Ɛpsilon

To G. H. Darwin   6 [October 1881]1

Down

6th

My dear George—

I have despatched your note to Mr. Patterson & am very much obliged to you for arranging everything.—2 I am sorry to hear of the Proof-sheets.—3 I am weary with working with the microscope, so no more.—4

I believe William5 will sleep here this one night— Here is a horrid bother   there is scarlet-fever at Aberdovy & there are doubts about Bernard going there6

Farewell | C. Darwin

1
The month and year are established by the mention of the outbreak of scarlet fever in Aberdovey (Aberdyfi), Wales (see n. 6, below).
2
William Benjamin Paterson was a solicitor in practice at 25 Lincoln’s Inn Fields (Post Office London directory). George Darwin was Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s executor; Paterson was the London agent dealing with the estate (see letter to G. H. Darwin, [28 August 1881] and n. 2). George’s note to Paterson has not been found.
3
Possibly these were proofs of the report made by George on 6 September on behalf of the committee for the measurement of the lunar disturbance of gravity; the full report was published in the Report of the 51st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at York (1881): 93–126 (see letters from G. H. Darwin, 28 August 1881 and [7 September 1881]).
4
CD had begun to work on aggregation of protoplasm in plant tissues in August 1881. At this time, he was focusing on chlorophyll, and his notes on aggregation of chlorophyll in Dionaea (Venus fly trap), dated between 8 and 12 October 1881, are in DAR 52: F73–83.
6
The news of the outbreak of scarlet fever had been sent in a telegram from Bernard Darwin’s maternal grandmother, Mary Anne Ruck; in the end only Francis Darwin made the trip to see the Ruck family and Bernard Darwin remained at Down (letter from Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, [11 October 1881] (DAR 210.3: 25)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13319,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13319