WCP3097

Letter (WCP3097.3065)

[1]1

Jermyn St.

[London]2

Sep. 23rd 1873[?]3

My dear Wallace

As I have been away from England since July 3rd.4 & have only just come back, you will I hope forgive me for not replying to your note of July 22.5 which I have just opened —

I am most anxious to [2] recommend read anything which you recommend so strongly; but you only speak of 'a pamphlet' without giving its title — and among the basketful of paper of all into which I have been rummaging there is nothing which [3] answers to your pamphlet[.]6

It is very tantalizing & I beg you to put me out of my misery and[?] either sending me a copy of the missing pamphlet or telling me where I can get it —

Ever | Yours very faithfully | T. H. Huxley [signature]

[4]7

1
Page [[1]] is numbered 37, and page [[3]] 38, in pencil in the top RH corners in an unknown hand, possibly by the repository.
2
The address of the Museum of Practical Geology, London.
3
"74?" written in pencil in an unknown hand below the date, but the correct reading is more likely to be 73: see note 4.
4
Probably in the Auvergne, France, where Huxley went in July 1873. ODNB: Desmond, Adrian. 2015. Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825 -1895) <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/14320> [accessed 22 Jan 2020] and Wikipedia: Huxley Family: < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huxley_family> [accessed 22 Jan 2020].
5
ARW's note not found. See note 6.
6
Possibly Volckman, William. 1873. The Prevention of Poverty, or, Progressional Economy as a System of Natural Law, and Reform as a Science. London: Trübner & Co. Pamphlet. 70 pp. See WCP3754.3666, ARW to T. H. Huxley, 27 Sep. 1873.
7

Page [[4]], the verso of page [[3]], is annotated in pencil in ARW's hand

with mathematical calculations relating to the lowering of land surfaces over time, including "In 6000 years whole surface 10/10 lowered 1 foot | [ditto] Hills & valleys (1/10) lowered 5 ft | [ditto] plains 9/10 lowered.555+ ft".

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP3097.3065)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2015-03-04] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2020-03-19]

Please cite as “WCP3097,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 30 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3097