Has not yet received letter [about Cambridge honorary LL.D.].

Has not yet heard from Cambridge. Thinks perhaps they do not intend to give him the degree.

Sends a query he would like GHD to put to Clerk Maxwell: why does a sponged leaf dry more rapidly, although sponging cannot remove the waxy bloom from the minute pores through which it is secreted?

Is very glad to hear about tides in the earth.

Has given dates [for the Cambridge University honorary degree] to the Vice-Chancellor.

Asks GHD to determine whether there are worm-castings in cloisters of [Neville?] Court.

Enjoyed his visit to Cambridge. Asks for newspaper account of the LL.D.

Thinks he had better not sign GHD’s paper [as a candidate for F.R.S.], since he obviously is no judge of the quality of his work.

Asks if Thomson did not overlook heat generated by the crushing and folding of strata during the refrigeration of the globe.

CD at first thought GHD should not answer Haughton [see 10689], but Hooker thinks if no correction is made Haughton’s error will be quoted for 20 years. CD is now inclined to agree.

CD believes few or none have attributed deaf-mutism to consanguineous marriages.

Asks for sketches of [Thalia] pistil, in which he is much interested.

Rejoices that "Lagrange’s case does not seem very bad".

CD is working hard at dissecting Thalia. Has recovered some handiness with microscope.

Thanks GHD for his drawings [of Thalia]. Some parts need attention.

Writes to say that the point on which he thought GHD’s drawings were mistaken proves to be an error in his own observation.

He and Emma rejoice that GHD’s mathematical troubles are at an end. It is miraculous that he unconsciously followed the right course – like composing a sonata by a fluke.

Rejoices that he should have "staggered" William Thomson so quickly and that the latter should speak of GHD’s "discovery". The internal heat [of the earth] will please geologists and evolutionists.

Forwards pamphlet (Jules Carret 1878) to GHD.

Delighted with [William Thomson’s] report. "There can be no doubt now about the value of your work." CD has "not been so much pleased for a long time".

Circular about the distribution of the overplus of his income and advice on investment.

Frank [Darwin] has found a Trifolium remarkable for "bloom", but it was not in flower. If GHD knows where it grows, could he dig up the whole plant?

Thanks him for his efforts. CD cared most about the letter to Thomas Okes [see Erasmus Darwin, pp. 14–15]. "Cannot think who the calumnious article cd have been about [in?] 1802."

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].