It may turn out a mare’s nest, but I have often incidentally observed curious facts when making what I call “a fool’s experiment”.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Letter to Alexander Stephen Wilson, 29 April [1878], no. 11489; Complete sentence from a public-domain letter; full letter and editorial notes read in the Cambridge Darwin Correspondence Project. Context is investigation of Russian wheat varieties. Retains the skeptical opening clause and punctuatio
- Letter to Alexander Stephen Wilson, 29 April [1878], no. 11489
More from Charles Darwin
See allI have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it.
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Charles DarwinDelight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest.Charles DarwinA most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign.Charles DarwinIt is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.Charles DarwinThus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist.Charles DarwinHow great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold, if such were possible, the scenery of another planet! yet to every person in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of only a few degrees from his native soil the glories of another world are opened to him.Charles DarwinMore inspiration
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