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Darwin Correspondence Project

To W. Z. Seddon   4 February 1880

Down. Beckenham. Kent.

Feby. 4. 1880.

Dear Sir.

I wish that you or anybody else could account for the colours of the different races of man.1

Few persons believe that differences of climate suffice.—

I have offered an explanation in my Descent of Man which hardly anybody has accepted.2

Since then other views equally or more improbable have been published, & this is all that I can say—

Dear Sir. | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin.

Footnotes

1
See letter from W. Z. Seddon, 2 February 1880. Seddon’s schoolmaster had suggested that climate might be a contributing factor in determining skin colour.
2
In Descent 2d ed., pp. 195–6, CD added information on the susceptibility of lighter skin to sunburn and suggested the possibility that darker skin might be gradually acquired by humans through natural selection in some places.

Bibliography

Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.

Summary

Comments on colours of races of man. Wishes WZS "or anybody else" could account for them.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12460
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
William Zaccheus Seddon
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 147: 461
Physical description
C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12460,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12460.xml

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