Dear M^r. Darwin

M^r. Meldola is, in my opinion, a most promising young chemist and I am glad to see from his certificate that he is also known to biologists, but I think he is still rather too young both in age & work to be brought forward at the Royal Society with a fair chance of success, at all events as regards his chemical claims. Under the shadow of your name however I should probably have waved this objection if I had not recently declined, on the same grounds, to bring him forward when requested to do so by a particular friend of mine.¹

I forward the certificate to M^r. Lockyer.²

Believe me | Yours sincerely | E. Frankland