To Hugh Falconer   20 [January 1863]1

Down.

20th

My dear Falconer

It was really very good of you to tell me of the jaw.2 What a strange accident if a fish’s jaw has got there; but if it belongs to the Archæopteryx, it will surely show some great peculiarity.3 I hope it may belong to it. Already a German author has advanced the case as a grand argument in favour of the “Origin”.4 Has God demented Owen, as a punishment for his crimes, that he should overlook such a point?5 I hope to be in London on the first week in February and to nothing do I look forward with more pleasure than seeing you.6

I have a pile of letters to answer so farewell my good old friend. | C. Darwin.

Copy

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Hugh Falconer, 18 January [1863].
4
Friedrich Rolle discussed the relevance of Archaeopteryx to Origin in the postscript to Rolle 1863, p. 263. There is an annotated copy of Rolle 1863 in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
5
Richard Owen. See n. 2, above.
6
According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), CD, Emma, Henrietta, and Horace Darwin stayed in London from 4 to 14 February 1863. See ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II). See also letter from E. A. Darwin, 21 [January 1863].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3928,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3928