My dear Wallace

I write a line to say that I understood, but I may of course have been mistaken, from Huxley that Bastian distinctly stated that he had watched the development of the scale of Sphagnum: I was astonished, as I knew the appearance of Sphagnum under a high power, & asked a second time; but I repeat that I may have been mistaken.—² Busk told me that Sharpey had noticed the appearance of numerous infusoria in one of the solutions not containing any nitrogen; & I do not suppose that any physiologist w^d. admit the possibility of infusoria absorbing nitrogen gas.—³ Possibly I ought not to have mentioned statements made in private conversation, so please do not repeat them. I quite agree about the extreme importance of such men, as Cohn, Trecul & Carter having observed apparent cases of Heterogenesis.—⁴ At present I sh^d. prefer any mad hypothesis, such as that every disintegrated molecule of the lowest forms can reproduce the parent-form; & that these molecules are universally distributed & that they do not lose their vital power until heated to such a temperature that they decompose like dead organic particles.

I am extremely grieved to hear about the museum: it is a great misfortune.—⁵

Yours most sincerely | C. Darwin

I have taken up old Botanical work & have given up all theories.—⁶

I quite agree about Howarth’s paper: he wrote to me & I told him that we differed so widely, it was of no use our discussing any point.⁷

As for Galton’s paper, I have never yet been able fully to digest it: as far as I have, it has not cleared my ideas, & has only aided in bringing more prominently forwards the large proportion of the latent characters.—⁸