To J. T. Knowles 31 July 1874
Bassett Southampton
July 31 1874
Dear Sir
I fear that you never republish articles which have appeared in foreign journals, But one on Language has just been published in the N. American Rev. for July, by a distinguished philologist Prof. Whitney, who has sent it to me.1 In this he answers in a very able manner, as it appears to me, Max Müller’s views which were published by you,2
As a writer in the July number of our Quarterly has abused me in strong words, “amazing ignorance” &c for what little I have said on the development of language,3 I much desire to see Whitney’s article republished in England.
I hope that you will not think it impertinent on my part to offer gladly to pay the expenses of printing, if this wd make any difference in the publisher’s inclination to let it appear in so excellent a journal as the Contemporary.
I would send the article for your judgment, but if you have a fixed rule against republication this wd only cause you additional trouble.
One word in answer wd suffice—
If you consent to republish I wd at once write to Prof. Whitney, & take the responsibility of the affair on my own shoulders—
Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Max Müller, Friedrich. 1872. On the results of the science of language. Contemporary Review 20: 125–40.
Müller, Hermann. 1873. Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten und die gegenseitigen Anpassungen beider. Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntniss des ursächlichen Zusammenhanges in der organischen Natur. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Whitney, William Dwight. 1874. Darwinism and language. [Essay review of works by August Schleicher and Friedrich Max Müller.] North American Review 119: 61–88.
Summary
Asks whether it would be possible for Contemporary Review to republish an article on language from North American Review [119 (1874): 61–88] by William Dwight Whitney which answers F. Max Müller; would pay expense of printing if necessary.
CD has been abused in the Quarterly Review for "amazing ignorance".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9577
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Thomas Knowles
- Sent from
- Bassett
- Source of text
- Wellcome Collection
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9577,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9577.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22