Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2

Finally it should be mentioned that in 1880 he received an address personally presented by members of the Council of the Birmingham Philosophical Society, as well as a memorial from the Yorkshire Naturalist Union presented by some of the members, headed by Dr. Sorby. He also received in the same year a visit from some of the members of the Lewisham and Blackheath Scientific Association, — a visit which was, I think, enjoyed by both guests and host.]

MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS — 1876-1882.

[The chief incident of a personal kind (not already dealt with) in the years which we are now considering was the death of his brother Erasmus, who died at his house in Queen Anne Street, on August 26th, 1881. My father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker (August 30): —

"The death of Erasmus is a very heavy loss to all of us, for he had a most affectionate disposition. He always appeared to me the most pleasant and clearest headed man, whom I have ever known. London will seem a strange place to me without his presence; I am deeply glad that he died without any great suffering, after a very short illness from mere weakness and not from any definite disease. ("He was not, I think, a happy man, and for many years did not value life, though never complaining." — From a letter to Sir Thomas Farrer.)

"I cannot quite agree with you about the death of the old and young. Death in the latter case, when there is a bright future ahead, causes grief never to be wholly obliterated."

An incident of a happy character may also be selected for especial notice, since it was one which strongly moved my father's sympathy. A letter (December 17, 1879) to Sir Joseph Hooker shows that the possibility of a Government Pension being conferred on Mr. Wallace first occurred to my father at this time. The idea was taken up by others, and my father's letters show that he felt the most lively interest in the success of the plan. He wrote, for instance, to Mrs. Fisher, "I hardly ever wished for anything more than I do for the success of our plan." He was deeply pleased when this thoroughly deserved honour was bestowed on his friend, and wrote to the same correspondent (January 7, 1881), on receiving a letter from Mr. Gladstone announcing the fact: "How extraordinarily kind of Mr. Gladstone to find time to write under the present circumstances. (Mr. Gladstone was then in office, and the letter must have been written when he was overwhelmed with business connected with the opening of Parliament (January 6). Good heavens! how pleased I am!"

The letters which follow are of a miscellaneous character and refer principally to the books he read, and to his minor writings.]

CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS BUCKLEY (MRS. FISHER). Down, February 11 [1876].

My dear Miss Buckley,

You must let me have the pleasure of saying that I have just finished reading with very great interest your new book. ('A Short History of Natural Science.') The idea seems to me a capital one, and as far as I can judge very well carried out. There is much fascination in taking a bird's eye view of all the grand leading steps in the progress of science. At first I regretted that you had not kept each science more separate; but I dare say you found it impossible. I have hardly any criticisms, except that I think you ought to have introduced Murchison as a great classifier of formations, second only to W. Smith. You have done full justice, and not more than justice, to our dear old master, Lyell. Perhaps a little more ought to have been said about botany, and if you should ever add this, you would find Sachs' 'History,' lately published, very good for your purpose.

You have crowned Wallace and myself with much honour and glory. I heartily congratulate you on having produced so novel and interesting a work, and remain,

My dear Miss Buckley, yours very faithfully, CH. DARWIN.

CHARLES DARWIN TO A.R. WALLACE. [Hopedene] (Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.), June 5, 1876.

My dear Wallace,

I must have the pleasure of expressing to you my unbounded admiration of your book ('Geographical Distribution,' 1876.), though I have read only to page 184 — my object having been to do as little as possible while resting. I feel sure that you have laid a broad and safe foundation for all future work on Distribution. How interesting it will be to see hereafter plants treated in strict relation to your views; and then all insects, pulmonate molluscs and fresh-water fishes, in greater detail than I suppose you have given to these lower animals. The point which has interested me most, but I do not say the most valuable point, is your protest against sinking imaginary continents in a quite reckless manner, as was stated by Forbes, followed, alas, by Hooker, and caricatured by Wollaston and [Andrew] Murray! By the way, the main impression that the latter author has left on my mind is his utter want of all scientific judgment. I have lifted up my voice against the above view with no avail, but I have no doubt that you will succeed, owing to your new arguments and the coloured chart. Of a special value, as it seems to me, is the conclusion that we must determine the areas, chiefly by the nature of the mammals. When I worked many years ago on this subject, I doubted much whether the now called Palaearctic and Nearctic regions ought to be separated; and I determined if I made another region that it should be Madagascar. I have, therefore, been able to appreciate your evidence on these points. What progress Palaeontology has made during the last 20 years; but if it advances at the same rate in the future, our views on the migration and birth-place of the various groups will, I fear, be greatly altered. I cannot feel quite easy about the Glacial period, and the extinction of large mammals, but I must hope that you are right. I think you will have to modify your belief about the difficulty of dispersal of land molluscs; I was interrupted when beginning to experimentize on the just hatched young adhering to the feet of groun-roosting birds. I differ on one other point, viz. in the belief that there must have existed a Tertiary Antarctic continent, from which various forms radiated to the southern extremities of our present continents. But I could go on scribbling forever. You have written, as I believe, a grand and memorable work which will last for years as the foundation for all future treatises on Geographical Distribution.

My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, CHARLES DARWIN.

P.S. — You have paid me the highest conceivable compliment, by what you say of your work in relation to my chapters on distribution in the 'Origin,' and I heartily thank you for it.

[The following letters illustrate my father's power of taking a vivid interest in work bearing on Evolution, but unconnected with his own special researches at the time. The books referred to in the first letter are Professor Weismann's 'Studien zur Descendenzlehre' (My father contributed a prefatory note to Mr. Meldola's translation of Prof. Weismann's 'Studien,' 1880-81.), being part of the series of essays by which the author has done such admirable service to the cause of evolution:]

CHARLES DARWIN TO AUGUST WEISMANN. January 12, 1877.

... I read German so slowly, and have had lately to read several other papers, so that I have as yet finished only half of your first essay and two-thirds of your second. They have excited my interest and admiration in the highest degree, and whichever I think of last, seems to me the most valuable. I never expected to see the coloured marks on caterpillars so well explained; and the case of the ocelli delights me especially...

... There is one other subject which has always seemed to me more difficult to explain than even the colours of caterpillars, and that is the colour of birds' eggs, and I wish you would take this up.

CHARLES DARWIN TO MELCHIOR NEUMAYR (Professor of Palaeontology at Vienna.), VIENNA. Down, Beckenham, Kent, March 9, 1877.

Dear Sir,

From having been obliged to read other books, I finished only yesterday your essay on 'Die Congerien,' etc. ('Die Congerien und Paludinenschichten Slavoneins.' 4to, 1875.)

I hope that you will allow me to express my gratitude for the pleasure and instruction which I have derived from reading it. It seems to me to be an admirable work; and is by far the best case which I have ever met with, showing the direct influence of the conditions of life on the organization.

Mr. Hyatt, who has been studying the Hilgendorf case, writes to me with respect to the conclusions at which he has arrived, and these are nearly the same as yours. He insists that closely similar forms may be derived from distinct lines of descent; and this is what I formerly called analogical variation. There can now be no doubt that species may become greatly modified through the direct action of the environment. I have some excuse for not having formerly insisted more strongly on this head in my 'Origin of Species,' as most of the best facts have been observed since its publication.

With my renewed thanks for your most interesting essay, and with the highest respect, I remain, dear Sir,

Yours very faithfully, CHARLES DARWIN.

CHARLES DARWIN TO E.S. MORSE. Down, April 23, 1877.

My dear Sir,

You must allow me just to tell you how very much I have been interested with the excellent Address ("What American Zoologists have done for Evolution," an Address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August, 1876. Volume xxv. of the Proceedings of the Association.) which you have been so kind as to send me, and which I had much wished to read. I believe that I had read all, or very nearly all, the papers by your countrymen to which you refer, but I have been fairly astonished at their number and importance when seeing them thus put together. I quite agree about the high value of Mr. Allen's works (Mr. J.A. Allen shows the existence of geographical races of birds and mammals. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. volume xv.), as showing how much change may be expected apparently through the direct action of the conditions of life. As for the fossil remains in the West, no words will express how wonderful they are. There is one point which I regret that you did not make clear in your Address, namely what is the meaning and importance of Professors Cope and Hyatt's views on acceleration and retardation. I have endeavoured, and given up in despair, the attempt to grasp their meaning.

Permit me to thank you cordially for the kind feeling shown towards me through your Address, and I remain, my dear Sir,

Yours faithfully, CH. DARWIN.

[The next letter refers to his 'Biographical Sketch of an Infant,' written from notes made 37 years previously, and published in 'Mind,' July, 1877. The article attracted a good deal of attention, and was translated at the time in 'Kosmos,' and the 'Revue Scientifique,' and has been recently published in Dr. Krause's 'Gesammelte kleinere SchrifteN von Charles Darwin,' 1887:]

CHARLES DARWIN TO G. CROOM ROBERTSON. (The editor of 'Mind.') Down, April 27, 1877.

Dear Sir,

I hope that you will be so good as to take the trouble to read the enclosed MS., and if you think it fit for publication in your admirable journal of 'Mind,' I shall be gratified. If you do not think it fit, as is very likely, will you please to return it to me. I hope that you will read it in an extra critical spirit, as I cannot judge whether it is worth publishing from having been so much interested in watching the dawn of the several faculties in my own infant. I may add that I should never have thought of sending you the MS., had not M. Taine's article appeared in your Journal. (1877, page 252. The original appeared in the 'Revue Philosophique' 1876.) If my MS. is printed, I think that I had better see a proof.

I remain, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, CH. DARWIN.

[The two following extracts show the lively interest he preserved in diverse fields of enquiry. Professor Cohn of Breslau had mentioned, in a letter, Koch's researches on Splenic Fever, my father replied, January 3: —

"I well remember saying to myself, between twenty and thirty years ago, that if ever the origin of any infectious disease could be proved, it would be the greatest triumph to science; and now I rejoice to have seen the triumph."

In the spring he received a copy of Dr. E. von Mojsisovics' 'Dolomit Riffe,' his letter to the author (June 1, 1878) is interesting as bearing on the influence of his own work on the methods of geology.

"I have at last found time to read the first chapter of your 'Dolomit Riffe,' and have been EXCEEDINGLY interested by it. What a wonderful change in the future of Geological chronology you indicate, by assuming the descent theory to be established, and then taking the graduated changes of the same group of organisms as the true standard! I never hoped to live to see such a step even proposed by any one."

Another geological research which roused my father's admiration was Mr. D. Mackintosh's work on erratic blocks. Apart from its intrinsic merit the work keenly excited his sympathy from the conditions under which it was executed, Mr. Mackintosh being compelled to give nearly his whole time to tuition. The following passage is from a letter to Mr. Mackintosh of October 9, 1879, and refers to his paper in the Journal of the Geological Society, 1878: —

"I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of thanking you for the very great pleasure which I have derived from just reading your paper on erratic blocks. The map is wonderful, and what labour each of those lines show! I have thought for some years that the agency of floating ice, which nearly half a century ago was overrated, has of late been underrated. You are the sole man who has ever noticed the distinction suggested by me (In his paper on the 'Ancient Glaciers of Carnarvonshire,' Phil. Mag. xxi. 1842.) between flat or planed scored rocks, and mammillated scored rocks."]

CHARLES DARWIN TO C. RIDLEY. Down, November 28, 1878.

Dear Sir,

I just skimmed through Dr. Pusey's sermon, as published in the "Guardian", but it did [not] seem to me worthy of any attention. As I have never answered criticisms excepting those made by scientific men, I am not willing that this letter should be published; but I have no objection to your saying that you sent me the three questions, and that I answered that Dr. Pusey was mistaken in imagining that I wrote the 'Origin' with any relation whatever to Theology. I should have thought that this would have been evident to any one who had taken the trouble to read the book, more especially as in the opening lines of the introduction I specify how the subject arose in my mind. This answer disposes of your two other questions; but I may add that many years ago, when I was collecting facts for the 'Origin,' my belief in what is called a personal God was as firm as that of Dr. Pusey himself, and as to the eternity of matter I have never troubled myself about such insoluble questions. Dr. Pusey's attack will be as powerless to retard by a day the belief in Evolution, as were the virulent attacks made by divines fifty years ago against Geology, and the still older ones of the Catholic Church against Galileo, for the public is wise enough always to follow Scientific men when they agree on any subject; and now there is almost complete unanimity amongst Biologists about Evolution, though there is still considerable difference as to the means, such as how far natural selection has acted, and how far external conditions, or whether there exists some mysterious innate tendency to perfectability. I remain, dear Sir,

Yours faithfully, CH. DARWIN.

[Theologians were not the only adversaries of freedom in science. On September 22, 1877, Prof. Virchow delivered an address at the Munich meeting of German Naturalists and Physicians, which had the effect of connecting Socialism with the Descent theory. This point of view was taken up by anti-evolutionists to such an extent that, according to Haeckel, the "Kreuz Zeitung" threw "all the blame of" the "treasonable attempts of the democrats Hodel and Nobiling... directly on the theory of Descent." Prof. Haeckel replied with vigour and ability in his 'Freedom in Science and Teaching' (English Translation 1879), an essay which must have the sympathy of all lovers of freedom.

The following passage from a letter (December 26, 1879) to Dr. Scherzer, the author of the 'Voyage of the "Novara",' gives a hint of my father's views on this once burning question: —

"What a foolish idea seems to prevail in Germany on the connection between Socialism and Evolution through Natural Selection."]

CHARLES DARWIN TO H.N. MOSELEY. (Professor of Zoology at Oxford. The book alluded to is Prof. Moseley's 'Notes by a Naturalist on the "Challenger".') Down, January 20, 1879.

Dear Moseley,

I have just received your book, and I declare that never in my life have I seen a dedication which I admired so much. ("To Charles Darwin, Esquire, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., from the study of whose 'Journal of Researches' I mainly derived my desire to travel round the world; to the development of whose theory I owe the principal pleasures and interests of my life, and who has personally given me much kindly encouragement in the prosecution of my studies, this book is, by permission, gratefully dedicated.") Of course I am not a fair judge, but I hope that I speak dispassionately, though you have touched me in my very tenderest point, by saying that my old Journal mainly gave you the wish to travel as a Naturalist. I shall begin to read your book this very evening, and am sure that I shall enjoy it much.

Yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN.

CHARLES DARWIN TO H.N. MOSELEY. Down, February 4, 1879.

Dear Moseley,

I have at last read every word of your book, and it has excited in me greater interest than any other scientific book which I have read for a long time. You will perhaps be surprised how slow I have been, but my head prevents me reading except at intervals. If I were asked which parts have interested me most, I should be somewhat puzzled to answer. I fancy that the general reader would prefer your account of Japan. For myself I hesitate between your discussions and description of the Southern ice, which seems to me admirable, and the last chapter which contained many facts and views new to me, though I had read your papers on the stony Hydroid Corals, yet your resume made me realise better than I had done before, what a most curious case it is.

You have also collected a surprising number of valuable facts bearing on the dispersal of plants, far more than in any other book known to me. In fact your volume is a mass of interesting facts and discussions, with hardly a superfluous word; and I heartily congratulate you on its publication.

Your dedication makes me prouder than ever.

Believe me, yours sincerely, CH. DARWIN.

[In November, 1879, he answered for Mr. Galton a series of questions utilised in his 'Inquiries into Human Faculty,' 1883. He wrote to Mr. Galton: —

"I have answered the questions as well as I could, but they are miserably answered, for I have never tried looking into my own mind. Unless others answer very much better than I can do, you will get no good from your queries. Do you not think you ought to have the age of the answerer? I think so, because I can call up faces of many schoolboys, not seen for sixty years, with MUCH DISTINCTNESS, but nowadays I may talk with a man for an hour, and see him several times consecutively, and, after a month, I am utterly unable to recollect what he is at all like. The picture is quite washed out. The greater number of the answers are given in the annexed table."]

QUESTIONS ON THE FACULTY OF VISUALISING.

1. ILLUMINATION? Moderate, but my solitary breakfast was early, and the morning dark.

2. DEFINITION? Some objects quite defined, a slice of cold beef, some grapes and a pear, the state of my plate when I had finished, and a few other objects, are as distinct as if I had photo's before me.

3. COMPLETENESS? Very moderately so.

4. COLOURING? The objects above named perfectly coloured.

5. EXTENT OF FIELD OF VIEW? Rather small.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF IMAGERY.

6. PRINTED PAGES. I cannot remember a single sentence, but I remember the place of the sentence and the kind of type.

7. FURNITURE? I have never attended to it.

8. PERSONS? I remember the faces of persons formerly well-known vividly, and can make them do anything I like.

9. SCENERY? Remembrance vivid and distinct, and gives me pleasure.

10. GEOGRAPHY? No.

11. MILITARY MOVEMENTS? No.

12. MECHANISM? Never tried.

13. GEOMETRY? I do not think I have any power of the kind.

14. NUMERALS? When I think of any number, printed figures arise before my mind. I can't remember for an hour four consecutive figures.

15. CARD PLAYING? Have not played for many years, but I am sure should not remember.

16. CHESS? Never played.

[In 1880 he published a short paper in 'Nature' (volume xxi. page 207) on the "Fertility of Hybrids from the common and Chinese goose." He received the hybrids from the Rev. Dr. Goodacre, and was glad of the opportunity of testing the accuracy of the statement that these species are fertile inter se. This fact, which was given in the 'Origin' on the authority of Mr. Eyton, he considered the most remarkable as yet recorded with respect to the fertility of hybrids. The fact (as confirmed by himself and Dr. Goodacre) is of interest as giving another proof that sterility is no criterion of specific difference, since the two species of goose now shown to be fertile inter se are so distinct that they have been placed by some authorities in distinct genera or sub-genera.

The following letter refers to Mr. Huxley's lecture: "The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species" (This same "Coming of Age" was the subject of an address from the Council of the Otago Institute. It is given in 'Nature,' February 24, 1881.), given at the Royal Institution, April 9, 1880, published in 'Nature,' and in 'Science and Culture,' page 310:]

CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. HUXLEY. Abinger Hall, Dorking, Sunday, April 11, 1880.

My dear Huxley,

I wished much to attend your Lecture, but I have had a bad cough, and we have come here to see whether a change would do me good, as it has done. What a magnificent success your lecture seems to have been, as I judge from the reports in the "Standard" and "Daily News", and more especially from the accounts given me by three of my children. I suppose that you have not written out your lecture, so I fear there is no chance of its being printed in extenso. You appear to have piled, as on so many other occasions, honours high and thick on my old head. But I well know how great a part you have played in establishing and spreading the belief in the descen-theory, ever since that grand review in the "Times" and the battle royal at Oxford up to the present day.

Ever my dear Huxley, Yours sincerely and gratefully, CHARLES DARWIN.

P.S. — It was absurdly stupid in me, but I had read the announcement of your Lecture, and thought that you meant the maturity of the subject, until my wife one day remarked, "it is almost twenty-one years since the 'Origin' appeared," and then for the first time the meaning of your words flashed on me!

[In the above-mentioned lecture Mr. Huxley made a strong point of the accumulation of palaeontological evidence which the years between 1859 and 1880 have given us in favour of Evolution. On this subject my father wrote (August 31, 1880):]

My dear Professor Marsh,

I received some time ago your very kind note of July 28th, and yesterday the magnificent volume. (Odontornithes. A Monograph on the extinct Toothed Birds of North America. 1880. By O.C. Marsh.) I have looked with renewed admiration at the plates, and will soon read the text. Your work on these old birds, and on the many fossil animals of North America has afforded the best support to the theory of Evolution, which has appeared within the last twenty years. (Mr. Huxley has well pointed out ('Science and Culture,' page 317) that: "In 1875, the discovery of the toothed birds of the cretaceous formation in North America, by Prof. Marsh, completed the series of transitional forms between birds and reptiles, and removed Mr. Darwin's proposition that, 'many animal forms of life have been utterly lost, through which the early progenitors of birds were formerly connected with the early progenitors of the other vertebrate classes,' from the region of hypothesis to that of demonstrable fact.") The general appearance of the copy which you have sent me is worthy of its contents, and I can say nothing stronger than this.