Ɛpsilon

To Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen   5 March [1871]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Mar 5th.

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged to you for your letter and for the great trouble you have taken in copying extracts from Hyrtl’s work.2 The facts are curious and would have been particularly useful to me when writing my book on Variation under Domestication.3 None of the facts given by Hyrtl are so interesting as your case of the De Haas family.4 Thank you much for telling me about Mlle. Cl. Royer, as I shall be able to put a foot-note in the French edit. on your authority.5 You express yourself very well in English and know the language almost perfectly; but I am inclined to think that it is a correct English expression to speak of all the descendants from any one man as the line of descent.6 In a week or two time, when my book is reprinted I shall have great pleasure in sending you a copy.7

Believe me My dear sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

PS It will be superfluous in your publisher to send me two copies of the Dutch translation though I am much obliged for the offer.8

LS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, 2 March 1871.
2
See letter from Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, 2 March 1871. CD refers to Joseph Hyrtl, Hyrtl 1847, and Hyrtl 1865.
3
Variation.
5
See letter from Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, 2 March 1871 and n. 23. CD refers to Clémence Auguste Royer. CD did not add a reference to Royer 1870 in the French edition of Descent (Moulinié trans. 1872), but did refer to it in Descent 2d ed., p. 163 n. 31.
7
In his letter of 2 March 1871, Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen asked CD for a signed copy of Descent. The second printing of Descent was made in March 1871 (Freeman 1977).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7548,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7548