Summary

Would be impractical to have FCD check references to physiology in proofs [of Expression]. William Bowman has checked chapter on weeping.

Invites FCD to visit Down when he comes to England in July.

Summary

Mentions publication of Expression.

Asks whether children born blind ever frown, shed tears, or contract orbicular muscles.

Congratulates FCD on his anniversary [as Professor at Utrecht].

Summary

Thanks FCD for information, which will make him "strike out a good deal".

Has received German pamphlet.

Will read work by John Soelberg Wells [? A treatise on the diseases of the eye (1869, 1870)].

Discusses his work on expression.

Summary

Thanks FCD for suggested deletions in MS of Expression. Declines offer from FCD to examine proofs also.

Summary

Expresses gratitude on election to Royal Netherlands Academy.

Summary

Comments on action of eyes in a person lost in meditation. Asks about Charles Bell’s explanation [in Anatomy of expression (1806, 1844)].

Summary

Thanks CD for invitation but declines because of his need for a rest instead of coming to England in July.

Repeats his offer to help CD at any time. "I am always learning by trying to answer your questions."

Summary

Comments on translation of FCD’s paper ["On the action of the eyelids", Arch. Med. 5 (1870): 20–38].

Speculates that closing eyelids may protect eyes from vibrations.

Discusses publication of Expression.

Summary

Royal Netherlands Academy of Science has elected CD.

Summary

Thanks CD for copy of Expression.

Agrees to observe expression in children born blind.

Summary

Protests against CD’s statement that FCD’s letter will make him "strike out a good deal". He would never pardon himself for being the cause of any suppression by CD. It is for specialists to put their knowledge at CD’s service. He is mistaken if he thinks a knowledge of physiology is sufficient for writing a book on expression. It is CD’s conception and spirit that all await. Offers to read those parts of the proofs of Expression dealing with physiology.

Summary

His analysis and explanation of the fact, observed by Charles Bell, that the eyeballs are turned upwards and inwards when consciousness begins to fail.

Summary

Thanks FCD for information about eyes [for Expression].

Must interrupt work on the subject to prepare new edition of Origin [6th].

Comments on gift of a new work by FCD [possibly "Die Projection der Gesichtserscheinung nach der Richtungslinien", Arch. Opthalmol. 17 (1871) Abt. 2: 1–68].

Summary

Thanks FCD for information.

Hopes that translation of his paper will appear in Dublin Journal.

Notes experience of his son [Leonard Darwin] on engorgement of eyes with blood. Discusses secretion of tears when eye muscles are involuntarily contracted.

Summary

Comments on FCD’s 1848 work [see 7582] in which he came near to anticipating CD.

Comments on FCD’s paper [on action of the eyelids, see 7203]. Asks about contraction or dilation of the iris due to emotional states, illness, or prostration.

Summary

In a fortnight will begin to arrange notes on expression. Asks for FCD’s conclusions about the contraction of eye muscles. Is interested in abstract of FCD’s experiments on "rate of travelling of the nervous powers".

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

A detailed description of the physiological and anatomical processes related to the prolonged involuntary contraction of the orbicular muscles and the secretion of tears (as in retching, violent coughing, or laughing). [See Expression, p. 160.].

Summary

Has finished the article [on the action of the eyelids in Ned. Arch. Geneeskd. & Natuurkd. 5 (1870), also see 7238]; summarises: the occlusion of the eyelids protects the vessels, and the eye itself, against the danger of pressure caused by excessive expiratory action. The weakness of the conclusion is that the extent of the danger caused by the pressure to the normal state of the eye is not precisely known.