Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Autograph letter signed ('Ch. Darwin') to Lawson Tait, Down, 6 August 1876
3 pages, 203 x 127mm, bifolium, printed address heading. Envelope. Provenance: Sotheby's, 24 July 1978, lot 224.

On the origin of evil: 'Why should a small cut cause tetanus or child-birth – or parasitic worms cause so much suffering?'. Darwin expresses his pleasure at his proposed election as an honorary member of the Birmingham Natural History Society (of which Tait was president), and responds to an article by Tait seeking to apply the theory of evolution to 'moral life': 'I agree with the greater part. – Under a theological point of view, I cannot however quite agree that the origin of evil is explained by survival. Why sh[oul]d a small cut cause tetanus or child-birth – or parasitic worms cause so much suffering? Why was not man framed with sympathies extending beyond his own tribe, so that murder would have been a crime even from the earliest period?'. He concludes with an encouragement for Tait's scientific work: 'I am glad that you have not give up polydactylism'.

Lawson Tait (1845-1899) was a pioneering surgeon, known for his opposition to vivisection and for introducing the most common surgical treatment for ectopic pregnancy; he is considered one of the founding figures of gynecology. DCP-LETT-10571.