From Henry Lonsdale 3 May 1871
Carlisle.
May 3. 1871
Sir
Permit me to call your attention to what you say in your first Chapt. (“Descent of Man”) regarding the “Supra Condyloid Foramen.” You give my pupil & friend Dr Struthers the credit which is really due my old teacher Dr Knox.1 If you cd. find time to read p 249–252 of my Life of Knox pubd. by MacMillan & Co last october, you will see the whole subject fully discussed.2 Twenty years before Struthers wrote on the subject, Knox had described the “Sup. Condy. process” in the Edin. Med: & Surg. Journal; and considering the mode in which Knox predicted the human homologue I feel certain that you will be ready to do the old anatomist justice.3 Struthers only began to study Anatomy the year (1842) that I said my case; of the same Sup: Condyloid process.
Though I have not the honour of your personal acquaintance I hope I may be permitted to add my hearty congratulations to others of your friends on the rapid growth of your views, of the success of your labours in science.
I am yours truly | Henry Lonsdale | M.D.
P.S. In my biography of John Goodsir I alluded to the happy generalization of Knox (Vol 1. p. 26. Goodsir’s Anatomical Memoirs).4
To | Chas. Darwin. | Author of the Descent of Man.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Goodsir, John. 1868. The anatomical memoirs of John Goodsir. Edited by William Turner with a biographical memoir by Henry Lonsdale. 2 vols. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black.
Lonsdale, Henry. 1870. A sketch of the life and writings of Robert Knox, the anatomist. London: Macmillan and co.
Summary
Credit for observation on supra-condyloid foramen in man is really due to Robert Knox, not John Struthers, as in Descent.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7736
- From
- Henry Lonsdale
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Carlisle
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 47–8
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7736,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7736.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19