My dear Mr. Ray Lankester,

As I understand that you are a candidate for the Chair of Natural History in Edinburgh, I beg permission to state that I have read with care and admiration, all, or very nearly all, your numerous publications.¹ In them you show great powers of original research and of generalization.

I have never heard you lecture, but your discussions and descriptions are all so remarkably clear that I can entertain no doubt that you would succeed excellently in making every subject intelligible to students. I therefore most earnestly wish that you may be elected to the Professorship; and in this case I am convinced that you will raise the Chair of Natural History in Edinburgh to great eminence. Permit me to add that I have always found you most willing and obliging in giving me any information which I required.

With my best wishes for your success, | I remain, dear Mr. Lankester, | Yours very faithfully, | CHARLES DARWIN

Down, Beckenham, Kent. | October 31st, 1881.