To A. R. Wallace [c. 10 April 1864]1
[Down.]
I see you have been reading a paper to the Linn. Soc. also, so I am sure you have little cause to say you are not doing much.2
I am sure Spencers Social Statics, wh. you so strongly recommend, wd be too deep for me, & I confess with shame & grief that I cannot fully appreciate this authors merits—occasionally a page or two of his last part on Biology is read to me—3 I can se⟨e⟩ that it is very clever, tho⟨ugh⟩ very wordy, & somehow does not satisfy me, & I do not feel a bit the wiser.
The doctors still maintain that I shall get well, but it will be months before I am able to work.
With every good wish | pray believe me | 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–.
Spencer, Herbert. 1851. Social statics: or, the conditions essential to human happiness specified, and the first of them developed. London: John Chapman.
Spencer, Herbert. 1864–7. The principles of biology. 2 vols. London: Williams & Norgate.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1864b. On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidæ of the Malayan region. [Read 17 March 1864.] Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 25 (1865–6): 1–71.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1864d. The origin of human races and the antiquity of man deduced from the theory of ‘natural selection’. [Read 1 March 1864.] Anthropological Review 2: clviii–clxx.
Summary
Has seen that ARW has read a paper to the Linnean Society.
Thinks that Herbert Spencer’s Social Statics (Spencer 1851) would be too deep for him.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4378F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- Source of text
- The Argyll Papers, Inveraray Castle (NRAS 1209/856)
- Physical description
- LS 2pp inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4378F,” accessed on 17 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4378F.xml