Ɛpsilon

From John Tyndall   5 February 1876

5th. Feby 1876

It is not the gift but the altar which sanctifieth the gift.1

And it is not the teapot but the fact that it is Charles Darwin’s teapot that gives it an immortal value in our eyes.2

I will not quit the subject of your postscript until light is let in on every cranny of the question.3

With warm thanks & strong affection, my dear Darwin yours | John Tyndall

1
Tyndall alludes to Matthew 23:19. ‘Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?’
2
CD had ordered a silver tea set as a wedding present (see letter to John Tyndall, 4 February 1876 and nn. 1 and 2, and second letter from John Tyndall, 5 February 1876).
3
See letter to John Tyndall, 4 February 1876 and nn. 3 and 4. Tyndall had been working on the problem of spontaneous generation.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10381,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10381