Ɛpsilon

To T. L. Mitchell   31 May [1839]

My dear Sir

I am extremely obliged to you, for your great kindness in making enquiries respecting my servant.— But by a great chance, the day after I saw you, I made an arrangement for him to work his passage out as cook to a vessel. I am very sorry you should have taken so much trouble in vain.—

I enclose the curious stone, which I take much shame to myself for not having returned earlier.—but I had stored it away so carefully, that it had utterly past from my mind. I hope before very long, however, to publish a short account of it, & the woodcut, which you permitted to be taken from it.—1

Believe me | Very truly yours | Chas. Darwin 12 Upper Gower St

May 31st.—

1
CD describes it as a ‘volcanic bomb of obsidian’ (Volcanic islands, p. 38 and fig. 4). It has since been identified as a flanged-button tektite produced by the impact of a meteorite (Dietz 1978, p. 345).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 an] interl
2.3 I hope] ‘I’ over ‘as’
point omitted after : 2.3 ‘publish’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-515,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-515