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To Karl von Scherzer   24 December 1876

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

Dec 24. 1876

Dear Sir,

I write a line to thank you very sincerely for your two kind letters, & to acknowledge the safe arrival of your present of the volume on Craniology, which I will read as soon as I have finished some other books in hand1   It is extremely good of you to suggest my name to the Austrian Government for a copy of the magnificent series of volumes containing the full account of the voyage of the ‘Novara’, but in truth I do not feel that I am worthy of so fine a present.2 I hope that Mrs Scherzer & yourself will benefit by your stay at Sudbrook. Pray give my kind remembrances to Dr Lane and all his family.3

Once again accept my best thanks & believe me, dear Sir, | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
The letters from von Scherzer have not been found, but von Scherzer had recently sent CD an essay by Moritz Wagner (see letter to Karl von Scherzer, 22 September 1876). The volume on craniology (Zuckerkandl 1875) was the last to be published in the series of scientific publications from the Novara expedition. CD’s copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
2
The multi-volume series on the Novara expedition was published between 1861 and 1875 (Novara expedition 1861–75); Hochstetter 1864–6, Weisbach 1867, and Friedrich Müller 1868 from the series are in the Darwin Library–CUL, in addition to Zuckerkandl 1875.
3
Scherzer’s wife was Julie Karoline Scherzer. Edward Wickstead Lane was proprietor of a hydropathic establishment at Sudbrook Park, near Ham, Surrey. CD had taken the water cure there in summer of 1860, and at Lane’s previous establishment at Moor Park, Surrey, in 1857, 1858, and 1859. He greatly admired Lane and his family (see Correspondence vols. 6, 7, and 8).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10733,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10733