To William Bowman 22 February 1878
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Feb 22 1878
My dear Bowman,
I received your letter this morning, & it was quite impossible that you should receive an answer by 4 pm today.1 But this does not signify in the least for your proposal seems to me a very good one, & I most entirely agree with you that it is far better to suggest some special question, rather than to have a general discussion compiled from books. The rule that the Essay must be “illustrative of the wisdom & beneficence of the Almighty” would confine the subjects to be proposed.2 With respect to the Vegetable Kingdom I could suggest two or three subjects about which, as it seems to me, information is much required; but these subjects would require a long course of experiment & unfortunately there is hardly any one in this country who seems inclined to devote himself to experiments.
Believe me, | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Summary
Thinks WB’s proposal a very good one. CD could suggest two or three subjects for essays with respect to the vegetable kingdom, but they would require a long course of experiments "& unfortunately there is hardly any one in this country who seems inclined to devote himself to experiments".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11371
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Bowman, 1st baronet
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Sotheby’s (dealers) (13 December 1977)
- Physical description
- LS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11371,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11371.xml
