To Lawson Tait 25 March [1876]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
March 25
My dear Sir
I have read your two interesting articles in the Spectator, in which you greatly honour me. I think that you have made good your point about the survival of the fittest; & that the distinction ought to be kept in mind.2
Since reading your 1st article, Dr Rüdinger has written to me & sent me an Essay in which he gives the results of the most extensive enquiries from all eminent surgeons in Germany & all are unanimous about non-growth of extra digits after amputation. They explain some apparent cases as Paget did to me. By the way I struck out of my 2d Edit. a quotation from S. J. Simpson about regrowth in the womb, as Paget demurred, & as I could not say how a rudiment of a limb due to any cause cd. be distinguished from an imperfect regrowth.3
Two or three days ago I had another letter from Germany from good naturalist Dr Kollmann, saying he was sorry that I had given up atavism & extra digits & telling me of new & good evidence of rudiment of a rudimentary 6th digit in Batrachian (which I had myself seen, but given up owing to Gegenbaur’s views); but with regrowth failing me I could not uphold my old notion.4
I have many letters to write so remain. | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Born, Gustav Jakob. 1876. Die sechste Zehe der Anuren. Morphologisches Jahrbuch 1: 435–51.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Gegenbaur, Carl. 1864–72. Untersuchungen zur vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbelthiere. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Rüdinger, Nicolaus. 1876. Beiträge zur Anatomie des Gehörorganes: der venösen Blutbahnen der Schädelhöhle, sowie der überzähligen Finger. Munich: Literarisch-artistische Anstalt (Th. Riedel).
Simpson, James Young. 1848. Cases of spontaneous amputation of the forearm, and subsequent rudimentary regeneration of the hand in the fœtus. Monthly Journal of Medical Science n.s. 2: 890.
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
RLT’s two articles in Spectator [4 Mar and 25 Mar 1876] greatly honour CD.
Tait has made a good point about "Survival of the Fittest".
Dr Rudinger’s extensive inquiries show that all eminent German surgeons are unanimous about non-growth of extra digit after amputation.
J. Kollmann has written regretting CD has given up atavism and extra digits [in 2d ed. of Variation]; gives new evidence of a rudimentary sixth digit in batrachians.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10428
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 221.5: 33
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp (photocopy)
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10428,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10428.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24