Ɛpsilon

From W. E. Darwin   [3 March 1872]1

Sunday

My dear Father,

I send you the dirt residue from Chalk as Prof. Forbes would probably be able to judge whether this is the result of soakage.2

Parsons weighed them when quite dry, & he is a good chemist; He says B. gets wet from having traces of Chloride of Calcium.3

Your affect | W E D

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. E. Darwin, [1 March 1872]. The first Sunday after 1 March 1872 was 3 March.
3
William refers to Robert Mann Parsons. See letter from W. E. Darwin, [29 February 1872], and letter to W. E. Darwin, [1 March 1872]. B: presumably the samples of dirt residue were labelled A and B. Calcium chloride is hygroscopic.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8220,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8220