To Alphonse de Candolle 20 July [1868]1
Freshwater | Isle of Wight
July 20th
My dear Sir
I write a line merely to thank you for your kindness in telling me of your accidental error about the thorns, which I might have quoted & shd. probably have never observed the error.2
I will be cautious in regard to the muscles of the scalp, & will put the alternative of persistence. As these muscles are so highly variable, & are known in other to be apparently liable to reversion, this view seemed to me the most probable in the very curious case which you have given me.3
My health has failed again in the usual manner, & I have been ordered to do no work, & so have come here for some weeks entire idleness, which I find very hard work.
My wife is pleased to receive your kind remembrances.—
I do not think I expressed myself strongly enough, how much I was interested & pleased by your last long & very remarkable letter.4
Pray believe me with most sincere respect & thanks | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Thanks AdeC for correcting an error about thorns, which CD might have quoted.
CD will be cautious in regard to the muscles of the scalp. [Descent 1: 20].
His health has failed again "in the usual manner" and he has been ordered to do no work.
Repeats how interested and pleased he was by AdeC’s last long, remarkable letter.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6282
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alphonse de Candolle
- Sent from
- Freshwater
- Source of text
- Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6282,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6282.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16
