From J. E. Gray 26 August 1848
Brit. Mus
26 Aug 1848
My Dear Darwin
I am very sorry that any person should have so misunderstood me as you inform me they have done1
When I read the papers at the Zool Society I stated that you were engaged on the anatomy and study of these animals and cited some of the important discoveries you had made and further stated that I brought forward the paper giving the Synonima of the genera and species (my arrangement arrangement of the genera) as the existed in my Mss Catalogue on which I had been working for some time as by so doing I should be able to facilitate your labours
The Paper was solely the Mss of the Catalogue which you saw before you commenced the study of the subject
You requested me to assist you in your work by giving you the Synonima etc.2 and I considered that it would be more satisfactory for you to quote them from a Paper printed in the Proceeding of the Zoological Society than from my Mss. especially as you have the same specimens to examine as those on which I have worked an which are marked with the result of my labours
But as you appear to think I may run counter to you I shall withdraw the Papers as I find they have not yet been sent to the Press I certainly did not believe that they would in any way interfere with you or that you had any desire that I should not publish an abstract of the observation which I had made on this group on which I have devoted many month or rather years, all of which I have more readily [communicated] to any who have enquired about them. I informed you at the time you first spoke to me on the subject what I had done & was doing with them but since that period I have abstained from any further researches, and was merely about to record the observations I had made & can only repeat thought that by so doing I was helping you.
believe me My Dear Darwin | Yours Very Truly
P.S. I find I must let the 2 short papers read in March remain as they are in type and the specimens are figured on the plate of another animal3
Footnotes
Summary
Is sorry that any person has misunderstood his intentions. JEG read his papers on cirripedes at the Zoological Society without intending to interfere with CD’s work; he merely wished to record his old observations, made before CD commenced his study, and thought that by so doing he was helping CD. [See "Description of a new species of Anatifa" and "On Thaliella", Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1848): 44.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1196
- From
- John Edward Gray
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF ZOO/205/7/254-255)
- Physical description
- ADraftS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1196,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1196.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 4