Ɛpsilon

From Edward Frankland   9 February 1882

Science and Art Department | South Kensington

Feb. 9/82

Dear Mr. Darwin

Mr. Meldola is, in my opinion, a most promising young chemist and I am glad to see from his certificate that he is also known to biologists, but I think he is still rather too young both in age & work to be brought forward at the Royal Society with a fair chance of success, at all events as regards his chemical claims. Under the shadow of your name however I should probably have waved this objection if I had not recently declined, on the same grounds, to bring him forward when requested to do so by a particular friend of mine.1

I forward the certificate to Mr. Lockyer.2

Believe me | Yours sincerely | E. Frankland

1
In spite of the objections stated here, Frankland did sign the ‘Certificate of a candidate for election’ for Raphael Meldola’s fellowship of the Royal Society of London, but at a later date, as his name appears after that of John Lubbock, whose signature was the last obtained by CD (see letter to Raphael Meldola, 23 February 1882). The application was resuspended (that is, resubmitted) four times before Meldola was elected in 1886 (Royal Society Archives GB 117, EC/1886/10). The friend Frankland mentions has not been identified.
2
Norman Lockyer’s name appears just after CD’s on Meldola’s certificate.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13674,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13674