Ɛpsilon

To J. V. Carus   22 January 1877

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

Jan 22. 1877

My dear Sir,

Very many thanks for the errata, & more especially for the interesting & very amusing notes on expression.1 These will be of use to me if a new edit is ever required; but this is doubtful, as before the 7000 copies were all sold Murray foolishly printed 2000 additional, many of which yet remain.2

As soon as I hear from Koch I will write to Smith & Elder.3

I am very glad to hear that you are going to the Zoolog: Statione at Naples, as I should think that you will find it very interesting, & I sincerely hope that the climate may suit your health.4 My health has been better of late, so that I am able to work several hours daily, but I never pass a whole day in comfort, & this is a feeling I daresay you well know. I am at present preparing a small book with my papers on Dimorphic & Trimorphic plants, & other allied subjects.5

With all good wishes, yours very sincerely, | Charles Darwin

P.S. | “Prising” only means lifting up an object with the end of a lever, for instance forcing open the lid of a box with a tool driven in under it6

LS

2
No new edition of Expression was published by John Murray in CD’s lifetime. The second edition of Expression, edited by Francis Darwin, contained material collected by CD (see Expression 2d ed., p. iii).
3
See letter from J. V. Carus, 20 January 1877 and n. 1. Carus did not think that Eduard Koch, CD’s German publisher, would require maps from Smith, Elder & Co. for the German edition of Geological observations 2d ed. (Carus trans. 1877a and 1878b).
5
CD’s earlier papers, ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’, ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’, and ‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’, were reworked in Forms of flowers, which was published on 9 July 1877 (Freeman 1977).
6
See letter from J. V. Carus, 20 January 1877; see also Cross and self fertilisation, p. 155. CD had referred to finding a flower with the stamen ‘prised up’.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10809,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10809