Summary

Thanks for information about Hedychium. Hopes wings of Sphinx will be found covered with pollen for that will be a fine bit of prophecy from the structure of a flower to special and new means of fertilisation.

Has been at Descent so hard he has done nothing, not even H. Spencer’s answer.

Has not yet read Croll ["Ocean currents", London Edinburgh & Dublin Philos. Mag. 47 (1874): 94–122, 168–90].

Has heard nothing about Carter and Eozoon. Eozoon, he infers, is done for.

Has read Belt [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1874)]: best of all natural history travel books.

Has written to Fritz Müller about leaf-carrying ants.

Hopes to resume work on Drosera.

Summary

Thanks her for her excellent criticisms and corrections [for 2d ed. of Coral reefs?].

Summary

FEA has expressed CD’s views on the moral sense with remarkable clearness and correctness; his eulogy is magnificent ["Darwin’s theory of conscience and its relation to scientific ethics", Index 12 Mar 1874]. Cannot give a judgment on the essay because he has had "no practice in following abstract and abstruse reasoning".

CD does not see how morality can be "objective and universal". No one would call the maternal bond in lower animals a "moral obligation". When a social animal "becomes in some slight incipient degree" a moral creature "capable of approving or disapproving of its own conduct" do not such obligations remain of a so-called instinctive nature rather than becoming at once moral obligations?

Summary

Thanks AJWW for his frank and generous criticism. [See 9352.] Having viewed all natural objects under the light of natural selection for more than thirty years, CD thinks it unlikely that any arguments short of demonstration can convince him of error.

Summary

Confirms receipt of a book that had been lost by the Post Office (Vol. 1 Der Darwinismus und die Naturforschung Newtons und Cuviers (Darwinism and the natural researches of Newton and Cuvier; Wigand 1874–7).

Summary

Heavily correcting sheets for Coral reefs, 2d ed. [1874]. Offers to pay extra printer’s charges.

Summary

Criticises paper by Ziegler [see 9339].

Acid experiments on seeds have failed.

Summary

Encloses a circular [9384?] to explain the predicament he is in. Asks whether AG can get anyone at the British Museum, other than Owen, to join J. E. Gray in signing.

Believes the account of the Mallotus in American Naturalist [5 (1871): 119] is trustworthy.

Summary

Etty [Henrietta Litchfield] is helping with Coral reefs [2d ed.]; will JDH lend her his copy?

Summary

Proof-correcting [of 2d ed. of Coral reefs?].

Summary

Looks forward to a visit from JVC and family in August.

Sheets of vol. 1 of Descent [2d ed.] are going to printer;

new edition of Coral reefs is half printed.

Summary

CD is grieved to hear that AD is overworked and troubled about the Zoological Station. Glad he is now writing to seek assistance from English naturalists. Sends a subscription of £100 and £10 each from George and Francis Darwin.

Summary

A certificate for admission [of Robert Swinhoe] to Royal Society with many signatures has been lost by the Post Office. Asks for another so he can get the signatures anew.

Summary

Seeks support for election of his nephew, Henry Parker, to the Athenaeum.

Summary

Writes concerning the land he wishes to purchase from Sir John Lubbock.

Summary

Comments on JS’s lecture on evolution ["Address on evolution", Aberdeen Daily Free Press 24 Feb 1874].

Summary

Would be glad to hear of a collected edition of his works [in Germany], but has no opinion on how it would sell. Has been surprised to learn that in England some think uniform collected works sell best. Tells JVC his publication plans and other details to guide him on extent of a "collected works".

Descent corrections have been laborious and troublesome.

Summary

CD guessed Carruthers was stirred up by Owen. Disgraceful treatment of Bentham.

Work on Descent and Coral reefs stops his doing anything of real interest.

Asa Gray’s letter. CD has acknowledged the honour [honorary membership in the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.].

"What a demon on earth Owen is. I do hate him."

Summary

Can give no definite information. Believes severe winters are by far the most important check on numbers of birds; the destruction of eggs is of subordinate importance.

Summary

Cannot answer AN’s questions about Origin; it would take weeks to find the references. Assures AN he stated nothing without an authority he thought good.

Feels sure missel thrushes have increased in number since his youth. Starlings have also increased astonishingly in Kent. "How inexplicable most of these cases are".

In a P.S. remembers his source for statement about increase of missel thrushes in Origin.