Ɛpsilon

To W. W. Baxter   8 August [1871]1

Haredene | Albury | Guildford

Aug 8th

Dear Sir

Will you be so kind as to send me eight (8) grains of acetate of Strychnine, in paper by Post.—2 I have your Bottle labelled into which to put it— Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Mrs Darwin begs Mr Baxter will send the contents of a bottle of Citrate of Iron & Quinine at the same time, as she thinks it will come better in that way than in the bottle3

1
The year is established by the address; the Darwins rented Haredene from 28 July to 25 August 1871 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
2
CD used strychnine acetate in experiments on insectivorous plants; see letter to Michael Foster, 26 June [1871] and n. 4.
3
The postscript is in Emma Darwin’s hand. Citrate of iron and quinia was a preparation of soluble crystals commonly used as a tonic (Royle and Headland 1865, p. 492).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 eight] interl
1.1 8] over ‘6’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7900,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7900