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From J. F. Simpson   15 January 1882

59 Norfolk Terrace | Bayswater, London

January 15. 1882

Dear Sir

In venturing to send the enclosed, pray do not return it or reply in any way. On second thoughts, I thought a “rejoinder” was required.1

There is a touching kindness of tone in your letter2 which I shall not impair by troubling you I hope unnecessarily— Believe me, Sir, | yours faithfully, &c | J. F. Simpson

C. Darwin Esq F.R.S.

P.S. I notice in new no. of Mind (p 97–100) some interesting reffs to your hypothesis on Music but have no idea of the original reference itself.3 A few ideas on what constitutes the reality & the charm of music, & how it comes about I put in Essay form recently, & which seems only narrowly to have escaped a chance of appearing in one of the first Quarterlies. I still hope my chance is not lost, as the Editor asked me to write him again. Another high opinion has been gratifying on it (in MS) as a philspl. Enquiry. I am not disposed to seek a second channel for it, so far, or as yet, but if it were likely—such as it is, worth or no worth—to be of service, or if any of your sons were engaged in any such line of study, my humble MS. is at command.4

Mr Cyples’ definitions on music seem to me to be as ample as they are true; indeed his work, generally, gives one very great satisfaction in perusal.5

Footnotes

1
The enclosure has not been found; it was probably an issue of the Paddington, Kensington and Bayswater Chronicle containing a letter by Simpson (see letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 and n. 7).
2
CD’s letter has not been found.
3
CD’s views on the origin of music from primitive courtship were discussed in an article by Edmund Gurney in the January 1882 issue of Mind. Gurney argued that CD’s ‘theory of the primeval use of Music under conditions of sexual excitement’ helped explain the ‘discriminating and autocratic character of the musical faculty’ in humans, namely, why ‘certain progressions of sound’ were experienced as pleasurable, and why the emotions aroused by music were so powerful and difficult to analyse, consisting in a ‘gradual fusion and transfiguration of desires of primitive loves’ (Gurney 1882b, pp. 97–8). For CD’s theory, see Descent 2d ed., pp. 566–73; see also Correspondence vol. 24, letter to Edmund Gurney, 8 July 1876.
4
No article by Simpson on music has been identified.
5
In An inquiry into the process of human experience, William Cyples explained the ‘marvellous effects’ of music as ‘its random but multitudinous summonses of the efferent-activity, which at its vague challenges stirs unceasingly in faintly tumultuous irrelevancy. … Music arouses aimlessly, but splendidly, the sheer, as yet unfulfilled, potentiality within us’ (Cyples 1880, pp. 743).

Bibliography

Cyples, William. 1880. An inquiry into the process of human experience: attempting to set forth its lower laws with some hints as to the higher phenomena of consciousness. London: Strahan and Co.

Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.

Gurney, Edmund 1882b. The psychology of music. Mind 25: 89–100.

Summary

Encloses an extract (from the Bayswater Chronicle [missing]), which is part of an ongoing disagreement in which JFS is involved.

Has read some references to CD’s hypothesis on music and offers a MS by himself which deals with the subject.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13619
From
James Frederick Simpson
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Bayswater
Source of text
DAR 177: 171
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13619,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13619.xml

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