Comments on AG’s memoir on Japanese plants [see 2599]; relationship of Japanese flora to N. American.
If an American edition of Origin is considered worth while, CD would like AG’s reviews prefixed to it.
Will use all his strength to produce first part of his three-volume big work [Variation].
CD is glad there is to be an American edition of Origin printed from the corrected 2d English edition.
Sends historical preface and corrections for American edition of Origin;
would have liked AG’s review [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84] at the head.
Agrees with AG’s assessment of weak points.
Thinks AG’s review is admirable.
Reactions of others to the Origin.
Last sheets of AG’s review of Origin have arrived. CD’s comments and criticisms.
Has been ill with pleurisy.
Sends more corrections and additions for American edition of Origin.
Further additions and corrections for American Origin.
Views of Owen, G. H. K. Thwaites, and W. H. Harvey on CD’s theories.
Thinks AG’s review [of Origin] will aid much in making people think about subject.
Has been savagely and unfairly reviewed by Adam Sedgwick in the Spectator [24 Mar 1860],
but thinks F. J. Pictet’s review in opposition ["Sur l’origine de l’espèce", Arch. Sci. Phys. & Nat. n.s. 7 (1860): 231–55] a very fair one.
Origin reviews. Is annoyed at Richard Owen’s malignity [Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532].
Bitter and incessant attacks on the Origin.
Any truth in it has been saved only by a small body of men like Lyell, AG, Hooker, and Huxley.
Opinions and reviews of Origin.
CD’s view on design in nature; although he does not believe in the necessity of design, he finds it hard to conclude that everything is the result of "brute force".
Comments on Owen’s review of Origin [Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532].
Discusses recent reviews of Origin and has made a note on Owen’s [see 2737].
Has become interested in the floral structures of orchids.
Notes his recent observations on Primula; believes he has found male and female forms.
JDH informs Asa Gray that he thinks Picrasma japonica is the same as P. ailanthoides. He is not convinced that Gray's Amaroria is a valid genus, it is close to Soulamea. JDH has seen Monroe. Asks Gray not to send things via bookseller as it is expensive, Trupena's charges are especially high. Mentions Gray's description of Holacantha, & correct use of the term hypogynous. Work on the Arctic flora has led JDH to consider the correct classification of North temperate flora, for example Alsineae; many of which could be referred to Stellarias, Holostea or Gramineae. Speculates that Greenland flora is unique & limited due to glacial factors. JDH can find no specimen of Dupontia cooleyi [at the RBG Kew herbarium]. He asks how Narthecium americanum differs from N. ossifragum. JDH has a newborn son [Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker]. [George] Bentham is continuing the Hong Kong colonial flora, FLORA HONKONGENSIS, with support from the Treasury. JDH gives his opinion on [Richard] Owen's review of [Charles] Darwin's theory of evolution [ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION]. Mentions reviews of his own essay [on plant distribution in the FLORA ANTARCTICA, supporting Darwin's theory]. Gray owes JDH for Horsfield's plants. JDH bought Booth's Bhutan plants at the [Thomas] Nuttall [estate] sale. [Letter incomplete, it bears no valediction or signature but is written in the hand of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker].
Origin has "stirred up the mud with a vengeance"; AG and three or four others have saved CD from annihilation and are responsible for the attention now given to the subject. Reports events at Oxford BAAS meeting.
New evidence supports AG’s view of a warm post-glacial period.
Discusses his recent orchid observations.
Poses AG a question on design in nature.
Greatly praises AG’s discussion of Origin in Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci. [4 (1860): 411–15; 424–6].
Mentions other reviews of Origin; believes the BAAS meeting at Oxford greatly advanced the subject. Has heard his views are gaining ground in Germany.
Agassiz is strongly opposed to Origin, but CD thinks K. E. von Baer may come out in support.
Discusses the possibility of favourable monstrosities in the light of Theophilus Parsons’ essay ["On the origin of species", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 30 (1860): 1–13].
Has received second part of AG’s Atlantic Monthly article ["Darwin on the origin of species", 6 (1860): 109–16, 229–39], and would like to have it reprinted in England with the first part.
Regrets no reviewer has touched upon embryology, which he feels provides one of his strongest arguments.
Has read sheets of AG’s third Atlantic Monthly article [Oct 1860] and praises it and AG’s other reviews and articles highly.
Is surprised at the inability of others to grasp the meaning of natural selection.
Has been testing the sensitivity of Drosera, which he finds remarkable.
Asks if AG will be able to make some observations on orchids for him.
Is thinking of publishing AG’s three-part Origin review [from Atlantic Monthly] in England.