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Darwin Correspondence Project

From G. M. Asher   14 February 1878

8, Cambridge Terrace, | Railton Road Herne Hill,

Febr. 14 1878

Dear Sir

You will perhaps remember that you expressed a wish to have some specimens of Russian steppe wheat.1 I forwarded your wish to the govenor of Saratoff Mr. Galkine; and now hear to my surprise that a box three feet long, is at Petersburgh. I shall forward it to you when I get it; and take the liberty of making two requests: First to be allowed to call upon you when the box arrives, in order to explain its contents which else would be useless; and secondly, that you write a few words, in French if possible, or in German or if you do not write those languages (but I suppose you do) in English to thank Mr. Galkine-Wrasky, governor of ⁠⟨⁠Sar⁠⟩⁠atoff for his readiness to comply with your wish; adding if possible, a photograph with your signature. I should very greatly thank y for doing so. The fact is that I have had a very serious quarrel with the Gentleman in question, and ⁠⟨⁠that⁠⟩⁠ he has nevertheless done what I begged him to do.2 The box will arrive in about a fortnight.

Dr Sir | Faithfully Ys | Dr. G. M. Asher

CD annotations

First page: ‘Pay carriage’ pencil

Footnotes

The letter from CD requesting specimens has not been found, but see Correspondence vol. 25, letter from G. M. Asher, 7 November 1877, in which Asher said he had written for seeds.
Mikhail Nikolaevich Galkin-Vraskoi was governor of Saratov province, located in the south-east of European Russia, 838 miles south-east of Saint Petersburg. Asher had lived in Saratov, and his work there on German colonies on the Volga river may have been the source of his dispute with Galkin-Vraskoi (Große jüdische National-Biographie s.v. Asher, Georg Michael).

Bibliography

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

Große jüdische National-Biographie: Große jüdische National-Biographie: mit mehr als 8000 Lebensbeschreibungen namhafter jüdischer Männer und Frauen aller Zeiten und Länder; ein Nachschlagewerk für das jüdische Volk und dessen Freunde. By S. Wininger. 7 vols. Chernivtsi: Orient.

Summary

Has forwarded CD’s request for wheat specimens to Mr Galkine-Wrasky, Governor of Saratoff in Russia. Asks CD to send his thanks to the Governor and to allow GMA to visit Down to explain the specimens when they arrive.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11357
From
Georg Michael Asher
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Cambridge Terrace, 8
Source of text
DAR 159: 119
Physical description
ALS 3pp damaged †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11357,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11357.xml

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