Summary

Cannot come to Down on weekend because of teaching duties.

Summary

Is making final preparations for his address [at York BAAS meeting] and questions CD on specific points.

Summary

"My Dear Sir, I have called on you, to solicit your vote & interest at the Athenaeum Club […] in favour of my brother, Erasmus Darwin".

Summary

Wants observations on a Papilio to see whether ticking noise is confined to one sex.

Experiments on self-sterility.

Will send copy of his orchid paper ["Fertilisation of orchids", Collected papers 2: 138–56].

Eschscholzia when self-fertilised, produced pods.

Summary

CD very ill.

Suspects F. Boott’s widow is illegitimate granddaughter of Erasmus Darwin.

CD, like JDH, has speculated that agrarian weeds have become adapted to cultivated ground. Suggests comparison with country of origin.

Wallace’s praise of Herbert Spencer’s Social statics baffles CD.

[Letter completed by E. A. Darwin.]

Summary

Sends corrections for Descent.

Summary

Comments on enclosed discussion of S. American geology by Agassiz. Mentions elevation of Patagonia and glaciation.

Summary

CD has just had an interview with Edward Frankland, who "almost laughs" at FD’s idea of getting potash and soda out of the soil by treating it with sulphuric acid. Asks FD to send him a soil sample to give to Frankland. Sends enclosures giving address and labels for soil samples.

Summary

Speaks of the delight of having met CD.

Hopes William Darwin may be able to visit Worthing.

Summary

Is delighted with JP’s article on vivisection ["Vivisection: its pains and its uses, No. 1", Nineteenth Century 10 (1881): 920–30]. CD is "boiling over with indignation on the subject".

Summary

Gratified by AvH’s letter.

Sends data on temperature of the sea in the Galapagos, South Pacific, and the Abrolhos Islands.

Summary

Cannot allow WCM to pay extra charge for glass. Rooms all very comfortable.

Summary

Thanks for suggesting that a spare copy of his book [Treatise on comparative embryology (1880–1)] be sent to Fritz Müller.

Summary

Thanks for AG’s trouble about the seeds. Is curious to see their germination and the early seedling growth.

Asks for cotton seeds, as he observes odd movements of the cotyledon.

Summary

Is preparing a paper on the umbilical cord ["On the anatomy of the umbilical cord", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 23 (1875): 498–501; 24 (1876): 417–40] of which he sends a preliminary note [missing]. Believes spiral growth of the umbilical cord is important evidence of the descent of man; speculates on spiral growth in general.

Summary

In consideration of CD’s health, withdraws his request for notes on GHL’s articles.

While in Freiburg, heard that August Weismann’s inaugural address on CD’s views [Über die Berechtigung der Darwin’schen Theorie (1868)] created a sensation.

Summary

Returns book by Friedrich Rolle. Author has sent copies.

Summary

Describes the germination and early growth of Megarrhiza about which AG has been misinformed. The tubular petioles act functionally like a root.

Ipomoea did not germinate.

Summary

Sends table showing relative force of impact of weight dropped on a plane inclined at different angles.

Summary

Comments on investigation of coral reefs by A. A. Gould, particularly the reefs around Tahiti. Mentions description of reefs of Tahiti by W. Forbes.

Hooker’s view of work by C. J. F. Bunbury.