My dear Father,

The enclosed letter has come to me & as I don’t understand what it is about I think it must be meant for you.¹

I received a letter yesterday morning from Reginald Darwin enclosing one of D^r. D’s visiting cards, of which a packet was found by one of his sisters. It is a curious looking card & I will send it on shortly. I have written to thank him & to tell him that I shall send on a copy of the pedigree etc. shortly.²

I have sent off my paper to the R.S.³ & have begun trying another point but am sadly afraid it is too hard for me—for it turns on purely mathematical difficulties. I w^d. give a great deal to be able to solve it, as I feel convinced that it contains the physical meaning of Bode’s Law—an empirical law concerning the mean distances of the planets from the sun.⁴ I am afraid the difficulties are of a kind which if insurmountable soon are not to be got over at all. I said that Tait was reporter on my paper, but I now feel certain that it is a mistake for Thomson—for Thomson has reported on all the others & Tait is not an F.R.S & has indeed a sort of quarrel or contempt for the Society. I shall be glad if this is so.⁵

I expect we shall get to work at our pendulum again next week but there has been more bricklaying &.c than I thought at first there w^d. be. Horace & Ida go to Oxford today.⁶ I suppose I shall be home in about a fortnight. I sent off a tea-service to Jackson at 6 Q.A. yesterday & hope it will have come safe. I’m getting on tol. well with my cold. I hope Mother is standing London well⁷

Y^r. affec son | G H Darwin