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To William Kemp   7 December [1843]

Down.

Dec. 7th.—

Dear Sir

I have the pleasure to inform you that to day I have sent your paper to the Annals1—with the particulars last sent added.—2 I hope you do not think, that I have been needlessly scrupulous,—I have had no motive but adding to the value of your discovery & establishing an interesting fact. I am sorry you thought it adviseable to send me a testimonial of yourself—3 Your correspondence & pursuits rendered that quite superfluous.

Yours faithfully | with best wishes | C. Darwin

Postmark: 7 DE 7 | 1843

1
A paper CD had compiled from letters written to him by William Kemp on 2 October, 17 October, 4 November, and 10 November 1843 describing the discovery of seeds twenty-five feet deep in a sandpit near Galashiels, Scotland, was published in Annals and Magazine of Natural History in February 1844 (Kemp 1844). See Correspondence vol. 2.
2
Kemp had sent further details about the discovery of his seeds with his letter of 4 December 1843 (Correspondence vol. 2).
3
Kemp enclosed testimonials for himself, Thomas Welsh, who had found the seeds, and John Bell, who was present at the discovery, with his letter of 4 December 1843 (Correspondence vol. 2).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

but] over ‘by’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-720F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-720F