Ɛpsilon

To William Martindale   4 August 1881

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.) [6 Queen Anne Street, London.]

Aug 4th. 1881

Dear Sir

I thank you very sincerely for sending me the colours so promptly & especially for taking the trouble to give me so much information in your notes— I will try the substances sent before asking you to try & procure for me the Violet de Quinoline.1

Your parcel arrived by post, at the moment when I was starting to leave home for two days,2 so that I had not time to look at the substances.— Nor did I notice whether there was any enclosed account. If not enclosed, you can either send it at once, or allow it to run on, as my son Francis3 or myself will probably soon want some other chemical reagents.—

I remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The notes have not been found. Martindale had supplied CD with colouring agents to study the absorption properties of roots (see letter from Francis Darwin, [before 4 June 1881] and n. 4).
2
CD was in London from 3 to 5 August 1881 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
2.3 at once, 2.4] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13273,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13273