Comments on pp. 201, 211, and 218 [of Origin].
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Comments on pp. 201, 211, and 218 [of Origin].
Sends some bees CD requested
and discusses the differences among several animal species on islands of the West Indies.
Sends a correction for Origin reprint.
Comments on the Origin. Outlines difficulties he finds in CD’s theory. Believes CD must define natural selection more accurately and mentions instances in which that principle is an insufficient cause to account for the form of certain structures.
JDH half through Origin. High praise for facts and reasoning.
Lyell told JDH his criticisms: small matters JDH did not appreciate.
Reactions of G. Bentham, J. S. Henslow, and C. C. Babington.
Forwards letter from Asa Gray.
Bentham is very agitated by Origin. CD over-emphasises natural selection. His theory accounts for too much and would be improved by unburdening it of natural selection.
Cannot agree with all of CD’s views [in Origin].
Thinks too much is made of the Galapagos. The peculiarity of their ornithology will break down.
Offers to answer any questions on ornithology.
Examples of animals that dwell in dark places, some of which are blind, some not. Asks: where causes are the same, why is not the effect? Does not think disuse is the answer, but arrested development.
Comments also on the absence of a ligament in four mammals and asks how natural selection accounts for this.
No doubt about worm-holes in the Long Mynd, and they are certainly lower than J. Barrande’s primordial zone. Fossils in Laurentian gneiss.
Wonders whether CD would be interested in a book by Dr Bucknell [J. C. Bucknill?] on psychology.
Response to Origin. Praise for summary of chapter 10 and chapter 11.
The dissimilarity of African and American species is ‘necessary result of “Creation” adapting new species to the pre-existing ones. Granting this unknown & if you please miraculous power acting’.
C. T. Gaudin writes of Oswald Heer’s finding many species common between Miocene floras of Iceland and Switzerland. Interesting for CD’s migration theory.