Ɛpsilon

From John Lubbock   27 February [1870]1

High Elms

27 Feb.

Dear Mr. Darwin

I must apologise for leaving your note so long unanswered, but I am sure you will excuse my having done so.2

Tanner in his “Captivity” mentions that the Redskins sometimes commit suicide,3 but as far as I can remember it is very unusual among savages.4 The Fiji & Japanese customs are of course familiar to you. Other races are very indifferent to life, but that is not the same thing.

I do not think Savages ever regard suicide as a crime.

I send you the Abstract of the Phil. Trans for 1773, & hope it may perhaps answer your purpose.5 Pray keep it as long as you like.

I hope Mrs. Darwin is better.6

Believe me | Yours most sincerely | John Lubbock

C Darwin Esq

CD annotations

1.1 I must … done so. 1.2] crossed pencil
4.1 I send … better. 5.1] crossed pencil
Top of letter: ‘ p. 89 of my M. S.’7pencil
1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Lubbock, 26 February [1870].
2
See letter to John Lubbock, 26 February [1870]. CD’s note has not been found.
3
Lubbock refers to John Tanner and Tanner 1830.
4
In Descent 1: 94, CD cited Lubbock for the observation that suicide was rarely practised by the ‘lower barbarians’.
5
This volume of the Philosophical Transactions contained an article on singing birds that CD referred to in Descent 1: 55 n. 33 (Barrington 1773).
6
The entry for Monday 14 February 1870 in Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) reads, ‘In bed till Thursday’.
7
CD refers to the manuscript of Descent.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7118,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7118