From G. H. Darwin 5 May 1879
Trin Coll.
May 5. 79
My dear Father,
I have found the article— at least I believe so. The book I looked at in London was something different from the one in our Library & I think must have been the Monthly Review whilst this is the Monthly Magazine. It is a biographical sketch of E.D.. I have not read it but am having it copied. I saw something about a £100 promissory note given by Col. Pole to his wife, which I guess is the calumny.1 I daresay I shall have the copy tomorrow.
Jackson has given me a copy of Eras. D.’s book about female education. Do you see the advertisement of the Miss Parker’s at the end— was it written as a puff of their school—& is’nt there some story of their being his natural daughters. I think old Mrs. Greaves of Cheltenham told us something about it.2 Her letters to me are in the tin pedigree box in my bedroom, perhaps you might look at them.3
Bradshaw says he knows nothing of any letters of Dr. Okes’ in the University Library & so we shall not find them—4 The Provost of King’s was one of 23 children & so the letters may be in possession of the other 22 or their descendants—for the old fellow is over 80.5
Has a book come for me at Down, for I have received a post card forwarded from Down saying that a presentation copy of Thomson & Taits Nat. Philos. has been sent me.6 I shd. like to have it forwarded if it has come & to know at once if it has not.
I am very much pleased that Thomson shd. have thought me worthy of a copy.
I believe I have made a little astronomical discovery as to a correction which ought to be applied on taking observations of the Sun— I had never seen it in text books but I cdn’t conceive that it was new, until I found two astronomers here who had never heard of it. One of them a Mr. Knobel is going to ask a Mr. Marth who was the great Bessel’s assistant if it is known & to let me know.7 It would be very funny if I have really hit on anything new in such a very old subject—& moreover it is founded on such very simple considerations I can’t however think it is new as yet.
If it is so, however I shall sent a note to a German Astron. Journal to try to stir up the German Astronrs. to examine the Solar observations to search for the theoretical inequality in the Sun’s motion
I have begun doing arithmetic in my work & my first attempt (which is always wrong however) makes it look as though the results would fit to a T into what I thought might be the case & if they do I think my theory wd. be almost established.
Your affectionate Son | G. H. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Anon. 1802. Biographical memoirs of the late Dr. Darwin. Monthly Magazine; or, British Register 13: 457–63.
Darwin, Erasmus. 1797. A plan for the conduct of female education in boarding schools. London: J. Johnson.
King-Hele, Desmond. 1999. Erasmus Darwin. A life of unequalled achievement. London: Giles de la Mare Publishers.
Thomson, William and Tait, Peter Guthrie. 1879–83. Treatise on natural philosophy. New edition. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Summary
Sends CD an article on Dr Erasmus Darwin [from Monthly Magazine, see 12028].
Tells of a "discovery" he has made about taking observations of the sun. Does not know yet whether it is new.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12034
- From
- George Howard Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Trinity College, Cambridge
- Source of text
- DAR 210.2: 75
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12034,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12034.xml