To Raphael Meldola 2 February 1882
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Feb. 2d 1882
Dear Mr. Meldola
I am very sorry that I can add nothing to my very brief notice, without reading again Weismann’s work & getting up the whole subject by reading my own & other books, & for so much labour I have not strength.1 I have now been working at other subjects for some years, & when a man grows as old as I am, it is a great wrench to his brain to go back to old & half-forgotten subjects. You would not readily believe how often I am asked questions of all kinds, & quite lately I have had to give up much time to do a work, not at all concerning myself, but which I did not like to refuse.2 I must, however, somewhere draw the line, or my life will be a misery to me.—
I have read your Preface & it seems to me excellent.3 I am sorry in many ways, including the honour of England as a scientific country, that your Translation has as yet sold badly.— Does the Publisher or do you lose by it? If the Publisher,, though I shall be sorry for him, yet it is in the way of business; but if you yourself lose by it, I earnestly beg you to allow me to subscribe a trifle, viz ten guineas, towards the expense of this work, which you have undertaken on public grounds.—4
Pray believe me | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Weismann, August. 1875–6. Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie. 2 vols. I. Ueber den Saison-Dimorphismus der Schmetterlinge; II. Ueber die letzten Ursachen der Transmutationen. 1. Die Entstehung der Zeichnung bei den Schmetterlings-Raupen, 2. Ueber den phyletischen Parallelismus bei metamorphischen Arten, 3. Ueber die Umwandlung des mexikanischen Axolotl in ein Amblystoma, 4. Ueber die mechanische Auffassung der Natur. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Weismann, August. 1880–2. Studies in the theory of descent. Translated by Raphael Meldola. 3 parts. Part I (1880): On the seasonal dimorphism of butterflies. Part II (1881): The origin of the markings of caterpillars. On phyletic parallelism in metamorphic species. Part III (1882): The transformation of the Mexican axolotl into amblystoma. On the mechanical conception of nature. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
Summary
Regrets he can add no more to his preface for Weismann’s Studies. Offers donation to aid with publishing expenses.
Thinks RM’s preface is excellent.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13654
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Raphael Meldola
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Essex Naturalists Field Club, Meldola papers)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13654,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13654.xml
