skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

To James Torbitt   10 April [1876]1

Down,

April 10,

Dear Sir

You are at liberty to publish the enclosed if you wish to do so, but it really is not worth publication.2 You attach so much too great importance to what I have said that I fear you may be quizzed, so I beg you for your own sake to be cautious.

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from James Torbitt, 7 April 1876 (Correspondence vol. 24).
Torbitt had asked permission to publish CD’s letter to him of 26 January 1876 (Correspondence vol. 24); CD had refused, then later mentioned that his refusal was based on the fact that he could not remember what he had written. Torbitt returned the letter to him, again requesting permission to publish it. In his letter, CD had said that it was almost impossible to answer the question, ‘What makes an individual?’. See ibid., letters from James Torbitt, 1 April 1876 and 7 April 1876, and letter to James Torbitt, 4 April 1876.

Summary

JT may publish enclosed [letter by CD?], but it is not worth publication.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11468
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
James Torbitt
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 148: 104
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11468,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11468.xml

letter