JDH asks Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer to take special note of how Wilson Saunders cultivates plants from the Cape [Cape Peninsula, South Africa] so they can emulate the techniques in the pits at RBG Kew. He also wants to know where Saunders got the Elleanthus chrysocomus & Cotyledon mamillaris which he gave RBG Kew. Mr Pritchard has informed JDH that [William] Carruthers will drop his claim [that the RBG Kew herbarium should be transferred to the British Museum of Natural History to form one national herbarium] if papers can be produced that prove the RBG Kew herbarium is government property. The C. S. [Civil Service?] Commission have informed JDH that Spink's exams put him at the bottom of a list of 5 candidates [for a gardener position at Kew]. [George] Nicholson, a candidate with no training or references had the highest scores & impressed [John] Smith with his capacity so JDH has agreed to hire him. Thanks to ' [Acton Smee] Ayrton's folly' Nicholson will be on twice the salary he would have accepted, £150 per annum rather than £75. In additional marginal notes JDH mentions a letter from Reynold, [George] Bentham & his Linnean Society 'matter', & asks Thiselton-Dyer to write a few pages on the distribution of [Nathaniel] Wallich's Dipterocarps.
On EH’s Die Kalkschwämme [1872].
Hopes Drosophyllum was all right.
Opinion of Council of Royal Society [on Presidency] is twelve for JDH, five for Duke of Devonshire, and G. B. Airy for William Spottiswoode.
Sends HA’s paper ["On leaf arrangement"] with a supporting note [from CD] to Royal Society.
Has sent phyllotaxy paper to G. G. Stokes with the letter from CD to show credentials.
Will not have time to read new Sachs edition CD offered.
Thanks for CD’s sponsorship of paper [Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 21 (1873): 176–9].
Discusses JDB’s views on the spread of human-like creatures across the world, and the development of language.
On a correction JVC thinks should be made in Variation on vertebrae of ducks.
Concerned about GHD’s health. Sends a prescription for a cough mixture.
Acknowledges correction in text of Variation . "You are a most conscientious editor & are as careful as I am apt to be careless."
Popular Edition [6th] of Origin has sold out 3000 copies. Asks CD whether he has found any errors that should be corrected.
Thanks OCM for the papers he has sent.
The Naples Zoological Station and its library are growing fast. His life is a constant battle with the municipality, but has managed to make a little progress on vertebrate ancestry and morphology. His views get further away from what is generally accepted.
Drosophyllum arrived; none of his observations turned out as he expected, but nevertheless he understands its habits better than he did. The secreting hairs that he observed may be explained as a mere chemical reaction.
Comments on various articles he has read.
Asks for Thiselton-Dyer’s notes.
Translation of some of his annotations in Dutch edition of Expression.
Is pleased that HHHvZ has appended his notes to his translation [of Expression and is obliged for the abstract of these notes [see 8712].
A new [German] edition of Expression is to be done. Has CD anything to add or alter?
JVC cites an article on cessation of breathing during mental concentration that supports Gratiolet as quoted in Expression, p. 179.
Has heard from Ashwin Conway Newman of Guy’s Hospital of a case of a child without any prepuce whose father was a renegade, uncircumcised Jew, but whose ancestors had all been Jews. Newman thinks this a good case of inheritance with reversion. JP’s letter [missing] now shows how rash such a conclusion would be.
No summary available.
Sends a paper on evolution by his friend J. D. MacDonald ["Distribution of Invertebrata", Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 21 (1872–3): 218–23] for CD’s perusal before dispatching it to the Royal Society.
At Asa Gray’s request, responds to CD’s questions about WMC’s observations on Dionaea and particularly about the size of the insects captured and the excitability of the leaves after an insect is captured.
