Summary

Glad to see Asa Gray’s letter.

Asks whether he may insert a sentence about Cape Verde alpine plants in new edition [4th] of Origin.

Fears "twaddle" may also be the word for his two chapters on cultivated plants. Asks for Crawfurd’s paper.

Summary

Pleased by JDH’s success. JDH gives argument for occasional transport with perfect fairness.

W. R. Grove’s address [see 5201] good, but is disappointed that species part was so general.

Summary

He is not grieved at CD’s omissions of his [JDH’s] work [from Origin, 4th ed.]. It proves nothing – claims only to be illustration of using CD’s methods.

Summary

On his "Insular floras" lecture.

Huxley’s success as President of Section.

D. W. R. Grove’s address. Grove left Darwinism to JDH after "sounding the charge".

Summary

Scarlet seed is Adenanthera pavonina. JDH’s suggestion on how disseminated.

On Herbert Spencer, "all oil no bone – a thinking pump", but his paper on sap and wood [Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 25 (1866): 405–30] is good science. His refusal to bring a specimen for analysis when confronted by JDH.

Bentham and Martin disagreement.

Speculations on New Zealand flora.

Albert Günther’s paper on fishes on each side of Isthmus of Panama [Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1866): 600–4].

On the quantity (bulk and weight) of organic life [matter].

Summary

W. H. Harvey is dead. His loss to science.

Will get a copy of Crawfurd’s paper. It was such trash he tore his up.

His letter to Asa Gray was about his [JDH’s] proof that America will have an aristocracy from interbreeding of wealth, intellect, and beauty; and the lower classes, not having time for politics, will leave them to the aforementioned.

Summary

Answers JDH’s questions on connection of SE. England and continent,

on the effect of breaking the Isthmus of Panama,

and on Madeira flora as remnant of Tertiary flora.

Cautionary remarks for JDH on his "Insular floras" speech, designed to strengthen case of "occasional migration" theory.

Summary

Plants arrived.

Delightful dinner at Lyell’s.

Will be interested in seeds passed through a fowl.

Wedgwood medallions were bought by a Miss W. [Sophy Wedgwood] of Leith Hill.

Lubbock’s account of a new centipede at Linnean Society gave rise to lively discussion by Busk and Huxley.

Summary

Has found Verlot.

His sister [Emily Catherine Langton] is dying [d. 2 Feb 1866].

His stomach still very bad. Writes one or two hours and reads a little.

JDH is a wretch to remind CD of his coal-plant prophecy.

Glad JDH will give Nottingham lecture.

Summary

No enclosure in JDH’s last letter.

Would like to be amused "for my stomach & the whole Universe is this day demoniacal in my eyes".

Summary

Gives details of enclosed MS on cool period. Mentions Hooker’s opposed "axis of the earth" view. Causes of glacial period are beyond CD; "cannot believe change in land and water being more than a subsidiary agent".

Summary

Refers to part of JDH letter on glacial period sent on to Lyell. CD will not yield. Cannot think how JDH attaches so much attention to physicists. Has "come not to care at all for general beliefs without the special facts".

His health is improved but not so good as JDH supposes.

Summary

Did not think JDH had written Murray review [see 5217].

Does not think Gardeners’ Chronicle best for publication of "Insular floras" [Gard. Chron. (1867): 6–7, 27, 50–1, 75–6].

T. Laxton’s article, on direct action of pollen of peas on seed and pod, a grand physiological fact and "delightful" for Pangenesis.

Interview with Herbert Spencer.

Summary

Admits that occasional transport is not a well-established hypothesis but believes it more probable than continental extension as an explanation for the stocking of islands.

Summary

Questions for his lecture on "Insular floras".

Comments on CD’s criticism of Atlantis. Has no fixed opinion on continental extensions. Great objections to hypotheses of CD and Forbes: botanical to CD’s; geological to Forbes’s. Will point out that natural selection is necessary to both hypotheses.

Summary

Left strict orders about Euryale seeds but "labour, difficulty and expense of getting anything done scientifically by practical men is untold".

The E. J. Eyre controversy [Jamaica uprising]. Odd that Huxley joins the "persecution fund". The principles involved are fiddlesticks.

Summary

Will do justice to CD’s objections to continental extension theory.

CD misunderstood his question about Isthmus.

Responds to CD’s other points about Madeira and the Azores.

Summary

Drosera and Erica massoni have been sent.

Had heard of Agassiz’s theory but not that CD’s theory had raised it.

JDH wrote the article on A. Murray.

Frankland’s lecture too much for him.

Summary

Has finished Variation. May insert a chapter on man.

Still puzzled by seeds of Adenanthera.

New Zealand and Borneo flora problems continued.

Fritz Müller found six genera of dimorphic plants in one day.

Summary

Is attempting to sum up the two theories impartially and must raise all the difficulties with each. More on his differences with CD.