skip to content
Home

Darwin Correspondence Project

To Edward Burnett Tylor   25 June 1870

Down, | Beckenham | Kent. S.E. [6 Queen Anne Street, London]

June 25 1870

My dear Sir

I want to beg the favour of a little information, which no one can give me if you cannot do so. In your Early Hist. 1865 p. 41. you shew that the Cistercian monks used certain signs for friend & a wise man, & that they use an almost exactly opposite sign for enemy & fool, that is for objects of an opposite nature.1 You also shew from Burton that certain savages wave their arms in an opposite manner in affirmation & negation; but this case appears a little doubtful for my object, as I suspect that both the nod of affirmation & the lateral shake of negation have had a natural origin.2

Now what I want to know is whether with the deaf & dumb, when from any cause some sign is used for a certain object, quality &c, whether opposi⁠⟨⁠te⁠⟩⁠ signs are used (apparently merely from being opposite) for objects, qualities &c of an opposite nature3

Would you have the kindness to consider this point & permit me to quote the result of your consideration; whether you know of any or many such cases, or after deliberation do not know of any—

Pray excuse me for troubling you & believe me | yours very faithfully— | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
CD refers to Tylor 1865. There is an annotated copy in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 810–11). Two fingers placed at the right side of the nose signified friend; two fingers at the left side of the nose, enemy; the little finger touched to the tip of the nose signified fool; the forefinger in the same position, wise man. CD mentioned the Cistercians’ sign language and cited Tylor in Expression, p. 61 and n. 2.
2
Tylor discussed Native American signs of affirmation and negation in Tylor 1865, p. 38, citing Richard Francis Burton’s The city of the saints (see Burton 1861, p. 127) for his information. CD discussed signs of affirmation and negation in Expression, pp. 273–7.
3
No reply from Tylor has been found, but see the letter from W. R. Scott to E. B. Tylor, 28 June 1870. CD discussed deaf-and-dumb sign language and the use of opposition in Expression, pp. 61–2, citing W. R. Scott 1870: he commented on how few unequivocal instances could be found.

Bibliography

Burton, Richard Francis. 1861. The city of the saints, and across the Rocky Mountains to California. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.

Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.

Scott, William Robson. 1870. The deaf and dumb: their education and social position. 2d edition. London: Bell & Daldry.

Tylor, Edward Burnett. 1865. Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization. London: John Murray.

Summary

Mentions passage on gestures in EBT’s Early history of mankind [1865].

Asks Tylor whether the deaf and dumb use opposite signs for objects, qualities, etc., of an opposite nature.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7244
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Edward Burnett Tylor
Sent from
London Queen Anne St, 6 Down letterhead
Source of text
The British Library (Add MS 50254: 33–4)
Physical description
LS(A) 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7244,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7244.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
darwin@lib.cam.ac.uk

© University of Cambridge 2022

Copyright declaration

Privacy policy

Website by Surface Impression

 

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge