To F. C. Donders 8 April 1872
Down. | Beckenham. Kent.
Apl. 8. 1872.
My dear Professor Donders,
I am greatly obliged to you for having taken such great trouble to illuminate one as ignorant as I am on the functions of the eye—1 Your information has been many times of the greatest use to me; & what is even a still greater kindness, you have saved me from having fallen into many errors—2
I have received the German Pamphlet & read the part indicated; & have written to Bowman to borrow Mr Wells’ work.3 When I go again over my M.S., I will carefully reconsider all that I have written; & as the subject is so intricate, the result I think will be that I will strike out a good deal, & only give some facts & quote what you have told me—4
I feel every day that to write on expression, a man ought to have ten times as much physiological knowledge as I possess; but I hope to succeed in giving a good many observations, especially on the expression and gestures of Savages; & then some one hereafter will correct my speculations.
I must again say how extremely kind it is in you, full of knowledge & busily employed as you are to spend so much time in aiding me.
Believe me | Yours very gratefully— | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Donders, Frans Cornelis. 1871. Die Projection der Gesichtserscheingungen nach den Richtungslinien. Archiv für Ophthalmologie 17 (part 2): 1–68.
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Wells, John Soelberg. 1869. A treatise on the diseases of the eye. London: John Churchill & Sons.
Summary
Thanks FCD for information, which will make him "strike out a good deal".
Has received German pamphlet.
Will read work by John Soelberg Wells [? A treatise on the diseases of the eye (1869, 1870)].
Discusses his work on expression.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8279
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 143: 413
- Physical description
- C 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8279,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8279.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20