Letter
to
Summary
Should like to examine the correspondent’s Madeira cirripedes but is too much occupied with other subjects of natural history.
Transcription
Down | Bromley | Kent
Aug 16th
Dear Sir
I am very much obliged to you for your kind offer to allow me to examine your Madeira Cirripedes; but I am sorry to say that my time is so much occupied with other subjects of Natural History, that I do not wish at present to resume my work on this order.— With my best thanks, I remain | Your obliged servant | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
- f1
- The date range is inferred from CD’s reference to having completed his study of cirripedes. The last volume of his four-volume monograph was finished late in 1854 and published in May 1855 (Correspondence vol. 5, Appendix I; Freeman 1977, p. 68). The reference to being occupied with `other subjects of Natural History’ suggests that CD was at work on his big book on species (Natural selection), not on his `abstract’ (Origin), which he began in the summer of 1858. See Correspondence vol. 6.