To Edward Frankland   27 April [1876]1

6 Queen Anne St | Cavendish Squ W.

Ap. 27th.

My dear Sir

You will remember that you twice allowed me to call on you early in the morning & gave me valuable advice & other help.2 Now I want much to ask you two questions, which at the utmost will not take more than 14 of hour. Will you be so kind as to let me come again & fix any morning of the next few days3 i.e. on Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday or Tuesday. We go back home early on Wednesday.?

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the description of CD’s visit in Margaret Frankland’s diary; see n. 3, below.
2
CD had previously visited Frankland on 15 November 1873 (Correspondence vol. 21, letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 15 November [1873]) and probably in April 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22, letter to Edward Frankland, 22 April [1874]) to discuss his experiments on the digestive fluid of insectivorous plants.
3
CD was in London from Thursday 27 April until Wednesday 3 May 1876 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). According to Margaret Frankland’s diary (see Russell 1996, pp. 331–2), he visited Frankland on Sunday 30 April 1876. CD’s questions were about the chemical composition of soil; see letter to Francis Darwin, [30 April 1876].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 6 … W.] above del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
0.2 27th.] altered from ‘26th.’
1.2 & gave] ‘&’ over illeg
1.2 & other] ‘&’ over point
1.4 morning] after del interl illeg
1.4 i.e.… Wednesday. 1.5] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10480A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10480A