To V. O. Kovalevsky 21 May 1873
May 21 1873
My dear Sir
I thank you for yr extremely interesting letter.1 Your paper in the Proc. of the Royal Soc. appeared to me a very valuable contribution to science; & if I had known yr address I shd have written to you at the time.2 But what is far more important than my judgment, I observe that Prof. Flower, in his lectures, quotes & approves of several of yr generalizations3 I am extremely glad to hear that you have been successful in yr further researches. The dedication of which you speak will be very gratifying to me, & I look at it as a great honour.4
I am much obliged to you for telling me about your brothers work I am not sure whether you mean to say that the larva of Argiope shews some real affinity to Sagitta, or merely resembles it in external form.5
In the former case it is a wonderfully fine discovery; for I remember even in the days of the Beagle, speculating on what relationship Sagitta could have to the other great groups of the animal kingdom. If I am right in my supposition, few men will have made such fine discoveries as your brother with respect to this case, & that of the Ascidians6
The discovery of the bird with teeth & bi-concave vertebræ is indeed a grand one Some of our paleontologists think that Dinoceras was a true ungulate; & if so, it ought to come unde your review Cope however maintains that is a true proboscidian7 I can plainly see that you & yr brother, in your different ways, have a grand career before you. As for myself my health has been of late somewhat better; & I am now entirely engaged on the fertility of plants8
With all good wishes believe me yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Kovalevsky, Alexander Onufrievich. 1874. Nabliudenia nad razvitiem Brachiopoda (Observations on the development of the Brachiopoda.) Izvestia Obshchestva liubitelei estestvoznanii, antropologii i etnografii 14: 1–40.
Kovalevsky, Vladimir Onufrievich. 1873–4. Monographie der Gattung Anthracotherium Cuv. und Versuch einer natürlichen Classification der fossilen Hufthiere. Palaeontographica. Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Vorwelt 22 (1873–6): 131–347.
Kovalevsky, Vladimir Onufrievich. 1873. On the osteology of the Hyopotamidae. [Read 6 February 1873]. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 163: 19–94.
Summary
VOK’s paper ["Osteology of Hyopotamidae", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 21 (1872–3): 147–65] appears a very valuable one.
Discusses work of VOK’s brother [Alexander] on Sagitta and the ascidians.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8916
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский)
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg branch: SPBB ARAS (Fond 300. Register 1a. Folder 4. P. 1-2 r)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8916,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8916.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21