To F. M. Balfour 13 December 1876
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Dec 13. 1876
Dear Balfour,
I shall have real pleasure in proposing you for the Royal Soc. But you must give me your xtian names in full. “Title or designation”—“Profession or Trade”—“usual place of residence”.1
Also a list, written clearly, of all your chief publications. The Soc appends a note asking for copies of all the candidate’s books and publications. to be ultimately returned to him.
It is a most troublesome rule that about members of council not signing certificates, as I should naturally apply in your case to Huxley & Hooker.2 Will you be so good as to get from M. Foster a list of the present members of council.3 Also suggest to me the names of any men not on the council to whom I shall send the certificate. Three members personally known to you & three others who need not necessarily know you personally must sign the certificate. Id est 6 altogether, & I believe there is no advantage in getting more. I suppose I had better send it to Ld Rayleigh though not a naturalist.4
Dear Balfour | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Since the above was written it has occurred to me that it wd be the best plan to send you the certificate to fill up & then there will be less liability to error.— You can return it with the other desired information about the members of Council & whoever you shd. like to sign it.
I was very much interested the other day by reading your idea on the origins of our limbs at 4 points in the lateral fins.—5
C.D.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Balfour, Francis Maitland. 1876–8. The development of elasmobranch fishes. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 10: 377–411, 517–70, 672–88; 11: 128–172, 406–90, 674–706; 12: 177–216.
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
CD is glad to propose FMB for Royal Society. Explains information and certificates needed.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10716
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Maitland Balfour
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- National Records of Scotland (GD433/2/103C/1)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10716,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10716.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24