Friend Darwin.

I am too grateful for thy cordial condescension to my overture of six months ago, to be willing to experiment largely on thy patience now, especially in view of thy intimated want of health, which I can only hope has been very transient.¹ But it seems allowable and right, to send a fresh pamphlet, in the Appendix of which, I trust, some advance may have been made in precision of statement respecting a disputed realm of thought.²

Hoping thou mayst long live to contribute to the element of human salvation which lies in the advance of intelligence, I remain | Sincerely thy friend | Rich^d. Randolph—