Ɛpsilon

To Ernst Haeckel   20 December 1868

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

Dec 20 1868

My dear Häckel

I write a line merely to thank you for yr letter of Dec 12, which by some accident I received only 2 days ago.1

I am very sincerely sorry, for yr sake & for the sake of science at the sudden death of yr distinguished Schleicher.2 From all that I have heard he will be an irreparable loss to philology; & I am personally all the more grieved as he so well supported the views which we both maintain.

Believe me my dear Häckel | your sincere friend | Charles Darwin

LS

1
Haeckel’s letter has not been found. Haeckel had accidentally sent it to Thomas Henry Huxley, who forwarded it to CD (see letter from T. H. Huxley, 18 December 1868 and n. 1).
2
August Schleicher died on 6 December 1868 (ADB).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6509,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6509