Darwin, C. R. to Hughes, F. J.
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Still remembers FJH. Thinks no scientific journal would publish her essay on Genesis and science.
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Regrets death of her brother [W. D. Fox].
Summary Add
Transcription
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
May 5
My dear Cousin
It is indeed a long time since we met, & I suppose if we now did so we
sh
With respect to your Essay I feel bound to express my conviction that no good
Scientific Journal would publish it. Science progresses only
by the discovery of new facts & direct deductions from them. There have,
moreover, been so many attempts to reconcile Genesis & Science, that every
editor w
The death of your brother, my dear & very old friend, has been a grievous loss to every one who knew him; for I do not believe that there ever existed a man with a sweeter disposition.
Pray believe me | My dear Cousin | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin
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- f1 12596.f1
CD saw Frances in the 1820s (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [October 1852] and n. 7). - +
- f2 12596.f2
A scrap of paper with this letter reads, `What C.D. alludes to was only a bit I sent him, to ask him if he did believe Genesis & Science were both true & divine in their origin'. Frances later published Harmonies of tones and colours developed by evolution (London and New York: Marcus Ward, 1883), in which she related musical tones to colours; she explained that her ideas on evolution came from the Bible (p. 9). - +
- f3 12596.f3
William Darwin Fox had died on 8 April; see letter from C. W. Fox, 8 April 1880.