Volume II Part 39 (1/2)
No fact of your letter has interested me more than that about mimicry.
It is a capital fact about the males pursuing the wrong females. You put the difficulty of the first steps in imitation in a most striking and CONVINCING manner. Your idea of s.e.xual selection having aided protective imitation interests me greatly, for the same idea had occurred to me in quite different cases, viz. the dulness of all animals in the Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, etc., and in some other cases; but I was afraid even to hint at such an idea. Would you object to my giving some such sentence as follows: ”F. Muller suspects that s.e.xual selection may have come into play, in aid of protective imitation, in a very peculiar manner, which will appear extremely improbable to those who do not fully believe in s.e.xual selection. It is that the appreciation of certain colour is developed in those species which frequently behold other species thus ornamented.” Again let me thank you cordially for your most interesting letter...
CHARLES DARWIN TO E.B. TYLOR. Down, [September 24, 1871].
My dear Sir,
I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of telling you how greatly I have been interested by your 'Primitive Culture,' now that I have finished it. It seems to me a most profound work, which will be certain to have permanent value, and to be referred to for years to come. It is wonderful how you trace animism from the lower races up to the religious belief of the highest races. It will make me for the future look at religion--a belief in the soul, etc.--from a new point of view. How curious, also, are the survivals or rudiments of old customs... You will perhaps be surprised at my writing at so late a period, but I have had the book read aloud to me, and from much ill-health of late could only stand occasional short reads. The undertaking must have cost you gigantic labour. Nevertheless, I earnestly hope that you may be induced to treat morals in the same enlarged yet careful manner, as you have animism. I fancy from the last chapter that you have thought of this. No man could do the work so well as you, and the subject a.s.suredly is a most important and interesting one. You must now possess references which would guide you to a sound estimation of the morals of savages; and how writers like Wallace, Lubbock, etc., etc., do differ on this head. Forgive me for troubling you, and believe me, with much respect,
Yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN.
1872.
[At the beginning of the year the sixth edition of the 'Origin,' which had been begun in June, 1871, was nearly completed. The last sheet was revised on January 10, 1872, and the book was published in the course of the month. This volume differs from the previous ones in appearance and size--it consists of 458 pages instead of 596 pages and is a few ounces lighter; it is printed on bad paper, in small type, and with the lines unpleasantly close together. It had, however, one advantage over previous editions, namely that it was issued at a lower price. It is to be regretted that this the final edition of the 'Origin' should have appeared in so unattractive a form; a form which has doubtless kept off many readers from the book.
The discussion suggested by the 'Genesis of Species' was perhaps the most important addition to the book. The objection that incipient structures cannot be of use was dealt with in some detail, because it seemed to the author that this was the point in Mr. Mivart's book which has struck most readers in England.
It is a striking proof of how wide and general had become the acceptance of his views that my father found it necessary to insert (sixth edition, page 424), the sentence: ”As a record of a former state of things, I have retained in the foregoing paragraphs and also elsewhere, several sentences which imply that naturalists believe in the separate creation of each species; and I have been much censured for having thus expressed myself. But undoubtedly this was the general belief when the first edition of the present work appeared... Now things are wholly changed, and almost every naturalist admits the great principle of evolution.”
A small correction introduced into this sixth edition is connected with one of his minor papers: ”Note on the habits of the Pampas Woodp.e.c.k.e.r.”
(Zoolog. Soc. Proc. 1870.) In the fifth edition of the 'Origin,' page 220, he wrote:--
”Yet as I can a.s.sert not only from my own observation, but from that of the accurate Azara, it [the ground woodp.e.c.k.e.r] never climbs a tree.” The paper in question was a reply to Mr. Hudson's remarks on the woodp.e.c.k.e.r in a previous number of the same journal. The last sentence of my father's paper is worth quoting for its temperate tone: ”Finally, I trust that Mr. Hudson is mistaken when he says that any one acquainted with the habits of this bird might be induced to believe that I 'had purposely wrested the truth' in order to prove my theory. He exonerates me from this charge; but I should be loath to think that there are many naturalists who, without any evidence, would accuse a fellow-worker of telling a deliberate falsehood to prove his theory.” In the sixth edition, page 142, the pa.s.sage runs ”in certain large districts it does not climb trees.” And he goes on to give Mr. Hudson's statement that in other regions it does frequent trees.
One of the additions in the sixth edition (page 149), was a reference to Mr. A. Hyatt's and Professor Cope's theory of ”acceleration.” With regard to this he wrote (October 10, 1872) in characteristic words to Mr. Hyatt:--
”Permit me to take this opportunity to express my sincere regret at having committed two grave errors in the last edition of my 'Origin of Species,' in my allusion to yours and Professor Cope's views on acceleration and r.e.t.a.r.dation of development. I had thought that Professor Cope had preceded you; but I now well remember having formerly read with lively interest, and marked, a paper by you somewhere in my library, on fossil Cephalapods with remarks on the subject. It seems also that I have quite misrepresented your joint view. This has vexed me much. I confess that I have never been able to grasp fully what you wish to show, and I presume that this must be owing to some dulness on my part.”
Lastly, it may be mentioned that this cheap edition being to some extent intended as a popular one, was made to include a glossary of technical terms, ”given because several readers have complained... that some of the terms used were unintelligible to them.” The glossary was compiled by Mr. Dallas, and being an excellent collection of clear and sufficient definitions, must have proved useful to many readers.]
CHARLES DARWIN TO J.L.A. DE QUATREf.a.gES. Down, January 15, 1872.
My dear Sir,
I am much obliged for your very kind letter and exertions in my favour.
I had thought that the publication of my last book ['Descent of Man']
would have destroyed all your sympathy with me, but though I estimated very highly your great liberality of mind, it seems that I underrated it.
I am gratified to hear that M. Lacaze-Duthiers will vote (He was not elected as a corresponding member of the French Academy until 1878.) for me, for I have long honoured his name. I cannot help regretting that you should expend your valuable time in trying to obtain for me the honour of election, for I fear, judging from the last time, that all your labour will be in vain. Whatever the result may be, I shall always retain the most lively recollection of your sympathy and kindness, and this will quite console me for my rejection.
With much respect and esteem, I remain, dear Sir,
Yours truly obliged, CHARLES DARWIN.
P.S.--With respect to the great stress which you lay on man walking on two legs, whilst the quadrumana go on all fours, permit me to remind you that no one much values the great difference in the mode of locomotion, and consequently in structure, between seals and the terrestrial carnivora, or between the almost biped kangaroos and other marsupials.