Ɛpsilon

From R. A. Blair to the Smithsonian Institution   10 July 1878

Sedalia Mo.

July 10. 1878.

Dear Sir,

Upon the request of Mr. Chas. Darwin, I have prepared a small box of specimen Goose wings in alcohol, bearing on a case of Transmission of Effects of injury. He directs me to address them Prof. Flower Royal Col. Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn Fields London which I have done—1

Will you be kind enough to forward them, through the Institution? They are in Alcohol well packed & marked, in wooden box 14 x 8 x 4 inches—2

I will be pleased to deliver the pckge in Washington prepaid.

Hoping to receive your favorable reply I remain | Very Truly | Your obdt Servt | R. A. Blair | Sedalia | MO.

Box 451.

1
See letter to R. A. Blair, 14 April 1878. William Henry Flower was curator of the Hunterian Museum and Hunterian Professor of comparative anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons.
2
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC had established a worldwide exchange system with other scientific institutions by negotiating deals with several steamship companies for free transport and obtaining the co-operation of the United States and foreign governments to admit Smithsonian packages duty-free. The use of the system for specimens began to be curtailed in the 1870s but it continued to operate for publications well into the twentieth century. See Craig 2004, pp. 8–9.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11599F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11599F