Ɛpsilon

To John Lubbock   [6 February 1859]1

Moor Park | Farnham, Surrey

Sunday

Dear Lubbock

Just as I was starting for this place, I received your note for Wollaston, & I will in a day or two add to it & forward it.—2

I am grieved to hear of your Brother’s accident; but really is most fortunate that it was not worse; what horrid anxiety poor Lady Lubbock must have had & I fear may still have some.—3 Would you some day write me the briefest note to tell me how he goes on, for I shd. really much wish to hear; & I cannot from home, as they are all moving to Hartfield, on account of poor Etty, who is much worse.4

After I last saw you I had bad attack followed by a second, & I have had to take refuge here, where I shall remain a fortnight & try to get a little strength.5

Farewell | Dear Lubbock | Yours ever most sincerely | C. Darwin

P.S. Thinking over your case of ovarium of Pulex,6 it has occurred to me that you & probably no one but you in England could write a capital paper “on the position of certain anomalous insects in the Nat. System, as judged by their internal organs”.— Their externals have been discussed ad nauseam. Earwigs, Pulex, Thrips, Strepsiptera—Trichoptera & other neuroptera &c &c— Think of this; alimentary, generative male & female & nervous systems & circulatory (?)7

1
The Sunday before Lubbock’s reply. See following letter.
2
The letter to Thomas Vernon Wollaston has not been found.
3
Beaumont William Lubbock, John Lubbock’s younger brother, had injured himself (see following letter).
4
Henrietta Emma Darwin accompanied Emma Darwin and the younger children to Hartfield, Sussex, on 7 February 1859 (Emma Darwin’s diary). Henrietta had been ill throughout much of January.
5
Emma Darwin’s diary records that CD had a second ‘attack’ on 2 February 1859. CD arrived at Moor Park hydropathic establishment on 5 February 1859 (‘Journal’; Appendix II).
6
Lubbock included a description of the ovarium of Pulex in Lubbock 1859. CD discussed this paper with Lubbock prior to publication (see letter to John Lubbock, [November 1858]). Lubbock had touched upon variation in the internal organs of insects in an earlier paper (Lubbock 1857a).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

5.6 male & female] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2408,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2408