To Emil du Bois-Reymond   12 November 1878

My dear Sir

I thank you sincerely for your most kind letter, in which you announce the great honour conferred on me. The knowledge of the names of the illustrious men, who seconded the proposal, is even a greater pleasure to me than the honour itself.¹ I had forgotten that I had audaciously complained to you of the difficulty of reading German, & yet I have to read some every single day of my life, & if I could read it easily, I would never read a word in any other language, so much of extreme value in Natural History is published almost every day in Germany.—

Very many thanks for the Address, which you have kindly sent me. I have often met with notices of it, but did not know that it was published separately. I have looked at a few pages in which my name appeared, & I see that you have honoured me greatly, & you have taken, as it seems to me, a very just view on some points.— But I shall wait, till I can procure the translation, for from what little I know of your writings & work, I am naturally very anxious to read the whole.—²

Believe me, my dear Sir, with cordial thanks & respect | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin