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 su-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-grea-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 sel-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
sel-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
Medic-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.