From Friedrich Max Müller 29 June 1873
Parks End, | Oxford.
29 June 1873.
Sir
In taking the liberty of forwarding to you a copy of my Lectures,1 I feel certain that you will accept my remarks as what they were intended to be—an open statement of the difficulties which a student of language feels when called upon to explain the languages of man, such as he finds them, as the possible development of what has been called the language of animals.2 The interjectional and mimetic theories of the origin of language, are no doubt very attractive and plausible, but if they were more than that, one at least of the great authorities in the Science of Language, Humboldt, Bopp, Grimm, Burnouf, Curtius, Schleicher ec. would have adopted them.3 However, it matters very little who is right and who is wrong; but it matters a great deal what is right and what is wrong, and as an honest, though it may be unsuccessful attempt at finding out what is true with regard to the conditions under which human language is possible, I venture to send you my three Lectures, trusting that, though I differ from some of your conclusions, you will believe me to be one of your diligent readers and sincere admirers
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Sends three lectures on the origin of human language [see 8962].
Although a "sincere admirer", he differs with CD on the relation of human to so-called animal language.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8957
- From
- Friedrich Max Müller
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 284
- Physical description
- AL inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8957,” accessed on 18 June 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8957.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21