From: Wilhelm HI Bleek (25 October 1874)

From: Wilhelm HI Bleek (25 October 1874)

Correspondence

A letter in German from Wilhelm Bleek to Ernst Haeckel, sent from Cape Town on 25 October 1874. Bleek thanks Haeckel for sending a copy of his "Anthropogeny" and acknowledges he cannot critique Haeckel in his field. However, he challenges a statement on p.446 regarding "the polyphyletic origin" of human language, arguing from his 25 years of study that all still-spoken languages derive from a single early formation, and that a non-unitarian origin has not been proven or "even been made probable". He critiques Friedrich Müller for writing on language without real understanding, originality or insight. [Translation ends here.]

25 October 1874

Wilhelm Bleek (letter to Ernst Haeckel 25 October 1874), Ernst Haeckel (sent Wilhelm Bleek book "Anthropogeny"), letter (Wilhelm Bleek's to Ernst Haeckel 25 October 1874), cousin (Wilhelm Bleek's letter to his - Ernst Haeckel 25 October 1874), Anthropogeny (by Ernst Haeckel), publication ("Anthropogeny" by Ernst Haeckel), language (comparative investigation of spoken human), Friedrich Müller (Wilhelm Bleek's criticism of his authority in language study)

1. The copied letter includes an English translation, which appears incomplete. 2. Haeckel's "Anthropogenie; oder, Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen" (1874).