Ɛpsilon

To W. E. Darwin   17 December [1880]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dec. 17th

My dear old W.

I have carefully washed & examined the 4 castings from Brading & they have yielded a large number of bits of tiles or bricks, which are more or less rounded, & a multitude of bits of mortar & white calc. cement.—2 But it is extremely difficult to judge whether the rounding is due to the action of the gizzards of worms.— I am very much obliged for the great trouble which you took about the Brading ruins & I am very glad to have your account.3 Everything agrees pretty closely with what I have seen or heard elsewhere.— It is odd some of the floors having subsided in the line of slope of the field.—

There are 2 questions, which you may perhaps be able to answer: are the ruins in the upper or lower part of the field which slopes at about 3°; for if in the lower part much earth will have been washed down.

Secondly can you remember whether the floor of the great room (40 ft x 18 ft) whence you got the castings, lay at some considerable depth beneath the surface of the field.—

I return slip to avoid chance of loss.

Judging from letters from Germany the “Power of Movement” will prove a good hit in Phys. Botany. There is no one in this country who knows anything of the subject.—4

It will be very nice seeing you & Sara here so soon.—5

When you have any leisure (if such time ever comes) try & make out relation of the brick earth near you to the angular gravel-bed.

Ever yours affect | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. E. Darwin, 3 December [1880].
2
William had visited the recently uncovered Roman villa at Brading on the Isle of Wight (letter from W. E. Darwin, 3 December [1880]). Calc.: calcareous (i.e. composed of calcium carbonate).
3
For William’s description of the ruins and surrounding area, see the letter from W. E. Darwin, 3 December [1880].
4
CD had received several letters from German correspondents praising Movement in plants (see, for example, letter from Friedrich Hildebrand, 4 December 1880, and letter from Hermann Vöchting, 8 December 1880.
5
William and Sara Darwin arrived at Down on 23 December 1880 and stayed until 29 December (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 large] after del illeg
1.2 are] after del ‘se’
1.4 the action] after del ‘wo’
3.1 floor of the] interl; ‘floor’ after del ‘flower’
3.2 surface] above del ‘level’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12920,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12920