From E. A. Darwin 9 April [1864]1
9th April
Dear Charles
Lyell2 was calling here yesterday, & asked me to tell you what he had been talking about. He said he had been seeing Sir W Hooker to learn how Kew managed to send people out to collect and he found that all expenses were covered by sale of surplus specimens.3
He wants to do the same with bones, & Miss Coutts4 has invited him to meet the new Consul at Sarawak & the Rajah Brooks to consult about examing the caves in Borneo.5 He did not express that he wanted you to take any steps in the matter, but he said that we should probably find our progenitors there if anywhere.6
He gave rather a bad account of Lady L that she was very much worn by her anxieties & that he himself was rather bad & they were going a little tour to restore themselves.7
Yours affec. | E D
Footnotes
Bibliography
Desmond, Ray. 1995. Kew: the history of the Royal Botanic Gardens. London: Harvill Press with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1905. My life: a record of events and opinions. 2 vols. London: Chapman & Hall.
Summary
Lyell thinks an expedition should be sent to the caves in Borneo, supported by the sale of surplus specimens; thinks "our progenitors" may well be there.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4458
- From
- Erasmus Alvey Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 105: B25–6
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4458,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4458.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12