To Francis Darwin   [26 June 1879]1

6. Q. Anne St

Thursday

My dear F.

Your P. Card arrived just before we started & was overlooked in a bundle of letters, until we came here   We shall return on Monday & I will then see to seeds—2 I am very glad about Earth, caustic & geotropism.— Remember that, as it seems to me, cases are much more interesting when tips of root are blinded with gold-beaters skin—or tin foil, that when cauterised.3

C. D.

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Francis Darwin, 25 June [1879]. The Thursday following 25 June 1879 was 26 June.
2
Francis’s postcard has not been found, but he evidently requested seeds of Rhagadiolus (a genus in the daisy family, Asteraceae) and Hieracium (the genus of hawkweed; see letter from Francis Darwin, [before 26 June 1879]). CD was in London on 26 June 1879 to receive the Baly medal at the Royal College of Physicians; the Darwins stayed two days in London then went to the home of Laura Mary Forster, West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, near Dorking, Surrey, for three days and returned to Down on Tuesday 1 July 1879 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 are] after del illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12124,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12124