To William Allport Leighton   26 November [1862]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Nov. 26th

My dear Sir

Will you forgive me troubling you.— Prof. Oliver has called my attention to your papers published so long ago as 1842 on Epilobium angustifolium.—2 He suggests as possible that these forms may be reciprocally connected like the two forms of Primula. I much doubt this fact; but as I am working on Dimorphism, I shd. very much like to grow the two forms to experiment on.— Is there any chance of your being able to anyhow procure & send me roots of the two forms; it would be a great kindness if you could.— Anyhow pray excuse me venturing to trouble you.—

With my hopes that your health is good,3 I beg leave to remain, my dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

address for Parcel

C. Darwin

Care of Down Postman

Bromley—

Kent

per Rail.

1
The year is established by the relationship to the letter from Daniel Oliver, 25 November 1862.
2
Leighton 1841 and 1842. See letter from Daniel Oliver, 25 November 1862.
3
Leighton had been a friend of CD’s at Shrewsbury School and at the University of Cambridge (Browne 1995).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.6 roots of] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3832,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3832