To Gaston de Saporta 11 October 1877
Down.
Octr. 11. 1877.
Dear Sir
I thank you very sincerely for communicating to me your discovery, & it is a most interesting one—1 It is especially important at the present time when several naturalists have declared that development occurs quite suddenly at intervals— Thus Mr Le Conte in N. America urges that even new families or orders are developed within an extremely short period:2 Whenever I read such views I think of your observations on the Tertiary European Flora, and on those of Dr. Neumayr on the Freshwater Shells in the Congerian beds, & then I return to my old faith that such views are erroneous—3 I saw lately in a journal that you have discovered a true fern in a Silurian formation4 If my dear old friend Lyell had been alive how he would have rejoiced over these two great steps in the history of the vegetable kingdom—5
With cordial good wishes, & a firm belief that you will make many more important discoveries— | I remain Dear Sir. | Yours faithfully— | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Le Conte, John. 1875. Address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science. American Naturalist 9: 481–98.
Lyell, Charles. 1830–3. Principles of geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation. 3 vols. London: John Murray.
Summary
Thanks GdeS for communicating his discovery. It is especially important at a time when several naturalists have declared that development occurs quite suddenly at intervals. Joseph Le Conte in N. America urges that even new families and orders are developed within an extremely short period.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11179
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Louis Charles Joseph Gaston (Gaston) de Saporta, comte de Saporta
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 147: 422
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11179,” accessed on 21 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11179.xml