Ɛpsilon

To Francisco de Arruda Furtado   2 September 1881

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

Sept 2. 1881

Dear Sir

I hope that you will not object to accept from me, as an old man & a lover of Science, a copy of Mr Wallace’s work, which I have despatched by post today.1 Mr. W. has since published a work in 1 volume on the same subject, which he has made more popular & it is very interesting, but I do not think that it would be so useful to you.—2

I am glad that you have begun to work so energetically. You cannot expect to get any results, until several years have elapsed, & allow me to advise you to keep notes & go on accumulating facts, & then you will probably be able to publish hereafter a valuable essay.—

With respect to the plants which you have collected, I will communicate with Sir J. Hooker on the subject in the course of a few weeks, for at present he is much engaged.— I fear that the heights are hardly sufficient for any very high interest, but it may be otherwise—3

With all good wishes | Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
Arruda Furtado told CD that he could not afford to buy Alfred Russel Wallace’s books (letter from Francisco de Arruda Furtado, 17 August 1881; CD sent him Wallace’s Geographical distribution (Wallace 1876).
2
Island life (Wallace 1880a).
3
Arruda Furtado had begun collecting plants from the summits of Serra Gorda and Pico da Cruz on the island of São Miguel in the Azores (see letter from Francisco de Arruda Furtado, 17 August 1881). Joseph Dalton Hooker was at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in York, where he was serving as president of the Geography section (Report of the 51st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at York (1881), Transactions of the sections, p. 727). Arruda Furtado later initiated a correspondence with Hooker (see Constância ed. 2002, pp. 145–7).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.1 a lover] ‘a’ interl
2.3 hereafter] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13313,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13313