From James Torbitt 12 April 1876
Belfast
12 April | 1876
Charles Darwin Esqr. | Down
My dear Sir
With the very greatest respect, I must beg leave to be permitted to differ from you regarding the matter of the publication of your reply to my question what is an individual? and for this reason, it leaves the matter an open question, upon which therefore, no man need be afraid to exercise his own intellect.1
Again, if your opinion “that the principle I am acting on is right”,2 will not suffice to convince people, clearly no other means can or will; for notwithstanding the thick darkness in which they (the people) are enveloped, there is, even with them, no name in the world so weighty as your own.
And if it pleases them to laugh at me, well and good, only they might as well sit down before a statue of Voltaire and laugh at that.
I am sure you will like to see enclosed from Professor Ansted, and have pleasure in sending it.3
I may say that I have succeeded in interesting, among others, The Lord Lieutenant the Duke of Sutherland [etc] and from the former’s A.D.C. I have letter of thanks for sending your letter (Copy I mean) I have not yet got at the House of Commons, but expect to do so in a few days.4
I am ashamed to trespass so far, but I shall be pardoned I know. | I am my dear Sir | with profound respect | faithfully yours | James Torbitt
Footnotes
Bibliography
Torbitt, James. 1876. Cras credemus. A treatise on the cultivation of the potato from the seed, having for proposed results the extinction of the disease, and a yield of thirty, forty or more tons of tubers per statute acre. (Sent, accompanied by a packet of seed, to each member of the House of Lords; each member of the House of Commons; and the principal landlords of Ulster.) Belfast: printed by Alexander Mayne.
Summary
JT still thinks CD’s opinions on "what is an individual?" should be published.
Seeking financial backing for his research.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10448
- From
- James Torbitt
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Belfast
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 132
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10448,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10448.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24