To Moritz Wagner [April–June 1868]1
Dear and Respected Sir,—
I thank you sincerely for sending me your ‘Migrationsgesetz, &c,’ and for the very kind and most honourable notice which you have taken of my works.2 That a naturalist who has travelled into so many and such distant regions, and who has studied animals of so many classes, should, to a considerable extent, agree with me, is, I can assure you, the highest gratification of which I am capable.... Although I saw the effects of isolation in the case of islands and mountain-ranges, and knew of a few instances of rivers, yet the greater number of your facts were quite unknown to me. I now see that from the want of knowledge I did not make nearly sufficient use of the views which you advocate; and I almost wish I could believe in its importance to the same extent with you; for you well show, in a manner which never occurred to me, that it removes many difficulties and objections.3 But I must still believe that in many large areas all the individuals of the same species have been slowly modified, in the same manner, for instance, as the English race-horse has been improved, that is by the continued selection of the fleetest individuals, without any separation. But I admit that by this process two or more new species could hardly be found within the same limited area; some degree of separation, if not indispensable, would be highly advantageous; and here your facts and views will be of great value.4
With sincere thanks & respect | I remain dear Sir Charles Darwin
Down Bromley Kent
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Summary
Thanks MW for his essay [Die Darwin’sche Theorie und das Migrationsgesetz der Organismen (1868)]. Is highly gratified that MW agrees with him to a considerable extent.
Almost wishes that he could believe in the importance of isolation to the same extent as MW.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5760
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Moritz Friedrich (Moritz) Wagner
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- LL 3: 157; DAR 148: 198
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5760,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5760.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16