To Charles Lyell 30 July [1860]
Hartfield.
July 30th
My dear Lyell
We have been here for 3 weeks on Etty’s account, but return home in a few days.— We had Sir H. Holland here a few days ago, as we got much alarmed about poor dear Etty. He gives us hope for future, but says the fever has left mischief in internal organs, & that her recovery will be excessively slow. We have had an unhappy time of it. All this trouble has prevented my writing, which I shd. have done sooner, though I have nothing to say, as I have seen no one (except indeed Hooker for an hour or two at Kew) for an age. I had lots of pleasant letters about Brit. Assoc. & our side seems to have got on very well. There has been as much discussion on other side of Atlantic as on this. No one I think understands whole case better than Asa Gray, & he has been fighting nobly. He is capital reasoner; I have sent one of his printed discussions to our Athenæum, & Editor says he will print it.1 The Quarterly has been out sometime; it contains no malice, which is wonderful considering Owen’s aid (by the way it seems generally admitted that Huxley smashed Owen at Oxford); it quizzes me really in capital style; it makes me say many things which I do not say.— At the end it quotes all your conclusions against Lamarck & makes solemn appeal to you to keep firm in the true faith.—2 I fancy it will make you quake a little. Owen has ingeniously primed the Bishop with Murchison against you as head of uniformitarians.3 Owen is really wonderfully clever in his malevolence.—
The only other review worth mentioning, which I can think of is in 3d Nor of “London Review”; by some geologist & favourable for a wonder; it is very ably done, & I shd. like much to know who is author.—4 I shall be very curious to hear on your return, whether Bronns German Translation of the Origin has drawn any attention to subject.—5 Huxley is eager about a Natural History Review, which he & others are going to Edit, & he has got so many first-rate assistants, that I really believe he will make it a first-rate production.—6 I have been doing nothing, except a little Botanical work as amusement.— I shall hereafter be very curious to hear how your tour has answered.— I expect your Book on Geological History of man will with a vengeance be a bomb-shell:7 I hope it will not be very long delayed.
Our kindest remembrances to Lady Lyell.—8 This is not worth sending, but I have nothing better to say. Yours affectionately | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
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.
[Wilberforce, Samuel.] 1860. [Review of Origin.] Quarterly Review 108: 225–64.
Summary
Comments on BAAS meeting: "our side seems to have got on very well". Asa Gray, too, is fighting nobly.
Comments on review [by Samuel Wilberforce] in the Quarterly [Rev. 108 (1860): 225–64].
Mentions a favourable review in the London Review.
Wonders if German translation [of the Origin] by Bronn has drawn attention to the subject.
The Natural History Review to be edited by Huxley and others.
Expects CL’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)] to be a bombshell.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2881
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
- Sent from
- Wedgwood, S. E. (b) Hartfield
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.222)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2881,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2881.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8