JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer to complain about the Linnean Society, he describes it as having: 'no backbone, only an os sacrum that ought to be kicked'.

JDH is determined that he & Sir William Thiselton-Dyer will not lose Currey [as a Secretary of the Linnean Society?]. JDH supports Thiselton-Dyer's plans to reform the Linnean Society. JDH will remonstrate Allman for snubbing the Linnean Society by sending his paper to the Royal Society. Thinks they can succeed in having the Council Room turned into a meeting room on a trial basis. JDH reassures Thiselton-Dyer that his sympathies are not opposed to biological botany. He thinks the work that Thiselton-Dyer was doing for him prior to the Cape flora was not advancing Thiselton-Dyer's scientific status or wealth, though it was of great use to JDH. Thiselton-Dyer's work on the Cape flora was to redress this balance, especially as it relates to his personal field of interest, geographic botany & there is an audience for it. If Thiselton-Dyer had expressed a preference for pure physiology over systematic work JDH would have been equally supportive & still urged him to seek work that was useful & paid well. JDH's opinion of the British Association [for the Advancement of Science] is that it has out lived its original purpose & is now in unnecessary competition with other societies. He concedes that [the 44th meeting of the British Association at] Belfast was exceptional as a useful British Association exercise. The Linnean Society is useful to JDH for its resources, he joined it for his own benefit as well as science's & is willing to exert some effort to preserve it, unlike the BA. JDH observes that the biological side of zoology is becoming associated with the Royal Society rather than the Linnean & thought there should be enough papers for both there is also competition from the zoology and microscopical societies. He thinks the latter should be assumed into the Linnean Society but doubts that is practical.

Thanks JDH for Asa Gray’s interesting letter.

Would like JDH’s copy of Coral reefs. Needs it for corrections for a new edition. Cannot buy one.

No summary available.

Reports on a séance. "The Lord have mercy on us all if we have to believe in such rubbish."

Asks JDH to vote for his nephew, Henry Parker, for Athenaeum membership.

An awful row at the Linnean Society. William Carruthers and Co. packed a meeting to throw out a decision of the Council. He was beaten by one vote (more than two-thirds majority needed).

Spent two hours with Lyell talking about Thomas Belt’s book [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1874)]: "the tropical old Glaciers beat the seance I do think".

Lyell agrees that the glacial epoch is the great geological crux of the day. Lowering of the ocean level must also be investigated.

Curious about A. C. Ramsay’s paper coming at Royal Society on 29th ["On the comparative value of certain geological ages", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 22 (1874): 145–8].

Huxley’s new book [? Critiques and addresses (1873)].