From W. E. Darwin [19 November 1871]¹

6 Queen A St.

Sunday

My dear Father,

I am here for the Sunday & Uncle Ras has read Chap VII & is very much interested.² He suggests one point at the bottom of p 176. You say “My judgment may be worth little”. He says may not this strike people as a piece of Gladstonian humility, it did not strike me so as I saw at once that it meant unbiassed—

Uncle Ras proposes My judgment may be not impartial or something to that effect.³

p. 189 Hippo campus should be one word— I have some more sheets which I hope to send in a day or two—⁴

Your affect son | W E Darwin

CD annotations

1.3 worth little] del pencil; ‘not [unbiassed] | not be trustworthy’ pencil

Footnotes

The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter to W. E. Darwin, [after 11 November 1871] (Correspondence vol. 19), and the letter from W. E. Darwin, [17 November 1871] (this volume, Supplement). In 1876, the Sunday after 17 November was 19 November.

William was staying at Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s house at 6 Queen Anne Street, London. Chapter 7 of Origin 6th ed. was a new chapter consisting of portions of chapter 4 in previous editions and a new section addressing the criticisms of St George Jackson Mivart and others to the theory of natural selection (see Origin 6th ed., p. xii).

The published version reads: ‘My judgment may not be trustworthy’ (Origin 6th ed., p. 176).

William was correcting the proofs of Origin 6th ed. (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter to W. E. Darwin, [after 11 November 1871]). Hippocampus is the genus of seahorses (see Origin 6th ed., p. 189).