From William Bowman   3 September [1869]1

North End | Hampstead

Sept. 3rd

My dear Mr Darwin,

Profr. Donders of Utrecht is with me, and if you should be at home and able to receive a call from us on Tuesday next, we would do ourselves the pleasure of coming to Bromley but I write beforehand to ascertain—thinking it very likely you may be from home at this season.—2

I know of no one abroad more instructed in all recent progress or more able to appreciate your works—

I hope next year he will pass a month with me but on this occasion his stay is very short & he leaves on Wednesday— I have asked him to think over the points you referred to me from Sir C. Bell’s works—3

Yours very truly | W Bowman

C. Darwin Esqr

1
The year is established by the reference to Frans Cornelis Donders’s visit (see n. 2, below).
2
Donders’s visit to Down is mentioned in CD’s letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 September [1869]. The Tuesday after 3 September 1869 was 7 September.
3
CD had asked Bowman about a passage in Charles Bell’s Anatomy and philosophy of expression as connected with the fine arts (Bell 1844) in his letter of 2 April [1868] (Correspondence vol. 16). CD had previously asked Bowman for observations pertaining to Bell’s account of weeping (see Correspondence vol. 15, letter to William Bowman, 30 July [1867]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6877,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6877