To Ernst Krause 18 May 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
May 18th 1881
My dear Sir
I am much obliged for your article, but I will not delay answering your letter until I have read it, as reading German is slow work for me.—1 Herr Koch ought to be grateful to you for advertising the book in a Journal with such an extraordinary sale, & I on my part am obliged to you—2 What a wide interest you have in Science! When I sent you a copy, I never dreamed that you wd. care about it, & sent the copy merely to show my regard.— It wd. be a real pleasure to me to do anything which you wish, for I shall never forget your kindness from the very beginning to the end of the Erasmus Darwin affair.3 I fear that my little book on ‘Vegetable mould’ will hardly answer for your purpose.— The subject is of no importance, but what we English call a hobby-horse of mine, & therefore I have written it. The best plan will be to send you clean sheets, as soon as any are printed, & then you can judge for yourself.—4 Ch. II wd. perhaps be the best on the senses & minds of worms, but then I have given my facts in such detail that I think that anything but a resumé of them wd. be tiresome.— There are 6 chapters, & the 2 last are geological; ie the bearing of the work of worms on the Denudation of the Land. All the chapters hang together so much & are so lengthy, that I do not believe that any or parts of any wd. serve to be printed separately— I think, however, I ought to get Victor Carus’ consent & I will write to him to night or tomorrow; & if you do not hear, you will understand that he does not object.—5 Herr Koch, I suppose, wd. approve of the plan: I will tell V. Carus that it is only a thought of yours, & that I wish to do whatever you may decide.—
I am extremely glad to hear about Kosmos. I have as yet read only the capital article by F Müller on the Crab.—6 What an observer he is! My son’s (Frank) article looks very nicely got up. He has gone to Strasburg to work for 2 months under De Bary; I have told him of the copy sent him.7
My dear Sir, Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin
P.S.— I have heard nothing about Mr. Butler, except that he more furious than ever against me. Some English Journals which had intended to review his book, have passed it over in complete silence. It is very handsome of the German orthodox Journal to behave in this manner.8
Footnotes
Bibliography
Belgum, Kirsten. 1998. Popularizing the nation: audience, representation, and the production of identity in Die Gartenlaube, 1853–1900. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press.
Butler, Samuel. 1879. Evolution, old and new: or, the theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck, as compared with that of Mr. Charles Darwin. London: Hardwicke and Bogue.
Butler, Samuel. 1880. Unconscious memory: a comparison between the theory of Dr. Ewald Hering, … and the ‘Philosophy of the unconscious’ of Dr. Edward von Hartmann. London: David Bogue.
Darwin, Francis. 1881a. Kletterpflanzen. Eine populäre Vorlesung. Kosmos 9: 101–16.
Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.
Erasmus Darwin. By Ernst Krause. Translated from the German by W. S. Dallas, with a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1879.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Müller, Fritz. 1881d. Atyoida Potimirim, eine schlammfressende Süsswassergarneele. Kosmos 9: 117–24.
Summary
Thanks EK for his article [on CD’s Movement in plants].
Admires EK’s wide interest in science. Would like to send him something to publish in Kosmos.
Fears his new book [Earthworms] will hardly do, but will send sheets when printed so that EK can decide whether any chapter or a part of one will serve. Victor Carus’s consent would be needed for publication in Kosmos, and CD will ask for it.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13163
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The Huntington Library (HM 36215)
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13163,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13163.xml