Summary

Asks whether sheep and cattle grazing on a steep slope move across the slope horizontally or ascend it.

Summary

Discusses allegation [about Erasmus Darwin] made by Samuel Butler. Will value LS’s verdict highly.

Summary

Asks FMB to translate letter from Ernst Krause [answering criticisms by Samuel Butler] and to send it to Nature [ "Unconscious memory – Mr Samuel Butler" 23 (1881): 288].

Summary

Thanks LS for his advice and his kind note. When CD thinks how he has been treated he will say to himself "so good a judge as Leslie Stephen thinks nothing of the accusation".

Summary

Discusses earthworm activity

and animal grazing on slopes.

Summary

Thanks WO for copying and translating [unspecified] passages. CD knew nothing about them, but doubts they are of real use. Passage about summer solstice may indicate something new.

Summary

Sends address of A. R. Wallace. Comments on Wallace’s pension.

Summary

[Ernst Krause’s] letter to Nature ["Unconscious memory – Mr Samuel Butler", 23 (1881): 288] has been dispatched.

Gladstone has dated Wallace’s pension from last July, "which is splendid".

Summary

Glad WB has arrived in Brazil. Suggests study of insects and study of fertilisation in Melastomataceae. Want of books is not a serious evil.

Summary

Discusses JHF’s investigations of animals’ sense of direction. Suggests experiment involving magnetism.

Summary

Asks THH to sign a certificate of nomination to Geological Society for his son William, if an interest in geology is still enough to qualify for election.

Summary

Describes difficulty of obtaining pigs for experiment.

Summary

Thanks AdeC for interesting letter. CD has been annoyed by the multitude of new terms lately invented in all branches of biology in Germany. What AdeC says about the word "purpose" made CD vow not to use it again, but it is difficult to cure oneself of a vicious habit and difficult to avoid for anyone who tries to make out the use of a structure.

Francis will write about the diagram [see 13642].

Summary

Writes of WED’s certificate for the Geological Society

and discusses various instances of earthworm activity.

Summary

Asks WSD to suspend the enclosed certificate.

Summary

Has read with interest GJR’s review [of Samuel Butler, Unconscious memory (1880)] in Nature [23 (1880–1): 285–7]. Heroic of GJR to call down [Butler’s] revenge on his own head. Ernst Krause’s letter [Nature 23 (1880–1): 288] very good.

As magistrate, CD must enforce rules regarding infection in pigs.

Summary

Thanks FMB for translation of Ernst Krause’s letter for Nature.

Summary

Thanks for AG’s reviews [of Movement in plants] in the Journal and Nation [Am. J. Sci. 3d ser. 21 (1881): 245–9 and Nation 32 (1881): 17–18], especially for AG’s comment about Frank Darwin.

Summary

Sends copy of Nature in which EK’s letter, translated by Balfour, is printed. Thanks him. Now feels easy.

G. J. Romanes’ language in his review of Butler’s book [Unconscious memory] is perhaps too strong. Butler’s vanity is a "real psychological curiosity".

Summary

Discusses investments,

earthworms,

and an article by Romanes [see 13029].