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From Charles Lyell   15 June 1860

Summary

Rejects CD’s comparison of natural selection with the architect of a building. The architect who plans and oversees construction should not be confused in his function with the wisest breeder. That would be to deify natural selection.

Author:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  15 June 1860
Classmark:  The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/6: 108–9)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2832A

From Charles Lyell   19 June 1860

Summary

Sees Huxley’s deification of matter and force as a reaction to the way Paley likened the "Unknown Cause" to the mind of man so that new causes could be introduced. If you wish to retain free will which is inconsistent with constant law, Paley’s position is better. Free will is a recently introduced cause on our planet. It cannot be fully attributed to secondary causes.

What CD says about the variation in gestation of the hound is remarkable.

The astonishing fertile rabbit–hare hybrids encourage belief in Pallas’s theory of the multiple origin of dogs.

Does the regularity of gestation in man indicate a common stock?

Hooker’s observation of absence of forms peculiar to extra-Arctic Greenland indicates that the time since the beginning of the glacial period is brief in geological terms.

Author:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  19 June 1860
Classmark:  The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/6: 117–23)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2837A
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letter (2)
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