Dear Sir

I am much obliged for your very kind letter.¹ I am sure that an observer who shews such zeal & love for science as you do, & who has had such wide experience, must have collected very valuable facts & conclusions.

The observations which you are so good as to offer me would no doubt be of much value; but I am bound to tell you that from having so many other subjects to attend to, & from my health being weak, I have unwillingly resolved no longer to pursue the subject of variation under domestication, except to correct any errors which I may have published.²

Secondly, I am a very poor German scholar, & if your notes were written in German I sh^d have great difficulty in understanding them; & although you write so well in English, it w^d probably cause you some trouble to write in this language.

Under these circumstances I w^d suggest that you sh^d publish your observations in some German periodical & inform me or kindly send me a copy. Your observations w^d thus be of use to every one, & I might not be able to use them for years.

With my sincere thanks for your sympathy & interest in my works I remain | Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin