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To St. G. J. Mivart   27 September [1871]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Sept. 27th

My dear Sir

I send by this Post the pamphlet; I did not do so before, as it is an attack on you & I thought it would be unbecoming on my part. The author forwarded an advanced copy to me, & as I knew him to be highly esteemed in his own country, (as a mathematician & a sound reasoner) & as the article seemed to me & others very clever, though I do not agree with all parts, I asked him whether I might republish it; & if so, to send me a Title & any additions which he might please. To this request he acceded, & I was glad to show to any who would take the trouble to read it, that something could be said in my defence.—2 I did not notice any misrepresentations of your views in it, & the remarks on the whole seem to me fair.—

I have procured a copy of the 2d Edit. of your Genesis, so I beg you not to trouble yourself by sending me one.—3

My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from St G. J. Mivart, 26 September 1871.
2
The pamphlet was by Chauncey Wright, an American mathematician who had reviewed Mivart’s On the genesis of species for the North American Review (Mivart 1871a and Wright 1871a and 1871b); see letter from St G. J. Mivart, 26 September 1871 and n. 2. See also letters from Chauncey Wright, 21 June 1871 and 1 August 1871, and letters to Chauncey Wright, 17 July [1871] and 12 September 1871 and n. 3.
3
CD refers to the second edition of On the genesis of species (Mivart 1871b; see letter from St G. J. Mivart, 26 September 1871).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

& others] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7972,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7972