To James Dwight Dana 9 September [1851]1
Down Farnboro’ Kent
Sept. 9th.
My dear Sir
You will possibly have been surprised at my not having sooner thanked you for your very kind & valuable letter of the 18th of February2 (proh pudor!) & for the Acasta-like Balanus3 which did not arrive for some time after your letter. But I expected to have had three or four months ago a copy of my Fossil Lepadidæ to send you, but I have been much delayed in receiving these copies, & only got them a few days ago.4 And now, I am correcting the proof-sheets of my volumeon the recent Lepadidæ,5 so that I will wait for a month or two, till I have a copyof this to send with the other to you, & to a few other kind American correspondents.—6
Your Acasta looks a very curious species & I almost think new Genus, but I have not as yet examined it, for I make most snail-like progress in whatever I do. I should think more thought passed through your head, & words from your pen, in one day, than in ten through mine.— My weak health is partly my excuse.—
In the Spring I saw Abich,7 who has just returned from the Caucasus, where he has been studying inter alia the extinct volcanos; & he told Sir C. Lyell, that there were many points he was never able to understand, until reading your admirable Chapters on the Sandwich Islands.—8
I sincerely hope that you are well, & that your mutifarious & valuable labours are all progressing successfully.—
Dear Sir | Your’s sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Fossil Cirripedia (1851): A monograph on the fossil Lepadidæ, or, pedunculated cirripedes of Great Britain. By Charles Darwin. London: Palaeontographical Society. 1851.
Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.
Living Cirripedia (1854): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Balanidæ (or sessile cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1854.
Summary
Thanks him for letter and Balanus specimen.
Acasta is curious; may be a new genus.
Is sending copy [of Fossil Cirripedia 1]. Correcting proofs [of Living Cirripedia 1].
Mentions comment by Hermann Abich on JDD’s chapters on the Sandwich Islands [in Geology (1849)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1453
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Dwight Dana
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Dana Family Papers (MS 164) Series 1, Box 2, folder 43)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1453,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1453.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5