To Lawson Tait 6 August 1876
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Aug. 6th 76
My dear Sir
I shall feel much pleased & honoured if I am elected one of your Members, & I beg you to return on my part my best thanks to your Society.—1
I read with interest the article which you were so good as to send me & I agree with the greater part.—2 Under a theological point of view, I cannot however quite agree that the origin of evil is explained by survival. Why shd a small cut cause tetanus or child-birth—or parasitic worms cause so much suffering? Why was not man formed with sympathies extending beyond his—own tribe, so that murder could have been a crime from the earliest period?
I am glad that you have not given up polydactylism.—3
I am Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
CD accepts membership in the Birmingham Natural History Society.
Thanks RLT for article. CD cannot quite agree that "under a theological point of view, the origin of evil is explained by survival".
Is glad RLT has not given up polydactylism.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10571
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 221.5: 35
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp (photocopy)
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10571,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10571.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24