To James Orton 7 October [1869]1
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
Oct. 7th
My dear Sir
I received your note & the Horse’s tooth about 10 days ago.
Although I have never had any quarrell with Prof. Owen, he has used such language about me that I can hold no communication with him.2 The best which I could do for you under these circumstances was to send the specimen to Prof. Huxley, who is quite as able & a more careful observer than Prof. Owen.—3 He writes to me that he will do his best, but he has not much confidence in the case of the Horse in identification from a single tooth.4 Unfortunately he is so incessantly engaged that he has not yet written to me again: but as soon as I hear, I will at once write to you.— You do not ask for the return of the tooth, so I have provisionally deposited in the Museum, where it will be a valuable addition.—5 Your own palæontologist Prof. Leidy6 wd. be as good a judge about the Horses skull (which is a treasure) & teeth as anyone in Europe.—
I am glad to hear that your work will be published this autumn,7 & I beg leave to remain | My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Orton, James. 1870. The Andes and the Amazon; or, across the continent of South America. New York: Harper.
Summary
Has forwarded the horse’s tooth, sent by JO, to Huxley, who may be able to identify it.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6925
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Orton
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of Oklahoma Libraries History of Science Collections
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6925,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6925.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17
