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MORE LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN VOLUME I
MORE LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN VOLUME I CHARLES DARWIN PREFACE
The "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" was published in 1887. Since that
date through the kindness of various correspondents additional letters
have been received; among them may be mentioned those written by Mr. Darwin
to Mr. Belt Lady Derby Hugh Falconer Mr. Francis Galton Huxley Lyell
Mr. John Morley Max Muller Owen Lord Playfair John Scott Thwaites Sir
William Turner John Jenner Weir. But the material for our work consisted
in chief part of a mass of letters which for want of space or for other
reasons were not printed in the "Life and Letters." We would draw
particular attention to the correspondence with Sir Joseph Hooker. To him
Mr. Darwin wrote with complete freedom and this has given something of a
personal charm to the most technical of his letters. There is also much
correspondence hardly inferior in biographical interest with Sir Charles
Lyell Fritz Muller Mr. Huxley and Mr. Wallace. From this unused
material we have been able to compile an almost complete record of Mr.
Darwin's work in a series of letters now published for the first time. We
have however in a few instances repeated paragraphs or in one or two
cases whole letters from the "Life and Letters" where such repetition
seemed necessary for the sake of clearness or continuity.
Our two volumes contain practically all the matter that it now seems
desirable to publish. But at some future time others may find interesting
data in what remains unprinted; this is certainly true of a short series of
letters dealing with the Cirripedes which are omitted solely for want of
space. (Preface/1. Those addressed to the late Albany Hancock have
already appeared in the "Transactions of the Tyneside Nat. Field Club"
VIII. page 250.)
We are fortunate in being permitted by Sir Joseph Hooker and by Mr.
Wallace to publish certain letters from them to Mr. Darwin. We have also
been able to give a few letters from Sir Charles Lyell Hugh Falconer
Edward Forbes Dr. Asa Gray Professor Hyatt Fritz Muller Mr. Francis
Galton and Sir T. Lauder Brunton. To the two last named also to Mrs.
Lyell (the biographer of Sir Charles) Mrs. Asa Gray and Mrs. Hyatt we
desire to express our grateful acknowledgments.
The present volumes have been prepared so as to give as full an idea as
possible of the course of Mr. Darwin's work. The volumes therefore
necessarily contain many letters of a highly technical character but none
we hope which are not essentially interesting. With a view to saving
space we have confined ourselves to elucidating the letters by full
annotations and have for the same reason--though with some regret--omitted
in most cases the beginnings and endings of the letters. For the main
facts of Mr. Darwin's life we refer our readers to the abstract of his
private Diary given in the present volume.
Mr. Darwin generally wrote his letters when he was tired or hurried and
this often led to the omission of words. We have usually inserted the
articles and this without any indication of their absence in the
originals. Where there seemed any possibility of producing an alteration
of meaning (and in many cases where there is no such possibility) we have
placed the introduced words in square brackets. We may say once for all
that throughout the book square brackets indicate words not found in the
originals. (Preface/2. Except in a few places where brackets are used to
indicate passages previously published. In all such cases the meaning of
the symbol is explained.) Dots indicate omissions but many omissions are
made without being so indicated.
The selection and arrangement of the letters have not been easy. Our plan
has been to classify the letters according to subject--into such as deal
with Evolution Geographical Distribution Botany etc. and in each group
to place the letters chronologically. But in several of the chapters we
have adopted sectional headings which we believe will be a help to the
reader. The great difficulty lay in deciding in which of the chief groups
a given letter should be placed. If the MS. had been cut up into
paragraphs there would have been no such difficulty; but we feel strongly
that a letter should as far as possible be treated as a whole. We have in
fact allowed this principle to interfere with an accurate classification
so that the reader will find for instance in the chapters on Evolution
questions considered which might equally well have come under Geographical
Distribution or Geology or questions in the chapter on Man which might
have been placed under the heading Evolution. In the same way to avoid
mutilation we have allowed references to one branch of science to remain
in letters mainly concerned with another subject. For these irregularities
we must ask the reader's patience and beg him to believe that some pains
have been devoted to arrangement.
Mr. Darwin who was careful in other things generally omitted the date in
familiar correspondence and it is often only by treating a letter as a
detective studies a crime that we can make sure of its date. Fortunately
however Sir Joseph Hooker and others of Darwin's correspondents were
accustomed to add the date on which the letters were received. This
sometimes leads to an inaccuracy which needs a word of explanation. Thus a
letter which Mr. Darwin dated "Wednesday" might be headed by us "Wednesday
[January 3rd 1867]" the latter half being the date on which the letter
was received; if it had been dated by the writer it would have been
"Wednesday January 2nd 1867."
In thanking those friends--especially Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. Wallace--
who have looked through some of our proof-sheets we wish to make it clear
that they are not in the smallest degree responsible for our errors or
omissions; the weight of our shortcomings rests on us alone.
We desire to express our gratitude to those who have so readily supplied us
with information especially to Sir Joseph Hooker Professor Judd
Professor Newton Dr. Sharp Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Wallace. And we
have pleasure in mentioning Mr. H.W. Rutherford of the University Library
to whose conscientious work as a copyist we are much indebted.
Finally it is a pleasure to express our obligation to those who have
helped us in the matter of illustrations. The portraits of Dr. Asa Gray
Mr. Huxley Sir Charles Lyell Mr. Romanes are from their respective
Biographies and for permission to make use of them we have to thank Mrs.
Gray Mr. L. Huxley Mrs. Lyell and Mrs. Romanes as well as the
publishers of the books in question. For the reproduction of the early
portrait of Mr. Darwin we are indebted to Miss Wedgwood; for the
interesting portraits of Hugh Falconer and Edward Forbes we have to thank
Mr. Irvine Smith who obtained for us the negatives; these being of paper
and nearly sixty years old rendered their reproduction a work of some
difficulty. We also thank Messrs. Elliott & Fry for very kindly placing at
our disposal a negative of the fine portrait which forms the frontispiece
to Volume II. For the opportunity of making facsimiles of diagrams in
certain of the letters we are once more indebted to Sir Joseph Hooker who
has most generously given the original letters to Mr. Darwin's family.
Cambridge October 1902.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
Outline of Charles Darwin's Life etc.
CHAPTER 1.I.--An Autobiographical Fragment and Early Letters 1809-1842.
CHAPTER 1.II.--Evolution 1844-1858.
CHAPTER 1.III.--Evolution 1859-1863.
CHAPTER 1.IV.--Evolution 1864-1869.
CHAPTER 1.V.--Evolution 1870-1882.
CHAPTER 1.VI.--Geographical Distribution 1843-1867.
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME I.
CHARLES AND CATHERINE DARWIN 1816.
From a coloured chalk drawing by Sharples in possession of Miss Wedgwood
of Leith Hill Place.
MRS. DARWIN 1881.
From a photograph by Barraud.
EDWARD FORBES 1844 (?).
From a photograph by Hill & Adamson.
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 1857.
From a photograph by Maull & Fox.
(Huxley's "Life" Volume I.)
PROFESSOR HENSLOW.
From a photograph.
HUGH FALCONER 1844.
From a photograph by Hill & Adamson.
JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER 1870 (?).
From a photograph by Wallich.
ASA GRAY 1867.
From a photograph.
("Letters of Asa Gray" Volume I.)
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