More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II

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LETTER 455. TO G.H.K. THWAITES.
Down, February 13th [N.D.]

I wrote a little time ago asking you an odd question about elephants, and
now I am going to ask you an odder. I hope that you will not think me an
intolerable bore. It is most improbable that you could get me an answer,
but I ask on mere chance. Macacus silenus (455/1. Macacus silenus L., an
Indian ape.) has a great mane of hair round neck, and passing into large
whiskers and beard. Now what I want most especially to know is whether
these monkeys, when they fight in confinement (and I have seen it stated
that they are sometimes kept in confinement), are protected from bites by
this mane and beard. Any one who watched them fighting would, I think, be
able to judge on this head. My object is to find out with various animals
how far the mane is of any use, or a mere ornament. Is the male Macacus
silenus furnished with longer hair than the female about the neck and face?
As I said, it is a hundred or a thousand to one against your finding out
any one who has kept these monkeys in confinement.

LETTER 456. TO F. MULLER.
Down, August 28th [1870].

I have to thank you very sincerely for two letters: one of April 25th,
containing a very curious account of the structure and morphology of
Bonatea. I feel that it is quite a sin that your letters should not all be
published! but, in truth, I have no spare strength to undertake any extra
work, which, though slight, would follow from seeing your letters in
English through the press--not but that you write almost as clearly as any
Englishman. This same letter also contained some seeds for Mr. Farrer,
which he was very glad to receive.

Your second letter, of July 5th, was chiefly devoted to mimicry in
lepidoptera: many of your remarks seem to me so good, that I have
forwarded your letter to Mr. Bates; but he is out of London having his
summer holiday, and I have not yet heard from him. Your remark about
imitators and imitated being of such different sizes, and the lower surface
of the wings not being altered in colour, strike me as the most curious
points. I should not be at all surprised if your suggestion about sexual
selection were to prove true; but it seems rather too speculative to be
introduced in my book, more especially as my book is already far too
speculative. The very same difficulty about brightly coloured caterpillars
had occurred to me, and you will see in my book what, I believe, is the
true explanation from Wallace. The same view probably applies in part to
gaudy butterflies. My MS. is sent to the printers, and, I suppose, will be
published in about three months: of course I will send you a copy. By the
way, I settled with Murray recently with respect to your book (456/1. The
translation of "Fur Darwin," published in 1869.), and had to pay him only
21 pounds 2 shillings 3 pence, which I consider a very small price for the
dissemination of your views; he has 547 copies as yet unsold. This most
terrible war will stop all science in France and Germany for a long time.
I have heard from nobody in Germany, and know not whether your brother,
Hackel, Gegenbaur, Victor Carus, or my other friends are serving in the
army. Dohrn has joined a cavalry regiment. I have not yet met a soul in
England who does not rejoice in the splendid triumph of Germany over France
(456/2. See Letter 239, Volume I.): it is a most just retribution against
that vainglorious, war-liking nation. As the posts are all in confusion, I
will not send this letter through France. The Editor has sent me duplicate
copies of the "Revue des Cours Scientifiques," which contain several
articles about my views; so I send you copies for the chance of your liking
to see them.

LETTER 457. A.R. WALLACE TO CHARLES DARWIN.
Holly House, Barking, E., January 27th, 1871.

Many thanks for your first volume (457/1. "The Descent of Man".), which I
have just finished reading through with the greatest pleasure and interest;
and I have also to thank you for the great tenderness with which you have
treated me and my heresies.

On the subject of "sexual selection" and "protection," you do not yet
convince me that I am wrong; but I expect your heaviest artillery will be
brought up in your second volume, and I may have to capitulate. You seem,
however, to have somewhat misunderstood my exact meaning, and I do not
think the difference between us is quite so great as you seem to think it.
There are a number of passages in which you argue against the view that the
female has in any large number of cases been "specially modified" for
protection, or that colour has generally been obtained by either sex for
purposes of protection. But my view is, as I thought I had made it clear,
that the female has (in most cases) been simply prevented from acquiring
the gay tints of the male (even when there was a tendency for her to
inherit it), because it was hurtful; and that, when protection is not
needed, gay colours are so generally acquired by both sexes as to show that
inheritance by both sexes of colour variations is the most usual, when not
prevented from acting by Natural Selection. The colour itself may be
acquired either by sexual selection or by other unknown causes.

There are, however, difficulties in the very wide application you give to
sexual selection which at present stagger me, though no one was or is more
ready than myself to admit the perfect truth of the principle or the
immense importance and great variety of its applications.

Your chapters on "Man" are of intense interest--but as touching my special
heresy, not as yet altogether convincing, though, of course, I fully agree
with every word and every argument which goes to prove the "evolution" or
"development" of man out of a lower form. My ONLY difficulties are, as to
whether you have accounted for EVERY STEP of the development by ascertained
laws.

I feel sure that the book will keep up and increase your high reputation,
and be immensely successful, as it deserves to be...

LETTER 458. TO G.B. MURDOCH.
Down, March 13th, 1871.

(458/1. We are indebted to Mr. Murdoch for a draft of his letter dated
March 10th, 1871. It is too long to be quoted at length; the following
citations give some idea of its contents: "In your 'Descent of Man,' in
treating of the external differences between males and females of the same
variety, have you attached sufficient importance to the different amount
and kind of energy expended by them in reproduction?" Mr. Murdoch sums up:
"Is it wrong, then, to suppose that extra growth, complicated structure,
and activity in one sex exist as escape-valves for surplus vigour, rather
than to please or fight with, though they may serve these purposes and be
modified by them?")

I am much obliged for your valuable letter. I am strongly inclined to
think that I have made a great and complete oversight with respect to the
subject which you discuss. I am the more surprised at this, as I remember
reflecting on some points which ought to have led me to your conclusion.
By an odd chance I received the day before yesterday a letter from Mr.
Lowne (author of an excellent book on the anatomy of the Blow-fly) (458/2.
"The Anatomy and Physiology of the Blow-fly (Musca vomitaria L.)," by B.T.
Lowne. London, 1870.) with a discussion very nearly to the same effect as
yours. His conclusions were drawn from studying male insects with great
horns, mandibles, etc. He informs me that his paper on this subject will
soon be published in the "Transact. Entomolog. Society." (458/3.
"Observations on Immature Sexuality and Alternate Generation in Insects."
By B.T. Lowne. "Trans. Entomolog. Soc." 1871 [Read March 6th, 1871]. "I
believe that certain cutaneous appendages, as the gigantic mandibles and
thoracic horns of many males, are complemental to the sexual organs; that,
in point of fact, they are produced by the excess of nutriment in the male,
which in the female would go to form the generative organs and ova" (loc.
cit., page 197).) I am inclined to look at your and Mr. Lowne's view as
specially valuable from probably throwing light on the greater variability
of male than female animals, which manifestly has much bearing on sexual
selection. I will keep your remarks in mind whenever a new edition of my
book is demanded.

LETTER 459. TO GEORGE FRASER.

(459/1. The following letter refers to two letters to Mr. Darwin, in which
Mr. Fraser pointed out that illustrations of the theory of Sexual Selection
might be found amongst British butterflies and moths. Mr. Fraser, in
explanation of the letters, writes: "As an altogether unknown and far from
experienced naturalist, I feared to send my letters for publication
without, in the first place, obtaining Mr. Darwin's approval." The
information was published in "Nature," Volume III., April 20th, 1871, page
489. The article was referred to in the second edition of the "Descent of
Man" (1874), pages 312, 316, 319. Mr. Fraser adds: "This is only another
illustration of Mr. Darwin's great conscientiousness in acknowledging
suggestions received by him from the most humble sources." (Letter from
Mr. Fraser to F. Darwin, March 21, 1888.)

Down, April 14th [1871].

I am very much obliged for your letter and the interesting facts which it
contains, and which are new to me. But I am at present so much engaged
with other subjects that I cannot fully consider them; and, even if I had
time, I do not suppose that I should have anything to say worth printing in
a scientific journal. It would obviously be absurd in me to allow a mere
note of thanks from me to be printed. Whenever I have to bring out a
corrected edition of my book I will well consider your remarks (which I
hope that you will send to "Nature"), but the difficulty will be that my
friends tell me that I have already introduced too many facts, and that I
ought to prune rather than to introduce more.

LETTER 460. TO E.S. MORSE.
Down, December 3rd, 1871.

I am much obliged to you for having sent me your two interesting papers,
and for the kind writing on the cover. I am very glad to have my error
corrected about the protective colouring of shells. (460/1. "On Adaptive
Coloration of the Mollusca," "Boston Society of Natural History Proc."
Volume XIV., April 5th, 1871. Mr. Morse quotes from the "Descent of Man,"
I., page 316, a passage to the effect that the colours of the mollusca do
not in general appear to be protective. Mr. Morse goes on to give
instances of protective coloration.) It is no excuse for my broad
statement, but I had in my mind the species which are brightly or
beautifully coloured, and I can as yet hardly think that the colouring in
such cases is protective.

LETTER 461. TO AUG. WEISMANN.
Down, February 29th, 1872.

I am rejoiced to hear that your eyesight is somewhat better; but I fear
that work with the microscope is still out of your power. I have often
thought with sincere sympathy how much you must have suffered from your
grand line of embryological research having been stopped. It was very good
of you to use your eyes in writing to me. I have just received your essay
(461/1. "Ueber der Einfluss der Isolirung auf die Artbildung": Leipzig,
1872.); but as I am now staying in London for the sake of rest, and as
German is at all times very difficult to me, I shall not be able to read
your essay for some little time. I am, however, very curious to learn what
you have to say on isolation and on periods of variation. I thought much
about isolation when I wrote in Chapter IV. on the circumstances favourable
to Natural Selection. No doubt there remains an immense deal of work to do
on "Artbildung." I have only opened a path for others to enter, and in the
course of time to make a broad and clear high-road. I am especially glad
that you are turning your attention to sexual selection. I have in this
country hardly found any naturalists who agree with me on this subject,
even to a moderate extent. They think it absurd that a female bird should
be able to appreciate the splendid plumage of the male; but it would take
much to persuade me that the peacock does not spread his gorgeous tail in
the presence of the female in order to fascinate or excite her. The case,
no doubt, is much more difficult with insects. I fear that you will find
it difficult to experiment on diurnal lepidoptera in confinement, for I
have never heard of any of these breeding in this state. (461/2. We are
indebted to Mr. Bateson for the following note: "This belief does not seem
to be well founded, for since Darwin's time several species of Rhopalocera
(e.g. Pieris, Pararge, Caenonympha) have been successfully bred in
confinement without any special difficulty; and by the use of large cages
members even of strong-flying genera, such as Vanessa, have been induced to
breed.") I was extremely pleased at hearing from Fritz Muller that he
liked my chapter on lepidoptera in the "Descent of Man" more than any other
part, excepting the chapter on morals.

LETTER 462. TO H. MULLER.
Down [May, 1872].

I have now read with the greatest interest your essay, which contains a
vast amount of matter quite new to me. (462/1. "Anwendung der
Darwin'schen Lehre auf Bienen," "Verhandl. d. naturhist. Vereins fur
preuss. Rheinld. u. Westf." 1872. References to Muller's paper occur in
the second edition of the "Descent of Man.") I really have no criticisms
or suggestions to offer. The perfection of the gradation in the character
of bees, especially in such important parts as the mouth-organs, was
altogether unknown to me. You bring out all such facts very clearly by
your comparison with the corresponding organs in the allied hymenoptera.
How very curious is the case of bees and wasps having acquired,
independently of inheritance from a common source, the habit of building
hexagonal cells and of producing sterile workers! But I have been most
interested by your discussion on secondary sexual differences; I do not
suppose so full an account of such differences in any other group of
animals has ever been published. It delights me to find that we have
independently arrived at almost exactly the same conclusion with respect to
the more important points deserving investigation in relation to sexual
selection. For instance, the relative number of the two sexes, the earlier
emergence of the males, the laws of inheritance, etc. What an admirable
illustration you give of the transference of characters acquired by one
sex--namely, that of the male of Bombus possessing the pollen-collecting
apparatus. Many of your facts about the differences between male and
female bees are surprisingly parallel with those which occur with birds.
The reading your essay has given me great confidence in the efficacy of
sexual selection, and I wanted some encouragement, as extremely few
naturalists in England seem inclined to believe in it. I am, however, glad
to find that Prof. Weismann has some faith in this principle.

The males of Bombus follow one remarkable habit, which I think it would
interest you to investigate this coming summer, and no one could do it
better than you. (462/2. Mr. Darwin's observations on this curious
subject were sent to Hermann Muller, and after his death were translated
and published in Krause's "Gesammelte kleinere Schriften von Charles
Darwin," 1887, page 84. The male bees had certain regular lines of flight
at Down, as from the end of the kitchen garden to the corner of the "sand-
walk," and certain regular "buzzing places" where they stopped on the wing
for a moment or two. Mr. Darwin's children remember vividly the pleasure
of helping in the investigation of this habit.) I have therefore enclosed
a briefly and roughly drawn-up account of this habit. Should you succeed
in making any observations on this subject, and if you would like to use in
any way my MS. you are perfectly welcome. I could, should you hereafter
wish to make any use of the facts, give them in rather fuller detail; but I
think that I have given enough.

I hope that you may long have health, leisure, and inclination to do much
more work as excellent as your recent essay.

2.VIII.III. EXPRESSION, 1868-1874.

LETTER 463. TO F. MULLER.
Down, January 30th [1868].

I am very much obliged for your answers, though few in number (October
5th), about expression. I was especially glad to hear about shrugging the
shoulders. You say that an old negro woman, when expressing astonishment,
wonderfully resembled a Cebus when astonished; but are you sure that the
Cebus opened its mouth? I ask because the Chimpanzee does not open its
mouth when astonished, or when listening. (463/1. Darwin in the
"Expression of the Emotions," adheres to this statement as being true of
monkeys in general.) Please have the kindness to remember that I am very
anxious to know whether any monkey, when screaming violently, partially or
wholly closes its eyes.

LETTER 464. TO W. BOWMAN.

(464/1. The late Sir W. Bowman, the well-known surgeon, supplied a good
deal of information of value to Darwin in regard to the expression of the
emotions. The gorging of the eyes with blood during screaming is an
important factor in the physiology of weeping, and indirectly in the
obliquity of the eyebrows--a characteristic expression of suffering. See
"Expression of the Emotions," pages 160 and 192.)

Down, March 30th [1868].

I called at your house about three weeks since, and heard that you were
away for the whole month, which I much regretted, as I wished to have had
the pleasure of seeing you, of asking you a question, and of thanking you
for your kindness to my son George. You did not quite understand the last
note which I wrote to you--viz., about Bell's precise statement that the
conjunctiva of an infant or young child becomes gorged with blood when the
eyes are forcibly opened during a screaming fit. (464/2. Sir C. Bell's
statement in his "Anatomy of Expression" (1844, page 106) is quoted in the
"Expression of the Emotions," page 158.) I have carefully kept your
previous note, in which you spoke doubtfully about Bell's statement. I
intended in my former note only to express a wish that if, during your
professional work, you were led to open the eyelids of a screaming child,
you would specially observe this point about the eye showing signs of
becoming gorged with blood, which interests me extremely. Could you ask
any one to observe this for me in an eye-dispensary or hospital? But I now
have to beg you kindly to consider one other question at any time when you
have half an hour's leisure.

When a man coughs violently from choking or retches violently, even when he
yawns, and when he laughs violently, tears come into the eyes. Now, in all
these cases I observe that the orbicularis muscle is more or less
spasmodically contracted, as also in the crying of a child. So, again,
when the muscles of the abdomen contract violently in a propelling manner,
and the breath is, I think, always held, as during the evacuation of a very
costive man, and as (I hear) with a woman during severe labour-pains, the
orbicularis contracts, and tears come into the eyes. Sir J.E. Tennant
states that tears roll down the cheeks of elephants when screaming and
trumpeting at first being captured; accordingly I went to the Zoological
Gardens, and the keeper made two elephants trumpet, and when they did this
violently the orbicularis was invariably plainly contracted. Hence I am
led to conclude that there must be some relation between the contraction of
this muscle and the secretion of tears. Can you tell me what this relation
is? Does the orbicularis press against, and so directly stimulate, the
lachrymal gland? As a slight blow on the eye causes, by reflex action, a
copious effusion of tears, can the slight spasmodic contraction of the
orbicularis act like a blow? This seems hardly possible. Does the same
nerve which runs to the orbicularis send off fibrils to the lachrymal
glands; and if so, when the order goes for the muscle to contract, is
nervous force sent sympathetically at the same time to the glands? (464/3.
See "Expression of the Emotions," page 169.)

I should be extremely much obliged if you [would] have the kindness to give
me your opinion on this point.

LETTER 465. TO F.C. DONDERS.

(465/1. Mr. Darwin was indebted to Sir W. Bowman for an introduction to
Professor Donders, whose work on Sir Charles Bell's views is quoted in the
"Expression of the Emotions," pages 160-62.)

Down, June 3rd [1870?].

I do not know how to thank you enough for the very great trouble which you
have taken in writing at such length, and for your kind expressions towards
me. I am particularly obliged for the abstract with respect to Sir C.
Bell's views (465/2. See "Expression of the Emotions," pages 158 et seq.:
Sir Charles Bell's view is that adopted by Darwin--viz. that the
contraction of the muscles round the eyes counteracts the gorging of the
parts during screaming, etc. The essay of Donders is, no doubt, "On the
Action of the Eyelids in Determination of Blood from Expiratory Effort" in
Beale's "Archives of Medicine," Volume V., 1870, page 20, which is a
translation of the original in Dutch.), as I shall now proceed with some
confidence; but I am intensely curious to read your essay in full when
translated and published, as I hope, in the "Dublin Journal," as you speak
of the weak point in the case--viz., that injuries are not known to follow
from the gorging of the eye with blood. I may mention that my son and his
friend at a military academy tell me that when they perform certain feats
with their heads downwards their faces become purple and veins distended,
and that they then feel an uncomfortable sensation in their eyes; but that
as it is necessary for them to see, they cannot protect their eyes by
closing the eyelids. The companions of one young man, who naturally has
very prominent eyes, used to laugh at him when performing such feats, and
declare that some day both eyes would start out of his head.

Your essay on the physiological and anatomical relations between the
contraction of the orbicular muscles and the secretion of tears is
wonderfully clear, and has interested me greatly. I had not thought about
irritating substances getting into the nose during vomiting; but my clear
impression is that mere retching causes tears. I will, however, try to get
this point ascertained. When I reflect that in vomiting (subject to the
above doubt), in violent coughing from choking, in yawning, violent
laughter, in the violent downward action of the abdominal muscle...and in
your very curious case of the spasms (465/3. In some cases a slight touch
to the eye causes spasms of the orbicularis muscle, which may continue for
so long as an hour, being accompanied by a flow of tears. See "Expression
of the Emotions," page 166.)--that in all these cases the orbicular muscles
are strongly and unconsciously contracted, and that at the same time tears
often certainly flow, I must think that there is a connection of some kind
between these phenomena; but you have clearly shown me that the nature of
the relation is at present quite obscure.

LETTER 466. TO A.D. BARTLETT.
6, Queen Anne Street, W., December 19th [1870?].

I was with Mr. Wood this morning, and he expressed himself strongly about
your and your daughter's kindness in aiding him. He much wants assistance
on another point, and if you would aid him, you would greatly oblige me.
You know well the appearance of a dog when approaching another dog with
hostile intentions, before they come close together. The dog walks very
stiffly, with tail rigid and upright, hair on back erected, ears pointed
and eyes directed forwards. When the dog attacks the other, down go the
ears, and the canines are uncovered. Now, could you anyhow arrange so that
one of your dogs could see a strange dog from a little distance, so that
Mr. Wood could sketch the former attitude, viz., of the stiff gesture with
erected hair and erected ears. (466/1. In Chapter II. of the "Expression
of the Emotions" there are sketches of dogs in illustration of the
"Principle of Antithesis," drawn by Mr. Riviere and by Mr. A. May (figures
5-8). Mr. T.W. Wood supplied similar drawings of a cat (figures 9, 10),
also a sketch of the head of a snarling dog (figure 14).) And then he
could afterwards sketch the same dog, when fondled by his master and
wagging his tail with drooping ears. These two sketches I want much, and
it would be a great favour to Mr. Wood, and myself, if you could aid him.

P.S.--When a horse is turned out into a field he trots with high, elastic
steps, and carries his tail aloft. Even when a cow frisks about she throws
up her tail. I have seen a drawing of an elephant, apparently trotting
with high steps, and with the tail erect. When the elephants in the garden
are turned out and are excited so as to move quickly, do they carry their
tails aloft? How is this with the rhinoceros? Do not trouble yourself to
answer this, but I shall be in London in a couple of months, and then
perhaps you will be able to answer this trifling question. Or, if you
write about wolves and jackals turning round, you can tell me about the
tails of elephants, or of any other animals. (466/2. In the "Expression
of the Emotions," page 44, reference is made under the head of "Associated
habitual movements in the lower animals," to dogs and other animals turning
round and round and scratching the ground with their fore-paws when they
wish to go to sleep on a carpet, or other similar surface.)