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To G. H. Darwin   [after 4 September 1876]1

My dear G.—

I do not think that you will care for Zacharias’ pamphet sent by this post.—2 Hermann Müller has sent you & Frank a newspaper on the development of the instincts of bees in relation to sucking flowers which I am sure you wd not care about in the least & I have not sent it.—3

I have received a German pamphet about the idea of God & immortality & socialism under a Darwinian point of view: it is so difficult I cannot make head or tails of it;4 I at first thought of sending it you, but then thought you wd. not care for it. I could, however, send it.— Do you remember calculating for me about number of molecules in a square of 11000 of an inch, in relation to Pangenesis; well I hear from Eras. that in Encyclop. Britannica, Clark-Maxwell has been writing on this subject in relation to Pangenesis, & opposed to my views, but Eras. says he cannot understand it, & that you might on your return read it.—5 I have been grieved, my dear George, to hear how very bad you have been.6

Yours affect. | C. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Hermann Müller, 4 September 1876.
2
Otto Zacharias had written an introduction to the German translation of George’s paper on cousin marriages (G. H. Darwin 1875; G. H. Darwin 1876a, pp. iii–vi). CD’s copy of G. H. Darwin 1876a is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
3
See letter from Hermann Müller, 4 September 1876 and n. 2. The newspaper article was the last two instalments of H. Müller 1875–6.
4
Wilhelm Parow sent CD a copy of his lecture Der Gottes-Begriff, Unsterblichkeit und die sittliche Idee gegenüber dem Darwinismus (The concept of God, immortality and the moral idea with respect to Darwinism; Parow 1876). CD’s annotated copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. 
5
James Clerk Maxwell, who served as the physical sciences editor for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, had written the article on the atom (Maxwell 1875; see also Harman ed. 1990–2002, 2: 445–84). Maxwell discussed the limits of the dimensions of organic molecules in relation to pangenesis, CD’s theory of heredity (see Maxwell 1875, p. 42). Erasmus Alvey Darwin was CD’s brother.
6
George periodically suffered from stomach-related illnesses and in October 1876 he was also bothered by eczema (letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, [29 October 1876] (DAR 239.23: 1.53)).

Bibliography

Encyclopaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica online. www.britannica.com/

Maxwell, James Clerk. 1875. Atom. Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th ed. 3: 36–49.

Müller, Hermann. 1875–6. Die Bedeutung der Honigbiene für unsere Blumen. Bienen-Zeitung: Organ des Vereins der deutschen Bienenwirthe 31 (1875): 81–2, 102–4, 109–11, 122–5, 138–41, 165–9; 32 (1876): 20–2, 119–23, 176–84.

Parow, Wilhelm. 1876. Der Gottes-Begriff, die Unsterblichkeit und die sittliche Idee gegenüber dem Darwinismus. Ein Vortrag. Leipzig: J. G. Findel.

Summary

Has received a baffling article on God, immortality, and socialism under a Darwinian point of view.

Clerk Maxwell has disagreed with CD on molecular calculations in relation to Pangenesis in Encyclopaedia Britannica article ["Atom", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed. (1875) 3: 36–49].

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10338
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
George Howard Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 210.1: 66
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10338,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10338.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24

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