To T. C. Eyton 4 August [1858]1
Norfolk House | Shanklin | I. of Wight.
Aug 4th
Dear Eyton
Your note has been forwarded here, where we are established for a short time for health sake.—2 I thank you very truly for taking the trouble of sending me the reference; I think I am acquainted with them but will take your note home & then see. I am heartily glad to hear of your two intended publications.3 That on skeletons of Birds will, I presume, be a laborious undertaking. Just before I left home I broke ground on the skeletons of Pigeons; ie I arranged them preparatory to comparison;4 I daresay I may have to consult you on this subject; & if so I trust to your kindness to assist me.—
I am, also, employed in drawing up a long abstract on my notions about Species & Varieties, to be read in parts before Linnean Socy. Whenever it is published late in the autumn, I will send you a copy. My bigger Book will not be out for some two or three years.—
With many thanks.— Believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Eyton, Thomas Campbell. 1856–8. A catalogue of the species of birds in his possession.2 pts. Wellington, Shropshire.
Eyton, Thomas Campbell. 1858. A history of the oyster and the oyster fisheries. London.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Has finished arranging his pigeons’ skeletons. May consult TCE on them.
CD is at work on an abstract of his conclusions on species and varieties [Origin]. His "bigger book" [Natural selection] will take two or three more years.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2319
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Campbell Eyton
- Sent from
- Shanklin
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.156)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2319,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2319.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7