Ɛpsilon

To J. J. Weir   22 May 1873

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

May 22 1873

My dear Sir

Many thanks for your letter with its many interesting details.1 I have no doubt that I shall find your Address likewise interesting, as I have found every thing else which you have written.2 The pig case is capital; & you ought to persuade your informant to send an account with full particulars to Nature.3

With respect to bird’s nests, do you not think that the same spot might prove attractive to birds which had had no intercommunication: I have observed facts with male humble-bees which cd be explained only on this principle.4 I never saw J. S. Mill, & I envy you the privilege of having talked to him familiarly.5 I am very glad to hear that you will soon have more leisure for natural history.

My dear Sir | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

I am now at work & shall be for a long time on point in vegetable physiology.—6

LS(A)

1
This letter has not been found.
2
Weir evidently sent CD a copy of his presidential address to the West Kent Natural History, Microscopical, and Photographic Society (Weir 1873). There is a lightly annotated copy in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
3
The ‘pig case’ has not been identified.
4
CD had observed the routes of humble-bees for many years (see Correspondence vol. 20, letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May 1872] and n. 7).
5
John Stuart Mill had died in Avignon, France, on 7 May 1873 (ODNB).
6
CD had been working on the evil effects of intercrossing, by which he evidently meant inbreeding, since February (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

4.1 I … physiology.— 4.00] added in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8919,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8919