To W. S. Dallas 11 November [1868]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E. [6 Queen Anne Street, London]
Nov. 11th
My dear Sir
I have much pleasure in expressing my opinion that you are excellently fitted for the post of Assistant Secretary to the Geological Society.2 I rest my opinion on your very extensive knowledge of all branches of natural history,— Your familiarity also with so many foreign languages & your intimate knowledge of German would be highly serviceable in editing our Journal & Transactions;3 but one of your highest claims rests, as it appears to me, on your power of writing vigorous & clear English, as everyone will admit, who has read your many papers in various scientific Journals, or your Translation of von Siebolds work on Parthenogenesis.—4
Your powers of work are well known to be unusually great, so as to have excited the surprise of some of our hardest working naturalists; & of this power the Zoological Record, so valuable to naturalists, offers the clearest proof.—5
The experience which you must have acquired during your charge of the Museum at York, will probably render the care of our large geological Museum not difficult to you.—6
Therefore I beg leave to repeat my wishes for your success & I remain, My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin
To | W. S. Dallas Esqre.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Siebold, Karl Theodor Ernst von. 1857. On a true parthenogenesis in moths and bees; a contribution to the history of reproduction in animals. Translated by William S. Dallas. London: John van Voorst.
Summary
A letter strongly recommending him for the post of Assistant Secretary of the Geological Society.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6457
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Sweetland Dallas
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Geological Society of London (LDGSL 286/8); DAR 96: 51
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp & ADraft 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6457,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6457.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16