To T. H. Huxley 14 October 1869
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
Oct 14. 1869
My dear Huxley
I have been delighted to see yr Rev. of Häckel, & as usual you pile honours high on my head.1 But I write now (requiring no answer) to groan a little over what you have said about rudimentary organs. Many heretics will take advantage of what you have said. I cannot but think that the explanation given at p. 541 of the last Ed of the Origin of the long retention of rudimentary organs & of their greater relative size during early life, is satisfactory.2 Their final & complete abortion seems to me a much greater difficulty. Do look in my “Var under Dom.” Vol. 2. p 397. at what Pangenesis suggests on this head, though I did not dare to put it in the Origin.3
The passage bears also a little on the struggle between the molecules or gemmules. There is likewise a word or 2 indirectly bearing on this subject at p 394–395. It won’t take you 5 minutes, so do look at these passages.
I am very glad that you have been bold enough to give yr idea about nat. selection amongst the molecules, though I cannot quite follow you.4
Whenever you can spare time let me hear about the horse’s tooth from S. America—5
Ever yours most truly | Charles Darwin
Good Heavens what a deal of work there is in you.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Delighted with THH’s review [in Academy (1869)] of Haeckel’s [Natürliche] Schöpfungsgeschichte [1868],
but groans about THH’s view of rudimentary organs. Cites Origin and Variation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6936
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 277)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 3pp & ADraftS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6936,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6936.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17