From W. S. Dallas   7 May 1879

My dear Sir

I have received from D^r. Krauss the first half of the MS. of his enlarged notice of Erasmus Darwin, & will set to work upon it once, but I fear that my progress will be comparatively slow, seeing that the MS., although not in German Cursivschrift, is in a very small Germanic-English handwriting.—¹ The remainder he will send in two or three weeks,— but he says that you wish to have the first part as soon as possible as you propose to make some additions to it.— I will accordingly send you the MS. translation in portions as I can get it done, i.e. the work of two or three days at a time, & if I do not find the small cramped handwriting a very great obstacle, I hope to get all this part finished in a week, or ten days at most— Please send a line to say whether this arrangement will suit you— So far as I can judge from a cursory inspection of part of the MS. I don’t think the translation will present any particular difficulties,— where idiomatic phrases & twists occur I will do my best to keep near to the original.—

Believe me | Yours very truly | W. S. Dallas.

Charles Darwin Esq.