From Raphael Meldola 20 October 1877
Office, | 50, Old Broad Street, | E.C. | Atlas Works, | Hackney Wick, | London, E.
Oct. 20th. 1877
My dear Sir,
I am very much obliged for your kind offer to let me read the article on sexual selec. in butterflies in the ‘Kosmos’ & I shall have much pleasure in doing so if you will kindly forward the paper to 21 John St B— Row.1 I will return as soon as read.
I am very much interested with Weismann’s essays & think them well worth giving to the English Nat. Hist. public.2 My father who is a fair German scholar would be willing to undertake the translation (as my time is very much absorbed) & I would be responsible for the editing.3 Do you think the Author would object to their being translated? Can you inform me where I can communicate with the Dr?
I suppose you have read Mr. Wallace’s articles in Macmillan’s Mag. on the colours of animals & plants.4 I do not think that he has advanced matters much in this direction. With regard to plants he teaches nothing new. His theory of colour &c in animals is in my opinion not so scientific as your sexual selec. inasmuch as he substitutes for this agency a kind of vague & totally unexplained correlation between vital energy & development of colour, ornament &c5
This is of course entirely between ourselves, | Yours sincerely, | R. Meldola.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1877. The colours of animals and plants. Macmillan’s Magazine 36: 384–408, 464–71.
Weismann, August. 1882. Studies in the theory of descent. Translated by Raphael Meldola. 2 vols. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
Summary
Would like to see the Kosmos article.
Is considering producing a translation of August Weismann’s essays.
Comments on Wallace’s paper on the colours of animals and plants [Macmillan’s Magazine 36 (1877): 384–408, 464–71].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11192
- From
- Raphael Meldola
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Atlas Works, Hackney
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 124
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11192,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11192.xml