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To C. J. F. Bunbury   9 February [1860]

Summary

Responds to CJFB’s criticisms of the Origin [see 2669].

If CD’s theory is a satisfactory explanation of the "principles of Homology, and of Embryology, and Rudimentary organs", the difficulty in imagining the transitions between classes of beings should not weigh against the understanding it provides such large classes of facts. Defends natural selection against criticism that it is not a vera causa. Comments on "Degeneracy", extinction of intermediate forms, and the effect of theory in natural history in opening up new fields of inquiry and giving rational instead of theological explanations of facts.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet
Date:  9 Feb [1860]
Classmark:  Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds (Bunbury Family Papers E18/700/1/9/6)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2690

From Charles James Fox Bunbury   30 January 1860

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Summary

On the Origin. Before expressing his disagreements, CJFB praises CD’s labour, patience, fairness, and other qualities which make the work "one of the most important that has ever appeared in Natural History". [See 2690.]

Author:  Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  30 Jan 1860
Classmark:  DAR 98 (ser. 2): 26
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2669
Document type
letter (2)
Correspondent
Bunbury, C. J. F.disabled_by_default
Darwin, C. R.disabled_by_default