To ? 24 June [1877]1
Bassett, Southampton
June 24th
⟨1 page obscured⟩ that each person shd. follow his natural bent & improve his natural special abilities. I may however mention that I can hardly doubt that a close study of Mill’s Logic would be highly improving to anyone.—2
Hardly any book ever stirred up my zeal for Science so much as Herschel’s Introduction to the study of Natural Philosophy.—3 From all that I hear I fear that both literature & Science are poor lines as a profession.
I remain | 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–.
Humboldt, Alexander von. 1814–29. Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of the New Continent, during the years 1799–1804. By Alexander de Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland. Translated into English by Helen Maria Williams. 7 vols. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown; J. Murray; H. Colburn.
‘Recollections’: Recollections of the development of my mind and character. By Charles Darwin. In Evolutionary writings, edited by James A. Secord. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008.
Summary
Advises correspondent on adopting a career; "each person shd. follow his natural bent & improve his special abilities".
Strongly recommends study of J. S. Mill’s Logic.
His own zeal for science was most stimulated by Herschel’s Introduction to the study of natural philosophy.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11014
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Unidentified
- Sent from
- Bassett
- Source of text
- Sotheby’s (dealers) (25 July 1972); Kobunso (dealer) (1974)
- Physical description
- ALS * 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11014,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11014.xml
