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To Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire   12 January [1860]1

Down Bromley Kent

Jan. 12th

Sir

I thank you sincerely for the honour of your kind letter.2 I am extremely much pleased that my work meets with your approval. You will have perceived that it is only an abstract & treats no part of the subject fully; though I have ample materials nearly ready.3 I did not know that you went so far in giving up the permanence of species; & I am particularly obliged to you for sending me your “rèsumè”.4

I have in my Library your great & invaluable work on Anomalies, the life of your celebrated Father, your Considerations in the Suites a Buffon & the 1st vol. of your Hist. Nat. Gen. & I shall be proud to place your resume along side of them.5

It would be an immense advantage to my work, if it were translated into French; for then everyone could read it. I fear Madame Belloc will not undertake it; but I will write again to her & repeat your most kind & generous offer of looking at the difficult passages.6 Judging from the very large sale in England, I should hope that it would pay a publisher. My publisher has now printed nearly 5000 copies.7

With my most sincere thanks for the honour which you have conferred on me by writing, I beg leave to remain, with much respect, | Yours truly obliged | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the allusion to Origin, which was published in November 1859.
2
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s letter has not been found.
3
On the publication of Origin as an abstract of CD’s views, see Correspondence vol. 7.
4
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1851 was published in the Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée. The article contains a section entitled ‘Résumé des leçons sur la question de l’espèce’, in which Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire stated his belief that species were neither absolutely fixed nor endlessly variable, but varied only when their conditions of life changed (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1851, pp. 15–20). There is a lightly annotated copy of the work in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. CD cited the article in the ‘historical preface’ added to the revised US edition of Origin (Origin US ed.; see Correspondence vol. 8, Appendix IV), to the German translation (Bronn trans. 1860), and to Origin 3d ed. (1861). See also Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 28 January [1860].
5
CD’s copies of these books are in the Darwin Library–CUL: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1832–7 (Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l’organisation chez l’homme et les animaux; heavily annotated); Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1847 (Vie, travaux et doctrine scientifique d’E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire; annotated); Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1841 (Essais de zoologie générale, part of the series Nouvelles suites à Buffon; annotated); Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1854–62 (Histoire naturelle générale des règnes organiques; vol. 1 lightly annotated, vols. 2 and 3 annotated). Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s father was Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, was a French naturalist.
6
Louise Swanton Belloc had offered to translate Origin, but had later decided it was too difficult (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January [1860] and n. 14). In the end, Origin was translated into French by Clémence Auguste Royer (see Correspondence vol. 10).
7
John Murray printed 1250 copies of the first edition of Origin, and a second edition of 3000 copies in December 1859 (Origin 2d ed.; see Freeman 1977).

Bibliography

Bronn, Heinrich Georg, trans. 1860. Charles Darwin, über die Entstehung der Arten im Thier- und Pflanzen-Reich durch natürliche Züchtung, oder Erhaltung der vervollkommneten Rassen im Kampfe um’s Daseyn. (German translation of Origin.) Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.

Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore. 1832–7. Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l’organisation chez l’homme et les animaux, ouvrage comprenant des recherches sur les charactères, la classification, l’influence physiologique et pathologique, les rapports généraux, les lois et les causes des monstruosites, des variétés et des vices de conformation, ou traité de tératologie. 3 vols. and atlas. Paris: J. B. Baillière.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore. 1841. Essais de zoologie générale, ou mémoires et notices sur la zoologie générale, l’anthropologie, et l’histoire de la science. Paris: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore. 1847. Vie, travaux et doctrine scientifique d’E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Paris.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore. 1851. Cours de zoologie (mammifères et oiseaux), fait au Muséum d’histoire naturelle, en 1850. Revue et magasin de zoologie 2d ser. 3: 12–20.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore. 1854–62. Histoire naturelle générale des règnes organiques, principalement étudiée chez l’homme et les animaux. 3 vols. Paris: Victor Masson.

Origin 2d ed.: 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. 1860.

Origin 3d ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 3d edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1861.

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.

Origin US ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. A new edition, revised and augmented by the author. By Charles Darwin. New York: D. Appleton. 1860.

Summary

Very pleased with IGStH’s approval [of Origin]. Will be proud to place IGStH’s Résumé des lecons sur la question de l’espèce (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1851) alongside his other works in his library.

Grateful for his offer to look over the difficult passages in Origin for a translator.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-2649F
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Archives de l’Académie des sciences, Paris (63 J Fonds Gabriel Bertrand)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2649F,” accessed on 17 September 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2649F.xml

letter

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