My dear Darwin,

I was very glad to see your handwriting & trust you are steadily progressing— The only doubt that crosses my mind, is the possibility of Sir. G. Wilkinson¹ having been cheated by the Arabs— A case is on record of a quantity of wheat taken from a Catacomb in Egypt having been eaten by modern rats, which shows it had kept well, as far as the flavor is concerned— There is a picture in Trinity of a man with a bulb of a Scilla in his hand, which he has just taken from a mummy, & the scilla is sprouting — ² I certain nothing impossible in M^r Tupper’s statement,³ but it is precisely one of those cases which need more than one experiment to authenticate the fact— I have no doubt whatever that the seeds grew, but I think it not impossible that Sir. G. W. may have been deceived—⁴ If I knew Sir G. W’s address I would write to him & beg a few grains— Whewell has been here for a week lately— Col. LeCouteur⁵ came to talk about the Wheat-Museum of the Agric^l. Soc^y. ⁶ —& I have had my annual display of fireworks—so that my time has been completely occupied— Next week I go to Cambridge to vote for L^d Lyddleton,⁷ & if