From H. N. Moseley 24 September 1881
University of London, | Burlington Gardens. W.
Sep 24. 81
Dear Mr Darwin
I am a candidate for the professorship at Oxford rendered vacant by the death of Prof Rolleston and am collecting testimonials with a view to printing them.1 I should be extremely obliged if you would write me one should you feel so disposed testifying to the value of my original work and general ability.2
The chair at present as far as I understand covers the whole of animal biology. After an indefinite time a chair of physiology will be created in the University and then the professorship will become one of human and comparative anatomy, on the death of Prof Westwood the anatomy of invertebrata will be relegated to another separate chair and the Linacre professorship for which I am a candidate will become one of human and vertebrate anatomy only.3
Although most of my published work refers to invertebrates only this is more the result of accident than of my special inclination and caused by what was thrown in my way during the Challenger Expedition.4 I collected turtle and penguin embryos whales &c on the Expedition meaning to work at them but my hands were full of corals &c and these passed to others. During my medical studies I worked a good deal at human anatomy.
My only opponents are as far as I know Cunningham assistant to Prof Turner at Edinburgh and Watso of Owens College.5 A testimonial from you would of course be of the highest value to me.
Hoping you will excuse my troubling you in this matter which is of the greatest importance to me
I remain | yours truly | H N Moseley.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Moseley, Henry Nottidge. 1879. Notes by a naturalist on the ‘Challenger’, being an account of various observations made during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Challenger’ round the world, in the years 1872–1876. London: Macmillan and Co.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Summary
Asks CD for a testimonial as he is a candidate for Chair in Zoology at Oxford.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13354
- From
- Henry Nottidge Moseley
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- University of London
- Source of text
- DAR 202: 114
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13354,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13354.xml