To Albany Hancock 25 May [1856]1
Down Bromley, Kent
May 25
My dear Sir,
I am really very much obliged to you and Mr. Storey, and am quite ashamed at having caused so much trouble, but I was very curious to obtain this information.2 My present work leads me to wish to get as accurate information as I can on what some call the economy of nature, and the point in question seemed to me deserving of attention, as aiding in shewing how far the struggle with other species checked the extreme possible northern range of any species. It seems odd that dwarfing should be so frequent on mountains, and so rare, or at least not equally conspicuous, at the extreme northern lowland limits of a species.3
I hope that you will be so kind whenever you see Mr. Storey to present to him my sincere thanks for all the trouble he has so kindly taken for me, and pray believe me,
My dear Sir, | Yours very sincerely, | CHARLES DARWIN.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Summary
Wants accurate information on "the economy of nature". Is interested in how far the struggle with other species checks the northern range of any species.
Thanks John Storey for information.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1332
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Albany Hancock
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- J. Hancock 1886, pp. 277–8
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1332,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1332.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6