Ɛpsilon

From V. O. Kovalevsky   23 May [1871]1

Berlin Georgenstrasse 7.

23 May

Dear Sir

I reached Berlin only yesterday and found both Your letters, the first about Körte and the second in answer to my letter from Paris.2 I did stop for a week at Stuttgart to study the splendid collection of Triassic Reptiles existing there and to assist at the Explaration of a new cave near Ulm containing undoubtedly human remains together with bones of Rhinoceros and Ursus spelaeus.3 To morrow I will try to have the book of Körte from the Royal library and translate the passage You want. Possibly the book is not there, as the arsenals of Prussia are furnished much better than public libraries, then I will try to get it from Leipsic, at all events I shall find the book as soon as it goes and send You the translation.

We both are very well and send our compliments to Mrs. Darwin and the ladies4 | Yours truly | W. Kowalevsky

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to V. O. Kovalevsky, 3 May 1871.
2
See letters to V. O. Kovalevsky, 3 May 1871 and 17 May [1871]. CD had requested a translation of a passage in Körte 1829.
3
The cave that Kovalevsky visited was probably Hohle Fels, near the village of Schelklingen, twelve miles west of Ulm. The cave was first excavated in 1870 (Rosendahl and Döppes 2006). Ursus spelaeus (the cave bear) lived in Europe during the Pleistocene period (Kurtén 1976).
4
Kovalevsky refers to Emma, Henrietta Emma, and Elizabeth Darwin.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7766,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7766