Ɛpsilon

To Gaston de Saporta   13 [May] 18811

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Feb 13. 1881

Dear Sir,

I received a week of two ago the work which you & Prof Marion have been so kind as to send me.2 When it arrived I was much engaged, and this must be my excuse for not having sooner thanked you for it, and it will likewise account for my having as yet read only the preface. But I now look forward with great pleasure to reading the whole immediately. If I then have any remarks worth sending, which is not very probable, I will write again. I am greatly pleased to see how boldly you express your belief in evolution, in the preface.3 I have sometimes thought that some of your countrymen have been a little timid in publishing their belief on this head, and have thus failed in aiding a good cause.

With much respect, and my best thanks— | I remain, dear Sir, | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
Although the amanuensis recorded the month as February, this letter appears to be a reply to the letter from Gaston de Saporta, 10 April 1881.
2
See the letter from Gaston de Saporta, 10 April 1881, in which Saporta stated that he and Antoine Fortuné Marion were sending CD L’évolution du règne végétal. Les cryptogames (Saporta and Marion 1881). This copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
3
Saporta and Marion declared themselves to be disciples of CD in the preface (Saporta and Marion 1881, pp. vii–xii).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13052,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13052