Ɛpsilon

To Alpheus Hyatt   8 May 1881

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

May 8th 1881

My dear Sir

I am much obliged for your kind gift of “The Genesis &c &c”, which I shall be glad to read, as the case has always seemed to me a very curious one.—1 It is all the kinder in you to send me this book, as I am aware that you think that I have done nothing to advance the good cause of the Descent-theory.—2

Wishing you success in all your future scientific researches, I remain My dear Sir, Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
CD’s copy of Hyatt’s The genesis of the Tertiary species of Planorbis at Steinheim (Hyatt 1880) is in the Darwin Library–Down.
2
Hyatt and Edward Drinker Cope promoted a theory of evolution based on acceleration and retardation of development. CD mentioned this theory in Origin 6th ed., p. 149. For CD’s views and uncertainty on the topic, see Correspondence vol. 20, letter to Alpheus Hyatt, 10 October [1872]. For more on the background and development of Hyatt’s and Cope’s ideas, see Gould 1977, pp. 85–96 and Bowler 1983, pp. 118–33.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13151,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13151