To G. J. Romanes 19 June [1878]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
June 19th
My dear Romanes.
You are quite welcome to have my longer chapter on Instinct.— It was abstracted for the Origin.2 I have never had time to work it up in a state fit for publication; & it is so much more interesting to observe than to write.— It is very unlikely that I shd. ever find time to prepare my several long chapters for publication, as the material collected since the publication of the Origin has been so enormous. But I have sometimes thought that when incapacitated for observing, I wd. look over my M.S, & see whether any deserved publication.
You are therefore heartily welcome to use it, & shd. you desire to do so at any time, inform me, & it shall be sent.
Yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Origin 6th ed.: The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 6th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Summary
GJR may have CD’s MS chapter on instinct. It was abstracted for Origin, but CD probably will not prepare it for publication.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11560
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George John Romanes
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.538)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11560,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11560.xml
