Ɛpsilon

From J. V. Carus   16 April 1876

Leipzig,

16. April 1876.

My dear Sir,

I have to thank you for your very kind last letter, which I should have answered sooner, if I had not intended to send you again a list of queries with my thanks   Now I have got through the Coral-Reefs, and in reading this book some doubts arose in my mind.1

p 212. l. 5. from foot you quote a, “Memoir on the Pacific, Appendix, 1835 ‘by Adm. Krusenstern.” Of this I cannot find any exact bibliographical reference. I find only the ‘Atlas de l’océan pacifique’ 1824–27.2 Can you give me the exact title, or tell me, that it is right. Then, you quote frequently Freycinet’s Hydrograph. Memoir. Is that Vol. 8th. of his ‘Voyage autour du monde’ . . sur . . l’Uranie et la Physicienne?3

p 234 you mention the Voyage of the Favourite; is this Laplace’s Voyage de la Favorite?4

With regard to the larger map you say now and then: “This is engraved on a large scale” or something like this, which does not refer to your map, but to your authorities. I am afraid, the reader will be puzzled as I was. So for instance: p 239. (middle of page) Scarborough shoal: “this shoal is engraved with a double row of crosses”, this is not the case on your map, then p 248 (last line) “a chart on a large scale is given”, but not on your map   Again p 246. l. 1. “The part above specified is engraved on a large scale”. I tried to avoid this, as it misleads the reader   I beg your pardon for making comments so freely.5

And now, here is a list of misprints, which will be acceptable for another edition.6

  • p 178. l. 4 Malcolmson for Macolmson7
  • p 180. l. 5 from bottom; read lat. 15o30′ N. for S.
  • p 185. l. 12. Mohilla for Mohila (s. p 244)8
  • p 198. l. 12. 17 p 201. l. 11. p 204. l. 12. 16. p 205. l. 2. 14. and alias, read Bellingshausen for Bellinghausen.9
  • p 209. 1. 5. read east end for west end.
  • p 214. on the maps I consulted Aurh and Kawen are two separate islands; therefore there would be three.10
  • p 219. l. 10. B. de Candelaria; what does that mean? I find a Candelaria reef11
  • p 219. l. 9 from bottom, read Schouten for Schouton.12
  • p 222. l. 4. read Ualan for Nalan.
  • p 229. l. 3. Lava S.W. instead of S.E. of Timor.
  • p 233. l. 5 from bottom. Would it not be better “these islands” instead of this island, speaking of the Andaman Islands.13
  • p. 235. l. 9 from bottom. On my maps I find a small islet Apo off the S.W. side of Mindoro, not the S.E. side.   I suppose it is the same as “Appoo”.14
  • p 239. last line; I think, it ought to be “from the southern part of Palawan”, not of “the northern”15
  • p 246. l. 4. read 23o 15′ instead of 33o 15′.16
  • p 267 l. 11. Actiniae, not Actineae17
  • Is Surville, p 218, l. 18, not a misprint for d’Urville?18

I am sorry to say, we have not yet succeeded in getting copies of the Volcanic Islands and the South America Geology. Smith, Elder & Co. say, they are out of print. Herr Koch tries now to get a second hand copy in England, I could not find one in Germany.19

With my best compliments and the most heartfelt thanks I am | Yours | ever very sincerely | J. Victor Carus

CD annotations

4.1 With regard … freely. 4.8] ‘All the cases “a chart on a large scale is given” & all such expressions’ added pencil
6.9 p 219. … reef] tick added red crayon; ‘R (for Reef)’ added pencil
6.13 p 233. … Islands. 6.14] tick added red crayon; ‘(Yes)’ added pencil
6.17 southern] ‘(Yes)’ added pencil20
1
See letter to J. V. Carus, 23 March 1876. Carus was translating Coral reefs 2d ed. into German (Carus trans. 1876a).
2
The page references are to Coral reefs 2d ed. Adam Johann von Krusenstern’s Supplémens au recueil de mémoires hydrographiques, pour servir d’analyse et d’explication à l’Atlas de l’Océan Pacifique (Krusenstern 1835) was a supplement to Krusenstern 1824–7.
3
Vol. 8 of Louis de Freycinet’s Voyage autour du monde (Freycinet 1824–44), on hydrography, was referred to by CD as the ‘Hydrographical Memoir’ throughout Coral reefs 2d ed.
4
CD was referring to Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace and his Voyage autour du monde par les mers de l’Inde et de Chine (Voyage around the world by the seas of India and China; Laplace 1833–9). Laplace’s ship was La Favorite.
5
These clarifications were reflected in Carus trans. 1876a but not in Coral reefs 3d ed.
6
No further editions of Coral reefs were produced in CD’s lifetime.
7
‘Macolmson’ was changed to ‘Malcolmson’ in Carus trans. 1876a, p. 135, and in Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 180. Coral reefs 3d ed. was edited by Thomas George Bonney.
8
The two changes above were made to Carus trans. 1876a, pp. 137 and 140 respectively, and to Coral reefs 3d ed., pp. 183 and 188 respectively.
9
This change was made to Carus trans. 1876a, pp. 150, 153, 156, and 156 respectively, and to Coral reefs 3d ed., pp. 200, 203, 206, and 207 respectively.
10
The two changes above were made to Carus trans. 1876a, pp. 160 and 166 respectively, and to Coral reefs 3d ed., pp. 212 and 218 respectively.
11
The phrase was replaced with ‘Candelaria-Riff’ in Carus trans. 1876a, p. 170, and ‘Baxos de Candelaria’ in Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 224. Francis Darwin crossed through CD’s annotation in the letter and added ‘no see Wharton’, which refers to William James Lloyd Wharton, who wrote to CD with information about coral reefs in 1874 (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 22, letter from W. J. L. Wharton, [15 September 1874 or later]).
12
‘Schouton’ was replaced with ‘Schouten’ in Carus trans. 1876a, p. 171, and in Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 224.
13
The three changes above were made to Carus trans. 1876a, pp. 173, 180 and 185 respectively, and to Coral reefs 3d ed., pp. 227, 234, and 239 respectively.
14
This change was made to Carus trans. 1876a, p. 187, but not to Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 241.
15
This change was not made to Carus trans. 1876a, p. 191, but it was made to Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 246.
16
This change was made to Carus trans. 1876a, p. 197, and to Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 253.
17
‘Actineœ’ was replaced with ‘Actiniœ’ in Carus trans. 1876a, p. 218, and Coral reefs 3d ed., p. 278.
18
In Coral reefs 2d ed., p. 218, CD had referred to Jean François Marie de Surville and his voyage on the Saint Jean Baptiste to explore the Pacific Ocean, not to Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville. Francis Darwin added ‘no’ after ‘d’Urville?’.
19
Carus needed copies of Volcanic islands and South America, published by Smith, Elder & Co., to translate them into German. Eduard Koch was head of CD’s German publisher E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
20
The annotations were for CD’s reply to Carus; see letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10453,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10453