To T. H. Huxley 4 November 1873
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Nov 4. 1873
My dear Huxley
Your intentions about poor Flower are most kind & delicate, as might have been expected. Under ordinary circumstances I ought not, I suppose, to answer your question; but as it is, I have no scruple in telling you that it was £50. Let me add that I did not communicate with him; but some of his & your friends did so, thinking that if he ever heard by chance of the affair, he wd feel mortified at not having been informed.1
You must be a much better judge how to act than I can possibly be; but it is my impression, considering the time that has elapsed & that the sum was not very large, that it wd hurt him to refund it.
Would not any one think it was some mistake if he found a sum placed anonymously to his acct at his bankers’? If at any time you cd think of some indirect means of aiding him openly, the case wd in my judgement be very different. I hope the new climate may be of service to him: his death wd be a grievous loss to science & to his many friends
ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. Do not bother yourself about Nitella; probably you will never have the spare time2
Footnotes
Summary
Answers THH’s query about W. H. Flower; gives the amount he contributed to the gift. Advises against returning it, even anonymously. Hopes WHF’s health improves.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9131
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 303)
- Physical description
- LS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9131,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9131.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21