4 io MISCELLANEA. [1877 



[The next letter refers to his ' Biographical Sketch of 

 an Infant,' written from notes made 37 years previously, and 

 published in ' Mind,' July, 1877. The article attracted a good 

 deal of attention, and was translated at the time in * Kosmos,' 

 and the ' Revue Scientifique,' and has been recently pub- 

 lished in Dr. Krause's ' Gesammelte kleinere Schriften von 

 Charles Darwin,' 1887 :] 



C. Darwin to G. Croom Robertson* 



Down, April 27, 1877. 



DEAR SIR, I hope that you will be so good as to take the 

 trouble to read the enclosed MS., and if you think it fit for 

 publication in your admirable journal of ' Mind,' I shall be 

 gratified. If you do not think it fit, as is very likely, will you 

 please to return it to me. I hope that you will read it in an 

 extra critical spirit, as I cannot judge whether it is worth 

 publishing from having been so much interested in watching 

 the dawn of the several faculties in my own infant. I may 

 add that I should never have thought of sending you the 

 MS., had not M. Taine's article appeared in your Journal. f 

 If my MS. is printed, I think that I had better see a proof. 

 I remain, dear Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 



CH. DARWIN. 



[The two following extracts show the lively interest he 

 preserved in diverse fields of inquiry. Professor Cohn, of 

 Breslau had mentioned, in a letter, Koch's researches on 

 Splenic Fever, my father replied, January 3 : 



" I well remember saying to myself, between twenty and 

 thirty years ago, that if ever the origin of any infectious 

 disease could be proved, it would be the greatest triumph to 

 science ; and now I rejoice to have seen the triumph." 



* The editor of ' Mind.' 



f 1877, p. 252. The original appeared in the ' Revue Philosophique' 

 1876. 



