From T. H. Huxley 17 March 1869
Geological Survey of England & Wales
My dear Darwin
After I had sent my letter to you the other day I thought how stupid I had been not to put in a slip of paper to say it was meant for Lushington’s edification.1
I made sure you would understand that I wished it to be sent on & wrote it (standing on the points of my toes & with my tail up very stiff with that end in view2
I am getting so weary of people writing to propose controversy to me upon one point or other, that I begin to wish the article had never been written The fighting in itself is not particularly objectionable but its the wasting time
I begin to understand your sufferings over the ‘Origin’—3 A good book is comparable to a piece of meat & fools are as flies, who swarm to it, each for the purpose of depositing & hatching his own particular maggot of an idea
Ever yours | T. H. Huxley
March 17. 1869
Footnotes
Summary
Last letter was written to be passed on for Lushington’s edification. "(Standing on the points of my toes and my tail very stiff)." Is tiring of controversy as a waste of time. Begins to understand CD’s sufferings over Origin.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6665
- From
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Geological Survey
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 318
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6665,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6665.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17