RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1877. Aus einem Briefe von Mr. Charles Darwin an die Redaktion. Kosmos I: 173.
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 5.2021. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Freeman Bibliographical Database, enter its Identifier here. An extract from Darwin to Ernst Krause 25 March 1877. Correspondence vol. 25, p. 143 where the following notes are provided to the complete letter:
1 Letter from Ernst Krause, 11 March 1877.
2 A German translation of CD's essay 'A biographical sketch of an infant' (Mind 2 (1877): 285–94) was simultaneously published in Kosmos1 (1877): 367–76. German translations of CD's short articles 'Fertility of hybrids from the common and Chinese goose', 'The sexual colours of certain butterflies', 'Inheritance', and 'The parasitic habits of Molothrus' (Nature, 1 January 1880, p. 207, 8 January 1880, p. 237, 21 July 1881, p. 257, 17 November 1881, pp. 51–2) appeared in Kosmos 7 (1880): 72–74, 77–8; 9 (1881): 458–9; 10 (1881–2): 301–2.
3 In 1881, Francis Darwin published 'Kletterpflanzen: Eine populäre vorlesung' (Climbing plants: a popular lecture) in Kosmos 9 (1881): 101–16.
4 These two paragraphs were reproduced verbatim in English under the title 'Aus einem Briefe von Mr. Charles Darwin an die Redaktion' (From a letter by Mr. Charles Darwin to the editor) in Kosmos1 (1877): 173. In Variation 2: 259, CD cited Félix d'Azara's Essais sur l'histoire naturelledesquadrupèdesdelaprovince duParaguay(Azara 1801, 2: 319) for evidence of increased variability in colour of semi-domesticated horses and cattle compared with their feral counterparts.
5 Krause had sent CD his book Werden und Vergehen (Krause 1876; see letter from Ernst Krause, 11 March 1877 and n. 4). He probably also sent an offprint of an article by Alexander Feodorowicz Batalin, 'Mechanik der Bewegungen der insektenfressenden Pflanzen' (Mechanics of the movements of insectivorous plants; Batalin 1877); CD's annotated copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection.
[page] 173
Aus einem Briefe von Mr. Charles Darwin an die Redaktion.
. . . . . . . . . . J will suggest one point which you as Editor will perhaps find an opportunity of urging on your readers, and which seems to me of paramount importance with respect to the descent theory, — namely the investigation of the causes of variability. Why for instance are the wild cattle which roam over the Pampas uniformly coloured, whereas as soon as they are half domesticated, they are said by Azara to change colour; and so in endless other cases. We want to know what is the nature of the change in the environment which induces variability in each particular instance, and why one part of the organisation is affected more than another; though it seems hopeless at present to attempt solving this latter problem. J cannot but think that light might be thrown on this difficult subject by experiments and observations made on freshly domesticated animals and cultivated plants. . . . . . . . . .
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
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