Part 5 (1/2)

I then came upon a pa.s.sage common to both German and English, which in its turn was followed in the English by the sub-apologetic paragraph which I had been struck with on first reading, and which was not in the German, its place being taken by a much longer pa.s.sage which had no place in the English. A little farther on I was amused at coming upon the following, and at finding it wholly transformed in the supposed accurate translation

”How must this early and penetrating explanation of rudimentary organs have affected the grandson when he read the poem of his ancestor! But indeed the biological remarks of this accurate observer in regard to certain definite natural objects must have produced a still deeper impression upon him, pointing, as they do, to questions which hay attained so great a prominence at the present day; such as, Why is any creature anywhere such as we actually see it and nothing else? Why has such and such a plant poisonous juices? Why has such and such another thorns? Why have birds and fishes light-coloured b.r.e.a.s.t.s and dark backs, and, Why does every creature resemble the one from which it sprung?” {44a}

I will not weary the reader with further details as to the omissions from and additions to the German text. Let it suffice that the so-called translation begins on p. 131 and ends on p. 216 of Mr. Darwin's book. There is new matter on each one of the pp. 132-139, while almost the whole of pp. 147-152 inclusive, and the whole of pp. 211-216 inclusive, are spurious - that is to say, not what the purport to be, not translations from an article that was published in February 1879, and before ”Evolution, Old and New,” but interpolations not published till six months after that book.

Bearing in mind the contents of two of the added pa.s.sages and the tenor of the concluding sentence quoted above, {44b} I could no longer doubt that the article had been altered by the light of and with a view to ”Evolution, Old and New.”

The steps are perfectly clear. First Dr. Krause published his article in Kosmos and my book was announced (its purport being thus made obvious), both in the month of February 1879. Soon afterwards arrangements were made for a translation of Dr. Krause's essay, and were completed by the end of April. Then my book came out, and in some way or other Dr. Krause happened to get hold of it. He helped himself - not to much, but to enough; made what other additions to and omissions from his article he thought would best meet ”Evolution, Old and New,” and then fell to condemning that book in a finale that was meant to be crus.h.i.+ng. Nothing was said about the revision which Dr. Krause's work had undergone, but it was expressly and particularly declared in the preface that the English translation was an accurate version of what appeared in the February number of Kosmos, and no less expressly and particularly stated that my book was published subsequently to this. Both these statements are untrue; they are in Mr. Darwin's favour and prejudicial to myself.

All this was done with that well-known ”happy simplicity” of which the Pall Mall Gazette, December 12, 1879, declared that Mr. Darwin was ”a master.” The final sentence, about the ”weakness of thought and mental anachronism which no one can envy,” was especially successful. The reviewer in the Pall Mall Gazette just quoted from gave it in full, and said that it was thoroughly justified. He then mused forth a general gnome that the ”confidence of writers who deal in semi-scientific paradoxes is commonly in inverse proportion to their grasp of the subject.” Again my vanity suggested to me that I was the person for whose benefit this gnome was intended. My vanity, indeed, was well fed by the whole transaction; for I saw that not only did Mr. Darwin, who should be the best judge, think my work worth notice, but that he did not venture to meet it openly. As for Dr. Krause's concluding sentence, I thought that when a sentence had been antedated the less it contained about anachronism the better.

Only one of the reviews that I saw of Mr. Darwin's ”Life of Erasmus Darwin” showed any knowledge of the facts. The Popular Science Review for January 1880, in flat contradiction to Mr. Darwin's preface, said that only part of Dr. Krause's article was being given by Mr. Darwin. This reviewer had plainly seen both Kosmos and Mr. Darwin's book.

In the same number of the Popular Science Review, and immediately following the review of Mr. Darwin's book, there is a review of ”Evolution, Old and New.” The writer of this review quotes the pa.s.sage about mental anachronism as quoted by the reviewer in the Pall Mall Gazette, and adds immediately: ”This anachronism has been committed by Mr. Samuel Butler in a ... little volume now before us, and it is doubtless to this, which appeared while his own work was in progress [italics mine] that Dr. Krause alludes in the foregoing pa.s.sage.” Considering that the editor of the Popular Science Review and the translator of Dr. Krause's article for Mr. Darwin are one and the same person, it is likely the Popular Science Review is well informed in saying that my book appeared before Dr. Krause's article had been transformed into its present shape, and that my book was intended by the pa.s.sage in question.

Unable to see any way of escaping from a conclusion which I could not willingly adopt, I thought it best to write to Mr. Darwin, stating the facts as they appeared to myself, and asking an explanation, which I would have gladly strained a good many points to have accepted. It is better, perhaps, that I should give my letter and Darwin's answer in full. My letter ran thus:-

January 2, 1880.

CHARLES DARWIN, ESQ., F.R.S., &c.

Dear Sir, - Will you kindly refer me to the edition of Kosmos which contains the text of Dr. Krause's article on Dr. Erasmus Darwin, as translated by Mr. W. S. Dallas?

I have before me the last February number of Kosmos, which appears by your preface to be the one from which Mr. Dallas has translated, but his translation contains long and important pa.s.sages which are not in the February number of Kosmos, while many pa.s.sages in the original article are omitted in the translation.

Among the pa.s.sages introduced are the last six pages of the English article, which seem to condemn by antic.i.p.ation the position I have taken as regards Dr. Erasmus Darwin in my book, ”Evolution, Old and New,” and which I believe I was the first to take. The concluding, and therefore, perhaps, most prominent sentence of the translation you have given to the public stands thus:-

”Erasmus Darwin's system was in itself a most significant first step in the path of knowledge which his grandson has opened up for us, but to wish to revive it at the present day, as has actually been seriously attempted, shows a weakness of thought and a mental anachronism which no man can envy.”

The Kosmos which has been sent me from Germany contains no such pa.s.sage.

As you have stated in your preface that my book, ”Evolution, Old and New,” appeared subsequently to Dr. Krause's article, and as no intimation is given that the article has been altered and added to since its original appearance, while the accuracy of the translation as though from the February number of Kosmos is, as you expressly say, guaranteed by Mr. Dallas's ”scientific reputation together with his knowledge of German,” your readers will naturally suppose that all they read in the translation appeared in February last, and therefore before ”Evolution, Old and New,” was written, and therefore independently of, and necessarily without reference to, that book.

I do not doubt that this was actually the case, but have failed to obtain the edition which contains the pa.s.sage above referred to, and several others which appear in the translation.

I have a personal interest in this matter, and venture, therefore, to ask for the explanation which I do not doubt you will readily give me. - Yours faithfully,

S. BUTLER.

The following is Mr. Darwin's answer:-

January 3, 1880.