Ɛpsilon

From William Bowman   31 July 1872

5 Clifford St

July 31. 72

My dear Darwin

I did not reply to your most kind invitation before to day because I could say nothing definite— Donders only came last evening so that his time is still more limited than I had expected—1 He must go at all events on Thursday morning of next week—& possibly on Wednesday morning—but if not on Wednesday I hope we should be able to come over to you on Wednesday & spend a few hours. In that case we should reach Orpington from Ch. X at 11.21 & should have to return from O. at 4.19— If you will be so good as send me the address of a flymaster of whom I may order a conveyance at O. Station I will write to him nearer the time, if nothing unforeseen should prevent—2

I hope very much we shall come— Donders is most desirous of doing so & begs his kind regards.

Yrs most truly | W Bowman

How odiously Hooker has been treated! I do trust nothing will induce him to resign.3

1
CD’s letter to Bowman has not been found. Frans Cornelis Donders had originally intended to arrive on 29 July (see letter from William Bowman, 24 July 1872).
2
Bowman planned to take a train from Charing Cross to Orpington and hire a fly (a horse-drawn carriage used as a cab) from Orpington to Down House. There is no evidence that Bowman and Donders made the visit.
3
The ‘imminent danger’ of Joseph Dalton Hooker’s resignation as director of the Royal Botanic Gardens if his dispute with Acton Smee Ayrton was not resolved had been mentioned in The Times, 8 July 1872, p. 11. See also letter from John Lubbock to W. E. Gladstone, 20 June 1872 and enclosure.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8439,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8439