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
... Henslow (Professor Henslow was mentioned in the December number of
'Macmillan's Magazine' as being an adherent of Evolution. In consequence
of this he published, in the February number of the following year, a
letter defining his position. This he did by means of an extract from a
letter addressed to him by the Rev. L. Jenyns (Blomefield) which "very
nearly," as he says, expressed his views. Mr. Blomefield wrote, "I was
not aware that you had become a convert to his (Darwin's) theory, and
can hardly suppose you have accepted it as a whole, though, like myself,
you may go to the length of imagining that many of the smaller groups,
both of animals and plants, may at some remote period have had a common
parentage. I do not with some say that the whole of his theory cannot
be true--but that it is very far from proved; and I doubt its ever being
possible to prove it.") and Daubeny are shaken. I hear from Hooker that
he hears from Hochstetter that my views are making very considerable
progress in Germany, and the good workers are discussing the question.
Bronn at the end of his translation has a chapter of criticism, but it
is such difficult German that I have not yet read it. Hopkins's review
in 'Fraser' is thought the best which has appeared against us. I believe
that Hopkins is so much opposed because his course of study has never
led him to reflect much on such subjects as geographical distribution,
classification, homologies, etc., so that he does not feel it a relief
to have some kind of explanation.
CHARLES DARWIN TO C. LYELL. Hartfield [Sussex], July 30th [1860].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account