From J. V. Carus   20 November 1875

My dear Sir,

I ought to have written to you long before now, to thank for your kind letter of Oct. 14^th. and for the clean sheets of the Climbing Plants.¹ But unfortunately, about a week after my return home I was laid up with a swollen liver and a very bad state of almost all my different bowels, in consequence of a rather trying vexation Now I am recovering, but very slowly, and I am sorry to say, I cannot yet stand as much work as I used to do before. However, the Insectivorous Plants are done with two thirds and it is especially this book that I venture to ask you some questions.² First, please read the last ten lines on page 105 and the first six on page 106. According to the whole description of the bits of bone, I think, on l. 3. p 106 it must be read “earthy” matter instead of “animal” matter. Then, would you not give the Volume of Schiff’s Leçons in footnote to page 111?³

But the most important question is: What are “minims” and what do you mean by “ml”. You say, for instance p. 124 about the middle, “2 dr. (7, 1. ml),” meaning the weight by giving the drachms and most likely meaning the cubic contents by giving the “ml”. According to analogy “ml” would be millilitre (like mgr. = milligramm); but the thousandth part of a liter is a cubic centimeter, for which the symbol c.c. is generally used. I asked our chemist, Professor Kolbe (Professor Frankland’s friend)⁴ about it, but he didn’t know it. I should be very much obliged, if you would send me an explanation as soon as possible, as I am only waiting for it before I send the manuscript to the printer’s.

I am exceedingly sorry for the delay, which my illness caused. We had all come home so well and happy and thoroughly satisfied.⁵ And scarcely a week later I was laid up. It is annoying, but it could not be helped.

Believe me | My dear Sir, | Yours very sincerely | J. Victor Carus