Milestones of Science Books

DARWIN, Charles.

Autograph letter, Down, Beckenham, Kent, 28 October 1873, signed ("Charles Darwin"), to Alexander Kowalewski, thanking him for sending his memoir on the larva of the sea squirt ("I am much obliged for your Kindness in having sent me your memoir on the Larva of the Ascidians. . .) and closing "Yours faithfully & obliged / Charles Darwin."

Down, Beckenham, Kent: Charles Darwin, 1873.

1st Edition. No Binding. Near Fine. Item #003270

Single 8vo page on folded sheet with blue embossed address header. The Russian zoologist Alexander Onufrijewitsch Kowalewski (1840-1901) is considered to be the founder of comparative embryology. He recognized, among other things, that in the larval stage the sea squirt corresponds almost completely to the larva of vertebrates, supporting Darwin's theory of evolution, which Kowalewski significantly promoted in Russia. Darwin and Kowalewski had been in correspondence since 1867. Darwin writes in Chapter VI of his fundamental work "The Descent of Man" (2nd ed., 1874): "Mr. Kovalevsky has lately observed that the larvae of ascidians are related to the Vertebrata, in their manner of development, in the relative position of the nervous system, and in possessing a structure closely like the chorda dorsalis of vertebrate animals; and in this he has been since confirmed by Prof. Kupffer. M. Kovalevsky writes to me from Naples, that he has now carried these observations yet further, and should his results be well established, the whole will form a discovery of the very greatest value." References: A.Kowalewsky. Entwicklungsgeschichte der einfachen Ascidien. In: Mém l'Acad St Petersbg, 1866, vol. 10, pp. 1-19.

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