Ɛpsilon

To A. W. Malm1   [25 October 1874]2

Min Herre!

Jag är mycket tacksam för Edert ytterst vänliga bref.3

Jag skulle ha önskat, att afhandlingen om könsorganerna hos fiskarna hade utkommit några månader förr, emedan jag just i en nyligen afslutad ny upplaga af min Descent of Man vidrört detta ämne.4

…

Jag börjar blifva gammal och min helsa är vacklande, hvadan det torde vara tvifvel underkastadt, om jag skall blifva i stånd att vidare åstadkomma något mera omfattande arbete. Så långe jag lefver, skall jag emellertid ihågkomma det djupa interesse, hvarmed jag först läste Edert beundransvärda arbete om Pleuronectoidæ.5

Med största högaktning &c. | Charles Darwin.

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from A. W. Malm, 31 January 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23). See also Correspondence vol. 22, letter to G. H. Darwin, 25 [October 1874]).
3
Malm’s letter has not been found.
4
Descent 2d ed. was published in November 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22, letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874); in Descent 2d ed., p. 161 n. 28, CD updated his remarks about hermaphroditism in fish. Malm may have a sent a paper about conjoined twins or hermaphrodite specimens of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scrombrus; Malm 1874).
5
CD cited Malm’s paper ‘Bidrag till kännedom af Pleuronektoidernas utveckling och byggnad’ (Contribution to knowledge of the development and structure of the Pleuronectidae; Malm 1867) in Origin 6th ed., pp. 186–7. A copy of a manuscript translation of large portions of Malm 1867 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Pleuronectidae is the family of righteye flounders.

To A. W. Malm1   [25 October 1874]2

Dear Sir

I am very grateful for your exceedingly friendly letter.3

I would have wished that the paper about the reproductive organs of fish had been published a few months earlier, because I, in the recently finished new edition of my Descent of Man, touched on this subject.4 — — — —

I am beginning to get old and my health is failing, which means that there is some doubt about whether I will be able to produce any more extensive work. I will, as long as I live, at least always remember the deep interest I had when I first read your admirable work on Pleuronectoidæ.5

With great esteem etc. | Charles Darwin

1
For a transcription of this letter in the Swedish of its printed source, see Transcript.
2
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from A. W. Malm, 31 January 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23). See also Correspondence vol. 22, letter to G. H. Darwin, 25 [October 1874]).
3
Malm’s letter has not been found.
4
Descent 2d ed. was published in November 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22, letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874); in Descent 2d ed., p. 161 n. 28, CD updated his remarks about hermaphroditism in fish. Malm may have a sent a paper about conjoined twins or hermaphrodite specimens of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scrombrus; Malm 1874).
5
CD cited Malm’s paper ‘Bidrag till kännedom af Pleuronektoidernas utveckling och byggnad’ (Contribution to knowledge of the development and structure of the Pleuronectidae; Malm 1867) in Origin 6th ed., pp. 186–7. A copy of a manuscript translation of large portions of Malm 1867 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Pleuronectidae is the family of righteye flounders.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9697F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9697F