To Ernst Krause   14 May 1879

Bassett, Southampton

May 14th. 79

(Home on May 25th.)1

My dear Sir

If after seeing my proof-sheets you keep of same mind & are willing to give your consent, assuredly I shall not change my mind, but shall be grateful to bring out a translation of your article, in nearly the same state as it appeared in Kosmos.2 It shall be entitled your life with Preliminary notice by me.—3 The work is wholly due to you.— It is rather unfortunate that Mr Butler shd. have published at the present time, but it makes no difference in my determination.4 I have only glanced at what he says. He is a very clever man, knows nothing about science & turns everything into ridicule. He hates scientific men.

I cannot understand his views. Even if we grant memory & the power of wishing to cells, & this is an enormous admission, I do not see how cells are to modify themselves chemically & structurally either by wishing or remembering.—5 I shd. like to hear whether he supposes that the crop (or œsophagus) of a Pouter pigeon or the leaves of a cabbage became modified by wishing & memory.— But I did not intend to scribble on this subject.

I forgot to say that you have my complete consent to do anything you like with my Preliminary Notice, to print it at beginning or at end of your article,—to cut it up or use the facts or insert parts anywhere you like.6

yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The Darwins returned home on 26 May 1879 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
2
Krause’s essay on Erasmus Darwin had been published in German in the periodical Kosmos (Krause 1879a). He was revising it before translation for publication in Erasmus Darwin (see letter from Ernst Krause, 8 May 1879).
3
Krause had stated that CD’s biographical sketch of Erasmus Darwin would be the most important part of a German edition of their work (see letter from Ernst Krause, 8 May 1879).
4
Samuel Butler had published a book on the evolutionary theories of Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon; Jean Baptiste de Lamarck; and Erasmus Darwin (S. Butler 1879).
5
CD alludes to ideas about cell memory discussed in Butler’s previous book, Life and habit (S. Butler 1878, pp. 186–7).
6
CD refers to Krause’s preparation of a German edition of their work on Erasmus Darwin (Krause 1880; see letter from Ernst Krause, 8 May 1879).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Bassett … 25th.) 0.3] before del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
1.3 your] after del ‘y’
1.6 I] after del ‘Mr B’
2.4 (or œsophagus)] interl
3.2 print] above del ‘print’
3.2 at end] interl above del ‘close’
3.3 or] over ‘&’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12052,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12052