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* direct »Letter 607 — Darwin, C. R. to Gardeners' Chronicle, [16 Aug 1841]
Reports detailed observations on humble-bees boring holes in flowers to extract nectar instead of brushing over the stamens and pistils. Some hive-bees seem to use the holes made by the humble-bees; speculates that this would be a case of acquired knowledge in insects.
* direct »Letter 814 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [7 Jan 1845]
Sends specimens of a Tertiary sandstone from Tierra del Fuego in which there are leaves; CD thought they were beech. What is JDH's opinion? Asks whether JDH can make sense of a note on silicified wood. Has read Vestiges [of creation (1844)]; "his geology strikes me as bad, & his zoology far worse". Would like to see lists [of plants] from Society and Sandwich Islands. Doubts JDH's information regarding imagination of mother affecting offspring.
* direct »Letter 2155 — Darwin, C. R. to Gardeners' Chronicle, 18 Oct [1857]
Describes his experiments with kidney beans to test the agency of bees in their fertilisation. His results suggest they are essential. Asks what George Swayne could mean by the advantage of artificial fertilisation of early beans [Trans. Hortic. Soc. Lond. 5 (1824): 208–13]. Has observed that hive-bees, which normally suck nectar from the flower of the kidney bean, will use holes cut through the calyx by humble-bees, though the holes cannot be seen from the mouth of the flower. Suggests hive-bees see humble-bees at work and understand what they are doing and "rationally" take advantage of the shorter path to the nectar. [See also 2359.]
direct »Letter 7301 — Darwin, E. A. to Darwin, C. R., 15 Aug [1859 or later]
Wonders whether CD would be interested in a book by Dr Bucknell [J. C. Bucknill?] on psychology.
* direct »Letter 2503 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 11 Oct [1859]
CL's comments on Origin. Mentions corrections to last chapter suggested by CL. Comments on lack of peculiar bird species on Madeira and Bermuda. Emphasises importance of American types in Galapagos. Denies necessity of continued creation of primitive "Monads". Denies need for new powers and any principle of improvement. Discusses gradations of intellectual powers. Adaptive inferiority and extinction of groups of species and genera. Asserts that climate is less important than the struggle with other organisms. Suggests an experiment involving primroses and cowslips.The chapter on hybridisation.Rudimentary organs.Gives opinion of Lamarck's work.
* direct »Letter 2637a — Jenyns, Leonard to Darwin, C. R., 4 Jan 1860
Has read Origin and considers it one of the most valuable contributions to present-day natural history. Believes, however, that there are difficulties in the extensive generalisation that all taxonomic groups are related by descent. Does not understand how Genesis is to be read unless at least the human species was created independently of other animals. Cannot bring himself to the idea that man's reasoning and moral sense could have been obtained from "irrational progenitors": the "Divine Image" is the unsurmountable distinction between man and brutes. [See 2644.]
* direct »Letter 5032 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 12 [Mar 1860]
Discusses the intellectual development of the ancient Greeks as an objection to evolution and gives his reply.
* direct »Letter 2779a — Lyell, Charles to Darwin, C. R., 2 May 1860
It is small comfort to be told you will be succeeded in lineal descent by angels when Lamarck and Darwin have made your ancestors without souls. However, can the progressive system not be seen as most consonant with a higher destiny if all spiritual natures advance? The link of common descent to inferior beings like idiots should be obvious. Infants die before they become responsible. Pope's An essay on Man [1733] shows how man was "In doubt to deem himself a God or Beast", without speculation on his genealogy.
* direct »Letter 2837a — Lyell, Charles to Darwin, C. R., 19 June 1860
Sees Huxley's deification of matter and force as a reaction to the way Paley likened the "Unknown Cause" to the mind of man so that new causes could be introduced. If you wish to retain free will which is inconsistent with constant law, Paley's position is better. Free will is a recently introduced cause on our planet. It cannot be fully attributed to secondary causes. What CD says about the variation in gestation of the hound is remarkable. The astonishing fertile rabbit–hare hybrids encourage belief in Pallas's theory of the multiple origin of dogs. Does the regularity of gestation in man indicate a common stock? Hooker's observation of absence of forms peculiar to extra-Arctic Greenland indicates that the time since the beginning of the glacial period is brief in geological terms.
* direct »Letter 2838 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 20 [June 1860]
Blyth's effort to raise money for a Chinese expedition.Comments on free-will in animals. Says natural selection is not in the same category with Huxley's "force" and "matter". Discusses remarkable variation in period of gestation in dogs and ducks. Discusses Arctic flora. Has been working on orchids; they beat woodpeckers in adaptation.