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Darwin Correspondence Project

To G. H. Darwin   [8 August 1874]1

[Bassett, Southampton.]

Saturday

My dear George.—

Your letter seems to me very good & your present plan removes all my objections.—2 I thank you for your very nice letter to me.—3 It is very strange about your health; but I apprehend the reason is pretty clear that the kidneys are now removing poison from your blood.— I will alter the first sentence in my letter to to Murray & make my letter less imperious.4 It will be a dreadful evil to me, if, as is too likely, we come to a quarrel.—

Yours affect | C. Darwin

Write to Clowes for Proof to be sent here5

Mother, also, likes your letter much.— William has not yet read it.6

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874. In 1874, the Saturday after 6 August was 8 August.
2
See letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874. George had enclosed a letter to be forwarded to John Murray, the publisher of the Quarterly Review, defending himself against accusations made against him in an anonymous article ([Mivart] 1874; George’s defence appeared in the Quarterly Review 137 (1874): 587–9).
3
CD probably refers to a letter sent to him via Emma Darwin; see letter from G. H. Darwin, [6 or 7 August 1874].
4
George had suggested that CD avoid risking a break with Murray over his dispute; see letter from G. H. Darwin, [6 or 7 August 1874]. For CD’s original letter, with George’s amendments, see the enclosure to the letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874; for the letter as sent, see the letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874.
5
CD probably refers to the proof-sheets of Descent (see letter from G. H. Darwin, 29 July 1874).
6
CD and his wife, Emma, were staying with their son William Erasmus Darwin.

Bibliography

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

[Mivart, St George Jackson.] 1874b. Primitive man: Tylor and Lubbock. [Essay review of the works of John Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor.] Quarterly Review 137 (1874): 40–77.

Summary

Approves of GHD’s letter [to Q. Rev. 137 (1874): 587–9] and his present plan, which removes all CD’s objections. Will make his own letter to Murray less imperious. "It will be a dreadful evil to me, if … we come to a quarrel."

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9596
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
George Howard Darwin
Sent from
Bassett
Source of text
DAR 210.1: 31
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9596,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9596.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22

letter

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