Ɛpsilon

To C. S. Wedgwood   26 March 1879

Down

March 26, 1879

Many thanks.1 Artesian wells seem to have been known in France (Artois) from time immemorial.2 I have heard that there is now an inscription on a pump in Derby about Dr. D. and I will see to this and to Phil. Transact.3 I remember now, but had forgotten the Triple saying of Dr. D.4 What I shall use I cannot yet tell, but I am glad to hear of anything.

C.D.

Copy

1
The letter to which this is a reply has not been found.
2
In Roman times the town of Artois was known as Artesium; the first recorded artesian well was drilled there in 1126 by Carthusian monks using a percussion method. Water from an artesian well does not need to be pumped because the water rises naturally from the pressure exerted in the confined aquifer (Cech 2010, p. 118).
3
In Erasmus Darwin, pp. 122–3, CD described the artesian well that Erasmus Darwin made at Derby and gave the Latin inscription on a plaque on the garden wall commemorating the well. CD also referred to his grandfather’s paper in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (E. Darwin 1784).
4
The triple saying was probably one CD quoted in Erasmus Darwin, pp. 42–3:

common sense would be improving, when men left off wearing as much flour on their heads as would make a pudding; when women left off wearing rings in their ears, like savages wear nose rings; and when firegrates were no longer made of polished steel.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11955,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11955