Showing 1–20 of 47 items
Describes one of his varieties of potato in its third and fourth years. [CD notes his observations on this variety grown at Down, July 1879.]
Leaves home on 6th for a rest.
Will commence writing Erasmus Darwin.
Apologises for keeping RD’s various books for so long a time.
Encloses some references [missing] to information on Dr Erasmus Darwin.
Asks GHD to look in Cambridge University Library for Monthly Magazine articles containing a malicious calumny concerning Dr [Erasmus] D[arwin] [see Erasmus Darwin, pp. 65–70].
Was it Lady Charlemont or Charleville who remarked how agreeable their grandfather was?
Asks her to confirm story about Robert Darwin (father of Dr Erasmus).
Is struck by the amazing variations of the hardy Primula varieties.
Asks GHD to look for a life of Sir Henry Rayburn [Raeburn] "who is spoken of as famous and who painted Charles Darwin [1758–1778] when dead". Asks why he painted the corpse.
Sends CD an article on Dr Erasmus Darwin [from Monthly Magazine, see 12028].
Tells of a "discovery" he has made about taking observations of the sun. Does not know yet whether it is new.
Invitation to the University College Hospital festival and dinner
Sends first part of MS of Erasmus Darwin.
Has found useful criticism of Anna Seward in J. G. Lockhart’s Life of Sir Walter Scott.
CD should regard MS as a draft and correct anything that seems incorrect or questionable. Asks biographical questions about Dr Darwin. Can CD give information about origin of family name?
Has received the enlarged MS for Erasmus Darwin from E. Krause.
No summary available.
A big book arrived for GHD before CD left Down. Hopes it is Thomson and Tait [Treatise on natural philosophy, 2 vols., 2d ed. (1869)]. It shows what they think of GHD.
Thinks it grand if GHD has made a correction about "such an old sinner as the Sun" and hopes his arithmetic on his old subject will turn out right.
Has been trying unsuccessfully to weigh something for CD.
Believes it absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist and evolutionist; gives the examples of Kingsley and Asa Gray. As regards CD’s own views, his judgement often fluctuates but "I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of God". Thinks that "generally (and more and more as I grow older) … an Agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind".
Has difficulty with E. Krause’s orthography and quotations.
Asks CD to lend him Anna Seward’s biography [Memoirs of the life of Dr Darwin (1804)].
Compatibility of evolution and theism.
Will wait for CD’s preliminary essay before proceeding with German edition [of Erasmus Darwin]. Regards CD’s essay as the principal attraction. Would like to finish German edition by end of July.
Has CD seen Samuel Butler’s Evolution, old and new [1879], which contains a biography of Erasmus Darwin and exposition of his philosophy? "Does not this rather take the wind out of our sails?"
No summary available.