To J. E. Gray 25 January [1843]1
Down Bromley Kent
Jan 25
My Dear Sir
Sometime since I presented through you to the British Museum a series of specimens illustrating the Structure of Coral reefs.2 Mr Lyell is going to give as you are aware some lectures on Geology one of which will be devoted to coral reefs & to my theory of their origin.3 I am therefore very anxious that he should have the loan of the specimens which I collected for illustration
They are such as cannot possibly be injured if moderate care be taken of them Would you be so kind as respectfully lay the request before the Trustees & state how much obliged I should feel if they would permit Mr Lyell to have the use of these specimens for a fort night or three weeks during his lectures4
Believe Me My Dear Sir Yours very Sincerely | C—Darwin
Mr J. E Gray
Footnotes
Bibliography
Rosen, Brian R. and Darrell, Jill. 2011. A generalised historical trajectory for Charles Darwin’s specimen collections, with a case study of his coral reef specimen list in the Natural History Museum, London. In Darwin tra scienza, storia e società. 150° anniversario della pubblicazione di Origine delle Specie, edited by Francesco Stoppa and Roberto Veraldi. Rome: Edizioni Universitairie Romane.
Summary
Requests that Charles Lyell be permitted to borrow the coral reef specimens he presented to the British Museum.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-660F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Edward Gray
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF/ZOO/205/4/144)
- Physical description
- CC 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 660F,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-660F.xml