From Henry Fawcett 16 July [1861]1
Bodenham | Salisbury
July 16th.
My Dear Sir,
I feel that I ought not to have so long delayed writing to thank you for your very kind letter to me about my article on your Book, in Macmillan’s Magazine2
I was particularly anxious to point out that the Method of Investigation pursued was in every respect, philosophically correct; I was spending an evening last week with my friend Mr. John Stuart Mill and I am sure you will be pleased to hear from such an authority that he considers that your reasoning throughout is in the most exact accordance with the strict principles of Logic. He also says, the Method of investigation you have followed is the only one proper to such a subject.3
It is easy for an antagonistic reviewer when he finds it difficult to answer your arguments to attempt to dispose of the whole matter by uttering some such commonplace, as “This is not a Baconian induction”.4
I expect shortly to be spending a few days in your neighbourhood and if I should not be intruding upon you I should esteem it a great favour if you will allow me to call on you, and have half an hours conversation with you.
As far as I am personally concerned I am sure I ought to be grateful to you, for since my accident nothing has given me as much pleasure as the perusal of your Book. Such studies are now a great resource to me.5
Believe me to be, | My Dear Sir | Yours very truly | Henry Fawcett.
C. Darwin Esq.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Autobiography: The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With original omissions restored. Edited with appendix and notes by Nora Barlow. London: Collins. 1958.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Fawcett, Henry. 1860. A popular exposition of Mr Darwin on the origin of species. Macmillan’s Magazine 3 (1861): 81–92.
Hull, David L. 1973. Darwin and his critics: the reception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by the scientific community. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
[Sedgwick, Adam.] 1860. Objections to Mr Darwin’s theory of the origin of species. Spectator, 24 March 1860, pp. 285–6. [Reprinted with revisions in ibid., 7 April 1860, pp. 334–5.]
Summary
Elaborates on his article ["A popular exposition of Mr Darwin on the origin of species", Macmillan’s Mag. 3 (1860): 81–92]. Was anxious to point out that CD’s method of investigation is philosophically correct. Asks permission to call.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2868
- From
- Henry Fawcett
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Bodenham, Salisbury
- Source of text
- DAR 98 (ser. 2): 29–30
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2868,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2868.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9
