Summary

Hopes to visit during CD’s stay at Haredene.

Summary

JDH has no intention of resigning. Thinks W. E. Gladstone would rather see Ayrton turned out than himself. Gladstone knows JDH has friends who would be troublesome. Only moral and political cowardice of Cabinet keeps Ayrton in office.

Lyell is much altered since autumn.

Has CD read Charles Martins’ paper on the glacial origin of the tourbières of the Jura [Arch. Sci. Phys. & Nat. 42 (1871): 286–308]?

John Scott has an admirable series on horticulture in Bengal ["Notes on horticulture in Bengal", J. Agric. & Hortic. Soc. India 2 (1871) pt 1: 241–96; 3 (1872) pt 1: 1–82].

Summary

Answers to CD’s queries will take time. CD may not be aware of the influence of accommodation on the diameter of the pupil of the eye. Parrots, for example, contract or dilate the pupil independently of amount of light [see Expression, p. 304]. Sends his book on the subject [On the anomalies of accommodation and refraction of the eye (1864)].

Summary

On St G. J. Mivart’s Genesis of species and Chauncey Wright’s review of it [North Am. Rev. (July 1871)].

Summary

Man’s spiritual life separates him from other animals.

Why are moths attracted, often fatally, to lights?

Thanks for copy of Descent.

Summary

Lady Lyell’s anxiety over Lyell’s health.

Preparing new edition of Origin.

Asks whether anything was observed [in Morocco] on expressions.

Did JDH notice whether pollen-masses in Ophrys apifera in N. Africa fall on the stigma, as in England?

Summary

Encloses an article he wrote for the Scotsman [9 Mar 1871, p. 5].

Wishes he had time to write a critique of Descent. There is evidence of design and benevolence in nature. Beauty cannot be accounted for by natural selection.

Summary

Will send Ophrys apifera var. lutea.

Summary

Asks JM whether he will publish 750 copies of a pamphlet [Chauncey Wright’s review of Mivart’s Genesis of species, North Am. Rev. 113 (1871): 63–103] at CD’s expense.

Has been ill so cannot say when he will finish new edition of Origin.

Asks about sales and printing of Descent.

Summary

On the power of concentration to influence body organs.

Summary

Observations on orchids. Ophrys apifera; confirms CD’s observation on pollinia.  The nesting of ducks in trees is an example of change of instinct and habit.

Summary

Mentions experiments on Lythrum.

Thanks for list of seeds.

Summary

Answers CD on transitional forms. Has no doubt Zeuglodon is transitional form between Carnivora and Cetacea.

Met Mivart in Manchester. Some doubt that he was the author of Quarterly Review article.

Summary

There is a primary law of growth and innate improvement. Natural selection is a secondary law that operates to "arrange the details". This is not Lamarckian, because will is not involved.

Thanks for Chauncey Wright’s pamphlet [Darwinism (1871)].

Amused by critics who say CD is metaphysically unsophisticated.

Summary

Asks JL to obtain copies of CD’s botanical works for his wife.

Summary

Is preparing a work on fertilisation of flowers, and wants to add a list of works containing observations on cross-fertilisation of plants. Asks CD for any references he may have.

Summary

Discusses the origin and advantages of sexual differentiation in terms of division of labour.

Discusses the origin of the giraffe’s neck and the unsoundness of St G. J. Mivart’s view with respect to it.

Points out an error in Descent.

Summary

Praise of CD. Acknowledges his indebtedness to CD for defining the subject of plant fecundation.

Expecting CD’s work on the effects of cross-fertilisation.

CD has put him in touch with George Bentham.