Ɛpsilon

From Charles Wyville Thomson   7 October 1870

Strandtown | Belfast

October 7th 1870.

My dear Sir,

As you are probably aware Dr. Allman has been obliged to resign the Edinburgh Chair—1 I am a candidate for it and although I have not the honor of your personal acquaintance I cannot refrain from asking you for a few words of recommendation if you think that I am justified in applying for this post in my native town—

I am the more anxious for your sanction of my candidature as my later work has so direct a bearing on the illustration of your views.2

Believe me | My dear Sir | Yours with great respect | Wyville Thomson

1
George James Allman resigned from his position as professor of natural history at the University of Edinburgh and keeper of the natural history collection of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art due to poor health (Swinney 1999, pp. 55–6).
2
See, for example, Thomson’s work on the embryology and development of echinoderms (C. W. Thomson 1861, 1862, and 1863). See also C. W. Thomson 1869; an inscribed and annotated copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7336,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7336