Ɛpsilon

To Melchior Neumayr   24 January 1879

Down. | Beckenham Kent.

Jan 24— 1879.

My dear Sir.

I thank you cordially for your most kind letter, which tells me everything I wished to learn—1 I have written to Herr Würtenberger by this post, offering to send him a sum of money, which with economy would allow him to work for about a year on science; but whether he will accept it, I cannot of course say.—2 I have told him of your most generous offer to aid him with information references &c, if he will communicate with you.—

I am delighted to hear of your work on the Lower Liassic fossils; it is a most interesting geological stage & I feel sure that your manner of considering chiefly the forms which are closely allied will throw a flood of light not merely on Geology but on the whole Descent Theory.3

Again thanking you cordially, | I remain with much respect. Yours very faithfully— | Charles Darwin.

Copy

1
See letter from Melchior Neumayr, 21 January 1879. CD had asked Neumayr his opinion of Leopold Würtenberger, who had asked for financial support.
2
CD’s letter to Würtenberger has not been found, but see the letter from Würtenberger of 29 January 1879.
3
See letter from Melchior Neumayr, 21 January 1879 and n. 5. In the nineteenth century, the Liassic denoted a geological period synonymous with the early Jurassic.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11844,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11844