From John Fiske 15 March 1875
Harvard University, | Cambridge, Mass.
March 15, 1875.
My dear Mr. Darwin;
Pray excuse my long delay in answering your very kind letter and in thanking you for the welcome present of your “Descent of Man”, which I received sometime ago.1 As I was too busy at the time to read the new edition, I let Mr. Chauncey Wright take it home with him, & he has kept it until now; but I am promising myself the pleasure of reading it carefully in my coming summer vacation when I can give my whole mind to it. It gives me great pleasure to receive such commendation of my work from one whose opinion I rate so highly as yours.2 Indeed I consider the mere fact that you have found it worth while, amid your many occupations, to read my big book through, to be the very highest praise the book has received from any quarter,—praise that is worth more than reams of eulogy from the most critical of reviews.
I often think with great pleasure of our lunch at your daughter’s in London, & our brief chat afterwards.3 I wish I could have seen you more, and had some such good talks as I afterwards had quite frequently with Mr. Huxley.4 But I don’t think you were again in town while I was there. I left England in February and had a delightful journey in France, Italy, & Switzerland, getting back to England & sailing for home about the 1st of June. Indeed, I enjoyed myself so much that life has seemed a trifle dull since I have got back into harness.
When I last saw Dr Gray,5 some little time ago, he said that you were much interested in “carnivorous” plants. I wonder if you are going to publish anything on the subject. It seems to me that the question of “sensitiveness” in certain plants is highly interesting and important,—i.e. how far the “sensitiveness” in these cases is like the “sensitiveness” of an animal without any specialized nervous matter; for there we seem to get near to the crudest beginnings of psychical life.6
Thanking you again, my dear sir, for your kind words, I remain, with regards to your family | Ever truly yours, | John Fiske.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Clark, John Spencer. 1917. The life and letters of John Fiske. 2 vols. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
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.
Fiske, John. 1874. Outlines of cosmic philosophy: based on the doctrine of evolution, with criticisms on the positive philosophy. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Thanks CD for Descent
and for his praise of Cosmic philosophy [1874].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9888
- From
- John Fiske
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Harvard University
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 126
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp & ACCS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9888,” accessed on 7 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9888.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23