a dull +fellow if he cannot scheme some series of animals and circumstances +explaining our assumed difficulty quite naturally. Feeling the difficulty +of dealing with adversaries who command so huge a domain of fancy, we will +abandon these arguments, and trust to those which at least cannot be +assailed by mere efforts of imagination." + +In the fifth edition of the 'Origin,' my father altered a passage in the +Historical Sketch (fourth edition page xviii.). He thus practically gave +up the difficult task of understanding whether or no Sir R. Owen claims to +have discovered the principle of Natural Selection. Adding, "As far as the +mere enunciation of the principle of Natural Selection is concerned, it is +quite immaterial whether or not Professor Owen preceded me, for both of +us...were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthew." + +A somewhat severe critique on the fifth edition, by Mr. John Robertson, +appeared in the "Athenaeum", August 14, 1869. The writer comments with +some little bitterness on the success of the 'Origin:' "Attention is not +acceptance. Many editions do not mean real success. The book has sold; +the guess has been talked over; and the circulation and discussion sum up +the significance of the editions." Mr. Robertson makes the true, but +misleading statement: "Mr. Darwin prefaces his fifth English edition with +an Essay, which he calls 'An Historical Sketch,' etc." As a matter of fact +the Sketch appeared in the third edition in 1861. + +Mr. Robertson goes on to say that the Sketch ought to be called a +collection of extracts anticipatory or corroborative of the hypothesis of +Natural Selection. "For no account is given of any hostile opinions. The +fact is very significant. This historical sketch thus resembles the +histories of the reign of Louis XVIII., published after the Restoration, +from which the Republic and the Empire, Robespierre and Buonaparte were +omitted." + +The following letter to Prof. Victor Carus gives an idea of the character +of the new edition of the 'Origin:'] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO VICTOR CARUS. +Down, May 4, 1869. + +...I have gone very carefully through the whole, trying to make some parts +clearer, and adding a few discussions and facts of some importance. The +new edition is only two pages at the end longer than the old; though in one +part nine pages in advance, for I have condensed several parts and omitted +some passages. The translation I fear will cause you a great deal of +trouble; the alterations took me six weeks, besides correcting the press; +you ought to make a special agreement with M. Koch [the publisher]. Many +of the corrections are only a few words, but they have been made from the +evidence on various points appearing to have become a little stronger or +weaker. + +Thus I have been led to place somewhat more value on the definite and +direct action of external conditions; to think the lapse of time, as +measured by years, not quite so great as most geologists have thought; and +to infer that single variations are of even less importance, in comparison +with individual differences, than I formerly thought. I mention these +points because I have been thus led to alter in many places A FEW WORDS; +and unless you go through the whole new edition, one part will not agree +with another, which would be a great blemish... + +[The desire that his views might spread in France was always strong with my +father, and he was therefore justly annoyed to find that in 1869 the Editor +of the first French edition had brought out a third edition without +consulting the author. He was accordingly glad to enter into an +arrangement for a French translation of the fifth edition; this was +undertaken by M. Reinwald, with whom he continued to have pleasant +relations as the publisher of many of his books into French. + +He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"I must enjoy myself and tell you about Mdlle. C. Royer, who translated the +'Origin' into French, and for whose second edition I took infinite trouble. +She has now just brought out a third edition without informing me, so that +all the corrections, etc., in the fourth and fifth English editions are +lost. Besides her enormously long preface to the first edition, she has +added a second preface abusing me like a pick-pocket for Pangenesis, which +of course has no relation to the 'Origin.' So I wrote to Paris; and +Reinwald agrees to bring out at once a new translation from the fifth +English edition, in competition with her third edition...This fact shows +that "evolution of species" must at last be spreading in France." + +With reference to the spread of Evolution among the orthodox, the following +letter is of some interest. In March he received, from the author, a copy +of a lecture by Rev. T.R.R. Stebbing, given before the Torquay Natural +History Society, February 1, 1869, bearing the title "Darwinism." My +father wrote to Mr. Stebbing:] + + +Dear Sir, + +I am very much obliged to you for your kindness in sending me your spirited +and interesting lecture; if a layman had delivered the same address, he +would have done good service in spreading what, as I hope and believe, is +to a large extent the truth; but a clergyman in delivering such an address +does, as it appears to me, much more good by his power to shake ignorant +prejudices, and by setting, if I may be permitted to say so, an admirable +example of liberality. + +With sincere respect, I beg leave to remain, +Dear Sir, yours faithfully and obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The references to the subject of expression in the following letter are +explained by the fact that my father's original intention was to give his +essay on this subject as a chapter in the 'Descent of Man,' which in its +turn grew, as we have seen, out of a proposed chapter in 'Animals and +Plants:'] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, February 22 [1869?]. + +...Although you have aided me to so great an extent in many ways, I am +going to beg for any information on two other subjects. I am preparing a +discussion on "Sexual Selection," and I want much to know how low down in +the animal scale sexual selection of a particular kind extends. Do you +know of any lowly organised animals, in which the sexes are separated, and +in which the male differs from the female in arms of offence, like the +horns and tusks of male mammals, or in gaudy plumage and ornaments, as with +birds and butterflies? I do not refer to secondary sexual characters, by +which the male is able to discover the female, like the plumed antennae of +moths, or by which the male is enabled to seize the female, like the +curious pincers described by you in some of the lower Crustaceans. But +what I want to know is, how low in the scale sexual differences occur which +require some degree of self-consciousness in the males, as weapons by which +they fight for the female, or ornaments which attract the opposite sex. +Any differences between males and females which follow different habits of +life would have to be excluded. I think you will easily see what I wish to +learn. A priori, it would never have been anticipated that insects would +have been attracted by the beautiful colouring of the opposite sex, or by +the sounds emitted by the various musical instruments of the male +Orthoptera. I know no one so likely to answer this question as yourself, +and should be grateful for any information, however small. + +My second subject refers to expression of countenance, to which I have long +attended, and on which I feel a keen interest; but to which, unfortunately, +I did not attend when I had the opportunity of observing various races of +man. It has occurred to me that you might, without much trouble, make a +FEW observations for me, in the course of some months, on Negroes, or +possibly on native South Americans, though I care most about Negroes; +accordingly I enclose some questions as a guide, and if you could answer me +even one or two I should feel truly obliged. I am thinking of writing a +little essay on the Origin of Mankind, as I have been taunted with +concealing my opinions, and I should do this immediately after the +completion of my present book. In this case I should add a chapter on the +cause or meaning of expression... + + +[The remaining letters of this year deal chiefly with the books, reviews, +etc., which interested him.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H. THIEL. +Down, February 25, 1869. + +Dear Sir, + +On my return home after a short absence, I found your very courteous note, +and the pamphlet ('Ueber einige Formen der Landwirthschaftlichen +Genossenschaften.' by Dr. H. Thiel, then of the Agricultural Station at +Poppelsdorf.), and I hasten to thank you for both, and for the very +honourable mention which you make of my name. You will readily believe how +much interested I am in observing that you apply to moral and social +questions analogous views to those which I have used in regard to the +modification of species. It did not occur to me formerly that my views +could be extended to such widely different, and most important, subjects. +With much respect, I beg leave to remain, dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully and obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, March 19 [1869]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Thanks for your 'Address.' (In his 'Anniversary Address' to the Geological +Society, 1869, Mr. Huxley criticised Sir William Thomson's paper ('Trans. +Geol. Soc., Glasgow,' volume iii.) "On Geological Time.") People complain +of the unequal distribution of wealth, but it is a much greater shame and +injustice that any one man should have the power to write so many brilliant +essays as you have lately done. There is no one who writes like you...If I +were in your shoes, I should tremble for my life. I agree with all you +say, except that I must think that you draw too great a distinction between +the evolutionists and the uniformitarians. + +I find that the few sentences which I have sent to press in the 'Origin' +about the age of the world will do fairly well... + +Ever yours, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, March 22 [1869]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have finished your book ('The Malay Archipelago,' etc., 1869.); it seems +to me excellent, and at the same time most pleasant to read. That you ever +returned alive is wonderful after all your risks from illness and sea +voyages, especially that most interesting one to Waigiou and back. Of all +the impressions which I have received from your book, the strongest is that +your perseverance in the cause of science was heroic. Your descriptions of +catching the splendid butterflies have made me quite envious, and at the +same time have made me feel almost young again, so vividly have they +brought before my mind old days when I collected, though I never made such +captures as yours. Certainly collecting is the best sport in the world. I +shall be astonished if your book has not a great success; and your splendid +generalizations on Geographical Distribution, with which I am familiar from +your papers, will be new to most of your readers. I think I enjoyed most +the Timor case, as it is best demonstrated; but perhaps Celebes is really +the most valuable. I should prefer looking at the whole Asiatic continent +as having formerly been more African in its fauna, than admitting the +former existence of a continent across the Indian Ocean... + + +[The following letter refers to Mr. Wallace's article in the April number +of the 'Quarterly Review' (My father wrote to Mr. Murray: "The article by +Wallace is inimitably good, and it is a great triumph that such an article +should appear in the 'Quarterly,' and will make the Bishop of Oxford and -- +gnash their teeth."), 1869, which to a large extent deals with the tenth +edition of Sir Charles Lyell's 'Principles,' published in 1867 and 1868. +The review contains a striking passage on Sir Charles Lyell's confession of +evolutionary faith in the tenth edition of his 'Principles,' which is worth +quoting: "The history of science hardly presents so striking an instance +of youthfulness of mind in advanced life as is shown by this abandonment of +opinions so long held and so powerfully advocated; and if we bear in mind +the extreme caution, combined with the ardent love of truth which +characterise every work which our author has produced, we shall be +convinced that so great a change was not decided on without long and +anxious deliberation, and that the views now adopted must indeed be +supported by arguments of overwhelming force. If for no other reason than +that Sir Charles Lyell in his tenth edition has adopted it, the theory of +Mr. Darwin deserves an attentive and respectful consideration from every +earnest seeker after truth."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, April 14, 1869. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have been wonderfully interested by your article, and I should think +Lyell will be much gratified by it. I declare if I had been editor, and +had the power of directing you, I should have selected for discussion the +very points which you have chosen. I have often said to younger geologists +(for I began in the year 1830) that they did not know what a revolution +Lyell had effected; nevertheless, your extracts from Cuvier have quite +astonished me. Though not able really to judge, I am inclined to put more +confidence in Croll than you seem to do; but I have been much struck by +many of your remarks on degradation. Thomson's views of the recent age of +the world have been for some time one of my sorest troubles, and so I have +been glad to read what you say. Your exposition of Natural Selection seems +to me inimitably good; there never lived a better expounder than you. I +was also much pleased at your discussing the difference between our views +and Lamarck's. One sometimes sees the odious expression, "Justice to +myself compels me to say," etc., but you are the only man I ever heard of +who persistently does himself an injustice, and never demands justice. +Indeed, you ought in the review to have alluded to your paper in the +'Linnean Journal,' and I feel sure all our friends will agree in this. But +you cannot "Burke" yourself, however much you may try, as may be seen in +half the articles which appear. I was asked but the other day by a German +professor for your paper, which I sent him. Altogether I look at your +article as appearing in the 'Quarterly' as an immense triumph for our +cause. I presume that your remarks on Man are those to which you alluded +in your note. If you had not told me I should have thought that they had +been added by some one else. As you expected, I differ grievously from +you, and I am very sorry for it. I can see no necessity for calling in an +additional and proximate cause in regard to man. (Mr. Wallace points out +that any one acquainted merely with the "unaided productions of nature," +might reasonably doubt whether a dray-horse, for example, could have been +developed by the power of man directing the "action of the laws of +variation, multiplication, and survival, for his own purpose. We know, +however, that this has been done, and we must therefore admit the +possibility that in the development of the human race, a higher +intelligence has guided the same laws for nobler ends.") But the subject +is too long for a letter. I have been particularly glad to read your +discussion because I am now writing and thinking much about man. + +I hope that your Malay book sells well; I was extremely pleased with the +article in the 'Quarterly Journal of Science,' inasmuch as it is thoroughly +appreciative of your work: alas! you will probably agree with what the +writer says about the uses of the bamboo. + +I hear that there is also a good article in the "Saturday Review", but have +heard nothing more about it. Believe me my dear Wallace, + +Yours ever sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, May 4 [1869]. + +My dear Lyell, + +I have been applied to for some photographs (carte de visite) to be copied +to ornament the diplomas of honorary members of a new Society in Servia! +Will you give me one for this purpose? I possess only a full-length one of +you in my own album, and the face is too small, I think, to be copied. + +I hope that you get on well with your work, and have satisfied yourself on +the difficult point of glacier lakes. Thank heaven, I have finished +correcting the new edition of the 'Origin,' and am at my old work of Sexual +Selection. + +Wallace's article struck me as ADMIRABLE; how well he brought out the +revolution which you effected some 30 years ago. I thought I had fully +appreciated the revolution, but I was astounded at the extracts from +Cuvier. What a good sketch of natural selection! but I was dreadfully +disappointed about Man, it seems to me incredibly strange...; and had I not +known to the contrary, would have sworn it had been inserted by some other +hand. But I believe that you will not agree quite in all this. + +My dear Lyell, ever yours sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.L.A. DE QUATREFAGES. +Down, May 28 [1869 or 1870]. + +Dear Sir, + +I have received and read your volume (Essays reprinted from the 'Revue des +Deux Mondes,' under the title 'Histoire Naturelle Generale,' etc., 1869.), +and am much obliged for your present. The whole strikes me as a +wonderfully clear and able discussion, and I was much interested by it to +the last page. It is impossible that any account of my views could be +fairer, or, as far as space permitted, fuller, than that which you have +given. The way in which you repeatedly mention my name is most gratifying +to me. When I had finished the second part, I thought that you had stated +the case so favourably that you would make more converts on my side than on +your own side. On reading the subsequent parts I had to change my sanguine +view. In these latter parts many of your strictures are severe enough, but +all are given with perfect courtesy and fairness. I can truly say I would +rather be criticised by you in this manner than praised by many others. I +agree with some of your criticisms, but differ entirely from the remainder; +but I will not trouble you with any remarks. I may, however, say, that you +must have been deceived by the French translation, as you infer that I +believe that the Parus and the Nuthatch (or Sitta) are related by direct +filiation. I wished only to show by an imaginary illustration, how either +instincts or structures might first change. If you had seen Canis +Magellanicus alive you would have perceived how foxlike its appearance is, +or if you had heard its voice, I think that you would never have hazarded +the idea that it was a domestic dog run wild; but this does not much +concern me. It is curious how nationality influences opinion; a week +hardly passes without my hearing of some naturalist in Germany who supports +my views, and often puts an exaggerated value on my works; whilst in France +I have not heard of a single zoologist, except M. Gaudry (and he only +partially), who supports my views. But I must have a good many readers as +my books are translated, and I must hope, notwithstanding your strictures, +that I may influence some embryo naturalists in France. + +You frequently speak of my good faith, and no compliment can be more +delightful to me, but I may return you the compliment with interest, for +every word which you write bears the stamp of your cordial love for the +truth. Believe me, dear Sir, with sincere respect, + +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, October 14 [1869]. + +My dear Huxley, + +I have been delighted to see your review of Haeckel (A review of Haeckel's +'Schopfungs-Geschichte.' The "Academy", 1869. Reprinted in 'Critiques and +Addresses,' page 303.), and as usual you pile honours high on my head. But +I write now (REQUIRING NO ANSWER) to groan a little over what you have said +about rudimentary organs. (In discussing Teleology and Haeckel's +"Dysteleology," Prof. Huxley says:--"Such cases as the existence of lateral +rudiments of toes, in the foot of a horse, place us in a dilemma. For +either these rudiments are of no use to the animals, in which case...they +surely ought to have disappeared; or they are of some use to the animal, in +which case they are of no use as arguments against Teleology."--('Critiques +and Addresses,' page 308.) Many heretics will take advantage of what you +have said. I cannot but think that the explanation given at page 541 of +the last edition of the 'Origin' of the long retention of rudimentary +organs and of their greater relative size during early life, is +satisfactory. Their final and complete abortion seems to me a much greater +difficulty. Do look in my 'Variations under Domestication,' volume ii. +page 397, at what Pangenesis suggests on this head, though I did not dare +to put in the 'Origin.' The passage bears also a little on the struggle +between the molecules or gemmules. ("It is a probable hypothesis, that +what the world is to organisms in general, each organism is to the +molecules of which it is composed. Multitudes of these having diverse +tendencies, are competing with one another for opportunity to exist and +multiply; and the organism, as a whole, is as much the product of the +molecules which are victorious as the Fauna, or Flora, of a country is the +product of the victorious organic beings in it."--('Critiques and +Addresses,' page 309.) There is likewise a word or two indirectly bearing +on this subject at pages 394-395. It won't take you five minutes, so do +look at these passages. I am very glad that you have been bold enough to +give your idea about Natural Selection amongst the molecules, though I can +not quite follow you. + + +1870 AND BEGINNING OF 1871. + +[My father wrote in his Diary:--"The whole of this year [1870] at work on +the 'Descent of Man.'...Went to Press August 30, 1870." + +The letters are again of miscellaneous interest, dealing, not only with his +work, but also serving to indicate the course of his reading.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E. RAY LANKESTER. +Down, March 15 [1870]. + +My dear Sir, + +I do not know whether you will consider me a very troublesome man, but I +have just finished your book ('Comparative Longevity.'), and can not resist +telling you how the whole has much interested me. No doubt, as you say, +there must be much speculation on such a subject, and certain results can +not be reached; but all your views are highly suggestive, and to my mind +that is high praise. I have been all the more interested as I am now +writing on closely allied though not quite identical points. I was pleased +to see you refer to my much despised child, 'Pangenesis,' who I think will +some day, under some better nurse, turn out a fine stripling. It has also +pleased me to see how thoroughly you appreciate (and I do not think that +this is general with the men of science) H. Spencer; I suspect that +hereafter he will be looked at as by far the greatest living philosopher in +England; perhaps equal to any that have lived. But I have no business to +trouble you with my notions. With sincere thanks for the interest which +your work has given me, + +I remain, yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The next letter refers to Mr. Wallace's 'Natural Selection' (1870), a +collection of essays reprinted with certain alterations of which a list is +given in the volume:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, April 20 [1870]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have just received your book, and read the preface. There never has been +passed on me, or indeed on any one, a higher eulogium than yours. I wish +that I fully deserved it. Your modesty and candour are very far from new +to me. I hope it is a satisfaction to you to reflect--and very few things +in my life have been more satisfactory to me--that we have never felt any +jealousy towards each other, though in one sense rivals. I believe that I +can say this of myself with truth, and I am absolutely sure that it is true +of you. + +You have been a good Christian to give a list of your additions, for I want +much to read them, and I should hardly have had time just at present to +have gone through all your articles. Of course I shall immediately read +those that are new or greatly altered, and I will endeavour to be as honest +as can reasonably be expected. Your book looks remarkably well got up. + +Believe me, my dear Wallace, to remain, +Yours very cordially, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[Here follow one or two letters indicating the progress of the 'Descent of +Man;' the woodcuts referred to were being prepared for that work:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. GUNTHER. (Dr. Gunther, Keeper of Zoology in the +British Museum.) +March 23, [1870?]. + +Dear Gunther, + +As I do not know Mr. Ford's address, will you hand him this note, which is +written solely to express my unbounded admiration of the woodcuts. I +fairly gloat over them. The only evil is that they will make all the other +woodcuts look very poor! They are all excellent, and for the feathers I +declare I think it the most wonderful woodcut I ever saw; I can not help +touching it to make sure that it is smooth. How I wish to see the two +other, and even more important, ones of the feathers, and the four [of] +reptiles, etc. Once again accept my very sincere thanks for all your +kindness. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ford. Engravings have always +hitherto been my greatest misery, and now they are a real pleasure to me. + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I thought I should have been in press by this time, but my subject +has branched off into sub-branches, which have cost me infinite time, and +heaven knows when I shall have all my MS. ready, but I am never idle. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. GUNTHER. +May 15 [1870]. + +My dear Dr. Gunther, + +Sincere thanks. Your answers are wonderfully clear and complete. I have +some analogous questions on reptiles, etc., which I will send in a few +days, and then I think I shall cause no more trouble. I will get the books +you refer me to. The case of the Solenostoma (In most of the Lophobranchii +the male has a marsupial sack in which the eggs are hatched, and in these +species the male is slightly brighter coloured than the female. But in +Solenostoma the female is the hatcher, and is also the more brightly +coloured.--'Descent of Man,' ii. 21.) is magnificent, so exactly analogous +to that of those birds in which the female is the more gay, but ten times +better for me, as she is the incubator. As I crawl on with the successive +classes I am astonished to find how similar the rules are about the nuptial +or "wedding dress" of all animals. The subject has begun to interest me in +an extraordinary degree; but I must try not to fall into my common error of +being too speculative. But a drunkard might as well say he would drink a +little and not too much! My essay, as far as fishes, batrachians and +reptiles are concerned, will be in fact yours, only written by me. With +hearty thanks. + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter is of interest, as showing the excessive care and +pains which my father took in forming his opinion on a difficult point:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, September 23 [undated]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I am very much obliged for all your trouble in writing me your long letter, +which I will keep by me and ponder over. To answer it would require at +least 200 folio pages! If you could see how often I have re-written some +pages you would know how anxious I am to arrive as near as I can to the +truth. I lay great stress on what I know takes place under domestication; +I think we start with different fundamental notions on inheritance. I find +it is most difficult, but not I think impossible, to see how, for instance, +a few red feathers appearing on the head of a male bird, and which ARE AT +FIRST TRANSMITTED TO BOTH SEXES, could come to be transmitted to males +alone. It is not enough that females should be produced from the males +with red feathers, which should be destitute of red feathers; but these +females must have a LATENT TENDENCY to produce such feathers, otherwise +they would cause deterioration in the red head-feathers of their male +offspring. Such latent tendency would be shown by their producing the red +feathers when old, or diseased in their ovaria. But I have no difficulty +in making the whole head red if the few red feathers in the male from the +first tended to be sexually transmitted. I am quite willing to admit that +the female may have been modified, either at the same time or subsequently, +for protection by the accumulation of variations limited in their +transmission to the female sex. I owe to your writings the consideration +of this latter point. But I cannot yet persuade myself that females ALONE +have often been modified for protection. Should you grudge the trouble +briefly to tell me whether you believe that the plainer head and less +bright colours of a female chaffinch, the less red on the head and less +clean colours of the female goldfinch, the much less red on the breast of +the female bull-finch, the paler crest of golden-crested wren, etc., have +been acquired by them for protection. I cannot think so any more than I +can that the considerable differences between female and male house +sparrow, or much greater brightness of the male Parus coeruleus (both of +which build under cover) than of the female Parus, are related to +protection. I even mis-doubt much whether the less blackness of the female +blackbird is for protection. + +Again, can you give me reasons for believing that the moderate differences +between the female pheasant, the female Gallus bankiva, the female black +grouse, the pea-hen, the female partridge, [and their respective males,] +have all special references to protection under slightly different +conditions? I, of course, admit that they are all protected by dull +colours, derived, as I think, from some dull-ground progenitor; and I +account partly for their difference by partial transference of colour from +the male and by other means too long to specify; but I earnestly wish to +see reason to believe that each is specially adapted for concealment to its +environment. + +I grieve to differ from you, and it actually terrifies me and makes me +constantly distrust myself. I fear we shall never quite understand each +other. I value the cases of bright-coloured, incubating male fishes, and +brilliant female butterflies, solely as showing that one sex may be made +brilliant without any necessary transference of beauty to the other sex; +for in these cases I cannot suppose that beauty in the other sex was +checked by selection. + +I fear this letter will trouble you to read it. A very short answer about +your belief in regard to the female finches and gallinaceae would suffice. + +Believe me, my dear Wallace, +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 25 [1870]. + +...Last Friday we all went to the Bull Hotel at Cambridge to see the boys, +and for a little rest and enjoyment. The backs of the Colleges are simply +paradisaical. On Monday I saw Sedgwick, who was most cordial and kind; in +the morning I thought his brain was enfeebled; in the evening he was +brilliant and quite himself. His affection and kindness charmed us all. +My visit to him was in one way unfortunate; for after a long sit he +proposed to take me to the museum, and I could not refuse, and in +consequence he utterly prostrated me; so that we left Cambridge next +morning, and I have not recovered the exhaustion yet. Is it not +humiliating to be thus killed by a man of eighty-six, who evidently never +dreamed that he was killing me? As he said to me, "Oh, I consider you as a +mere baby to me!" I saw Newton several times, and several nice friends of +F.'s. But Cambridge without dear Henslow was not itself; I tried to get to +the two old houses, but it was too far for me... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO B.J. SULIVAN. (Admiral Sir James Sulivan was a +lieutenant on board the "Beagle".) +Down, June 30 [1870]. + +My dear Sulivan, + +It was very good of you to write to me so long a letter, telling me much +about yourself and your children, which I was extremely glad to hear. +Think what a benighted wretch I am, seeing no one and reading but little in +the newspapers, for I did not know (until seeing the paper of your Natural +History Society) that you were a K.C.B. Most heartily glad I am that the +Government have at last appreciated your most just claim for this high +distinction. On the other hand, I am sorry to hear so poor an account of +your health; but you were surely very rash to do all that you did and then +pass through so exciting a scene as a ball at the Palace. It was enough to +have tired a man in robust health. Complete rest will, however, I hope, +quite set you up again. As for myself, I have been rather better of late, +and if nothing disturbs me I can do some hours' work every day. I shall +this autumn publish another book partly on man, which I dare say many will +decry as very wicked. I could have travelled to Oxford, but could no more +have withstood the excitement of a commemoration (This refers to an +invitation to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L. He was one of those +nominated for the degree by Lord Salisbury on assuming the office of +Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The fact that the honour was +declined on the score of ill-health was published in the "Oxford University +Gazette", June 17, 1870.) than I could a ball at Buckingham Palace. Many +thanks for your kind remarks about my boys. Thank God, all give me +complete satisfaction; my fourth stands second at Woolwich, and will be an +Engineer Officer at Christmas. My wife desires to be very kindly +remembered to Lady Sulivan, in which I very sincerely join, and in +congratulation about your daughter's marriage. We are at present solitary, +for all our younger children are gone a tour in Switzerland. I had never +heard a word about the success of the T. del Fuego mission. It is most +wonderful, and shames me, as I always prophesied utter failure. It is a +grand success. I shall feel proud if your Committee think fit to elect me +an honorary member of your society. With all good wishes and affectionate +remembrances of ancient days, + +Believe me, my dear Sulivan, +Your sincere friend, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[My father's connection with the South American Mission, which is referred +to in the above letter, has given rise to some public comment, and has been +to some extent misunderstood. The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking at +the annual meeting of the South American Missionary Society, April 21st, +1885 (I quote a 'Leaflet,' published by the Society.), said that the +Society "drew the attention of Charles Darwin, and made him, in his pursuit +of the wonders of the kingdom of nature, realise that there was another +kingdom just as wonderful and more lasting." Some discussion on the +subject appeared in the "Daily News" of April 23rd, 24th, 29th, 1885, and +finally Admiral Sir James Sulivan, on April 24th, wrote to the same +journal, giving a clear account of my father's connection with the +Society:-- + +"Your article in the "Daily News" of yesterday induces me to give you a +correct statement of the connection between the South American Missionary +Society and Mr. Charles Darwin, my old friend and shipmate for five years. +I have been closely connected with the Society from the time of Captain +Allen Gardiner's death, and Mr. Darwin has often expressed to me his +conviction that it was utterly useless to send Missionaries to such a set +of savages as the Fuegians, probably the very lowest of the human race. I +had always replied that I did not believe any human beings existed too low +to comprehend the simple message of the Gospel of Christ. After many +years, I think about 1869 (It seems to have been in 1867.), but I cannot +find the letter, he wrote to me that the recent accounts of the Mission +proved to him that he had been wrong and I right in our estimates of the +native character, and the possibility of doing them good through +Missionaries; and he requested me to forward to the Society an enclosed +cheque for 5 pounds, as a testimony of the interest he took in their good +work. On June 6th, 1874, he wrote: 'I am very glad to hear so good an +account of the Fuegians, and it is wonderful.' On June 10th, 1879: 'The +progress of the Fuegians is wonderful, and had it not occurred would have +been to me quite incredible.' On January 3rd, 1880: 'Your extracts' [from +a journal] 'about the Fuegians are extremely curious, and have interested +me much. I have often said that the progress of Japan was the greatest +wonder in the world, but I declare that the progress of Fuegia is almost +equally wonderful. On March 20th, 1881: 'The account of the Fuegians +interested not only me, but all my family. It is truly wonderful what you +have heard from Mr. Bridges about their honesty and their language. I +certainly should have predicted that not all the Missionaries in the world +could have done what has been done.' On December 1st, 1881, sending me his +annual subscription to the Orphanage at the Mission Station, he wrote: +'Judging from the "Missionary Journal", the Mission in Tierra del Fuego +seems going on quite wonderfully well.'"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Down, July 17, 1870. + +My dear Lubbock, + +As I hear that the Census will be brought before the House to-morrow, I +write to say how much I hope that you will express your opinion on the +desirability of queries in relation to consanguineous marriages being +inserted. As you are aware, I have made experiments on the subject during +several years; AND IT IS MY CLEAR CONVICTION THAT THERE IS NOW AMPLE +EVIDENCE OF THE EXISTENCE OF A GREAT PHYSIOLOGICAL LAW, RENDERING AN +ENQUIRY WITH REFERENCE TO MANKIND OF MUCH IMPORTANCE. IN ENGLAND AND MANY +PARTS OF EUROPE THE MARRIAGES OF COUSINS ARE OBJECTED TO FROM THEIR +SUPPOSED INJURIOUS CONSEQUENCES; BUT THIS BELIEF RESTS ON NO DIRECT +EVIDENCE. IT IS THEREFORE MANIFESTLY DESIRABLE THAT THE BELIEF SHOULD +EITHER BE PROVED FALSE, OR SHOULD BE CONFIRMED, so that in this latter case +the marriages of cousins might be discouraged. If the proper queries are +inserted, the returns would show whether married cousins have in their +households on the night of the census as many children as have parents of +who are not related; and should the number prove fewer, we might safely +infer either lessened fertility in the parents, or which is more probable, +lessened vitality in the offspring. + +It is, moreover, much to be wished that the truth of the often repeated +assertion that consanguineous marriages lead to deafness, and dumbness, +blindness, etc., should be ascertained; and all such assertions could be +easily tested by the returns from a single census. + +Believe me, +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[When the Census Act was passing through the House of Commons, Sir John +Lubbock and Dr. Playfair attempted to carry out this suggestion. The +question came to a division, which was lost, but not by many votes. + +The subject of cousin marriages was afterwards investigated by my brother. +("Marriages between First Cousins in England, and their Effects.' By +George Darwin. 'Journal of the Statistical Society,' June, 1875.) The +results of this laborious piece of work were negative; the author sums up +in the sentence:-- + +"My paper is far from giving any thing like a satisfactory solution of the +question as to the effects of consanguineous marriages, but it does, I +think, show that the assertion that this question has already been set at +rest, cannot be substantiated."] + + +CHAPTER 2.VII. + +PUBLICATION OF THE 'DESCENT OF MAN.' + +WORK ON 'EXPRESSION.' + +1871-1873. + +[The last revise of the 'Descent of Man' was corrected on January 15th, +1871, so that the book occupied him for about three years. He wrote to Sir +J. Hooker: "I finished the last proofs of my book a few days ago, the work +half-killed me, and I have not the most remote idea whether the book is +worth publishing." + +He also wrote to Dr. Gray:-- + +"I have finished my book on the 'Descent of Man,' etc., and its publication +is delayed only by the Index: when published, I will send you a copy, but +I do not know that you will care about it. Parts, as on the moral sense, +will, I dare say, aggravate you, and if I hear from you, I shall probably +receive a few stabs from your polished stiletto of a pen." + +The book was published on February 24, 1871. 2500 copies were printed at +first, and 5000 more before the end of the year. My father notes that he +received for this edition 1470 pounds. The letters given in the present +chapter deal with its reception, and also with the progress of the work on +Expression. The letters are given, approximately, in chronological order, +an arrangement which necessarily separates letters of kindred subject- +matter, but gives perhaps a truer picture of the mingled interests and +labours of my father's life. + +Nothing can give a better idea (in small compass) of the growth of +Evolutionism and its position at this time, than a quotation from Mr. +Huxley ('Contemporary Review,' 1871.):-- + +"The gradual lapse of time has now separated us by more than a decade from +the date of the publication of the 'Origin of Species;' and whatever may be +thought or said about Mr. Darwin's doctrines, or the manner in which he has +propounded them, this much is certain, that in a dozen years the 'Origin of +Species' has worked as complete a revolution in Biological Science as the +'Principia' did in Astronomy;" and it has done so, "because, in the words +of Helmholtz, it contains 'an essentially new creative thought.' And, as +time has slipped by, a happy change has come over Mr. Darwin's critics. +The mixture of ignorance and insolence which at first characterised a large +proportion of the attacks with which he was assailed, is no longer the sad +distinction of anti-Darwinian criticism." + +A passage in the Introduction to the 'Descent of Man' shows that the author +recognised clearly this improvement in the position of Evolution. "When a +naturalist like Carl Vogt ventures to say in his address, as President of +the National Institution of Geneva (1869), 'personne en Europe au moins, +n'ose plus soutenir la creation independante et de toutes pieces, des +especes,' it is manifest that at least a large number of naturalists must +admit that species are the modified descendants of other species; and this +especially holds good with the younger and rising naturalists...Of the +older and honoured chiefs in natural science, many, unfortunately, are +still opposed to Evolution in every form." + +In Mr. James Hague's pleasantly written article, "A Reminiscence of Mr. +Darwin" ('Harper's Magazine,' October 1884), he describes a visit to my +father "early in 1871" (it must have been at the end of February, within a +week after the publication of the book.), shortly after the publication of +the 'Descent of Man.' Mr. Hague represents my father as "much impressed by +the general assent with which his views had been received," and as +remarking that "everybody is talking about it without being shocked." + +Later in the year the reception of the book is described in different +language in the 'Edinburgh Review' (July 1871. An adverse criticism. The +reviewer sums up by saying that: "Never perhaps in the history of +philosophy have such wide generalisations been derived from such a small +basis of fact."): "On every side it is raising a storm of mingled wrath, +wonder, and admiration." + +With regard to the subsequent reception of the 'Descent of Man,' my father +wrote to Dr. Dohrn, February 3, 1872:-- + +"I did not know until reading your article (In 'Das Ausland.'), that my +'Descent of Man' had excited so much furore in Germany. It has had an +immense circulation in this country and in America, but has met the +approval of hardly any naturalists as far as I know. Therefore I suppose +it was a mistake on my part to publish it; but, anyhow, it will pave the +way for some better work." + +The book on the 'Expression of the Emotions' was begun on January 17th, +1871, the last proof of the 'Descent of Man' having been finished on +January 15th. The rough copy was finished by April 27th, and shortly after +this (in June) the work was interrupted by the preparation of a sixth +edition of the 'Origin.' In November and December the proofs of the +'Expression' book were taken in hand, and occupied him until the following +year, when the book was published. + +Some references to the work on Expression have occurred in letters already +given, showing that the foundation of the book was, to some extent, laid +down for some years before he began to write it. Thus he wrote to Dr. Asa +Gray, April 15, 1867:-- + +"I have been lately getting up and looking over my old notes on Expression, +and fear that I shall not make so much of my hobby-horse as I thought I +could; nevertheless, it seems to me a curious subject which has been +strangely neglected." + +It should, however, be remembered that the subject had been before his +mind, more or less, from 1837 or 1838, as I judge from entries in his early +note-books. It was in December, 1839, that he began to make observations +on children. + +The work required much correspondence, not only with missionaries and +others living among savages, to whom he sent his printed queries, but among +physiologists and physicians. He obtained much information from Professor +Donders, Sir W. Bowman, Sir James Paget, Dr. W. Ogle, Dr. Crichton Browne, +as well as from other observers. + +The first letter refers to the 'Descent of Man.'] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, January 30 [1871]. + +My dear Wallace, + +(In the note referred to, dated January 27, Mr. Wallace wrote:-- + +"Many thanks for your first volume which I have just finished reading +through with the greatest pleasure and interest; and I have also to thank +you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my +heresies." + +The heresy is the limitation of natural selection as applied to man. My +father wrote ('Descent of Man,' i. page 137):--"I cannot therefore +understand how it is that Mr. Wallace maintains that 'natural selection +could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that +of an ape.'" In the above quoted letter Mr. Wallace wrote:--"Your chapters +on 'Man' are of intense interest, but as touching my special heresy not as +yet altogether convincing, though of course I fully agree with every word +and every argument which goes to prove the evolution or development of man +out of a lower form.") + +Your note has given me very great pleasure, chiefly because I was so +anxious not to treat you with the least disrespect, and it is so difficult +to speak fairly when differing from any one. If I had offended you, it +would have grieved me more than you will readily believe. Secondly, I am +greatly pleased to hear that Volume I. interests you; I have got so sick of +the whole subject that I felt in utter doubt about the value of any part. +I intended, when speaking of females not having been specially modified for +protection, to include the prevention of characters acquired by the male +being transmitted to the female; but I now see it would have been better to +have said "specially acted on," or some such term. Possibly my intention +may be clearer in Volume II. Let me say that my conclusions are chiefly +founded on the consideration of all animals taken in a body, bearing in +mind how common the rules of sexual differences appear to be in all +classes. The first copy of the chapter on Lepidoptera agreed pretty +closely with you. I then worked on, came back to Lepidoptera, and thought +myself compelled to alter it--finished Sexual Selection and for the last +time went over Lepidoptera, and again I felt forced to alter it. I hope to +God there will be nothing disagreeable to you in Volume II., and that I +have spoken fairly of your views; I am fearful on this head, because I have +just read (but not with sufficient care) Mivart's book ('The Genesis of +Species,' by St. G. Mivart, 1871.), and I feel ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that he +meant to be fair (but he was stimulated by theological fervour); yet I do +not think he has been quite fair...The part which, I think, will have most +influence is where he gives the whole series of cases like that of the +whalebone, in which we cannot explain the gradational steps; but such cases +have no weight on my mind--if a few fish were extinct, who on earth would +have ventured even to conjecture that lungs had originated in a swim- +bladder? In such a case as the Thylacine, I think he was bound to say that +the resemblance of the jaw to that of the dog is superficial; the number +and correspondence and development of teeth being widely different. I +think again when speaking of the necessity of altering a number of +characters together, he ought to have thought of man having power by +selection to modify simultaneously or almost simultaneously many points, as +in making a greyhound or racehorse--as enlarged upon in my 'Domestic +Animals.' Mivart is savage or contemptuous about my "moral sense," and so +probably will you be. I am extremely pleased that he agrees with my +position, AS FAR AS ANIMAL NATURE IS CONCERNED, of man in the series; or if +anything, thinks I have erred in making him too distinct. + +Forgive me for scribbling at such length. You have put me quite in good +spirits; I did so dread having been unintentionally unfair towards your +views. I hope earnestly the second volume will escape as well. I care now +very little what others say. As for our not quite agreeing, really in such +complex subjects, it is almost impossible for two men who arrive +independently at their conclusions to agree fully, it would be unnatural +for them to do so. + +Yours ever, very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[Professor Haeckel seems to have been one of the first to write to my +father about the 'Descent of Man.' I quote from his reply:-- + +"I must send you a few words to thank you for your interesting, and I may +truly say, charming letter. I am delighted that you approve of my book, as +far as you have read it. I felt very great difficulty and doubt how often +I ought to allude to what you have published; strictly speaking every idea, +although occurring independently to me, if published by you previously +ought to have appeared as if taken from your works, but this would have +made my book very dull reading; and I hoped that a full acknowledgment at +the beginning would suffice. (In the introduction to the 'Descent of Man' +the author wrote:-- + +"This last naturalist [Haeckel]...has recently...published his 'Naturliche +Schopfungs-geschichte,' in which he fully discusses the genealogy of man. +If this work had appeared before my essay had been written, I should +probably never have completed it. Almost all the conclusions at which I +have arrived, I find confirmed by this naturalist, whose knowledge on many +points is much fuller than mine.") I cannot tell you how glad I am to find +that I have expressed my high admiration of your labours with sufficient +clearness; I am sure that I have not expressed it too strongly."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, March 16, 1871. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have just read your grand review. ("Academy", March 15, 1871.) It is in +every way as kindly expressed towards myself as it is excellent in matter. +The Lyells have been here, and Sir C. remarked that no one wrote such good +scientific reviews as you, and as Miss Buckley added, you delight in +picking out all that is good, though very far from blind to the bad. In +all this I most entirely agree. I shall always consider your review as a +great honour; and however much my book may hereafter be abused, as no doubt +it will be, your review will console me, notwithstanding that we differ so +greatly. I will keep your objections to my views in my mind, but I fear +that the latter are almost stereotyped in my mind. I thought for long +weeks about the inheritance and selection difficulty, and covered quires of +paper with notes in trying to get out of it, but could not, though clearly +seeing that it would be a great relief if I could. I will confine myself +to two or three remarks. I have been much impressed with what you urge +against colour (Mr. Wallace says that the pairing of butterflies is +probably determined by the fact that one male is stronger-winged, or more +pertinacious than the rest, rather than by the choice of the females. He +quotes the case of caterpillars which are brightly coloured and yet +sexless. Mr. Wallace also makes the good criticism that the 'Descent of +Man' consists of two books mixed together.) in the case of insects, having +been acquired through sexual selection. I always saw that the evidence was +very weak; but I still think, if it be admitted that the musical +instruments of insects have been gained through sexual selection, that +there is not the least improbability in colour having been thus gained. +Your argument with respect to the denudation of mankind and also to +insects, that taste on the part of one sex would have to remain nearly the +same during many generations, in order that sexual selection should produce +any effect, I agree to; and I think this argument would be sound if used by +one who denied that, for instance, the plumes of birds of Paradise had been +so gained. I believe you admit this, and if so I do not see how your +argument applies in other cases. I have recognized for some short time +that I have made a great omission in not having discussed, as far as I +could, the acquisition of taste, its inherited nature, and its permanence +within pretty close limits for long periods. + + +[With regard to the success of the 'Descent of Man,' I quote from a letter +to Professor Ray Lankester (March 22, 1871):-- + +"I think you will be glad to hear, as a proof of the increasing liberality +of England, that my book has sold wonderfully...and as yet no abuse (though +some, no doubt, will come, strong enough), and only contempt even in the +poor old 'Athenaeum'." + +As to reviews that struck him he wrote to Mr. Wallace (March 24, 1871):-- + +"There is a very striking second article on my book in the 'Pall Mall'. +The articles in the "Spectator" ("Spectator", March 11 and 18, 1871. With +regard to the evolution of conscience the reviewer thinks that my father +comes much nearer to the "kernel of the psychological problem" than many of +his predecessors. The second article contains a good discussion of the +bearing of the book on the question of design, and concludes by finding in +it a vindication of Theism more wonderful than that in Paley's 'Natural +Theology.') have also interested me much." + +On March 20 he wrote to Mr. Murray:-- + +"Many thanks for the "Nonconformist" [March 8, 1871]. I like to see all +that is written, and it is of some real use. If you hear of reviewers in +out-of-the-way papers, especially the religious, as "Record", "Guardian", +"Tablet", kindly inform me. It is wonderful that there has been no abuse +("I feel a full conviction that my chapter on man will excite attention and +plenty of abuse, and I suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a +book."--(from a letter to Mr. Murray, January 31, 1867.) as yet, but I +suppose I shall not escape. On the whole, the reviews have been highly +favourable." + +The following extract from a letter to Mr. Murray (April 13, 1871) refers +to a review in the "Times". ("Times", April 7 and 8, 1871. The review is +not only unfavourable as regards the book under discussion, but also as +regards Evolution in general, as the following citation will show: "Even +had it been rendered highly probable, which we doubt, that the animal +creation has been developed into its numerous and widely different +varieties by mere evolution, it would still require an independent +investigation of overwhelming force and completeness to justify the +presumption that man is but a term in this self-evolving series.") + +"I have no idea who wrote the "Times" review. He has no knowledge of +science, and seems to me a wind-bag full of metaphysics and classics, so +that I do not much regard his adverse judgment, though I suppose it will +injure the sale." + +A review of the 'Descent of Man,' which my father spoke of as "capital," +appeared in the "Saturday Review" (March 4 and 11, 1871). A passage from +the first notice (March 4) may be quoted in illustration of the broad basis +as regards general acceptance, on which the doctrine of Evolution now +stood: "He claims to have brought man himself, his origin and +constitution, within that unity which he had previously sought to trace +through all lower animal forms. The growth of opinion in the interval, due +in chief measure to his own intermediate works, has placed the discussion +of this problem in a position very much in advance of that held by it +fifteen years ago. The problem of Evolution is hardly any longer to be +treated as one of first principles; nor has Mr. Darwin to do battle for a +first hearing of his central hypothesis, upborne as it is by a phalanx of +names full of distinction and promise, in either hemisphere." + +The infolded point of the human ear, discovered by Mr. Woolner, and +described in the 'Descent of Man,' seems especially to have struck the +popular imagination; my father wrote to Mr. Woolner:-- + +"The tips to the ears have become quite celebrated. One reviewer +('Nature') says they ought to be called, as I suggested in joke, Angulus +Woolnerianus. ('Nature' April 6, 1871. The term suggested is Angulus +Woolnerii.) A German is very proud to find that he has the tips well +developed, and I believe will send me a photograph of his ears."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN BRODIE INNES. (Rev. J. Brodie Innes, of Milton +Brodie, formerly Vicar of Down.) +Down, May 29 [1871]. + +My dear Innes, + +I have been very glad to receive your pleasant letter, for to tell you the +truth, I have sometimes wondered whether you would not think me an outcast +and a reprobate after the publication of my last book ['Descent']. (In a +former letter of my father's to Mr. Innes:--"We often differed, but you are +one of those rare mortals from whom one can differ and yet feel no shade of +animosity, and that is a thing which I should feel very proud of, if any +one could say it of me.") I do not wonder at all at your not agreeing with +me, for a good many professed naturalists do not. Yet when I see in how +extraordinary a manner the judgment of naturalists has changed since I +published the 'Origin,' I feel convinced that there will be in ten years +quite as much unanimity about man, as far as his corporeal frame is +concerned... + + +[The following letters addressed to Dr. Ogle deal with the progress of the +work on expression.] + + +Down, March 12 [1871]. + +My dear Dr. Ogle, + +I have received both your letters, and they tell me all that I wanted to +know in the clearest possible way, as, indeed, all your letters have ever +done. I thank you cordially. I will give the case of the murderer +('Expression of the Emotions,' page 294. The arrest of a murderer, as +witnessed by Dr. Ogle in a hospital.) in my hobby-horse essay on +expression. I fear that the Eustachian tube question must have cost you a +deal of labour; it is quite a complete little essay. It is pretty clear +that the mouth is not opened under surprise merely to improve the hearing. +Yet why do deaf men generally keep their mouths open? The other day a man +here was mimicking a deaf friend, leaning his head forward and sideways to +the speaker, with his mouth well open; it was a lifelike representation of +a deaf man. Shakespeare somewhere says: "Hold your breath, listen" or +"hark," I forget which. Surprise hurries the breath, and it seems to me +one can breathe, at least hurriedly, much quieter through the open mouth +than through the nose. I saw the other day you doubted this. As objection +is your province at present, I think breathing through the nose ought to +come within it likewise, so do pray consider this point, and let me hear +your judgment. Consider the nose to be a flower to be fertilised, and then +you will make out all about it. (Dr. Ogle had corresponded with my father +on his own observations on the fertilisation of flowers.) I have had to +allude to your paper on 'Sense of Smell' (Medico-chirurg. Trans. liii.); is +the paging right, namely, 1, 2, 3? If not, I protest by all the gods +against the plan followed by some, of having presentation copies falsely +paged; and so does Rolleston, as he wrote to me the other day. In haste. + +Yours very sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. OGLE. +Down, March 25 [1871]. + +My dear Dr. Ogle, + +You will think me a horrid bore, but I beg you, IN RELATION TO A NEW POINT +FOR OBSERVATION, to imagine as well as you can that you suddenly come +across some dreadful object, and act with a sudden little start, a SHUDDER +OF HORROR; please do this once or twice, and observe yourself as well as +you can, and AFTERWARDS read the rest of this note, which I have +consequently pinned down. I find, to my surprise, whenever I act thus my +platysma contracts. Does yours? (N.B.--See what a man will do for +science; I began this note with a horrid fib, namely, that I want you to +attend to a new point. (The point was doubtless described as a new one, to +avoid the possibility of Dr. Ogle's attention being directed to the +platysma, a muscle which had been the subject of discussion in other +letters.)) I will try and get some persons thus to act who are so lucky as +not to know that they even possess this muscle, so troublesome for any one +making out about expression. Is a shudder akin to the rigor or shivering +before fever? If so, perhaps the platysma could be observed in such cases. +Paget told me that he had attended much to shivering, and had written in +MS. on the subject, and been much perplexed about it. He mentioned that +passing a catheter often causes shivering. Perhaps I will write to him +about the platysma. He is always most kind in aiding me in all ways, but +he is so overworked that it hurts my conscience to trouble him, for I have +a conscience, little as you have reason to think so. Help me if you can, +and forgive me. Your murderer case has come in splendidly as the acme of +prostration from fear. + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO DR. OGLE. +Down, April 29 [1871]. + +My dear Dr. Ogle, + +I am truly obliged for all the great trouble which you have so kindly +taken. I am sure you have no cause to say that you are sorry you can give +me no definite information, for you have given me far more than I ever +expected to get. The action of the platysma is not very important for me, +but I believe that you will fully understand (for I have always fancied +that our minds were very similar) the intolerable desire I had not to be +utterly baffled. Now I know that it sometimes contracts from fear and from +shuddering, but not apparently from a prolonged state of fear such as the +insane suffer... + + +[Mr. Mivart's 'Genesis of Species,'--a contribution to the literature of +Evolution, which excited much attention--was published in 1871, before the +appearance of the 'Descent of Man.' To this book the following letter +(June 21, 1871) from the late Chauncey Wright to my father refers. +(Chauncey Wright was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, September 20, +1830, and came of a family settled in that town since 1654. He became in +1852 a computer in the Nautical Almanac office at Cambridge, Mass., and +lived a quiet uneventful life, supported by the small stipend of his +office, and by what he earned from his occasional articles, as well as by a +little teaching. He thought and read much on metaphysical subjects, but on +the whole with an outcome (as far as the world was concerned) not +commensurate to the power of his mind. He seems to have been a man of +strong individuality, and to have made a lasting impression on his friends. +He died in September, 1875.)]: + +"I send...revised proofs of an article which will be published in the July +number of the 'North American Review,' sending it in the hope that it will +interest or even be of greater value to you. Mr. Mivart's book ['Genesis +of Species'] of which this article is substantially a review, seems to me a +very good background from which to present the considerations which I have +endeavoured to set forth in the article, in defence and illustration of the +theory of Natural Selection. My special purpose has been to contribute to +the theory by placing it in its proper relations to philosophical enquiries +in general." ('Letters of Chauncey Wright,' by J.B. Thayer. Privately +printed, 1878, page 230.) + +With regard to the proofs received from Mr. Wright, my father wrote to Mr. +Wallace:] + + +Down, July 9 [1871]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I send by this post a review by Chauncey Wright, as I much want your +opinion of it as soon as you can send it. I consider you an incomparably +better critic than I am. The article, though not very clearly written, and +poor in parts from want of knowledge, seems to me admirable. Mivart's book +is producing a great effect against Natural Selection, and more especially +against me. Therefore if you think the article even somewhat good I will +write and get permission to publish it as a shilling pamphlet, together +with the MS. additions (enclosed), for which there was not room at the end +of the review... + +I am now at work at a new and cheap edition of the 'Origin,' and shall +answer several points in Mivart's book, and introduce a new chapter for +this purpose; but I treat the subject so much more concretely, and I dare +say less philosophically, than Wright, that we shall not interfere with +each other. You will think me a bigot when I say, after studying Mivart, I +was never before in my life so convinced of the GENERAL (i.e. not in +detail) truth of the views in the 'Origin.' I grieve to see the omission +of the words by Mivart, detected by Wright. ('North American Review,' +volume 113, pages 83, 84. Chauncey Wright points out that the words +omitted are "essential to the point on which he [Mr. Mivart] cites Mr. +Darwin's authority." It should be mentioned that the passage from which +words are omitted is not given within inverted commas by Mr. Mivart.) I +complained to Mivart that in two cases he quotes only the commencement of +sentences by me, and thus modifies my meaning; but I never supposed he +would have omitted words. There are other cases of what I consider unfair +treatment. I conclude with sorrow that though he means to be honourable he +is so bigoted that he cannot act fairly... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. +Down, July 14, 1871. + +My dear Sir, + +I have hardly ever in my life read an article which has given me so much +satisfaction as the review which you have been so kind as to send me. I +agree to almost everything which you say. Your memory must be wonderfully +accurate, for you know my works as well as I do myself, and your power of +grasping other men's thoughts is something quite surprising; and this, as +far as my experience goes, is a very rare quality. As I read on I +perceived how you have acquired this power, viz. by thoroughly analyzing +each word. + +...Now I am going to beg a favour. Will you provisionally give me +permission to reprint your article as a shilling pamphlet? I ask only +provisionally, as I have not yet had time to reflect on the subject. It +would cost me, I fancy, with advertisements, some 20 or 30 pounds; but the +worst is that, as I hear, pamphlets never will sell. And this makes me +doubtful. Should you think it too much trouble to send me a title FOR THE +CHANCE? The title ought, I think, to have Mr. Mivart's name on it. + +...If you grant permission and send a title, you will kindly understand +that I will first make further enquiries whether there is any chance of a +pamphlet being read. + +Pray believe me yours very sincerely obliged, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The pamphlet was published in the autumn, and on October 23 my father +wrote to Mr. Wright:-- + +"It pleases me much that you are satisfied with the appearance of your +pamphlet. I am sure it will do our cause good service; and this same +opinion Huxley has expressed to me. ('Letters of Chauncey Wright,' page +235."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, July 12 [1871]. + +...I feel very doubtful how far I shall succeed in answering Mivart, it is +so difficult to answer objections to doubtful points, and make the +discussion readable. I shall make only a selection. The worst of it is, +that I cannot possibly hunt through all my references for isolated points, +it would take me three weeks of intolerably hard work. I wish I had your +power of arguing clearly. At present I feel sick of everything, and if I +could occupy my time and forget my daily discomforts, or rather miseries, I +would never publish another word. But I shall cheer up, I dare say, soon, +having only just got over a bad attack. Farewell; God knows why I bother +you about myself. I can say nothing more about missing-links than what I +have said. I should rely much on pre-silurian times; but then comes Sir W. +Thomson like an odious spectre. Farewell. + +...There is a most cutting review of me in the 'Quarterly' (July 1871.); I +have only read a few pages. The skill and style make me think of Mivart. +I shall soon be viewed as the most despicable of men. This 'Quarterly +Review' tempts me to republish Ch. Wright, even if not read by any one, +just to show some one will say a word against Mivart, and that his (i.e. +Mivart's) remarks ought not to be swallowed without some reflection...God +knows whether my strength and spirit will last out to write a chapter +versus Mivart and others; I do so hate controversy and feel I shall do it +so badly. + +[The above-mentioned 'Quarterly' review was the subject of an article by +Mr. Huxley in the November number of the 'Contemporary Review.' Here, +also, are discussed Mr. Wallace's 'Contribution to the Theory of Natural +Selection,' and the second edition of Mr. Mivart's 'Genesis of Species.' +What follows is taken from Mr. Huxley's article. The 'Quarterly' reviewer, +though being to some extent an evolutionist, believes that Man "differs +more from an elephant or a gorilla, than do these from the dust of the +earth on which they tread." The reviewer also declares that my father has +"with needless opposition, set at naught the first principles of both +philosophy and religion." Mr. Huxley passes from the 'Quarterly' +reviewer's further statement, that there is no necessary opposition between +evolution and religion, to the more definite position taken by Mr. Mivart, +that the orthodox authorities of the Roman Catholic Church agree in +distinctly asserting derivative creation, so that "their teachings +harmonise with all that modern science can possibly require." Here Mr. +Huxley felt the want of that "study of Christian philosophy" (at any rate, +in its Jesuitic garb), which Mr. Mivart speaks of, and it was a want he at +once set to work to fill up. He was then staying at St. Andrews, whence he +wrote to my father:-- + +"By great good luck there is an excellent library here, with a good copy of +Suarez (The learned Jesuit on whom Mr. Mivart mainly relies.), in a dozen +big folios. Among these I dived, to the great astonishment of the +librarian, and looking into them 'as the careful robin eyes the delver's +toil' (vide 'Idylls'), I carried off the two venerable clasped volumes +which were most promising." Even those who know Mr. Huxley's unrivalled +power of tearing the heart out of a book must marvel at the skill with +which he has made Suarez speak on his side. "So I have come out," he +wrote, "in the new character of a defender of Catholic orthodoxy, and upset +Mivart out of the mouth of his own prophet." + +The remainder of Mr. Huxley's critique is largely occupied with a +dissection of the 'Quarterly' reviewer's psychology, and his ethical views. +He deals, too, with Mr. Wallace's objections to the doctrine of Evolution +by natural causes when applied to the mental faculties of Man. Finally, he +devotes a couple of pages to justifying his description of the 'Quarterly' +reviewer's "treatment of Mr. Darwin as alike unjust and unbecoming." + +It will be seen that the two following letters were written before the +publication of Mr. Huxley's article.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, September 21 [1871]. + +My dear Huxley, + +Your letter has pleased me in many ways, to a wonderful degree...What a +wonderful man you are to grapple with those old metaphysico-divinity books. +It quite delights me that you are going to some extent to answer and attack +Mivart. His book, as you say, has produced a great effect; yesterday I +perceived the reverberations from it, even from Italy. It was this that +made me ask Chauncey Wright to publish at my expense his article, which +seems to me very clever, though ill-written. He has not knowledge enough +to grapple with Mivart in detail. I think there can be no shadow of doubt +that he is the author of the article in the 'Quarterly Review'...I am +preparing a new edition of the 'Origin,' and shall introduce a new chapter +in answer to miscellaneous objections, and shall give up the greater part +to answer Mivart's cases of difficulty of incipient structures being of no +use: and I find it can be done easily. He never states his case fairly, +and makes wonderful blunders...The pendulum is now swinging against our +side, but I feel positive it will soon swing the other way; and no mortal +man will do half as much as you in giving it a start in the right +direction, as you did at the first commencement. God forgive me for +writing so long and egotistical a letter; but it is your fault, for you +have so delighted me; I never dreamed that you would have time to say a +word in defence of the cause which you have so often defended. It will be +a long battle, after we are dead and gone...Great is the power of +misrepresentation... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, September 30 [1871]. + +My dear Huxley, + +It was very good of you to send the proof-sheets, for I was VERY anxious to +read your article. I have been delighted with it. How you do smash +Mivart's theology: it is almost equal to your article versus Comte +('Fortnightly Review,' 1869. With regard to the relations of Positivism to +Science my father wrote to Mr. Spencer in 1875: "How curious and amusing +it is to see to what an extent the Positivists hate all men of science; I +fancy they are dimly conscious what laughable and gigantic blunders their +prophet made in predicting the course of science."),--that never can be +transcended...But I have been preeminently glad to read your discussion on +[the 'Quarterly' reviewer's] metaphysics, especially about reason and his +definition of it. I felt sure he was wrong, but having only common +observation and sense to trust to, I did not know what to say in my second +edition of my 'Descent.' Now a footnote and reference to you will do the +work...For me, this is one of the most IMPORTANT parts of the review. But +for PLEASURE, I have been particularly glad that my few words ('Descent of +Man,' volume i. page 87. A discussion on the question whether an act done +impulsively or instinctively can be called moral.) on the distinction, if +it can be so called, between Mivart's two forms of morality, caught your +attention. I am so pleased that you take the same view, and give +authorities for it; but I searched Mill in vain on this head. How well you +argue the whole case. I am mounting climax on climax; for after all there +is nothing, I think, better in your whole review than your arguments v. +Wallace on the intellect of savages. I must tell you what Hooker said to +me a few years ago. "When I read Huxley, I feel quite infantile in +intellect." By Jove I have felt the truth of this throughout your review. +What a man you are. There are scores of splendid passages, and vivid +flashes of wit. I have been a good deal more than merely pleased by the +concluding part of your review; and all the more, as I own I felt mortified +by the accusation of bigotry, arrogance, etc., in the 'Quarterly Review.' +But I assure you, he may write his worst, and he will never mortify me +again. + +My dear Huxley, yours gratefully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Haredene, Albury, August 2 [1871]. + +My dear Sir, + +Your last letter has interested me greatly; it is wonderfully rich in facts +and original thoughts. First, let me say that I have been much pleased by +what you say about my book. It has had a VERY LARGE sale; but I have been +much abused for it, especially for the chapter on the moral sense; and most +of my reviewers consider the book as a poor affair. God knows what its +merits may really be; all that I know is that I did my best. With +familiarity I think naturalists will accept sexual selection to a greater +extent than they now seem inclined to do. I should very much like to +publish your letter, but I do not see how it could be made intelligible, +without numerous coloured illustrations, but I will consult Mr. Wallace on +this head. I earnestly hope that you keep notes of all your letters, and +that some day you will publish a book: 'Notes of a Naturalist in S. +Brazil,' or some such title. Wallace will hardly admit the possibility of +sexual selection with Lepidoptera, and no doubt it is very improbable. +Therefore, I am very glad to hear of your cases (which I will quote in the +next edition) of the two sets of Hesperiadae, which display their wings +differently, according to which surface is coloured. I cannot believe that +such display is accidental and purposeless... + +No fact of your letter has interested me more than that about mimicry. It +is a capital fact about the males pursuing the wrong females. You put the +difficulty of the first steps in imitation in a most striking and +CONVINCING manner. Your idea of sexual selection having aided protective +imitation interests me greatly, for the same idea had occurred to me in +quite different cases, viz. the dulness of all animals in the Galapagos +Islands, Patagonia, etc., and in some other cases; but I was afraid even to +hint at such an idea. Would you object to my giving some such sentence as +follows: "F. Muller suspects that sexual selection may have come into +play, in aid of protective imitation, in a very peculiar manner, which will +appear extremely improbable to those who do not fully believe in sexual +selection. It is that the appreciation of certain colour is developed in +those species which frequently behold other species thus ornamented." +Again let me thank you cordially for your most interesting letter... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E.B. TYLOR. +Down, [September 24, 1871]. + +My dear Sir, + +I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of telling you how +greatly I have been interested by your 'Primitive Culture,' now that I have +finished it. It seems to me a most profound work, which will be certain to +have permanent value, and to be referred to for years to come. It is +wonderful how you trace animism from the lower races up to the religious +belief of the highest races. It will make me for the future look at +religion--a belief in the soul, etc.--from a new point of view. How +curious, also, are the survivals or rudiments of old customs...You will +perhaps be surprised at my writing at so late a period, but I have had the +book read aloud to me, and from much ill-health of late could only stand +occasional short reads. The undertaking must have cost you gigantic +labour. Nevertheless, I earnestly hope that you may be induced to treat +morals in the same enlarged yet careful manner, as you have animism. I +fancy from the last chapter that you have thought of this. No man could do +the work so well as you, and the subject assuredly is a most important and +interesting one. You must now possess references which would guide you to +a sound estimation of the morals of savages; and how writers like Wallace, +Lubbock, etc., etc., do differ on this head. Forgive me for troubling you, +and believe me, with much respect, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +1872. + +[At the beginning of the year the sixth edition of the 'Origin,' which had +been begun in June, 1871, was nearly completed. The last sheet was revised +on January 10, 1872, and the book was published in the course of the month. +This volume differs from the previous ones in appearance and size--it +consists of 458 pages instead of 596 pages and is a few ounces lighter; it +is printed on bad paper, in small type, and with the lines unpleasantly +close together. It had, however, one advantage over previous editions, +namely that it was issued at a lower price. It is to be regretted that +this the final edition of the 'Origin' should have appeared in so +unattractive a form; a form which has doubtless kept off many readers from +the book. + +The discussion suggested by the 'Genesis of Species' was perhaps the most +important addition to the book. The objection that incipient structures +cannot be of use was dealt with in some detail, because it seemed to the +author that this was the point in Mr. Mivart's book which has struck most +readers in England. + +It is a striking proof of how wide and general had become the acceptance of +his views that my father found it necessary to insert (sixth edition, page +424), the sentence: "As a record of a former state of things, I have +retained in the foregoing paragraphs and also elsewhere, several sentences +which imply that naturalists believe in the separate creation of each +species; and I have been much censured for having thus expressed myself. +But undoubtedly this was the general belief when the first edition of the +present work appeared...Now things are wholly changed, and almost every +naturalist admits the great principle of evolution." + +A small correction introduced into this sixth edition is connected with one +of his minor papers: "Note on the habits of the Pampas Woodpecker." +(Zoolog. Soc. Proc. 1870.) In the fifth edition of the 'Origin,' page 220, +he wrote:-- + +"Yet as I can assert not only from my own observation, but from that of the +accurate Azara, it [the ground woodpecker] never climbs a tree." The paper +in question was a reply to Mr. Hudson's remarks on the woodpecker in a +previous number of the same journal. The last sentence of my father's +paper is worth quoting for its temperate tone: "Finally, I trust that Mr. +Hudson is mistaken when he says that any one acquainted with the habits of +this bird might be induced to believe that I 'had purposely wrested the +truth' in order to prove my theory. He exonerates me from this charge; but +I should be loath to think that there are many naturalists who, without any +evidence, would accuse a fellow-worker of telling a deliberate falsehood to +prove his theory." In the sixth edition, page 142, the passage runs "in +certain large districts it does not climb trees." And he goes on to give +Mr. Hudson's statement that in other regions it does frequent trees. + +One of the additions in the sixth edition (page 149), was a reference to +Mr. A. Hyatt's and Professor Cope's theory of "acceleration." With regard +to this he wrote (October 10, 1872) in characteristic words to Mr. Hyatt:-- + +"Permit me to take this opportunity to express my sincere regret at having +committed two grave errors in the last edition of my 'Origin of Species,' +in my allusion to yours and Professor Cope's views on acceleration and +retardation of development. I had thought that Professor Cope had preceded +you; but I now well remember having formerly read with lively interest, and +marked, a paper by you somewhere in my library, on fossil Cephalapods with +remarks on the subject. It seems also that I have quite misrepresented +your joint view. This has vexed me much. I confess that I have never been +able to grasp fully what you wish to show, and I presume that this must be +owing to some dulness on my part." + +Lastly, it may be mentioned that this cheap edition being to some extent +intended as a popular one, was made to include a glossary of technical +terms, "given because several readers have complained...that some of the +terms used were unintelligible to them." The glossary was compiled by Mr. +Dallas, and being an excellent collection of clear and sufficient +definitions, must have proved useful to many readers.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.L.A. DE QUATREFAGES. +Down, January 15, 1872. + +My dear Sir, + +I am much obliged for your very kind letter and exertions in my favour. I +had thought that the publication of my last book ['Descent of Man'] would +have destroyed all your sympathy with me, but though I estimated very +highly your great liberality of mind, it seems that I underrated it. + +I am gratified to hear that M. Lacaze-Duthiers will vote (He was not +elected as a corresponding member of the French Academy until 1878.) for +me, for I have long honoured his name. I cannot help regretting that you +should expend your valuable time in trying to obtain for me the honour of +election, for I fear, judging from the last time, that all your labour will +be in vain. Whatever the result may be, I shall always retain the most +lively recollection of your sympathy and kindness, and this will quite +console me for my rejection. + +With much respect and esteem, I remain, dear Sir, + +Yours truly obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--With respect to the great stress which you lay on man walking on two +legs, whilst the quadrumana go on all fours, permit me to remind you that +no one much values the great difference in the mode of locomotion, and +consequently in structure, between seals and the terrestrial carnivora, or +between the almost biped kangaroos and other marsupials. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO AUGUST WEISMANN. (Professor of Zoology in Freiburg.) +Down, April 5, 1872. + +My dear Sir, + +I have now read your essay ('Ueber den Einfluss der Isolirung auf die +Artbildung.' Leipzig, 1872.) with very great interest. Your view of the +'Origin' of local races through "Amixie," is altogether new to me, and +seems to throw an important light on an obscure problem. There is, +however, something strange about the periods or endurance of variability. +I formerly endeavoured to investigate the subject, not by looking to past +time, but to species of the same genus widely distributed; and I found in +many cases that all the species, with perhaps one or two exceptions, were +variable. It would be a very interesting subject for a conchologist to +investigate, viz., whether the species of the same genus were variable +during many successive geological formations. I began to make enquiries on +this head, but failed in this, as in so many other things, from the want of +time and strength. In your remarks on crossing, you do not, as it seems to +me, lay nearly stress enough on the increased vigour of the offspring +derived from parents which have been exposed to different conditions. I +have during the last five years been making experiments on this subject +with plants, and have been astonished at the results, which have not yet +been published. + +In the first part of your essay, I thought that you wasted (to use an +English expression) too much powder and shot on M. Wagner (Prof. Wagner has +written two essays on the same subject. 'Die Darwin'sche Theorie und das +Migrationsgesetz, in 1868, and 'Ueber den Einfluss der Geographischen +Isolirung, etc.,' an address to the Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich, +1870.); but I changed my opinion when I saw how admirably you treated the +whole case, and how well you used the facts about the Planorbis. I wish I +had studied this latter case more carefully. The manner in which, as you +show, the different varieties blend together and make a constant whole, +agrees perfectly with my hypothetical illustrations. + +Many years ago the late E. Forbes described three closely consecutive beds +in a secondary formation, each with representative forms of the same fresh- +water shells: the case is evidently analogous with that of Hilgendorf +("Ueber Planorbis multiformis im Steinheimer Susswasser-kalk." +Monatsbericht of the Berlin Academy, 1866.), but the interesting connecting +varieties or links were here absent. I rejoice to think that I formerly +said as emphatically as I could, that neither isolation nor time by +themselves do anything for the modification of species. Hardly anything in +your essay has pleased me so much personally, as to find that you believe +to a certain extent in sexual selection. As far as I can judge, very few +naturalists believe in this. I may have erred on many points, and extended +the doctrine too far, but I feel a strong conviction that sexual selection +will hereafter be admitted to be a powerful agency. I cannot agree with +what you say about the taste for beauty in animals not easily varying. It +may be suspected that even the habit of viewing differently coloured +surrounding objects would influence their taste, and Fritz Muller even goes +so far as to believe that the sight of gaudy butterflies might influence +the taste of distinct species. There are many remarks and statements in +your essay which have interested me greatly, and I thank you for the +pleasure which I have received from reading it. + +With sincere respect, I remain, +My dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--If you should ever be induced to consider the whole doctrine of +sexual selection, I think that you will be led to the conclusion, that +characters thus gained by one sex are very commonly transferred in a +greater or less degree to the other sex. + + +[With regard to Moritz Wagner's first Essay, my father wrote to that +naturalist, apparently in 1868:] + +Dear and respected Sir, + +I thank you sincerely for sending me your 'Migrationsgesetz, etc.,' and for +the very kind and most honourable notice which you have taken of my works. +That a naturalist who has travelled into so many and such distant regions, +and who has studied animals of so many classes, should, to a considerable +extent, agree with me, is, I can assure you, the highest gratification of +which I am capable...Although I saw the effects of isolation in the case of +islands and mountain-ranges, and knew of a few instances of rivers, yet the +greater number of your facts were quite unknown to me. I now see that from +the want of knowledge I did not make nearly sufficient use of the views +which you advocate; and I almost wish I could believe in its importance to +the same extent with you; for you well show, in a manner which never +occurred to me, that it removes many difficulties and objections. But I +must still believe that in many large areas all the individuals of the same +species have been slowly modified, in the same manner, for instance, as the +English race-horse has been improved, that is by the continued selection of +the fleetest individuals, without any separation. But I admit that by this +process two or more new species could hardly be found within the same +limited area; some degree of separation, if not indispensable, would be +highly advantageous; and here your facts and views will be of great +value... + + +[The following letter bears on the same subject. It refers to Professor M. +Wagner's Essay, published in "Das Ausland", May 31, 1875:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MORITZ WAGNER. +Down, October 13, 1876. + +Dear Sir, + +I have now finished reading your essays, which have interested me in a very +high degree, notwithstanding that I differ much from you on various points. +For instance, several considerations make me doubt whether species are much +more variable at one period than at another, except through the agency of +changed conditions. I wish, however, that I could believe in this +doctrine, as it removes many difficulties. But my strongest objection to +your theory is that it does not explain the manifold adaptations in +structure in every organic being--for instance in a Picus for climbing +trees and catching insects--or in a Strix for catching animals at night, +and so on ad infinitum. No theory is in the least satisfactory to me +unless it clearly explains such adaptations. I think that you +misunderstand my views on isolation. I believe that all the individuals of +a species can be slowly modified within the same district, in nearly the +same manner as man effects by what I have called the process of unconscious +selection...I do not believe that one species will give birth to two or +more new species as long as they are mingled together within the same +district. Nevertheless I cannot doubt that many new species have been +simultaneously developed within the same large continental area; and in my +'Origin of Species' I endeavoured to explain how two new species might be +developed, although they met and intermingled on the BORDERS of their +range. It would have been a strange fact if I had overlooked the +importance of isolation, seeing that it was such cases as that of the +Galapagos Archipelago, which chiefly led me to study the origin of species. +In my opinion the greatest error which I have committed, has been not +allowing sufficient weight to the direct action of the environment, i.e. +food, climate, etc., independently of natural selection. Modifications +thus caused, which are neither of advantage nor disadvantage to the +modified organism, would be especially favoured, as I can now see chiefly +through your observations, by isolation in a small area, where only a few +individuals lived under nearly uniform conditions. + +When I wrote the 'Origin,' and for some years afterwards, I could find +little good evidence of the direct action of the environment; now there is +a large body of evidence, and your case of the Saturnia is one of the most +remarkable of which I have heard. Although we differ so greatly, I hope +that you will permit me to express my respect for your long-continued and +successful labours in the good cause of natural science. + +I remain, dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The two following letters are also of interest as bearing on my father's +views on the action of isolation as regards the origin of new species:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO K. SEMPER. +Down, November 26, 1878. + +My dear Professor Semper, + +When I published the sixth edition of the 'Origin,' I thought a good deal +on the subject to which you refer, and the opinion therein expressed was my +deliberate conviction. I went as far as I could, perhaps too far in +agreement with Wagner; since that time I have seen no reason to change my +mind, but then I must add that my attention has been absorbed on other +subjects. There are two different classes of cases, as it appears to me, +viz. those in which a species becomes slowly modified in the same country +(of which I cannot doubt there are innumerable instances) and those cases +in which a species splits into two or three or more new species, and in the +latter case, I should think nearly perfect separation would greatly aid in +their "specification," to coin a new word. + +I am very glad that you are taking up this subject, for you will be sure to +throw much light on it. I remember well, long ago, oscillating much; when +I thought of the Fauna and Flora of the Galapagos Islands I was all for +isolation, when I thought of S. America I doubted much. Pray believe me, + +Yours very sincerely, + +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I hope that this letter will not be quite illegible, but I have no +amanuensis at present. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO K. SEMPER. +Down, November 30, 1878. + +Dear Professor Semper, + +Since writing I have recalled some of the thoughts and conclusions which +have passed through my mind of late years. In North America, in going from +north to south or from east to west, it is clear that the changed +conditions of life have modified the organisms in the different regions, so +that they now form distinct races or even species. It is further clear +that in isolated districts, however small, the inhabitants almost always +get slightly modified, and how far this is due to the nature of the +slightly different conditions to which they are exposed, and how far to +mere interbreeding, in the manner explained by Weismann, I can form no +opinion. The same difficulty occurred to me (as shown in my 'Variation of +Animals and Plants under Domestication') with respect to the aboriginal +breeds of cattle, sheep, etc., in the separated districts of Great Britain, +and indeed throughout Europe. As our knowledge advances, very slight +differences, considered by systematists as of no importance in structure, +are continually found to be functionally important; and I have been +especially struck with this fact in the case of plants to which my +observations have of late years been confined. Therefore it seems to me +rather rash to consider the slight differences between representative +species, for instance those inhabiting the different islands of the same +archipelago, as of no functional importance, and as not in any way due to +natural selection. With respect to all adapted structures, and these are +innumerable, I cannot see how M. Wagner's view throws any light, nor indeed +do I see at all more clearly than I did before, from the numerous cases +which he has brought forward, how and why it is that a long isolated form +should almost always become slightly modified. I do not know whether you +will care about hearing my further opinion on the point in question, for as +before remarked I have not attended much of late years to such questions, +thinking it prudent, now that I am growing old, to work at easier subjects. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +I hope and trust that you will throw light on these points. + +P.S.--I will add another remark which I remember occurred to me when I +first read M. Wagner. When a species first arrives on a small island, it +will probably increase rapidly, and unless all the individuals change +instantaneously (which is improbable in the highest degree), the slowly, +more or less, modifying offspring must intercross one with another, and +with their unmodified parents, and any offspring not as yet modified. The +case will then be like that of domesticated animals which have slowly +become modified, either by the action of the external conditions or by the +process which I have called the UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION by man--i.e., in +contrast with methodical selection. + + +[The letters continue the history of the year 1872, which has been +interrupted by a digression on Isolation.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THE MARQUIS DE SAPORTA. +Down, April 8, 1872. + +Dear Sir, + +I thank you very sincerely and feel much honoured by the trouble which you +have taken in giving me your reflections on the origin of Man. It +gratifies me extremely that some parts of my work have interested you, and +that we agree on the main conclusion of the derivation of man from some +lower form. + +I will reflect on what you have said, but I cannot at present give up my +belief in the close relationship of Man to the higher Simiae. I do not put +much trust in any single character, even that of dentition; but I put the +greatest faith in resemblances in many parts of the whole organisation, for +I cannot believe that such resemblances can be due to any cause except +close blood relationship. That man is closely allied to the higher Simiae +is shown by the classification of Linnaeus, who was so good a judge of +affinity. The man who in England knows most about the structure of the +Simiae, namely, Mr. Mivart, and who is bitterly opposed to my doctrines +about the derivation of the mental powers, yet has publicly admitted that I +have not put man too close to the higher Simiae, as far as bodily structure +is concerned. I do not think the absence of reversions of structure in man +is of much weight; C. Vogt, indeed, argues that [the existence of] Micro- +cephalous idiots is a case of reversion. No one who believes in Evolution +will doubt that the Phocae are descended from some terrestrial Carnivore. +Yet no one would expect to meet with any such reversion in them. The +lesser divergence of character in the races of man in comparison with the +species of Simiadae may perhaps be accounted for by man having spread over +the world at a much later period than did the Simiadae. I am fully +prepared to admit the high antiquity of man; but then we have evidence, in +the Dryopithecus, of the high antiquity of the Anthropomorphous Simiae. + +I am glad to hear that you are at work on your fossil plants, which of late +years have afforded so rich a field for discovery. With my best thanks for +your great kindness, and with much respect, I remain, + +Dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In April, 1872, he was elected to the Royal Society of Holland, and wrote +to Professor Donders:-- + +"Very many thanks for your letter. The honour of being elected a foreign +member of your Royal Society has pleased me much. The sympathy of his +fellow workers has always appeared to me by far the highest reward to which +any scientific man can look. My gratification has been not a little +increased by first hearing of the honour from you."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. +Down, June 3, 1872. + +My dear Sir, + +Many thanks for your article (The proof-sheets of an article which appeared +in the July number of the 'North American Review.' It was a rejoinder to +Mr. Mivart's reply ('North American Review,' April 1872) to Mr. Chauncey +Wright's pamphlet. Chauncey Wright says of it ('Letters,' page 238):--"It +is not properly a rejoinder but a new article, repeating and expounding +some of the points of my pamphlet, and answering some of Mr. Mivart's +replies incidentally.") in the 'North American Review,' which I have read +with great interest. Nothing can be clearer than the way in which you +discuss the permanence or fixity of species. It never occurred to me to +suppose that any one looked at the case as it seems Mr. Mivart does. Had I +read his answer to you, perhaps I should have perceived this; but I have +resolved to waste no more time in reading reviews of my works or on +Evolution, excepting when I hear that they are good and contain new +matter...It is pretty clear that Mr. Mivart has come to the end of his +tether on this subject. + +As your mind is so clear, and as you consider so carefully the meaning of +words, I wish you would take some incidental occasion to consider when a +thing may properly be said to be effected by the will of man. I have been +led to the wish by reading an article by your Professor Whitney versus +Schleicher. He argues, because each step of change in language is made by +the will of man, the whole language so changes; but I do not think that +this is so, as man has no intention or wish to change the language. It is +a parallel case with what I have called "unconscious selection," which +depends on men consciously preserving the best individuals, and thus +unconsciously altering the breed. + +My dear Sir, yours sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[Not long afterwards (September) Mr. Chauncey Wright paid a visit to Down +(Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Brace, who had given much of their lives to +philanthropic work in New York, also paid a visit at Down in this summer. +Some of their work is recorded in Mr. Brace's 'The Dangerous Classes of New +York,' and of this book my father wrote to the author:-- + +"Since you were here my wife has read aloud to me more than half of your +work, and it has interested us both in the highest degree, and we shall +read every word of the remainder. The facts seem to me very well told, and +the inferences very striking. But after all this is but a weak part of the +impression left on our minds by what we have read; for we are both filled +with earnest admiration at the heroic labours of yourself and others."), +which he described in a letter ('Letters, page 246-248.) to Miss S. +Sedgwick (now Mrs. William Darwin): "If you can imagine me enthusiastic-- +absolutely and unqualifiedly so, without a BUT or criticism, then think of +my last evening's and this morning's talks with Mr. Darwin...I was never so +worked up in my life, and did not sleep many hours under the hospitable +roof...It would be quite impossible to give by way of report any idea of +these talks before and at and after dinner, at breakfast, and at leave- +taking; and yet I dislike the egotism of 'testifying' like other religious +enthusiasts, without any verification, or hint of similar experience."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO HERBERT SPENCER. +Bassett, Southampton, June 10, [1872]. + +Dear Spencer, + +I dare say you will think me a foolish fellow, but I cannot resist the wish +to express my unbounded admiration of your article ('Mr. Martineau on +Evolution,' by Herbert Spencer, 'Contemporary Review,' July 1872.) in +answer to Mr. Martineau. It is, indeed, admirable, and hardly less so your +second article on Sociology (which, however, I have not yet finished): I +never believed in the reigning influence of great men on the world's +progress; but if asked why I did not believe, I should have been sorely +perplexed to have given a good answer. Every one with eyes to see and ears +to hear (the number, I fear, are not many) ought to bow their knee to you, +and I for one do. + +Believe me, yours most sincerely, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, July 12 [1872]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I must exhale and express my joy at the way in which the newspapers have +taken up your case. I have seen the "Times", the "Daily News", and the +"Pall Mall", and hear that others have taken up the case. + +The Memorial has done great good this way, whatever may be the result in +the action of our wretched Government. On my soul, it is enough to make +one turn into an old honest Tory... + +If you answer this, I shall be sorry that I have relieved my feelings by +writing. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The memorial here referred to was addressed to Mr. Gladstone, and was +signed by a number of distinguished men, including Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. +Bentham, Mr. Huxley, and Sir James Paget. It gives a complete account of +the arbitrary and unjust treatment received by Sir J.D. Hooker at the hands +of his official chief, the First Commissioner of Works. The document is +published in full in 'Nature' (July 11, 1872), and is well worth studying +as an example of the treatment which it is possible for science to receive +from officialism. As 'Nature' observes, it is a paper which must be read +with the greatest indignation by scientific men in every part of the world, +and with shame by all Englishmen. The signatories of the memorial conclude +by protesting against the expected consequences of Sir Joseph Hooker's +persecution--namely his resignation, and the loss of "a man honoured for +his integrity, beloved for his courtesy and kindliness of heart; and who +has spent in the public service not only a stainless but an illustrious +life." + +Happily this misfortune was averted, and Sir Joseph was freed from further +molestation.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, August 3 [1872]. + +My dear Wallace, + +I hate controversy, chiefly perhaps because I do it badly; but as Dr. Bree +accuses you (Mr. Wallace had reviewed Dr. Bree's book, 'An Exposition of +Fallacies in the Hypothesis of Mr. Darwin,' in 'Nature,' July 25, 1872.) of +"blundering," I have thought myself bound to send the enclosed letter (The +letter is as follows:--"Bree on Darwinism." 'Nature,' August 8, 1872. +Permit me to state--though the statement is almost superfluous--that Mr. +Wallace, in his review of Dr. Bree's work, gives with perfect correctness +what I intended to express, and what I believe was expressed clearly, with +respect to the probable position of man in the early part of his pedigree. +As I have not seen Dr. Bree's recent work, and as his letter is +unintelligible to me, I cannot even conjecture how he has so completely +mistaken my meaning: but, perhaps, no one who has read Mr. Wallace's +article, or who has read a work formerly published by Dr. Bree on the same +subject as his recent one, will be surprised at any amount of +misunderstanding on his part.--Charles Darwin. August 3.) to 'Nature,' +that is if you in the least desire it. In this case please post it. If +you do not AT ALL wish it, I should rather prefer not sending it, and in +this case please to tear it up. And I beg you to do the same, if you +intend answering Dr. Bree yourself, as you will do it incomparably better +than I should. Also please tear it up if you don't like the letter. + +My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +Down, August 28, 1872. + +My dear Wallace, + +I have at last finished the gigantic job of reading Dr. Bastian's book +('The Beginnings of Life.' H.C. Bastian, 1872.) and have been deeply +interested by it. You wished to hear my impression, but it is not worth +sending. + +He seems to me an extremely able man, as, indeed, I thought when I read his +first essay. His general argument in favour of Archebiosis (That is to +say, Spontaneous Generation. For the distinction between Archebiosis and +Heterogenesis, see Bastian, chapter vi.) is wonderfully strong, though I +cannot think much of some few of his arguments. The result is that I am +bewildered and astonished by his statements, but am not convinced, though, +on the whole, it seems to me probable that Archebiosis is true. I am not +convinced, partly I think owing to the deductive cast of much of his +reasoning; and I know not why, but I never feel convinced by deduction, +even in the case of H. Spencer's writings. If Dr. Bastian's book had been +turned upside down, and he had begun with the various cases of +Heterogenesis, and then gone on to organic, and afterwards to saline +solutions, and had then given his general arguments, I should have been, I +believe, much more influenced. I suspect, however, that my chief +difficulty is the effect of old convictions being stereotyped on my brain. +I must have more evidence that germs, or the minutest fragments of the +lowest forms, are always killed by 212 degrees of Fahr. Perhaps the mere +reiteration of the statements given by Dr. Bastian [by] other men, whose +judgment I respect, and who have worked long on the lower organisms, would +suffice to convince me. Here is a fine confession of intellectual +weakness; but what an inexplicable frame of mind is that of belief! + +As for Rotifers and Tardigrades being spontaneously generated, my mind can +no more digest such statements, whether true or false, than my stomach can +digest a lump of lead. Dr. Bastian is always comparing Archebiosis, as +well as growth, to crystallisation; but, on this view, a Rotifer or +Tardigrade is adapted to its humble conditions of life by a happy accident, +and this I cannot believe...He must have worked with very impure materials +in some cases, as plenty of organisms appeared in a saline solution not +containing an atom of nitrogen. + +I wholly disagree with Dr. Bastian about many points in his latter +chapters. Thus the frequency of generalised forms in the older strata +seems to me clearly to indicate the common descent with divergence of more +recent forms. Notwithstanding all his sneers, I do not strike my colours +as yet about Pangenesis. I should like to live to see Archebiosis proved +true, for it would be a discovery of transcendent importance; or, if false, +I should like to see it disproved, and the facts otherwise explained; but I +shall not live to see all this. If ever proved, Dr. Bastian will have +taken a prominent part in the work. How grand is the onward rush of +science; it is enough to console us for the many errors which we have +committed, and for our efforts being overlaid and forgotten in the mass of +new facts and new views which are daily turning up. + +This is all I have to say about Dr. Bastian's book, and it certainly has +not been worth saying... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. DE CANDOLLE. +Down, December 11, 1872. + +My dear Sir, + +I began reading your new book ('Histoire des Sciences et des Savants.' +1873.) sooner than I intended, and when I once began, I could not stop; and +now you must allow me to thank you for the very great pleasure which it has +given me. I have hardly ever read anything more original and interesting +than your treatment of the causes which favour the development of +scientific men. The whole was quite new to me, and most curious. When I +began your essay I was afraid that you were going to attack the principle +of inheritance in relation to mind, but I soon found myself fully content +to follow you and accept your limitations. I have felt, of course, special +interest in the latter part of your work, but there was here less novelty +to me. In many parts you do me much honour, and everywhere more than +justice. Authors generally like to hear what points most strike different +readers, so I will mention that of your shorter essays, that on the future +prevalence of languages, and on vaccination interested me the most, as, +indeed, did that on statistics, and free will. Great liability to certain +diseases, being probably liable to atavism, is quite a new idea to me. At +page 322 you suggest that a young swallow ought to be separated, and then +let loose in order to test the power of instinct; but nature annually +performs this experiment, as old cuckoos migrate in England some weeks +before the young birds of the same year. By the way, I have just used the +forbidden word "nature," which, after reading your essay, I almost +determined never to use again. There are very few remarks in your book to +which I demur, but when you back up Asa Gray in saying that all instincts +are congenital habits, I must protest. + +Finally, will you permit me to ask you a question: have you yourself, or +some one who can be quite trusted, observed (page 322) that the butterflies +on the Alps are tamer than those on the lowlands? Do they belong to the +same species? Has this fact been observed with more than one species? Are +they brightly coloured kinds? I am especially curious about their +alighting on the brightly coloured parts of ladies' dresses, more +especially because I have been more than once assured that butterflies like +bright colours, for instance, in India the scarlet leaves of Poinsettia. + +Once again allow me to thank you for having sent me your work, and for the +very unusual amount of pleasure which I have received in reading it. + +With much respect, I remain, my dear Sir, + +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The last revise of the 'Expression of the Emotions' was finished on August +22nd, 1872, and he wrote in his Diary:--"Has taken me about twelve months." +As usual he had no belief in the possibility of the book being generally +successful. The following passage in a letter to Haeckel gives the +impression that he had felt the writing of this book as a somewhat severe +strain:-- + +"I have finished my little book on 'Expression,' and when it is published +in November I will of course send you a copy, in case you would like to +read it for amusement. I have resumed some old botanical work, and perhaps +I shall never again attempt to discuss theoretical views. + +"I am growing old and weak, and no man can tell when his intellectual +powers begin to fail. Long life and happiness to you for your own sake and +for that of science." + +It was published in the autumn. The edition consisted of 7000, and of +these 5267 copies were sold at Mr. Murray's sale in November. Two thousand +were printed at the end of the year, and this proved a misfortune, as they +did not afterwards sell so rapidly, and thus a mass of notes collected by +the author was never employed for a second edition during his lifetime. + +Among the reviews of the 'Expression of the Emotions' may be mentioned the +unfavourable notices in the "Athenaeum", November 9, 1872, and the "Times", +December 13, 1872. A good review by Mr. Wallace appeared in the 'Quarterly +Journal of Science,' January 1873. Mr. Wallace truly remarks that the book +exhibits certain "characteristics of the author's mind in an eminent +degree," namely, "the insatiable longing to discover the causes of the +varied and complex phenomena presented by living things." He adds that in +the case of the author "the restless curiosity of the child to know the +'what for?' the 'why?' and the 'how?' of everything" seems "never to have +abated its force." + +A writer in one of the theological reviews describes the book as the most +"powerful and insidious" of all the author's works. + +Professor Alexander Bain criticised the book in a postscript to the 'Senses +and the Intellect;' to this essay the following letter refers:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ALEXANDER BAIN. +Down, October 9, 1873. + +My dear Sir, + +I am particularly obliged to you for having send me your essay. Your +criticisms are all written in a quite fair spirit, and indeed no one who +knows you or your works would expect anything else. What you say about the +vagueness of what I have called the direct action of the nervous system, is +perfectly just. I felt it so at the time, and even more of late. I +confess that I have never been able fully to grasp your principle of +spontaneity, as well as some other of your points, so as to apply them to +special cases. But as we look at everything from different points of view, +it is not likely that we should agree closely. (Professor Bain expounded +his theory of Spontaneity in the essay here alluded to. It would be +impossible to do justice to it within the limits of a foot-note. The +following quotations may give some notion of it:-- + +"By Spontaneity I understand the readiness to pass into movement in the +absence of all stimulation whatever; the essential requisite being that the +nerve-centres and muscles shall be fresh and vigorous...The gesticulations +and the carols of young and active animals are mere overflow of nervous +energy; and although they are very apt to concur with pleasing emotion, +they have an independent source...They are not properly movements of +expression; they express nothing at all except an abundant stock of +physical power.") + +I have been greatly pleased by what you say about the crying expression and +about blushing. Did you read a review in a late 'Edinburgh?' (The review +on the 'Expression of the Emotions' appeared in the April number of the +'Edinburgh Review,' 1873. The opening sentence is a fair sample of the +general tone of the article: "Mr. Darwin has added another volume of +amusing stories and grotesque illustrations to the remarkable series of +works already devoted to the exposition and defence of the evolutionary +hypothesis." A few other quotations may be worth giving. "His one-sided +devotion to an a priori scheme of interpretation seems thus steadily +tending to impair the author's hitherto unrivalled powers as an observer. +However this may be, most impartial critics will, we think, admit that +there is a marked falling off both in philosophical tone and scientific +interest in the works produced since Mr. Darwin committed himself to the +crude metaphysical conception so largely associated with his name." The +article is directed against Evolution as a whole, almost as much as against +the doctrines of the book under discussion. We find throughout plenty of +that effective style of criticism which consists in the use of such +expressions as "dogmatism," "intolerance," "presumptuous," "arrogant." +Together with accusations of such various faults a "virtual abandonment of +the inductive method," and the use of slang and vulgarisms. + +The part of the article which seems to have interested my father is the +discussion on the use which he ought to have made of painting and +sculpture.) It was magnificently contemptuous towards myself and many +others. + +I retain a very pleasant recollection of our sojourn together at that +delightful place, Moor Park. + +With my renewed thanks, I remain, my dear Sir, + +Yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. HALIBURTON. (Mrs. Haliburton was a daughter of my +father's old friend, Mr. Owen of Woodhouse. Her husband, Judge Haliburton, +was the well-known author of 'Sam Slick.') +Down, November 1 [1872]. + +My dear Mrs. Haliburton, + +I dare say you will be surprised to hear from me. My object in writing now +is to say that I have just published a book on the 'Expression of the +Emotions in Man and Animals;' and it has occurred to me that you might +possibly like to read some parts of it; and I can hardly think that this +would have been the case with any of the books which I have already +published. So I send by this post my present book. Although I have had no +communication with you or the other members of your family for so long a +time, no scenes in my whole life pass so frequently or so vividly before my +mind as those which relate to happy old days spent at Woodhouse. I should +very much like to hear a little news about yourself and the other members +of your family, if you will take the trouble to write to me. Formerly I +used to glean some news about you from my sisters. + +I have had many years of bad health and have not been able to visit +anywhere; and now I feel very old. As long as I pass a perfectly uniform +life, I am able to do some daily work in Natural History, which is still my +passion, as it was in old days, when you used to laugh at me for collecting +beetles with such zeal at Woodhouse. Excepting from my continued ill- +health, which has excluded me from society, my life has been a very happy +one; the greatest drawback being that several of my children have inherited +from me feeble health. I hope with all my heart that you retain, at least +to a large extent, the famous "Owen constitution." With sincere feelings +of gratitude and affection for all bearing the name of Owen, I venture to +sign myself, + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. HALIBURTON. +Down, November 6 [1872]. + +My dear Sarah, + +I have been very much pleased by your letter, which I must call charming. +I hardly ventured to think that you would have retained a friendly +recollection of me for so many years. Yet I ought to have felt assured +that you would remain as warm-hearted and as true-hearted as you have ever +been from my earliest recollection. I know well how many grievous sorrows +you have gone through; but I am very sorry to hear that your health is not +good. In the spring or summer, when the weather is better, if you can +summon up courage to pay us a visit here, both my wife, as she desires me +to say, and myself, would be truly glad to see you, and I know that you +would not care about being rather dull here. It would be a real pleasure +to me to see you.--Thank you much for telling about your family,--much of +which was new to me. How kind you all were to me as a boy, and you +especially, and how much happiness I owe to you. Believe me your +affectionate and obliged friend, + +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--Perhaps you would like to see a photograph of me now that I am old. + + +1873. + +[The only work (other than botanical) of this year was the preparation of a +second edition of the 'Descent of Man,' the publication of which is +referred to in the following chapter. This work was undertaken much +against the grain, as he was at the time deeply immersed in the manuscript +of 'Insectivorous Plants.' Thus he wrote to Mr. Wallace (November 19), "I +never in my lifetime regretted an interruption so much as this new edition +of the 'Descent.'" And later (in December) he wrote to Mr. Huxley: "The +new edition of the 'Descent' has turned out an awful job. It took me ten +days merely to glance over letters and reviews with criticisms and new +facts. It is a devil of a job." + +The work was continued until April 1, 1874, when he was able to return to +his much loved Drosera. He wrote to Mr. Murray:-- + +"I have at last finished, after above three months as hard work as I have +ever had in my life, a corrected edition of the 'Descent,' and I much wish +to have it printed off as soon as possible. As it is to be stereotyped I +shall never touch it again." + +The first of the miscellaneous letters of 1873 refers to a pleasant visit +received from Colonel Higginson of Newport, U.S.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THOS. WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. +Down, February 27th [1873]. + +My dear Sir, + +My wife has just finished reading aloud your 'Life with a Black Regiment,' +and you must allow me to thank you heartily for the very great pleasure +which it has in many ways given us. I always thought well of the negroes, +from the little which I have seen of them; and I have been delighted to +have my vague impressions confirmed, and their character and mental powers +so ably discussed. When you were here I did not know of the noble position +which you had filled. I had formerly read about the black regiments, but +failed to connect your name with your admirable undertaking. Although we +enjoyed greatly your visit to Down, my wife and myself have over and over +again regretted that we did not know about the black regiment, as we should +have greatly liked to have heard a little about the South from your own +lips. + +Your descriptions have vividly recalled walks taken forty years ago in +Brazil. We have your collected Essays, which were kindly sent us by Mr. +[Moncure] Conway, but have not yet had time to read them. I occasionally +glean a little news of you in the 'Index'; and within the last hour have +read an interesting article of yours on the progress of Free Thought. + +Believe me, my dear sir, with sincere admiration, +Yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[On May 28th he sent the following answers to the questions that Mr. Galton +was at that time addressing to various scientific men, in the course of the +inquiry which is given in his 'English Men of Science, their Nature and +Nurture,' 1874. With regard to the questions my father wrote, "I have +filled up the answers as well as I could, but it is simply impossible for +me to estimate the degrees." For the sake of convenience, the questions +and answers relating to "Nurture" are made to precede those on "Nature": + + +NURTURE. + +EDUCATION? + +How taught? I consider that all I have learnt of any value has been self- +taught. + +Conducive to or restrictive of habits of observation? Restrictive of +observation, being almost entirely classical. + +Conducive to health or otherwise? Yes. + +Peculiar merits? None whatever. + +Chief omissions? No mathematics or modern languages, nor any habits of +observation or reasoning. + +RELIGION. + +Has the religious creed taught in your youth had any deterrent effect on +the freedom of your researches? No. + +SCIENTIFIC TASTES. + +Do your scientific tastes appear to have been innate? Certainly innate. + +Were they determined by any and what events? My innate taste for natural +history strongly confirmed and directed by the voyage in the "Beagle". + + +NATURE. + +Specify any interests that have been very actively pursued. Science, and +field sports to a passionate degree during youth. + +(C.D. = CHARLES DARWIN, R.D. = ROBERT DARWIN, his father.) + +RELIGION? + +C.D.--Nominally to Church of England. +R.D.--Nominally to Church of England. + +POLITICS? + +C.D.--Liberal or Radical. +R.D.--Liberal. + +HEALTH? + +C.D.--Good when young--bad for last 33 years. +R.D.--Good throughout life, except from gout. + +HEIGHT, ETC? + +C.D.--6ft. Figure, etc.?--Spare, whilst young rather stout. Measurement +round inside of hat?--22 1/4 in. Colour of Hair?--Brown. Complexion?-- +Rather sallow. +R.D.--6ft. 2 in. Figure, etc?--Very broad and corpulent. Colour of hair? +--Brown. Complexion?--Ruddy. + +TEMPERAMENT? + +C.D.--Somewhat nervous. +R.D.--Sanguine. + +ENERGY OF BODY, ETC.? + +C.D.--Energy shown by much activity, and whilst I had health, power of +resisting fatigue. I and one other man were alone able to fetch water for +a large party of officers and sailors utterly prostrated. Some of my +expeditions in S. America were adventurous. An early riser in the morning. +R.D.--Great power of endurance although feeling much fatigue, as after +consultations after long journeys ; very active--not restless--very early +riser, no travels. My father said his father suffered much from sense of +fatigue, that he worked very hard. + +ENERGY OF MIND, ETC.? + +C.D.--Shown by rigorous and long-continued work on same subject, as 20 +years on the 'Origin of Species,' and 9 years on 'Cirripedia.' +R.D.--Habitually very active mind--shown in conversation with a succession +of people during the whole day. + +MEMORY? + +C.D.--Memory very bad for dates, and for learning by rote; but good in +retaining a general or vague recollection of many facts. +R.D.--Wonderful memory for dates. In old age he told a person, reading +aloud to him a book only read in youth, the passages which were coming-- +knew the birthdays and death, etc., of all friends and acquaintances. + +STUDIOUSNESS? + +C.D.--Very studious, but not large acquirements. +R.D.--Not very studious or mentally receptive, except for facts in +conversation--great collector of anecdotes. + +INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGMENT? + +C.D.--I think fairly independent; but I can give no instances. I gave up +common religious belief almost independently from my own reflections. +R.D.--Free thinker in religious matters. Liberal, with rather a tendency +to Toryism. + +ORIGINALITY OR ECCENTRICITY? + +C.D.-- -- Thinks this applies to me; I do not think so--i.e., as far as +eccentricity. I suppose that I have shown originality in science, as I +have made discoveries with regard to common objects. +R.D.--Original character, had great personal influence and power of +producing fear of himself in others. He kept his accounts with great care +in a peculiar way, in a number of separate little books, without any +general ledger. + +SPECIAL TALENTS? + +C.D.--None, except for business as evinced by keeping accounts, replies to +correspondence, and investing money very well. Very methodical in all my +habits. +R.D.--Practical business--made a large fortune and incurred no losses. + +STRONGLY MARKED MENTAL PECULIARITIES, BEARING ON SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS, AND +NOT SPECIFIED ABOVE? + +C.D.--Steadiness--great curiosity about facts and their meaning. Some love +of the new and marvellous. +R.D.--Strong social affection and great sympathy in the pleasures of +others. Sceptical as to new things. Curious as to facts. Great +foresight. Not much public spirit--great generosity in giving money and +assistance. + +N.B.--I find it quite impossible to estimate my character by your degrees. + + +The following letter refers inter alia to a letter which appeared in +'Nature' (September 25, 1873), "On the Males and Complemental Males of +certain Cirripedes, and on Rudimentary Organs:"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E. HAECKEL. +Down, September 25, 1873. + +My dear Haeckel, + +I thank you for the present of your book ('Schopfungs-geschichte,' 4th +edition. The translation ('The History of Creation') was not published +until 1876.), and I am heartily glad to see its great success. You will do +a wonderful amount of good in spreading the doctrine of Evolution, +supporting it as you do by so many original observations. I have read the +new preface with very great interest. The delay in the appearance of the +English translation vexes and surprises me, for I have never been able to +read it thoroughly in German, and I shall assuredly do so when it appears +in English. Has the problem of the later stages of reduction of useless +structures ever perplexed you? This problem has of late caused me much +perplexity. I have just written a letter to 'Nature' with a hypothetical +explanation of this difficulty, and I will send you the paper with the +passage marked. I will at the same time send a paper which has interested +me; it need not be returned. It contains a singular statement bearing on +so-called Spontaneous Generation. I much wish that this latter question +could be settled, but I see no prospect of it. If it could be proved true +this would be most important to us... + +Wishing you every success in your admirable labours, + +I remain, my dear Haeckel, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.VIII. + +MISCELLANEA, INCLUDING SECOND EDITIONS OF 'CORAL REEFS,' THE 'DESCENT OF +MAN,' AND THE 'VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS.' + +1874 AND 1875. + +[The year 1874 was given up to 'Insectivorous Plants,' with the exception +of the months devoted to the second edition of the 'Descent of Man,' and +with the further exception of the time given to a second edition of his +'Coral Reefs' (1874). The Preface to the latter states that new facts have +been added, the whole book revised, and "the latter chapters almost +rewritten." In the Appendix some account is given of Professor Semper's +objections, and this was the occasion of correspondence between that +naturalist and my father. In Professor Semper's volume, 'Animal Life' (one +of the International Series), the author calls attention to the subject in +the following passage which I give in German, the published English +translation being, as it seems to me, incorrect: "Es scheint mir als ob er +in der zweiten Ausgabe seines allgemein bekannten Werks uber Korallenriffe +einem Irrthume uber meine Beobachtungen zum Opfer gefallen ist, indem er +die Angaben, die ich allerdings bisher immer nur sehr kurz gehalten hatte, +vollstandig falsch wiedergegeben hat." + +The proof-sheets containing this passage were sent by Professor Semper to +my father before 'Animal Life' was published, and this was the occasion for +the following letter, which was afterwards published in Professor Semper's +book.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO K. SEMPER. +Down, October 2, 1879. + +My dear Professor Semper, + +I thank you for your extremely kind letter of the 19th, and for the proof- +sheets. I believe that I understand all, excepting one or two sentences, +where my imperfect knowledge of German has interfered. This is my sole and +poor excuse for the mistake which I made in the second edition of my +'Coral' book. Your account of the Pellew Islands is a fine addition to our +knowledge on coral reefs. I have very little to say on the subject, even +if I had formerly read your account and seen your maps, but had known +nothing of the proofs of recent elevation, and of your belief that the +islands have not since subsided. I have no doubt that I should have +considered them as formed during subsidence. But I should have been much +troubled in my mind by the sea not being so deep as it usually is round +atolls, and by the reef on one side sloping so gradually beneath the sea; +for this latter fact, as far as my memory serves me, is a very unusual and +almost unparalleled case. I always foresaw that a bank at the proper depth +beneath the surface would give rise to a reef which could not be +distinguished from an atoll, formed during subsidence. I must still adhere +to my opinion that the atolls and barrier reefs in the middle of the +Pacific and Indian Oceans indicate subsidence; but I fully agree with you +that such cases as that of the Pellew Islands, if of at all frequent +occurrence, would make my general conclusions of very little value. Future +observers must decide between us. It will be a strange fact if there has +not been subsidence of the beds of the great oceans, and if this has not +affected the forms of the coral reefs. + +In the last three pages of the last sheet sent I am extremely glad to see +that you are going to treat of the dispersion of animals. Your preliminary +remarks seem to me quite excellent. There is nothing about M. Wagner, as I +expected to find. I suppose that you have seen Moseley's last book, which +contains some good observations on dispersion. + +I am glad that your book will appear in English, for then I can read it +with ease. Pray believe me, + +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The most recent criticism on the Coral-reef theory is by Mr. Murray, one +of the staff of the "Challenger", who read a paper before the Royal Society +of Edinburgh, April 5, 1880. (An abstract is published in volume x. of the +'Proceedings,' page 505, and in 'Nature,' August 12, 1880.) The chief +point brought forward is the possibility of the building up of submarine +mountains, which may serve as foundations for coral reefs. Mr. Murray also +seeks to prove that "the chief features of coral reefs and islands can be +accounted for without calling in the aid of great and general subsidence." +The following letter refers to this subject:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. AGASSIZ. +Down, May 5, 1881. + +...You will have seen Mr. Murray's views on the formation of atolls and +barrier reefs. Before publishing my book, I thought long over the same +view, but only as far as ordinary marine organisms are concerned, for at +that time little was known of the multitude of minute oceanic organisms. I +rejected this view, as from the few dredgings made in the "Beagle", in the +south temperate regions, I concluded that shells, the smaller corals, etc., +decayed, and were dissolved, when not protected by the deposition of +sediment, and sediment could not accumulate in the open ocean. Certainly, +shells, etc., were in several cases completely rotten, and crumbled into +mud between my fingers; but you will know well whether this is in any +degree common. I have expressly said that a bank at the proper depth would +give rise to an atoll, which could not be distinguished from one formed +during subsidence. I can, however, hardly believe in the former presence +of as many banks (there having been no subsidence) as there are atolls in +the great oceans, within a reasonable depth, on which minute oceanic +organisms could have accumulated to the thickness of many hundred +feet...Pray forgive me for troubling you at such length, but it has +occurred [to me] that you might be disposed to give, after your wide +experience, your judgment. If I am wrong, the sooner I am knocked on the +head and annihilated so much the better. It still seems to me a marvellous +thing that there should not have been much, and long continued, subsidence +in the beds of the great oceans. I wish that some doubly rich millionaire +would take it into his head to have borings made in some of the Pacific and +Indian atolls, and bring home cores for slicing from a depth of 500 or 600 +feet... + + +[The second edition of the 'Descent of Man' was published in the autumn of +1874. Some severe remarks on the "monistic hypothesis" appeared in the +July (The review necessarily deals with the first edition of the 'Descent +of Man.') number of the 'Quarterly Review' (page 45). The Reviewer +expresses his astonishment at the ignorance of certain elementary +distinctions and principles (e.g. with regard to the verbum mentale) +exhibited, among others, by Mr. Darwin, who does not exhibit the faintest +indication of having grasped them, yet a clear perception of them, and a +direct and detailed examination of his facts with regard to them, "was a +sine qua non for attempting, with a chance of success, the solution of the +mystery as to the descent of man." + +Some further criticisms of a later date may be here alluded to. In the +'Academy,' 1876 (pages 562, 587), appeared a review of Mr. Mivart's +'Lessons from Nature,' by Mr. Wallace. When considering the part of Mr. +Mivart's book relating to Natural and Sexual Selection, Mr. Wallace says: +"In his violent attack on Mr. Darwin's theories our author uses unusually +strong language. Not content with mere argument, he expresses 'reprobation +of Mr. Darwin's views'; and asserts that though he (Mr. Darwin) has been +obliged, virtually, to give up his theory, it is still maintained by +Darwinians with 'unscrupulous audacity,' and the actual repudiation of it +concealed by the 'conspiracy of silence.'" Mr. Wallace goes on to show +that these charges are without foundation, and points out that, "if there +is one thing more than another for which Mr. Darwin is pre-eminent among +modern literary and scientific men, it is for his perfect literary honesty, +his self-abnegation in confessing himself wrong, and the eager haste with +which he proclaims and even magnifies small errors in his works, for the +most part discovered by himself." + +The following extract from a letter to Mr. Wallace (June 17th) refers to +Mr. Mivart's statement ('Lessons from Nature,' page 144) that Mr. Darwin at +first studiously disguised his views as to the "bestiality of man":-- + +"I have only just heard of and procured your two articles in the Academy. +I thank you most cordially for your generous defence of me against Mr. +Mivart. In the 'Origin' I did not discuss the derivation of any one +species; but that I might not be accused of concealing my opinion, I went +out of my way, and inserted a sentence which seemed to me (and still so +seems) to disclose plainly my belief. This was quoted in my 'Descent of +Man.' Therefore it is very unjust,...of Mr. Mivart to accuse me of base +fraudulent concealment." + +The letter which here follows is of interest in connection with the +discussion, in the 'Descent of Man,' on the origin of the musical sense in +man:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E. GURNEY. (Author of 'The Power of Sound.') +Down, July 8, 1876. + +My dear Mr. Gurney, + +I have read your article ("Some disputed Points in Music."--'Fortnightly +Review,' July, 1876.) with much interest, except the latter part, which +soared above my ken. I am greatly pleased that you uphold my views to a +certain extent. Your criticism of the rasping noise made by insects being +necessarily rhythmical is very good; but though not made intentionally, it +may be pleasing to the females from the nerve cells being nearly similar in +function throughout the animal kingdom. With respect to your letter, I +believe that I understand your meaning, and agree with you. I never +supposed that the different degrees and kinds of pleasure derived from +different music could be explained by the musical powers of our semi-human +progenitors. Does not the fact that different people belonging to the same +civilised nation are very differently affected by the same music, almost +show that these diversities of taste and pleasure have been acquired during +their individual lives? Your simile of architecture seems to me +particularly good; for in this case the appreciation almost must be +individual, though possibly the sense of sublimity excited by a grand +cathedral, may have some connection with the vague feelings of terror and +superstition in our savage ancestors, when they entered a great cavern or +gloomy forest. I wish some one could analyse the feeling of sublimity. It +amuses me to think how horrified some high flying aesthetic men will be at +your encouraging such low degraded views as mine. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The letters which follow are of a miscellaneous interest. The first +extract (from a letter, January 18, 1874) refers to a spiritualistic +seance, held at Erasmus Darwin's house, 6 Queen Anne Street, under the +auspices of a well-known medium:] + + +"...We had grand fun, one afternoon, for George hired a medium, who made +the chairs, a flute, a bell, and candlestick, and fiery points jump about +in my brother's diningroom, in a manner that astounded every one, and took +away all their breaths. It was in the dark, but George and Hensleigh +Wedgwood held the medium's hands and feet on both sides all the time. I +found it so hot and tiring that I went away before all these astounding +miracles, or jugglery, took place. How the man could possibly do what was +done passes my understanding. I came downstairs, and saw all the chairs, +etc., on the table, which had been lifted over the heads of those sitting +round it. + +The Lord have mercy on us all, if we have to believe in such rubbish. F. +Galton was there, and says it was a good seance..." + +The Seance in question led to a smaller and more carefully organised one +being undertaken, at which Mr. Huxley was present, and on which he reported +to my father:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO PROFESSOR T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, January 29 [1874]. + +My dear Huxley, + +It was very good of you to write so long an account. Though the seance did +tire you so much it was, I think, really worth the exertion, as the same +sort of things are done at all the seances, even at --'s; and now to my +mind an enormous weight of evidence would be requisite to make one believe +in anything beyond mere trickery...I am pleased to think that I declared to +all my family, the day before yesterday, that the more I thought of all +that I had heard happened at Queen Anne St., the more convinced I was it +was all imposture...my theory was that [the medium] managed to get the two +men on each side of him to hold each other's hands, instead of his, and +that he was thus free to perform his antics. I am very glad that I issued +my ukase to you to attend. + +Yours affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In the spring of this year (1874) he read a book which gave him great +pleasure and of which he often spoke with admiration:--'The Naturalist in +Nicaragua,' by the late Thomas Belt. Mr. Belt, whose untimely death may +well be deplored by naturalists, was by profession an Engineer, so that all +his admirable observations in Natural History in Nicaragua and elsewhere +were the fruit of his leisure. The book is direct and vivid in style and +is full of description and suggestive discussions. With reference to it my +father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"Belt I have read, and I am delighted that you like it so much, it appears +to me the best of all natural history journals which have ever been +published."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THE MARQUIS DE SAPORTA. +Down, May 30, 1874. + +Dear Sir, + +I have been very neglectful in not having sooner thanked you for your +kindness in having sent me your 'Etudes sur la Vegetation,' etc., and other +memoirs. I have read several of them with very great interest, and nothing +can be more important, in my opinion, than your evidence of the extremely +slow and gradual manner in which specific forms change. I observe that M. +A. De Candolle has lately quoted you on this head versus Heer. I hope that +you may be able to throw light on the question whether such protean, or +polymorphic forms, as those of Rubus, Hieracium, etc., at the present day, +are those which generate new species; as for myself, I have always felt +some doubt on this head. I trust that you may soon bring many of your +countrymen to believe in Evolution, and my name will then perhaps cease to +be scorned. With the most sincere respect, I remain, Dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 5 [1874]. + +My dear Gray, + +I have now read your article (The article, "Charles Darwin," in the series +of "Scientific Worthies" ('Nature,' June 4, 1874). This admirable estimate +of my father's work in science is given in the form of a comparison and +contrast between Robert Brown and Charles Darwin.) in 'Nature,' and the +last two paragraphs were not included in the slip sent before. I wrote +yesterday and cannot remember exactly what I said, and now cannot be easy +without again telling you how profoundly I have been gratified. Every one, +I suppose, occasionally thinks that he has worked in vain, and when one of +these fits overtakes me, I will think of your article, and if that does not +dispel the evil spirit, I shall know that I am at the time a little bit +insane, as we all are occasionally. + +What you say about Teleology ("Let us recognise Darwin's great service to +Natural Science in bringing back to it Teleology: so that instead of +Morphology versus Teleology, we shall have Morphology wedded to +Teleology.") pleases me especially, and I do not think any one else has +ever noticed the point. (See, however, Mr. Huxley's chapter on the +'Reception of the Origin of Species' in volume i.) I have always said you +were the man to hit the nail on the head. + +Yours gratefully and affectionately, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[As a contribution to the history of the reception of the 'Origin of +Species,' the meeting of the British Association in 1874, at Belfast, +should be mentioned. It is memorable for Professor Tyndall's brilliant +presidential address, in which a sketch of the history of Evolution is +given culminating in an eloquent analysis of the 'Origin of Species,' and +of the nature of its great success. With regard to Prof. Tyndall's +address, Lyell wrote ('Life,' ii. page 455) congratulating my father on the +meeting, "on which occasion you and your theory of Evolution may be fairly +said to have had an ovation." In the same letter Sir Charles speaks of a +paper (On the Ancient Volcanoes of the Highlands, 'Journal of Geological +Soc.,' 1874.) of Professor Judd's, and it is to this that the following +letter refers:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. +Down, September 23, 1874. + +My dear Lyell, + +I suppose that you have returned, or will soon return, to London (Sir +Charles Lyell returned from Scotland towards the end of September.); and, I +hope, reinvigorated by your outing. In your last letter you spoke of Mr. +Judd's paper on the Volcanoes of the Hebrides. I have just finished it, +and to ease my mind must express my extreme admiration. + +It is years since I have read a purely geological paper which has +interested me so greatly. I was all the more interested, as in the +Cordillera I often speculated on the sources of the deluges of submarine +porphyritic lavas, of which they are built; and, as I have stated, I saw to +a certain extent the causes of the obliteration of the points of eruption. +I was also not a little pleased to see my volcanic book quoted, for I +thought it was completely dead and forgotten. What fine work will Mr. Judd +assuredly do!...Now I have eased my mind; and so farewell, with both E.D.'s +and C.D.'s very kind remembrances to Miss Lyell. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[Sir Charles Lyell's reply to the above letter must have been one of the +latest that my father received from his old friend, and it is with this +letter that the volumes of his published correspondence closes.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO AUG. FOREL. +Down, October 15, 1874. + +My dear Sir, + +I have now read the whole of your admirable work ('Les Fourmis de la +Suisse,' 4to, 1874.) and seldom in my life have I been more interested by +any book. There are so many interesting facts and discussions, that I +hardly know which to specify; but I think, firstly, the newest points to me +have been about the size of the brain in the three sexes, together with +your suggestion that increase of mind power may have led to the sterility +of the workers. Secondly about the battles of the ants, and your curious +account of the enraged ants being held by their comrades until they calmed +down. Thirdly, the evidence of ants of the same community being the +offspring of brothers and sisters. You admit, I think, that new +communities will often be the product of a cross between not-related ants. +Fritz Muller has made some interesting observations on this head with +respect to Termites. The case of Anergates is most perplexing in many +ways, but I have such faith in the law of occasional crossing that I +believe an explanation will hereafter be found, such as the dimorphism of +either sex and the occasional production of winged males. I see that you +are puzzled how ants of the same community recognize each other; I once +placed two (F. rufa) in a pill-box smelling strongly of asafoetida and +after a day returned them to their homes; they were threatened, but at last +recognized. I made the trial thinking that they might know each other by +their odour; but this cannot have been the case, and I have often fancied +that they must have some common signal. Your last chapter is one great +mass of wonderful facts and suggestions, and the whole profoundly +interesting. I have seldom been more gratified than by [your] honourable +mention of my work. + +I should like to tell you one little observation which I made with care +many years ago; I saw ants (Formica rufa) carrying cocoons from a nest +which was the largest I ever saw and which was well-known to all the +country people near, and an old man, apparently about eighty years of age, +told me that he had known it ever since he was a boy. The ants carrying +the cocoons did not appear to be emigrating; following the line, I saw many +ascending a tall fir tree still carrying their cocoons. But when I looked +closely I found that all the cocoons were empty cases. This astonished me, +and next day I got a man to observe with me, and we again saw ants bringing +empty cocoons out of the nest; each of us fixed on one ant and slowly +followed it, and repeated the observation on many others. We thus found +that some ants soon dropped their empty cocoons; others carried them for +many yards, as much as thirty paces, and others carried them high up the +fir tree out of sight. Now here I think we have one instinct in contest +with another and mistaken one. The first instinct being to carry the empty +cocoons out of the nest, and it would have been sufficient to have laid +them on the heap of rubbish, as the first breath of wind would have blown +them away. And then came in the contest with the other very powerful +instinct of preserving and carrying their cocoons as long as possible; and +this they could not help doing although the cocoons were empty. According +as the one or other instinct was the stronger in each individual ant, so +did it carry the empty cocoon to a greater or less distance. If this +little observation should ever prove of any use to you, you are quite at +liberty to use it. Again thanking you cordially for the great pleasure +which your work has given me, I remain with much respect, + +Yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--If you read English easily I should like to send you Mr. Belt's book, +as I think you would like it as much as did Fritz Muller. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. FISKE. +Down, December 8, 1874. + +My dear Sir, + +You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest with which I +have at last slowly read the whole of your work. ('Outlines of Cosmic +Philosophy,' 2 volumes, 8vo. 1874.) I have long wished to know something +about the views of the many great men whose doctrines you give. With the +exception of special points I did not even understand H. Spencer's general +doctrine; for his style is too hard work for me. I never in my life read +so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are; and I think that +I understand nearly the whole--perhaps less clearly about Cosmic Theism and +Causation than other parts. It is hopeless to attempt out of so much to +specify what has interested me most, and probably you would not care to +hear. I wish some chemist would attempt to ascertain the result of the +cooling of heated gases of the proper kinds, in relation to your hypothesis +of the origin of living matter. It pleased me to find that here and there +I had arrived from my own crude thoughts at some of the same conclusions +with you; though I could seldom or never have given my reasons for such +conclusions. I find that my mind is so fixed by the inducive method, that +I cannot appreciate deductive reasoning: I must begin with a good body of +facts and not from a principle (in which I always suspect some fallacy) and +then as much deduction as you please. This may be very narrow-minded; but +the result is that such parts of H. Spencer, as I have read with care +impress my mind with the idea of his inexhaustible wealth of suggestion, +but never convince me; and so I find it with some others. I believe the +cause to lie in the frequency with which I have found first-formed theories +[to be] erroneous. I thank you for the honourable mention which you make +of my works. Parts of the 'Descent of Man' must have appeared laughably +weak to you: nevertheless, I have sent you a new edition just published. +Thanking you for the profound interest and profit with which I have read +your work. I remain, + +My dear Sir, yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +1875. + +[The only work, not purely botanical, which occupied my father in the +present year was the correction of the second edition of 'The Variation of +Animals and Plants,' and on this he was engaged from the beginning of July +till October 3rd. The rest of the year was taken up with his work on +insectivorous plants, and on cross-fertilisation, as will be shown in a +later chapter. The chief alterations in the second edition of 'Animals and +Plants' are in the eleventh chapter on "Bud-variation and on certain +anomalous modes of reproduction;" the chapter on Pangenesis "was also +largely altered and remodelled." He mentions briefly some of the authors +who have noticed the doctrine. Professor Delpino's 'Sulla Darwiniana +Teoria della Pangenesi' (1869), an adverse but fair criticism, seems to +have impressed him as valuable. Of another critique my father +characteristically says ('Animals and Plants,' 2nd edition volume ii. page +350.), "Dr. Lionel Beale ('Nature,' May 11, 1871, page 26) sneers at the +whole doctrine with much acerbity and some justice." He also points out +that, in Mantegazza's 'Elementi di Igiene,' the theory of Pangenesis was +clearly foreseen. + +In connection with this subject, a letter of my father's to 'Nature' (April +27, 1871) should be mentioned. A paper by Mr. Galton had been read before +the Royal Society (March 30, 1871) in which were described experiments, on +intertransfusion of blood, designed to test the truth of the hypothesis of +pangenesis. My father, while giving all due credit to Mr. Galton for his +ingenious experiments, does not allow that pangenesis has "as yet received +its death-blow, though from presenting so many vulnerable points its life +is always in jeopardy." + +He seems to have found the work of correcting very wearisome, for he +wrote:-- + +"I have no news about myself, as I am merely slaving over the sickening +work of preparing new editions. I wish I could get a touch of poor Lyell's +feelings, that it was delightful to improve a sentence, like a painter +improving a picture." + +The feeling of effort or strain over this piece of work, is shown in a +letter to Professor Haeckel:-- + +"What I shall do in future if I live, Heaven only knows; I ought perhaps to +avoid general and large subjects, as too difficult for me with my advancing +years, and I suppose enfeebled brain." + +At the end of March, in this year, the portrait for which he was sitting to +Mr. Ouless was finished. He felt the sittings a great fatigue, in spite of +Mr. Ouless's considerate desire to spare him as far as was possible. In a +letter to Sir J.D. Hooker he wrote, "I look a very venerable, acute, +melancholy old dog; whether I really look so I do not know." The picture +is in the possession of the family, and is known to many through M. Rajon's +etching. Mr. Ouless's portrait is, in my opinion, the finest +representation of my father that has been produced. + +The following letter refers to the death of Sir Charles Lyell, which took +place on February 22nd, 1875, in his seventy-eighth year.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS BUCKLEY (NOW MRS. FISHER). (Mrs. Fisher acted as +Secretary to Sir Charles Lyell.) +Down, February 23, 1875. + +My dear Miss Buckley, + +I am grieved to hear of the death of my old and kind friend, though I knew +that it could not be long delayed, and that it was a happy thing that his +life should not have been prolonged, as I suppose that his mind would +inevitably have suffered. I am glad that Lady Lyell (Lady Lyell died in +1873.) has been saved this terrible blow. His death makes me think of the +time when I first saw him, and how full of sympathy and interest he was +about what I could tell him of coral reefs and South America. I think that +this sympathy with the work of every other naturalist was one of the finest +features of his character. How completely he revolutionised Geology: for +I can remember something of pre-Lyellian days. + +I never forget that almost everything which I have done in science I owe to +the study of his great works. Well, he has had a grand and happy career, +and no one ever worked with a truer zeal in a noble cause. It seems +strange to me that I shall never again sit with him and Lady Lyell at their +breakfast. I am very much obliged to you for having so kindly written to +me. + +Pray give our kindest remembrances to Miss Lyell, and I hope that she has +not suffered much in health, from fatigue and anxiety. + +Believe me, my dear Miss Buckley, +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, February 25 [1875]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Your letter so full of feeling has interested me greatly. I cannot say +that I felt his [Lyell's] death much, for I fully expected it, and have +looked for some little time at his career as finished. + +I dreaded nothing so much as his surviving with impaired mental powers. He +was, indeed, a noble man in very many ways; perhaps in none more than in +his warm sympathy with the work of others. How vividly I can recall my +first conversation with him, and how he astonished me by his interest in +what I told him. How grand also was his candour and pure love of truth. +Well, he is gone, and I feel as if we were all soon to go...I am deeply +rejoiced about Westminster Abbey (Sir C. Lyell was buried in Westminster +Abbey.), the possibility of which had not occurred to me when I wrote +before. I did think that his works were the most enduring of all +testimonials (as you say) to him; but then I did not like the idea of his +passing away with no outward sign of what scientific men thought of his +merits. Now all this is changed, and nothing can be better than +Westminster Abbey. Mrs. Lyell has asked me to be one of the pall-bearers, +but I have written to say that I dared not, as I should so likely fail in +the midst of the ceremony, and have my head whirling off my shoulders. All +this affair must have cost you much fatigue and worry, and how I do wish +you were out of England... + + +[In 1881 he wrote to Mrs. Fisher in reference to her article on Sir Charles +Lyell in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica':-- + +"For such a publication I suppose you do not want to say much about his +private character, otherwise his strong sense of humour and love of society +might have been added. Also his extreme interest in the progress of the +world, and in the happiness of mankind. Also his freedom from all +religious bigotry, though these perhaps would be a superfluity." + + +The following refers to the Zoological station at Naples, a subject on +which my father felt an enthusiastic interest:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ANTON DOHRN. +Down, [1875?]. + +My dear Dr. Dohrn, + +Many thanks for your most kind letter, I most heartily rejoice at your +improved health and at the success of your grand undertaking, which will +have so much influence on the progress of Zoology throughout Europe. + +If we look to England alone, what capital work has already been done at the +Station by Balfour and Ray Lankester...When you come to England, I suppose +that you will bring Mrs. Dohrn, and we shall be delighted to see you both +here. I have often boasted that I have had a live Uhlan in my house! It +will be very interesting to me to read your new views on the ancestry of +the Vertebrates. I shall be sorry to give up the Ascidians, to whom I feel +profound gratitude; but the great thing, as it appears to me, is that any +link whatever should be found between the main divisions of the Animal +Kingdom... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO AUGUST WEISMANN. +Down, December 6, 1875. + +My dear Sir, + +I have been profoundly interested by your essay on Amblystoma ('Umwandlung +des Axolotl.'), and think that you have removed a great stumbling block in +the way of Evolution. I once thought of reversion in this case; but in a +crude and imperfect manner. I write now to call your attention to the +sterility of moths when hatched out of their proper season; I give +references in chapter 18 of my 'Variation under Domestication' (volume ii. +page 157, of English edition), and these cases illustrate, I think, the +sterility of Amblystoma. Would it not be worth while to examine the +reproductive organs of those individuals of WINGLESS Hemiptera which +occasionally have wings, as in the case of the bed-bug. I think I have +heard that the females of Mutilla sometimes have wings. These cases must +be due to reversion. I dare say many anomalous cases will be hereafter +explained on the same principle. + +I hinted at this explanation in the extraordinary case of the black- +shouldered peacock, the so-called Pavo nigripennis given in my 'Variation +under Domestication;' and I might have been bolder, as the variety is in +many respects intermediate between the two known species. + +With much respect, +Yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +THE VIVISECTION QUESTION. + +[It was in November 1875 that my father gave his evidence before the Royal +Commission on Vivisection. (See volume i.) I have, therefore, placed +together here the matter relating to this subject, irrespective of date. +Something has already been said of my father's strong feeling with regard +to suffering both in man and beast. It was indeed one of the strongest +feelings in his nature, and was exemplified in matters small and great, in +his sympathy with the educational miseries of dancing dogs, or in his +horror at the sufferings of slaves. (He once made an attempt to free a +patient in a mad-house, who (as he wrongly supposed) was sane. He had some +correspondence with the gardener at the asylum, and on one occasion he +found a letter from a patient enclosed with one from the gardener. The +letter was rational in tone and declared that the writer was sane and +wrongfully confined. + +My father wrote to the Lunacy Commissioners (without explaining the source +of his information) and in due time heard that the man had been visited by +the Commissioners, and that he was certainly insane. Sometime afterwards +the patient was discharged, and wrote to thank my father for his +interference, adding that he had undoubtedly been insane, when he wrote his +former letter.) + +The remembrance of screams, or other sounds heard in Brazil, when he was +powerless to interfere with what he believed to be the torture of a slave, +haunted him for years, especially at night. In smaller matters, where he +could interfere, he did so vigorously. He returned one day from his walk +pale and faint from having seen a horse ill-used, and from the agitation of +violently remonstrating with the man. On another occasion he saw a horse- +breaker teaching his son to ride, the little boy was frightened and the man +was rough; my father stopped, and jumping out of the carriage reproved the +man in no measured terms. + +One other little incident may be mentioned, showing that his humanity to +animals was well-known in his own neighbourhood. A visitor, driving from +Orpington to Down, told the man to go faster, "Why," said the driver, "If I +had whipped the horse THIS much, driving Mr. Darwin, he would have got out +of the carriage and abused me well." + +With respect to the special point under consideration,--the sufferings of +animals subjected to experiment,--nothing could show a stronger feeling +than the following extract from a letter to Professor Ray Lankester (March +22, 1871):-- + +"You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree that it is +justifiable for real investigations on physiology; but not for mere +damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a subject which makes me sick +with horror, so I will not say another word about it, else I shall not +sleep to-night." + +An extract from Sir Thomas Farrer's notes shows how strongly he expressed +himself in a similar manner in conversation:-- + +"The last time I had any conversation with him was at my house in Bryanston +Square, just before one of his last seizures. He was then deeply +interested in the vivisection question; and what he said made a deep +impression on me. He was a man eminently fond of animals and tender to +them; he would not knowingly have inflicted pain on a living creature; but +he entertained the strongest opinion that to prohibit experiments on living +animals, would be to put a stop to the knowledge of and the remedies for +pain and disease." + +The Anti-Vivisection agitation, to which the following letters refer, seems +to have become specially active in 1874, as may be seen, e.g. by the index +to 'Nature' for that year, in which the word "Vivisection," suddenly comes +into prominence. But before that date the subject had received the earnest +attention of biologists. Thus at the Liverpool Meeting of the British +Association in 1870, a Committee was appointed, which reported, defining +the circumstances and conditions under which, in the opinion of the +signatories, experiments on living animals were justifiable. In the spring +of 1875, Lord Hartismere introduced a Bill into the Upper House to regulate +the course of physiological research. Shortly afterwards a Bill more just +towards science in its provisions was introduced to the House of Commons by +Messrs. Lyon Playfair, Walpole, and Ashley. It was, however, withdrawn on +the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the whole question. +The Commissioners were Lords Cardwell and Winmarleigh, Mr. W.E. Forster, +Sir J.B. Karslake, Mr. Huxley, Professor Erichssen, and Mr. R.H. Hutton: +they commenced their inquiry in July, 1875, and the Report was published +early in the following year. + +In the early summer of 1876, Lord Carnarvon's Bill, entitled, "An Act to +amend the Law relating to Cruelty to Animals," was introduced. It cannot +be denied that the framers of this Bill, yielding to the unreasonable +clamour of the public, went far beyond the recommendations of the Royal +Commission. As a correspondent in 'Nature' put it (1876, page 248), "the +evidence on the strength of which legislation was recommended went beyond +the facts, the Report went beyond the evidence, the Recommendations beyond +the Report; and the Bill can hardly be said to have gone beyond the +Recommendations; but rather to have contradicted them." + +The legislation which my father worked for, as described in the following +letters, was practically what was introduced as Dr. Lyon Playfair's Bill.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. LITCHFIELD. (His daughter.) +January 4, 1875. + +My dear H. + +Your letter has led me to think over vivisection (I wish some new word like +anaes-section could be invented (He communicated to 'Nature' (September 30, +1880) an article by Dr. Wilder, of Cornell University, an abstract of which +was published (page 517). Dr. Wilder advocated the use of the word +'Callisection' for painless operations on animals.) for some hours, and I +will jot down my conclusions, which will appear very unsatisfactory to you. +I have long thought physiology one of the greatest of sciences, sure +sooner, or more probably later, greatly to benefit mankind; but, judging +from all other sciences, the benefits will accrue only indirectly in the +search for abstract truth. It is certain that physiology can progress only +by experiments on living animals. Therefore the proposal to limit research +to points of which we can now see the bearings in regard to health, etc., I +look at as puerile. I thought at first it would be good to limit +vivisection to public laboratories; but I have heard only of those in +London and Cambridge, and I think Oxford; but probably there may be a few +others. Therefore only men living in a few great towns would carry on +investigation, and this I should consider a great evil. If private men +were permitted to work in their own houses, and required a licence, I do +not see who is to determine whether any particular man should receive one. +It is young unknown men who are the most likely to do good work. I would +gladly punish severely any one who operated on an animal not rendered +insensible, if the experiment made this possible; but here again I do not +see that a magistrate or jury could possibly determine such a point. +Therefore I conclude, if (as is likely) some experiments have been tried +too often, or anaesthetics have not been used when they could have been, +the cure must be in the improvement of humanitarian feelings. Under this +point of view I have rejoiced at the present agitation. If stringent laws +are passed, and this is likely, seeing how unscientific the House of +Commons is, and that the gentlemen of England are humane, as long as their +sports are not considered, which entailed a hundred or thousand-fold more +suffering than the experiments of physiologists--if such laws are passed, +the result will assuredly be that physiology, which has been until within +the last few years at a standstill in England, will languish or quite +cease. It will then be carried on solely on the Continent; and there will +be so many the fewer workers on this grand subject, and this I should +greatly regret. By the way, F. Balfour, who has worked for two or three +years in the laboratory at Cambridge, declares to George that he has never +seen an experiment, except with animals rendered insensible. No doubt the +names of Doctors will have great weight with the House of Commons; but very +many practitioners neither know nor care anything about the progress of +knowledge. I cannot at present see my way to sign any petition, without +hearing what physiologists thought would be its effect, and then judging +for myself. I certainly could not sign the paper sent me by Miss Cobbe, +with its monstrous (as it seems to me) attack on Virchow for experimenting +on the Trichinae. I am tired and so no more. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, April 14 [1875]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I worked all the time in London on the vivisection question; and we now +think it advisable to go further than a mere petition. Litchfield (Mr. +R.B. Litchfield, his son-in-law.) drew up a sketch of a Bill, the essential +features of which have been approved by Sanderson, Simon and Huxley, and +from conversation, will, I believe, be approved by Paget, and almost +certainly, I think, by Michael Foster. Sanderson, Simon and Paget wish me +to see Lord Derby, and endeavour to gain his advocacy with the Home +Secretary. Now, if this is carried into effect, it will be of great +importance to me to be able to say that the Bill in its essential features +has the approval of some half-dozen eminent scientific men. I have +therefore asked Litchfield to enclose a copy to you in its first rough +form; and if it is not essentially modified may I say that it meets with +your approval as President of the Royal Society? The object is to protect +animals, and at the same time not to injure Physiology, and Huxley and +Sanderson's approval almost suffices on this head. Pray let me have a line +from you soon. + +Yours affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The Physiological Society, which was founded in 1876, was in some measure +the outcome of the anti-vivisection movement, since it was this agitation +which impressed on Physiologists the need of a centre for those engaged in +this particular branch of science. With respect to the Society, my father +wrote to Mr. Romanes (May 29, 1876):-- + +"I was very much gratified by the wholly unexpected honour of being elected +one of the Honorary Members. This mark of sympathy has pleased me to a +very high degree." + +The following letter appeared in the "Times", April 18th, 1881:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO FRITHIOF HOLMGREN. (Professor of Physiology at Upsala.) +Down, April 14, 1881. + +Dear Sir, + +In answer to your courteous letter of April 7, I have no objection to +express my opinion with respect to the right of experimenting on living +animals. I use this latter expression as more correct and comprehensive +than that of vivisection. You are at liberty to make any use of this +letter which you may think fit, but if published I should wish the whole to +appear. I have all my life been a strong advocate for humanity to animals, +and have done what I could in my writings to enforce this duty. Several +years ago, when the agitation against physiologists commenced in England, +it was asserted that inhumanity was here practised, and useless suffering +caused to animals; and I was led to think that it might be advisable to +have an Act of Parliament on the subject. I then took an active part in +trying to get a Bill passed, such as would have removed all just cause of +complaint, and at the same time have left physiologists free to pursue +their researches,--a Bill very different from the Act which has since been +passed. It is right to add that the investigation of the matter by a Royal +Commission proved that the accusations made against our English +physiologists were false. From all that I have heard, however, I fear that +in some parts of Europe little regard is paid to the sufferings of animals, +and if this be the case, I should be glad to hear of legislation against +inhumanity in any such country. On the other hand, I know that physiology +cannot possibly progress except by means of experiments on living animals, +and I feel the deepest conviction that he who retards the progress of +physiology commits a crime against mankind. Any one who remembers, as I +can, the state of this science half a century ago, must admit that it has +made immense progress, and it is now progressing at an ever-increasing +rate. What improvements in medical practice may be directly attributed to +physiological research is a question which can be properly discussed only +by those physiologists and medical practitioners who have studied the +history of their subjects; but, as far as I can learn, the benefits are +already great. However this may be, no one, unless he is grossly ignorant +of what science has done for mankind, can entertain any doubt of the +incalculable benefits which will hereafter be derived from physiology, not +only by man, but by the lower animals. Look for instance at Pasteur's +results in modifying the germs of the most malignant diseases, from which, +as it so happens, animals will in the first place receive more relief than +man. Let it be remembered how many lives and what a fearful amount of +suffering have been saved by the knowledge gained of parasitic worms +through the experiments of Virchow and others on living animals. In the +future every one will be astonished at the ingratitude shown, at least in +England, to these benefactors of mankind. As for myself, permit me to +assure you that I honour, and shall always honour, every one who advances +the noble science of physiology. + +Dear Sir, yours faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In the "Times" of the following day appeared a letter headed "Mr. Darwin +and Vivisection," signed by Miss Frances Power Cobbe. To this my father +replied in the "Times" of April 22, 1881. On the same day he wrote to Mr. +Romanes:-- + +"As I have a fair opportunity, I sent a letter to the "Times" on +Vivisection, which is printed to-day. I thought it fair to bear my share +of the abuse poured in so atrocious a manner on all physiologists.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. + +Sir, + +I do not wish to discuss the views expressed by Miss Cobbe in the letter +which appeared in the "Times" of the 19th inst.; but as she asserts that I +have "misinformed" my correspondent in Sweden in saying that "the +investigation of the matter by a Royal Commission proved that the +accusations made against our English physiologists were false," I will +merely ask leave to refer to some other sentences from the Report of the +Commission. + +1. The sentence--"It is not to be doubted that inhumanity may be found in +persons of very high position as physiologists," which Miss Cobbe quotes +from page 17 of the report, and which, in her opinion, "can necessarily +concern English physiologists alone and not foreigners," is immediately +followed by the words "We have seen that it was so in Magendie." Magendie +was a French physiologist who became notorious some half century ago for +his cruel experiments on living animals. + +2. The Commissioners, after speaking of the "general sentiment of +humanity" prevailing in this country, say (page 10):-- + +"This principle is accepted generally by the very highly educated men whose +lives are devoted either to scientific investigation and education or to +the mitigation or the removal of the sufferings of their fellow-creatures; +though differences of degree in regard to its practical application will be +easily discernible by those who study the evidence as it has been laid +before us." + +Again, according to the Commissioners (page 10):-- + +"The secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Animals, when asked whether the general tendency of the scientific world in +this country is at variance with humanity, says he believes it to be very +different, indeed, from that of foreign physiologists; and while giving it +as the opinion of the society that experiments are performed which are in +their nature beyond any legitimate province of science, and that the pain +which they inflict is pain which it is not justifiable to inflict even for +the scientific object in view, he readily acknowledges that he does not +know a single case of wanton cruelty, and that in general the English +physiologists have used anaesthetics where they think they can do so with +safety to the experiment." + +I am, Sir, your obedient servant, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +April 21. + + +[In the "Times" of Saturday, April 23, 1881, appeared a letter from Miss +Cobbe in reply:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G.J. ROMANES. +Down, April 25, 1881. + +My dear Romanes, + +I was very glad to read your last note with much news interesting to me. +But I write now to say how I, and indeed all of us in the house have +admired your letter in the "Times". (April 25, 1881.--Mr. Romanes defended +Dr. Sanderson against the accusations made by Miss Cobbe.) It was so +simple and direct. I was particularly glad about Burton Sanderson, of whom +I have been for several years a great admirer. I was also especially glad +to read the last sentences. I have been bothered with several letters, but +none abusive. Under a SELFISH point of view I am very glad of the +publication of your letter, as I was at first inclined to think that I had +done mischief by stirring up the mud. Now I feel sure that I have done +good. Mr. Jesse has written to me very politely, he says his Society has +had nothing to do with placards and diagrams against physiology, and I +suppose, therefore, that these all originate with Miss Cobbe...Mr. Jesse +complains bitterly that the "Times" will "burke" all his letters to this +newspaper, nor am I surprised, judging from the laughable tirades +advertised in "Nature". + +Ever yours, very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The next letter refers to a projected conjoint article on vivisection, to +which Mr. Romanes wished my father to contribute:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G.J. ROMANES. +Down, September 2, 1881. + +My dear Romanes, + +Your letter has perplexed me beyond all measure. I fully recognise the +duty of every one whose opinion is worth anything, expressing his opinion +publicly on vivisection; and this made me send my letter to the "Times". I +have been thinking at intervals all morning what I could say, and it is the +simple truth that I have nothing worth saying. You and men like you, whose +ideas flow freely, and who can express them easily, cannot understand the +state of mental paralysis in which I find myself. What is most wanted is a +careful and accurate attempt to show what physiology has already done for +man, and even still more strongly what there is every reason to believe it +will hereafter do. Now I am absolutely incapable of doing this, or of +discussing the other points suggested by you. + +If you wish for my name (and I should be glad that it should appear with +that of others in the same cause), could you not quote some sentence from +my letter in the "Times" which I enclose, but please return it. If you +thought fit you might say you quoted it with my approval, and that after +still further reflection I still abide most strongly in my expressed +conviction. + +For Heaven's sake, do think of this. I do not grudge the labour and +thought; but I could write nothing worth any one reading. + +Allow me to demur to your calling your conjoint article a "symposium" +strictly a "drinking party." This seems to me very bad taste, and I do +hope every one of you will avoid any semblance of a joke on the subject. I +KNOW that words, like a joke, on this subject have quite disgusted some +persons not at all inimical to physiology. One person lamented to me that +Mr. Simon, in his truly admirable Address at the Medical Congress (by far +the best thing which I have read), spoke of the fantastic SENSUALITY +('Transactions of the International Medical Congress,' 1881, volume iv. +page 413. The expression "lackadaisical" (not fantastic), and "feeble +sensuality," are used with regard to the feelings of the anti- +vivisectionists.) (or some such term) of the many mistaken, but honest men +and women who are half mad on the subject... + +[To Dr. Lauder Brunton my father wrote in February 1882:-- + +"Have you read Mr. [Edmund] Gurney's articles in the 'Fortnightly' ("A +chapter in the Ethics of Pain," 'Fortnightly Review,' 1881, volume xxx. +page 778.) and 'Cornhill?' ("An Epilogue on Vivisection," 'Cornhill +Magazine,' 1882, volume xlv. page 191.) They seem to me very clever, +though obscurely written, and I agree with almost everything he says, +except with some passages which appear to imply that no experiments should +be tried unless some immediate good can be predicted, and this is a +gigantic mistake contradicted by the whole history of science."] + + +CHAPTER 2.IX. + +MISCELLANEA (continued)--A REVIVAL OF GEOLOGICAL WORK--THE BOOK ON +EARTHWORMS--LIFE OF ERASMUS DARWIN--MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS. + +1876-1882. + +[We have now to consider the work (other than botanical) which occupied the +concluding six years of my father's life. A letter to his old friend Rev. +L. Blomefield (Jenyns), written in March, 1877, shows what was my father's +estimate of his own powers of work at this time:-- + +"My dear Jenyns (I see I have forgotten your proper names).--Your extremely +kind letter has given me warm pleasure. As one gets old, one's thoughts +turn back to the past rather than to the future, and I often think of the +pleasant, and to me valuable, hours which I spent with you on the borders +of the Fens. + +"You ask about my future work; I doubt whether I shall be able to do much +more that is new, and I always keep before my mind the example of poor old +--, who in his old age had a cacoethes for writing. But I cannot endure +doing nothing, so I suppose that I shall go on as long as I can without +obviously making a fool of myself. I have a great mass of matter with +respect to variation under nature; but so much has been published since the +appearance of the 'Origin of Species,' that I very much doubt whether I +retain power of mind and strength to reduce the mass into a digested whole. +I have sometimes thought that I would try, but dread the attempt..." + +His prophecy proved to be a true one with regard to any continuation of any +general work in the direction of Evolution, but his estimate of powers +which could afterwards prove capable of grappling with the 'Power of +Movement in Plants,' and with the work on 'Earthworms,' was certainly a low +one. + +The year 1876, with which the present chapter begins, brought with it a +revival of geological work. He had been astonished, as I hear from +Professor Judd, and as appears in his letters, to learn that his books on +'Volcanic Islands,' 1844, and on 'South America,' 1846, were still +consulted by geologists, and it was a surprise to him that new editions +should be required. Both these works were originally published by Messrs. +Smith and Elder, and the new edition of 1876 was also brought out by them. +This appeared in one volume with the title 'Geological Observations on the +Volcanic Islands, and Parts of South America visited during the Voyage of +H.M.S. "Beagle".' He has explained in the preface his reasons for leaving +untouched the text of the original editions: "They relate to parts of the +world which have been so rarely visited by men of science, that I am not +aware that much could be corrected or added from observations subsequently +made. Owing to the great progress which Geology has made within recent +times, my views on some few points may be somewhat antiquated; but I have +thought it best to leave them as they originally appeared." + +It may have been the revival of geological speculation, due to the revision +of his early books, that led to his recording the observations of which +some account is given in the following letter. Part of it has been +published in Professor James Geikie's 'Prehistoric Europe,' chapters vii. +and ix. (My father's suggestion is also noticed in Prof. Geikie's address +on the 'Ice Age in Europe and North America,' given at Edinburgh, November +20, 1884.), a few verbal alterations having been made at my father's +request in the passages quoted. Mr. Geikie lately wrote to me: "The views +suggested in his letter as to the origin of the angular gravels, etc., in +the South of England will, I believe, come to be accepted as the truth. +This question has a much wider bearing than might at first appear. In +point of fact it solves one of the most difficult problems in Quaternary +Geology--and has already attracted the attention of German geologists."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JAMES GEIKIE. +Down, November 16, 1876. + +My dear Sir, + +I hope that you will forgive me for troubling you with a very long letter. +But first allow me to tell you with what extreme pleasure and admiration I +have just finished reading your 'Great Ice Age.' It seems to me admirably +done, and most clear. Interesting as many chapters are in the history of +the world, I do not think that any one comes [up] nearly to the glacial +period or periods. Though I have steadily read much on the subject, your +book makes the whole appear almost new to me. + +I am now going to mention a small observation, made by me two or three +years ago, near Southampton, but not followed out, as I have no strength +for excursions. I need say nothing about the character of the drift there +(which includes palaeolithic celts), for you have described its essential +features in a few words at page 506. It covers the whole country [in an] +even plain-like surface, almost irrespective of the present outline of the +land. + +The coarse stratification has sometimes been disturbed. I find that you +allude "to the larger stones often standing on end;" and this is the point +which struck me so much. Not only moderately sized angular stones, but +small oval pebbles often stand vertically up, in a manner which I have +never seen in ordinary gravel beds. This fact reminded me of what occurs +near my home, in the stiff red clay, full of unworn flints over the chalk, +which is no doubt the residue left undissolved by rain water. In this +clay, flints as long and thin as my arm often stand perpendicularly up; and +I have been told by the tank-diggers that it is their "natural position!" +I presume that this position may safely be attributed to the differential +movement of parts of the red clay as it subsided very slowly from the +dissolution of the underlying chalk; so that the flints arrange themselves +in the lines of least resistance. The similar but less strongly marked +arrangement of the stones in the drift near Southampton makes me suspect +that it also must have slowly subsided; and the notion has crossed my mind +that during the commencement and height of the glacial period great beds of +frozen snow accumulated over the south of England, and that, during the +summer, gravel and stones were washed from the higher land over its +surface, and in superficial channels. The larger streams may have cut +right through the frozen snow, and deposited gravel in lines at the bottom. +But on each succeeding autumn, when the running water failed, I imagine +that the lines of drainage would have been filled up by blown snow +afterwards congealed, and that, owing to great surface accumulations of +snow, it would be a mere chance whether the drainage, together with gravel +and sand, would follow the same lines during the next summer. Thus, as I +apprehend, alternate layers of frozen snow and drift, in sheets and lines, +would ultimately have covered the country to a great thickness, with lines +of drift probably deposited in various directions at the bottom by the +larger streams. As the climate became warmer, the lower beds of frozen +snow would have melted with extreme slowness, and the many irregular beds +of interstratified drift would have sunk down with equal slowness; and +during this movement the elongated pebbles would have arranged themselves +more or less vertically. The drift would also have been deposited almost +irrespective of the outline of the underlying land. When I viewed the +country I could not persuade myself that any flood, however great, could +have deposited such coarse gravel over the almost level platforms between +the valleys. My view differs from that of Holst, page 415 ['Great Ice +Age'], of which I had never heard, as his relates to channels cut through +glaciers, and mine to beds of drift interstratified with frozen snow where +no glaciers existed. The upshot of this long letter is to ask you to keep +my notion in your head, and look out for upright pebbles in any lowland +country which you may examine, where glaciers have not existed. Or if you +think the notion deserves any further thought, but not otherwise, to tell +any one of it, for instance Mr. Skertchly, who is examining such districts. +Pray forgive me for writing so long a letter, and again thanking you for +the great pleasure derived from your book, + +I remain yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S....I am glad that you have read Blytt (Axel Blytt.--'Essay on the +Immigration of the Norwegian Flora during alternate rainy and dry Seasons.' +Christiania, 1876.); his paper seemed to me a most important contribution +to Botanical Geography. How curious that the same conclusions should have +been arrived at by Mr. Skertchly, who seems to be a first-rate observer; +and this implies, as I always think, a sound theoriser. + +I have told my publisher to send you in two or three days a copy (second +edition) of my geological work during the voyage of the "Beagle". The sole +point which would perhaps interest you is about the steppe-like plains of +Patagonia. + +For many years past I have had fearful misgivings that it must have been +the level of the sea, and not that of the land which has changed. + +I read a few months ago your [brother's] very interesting life of +Murchison. (By Mr. Archibald Geikie.) Though I have always thought that +he ranked next to W. Smith in the classification of formations, and though +I knew how kind-hearted [he was], yet the book has raised him greatly in my +respect, notwithstanding his foibles and want of broad philosophical views. + + +[The only other geological work of his later years was embodied in his book +on earthworms (1881), which may therefore be conveniently considered in +this place. This subject was one which had interested him many years +before this date, and in 1838 a paper on the formation of mould was +published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society (see volume i.). + +Here he showed that "fragments of burnt marl, cinders, etc., which had been +thickly strewed over the surface of several meadows were found after a few +years lying at a depth of some inches beneath the turf, but still forming a +layer." For the explanation of this fact, which forms the central idea of +the geological part of the book, he was indebted to his uncle Josiah +Wedgwood, who suggested that worms, by bringing earth to the surface in +their castings, must undermine any objects lying on the surface and cause +an apparent sinking. + +In the book of 1881 he extended his observations on this burying action, +and devised a number of different ways of checking his estimates as to the +amount of work done. (He received much valuable help from Dr. King, of the +Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. The following passage is from a letter to Dr. +King, dated January 18, 1873:-- + +"I really do not know how to thank you enough for the immense trouble which +you have taken. You have attended EXACTLY and FULLY to the points about +which I was most anxious. If I had been each evening by your side, I could +not have suggested anything else.") He also added a mass of observations +on the habits, natural history and intelligence of worms, a part of the +work which added greatly to its popularity. + +In 1877 Sir Thomas Farrer had discovered close to his garden the remains of +a building of Roman-British times, and thus gave my father the opportunity +of seeing for himself the effects produced by earthworms' work on the old +concrete-floors, walls, etc. On his return he wrote to Sir Thomas Farrer: + +"I cannot remember a more delightful week than the last. I know very well +that E. will not believe me, but the worms were by no means the sole +charm." + +In the autumn of 1880, when the 'Power of Movement in Plants' was nearly +finished, he began once more on the subject. He wrote to Professor Carus +(September 21):-- + +"In the intervals of correcting the press, I am writing a very little book, +and have done nearly half of it. Its title will be (as at present +designed) 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms.' +(The full title is 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of +Worms with Observations on their Habits,' 1881.) As far as I can judge it +will be a curious little book." + +The manuscript was sent to the printers in April, 1881, and when the proof- +sheets were coming in he wrote to Professor Carus: "The subject has been +to me a hobby-horse, and I have perhaps treated it in foolish detail." + +It was published on October 10, and 2000 copies were sold at once. He +wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker, "I am glad that you approve of the 'Worms.' When +in old days I used to tell you whatever I was doing, if you were at all +interested, I always felt as most men do when their work is finally +published." + +To Mr. Mellard Reade he wrote (November 8): "It has been a complete +surprise to me how many persons have cared for the subject." And to Mr. +Dyer (in November): "My book has been received with almost laughable +enthusiasm, and 3500 copies have been sold!!!" Again, to his friend Mr. +Anthony Rich, he wrote on February 4, 1882, "I have been plagued with an +endless stream of letters on the subject; most of them very foolish and +enthusiastic; but some containing good facts which I have used in +correcting yesterday the 'Sixth Thousand.'" The popularity of the book may +be roughly estimated by the fact that, in the three years following its +publication, 8500 copies were sold--a sale relatively greater than that of +the 'Origin of Species.' + +It is not difficult to account for its success with the non-scientific +public. Conclusions so wide and so novel, and so easily understood, drawn +from the study of creatures so familiar, and treated with unabated vigour +and freshness, may well have attracted many readers. A reviewer remarks: +"In the eyes of most men...the earthworm is a mere blind, dumb, senseless, +and unpleasantly slimy annelid. Mr. Darwin undertakes to rehabilitate his +character, and the earthworm steps forth at once as an intelligent and +beneficent personage, a worker of vast geological changes, a planer down of +mountain sides...a friend of man...and an ally of the Society for the +preservation of ancient monuments." The "St. James Gazette", October 17, +1881, pointed out that the teaching of the cumulative importance of the +infinitely little is the point of contact between this book and the +author's previous work. + +One more book remains to be noticed, the 'Life of Erasmus Darwin.' + +In February 1879 an essay by Dr. Ernst Krause, on the scientific work of +Erasmus Darwin, appeared in the evolutionary journal, 'Kosmos.' The number +of 'Kosmos' in question was a "Gratulationsheft" (The same number contains +a good biographical sketch of my father, of which the material was to a +large extent supplied by him to the writer, Professor Preyer of Jena. The +article contains an excellent list of my father's publications.), or +special congratulatory issue in honour of my father's birthday, so that Dr. +Krause's essay, glorifying the older evolutionist, was quite in its place. +He wrote to Dr. Krause, thanking him cordially for the honour paid to +Erasmus, and asking his permission to publish (The wish to do so was shared +by his brother, Erasmus Darwin the younger, who continued to be associated +with the project.) an English translation of the Essay. + +His chief reason for writing a notice of his grandfather's life was "to +contradict flatly some calumnies by Miss Seward." This appears from a +letter of March 27, 1879, to his cousin Reginald Darwin, in which he asks +for any documents and letters which might throw light on the character of +Erasmus. This led to Mr. Reginald Darwin placing in my father's hands a +quantity of valuable material, including a curious folio common-place book, +of which he wrote: "I have been deeply interested by the great +book,...reading and looking at it is like having communion with the +dead...[it] has taught me a good deal about the occupations and tastes of +our grandfather." A subsequent letter (April 8) to the same correspondent +describes the source of a further supply of material:-- + +Since my last letter I have made a strange discovery; for an old box from +my father marked "Old Deeds," and which consequently I had never opened, I +found full of letters--hundreds from Dr. Erasmus--and others from old +members of the Family: some few very curious. Also a drawing of Elston +before it was altered, about 1750, of which I think I will give a copy." + +Dr. Krause's contribution formed the second part of the 'Life of Erasmus +Darwin,' my father supplying a "preliminary notice." This expression on +the title-page is somewhat misleading; my father's contribution is more +than half the book, and should have been described as a biography. Work of +this kind was new to him, and he wrote doubtfully to Mr. Thiselton Dyer, +June 18th: "God only knows what I shall make of his life, it is such a new +kind of work to me." The strong interest he felt about his forebears +helped to give zest to the work, which became a decided enjoyment to him. +With the general public the book was not markedly successful, but many of +his friends recognised its merits. Sir J.D. Hooker was one of these, and +to him my father wrote, "Your praise of the Life of Dr. D. has pleased me +exceedingly, for I despised my work, and thought myself a perfect fool to +have undertaken such a job." + +To Mr. Galton, too, he wrote, November 14:-- + +"I am EXTREMELY glad that you approve of the little 'Life' of our +grandfather, for I have been repenting that I ever undertook it, as the +work was quite beyond my tether." + +The publication of the 'Life of Erasmus Darwin' led to an attack by Mr. +Samuel Butler, which amounted to a charge of falsehood against my father. +After consulting his friends, he came to the determination to leave the +charge unanswered, as unworthy of his notice. (He had, in a letter to Mr. +Butler, expressed his regret at the oversight which caused so much +offence.) Those who wish to know more of the matter, may gather the facts +of the case from Ernst Krause's 'Charles Darwin,' and they will find Mr. +Butler's statement of his grievance in the "Athenaeum", January 31, 1880, +and in the "St. James's Gazette", December 8, 1880. The affair gave my +father much pain, but the warm sympathy of those whose opinion he respected +soon helped him to let it pass into a well-merited oblivion. + +The following letter refers to M. J.H. Fabre's 'Souvenirs Entomologiques.' +It may find a place here, as it contains a defence of Erasmus Darwin on a +small point. The postscript is interesting, as an example of one of my +father's bold ideas both as to experiment and theory:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.H. FABRE. +Down, January 31, 1880. + +My dear Sir, + +I hope that you will permit me to have the satisfaction of thanking you +cordially for the lively pleasure which I have derived from reading your +book. Never have the wonderful habits of insects been more vividly +described, and it is almost as good to read about them as to see them. I +feel sure that you would not be unjust to even an insect, much less to a +man. Now, you have been misled by some translator, for my grandfather, +Erasmus Darwin, states ('Zoonomia,' volume i. page 183, 1794) that it was a +wasp (guepe) which he saw cutting off the wings of a large fly. I have no +doubt that you are right in saying that the wings are generally cut off +instinctively; but in the case described by my grandfather, the wasp, after +cutting off the two ends of the body, rose in the air, and was turned round +by the wind; he then alighted and cut off the wings. I must believe, with +Pierre Huber, that insects have "une petite dose de raison." In the next +edition of your book, I hope that you will alter PART of what you say about +my grandfather. + +I am sorry that you are so strongly opposed to the Descent theory; I have +found the searching for the history of each structure or instinct an +excellent aid to observation; and wonderful observer as you are, it would +suggest new points to you. If I were to write on the evolution of +instincts, I could make good use of some of the facts which you give. +Permit me to add, that when I read the last sentence in your book, I +sympathised deeply with you. (The book is intended as a memorial of the +early death of M. Fabre's son, who had been his father's assistant in his +observations on insect life.) + +With the most sincere respect, +I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--Allow me to make a suggestion in relation to your wonderful account +of insects finding their way home. I formerly wished to try it with +pigeons: namely, to carry the insects in their paper "cornets," about a +hundred paces in the opposite direction to that which you ultimately +intended to carry them; but before turning round to return, to put the +insect in a circular box, with an axle which could be made to revolve very +rapidly, first in one direction, and then in another, so as to destroy for +a time all sense of direction in the insects. I have sometimes IMAGINED +that animals may feel in which direction they were at the first start +carried. (This idea was a favourite one with him, and he has described in +'Nature' (volume vii. 1873, page 360) the behaviour of his cob Tommy, in +whom he fancied he detected a sense of direction. The horse had been taken +by rail from Kent to the Isle of Wight; when there he exhibited a marked +desire to go eastward, even when his stable lay in the opposite direction. +In the same volume of 'Nature,' page 417, is a letter on the 'Origin of +Certain Instincts,' which contains a short discussion on the sense of +direction.) If this plan failed, I had intended placing the pigeons within +an induction coil, so as to disturb any magnetic or dia-magnetic +sensibility, which it seems just possible that they may possess. + +C.D. + + +[During the latter years of my father's life there was a growing tendency +in the public to do him honour. In 1877 he received the honorary degree of +LL.D. from the University of Cambridge. The degree was conferred on +November 17, and with the customary Latin speech from the Public Orator, +concluding with the words: "Tu vero, qui leges naturae tam docte +illustraveris, legum doctor nobis esto." + +The honorary degree led to a movement being set on foot in the University +to obtain some permanent memorial of my father. A sum of about 400 pounds +was subscribed, and after the rejection of the idea that a bust would be +the best memorial, a picture was determined on. In June 1879 he sat to Mr. +W. Richmond for the portrait in the possession of the University, now +placed in the Library of the philosophical Society at Cambridge. He is +represented seated in his Doctor's gown, the head turned towards the +spectator: the picture has many admirers, but, according to my own view, +neither the attitude nor the expression are characteristic of my father. + +A similar wish on the part of the Linnean Society-- with which my father +was so closely associated--led to his sitting in August, 1881, to Mr. John +Collier, for the portrait now in the possession of the Society. Of the +artist, he wrote, "Collier was the most considerate, kind and pleasant +painter a sitter could desire." The portrait represents him standing +facing the observer in the loose cloak so familiar to those who knew him, +and with his slouch hat in his hand. Many of those who knew his face most +intimately, think that Mr. Collier's picture is the best of the portraits, +and in this judgment the sitter himself was inclined to agree. According +to my feeling it is not so simple or strong a representation of him as that +given by Mr. Ouless. There is a certain expression in Mr. Collier's +portrait which I am inclined to consider an exaggeration of the almost +painful expression which Professor Cohn has described in my father's face, +and which he had previously noticed in Humboldt. Professor Cohn's remarks +occur in a pleasantly written account of a visit to Down in 1876, +published in the "Breslauer Zeitung", April 23, 1882. (In this connection +may be mentioned a visit (1881) from another distinguished German, Hans +Richter. The occurrence is otherwise worthy of mention, inasmuch as it led +to the publication, after my father's death, of Herr Richter's +recollections of the visit. The sketch is simply and sympathetically +written, and the author has succeeded in giving a true picture of my father +as he lived at Down. It appeared in the "Neue Tagblatt" of Vienna, and was +republished by Dr. O. Zacharias in his 'Charles R. Darwin,' Berlin, 1882.) + +Besides the Cambridge degree, he received about the same time honours of an +academic kind from some foreign societies. + +On August 5, 1878, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the French +Institute ("Lyell always spoke of it as a great scandal that Darwin was so +long kept out of the French Institute. As he said, even if the development +hypothesis were objected to, Darwin's original works on Coral Reefs, the +Cirripedia, and other subjects, constituted a more than sufficient claim"-- +From Professor Judd's notes.), in the Botanical Section, and wrote to Dr. +Asa Gray:-- + +"I see that we are both elected Corresponding Members of the Institute. It +is rather a good joke that I should be elected in the Botanical Section, as +the extent of my knowledge is little more than that a daisy is a +Compositous plant and a pea a Leguminous one." + +(The statement has been more than once published that he was elected to the +Zoological Section, but this was not the case. + +He received twenty-six votes out of a possible 39, five blank papers were +sent in, and eight votes were recorded for the other candidates. + +In 1872 an attempt had been made to elect him to the Section of Zoology, +when, however, he only received 15 out of 48 votes, and Loven was chosen +for the vacant place. It appears ('Nature,' August 1, 1872) that an +eminent member of the Academy wrote to "Les Mondes" to the following +effect:-- + +"What has closed the doors of the Academy to Mr. Darwin is that the science +of those of his books which have made his chief title to fame-the 'Origin +of Species,' and still more the 'Descent of Man,' is not science, but a +mass of assertions and absolutely gratuitous hypotheses, often evidently +fallacious. This kind of publication and these theories are a bad example, +which a body that respects itself cannot encourage.") + +In the early part of the same year he was elected a Corresponding Member of +the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and he wrote (March 12) to Professor Du +Bois Reymond, who had proposed him for election:-- + +"I thank you sincerely for your most kind letter, in which you announce the +great honour conferred on me. The knowledge of the names of the +illustrious men, who seconded the proposal is even a greater pleasure to me +than the honour itself." + +The seconders were Helmholtz, Peters, Ewald, Pringsheim and Virchow. + +In 1879 he received the Baly Medal of the Royal College of Physicians. +(The visit to London, necessitated by the presentation of the Baly Medal, +was combined with a visit to Miss Forster's house at Abinger, in Surrey, +and this was the occasion of the following characteristic letter:--"I must +write a few words to thank you cordially for lending us your house. It was +a most kind thought, and has pleased me greatly; but I know well that I do +not deserve such kindness from any one. On the other hand, no one can be +too kind to my dear wife, who is worth her weight in gold many times over, +and she was anxious that I should get some complete rest, and here I cannot +rest. Your house will be a delightful haven and again I thank you truly.") + +Again in 1879 he received from the Royal Academy of Turin the "Bressa" +prize for the years 1875-78, amounting to the sum of 12,000 francs. In the +following year he received on his birthday, as on previous occasions, a +kind letter of congratulation from Dr. Dohrn of Naples. In writing +(February 15th) to thank him and the other naturalists at the Zoological +Station, my father added:-- + +"Perhaps you saw in the papers that the Turin Society honoured me to an +extraordinary degree by awarding me the "Bressa" Prize. Now it occurred to +me that if your station wanted some pieces of apparatus, of about the value +of 100 pounds, I should very much like to be allowed to pay for it. Will +you be so kind as to keep this in mind, and if any want should occur to +you, I would send you a cheque at any time." + +I find from my father's accounts that 100 pounds was presented to the +Naples Station. + +He received also several tokens of respect and sympathy of a more private +character from various sources. With regard to such incidents and to the +estimation of the public generally, his attitude may be illustrated by a +passage from a letter to Mr. Romanes:--(The lecture referred to was given +at the Dublin meeting of the British association.) + +"You have indeed passed a most magnificent eulogium upon me, and I wonder +that you were not afraid of hearing 'oh! oh!' or some other sign of +disapprobation. Many persons think that what I have done in science has +been much overrated, and I very often think so myself; but my comfort is +that I have never consciously done anything to gain applause. Enough and +too much about my dear self." + +Among such expressions of regard he valued very highly the two photographic +albums received from Germany and Holland on his birthday, 1877. Herr Emil +Rade of Munster, originated the idea of the German birthday gift, and +undertook the necessary arrangements. To him my father wrote (February 16, +1877):-- + +"I hope that you will inform the one hundred and fifty-four men of science, +including some of the most highly honoured names in the world, how grateful +I am for their kindness and generous sympathy in having sent me their +photographs on my birthday." + +To Professor Haeckel he wrote (February 16, 1877):-- + +The album has just arrived quite safe. It is most superb. (The album is +magnificently bound and decorated with a beautifully illuminated title +page, the work of an artist, Herr A. Fitger of Bremen, who also contributed +the dedicatory poem.) It is by far the greatest honour which I have ever +received, and my satisfaction has been greatly enhanced by your most kind +letter of February 9...I thank you all from my heart. I have written by +this post to Herr Rade, and I hope he will somehow manage to thank all my +generous friends." + +To Professor A. van Bemmelen he wrote, on receiving a similar present from +a number of distinguished men and lovers of Natural History in the +Netherlands:-- + +"Sir, + +I received yesterday the magnificent present of the album, together with +your letter. I hope that you will endeavour to find some means to express +to the two hundred and seventeen distinguished observers and lovers of +natural science, who have sent me their photographs, my gratitude for their +extreme kindness. I feel deeply gratified by this gift, and I do not think +that any testimonial more honourable to me could have been imagined. I am +well aware that my books could never have been written, and would not have +made any impression on the public mind, had not an immense amount of +material been collected by a long series of admirable observers; and it is +to them that honour is chiefly due. I suppose that every worker at science +occasionally feels depressed, and doubts whether what he has published has +been worth the labour which it has cost him, but for the few remaining +years of my life, whenever I want cheering, I will look at the portraits of +my distinguished co-workers in the field of science, and remember their +generous sympathy. When I die, the album will be a most precious bequest +to my children. I must further express my obligation for the very +interesting history contained in your letter of the progress of opinion in +the Netherlands, with respect to Evolution, the whole of which is quite new +to me. I must again thank all my kind friends, from my heart, for their +ever-memorable testimonial, and I remain, Sir, + +Your obliged and grateful servant, +CHARLES R. DARWIN." + + +[In the June of the following year (1878) he was gratified by learning that +the Emperor of Brazil had expressed a wish to meet him. Owing to absence +from home my father was unable to comply with this wish; he wrote to Sir +J.D. Hooker:-- + +"The Emperor has done so much for science, that every scientific man is +bound to show him the utmost respect, and I hope that you will express in +the strongest language, and which you can do with entire truth, how greatly +I feel honoured by his wish to see me; and how much I regret my absence +from home." + +Finally it should be mentioned that in 1880 he received an address +personally presented by members of the Council of the Birmingham +Philosophical Society, as well as a memorial from the Yorkshire Naturalist +Union presented by some of the members, headed by Dr. Sorby. He also +received in the same year a visit from some of the members of the Lewisham +and Blackheath Scientific Association,--a visit which was, I think, enjoyed +by both guests and host.] + + +MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS--1876-1882. + +[The chief incident of a personal kind (not already dealt with) in the +years which we are now considering was the death of his brother Erasmus, +who died at his house in Queen Anne Street, on August 26th, 1881. My +father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker (August 30):-- + +"The death of Erasmus is a very heavy loss to all of us, for he had a most +affectionate disposition. He always appeared to me the most pleasant and +clearest headed man, whom I have ever known. London will seem a strange +place to me without his presence; I am deeply glad that he died without any +great suffering, after a very short illness from mere weakness and not from +any definite disease. ("He was not, I think, a happy man, and for many +years did not value life, though never complaining."--From a letter to Sir +Thomas Farrer.) + +"I cannot quite agree with you about the death of the old and young. Death +in the latter case, when there is a bright future ahead, causes grief never +to be wholly obliterated." + +An incident of a happy character may also be selected for especial notice, +since it was one which strongly moved my father's sympathy. A letter +(December 17, 1879) to Sir Joseph Hooker shows that the possibility of a +Government Pension being conferred on Mr. Wallace first occurred to my +father at this time. The idea was taken up by others, and my father's +letters show that he felt the most lively interest in the success of the +plan. He wrote, for instance, to Mrs. Fisher, "I hardly ever wished for +anything more than I do for the success of our plan." He was deeply +pleased when this thoroughly deserved honour was bestowed on his friend, +and wrote to the same correspondent (January 7, 1881), on receiving a +letter from Mr. Gladstone announcing the fact: "How extraordinarily kind +of Mr. Gladstone to find time to write under the present circumstances. +(Mr. Gladstone was then in office, and the letter must have been written +when he was overwhelmed with business connected with the opening of +Parliament (January 6). Good heavens! how pleased I am!" + +The letters which follow are of a miscellaneous character and refer +principally to the books he read, and to his minor writings.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS BUCKLEY (MRS. FISHER). +Down, February 11 [1876]. + +My dear Miss Buckley, + +You must let me have the pleasure of saying that I have just finished +reading with very great interest your new book. ('A Short History of +Natural Science.') The idea seems to me a capital one, and as far as I can +judge very well carried out. There is much fascination in taking a bird's +eye view of all the grand leading steps in the progress of science. At +first I regretted that you had not kept each science more separate; but I +dare say you found it impossible. I have hardly any criticisms, except +that I think you ought to have introduced Murchison as a great classifier +of formations, second only to W. Smith. You have done full justice, and +not more than justice, to our dear old master, Lyell. Perhaps a little +more ought to have been said about botany, and if you should ever add this, +you would find Sachs' 'History,' lately published, very good for your +purpose. + +You have crowned Wallace and myself with much honour and glory. I heartily +congratulate you on having produced so novel and interesting a work, and +remain, + +My dear Miss Buckley, yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. +[Hopedene] (Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.), June 5, 1876. + +My dear Wallace, + +I must have the pleasure of expressing to you my unbounded admiration of +your book ('Geographical Distribution,' 1876.), though I have read only to +page 184--my object having been to do as little as possible while resting. +I feel sure that you have laid a broad and safe foundation for all future +work on Distribution. How interesting it will be to see hereafter plants +treated in strict relation to your views; and then all insects, pulmonate +molluscs and fresh-water fishes, in greater detail than I suppose you have +given to these lower animals. The point which has interested me most, but +I do not say the most valuable point, is your protest against sinking +imaginary continents in a quite reckless manner, as was stated by Forbes, +followed, alas, by Hooker, and caricatured by Wollaston and [Andrew] +Murray! By the way, the main impression that the latter author has left on +my mind is his utter want of all scientific judgment. I have lifted up my +voice against the above view with no avail, but I have no doubt that you +will succeed, owing to your new arguments and the coloured chart. Of a +special value, as it seems to me, is the conclusion that we must determine +the areas, chiefly by the nature of the mammals. When I worked many years +ago on this subject, I doubted much whether the now called Palaearctic and +Nearctic regions ought to be separated; and I determined if I made another +region that it should be Madagascar. I have, therefore, been able to +appreciate your evidence on these points. What progress Palaeontology has +made during the last 20 years; but if it advances at the same rate in the +future, our views on the migration and birth-place of the various groups +will, I fear, be greatly altered. I cannot feel quite easy about the +Glacial period, and the extinction of large mammals, but I must hope that +you are right. I think you will have to modify your belief about the +difficulty of dispersal of land molluscs; I was interrupted when beginning +to experimentize on the just hatched young adhering to the feet of ground- +roosting birds. I differ on one other point, viz. in the belief that there +must have existed a Tertiary Antarctic continent, from which various forms +radiated to the southern extremities of our present continents. But I +could go on scribbling forever. You have written, as I believe, a grand +and memorable work which will last for years as the foundation for all +future treatises on Geographical Distribution. + +My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--You have paid me the highest conceivable compliment, by what you say +of your work in relation to my chapters on distribution in the 'Origin,' +and I heartily thank you for it. + + +[The following letters illustrate my father's power of taking a vivid +interest in work bearing on Evolution, but unconnected with his own special +researches at the time. The books referred to in the first letter are +Professor Weismann's 'Studien zur Descendenzlehre' (My father contributed a +prefatory note to Mr. Meldola's translation of Prof. Weismann's 'Studien,' +1880-81.), being part of the series of essays by which the author has done +such admirable service to the cause of evolution:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO AUGUST WEISMANN. +January 12, 1877. + +...I read German so slowly, and have had lately to read several other +papers, so that I have as yet finished only half of your first essay and +two-thirds of your second. They have excited my interest and admiration in +the highest degree, and whichever I think of last, seems to me the most +valuable. I never expected to see the coloured marks on caterpillars so +well explained; and the case of the ocelli delights me especially... + +...There is one other subject which has always seemed to me more difficult +to explain than even the colours of caterpillars, and that is the colour of +birds' eggs, and I wish you would take this up. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MELCHIOR NEUMAYR (Professor of Palaeontology at Vienna.), +VIENNA. +Down, Beckenham, Kent, March 9, 1877. + +Dear Sir, + +From having been obliged to read other books, I finished only yesterday +your essay on 'Die Congerien,' etc. ('Die Congerien und Paludinenschichten +Slavoneins.' 4to, 1875.) + +I hope that you will allow me to express my gratitude for the pleasure and +instruction which I have derived from reading it. It seems to me to be an +admirable work; and is by far the best case which I have ever met with, +showing the direct influence of the conditions of life on the organization. + +Mr. Hyatt, who has been studying the Hilgendorf case, writes to me with +respect to the conclusions at which he has arrived, and these are nearly +the same as yours. He insists that closely similar forms may be derived +from distinct lines of descent; and this is what I formerly called +analogical variation. There can now be no doubt that species may become +greatly modified through the direct action of the environment. I have some +excuse for not having formerly insisted more strongly on this head in my +'Origin of Species,' as most of the best facts have been observed since its +publication. + +With my renewed thanks for your most interesting essay, and with the +highest respect, I remain, dear Sir, + +Yours very faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO E.S. MORSE. +Down, April 23, 1877. + +My dear Sir, + +You must allow me just to tell you how very much I have been interested +with the excellent Address ("What American Zoologists have done for +Evolution," an Address to the American Association for the Advancement of +Science, August, 1876. Volume xxv. of the Proceedings of the Association.) +which you have been so kind as to send me, and which I had much wished to +read. I believe that I had read all, or very nearly all, the papers by +your countrymen to which you refer, but I have been fairly astonished at +their number and importance when seeing them thus put together. I quite +agree about the high value of Mr. Allen's works (Mr. J.A. Allen shows the +existence of geographical races of birds and mammals. Proc. Boston Soc. +Nat. Hist. volume xv.), as showing how much change may be expected +apparently through the direct action of the conditions of life. As for the +fossil remains in the West, no words will express how wonderful they are. +There is one point which I regret that you did not make clear in your +Address, namely what is the meaning and importance of Professors Cope and +Hyatt's views on acceleration and retardation. I have endeavoured, and +given up in despair, the attempt to grasp their meaning. + +Permit me to thank you cordially for the kind feeling shown towards me +through your Address, and I remain, my dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The next letter refers to his 'Biographical Sketch of an Infant,' written +from notes made 37 years previously, and published in 'Mind,' July, 1877. +The article attracted a good deal of attention, and was translated at the +time in 'Kosmos,' and the 'Revue Scientifique,' and has been recently +published in Dr. Krause's 'Gesammelte kleinere SchrifteN von Charles +Darwin,' 1887:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G. CROOM ROBERTSON. (The editor of 'Mind.') +Down, April 27, 1877. + +Dear Sir, + +I hope that you will be so good as to take the trouble to read the enclosed +MS., and if you think it fit for publication in your admirable journal of +'Mind,' I shall be gratified. If you do not think it fit, as is very +likely, will you please to return it to me. I hope that you will read it +in an extra critical spirit, as I cannot judge whether it is worth +publishing from having been so much interested in watching the dawn of the +several faculties in my own infant. I may add that I should never have +thought of sending you the MS., had not M. Taine's article appeared in your +Journal. (1877, page 252. The original appeared in the 'Revue +Philosophique' 1876.) If my MS. is printed, I think that I had better see +a proof. + +I remain, dear Sir, +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The two following extracts show the lively interest he preserved in +diverse fields of enquiry. Professor Cohn of Breslau had mentioned, in a +letter, Koch's researches on Splenic Fever, my father replied, January 3:-- + +"I well remember saying to myself, between twenty and thirty years ago, +that if ever the origin of any infectious disease could be proved, it would +be the greatest triumph to science; and now I rejoice to have seen the +triumph." + +In the spring he received a copy of Dr. E. von Mojsisovics' 'Dolomit +Riffe,' his letter to the author (June 1, 1878) is interesting as bearing +on the influence of his own work on the methods of geology. + +"I have at last found time to read the first chapter of your 'Dolomit +Riffe,' and have been EXCEEDINGLY interested by it. What a wonderful +change in the future of Geological chronology you indicate, by assuming the +descent theory to be established, and then taking the graduated changes of +the same group of organisms as the true standard! I never hoped to live to +see such a step even proposed by any one." + +Another geological research which roused my father's admiration was Mr. D. +Mackintosh's work on erratic blocks. Apart from its intrinsic merit the +work keenly excited his sympathy from the conditions under which it was +executed, Mr. Mackintosh being compelled to give nearly his whole time to +tuition. The following passage is from a letter to Mr. Mackintosh of +October 9, 1879, and refers to his paper in the Journal of the Geological +Society, 1878:-- + +"I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of thanking you for the +very great pleasure which I have derived from just reading your paper on +erratic blocks. The map is wonderful, and what labour each of those lines +show! I have thought for some years that the agency of floating ice, which +nearly half a century ago was overrated, has of late been underrated. You +are the sole man who has ever noticed the distinction suggested by me (In +his paper on the 'Ancient Glaciers of Carnarvonshire,' Phil. Mag. xxi. +1842.) between flat or planed scored rocks, and mammillated scored rocks."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO C. RIDLEY. +Down, November 28, 1878. + +Dear Sir, + +I just skimmed through Dr. Pusey's sermon, as published in the "Guardian", +but it did [not] seem to me worthy of any attention. As I have never +answered criticisms excepting those made by scientific men, I am not +willing that this letter should be published; but I have no objection to +your saying that you sent me the three questions, and that I answered that +Dr. Pusey was mistaken in imagining that I wrote the 'Origin' with any +relation whatever to Theology. I should have thought that this would have +been evident to any one who had taken the trouble to read the book, more +especially as in the opening lines of the introduction I specify how the +subject arose in my mind. This answer disposes of your two other +questions; but I may add that many years ago, when I was collecting facts +for the 'Origin,' my belief in what is called a personal God was as firm as +that of Dr. Pusey himself, and as to the eternity of matter I have never +troubled myself about such insoluble questions. Dr. Pusey's attack will be +as powerless to retard by a day the belief in Evolution, as were the +virulent attacks made by divines fifty years ago against Geology, and the +still older ones of the Catholic Church against Galileo, for the public is +wise enough always to follow Scientific men when they agree on any subject; +and now there is almost complete unanimity amongst Biologists about +Evolution, though there is still considerable difference as to the means, +such as how far natural selection has acted, and how far external +conditions, or whether there exists some mysterious innate tendency to +perfectability. I remain, dear Sir, + +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[Theologians were not the only adversaries of freedom in science. On +September 22, 1877, Prof. Virchow delivered an address at the Munich +meeting of German Naturalists and Physicians, which had the effect of +connecting Socialism with the Descent theory. This point of view was taken +up by anti-evolutionists to such an extent that, according to Haeckel, the +"Kreuz Zeitung" threw "all the blame of" the "treasonable attempts of the +democrats Hodel and Nobiling...directly on the theory of Descent." Prof. +Haeckel replied with vigour and ability in his 'Freedom in Science and +Teaching' (English Translation 1879), an essay which must have the sympathy +of all lovers of freedom. + +The following passage from a letter (December 26, 1879) to Dr. Scherzer, +the author of the 'Voyage of the "Novara",' gives a hint of my father's +views on this once burning question:-- + +"What a foolish idea seems to prevail in Germany on the connection between +Socialism and Evolution through Natural Selection."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.N. MOSELEY. (Professor of Zoology at Oxford. The book +alluded to is Prof. Moseley's 'Notes by a Naturalist on the "Challenger".') +Down, January 20, 1879. + +Dear Moseley, + +I have just received your book, and I declare that never in my life have I +seen a dedication which I admired so much. ("To Charles Darwin, Esquire, +LL.D., F.R.S., etc., from the study of whose 'Journal of Researches' I +mainly derived my desire to travel round the world; to the development of +whose theory I owe the principal pleasures and interests of my life, and +who has personally given me much kindly encouragement in the prosecution of +my studies, this book is, by permission, gratefully dedicated.") Of course +I am not a fair judge, but I hope that I speak dispassionately, though you +have touched me in my very tenderest point, by saying that my old Journal +mainly gave you the wish to travel as a Naturalist. I shall begin to read +your book this very evening, and am sure that I shall enjoy it much. + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H.N. MOSELEY. +Down, February 4, 1879. + +Dear Moseley, + +I have at last read every word of your book, and it has excited in me +greater interest than any other scientific book which I have read for a +long time. You will perhaps be surprised how slow I have been, but my head +prevents me reading except at intervals. If I were asked which parts have +interested me most, I should be somewhat puzzled to answer. I fancy that +the general reader would prefer your account of Japan. For myself I +hesitate between your discussions and description of the Southern ice, +which seems to me admirable, and the last chapter which contained many +facts and views new to me, though I had read your papers on the stony +Hydroid Corals, yet your resume made me realise better than I had done +before, what a most curious case it is. + +You have also collected a surprising number of valuable facts bearing on +the dispersal of plants, far more than in any other book known to me. In +fact your volume is a mass of interesting facts and discussions, with +hardly a superfluous word; and I heartily congratulate you on its +publication. + +Your dedication makes me prouder than ever. + +Believe me, yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In November, 1879, he answered for Mr. Galton a series of questions +utilised in his 'Inquiries into Human Faculty,' 1883. He wrote to Mr. +Galton:-- + +"I have answered the questions as well as I could, but they are miserably +answered, for I have never tried looking into my own mind. Unless others +answer very much better than I can do, you will get no good from your +queries. Do you not think you ought to have the age of the answerer? I +think so, because I can call up faces of many schoolboys, not seen for +sixty years, with MUCH DISTINCTNESS, but nowadays I may talk with a man for +an hour, and see him several times consecutively, and, after a month, I am +utterly unable to recollect what he is at all like. The picture is quite +washed out. The greater number of the answers are given in the annexed +table."] + +QUESTIONS ON THE FACULTY OF VISUALISING. + +1. ILLUMINATION? Moderate, but my solitary breakfast was early, and the +morning dark. + +2. DEFINITION? Some objects quite defined, a slice of cold beef, some +grapes and a pear, the state of my plate when I had finished, and a few +other objects, are as distinct as if I had photo's before me. + +3. COMPLETENESS? Very moderately so. + +4. COLOURING? The objects above named perfectly coloured. + +5. EXTENT OF FIELD OF VIEW? Rather small. + +DIFFERENT KINDS OF IMAGERY. + +6. PRINTED PAGES. I cannot remember a single sentence, but I remember the +place of the sentence and the kind of type. + +7. FURNITURE? I have never attended to it. + +8. PERSONS? I remember the faces of persons formerly well-known vividly, +and can make them do anything I like. + +9. SCENERY? Remembrance vivid and distinct, and gives me pleasure. + +10. GEOGRAPHY? No. + +11. MILITARY MOVEMENTS? No. + +12. MECHANISM? Never tried. + +13. GEOMETRY? I do not think I have any power of the kind. + +14. NUMERALS? When I think of any number, printed figures arise before my +mind. I can't remember for an hour four consecutive figures. + +15. CARD PLAYING? Have not played for many years, but I am sure should +not remember. + +16. CHESS? Never played. + + +[In 1880 he published a short paper in 'Nature' (volume xxi. page 207) on +the "Fertility of Hybrids from the common and Chinese goose." He received +the hybrids from the Rev. Dr. Goodacre, and was glad of the opportunity of +testing the accuracy of the statement that these species are fertile inter +se. This fact, which was given in the 'Origin' on the authority of Mr. +Eyton, he considered the most remarkable as yet recorded with respect to +the fertility of hybrids. The fact (as confirmed by himself and Dr. +Goodacre) is of interest as giving another proof that sterility is no +criterion of specific difference, since the two species of goose now shown +to be fertile inter se are so distinct that they have been placed by some +authorities in distinct genera or sub-genera. + +The following letter refers to Mr. Huxley's lecture: "The Coming of Age of +the Origin of Species" (This same "Coming of Age" was the subject of an +address from the Council of the Otago Institute. It is given in 'Nature,' +February 24, 1881.), given at the Royal Institution, April 9, 1880, +published in 'Nature,' and in 'Science and Culture,' page 310:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Abinger Hall, Dorking, Sunday, April 11, 1880. + +My dear Huxley, + +I wished much to attend your Lecture, but I have had a bad cough, and we +have come here to see whether a change would do me good, as it has done. +What a magnificent success your lecture seems to have been, as I judge from +the reports in the "Standard" and "Daily News", and more especially from +the accounts given me by three of my children. I suppose that you have not +written out your lecture, so I fear there is no chance of its being printed +in extenso. You appear to have piled, as on so many other occasions, +honours high and thick on my old head. But I well know how great a part +you have played in establishing and spreading the belief in the descent- +theory, ever since that grand review in the "Times" and the battle royal at +Oxford up to the present day. + +Ever my dear Huxley, +Yours sincerely and gratefully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--It was absurdly stupid in me, but I had read the announcement of your +Lecture, and thought that you meant the maturity of the subject, until my +wife one day remarked, "it is almost twenty-one years since the 'Origin' +appeared," and then for the first time the meaning of your words flashed on +me! + + +[In the above-mentioned lecture Mr. Huxley made a strong point of the +accumulation of palaeontological evidence which the years between 1859 and +1880 have given us in favour of Evolution. On this subject my father wrote +(August 31, 1880):] + + +My dear Professor Marsh, + +I received some time ago your very kind note of July 28th, and yesterday +the magnificent volume. (Odontornithes. A Monograph on the extinct +Toothed Birds of North America. 1880. By O.C. Marsh.) I have looked with +renewed admiration at the plates, and will soon read the text. Your work +on these old birds, and on the many fossil animals of North America has +afforded the best support to the theory of Evolution, which has appeared +within the last twenty years. (Mr. Huxley has well pointed out ('Science +and Culture,' page 317) that: "In 1875, the discovery of the toothed birds +of the cretaceous formation in North America, by Prof. Marsh, completed the +series of transitional forms between birds and reptiles, and removed Mr. +Darwin's proposition that, 'many animal forms of life have been utterly +lost, through which the early progenitors of birds were formerly connected +with the early progenitors of the other vertebrate classes,' from the +region of hypothesis to that of demonstrable fact.") The general +appearance of the copy which you have sent me is worthy of its contents, +and I can say nothing stronger than this. + +With cordial thanks, believe me, +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In November, 1880, he received an account of a flood in Brazil, from which +his friend Fritz Muller had barely escaped with his life. My father +immediately wrote to Hermann Muller anxiously enquiring whether his brother +had lost books, instruments, etc., by this accident, and begging in that +case "for the sake of science, so that science should not suffer," to be +allowed to help in making good the loss. Fortunately, however, the injury +to Fritz Muller's possessions was not so great as was expected, and the +incident remains only as a memento, which I trust cannot be otherwise than +pleasing to the survivor, of the friendship of the two naturalists. + +In 'Nature' (November 11, 1880) appeared a letter from my father, which is, +I believe, the only instance in which he wrote publicly with anything like +severity. The late Sir Wyville Thomson wrote, in the Introduction to the +'Voyage of the "Challenger"': "The character of the abyssal fauna refuses +to give the least support to the theory which refers the evolution of +species to extreme variation guided only by natural selection." My father, +after characterising these remarks as a "standard of criticism, not +uncommonly reached by theologians and metaphysicians," goes on to take +exception to the term "extreme variation," and challenges Sir Wyville to +name any one who has "said that the evolution of species depends only on +natural selection." The letter closes with an imaginary scene between Sir +Wyville and a breeder, in which Sir Wyville criticises artificial selection +in a somewhat similar manner. The breeder is silent, but on the departure +of his critic he is supposed to make use of "emphatic but irreverent +language about naturalists." The letter, as originally written, ended with +a quotation from Sedgwick on the invulnerability of those who write on what +they do not understand, but this was omitted on the advice of a friend, and +curiously enough a friend whose combativeness in the good cause my father +had occasionally curbed.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G.J. ROMANES. +Down, April 16, 1881. + +My dear Romanes, + +My MS. on 'Worms' has been sent to the printers, so I am going to amuse +myself by scribbling to you on a few points; but you must not waste your +time in answering at any length this scribble. + +Firstly, your letter on intelligence was very useful to me and I tor up and +re-wrote what I sent to you. I have not attempted to define intelligence; +but have quoted your remarks on experience, and have shown how far they +apply to worms. It seems to me that they must be said to work with some +intelligence, anyhow they are not guided by a blind instinct. + +Secondly, I was greatly interested by the abstract in 'Nature' of your work +on Echinoderms ("On the locomotor system of Echinoderms," by G.J. Romanes +and J. Cossar Ewart. 'Philosophical Transactions,' 1881, page 829.), the +complexity with simplicity, and with such curious co-ordination of the +nervous system is marvellous; and you showed me before what splendid +gymnastic feats they can perform. + +Thirdly, Dr. Roux has sent me a book just published by him: 'Der Kampf der +Theile,' etc., 1881 (240 pages in length). + +He is manifestly a well-read physiologist and pathologist, and from his +position a good anatomist. It is full of reasoning, and this in German is +very difficult to me, so that I have only skimmed through each page; here +and there reading with a little more care. As far as I can imperfectly +judge, it is the most important book on Evolution, which has appeared for +some time. I believe that G.H. Lewes hinted at the same fundamental idea, +viz. that there is a struggle going on within every organism between the +organic molecules, the cells and the organs. I think that his basis is, +that every cell which best performs its function is, in consequence, at the +same time best nourished and best propagates its kind. The book does not +touch on mental phenomena, but there is much discussion on rudimentary or +atrophied parts, to which subject you formerly attended. Now if you would +like to read this book, I would sent it...If you read it, and are struck +with it (but I may be WHOLLY mistaken about its value), you would do a +public service by analysing and criticising it in 'Nature.' + +Dr. Roux makes, I think, a gigantic oversight in never considering plants; +these would simplify the problem for him. + +Fourthly, I do not know whether you will discuss in your book on the mind +of animals any of the more complex and wonderful instincts. It is +unsatisfactory work, as there can be no fossilised instincts, and the sole +guide is their state in other members of the same order, and mere +PROBABILITY. + +But if you do discuss any (and it will perhaps be expected of you), I +should think that you could not select a better case than that of the sand +wasps, which paralyse their prey, as formerly described by Fabre, in his +wonderful paper in the 'Annales des Sciences,' and since amplified in his +admirable 'Souvenirs.' + +Whilst reading this latter book, I speculated a little on the subject. +Astonishing nonsense is often spoken of the sand wasp's knowledge of +anatomy. Now will any one say that the Gauchos on the plains of La Plata +have such knowledge, yet I have often seen them pith a struggling and +lassoed cow on the ground with unerring skill, which no mere anatomist +could imitate. The pointed knife was infallibly driven in between the +vertebrae by a single slight thrust. I presume that the art was first +discovered by chance, and that each young Gaucho sees exactly how the +others do it, and then with a very little practice learns the art. Now I +suppose that the sand wasps originally merely killed their prey by stinging +them in many places (see page 129 of Fabre's 'Souvenirs,' and page 241) on +the lower and softest side of the body--and that to sting a certain segment +was found by far the most successful method; and was inherited like the +tendency of a bulldog to pin the nose of a bull, or of a ferret to bite the +cerebellum. It would not be a very great step in advance to prick the +ganglion of its prey only slightly, and thus to give its larvae fresh meat +instead of old dried meat. Though Fabre insists so strongly on the +unvarying character of instinct, yet it is shown that there is some +variability, as at pages 176, 177. + +I fear that I shall have utterly wearied you with my scribbling and bad +handwriting. + +My dear Romanes, yours, very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +POSTSCRIPT OF A LETTER TO PROFESSOR A. AGASSIZ, MAY 5TH, 1881:-- + +I read with much interest your address before the American Association. +However true your remarks on the genealogies of the several groups may be, +I hope and believe that you have over-estimated the difficulties to be +encountered in the future:--A few days after reading your address, I +interpreted to myself your remarks on one point (I hope in some degree +correctly) in the following fashion:-- + +Any character of an ancient, generalised, or intermediate form may, and +often does, re-appear in its descendants, after countless generations, and +this explains the extraordinarily complicated affinities of existing +groups. This idea seems to me to throw a flood of light on the lines, +sometimes used to represent affinities, which radiate in all directions, +often to very distant sub-groups,--a difficulty which has haunted me for +half a century. A strong case could be made out in favour of believing in +such reversion after immense intervals of time. I wish the idea had been +put into my head in old days, for I shall never again write on difficult +subjects, as I have seen too many cases of old men becoming feeble in their +minds, without being in the least conscious of it. If I have interpreted +your ideas at all correctly, I hope that you will re-urge, on any fitting +occasion, your view. I have mentioned it to a few persons capable of +judging, and it seemed quite new to them. I beg you to forgive the +proverbial garrulity of old age. + +C.D. + + +[The following letter refers to Sir J.D. Hooker's Geographical address at +the York Meeting (1881) of the British Association:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, August 6, 1881. + +My dear Hooker, + +For Heaven's sake never speak of boring me, as it would be the greatest +pleasure to aid you in the slightest degree and your letter has interested +me exceedingly. I will go through your points seriatim, but I have never +attended much to the history of any subject, and my memory has become +atrociously bad. It will therefore be a mere chance whether any of my +remarks are of any use. + +Your idea, to show what travellers have done, seems to me a brilliant and +just one, especially considering your audience. + +1. I know nothing about Tournefort's works. + +2. I believe that you are fully right in calling Humboldt the greatest +scientific traveller who ever lived, I have lately read two or three +volumes again. His Geology is funny stuff; but that merely means that he +was not in advance of his age. I should say he was wonderful, more for his +near approach to omniscience than for originality. Whether or not his +position as a scientific man is as eminent as we think, you might truly +call him the parent of a grand progeny of scientific travellers, who, taken +together, have done much for science. + +3. It seems to me quite just to give Lyell (and secondarily E. Forbes) a +very prominent place. + +4. Dana was, I believe, the first man who maintained the permanence of +continents and the great oceans...When I read the 'Challenger's' conclusion +that sediment from the land is not deposited at greater distances than 200 +or 300 miles from the land, I was much strengthened in my old belief. +Wallace seems to me to have argued the case excellently. Nevertheless, I +would speak, if I were in your place, rather cautiously; for T. Mellard +Reade has argued lately with some force against the view; but I cannot call +to mind his arguments. If forced to express a judgment, I should abide by +the view of approximate permanence since Cambrian days. + +5. The extreme importance of the Arctic fossil-plants, is self-evident. +Take the opportunity of groaning over [our] ignorance of the Lignite Plants +of Kerguelen Land, or any Antarctic land. It might do good. + +6. I cannot avoid feeling sceptical about the travelling of plants from +the North EXCEPT DURING THE TERTIARY PERIOD. It may of course have been so +and probably was so from one of the two poles at the earliest period, +during Pre-Cambrian ages; but such speculations seem to me hardly +scientific seeing how little we know of the old Floras. + +I will now jot down without any order a few miscellaneous remarks. + +I think you ought to allude to Alph. De Candolle's great book, for though +it (like almost everything else) is washed out of my mind, yet I remember +most distinctly thinking it a very valuable work. Anyhow, you might allude +to his excellent account of the history of all cultivated plants. + +How shall you manage to allude to your New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego +work? if you do not allude to them you will be scandalously unjust. + +The many Angiosperm plants in the Cretacean beds of the United States (and +as far as I can judge the age of these beds has been fairly well made out) +seems to me a fact of very great importance, so is their relation to the +existing flora of the United States under an Evolutionary point of view. +Have not some Australian extinct forms been lately found in Australia? or +have I dreamed it? + +Again, the recent discovery of plants rather low down in our Silurian beds +is very important. + +Nothing is more extraordinary in the history of the Vegetable Kingdom, as +it seems to me, than the APPARENTLY very sudden or abrupt development of +the higher plants. I have sometimes speculated whether there did not exist +somewhere during long ages an extremely isolated continent, perhaps near +the South Pole. + +Hence I was greatly interested by a view which Saporta propounded to me, a +few years ago, at great length in MS. and which I fancy he has since +published, as I urged him to do--viz., that as soon as flower-frequenting +insects were developed, during the latter part of the secondary period, an +enormous impulse was given to the development of the higher plants by +cross-fertilization being thus suddenly formed. + +A few years ago I was much struck with Axel Blytt's Essay showing from +observation, on the peat beds in Scandinavia, that there had apparently +been long periods with more rain and other with less rain (perhaps +connected with Croll's recurrent astronomical periods), and that these +periods had largely determined the present distribution of the plants of +Norway and Sweden. This seemed to me, a very important essay. + +I have just read over my remarks and I fear that they will not be of the +slightest use to you. + +I cannot but think that you have got through the hardest, or at least the +most difficult, part of your work in having made so good and striking a +sketch of what you intend to say; but I can quite understand how you must +groan over the great necessary labour. + +I most heartily sympathise with you on the successes of B. and R.: as +years advance what happens to oneself becomes of very little consequence, +in comparison with the careers of our children. + +Keep your spirits up, for I am convinced that you will make an excellent +address. + +Ever yours, affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[In September he wrote:-- + +"I have this minute finished reading your splendid but too short address. +I cannot doubt that it will have been fully appreciated by the Geographers +of York; if not, they are asses and fools."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JOHN LUBBOCK. +Sunday evening [1881]. + +My dear L., + +Your address (Presidential Address at the York meeting of the British +Association.) has made me think over what have been the great steps in +Geology during the last fifty years, and there can be no harm in telling +you my impression. But it is very odd that I cannot remember what you have +said on Geology. I suppose that the classification of the Silurian and +Cambrian formations must be considered the greatest or most important step; +for I well remember when all these older rocks were called grau-wacke, and +nobody dreamed of classing them; and now we have three azoic formations +pretty well made out beneath the Cambrian! But the most striking step has +been the discovery of the Glacial period: you are too young to remember +the prodigious effect this produced about the year 1840 (?) on all our +minds. Elie de Beaumont never believed in it to the day of his death! the +study of the glacial deposits led to the study of the superficial drift, +which was formerly NEVER STUDIED and called Diluvium, as I well remember. +The study under the microscope of rock-sections is another not +inconsiderable step. So again the making out of cleavage and the foliation +of the metamorphic rocks. But I will not run on, having now eased my mind. +Pray do not waste even one minute in acknowledging my horrid scrawls. + +Ever yours, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following extracts referring to the late Francis Maitland Balfour +(Professor of Animal Morphology at Cambridge. He was born in 1851, and was +killed, with his guide, on the Aiguille Blanche, near Courmayeur, in July, +1882.), show my father's estimate of his work and intellectual qualities, +but they give merely an indication of his strong appreciation of Balfour's +most lovable personal character:-- + +From a letter to Fritz Muller, January 5, 1882:-- + +"Your appreciation of Balfour's book ['Comparative Embryology'] has pleased +me excessively, for though I could not properly judge of it, yet it seemed +to me one of the most remarkable books which have been published for some +considerable time. He is quite a young man, and if he keeps his health, +will do splendid work...He has a fair fortune of his own, so that he can +give up his whole time to Biology. He is very modest, and very pleasant, +and often visits here and we like him very much." + +From a letter to Dr. Dohrn, February 13, 1882:-- + +"I have got one very bad piece of news to tell you, that F. Balfour is very +ill at Cambridge with typhoid fever...I hope that he is not in a very +dangerous state; but the fever is severe. Good Heavens, what a loss he +would be to Science, and to his many loving friends!"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. +Down, January 12, 1882. + +My dear Huxley, + +Very many thanks for 'Science and Culture,' and I am sure that I shall read +most of the essays with much interest. With respect to Automatism ("On the +hypothesis that animals are automata and its history," an Address given at +the Belfast meeting of the British Association, 1874, and published in the +'Fortnightly Review,' 1874, and in 'Science and Culture.'), I wish that you +could review yourself in the old, and of course forgotten, trenchant style, +and then you would here answer yourself with equal incisiveness; and thus, +by Jove, you might go on ad infinitum, to the joy and instruction of the +world. + +Ever yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The following letter refers to Dr. Ogle's translation of Aristotle, 'On +the Parts of Animals' (1882):] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. OGLE. +Down, February 22, 1882. + +My dear Dr. Ogle, + +You must let me thank you for the pleasure which the introduction to the +Aristotle book has given me. I have rarely read anything which has +interested me more, though I have not read as yet more than a quarter of +the book proper. + +From quotations which I had seen, I had a high notion of Aristotle's +merits, but I had not the most remote notion what a wonderful man he was. +Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, +but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle. How very curious, also, +his ignorance on some points, as on muscles as the means of movement. I am +glad that you have explained in so probable a manner some of the grossest +mistakes attributed to him. I never realized, before reading your book, to +what an enormous summation of labour we owe even our common knowledge. I +wish old Aristotle could know what a grand Defender of the Faith he had +found in you. Believe me, my dear Dr. Ogle, + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In February, he received a letter and a specimen from a Mr. W.D. Crick, +which illustrated a curious mode of dispersal of bivalve shells, namely, by +closure of their valves so as to hold on to the leg of a water-beetle. +This class of fact had a special charm for him, and he wrote to 'Nature,' +describing the case. ('Nature,' April 6, 1882.) + +In April he received a letter from Dr. W. Van Dyck, Lecturer in Zoology at +the Protestant College of Beyrout. The letter showed that the street dogs +of Beyrout had been rapidly mongrelised by introduced European dogs, and +the facts have an interesting bearing on my father's theory of Sexual +Selection.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W.T. VAN DYCK. +Down, April 3, 1882. + +Dear Sir, + +After much deliberation, I have thought it best to send your very +interesting paper to the Zoological Society, in hopes that it will be +published in their Journal. This journal goes to every scientific +institution in the world, and the contents are abstracted in all year-books +on Zoology. Therefore I have preferred it to 'Nature,' though the latter +has a wider circulation, but is ephemeral. + +I have prefaced your essay by a few general remarks, to which I hope that +you will not object. + +Of course I do not know that the Zoological Society, which is much addicted +to mere systematic work, will publish your essay. If it does, I will send +you copies of your essay, but these will not be ready for some months. If +not published by the Zoological Society, I will endeavour to get 'Nature' +to publish it. I am very anxious that it should be published and +preserved. + +Dear Sir, +Yours faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The paper was read at a meeting of the Zoological Society on April 18th-- +the day before my father's death. + +The preliminary remarks with which Dr. Van Dyck's paper is prefaced are +thus the latest of my father's writings.] + +... + +We must now return to an early period of his life, and give a connected +account of his botanical work, which has hitherto been omitted. + + +CHAPTER 2.X. + +FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. + +[In the letters already given we have had occasion to notice the general +bearing of a number of botanical problems on the wider question of +Evolution. The detailed work in botany which my father accomplished by the +guidance of the light cast on the study of natural history by his own work +on Evolution remains to be noticed. In a letter to Mr. Murray, September +24th, 1861, speaking of his book on the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' he +says: "It will perhaps serve to illustrate how Natural History may be +worked under the belief of the modification of species." This remark gives +a suggestion as to the value and interest of his botanical work, and it +might be expressed in far more emphatic language without danger of +exaggeration. + +In the same letter to Mr. Murray, he says: "I think this little volume +will do good to the 'Origin,' as it will show that I have worked hard at +details." It is true that his botanical work added a mass of corroborative +detail to the case for Evolution, but the chief support to his doctrines +given by these researches was of another kind. They supplied an argument +against those critics who have so freely dogmatised as to the uselessness +of particular structures, and as to the consequent impossibility of their +having been developed by means of natural selection. His observations on +Orchids enabled him to say: "I can show the meaning of some of the +apparently meaningless ridges, horns, who will now venture to say that this +or that structure is useless?" A kindred point is expressed in a letter to +Sir J.D. Hooker (May 14th, 1862:)-- + +"When many parts of structure, as in the woodpecker, show distinct +adaptation to external bodies, it is preposterous to attribute them to the +effects of climate, etc., but when a single point alone, as a hooked seed, +it is conceivable it may thus have arisen. I have found the study of +Orchids eminently useful in showing me how nearly all parts of the flower +are co-adapted for fertilization by insects, and therefore the results of +natural selection--even the most trifling details of structure." + +One of the greatest services rendered by my father to the study of Natural +History is the revival of Teleology. The evolutionist studies the purpose +or meaning of organs with the zeal of the older Teleology, but with far +wider and more coherent purpose. He has the invigorating knowledge that he +is gaining not isolated conceptions of the economy of the present, but a +coherent view of both past and present. And even where he fails to +discover the use of any part, he may, by a knowledge of its structure, +unravel the history of the past vicissitudes in the life of the species. +In this way a vigour and unity is given to the study of the forms of +organised beings, which before it lacked. This point has already been +discussed in Mr. Huxley's chapter on the 'Reception of the "Origin of +Species",' and need not be here considered. It does, however, concern us +to recognize that this "great service to natural science," as Dr. Gray +describes it, was effected almost as much by his special botanical work as +by the 'Origin of Species.' + +For a statement of the scope and influence of my father's botanical work, I +may refer to Mr. Thiselton Dyer's article in 'Charles Darwin,' one of the +"Nature Series". Mr. Dyer's wide knowledge, his friendship with my father, +and especially his power of sympathising with the work of others, combine +to give this essay a permanent value. The following passage (page 43) +gives a true picture:-- + +"Notwithstanding the extent and variety of his botanical work, Mr. Darwin +always disclaimed any right to be regarded as a professed botanist. He +turned his attention to plants, doubtless because they were convenient +objects for studying organic phenomena in their least complicated forms; +and this point of view, which, if one may use the expression without +disrespect, had something of the amateur about it, was in itself of the +greatest importance. For, from not being, till he took up any point, +familiar with the literature bearing on it, his mind was absolutely free +from any prepossession. He was never afraid of his facts, or of framing +any hypothesis, however startling, which seemed to explain them...In any +one else such an attitude would have produced much work that was crude and +rash. But Mr. Darwin--if one may venture on language which will strike no +one who had conversed with him as over-strained--seemed by gentle +persuasion to have penetrated that reserve of nature which baffles smaller +men. In other words, his long experience had given him a kind of +instinctive insight into the method of attack of any biological problem, +however unfamiliar to him, while he rigidly controlled the fertility of his +mind in hypothetical explanations by the no less fertility of ingeniously +devised experiment." + +To form any just idea of the greatness of the revolution worked by my +father's researches in the study of the fertilisation of flowers, it is +necessary to know from what a condition this branch of knowledge has +emerged. It should be remembered that it was only during the early years +of the present century that the idea of sex, as applied to plants, became +at all firmly established. Sachs, in his 'History of Botany' (1875), has +given some striking illustrations of the remarkable slowness with which its +acceptance gained ground. He remarks that when we consider the +experimental proofs given by Camerarius (1694), and by Kolreuter (1761-66), +it appears incredible that doubts should afterwards have been raised as to +the sexuality of plants. Yet he shows that such doubts did actually +repeatedly crop up. These adverse criticisms rested for the most part on +careless experiments, but in many cases on a priori arguments. Even as +late as 1820, a book of this kind, which would now rank with circle +squaring, or flat-earth philosophy, was seriously noticed in a botanical +journal. + +A distinct conception of sex as applied to plants, had not long emerged +from the mists of profitless discussion and feeble experiment, at the time +when my father began botany by attending Henslow's lectures at Cambridge. + +When the belief in the sexuality of plants had become established as an +incontrovertible piece of knowledge, a weight of misconception remained, +weighing down any rational view of the subject. Camerarius (Sachs, +'Geschichte,' page 419.) believed (naturally enough in his day) that +hermaphrodite flowers are necessarily self-fertilised. He had the wit to +be astonished at this, a degree of intelligence which, as Sachs points out, +the majority of his successors did not attain to. + +The following extracts from a note-book show that this point occurred to my +father as early as 1837:-- + +"Do not plants which have male and female organs together [i.e. in the same +flower] yet receive influence from other plants? Does not Lyell give some +argument about varieties being difficult to keep [true] on account of +pollen from other plants? Because this may be applied to show all plants +do receive intermixture." + +Sprengel (Christian Conrad Sprengel, 1750-1816.), indeed, understood that +the hermaphrodite structure of flowers by no means necessarily leads to +self-fertilisation. But although he discovered that in many cases pollen +is of necessity carried to the stigma of another FLOWER, he did not +understand that in the advantage gained by the intercrossing of distinct +PLANTS lies the key to the whole question. Hermann Muller has well +remarked that this "omission was for several generations fatal to +Sprengel's work...For both at the time and subsequently, botanists felt +above all the weakness of his theory, and they set aside, along with his +defective ideas, his rich store of patient and acute observations and his +comprehensive and accurate interpretations." It remained for my father to +convince the world that the meaning hidden in the structure of flowers was +to be found by seeking light in the same direction in which Sprengel, +seventy years before, had laboured. Robert Brown was the connecting link +between them, for it was at his recommendation that my father in 1841 read +Sprengel's now celebrated 'Secret of Nature Displayed.' ('Das entdeckte +Geheimniss der Natur im Baue und in der Befruchtung der Blumen.' Berlin, +1793.) The book impressed him as being "full of truth," although "with +some little nonsense." It not only encouraged him in kindred speculation, +but guided him in his work, for in 1844 he speaks of verifying Sprengel's +observations. It may be doubted whether Robert Brown ever planted a more +beautiful seed than in putting such a book into such hands. + +A passage in the 'Autobiography' (volume i.) shows how it was that my +father was attracted to the subject of fertilisation: "During the summer +of 1839, and I believe during the previous summer, I was led to attend to +the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come +to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that +crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms constant." + +The original connection between the study of flowers and the problem of +evolution is curious, and could hardly have been predicted. Moreover, it +was not a permanent bond. As soon as the idea arose that the offspring of +cross-fertilisation is, in the struggle for life, likely to conquer the +seedlings of self-fertilised parentage, a far more vigorous belief in the +potency of natural selection in moulding the structure of flowers is +attained. A central idea is gained towards which experiment and +observation may be directed. + +Dr. Gray has well remarked with regard to this central idea ('Nature,' June +4, 1874):--"The aphorism, 'Nature abhors a vacuum,' is a characteristic +specimen of the science of the middle ages. The aphorism, Nature abhors +close fertilisation,' and the demonstration of the principle, belong to our +age and to Mr. Darwin. To have originated this, and also the principle of +Natural Selection...and to have applied these principles to the system of +nature, in such a manner as to make, within a dozen years, a deeper +impression upon natural history than has been made since Linnaeus, is ample +title for one man's fame." + +The flowers of the Papilionaceae attracted his attention early, and were +the subject of his first paper on fertilisation. ("Gardeners' Chronicle", +1857, page 725. It appears that this paper was a piece of "over-time" +work. He wrote to a friend, "that confounded leguminous paper was done in +the afternoon, and the consequence was I had to go to Moor Park for a +week.") The following extract from an undated letter to Dr. Asa Gray seems +to have been written before the publication of this paper, probably in 1856 +or 1857:-- + +"...What you say on Papilionaceous flowers is very true; and I have no +facts to show that varieties are crossed; but yet (and the same remark is +applicable in a beautiful way to Fumaria and Dielytra, as I noticed many +years ago), I must believe that the flowers are constructed partly in +direct relation to the visits of insects; and how insects can avoid +bringing pollen from other individuals I cannot understand. It is really +pretty to watch the action of a Humble-bee on the scarlet kidney bean, and +in this genus (and in Lathyrus grandiflorus) the honey is so placed that +the bee invariably alights on that ONE side of the flower towards which the +spiral pistil is protruded (bringing out with it pollen), and by the +depression of the wing-petal is forced against the bee's side all dusted +with pollen. (If you will look at a bed of scarlet kidney beans you will +find that the wing-petals on the LEFT side alone are all scratched by the +tarsi of the bees. [Note in the original letter by C. Darwin.]) In the +broom the pistil is rubbed on the centre of the back of the bee. I suspect +there is something to be made out about the Leguminosae, which will bring +the case within OUR theory; though I have failed to do so. Our theory will +explain why in the vegetable and animal kingdom the act of fertilisation +even in hermaphrodites usually takes place sub-jove, though thus exposed to +GREAT injury from damp and rain. In animals which cannot be [fertilised] +by insects or wind, there is NO CASE of LAND-animals being hermaphrodite +without the concourse of two individuals." + +A letter to Dr. Asa Gray (September 5th, 1857) gives the substance of the +paper in the "Gardeners' Chronicle":-- + +"Lately I was led to examine buds of kidney bean with the pollen shed; but +I was led to believe that the pollen could HARDLY get on the stigma by wind +or otherwise, except by bees visiting [the flower] and moving the wing +petals: hence I included a small bunch of flowers in two bottles in every +way treated the same: the flowers in one I daily just momentarily moved, +as if by a bee; these set three fine pods, the other NOT ONE. Of course +this little experiment must be tried again, and this year in England it is +too late, as the flowers seem now seldom to set. If bees are necessary to +this flower's self-fertilisation, bees must almost cross them, as their +dusted right-side of head and right legs constantly touch the stigma. + +"I have, also, lately been re-observing daily Lobelia fulgens--this in my +garden is never visited by insects, and never sets seeds, without pollen be +put on the stigma (whereas the small blue Lobelia is visited by bees and +does set seed); I mention this because there are such beautiful +contrivances to prevent the stigma ever getting its own pollen; which seems +only explicable on the doctrine of the advantage of crosses." + +The paper was supplemented by a second in 1858. ("Gardeners' Chronicle", +1858, page 828. In 1861 another paper on Fertilisation appeared in the +"Gardeners' Chronicle", page 552, in which he explained the action of +insects on Vinca major. He was attracted to the periwinkle by the fact +that it is not visited by insects and never set seeds.) The chief object +of these publications seems to have been to obtain information as to the +possibility of growing varieties of leguminous plants near each other, and +yet keeping them true. It is curious that the Papilionaceae should not +only have been the first flowers which attracted his attention by their +obvious adaptation to the visits of insects, but should also have +constituted one of his sorest puzzles. The common pea and the sweet pea +gave him much difficulty, because, although they are as obviously fitted +for insect-visits as the rest of the order, yet their varieties keep true. +The fact is that neither of these plants being indigenous, they are not +perfectly adapted for fertilisation by British insects. He could not, at +this stage of his observations, know that the co-ordination between a +flower and the particular insect which fertilises it may be as delicate as +that between a lock and its key, so that this explanation was not likely to +occur to him. (He was of course alive to variety in the habits of insects. +He published a short note in the "Entomologists Weekly Intelligencer", +1860, asking whether the Tineina and other small moths suck flowers.) + +Besides observing the Leguminosae, he had already begun, as shown in the +foregoing extracts, to attend to the structure of other flowers in relation +to insects. At the beginning of 1860 he worked at Leschenaultia (He +published a short paper on the manner of fertilisation of this flower, in +the "Gardeners' Chronicle", 1871, page 1166.), which at first puzzled him, +but was ultimately made out. A passage in a letter chiefly relating to +Leschenaultia seems to show that it was only in the spring of 1860 that he +began widely to apply his knowledge to the relation of insects to other +flowers. This is somewhat surprising, when we remember that he had read +Sprengel many years before. He wrote (May 14):-- + +"I should look at this curious contrivance as specially related to visits +of insects; as I begin to think is almost universally the case." + +Even in July 1862 he wrote to Dr. Asa Gray:-- + +"There is no end to the adaptations. Ought not these cases to make one +very cautious when one doubts about the use of all parts? I fully believe +that the structure of all irregular flowers is governed in relation to +insects. Insects are the Lords of the floral (to quote the witty +"Athenaeum") world." + +He was probably attracted to the study of Orchids by the fact that several +kinds are common near Down. The letters of 1860 show that these plants +occupied a good deal of his attention; and in 1861 he gave part of the +summer and all the autumn to the subject. He evidently considered himself +idle for wasting time on Orchids, which ought to have been given to +'Variation under Domestication.' Thus he wrote:-- + +"There is to me incomparably more interest in observing than in writing; +but I feel quite guilty in trespassing on these subjects, and not sticking +to varieties of the confounded cocks, hens and ducks. I hear that Lyell is +savage at me. I shall never resist Linum next summer." + +It was in the summer of 1860 that he made out one of the most striking and +familiar facts in the book, namely, the manner in which the pollen masses +in Orchis are adapted for removal by insects. He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker +July 12:-- + +"I have been examining Orchis pyramidalis, and it almost equals, perhaps +even beats, your Listera case; the sticky glands are congenitally united +into a saddle-shaped organ, which has great power of movement, and seizes +hold of a bristle (or proboscis) in an admirable manner, and then another +movement takes place in the pollen masses, by which they are beautifully +adapted to leave pollen on the two LATERAL stigmatic surfaces. I never saw +anything so beautiful." + +In June of the same year he wrote:-- + +"You speak of adaptation being rarely VISIBLE, though present in plants. I +have just recently been looking at the common Orchis, and I declare I think +its adaptations in every part of the flower quite as beautiful and plain, +or even more beautiful than in the Woodpecker. I have written and sent a +notice for the "Gardeners' Chronicle" (June 9, 1860. This seems to have +attracted some attention, especially among entomologists, as it was +reprinted in the "Entomologists Weekly Intelligencer", 1860.), on a curious +difficulty in the Bee Orchis, and should much like to hear what you think +of the case. In this article I have incidentally touched on adaptation to +visits of insects; but the contrivance to keep the sticky glands fresh and +sticky beats almost everything in nature. I never remember having seen it +described, but it must have been, and, as I ought not in my book to give +the observation as my own, I should be very glad to know where this +beautiful contrivance is described." + +He wrote also to Dr. Gray, June 8, 1860:-- + +"Talking of adaptation, I have lately been looking at our common orchids, +and I dare say the facts are as old and well-known as the hills, but I have +been so struck with admiration at the contrivances, that I have sent a +notice to the "Gardeners' Chronicle". The Ophrys apifera, offers, as you +will see, a curious contradiction in structure." + +Besides attending to the fertilisation of the flowers he was already, in +1860, busy with the homologies of the parts, a subject of which he made +good use in the Orchid book. He wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker (July):-- + +"It is a real good joke my discussing homologies of Orchids with you, after +examining only three or four genera; and this very fact makes me feel +positive I am right! I do not quite understand some of your terms; but +sometime I must get you to explain the homologies; for I am intensely +interested on the subject, just as at a game of chess." + +This work was valuable from a systematic point of view. In 1880 he wrote +to Mr. Bentham:-- + +"It was very kind in you to write to me about the Orchideae, for it has +pleased me to an extreme degree that I could have been of the LEAST use to +you about the nature of the parts." + +The pleasure which his early observations on Orchids gave him is shown in +such extracts as the following from a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker (July 27, +1861):-- + +"You cannot conceive how the Orchids have delighted me. They came safe, +but box rather smashed; cylindrical old cocoa- or snuff-canister much +safer. I enclose postage. As an account of the movement, I shall allude +to what I suppose is Oncidium, to make CERTAIN,--is the enclosed flower +with crumpled petals this genus? Also I most specially want to know what +the enclosed little globular brown Orchid is. I have only seen pollen of a +Cattleya on a bee, but surely have you not unintentionally sent me what I +wanted most (after Catasetum or Mormodes), viz. one of the Epidendreae?! I +PARTICULARLY want (and will presently tell you why) another spike of this +little Orchid, with older flowers, some even almost withered." + +His delight in observation is again shown in a letter to Dr. Gray (1863). +referring to Cruger's letters from Trinidad, he wrote:--"Happy man, he has +actually seen crowds of bees flying round Catasetum, with the pollinia +sticking to their backs!" + +The following extracts of letters to Sir J.D. Hooker illustrate further the +interest which his work excited in him:-- + +"Veitch sent me a grand lot this morning. What wonderful structures! + +"I have now seen enough, and you must not send me more, for though I enjoy +looking at them MUCH, and it has been very useful to me, seeing so many +different forms, it is idleness. For my object each species requires +studying for days. I wish you had time to take up the group. I would give +a good deal to know what the rostellum is, of which I have traced so many +curious modifications. I suppose it cannot be one of the stigmas (It is a +modification of the upper stigma.), there seems a great tendency for two +lateral stigmas to appear. My paper, though touching on only subordinate +points will run, I fear, to 100 MS. folio pages! The beauty of the +adaptation of parts seems to me unparalleled. I should think or guess waxy +pollen was most differentiated. In Cypripedium which seems least modified, +and a much exterminated group, the grains are single. In ALL OTHERS, as +far as I have seen, they are in packets of four; and these packets cohere +into many wedge-formed masses in Orchis; into eight, four, and finally two. +It seems curious that a flower should exist, which could AT MOST fertilise +only two other flowers, seeing how abundant pollen generally is; this fact +I look at as explaining the perfection of the contrivance by which the +pollen, so important from its fewness, is carried from flower to flower" +(1861). + +"I was thinking of writing to you to-day, when your note with the Orchids +came. What frightful trouble you have taken about Vanilla; you really must +not take an atom more; for the Orchids are more play than real work. I +have been much interested by Epidendrum, and have worked all morning at +them; for heaven's sake, do not corrupt me by any more" (August 30, 1861). + +He originally intended to publish his notes on Orchids as a paper in the +Linnean Society's Journal, but it soon became evident that a separate +volume would be a more suitable form of publication. In a letter to Sir +J.D. Hooker, September 24, 1861, he writes:-- + +"I have been acting, I fear that you will think, like a goose; and perhaps +in truth I have. When I finished a few days ago my Orchis paper, which +turns out 140 folio pages!! and thought of the expense of woodcuts, I said +to myself, I will offer the Linnean Society to withdraw it, and publish it +in a pamphlet. It then flashed on me that perhaps Murray would publish it, +so I gave him a cautious description, and offered to share risks and +profits. This morning he writes that he will publish and take all risks, +and share profits and pay for all illustrations. It is a risk, and heaven +knows whether it will not be a dead failure, but I have not deceived +Murray, and [have] told him that it would interest those alone who cared +much for natural history. I hope I do not exaggerate the curiosity of the +many special contrivances." + +He wrote the two following letters to Mr. Murray about the publication of +the book:] + +Down, September 21 [1861]. + +My dear Sir, + +Will you have the kindness to give me your opinion, which I shall +implicitly follow. I have just finished a very long paper intended for +Linnean Society (the title is enclosed), and yesterday for the first time +it occurred to me that POSSIBLY it might be worth publishing separately +which would save me trouble and delay. The facts are new, and have been +collected during twenty years and strike me as curious. Like a Bridgewater +treatise, the chief object is to show the perfection of the many +contrivances in Orchids. The subject of propagation is interesting to most +people, and is treated in my paper so that any woman could read it. Parts +are dry and purely scientific; but I think my paper would interest a good +many of such persons who care for Natural History, but no others. + +...It would be a very little book, and I believe you think very little +books objectionable. I have myself GREAT doubts on the subject. I am very +apt to think that my geese are swans; but the subject seems to me curious +and interesting. + +I beg you not to be guided in the least in order to oblige me, but as far +as you can judge, please give me your opinion. If I were to publish +separately, I would agree to any terms, such as half risk and half profit, +or what you liked; but I would not publish on my sole risk, for to be +frank, I have been told that no publisher whatever, under such +circumstances, cares for the success of a book. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Down, September 24 [1861]. + +My dear Sir, + +I am very much obliged for your note and very liberal offer. I have had +some qualms and fears. All that I can feel sure of is that the MS. +contains many new and curious facts, and I am sure the Essay would have +interested me, and will interest those who feel lively interest in the +wonders of nature; but how far the public will care for such minute +details, I cannot at all tell. It is a bold experiment; and at worst, +cannot entail much loss; as a certain amount of sale will, I think, be +pretty certain. A large sale is out of the question. As far as I can +judge, generally the points which interest me I find interest others; but I +make the experiment with fear and trembling,--not for my own sake, but for +yours... + + +[On September 28th he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"What a good soul you are not to sneer at me, but to pat me on the back. I +have the greatest doubt whether I am not going to do, in publishing my +paper, a most ridiculous thing. It would annoy me much, but only for +Murray's sake, if the publication were a dead failure." + +There was still much work to be done, and in October he was still receiving +Orchids from Kew, and wrote to Hooker:-- + +"It is impossible to thank you enough. I was almost mad at the wealth of +Orchids." And again-- + +"Mr. Veitch most generously has sent me two splendid buds of Mormodes, +which will be capital for dissection, but I fear will never be irritable; +so for the sake of charity and love of heaven do, I beseech you, observe +what movement takes place in Cychnoches, and what part must be touched. +Mr. V. has also sent me one splendid flower of Catasetum, the most +wonderful Orchid I have seen." + +On October 13th he wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker:-- + +"It seems that I cannot exhaust your good nature. I have had the hardest +day's work at Catasetum and buds of Mormodes, and believe I understand at +last the mechanism of movements and the functions. Catasetum is a +beautiful case of slight modification of structure leading to new +functions. I never was more interested in any subject in my life than in +this of Orchids. I owe very much to you." + +Again to the same friend, November 1, 1861:-- + +"If you really can spare another Catasetum, when nearly ready, I shall be +most grateful; had I not better send for it? The case is truly marvellous; +the (so-called) sensation, or stimulus from a light touch is certainly +transmitted through the antennae for more than one inch INSTANTANEOUSLY...A +cursed insect or something let my last flower off last night." + +Professor de Candolle has remarked ('Darwin considere, etc.,' 'Archives des +Sciences Physiques et Naturelles,' 3eme periode. Tome vii. 481, 1882 +(May).) of my father, "Ce n'est pas lui qui aurait demande de construire +des palais pour y loger des laboratoires." This was singularly true of his +orchid work, or rather it would be nearer the truth to say that he had no +laboratory, for it was only after the publication of the 'Fertilisation of +Orchids,' that he built himself a greenhouse. He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker +(December 24th, 1862):-- + +"And now I am going to tell you a MOST important piece of news!! I have +almost resolved to build a small hot-house; my neighbour's really first- +rate gardener has suggested it, and offered to make me plans, and see that +it is well done, and he is really a clever fellow, who wins lots of prizes, +and is very observant. He believes that we should succeed with a little +patience; it will be a grand amusement for me to experiment with plants." + +Again he wrote (February 15th, 1863):-- + +"I write now because the new hot-house is ready, and I long to stock it, +just like a schoolboy. Could you tell me pretty soon what plants you can +give me; and then I shall know what to order? And do advise me how I had +better get such plants as you can SPARE. Would it do to send my tax-cart +early in the morning, on a day that was not frosty, lining the cart with +mats, and arriving here before night? I have no idea whether this degree +of exposure (and of course the cart would be cold) could injure stove- +plants; they would be about five hours (with bait) on the journey home." + +A week later he wrote:-- + +"you cannot imagine what pleasure your plants give me (far more than your +dead Wedgwood ware can give you); and I go and gloat over them, but we +privately confessed to each other, that if they were not our own, perhaps +we should not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf." + +And in March, when he was extremely unwell he wrote:-- + +"A few words about the Stove-plants; they do so amuse me. I have crawled +to see them two or three times. Will you correct and answer, and return +enclosed. I have hunted in all my books and cannot find these names (His +difficulty with regard to the names of plants is illustrated, with regard +to a Lupine on which he was at work, in an extract from a letter (July 21, +1866) to Sir J.D. Hooker: "I sent to the nursery garden, whence I bought +the seed, and could only hear that it was 'the common blue Lupine,' the man +saying 'he was no scholard, and did not know Latin, and that parties who +make experiments ought to find out the names.'"), and I like much to know +the family." + +The book was published May 15th, 1862. Of its reception he writes to +Murray, June 13th and 18th:-- + +"The Botanists praise my Orchid-book to the skies. Some one sent me +(perhaps you) the 'Parthenon,' with a good review. The "Athenaeum" (May +24, 1862.) treats me with very kind pity and contempt; but the reviewer +knew nothing of his subject." + +"There is a superb, but I fear exaggerated, review in the 'London Review,' +(June 14, 1862.) But I have not been a fool, as I thought I was, to +publish (Doubts on this point still, however, occurred to him about this +time. He wrote to Prof. Oliver (June 8): "I am glad that you have read my +Orchis-book and seem to approve of it; for I never published anything which +I so much doubted whether it was worth publishing, and indeed I still +doubt. The subject interested me beyond what, I suppose, it is worth."); +for Asa Gray, about the most competent judge in the world, thinks almost as +highly of the book as does the 'London Review.' The "Athenaeum" will +hinder the sale greatly." + +The Rev. M.J. Berkeley was the author of the notice in the 'London Review,' +as my father learned from Sir J.D. Hooker, who added, 'I thought it very +well done indeed. I have read a good deal of the Orchid-book, and echo all +he says." + +To this my father replied (June 30th, 1862):-- + +"My dear Old Friend, + +You speak of my warming the cockles of your heart, but you will never know +how often you have warmed mine. It is not your approbation of my +scientific work (though I care for that more than for any one's): it is +something deeper. To this day I remember keenly a letter you wrote to me +from Oxford, when I was at the Water-cure, and how it cheered me when I was +utterly weary of life. Well, my Orchis-book is a success (but I do not +know whether it sells.)" + +In another letter to the same friend, he wrote:-- + +"You have pleased me much by what you say in regard to Bentham and Oliver +approving of my book; for I had got a sort of nervousness, and doubted +whether I had not made an egregious fool of myself, and concocted pleasant +little stinging remarks for reviews, such as 'Mr. Darwin's head seems to +have been turned by a certain degree of success, and he thinks that the +most trifling observations are worth publication.'" + +Mr. Bentham's approval was given in his Presidential Address to the Linnean +Society, May 24, 1862, and was all the more valuable because it came from +one who was by no means supposed to be favourable to evolutionary +doctrines.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 10 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +Your generous sympathy makes you overestimate what you have read of my +Orchid-book. But your letter of May 18th and 26th has given me an almost +foolish amount of satisfaction. The subject interested me, I knew, beyond +its real value; but I had lately got to think that I had made myself a +complete fool by publishing in a semi-popular form. Now I shall +confidently defy the world. I have heard that Bentham and Oliver approve +of it; but I have heard the opinion of no one else whose opinion is worth a +farthing...No doubt my volume contains much error: how curiously difficult +it is to be accurate, though I try my utmost. Your notes have interested +me beyond measure. I can now afford to d-- my critics with ineffable +complacency of mind. Cordial thanks for this benefit. It is surprising to +me that you should have strength of mind to care for science, amidst the +awful events daily occurring in your country. I daily look at the "Times" +with almost as much interest as an American could do. When will peace +come? it is dreadful to think of the desolation of large parts of your +magnificent country; and all the speechless misery suffered by many. I +hope and think it not unlikely that we English are wrong in concluding that +it will take a long time for prosperity to return to you. It is an awful +subject to reflect on... + + +[Dr. Asa Gray reviewed the book in 'Silliman's Journal' ('Silliman's +Journal,' volume xxiv. page 138. Here is given an account of the +fertilisation of Platanthera Hookeri. P. hyperborea is discussed in Dr. +Gray's 'Enumeration' in the same volume, page 259; also, with other +species, in a second notice of the Orchid-book at page 420.), where he +speaks, in strong terms, of the fascination which it must have for even +slightly instructed readers. He made, too, some original observations on +an American orchid, and these first-fruits of the subject, sent in MS. or +proof sheet to my father, were welcomed by him in a letter (July 23rd):-- + +"Last night, after writing the above, I read the great bundle of notes. +Little did I think what I had to read. What admirable observations! You +have distanced me on my own hobby-horse! I have not had for weeks such a +glow of pleasure as your observations gave me." + +The next letter refers to the publication of the review:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, July 28 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +I hardly know what to thank for first. Your stamps gave infinite +satisfaction. I took him (One of his boys who was ill.) first one lot, and +then an hour afterwards another lot. He actually raised himself on one +elbow to look at them. It was the first animation he showed. He said +only: "You must thank Professor Gray awfully." In the evening after a +long silence, there came out the oracular sentence: "He is awfully kind." +And indeed you are, overworked as you are, to take so much trouble for our +poor dear little man.--And now I must begin the "awfullys" on my own +account: what a capital notice you have published on the orchids! It +could not have been better; but I fear that you overrate it. I am very +sure that I had not the least idea that you or any one would approve of it +so much. I return your last note for the chance of your publishing any +notice on the subject; but after all perhaps you may not think it worth +while; yet in my judgment SEVERAL of your facts, especially Platanthera +hyperborea, are MUCH too good to be merged in a review. But I have always +noticed that you are prodigal in originality in your reviews... + + +[Sir Joseph Hooker reviewed the book in the "Gardeners' Chronicle", writing +in a successful imitation of the style of Lindley, the Editor. My father +wrote to Sir Joseph (November 12, 1862):-- + +"So you did write the review in the "Gardeners' Chronicle". Once or twice +I doubted whether it was Lindley; but when I came to a little slap at R. +Brown, I doubted no longer. You arch-rogue! I do not wonder you have +deceived others also. Perhaps I am a conceited dog; but if so, you have +much to answer for; I never received so much praise, and coming from you I +value it much more than from any other." + +With regard to botanical opinion generally, he wrote to Dr. Gray, "I am +fairly astonished at the success of my book with botanists." Among +naturalists who were not botanists, Lyell was pre-eminent in his +appreciation of the book. I have no means of knowing when he read it, but +in later life, as I learn from Professor Judd, he was enthusiastic in +praise of the 'Fertilisation of Orchids,' which he considered "next to the +'Origin,' as the most valuable of all Darwin's works." Among the general +public the author did not at first hear of many disciples, thus he wrote to +his cousin Fox in September 1862: "Hardly any one not a botanist, except +yourself, as far as I know, has cared for it." + +A favourable notice appeared in the "Saturday Review", October 18th, 1862; +the reviewer points out that the book would escape the angry polemics +aroused by the 'Origin.' (Dr. Gray pointed out that if the Orchid-book +(with a few trifling omissions) had appeared before the 'Origin,' the +author would have been canonised rather than anathematised by the natural +theologians.) This is illustrated by a review in the "Literary Churchman", +in which only one fault found, namely, that Mr. Darwin's expression of +admiration at the contrivances in orchids is too indirect a way of saying, +"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!" + +A somewhat similar criticism occurs in the 'Edinburgh Review' (October +1862). The writer points out that Mr. Darwin constantly uses phrases, such +as "beautiful contrivance," "the labellum is...IN ORDER TO attract," "the +nectar is PURPOSELY lodged." The Reviewer concludes his discussion thus: +"We know, too that these purposes and ideas are not our own, but the ideas +and purposes of Another." + +The 'Edinburgh' reviewer's treatment of this subject was criticised in the +"Saturday Review", November 15th, 1862: With reference to this article my +father wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker (December 29th, 1862):-- + +"Here is an odd chance; my nephew Henry Parker, an Oxford Classic, and +Fellow of Oriel, came here this evening; and I asked him whether he knew +who had written the little article in the "Saturday", smashing the +[Edinburgh reviewer], which we liked; and after a little hesitation he +owned he had. I never knew that he wrote in the "Saturday"; and was it not +an odd chance?" + +The 'Edinburgh' article was written by the Duke of Argyll, and has since +been made use of in his 'Reign of Law,' 1867. Mr. Wallace replied +('Quarterly Journal of Science,' October 1867. Republished in 'Natural +Selection,' 1871.) to the Duke's criticisms, making some specially good +remarks on those which refer to orchids. He shows how, by a "beautiful +self-acting adjustment," the nectary of the orchid Angraecum (from 10 to 14 +inches in length), and the proboscis of a moth sufficiently long to reach +the nectar, might be developed by natural selection. He goes on to point +out that on any other theory we must suppose that the flower was created +with an enormously long nectary, and that then by a special act, an insect +was created fitted to visit the flower, which would otherwise remain +sterile. With regard to this point my father wrote (October 12 or 13, +1867):-- + +"I forgot to remark how capitally you turn the tables on the Duke, when you +make him create the Angraecum and Moth by special creation." + +If we examine the literature relating to the fertilisation of flowers, we +do not find that this new branch of study showed any great activity +immediately after the publication of the Orchid-book. There are a few +papers by Asa Gray, in 1862 and 1863, by Hildebrand in 1864, and by +Moggridge in 1865, but the great mass of work by Axell, Delpino, +Hildebrand, and the Mullers, did not begin to appear until about 1867. The +period during which the new views were being assimilated, and before they +became thoroughly fruitful, was, however, surprisingly short. The later +activity in this department may be roughly gauged by the fact that the +valuable 'Bibliography,' given by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson in his translation +of Muller's 'Befruchtung' (1883), contains references to 814 papers. + +Besides the book on Orchids, my father wrote two or three papers on the +subject, which will be found mentioned in the Appendix. The earliest of +these, on the three sexual forms of Catasetum, was published in 1862; it is +an anticipation of part of the Orchid-book, and was merely published in the +Linnean Society's Journal, in acknowledgment of the use made of a specimen +in the Society's possession. The possibility of apparently distinct +species being merely sexual forms of a single species, suggested a +characteristic experiment, which is alluded to in the following letter to +one of his earliest disciples in the study of the fertilisation of +flowers:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. TRAHERNE MOGGRIDGE. (The late Mr. Moggridge, author +of 'Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders,' 'Flora of Mentone,' etc.) +Down, October 13 [1865]. + +My dear Sir, + +I am especially obliged to you for your beautiful plates and letter-press; +for no single point in natural history interests and perplexes me so much +as the self-fertilisation (He once remarked to Dr. Norman Moore that one of +the things that made him wish to live a few thousand years, was his desire +to see the extinction of the Bee-orchis,--an end to which he believed its +self-fertilising habit was leading.) of the Bee-orchis. You have already +thrown some light on the subject, and your present observations promise to +throw more. + +I formed two conjectures: first, that some insect during certain seasons +might cross the plants, but I have almost given up this; nevertheless, pray +have a look at the flowers next season. Secondly, I conjectured that the +Spider and Bee-orchis might be a crossing and self-fertile form of the same +species. Accordingly I wrote some years ago to an acquaintance, asking him +to mark some Spider-orchids, and observe whether they retained the same +character; but he evidently thought the request as foolish as if I had +asked him to mark one of his cows with a ribbon, to see if it would turn +next spring into a horse. Now will you be so kind as to tie a string round +the stem of a half-a-dozen Spider-orchids, and when you leave Mentone dig +them up, and I would try and cultivate them and see if they kept constant; +but I should require to know in what sort of soil and situations they grow. +It would be indispensable to mark the plant so that there could be no +mistake about the individual. It is also just possible that the same plant +would throw up, at different seasons different flower-scapes, and the +marked plants would serve as evidence. + +With many thanks, my dear sir, +Yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--I send by this post my paper on climbing plants, parts of which you +might like to read. + +[Sir Thomas Farrer and Dr. W. Ogle were also guided and encouraged by my +father in their observations. The following refers to a paper by Sir +Thomas Farrer, in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' 1868, on +the fertilisation of the Scarlet Runner:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. FARRER. +Down, September 15, 1868. + +My dear Mr. Farrer, + +I grieve to say that the MAIN features of your case are known. I am the +sinner and described them some ten years ago. But I overlooked many +details, as the appendage to the single stamen, and several other points. +I send my notes, but I must beg for their return, as I have NO OTHER COPY. +I quite agree, the facts are most striking, especially as you put them. +Are you sure that the Hive-bee is the cutter? it is against my experience. +If sure, make the point more prominent, or if not sure, erase it. I do not +think the subject is quite new enough for the Linnean Society; but I dare +say the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' or "Gardeners' Chronicle" +would gladly publish your observations, and it is a great pity they should +be lost. If you like I would send your paper to either quarter with a +note. In this case you must give a title, and your name, and perhaps it +would be well to premise your remarks with a line of reference to my paper +stating that you had observed independently and more fully. + +I have read my own paper over after an interval of several years, and am +amused at the caution with which I put the case that the final end was for +crossing distinct individuals, of which I was then as fully convinced as +now, but I knew that the doctrine would shock all botanists. Now the +opinion is becoming familiar. + +To see penetration of pollen-tubes is not difficult, but in most cases +requires some practice with dissecting under a one-tenth of an inch focal +distance single lens; and just at first this will seem to you extremely +difficult. + +What a capital observer you are--a first-rate Naturalist has been +sacrificed, or partly sacrificed to Public life. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--If you come across any large Salvia, look at it--the contrivance is +admirable. It went to my heart to tell a man who came here a few weeks ago +with splendid drawings and MS. on Salvia, that the work had been all done +in Germany. (Dr. W. Ogle, the observer of the fertilisation of Salvia here +alluded to, published his results in the 'Pop. Science Review,' 1869. He +refers both gracefully and gratefully to his relationship with my father in +the introduction to his translation of Kerner's 'Flowers and their Unbidden +Guests.') + + +[The following extract is from a letter, November 26th, 1868, to Sir Thomas +Farrer, written as I learn from him, "in answer to a request for some +advice as to the best modes of observation." + +"In my opinion the best plan is to go on working and making copious notes, +without much thought of publication, and then if the results turn out +striking publish them. It is my impression, but I do not feel sure that I +am right, that the best and most novel plan would be, instead of describing +the means of fertilisation in particular plants, to investigate the part +which certain structures play with all plants or throughout certain orders; +for instance, the brush of hairs on the style, or the diadelphous condition +of the stamens, in the Leguminosae, or the hairs within the corolla, etc. +etc. Looking to your note, I think that this is perhaps the plan which you +suggest. + +"It is well to remember that Naturalists value observations far more than +reasoning; therefore your conclusions should be as often as possible +fortified by noticing how insects actually do the work." + +In 1869, Sir Thomas Farrer corresponded with my father on the fertilisation +of Passiflora and of Tacsonia. He has given me his impressions of the +correspondence:-- + +"I had suggested that the elaborate series of chevaux-de-frise, by which +the nectary of the common Passiflora is guarded, were specially calculated +to protect the flower from the stiff-beaked humming birds which would not +fertilise it, and to facilitate the access of the little proboscis of the +humble bee, which would do so; whilst, on the other hand, the long pendent +tube and flexible valve-like corona which retains the nectar of Tacsonia +would shut out the bee, which would not, and admit the humming bird which +would, fertilise that flower. The suggestion is very possibly worthless, +and could only be verified or refuted by examination of flowers in the +countries where they grow naturally...What interested me was to see that on +this as on almost any other point of detailed observation, Mr. Darwin could +always say, 'Yes; but at one time I made some observations myself on this +particular point; and I think you will find, etc. etc.' That he should +after years of interval remember that he had noticed the peculiar structure +to which I was referring in the Passiflora princeps struck me at the time +as very remarkable." + +With regard to the spread of a belief in the adaptation of flowers for +cross-fertilisation, my father wrote to Mr. Bentham April 22, 1868: + +"Most of the criticisms which I sometimes meet with in French works against +the frequency of crossing, I am certain are the result of mere ignorance. +I have never hitherto found the rule to fail that when an author describes +the structure of a flower as specially adapted for self-fertilisation, it +is really adapted for crossing. The Fumariaceae offer a good instance of +this, and Treviranus threw this order in my teeth; but in Corydalis, +Hildebrand shows how utterly false the idea of self-fertilisation is. This +author's paper on Salvia is really worth reading, and I have observed some +species, and know that he is accurate." + +The next letter refers to Professor Hildebrand's paper on Corydalis, +published in the 'Proc. Internat. Hort. Congress,' London, 1866, and in +Pringsheim's 'Jahrbucher,' volume v. The memoir on Salvia alluded to is +contained in the previous volume of the same Journal:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. HILDEBRAND. (Professor of Botany at Freiburg.) +Down, May 16 [1866]. + +My dear Sir, + +The state of my health prevents my attending the Hort. Congress; but I +forwarded yesterday your paper to the secretary, and if they are not +overwhelmed with papers, yours will be gladly received. I have made many +observations on the Fumariaceae, and convinced myself that they were +adapted for insect agency; but I never observed anything nearly so curious +as your most interesting facts. I hope you will repeat your experiments on +the Corydalis on a larger scale, and especially on several distinct plants; +for your plant might have been individually peculiar, like certain +individual plants of Lobelia, etc., described by Gartner, and of Passiflora +and Orchids described by Mr. Scott... + +Since writing to you before, I have read your admirable memoir on Salvia, +and it has interested me almost as much as when I first investigated the +structure of Orchids. Your paper illustrates several points in my 'Origin +of Species,' especially the transition of organs. Knowing only two or +three species in the genus, I had often marvelled how one cell of the +anther could have been transformed into the movable plate or spoon; and how +well you show the gradations; but I am surprised that you did not more +strongly insist on this point. + +I shall be still more surprised if you do not ultimately come to the same +belief with me, as shown by so many beautiful contrivances, that all plants +require, from some unknown cause, to be occasionally fertilized by pollen +from a distinct individual. With sincere respect, believe me, my dear Sir, + +Yours very faithfully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following letter refers to the late Hermann Muller's 'Befruchtung der +Blumen,' by far the most valuable of the mass of literature originating in +the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' An English translation, by Prof. D'Arcy +Thompson was published in 1883. My father's "Prefatory Notice" to this +work is dated February 6, 1882, and is therefore almost the last of his +writings:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H. MULLER. +Down, May 5, 1873. + +My dear Sir, + +Owing to all sorts of interruptions and to my reading German so slowly, I +have read only to page 88 of your book; but I must have the pleasure of +telling you how very valuable a work it appears to me. Independently of +the many original observations, which of course form the most important +part, the work will be of the highest use as a means of reference to all +that has been done on the subject. I am fairly astonished at the number of +species of insects, the visits of which to different flowers you have +recorded. You must have worked in the most indefatigable manner. About +half a year ago the editor of 'Nature' suggested that it would be a grand +undertaking if a number of naturalists were to do what you have already +done on so large a scale with respect to the visits of insects. I have +been particularly glad to read your historical sketch, for I had never +before seen all the references put together. I have sometimes feared that +I was in error when I said that C.K. Sprengel did not fully perceive that +cross-fertilisation was the final end of the structure of flowers; but now +this fear is relieved, and it is a great satisfaction to me to believe that +I have aided in making his excellent book more generally known. Nothing +has surprised me more than to see in your historical sketch how much I +myself have done on the subject, as it never before occurred to me to think +of all my papers as a whole. But I do not doubt that your generous +appreciation of the labours of others has led you to over-estimate what I +have done. With very sincere thanks and respect, believe me, + +Yours faithfully, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--I have mentioned your book to almost every one who, as far as I know, +cares for the subject in England; and I have ordered a copy to be send to +our Royal Society. + + +[The next letter, to Dr. Behrens, refers to the same subject as the last:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. BEHRENS. +Down, August 29 [1878]. + +Dear Sir, + +I am very much obliged to you for having sent me your 'Geschichte der +Bestaubungs-Theorie' (Progr. der K. Gewerbschule zu Elberfeld, 1877, +1878.), and which has interested me much. It has put some things in a new +light, and has told me other things which I did not know. I heartily agree +with you in your high appreciation of poor old C. Sprengel's work; and one +regrets bitterly that he did not live to see his labours thus valued. It +rejoices me also to notice how highly you appreciate H. Muller, who has +always seemed to me an admirable observer and reasoner. I am at present +endeavouring to persuade an English publisher to bring out a translation of +his 'Befruchtung.' + +Lastly, permit me to thank you for your very generous remarks on my works. +By placing what I have been able to do on this subject in systematic order, +you have made me think more highly of my own work than I ever did before! +Nevertheless, I fear that you have done me more than justice. + +I remain, dear Sir, yours faithfully and obliged, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The letter which follows was called forth by Dr. Gray's article in +'Nature,' to which reference has already been made, and which appeared June +4, 1874:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 3 [1874]. + +My dear Gray, + +I was rejoiced to see your hand-writing again in your note of the 4th, of +which more anon. I was astonished to see announced about a week ago that +you were going to write in 'Nature' an article on me, and this morning I +received an advance copy. It is the grandest thing ever written about me, +especially as coming from a man like yourself. It has deeply pleased me, +particularly some of your side remarks. It is a wonderful thing to me to +live to see my name coupled in any fashion with that of Robert Brown. But +you are a bold man, for I am sure that you will be sneered at by not a few +botanists. I have never been so honoured before, and I hope it will do me +good and make me try to be as careful as possible; and good heavens, how +difficult accuracy is! I feel a very proud man, but I hope this won't +last... + + +[Fritz Muller has observed that the flowers of Hedychium are so arranged +that the pollen is removed by the wings of hovering butterflies. My +father's prediction of this observation is given in the following letter:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO H. MULLER. +Down, August 7, 1876. + +...I was much interested by your brother's article on Hedychium; about two +years ago I was so convinced that the flowers were fertilized by the tips +of the wings of large moths, that I wrote to India to ask a man to observe +the flowers and catch the moths at work, and he sent me 20 to 30 Sphinx- +moths, but so badly packed that they all arrived in fragments; and I could +make out nothing... + +Yours sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[The following extract from a letter (February 25, 1864), to Dr. Gray +refers to another prediction fulfilled:-- + +"I have of course seen no one, and except good dear Hooker, I hear from no +one. He, like a good and true friend, though so overworked, often writes +to me. + +"I have had one letter which has interested me greatly, with a paper, which +will appear in the Linnean Journal, by Dr. Cruger of Trinidad, which shows +that I am all right about Catasetum, even to the spot where the pollinia +adhere to the bees, which visit the flower, as I said, to gnaw the +labellum. Cruger's account of Coryanthes and the use of the bucket-like +labellum full of water beats everything: I SUSPECT that the bees being +well wetted flattens their hairs, and allows the viscid disc to adhere."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO THE MARQUIS DE SAPORTA. +Down, December 24, 1877. + +My dear Sir, + +I thank you sincerely for your long and most interesting letter, which I +should have answered sooner had it not been delayed in London. I had not +heard before that I was to be proposed as a Corresponding Member of the +Institute. Living so retired a life as I do, such honours affect me very +little, and I can say with entire truth that your kind expression of +sympathy has given and will give me much more pleasure than the election +itself, should I be elected. + +Your idea that dicotyledonous plants were not developed in force until +sucking insects had been evolved seems to me a splendid one. I am +surprised that the idea never occurred to me, but this is always the case +when one first hears a new and simple explanation of some mysterious +phenomenon...I formerly showed that we might fairly assume that the beauty +of flowers, their sweet odour and copious nectar, may be attributed to the +existence of flower-haunting insects, but your idea, which I hope you will +publish, goes much further and is much more important. With respect to the +great development of mammifers in the later Geological periods following +from the development of dicotyledons, I think it ought to be proved that +such animals as deer, cows, horses, etc. could not flourish if fed +exclusively on the gramineae and other anemophilous monocotyledons; and I +do not suppose that any evidence on this head exists. + +Your suggestion of studying the manner of fertilisation of the surviving +members of the most ancient forms of the dicotyledons is a very good one, +and I hope that you will keep it in mind yourself, for I have turned my +attention to other subjects. Delpino I think says that Magnolia is +fertilised by insects which gnaw the petals, and I should not be surprised +if the same fact holds good with Nymphaea. Whenever I have looked at the +flowers of these latter plants I have felt inclined to admit the view that +petals are modified stamens, and not modified leaves; though Poinsettia +seems to show that true leaves might be converted into coloured petals. I +grieve to say that I have never been properly grounded in Botany and have +studied only special points--therefore I cannot pretend to express any +opinion on your remarks on the origin of the flowers of the Coniferae, +Gnetaceae, etc.; but I have been delighted with what you say on the +conversion of a monoecious species into a hermaphrodite one by the +condensations of the verticils on a branch bearing female flowers near the +summit, and male flowers below. + +I expect Hooker to come here before long, and I will then show him your +drawing, and if he makes any important remarks I will communicate with you. +He is very busy at present in clearing off arrears after his American +Expedition, so that I do not like to trouble him, even with the briefest +note. I am at present working with my son at some Physiological subjects, +and we are arriving at very curious results, but they are not as yet +sufficiently certain to be worth communicating to you... + + +[In 1877 a second edition of the 'Fertilisation of Orchids' was published, +the first edition having been for some time out of print. The new edition +was remodelled and almost re-written, and a large amount of new matter +added, much of which the author owed to his friend Fritz Muller. + +With regard to this edition he wrote to Dr. Gray:-- + +"I do not suppose I shall ever again touch the book. After much doubt I +have resolved to act in this way with all my books for the future; that is +to correct them once and never touch them again, so as to use the small +quantity of work left in me for new matter." + +He may have felt a diminution of his powers of reviewing large bodies of +facts, such as would be needed in the preparation of new editions, but his +powers of observation were certainly not diminished. He wrote to Mr. Dyer +on July 14, 1878:] + + +My dear Dyer, + +Thalia dealbata was sent me from Kew: it has flowered and after looking +casually at the flowers, they have driven me almost mad, and I have worked +at them for a week: it is as grand a case as that of Catasetum. + +Pistil vigorously motile (so that whole flower shakes when pistil suddenly +coils up); when excited by a touch the two filaments [are] produced +laterally and transversely across the flower (just over the nectar) from +one of the petals or modified stamens. It is splendid to watch the +phenomenon under a weak power when a bristle is inserted into a YOUNG +flower which no insect has visited. As far as I know Stylidium is the sole +case of sensitive pistil and here it is the pistil + stamens. In Thalia +(Hildebrand has described an explosive arrangement in some of the +Maranteae--the tribe to which Thalia belongs.) cross-fertilisation is +ensured by the wonderful movement, if bees visit several flowers. + +I have now relieved my mind and will tell the purport of this note--viz. if +any other species of Thalia besides T. dealbata should flower with you, for +the love of heaven and all the saints, send me a few in TIN BOX WITH DAMP +MOSS. + +Your insane friend, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In 1878 Dr. Ogle's translation of Kerner's interesting book, 'Flowers and +their Unbidden Guests,' was published. My father, who felt much interest +in the translation (as appears in the following letter), contributed some +prefatory words of approval:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. OGLE. +Down, December 16 [1878]. + +...I have now read Kerner's book, which is better even than I anticipated. +The translation seems to me as clear as daylight, and written in forcible +and good familiar English. I am rather afraid that it is too good for the +English public, which seems to like very washy food, unless it be +administered by some one whose name is well-known, and then I suspect a +good deal of the unintelligible is very pleasing to them. I hope to heaven +that I may be wrong. Anyhow, you and Mrs. Ogle have done a right good +service for Botanical Science. Yours very sincerely, + +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--You have done me much honour in your prefatory remarks. + + +[One of the latest references to his Orchid-work occurs in a letter to Mr. +Bentham, February 16, 1880. It shows the amount of pleasure which this +subject gave to my father, and (what is characteristic of him) that his +reminiscence of the work was one of delight in the observations which +preceded its publication. Not to the applause which followed it:-- + +"They are wonderful creatures, these Orchids, and I sometimes think with a +glow of pleasure, when I remember making out some little point in their +method of fertilisation."] + + +CHAPTER 2.XI. + +THE 'EFFECTS OF CROSS- AND SELF-FERTILISATION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.' + +1876. + +[This book, as pointed out in the 'Autobiography,' is a complement to the +'Fertilisation of Orchids,' because it shows how important are the results +of cross-fertilisation which are ensured by the mechanisms described in +that book. + +By proving that the offspring of cross-fertilisation are more vigorous than +the offspring of self-fertilisation, he showed that one circumstance which +influences the fate of young plants in the struggle for life is the degree +to which their parents are fitted for cross-fertilisation. He thus +convinced himself that the intensity of the struggle (which he had +elsewhere shown to exist among young plants) is a measure of the strength +of a selective agency perpetually sifting out every modification in the +structure of flowers which can effect its capabilities for cross- +fertilisation. + +The book is also valuable in another respect, because it throws light on +the difficult problems of the origin of sexuality. The increased vigour +resulting from cross-fertilisation is allied in the closest manner to the +advantage gained by change of conditions. So strongly is this the case, +that in some instances cross-fertilisation gives no advantage to the +offspring, unless the parents have lived under slightly different +conditions. So that the really important thing is not that two individuals +of different BLOOD shall unite, but two individuals which have been +subjected to different conditions. We are thus led to believe that +sexuality is a means for infusing vigour into the offspring by the +coalescence of differentiated elements, an advantage which could not follow +if reproductions were entirely asexual. + +It is remarkable that this book, the result of eleven years of experimental +work, owed its origin to a chance observation. My father had raised two +beds of Linaria vulgaris--one set being the offspring of cross- and the +other of self-fertilisation. These plants were grown for the sake of some +observations on inheritance, and not with any view to cross-breeding, and +he was astonished to observe that the offspring of self-fertilisation were +clearly less vigorous than the others. It seemed incredible to him that +this result could be due to a single act of self-fertilisation, and it was +only in the following year when precisely the same result occurred in the +case of a similar experiment on inheritance in Carnations, that his +attention was "thoroughly aroused" and that he determined to make a series +of experiments specially directed to the question. The following letters +give some account of the work in question.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +September 10, [1866?]. + +...I have just begun a large course of experiments on the germination of +the seed, and on the growth of the young plants when raised from a pistil +fertilised by pollen from the same flower, and from pollen from a distinct +plant of the same, or of some other variety. I have not made sufficient +experiments to judge certainly, but in some cases the difference in the +growth of the young plants is highly remarkable. I have taken every kind +of precaution in getting seed from the same plant, in germinating the seed +on my own chimney-piece, in planting the seedlings in the same flower-pot, +and under this similar treatment I have seen the young seedlings from the +crossed seed exactly twice as tall as the seedlings from the self- +fertilised seed; both seeds having germinated on the same day. If I can +establish this fact (but perhaps it will all go to the dogs), in some fifty +cases, with plants of different orders, I think it will be very important, +for then we shall positively know why the structure of every flower +permits, or favours, or necessitates an occasional cross with a distinct +individual. But all this is rather cooking my hare before I have caught +it. But somehow it is a great pleasure to me to tell you what I am about. +Believe me, my dear Gray, + +Ever yours most truly, and with cordial thanks, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO G. BENTHAM. +April 22, 1868. + +...I am experimenting on a very large scale on the difference in power of +growth between plants raised from self-fertilised and crossed seeds; and it +is no exaggeration to say that the difference in growth and vigour is +sometimes truly wonderful. Lyell, Huxley and Hooker have seen some of my +plants, and been astonished; and I should much like to show them to you. I +always supposed until lately that no evil effects would be visible until +after several generations of self-fertilisation; but now I see that one +generation sometimes suffices; and the existence of dimorphic plants and +all the wonderful contrivances of orchids are quite intelligible to me. + +With cordial thanks for your letter, which has pleased me greatly, + +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[An extract from a letter to Dr. Gray (March 11, 1873) mentions the +progress of the work:-- + +"I worked last summer hard at Drosera, but could not finish till I got +fresh plants, and consequently took up the effects of crossing and self- +fertilising plants, and am got so interested that Drosera must go to the +dogs till I finish with this, and get it published; but then I will resume +my beloved Drosera, and I heartily apologise for having sent the precious +little things even for a moment to the dogs." + +The following letters give the author's impression of his own book.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. +Down, September 16, 1876. + +My dear Sir, + +I have just received proofs in sheet of five sheets, so you will have to +decide soon how many copies will have to be struck off. I do not know what +to advise. The greater part of the book is extremely dry, and the whole on +a special subject. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the book is of value, +and I am convinced that for MANY years copies will be occasionally sold. +Judging from the sale of my former books, and from supposing that some +persons will purchase it to complete the set of my works, I would suggest +1500. But you must be guided by your larger experience. I will only +repeat that I am convinced the book is of some permanent value... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO VICTOR CARUS. +Down, September 27, 1876. + +My dear Sir, + +I sent by this morning's post the four first perfect sheets of my new book, +the title of which you will see on the first page, and which will be +published early in November. + +I am sorry to say that it is only shorter by a few pages than my +'Insectivorous Plants.' The whole is now in type, though I have corrected +finally only half the volume. You will, therefore, rapidly receive the +remainder. The book is very dull. Chapters II. to VI., inclusive, are +simply a record of experiments. Nevertheless, I believe (though a man can +never judge his own books) that the book is valuable. You will have to +decide whether it is worth translating. I hope so. It has cost me very +great labour, and the results seem to me remarkable and well established. + +If you translate it, you could easily get aid for Chapters II. to VI., as +there is here endless, but I have thought necessary repetition. I shall be +anxious to hear what you decide... + +I most sincerely hope that your health has been fairly good this summer. + +My dear Sir, yours very truly, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, October 28, 1876. + +My dear Gray, + +I send by this post all the clean sheets as yet printed, and I hope to send +the remainder within a fortnight. Please observe that the first six +chapters are not readable, and the six last very dull. Still I believe +that the results are valuable. If you review the book, I shall be very +curious to see what you think of it, for I care more for your judgment than +for that of almost any one else. I know also that you will speak the +truth, whether you approve or disapprove. Very few will take the trouble +to read the book, and I do not expect you to read the whole, but I hope you +will read the latter chapters. + +...I am so sick of correcting the press and licking my horrid bad style +into intelligible English. + + +[The 'Effects of Cross and Self-fertilisation' was published on November +10, 1876, and 1500 copies were sold before the end of the year. The +following letter refers to a review in 'Nature' (February 15, 1877.):] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +Down, February 16, 1877. + +Dear Dyer, + +I must tell you how greatly I am pleased and honoured by your article in +'Nature,' which I have just read. You are an adept in saying what will +please an author, not that I suppose you wrote with this express intention. +I should be very well contented to deserve a fraction of your praise. I +have also been much interested, and this is better than mere pleasure, by +your argument about the separation of the sexes. I dare say that I am +wrong, and will hereafter consider what you say more carefully: but at +present I cannot drive out of my head that the sexes must have originated +from two individuals, slightly different, which conjugated. But I am aware +that some cases of conjugation are opposed to any such views. + +With hearty thanks, +Yours sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.XII. + +'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS ON PLANTS OF THE SAME SPECIES.' + +1877. + +[The volume bearing the above title was published in 1877, and was +dedicated by the author to Professor Asa Gray, "as a small tribute of +respect and affection." It consists of certain earlier papers re-edited, +with the addition of a quantity of new matter. The subjects treated in the +book are:-- + +1. Heterostyled Plants. + +2. Polygamous, Dioecious, and Gynodioecious Plants. + +3. Cleistogamic Flowers. + +The nature of heterostyled plants may be illustrated in the primrose, one +of the best known examples of the class. If a number of primroses be +gathered, it will be found that some plants yield nothing but "pin-eyed" +flowers, in which the style (or organ for the transmission of the pollen to +the ovule) is long, while the others yield only "thrum-eyed" flowers with +short styles. Thus primroses are divided into two sets or castes differing +structurally from each other. My father showed that they also differ +sexually, and that in fact the bond between the two castes more nearly +resembles that between separate sexes than any other known relationship. +Thus for example a long-styled primrose, though it can be fertilised by its +own pollen, is not FULLY fertile unless it is impregnated by the pollen of +a short-styled flower. Heterostyled plants are comparable to hermaphrodite +animals, such as snails, which require the concourse of two individuals, +although each possesses both the sexual elements. The difference is that +in the case of the primrose it is PERFECT FERTILITY, and not simply +FERTILITY, that depends on the mutual action of the two sets of +individuals. + +The work on heterostyled plants has a special bearing, to which the author +attached much importance, on the problem of origin of species. (See +'Autobiography,' volume i.) + +He found that a wonderfully close parallelism exists between hybridisation +and certain forms of fertilisation among heterostyled plants. So that it +is hardly an exaggeration to say that the "illegitimately" reared seedlings +are hybrids, although both their parents belong to identically the same +species. In a letter to Professor Huxley, my father writes as if his +researches on heterostyled plants tended to make him believe that sterility +is a selected or acquired quality. But in his later publications, e.g. in +the sixth edition of the 'Origin,' he adheres to the belief that sterility +is an incidental rather than a selected quality. The result of his work on +heterostyled plants is of importance as showing that sterility is no test +of specific distinctness, and that it depends on differentiation of the +sexual elements which is independent of any racial difference. I imagine +that it was his instinctive love of making out a difficulty which to a +great extent kept him at work so patiently on the heterostyled plants. But +it was the fact that general conclusions of the above character could be +drawn from his results which made him think his results worthy of +publication. (See 'Forms of Flowers,' page 243.) + +The papers which on this subject preceded and contributed to 'Forms of +Flowers' were the following:-- + +"On the two Forms or Dimorphic Condition in the Species of Primula, and on +their remarkable Sexual Relations." Linn. Soc. Journal, 1862.) + +"On the Existence of Two Forms, and on their Reciprocal Sexual Relations, +in several Species of the Genus Linum." Linn. Soc. Journal, 1863. + +"On the Sexual Relations of the Three Forms of Lythrum salicaria," Ibid. +1864. + +"On the Character and Hybrid-like Nature of the Offspring from the +Illegitimate Unions of Dimorphic and Trimorphic Plants." Ibid. 1869. + +"On the Specific Differences between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var. +Officinalis, Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.) and P. +elatior, Jacq.; and on the Hybrid Nature of the Common Oxlip. With +Supplementary Remarks on Naturally Produced Hybrids in the Genus +Verbascum." Ibid. 1869. + + +The following letter shows that he began the work on heterostyled plants +with an erroneous view as to the meaning of the facts.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 7 [1860]. + +...I have this morning been looking at my experimental cowslips, and I find +some plants have all flowers with long stamens and short pistils, which I +will call "male plants," others with short stamens and long pistils, which +I will call "female plants." This I have somewhere seen noticed, I think +by Henslow; but I find (after looking at my two sets of plants) that the +stigmas of the male and female are of slightly different shape, and +certainly different degree of roughness, and what has astonished me, the +pollen of the so-called female plant, though very abundant, is more +transparent, and each granule is exactly only 2/3 of the size of the pollen +of the so-called male plant. Has this been observed? I cannot help +suspecting [that] the cowslip is in fact dioecious, but it may turn out all +a blunder, but anyhow I will mark with sticks the so-called male and female +plants and watch their seeding. It would be a fine case of gradation +between an hermaphrodite and unisexual condition. Likewise a sort of case +of balancement of long and short pistils and stamens. Likewise perhaps +throws light on oxlips... + +I have now examined primroses and find exactly the same difference in the +size of the pollen, correlated with the same difference in the length of +the style and roughness of the stigmas. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +June 8 [1860]. + +...I have been making some little trifling observations which have +interested and perplexed me much. I find with primroses and cowslips, that +about an equal number of plants are thus characterised. + +SO-CALLED (by me) MALE plant. Pistil much shorter than stamens; stigma +rather smooth,--POLLEN GRAINS LARGE, throat of corolla short. + +SO-CALLED FEMALE plant. Pistil much longer than stamens, stigma rougher, +POLLEN-GRAINS SMALLER,--throat of corolla long. + +I have marked a lot of plants, and expected to find the so-called male +plant barren; but judging from the feel of the capsules, this is not the +case, and I am very much surprised at the difference in the size of the +pollen...If it should prove that the so-called male plants produce less +seed than the so-called females, what a beautiful case of gradation from +hermaphrodite to unisexual condition it will be! If they produce about +equal number of seed, how perplexing it will be. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, December 17 [1860?]. + +...I have just been ordering a photograph of myself for a friend; and have +ordered one for you, and for heaven's sake oblige me, and burn that now +hanging up in your room.--It makes me look atrociously wicked. + +...In the spring I must get you to look for long pistils and short pistils +in the rarer species of Primula and in some allied Genera. It holds with +P. Sinensis. You remember all the fuss I made on this subject last spring; +well, the other day at last I had time to weigh the seeds, and by Jove the +plants of primroses and cowslip with short pistils and large grained pollen +(Thus the plants which he imagined to be tending towards a male condition +were more productive than the supposed females.) are rather more fertile +than those with long pistils, and small-grained pollen. I find that they +require the action of insects to set them, and I never will believe that +these differences are without some meaning. + +Some of my experiments lead me to suspect that the large-grained pollen +suits the long pistils and the small-grained pollen suits the short +pistils; but I am determined to see if I cannot make out the mystery next +spring. + +How does your book on plants brew in your mind? Have you begun it?... + +Remember me most kindly to Oliver. He must be astonished at not having a +string of questions, I fear he will get out of practice! + + +[The Primula-work was finished in the autumn of 1861, and on November 8th +he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"I have sent my paper on dimorphism in Primula to the Linn. Soc. I shall +go up and read it whenever it comes on; I hope you may be able to attend, +for I do not suppose many will care a penny for the subject." + +With regard to the reading of the paper (on November 21st), he wrote to the +same friend:-- + +"I by no means thought that I produced a "tremendous effect" in the Linn. +Soc., but by Jove the Linn. Soc. produced a tremendous effect on me, for I +could not get out of bed till late next evening, so that I just crawled +home. I fear I must give up trying to read any paper or speak; it is a +horrid bore, I can do nothing like other people." + +To Dr. Gray he wrote, (December 1861):-- + +"You may rely on it, I will send you a copy of my Primula paper as soon as +I can get one; but I believe it will not be printed till April 1st, and +therefore after my Orchid Book. I care more for your and Hooker's opinion +than for that of all the rest of the world, and for Lyell's on geological +points. Bentham and Hooker thought well of my paper when read; but no one +can judge of evidence by merely hearing a paper." + +The work on Primula was the means of bringing my father in contact with the +late Mr. John Scott, then working as a gardener in the Botanic Gardens at +Edinburgh,--an employment which he seems to have chosen in order to gratify +his passion for natural history. He wrote one or two excellent botanical +papers, and ultimately obtained a post in India. (While in India he made +some admirable observations on expression for my father.) He died in 1880. + +A few phrases may be quoted from letters to Sir J.D. Hooker, showing my +father's estimate of Scott:-- + +"If you know, do please tell me who is John Scott of the Botanical Gardens +of Edinburgh; I have been corresponding largely with him; he is no common +man." + +"If he had leisure he would make a wonderful observer; to my judgment I +have come across no one like him." + +"He has interested me strangely, and I have formed a very high opinion of +his intellect. I hope he will accept pecuniary assistance from me; but he +has hitherto refused." (He ultimately succeeded in being allowed to pay +for Mr. Scott's passage to India.) + +"I know nothing of him excepting from his letters; these show remarkable +talent, astonishing perseverance, much modesty, and what I admire, +determined difference from me on many points." + +So highly did he estimate Scott's abilities that he formed a plan (which +however never went beyond an early stage of discussion) of employing him to +work out certain problems connected with intercrossing. + +The following letter refers to my father's investigations on Lythrum (He +was led to this, his first case of trimorphism by Lecoq's 'Geographie +Botanique,' and this must have consoled him for the trick this work played +him in turning out to be so much larger than he expected. He wrote to Sir +J.D. Hooker: "Here is a good joke: I saw an extract from Lecoq, +'Geograph. Bot.,' and ordered it and hoped that it was a good sized +pamphlet, and nine thick volumes have arrived!"), a plant which reveals +even a more wonderful condition of sexual complexity than that of Primula. +For in Lythrum there are not merely two, but three castes, differing +structurally and physiologically from each other:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, August 9 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +It is late at night, and I am going to write briefly, and of course to beg +a favour. + +The Mitchella very good, but pollen apparently equal-sized. I have just +examined Hottonia, grand difference in pollen. Echium vulgare, a humbug, +merely a case like Thymus. But I am almost stark staring mad over Lythrum +(On another occasion he wrote (to Dr. Gray) with regard to Lythrum: "I +must hold hard, otherwise I shall spend my life over dimorphism."); if I +can prove what I fully believe, it is a grand case of TRIMORPHISM, with +three different pollens and three stigmas; I have castrated and fertilised +above ninety flowers, trying all the eighteen distinct crosses which are +possible within the limits of this one species! I cannot explain, but I +feel sure you would think it a grand case. I have been writing to +Botanists to see if I can possibly get L. hyssopifolia, and it has just +flashed on me that you might have Lythrum in North America, and I have +looked to your Manual. For the love of heaven have a look at some of your +species, and if you can get me seed, do; I want much to try species with +few stamens, if they are dimorphic; Nesaea verticillata I should expect to +be trimorphic. Seed! Seed! Seed! I should rather like seed of +Mitchella. But oh, Lythrum! + +Your utterly mad friend, +C. DARWIN. + +P.S.--There is reason in my madness, for I can see that to those who +already believe in change of species, these facts will modify to a certain +extent the whole view of Hybridity. (A letter to Dr. Gray (July, 1862) +bears on this point: "A few days ago I made an observation which has +surprised me more than it ought to do--it will have to be repeated several +times, but I have scarcely a doubt of its accuracy. I stated in my Primula +paper that the long-styled form of Linum grandiflorum was utterly sterile +with its own pollen; I have lately been putting the pollen of the two forms +on the stigma of the SAME flower; and it strikes me as truly wonderful, +that the stigma distinguishes the pollen; and is penetrated by the tubes of +the one and not by those of the other; nor are the tubes exserted. Or +(which is the same thing) the stigma of the one form acts on and is acted +on by pollen, which produces not the least effect on the stigma of the +other form. Taking sexual power as the criterion of difference, the two +forms of this one species may be said to be generically distinct.") + + +[On the same subject he wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker in August 1862:-- + +"Is Oliver at Kew? When I am established at Bournemouth I am completely +mad to examine any fresh flowers of any Lythraceous plant, and I would +write and ask him if any are in bloom." + +Again he wrote to the same friend in October:-- + +"If you ask Oliver, I think he will tell you I have got a real odd case in +Lythrum, it interests me extremely, and seems to me the strangest case of +propagation recorded amongst plants or animals, viz. a necessary triple +alliance between three hermaphrodites. I feel sure I can now prove the +truth of the case from a multitude of crosses made this summer." + +In an article, 'Dimorphism in the Genitalia of Plants' ('Silliman's +Journal,' 1862, volume xxxiv. page 419), Dr. Gray pointed out that the +structural difference between the two forms of Primula had already been +defined in the 'Flora of North America,' as DIOECIO-DIMORPHISM. The use of +this term called forth the following remarks from my father. The letter +also alludes to a review of the 'Fertilisation of Orchids' in the same +volume of 'Silliman's Journal.'] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, November 26 [1862]. + +My dear Gray, + +The very day after my last letter, yours of November 10th, and the review +in 'Silliman,' which I feared might have been lost, reached me. We were +all very much interested by the political part of your letter; and in some +odd way one never feels that information and opinions painted in a +newspaper come from a living source; they seem dead, whereas all that you +write is full of life. The reviews interested me profoundly; you rashly +ask for my opinion, and you must consequently endure a long letter. First +for Dimorphism; I do not AT PRESENT like the term "Dioecio-dimorphism;" for +I think it gives quite a false notion, that the phenomena are connected +with a separation of the sexes. Certainly in Primula there is unequal +fertility in the two forms, and I suspect this is the case with Linum; and, +therefore I felt bound in the Primula paper to state that it might be a +step towards a dioecious condition; though I believe there are no dioecious +forms in Primulaceae or Linaceae. But the three forms in Lythrum convince +me that the phenomenon is in no way necessarily connected with any tendency +to separation of sexes. The case seems to me in result or function to be +almost identical with what old C.K. Sprengel called "dichogamy," and which +is so frequent in truly hermaphrodite groups; namely, the pollen and stigma +of each flower being mature at different periods. If I am right, it is +very advisable not to use the term "dioecious," as this at once brings +notions of separation of sexes. + +...I was much perplexed by Oliver's remarks in the 'Natural History Review' +on the Primula case, on the lower plants having sexes more often separated +than in the higher plants,--so exactly the reverse of what takes place in +animals. Hooker in his review of the 'Orchids' repeats this remark. There +seems to be much truth in what you say ("Forms which are low in the scale +as respects morphological completeness may be high in the scale of rank +founded on specialisation of structure and function."--Dr. Gray, in +'Silliman's Journal.'), and it did not occur to me, about no improbability +of specialisation in CERTAIN lines in lowly organised beings. I could +hardly doubt that the hermaphrodite state is the aboriginal one. But how +is it in the conjugation of Confervae--is not one of the two individuals +here in fact male, and the other female? I have been much puzzled by this +contrast in sexual arrangements between plants and animals. Can there be +anything in the following consideration: By ROUGHEST calculation about +one-third of the British GENERA of aquatic plants belong to the Linnean +classes of Mono and Dioecia; whilst of terrestrial plants (the aquatic +genera being subtracted) only one-thirteenth of the genera belong to these +two classes. Is there any truth in this fact generally? Can aquatic +plants, being confined to a small area or small community of individuals, +require more free crossing, and therefore have separate sexes? But to +return to our point, does not Alph. de Candolle say that aquatic plants +taken as a whole are lowly organised, compared with terrestrial; and may +not Oliver's remark on the separation of the sexes in lowly organised +plants stand in some relation to their being frequently aquatic? Or is +this all rubbish? + +...What a magnificent compliment you end your review with! You and Hooker +seem determined to turn my head with conceit and vanity (if not already +turned) and make me an unbearable wretch. + +With most cordial thanks, my good and kind friend, +Farewell, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The following passage from a letter (July 28, 1863), to Prof. Hildebrand, +contains a reference to the reception of the dimorphic work in France:-- + +"I am extremely much pleased to hear that you have been looking at the +manner of fertilisation of your native Orchids, and still more pleased to +hear that you have been experimenting on Linum. I much hope that you may +publish the result of these experiments; because I was told that the most +eminent French botanists of Paris said that my paper on Primula was the +work of imagination, and that the case was so improbable they did not +believe in my results."] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +April 19 [1864]. + +...I received a little time ago a paper with a good account of your +Herbarium and Library, and a long time previously your excellent review of +Scott's 'Primulaceae,' and I forwarded it to him in India, as it would much +please him. I was very glad to see in it a new case of Dimorphism (I +forget just now the name of the plant); I shall be grateful to hear of any +other cases, as I still feel an interest in the subject. I should be very +glad to get some seed of your dimorphic Plantagos; for I cannot banish the +suspicion that they must belong to a very different class like that of the +common Thyme. (In this prediction he was right. See 'Forms of Flowers,' +page 307.) How could the wind, which is the agent of fertilisation, with +Plantago, fertilise "reciprocally dimorphic" flowers like Primula? Theory +says this cannot be, and in such cases of one's own theories I follow +Agassiz and declare, "that nature never lies." I should even be very glad +to examine the two dried forms of Plantago. Indeed, any dried dimorphic +plants would be gratefully received... + +Did my Lythrum paper interest you? I crawl on at the rate of two hours per +diem, with 'Variation under Domestication.' + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, November 26 [1864]. + +...You do not know how pleased I am that you have read my Lythrum paper; I +thought you would not have time, and I have for long years looked at you as +my Public, and care more for your opinion than that of all the rest of the +world. I have done nothing which has interested me so much as Lythrum, +since making out the complemental males of Cirripedes. I fear that I have +dragged in too much miscellaneous matter into the paper. + +...I get letters occasionally, which show me that Natural Selection is +making GREAT progress in Germany, and some amongst the young in France. I +have just received a pamphlet from Germany, with the complimentary title of +"Darwinische Arten-Enstehung-Humbug"! + +Farewell, my best of old friends, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +September 10, [1867?]. + +...The only point which I have made out this summer, which could possibly +interest you, is that the common Oxlip found everywhere, more or less +commonly in England, is certainly a hybrid between the primrose and +cowslip; whilst the P. elatior (Jacq.), found only in the Eastern Counties, +is a perfectly distinct and good species; hardly distinguishable from the +common oxlip, except by the length of the seed-capsule relatively to the +calyx. This seems to me rather a horrid fact for all systematic +botanists... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. HILDEBRAND. +Down, November 16, 1868. + +My dear Sir, + +I wrote my last note in such a hurry from London, that I quite forgot what +I chiefly wished to say, namely to thank you for your excellent notices in +the 'Bot. Zeitung' of my paper on the offspring of dimorphic plants. The +subject is so obscure that I did not expect that any one would have noticed +my paper, and I am accordingly very much pleased that you should have +brought the subject before the many excellent naturalists of Germany. + +Of all the German authors (but they are not many) whose works I have read, +you write by far the clearest style, but whether this is a compliment to a +German writer I do not know. + + +[The two following letters refer to the small bud-like "Cleistogamic" +flowers found in the violet and many other plants. They do not open and +are necessarily self-fertilised:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, May 30 [1862]. + +...What will become of my book on Variation? I am involved in a +multiplicity of experiments. I have been amusing myself by looking at the +small flowers of Viola. If Oliver (Shortly afterwards he wrote: "Oliver, +the omniscient, has sent me a paper in the 'Bot. Zeitung,' with most +accurate description of all that I saw in Viola.") has had time to study +them, he will have seen the curious case (as it seems to me) which I have +just made clearly out, viz. that in these flowers, the FEW pollen grains +are never shed, or never leave the anther-cells, but emit long pollen +tubes, which penetrate the stigma. To-day I got the anther with the +included pollen grain (now empty) at one end, and a bundle of tubes +penetrating the stigmatic tissue at the other end; I got the whole under a +microscope without breaking the tubes; I wonder whether the stigma pours +some fluid into the anther so as to excite the included grains. It is a +rather odd case of correlation, that in the double sweet violet the small +flowers are double; i.e., have a multitude of minute scales representing +the petals. What queer little flowers they are. + +Have you had time to read poor dear Henslow's life? it has interested me +for the man's sake, and, what I did not think possible, has even exalted +his character in my estimation... + + +[The following is an extract from the letter given in part above, and +refers to Dr. Gray's article on the sexual differences of plants:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +NOVEMBER 26 [1862]. + +...You will think that I am in the most unpleasant, contradictory, +fractious humour, when I tell you that I do not like your term of +"precocious fertilisation" for your second class of dimorphism [i.e. for +cleistogamic fertilisation]. If I can trust my memory, the state of the +corolla, of the stigma, and the pollen-grains is different from the state +of the parts in the bud; that they are in a condition of special +modification. But upon my life I am ashamed of myself to differ so much +from my betters on this head. The TEMPORARY theory (This view is now +generally accepted.) which I have formed on this class of dimorphism, just +to guide experiment, is that the PERFECT flowers can only be perfectly +fertilised by insects, and are in this case abundantly crossed; but that +the flowers are not always, especially in early spring, visited enough by +insects, and therefore the little imperfect self-fertilising flowers are +developed to ensure a sufficiency of seed for present generations. Viola +canina is sterile, when not visited by insects, but when so visited forms +plenty of seed. I infer from the structure of three or four forms of +Balsamineae, that these require insects; at least there is almost as plain +adaptation to insects as in the Orchids. I have Oxalis acetosella ready in +pots for experiment next spring; and I fear this will upset my little +theory...Campanula carpathica, as I found this summer, is absolutely +sterile if insects are excluded. Specularia speculum is fairly fertile +when enclosed; and this seemed to me to be partially effected by the +frequent closing of the flower; the inward angular folds of the corolla +corresponding with the clefts of the open stigma, and in this action +pushing pollen from the outside of the stigma on to its surface. Now can +you tell me, does S. perfoliata close its flower like S. speculum, with +angular inward folds? if so, I am smashed without some fearful "wriggling." +Are the IMPERFECT flowers of your Specularia the early or the later ones? +very early or very late? It is rather pretty to see the importance of the +closing of flowers of S. speculum. + + +['Forms of Flowers' was published in July; in June, 1877, he wrote to +Professor Carus with regard to the translation:-- + +"My new book is not a long one, viz. 350 pages, chiefly of the larger type, +with fifteen simple woodcuts. All the proofs are corrected except the +Index, so that it will soon be published. + +"...I do not suppose that I shall publish any more books, though perhaps a +few more papers. I cannot endure being idle, but heaven knows whether I am +capable of any more good work." + +The review alluded to in the next letter is at page 445 of the volume of +'Nature' for 1878:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +Down, April 5, 1878. + +My dear Dyer, + +I have just read in 'Nature' the review of 'Forms of Flowers,' and I am +sure that it is by you. I wish with all my heart that it deserved one +quarter of the praises which you give it. Some of your remarks have +interested me greatly...Hearty thanks for your generous and most kind +sympathy, which does a man real good, when he is as dog-tired as I am at +this minute with working all day, so good-bye. + +C. DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.XIII. + +CLIMBING AND INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. + +[My father mentions in his 'Autobiography' (volume i.) that he was led to +take up the subject of climbing plants by reading Dr. Gray's paper, "Note +on the Coiling of the Tendrils of Plants." ('Proc. Amer. Acad. of Arts and +Sciences,' 1858.) This essay seems to have been read in 1862, but I am +only able to guess at the date of the letter in which he asks for a +reference to it, so that the precise date of his beginning this work cannot +be determined. + +In June 1863 he was certainly at work, and wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker for +information as to previous publications on the subject, being then in +ignorance of Palm's and H. v. Mohl's works on climbing plants, both of +which were published in 1827.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down [June] 25 [1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have been observing pretty carefully a little fact which has surprised +me; and I want to know from you and Oliver whether it seems new or odd to +you, so just tell me whenever you write; it is a very trifling fact, so do +not answer on purpose. + +I have got a plant of Echinocystis lobata to observe the irritability of +the tendrils described by Asa Gray, and which of course, is plain enough. +Having the plant in my study, I have been surprised to find that the +uppermost part of each branch (i.e. the stem between the two uppermost +leaves excluding the growing tip) is CONSTANTLY and slowly twisting round +making a circle in from one-half to two hours; it will sometimes go round +two or three times, and then at the same rate untwists and twists in +opposite directions. It generally rests half an hour before it +retrogrades. The stem does not become permanently twisted. The stem +beneath the twisting portion does not move in the least, though not tied. +The movement goes on all day and all early night. It has no relation to +light for the plant stands in my window and twists from the light just as +quickly as towards it. This may be a common phenomenon for what I know, +but it confounded me quite, when I began to observe the irritability of the +tendrils. I do not say it is the final cause, but the result is pretty, +for the plant every one and a half or two hours sweeps a circle (according +to the length of the bending shoot and the length of the tendril) of from +one foot to twenty inches in diameter, and immediately that the tendril +touches any object its sensitiveness causes it immediately to seize it; a +clever gardener, my neighbour, who saw the plant on my table last night, +said: "I believe, Sir, the tendrils can see, for wherever I put a plant it +finds out any stick near enough." I believe the above is the explanation, +viz. that it sweeps slowly round and round. The tendrils have some sense, +for they do not grasp each other when young. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, July 14 [1863]. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am getting very much amused by my tendrils, it is just the sort of +niggling work which suits me, and takes up no time and rather rests me +whilst writing. So will you just think whether you know any plant, which +you could give or lend me, or I could buy, with tendrils, remarkable in any +way for development, for odd or peculiar structure, or even for an odd +place in natural arrangement. I have seen or can see Cucurbitaceae, +Passion-flower, Virginian-creeper, Cissus discolor, Common-pea and +Everlasting-pea. It is really curious the diversification of irritability +(I do not mean the spontaneous movement, about which I wrote before and +correctly, as further observation shows): for instance, I find a slight +pinch between the thumb and finger at the end of the tendril of the +Cucurbitaceae causes prompt movement, but a pinch excites no movement in +Cissus. The cause is that one side alone (the concave) is irritable in the +former; whereas both sides are irritable in Cissus, so if you excite at the +same time both OPPOSITE sides there is no movement, but by touching with a +pencil the two branches of the tendril, in any part whatever, you cause +movement towards that point; so that I can mould, by a mere touch, the two +branches into any shape I like... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, August 4 [1863]. + +My present hobby-horse I owe to you, viz. the tendrils: their irritability +is beautiful, as beautiful in all its modifications as anything in Orchids. +About the SPONTANEOUS movement (independent of touch) of the tendrils and +upper internodes, I am rather taken aback by your saying, "is it not well- +known?" I can find nothing in any book which I have...The spontaneous +movement of the tendrils is independent of the movement of the upper +internodes, but both work harmoniously together in sweeping a circle for +the tendrils to grasp a stick. So with all climbing plants (without +tendrils) as yet examined, the upper internodes go on night and day +sweeping a circle in one fixed direction. It is surprising to watch the +Apocyneae with shoots 18 inches long (beyond the supporting stick), +steadily searching for something to climb up. When the shoot meets a +stick, the motion at that point is arrested, but in the upper part is +continued; so that the climbing of all plants yet examined is the simple +result of the spontaneous circulatory movement of the upper internodes. +Pray tell me whether anything has been published on this subject? I hate +publishing what is old; but I shall hardly regret my work if it is old, as +it has much amused me... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +May 28, 1864. + +...An Irish nobleman on his death-bed declared that he could +conscientiously say that he had never throughout life denied himself any +pleasure; and I can conscientiously say that I have never scrupled to +trouble you; so here goes.--Have you travelled South, and can you tell me +whether the trees, which Bignonia capreolata climbs, are covered with moss +or filamentous lichen or Tillandsia? (He subsequently learned from Dr. +Gray that Polypodium incanum abounds on the trees in the districts where +this species of Bignonia grows. See 'Climbing Plants,' page 103.) I ask +because its tendrils abhor a simple stick, do not much relish rough bark, +but delight in wool or moss. They adhere in a curious manner by making +little disks, like the Ampelopsis...By the way, I will enclose some +specimens, and if you think it worth while, you can put them under the +simple microscope. It is remarkable how specially adapted some tendrils +are; those of Eccremocarpus scaber do not like a stick, will have nothing +to say to wool; but give them a bundle of culms of grass, or a bundle of +bristles and they seize them well. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, June 10 [1864]. + +...I have now read two German books, and all I believe that has been +written on climbers, and it has stirred me up to find that I have a good +deal of new matter. It is strange, but I really think no one has explained +simple twining plants. These books have stirred me up, and made me wish +for plants specified in them. I shall be very glad of those you mention. +I have written to Veitch for young Nepenthes and Vanilla (which I believe +will turn out a grand case, though a root creeper), if I cannot buy young +Vanilla I will ask you. I have ordered a leaf-climbing fern, Lygodium. +All this work about climbers would hurt my conscience, did I think I could +do harder work. (He was much out of health at this time.) + + +[He continued his observations on climbing plants during the prolonged +illness from which he suffered in the autumn of 1863, and in the following +spring. He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker, apparently in March 1864:-- + +"For several days I have been decidedly better, and what I lay much stress +on (whatever doctors say), my brain feels far stronger, and I have lost +many dreadful sensations. The hot-house is such an amusement to me, and my +amusement I owe to you, as my delight is to look at the many odd leaves and +plants from Kew...The only approach to work which I can do is to look at +tendrils and climbers, this does not distress my weakened brain. Ask +Oliver to look over the enclosed queries (and do you look) and amuse a +broken-down brother naturalist by answering any which he can. If you ever +lounge through your houses, remember me and climbing plants." + +On October 29, 1864, he wrote to Dr. Gray:-- + +"I have not been able to resist doing a little more at your godchild, my +climbing paper, or rather in size little book, which by Jove I will have +copied out, else I shall never stop. This has been new sort of work for +me, and I have been pleased to find what a capital guide for observations a +full conviction of the change of species is." + +On January 19, 1865, he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"It is working hours, but I am trying to take a day's holiday, for I +finished and despatched yesterday my climbing paper. For the last ten days +I have done nothing but correct refractory sentences, and I loathe the +whole subject." + +A letter to Dr. Gray, April 9, 1865, has a word or two on the subject:-- + +"I have begun correcting proofs of my paper on 'Climbing Plants.' I +suppose I shall be able to send you a copy in four or five weeks. I think +it contains a good deal new and some curious points, but it is so fearfully +long, that no one will ever read it. If, however, you do not SKIM through +it, you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child." + +Dr. Gray not only read it but approved of it, to my father's great +satisfaction, as the following extracts show:-- + +"I was much pleased to get your letter of July 24th. Now that I can do +nothing, I maunder over old subjects, and your approbation of my climbing +paper gives me VERY great satisfaction. I made my observations when I +could do nothing else and much enjoyed it, but always doubted whether they +were worth publishing. I demur to its not being necessary to explain in +detail about the spires in CAUGHT tendrils running in opposite directions; +for the fact for a long time confounded me, and I have found it difficult +enough to explain the cause to two or three persons." (August 15, 1865.) + +"I received yesterday your article (In the September number of 'Silliman's +Journal,' concluded in the January number, 1866.) on climbers, and it has +pleased me in an extraordinary and even silly manner. You pay me a superb +compliment, and as I have just said to my wife, I think my friends must +perceive that I like praise, they give me such hearty doses. I always +admire your skill in reviews or abstracts, and you have done this article +excellently and given the whole essence of my paper...I have had a letter +from a good Zoologist in S. Brazil, F. Muller, who has been stirred up to +observe climbers and gives me some curious cases of BRANCH-climbers, in +which branches are converted into tendrils, and then continue to grow and +throw out leaves and new branches, and then lose their tendril character." +(October 1865.) + +The paper on Climbing Plants was republished in 1875, as a separate book. +The author had been unable to give his customary amount of care to the +style of the original essay, owing to the fact that it was written during a +period of continued ill-health, and it was now found to require a great +deal of alteration. He wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker (March 3, 1875): "It is +lucky for authors in general that they do not require such dreadful work in +merely licking what they write into shape." And to Mr. Murray in September +he wrote: "The corrections are heavy in 'Climbing Plants,' and yet I +deliberately went over the MS. and old sheets three times." The book was +published in September 1875, an edition of 1500 copies was struck off; the +edition sold fairly well, and 500 additional copies were printed in June of +the following year.] + + +INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. + +[In the summer of 1860 he was staying at the house of his sister-in-law, +Miss Wedgwood, in Ashdown Forest, whence he wrote (July 29, 1860), to Sir +Joseph Hooker;-- + +"Latterly I have done nothing here; but at first I amused myself with a few +observations on the insect-catching power of Drosera; and I must consult +you some time whether my 'twaddle' is worth communicating to the Linnean +Society." + +In August he wrote to the same friend:-- + +"I will gratefully send my notes on Drosera when copied by my copier: the +subject amused me when I had nothing to do." + +He has described in the 'Autobiography' (volume i.), the general nature of +these early experiments. He noticed insects sticking to the leaves, and +finding that flies, etc., placed on the adhesive glands were held fast and +embraced, he suspected that the leaves were adapted to supply nitrogenous +food to the plant. He therefore tried the effect on the leaves of various +nitrogenous fluids--with results which, as far as they went, verified his +surmise. In September, 1860, he wrote to Dr. Gray:-- + +"I have been infinitely amused by working at Drosera: the movements are +really curious; and the manner in which the leaves detect certain +nitrogenous compounds is marvellous. You will laugh; but it is, at +present, my full belief (after endless experiments) that they detect (and +move in consequence of) the 1/2880 part of a single grain of nitrate of +ammonia; but the muriate and sulphate of ammonia bother their chemical +skill, and they cannot make anything of the nitrogen in these salts! I +began this work on Drosera in relation to GRADATION as throwing light on +Dionaea." + +Later in the autumn he was again obliged to leave home for Eastbourne, +where he continued his work on Drosera. The work was so new to him that he +found himself in difficulties in the preparation of solutions, and became +puzzled over fluid and solid ounces, etc. etc. To a friend, the late Mr. +E. Cresy, who came to his help in the matter of weights and measures, he +wrote giving an account of the experiments. The extract (November 2, 1860) +which follows illustrates the almost superstitious precautions he often +applied to his researches:-- + +"Generally I have scrutinised every gland and hair on the leaf before +experimenting; but it occurred to me that I might in some way affect the +leaf; though this is almost impossible, as I scrutinised with equal care +those that I put into distilled water (the same water being used for +dissolving the carbonate of ammonia). I then cut off four leaves (not +touching them with my fingers), and put them in plain water, and four other +leaves into the weak solution, and after leaving them for an hour and a +half, I examined every hair on all eight leaves; no change on the four in +water; every gland and hair affected in those in ammonia. + +"I had measured the quantity of weak solution, and I counted the glands +which had absorbed the ammonia, and were plainly affected; the result +convinced me that each gland could not have absorbed more than 1/64000 or +1/65000 of a grain. I have tried numbers of other experiments all pointing +to the same result. Some experiments lead me to believe that very +sensitive leaves are acted on by much smaller doses. Reflect how little +ammonia a plant can get growing on poor soil--yet it is nourished. The +really surprising part seems to me that the effect should be visible, and +not under very high power; for after trying a high power, I thought it +would be safer not to consider any effect which was not plainly visible +under a two-thirds object glass and middle eye-piece. The effect which the +carbonate of ammonia produces is the segregation of the homogeneous fluid +in the cells into a cloud of granules and colourless fluid; and +subsequently the granules coalesce into larger masses, and for hours have +the oddest movements--coalescing, dividing, coalescing ad infinitum. I do +not know whether you will care for these ill-written details; but, as you +asked, I am sure I am bound to comply, after all the very kind and great +trouble which you have taken." + +On his return home he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker (November 21, 1860):-- + +"I have been working like a madman at Drosera. Here is a fact for you +which is certain as you stand where you are, though you won't believe it, +that a bit of hair 1/78000 of one grain in weight placed on gland, will +cause ONE of the gland-bearing hairs of Drosera to curve inwards, and will +alter the condition of the contents of every cell in the foot-stalk of the +gland." + +And a few days later to Lyell:-- + +"I will and must finish my Drosera MS., which will take me a week, for, at +the present moment, I care more about Drosera than the origin of all the +species in the world. But I will not publish on Drosera till next year, +for I am frightened and astounded at my results. I declare it is a certain +fact, that one organ is so sensitive to touch, that a weight seventy-eight +times less than that, viz., 1/1000 of a grain, which will move the best +chemical balance, suffices to cause a conspicuous movement. Is it not +curious that a plant should be far more sensitive to the touch than any +nerve in the human body? Yet I am perfectly sure that this is true. When +I am on my hobby-horse, I never can resist telling my friends how well my +hobby goes, so you must forgive the rider." + +The work was continued, as a holiday task, at Bournemouth, where he stayed +during the autumn of 1862. The discussion in the following letter on +"nervous matter" in Drosera is of interest in relation to recent researches +on the continuity of protoplasm from cell to cell:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Cliff Cottage, Bournemouth. +September 26 [1862]. + +My dear Hooker, + +Do not read this till you have leisure. If that blessed moment ever comes, +I should be very glad to have your opinion on the subject of this letter. +I am led to the opinion that Drosera must have diffused matter in organic +connection, closely analogous to the nervous matter of animals. When the +glands of one of the papillae or tentacles, in its natural position is +supplied with nitrogenised fluid and certain other stimulants, or when +loaded with an extremely slight weight, or when struck several times with a +needle, the pedicel bends near its base in under one minute. These varied +stimulants are conveyed down the pedicel by some means; it cannot be +vibration, for drops of fluid put on quite quietly cause the movement; it +cannot be absorption of the fluid from cell to cell, for I can see the rate +of absorption, which though quick, is far slower, and in Dionaea the +transmission is instantaneous; analogy from animals would point to +transmission through nervous matter. Reflecting on the rapid power of +absorption in the glands, the extreme sensibility of the whole organ, and +the conspicuous movement caused by varied stimulants, I have tried a number +of substances which are not caustic or corrosive,...but most of which are +known to have a remarkable action on the nervous matter of animals. You +will see the results in the enclosed paper. As the nervous matter of +different animals are differently acted on by the same poisons, one would +not expect the same action on plants and animals; only if plants have +diffused nervous matter, some degree of analogous action. And this is +partially the case. Considering these experiments, together with the +previously made remarks on the functions of the parts, I cannot avoid the +conclusion, that Drosera possesses matter at least in some degree analogous +in constitution and function to nervous matter. Now do tell me what you +think, as far as you can judge from my abstract; of course many more +experiments would have to be tried; but in former years I tried on the +whole leaf, instead of on separate glands, a number of innocuous (This line +of investigation made him wish for information on the action of poisons on +plants; as in many other cases he applied to Professor Oliver, and in +reference to the result wrote to Hooker: "Pray thank Oliver heartily for +his heap of references on poisons.") substances, such as sugar, gum, +starch, etc., and they produced no effect. Your opinion will aid me in +deciding some future year in going on with this subject. I should not have +thought it worth attempting, but I had nothing on earth to do. + +My dear Hooker, Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + +P.S.--We return home on Monday 28th. Thank Heaven! + + +[A long break now ensued in his work on insectivorous plants, and it was +not till 1872 that the subject seriously occupied him again. A passage in +a letter to Dr. Asa Gray, written in 1863 or 1864, shows, however, that the +question was not altogether absent from his mind in the interim:-- + +"Depend on it you are unjust on the merits of my beloved Drosera; it is a +wonderful plant, or rather a most sagacious animal. I will stick up for +Drosera to the day of my death. Heaven knows whether I shall ever publish +my pile of experiments on it." + +He notes in his diary that the last proof of the 'Expression of the +Emotions' was finished on August 22, 1872, and that he began to work on +Drosera on the following day.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +[Sevenoaks], October 22 [1872]. + +...I have worked pretty hard for four or five weeks on Drosera, and then +broke down; so that we took a house near Sevenoaks for three weeks (where I +now am) to get complete rest. I have very little power of working now, and +must put off the rest of the work on Drosera till next spring, as my plants +are dying. It is an endless subject, and I must cut it short, and for this +reason shall not do much on Dionaea. The point which has interested me +most is tracing the NERVES! which follow the vascular bundles. By a prick +with a sharp lancet at a certain point, I can paralyse one-half the leaf, +so that a stimulus to the other half causes no movement. It is just like +dividing the spinal marrow of a frog:--no stimulus can be sent from the +brain or anterior part of the spine to the hind legs; but if these latter +are stimulated, they move by reflex action. I find my old results about +the astonishing sensitiveness of the nervous system (!?)of Drosera to +various stimulants fully confirmed and extended... + + +[His work on digestion in Drosera and other points in the physiology of the +plant soon led him into regions where his knowledge was defective, and here +the advice and assistance which he received from Dr. Burdon Sanderson was +of much value:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J. BURDON SANDERSON. +Down, July 25, 1873. + +My dear Dr. Sanderson, + +I should like to tell you a little about my recent work with Drosera, to +show that I have profited by your suggestions, and to ask a question or +two. + +1. It is really beautiful how quickly and well Drosera and Dionaea +dissolve little cubes of albumen and gelatine. I kept the same sized cubes +on wet moss for comparison. When you were here I forgot that I had tried +gelatine, but albumen is far better for watching its dissolution and +absorption. Frankland has told me how to test in a rough way for pepsin; +and in the autumn he will discover what acid the digestive juice contains. + +2. A decoction of cabbage-leaves and green peas causes as much inflection +as an infusion of raw meat; a decoction of grass is less powerful. Though +I hear that the chemists try to precipitate all albumen from the extract of +belladonna, I think they must fail, as the extract causes inflection, +whereas a new lot of atropine, as well as the valerianate [of atropine], +produce no effect. + +3. I have been trying a good many experiments with heated water...Should +you not call the following case one of heat rigor? Two leaves were heated +to 130 deg, and had every tentacle closely inflected; one was taken out and +placed in cold water, and it re-expanded; the other was heated to 145 deg, +and had not the least power of re-expansion. Is not this latter case heat +rigor? If you can inform me, I should very much like to hear at what +temperature cold-blooded and invertebrate animals are killed. + +4. I must tell you my final result, of which I am sure, [as to] the +sensitiveness of Drosera. I made a solution of one part of phosphate of +ammonia by weight to 218,750 of water; of this solution I gave so much that +a leaf got 1/8000 of a grain of the phosphate. I then counted the glands, +and each could have got only 1/1552000 of a grain; this being absorbed by +the glands, sufficed to cause the tentacles bearing these glands to bend +through an angle of 180 deg. Such sensitiveness requires hot weather, and +carefully selected young yet mature leaves. It strikes me as a wonderful +fact. I must add that I took every precaution, by trying numerous leaves +at the same time in the solution and in the same water which was used for +making the solution. + +5. If you can persuade your friend to try the effects of carbonate of +ammonia on the aggregation of the white blood corpuscles, I should very +much like to hear the result. + +I hope this letter will not have wearied you. + +Believe me, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +Down, 24 [December 1873?]. + +My dear Mr. Dyer, + +I fear that you will think me a great bore, but I cannot resist telling you +that I have just found out that the leaves of Pinguicula possess a +beautifully adapted power of movement. Last night I put on a row of little +flies near one edge of two YOUNGISH leaves; and after 14 hours these edges +are beautifully folded over so as to clasp the flies, thus bringing the +glands into contact with the upper surfaces of the flies, and they are now +secreting copiously above and below the flies and no doubt absorbing. The +acid secretion has run down the channelled edge and has collected in the +spoon-shaped extremity, where no doubt the glands are absorbing the +delicious soup. The leaf on one side looks just like the helix of a human +ear, if you were to stuff flies within the fold. Yours most sincerely, + +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 3 [1874]. + +...I am now hard at work getting my book on Drosera & Co. ready for the +printers, but it will take some time, for I am always finding out new +points to observe. I think you will be interested by my observations on +the digestive process in Drosera; the secretion contains an acid of the +acetic series, and some ferment closely analogous to, but not identical +with, pepsin; for I have been making a long series of comparative trials. +No human being will believe what I shall publish about the smallness of the +doses of phosphate of ammonia which act. + +...I began reading the Madagascar squib (A description of a carnivorous +plant supposed to subsist on human beings.) quite gravely, and when I found +it stated that Felis and Bos inhabited Madagascar, I thought it was a false +story, and did not perceive it was a hoax till I came to the woman... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F.C. DONDERS. (Professor Donders, the well-known +physiologist of Utrecht.) +Down, July 7, 1874. + +My dear Professor Donders, + +My son George writes to me that he has seen you, and that you have been +very kind to him, for which I return to you my cordial thanks. He tells me +on your authority, of a fact which interests me in the highest degree, and +which I much wish to be allowed to quote. It relates to the action of one +millionth of a grain of atropine on the eye. Now will you be so kind, +whenever you can find a little leisure, to tell me whether you yourself +have observed this fact, or believe it on good authority. I also wish to +know what proportion by weight the atropine bore to the water solution, and +how much of the solution was applied to the eye. The reason why I am so +anxious on this head is that it gives some support to certain facts +repeatedly observed by me with respect to the action of phosphate of +ammonia on Drosera. The 1/4000000 of a grain absorbed by a gland clearly +makes the tentacle which bears this gland become inflected; and I am fully +convinced that 1/20000000 of a grain of the crystallised salt (i.e. +containing about one-third of its weight of water of crystallisation) does +the same. Now I am quite unhappy at the thought of having to publish such +a statement. It will be of great value to me to be able to give any +analogous facts in support. The case of Drosera is all the more +interesting as the absorption of the salt or any other stimulant applied to +the gland causes it to transmit a motor influence to the base of the +tentacle which bears the gland. + +Pray forgive me for troubling you, and do not trouble yourself to answer +this until your health is fully re-established. + +Pray believe me, +Yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[During the summer of 1874 he was at work on the genus Utricularia, and he +wrote (July 16th) to Sir J.D. Hooker giving some account of the progress of +his work:-- + +"I am rather glad you have not been able to send Utricularia, for the +common species has driven F. and me almost mad. The structure is MOST +complex. The bladders catch a multitude of Entomostraca, and larvae of +insects. The mechanism for capture is excellent. But there is much that +we cannot understand. From what I have seen to-day, I strongly suspect +that it is necrophagous, i.e. that it cannot digest, but absorbs decaying +matter." + +He was indebted to Lady Dorothy Nevill for specimens of the curious +Utricularia montana, which is not aquatic like the European species, but +grows among the moss and debris on the branches of trees. To this species +the following letter refers:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO LADY DOROTHY NEVILL. +Down September 18 [1874]. + +Dear Lady Dorothy Nevill, + +I am so much obliged to you. I was so convinced that the bladders were +with the leaves that I never thought of removing the moss, and this was +very stupid of me. The great solid bladder-like swellings almost on the +surface are wonderful objects, but are not the true bladders. These I +found on the roots near the surface, and down to a depth of two inches in +the sand. They are as transparent as glass, from 1/20 to 1/100 of an inch +in size, and hollow. They have all the important points of structure of +the bladders of the floating English species, and I felt confident I should +find captured prey. And so I have to my delight in two bladders, with +clear proof that they had absorbed food from the decaying mass. For +Utricularia is a carrion-feeder, and not strictly carnivorous like Drosera. + +The great solid bladder-like bodies, I believe, are reservoirs of water +like a camel's stomach. As soon as I have made a few more observations, I +mean to be so cruel as to give your plant no water, and observe whether the +great bladders shrink and contain air instead of water; I shall then also +wash all earth from all roots, and see whether there are true bladders for +capturing subterranean insects down to the very bottom of the pot. Now +shall you think me very greedy, if I say that supposing the species is not +very precious, and you have several, will you give me one more plant, and +if so, please to send it to "Orpington Station, S.E.R., to be forwarded by +foot messenger." + +I have hardly ever enjoyed a day more in my life than I have this day's +work; and this I owe to your Ladyship's great kindness. + +The seeds are very curious monsters; I fancy of some plant allied to +Medicago, but I will show them to Dr. Hooker. + +Your ladyship's very gratefully, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. +Down, September 30, 1874. + +My dear H., + +Your magnificent present of Aldrovanda has arrived quite safe. I have +enjoyed greatly a good look at the shut leaves, one of which I cut open. +It is an aquatic Dionaea, which has acquired some structures identical with +those of Utricularia! + +If the leaves open and I can transfer them open under the microscope, I +will try some experiments, for mortal man cannot resist the temptation. If +I cannot transfer, I will do nothing, for otherwise it would require +hundreds of leaves. + +You are a good man to give me such pleasure. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +[The manuscript of 'Insectivorous Plants' was finished in March 1875. He +seems to have been more than usually oppressed by the writing of this book, +thus he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker in February:-- + +"You ask about my book, and all that I can say is that I am ready to commit +suicide; I thought it was decently written, but find so much wants +rewriting, that it will not be ready to go to printers for two months, and +will then make a confoundedly big book. Murray will say that it is no use +publishing in the middle of summer, so I do not know what will be the +upshot; but I begin to think that every one who publishes a book is a +fool." + +The book was published on July 2nd, 1875, and 2700 copies were sold out of +the edition of 3000.] + + +CHAPTER 2.XIV. + +THE 'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS.' + +1880. + +[The few sentences in the autobiographical chapter give with sufficient +clearness the connection between the 'Power of Movement,' and one of the +author's earlier books, that on 'Climbing Plants.' The central idea of the +book is that the movements of plants in relation to light, gravitation, +etc., are modifications of a spontaneous tendency to revolve or +circumnutate, which is widely inherent in the growing parts of plants. +This conception has not been generally adopted, and has not taken a place +among the canons of orthodox physiology. The book has been treated by +Professor Sachs with a few words of professorial contempt; and by Professor +Wiesner it has been honoured by careful and generously expressed criticism. + +Mr. Thiselton Dyer ('Charles Darwin' ('Nature' Series), page 41.) has well +said: "Whether this masterly conception of the unity of what has hitherto +seemed a chaos of unrelated phenomena will be sustained, time alone will +show. But no one can doubt the importance of what Mr. Darwin has done, in +showing that for the future the phenomena of plant movement can and indeed +must be studied from a single point of view." + +The work was begun in the summer of 1877, after the publication of +'Different Forms of Flowers,' and by the autumn his enthusiasm for the +subject was thoroughly established, and he wrote to Mr. Dyer: "I am all on +fire at the work." At this time he was studying the movements of +cotyledons, in which the sleep of plants is to be observed in its simplest +form; in the following spring he was trying to discover what useful purpose +these sleep-movements could serve, and wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker (March +25th, 1878):-- + +"I think we have PROVED that the sleep of plants is to lessen the injury to +the leaves from radiation. This has interested me much, and has cost us +great labour, as it has been a problem since the time of Linnaeus. But we +have killed or badly injured a multitude of plants: N.B.--Oxalis carnosa +was most valuable, but last night was killed." + +His letters of this period do not give any connected account of the +progress of the work. The two following are given as being characteristic +of the author:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +Down, June 2, 1878. + +My dear Dyer, + +I remember saying that I should die a disgraced man if I did not observe a +seedling Cactus and Cycas, and you have saved me from this horrible fate, +as they move splendidly and normally. But I have two questions to ask: +the Cycas observed was a huge seed in a broad and very shallow pot with +cocoa-nut fibre as I suppose. It was named only Cycas. Was it Cycas +pectinata? I suppose that I cannot be wrong in believing that what first +appears above ground is a true leaf, for I can see no stem or axis. +Lastly, you may remember that I said that we could not raise Opuntia +nigricans; now I must confess to a piece of stupidity; one did come up, but +my gardener and self stared at it, and concluded that it could not be a +seedling Opuntia, but now that I have seen one of O. basilaris, I am sure +it was; I observed it only casually, and saw movements, which makes me wish +to observe carefully another. If you have any fruit, will Mr. Lynch (Mr. +R.I. Lynch, now Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge was at this time +in the Royal Gardens, Kew.) be so kind as to send one more? + +I am working away like a slave at radicles [roots] and at movements of true +leaves, for I have pretty well done with cotyledons... + +That was an EXCELLENT letter about the Gardens (This refers to an attempt +to induce the Government to open the Royal Gardens at Kew in the morning.): +I had hoped that the agitation was over. Politicians are a poor truckling +lot, for [they] must see the wretched effects of keeping the gardens open +all day long. + +Your ever troublesome friend, +CH. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +4 Bryanston St., Portman Square, +November 21 [1878]. + +My dear Dyer, + +I must thank you for all the wonderful trouble which you have taken about +the seeds of Impatiens, and on scores of other occasions. It in truth +makes me feel ashamed of myself, and I cannot help thinking: "Oh Lord, +when he sees our book he will cry out, is this all for which I have helped +so much!" In seriousness, I hope that we have made out some points, but I +fear that we have done very little for the labour which we have expended on +our work. We are here for a week for a little rest, which I needed. + +If I remember right, November 30th, is the anniversary at the Royal, and I +fear Sir Joseph must be almost at the last gasp. I shall be glad when he +is no longer President. + +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +[In the spring of the following year, 1879. When he was engaged in putting +his results together, he wrote somewhat despondingly to Mr. Dyer: "I am +overwhelmed with my notes, and almost too old to undertake the job which I +have in hand--i.e. movements of all kinds. Yet it is worse to be idle." + +Later on in the year, when the work was approaching completion, he wrote to +Prof. Carus (July 17, 1879), with respect to a translation:-- + +"Together with my son Francis, I am preparing a rather large volume on the +general movements of Plants, and I think that we have made out a good many +new points and views. + +"I fear that our views will meet a good deal of opposition in Germany; but +we have been working very hard for some years at the subject. + +"I shall be MUCH pleased if you think the book worth translating, and +proof-sheets shall be sent you, whenever they are ready." + +In the autumn he was hard at work on the manuscript, and wrote to Dr. Gray +(October 24, 1879):-- + +"I have written a rather big book--more is the pity--on the movements of +plants, and I am now just beginning to go over the MS. for the second time, +which is a horrid bore." + +Only the concluding part of the next letter refers to the 'Power of +Movements':] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO A. DE CANDOLLE. +May 28, 1880. + +My dear Sir, + +I am particularly obliged to you for having so kindly send me your +'Phytographie' (A book on the methods of botanical research, more +especially of systematic work.); for if I had merely seen it advertised, I +should not have supposed that it could have concerned me. As it is, I have +read with very great interest about a quarter, but will not delay longer +thanking you. All that you say seems to me very clear and convincing, and +as in all your writings I find a large number of philosophical remarks new +to me, and no doubt shall find many more. They have recalled many a puzzle +through which I passed when monographing the Cirripedia; and your book in +those days would have been quite invaluable to me. It has pleased me to +find that I have always followed your plan of making notes on separate +pieces of paper; I keep several scores of large portfolios, arranged on +very thin shelves about two inches apart, fastened to the walls of my +study, and each shelf has its proper name or title; and I can thus put at +once every memorandum into its proper place. Your book will, I am sure, be +very useful to many young students, and I shall beg my son Francis (who +intends to devote himself to the physiology of plants) to read it +carefully. + +As for myself I am taking a fortnight's rest, after sending a pile of MS. +to the printers, and it was a piece of good fortune that your book arrived +as I was getting into my carriage, for I wanted something to read whilst +away from home. My MS. relates to the movements of plants, and I think +that I have succeeded in showing that all the more important great classes +of movements are due to the modification of a kind of movement common to +all parts of all plants from their earliest youth. + +Pray give my kind remembrances to your son, and with my highest respect and +best thanks, + +Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + +P.S.--It always pleases me to exalt plants in the organic scale, and if you +will take the trouble to read my last chapter when my book (which will be +sadly too big) is published and sent to you, I hope and think that you also +will admire some of the beautiful adaptations by which seedling plants are +enabled to perform their proper functions. + + +[The book was published on November 6, 1880, and 1500 copies were disposed +of at Mr. Murray's sale. With regard to it he wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker +(November 23):-- + +"Your note has pleased me much--for I did not expect that you would have +had time to read ANY of it. Read the last chapter, and you will know the +whole result, but without the evidence. The case, however, of radicles +bending after exposure for an hour to geotropism, with their tips (or +brains) cut off is, I think, worth your reading (bottom of page 525); it +astounded me. The next most remarkable fact, as it appeared to me (page +148), is the discrimination of the tip of the radicle between a slightly +harder and softer object affixed on opposite sides of tip. But I will +bother you no more about my book. The sensitiveness of seedlings to light +is marvellous." + +To another friend, Mr. Thiselton Dyer, he wrote (November 28, 1880):-- + +"Very many thanks for your most kind note, but you think too highly of our +work, not but what this is very pleasant...Many of the Germans are very +contemptuous about making out the use of organs; but they may sneer the +souls out of their bodies, and I for one shall think it the most +interesting part of Natural History. Indeed you are greatly mistaken if +you doubt for one moment on the very great value of your constant and most +kind assistance to us." + +The book was widely reviewed, and excited much interest among the general +public. The following letter refers to a leading article in the "Times", +November 20, 1880:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO MRS. HALIBURTON. (Mrs. Haliburton was a daughter of my +father's early friend, the late Mr. Owen, of Woodhouse.) +Down, November 22, 1880. + +My dear Sarah, + +You see how audaciously I begin; but I have always loved and shall ever +love this name. Your letter has done more than please me, for its kindness +has touched my heart. I often think of old days and of the delight of my +visits to Woodhouse, and of the deep debt of gratitude I owe to your +father. It was very good of you to write. I had quite forgotten my old +ambition about the Shrewsbury newspaper (Mrs. Haliburton had reminded him +of his saying as a boy that if Eddowes' newspaper ever alluded to him as +"our deserving fellow-townsman," his ambition would be amply gratified.); +but I remember the pride which I felt when I saw in a book about beetles +the impressive words "captured by C. Darwin." Captured sounded so grand +compared with caught. This seemed to me glory enough for any man! I do +not know in the least what made the "Times" glorify me (The following is +the opening sentence of the leading article:--"Of all our living men of +science none have laboured longer and to more splendid purpose than Mr. +Darwin."), for it has sometimes pitched into me ferociously. + +I should very much like to see you again, but you would find a visit here +very dull, for we feel very old and have no amusement, and lead a solitary +life. But we intend in a few weeks to spend a few days in London, and then +if you have anything else to do in London, you would perhaps come and lunch +with us. (My father had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Haliburton at his +brother's house in Queen Anne Street.) + +Believe me, my dear Sarah, +Yours gratefully and affectionately, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The following letter was called forth by the publication of a volume +devoted to the criticism of the 'Power of Movement in Plants' by an +accomplished botanist, Dr. Julius Wiesner, Professor of Botany in the +University of Vienna:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO JULIUS WIESNER. +Down, October 25th, 1881. + +My dear Sir, + +I have now finished your book ('Das Bewegungsvermogen der Pflanzen.' +Vienna, 1881.), and have understood the whole except a very few passages. +In the first place, let me thank you cordially for the manner in which you +have everywhere treated me. You have shown how a man may differ from +another in the most decided manner, and yet express his difference with the +most perfect courtesy. Not a few English and German naturalists might +learn a useful lesson from your example; for the coarse language often used +by scientific men towards each other does no good, and only degrades +science. + +I have been profoundly interested by your book, and some of your +experiments are so beautiful, that I actually felt pleasure while being +vivisected. It would take up too much space to discuss all the important +topics in your book. I fear that you have quite upset the interpretation +which I have given of the effects of cutting off the tips of horizontally +extended roots, and of those laterally exposed to moisture; but I cannot +persuade myself that the horizontal position of lateral branches and roots +is due simply to their lessened power of growth. Nor when I think of my +experiments with the cotyledons of Phalaris, can I give up the belief of +the transmission of some stimulus due to light from the upper to the lower +part. At page 60 you have misunderstood my meaning, when you say that I +believe that the effects from light are transmitted to a part which is not +itself heliotropic. I never considered whether or not the short part +beneath the ground was heliotropic; but I believe that with young seedlings +the part which bends NEAR, but ABOVE the ground is heliotropic, and I +believe so from this part bending only moderately when the light is +oblique, and bending rectangularly when the light is horizontal. +Nevertheless the bending of this lower part, as I conclude from my +experiments with opaque caps, is influenced by the action of light on the +upper part. My opinion, however, on the above and many other points, +signifies very little, for I have no doubt that your book will convince +most botanists that I am wrong in all the points on which we differ. + +Independently of the question of transmission, my mind is so full of facts +leading me to believe that light, gravity, etc., act not in a direct manner +on growth, but as stimuli, that I am quite unable to modify my judgment on +this head. I could not understand the passage at page 78, until I +consulted my son George, who is a mathematician. He supposes that your +objection is founded on the diffused light from the lamp illuminating both +sides of the object, and not being reduced, with increasing distance in the +same ratio as the direct light; but he doubts whether this NECESSARY +correction will account for the very little difference in the heliotropic +curvature of the plants in the successive pots. + +With respect to the sensitiveness of the tips of roots to contact, I cannot +admit your view until it is proved that I am in error about bits of card +attached by liquid gum causing movement; whereas no movement was caused if +the card remained separated from the tip by a layer of the liquid gum. The +fact also of thicker and thinner bits of card attached on opposite sides of +the same root by shellac, causing movement in one direction, has to be +explained. You often speak of the tip having been injured; but externally +there was no sign of injury: and when the tip was plainly injured, the +extreme part became curved TOWARDS the injured side. I can no more believe +that the tip was injured by the bits of card, at least when attached by +gum-water, than that the glands of Drosera are injured by a particle of +thread or hair placed on it, or that the human tongue [is so] when it feels +any such object. + +About the most important subject in my book, namely circumnutation, I can +only say that I feel utterly bewildered at the difference in our +conclusions; but I could not fully understand some parts which my son +Francis will be able to translate to me when he returns home. The greater +part of your book is beautifully clear. + +Finally, I wish that I had enough strength and spirit to commence a fresh +set of experiments, and publish the results, with a full recantation of my +errors when convinced of them; but I am too old for such an undertaking, +nor do I suppose that I shall be able to do much, or any more, original +work. I imagine that I see one possible source of error in your beautiful +experiment of a plant rotating and exposed to a lateral light. + +With high respect and with sincere thanks for the kind manner in which you +have treated me and my mistakes, I remain, my dear Sir, yours sincerely, + +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +CHAPTER 2.XV. + +MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL LETTERS. + +1873-1882. + +[The present chapter contains a series of miscellaneous letters on +botanical subjects. Some of them show my father's varied interests in +botanical science, and others give account of researches which never +reached completion.] + + +BLOOM ON LEAVES AND FRUIT. + +[His researches into the meaning of the "bloom," or waxy coating found on +many leaves, was one of those inquiries which remained unfinished at the +time of his death. He amassed a quantity of notes on the subject, part of +which I hope to publish at no distant date. (A small instalment on the +relation between bloom and the distribution of the stomata on leaves has +appeared in the 'Journal of the Linnean Society,' 1886. Tschirsch +("Linnaea", 1881) has published results identical with some which my father +and myself obtained, viz. that bloom diminishes transpiration. The same +fact was previously published by Garreau in 1850.) + +One of his earliest letters on this subject was addressed in August, 1873, +to Sir Joseph Hooker:-- + +"I want a little information from you, and if you do not yourself know, +please to enquire of some of the wise men of Kew. + +"Why are the leaves and fruit of so many plants protected by a thin layer +of waxy matter (like the common cabbage), or with fine hair, so that when +such leaves or fruit are immersed in water they appear as if encased in +thin glass? It is really a pretty sight to put a pod of the common pea, or +a raspberry into water. I find several leaves are thus protected on the +under surface and not on the upper. + +"How can water injure the leaves if indeed this is at all the case?" + +On this latter point he wrote to Sir Thomas Farrer:-- + +"I am now become mad about drops of water injuring leaves. Please ask Mr. +Paine (Sir Thomas Farrer's gardener.) whether he believes, FROM HIS OWN +EXPERIENCE, that drops of water injure leaves or fruit in his +conservatories. It is said that the drops act as burning-glasses; if this +is true, they would not be at all injurious on cloudy days. As he is so +acute a man, I should very much like to hear his opinion. I remember when +I grew hot-house orchids I was cautioned not to wet their leaves; but I +never then thought on the subject. + +"I enjoyed my visit greatly with you, and I am very sure that all England +could not afford a kinder and pleasanter host." + +Some years later he took up the subject again, and wrote to Sir Joseph +Hooker (May 25, 1877):-- + +"I have been looking over my old notes about the "bloom" on plants, and I +think that the subject is well worth pursuing, though I am very doubtful of +any success. Are you inclined to aid me on the mere chance of success, for +without your aid I could do hardly anything?"] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO ASA GRAY. +Down, June 4 [1877]. + +...I am now trying to make out the use or function of "bloom," or the waxy +secretion on the leaves and fruit of plants, but am VERY doubtful whether I +shall succeed. Can you give me any light? Are such plants commoner in +warm than in colder climates? I ask because I often walk out in heavy +rain, and the leaves of very few wild dicotyledons can be here seen with +drops of water rolling off them like quick-silver. Whereas in my flower +garden, greenhouse, and hot-houses there are several. Again, are bloom- +protected plants common on your DRY western plains? Hooker THINKS that +they are common at the Cape of Good Hope. It is a puzzle to me if they are +common under very dry climates, and I find bloom very common on the Acacias +and Eucalypti of Australia. Some of the Eucalypti which do not appear to +be covered with bloom have the epidermis protected by a layer of some +substance which is dissolved in boiling alcohol. Are there any bloom- +protected leaves or fruit in the Arctic regions? If you can illuminate me, +as you so often have done, pray do so; but otherwise do not bother yourself +by answering. + +Yours affectionately, +C. DARWIN. + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO W. THISELTON DYER. +Down, September 5 [1877]. + +My dear Dyer, + +One word to thank you. I declare had it not been for your kindness, we +should have broken down. As it is we have made out clearly that with some +plants (chiefly succulent) the bloom checks evaporation--with some +certainly prevents attacks of insects; with SOME sea-shore plants prevents +injury from salt-water, and, I believe, with a few prevents injury from +pure water resting on the leaves. This latter is as yet the most doubtful +and the most interesting point in relation to the movements of plants... + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. +Down, July 4 [1881]. + +My dear Sir, + +Your kindness is unbounded, and I cannot tell you how much your last letter +(May 31) has interested me. I have piles of notes about the effect of +water resting on leaves, and their movements (as I supposed) to shake off +the drops. But I have not looked over these notes for a long time, and had +come to think that perhaps my notion was mere fancy, but I had intended to +begin experimenting as soon as I returned home; and now with your +INVALUABLE letter about the position of the leaves of various plants during +rain (I have one analogous case with Acacia from South Africa), I shall be +stimulated to work in earnest. + + +VARIABILITY. + +[The following letter refers to a subject on which my father felt the +strongest interest:--the experimental investigation of the causes of +variability. The experiments alluded to were to some extent planned out, +and some preliminary work was begun in the direction indicated below, but +the research was ultimately abandoned.] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO J.H. GILBERT. (Dr. Gilbert, F.R.S., joint author with +Sir John Bennett Lawes of a long series of valuable researches in +Scientific Agriculture.) +Down, February 16, 1876. + +My dear Sir, + +When I met you at the Linnean Society, you were so kind as to say that you +would aid me with advice, and this will be of the utmost value to me and my +son. I will first state my object, and hope that you will excuse a long +letter. It is admitted by all naturalists that no problem is so perplexing +as what causes almost every cultivated plant to vary, and no experiments as +yet tried have thrown any light on the subject. Now for the last ten years +I have been experimenting in crossing and self-fertilising plants; and one +indirect result has surprised me much; namely, that by taking pains to +cultivate plants in pots under glass during several successive generations, +under nearly similar conditions, and by self-fertilising them in each +generation, the colour of the flowers often changes, and, what is very +remarkable, they became in some of the most variable species, such as +Mimulus, Carnation, etc., quite constant, like those of a wild species. + +This fact and several others have led me to the suspicion that the cause of +variation must be in different substances absorbed from the soil by these +plants when their powers of absorption are not interfered with by other +plants with which they grow mingled in a state of nature. Therefore my son +and I wish to grow plants in pots in soil entirely, or as nearly entirely +as is possible, destitute of all matter which plants absorb, and then to +give during several successive generations to several plants of the same +species as different solutions as may be compatible with their life and +health. And now, can you advise me how to make soil approximately free of +all the substances which plants naturally absorb? I suppose white silver +sand, sold for cleaning harness, etc., is nearly pure silica, but what am I +to do for alumina? Without some alumina I imagine that it would be +impossible to keep the soil damp and fit for the growth of plants. I +presume that clay washed over and over again in water would still yield +mineral matter to the carbonic acid secreted by the roots. I should want a +good deal of soil, for it would be useless to experimentise unless we could +fill from twenty to thirty moderately sized flower-pots every year. Can +you suggest any plan? for unless you can it would, I fear, be useless for +us to commence an attempt to discover whether variability depends at all on +matter absorbed from the soil. After obtaining the requisite kind of soil, +my notion is to water one set of plants with nitrate of potassium, another +set with nitrate of sodium, and another with nitrate of lime, giving all as +much phosphate of ammonia as they seemed to support, for I wish the plants +to grow as luxuriantly as possible. The plants watered with nitrate of Na +and of Ca would require, I suppose, some K; but perhaps they would get what +is absolutely necessary from such soil as I should be forced to employ, and +from the rain-water collected in tanks. I could use hard water from a deep +well in the chalk, but then all the plants would get lime. If the plants +to which I give Nitrate of Na and of Ca would not grow I might give them a +little alum. + +I am well aware how very ignorant I am, and how crude my notions are; and +if you could suggest any other solutions by which plants would be likely to +be affected it would be a very great kindness. I suppose that there are no +organic fluids which plants would absorb, and which I could procure? + +I must trust to your kindness to excuse me for troubling you at such +length, and, + +I remain, dear Sir, yours sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[The next letter to Professor Semper (Professor of Zoology at Wurzburg.) +bears on the same subject:] + +FROM CHARLES DARWIN TO K. SEMPER. +Down, July 19, 1881. + +My dear Professor Semper, + +I have been much pleased to receive your letter, but I did not expect you +to answer my former one...I cannot remember what I wrote to you, but I am +sure that it must have expressed the interest which I felt in reading your +book. (Published in the 'International Scientific Series,' in 1881, under +the title, 'The Natural Conditions of Existence as they affect Animal +Life.') I thought that you attributed too much weight to the DIRECT action +of the environment; but whether I said so I know not, for without being +asked I should have thought it presumptuous to have criticised your book, +nor should I now say so had I not during the last few days been struck with +Professor Hoffmann's review of his own work in the 'Botanische Zeitung,' on +the variability of plants; and it is really surprising how little effect he +produced by cultivating certain plants under unnatural conditions, as the +presence of salt, lime, zinc, etc., etc., during SEVERAL generations. +Plants, moreover, were selected which were the most likely to vary under +such conditions, judging from the existence of closely-allied forms adapted +for these conditions. No doubt I originally attributed too little weight +to the direct action of conditions, but Hoffmann's paper has staggered me. +Perhaps hundreds of generations of exposure are necessary. It is a most +perplexing subject. I wish I was not so old, and had more strength, for I +see lines of research to follow. Hoffmann even doubts whether plants vary +more under cultivation than in their native home and under their natural +conditions. If so, the astonishing variations of almost all cultivated +plants must be due to selection and breeding from the varying individuals. +This idea crossed my mind many years ago, but I was afraid to publish it, +as I thought that people would say, "how he does exaggerate the importance +of selection." + +I still MUST believe that changed conditions give the impulse to +variability, but that they act IN MOST CASES in a very indirect manner. +But, as I said, it is a most perplexing problem. Pray forgive me for +writing at such length; I had no intention of doing so when I sat down to +write. + +I am extremely sorry to hear, for your own sake and for that of Science, +that you are so hard worked, and that so much of your time is consumed in +official labour. + +Pray believe me, dear Professor Semper, +Yours sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +GALLS. + +[Shortly before his death, my father began to experimentise on the +possibility of producing galls artificially. A letter to Sir J.D. Hooker +(November 3, 1880) shows the interest which he felt in the question:-- + +"I was delighted with Paget's Essay ('Disease in Plants,' by Sir James +Paget.--See "Gardeners' Chronicle", 1880.); I hear that he has occasionally +attended to this subject from his youth...I am very glad he has called +attention to galls: this has always seemed to me a profoundly interesting +subject; and if I had been younger would take it up." + +His interest in this subject was connected with his ever-present wish to +learn something of the causes of variation. He imagined to himself +wonderful galls caused to appear on the ovaries of plants, and by these +means he thought it possible that the seed might be influenced, and thus +new varieties arise. He made a considerable number of experiments by +injecting various reagents into the tissues of leaves, and with some slight +indications of success.] + + +AGGREGATION. + +[The following letter gives an idea of the subject of the last of his +published papers. ('Journal of the Linnean Society.' volume xix, 1882, +pages 239 and 262.) The appearances which he observed in leaves and roots +attracted him, on account of their relation to the phenomena of aggregation +which had so deeply interested him when he was at work on Drosera:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO S.H. VINES. (Reader in Botany in the University of +Cambridge.) +Down, November 1, 1881. + +My dear Mr. Vines, + +As I know how busy you are, it is a great shame to trouble you. But you +are so rich in chemical knowledge about plants, and I am so poor, that I +appeal to your charity as a pauper. My question is--Do you know of any +solid substance in the cells of plants which glycerine and water dissolves? +But you will understand my perplexity better if I give you the facts: I +mentioned to you that if a plant of Euphorbia peplus is gently dug up and +the roots placed for a short time in a weak solution (1 to 10,000 of water, +suffices in 24 hours) of carbonate of ammonia the (generally) alternate +longitudinal rows of cells in every rootlet, from the root-cap up to the +very top of the root (but not as far as I have yet seen in the green stem) +become filled with translucent, brownish grains of matter. These rounded +grains often cohere and even become confluent. Pure phosphate and nitrate +of ammonia produce (though more slowly) the same effect, as does pure +carbonate of soda. + +Now, if slices of root under a cover-glass are irrigated with glycerine and +water, every one of the innumerable grains in the cells disappear after +some hours. What am I to think of this.?... + +Forgive me for bothering you to such an extent; but I must mention that if +the roots are dipped in boiling water there is no deposition of matter, and +carbonate of ammonia afterwards produces no effect. I should state that I +now find that the granular matter is formed in the cells immediately +beneath the thin epidermis, and a few other cells near the vascular tissue. +If the granules consisted of living protoplasm (but I can see no traces of +movement in them), then I should infer that the glycerine killed them and +aggregation ceased with the diffusion of invisibly minute particles, for I +have seen an analogous phenomenon in Drosera. + +If you can aid me, pray do so, and anyhow forgive me. +Yours very sincerely, +CH. DARWIN. + + +MR. TORBITT'S EXPERIMENTS ON THE POTATO-DISEASE. + +[Mr. James Torbitt, of Belfast, has been engaged for the last twelve years +in the difficult undertaking, in which he has been to a large extent +successful, of raising fungus-proof varieties of the potato. My father +felt great interest in Mr. Torbitt's work, and corresponded with him from +1876 onwards. The following letter, giving a clear account of Mr. +Torbitt's method and of my father's opinion of the probability of its +success, was written with the idea that Government aid for the work might +possibly be obtainable:] + + +CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. FARRER. +Down, March 2, 1878. + +My dear Farrer, + +Mr. Torbitt's plan of overcoming the potato-disease seems to me by far the +best which has ever been suggested. It consists, as you know from his +printed letter, of rearing a vast number of seedlings from cross-fertilised +parents, exposing them to infection, ruthlessly destroying all that suffer, +saving those which resist best, and repeating the process in successive +seminal generations. My belief in the probability of good results from +this process rests on the fact of all characters whatever occasionally +varying. It is known, for instance, that certain species and varieties of +the vine resist phylloxera better than others. Andrew Knight found in one +variety or species of the apple which was not in the least attacked by +coccus, and another variety has been observed in South Australia. Certain +varieties of the peach resist mildew, and several other such cases could be +given. Therefore there is no great improbability in a new variety of +potato arising which would resist the fungus completely, or at least much +better than any existing variety. With respect to the cross-fertilisation +of two distinct seedling plants, it has been ascertained that the offspring +thus raised inherit much more vigorous constitutions and generally are more +prolific than seedlings from self-fertilised parents. It is also probable +that cross-fertilisation would be especially valuable in the case of the +potato, as there is reason to believe that the flowers are seldom crossed +by our native insects; and some varieties are absolutely sterile unless +fertilised with pollen from a distinct variety. There is some evidence +that the good effects from a cross are transmitted for several generations; +it would not, therefore be necessary to cross-fertilise the seedlings in +each generation, though this would be desirable, as it is almost certain +that a greater number of seeds would thus be obtained. It should be +remembered that a cross between plants raised from the tubers of the same +plant, though growing on distinct roots, does no more good than a cross +between flowers on the same individual. Considering the whole subject, it +appears to me that it would be a national misfortune if the cross- +fertilised seeds in Mr. Torbitt's possession produced by parents which have +already shown some power of resisting the disease, are not utilised by the +Government, or some public body, and the process of selection continued +during several more generations. + +Should the Agricultural Society undertake the work, Mr. Torbitt's knowledge +gained by experience would be especially valuable; and an outline of the +plan is given in his printed letter. It would be necessary that all the +tubers produced by each plant should be collected separately, and carefully +examined in each succeeding generation. + +It would be advisable that some kind of potato eminently liable to the +disease should be planted in considerable numbers near the seedlings so as +to infect them. + +Altogether the trial would be one requiring much care and extreme patience, +as I know from experience with analogous work, and it may be feared that it +would be difficult to find any one who would pursue the experiment with +sufficient energy. It seems, therefore, to me highly desirable that Mr. +Torbitt should be aided with some small grant so as to continue the work +himself. + +Judging from his reports, his efforts have already been crowned in so short +a time with more success than could have been anticipated; and I think you +will agree with me, that any one who raises a fungus-proof potato will be a +public benefactor of no common kind. + +My dear Farrer, yours sincerely, +CHARLES DARWIN. + + +[After further consultation with Sir Thomas Farrer and with Mr. Caird, my +father became convinced that it was hopeless to attempt to obtain +Government aid. He wrote to Mr. Torbitt to this effect, adding, "it would +be less trouble to get up a subscription from a few rich leading +agriculturists than from Government. This plan I think you cannot object +to, as you have asked nothing, and will have nothing whatever to do with +the subscription. In fact, the affair is, in my opinion, a compliment to +you." The idea here broached was carried out, and Mr. Torbitt was enabled +to continue his work by the aid of a sum to which Sir T. Farrer, Mr. Caird, +my father, and a few friends, subscribed. + +My father's sympathy and encouragement were highly valued by Mr. Torbitt, +who tells me that without them he should long ago have given up his +attempt. A few extracts will illustrate my father's fellow feeling with +Mr. Torbitt's energy and perseverance:-- + +"I admire your indomitable spirit. If any one ever deserved success, you +do so, and I keep to my original opinion that you have a very good chance +of raising a fungus-proof variety of the potato. + +"A pioneer in a new undertaking is sure to meet with many disappointments, +so I hope that you will keep up your courage, though we have done so very +little for you." + +Mr. Torbitt tells me that he still (1887) succeeds in raising varieties +possessing well-marked powers of resisting disease; but this immunity is +not permanent, and, after some years, the varieties become liable to the +attacks of the fungus.] + + +THE KEW INDEX OF PLANT-NAMES, OR 'NOMENCLATOR DARWINIANUS.' + +[Some account of my father's connection with the Index of Plant-names now +(1887) in course of preparation at Kew will be found in Mr. B. Daydon +Jackson's paper in the 'Journal of Botany,' 1887, page 151. Mr. Jackson +quotes the following statement by Sir J.D. Hooker:-- + +"Shortly before his death, Mr. Charles Darwin informed Sir Joseph Hooker +that it was his intention to devote a considerable sum of money annually +for some years in aid or furtherance of some work or works of practical +utility to biological science, and to make provisions in his will in the +event of these not being completed during his lifetime. + +"Amongst other objects connected with botanical science, Mr. Darwin +regarded with especial interest the importance of a complete index to the +names and authors of the genera and species of plants known to botanists, +together with their native countries. Steudel's 'Nomenclator' is the only +existing work of this nature, and although now nearly half a century old, +Mr. Darwin had found it of great aid in his own researches. It has been +indispensable to every botanical institution, whether as a list of all +known flowering plants, as an indication of their authors, or as a digest +of botanical geography." + + +Since 1840, when the 'Nomenclator' was published, the number of described +plants may be said to have doubled, so that the 'Nomenclator' is now +seriously below the requirements of botanical work. To remedy this want, +the 'Nomenclator' has been from time to time posted up in an interleaved +copy in the Herbarium at Kew, by the help of "funds supplied by private +liberality." (Kew Gardens Report, 1881, page 62.) + +My father, like other botanists, had as Sir Joseph Hooker points out, +experienced the value of Steudel's work. He obtained plants from all sorts +of sources, which were often incorrectly named, and he felt the necessity +of adhering to the accepted nomenclature, so that he might convey to other +workers precise indications as to the plants which he had studied. It was +also frequently a matter of importance to him to know the native country of +his experimental plants. Thus it was natural that he should recognize the +desirability of completing and publishing the interleaved volume at Kew. +The wish to help in this object was heightened by the admiration he felt +for the results for which the world has to thank the Royal Gardens at Kew, +and by his gratitude for the invaluable aid which for so many years he +received from its Director and his staff. He expressly stated that it was +his wish "to aid in some way the scientific work carried on at the Royal +Gardens" (Kew Gardens Report, 1881, page 62.)--which induced him to offer +to supply funds for the completion of the Kew 'Nomenclator.' + +The following passage, for which I am indebted to Professor Judd, is of +much interest, as illustrating the motives that actuated my father in this +matter. Professor Judd writes:-- + +"On the occasion of my last visit to him, he told me that his income having +recently greatly increased, while his wants remained the same, he was most +anxious to devote what he could spare to the advancement of Geology or +Biology. He dwelt in the most touching manner on the fact that he owed so +much happiness and fame to the natural-history sciences, which had been the +solace of what might have been a painful existence;--and he begged me, if I +knew of any research which could be aided by a grant of a few hundreds of +pounds, to let him know, as it would be a delight to him to feel that he +was helping in promoting the progress of science. He informed me at the +same time that he was making the same suggestion to Sir Joseph Hooker and +Professor Huxley with respect to Botany and Zoology respectively. I was +much impressed by the earnestness, and, indeed, deep emotion, with which he +spoke of his indebtedness to Science, and his desire to promote its +interests." + +Sir Joseph Hooker was asked by my father "to take into consideration, with +the aid of the botanical staff at Kew and the late Mr. Bentham, the extent +and scope of the proposed work, and to suggest the best means of having it +executed. In doing this, Sir Joseph had further the advantage of the great +knowledge and experience of Professor Asa Gray, of Cambridge, U.S.A., and +of Mr. John Ball, F.R.S." ('Journal of Botany,' loc. cit.) + +The plan of the proposed work having been carefully considered, Sir Joseph +Hooker was able to confide its elaboration in detail to Mr. B. Daydon +Jackson, Secretary of the Linnean Society, whose extensive knowledge of +botanical literature qualifies him for the task. My father's original idea +of producing a modern edition of Steudel's 'Nomenclator' has been +practically abandoned, the aim now kept in view is rather to construct a +list of genera and species (with references) founded on Bentham and +Hooker's 'Genera Plantarum.' The colossal nature of the work in progress +at Kew may be estimated by the fact that the manuscript of the 'Index' is +at the present time (1887) believed to weigh more than a ton. Under Sir +Joseph Hooker's supervision the work goes steadily forward, being carried +out with admirable zeal by Mr. Jackson, who devotes himself unsparingly to +the enterprise, in which, too, he has the advantage of the active interest +in the work felt by Professor Oliver and Mr. Thiselton Dyer. + +The Kew 'Index,' which will, in all probability, be ready to go to press in +four or five years, will be a fitting memorial of my father: and his share +in its completion illustrates a part of his character--his ready sympathy +with work outside his own lines of investigation--and his respect for +minute and patient labour in all branches of science.] + + +CHAPTER 2.XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + +Some idea of the general course of my father's health may have been +gathered from the letters given in the preceding pages. The subject of +health appears more prominently than is often necessary in a Biography, +because it was, unfortunately, so real an element in determining the +outward form of his life. + +During the last ten years of his life the condition of his health was a +cause of satisfaction and hope to his family. His condition showed signs +of amendment in several particulars. He suffered less distress and +discomfort, and was able to work more steadily. Something has been already +said of Dr. Bence Jones's treatment, from which my father certainly derived +benefit. In later years he became a patient of Sir Andrew Clark, under +whose care he improved greatly in general health. It was not only for his +generously rendered service that my father felt a debt of gratitude towards +Sir Andrew Clark. He owed to his cheering personal influence an often- +repeated encouragement, which laterally added something real to his +happiness, and he found sincere pleasure in Sir Andrew's friendship and +kindness towards himself and his children. + +Scattered through the past pages are one or two references to pain or +uneasiness felt in the region of the heart. How far these indicate that +the heart was affected early in life, I cannot pretend to say; in any case +it is certain that he had no serious or permanent trouble of this nature +until shortly before his death. In spite of the general improvement in his +health, which has been above alluded to, there was a certain loss of +physical vigour occasionally apparent during the last few years of his +life. This is illustrated by a sentence in a letter to his old friend Sir +James Sulivan, written on January 10, 1879: "My scientific work tires me +more than it used to do, but I have nothing else to do, and whether one is +worn out a year or two sooner or later signifies but little." + +A similar feeling is shown in a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker of June 15, 1881. +My father was staying at Patterdale, and wrote: "I am rather despondent +about myself...I have not the heart or strength to begin any investigation +lasting years, which is the only thing which I enjoy, and I have no little +jobs which I can do." + +In July, 1881, he wrote to Mr. Wallace, "We have just returned home after +spending five weeks on Ullswater; the scenery is quite charming, but I +cannot walk, and everything tires me, even seeing scenery...What I shall do +with my few remaining years of life I can hardly tell. I have everything +to make me happy and contented, but life has become very wearisome to me." +He was, however, able to do a good deal of work, and that of a trying sort +(On the action of carbonate of ammonia on roots and leaves.), during the +autumn of 1881, but towards the end of the year he was clearly in need of +rest; and during the winter was in a lower condition than was usual with +him. + +On December 13 he went for a week to his daughter's house in Bryanston +Street. During his stay in London he went to call on Mr. Romanes, and was +seized when on the door-step with an attack apparently of the same kind as +those which afterwards became so frequent. The rest of the incident, which +I give in Mr. Romanes' words, is interesting too from a different point of +view, as giving one more illustration of my father's scrupulous +consideration for others:-- + +"I happened to be out, but my butler, observing that Mr. Darwin was ill, +asked him to come in, he said he would prefer going home, and although the +butler urged him to wait at least until a cab could be fetched, he said he +would rather not give so much trouble. For the same reason he refused to +allow the butler to accompany him. Accordingly he watched him walking with +difficulty towards the direction in which cabs were to be met with, and saw +that, when he had got about three hundred yards from the house, he +staggered and caught hold of the park-railings as if to prevent himself +from falling. The butler therefore hastened to his assistance, but after a +few seconds saw him turn round with the evident purpose of retracing his +steps to my house. However, after he had returned part of the way he seems +to have felt better, for he again changed his mind, and proceeded to find a +cab." + +During the last week of February and in the beginning of March, attacks of +pain in the region of the heart, with irregularity of the pulse, became +frequent, coming on indeed nearly every afternoon. A seizure of this sort +occurred about March 7, when he was walking alone at a short distance from +the house; he got home with difficulty, and this was the last time that he +was able to reach his favourite 'Sand-walk.' Shortly after this, his +illness became obviously more serious and alarming, and he was seen by Sir +Andrew Clark, whose treatment was continued by Dr. Norman Moore, of St. +Bartholomew's Hospital, and Mr. Alfrey, of St. Mary Cray. He suffered from +distressing sensations of exhaustion and faintness, and seemed to recognise +with deep depression the fact that his working days were over. He +gradually recovered from this condition, and became more cheerful and +hopeful, as is shown in the following letter to Mr. Huxley, who was anxious +that my father should have closer medical supervision than the existing +arrangements allowed: + + +Down, March 27, 1882. + +My dear Huxley, + +Your most kind letter has been a real cordial to me. I have felt better +to-day than for three weeks, and have felt as yet no pain. Your plan seems +an excellent one, and I will probably act upon it, unless I get very much +better. Dr. Clark's kindness is unbounded to me, but he is too busy to +come here. Once again, accept my cordial thanks, my dear old friend. I +wish to God there were more automata (The allusion is to Mr. Huxley's +address 'On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History,' +given at the Belfast meeting of the British Association in 1874, and +republished in 'Science and Culture.') in the world like you. + +Ever yours, +CH. DARWIN." + + +The allusion to Sir Andrew Clark requires a word of explanation. Sir +Andrew Clark himself was ever ready to devote himself to my father, who, +however, could not endure the thought of sending for him, knowing how +severely his great practice taxed his strength. + +No especial change occurred during the beginning of April, but on Saturday +15th he was seized with giddiness while sitting at dinner in the evening, +and fainted in an attempt to reach his sofa. On the 17th he was again +better, and in my temporary absence recorded for me the progress of an +experiment in which I was engaged. During the night of April 18th, about a +quarter to twelve, he had a severe attack and passed into a faint, from +which he was brought back to consciousness with great difficulty. He +seemed to recognise the approach of death, and said, "I am not the least +afraid to die." All the next morning he suffered from terrible nausea and +faintness, and hardly rallied before the end came. + +He died at about four o'clock on Wednesday, April 19th, 1882, in the +seventy-fourth year of his age. + +I close the record of my father's life with a few words of retrospect added +to the manuscript of his 'Autobiography' in 1879:-- + +"As for myself, I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following, +and devoting my life to Science. I feel no remorse from having committed +any great sin, but have often and often regretted that I have not done more +direct good to my fellow creatures." + + +APPENDIX I. + +THE FUNERAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + + +On the Friday succeeding my father's death, the following letter, signed by +twenty members of Parliament, was addressed to Dr. Bradley, Dean of +Westminster:-- + + +HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 21, 1882. + +Very Rev. Sir, + +We hope you will not think we are taking a liberty if we venture to suggest +that it would be acceptable to a very large number of our fellow-countrymen +of all classes and opinions that our illustrious countryman, Mr. Darwin, +should be buried in Westminster Abbey. + +We remain, your obedient servants, + +JOHN LUBBOCK, +NEVIL STOREY MASKELYNE, +A.J. MUNDELLA, +G.O. TREVELYAN, +LYON PLAYFAIR, +CHARLES W. DILKE, +DAVID WEDDERBURN, +ARTHUR RUSSEL, +HORACE DAVEY, +BENJAMIN ARMITAGE, +RICHARD B. MARTIN, +FRANCIS W. BUXTON, +E.L. STANLEY, +HENRY BROADHURST, +JOHN BARRAN, +F.J. CHEETHAM, +H.S. HOLLAND, +H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, +CHARLES BRUCE, +RICHARD FORT. + +The Dean was abroad at the time, and telegraphed his cordial acquiescence. + +The family had desired that my father should be buried at Down: with +regard to their wishes, Sir John Lubbock wrote:-- + +HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 25, 1882. + +My dear Darwin, + +I quite sympathise with your feeling, and personally I should greatly have +preferred that your father should have rested in Down amongst us all. It +is, I am sure, quite understood that the initiative was not taken by you. +Still, from a national point of view, it is clearly right that he should be +buried in the Abbey. I esteem it a great privilege to be allowed to +accompany my dear master to the grave. + +Believe me, yours most sincerely, + +JOHN LUBBOCK. + +W.E. DARWIN, ESQ. + + +The family gave up their first-formed plans, and the funeral took place in +Westminster Abbey on April 26th. The pall-bearers were:-- + +SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, +MR. HUXLEY, +MR. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (American Minister), +MR. A.R. WALLACE, +THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, +CANON FARRAR, +SIR J.D. HOOKER, +MR. WM. SPOTTISWOODE (President of the Royal Society), +THE EARL OF DERBY, +THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. + +The funeral was attended by the representatives of France, Germany, Italy, +Spain, Russia, and by those of the Universities, and learned Societies, as +well as by large numbers of personal friends and distinguished men. + +The grave is in the North aisle of the Nave close to the angle of the +choir-screen, and a few feet from the grave of Sir Isaac Newton. The stone +bears the inscription-- + +CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN. +Born 12 February, 1809. +Died 19 April, 1882. + + +APPENDIX II. + +I.--LIST OF WORKS BY CHARLES DARWIN. + +Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of Her Majesty's Ships 'Adventure' and +'Beagle' between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of +the Southern shores of South America, and the 'Beagle's' circumnavigation +of the globe. Volume iii. Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836. By Charles +Darwin. 8vo. London, 1839. + +Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the countries +visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle' round the world, under the +command of Captain Fitz-Roy, R.N. 2nd edition, corrected, with additions. +8vo. London, 1845. (Colonial and Home Library.) + +A Naturalist's Voyage. Journal of Researches, etc., 8vo. London, 1860. +[Contains a postscript dated February 1, 1860.] + +Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle.' Edited and superintended by +Charles Darwin. Part I. Fossil Mammalia, by Richard Owen. With a +Geological Introduction, by Charles Darwin. 4to. London, 1840. + +--Part II. Mammalia, by George R. Waterhouse. With a notice of their +habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin. 4to. London, 1839. + +--Part III. Birds, by John Gould. An "Advertisement" (2 pages) states +that in consequence of Mr. Gould's having left England for Australia, many +descriptions were supplied by Mr. G.R. Gray of the British Museum. 4to. +London, 1841. + +--Part IV. Fish, by Rev. Leonard Jenyns. 4to. London, 1842. + +--Part V. Reptiles, by Thomas Bell. 4to. London, 1843. + +The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Being the First Part of the +Geology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle.' 8vo. London, 1842. + +The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. 2nd edition. 8vo. London, +1874. + +Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, visited during the Voyage +of H.M.S. 'Beagle.' Being the Second Part of the Geology of the Voyage of +the 'Beagle.' 8vo. London, 1844. + +Geological Observations on South America. Being the Third Part of the +Geology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle.' 8vo. London, 1846. + +Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands and parts of South America +visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle.' 2nd edition. 8vo. London, +1876. + +A Monograph of the Fossil Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes of Great +Britain. 4to. London, 1851. (Palaeontographical Society.) + +A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all the Species. +The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes. 8vo. London, 1851. (Ray +Society.) + +--The Balanidae (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidae, etc. 8vo. London, +1854. (Ray Society.) + +A Monograph of the Fossil Balanidae and Verrucidae of Great Britain. 4to. +London, 1854. (Palaeontographical Society.) + +On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation +of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. 8vo. London, 1859. (Dated +October 1st, 1859, published November 24, 1859.) + +--Fifth thousand. 8vo. London, 1860. + +--Third edition, with additions and corrections. (Seventh thousand.) 8vo. +London, 1861. (Dated March, 1861.) + +--Fourth edition with additions and corrections. (Eighth thousand.) 8vo. +London, 1866. (Dated June, 1866.) + +--Fifth edition, with additions and corrections. (Tenth thousand.) 8vo. +London, 1869. (Dated May, 1869.) + +--Sixth edition, with additions and corrections to 1872. (Twenty-fourth +thousand.) 8vo. London, 1882. (Dated January, 1872.) + +On the various contrivances by which Orchids are fertilised by Insects. +8vo. London, 1862. + +--Second edition. 8vo. London, 1877. [In the second edition the word +"On" is omitted from the title.] + +The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. Second edition. 8vo. +London, 1875. [First appeared in the ninth volume of the 'Journal of the +Linnean Society.'] + +The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. 2 volumes. 8vo. +London, 1868. + +--Second edition, revised. 2 volumes. 8vo. London, 1875. + +The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. 2 volumes. 8vo. +London, 1871. + +--Second edition. 8vo. London, 1874. (In 1 volume.) + +The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. 8vo. London, 1872. + +Insectivorous Plants. 8vo. London, 1875. + +The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom. 8vo. +London, 1876. + +--Second edition. 8vo. London, 1878. + +The different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species. 8vo. +London, 1877. + +--Second edition. 8vo. London, 1880. + +The Power of Movement in Plants. By Charles Darwin, assisted by Francis +Darwin. 8vo. London, 1880. + +The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with +Observations on their Habits. 8vo. London, 1881. + + +II.--LIST OF BOOKS CONTAINING CONTRIBUTIONS BY CHARLES DARWIN. + +A Manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the use of Her Majesty's Navy: +and adapted for travellers in general. Edited by Sir John F.W. Herschel, +Bart. 8vo. London, 1849. (Section VI. Geology. By Charles Darwin.) + +Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow. By the Rev. Leonard Jenyns. 8vo. +London, 1862. [In Chapter III., Recollections by Charles Darwin.] + +A letter (1876) on the 'Drift' near Southampton published in Prof. J. +Geikie's 'Prehistoric Europe.' + +Flowers and their unbidden guests. By A. Kerner. With a Prefatory Letter +by Charles Darwin. The translation revised and edited by W. Ogle. 8vo. +London, 1878. + +Erasmus Darwin. By Ernst Krause. Translated from the German by W.S. +Dallas. With a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin. 8vo. London, 1879. + +Studies in the Theory of Descent. By August Weismann. Translated and +edited by Raphael Meldola. With a Prefatory Notice by Charles Darwin. +8vo. London, 1880--. + +The Fertilisation of Flowers. By Hermann Muller. Translated and edited by +D'Arcy W. Thompson. With a Preface by Charles Darwin. 8vo. London, 1883. + +Mental Evolution in Animals. By G.J. Romanes. With a posthumous essay on +instinct by Charles Darwin, 1883. [Also published in the Journal of the +Linnean Society.] + +Some Notes on a curious habit of male humble bees were sent to Prof. +Hermann Muller, of Lippstadt, who had permission from Mr. Darwin to make +what use he pleased of them. After Muller's death the Notes were given by +his son to Dr. E. Krause, who published them under the title, "Ueber die +Wege der Hummel-Mannchen" in his book, 'Gesammelte kleinere Schriften von +Charles Darwin.' (1886). + + +III.--LIST OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, INCLUDING A SELECTION OF LETTERS AND SHORT +COMMUNICATIONS TO SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. + +Letters to Professor Henslow, read by him at the meeting of the Cambridge +Philosophical Society, held November 16, 1835. 31 pages. 8vo. Privately +printed for distribution among the members of the Society. + +Geological Notes made during a survey of the East and West Coasts of South +America in the years 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1835; with an account of a +transverse section of the Cordilleras of the Andes between Valparaiso and +Mendoza. [Read November 18, 1835.] Geology Society Proc. ii. 1838, pages +210-212. [This Paper is incorrectly described in Geology Society Proc. +ii., page 210 as follows:--"Geological notes, etc., by F. Darwin, Esq., of +St. John's College, Cambridge: communicated by Prof. Sedgwick." It is +Indexed under C. Darwin.] + +Notes upon the Rhea Americana. Zoology Society Proc., Part v. 1837. pages +35-36. + +Observations of proofs of recent elevation on the coast of Chili, made +during the survey of H.M.S. "Beagle," commanded by Captain Fitz-Roy. +[1837.] Geological Society Proc. ii.1838, pages 446-449. + +A sketch of the deposits containing extinct Mammalia in the neighbourhood +of the Plata. [1837.] Geological Society Proc. ii. 1838, pages 542-544. + +On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian +oceans, as deduced from the study of coral formations. [1837.] Geological +Society Proc. ii. 1838, pages 552-554. + +On the Formation of Mould. [Read November 1, 1837.] Geological Society +Proc. ii. 1838, pages 574-576; Geological Society Transactions v. 1840, +pages 505-510. + +On the Connexion of certain Volcanic Phenomena and on the formation of +mountain-chains and the effects of continental elevations. [Read March 7, +1838.] Geological Society Proc. ii. 1838, pages 654-660; Geological +Society Transactions v. 1840, pages 601-632. [In the Society's Transactions +the wording of the title is slightly different.] + +Origin of saliferous deposits. Salt Lakes of Patagonia and La Plata. +Geological Society Journal ii. (Part ii.), 1838, pages 127-128. + +Note on a Rock seen on an Iceberg in 16 deg South Latitude. Geographical +Society Journal ix. 1839, pages 528-529. + +Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of other parts of +Lochaber in Scotland, with an attempt to prove that they are of marine +origin. Phil. Trans. 1839, pages 39-82. + +On a remarkable Bar of Sandstone off Pernambuco, on the Coast of Brazil. +Phil. Mag. xix. 1841, pages 257-260. + +On the Distribution of the Erratic Boulders and on the Contemporaneous +Unstratified Deposits of South America. [1841.] Geological Society Proc. +iii. 1842, pages 425-430; Geological Society Transactions vi. 1842, pages +415-432. + +Notes on the Effects produced by the Ancient Glaciers of Caernarvonshire, +and on the Boulders transported by Floating Ice. London Philosophical +Magazine volume xxi. page 180. 1842. + +Remarks on the preceding paper, in a Letter from Charles Darwin, Esq., to +Mr. Maclaren. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal xxxiv. 1843, pages 47- +50. [The "preceding" paper is: "On Coral Islands and Reefs as described by +Mr. Darwin. By Charles Maclaren, Esq., F.R.S.E."] + +Observations on the Structure and Propagation of the genus Sagitta. Annals +and Magazine of Natural History xiii. 1844, pages 1-6. + +Brief descriptions of several Terrestrial Planariae, and of some remarkable +Marine Species, with an Account of their Habits. Annals and Magazine of +Natural History xiv. 1844, pages 241-251. + +An account of the Fine Dust which often falls on Vessels in the Atlantic +Ocean. Geological Society Journal ii. 1846, pages 26-30. + +On the Geology of the Falkland Islands. Geological Society Journal ii. +1846, pages 267-274. + +A review of Waterhouse's 'Natural History of the Mammalia.' [Not signed.] +Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1847. Volume xix. page 53. + +On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders from a lower to a higher level. +Geological Society Journal iv. 1848, pages 315-323. + +On British fossil Lepadidae. Geological Society Journal vi. 1850, pages +439-440. [The G.S.J. says "This paper was withdrawn by the author with the +permission of the Council."] + +Analogy of the Structure of some Volcanic Rocks with that of Glaciers. +Edinburgh Royal Society Proc. ii. 1851, pages 17-18. + +On the power of Icebergs to make rectilinear, uniformly-directed Grooves +across a Submarine Undulatory Surface. Philosophical Magazine x. 1855, +pages 96-98. + +Vitality of Seeds. "Gardeners' Chronicle", November 17, 1855, page 758. + +On the action of Sea-water on the Germination of Seeds. [1856.] Linnean +Society Journal i. 1857 ("Botany"), pages 130-140. + +On the Agency of Bees in the Fertilisation of Papilionaceous Flowers. +"Gardeners' Chronicle", page 725, 1857. + +On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of +Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection. By Charles Darwin, +Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., and F.G.S., and Alfred Wallace, Esq. [Read July 1st, +1858.] Journal of the Linnean Society 1859, volume iii. ("Zoology"), page +45. + +Special titles of Charles Darwin's contributions to the foregoing:-- + +i. Extract from an unpublished work on Species by Charles Darwin Esq., +consisting of a portion of a chapter entitled, "On the Variation of Organic +Beings in a State of Nature; on the Natural Means of Selection; on the +Comparison of Domestic Races and true Species." + +ii. Abstract of a Letter from C. Darwin, Esq., to Professor Asa Gray, of +Boston U.S., dated September 5, 1857. + +On the Agency of Bees in the Fertilisation of Papilionaceous Flowers, and +on the Crossing of Kidney Beans. "Gardeners' Chronicle", 1858, page 828 +and Annals of Natural History 3rd series ii. 1858, pages 459-465. + +Do the Tineina or other small Moths suck Flowers, and if so what Flowers? +"Entomological Weekly Intelligencer" volume viii. 1860, page 103. + +Note on the achenia of Pumilio Argyrolepis. "Gardeners' Chronicle", +January 5, 1861, page 4. + +Fertilisation of Vincas. "Gardeners' Chronicle", pages 552, 831, 832. +1861. + +On the Two Forms, or Dimorphic Condition, in the species of Primula, and on +their remarkable Sexual Relations. Linnean Society Journal vi. 1862 +("Botany"), pages 77-96. + +On the Three remarkable Sexual Forms of Catasetum tridentatum, an Orchid in +the possession of the Linnean Society. Linnean Society Journal vi. 1862 +("Botany"), pages 151-157. + +Yellow Rain. "Gardeners' Chronicle", July 18, 1863, page 675. + +On the thickness of the Pampean formation near Buenos Ayres. Geological +Society Journal xix. 1863, pages 68-71. + +On the so-called "Auditory-sac" of Cirripedes. Natural History Review, +1863, pages 115-116. + +A review of Mr. Bates' paper on 'Mimetic Butterflies.' Natural History +Review, 1863, page 221-. [Not signed.] + +On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in +several species of the genus Linum. Linnean Society Journal vii. 1864 +("Botany"), pages 69-83. + +On the Sexual Relations of the Three Forms of Lythrum salicaria. [1864.] +Linnean Society Journal viii. 1865 ("Botany"), pages 169-196. + +On the Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants. [1865.] Linnean Society +Journal ix. 1867 ("Botany"), pages 1-118. + +Note on the Common Broom (Cytisus scoparius). [1866.] Linnean Society +Journal ix. 1867 ("Botany"), page 358. + +Notes on the Fertilization of Orchids. Annals and Magazine of Natural +History, 4th series, iv. 1869, pages 141-159. + +On the Character and Hybrid-like Nature of the Offspring from the +Illegitimate Unions of Dimorphic and Trimorphic Plants. [1868.] Linnean +Society Journal x. 1869 ("Botany"), pages 393-437. + +On the Specific Difference between Primula veris, British Fl. (var. +officinalis, of Linn.), P. vulgaris, British Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.), and +P. elatior, Jacq.; and on the Hybrid Nature of the common Oxlip. With +Supplementary Remarks on naturally produced Hybrids in the genus Verbascum. +[1868.] Linnean Society Journal x. 1869 ("Botany"), pages 437-454. + +Note on the Habits of the Pampas Woodpecker (Colaptes campestris). +Zoological Society Proceedings November 1, 1870, pages 705-706. + +Fertilisation of Leschenaultia. "Gardeners' Chronicle", page 1166, 1871. + +The Fertilisation of Winter-flowering Plants. 'Nature,' November 18, 1869, +volume i. page 85. + +Pangenesis. 'Nature,' April 27, 1871, volume iii. page 502. + +A new view of Darwinism. 'Nature,' July 6, 1871, volume iv. page 180. + +Bree on Darwinism. 'Nature,' August 8, 1872, volume vi. page 279. + +Inherited Instinct. 'Nature,' February 13, 1873, volume vii. page 281. + +Perception in the Lower Animals. 'Nature,' March 13, 1873, volume vii. +page 360. + +Origin of certain instincts. 'Nature,' April 3, 1873, volume vii. page +417. + +Habits of Ants. 'Nature,' July 24, 1873, volume viii. page 244. + +On the Males and Complemental Males of Certain Cirripedes, and on +Rudimentary Structures. 'Nature,' September 25, 1873, volume viii. page +431. + +Recent researches on Termites and Honey-bees. 'Nature,' February 19, 1874, +volume ix. page 308. + +Fertilisation of the Fumariaceae. 'Nature,' April 16, 1874, volume ix. +page 460. + +Flowers of the Primrose destroyed by Birds. 'Nature,' April 23, 1874, +volume ix. page 482; May 14, 1874, volume x. page 24. + +Cherry Blossoms. 'Nature,' May 11, 1876, volume xiv. page 28. + +Sexual Selection in relation to Monkeys. 'Nature,' November 2, 1876, +volume xv. page 18. Reprinted as a supplement to the 'Descent of Man,' +18.. + +Fritz Muller on Flowers and Insects. 'Nature,' November 29, 1877, volume +xvii. page 78. + +The Scarcity of Holly Berries and Bees. "Gardeners' Chronicle", January +20, 1877, page 83. + +Note on Fertilization of Plants. "Gardeners' Chronicle", volume vii. page +246, 1877. + +A biographical sketch of an infant. 'Mind,' No.7, July, 1877. + +Transplantation of Shells. 'Nature,' May 30, 1878, volume xviii. page 120. + +Fritz Muller on a Frog having Eggs on its back--on the abortion of the +hairs on the legs of certain Caddis-Flies, etc. 'Nature,' March 20, 1879, +volume xix. page 462. + +Rats and Water-Casks. 'Nature,' March 27, 1879, volume xix. page 481. + +Fertility of Hybrids from the common and Chinese Goose. 'Nature,' January +1, 1880, volume xxi. page 207. + +The Sexual Colours of certain Butterflies. 'Nature,' January 8, 1880, +volume xxi. page 237. + +The Omori Shell Mounds. 'Nature,' April 15, 1880, volume xxi. page 561. + +Sir Wyville Thomson and Natural Selection. 'Nature,' November 11, 1880, +volume xxiii. page 32. + +Black Sheep. 'Nature,' December 30, 1880, volume xxiii. page 193. + +Movements of Plants. 'Nature,' March 3, 1881, volume xxiii. page 409. + +The Movements of Leaves. 'Nature,' April 28, 1881, volume xxiii. page 603. + +Inheritance. 'Nature,' July 21, 1881, volume xxiv. page 257. + +Leaves injured at Night by Free Radiation. 'Nature,' September 15, 1881, +volume xxiv. page 459. + +The Parasitic Habits of Molothrus. 'Nature,' November 17, 1881, volume +xxv. page 51. + +On the Dispersal of Freshwater Bivalves. 'Nature,' April 6, 1882, volume +xxv. page 529. + +The Action of Carbonate of Ammonia on the Roots of certain Plants. [Read +March 16, 1882.] Linnean Society Journal ("Botany"), volume xix. 1882, +pages 239-261. + +The Action of Carbonate of Ammonia on Chlorophyll-bodies. [Read March 6, +1882.] Linnean Society Journal ("Botany"), volume xix. 1882, pages 262- +284. + +On the modification of a Race of Syrian Street-Dogs by means of Sexual +Selection. By W. Van Dyck. With a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin. +[Read April 18, 1882.] Proceedings of the Zoological Society 1882, pages +367-370. + + +APPENDIX III. + +PORTRAITS. + +1838: Water-colour by G. Richmond in the possession of The Family. + +1851: Lithograph by Ipswich British Association Series. + +1853: Chalk Drawing by Samuel Lawrence in the possession of The Family. + +1853?: Chalk Drawing (Probably a sketch made at one of the sittings for +the last mentioned.) by Samuel Lawrence in the possession of Prof. Hughes, +Cambridge. + +1869: Bust, marble, by T. Woolner, R.A. in the possession of The Family. + +1875: Oil Painting (A replica by the artist is in the possession of +Christ's College, Cambridge.) by W. Ouless, R.A., etched by P. Rajon, in +the possession of The Family. + +1879: Oil Painting by W.B. Richmond in the possession of The University of +Cambridge. + +1881: Oil Painting (A replica by the artist is in the possession of W.E. +Darwin, Esq., Southampton.) by the Hon. John Collier, in the possession of +The Linnaean Society, etched by Leopold Flameng. + + +CHIEF PORTRAITS AND MEMORIALS NOT TAKEN FROM LIFE. + +Statue by Joseph Boehm, R.A., in the possession of Museum, South +Kensington. + +Bust by Chr. Lehr, Junr. + +Plaque by T. Woolner, R.A., and Josiah Wedgwood and Sons in the possession +of Christ's College, in Charles Darwin's Room. + +Deep Medallion by J. Boehm, R.A. to be placed in Westminster Abbey. + + +CHIEF ENGRAVINGS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. + +1854?: By Messrs. Maull and Fox, engraved on wood for 'Harper's Magazine' +(October 1884). + +1870?: By O.J. Rejlander, engraved on steel by C.H. Jeens for 'Nature' +(June 4, 1874). + +1874?: By Captain Darwin, R.E., engraved on wood for the 'Century +Magazine' (January 1883). Frontispiece, volume i. + +(The dates of these photographs must, from various causes, remain +uncertain. Owing to a loss of books by fire, Messrs. Maull and Fox can +give only an approximate date. Mr. Rejlander died some years ago, and his +business was broken up. My brother, captain Darwin, has no record of the +date at which his photograph was taken.) + +1881: By Messrs. Elliott and Fry, engraved on wood by G. Kruells, for the +present work. + + +APPENDIX IV. + +HONOURS, DEGREES, SOCIETIES, ETC. + +(The list has been compiled from the diplomas and letters in my father's +possession, and is no doubt incomplete, as he seems to have lost or mislaid +some of the papers received from foreign Societies. Where the name of a +foreign Society (excluding those in the United States) is given in English, +it is a translation of the Latin (or in one case Russian) of the original +Diploma.) + +ORDER.--Prussian Order, 'Pour le Merite.' 1867. + +OFFICE.--County Magistrate. 1857. + +DEGREES. + +Cambridge: +B.A. 1831 [1832]. See volume i. +M.A. 1837. +Hon. LL.D. 1877. + +Breslau: Hon. Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. 1862. + +Bonn: Hon. Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. 1868. + +Leyden: Hon. M.D. 1875. + +SOCIETIES.--London: + +Zoological. Corresponding Member. 1831. (He afterwards became a Fellow +of the Society.) +Entomological. 1833, Original Member. +Geological. 1836. Wollaston Medal, 1859. +Royal Geographical. 1838. +Royal. 1839. Royal Medal, 1853. Copley Medal, 1864. +Linnean. 1854. +Ethnological. 1861. +Medico-Chirurgical. Hon. Member. 1868. +Baly Medal of the Royal College of Physicians, 1879. + +SOCIETIES.--PROVINCIAL, COLONIAL, AND INDIAN. + +Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1865. +Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, 1826. Hon. Member, 1861. +Royal Irish Academy. Hon. Member, 1866. +Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. Hon. Member, 1868. +Watford Natural History Society. Hon. Member, 1877. +Asiatic Society of Bengal. Hon. Member, 1871. +Royal Society of New South Wales. Hon. Member, 1879. +Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand. Hon. Member, 1863. +New Zealand Institute. Hon. Member, 1872. + +FOREIGN SOCIETIES.--AMERICA. + +Sociedad Cientifica Argentina. Hon. Member, 1877. +Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Argentine Republic. Hon. Member, 1878. +Sociedad Zoologica Arjentina. Hon. Member, 1874. +Boston Society of Natural History. Hon. Member, 1873. +American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston). Foreign Hon. Member, 1874. +California Academy of Sciences. Hon. Member, 1872. +California State Geological Society. Corresponding Member, 1877. +Franklin Literary Society, Indiana. Hon. Member, 1878. +Sociedad de Naturalistas Neo-Granadinos. Hon. Member, 1860. +New York Academy of Sciences. Hon. Member, 1879. +Gabinete Portuguez de Leitura em Pernambuco. Corresponding Member, 1879. +Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Correspondent, 1860. +American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Member, 1869. + +AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. + +Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna. Foreign Corresponding Member, +1871; Hon. Foreign Member, 1875. +Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien. Hon. Member, 1872. +K. k. Zoologisch-botanische Gesellschaft in Wien. Member, 1867. +Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia, Pest, 1872. + +BELGIUM. + +Societe Royale des Sciences Medicales et Naturelles de Bruxelles. Hon. +Member, 1878. +Societie Royale de Botanique de Belgique. 'Membre Associe,' 1881. +Academie Royale des Sciences, etc., de Belgique. 'Associe de la Classe des +Sciences.' 1870. + +DENMARK. + +Royal Society of Copenhagen. Fellow, 1879. + +FRANCE. + +Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris. Foreign Member, 1871. +Societe Entomologique de France. Hon. Member, 1874. +Societe Geologique de France (Life Member), 1837. +Institut de France. 'Correspondant' Section of Botany, 1878. + +GERMANY. + +Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (Berlin). Corresponding Member, 1863; +Fellow, 1878. +Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, etc. Corresponding Member, 1877. +Schlesische Gesellschaft fur Vaterlandische Cultur (Breslau). Hon. Member +1878. +Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Academia Naturae Curiosorum (Dresden). 1857. +(The diploma contains the words "accipe...ex antiqua nostra consuetudine +cognomen Forster." It was formerly the custom in the "Caesarea Leopoldino- +Carolina Academia", that each new member should receive as a 'cognomen,' a +name celebrated in that branch of science to which he belonged. Thus a +physician might be christened Boerhave, or an astronomer, Kepler. My +father seems to have been named after the traveller John Reinhold Forster.) +Senkenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Frankfurt am Main. +Corresponding Member, 1873. +Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Halle. Member 1879. +Siebenburgische Verein fur Naturwissenschaften (Hermannstadt). Hon. +Member, 1877. +Medicinisch-naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft zu Jena. Hon. Member, +1878. +Royal Bavarian Academy of Literature and Science (Munich). Foreign Member, +1878. + +HOLLAND. + +Koninklijke Natuurkundige Vereeniging in Nederlandsch-Indie (Batavia). +Corresponding Member, 1880. +Societe Hollandaise des Sciences a Harlem. Foreign Member, 1877. +Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen te Middelburg. Foreign Member, +1877. + +ITALY. + +Societa Geografica Italiana (Florence). 1870. +Societa Italiana di Antropologia e di Etnologia (Florence). Hon. Member, +1872. +Societa dei Naturalisti in Modena. Hon. Member, 1875. +Academia de' Lincei di Roma. Foreign Member, 1875. +La Scuola Italica, Academia Pitagorica, Reale ed Imp. Societa (Rome). +"Presidente Onoraria degli Anziani Pitagorici," 1880. +Royal Academy of Turin. 1873. "Bressa" Prize, 1879. + +PORTUGAL. + +Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa (Lisbon). Corresponding Member, 1877. + +RUSSIA. + +Society of Naturalists of the Imperial Kazan University. Hon. Member, +1875. +Societas Caesarea Naturae Curiosorum (Moscow). Hon. Member, 1870. +Imperial Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). Corresponding Member, 1867. + +SPAIN. + +Institucion Libre de Ensenanza (Madrid). Hon. Professor, 1877. + +SWEDEN. + +Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Stockholm). Foreign Member, 1865. +Royal Society of Sciences (Upsala). Fellow, 1860. + +SWITZERLAND. + +Societe des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel. Corresponding Member, 1863. + + +INDEX. + +ABBOT, F.E., letter to. + +ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES (Philadelphia) elects Darwin a member. + +AGASSIZ, Alexander, letter to. + +AGASSIZ, Louis, Darwin's estimate of. +Letters to. +His attitude toward the 'Origin of Species.' +Reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +AGGREGATION, studied by Darwin. + +'ALMANACK, THE NATURALISTS' POCKET,' mentioned. + +ANDES, Darwin crosses the. + +'ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY,' mentioned. + +ANTICIPATION of Darwin's views. + +ANTS, observations on. + +APPLETON, D., & CO., publish 'Origin of Species' in America. + +ARGYLL, Duke of, criticises the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin's comments on his criticisms. +Darwin on his 'Reign of Law.' +Reviews the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' + +ARISTOTLE, Darwin's estimate of. + +ARRANGEMENT of leaves on the stems of plants. + +'ATHENAEUM,' Darwin on its review of the 'Origin of Species.' +Reports British Association discussion. +Darwin's letters to, in his own defence. +Criticises Darwin. + +AUSTRALIA, development of animals in. + +AUSTRALIAN flora. + +AUSTRIAN expedition. + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY, extracts from. + +AVELING, Dr., on Darwin's religious views. +Note. + +BAIN, Alexander, letter to. + +BALFOUR, Francis M., Darwin's estimate of. + +BALY medal presented to Darwin. + +BAER, K.E. von, agrees with Darwin. + +BASTIAN, H.C., Darwin on his 'Beginnings of Life.' + +BATES, H.W., Darwin on his insect fauna of the Amazon valley. +Letters to. +Darwin on his mimetic variations of butterflies. + +BATS. + +"BEAGLE", voyage of. +Darwin offered an appointment to the. +Her equipments. +Object of her voyage. +Her crew. + +BEETLES, collecting. + +BEHRENS, W., letter to. + +BELL, T., describes Darwin's reptiles. + +BELL-STONE of Shrewsbury mentioned. + +BELT, Thomas, Darwin on his 'Naturalist in Nicaragua.' + +BEMMELEN, A. van, letter to. + +BENTHAM, George, his silence on natural selection. +Letter to Francis Darwin on his adoption of Darwin's views. +His view of natural selection. +Letters to. + +BERKELEY, Rev. M.J., reviews the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' + +BERLIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES elects Darwin corresponding member. + +BET made by Darwin. + +BLOMEFIELD (JENYNS), Rev. Leonard, Darwin becomes acquainted with. +Letters to. +Darwin on his 'Observations in Natural History.' + +BLOOM on leaves and fruit, Darwin's work on. + +BLYTH, Edward, mentioned. + +BOOLE, Mrs., her letter on natural selection and religion. +Letter to. + +BOOTT, Francis, mentioned. + +BOTANY, Darwin's work on, and its relation to natural selection. + +BOWEN, Francis, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +BRACE, C.L., and wife, Darwin on their philanthropic work. + +BRAZIL, Emperor of, wishes to meet Darwin. + +BREE, C.R., his work 'Species not Transmutable.' +Accuses Wallace of blundering, and is answered by Darwin. + +BREEDING, sources of information on. + +BRESSA prize presented to Darwin. + +BRITISH ASSOCIATION discusses the 'Origin of Species.' +Oxford meeting of, allegorized. +Belfast meeting. + +BRONN, H.G., edits the 'Origin of Species' in German. +Letters to. +Criticisms on the 'Origin of Species.' + +BROWN, Robert, mentioned. + +BRUNTON, T. Lauder, letter to. + +BUCKLE, his system of collecting facts. +Darwin on his 'History of Civilisation.' + +BUCKLEY, Miss A.B., letters to. + +BUFFON, Darwin on. + +BUNBURY, Sir C., mentioned. + +BUTLER, Samuel, charges Darwin of falsehood. + +BUTLER, Dr., his school at Shrewsbury. + +BUTTON, Jemmy, a visit to. + +CAIRNS, J.E., his lecture on 'The Slave Power.' + +CAM BRIDGE, University of, makes Darwin LL.D. +Obtains memorial portrait of him. + +CAMERON, Mrs., makes a photograph of Darwin. + +CANARY ISLANDS, projected trip to. + +CANDOLLE, Alphonse de, letters to. +His view of the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin on his 'Histoire des Sciences et des Savants.' + +CARLYLE, Thomas, on Erasmus A. Darwin. +His interesting talk. + +CARPENTER, W.B., letters to. +Reviews the 'Origin of Species.' +His work on 'Foraminifera.' + +CARUS, J. Victor, letters to. + +CATON, John D., letter to. + +CHAMBERS, R., Darwin on his geological views. + +CHANCE, not implied in evolution. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEPS, Darwin's efforts for. + +CIRRIPEDIA, monograph of the. +Nomenclature of. +Work on. +The so-called auditory sac of. + +CIVIL WAR in the United States. +Darwin on. + +CLARK, William, mentioned. + +CLARK, Sir Andrew, is Darwin's physician. + +CLIMATE and migration. + +'CLIMBING PLANTS,' written and published. +Work on. +Republished in book-form. + +COAL, discussion on submarine. + +COHN, Prof., describes a visit to Darwin. + +COLENSO, Bishop, his 'Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua.' + +COLLECTING, Darwin on. +Butterflies. + +COLLIER, John, paints Darwin's portrait. + +COLOURS OF INSECTS. + +CONTINENTAL EXTENSION, Darwin's reasons against. + +CONTINENTS, permanence of. + +COPE, E.D., Darwin on his theory of acceleration. + +COPLEY MEDAL presented to Darwin. + +'CORAL REEFS,' at work upon. +Opinions on. +Criticised by Semper. +Darwin's answer to Semper. +Darwin on Murray's criticisms of. +Second edition. + +CRAWFORD, John, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +CREATIVE POWER. + +'CREED OF SCIENCE,' read by Darwin. + +CRESY, E., letter to. + +CRICK, W.D., communicates to Darwin a mode of dispersal of bivalve shells. + +CUTTING EDGES OF BOOKS, Darwin on. + +DANA, Prof., sends Darwin 'Geology of U.S. Expedition.' + +DARESTE, Camille, letter to. + +DARWIN FAMILY. + +DARWIN, Annie, Darwin's account of. +Death of. + +DARWIN, Miss C., letter to. + +DARWIN, Catherine, letters to. + +DARWIN, Charles, studies medicine at Edinburgh. +Young man of great promise. + +DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882). +Table of relationship. +Ancestors. +Personal characteristics as traced from his forefathers. +Love and respect for his father's memory. +His affection for his brother Erasmus. +Autobiography. +Mother dies. +Taste for natural history. +School-boy experiences. +Humane disposition toward animals. +Goes to Dr. Butler's school at Shrewsbury. +Taste for long, solitary walks. +Inability to master a language. +Leaves school with strong and diversified tastes. +Fondness for poetry in early life. +A wish to travel first roused by reading 'Wonders of the World.' +Fondness for shooting. +Collects minerals and becomes interested in insects and birds. +Studies chemistry. +Goes to Edinburgh University. +And attends medical lectures. +Collects and dissects marine animals. +Attends meetings of the Plinian Royal Medical and Wernerian societies. +Attends lectures on geology and zoology. +Meets Sir J. Mackintosh. +Spends three years at Cambridge studying for the ministry. +Phrenological characteristics. +Reads Paley with delight. +Attends Henslow's lectures on botany. +His taste for pictures and music. +His interest in entomology. +Friendship of Prof. Henslow and its influence upon his career. +Meets Dr. Whewell. +Reads Humboldt's 'Personal Narrative' and Herschel's 'Introduction to the +Study of Natural History.' +Begins the study of geology. +Field-work in North Wales. +Voyage of the "Beagle". +Receives a proposal to sail in the "Beagle". +Starts for Cambridge and thence to London. +'Voyage of the "Beagle" the most important event in my life.' +Sails in the "Beagle". +His letters read before the Philosophical Society of Cambridge. +Returns to England. +Begins his 'Journal of Travels.' +Takes lodgings in London. +Begins preparing MS. for his 'Geological Observations.' +Arranges for publication of 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle". +Opens first note-book of 'Origin of Species.' +Meets Lyell and Robert Brown. +Marries. +Works on his 'Coral Reefs.' +Reads papers before Geological Society. +Acts as secretary of the Geological Society. +Residence at Down. +His absorption in science. +His publications. +'Geological Observations' published. +Success of the 'Journal of Researches.' +Begins work on 'Cirripedia.' +visits to water-cure establishments. +Work on the 'Origin of Species.' +Reads 'Malthus on Population.' +Begins notes on 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.' +Becomes interested in cross-fertilisation of flowers. +Publishes papers on dimorphic and trimorphic plants. +Publishes 'Descent of Man.' +First child born. +Publishes translation and sketch of 'Life of Erasmus Darwin.' +Methods of work. +Mental qualities. +Fond of novel reading. +A good observer. +Habits and personal appearance. +Ill health. +Fondness for dogs. +Correspondence. +Business habits. +Scientific reading. +Wide interest in science. +Journals of daily events. +Holidays. +Relation to his family and friends. +His account of his little daughter Annie. +How he brought up his children. +Manner towards servants. +As a host. +Modesty. +Not quick at argument. +Intercourse with strangers. +Use of simple methods and few instruments. +Perseverance. +Theorizing power. +Books used only as tools. +Use of note-books and portfolios. +Courteous tone toward his reader. +Illustration of his books. +Consideration for other authors. +His wife's tender care. +Cambridge life. +His character. +Intention of going into the church. +Appointment to the "Beagle". +The voyage. +Life at sea. +Views on slavery. +Excursion across the Andes. +Meets Sir J. Herschel. +Reaches home. +Life at London and Cambridge. +Residence at Cambridge. +Works on his 'Journal of Researches.' +Appointed secretary of Geological Society. +Visits Glen Roy. +Admiration for Lyell's 'Elements.' +Increasing ill-health. +At work on 'Coral Reefs.' +His religious views. +Life at Down, 1842-1854. +Reasons for leaving London. +Early impressions of Down. +Theory of coral islands. +Time spent on geological books. +Purchases farm in Lincolnshire. +Dines with Lord Mahon. +Daughter Annie dies. +His children. +Growth of views on 'Origin of Species.' +Plan for publishing 'Sketch of 1844,' in case of his sudden death. +Pigeon fancying enterprise. +Collecting plants. +General acceptance of his work. +Publishes 'Origin of Species.' +Elected correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences (Philadelphia). +His views on the civil war in the United States. +At Bournemouth. +His view of Lyell's 'Antiquity of Man.' +Receives the Copley medal. +Elected to Royal Society of Edinburgh. +His conscientiousness in argument. +His intercourse with horticulturists and stock-raisers. +Elected to the Royal Society of Holland. +Made a knight of the Prussian order Pour le Merite. +Sits for a bust. +Declines a nomination for the degree of D.C.L. because of ill-health. +His connection with the South American Missionary Society. +His answers to Galton's questions on nature and nurture. +Sits for portrait to W. Ouless. +Elected to Physiological Society. +Replies to Miss Cobbe on vivisection in the "Times". +Publishes the 'Life of Erasmus Darwin.' +Sits for memorial portraits. +Receives various honours. +Makes a present to the Naples Zoological Station. +His answers to Galton's questions on the faculty of visualising. +Offers aid to Fritz Muller. +Replies to Sir W. Thomson on abyssal fauna. +His botanical work. +Builds a greenhouse. +Publishes work on the fertilisation of orchids. +Studies the bloom on leaves and fruit. +Studies the causes of variability. +Studies the production of galls. +Studies aggregation. +Encourages Torbitt's work on the potato disease. +Aids the preparation of the Kew 'Index of Plant-names.' +Death. +Burial in Westminster Abbey. +List of works. + +DARWIN & Wallace's joint paper on variation. + +DARWIN, Edward, author of 'Gamekeeper's Manual.' + +DARWIN, Mrs. Emma (Wedgwood), letter to. + +DARWIN, Erasmus (born 1731), poet and philosopher. +Character of. +Life published in English. + +DARWIN, Erasmus (born 1759). + +DARWIN, Erasmus Alvey (1804-1881), educated as a physician. +Character of. +Carlyle's sketch of his character. +Miss Wedgwood's letter on his character. +Letter from. +His death. + +DARWIN, Robert, of Elston Hall. +Charles Darwin's estimate of. + +DARWIN, Robert Waring, (born 1724), publishes 'Principia Botanica.' + +DARWIN, Robert Waring, (born 1767), studies medicine at Leyden. +Settles in Shrewsbury. +Marries Susannah Wedgwood. +His son Charles's description of him. +His six children. +Letters to. + +DARWIN, Susan, letters to. + +DARWIN, William, of Marton, first known ancestor of Charles. + +DARWIN, William, son of Richard, appointed yeoman of the Royal Armoury. + +DARWIN, William (1655). + +DARWYN, Richard, of Marton, mentioned. + +DAVIDSON, Thomas, letter to, asking him to investigate brachiopods. +Letter to. +On British brachiopoda. + +DE CANDOLLE, A., see Candolle, A. De. + +DESCENT, doctrine of. + +DESCENT OF ANIMALS. + +'DESCENT OF MAN,' published. +Work on. +Reviews of. +Reception in Germany. +Wallace's views on. +Second edition. +Connected with socialism. + +DESIGN IN NATURE, doctrine of. + +DIAGRAMS OF DESCENT OF MAMMALS. + +'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS,' published. +Reviewed in 'Nature.' + +DIGESTION OF PLANTS, Darwin's work on. + +DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. + +DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER, principle of. + +DOGS, multiple origin of. + +DOHRN, Anton, letter to. + +DONDERS, F.C., letters to. + +DOWN, description of. + +DRIFT near Southampton, stones standing on end in. + +DU BOIS-REYMOND agrees with Darwin. + +DYCK, W.T. van, letter to. + +DYER, W. Thiselton, on Darwin's botanical work. +Letters to. + +EAR, human, infolded point of. + +Earthquakes, paper read on. + +EATON, J., extract from his book on 'Pigeons.' + +'EDINBURGH REVIEW,' Darwin's criticisms on. + +EDUCATION, Darwin on. + +'EFFECTS OF CROSS And SELF-FERTILISATION,' published. +Work on. + +ELECTRICAL ORGANS in fish. + +ERRATIC BOULDERS of South America, paper on, read. + +EVOLUTION, doctrine of, objections to, answered. +Not a doctrine of chance. +And teleology. +Neither anti-theistic nor theistic. +Mental. + +EXPRESSION, facial, origin of. + +'EXPRESSION OF The EMOTIONS,' published. +Work on. +Reviews of. + +EYRE, Gov., Darwin's views on the prosecution of. + +FABRE, J.H., letter to. + +FALCONER, Hugh, letters to. +Mentioned. +Letter to Darwin. +Views on the origin of elephants. +Reclamation from Lyell's 'Antiquity of Man.' + +FARRER, F.W., letter to. + +FARRER, Sir Thomas H., aids Darwin's researches on earthworms. +Letters to. + +FAWCETT, Henry, defends Darwin's reasoning. + +'FERTILISATION OF ORCHIDS,' published. + +FISKE, John, letter to. + +FISHER, Mrs., letters to. + +FITTON, W.H., mentioned. + +FITZ-ROY, R.,captain of the "Beagle". +His character. +Meets Darwin. +Letters to. +His intention of resigning. + +FLINT instruments. + +FLOURENS, P.,on the 'Origin of Species.' + +FLOWERS, fertilisation of. + +FORBES, David, praises Darwin's work on Chile. + +FORBES, Edward, his theory of change of level. + +FORDYCE, J.,letter to. + +FOREL, Aug., letter to. + +'FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD,' paper read on. +Published. +Work on. +Its reception. + +FOX, William Darwin, Darwin's friendship with. +Letters to. + +FRANCE, Institute of, elects Darwin corresponding member. + +FRAUDS, scientific. + +FREE-WILL, doctrine of. + +FREKE, Dr., his 'Origin of Species by Means of Organic Affinity.' + +FEUGIANS, Darwin's impressions of. + +GALAPAGOS animals and plants. + +GALLS, production of, studied by Darwin. + +GALTON, Francis, mentioned. +His questions on nature and nurture, and Darwin's answers. +His questions on the faculty of visualising, and Darwin's answers. + +'GARDENERS' CHRONICLE,' Darwin answers Mr. Westwood in. + +GAUDRY, A., letter to. + +GEIKIE, Archibald, his opinion of Darwin's geological works. + +GEIKIE, James, letter to. + +GENERA, varying of large. + +GENERATION, spontaneous. + +GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. + +'GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS,' MS. begun. + +'GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON VOLCANIC ISLANDS' published. +Opinions on. +Second edition. + +'GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTH AMERICA,' opinions on. + +GEOLOGICAL RECORD, imperfection of. +Succession in. + +GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Darwin wishes to become a member. +Papers contributed to. + +GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS secured during voyage. +Disposed of. + +GEOLOGICAL, importance of. +Of St. Jago. +Article on, in 'Admiralty Manual.' +Darwin on the progress of. + +GERMANY, progress of natural selection in. + +GERMINATION, experiments in. + +GILBERT, J.H., letter to. + +GLACIAL period, its effect on species. +Phenomena at Cwm Idwal. + +GLACIERS, paper on ancient, in Wales. + +GLEN ROY, Darwin visits. +'Observations' on, published. +Work criticised by D. Milne. + +GOURMET CLUB and its members. + +GOVERNMENT AID in publication of 'Zoology of Voyage of "Beagle".' + +GRAHAM, W., letter to. + +GRAY, Asa, his papers on natural selection and natural theology. +Letters to. +Letter to Hooker on the 'Origin of Species.' +On the 'Origin of Species.' +Reviews the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' +Reviews the 'Variation of Animals and Plants.' + +GRAY, J.E., mentioned. + +GUNTHER, A., letters to. + +GURNEY, E., letter to. + +HAAST, Sir Julius von, letter to. + +HAECKEL, E., his views on the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin's friendship with. +His work for natural selection in Germany. +Letters to. + +HALIBURTON, Mrs., letters to. + +HARVEY, W.H., criticises the 'Origin of Species.' + +HAUGHTON, Rev. S., criticises Darwin and Wallace's joint paper. + +HENSLOW, J.S., his friendship with Darwin. +His character. +Letter from. +Letters to. +Presides at the Oxford discussion on the 'Origin of Species.' +His views on natural selection. +His death. + +HERBERT, John Maurice, Darwin's friendship with. +Letters to. + +HERSCHEL, Sir J., Darwin's opinion of. +Meets Darwin. + +HETEROGENY, Darwin on. + +HIGGINSON, T.W., letter to. + +HILDEBRAND, F., letters to. + +HIPPOCRATES anticipates Darwin on pangenesis. + +HOLMGREN, Frithiof, letter to. + +HOLLAND, Royal Society of, elects Darwin a member. + +HOLLAND, Sir Henry, his view of the 'Origin of Species.' + +HOMOEOPATHY, Darwin's estimate of. + +HONOURS conferred on Darwin, list of. + +HOOKER, Sir Joseph D., Darwin's friendship for. +Letters to. +Letter from. +His reminiscences of Darwin. +On the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin on his 'Australian Flora.' +Answers Harvey. +Memorial on his treatment by the First Commissioner of Works. +Reviews the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' + +HOOKER, Sir William, mentioned. + +HOPKINS, William, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +HUDSON, Darwin's reply to. + +HUMBOLDT, Darwin's estimate of. + +HUTTON, F.W., reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +HUXLEY, Thomas Henry, mentioned. +His opinion of Darwin's work on 'Cirripedes.' +On the 'Vestiges of Creation.' +On the 'Philosophie Zoologique.' +On the 'Principles of Geology.' +On the reception of the 'Origin of Species.' +Letters to. +On the 'Origin of Species.' +Reviews the 'Origin of Species' in 'Westminster Review.' +Defends Darwin before the British Association. +Contradicts R. Owen. +Letter from. +Lectures to workingmen on natural selection. +Asked by Darwin to write a text-book on zoology. +Replies to the 'Quarterly' reviewer on the 'Descent of Man.' + +HYATT, Alpheus, letter to, on his theory of acceleration. + +HYBRID GEESE, fertility of. + +HYBRIDISM. + +IMMORTALITY, Darwin's views upon. + +'INFANT, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AN.' + +INFERIORITY inherited by the forms which are beaten. + +INNES, Rev. J. Brodie, on Darwin's interest in village affairs. +On the 'Origin of Species' and the Bible. +On Darwin's conscientiousness. +Letter to. + +'INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS,' published. +Work on. + +INSECTS, instinct of. +As carriers of pollen. + +INSTINCT, Darwin on. + +ISLANDS, animals of. + +ISOLATION, effect of, on the origin of species. + +JARDINE, Sir W., mentioned. + +JEFFREYS, Gwyn, mentioned. + +JENKINS, Fleeming, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin on his criticisms. + +JENYNS (BLOMEFIELD), Rev. Leonard, mentioned. +Letters to. +Letter from. +His 'Observations in Natural History.' + +JONES, Dr. Bence, is Darwin's physician. + +'JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES,' work on. +Lyell's opinion of. +The German translation and its reception. +Second edition published. +Dedication of. +Condemned in manuscript. + +JUDD, Prof., his paper on 'Volcanoes of the Hebrides.' +On Darwin's desire to promote the progress of science. + +JUKES, Joseph B., mentioned. + +KEW, 'Index of Plant Names.' + +KINGSLEY, Rev C., letter from, on the 'Origin of Species.' + +KOCH'S RESEARCHES on splenic fever. +Darwin on. + +KOLLIKER, Prof., is reviewed by Huxley. + +KRAUSE, Ernst, criticises Bronn's German edition of the 'Origin of +Species.' +His essay on Erasmus Darwin published. + +KROHN, Aug., finds mistakes in the 'Origin of Species.' + +LAMARCK's discussion of the species question, its insufficiency. +Darwin on. + +LANE, Dr., his recollections of Darwin. + +LANGEL reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +LANKESTER, E. Ray, letter to. + +LANSDOWNE, Marquis of, anecdote of. + +LEE, Samuel, mentioned. + +LESQUEREUX, Leo, accepts the doctrine of natural selection. + +LEWES, G.H., reviews the 'Variation of Animals and Plants.' + +LINDLEY, John, mentioned. + +LINNEAN SOCIETY obtains memorial portrait of Darwin. + +LITCHFIELD, Mrs., on Darwin's style. +Letter to. + +LIZARDS. + +LONSDALE, William, mentioned. + +LOWELL, J.A., reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +LUBBOCK, Sir John, letters to. +On the burial of Darwin. + +LYELL, Sir Charles, estimate of his character as a geologist. +Letters to. +Letters from. +Opinion of 'Coral Reefs.' +His views of the 'Origin of Species.' +On the origin of species by natural causes. +Admission of the doctrine of natural selection. +Darwin on his 'Antiquity of Man.' +Falconer's reclamation from his 'Antiquity of Man.' +Darwin on his 'Elements of Geology.' +His death. +Darwin's opinion of. + +MACAULAY and his memory. + +MCDONNELL, R., his study of electrical organs in fish. + +MACKINTOSH, D., his work on erratic blocks. + +MACLEAY, W.S., mentioned. + +MADEIRA AND BERMUDA birds not peculiar. + +MALAY ARCHIPELAGO,' Wallace's 'Zoological Geography of. + +MAMMALS, descent of, from a single type. + +MAN, all races of, descended from one type. +Antiquity of. +Origin of. +Relationship to apes. + +MARRIAGES, consanguineous. + +MARSH, O.C., letter to. + +MASTERS, Maxwell, letter to. + +MATTHEW, Patrick, anticipates the doctrine of natural selection. + +MAW, George, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +MEDAL of Royal Society awarded to Darwin. + +MEGATHERIUM sent down from heaven. + +MESMERISM, Darwin's estimate of. + +MILNE, D., criticises Glen Roy paper. + +MIMETIC MODIFICATIONS in plants. + +MIVART, St. G., Darwin on his 'Genesis of Species.' +His 'Genesis of Species' reviewed by Chauncey Wright. +Criticised by Huxley. +His 'Lessons from Nature' reviewed in the 'Academy.' + +MODIFICATION. + +MODIFICATIONS, absence of. + +MOGGRIDGE, J.T., letter to. + +MOJSISOVIC, E. von, Darwin on 'Dolomit Riffe.' + +MONADS, persistence of. + +MONSTERS. + +MONSTROSITIES are sterile. + +MORSE, E.S., letter to. + +MOSELEY, H.N., letters to. + +MULLER, Fritz, letters to. +His 'Fur Darwin' translated. +Receives offer of aid from Darwin. + +MULLER, Hermann, letters to. + +MULLER, Max, his 'Lectures on the Science of Language.' + +MURRAY, Andrew, quoted on the 'Origin of Species.' + +MURRAY, John, letters to. + +MUSIC OF INSECTS. + +MUTABILITY OF SPECIES. + +NAGELI, C., his 'Entstehung und Begriff der Naturhistorischen Art.' +Letter to. + +NAPLES Zoological Station receives a present from Darwin. + +NATURAL HISTORY, Darwin's passion for. + +NATURAL SELECTION, see Selection, natural. + +NAUDIN, Darwin on. + +NEUMAYR, Melchior, letter to. + +NEVILL, Lady Dorothy, letter to. + +NEWTON, A., letter to. +Reviews the 'Variation of Animals and Plants.' + +NEW ZEALAND, animals of. +Plants of. + +NOBILITY, natural selection among. + +NOMENCLATURE of species, discussion on. + +NORMAN, E., Darwin's secretary. + +NOVARA expedition. + +'OBSERVATIONS ON PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY,' published. +Extract from. + +OGLE, William, letter to. + +'ORCHIDS, FERTILISATION OF,' work on. +Published. +Reviews of. +Second edition published. + +'ORCHIS BANK' described. + +ORGANS, rudimentary. + +'ORIGIN OF SPECIES,' first note-book of, opened. +Growth of the. +Published. +Its success. +Second edition. +Darwin's change of views upon. +Description of sketch of 1844. +Huxley's view of sketch of 1844. +Prof. Newton's view of same. +The writing of. +Abstract book. +Unorthodoxy of. +Faults of style. +Lyell on. +Huxley on. +Bishop Wilberforce on. +Huxley's summary of reviews of. +Answer to Lyell on. +H.C. Watson on. +Jos. D. Hooker on. +French translation proposed. +First German edition. +Reviewed in the "Times". +First American edition. +Asa Gray on. +Kingsley on. +And the Bible. +Rev. J. Brodie Innes on. +Reviewed in the 'Edinburgh Review.' +Reviewed in the 'North American Review.' +Reviewed in the 'Revue des deux Mondes.' +Reviewed in the "New York Times". +Reviewed in the "Christian Examiner". +Discussed by the British Association. +Reviewed in 'Quarterly Review.' +Reviewed in the 'London Review.' +Reviewed in the 'American Journal of Science and Arts. +Bronn's criticisms of. +Reviewed in the 'Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.' +Answers to criticisms on. +Third edition. +'Historical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the.' +Dutch edition. +First French edition. +Reviewed in the 'Geologist.' +Reviewed in the 'Dublin Hospital Gazette.' +Reviewed in the 'Zoologist.' +De Candolle's view of. +Haeckel's view of. +Gen. Sabine on. +Flourens on. +Second French edition. +Criticised by the Duke of Argyll. +Fourth edition. +Third German edition. +Russian editions of. +Fifth edition. +Reviewed in the 'North British Review.' +Reviewed in the 'Athenaeum.' +Third and fourth French editions. +Sixth edition. +Criticised by Pusey. +'Coming of age of.' + +OSTRICH, Darwin discovers a new species of. + +OULESS, W., paints Darwin's portrait. + +OWEN, Sir R., criticises Darwin's theory. +Contradicted by Huxley. +His views on variation by descent. + +PALEY's argument of design in nature no longer good. +His 'Natural Theology' mentioned. + +PAMPAEAN FORMATION, Darwin on. + +PANGENESIS, hypothesis of. +Opinions on. +Anticipated by Hippocrates. + +PARKER, Henry, defends the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' + +PARSONS, Theophilus, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +PEACOCK, George, letter on appointment of naturalist to "Beagle". +Letter from, appointing Darwin to "Beagle". + +PENGELLY, William, mentioned. + +PERTHES, Boucher de, Darwin on. + +PETRELS as agents of distribution. + +PHILLIPS, John, mentioned. + +PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB, its nature. + +'PHILOSOPHIE ZOOLOGIQUE,' Huxley on. + +PHOTOGRAPHS, albums of, presented to Darwin by German and Dutch scientists. + +PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY elects Darwin an honorary member. + +PICTET, Francois Jules, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +PIGEONS, Darwin's interest in. + +PLANTS, fossil. +sexuality of. +A recent discovery. + +PLATYSMA, contraction of, from shuddering. + +PORTRAITS OF DARWIN, list of. + +POTATO DISEASE, Torbitt's experiments on. + +POUR LE MERITE, Darwin admitted to order. + +POUTER PIGEON, variation in. + +'POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS,' published. +Work on. + +PRESTWICH, J., letter to. + +PREYER, W., letter to. + +PRIMOGENITURE, law of, Darwin on. + +'PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY,' Huxley on. + +PRIORITY, nomenclature of species by. + +PROGRESSION, necessary. + +PROTECTION, modification for. + +PUSEY's criticisms of the 'Origin of Species.' + +'QUARTERLY REVIEW,' recognises merits of 'Journal of Researches.' + +QUATREFAGES, J.L.A. de, letters to. + +RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF DARWIN, difficulties not created by science. + +REMINISCENCES OF DARWIN by Hooker. + +REVELATION, Darwin's disbelief in. + +REVERSION, Darwin on. + +REYMOND, Du Bois-, letter to. + +RICHMOND, W.B., paints Darwin's portrait. + +RIDLEY, C., letter to. + +RIVERS, T., letter to. + +ROBERTSON, G. Croom, letter to. + +ROBERTSON, John, reviews the 'Origin of Species.' + +RODWELL, Rev. J.M., letter to. + +ROLLESTON, George, his 'Canons.' + +ROMAN CATHOLIC church on evolution. + +ROMANES, G.J., on Darwin's conscientiousness. +Letters to. + +ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS presents the Baly medal to Darwin. + +ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH elects Darwin honorary member. + +ROYER, Mlle. Clemence, translates the 'Origin of Species.' +Publishes third French edition. + +RUDIMENTARY organs. + +SABINE, Gen., on the 'Origin of Species.' + +SALTER, J.W., his diagram of spirifers. +'Sand-walk' described. + +SANDERSON, J. Burdon, letter to. + +SAPORTA, Marquis de, letter to. + +SCHAAFFHAUSEN, H., claims to anticipate Darwin. + +SCOTT, John, Darwin's estimate of. + +SEDGWICK, Rev. Adam, mentioned. +On the 'Origin of Species.' +His review of the 'Origin of Species.' +Criticises the 'Origin of Species.' +On the imperfection of the geological record. + +SEEDS, vitality of. + +SELECTION, NATURAL, doctrine of, clearly conceived by Darwin about 1839. +Opposed to doctrine of design. +Effect of, on the scientific mind. +And religion. +Small effects of, in changing species. +Among the nobility. +Huxley's lectures to workingmen on. +Progress of. +Darwin anticipated on. +Use of the term. +Effect on sterility. +Progress among the clergy. +Progress of, in Germany. +Progress of, in France. + +SELECTION, SEXUAL, instance of, in the dogs of Beyrout. + +SEMPER, K., letters to. + +SHELBURNE, Lord, anecdote of. + +SLAVERY, Darwin's opinion of. +In the United States. + +SMITH, Sydney, inexplicably amusing. + +SOCIALISM and the descent of man. + +SOCIETIES, learned, Darwin's membership in. + +SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, Darwin's connection with. + +SPECIES, mutability of. +Origin of, effect of isolation on. +Specific centres. + +SPENCER, Herbert, letters to. +Prof. Huxley's friendship with. +Darwin on. +Originates the term 'survival of the fittest.' +His impression of 'Pangenesis.' + +SPIRITISM, Darwin on. + +SPONTANEITY, Bain's theory of. + +SPRENGEL, C.C., his work on the fertilisation of flowers. + +STANHOPE, Lord, his parties of historians. + +STEBBING, Rev. T.R.R., letter to. + +STENDEL'S 'Nomenclator.' + +STERILITY, effect of natural selection on. +Of moths. + +STOKES, Admiral, Lord, extract from letter of. + +STONES standing on end in the Southampton drift. + +STRICKLAND, Hugh, letters to. +Letter from. + +STRIPED HORSES. + +STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. + +STYLE of Darwin. + +SUBLIMITY, where felt most by Darwin. + +SULIVAN, B.J., letter to. + +SULIVAN, Admiral Sir James, extract from letter of. + +SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, use of the term. + +TEGETMEIER, W.B., extract from letter to. + +TELEOLOGY, evolution and. +Darwin's revival of. + +TENERIFFE, projected trip to. + +THIEL, H., letter to. + +THOMSON, Thomas, mentioned. + +THOMSON, Sir Wyville, on abyssal fauna. + +THORLEY, Miss, botanical work with. + +THWAITES, G.J.K., mentioned. + +TIERRA DEL FUEGO MISSION, Darwin's connection with. + +"TIMES", its review of the 'Origin of Species.' +Darwin on. + +TORBITT, James, his work on the potato disease. + +TURIN, Royal Academy of, presents Darwin the Bressa prize. + +TYLOR, E.B., letter to. + +TYNDALL, John, praises the 'Origin of Species.' + +USBORNE, A.B., extract from a letter of. + +VAN DYCK, W.T., letter to. + +VARIATIONS IN SPECIES, Wallace's essay on. +Darwin and Wallace's joint paper on. +Sudden. +Governed by design. +Cause of. +Mimetic, of butterflies. +Governed by design. +Mimetic, of plants. +In colours of insects. +Transmission of. +Analogical. +Darwin studies the causes of. + +'VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DOMESTICATION,' work on. +Publication of. +Reviewed in the "Nation". +Russian edition. +Second edition. +Reviewed in the "Pall Mall Gazette". +Reviewed in the "Gardeners' Chronicle". +Reviewed in the "Athenaeum". +Reviewed in the 'Zoological Record.' +American edition. + +VARIETIES, production of. +And species, collecting facts about. + +'VESTIGES OF CREATION' read by Darwin. +Huxley on. + +VINES, S.H., letter to. + +VIRCHOW connects the descent of man with socialism. + +VISUALISING, questions and answers on the faculty of. + +VIVISECTION. + +WAGNER, Moritz, criticised by A. Weismann. +Letters to. + +WAGNER, R., mentioned. + +WALLACE, A.R., sends essay to Darwin. +Letters to. +Essay on variation. +His 'Zoological Geography.' +Reviews the 'Descent of Man.' +Reviews Mivart's 'Lessons from Nature.' +Pension granted to. +Defends the 'Fertilisation of Orchids.' + +WATKINS, Archdeacon, reminiscence of Darwin. +Letter to. + +WATSON, H.C., mentioned. +On the 'Origin of Species.' + +WEDGWOOD, Josiah, his character. +Mentioned. +Letter from. + +WEDGWOOD, Miss Julia, on Erasmus Darwin, in "Spectator". +Letter to. + +WEISMANN, August, letters to. + +WELLS, Dr., anticipates Darwin on natural selection. + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY, Darwin buried in. + +WHEWELL, Dr., mentioned. +On the succession of species. + +WHITLEY, C., letter to. + +WIESNER, Julius, letter to. + +WILBERFORCE, Bishop, criticises the 'Origin of Species.' + +WILLIAM IV, coronation of. + +WOODPECKER, Pampas, Darwin on. + +WOOLNER, T., makes a bust of Darwin. +Discovers infolded point of the human ear. + +WOLLASTON MEDAL. + +WOLLASTON's 'Insecta Maderensia.' +His 'Variation of Species' referred to. + +WORKS BY DARWIN, list of. + +WRIGHT, Chauncey, letter from. +Letters to. +On his visit to Darwin at Down. + +YARRELL, William, mentioned. + +ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Darwin visits. +Reads a paper at. + +'ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. "BEAGLE",' arrangement for publication. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume 2 + |