Ɛpsilon

To John Lubbock, P. L. Sclater, Charles Lyell, W. B. Carpenter, and Michael Foster   [7 April 1874]1

Circular to Sir J. Lubbock Bart M.P.2 P. L. Slater Esq FRS Z. Soc. H. Sqr3 Sir C. Lyell Bart4 73 Harley St Dr. Carpenter F.R.S.— 56 R. P. Road N.W.5 Dr Michael Foster FRS Gt Shelford Cambridge

Will you be so kind as to read the enclosed statement, & if you approve of it sign your name in ink.6 You will observe that your signature does not in the least pledge you to any subscription.—If you do not like to sign, please strike out your name in a pencil mark; & in any case be so good as to forward it (together with this circular) to the next name at the head of this circular.

Time is of much importance & some will be thus saved. Dr. Michael Foster after receiving a certain number of signatures, will get the statement printed, & will circulate it. I may add that several further subscriptions have already been promised.

Ch. Darwin

Draft

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter from Michael Foster, 7 April [1874], and the letter to John Lubbock, 8 April [1874].
3
Philip Lutley Sclater was secretary of the Zoological Society, located at 11 Hanover Square, London W. (DSB, Post Office London directory, 1875).
5
William Benjamin Carpenter lived at 56 Regent’s Park Road, London (Post Office London directory 1875).
6
The enclosure, an appeal for the Zoological Station at Naples, has not been found; see, however, the letter from Michael Foster, 7 April [1874].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 FRS] interl
1.4 Bart] interl
1.5 56 … N.W.] added in margin
1.6 FRS] interl
2.1 statement,] interl
2.1 of it] interl
2.2 in ink.] interl
2.2 in the least] interl
2.3 in] over ‘by’
2.4 in any case] interl above del ‘afterwards’
2.4 (together … circular) 2.5] interl before del ‘so as to come to me’
2.5 at … of] added after del ‘at the head of [below del ‘in’]’
3.1 Time] after del ‘When Dr. Carpenter has seen it, will he please to send it’
3.2 a certain number of] interl
3.3 I may] after del ‘in hope of subscription’
4.1 Darwin] above del ‘T. H. Farrer R.— | E. A. Darwin 6 Q. Anne St’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9384,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9384