From Edward Wilson   8 November 1867

Hayes | Bromley, Kent.

8 Nov 1867

My dear Mr Darwin

I got your note while in Paris.1 Before I went, however, I had put your emotional questions in train, sending one list to a friend in Melbourne, one to Queensland, & one to South Australia2

My South Australian friend writes me to the effect enclosed, by which you will see that your queries are likely to receive every attention from one of your ardent disciples,3 & ⁠⟨⁠I⁠⟩⁠ think my Melbourne & Queensland friends will be equally interested in these enquiries4

Yours very truly | Ed Wilson

C Darwin Esq

1
Wilson may have visited the Exposition universelle in Paris; the Exposition opened on 1 April and closed on 31 October 1867 (see Mainardi 1987).
2
Wilson had recently become a neighbour of CD’s, having retired to Hayes Place, Bromley, in 1867 (Aust. dict. biog.). Wilson had evidently received CD’s queries about expression (see Correspondence vol.15, Appendix IV) and sent them to friends in Australia, where he had lived from 1842. In Expression, p. 19, CD acknowledged Wilson’s help in securing thirteen sets of answers from Australia.
3
The enclosure has not been found. Wilson’s friend has not been identified.
4
Wilson’s other two friends were probably Robert Brough Smyth of Melbourne and Dyson Lacy of Queensland, both of whom were acknowledged by CD for having provided information for Expression (Expression, p. 20).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5672,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5672