From William Martindale to Francis Darwin   24 May 1878

Dear Sir

M^r. Bolton the Chemist you mention is dead & his successor M^r Linford became a bankrupt. He is now in the [Forest] of Dean manufacturing Dynamite.

As he is one of my fellow examiners at the Pharmaceutical Society I have written to him about the Salt, but don’t expect he will know much about it now.

I have in the meantime sent you off per rail a pound bottle of Stoddart’s sea salts. A friend who has tested it personally (chemically) says it is what it professes to be & from what I know of M^r Stoddart, both as a Scientific chemist & as a Naturalist of some note, I feel sure what he says on the circular which I have wrapped round the bottle, will have been founded on personal experience with regard to its use in the aquarium. I fear M^r Bolton’s Books have all been destroyed   I asked one of M^r Bolton’s Trustees this morning & this was his opinion,

When I hear from Linford I will let you know

I remain, Sir | Yours truly | W^m Martindale

D^r F Darwin