To T. H. Farrer 8 October 1880
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Oct 8th 1880
My dear Farrer
I am sorry to trouble you again, but I enclose envelope ready addressed to give as little trouble as possible.— I am quite perplexed by the extension of the excavations. You will remember which was the first room that was cleared (with a concrete floor, & tesseræ over a part) & will you be so kind as mark this room in both plans in pencil as “First Room,” & return the plans to me, & I will afterwards return them to you.1 You had 2 trenches dug for me; one I call in my notes “the upper or N.W. trench” & the other “the lower or S.W. trench”— “Upper” & “lower” referring, I suppose, to the slope of the field.2 The upper trench was close to the upper bounding wall of the “first room,” which seems to have been the atrium.—
If you can remember places, will you put pencil crosses (X) where trenches were dug.
I am astonished at my own perplexity about the plans— The points of the compass do not agree in the 2 plans.—3
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
The fir-leaves are drawn by the worms into the mouths of their burrows, & if you will look, you will see that they are all drawn in by the basal end which shows more sense or instinct, in worms than I shd have given them credit for.—4
Many thanks for address of Mr Caird & for promise of castings.5
(Morning 8th)6
P.S. Elizabeth Wedgwood was in exactly the same state yesterday as on previous days.7 She suffers a good deal from her breathing, but is wonderfully patient. She does not eat nearly enough, & I think if she does not rally soon, she must sink. If it is to be, I wish it may be soon for her sake.—
Horace & Ida were in wonderfully good spirits when here;8 it did one good to see people so happy & how marvellously strong Ida is. She could ascend Mont Blanc!
Footnotes
Bibliography
Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.
Summary
Questions the exact location of rooms and trenches at Abinger excavation [for Earthworms].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12743
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/35); DAR 185: 38
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12743,” accessed on 28 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12743.xml