From J. F. McLennan 30 July 1877
Woodbury Cottage, | Biggin Hill, Norwood, S.E.
30th. July 77
My dear Mr. Darwin,
With this I send Azara by book post & with many thanks. I found no other passages bearing on Infanticide than those you directed me to; but see p 146 & 152 for systems of abortion. Page 92 gives me a fresh instance of Nair polyandry in connectn. with female infanticide.1
As to abortion: I think it must be counted a refinement on & advance from infanticide & since the evidence shows that a system of infanticide is always, on the whole, a system of female infanticide we must infer a former practice of female infanticide where we find a practice of abortion.
What I say as to systems of infanticide being always on the whole systems of female infanticide rests not on speculatn. but evidence. Spencer has just given us all a terrible lesson as to the evils of taking things “out of one’s head”.2
I wish I had been nearer you that I might borrow books freely. I fear I am terribly in arrear, having nearly 8 years’ books of travels to overtake. I am making a list of books to buy to take with me to Algiers. If you can suggest any I shd. buy I shall be obliged.—
At last we have warm weather & I am thankful. The late damp tried me much.
Mrs. McLennan3 is some what better & joins me in kind messages to you all. We are expecting to see the Litchfields4 here on Friday.
I am yours very sincerely | J. F McLennan
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Azara, Félix de. 1809. Voyages dans l’Amérique Méridionale. Edited by C. A. Walckenaer, with additional notes by G. Cuvier. 4 vols. and atlas. Paris: Dentu.
McLennan, John Ferguson. 1865. Primitive marriage: an inquiry into the origin of the form of capture in marriage ceremonies. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black.
McLennan, John Ferguson. 1877. Exogamy and endogamy. Fortnightly Review 21: 884–95.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Spencer, Herbert. 1876–96. The principles of sociology. 3 vols. London: Williams and Norgate.
Summary
Sees abortion as a refinement of infanticide; all such practices originate in female infanticide. Herbert Spencer’s over-speculation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11082
- From
- John Ferguson McLennan
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Norwood
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 25
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11082,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11082.xml