To Julius von Haast   26 December [1865]1

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

Dec 26

My dear Dr Haast

I have received your last note & several printed papers,2 some of which I have read with interest; others are still unread, lying in a large pile with other publications. These are all unread for I have been ill since April & for this same reason I have not sooner written to thank you. I am at last getting somewhat better ⁠⟨⁠I⁠⟩⁠ enclose my photograph which I had quite forgotten.3

I have written about your certificate for the Royal Soc. which I shall have much pleasure in signing & will do any thing I can in aid; but I hear there are so many applicants that I dare say you will have to wait a year or two.4 I am much obliged for the N.Z. newspaper with your lecture which seemed to me very well written.5 What magnificent scenery & glacial action you describe!

Mr S. Butler is now established in London as an artist.6 He lately sent me a clever theological pamphlet.7 I should have much liked to have seen him here & have heard N.Z. news, but the bad state of my health has rendered this impossible.

Believe me dear Dr Haast | yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

LS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Julius von Haast, 27 September 1865.
3
See letter from Julius von Haast, 27 September 1865 and n. 13. CD probably sent the photograph taken in 1864 by his son William Erasmus Darwin. The photograph is reproduced as the frontispiece to Correspondence vol. 12.
4
Haast had requested that CD support his candidacy for the fellowship of the Royal Society of London (see letter from Julius von Haast, 27 September 1865 and n. 6, and letter from J. D. Hooker, [23] December 1865).
6
See letter from Samuel Butler, 1 October 1865 and n. 2. Butler had lived in Canterbury, New Zealand, from 1858 to 1864 (DNB).
7
[Butler] 1865. See letter to Samuel Butler, 30 September [1865] and nn. 2 and 3.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4956,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4956