Charles Darwin | Letter signed, to St George Mivart, defending the theory of natural selection, 23 January 1871

Charles Darwin

Letter signed, with autograph postscript, to St George Mivart, defending the theory of Natural Selection ("...I by no means give up the immense power of natural selection; not can I see any probability in the existence of an inherent tendency to an advance in organisation...") in response to Mivart's detailed criticisms of Darwin's work in his new book On the Genesis of Species, the postscript relieving Mivart of the duty of thanking Darwin for sending him a copy of The Descent of Man ("...As you will think my new book all rubbish, you will find it pleasanter not to go through the form of thanking me for it — so pray do not write & I will attribute your silence to your wish not to say directly to me anything disagreeable."), 8 pages, 8vo, headed stationery of Down, Beckhenham, 23 January 1871

[with:] St George Mivart, retained autograph draft reply, accepting some of Darwin's corrections, noting that he may have "represented you as more attached to the predominant action of nat. select. than is really the case", and expressing his fundamental religious objection to Darwinian theory ("...Unhappily the acceptance of your views means with many the abandonment of belief in God & in the immortality of the Soul..."), 4 pages, 8vo [24 January 1871]

"...If I had ever thought that I, or any one, could explain the steps through which hundreds of structures have been acquired thro' natural selection, your facts and many others would form a crushing defeat; but I have never thought that this could be done except in a few cases, & then only with some degree of probability, in which a fair number of gradational steps still exist..."

AN IMPORTANT LETTER IN WHICH DARWIN DEFENDS NATURAL SELECTION AGAINST ONE OF HIS MOST ACUTE AND PERSISTANT CRITICS. St George Mivart (1827–1900) was a noted natural scientist who had enjoyed the support of both Owen and Huxley in the 1860s, but he was also a prominent figure in Britain's Roman Catholic community. On the Genesis of Species (1871) expanded on a series of articles entitled "Difficulties of the theory of natural selection" that had been published in 1869. In this letter Darwin identifies a number of points at which Mivart has misunderstood or misquoted him and asserts his continued belief in the explanatory power of natural selection. Mivart did not reject evolution entirely, but argued that any role played by the mechanism of natural selection was secondary to evolution guided by an innate force that tended towards greater order. Darwin takes some comfort from this, claiming that Mivart's acceptance of the "general principle of Evolution [...] is infinitely more important for the progress of science than the admission of natural selection." Mivart takes this comment as evidence of Darwin's weakening belief in natural selection.

LITERATURE:

DCP-LETT-7453 (text from Darwin's retained draft) and DCP-LETT-7454

PROVENANCE:

Sale in these rooms, 21–22 July 1988, lot 417