Ɛpsilon

To George King   6 July 1873

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

July 6/73

Dear Sir

I thank you sincerely for another very valuable letter.1 You put everything so clearly that I have nothing to ask about. No doubt I shall receive in a few days (for parcels take some time in getting here) the specimens which you have so kindly sent me.2 I am at present & shall be for some time, hard at work on some points in vegetable physiology; & my work is such that it would be bad to interrupt it. I shall not therefore at once examine your specimens, but they will be very useful to me, whenever I have time to take up the subject of worms, & arrange my copious notes.3 I am particularly obliged for your P. S.; for M. d’Archiac formerly attacked me & maintained, without, I suppose, even having looked, that there were no worm-castings in woods and forests!!4

With cordial thanks, & my wishes that your health may be good in India and your scientific work prosperous, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours truly obliged | Charles Darwin

Copy

1
The letter from King has not been found. CD had asked King about worm-castings in his letter of 18 February 1873.
2
The parcel probably contained worm-castings or worms from Nice, where King was on medical leave (see letter to George King, 18 February 1873 and n. 1). See also Earthworms, pp. 106–8 and n.
3
Earthworms was published in 1881.
4
CD refers to Adolphe, Vicomte d’Archiac, and Archiac 1847–60, 1: 223–4. CD discussed the criticism and mentioned King’s evidence on the subject in Earthworms, pp. 4–5.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8966,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8966