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 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
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