Dear Dyer.

It was a good job that I saw Bates, for the black-ballers had been with him; after some talk he declared that he would vote for R. Lankester, & persuade as many as he could to follow same course.²

Ramsay³ will do what he can, but I think this is little. Gould⁴ too ill to attend— Lowne writes that he will attend,⁵ & do all that he can with others. I wrote yesterday to Jenner Weir.—⁶

Some People say council too much of a “Kew clique”—⁷ other says not enough Zoologists on council. I cannot but think it w^d be well to avoid in next council the former accusation, however false it may be.

F. Galton hears there will be severe struggle on the 3^d.—⁸

I forgot to say that I saw Flower & it required rather long talk, but he ended by saying he w^d. certainly come & vote for Lankester.⁹

Bates says he believes that Murie¹⁰ has been the head of the opposition.

I had got thus far when D^r. Murie called instead of answering my letter.¹¹ He was most civil & cordial & expressed unbounded regret at opposing anyone supported by me; but I gather that he will oppose Lankester tooth & nail. He declared most solemnly that he was not in the least opposed to L. personally & that he acted solely because he did not think it was a case in which the Fees ought to be remitted.¹² I find that this is a very general impression, & I fear that the council has made a great mistake. Some of the opponents urge that L. afforded to enter Royal last year.—¹³ I stuck to my line of argument that whether or not Council was wrong, yet that it was cruel to black-ball L. He & others have argued that they can oppose the Council in no other way. They declare that the Council does not fairly represent the Soc^y. & that old members are reelected in a circle.— I have no opinion whether there is any truth in this; but if I were on the Council, I would urge that several of the dissentients sh^d be put on Council. Between 30 & 40 years ago there was just the same feeling in Geolog. Soc. & this was cured by putting the complainers on the Council.—¹⁴ Please read all this latter part of my letter to Hooker; & ask him whether he has read L^d. Derby’s speech at Edinburgh about Science, which seems to me very good.—¹⁵

I sh^d. add that Murie declared most deliberately that M^r Mivart knew nothing whatever about the opposition to Lankester.—¹⁶ Well it is a great misfortune, but the case must be decided by the ballot-box.

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin