Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 — John Shaqi
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2Darwin, Charles
Science
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2
Darwin, Charles
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Naturalists -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
P.S.--I have heard from Sir W. Jardine (Jardine, Sir William, Bart.,
1800-1874), was the son of Sir A. Jardine of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire.
He was educated at Edinburgh, and succeeded to the title on his father's
decease in 1821. He published, jointly with Mr. Prideaux, J. Selby,
Sir Stamford Raffles, Dr. Horsfield, and other ornithologists,
'Illustrations of Ornithology,' and edited the 'Naturalist's Library,'
in 40 volumes, which included the four branches: Mammalia, Ornithology,
Ichnology, and Entomology. Of these 40 volumes 14 were written by
himself. In 1836 he became editor of the 'Magazine of Zoology and
Botany,' which, two years later, was transformed into 'Annals of Natural
History,' but remained under his direction. For Bohn's Standard Library
he edited White's 'Natural History of Selborne.' Sir W. Jardine was also
joint editor of the 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' and was author of
'British Salmonidae,' 'Ichthyology of Annandale,' 'Memoirs of the
late Hugh Strickland,' 'Contributions to Ornithology,' 'Ornithological
Synonyms,' etc.--(Taken from Ward, 'Men of the Reign,' and Cates,
'Dictionary of General Biography.'): his criticisms are quite
unimportant; some of the Galapagos so-called species ought to be called
varieties, which I fully expected; some of the sub-genera, thought to be
wholly endemic, have been found on the Continent (not that he gives his
authority), but I do not make out that the species are the same. His
letter is brief and vague, but he says he will write again.
CHARLES DARWIN TO J.D. HOOKER. Down [23rd December, 1859].
My dear Hooker,
I received last night your 'Introduction,' for which very many thanks;
I am surprised to see how big it is: I shall not be able to read it very
soon. It was very good of you to send Naudin, for I was very curious to
see it. I am surprised that Decaisne should say it was the same as
mine. Naudin gives artificial selection, as well as a score of English
writers, and when he says species were formed in the same manner, I
thought the paper would certainly prove exactly the same as mine. But
I cannot find one word like the struggle for existence and natural
selection. On the contrary, he brings in his principle (page 103) of
finality (which I do not understand), which, he says, with some authors
is fatality, with others providence, and which adapts the forms of every
being, and harmonises them all throughout nature.
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