From George Rolleston 22 February 1871
Oxford.
Wednesday | Feb 22. 1871.
My dear Sir,
I write to thank you very much for the copy of your work on the “Descent of Man” which came into my hands on Sunday—1
I have read a great deal of it already and with much pleasure— If I read rightly the two and a half lines at the bottom of the 403rd. page of your second Volume, they are an expression of dissent from certain of the teachings of Mr J. S. Mill, and contain a doctrine very necessary for these times—2
I trust that you will not compare me to a fly settling on the abraded spots in some large and magnificent animal if I point out one or two small matters which I think others may fix upon.
At p. 28. The supra condyloid foramen is not the same thing as the foramen of which Busk & Broca speak, and which is placed between the two condyles and connects when it exists (as it does within my own experience very frequently in Romano-British humeri) the two fossæ in which the olecranon & coronoid process of the ulna respectively play.3
“P. 54” in note 38 p. 28. should be 159.4
At p. 26. The greater liability of the wisdom teeth to decay is not confirmed by Tomes “Dental Physiology” pp. 140. 149. 192.5
You will think that I am possessed by a printer’s devil when I draw your attention to the fact that in your exquisitely beautiful story of the lapdog licking his mistress’s face the final s has got agglutinated to the f of face! see p. 78.6
P. 68. I fear that Dr McCann who is no doubt a patriotic Scotchman will attack you with severity for not having mentioned that Burns (whom he will call “the immortal Burns”) anticipated Professor Braubach in his views as to the dog’s regarding man as man looks upon God—7
At p. 21. The ear of the Porcupine is wonderfully like ours. I have often thought of this similarity but do not, the least, know how to explain it.8
With my very sincere acknowledgments | I am | Yours very Truly | George Rolleston
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Braubach, Wilhelm. 1869. Religion, Moral & Philosophie der Darwin’sche Artlehre nach ihrer Natur und ihrem Character als kleine Parallele menschliche geistiger Entwicklung, etc. Neuwied and Leipzig: J. H. Heuser’sche Buchhandlung.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Tomes, John. 1848. Course of lectures on dental physiology and surgery: delivered at the Middlesex Hospital School of Medicine. London: John W. Parker.
Summary
Applauds CD’s expression of dissent from J. S. Mill’s view of differences of mental powers of men and women [Descent 2: 326–9]. Sends some corrections.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7506
- From
- George Rolleston
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Oxford
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 15–16
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7506,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7506.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19
