Summary

Origin reached AG at Christmas. Louis Agassiz cannot abide the book and has publicly denounced it as atheism. AG feels bound to defend the book and counter the "demagogue" Agassiz. Has written a long article to this end [Am. J. Sci. and Arts 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84].

Summary

American edition of Origin. AG’s assessment of the book’s weak and strong points. Suggests Jeffries Wyman would be a useful source of facts and hints for CD.

Summary

If an American edition of Origin is considered worth while, CD would like AG’s reviews prefixed to it.

Will use all his strength to produce first part of his three-volume big work [Variation].

Summary

CD is glad there is to be an American edition of Origin printed from the corrected 2d English edition.

Summary

Sends historical preface and corrections for American edition of Origin;

would have liked AG’s review [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84] at the head.

Agrees with AG’s assessment of weak points.

Summary

Thinks AG’s review is admirable.

Reactions of others to the Origin.

Summary

Arrangements for the American edition of Origin.

Summary

Last sheets of AG’s review of Origin have arrived. CD’s comments and criticisms.

Summary

Has been ill with pleurisy.

Sends more corrections and additions for American edition of Origin.

Summary

Further additions and corrections for American Origin.

Views of Owen, G. H. K. Thwaites, and W. H. Harvey on CD’s theories.

Summary

Thinks AG’s review [of Origin] will aid much in making people think about subject.

Has been savagely and unfairly reviewed by Adam Sedgwick in the Spectator [24 Mar 1860],

but thinks F. J. Pictet’s review in opposition ["Sur l’origine de l’espèce", Arch. Sci. Phys. & Nat. n.s. 7 (1860): 231–55] a very fair one.

Summary

Origin reviews. Is annoyed at Richard Owen’s malignity [Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532].

Summary

Bitter and incessant attacks on the Origin.

Any truth in it has been saved only by a small body of men like Lyell, AG, Hooker, and Huxley.

Summary

Opinions and reviews of Origin.

CD’s view on design in nature; although he does not believe in the necessity of design, he finds it hard to conclude that everything is the result of "brute force".

Comments on Owen’s review of Origin [Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532].

Summary

Cases of "dioecio-dimorphism" as in primroses are widespread. AG always considered them the first step toward bisexuality.

Summary

Discusses recent reviews of Origin and has made a note on Owen’s [see 2737].

Has become interested in the floral structures of orchids.

Notes his recent observations on Primula; believes he has found male and female forms.

Summary

Origin has "stirred up the mud with a vengeance"; AG and three or four others have saved CD from annihilation and are responsible for the attention now given to the subject. Reports events at Oxford BAAS meeting.

New evidence supports AG’s view of a warm post-glacial period.

Discusses his recent orchid observations.

Poses AG a question on design in nature.

Summary

Greatly praises AG’s discussion of Origin in Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci. [4 (1860): 411–15; 424–6].

Mentions other reviews of Origin; believes the BAAS meeting at Oxford greatly advanced the subject. Has heard his views are gaining ground in Germany.

Summary

Agassiz is strongly opposed to Origin, but CD thinks K. E. von Baer may come out in support.

Discusses the possibility of favourable monstrosities in the light of Theophilus Parsons’ essay ["On the origin of species", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 30 (1860): 1–13].

Summary

Has received second part of AG’s Atlantic Monthly article ["Darwin on the origin of species", 6 (1860): 109–16, 229–39], and would like to have it reprinted in England with the first part.

Regrets no reviewer has touched upon embryology, which he feels provides one of his strongest arguments.