To Nature 3 August [1872]1
Permit me to state— though the statement is almost superfluous— that Mr. Wallace, in his review of Dr. Bree’s work, gives with perfect correctness what I intended to express, and what I believe was expressed clearly, with respect to the probable position of man in the early part of his pedigree.2 As I have not seen Dr. Bree’s recent work, and as his letter is unintelligible to me, I cannot even conjecture how he has so completely mistaken my meaning: but, perhaps, no one who has read Mr. Wallace’s article, or who has read a work formerly published by Dr. Bree on the same subject as his recent one, will be surprised at any amount of misunderstanding on his part.3
Charles Darwin
August 3
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bree, Charles Robert. 1872. An exposition of fallacies in the hypothesis of Mr. Darwin. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Replies to C. R. Bree’s letter of 27 July [Nature 6 (1872): 260] contending that CD was wrong about early pedigree of man.
Defends the statement of CD’s view in Wallace’s review [Nature 6 (1872): 237–9] of Bree’s book [Exposition of fallacies … of Darwin (1872)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8448
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Nature
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Nature, 8 August 1872, p. 279
- Physical description
- Printed & ADraftS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8448,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8448.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20
