Asks for advice about the mortgage to Major Owen for £20,000.
Asks for advice about the mortgage to Major Owen for £20,000.
Gives notice of returning books by a carrier and thanks for assistance.
Asks whether Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville’s Ostéographie (1839–64) includes rabbits or hares.
Variations in nature arise from unknown causes, accidentally or spontaneously, and are preserved by natural selection if beneficial.
Wishing to purchase a copy of Ferguson’s illustrated series of rare and prize poultry, including comprehensive essays upon all classes of domestic fowl (Ferguson 1854).
Sends cheque.
Distribution of AG’s pamphlet.
Insectivorous plants.
Informs AG of his [CD’s] notice on Pumilio in Gardeners’ Chronicle [5 Jan 1861; Collected papers 2: 36–8].
Chauncey Wright’s review of Origin: A. Gray asks that THH append a list of philosophical books on subject if he accepts it for Natural History Review.
Sends Gray’s pamphlet of his (republished) reviews [Natural selection not inconsistent with natural theology (1861)] for notice.
Thanks for information about Major Owen’s mortgage.
Asa Gray’s pamphlet.
Ill health.
Invites Mrs Huxley and the children to spend a fortnight at Down.
MS of Chauncey Wright’s review has not yet arrived.
[P.S. missing from original.]
Sends pamphlet by Asa Gray [Natural selection not inconsistent with natural theology (1861)]. Hopes AM may get it noticed in any natural history periodical in Edinburgh.
Will send AM a corrected [3d] edition of Origin. AM will find little alteration in the parts he attacked, which, to the best of CD’s judgment, did not seem to require correction. Assures AM that he does not send his new edition out of bravado.
Sends correspondence between Dr Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood I [of Etruria] on glaciers.
Also a pamphlet [Asa Gray, Natural selection not inconsistent with natural theology (1861)] containing "the best account" of the Origin.
If JM disapproves of inserting CD’s geological works on back of title-page [of Origin, 3d ed.], he should strike them out. CD cares little. Reminds him to insert "additions and corrections" in advertisements. Sends list for presentation copies.
Asks whether his Journal of researches has sold at all satisfactorily.
Comments on JL’s Seasons with sea-horses [1861]. Thinks JL bold to defend his bear–whale illustration.
Would like to borrow WBT’s collection of fowls’ skulls.
Asks for WBT’s opinion of G. Ferguson, the author of a poultry book [Ferguson’s illustrated book of domestic poultry].
Believes AG’s pamphlet will do natural selection "right good service".
Praise for DO’s paper on Hamamelidaceae ["On Sycopis", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862): 83–9, read 15 Mar 1860]. Everything points to its being a "bankrupt" family.
Hydropathy at Malvern may take him from Drosera. Requests Dionaea and Cypripedium.
CD expresses his gratification that a geologist of AG’s standing and influence subscribes to the idea of the mutability of species.
Requests a number of books to be sent by the carrier on Thursday morning.
Regret that the Archbishop of Canterbury and other English Bishops have severely censured Essays and Reviews [1860]. Believe "such enquiries conducted in a spirit so earnest and reverential … must tend to elicit truth, and to foster a spirit of sound religion". [Signed by CD, numerous men of science, and others.]