To Robert Patterson 6 April [1854]
DOWN, FARNBOROUGH, KENT
Ap. 6th. [1854]1
MY DEAR SIR
A sharp attack of unwellness2 has prevented my answering sooner your note of the 28th. ulto— Mr. Thompson sent me all his M.S. on Cirripeda & the whole of his collection, which filled a good sized box.3 I remember not long before his death returning all the M.S. & I feel almost sure I remember packing up all the specimens. I have looked in every likely place and can find none of his; but it is just possible that amongst the numbers sent me from various quarters, his may be overlooked. In the middle of summer or early autumn I intend returning every specimen which I have borrowed & shall then without fail discover whether I have any of your poor friends yet here.4 And in that case will communicate with you.—5 But I very strongly think that collection was returned. This instant my memory flashes across me that he, at my request, returned me one specimen for further examination (and which one I must somewhere have) but this demonstrates that the main collection had previously been returned to him.
Pray forgive this long note & believe me Dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. DARWIN
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.
Praeger, William E. 1935. Six unpublished letters of Charles Darwin. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 20: 711–5. [Vols. 4,5,8]
Summary
He has returned William Thompson’s MSS and, he believes, all his specimens of Cirripedia.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1565
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert Patterson
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Praeger 1935, p. 713
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1565,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1565.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5