To L. H. Morgan 9 July [1877]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
July 9th
My dear Sir
I thank you sincerely for your very kind, long & interesting letter.2 I write in fact merely to thank you, for I have nothing else to say. I have lately been working so hard on plants, that I have not had time even to glance at H. Spencers recent work, & hardly to do more than glance at your last work.3 But I hope before long to find more time: It is, however, a great misfortune for me that reading now tires me more than writing,—that is if the subject sets me thinking.— I am as great an admirer as any man can be of H. Spencer’s genius; but his deductive style of putting almost everything never satisfies me, & the conclusion which I continually draw is that “here is a grand suggestion for many years work.”.—4
Your last work must have cost you very much labour & therefore I infer that you are strong & well.—5 I can assure you that I have by no means forgotten my short & very pleasant interview with you.—6
Believe me, my dear Sir | Yours 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–.
Morgan, Lewis Henry. 1877. Ancient society, or, researches in the lines of human progress from savagery through barbarism to civilization. London: Macmillan.
‘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.
Spencer, Herbert. 1876–96. The principles of sociology. 3 vols. London: Williams and Norgate.
Spencer, Herbert. 1877. On the evolution of the family. Popular Science Monthly 11: 129–42, 257–71.
Summary
CD admires Herbert Spencer’s genius but not his "deductive style" of expression.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11044
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Lewis Henry Morgan
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of Rochester Libraries, Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11044,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11044.xml