To Ernst Dieffenbach 16 December 1843
[Down]
– “… You will have been sorry to have seen in the newspapers, the disturbances & fightings with the Newzealanders.—1 I have lately been much interested in reading your Chapters2 on the slow decrease in numbers … of these poor people. The case appears to me very curious, especially as the decrease has commenced or continued since the introduction of the potato— the relation between the amount of population & of food is hence inverted.— it would have been a case for the great Malthus to have reflected on …”
Footnotes
Bibliography
Dieffenbach, Ernst. 1843. Travels in New Zealand; with contributions to the geography, geology, botany, and natural history of that country. 2 vols. London.
Mellersh, Harold Edward Leslie. 1968. FitzRoy of the Beagle. London: Rupert Hart-Davis.
Summary
"You will have been sorry to have seen in the newspapers, the disturbances & fightings with the New Zealanders. – I have lately been much interested in reading your chapters on the slow decrease in numbers … of these poor people. The case appears to me very curious, especially as the decrease has commenced or continued since the introduction of the potato – the relation between the amount of population & of food is hence inverted. It would have been a case for the great Malthus to have reflected on".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-725
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Ernst Dieffenbach
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (Catalogue 574 11–13 November 1965)
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 725,” accessed on 11 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-725.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 2
