To T. H. Huxley 5 July [1857]1
Down Bromley Kent
July 5th
My dear Huxley
Will you be so kind as to read the two enclosed pages as you said you would & consider the little point therein referred to.—2 I have not thought it worth troubling you with how far & in which way the case concerns my work,—the point being how far there is any truth in M.M. Brullé & Barneoud.3 My plan of work is just to compare partial generalisations of various authors & see how far they corroborate each other. Especially I want your opinion how far you think I am right in bringing in Milne Edwards’ view of classification.4 I was long ago much struck with the principle referred to; but I could then see no rational explanation why affinities shd. go with the more or less early branching off from a common embryonic form. But if MM. Brullé & Barneoud are true, it seems to me we get some light on Milne Edwards’ views of classification; & this particularly interests me.5 I wish I could anyhow test M. Brullé’s doctrine: as in Vertebrata the head consists of greatly altered vertebræ, according to this rule, in an early part of the embryonic development of a Vertebrate animal, the head ought to have arrived more nearly to its perfect state, than a dorsal or cervical vertebra to its perfect state: How is this?6
I have been reading Goodsir, but have found no light on my particular point.7 The paper impresses me with a high idea of his judgment & knowledge, though, of course, I can form no independent judgment of the truth of his doctrines. But by Jove it wd. require a wonderful amount of evidence to make one believe that the head of an Elephant or Tapir had more vertebræ in it, than the head of a Horse or Ox.8
Many thanks for your last Lecture. How curious the development of Mysis!9
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Do you know whether the embryology of a Bat has ever been worked out?
Footnotes
Bibliography
Barnéoud, François Marius. 1846. Mémoire sur le développement de l’ovule, de l’embryon et des corolles anomales. Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Botanique 3d ser. 6: 268–96.
Brullé, Gaspard Auguste. 1844. Recherches sur les transformations des appendices dans les articulés. Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Zoologie 3d ser. 2: 271–374.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Goodsir, John. 1857. On the morphological constitution of the skeleton of the vertebrate head. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal n.s. 5: 123–78.
Huxley, Thomas Henry. 1856–7. Lectures on general natural history. Medical Times & Gazette n.s. 12: 429–32, 481–4, 507–11, 563–7, 618–23; 13: 27–30, 131–4, 157–60, 278–81, 383–6, 462–3, 537–8, 586–8, 635–9; 14: 133–5, 181–3, 255-7, 353–5, 505–8, 638–40; 15: 159–62, 186–9, 238–41, 467-71.
Milne-Edwards, Henri. 1844. Considérations sur quelques principes relatifs à la classification naturelle des animaux, et plus particulièrement sur la distribution méthodique des mammifères. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (Zoologie) 3d ser. 1: 65–99. [Vols. 4,6,8]
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Ospovat, Dov. 1981. The development of Darwin’s theory. Natural history, natural theology, and natural selection, 1838–1859. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Summary
Asks THH’s opinion on embryological views of G. A. Brullé [Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 13 (1844): 484–6] and F. M. Barnéoud [Ann. des Sci. Nat. ser. 3, Bot. 6 (1846): 268–96] and on Milne-Edwards’ classification.
Has been reading John Goodsir ["On the morphological constitution of the skeleton of the vertebrate head", Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 5 (1857): 123–78].
Has embryology of bats ever been worked out?
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2118
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 67)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2118,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2118.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6