Assures EK that he will not change his mind about publishing a translation of EK’s article on Erasmus Darwin. It is unfortunate that Samuel Butler should have published [Evolution, old and new] just then, but that does not change CD’s determination.

Butler is clever, but knows no science. His views that cells have memory and the power of wishing – even if correct – cannot explain how they could change themselves chemically or structurally.

EK can do anything he likes with CD’s preface [to Erasmus Darwin].