Agrees with much of CV’s proposed protest but cannot sign it. Feels it is likely to do more harm than good.

Thanks CD for considering his protest, which he has now decided not to carry out.

No summary available.

Mr Laslett’s estimate is too high. Mr Deards is quicker and better. Discusses building details for house improvement.

Thanks for Japanese books, and papers by HNM.

Comments on Peripatus.

Not disappointed at what William Thomson says about evolution.

Tells JVC what changes have been made in the new edition of his geological book [Volcanic islands and South America].

Does not know why he doubted about the Atlantic dust paper – now thinks it worth translating.

Glad JVC has not found Cross and self-fertilisation as intolerably dull as CD feared. Answers his queries about Cross and self-fertilisation.

Met CD at a bath the previous summer.

Proposes he work on human illness.

Explains how they look after Drosera plants.

Encloses his father’s autograph.

JDH informs Sir Charles Wyville Thomson [CWT] that he has received copies of the latter's correspondence with the Admiralty & Treasury regarding the publication & dispersal of the results of the HMS 'Challenger' Expedition. The Treasury has asked for the advice of the Royal Society Council on how this can best be done independently & for the greatest scientific benefit. JDH quotes at length from the Treasury's request which asks especially for advice on what the limits of the published works should be, given CWT's insistence that they be restricted to the particular objects of the expedition. To help the Royal Society deliberations JDH asks CWT for his opinions on how the collections should be 'worked up' & what audience he has in mind for the published works & who should write them. Also as regards payment for & ultimate length of the work & whether or not the deep & shallow ocean fauna could be considered & published separately. He asks for the information promptly as the Challenger Committee must report for the Parliamentary Settlement of 1877-1878.

No summary available.

Sends W. Thomson’s complimentary opinion of his paper "On the influence of geological changes on the earth’s axis" [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 167 (1877): 271–312].

Thanks for a correction. Hopes AG now has all the sheets of Cross and self-fertilisation.

No summary available.

No summary available.

Encloses printed letter from Land and Water in which he proposes a hypothesis that explains how soaring birds can stay aloft by expelling air from their lungs.

Sends photograph of man with peculiar facial features, whom HW treated at St Mark’s Ophthalmic Hospital.

Considers different animal instincts, some of which have reversed, others of which have proved persistent.

Is working at dimorphic plants;

is astonished at WED’s labour.

Informs CD about Apocynum androsaemifolium, an insectivorous plant not mentioned in CD’s book. Offers to send specimen.

Pleased to hear about GHD’s paper at the Royal Society.