Ɛpsilon

From Francis Darwin   [13 December 1875]1

Dear Father

I send back Dr Hook⁠⟨⁠ers⁠⟩⁠ letter, (of which I have extracted the autograph as I thought you wouldn’t mind)— It is a most scandalous shame. I have a list of the meetings & will go up on Jan 20 to be admitted.2 We are coming on Tuesday night & shall stop in London on Wednesday for a Lecture of Burdon Sanderson on Inflammation at London University & home on Thursday—3

I hope you are prospering & not doing too much | Yrs affec | F D

I shall write to Uncle R4 to ask for a bed on Wed

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875] (Correspondence vol. 23), and the dates of John Scott Burdon Sanderson’s Brown Institution lectures (see n. 3 below).
2
The letter from Joseph Dalton Hooker has not been found but it related to the blackballing on 2 December 1875 of Edwin Ray Lankester’s proposed election to fellowship of the Linnean Society. In his reply to that letter, CD urged Francis to arrange for his own early admission to the Linnean Society so that they could both vote for Lankester in a second ballot (Correspondence vol. 23, letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875]). Francis was elected to fellowship of the Linnean Society on 2 December 1875 (List of the Linnean Society of London), but not admitted as a fellow until 20 January 1876 (Archives of the Linnean Society, General Minute Book I).
3
Francis Darwin was in Wales (Correspondence vol. 23, letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875]). Burdon Sanderson gave a series of Brown Institution lectures at the University of London on the pathology of inflammation in December 1875; the first, on the development of the doctrine of inflammation, was on Wednesday 15 December, with a further three on alternate days (British Medical Journal 2 (1875): 741).
4
Erasmus Alvey Darwin. CD was in London from 10 to 20 December 1875 (see Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix II); he and Emma Darwin stayed at Henrietta Emma Litchfield’s home at 2 Bryanston Street (letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, 20 December [1875] (DAR 239.23: 1.39)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10362F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10362F