Summary

Invites AC to visit.

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CD requests WW to ask a large breeder of greyhounds whether the increase in litters requires that some puppies be destroyed. If so, is it sufficient to destroy merely the small and weak? Would this result in more males or females being destroyed?

CD once used the Field to tabulate ratios of female to male births in greyhounds (110: 100).

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The coral-reef book has been invaluable [J. D. Dana, Corals and coral islands (1872); used by CD in Coral reefs, 2d ed. (1874)].

Thanks for Saturday Review.

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Has read TNS’s article ["On the geography and recent volcanic eruption of the Sandwich Islands", J. R. Geogr. Soc. 38 (1868): 361–9].

Asks for information on decline in population and infanticide in the Sandwich Islands. Seeks corroboration of A. Bishop’s reports.

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Seeks information on the number of Pitcairn islanders and the effect on their fertility of the transfer to Norfolk Island.

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Wants CD to propose him for the Royal Society.

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Extract from the Honolulu Gazette on the decreasing population of the Sandwich Islands.

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Encloses R. McLachlan’s certificate of nomination for Royal Society. Hopes CD will sign it, as McLachlan is the most philosophic member of the Entomological Society in years.

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On the increases in crossbred English and Tahitian population of Pitcairn islanders. [See Descent, 2d ed., p. 190.] Includes copy of letter from George Hunn Nobbs about the population of Norfolk Island.

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Sends CD the number of Pitcairn islanders transferred to Norfolk Island cited in her deceased husband’s book [Sir William Thomas Denison, Varieties of a vice-regal life (1870)] but is unable to furnish additional information.

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French translation of Expression sent for CD’s approval.

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Thanks THF for information from Colonial Office on population statistics showing the inhabitants of some areas are far from becoming sterile.

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Reports on a séance. "The Lord have mercy on us all if we have to believe in such rubbish."

Asks JDH to vote for his nephew, Henry Parker, for Athenaeum membership.

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A new German edition of Descent is planned. Would like to work on proofs before leaving for lectures at Edinburgh.

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Finds from the Colonial Office that a census [of the Pitcairn Islands?] is expected soon, from which he will get the information he desires. [See 9241 and 9246.]

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JHM, who has not read CD’s works, must conduct a discussion on Darwinism and theology at a local literary society. He asks CD to define briefly his position on the origin of man and on descent.

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An awful row at the Linnean Society. William Carruthers and Co. packed a meeting to throw out a decision of the Council. He was beaten by one vote (more than two-thirds majority needed).

Spent two hours with Lyell talking about Thomas Belt’s book [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1874)]: "the tropical old Glaciers beat the seance I do think".

Lyell agrees that the glacial epoch is the great geological crux of the day. Lowering of the ocean level must also be investigated.

Curious about A. C. Ramsay’s paper coming at Royal Society on 29th ["On the comparative value of certain geological ages", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 22 (1874): 145–8].

Huxley’s new book [? Critiques and addresses (1873)].

Summary

Russian Expression has sold nearly 2000 copies.

Plans to come to England to study collections of vertebrate fossils from the Chalk. This will complement his work in the south of France.

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Would like recipient to ask inmates whether they are offspring of cousin marriages.

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Is glad to hear of new German edition of Descent, but owing to his extensive revisions, corrected sheets will not be ready for about three months.

Is working on a new edition of Coral reefs, which he thinks would sell in Germany.

Would like to hear "out of curiosity & vanity" how many copies of his books have been sold in Germany.