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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. D. Hooker   24 December [1874]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dec. 24th

My dear Hooker

You will see by the enclosed note from Huxley & the copy of his answer to Mivart, how the matter stands.2 It is a tremendous reproof to him. As Huxley desires it, I shall not write to him, unless he writes to me or George, but in this case I shall express plainly my opinion of his base conduct. Now that he is afraid of Huxley I think it is nothing his saying in a private letter that he is sorry; & the case is in some respects worse as he now owns that for some months he has thought himself wrong, & yet on Oct 15th he published that shabby rejoinder.—3 Nor will any private apology to George in my opinion be a sufficient reparation. I have heard of one stranger who has been disgusted, (trusting in the Quarterly) that George shd have uttered such doctrines. Assuredly if he writes to me I shall express my opinion, nor am I contented to be ultimately silent, but I will wait & see what turns up.—

Yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

P.S. You will see that Huxley wants the copy returned.

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from T. H. Huxley, 23 December 1874.
See letter and enclosure from T. H. Huxley, 23 December 1874. Thomas Henry Huxley had sent CD a copy of his letter to St George Jackson Mivart censuring him for his failure to apologise for an attack on an article by George Howard Darwin.
For Mivart’s rejoinder, see Quarterly Review 137 (1874): 588–9, and Appendix V.

Summary

Encloses note from Huxley and copy of Huxley’s answer to Mivart – a tremendous reproof. On Huxley’s advice, CD will not write to Mivart. Thinks Mivart’s private apology to Huxley makes the case even worse.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9777
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 95: 358–9
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9777,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9777.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22

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