As soon as I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing. Although in the Origin of Species, the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by the work in question “light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history.”
Autobiography, 130
You ask whether I shall discuss “man”;—I think I shall avoid whole subject, as so surrounded with prejudices, though I fully admit that it is the highest & most interesting problem for the naturalist.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
22 December 1857, DCP 2192
I am sorry to say that I have no “consolatory view” on the dignity of man; I am content that man will probably advance & care not much whether we are looked at as mere savages in a remotely distant future.
Darwin to Charles Lyell,
4 May [1860], DCP 2782
I was partly led to do this by having been taunted that I concealed my views, but chiefly from the interest which I had long taken in the subject.
Darwin to Alphonse de Candolle,
6 July 1868, DCP 6269
The mental requirements of the lowest savages, such as the Australians or the Andaman islanders, are very little above those of many animals…. How then was an organ [the brain] developed far beyond the needs of its possessor? Natural Selection could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that of an ape, whereas he actually possesses one but very little inferior to that of the average members of our learned societies.
Wallace 1869, 391–92
I hope you have not murdered too completely your own & my child.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
27 March [1869], DCP 6684
I differ grievously from you, & I am very sorry for it. I can see no necessity for calling in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man. But the subject is too long for a letter. I have been particularly glad to read yr discussion because I am now writing & thinking much about man.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
14 April 1869, DCP 6706
During many years I collected notes on the origin or descent of man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views…. Now the case wears a wholly different aspect…. The greater number [of naturalists] accept the agency of natural selection; though some urge, whether with justice the future must decide, that I have greatly overrated its importance. Of the older and honoured chiefs in natural science, many unfortunately are still opposed to evolution in every form.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 2
It might be intelligible that a man’s tail should waste away when he had no longer occasion to wag it, though I should have thought that savages would still have found it useful in tropical climates to brush away insects…. The arguments in the sheets [of Descent of Man] you have sent me appear to me to be little better than drivel.
Whitwell Elwin to John Murray,
21 September 1870, John Murray Archives, National Library of Scotland
Man bears in his bodily structure clear traces of his descent from some lower form.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 34
The early progenitors of man were no doubt once covered with hair, both sexes having beards; their ears were pointed and capable of movement; and their bodies were provided with a tail, having the proper muscles. Their limbs and bodies were also acted on by many muscles which now only occasionally reappear, but are normally present in the Quadrumana…. The foot, judging from the condition of the great toe in the fœtus, was then prehensile; and our progenitors, no doubt, were arboreal in their habits, frequenting some warm, forest-clad land. The males were provided with great canine teeth, which served them as formidable weapons.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 206–7
In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some ape-like creature to man as he now exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point when the term “man” ought to be used.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 235
As monkeys certainly understand much that is said to them by man, and as in a state of nature they utter signal-cries of danger to their fellows, it does not appear altogether incredible, that some unusually wise ape-like animal should have thought of imitating the growl of a beast of prey, so as to indicate to his fellow monkeys the nature of the expected danger. And this would have been a first step in the formation of a language.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 57
The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians. The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind—such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch; they had no government, and were merciless to every one not of their own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more humble creature flows in his veins.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 404
I have given the evidence to the best of my ability; and we must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 405
Mr. Darwin’s conclusions may be correct, but we feel we have now indeed a right to demand that they shall be proved before we assent to them; and that since what Mr. Darwin before declared “must be,” he now admits not only to be unnecessary but untrue, we may justly regard with extreme distrust the numerous statements and calculations which, in the “Descent of Man,” are avowedly recommended by a mere “may be.”
George St. J. Mivart, 1871, 52
Altogether the book [Descent of Man], I think, as yet has been very successful, & I have been hardly at all abused. Several reviewers speak of the lucid vigorous style etc.—Now I know how much I owe to you in this respect, which includes arrangement, not to mention still more important aids in the reasoning. Therefore I wish to give you some little memorial costing about 25 or 50£, to keep in memory of the book, over which you took such immense trouble. I have consulted Mamma, but we cannot think what you would like, & she with her accustomed wisdom advised me to lay the case before you & let you decide how you like…. By the way, I have had hardly any letters about “the Descent” worth keeping for you, except one from a Welshman abusing me as an old ape with a hairy face & thick skull. We shall be heartily glad to see you home again. Goodbye my very dear coadjutor & fellow-labourer, Your affecate. father. Ch. Darwin.
Darwin to Henrietta Darwin,
20 March 1871, DCP 7605