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Darwin Correspondence Project

To F. B. Zincke   7 November 1881

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)

Nov 7th. 1881

Dear Sir

I have heard this morning that a 4th thousand of my Earth-worm book must be printed off.—1 If you do not object, I shd. like to give on your authority the case of the Celt. But I do not understand whether you actually measured the thickness of the upper Dark vegetable mould & of the “Sandy loam”.2 I shd., also, like to hear a little more in detail the nature of this sandy loam & its colour.— If the vegetable mould & the sandy loam were both heated to redness, would they afterwards resemble each other? Were any number of stones or other objects besides the celts found on the surface of the pan? If you consent to allow me to publish the case, I fear that I must trouble you to give me the information soon, as Murray writes that 3500 copies are actually sold, & only 3000 as yet have been printed off.—3

I remain in haste | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Ch. Darwin

P. S. | I read some time ago with wonderful interest your account of French peasant-life in Auvergne.—4

Footnotes

No letter about the new printing of Earthworms has been found; see, however, the letter from R. F. Cooke, 5 November 1881 and n. 2.
See letter from F. B. Zincke, 1 November 1881 and n. 1. Zincke’s information was added to the fifth thousand, which was printed in early December (see letter from F. B. Zincke, 8 December 1881).

Bibliography

Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.

Zincke, Foster Barham. 1878. The peasants of the Limagne. Fortnightly Review 30: 646–60, 821–35.

Summary

Would like to cite the case of the celt in a new printing of Earthworms. Asks for details.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13468
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Foster Barham Zincke
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13468,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13468.xml

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