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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. Harris   21 May 1880

Down Beckenham Kent

May 21. 1880

Dear Sir

No one could answer your question.1 I do not believe one organism can be named, of which we know precisely the conditions of its existence. We cannot explain why one species is common and another rare in the same district, or why one is wholly absent from another district; we can give no explanation why certain species have increased in number during the last 12 century in this country. Until we can explain such comparatively simple cases, it is not likely that we should be able to say why one form has been modified and not another; or why one species has become extinct and not another.

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

See letter from J. Harris, 16 May 1880. Harris has not been identified.

Summary

Cannot precisely explain conditions of existence of any organism.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12614
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
J. Harris
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 145: 5
Physical description
C C 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12614,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12614.xml

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