To George Harris 27 April 1875
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Ap 27 75
Dear Sir
I know of no facts making it probable that animals perceive any qualities which are not perceived by us, tho’ they may do so in a higher degree. A sense of direction perhaps forms an exception, though this is doubtful. I do not believe that any animal knows what herbs are poisonous, except through experience during former generations by which an inherited association or instinct has been acquired against any particular herb. When sheep are turned out into a new country, they often eat poisonous plants, but it is said, at least in parts of Australia they gradually learn to avoid them.1
I wish I could give a fuller answer, but have not time to reflect on the subject
Dear Sir | yours faithfully | 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–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Harris, George. 1876. A philosophical treatise on the nature and constitution of man. 2 vols. London: George Bell & Sons. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co.
Summary
Briefly answers GH’s query whether animals can perceive any qualities unperceived by man.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9953
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Harris
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of California Los Angeles, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division (Ms. 10, Letters concerning George Harris’s A Philosophical Treatise on the Nature and Constitution of Man)
- Physical description
- LS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9953,” accessed on 21 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9953.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23