From Albert Günther 23 September 1869
British Museum
23.9.69
My dear Sir
In order to show you how much pleasure I have in answering your queries, I express a hope that this is merely the first batch of questions1
I am glad to say that Mr Ford will be able to complete your drawings within 2 months, & he has been at work at them today.2 With regard to the heads of Salmon, a figure of a male S. lycaodon can be copied from Richardson,3 but then we have no female of this species. Therefore I should advise you to take a British Salmonoid which will answer your purpose perfectly.4 Again, you require the figures of males & females of exactly the same size, but then one sex is sometimes the larger, as in Callion. draco,5 & therefore your figures would be faulty in this respect. I wait for your instructions.
It is but a short time ago that you told me that a good wife is the greatest blessing for a man.6 How often did I remember these words, when I hurried away from trouble & work home where peace & happiness awaited me. Alas! it was a short dream in life’s long night—my wife who was the greatest blessing to me every day of our married life, has been taken away from me. Last month she gave birth to a strong & healthy child, a boy; all appeared to go well, when the excessive heat came, & with it a fever which hurried her off into an early grave.7
A time & a trial like this make a man think of affairs beyond the grave; and that men must be strong who can rest satisfied with the glimpses or the semblance of truth gained by man’s speculation. I confess I am weak enough to require better comfort, & this I can only find in faith into truth revealed
Yours ever faithfully | A Günther
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Richardson, John. 1829–37. Fauna Boreali-Americana; or, the zoology of the northern parts of British America. Assisted by William Swainson and William Kirby. 4 vols. London and Norwich: John Murray; Richard Bentley; J. Fletcher.
Summary
Mr Ford is attending to CD’s drawings [for Descent].
Death of AG’s wife.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6906
- From
- Albrecht Carl Ludwig Gotthilf (Albert) Günther
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- DAR 165: 243
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6906,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6906.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17