To C. G. Semper 6 February 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Feb. 6th 1881
Dear Professor Semper
Owing to all sorts of work I have only just now finished reading your “Nat. Conditions of existence”.1 Although a book of small size it contains an astonishing amount of matter; & I have been particularly struck with the originality with which you treat so many subjects, & at your scrupulous accuracy. In far the greater number of points I quite follow you in your conclusions; but I differ on some, & I suppose that no two men in the world would fully agree on so many difficult subjects. I have been interested on so many points, I can hardly say on which most. Perhaps as much on Geograph. Distribution as on any other, especially in relation to M. Wagner.2 (No, no! about parasites interested me even more).3 How strange that Wagner shd. have thought that I meant by struggle for existence, struggle for food. It is curious that he shd. not have thought of the endless adaptations for the dispersal of seeds & the fertilisation of flowers.—
Again I was much interested about Branchipus & Artemisia: when I read imperfectly some years ago the original paper, I could not avoid thinking that some special explanation would hereafter be found for so curious a case:4 I speculated whether a species very liable to repeated & great changes of conditions, might not acquire a fluctuating condition, ready to be adapted to either conditions.— With respect to Arctic animals, being white, (p. 116 of your book) it might perhaps be worth your looking at what I say from Pallas & my own observations in the Descent of Man (later Editions) Ch. 8 p 229 & Ch 18 p. 542.—5
I quite agree with what I gather to be your judgment, viz that the direct action of the conditions of life on organisms, or the cause of their variability is the most important of all subjects for the future..6 For some few years I have been thinking of commencing a set of experiments on Plants, for they almost invariably vary when cultivated. I fancy that I see my way with the aid of continued self-fertilisation. But I am too old & have not strength enough. Nevertheless the hope occasionally revives.
Finally, let me thank you for the very kind manner in which you often refer to my works, & for the even still kinder manner in which you disagree with me.—
With cordial thanks for the pleasure & instruction which I have derived from your book, I remain | My dear Professor Semper | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin
My son Francis begs to be very kindly remembered to you.—7
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Pallas, Pyotr Simon. 1778. Novae species quadrupedum e glirium ordine: cum illustrationibus variis complurium ex hoc ordine animalium. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther.
Schmankewitsch, Wladimir. 1877. Zur Kenntniss des Einflusses der äusseren Lebensbedingungen auf die Organisation der Thiere. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie 29: 429–94.
Semper, Karl. 1881. The natural conditions of existence as they affect animal life. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co.
Vucinich, Alexander. 1988. Darwin in Russian thought. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Summary
Comments on CGS’s The natural conditions of existence [1881] and on views of Moritz Wagner on geographical distribution.
Discusses cause of variability.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13040
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Carl Gottfried Semper
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf (slg 60/Dok/62)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13040,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13040.xml