Ɛpsilon

From Leonard Darwin   [after 4 March 1871]1

Dear Father

There was a man called Conder, an art critic &c and a friend of the Lushingtons, who has a son here in the Engineers, down here the other day; He said for your expression book Falkner whs the best photographer for you as he has done children often, and then you should get them heliotyped.2 Today I got a letter from the heliotype man with some examples of bones and flowers printed this way.3 I could find out the address of the photographer Falknener. Shall I send you the heliotypes? Does the man mean me to return them? Shall I get the address of Falkener? There was a small paragraph on you in last Saturday’s Echo4   Not worth getting I think. I will write home soon about things in general   Have not any time now. Had I better thank Mr Conder through his son for you?5

Leonard Darwin.

1
The date is established from the reference to the ‘small paragraph … in last Saturday’s Echo’; this paragraph was in the Echo, 4 March 1871, p. 4 (see n. 4, below).
2
Leonard refers to Francis Roubiliac Conder, Vernon and Jane Lushington, Claude Reignier Conder, and Robert Faulkner. Faulkner was known for the quality of his photographs of children (Pritchard 1994).
3
Leonard may refer to F. R. Conder, who had written an article, ‘Heliography’, in the Art-Journal n.s. 9 (1870): 325–6 and 357–9, issues of 1 November and 1 December 1870.
4
Leonard refers to the London newspaper, the Echo. In the Echo, 4 March 1871, p. 4, there was an editorial paragraph noting the charm of the anecdotes about animals in Descent, and quoting CD’s description of the early progenitors of the human race, with both sexes bearded. The author asked whether the fact that men alone now retained beards was not proof positive that women had ‘outrun man in the race from the bestial type to the properly human’.
5
C. R. Conder, like Leonard, held a commission in the Royal Engineers, who were based at Chatham.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7405,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7405