[x] [1]

Cripps's Corner, Forest Row, Sussex.

Dec-1-1932.

My dear Colleague,

I have now made every enquiry which could throw any light on the possibility of Mendel having visited my father, and I am sorry to have to tell you that my belief that no such meeting ever took place has been confirmed. You are, I think, quite right in thinking that at the time I might not have heard of such a visit, and what I am about to tell you makes this nearly certain. When Mendel's work was first becoming well known, that is to say in 1900, I had, however, three elder brothers and two elder sisters alive, one brother being a personal friend of Mr. Bateson who did so much to make Mendel's work known here; and I think it almost certain that one of them would have heard of such a visit, and that subsequently I should have heard of it from them. In order to make you understand why I hold this view, I must say something about my home life in 1862. My father's health was always very bad, and for a few years after writing the Origin it was especially troublesome. He could seldom talk to anyone for more than an hour at a time, and this made him unwilling to see visitors, because he felt that he could not show them adequate attention. In those days our home was six miles from the nearest railway station, with no public

[x] 2

conveyance of any kind. All visits were, therefore, as a fact arranged in advance. Relatives and a small group of intimate scientific friends came fairly often whilst all other visits were but rare events; with the result that the life at my home was then so quiet that no visitors' book of any kind was kept. The visit of a German scientific catholic priest would have been such a very unexpected event that it would certainly have been remembered by some of the family.

A search into such records as are available moreover makes it possible that my father saw no visitors whatever between the 12th and 20th of August 1862. According to a book written by my sister (Emma Darwin. Murray. 1915. II. p. 176) this "was another year of anxiety and of illness in the family. Leonard, then a boy of twelve, had scarlet fever most dangerously, and hung between life and death for weeks. The other children were sent away from home……. At the end of my mother's long period of nursing, she caught the fever herself and was very ill. Eventually, however, we all met at Bournemouth." I find that my father wrote us from Down on July 23, from Southampton August 22, and from Bournemouth on Sept. 5th. It will fit in best with these facts, and with my somewhat hazy memories, if my mother's illness took place at Southampton not later than from about August 1st to Sept. 4th, and I think we may be sure that Mendel did not go to Southampton. It is no doubt possible that my mother was

[x] 3

recovering at Down between August 12th and 20th in the absence of all the other children; but, if so, I am sure that my father would have tried to avoid seeing any visitors. Even if he did so I think that some of the family would have heard of it.

As to my father's library, his books were all sent to the Botanical Laboratory at Cambridge, where, I believe, any student could have seen them. They are now all, or nearly all, at Down House, which is held by the British Association as a memorial to him. No works by Mendel are at either place and there is no record of their having been there.

You speak as if it is certain that Mendel would have made an endeavour to see my father. That he would have wished to do so I have little doubt; but might he not have thought it would have been an imprudent step on his part? The very fact that my father's reputation was then growing rapidly amongst scientists had the effect of increasing his unpopularity in the clerical world. Some clergymen no doubt came to see him, but they were very few and far between.

Lastly, if Mendel had described his experiments to my father, I cannot help believing that the immense importance of the fact that it was then proved that the hereditary elements separate out quite unaffected by their union would have been realized by him. A study of my father's theory of

[x] 4

pangenesis, however, indicates that the idea that the gemmules could segregate in this manner never for a moment crossed his mind. On the other hand, if Mendel had said little concerning his own work, I should like to imagine that he had been sufficiently interested by the interview to have wished to send my father his works when they came out. We must, I think, give up the idea that such an interview ever took place, and though we may deplore that a great opportunity for a more rapid advance in science may thus have been lost, we may, as things are, find some consolation in what I have just said.

With many regrets at having to write such an unsatisfactory letter.

Believe me, my dear colleague,

Yours very sincerely,

Leonard Darwin

[x] [5]

Mendel

Dr. Oswald Richter wrote to me to say that he believed that Mendel was in England in Aug. 1862, and he thought it probable that he saw my father. This is my answer to prove that probably no such interview took place.

Leonard Darwin

Dec-1.32