To G. J. Romanes   19 June [1878]1

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

June 19th

My dear Romanes.

You are quite welcome to have my longer chapter on Instinct.— It was abstracted for the Origin.2 I have never had time to work it up in a state fit for publication; & it is so much more interesting to observe than to write.— It is very unlikely that I shd. ever find time to prepare my several long chapters for publication, as the material collected since the publication of the Origin has been so enormous. But I have sometimes thought that when incapacitated for observing, I wd. look over my M.S, & see whether any deserved publication.

You are therefore heartily welcome to use it, & shd. you desire to do so at any time, inform me, & it shall be sent.

Yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. J. Romanes, 18 June 1878.
2
See letter from G. J. Romanes, 18 June 1878. CD refers to chapter 10 of his ‘big book’ on species, entitled ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’ (published in 1975 as Natural selection, pp. 466–527). The chapter was abstracted as chapter 7 of Origin (‘Instinct’); it became chapter 8 in Origin 6th ed.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 at any time] above del ‘hereafter’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11560,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11560