Ɛpsilon

To H. W. Bates   17 February 1882

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

Feb. 17th. 1882

My dear Bates

Will you be so good as to sign the enclosed Certificate for Mr. Meldola, who does not expect to be elected until 2 or 3 years have elapsed?—1 Please return in enclosed envelope.— But if for any reason you object, I will mention the fact to no one. I shall ask Sir J. Lubbock if he will sign & then send it in the R. Soc.y.—2

My dear Bates, Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
Bates signed the ‘Certificate of a candidate for election’ for Raphael Meldola’s fellowship of the Royal Society of London. For a list of the other signatories, see the letter to Raphael Meldola, 5 February 1882 and n. 3. The application was resuspended (that is, resubmitted) four times before Meldola was elected in 1886 (Royal Society Archives GB 117, EC/1886/10).
2
John Lubbock was the last to sign the form before it was submitted by CD, as proposer. Other signatures were evidently added when the form was resuspended.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.2 Please … envelope.— 1.3] added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13691,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13691