Suggests GHD write a supplement to his review [of A. H. Huth’s The marriage of near kin (1875)]. Feels sorry Huth was taken in by the Legrain fraud. [See Autobiography (1958), pp. 143–4.]
Sends comments and suggestions for Huth’s experiment on crossbreeding rabbits.
Pleased by W. Stanley Jevons’ letter.
Has ordered Dr Cohn’s book.
Is sure that GHD’s energy will lead to success with work on viscous fluids.
Asks that a copy of GHD’s paper on cousin marriage be sent to Hermann Müller. J. F. McLennan admires it "as a model".
Has received a baffling article on God, immortality, and socialism under a Darwinian point of view.
Clerk Maxwell has disagreed with CD on molecular calculations in relation to Pangenesis in Encyclopaedia Britannica article ["Atom", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed. (1875) 3: 36–49].
Frank [Darwin] has found a Trifolium remarkable for "bloom", but it was not in flower. If GHD knows where it grows, could he dig up the whole plant?
Asks GHD to calculate average or mean heights of crossed and self-fertilised plant species.
Sends Mind. Henry Sidgwick’s article ["The theory of evolution in its application to practice", Mind 1 (1876): 52–67] is so clear it makes CD feel "a muddle-headed man". But he disagrees with Sidgwick on the origin of morality within tribes.
Is sure mathematical discussion of elevation of continents will be valued by geologists.
Comments on the reaction of geologists to GHD’s work on elevation of continents.
Further comments on GHD’s work on the influence of geological changes on the earth’s axis.
Frank [Francis Darwin] has made a fine zoological discovery.
Is determined not to believe in GHD’s astronomical work until J. C. Adams accepts it, for he would be so disappointed if it breaks down.
All rejoice that J. C. Adams thinks well of GHD’s work and will present his paper to the Royal Society.
Gives news of his other sons.
Refers him to Nature [14 (1876): 553] in which a Russian doctor [Prof. Poplavsky] contradicts GHD on deaf mutes not being closely interrelated.
"Frank has sent the cards here."
Has not yet heard from Cambridge. Thinks perhaps they do not intend to give him the degree.
Has not yet received letter [about Cambridge honorary LL.D.].
Sends a query he would like GHD to put to Clerk Maxwell: why does a sponged leaf dry more rapidly, although sponging cannot remove the waxy bloom from the minute pores through which it is secreted?
Is very glad to hear about tides in the earth.
Has given dates [for the Cambridge University honorary degree] to the Vice-Chancellor.
Asks GHD to determine whether there are worm-castings in cloisters of [Neville?] Court.
Enjoyed his visit to Cambridge. Asks for newspaper account of the LL.D.
