Ɛpsilon

To John Tyndall   25 October [1875]1

☞ Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Oct 25th

My dear Tyndall

My son Frank has been in Cambridge & only returned this evening so that I cd. not answer your note by return of Post.2 He will be very glad to do his best in what you require.— Give us full instructions.— Direct the tubes as above.3 If it is necessary that they shd reach us quickly, please write outside “to be forwarded by foot-messenger”.

Otherwise parcels always wait till carriage goes to station, which is never long.—

Ever yours | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from John Tyndall, 23 October [1875].
2
See letter from John Tyndall, 23 October [1875]. Francis had visited his brother George Howard Darwin in Cambridge for three days (letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, 26 October 1875 (DAR 239.23: 1.35)).
3
CD refers to test tubes filled with boiled infusions used by Tyndall in experiments on spontaneous generation. For more on Tyndall’s experiments, see the letter to John Tyndall, 20 October [1875] and n. 2.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Railway] after del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10222,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10222