Ɛpsilon

To W. B. Tegetmeier   8 August [1875]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Aug 8th

My dear Sir

You have often helped me, & can you do so again? I have said in my Var: under Dom: (of which I am correcting a new Edit.) that Eclipse has never been beaten in speed. A stranger writes to me that this an error.2 Now can you find out from the great authorities of the Field, whether it is known that any horse has been swifter & if so his name; or even whether Racing men confidently believe that any horse has ever been swifter than Eclipse.

Will you kindly do what you can for me.—

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S | I daresay I owe to you a very favourable & good review in the Field of my Insectivorous Plants.—3

1
The year is established by the reference to corrections for Variation 2d ed., which CD worked on between 6 July and 3 October 1875 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
2
See Variation 2: 242. In his letter of 22 February 1873 (Correspondence vol. 21), William Frederick Collier claimed that a number of racehorses had already broken Eclipse’s record. CD modified his remarks in Variation 2d ed. 2: 229.
3
The unsigned review appeared in the Field, 24 July 1875, p. 92. CD’s copy is in DAR 139: 18.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 (of which … Edit.)] interl
1.3 you] after del illeg
1.5 horse] after del ‘race’
1.6 ever] interl
1.6 than Eclipse.] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10111,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10111