Ɛpsilon

To J. V. Carus   18 May 1881

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

May 18th 1881.

My dear Sir

Dr. Ernst Krause wishes to translate & publish a chapter or part of a chapter of my little book on Veg. mould & worms in Kosmos. I wish particularly to do anything which he desires, so that I have consented, if you do not object.—1 I shd. think that Herr Koch wd. consider it a good advertisement.— I have told Krause, that in my opinion the chapters are all too much connected together for his purpose; but that I wd. send him clean sheets, as soon as they are printed, & then he could judge for himself.—2 I do not think that the book is important or interesting enough for long extracts in a popular Journal.—

I hope that you will not object, for I feel under much obligation to Krause. Kindly send me one line in answer.— I heard sometime ago a not good account of your health, & I beg you to tell me how you are.—3 I have received first proofs of nearly 12 my little book, which I guess will be about 300 pages of rather large type.—4

My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
See letter from Ernst Krause, 15 May 1881. Earthworms was published in October 1881 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
2
See letter to Ernst Krause, 18 May 1881. The journal Kosmos, which was edited by Krause, had recently been purchased by Eduard Koch, the head of E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, CD’s German publisher (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Ernst Krause, 4 December 1880).
3
Carus suffered from chronic bronchial problems; CD had asked about his health in his letter of 23 March 1881, but the latest report Carus had sent was in November 1880, when he mentioned suffering from severe rheumatism in his right shoulder (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from J. V. Carus, 20 November 1880).
4
CD and Francis Darwin had recently begun correcting proof-sheets of Earthworms (see letter from Francis Darwin, 14 May 1881).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.5 together] added
1.7 that] interl
2.2 in answer.] interl
2.4 guess] above del ‘gues’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13164,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13164