To T. R. R. Stebbing 10 October [1871]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Oct. 10th
My dear Sir
I shd. very much doubt whether it was worth while to try the experiment suggested by you.2 If there had been any difference in the duration of human bones, I think it would have been detected in those found in caverns, tumuli, & even in the embalmed Egyptian mummies. I shd. think the habit of some form of sepulture common to the lowest races, would almost account for the absence of human remains in the river-bed-deposits, subsequently to the Glacial period, & men may not have entered Europe long before that period.— The difficulty is one that does not weigh the least on me, & I presume not on you.—
My dear Sir | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Prof. Huxley has sent an admirable Review of Mivarts book to the Contemporary for the November number.—3
I am preparing a new Edit. of Origin, in which I shall answer the detailed points in the same book.—4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin 6th ed.: The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 6th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Summary
Doubts whether an experiment to test the durability of human bones would be worth while. Absence of such bones in post-glacial river-bed deposits does not weigh in the least on CD.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7999
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.404)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7999,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7999.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19