Ɛpsilon

From E. A. Darwin   21 [December 1870]1

21st

Dear Charles.

The shares all right as you say

292 £12.10.0 @ 4%
80 Do. 412%

I find they weigh 4lbs 6oz and I suppose they will go all right by regd Book Post2

Sir H came & gave me a great wigging for not having been invited to luncheon the moment you came to town. He was rather in favour of Ld Salisbury being PRS— Sylvester in smoking room last night was saying you or D. of Devonre. ought to be Prest.—3 If Ld Sy were made he should withdraw his name at once. He got so excited over Kant4 & Geometry that he almost danced

You must be having jolly time with the Boys5

Yours affec. | ED

1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from E. A. Darwin, 19 [December 1870].
3
Erasmus probably refers to Henry Holland (Sir H), Robert Cecil (the marquess of Salisbury), James Joseph Sylvester, and William Cavendish (the duke of Devonshire). CD had stayed with Erasmus in London from 8 to 14 December 1870 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). Edward Sabine was president of the Royal Society of London until 30 November 1871 (Record of the Royal Society of London, p. 338). He announced his forthcoming resignation at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society on 30 November 1870 (Proceedings of the Royal Society 19 (1870–1): 127).
4
The reference is to Immanuel Kant’s argument that the truths of geometry are synthetic a priori truths (Kant 1781).
5
Erasmus presumably refers to Francis, Leonard, and Horace Darwin.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7067,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7067