Ɛpsilon

From G. H. Darwin   14 December 1878

Trin Coll.

Dec 14th 78

My dear Father,

Frank was saying last night that we really ought to ask Newton again to Down & I quite agree.1

Could you screw yourself up to do the deed next Saturday & Sunday— If yes, I will write to him—or it might be still more gracious if you did. You know his address Magd. Coll.2

What a curious affair this is about the old gentleman of Worthing. I wonder whether he will change his mind. I have sent on the letters to Leith Hill.3

I have been skating today & yesterday—but I wish it wd. thaw— the thermom. stands at 45o in my room4

Yours affec | G H Darwin

I return on Wednesday.

1
Alfred Newton was professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at Cambridge; Francis Darwin had become friends with Newton while he was a student at Cambridge. Newton had visited Down with Francis from 22 to 24 January 1870 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
2
No record of Newton’s visiting Down around this time has been found.
3
Anthony Rich had decided to bequeath his property in the City of London to CD in recognition of CD’s contribution to science (see letter from Anthony Rich, 7 December 1878). CD had asked that his letter to E. A. Darwin, 12 December 1878, be forwarded to Horace Darwin and George, and then to Leith Hill Place, Surrey, the home of his sister Caroline Sarah Wedgwood.
4
The winter of 1878–9 was one of the coldest on record for England (Manley 1974, p. 396); Emma Darwin’s diary for this period records long spells of below-freezing temperatures (DAR 242). 45°F: 7°C.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11796,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11796