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To Nevil Story-Maskelyne   29 December 1875

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

Dec 29. 75

Dear Mr Maskelyne

I am much obliged for your very kind note. I do not know Mr Judd personally, but I have signed the certificate under “general knowledge” with the greatest pleasure, as it is many years since I have read more admirable papers than his.1

Pray give my kind remembrances to Mrs Maskelyne whose acquaintance I was extremely glad to make.2 I hope that she will not forget about the Linnean Socy., at 8 pm on Feb 3d as the more I reflect on Prof: Lankester’s case the more hard & cruel it seems to me3

Pray believe me | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

1
See Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Nevil Story-Maskelyne, 26 December 1875 and n. 1. Story-Maskelyne had asked for CD’s support in proposing John Wesley Judd for fellowship of the Royal Society of London. CD had greatly admired Judd’s paper on the ancient volcanoes of the Scottish Highlands and Inner Hebrides (Judd 1874).
2
CD may have met Thereza Mary Story-Maskelyne when he was in London from 10 to 20 December 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix II).
3
Edwin Ray Lankester had been blackballed by the Linnean Society (see Correspondence vol. 23, letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 December 1875 and n. 5). CD canvassed members of the society to support Lankester at the next meeting (ibid., letter to G. J. Romanes, 17 [December 1875]). Thereza Story-Maskelyne was a keen botanist; as a woman, she could not be a member of the Linnean Society, but CD may have asked her to canvas members.

Bibliography

Judd, John Wesley. 1874. On the ancient volcanoes of the Highlands and the relations of their products to the Mesozoic strata. [Read 21 January 1874.] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 30: 220–302.

Summary

Has signed John Wesley Judd’s certificate.

Hopes his wife, Thereza Mary Story-Maskelyne, will not forget about the meeting at the Linnean Society on 3 February; feels E. R. Lankester’s case is very cruel.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10331G
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Mervyn Herbert Nevil (Nevil) Story/Mervyn Herbert Nevil (Nevil) Story-Maskelyne
Sent from
Down
Source of text
The British Library (Add MS 88953/4)
Physical description
LS(A) 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10331G,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10331G.xml

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