Ɛpsilon

From W. W. Reade   6 April [1874]1

10 Craven Street | Strand

April 6.

My dear Sir

I just write you a line to say I have come back from the Gold Coast and to express a hope that you have been in tolerable health during the winter.2

I am sorry to say that I have brought home no new ethnological facts— Do not trouble to answer this; I have some idea of becoming a member of the Royal Institution and if introduced by a member of the Committee can get in without delay. As I believe your brother is one, (or if not you have many friends on it) I may ask for your kind offices in the matter.3 But I shall not make up my mind till I have been there again to make inquiries & will in any case write to you again in the course of the week.

I have had 2 attacks of dysentery & have still chronic Diarrhœa in a mild way—but am in very fair health notwithstanding

I remain | Yours very truly | Winwood Reade

1
The year is established by the reference to Reade’s election to the Royal Institution of Great Britain (see n. 3, below).
2
Reade had been in West Africa reporting on the third Anglo-Ashanti War for The Times (see Correspondence vol. 21, letter from W. W. Reade, 31 August [1873]).
3
CD’s brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin, had been a member of the Royal Institution since 1830. His sons George Howard and Francis Darwin were also members; George joined in 1870 and Francis in 1872. Reade became a member in 1874. (List of the members, officers, and professors (London: Royal Institution of Great Britain, 1874).)

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9392,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9392