Agrees with JDH on difference in grief over loss of father and of child. His love of his father.

The Reader.

Politics and science.

Health improved by Bence Jones’s diet.

[Dated "Thursday 27th" by CD.]

Thanks SB for his Evidence [for the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1865)], the main argument of which is new to CD. He particularly agrees with the preface.

Has been confined to his bedroom for the last five months.

Encloses letter [from A. R. Wallace?] about the Reader.

Wants his opinion of a letter from Fritz Müller on climbing plants.

Has done nothing since 1 May. Slowly getting better under Bence Jones’s diet.

The Reader has been sold – would regret its failure as a newspaper for general science.

Pangenesis is recovering from shock it received from THH’s criticism.

Thanks SB for letter of 1 October.

Returns the printed letter in which SB replied to the Bishop [of Wellington, N. Z.]; it amused him.

Experiments with string and elastic paper answered well.

Does JW know Ferdinand Cohn’s paper on contraction of stamens of certain Compositae [Edinburgh New Philos. J. n.s. 18 (1863): 190–4]?

Formerly made observations on movement in plants, but weak health has made it impossible to publish.

Thanks for book on language [Chapters on language (1865)], which he hopes to read soon if his weak health permits.

Discusses self-fertilisation in bee and spider orchids. Asks JTM to conduct experiment.

Comments on plates [see J. T. Moggridge’s contribution to Flora of Mentone and winter flora of the Riviera, including the coast from Marseilles to Genoa London 1866, 1871. Part II dated 1865; Part I, 1866].

Is sending FM’s two letters on climbing plants as a paper to the Linnean Society ["Notes on some of the climbing plants near Desterro, in south Brazil", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 344–9].

Adaptations for pollination in Catasetum.

Handwritten extract from Origin 3d ed., p. 514.

AG’s article on climbing plants [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 40 (1865): 273–82] is admirable and complimentary.

Reports Fritz Müller’s observations on climbers.

Experiments on dimorphism with Mitchella and Pulmonaria.

Sends Fritz Müller’s paper ["Notes on some of the climbing plants near Desterro, in S. Brazil", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 344–9] to be refereed.

Thinks Royal Society’s failure to honour W. J. Hooker may be due to small number of botanists on Council.

Interest in H. J. Carter’s papers in Annals and Magazine of Natural History on lower organisms.

On Wallace; anthropology.

H. H. Travers’ paper on Chatham Islands [J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 9 (1865): 135–44].

W. C. Wells’s paper of 1813 ["Essay on dew", Two Essays (1818)] anticipates discovery of natural selection.

Bad health during last six months has prevented scientific work.

News of family.

Declines writing testimonial for AN for the Cambridge Professorship in Zoology. The post requires expertise in comparative anatomy and histology, whereas AN’s work is on habits and colours of birds.

Has enjoyed FWF’s volume [Chapters on language]. Had found Max Müller’s theory obscure and weak.

Believes FWF would come to agree with him on species if he studied general questions in natural history. To argue for immutability of species on the basis of geology resembles a wise savage in a nation with no books saying his language has never changed.

Reports the results of an experiment to compare the weight of seeds produced in plants of [Medicago sativa] by self-pollination and by insect pollination.

Asks her to send some specimens of Dr Erasmus Darwin’s handwriting for the Autographic Mirror.

Comments on the facsimile of his handwriting made by HK, and points out two errors in the letter press.

Encloses three letters written by Erasmus Darwin, and asks HK to return them to Eliza Meteyard.

Acknowledges receipt of £257 12s. 2d.