To Ernst Krause 28 November 1880
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Nov. 28th 80
My dear Sir
I must thank you for your most interesting letter.1 It is very bad news about Kosmos: I shall regret much its cessation, for I found in every number something which interested me greatly. Anyhow you must have the satisfaction of feeling that you have been an excellent editor, & have aided Science in every way.—2
It is, also, grievous news about Fritz Müller,—that is if he has lost his instruments & books. I have long looked on him as the best observer in the world. I have written to his brother, Hermann, to learn whether he has suffered much loss, & whether for the sake of Science, he would allow me to aid him in purchasing new microscopes &c &c.—3
I do not know when I have been so much astonished, as by your account of the Crustacean which repairs its legs by those of an ancestral form. If I understand the case, it must be a kind of localised reversion! This seems to me to support, the hypothesis of Pangenesis, which has hardly any friends in this world. I can conceive a small collection of molecules (ie one of my imaginary gemmules) remaining dormant in an organism for almost any length of time; but I think it will be difficult for Häckel to make others believe that certain molecules, of which the body is built, have gone on vibrating for countless generations in a peculiar manner, so as to form when occasion offers an ancestral limb. If I remember rightly the reproduced tail of Lacerta differs from the normal tail. I have given one case in some slight degree analogous, namely that of a hen which when barren assumed the male plumage of an ancestral breed, & not of her own breed.—4 But I did not intend to trouble you with my notions or about pangenesis.—
My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Chas. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Haeckel, Ernst. 1876b. Die Perigenesis der Plastidule, oder die Wellenzeugung der Lebenstheilchen. Ein Versuch zu mechanischen Erklärung der elementaren Entwickelungs-Vorgänge. Berlin: Georg Reimer.
Journal of researches (1860): Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle around the world, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN. By Charles Darwin. Reprint edition. London: John Murray. 1860.
Müller, Fritz. 1881b. Haeckels biogenetisches Grundgesetz bei der Neubildung verlorener Glieder. Kosmos 8 (1880–1): 388–9.
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Bad news about Kosmos [ceasing publication].
Fritz Müller’s losses [in a flood]; "I have long looked on him as the best observer in the world."
EK’s astonishing account of crustacean that repairs its legs in an ancestral form seems to support Pangenesis, which has hardly any friends.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12871
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The Huntington Library (HM 36209)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12871,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12871.xml