Ɛpsilon

To Robert Main   6 October 1870

Beckenham | Kent S.C.1

Octr 6. 1870

Dear Sir

I regret much that I am unable to correct my little Manual.2 I have lately been unwell from over-work, & I am going to leave home immediately for a complete rest.3

On my return I must go on correcting the proofs of a work now on hand,4 & I really feel incapable of undertaking any other task. Could you ask Professor Phillips to give you a list of books in addition to the few mentioned by me, & perhaps you would persuade him to read over my essay & append to it his own name, some additional suggestions.5

As I have not attended much to geology lately, such suggestions would be immeasurably better than any which I could add.

Pray believe me dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Copy

1
S.C.: copyist’s error for ‘S.E.’
2
CD refers to his essay ‘Geology’, first published in A manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the use of Her Majesty’s Navy: and adapted for travellers in general (Herschel ed. 1849, pp. 156–95). John William Frederick Herschel published a second edition (Herschel ed. 1851), and Robert Main had superintended a third edition (Main ed. 1859; see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to Robert Main, 27 July [1859]).
3
CD was away from home from 13 to 20 October 1870 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
4
CD refers to Descent.
5
John Phillips, professor of geology at Oxford University, revised CD’s article in Main ed. 1871, pp. 248–75 (the fourth edition of the Manual of scientific enquiry; see Main ed. 1871, p. 248).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7335,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7335