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Darwin Correspondence Project

From William Spottiswoode   24 May 1880

41, Grosvenor Place. | S.W.

24 May 1880.

Dear Mr. Darwin,

Many thanks for your note.1 I thought it likely that you had furnished Dr. Hertzfeld with money for getting his goods out of the carriers’ hands; but he does not appear to have used it for that purpose. I also was grieved to see the man in his present plight; and this must be my apology for troubling you about him.2 But I fear that his case is one of those in which it is impossible to do any real good; in fact, since he will not use any help given him, in a way calculated to enable him to help himself, I fear that any small donation would only draw him deeper in to slough of despond from which he can only be extri cated by being sent home through his consul as “a distressed Austrian subject”.

I fear that there is no chance of seeing you at our Conversazione at the R.S. on June 2nd.3

Yours very sincerely, | W Spottiswoode

Footnotes

CD’s letter has not been found.
William Spottiswoode was president of the Royal Society of London; CD did not attend the conversazione on 2 June 1880. The conversazioni were exhibitions of scientific discoveries, artefacts, and art works held at the society’s premises in Burlington House.

Summary

Since CD supplied Herzfeld with money to retrieve his goods from the carrier, but he did not use it for that purpose, WS sees no way of helping him except to send him home as "a distressed Austrian subject".

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12616
From
William Spottiswoode
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Grosvenor Place, 4
Source of text
DAR 177: 239
Physical description
TLS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12616,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12616.xml

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