Ɛpsilon

To D. W. Thompson   [before February 1882]1

Dear Sir

I am glad to hear that Dr H. M approves so highly of your Trans of his work. & I sincerely hope that you may be successful in finding a P.— As stated in my book on C. F. the appearance of Dr Muller work in English it wd be a great boon to natural Science.—2 It contains a vast amt of most curious & interesting matter, & is of high value as giving full reference to everything which has been published in relation to the fertilisation of Flowers.— It is the standard work on this subject. Thanks to the new matter which Dr M. intends to add the English edition will be more valuable even than the German one.—3 The parts of the translation which I have read seem to me remarkably clear & the style does not appear like a Translation

You are perfectly welcome to show this letter which expresses my deliberate conviction to anyone

Dear S | Yrs t. | C. D.

ADraftS

1
The date is established by the date of CD’s preface to H. Müller 1883a (see n. 2, below).
2
No letter from Thompson about the translation of Hermann Müller’s Die Befruchtung der Blumen (H. Müller 1873) has been found. CD had recommended its English translation in Cross and self fertilisation, p. 6 n. See also Correspondence vol. 26, letter from Hermann Müller, 25 September 1878). Thompson’s translation was published by Macmillan and Co. under the title Fertilisation of flowers; it included a preface by CD dated 6 February 1882 (H. Müller 1883a, p. x).
3
In the translator’s preface to H. Müller 1883a, Thomson wrote: ‘I have incorporated a large mass of Dr. Hermann Müller’s recent observations, of which he sent me full notes; and I have also added further details … taken from his own and other writings.’

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 your] above del ‘the’
1.2 book] above del ‘work’
1.3 Dr] after del ‘work’
1.3 work] after del ‘book’
1.3 the appearance … English] above del ‘I’
1.3 great] after del illeg
1.6 It is … subject.] interl
1.8 The part … Translation 1.9] interl
1.9 &] after del ‘& s’
1.9 does] after del ‘so that’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10748,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10748