To F. E. Abbot 15 April 1880
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
April 15th 1880
My dear Sir
I believe that I owe to you a copy of the Literary World with a capital review of a Lawyers book on evolution, & which I imagine is written by you.—1 I had seen something about this book in a little article by Asa Gray, but did not know how abusive it was.2 It appears to be a production worthy of an ignorant lawyer.—
For some time I have been intending to write & thank you for sending me the Index, & which I gratefully accept. But I now enclose a cheque for 5£ which will pay for copies for some little time.3 I always read a large part of your excellent Journal & shd certainly read every word had I time & strength sufficient. But reading much more than the papers &c which are necessary for my scientific work now-a-days tires me greatly.—
Most heartily wishing you success in your admirable endeavours in the good cause of truth & wishing you prosperity in all ways, I remain | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin
P.S. | Will you kindly send me a Post-card acknowledging receipt of the small cheque.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
O’Neill, T. Warren. 1880. The refutation of Darwinism; and the converse theory of development; based exclusively upon Darwin’s facts, and comprising qualitative and quantitative analyses of the phenomena of variation; of reversion; of correlation; of crossing; of close-interbreeding; of the reproduction of lost members; of the repair of injuries; of the reintegration of tissue; and of sexual and asexual generation. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
Summary
Thanks FEA for copy of a review of a book on evolution by "an ignorant lawyer".
Sends £5 for Index subscription.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12577
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Ellingwood Abbot
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Harvard University Archives (Papers of F. E. Abbot, 1841–1904. Named Correspondence, 1857–1903. Letter, C. R. Darwin to F. E. Abbot (15 April 1880), in folder Darwin, Charles and W. E. Darwin (son), 1871–1883, box 44. HUG 1101)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12577,” accessed on 30 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12577.xml