Acknowledges StGJM’s kind letter. [See 7451.]

Offers to alter the "dogmatic assertion" referred to on page 102 [of StGJM’s On the genesis of species] but in 5th ed. of Origin and in Variation CD finds only qualified expressions.

CD apologises for having thought that StGJM’s religious feelings had led him to feel personal animosity towards him. [See 7454.]

He remembers having thought and written that belief in evolution is infinitely more important for science than belief in Natural Selection. For his own part he would have felt little interest in evolution apart from the explanation "in a general manner" of how each organism is so adapted to its conditions.