To C. G. Semper [after 6 December 1878]1
You are perfectly willing for you use my letters in any way you think fit & I am heartily glad you are going to take up the subject whether or not you oppose the conclusion at which I have arrived.—2
I sh like to add a sentence or two to what I remarked about the [extreme caution], as it seems to me, necessary before we say that some [structure] is morphologic (to [use] Nageli [paper]
We ought surely to bear in mind the indirect consequence of some change or [alt] which is beneficial. For instance the case malformation [locules] of the [Placenta] (which Nägeli admits as a morpholog feat)3
Wonderfully you write with Machine4
Saporta & Neumayr.
Huxley [illeg].—5 | I utterly disbelieve in innate tendency to vary & [illeg] ([illeg]) quite independently of conditions, & then [agree] in the [next] [illeg] that every variation whether wholly inherited or not [illeg] is [due] to external conditions.—6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Nägeli, Carl Wilhelm von. 1865. Entstehung und Begriff der naturhistorischen Art. 2d edition. Munich: Verlag der königl. Akademie.
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Gives CGS permission to use his letters in any way he thinks fit.
Discusses the direct effect of external conditions as an agent of change in organisms; has encountered many cases since the publication of Origin.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11777
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Carl Gottfried Semper
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 202: 120v
- Physical description
- ADraft 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11777,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11777.xml