To James Dwight Dana   11 November [1859]

Down Bromley Kent [Ilkley]

Nov. 11th

My dear Sir.

I have sent you a copy of my Book (as yet only an abstract) on the Origin of species. I know too well that the conclusion, at which I have arrived, will horrify you, but you will, I believe & hope, give me credit for at least an honest search after the truth.1 I hope that you will read my Book, straight through; otherwise from the great condensation it will be unintelligible. Do not, I pray, think me so presumptuous as to hope to convert you; but if you can spare time to read it with care, & will then do what is far more important, keep the subject under my point of view for some little time occasionally before your mind, I have hopes that you will agree that more can be said in favour of the mutability of species, than is at first apparent.2 It took me many long years before I wholly gave up the common view of the separate creation of each species.

Believe me, with sincere respect & with cordial thanks for the many acts of scientific kindness which I have received from you, | My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

1
CD had corresponded with Dana, professor of geology at Yale University, since 1849. They had common interests in invertebrate zoology and the formation of coral reefs (see particularly Correspondence vols. 5 and 6). Dana had recently published his belief in the fixity of species (Dana 1857).
2
Ill health prevented Dana from reading Origin immediately (see letter to J. D. Dana, 30 December [1859]). Subsequent correspondence reveals that Dana was unable to read the book until 1862 (Calendar no. 3845; see also Gilman 1899, p. 311).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2516,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2516