To G. J. Romanes 4 June [1876]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R. [Hopedene, Surrey.]
June 4th
Dear Romanes
Sir ..... Fayrer supplied me with cobra poison.— It is very precious, but I have no doubt that by explaining your motive he wd. give you a little, & your best plan of applying wd. be through Lauder Brunton.—2
Your letter has made me as proud & conceited as ten peacocks.3 I am inclined to think that writing against the bigots about vivisection is as hopeless as stemming a torrent with a reed. Frank who has just come here & who sputters with indignation on subject takes an opposite line, & perhaps he is right; anyhow he had the best of an argument with me on the subject.—4 By the way I think F. has made a fine discovery, but I won’t say what for fear it shd. break down.—5 It seems to me that physiologists are now in the position of a persecuted religious sect, & they must grin & bear the persecution,, however cruel & unjust, as well as they can.—
I shall be very glad to hear what you think about Häckel: perhaps I have shamefully misrepresented him.6 About the other subject (never mentioned to a human being) I shall be glad to hear, but I fear that I am a wretched bigot on the subject.7
Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin
The rest has done me much good— We return on the 10th—first visiting the Hawkshaws.8
My daughter is certainly better a good deal but not up to her former poor standard.9
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
French, Richard D. 1975. Antivivisection and medical science in Victorian society. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Romanes, Ethel Duncan. 1896. The life and letters of George John Romanes M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. London, New York, and Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Summary
Joseph Fayrer can supply cobra poison.
Discusses vivisection.
Mentions visit to the John Hawkshaws.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10529
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George John Romanes
- Sent from
- Hopedene Down letterhead
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.494)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10529,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10529.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24