From T. H. Huxley 8 June 1878
4 Marlborough Place | N. W.
June 3rd 1878
My dear Darwin
I send you the inclosed article on ‘Evolution’ which will appear in the next volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica— I do not think anybody has traced out the strange mutations in the meaning of the word before— And I think you will be astonished to see what Lamarck’s opinions were in 1794.1
Madge is about again and except that her voice is between a duck’s and a raven’s seems not much the worse— But we had an awful period of anxiety, for ten or twelve days2
The wife & she will be off to Westgate in a day or two to recruit3 They both need it—although my wife kept up remarkably indeed wonderfully well
My mind is entirely set on Cray fishes. I have been working out their structures in relation to their distribution with very pretty results4 The southern hemisphere forms are quite distinct from the northern & each area has its own group
They are evidently all modifications of marine ancestors which have been improved oft
Ever | Yours very truly | T. H. Huxley
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bowler, Peter John. 1983. The eclipse of Darwinism. Anti-Darwinian evolution theories in the decades around 1900. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.
Desmond, Adrian. 1994–7. Huxley. 2 vols. London: Michael Joseph.
EB 9th ed.: The Encyclopaedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature. 9th edition. 24 vols. and index. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black. 1875–89.
Lamarck, Jean Baptiste. 1793–4. Recherches sur les causes des principaux faits physiques. 2 vols. Paris: Chez Mazaclan.
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine. 1809. Philosophie zoologique; ou exposition des considérations relatives à l’histoire naturelle des animaux; à la diversité de leur organisation … et les autres l’intelligence de ceux qui en sont doués. 2 vols. Paris: Dentu; the author.
Summary
Sends article on "Evolution" [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed.]. CD will be interested in Lamarck’s opinions in 1794.
Is working on crayfish and their distribution.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11546
- From
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Marlborough Place, 4
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 349
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11546,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11546.xml