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To Karl von Scherzer   24 December 1876

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dec 24. 1876

Dear Sir,

I write a line to thank you very sincerely for your two kind letters, & to acknowledge the safe arrival of your present of the volume on Craniology, which I will read as soon as I have finished some other books in hand1   It is extremely good of you to suggest my name to the Austrian Government for a copy of the magnificent series of volumes containing the full account of the voyage of the ‘Novara’, but in truth I do not feel that I am worthy of so fine a present.2 I hope that Mrs Scherzer & yourself will benefit by your stay at Sudbrook. Pray give my kind remembrances to Dr Lane and all his family.3

Once again accept my best thanks & believe me, dear Sir, | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

1
The letters from von Scherzer have not been found, but von Scherzer had recently sent CD an essay by Moritz Wagner (see letter to Karl von Scherzer, 22 September 1876). The volume on craniology (Zuckerkandl 1875) was the last to be published in the series of scientific publications from the Novara expedition. CD’s copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
2
The multi-volume series on the Novara expedition was published between 1861 and 1875 (Novara expedition 1861–75); Hochstetter 1864–6, Weisbach 1867, and Friedrich Müller 1868 from the series are in the Darwin Library–CUL, in addition to Zuckerkandl 1875.
3
Scherzer’s wife was Julie Karoline Scherzer. Edward Wickstead Lane was proprietor of a hydropathic establishment at Sudbrook Park, near Ham, Surrey. CD had taken the water cure there in summer of 1860, and at Lane’s previous establishment at Moor Park, Surrey, in 1857, 1858, and 1859. He greatly admired Lane and his family (see Correspondence vols. 6, 7, and 8).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Hochstetter, Ferdinand von. 1864–6. Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Geologischer Theil. Vol. 1 (part 1) Geologie von Neu-Seeland. Vol. 2 (part 1) Geologische Beobachtungen. Vienna: Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei.

Novara expedition. 1861–75. Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. 9 vols. in 19. Vienna: Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei.

Weisbach, A. 1867. Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair: Anthropologischer Theil. Zweite Abtheilung, ‘Körpermessungen’. Vienna: Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei.

Zuckerkandl, E. 1875. Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara: 1. Abtheilung: Cranien der Novara-Sammlung. Vienna: Carl Gerold’s Sohn.

Summary

Thanks for volume on craniology

and for suggestion to Austrian Government that CD receive volumes on Novara voyage.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10733
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Karl von Scherzer
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Physical description
LS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10733,” accessed on 4 October 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10733.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
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