Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2Darwin, Charles
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Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2
Darwin, Charles
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
I thank you much for your two notes. The case of Julia Pastrana (A
bearded woman having an irregular double set of teeth. 'Animals and
Plants,' volume ii. page 328.) is a splendid addition to my other cases
of correlated teeth and hair, and I will add it in correcting the press
of my present volume. Pray let me hear in the course of the summer if
you get any evidence about the gaudy caterpillars. I should much like
to give (or quote if published) this idea of yours, if in any way
supported, as suggested by you. It will, however, be a long time hence,
for I can see that sexual selection is growing into quite a large
subject, which I shall introduce into my essay on Man, supposing that
I ever publish it. I had intended giving a chapter on man, inasmuch as
many call him (not QUITE truly) an eminently domesticated animal, but
I found the subject too large for a chapter. Nor shall I be capable of
treating the subject well, and my sole reason for taking it up is, that
I am pretty well convinced that sexual selection has played an important
part in the formation of races, and sexual selection has always been a
subject which has interested me much. I have been very glad to see your
impression from memory on the expression of Malays. I fully agree with
you that the subject is in no way an important one; it is simply a
"hobby-horse" with me, about twenty-seven years old; and AFTER thinking
that I would write an essay on man, it flashed on me that I could work
in some "supplemental remarks on expression." After the horrid,
tedious, dull work of my present huge, and I fear unreadable, book ['The
Variation of Animals and Plants'], I thought I would amuse myself with
my hobby-horse. The subject is, I think, more curious and more amenable
to scientific treatment than you seem willing to allow. I want, anyhow,
to upset Sir C. Bell's view, given in his most interesting work, 'The
Anatomy of Expression,' that certain muscles have been given to man
solely that he may reveal to other men his feelings. I want to try
and show how expressions have arisen. That is a good suggestion about
newspapers, but my experience tells me that private applications are
generally most fruitful. I will, however, see if I can get the queries
inserted in some Indian paper. I do not know the names or addresses of
any other papers.
... My two female amanuenses are busy with friends, and I fear this
scrawl will give you much trouble to read. With many thanks,
Yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN.
[The following letter may be worth giving, as an example of his sources
of information, and as showing what were the thoughts at this time
occupying him:]
CHARLES DARWIN TO F. MULLER. Down, February 22 [1867].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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