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From Gilbert William Child   26 January [1870]1

Elmhurst, | Gt. Missenden.

Jany 26

Dear Sir

I am sending you by this post a copy of the 2nd edition of my Essays wh: has now been out about 2 months2   I have rather hesitated to do so thinking it might seem rather absurd to send a second so comparatively soon after the first, but really the book is now so much more what I first meant it to be & the essence of it is so much contained in the 4th Essay wh: did not appear at all before that I am induced to indulge myself in the pleasure of sending it to you3   This I can do with the more satisfaction in that there is now no temporary or special reason for its publication

I remain dear Sir | faithfully yours | Gilbert. W. Child

1
The year is established by the reference to Child 1869 (see n. 2, below).
2
Child refers to the second edition of Essays on physiological subjects (Child 1869). The book was published in November 1869 (Publishers’ Circular, 15 November 1869, p. 747). The first edition had been published in 1868 (Child 1868). There are two copies of Child 1869 in the Darwin Library–Down and one of Child 1868.
3
The fourth essay in Child 1869 had the title ‘Some aspects of the theory of evolution’; it included a discussion of the relation of evolution to religious belief.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6579,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6579