RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1972. [Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, 1839]. In Barrett, Paul H. and Alain F. Corcos, A letter from Alexander Humboldt to Charles Darwin. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 27, no. 2 (April): 159-72.
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 5.2022. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Freeman Bibliographical Database, enter its Identifier here. For complete letter with important editorial notes see Correspondence vol. 2, pp. 239-40.
[page] 171
[…]
DE TERRA'S EXTRACTS FROM DARWIN'S LETTER TO HUMBOLDT,
1 NOVEMBER 1839
That the author of these pages (the Narrative of Travels), which I read over and over again, and have copied out, should have so honored me, is a gratification of a kind which can but seldom happen to anyone .... I beg to return you my sincere thanks for your very kind letters: it was an honor I scarcely ventured to hope for .... When I left England I was a mere amateur naturalist and from want of knowledge, not seeing the purport of such researches, I neglected them. The study of this work inspired me to regard the structure of natural science much more humbly.
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 25 September, 2022