Darwin, C. R. to Candolle, Alphonse de
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Thanks AdeC for his long letter full of interesting facts, which will be of great use if a new edition [of Variation] is demanded.
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As for when CD will publish on variation in a state of nature: he has had the MS almost ready for several years but Variation fatigued him so much
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that "I determined to amuse myself by publishing a short essay on the Descent of Man".
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AdeC will have plenty of time to publish his views. Asks permission to quote AdeC on a case of inheritance of scalp-muscles [see Descent 1: 20].
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Hooker has expressed a view, similar to AdeC's, "that morals & politics would be very interesting if discussed like any branch of Natural History".
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Agrees with AdeC on acclimatisation
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and on graft-hybrids.
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CD is repeating Hildebrand's method in producing graft-hybrid potatoes.
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As for Pangenesis, very few people approve of it though it has some enthusiastic friends and CD has much faith in its vitality.
Summary Add
Transcription
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
July 6 1868.
My dear Sir
I return you my sincere thanks for your long letter, which I consider a great compliment, & which is quite full of most interesting facts & views.
Your references & remarks will be of great use should a new edition
of my book be demanded; but this is hardly probable, for the whole
edition was sold within the first week, & another large edtion
immediately reprinted which I sh
I have had the M.S. for another volume almost ready during several years, but I was so much fatigued by my last book that I determined to amuse myself by publishing a short essay on The Descent of Man. I was partly led to do this by having been taunted that I concealed my views, but chiefly from the interest which I had long taken in the subject. Now this essay has branched out into some collateral subjects & I suppose will take me more than a year to complete. I shall then begin on species, but my health makes me a very slow workman. I hope that you will excuse these details, which I have given to shew that you will have plenty of time to publish your views first, which will be a great advantage to me.
Of all the curious facts which you mention in your letter I think
that of the strong inheritance of the scalp-muscles has interested me
most. I presume that you w
Your observation on so many remarkable men in noble families having
been illegitimate is extremely curious; & sh
D
With respect to the hypothesis of Pangenesis very few persons approve of it, but it has some enthusiastic friends; nevertheless I am so presumptious as to have much faith in its vitality.
With Cordial thanks for your great kindness & sincere respect, I remain, My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully & obliged | Ch. Darwin
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- f1 6269.f1
See letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 2 July 1868. - +
- f2 6269.f2
CD refers to Variation. There were two issues of the first edition of Variation: the first, of 1500 copies, was published on 30 January; the second, of 1250 copies, was published in February. There were considerable textual differences in the second issue, but it is not possible to distinguish them by the title page. (Freeman 1977, p. 122.) - +
- f3 6269.f3
In the introduction to Variation, CD had written that he planned to publish next on the variation of organisms in a state of nature, the `struggle for existence', and the principle of natural selection, and then on the difficulties opposed to the theory (Variation 1: 8). These further works were not published in CD's lifetime, but his manuscript notes were transcribed and published in 1975 (Natural selection). For the genesis of Descent and Expression in a planned chapter or essay on humans, see Correspondence vol. 15. CD kept notes made during 1837, 1838, and 1839 on human descent in his M and N notebooks, and in `Old and useless notes' (see Barrett 1980)); he also made careful observations of his children's expressions (see Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix III). CD published Descent in 1871, and Expression in 1872. - +
- f4 6269.f4
CD cited Candolle for his information in Descent 1: 20. The panniculus carnosus is a thin sheet of striated muscle embedded in the lowest skin layer of mammals; it produces local movement of the skin. In humans, only vestigial remnants remain. See Landau ed. 1986. CD discussed the panniculus carnosus in Descent 1: 19 and Expression, pp. 101, 298; see also Correspondence vol. 15, letter to William Turner, 1 February [1867]. - +
- f5 6269.f5
CD refers to Joseph Dalton Hooker. See, for example, Correspondence vol. 10, letter from J. D. Hooker, [27 or 28 December 1862], where Hooker wrote, `I should like to turn the water-spout of Herbert Spencers abstract philosophy on the subject of Nat: Selection as applied to Politics, Govt, & Society:—' - +
- f6 6269.f6
See letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 2 July 1868 and n. 15. - +
- f7 6269.f7
See letter from Friedrich Hildebrand, 2 January 1868 and n. 3. Hildebrand published his research in Botanische Zeitung, 16 May 1868 (Hildebrand 1868a). In Variation 2d ed., 1: 420--2, CD gave details of later experiments, but did not mention his own. - +
- f8 6269.f8
See letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 2 July 1868 and n. 14.