Ɛpsilon

To E. Vignes   23 August 1878

Down, Beckenham, Kent.

Aug. 23 1878.

Dear sir,

Pray accept my thanks for your spirited and able defence contained in the article of the journal la France you are so good as to send me.1 Your essay is not only very gratifying to me, but is written in a manner which reflects much credit on its author.

I beg leave to remain yours faithfully and obliged | charles darwin

1
Vignes had evidently sent CD a copy of his article ‘Le nouveau membre correspondant de l’Institut’, in which he described CD’s recent election as a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences of the Institut de France as a triumph over the systematic opposition of certain naturalists, ‘the enemies of great ideas’ (Vignes 1878; a clipping of the article is in DAR 226.1: 226). The letter and a translation of it into French later appeared in La France, 1 May 1882, as part of an article by Vignes on CD and the Académie des sciences; there is a clipping of the article in DAR 216: 576. La France was a financial newspaper.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11674F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11674F