WCP1950

Letter (WCP1950.1840)

[1]

Haredene

Albury Guildford

Aug[ust] 1st [1871]1

My dear Wallace

Your kind & sympathetic letter pleased me greatly & did me good, but as you are so busy, I did not answer it. I write now because I have just received a very remarkable letter from Fritz Müller2 (with butterflies' wings gummed on paper as illustrations) on mimicry &c. I think it is well worth [2] your reading, but I will not send it, unless I receive a ½d card to this effect3. He puts the difficulty of first start in imitation excellently, & gives wonderful proof of closeness of the imitation. He hints a [one word illeg. crossed out] curious addition to the theory, in relation to sexual selection which you will think madly hypothetical: it occurred to me in a very different class of cases, but I was afraid to publish it.— It w[oul]d. aid the theory of [3] imitative protection, when the colours are bright.— He seems much pleased with your caterpillar theory. I wish the letter c[oul]d be published, but without coloured illustrations w[oul]d, I fear, be unintelligible.

I have not yet made up my mind about Wright's Review4: I shall stop till I hear from him: your suggestion it w[oul]d. make the Origin, already too large, still more bulky.— [4] By the way did Mr Youmans5 of the U. States apply to you to write a popular sketch of Natural Selection? I told him you w[oul]d. do it immeasureably better than anyone in the world.— My head keeps very rocky & wretched, but I am better.

Ever yours | Most truly | C. Darwin [signature]

1
A pencil annotation in the top left-hand corner of page 1 adds '[1871]'. The Darwin Correspondence Project have established 1871 as the correct dating for this letter. See DCP-LETT-7889.
2
Müller, Johann Friedrich Theodor ("Fritz") (1821-1897). German biologist and an early advocate of Darwinism.
3
Darwin refers to a prepaid halfpenny postcard introduced by the British Post Office in 1870. (Rotunno, L. Postal Plots in British Fiction, 1850-1898: Readdressing Correspondence in Victorian Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p.30.)
4
Wright, C. 1871. Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection by Alfred Russel Wallace; On the Genesis of Species by St. George Mivart; The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles Darwin; On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin. The North American Review. Vol. 113. No. 232. (July 1871). 63-103.
5
Youmans, Edward Livingston (1821-1887). American science populariser, founder of 'Popular Science' magazine.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1950.1840)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2012-11-20] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2019-12-20]

Published letter (WCP1950.6047)

[1] [p. 270]

Haredene, Albury, Guildford. August 1, 1871.

My dear Wallace, — Your kind and sympathetic letter pleased me greatly and did me good, but as you are so busy I did not answer it. I write now because I have just received a very remarkable letter from Fritz Müller1 (with butterflies' wings gummed on paper as illustrations) on mimicry, etc. I think it is well worth your reading, but I will not send it, unless I receive a 1/2 d. card to this effect. He puts the difficulty of first start in imitation excellently, and gives wonderful proof of closeness of the imitation. He hints a curious addition to the theory in relation to sexual selection, which you will think madly hypothetical: it occurred to me in a very different class of cases, but I was afraid to publish it. It would aid the theory of imitative protection, when the colours are bright. He seems much pleased with your caterpillar theory. I wish the letter could be published, but without coloured illustrations [it] would, I fear, be unintelligible.

I have not yet made up my mind about Wright's2 review;3 I shall stop till I hear from him. Your suggestion would make the "Origin,"4 already too large, still more bulky.

By the way, did Mr. Youmans,5 of the United States, apply to you to write a popular sketch of Natural Selection? I told him you would do it immeasurably better than anyone in the world. My head keeps very rocky and wretched, but I am better. — Ever yours most truly, | C. DARWIN.

1
Müller, Johann Friedrich Theodor ("Fritz") (1821-1897). German biologist and an early advocate of Darwinism.
2
Wright, Chauncey (1830-1875). American philosopher and mathematician; defender of Charles Darwin’s works.
3
Wright had reviewed St George Jackson Mivart’s 'Genesis of Species'.
4
Darwin, C.R. (1859) 'The Origin of Species' London, UK: John Murray. Darwin was working on the sixth edition at this time.
5
Youmans, Edward Livingston (1821-1887). American science populariser, founder of Popular Science magazine.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1950.6047)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Paterson, Gavin [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP1950,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 11 October 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1950