Summary

Mentions Dutch translation [of Origin].

Discusses evolutionary origin of sexuality.

Asa Gray’s suggestion that variation was directed by a higher power and Herschel’s view of providential arrangement in nature.

Compares variation in domestic and wild species.

Asks CL for introductions for his son William in Southampton, where he has joined a bank.

Summary

Sends an enclosure [a letter from T. F. Jamieson, see 3247].

"I am smashed to atoms about Glen Roy. My paper was one long gigantic blunder."

Summary

Discusses CL’s correspondence with T. F. Jamieson. Comments on Jamieson’s theory that the roads of Glen Roy were formed by a glacial lake. Discusses elevation of Scotland during the glacial period.

Summary

The flint tools found at Bedford.

Further discussion of Jamieson’s theory of the formation of the roads of Glen Roy by a glacial lake. Comments on formation of Glen Spean terraces. Mentions glaciers in North Wales.

Agreement with John Murray to publish [Orchids].

Summary

Suggests change in a passage [in MS] of CL’s [Antiquity of man (1863)] dealing with adaptations for travel.

Comments on review of Origin by F. W. Hutton [Geologist (1861): 132–6, 183–8].

Emphasises importance of variability for natural selection.

Discusses possiblity of intelligent causes in variation.

Summary

Thanks CL for orchids acquired from a collector.

Discusses role of Providence in variation. Does CL honestly think it applies to variations in domestication? If not ordained there, sees no reason for it in nature either.

Summary

Mentions George Maw’s "good review" of Origin [Zoologist 19 (1861): 7577–611].

Relates remark by J. S. Mill concerning soundness of logic and method of Origin.

Is at work [on Orchids and Variation].

Summary

Quotes passage from letter from Asa Gray dealing with views of Francis Bowen on heredity and Agassiz "(foolish man)" on heredity and languages.

Sent CL the Calcutta Review [with Edward Blyth’s review of Origin, 35 (1860): 64–88].

Summary

Bentham has sent a damaged spurless Orchis pyramidalis; asks CL to send another. Fears they are irregular monsters. [See Orchids, pp. 47–8.]

Summary

Discusses progress of CL’s work [on Antiquity of man (1863)].

CD had not thought of subsidence in connection with "roads" of Glen Roy.

Discusses habits of ants.

Summary

Absence of organic remains in many deposits.

Discusses presence of marine animals near icebergs.

Comments on former geological state of England.

Summary

Comments especially on the "intermediate shelf" problem of Glen Roy; views of Jamieson and Milne. CD "cannot help a sneaking hope that the sea might have formed the horizontal shelves".

Summary

Continued discussion of Jamieson’s Glen Roy theory. Mentions river erosion of glaciers. Quotes from old letter to CL [1116].

Is working hard on orchids; fears subject is too complex for the public.

Summary

Further comments on Jamieson’s theory of the formation of the roads of Glen Roy; paper by Jamieson dealing with glaciation in Scotland ["On the ice-worn rocks of Scotland", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 18 (1862): 164–84].

Comments on paper by A. C. Ramsay on the glacial formation of lakes ["On the glacial origin of certain lakes", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 18 (1862): 185–204].

Criticises remarks by John Tyndall on glacial formation of Swiss valleys.

Summary

Additional discussion of Jamieson’s theory that the roads of Glen Roy were formed by a glacial lake. Suggests the possible marine origin of the Glen Spean terraces. Comments on the power of lakes to produce pebbles. Discusses elevation of Wales and Scotland during the glacial period.

Summary

Sale of Origin requires new edition [3d (Apr 1861)].

Further discussion of geological elevation and subsidence in Europe. Compares evidence to that of South America. His theory that semi-fluid matter underlies earth’s crust.

Mentions David Forbes’s explanation of South American nitrate deposits.

Has followed CL’s advice not to reply directly to reviewers.

Summary

Comments on CL’s advice not to reply directly to reviews.

Describes work on his Drosera manuscript.

Work delayed on his "larger book" [Variation].

Comments at length on the evolutionary significance of Robert McDonnell’s investigations ["On an organ in the skate", Nat. Hist. Rev. (1861): 57–60].

Summary

Suggests references in Journal of researches 2d ed. in response to a query about the antiquity of man. Perplexed about S. S. Haldeman and Haldeman 1843–4. Glad to hear about A. C. Ramsay. Has received letter from H. G. Bronn.

Summary

Cites article by David Forbes dealing with the geology of the S. American Cordillera ["Geology of Bolivia and South Peru", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 17 (1861): 7–62].

Discusses the flexures of the Cordillera, the age of the mountains, and basaltic dikes in granite areas.

Summary

His better opinion [of work of Boucher de Perthes].

Explains his position on CL’s treatment of species.

Mentions positive response to his ideas on the part of a German professor [Ernst Haeckel], Alphonse de Candolle, and a botanical palaeontologist [Gaston de Saporta].

Notes negative reaction of entomologists.

Mentions Falconer’s objections [to Antiquity].

Mentions work of Hooker.

Comments on paper by Owen ["On the aye-aye", Rep. BAAS 32 (1862) pt 2: 114–16]

and CD’s review of Bates’s paper [Collected papers 2: 87–92].

Thinks Natural History Review is excellent.