To Charles Lyell   12 [February 1860]

Down Bromley Kent

12th

My dear Lyell

I send Bronn’s letter with translation of latter half made for me by my nephew.1

I send also letters by Asa Gray & Bunbury for the chance of your liking to see them.2 I had not intended to have sent them, as it seems so boastful to send them,—not that I have a shred of modesty in me.— I have answered Bunbury that in his sense the undulatory theory of Light is very far from a vera causa.3 Bunbury’s letter seems to me uncommonly well written. There is one sentence in A. Gray’s (if you read it) which you might misunderstand; he put my name before Forbes on Glacial distribution; & I told him in answer that I had written out the notion 3 or 4 years before Forbes, but that I had no sort of claim to notice on this head, as he published first, & that in the Origin I shd. of course take no notice of this.—4

In few days I will send you 1st part of Asa Grays excellent Review5 & notice by Bronn in Jahr-buch fur Mineralogie.—6

It is good job that I have heard today that Bronn will superintend the German Translation.—7 All these letters &c may be left at Erasmus’ marked not to be forwarded, as I shall be up in fortnight.—8

I think it was a great pity that Huxley wasted so much time in Lecture on preliminary remarks:9 he hardly gave idea of my notions; but his Lecture seemed to me very fine & very bold. I have remonstrated (& he agrees) against impression that he would leave that sterility was universal & infallible criterion of species.—10

You will, I am sure, make a grand discussion on Man. I am so glad to hear that you & Lady Lyell will come here.—11 Pray fix your own time & if it does not suit us we wd. say so. We could then discuss man well

Ever yours | C. Darwin

How much I owe to you & Hooker; I do not suppose I shd. hardly ever have published, had it not been for you

Endorsement: ‘Febr 1860’

1
The letter from Heinrich Georg Bronn has not been located, but see the letters to T. H. Huxley, 2 [February 1860], and to H. G. Bronn, 4 February [1860]. CD possibly refers to his nephew Henry Parker, who was a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
2
Letters from Asa Gray, 23 January 1860, and from C. J. F. Bunbury, 30 January 1860.
4
CD refers to Edward Forbes. See letter from Asa Gray, 23 January 1860, and Correspondence vol. 7, letters to Asa Gray, 11 August [1858] and 11 November [1859].
5
[Gray] 1860a. Gray’s review of Origin was published in the March number of the American Journal of Science and Arts. There is a copy of the review in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
6
Bronn 1860a.
7
The letter has not been found, but see letter to H. G. Bronn, 14 February [1860].
8
Emma Darwin’s diary records that CD went to London on 27 February 1860. He stayed at the house of his brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin.
9
Thomas Henry Huxley delivered a Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution on 10 February 1860, in which he addressed CD’s work on species (T. H. Huxley 1860a). CD attended the lecture (see letters to T. H. Huxley, [26 January 1860] and 2 [February 1860]).
10
The printed version of Huxley’s lecture contains a passage that directly relates to CD’s comment (T. H. Huxley 1860a, p. 195): Leaving open the question whether the physiological distinction just mentioned is, or is not, a universal character of species, it is indubitable that it obtains between many species, and therefore has to be accounted for by any theory of their origin.
11
The Lyells visited Down from 9 to 12 March 1860 (Emma Darwin’s diary).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.4 is very] ‘is’ over illeg
2.4 Bunbury’s … well written. 2.5] added
4.1 German] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2693,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2693