To Alfred Newton   6 April [1864]

Down Bromley | Kent.

Ap 6

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your kind note.1 After removing the earth I washed the leg   I sat down to dissect it but found myself too weak, & then I am very sorry to say I threw it away, for it never occurred to me that you or any one else cared for a critical examination of the cause of the injury.2

I assure you that I regret extremely but the evil is now irremediable.

My dear Sir | yours truly obliged | Ch. Darwin

LS

Endorsement: ‘April 67/64’

2
In his letter of 2 April 1864, Newton had thanked CD for his investigation of the lump of clay that was attached to a red-legged partridge’s foot, and asked that the foot be returned for an examination of the original injury.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4453,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4453