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."]
