51³Ô¹Ï

Simon Underdown notes in his enthusiastic review of Peter J. Bowler¡¯s Darwin Deleted: Imagining a World without Darwin (Books, 9?May) the author¡¯s conclusion that without Charles, ¡°the Darwin-themed gift trade would have suffered¡±.

This trade has enabled English Heritage to produce a mug celebrating Darwin¡¯s residence in a house on a site in Gower Street that is now part of University College London. The mug¡¯s inscription informs me that in 1859 he wrote Origin of the Species. It is interesting how the absence of a preposition and a change in word order can so readily transform the meaning of the title to Darwin¡¯s classic work.

R.?E. Rawles
Honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London