Ɛpsilon

To H. N. Moseley   5 November 18761

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

Nov. 5 1876

My dear Sir,

I am very much obliged to you for your kind present of the Japanese book, with its curious & amusing drawings.2 As I am no believer in Physiognomy I will not trouble you to lend me the other books. Many thanks also for the photograph (which however is not very clear) & for several of your papers on observations made during the voyage of the Challenger.3 It has been a grand thing for you to have taken part & done such capital work in the most memorable Scientific expedition which ever left England.

I have heard this morning from Ray Lankester, who tells me that you would like to pay me a visit.4 I can assure you that it will give me very great pleasure to make your acquaintance & to hear somewhat of what you have seen & done. But I must forewarn you that I am incapable of talking long with anyone, as my head suffers afterwards. If when you are next in London & can send me a line I shall be most happy if you will dine & sleep here. I can tell you the best route & time for this place when I hear from you

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

LS

1
This letter was first published in Correspondence vol. 24 from a copy; this version is from an image of the original.
2
See letter from H. N. Moseley, 3 November 1876. The book has not been found in the Darwin Libraries at CUL or Down.
3
Moseley was naturalist on the 1872–6 HMS Challenger expedition. There are no papers published by him before 1877 in the Darwin Archive–CUL; there is an extract of his paper on Peripatus capensis (now Peripatopsis capensis, a velvet worm; Moseley 1874) in the Darwin Library–Down.
4
Edwin Ray Lankester’s letter has not been found; he was a close friend of Moseley’s (ODNB).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10663,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10663