To Francis Galton 29 March [1872]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
March 29th
My dear Galton
I think that I have never been more interested in my life than by your letter. It takes one’s breath away, & I am much more inclined to believe in some wonderful force from your account than if I had been myself a witness. The case of the needle in the vacuum (which I will not mention) is incomparably in my opinion the most important. I hope that Mr Crookes will stick to this & work it out, & that you may continue to be a witness with, as you say, eyes & ears very open.2 It is rather dreadful to think what we may have to believe.
Very many thanks about the case of inheritance. I cannot do better than give your own words. If I do not hear to the contrary, I will insert “female” in passage about the 3d. generation3
I thank you most heartily for your letter | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Summary
Comments on FG’s description of a séance at the house of William Crookes.
Will use FG’s words about [H. M. Butler’s] hereditary habit [in Expression, p. 33 n. 8].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8258
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Galton
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8258,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8258.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20
