To T. H. Huxley 9 January [1860]
Down Bromley Kent
Jan 9th
My dear Huxley
If on 11th you have half-an-hour to spare you might like to see a very good show of Pigeons, & the enclosed card will admit you.—1
The History of Error is quite unimportant, but it is curious to observe how exactly & accurately my Grandfather (in Zoonomia Vol. I. p. 504 1794) gives Lamarcks theory.2 I will quote one sentence Speaking of Birds Beaks, He says “All which seem to have been gradually produced during many generations by the perpetual endeavour of the creatures to supply the want of food, & to have been delivered to their posterity with constant improvement of them for the purposes required.—”3 Lamarck published Phil. Zoolog in 1809. The Zoonomia was translated into many languages.—4
Ever yours | C. Darwin
Grote, the Historian, was much struck with the article in Times.—5
Footnotes
Bibliography
Autobiography: The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With original omissions restored. Edited with appendix and notes by Nora Barlow. London: Collins. 1958.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Darwin, Erasmus. 1794–6. Zoonomia; or, the laws of organic life. 2 vols. London: J. Johnson.
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine. 1809. Philosophie zoologique; ou exposition des considérations relatives à l’histoire naturelle des animaux; à la diversité de leur organisation … et les autres l’intelligence de ceux qui en sont doués. 2 vols. Paris: Dentu; the author.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Summary
Sends ticket to pigeon show.
A quotation from Erasmus Darwin’s Zoonomia [1794, 1796] shows that he anticipated Lamarck.
G. Grote impressed by Times review [26 Dec 1859, p. 8].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2646
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 96)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2646,” accessed on 14 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2646.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8