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From Alfred Newton   29 May 1871

Magd. Coll.

29 May 1871.

Dear Mr. Darwin

⁠⟨⁠remainder of page missing⁠⟩⁠ cannot be urged. It is in Arthur Adams’s ‘Travels of a Naturalist’1 (London, ⁠⟨⁠remainder of page missing⁠⟩⁠

I am very sorry to think that this is the last term that we shall have your son Frank with us.2

With kind regards to all your circle, believe me | Yours very Truly | Alfred Newton

Footnotes

1
The reference is to Adams 1870. CD inserted the following note in Descent 2d ed., p. 409 n. 9: I am indebted to Professor Newton for the following passage from Mr Adam’s Travels of a Naturalist, 1870, p. 278. Speaking of Japanese nut-hatches in confinement he says: ‘Instead of the more yielding fruit of the yew, which is the usual food of the nut-hatch in Japan, at one time I substituted hard hazelnuts. As the bird was unable to crack them, he placed them one by one in his water-glass, evidently with the notion that they would in time become softer—an interesting proof of intelligence on the part of these birds.’
2
Francis Darwin had completed his examinations for a degree in natural sciences at Cambridge, and had begun his medical studies at St George’s Hospital, London (ODNB, letter to Francis Darwin, 25 March [1871]); however, he evidently needed to return to Cambridge to fulfil the residency requirements for a degree (see Cambridge University calendar 1871, pp. 4–5).

Bibliography

Adams, Arthur. 1870. Travels of a naturalist in Japan and Manchuria. London: Hurst and Blackett.

Cambridge University calendar: The Cambridge University calendar. Cambridge: W. Page [and others]. 1796–1950.

Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.

ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.

Summary

[Reference to Japanese nuthatch (see Descent, 2d ed., p. 410 n.) excised from letter.]

Sorry they will not have Frank Darwin with them any more.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7778
From
Alfred Newton
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Source of text
DAR 88: 170–1
Physical description
ALS 3pp inc

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7778,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7778.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19

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