Ɛpsilon

To Thomas Green   [after 30 June 1839]1

Dear Sir

I return the proof sheets & must have revises— I am sorry I shall not be able to complete the 6 pages for a week or two to come.—2

You enquire regarding Mr Walkers work, which you were good enough to call my attention to. I have found in it much which has interested me, but I cannot quite think he has established his theory.—3

Believe me | Yours truly | Chas. Darwin

12 Upper Gower St | Friday

Thomas Green Esqre

1
The date is conjectured from the reference to Walker 1838, which CD finished reading on 30 June 1839 (see n. 3, below). Thomas Green has not been further identified.
2
The proof-sheets have not been identified.
3
Alexander Walker, in his book on intermarriage, had argued, ‘one parent gives to progeny the forehead and organs of sense, together with the nutritive organs contained within the trunk of the body; while the other parent gives the backhead and cerebel or organ of the will, together with the locomotive organs composing the exterior of the trunk and the whole of the limbs’ (Walker 1838, pp. iii–iv). CD noted his objections to Walker’s theory in marginal comments and on separate sheets in his copy of the book, which is in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 832–6). According to his reading notebooks, CD finished reading the book on 30 June 1839 (Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 am sorry I] interl
2.2 in] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-524F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-524F