skip to content
Home

Darwin Correspondence Project

From Edward Cresy   30 May 1865

Metropolitan Board of Works | Spring Gardens

30 May ’65—

My dear Sir.

It is so long since I have had the pleasure of seeing or hearing of you that if you are well enough I propose to walk over & pay my respects next Monday, that being a leisure day here—.1

Should you not be able to see me I am sure Mrs or Miss Darwin2 will kindly drop me a line but I sincerely hope such may not be the case.

I was very much struck with the German naturalist⁠⟨⁠’s⁠⟩⁠ illustration of natural selection in the air breathing apparatus of crustacean⁠⟨⁠s⁠⟩⁠ in the Annals of Natural History   I think that is a very strong case & the complexity of the argument to my mind gives great additional force—3

Yours very truly | E Cresy

C Darwin Esq.

Footnotes

1
Cresy is listed in the Post Office London suburban directory 1865 as living in Alleyn Road, Lower Norwood, about eight miles from Down. There is no record of a visit by Cresy in 1865 in Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242); his last recorded visit to Down was on 2 August 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II). Cresy was principal clerk at the Metropolitan Board of Works (Post Office London directory 1865).
3
Cresy refers to an abstract (Anon. 1865b) of a French review of Müller 1864 (Anon. 1865a). The abstract focused partly on Fritz Müller’s discussion of the genealogy of different species of air-breathing crabs in his book, Für Darwin (Müller 1864). Müller’s observations had demonstrated that the independent adaptations for breathing air in crab species from different families supported Darwin’s theory of descent; for Müller’s observations of these adaptations and CD’s interest in them, see the letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August [1865] and n. 5.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.

Post Office London suburban directory: The Post Office London suburban directory. Kelly’s London suburban directory. London: Kelly & Co. 1860–1903.

Summary

Impressed by Fritz Müller’s argument for natural selection in air-breathing apparatus of crustaceans ["The Darwinian hypothesis supported by observations on Crustacea", Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 3d ser. 15 (1865): 410–16].

Plans to visit CD.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4842
From
Edward Cresy, Jr
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Metropolitan Board of Works
Source of text
DAR 161: 243
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4842,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4842.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
darwin@lib.cam.ac.uk

© University of Cambridge 2022

Copyright declaration

Privacy policy

Website by Surface Impression

 

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge