To Edward Cresy   15 May [1853]

Down Farnborough Kent

May 15th

My dear Sir

I am not a little ashamed of myself for all the trouble I have given you: I write now to confess my sins, & say that in despair I have given up the siphon-plan: and intend only to make an ordinary tank, of no very great diameter with pump.—1 I called at Burgess & Keys & found that the coated Hose was flat & of course wd. not do for suction: & that the gutta Percha wd not stand frequent moving. Hence there was nothing left but the Leather & this would have cost me nearly £20,—a sum which I grudged, especially as it, the Leather Hose, it seems, requires care &c.— The only apology I can make for all the trouble I have given, is, that I was bonâ fide in strong earnest, when I wrote to you, on the scheme.

With thanks, pray believe me, my dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
CD recorded the expenses of the construction of a tank and of gutta percha pipes in his Classed account book (Down House MS). Isaac Withers Laslett, the builder in Down village, was paid £32 3s. 7d. on 22 April 1853 and £40 15s. on 4 July. Gutta percha pipes cost CD £1 7s. and £1 15s. on 17 June and 18 August, respectively.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 coated] interl
1.7 the Leather] ‘the’ over ‘wd’
1.8 that I] ‘I’ over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1682,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1682