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From Adolf Bernhard Meyer1   16 November 1869

Zimmerstrasse 77. 1 Treppe | Berlin,

Nov. 16. 1869.

Hochverehrter Herr

Ich habe Ihnen noch Dank zu sagen für Ihre so freundliche Zuschrift vom 22. Sep. vorigen Jahres.2 Heute war ich so frei Ihnen per Post ein Exemplar der Ubersetzung des Werkes des Herrn Wallace zu übersenden,3 das ich dem deutschen Publicum vorlege, damit Sie, verehrter Herr, von Neuem sehen wie sehr wir Deutschen die vortrefflichen Werke englischer Naturforscher schätzen und uns beeilen ihnen baldmöglichst Eingang zu verschaffen. Da ich zuerst den malayischen Archipel bereisen will4 so bot mir dieses geistreiche Werk das bedeutendste Interesse und beim Studium desselben beschloss ich es meinen Landsleuten besser zugänglich zu machen durch eine deutsche Ausgabe.

Allein es ist dieses nicht der Anlass meines heutigen Schreibens, sondern es ist der folgende:

Ich wurde von einem Verleger aufgefordert jene erste Kundgebung über die neue Theorie der “Origin of species”, die von Ihnen und Herrn Wallace im Jahre 1858 in dem “Journal of the Proc. of the Linnean Society” gegeben ist, zu übersetzen und dem deutschen Publikum vorzulegen, da diese Briefe und Abhandlungen von so bedeutendem—nicht nur historischen Interesse sind.5 Sie würden in Form einer kleinen Broschüre erscheinen, der ich gern als Einleitung einen kurzen Abriss Ihrer und Herrn Wallace’s Lebensgeschichte gäbe.6

Meine Bitte an Sie verehrter Herr geht nun dahin

1) mich zu autorisiren jene Abh. zu veröffentlichen im Deutschen und

2) mir einige Data über Ihre Lebensgeschichte an die Hand zu geben welche das deutsche Publikum im hohen Masse interessiren, da dasselbe bei dem Abstand der englischen Verhältnisse von den deutschen über Vieles ununterrichtet ist. Vor Allem bitte ich um eine vollständige Liste Ihrer wissenschaftlichen Abhandlungen und Werke.

Meine Vorbereitungen zu den tropischen Reisen sind nun bald beendet, so dass ich nur noch die Abwickelung einiger Familienverhaltnisse abzuwarten habe um fortgehen zu können. Ich hoffe im Frühjahr England zu besuchen. Ich habe mit Freude vernommen dass Ihre Gesundheit sich wieder gekräftigt hat, welche frohe Nachricht hier grosse Genugthuung gewährte.— Eine kleine Abhandlung von mir über die Giftapparate der Schlangen, welche ich Ihnen sandte, kam hoffentlich in Ihren Besitz.7

Indem ich Sie, hochverehrter Herr, freundlichst bitte mir bald eine geneigte Antwort zukommen zu lassen und indem ich wegen meines Verlangens Ihre Absolution und Würdigung erbitte

Zeichne ich | hochachtungsvoll | Dr Adolf Bernhard Meyer

CD annotations8

Top of letter:

‘Poison— fang— | My Health | Wallace’s address | England Spring | Translator of Wallace | Copy of Paper in Linn. Journal’ pencil

Footnotes

1
For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol. 17, Appendix I.
2
CD’s letter to Meyer of 22 September 1868 has not been found.
3
The reference is to Wallace 1869c, a translation of Alfred Russel Wallace’s The Malay Archipelago: the land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a).
4
Meyer spent at least three years (1870 to 1873) travelling and collecting in the Celebes, visiting New Guinea and the Philippines (Auk 28: 519).
5
Meyer refers to the joint publication of CD and Wallace’s papers on natural selection. ‘On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection’ was published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology), and included the two essays, an abstract of a letter from CD to Asa Gray, and an introductory explanation by Charles Lyell and Joseph Dalton Hooker (see C. Darwin and Wallace 1858).
6
Meyer published Charles Darwin und Alfred Russel Wallace. Ihre Ersten Publicationen über die ‘Entstehung der Arten’ nebst einer Skizze Ihres Lebens und einem Verzeichniss Ihrer Schriften in 1870; a copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
7
There is a lightly annotated copy of Meyer 1869a in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
8
CD’s annotations are probably notes for his letter to Meyer of 20 November 1869; the letter has not been found, but see the letter from A. B. Meyer, 24 November 1869.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Darwin, Charles and Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1858. On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection … Communicated by Sir Charles Lyell … and J. D. Hooker. [Read 1 July 1858.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 3 (1859): 45–62. [Shorter publications, pp. 282–96.]

Meyer, Adolf Bernhard. 1869a. Über den Giftapparat der Schlangen, insbesondere über den der Gattung Callophis (Gray). Monatsbericht der Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften (March 1869): 193–214.

Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1869a. The Malay Archipelago: the land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.

Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1869c. Der Malayische Archipel: die Heimath des Orang-Utan und des Paradiesvogels: Reiseerlebnisse und Studien über Land und Leute. Translated by Adolf Bernhard Meyer. 2 vols. Brunswick: Westermann.

Zoology: The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. 5 pts. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1838–43.

Translation

From Adolf Bernhard Meyer1   16 November 1869

Zimmerstrasse 77. 1 Treppe | Berlin,

Nov. 16. 1869.

Highly honoured Sir

I have yet to thank you for your kind letter of 22 September last year.2 Today, I have taken the liberty of dispatching, by post, a translation of Mr Wallace’s work that I am presenting to the German public,3 so that you, dear Sir, may see again how much we Germans appreciate the excellent work of English naturalists and how we hasten to introduce it. Since first of all I am planning to visit the Malayan archipelago,4 this inspired work captured my interest most significantly, and while studying it I decided to make it more accessible to my fellow countrymen in a German edition.

This, however, is not the reason for my writing today, but rather the following:

I was asked by a publisher to translate and present to the German public the first announcement of the new theory of the “Origin of species”, which you and Mr Wallace published in 1858, in the “Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society”, for these letters and treatises are of such significant---not only historical, interest.5 They would appear in the form of a small pamphlet, which I should like to preface with a brief summary of your and Mr Wallace’s biographies.6

My request to you, dear Sir, is thus the following

1) to authorise me to publish this treatise in German and

2) to supply me with a few data about your life, which the German audience is most interested in, for due to the difference in the conditions of life in England and Germany, they are uninformed about many things. Above all I am asking for a complete list of your scientific treatises and works.

The preparations for my tropical journey are now almost completed, so that I now am just waiting to settle a few family matters before I can leave. I hope to visit England in spring. I was delighted to hear that your health has improved again, which joyous news was received with great satisfaction over here.--- A small treatise by myself on the poison apparatus of snakes, which I sent you, has, I hope, been received.7

Asking you, highly esteemed Sir, most kindly to speedily send me a favourable reply, and requesting your forgiveness and consideration for my desire

I sign | most respectfully | Dr Adolf Bernhard Meyer.

Footnotes

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see pp. 481–2.
2
CD’s letter to Meyer of 22 September 1868 has not been found.
3
The reference is to Wallace 1869c, a translation of Alfred Russel Wallace’s The Malay Archipelago: the land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a).
4
Meyer spent at least three years (1870 to 1873) travelling and collecting in the Celebes, visiting New Guinea and the Philippines (Auk 28: 519).
5
Meyer refers to the joint publication of CD and Wallace’s papers on natural selection. ‘On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection’ was published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology), and included the two essays, an abstract of a letter from CD to Asa Gray, and an introductory explanation by Charles Lyell and Joseph Dalton Hooker (see C. Darwin and Wallace 1858).
6
Meyer published Charles Darwin und Alfred Russel Wallace. Ihre Ersten Publicationen über die ‘Entstehung der Arten’ nebst einer Skizze Ihres Lebens und einem Verzeichniss Ihrer Schriften in 1870; a copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
7
There is a lightly annotated copy of Meyer 1869a in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Darwin, Charles and Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1858. On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection … Communicated by Sir Charles Lyell … and J. D. Hooker. [Read 1 July 1858.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 3 (1859): 45–62. [Shorter publications, pp. 282–96.]

Meyer, Adolf Bernhard. 1869a. Über den Giftapparat der Schlangen, insbesondere über den der Gattung Callophis (Gray). Monatsbericht der Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften (March 1869): 193–214.

Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1869a. The Malay Archipelago: the land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.

Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1869c. Der Malayische Archipel: die Heimath des Orang-Utan und des Paradiesvogels: Reiseerlebnisse und Studien über Land und Leute. Translated by Adolf Bernhard Meyer. 2 vols. Brunswick: Westermann.

Zoology: The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. 5 pts. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1838–43.

Summary

Sends his translation of Wallace’s Malay Archipelago.

Wishes to translate 1858 essays by CD and Wallace from Linnean Society Proceedings [Collected papers 2: 3–19].

Plans journey to tropics.

Hopes to meet CD.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6990
From
Adolf Bernhard Meyer
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Berlin
Source of text
DAR 171: 166
Physical description
ALS 4pp (German) †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6990,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6990.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

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