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To A. B. Buckley   26 August [1881]1

Down Beckenham

August 26th.

My dear Miss Buckley

The Orange has arrived, and is a prodigy of which I have never seen the like.— I do not believe that it is an orange; and I remember that Gallesio describes some gigantic fruit (Adam’s apple, I think), about which there have been many disputes, whether a distinct species, or variety or a hybrid. We cut it open and the inside is as curious as the outside, and the pale flesh-coloured contents intensely acid.2

I am glad to hear that you are going to York and hope that you will enjoy it. I was at York very many years ago and admired the Minster beyond measure.—3

Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

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1
The year is established by the reference to York (see n. 3, below).
2
Giorgio Gallesio had described a ‘Pomi di Adamo’ produced from the seed of an orange tree that grew close to lemon and cedar trees (Gallesio 1816, p. 53). CD referred Gallesio’s work on hybrid fruit, and gave the example of the ‘Adam’s apple’, in Variation 1: 335–6. No other correspondence regarding the orange has been found.
3
Buckley was evidently planning to attend the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at York from 31 August to 7 September 1881. CD had visited York in October 1845 (CD’s ‘Journal’, Correspondence vol. 3, Appendix II).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13297,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13297