To William Bowman   30 July [1865?]1

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

July 30

My dear Mr Bowman

I am very much obliged for your kind note.2 I will attend to your information whenever I am able to publish my book;3 but I have lately lost many months from continued illness.

I thank you most sincerely for your kindness to my son4 & I had intended writing several months ago to thank for; but put it off from being so unwell until it was too late.

Pray believe me | my dear Mr Bowman | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
The year is conjectured from the reference to CD’s illness of ‘many months’, and the reference to CD’s book, presumably Variation. See letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] and n. 1.
2
This letter has not been found.
3
William Bowman, a leading ophthalmic surgeon, supplied CD with information about inherited imperfections of the human eye (see Variation 2: 8–10, 79).
4
It is not known what Bowman’s kindness was, or to which of CD’s sons it was shown.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4878,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4878