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From Ernst Krause1   9 December 1880

Berlin N.O. Friedenstr. 11. 3 Tr.

den 9.12.80.

Hochverehrter Herr!

Meine Absicht ist heute nur Ihnen mitzutheilen, dass ich das abscheuliche Buch von S. Butler: Unconscious Memory gestern empfangen und durchgelesen habe.2 Es würde, falls Sie nichts dagegen einzuwenden hätten, meine Absicht sein, demselben im “Kosmos” zu antworten, darin zu sagen: 1, dass Sie mir lange vor Ersche⁠⟨⁠i⁠⟩⁠nen seines Buches, Ihre Absicht meinen Artikel übersetzen zu lassen zu erkennen gegeben haben, 2, dass Sie nicht nur die betreffenden Interpolationen contra Butler nicht veranlasst, sondern mir im Gegentheil gerathen hatten, von dem Buche gar keine Notiz zu nehmen. 3, dass ich dem Butler’schen Buche in Bezug auf Erasmus Darwin für die revidirte Ausgabe absolut nichts verdanke.3 Sagen Sie mir, bitte, mit zwei Worten, wenn Sie es lieber sehen, dass ich das Buch ignorire.

Ich glaube in der That, dass es diesem Querulanten, dem offenbar nur darum zu thun ist, mit Ihnen einen Streit zu haben—denn nur darum preist er auf den ersten Seiten Ihren Namen4—mit seinem Buche so gehen wird, wie mit dem Athenäeum-Artikel: Niemand wird von dieser zu einem Elephanten aufgebläheten Mücke sprechen. Ich kann Ihnen nicht sagen, wie schmerzlich es mir ist, dass ich dazu beigetragen habe, Ihnen diesen vor keinen Mittel zurückschreckenden Gegner auf den Hals zu hetzen, denn eine derartige bodenlose Gemeinheit war nur denkbar und ist nur erklärlich, weil ihm der versetzte Hieb, bis ins Mark gegangen ist. Allerdings habe ich nicht das Gefühl, ihm zuviel gethan, oder ihn ungerecht beurtheilt zu haben, er verdiente im Gegentheil noch viel schlimmer mitgenommen zu werden.5

Verzeihen Sie, hochverehrter Herr, diese unerfreulichen Früchte | Ihrem | von Herzen ergebenen | Ernst Krause

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
Samuel Butler’s Unconscious memory (Butler 1880) was published in November 1880 (Publishers’ Circular, 15 November 1880, p. 1001). In a chapter titled ‘The manner in which Mr. Darwin met “Evolution, old and new” (Butler 1880, pp. 58–79), Butler accused CD and Krause of making unacknowledged use of his earlier work, Evolution, old and new (Butler 1879).
3
Krause was the editor of the journal Kosmos. For Butler’s earlier accusations against CD and Krause in regard to Erasmus Darwin, made in a letter to the Athenaeum, see letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880], enclosure 1. When Butler 1879 first appeared, CD had advised Krause to ignore the work (see Correspondence vol. 27, letter to Ernst Krause, 9 June [1879], and this volume, letter to Ernst Krause, 9 February 1880). By ‘revised edition’ (revidirte Ausgabe), Krause means the essay published in Erasmus Darwin, revised from the article in Kosmos (Krause 1879a). Krause further revised and expanded the essay for the German edition (Krause 1880).
4
In the introduction to Butler 1880, pp. 2–4, Butler discussed the widespread approbation of CD’s theory of evolution, before launching into his critique of it.
5
For Krause’s critique of Butler 1879, see Krause 1879b.

From Ernst Krause1   9 December 1880

Berlin N.O. Friedenstr. 11. 3 Tr.

9.12.80.

Highly esteemed Sir!

My purpose today is just to let you know that yesterday I received the horrid book by S. Butler: Unconscious Memory and that I read it through.2 It would be my intention, unless you have an objection, to reply to it in “Kosmos”, stating: 1, that you let me know of your intention to translate my article long before his book came out, 2, that not only had you not arranged for the relevant interpolations against Butler, but on the contrary had advised me not to take any notice of the book. 3, that I owe absolutely nothing to the Butler-book on Erasmus Darwin regarding my revised edition.3 Please tell me, in a couple of words, if you had rather that I ignore the book.

I believe, indeed, that this querulous man, who obviously is just interested in having a dispute with you—for only for this reason does he praise your name on the first pages4—will fare with this book as he did with the article in Athenaeum: nobody will talk about this mosquito inflated to an elephant. I cannot tell you how painful it is for me to have had a part in unleashing on you this opponent who stops at nothing, for such enormous meanness was only conceivable and is only explicable because the blow dealt struck him to the core. However, I don’t feel that I have overreacted, or that I judged him unfairly; on the contrary, he deserved to be treated much more harshly still.5

Please forgive, highly esteemed Sir, these unpleasant results | Yours | cordially devoted | Ernst Krause

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see p. 465.
2
Samuel Butler’s Unconscious memory (Butler 1880) was published in November 1880 (Publishers’ Circular, 15 November 1880, p. 1001). In a chapter titled ‘The manner in which Mr. Darwin met “Evolution, old and new” (Butler 1880, pp. 58–79), Butler accused CD and Krause of making unacknowledged use of his earlier work, Evolution, old and new (Butler 1879).
3
Krause was the editor of the journal Kosmos. For Butler’s earlier accusations against CD and Krause in regard to Erasmus Darwin, made in a letter to the Athenaeum, see letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880], enclosure 1. When Butler 1879 first appeared, CD had advised Krause to ignore the work (see Correspondence vol. 27, letter to Ernst Krause, 9 June [1879], and this volume, letter to Ernst Krause, 9 February 1880). By ‘revised edition’ (revidirte Ausgabe), Krause means the essay published in Erasmus Darwin, revised from the article in Kosmos (Krause 1879a). Krause further revised and expanded the essay for the German edition (Krause 1880).
4
In the introduction to Butler 1880, pp. 2–4, Butler discussed the widespread approbation of CD’s theory of evolution, before launching into his critique of it.
5
For Krause’s critique of Butler 1879, see Krause 1879b.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12900,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12900