Ɛpsilon

To Karl von Scherzer   24 January [1876]1

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

Jan. 24th

Dear Sir

I thank you for your very kind letter which I value much as coming from you who have done such excellent scientific work.—2 Also pray accept my thanks for the gift of your book on Smyrna, & for sending me the Vienna newspaper with its too generous appreciation of my character.3

I shall be in London in the Spring & I will then find out where the Austro-Hungarian Consulate is, & do myself the pleasure & honour of calling on you.—4 My health is weak & there is no direct railway from here to Norwood5 & the drive by the road is a long one; otherwise I wd. have called on you there. For this same reason I cannot venture to ask you to come here some day to luncheon, which would give me much pleasure, although I am not able to converse with anyone for more than a rather short time.

With my respect & best thanks, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the date of the inscription in CD’s copy of Scherzer 1873 (see n. 3, below).
2
Scherzer’s letter has not been found; CD had referred in Descent 1: 216 to population data gathered by Scherzer during the voyage of the Novara.
3
CD’s copy of Scherzer 1873, inscribed by the author and dated 21 January 1876, is in the Darwin Library–Down; Scherzer had been Austrian consul in Smyrna (now Izmir), Turkey, before being transferred to London in July 1875 (Morning Post, 8 July 1875, p. 2). The Viennese newspaper has not been found.
4
No record has been found of a visit by CD to the Austrian Consulate.
5
Norwood, Surrey, is a southern suburb of London.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
2.3 by the road 2.4] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10364,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10364