An Annotated Calendar of the Letters of Charles Darwin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society
1799-1882
(2.5 linear feet)

Part III: Numbers 401-626
B D25

© American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street * Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
 American Philosophical Society 105 South Fifth Street Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
Arrangement

Detailed inventory

 401. To M[ichael] FOSTER; Down (type 6) [1871 June] 29 [pmk. JU29/ 71] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and env., add. [Dr. M. Foster/ 5. Vanburgh Park Road/ Blackheath] B D25.104

Thanks for curare; what Foster says about amoebae is "a damper".1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

402. To [John Dean CATON]; Down (type 6) 1871 July 20th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.254

Bearers of this note are CD's two sons [George Howard Darwin and Francis Darwin],1 who are touring [United] States; please extend aid to them and show them corr.'s "famous Deer-park";2 sent copy of Darwin, Descent of Man (1871).

Note: 1. See Emma Darwin, II, 250 and 250n.
2. See Caton, The Antelope and Deer of America..., 2nd ed. (New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 1877), esp. ix. Recipient of this letter determined by this reference to deer park.

403. To J[ohn] Royle MARTIN; Down (type 6) 1871 Sep 15. LS; 8 x5; 2p. (enclosures wanting) B D25.132

Thanks for letter of 12th; takes ten shares in Artizan's Dwelling Company; will send check for L 100.

404. To?; Down (type 6) [1871] Oct. 10th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.132

Experiment suggested by corr. is not worthwhile; any difference in the duration of human bones would have been detected already in old bones found in caverns and tumuli and in mummies; [Thomas Henry] Huxley has sent an admirable review of [St. George Jackson] Mivart's book to the Contemporary for the November number;1 is preparing new [sixth] edition of Darwin, Origin [(1872)].

Note: 1. See: Mivart, On the Genesis of Species (London: Macmillan, 1871); and Huxley, "Mr. Darwin's Critics," Contemporary Review, 18 (1871): 443-76, issued November, 1871.

405. To?; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 Jan. 8th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.79

Thanks for letter of January 6; declines to join movement mentioned by corr., since CD is ignorant of the arguments on either side of the issue.

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used. This method first suggested for this letter by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University.

406. To?; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 March 23d ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.219

Lists gold and silver pheasant in table of authentic crosses among the Phasianidae, drawn up several years ago, but has by accident omitted this case [in recent publication]; would not have introduced it without fairly good evidence; hopes corr. will publish case.

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used.

407. To [Thomas Campbell] EYTON; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 June 8th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and end. [1647 to 73/ Original Sketch/ 4th (Amsl.?) 1676/ another 1686] B EY83 v.2, p.75

Thanks for letter; story must be "a cock & a Bull," since [Robert] Swinhoe, who knows Formosa well, would have heard of it otherwise; would like extract to send to Swinhoe, now in China; discusses health.

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used.

408. To?; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 June 9th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.25

Would be happy to read paper, but is a poor critic; believes all he reads until long reflection causes doubts; finds such reflection hard work nowadays; has no mathematical knowledge.

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used.

409. To [Léo Abram ERRERA]; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 July 9th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.224

Thanks for exertions in CD's behalf; regrets waste of corr.'s time.

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used.

410. To?; Down (type 6) [ca. 1871-1875]1 Nov. 8th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.132

Orders a "Vulcanized Indian-Rubber Enema of medium size."

Note: 1. Years determined by Down address variant used. The following persons helped to date this letter: Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University; Sir Hedley Atkins and Philip Titheradge, Down House; and Dr. Ralph Colp, Jr., New York City.

411. To [John Edward] GRAY; Down (type 6) [ca. 1872]1 Feb. 4th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B G784

Remembers "reading in Molina about the Huemul";1 asked about it in southern parts of South America, concluded it did not exist; must be rare; glad Gray has made out what it is;1 regards to Mrs. [Maria Emma] Gray.

Note: 1. See: Giovanni Ignazio [i.e. Juan Ignatius] Molina, The Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chili, 2v., tr. from the original Italian (London: 1809); and Gray, "On the Guémul (Huamela leucotis)," Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 10 (1872): 445-46; and 11 (1873): 214-20 and 308-10. Discussion is about the guemal, or South American deer. Year for letter determined by date of publication of Gray's paper.

412. To Messrs. Appleton & Co.; Down (type 6) 1872 March 16. ALS; 7 x4.5 3p. B D25.138

Thanks for letter of February 23; is gratified about sale of CD's works; thanks for payment of L 427·13·8, to be sent by Mr. Layton; is glad Darwin, Journal [of Researches] sells well.

413. To?; Down (type 6) 1872 Ap 8. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.195

Thanks for paper and kind remarks; had read [Harriet] Martineau's book [The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, freely translated and condensed by H. Martineau (1853)] and others on [Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier] Comte, but had forgotten Comte's observations on relations of man to the lower forms of life.

414. To?; Down (type 6) [1872] April 12th [end. 1872./ April 13.] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and end. [1872./ C. Darwin/ Kent./ April 13 (and) 1872/ C. Darwin/ Down/ Apr 15] and attached enclosure1 B D25.205

Orders the following: J[ohn R.] Leifchild, The Higher Ministry of Nature... ([London]: Holder & Stoughton [sic; Staughton], [1872]); Erm Müller, The Application of the Darwinian Theory to Flowers, and the Insects Which Visit Them (Salem, Mass.: Naturalists' Agency, n.d.);1 and James [Bradbridge] Hunter, "A Review of Darwin's Theory" (New York: Appleton and Co., [1871]), previously ordered, and which CD is anxious to get.2

Note: 1. Enclosure is a broadside advertisement for Müller's book. Müller's publication is reprinted from Am. Nat., 5 (1871): 271-97. See also Vorzimmer, Reprint Catalogue, item R.212.
2. The review appeared in the Journal of Psychological Medicine; see Vorzimmer, Reprint Catalogue, item R.213.

415. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1872] May 10th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.L

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 336-37 (letter 250). p. 336, line 9, and p. 337, line 1, change "a higher grade" to "higher grades".

416. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1872]1 May 22 ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.L

Thanks for letter; see Darwin, Origin [(1872)], new edition, pp. 332 and 348, for remarks "on forms not changing when migrating in a body"; some naturalists think this view true; read Prof. [Friedrich Leopold August] Weismann, Ueber den Einfluss der Isolirung [auf die Artbildung] (Leipzig: [Wilhelm Engelmann], 1872); Lyell has had a grand tour.1

Note: 1. The Lyells had gone to France; see Life of Lyell, II, 438. This, plus date of publication of sixth edition of Origin, determine year for this letter.

417. To "Madam"; Down (type 6) 1872 May 23 LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.6

Thanks for letter; will help corr. if possible; wrote to judge at Crystal Palace for dates of reports and information about books on cats; does not know of works exclusively on larger felines; read [Alfred Edmund] Brehm's [Illustrirtes] Thierleben [6v. (Hildburghausen: Bibliographisches Institute, 1864-1869)], which has been translated into French; thanks for information about fertility of crossed Angora and common cats; does not think characters of two fathers can be transmitted to single individual, but new paper by Fritz Müller indicates this is possible; thanks for book, which CD hopes will discuss expression of emotions in cats.

418. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) 1872 June 1 LS; 8 x5; 2p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.L

Thanks for Wood's interesting letter; there is much evidence that varieties of fruit trees transmit characters to a large extent, but Wood's cases exhibit exceptionally close identity; [Joseph] Decaisne has recorded cases of surprising diversity; sterility of Wood's seedlings is most remarkable point; "...if they had been planted separately in good ground, they wd not have been so sterile after early youth"; consider, for example, great fertility of seedling peach trees in Americas and in Australia; returns Wood's letter.

419. To [?Michael FOSTER]; Down (type 6) [?1872]1 June 6th LS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.243

Has read corr.'s little essay; it tells exactly what CD wanted to know, namely, how far our knowledge extended and where we were ignorant; invites corr. to Down; some of CD's sons will be home in week or two; is ill, so can only talk for short periods.

Note: 1. Year determined by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University; address, however, is printed to right side of page, which with this Down address variant usually indicates a year of 1871.

420. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1872] July 12th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.L

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: More Letters, II, 164-65 (letter 511).

421. From John T[homas] GULICK; c/o Mrs Delacour/ Frindsbury Hill/ Rochester/ Kent 1872 July 27th Saturday ALS; 7 x4.5 4p. B G96

CD's account of Galapagos Islands [in Darwin, Journal of Researches (1839)], read long ago, led Gulick to study distribution of species at Sandwich Islands; see Gulick's article in July 18 number of Nature; is visiting England; wants to meet CD and show him some land shells from Sandwich Islands, "illustrating the extremely limited distribution of the species, and the continuous gradation of forms from one species into another"; will leave soon for North China and Mongolia.

422. To J[ohn] T[homas] GULICK: Down (type 6) [1872] July 28th [pmk. JY29/ 72] ALS; 8 x5; 4p. and env., add. [J. T. Gulick Esqr--/ care of Mrs. Delacour/ Frindsbury Hill/ Rochester], end. [From Darwin] B G96

Printed in full, with minor changes: Addison Gulick, Evolutionist and Missionary: John Thomas Gulick... (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1932), 233-34. p. 234, line 1, missing name is "Prof. [Franciscus Cornelius] Donders of Utrecht (whom I could not refuse to see)".

423. To J[ohn] T[homas] GULICK; Down (type 6) [1872] Aug. 8th [pmk. AU8/ 72] ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and env., add. [The Revd. J. T. Gulick/ at Mrs. Delecour/ Frindsbury Hill/ Rochester.], end. [From Darwin] B G96

Printed, with minor changes: Addison Gulick, Evolutionist and Missionary: John Thomas Gulick (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1932), 234-35. At beginning of letter is: notes crossed on the road; cannot do anything about Gulick's paper;1 the secretaries act like judges and demur to any suggestions being made to them; is prejudiced in favor of Gulick's subject. p. 235, line 1, change "Section" to "[Secys.?]".

Note: 1. Refers, perhaps, to Gulick, "Diversity of Evolution under One Set of External Conditions," Rep. Br. Ass. Advmt Sci., 42 (1872), pt. 2: 136. Full paper printed in J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 11 (1873): 496-505.

424. To [Joseph Dalton] HOOKER; Down [1872] Aug. 30th [pmk. AU30/ 72] ANS on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [Dr. Hooker F.R.S./ Kew/ London W.] B D25.113

Acknowledges check and note; will not send it to bank until after talking with Hooker.

425. To [John Maurice] HERBERT; Down (type 6) 1872 Nov 21. LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.H

Has just published Darwin, Expression of the Emotions (1872); has sent Herbert a copy; recalls "jolly old days" at Barmouth and Cambridge;1 does Herbert remember anonymously giving CD a microscope; no other event in CD's life "surprised & gratified me more"; is "a confirmed invalid"; wants news of [Charles Thomas] Whitley; has seen S[amuel] Butler, author of Erewhon... [(London: 1872)] and son of Tom [i.e. Thomas] Butler; latter has become "a very unpleasant old man."

Note: 1. See Life and Letters I, 165-66. Concerning the microscope, see Gavin deBeer, ed., "The Darwin Letters at Shrewsbury School," Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond., 23 (1968): 73.

426. To?; Down (type 6) 1873 Ap. 7 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.35

Thanks for invitation and for catalogue of corr.'s collection of Cretacean fossils; would like to see Brighton Aquarium, but poor health forbids it; accepts corr.'s curious instance of inheritance.

427. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1873]1 May 16th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.L

Thanks for copy of fourth edition of Lyell, [The Geological Evidences of the] Antiquity of Man [(London: John Murray, 1873)]; will read over the modified or new parts; book seems larger than earlier editions.

Note: 1. Year determined from date of publication of Lyell's book.

428. To G[eorge] CUPPLES; Down (type 6) [1873] June 7th [end. June 10/ 73; pmk. JU7/ 73] ALS; 8 x5; 4p. and env., add. [G. Cupples Esqr/ The Cottage/ Guard Bridge/ Fifeshire/ N.B.], end. [Mr Darwin/ Recd. June 10/ 73] B D25.148

Thanks for letter, for former letter, and for report of [Julius] Victor Carus's lecture; is away from home on rest trip;1 glad CD's suspicion about [James Hutchinson] Stirling was groundless; was mortified that "so able a man" wrote "with such loathing contempt of me"; has not seen [Ralph Waldo] Emerson; hears that Emerson is charming, but probably does not have much in common with him; "During the last 2 or 3 years we have seen several Yankees, & as a rule they seem a most pleasant set"; was charmed with the Nortons [Charles Eliot Norton and his wife Susan Ridley Sedgwick Norton]; has recommended "Tappy's chickens" to CD's hosts.2

Note: 1. CD went to Leith Hill Place from June 4 to 12; see "Darwin's Journal," 19.
2. Anne J. Cupples, Tappy's Chicks and Other Links between Nature and Human Nature... (London: Strahan & Co., 1872). Anne J. Cupples was the wife of corr.

429. To Dr. [Edward Wickstead] LANE; Down (type 6) 1873 June 23. L (postscript in CD's hand); 8 x5; 3p. (mutilated) B D25.241

Thanks for copy of Lane's little book [Old Medicine and New (London: 1873)]; will read it soon; owes much to hydropathy, even though it seemed to do harm the last time it was tried; had a pleasant time whenever visiting Moor Park; regards to wife and to "Lady Drysdale [Lane's mother-in-law]".1

Note: 1. See Emma Darwin, II, 184.

430. To?; Down (type 6) [1873]1 July 18th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.154

Is not anatomist enought to say whether corr.'s power is very unusual; moving of the scalp voluntarily is not very important, unless very extreme and inherited.

Note: 1. Year written in pencil upon original in unknown hand.

431. To [a chemist, but not Hopkin & Williams]; Down (type 6) [1873]1 Sept 5th ALS; 8.5 x5; 2p. B D25.90

Thinks chlorides, instead of nitrates, of the various metals would be better for CD's purpose, but only when such are soluble; "But it is perhaps too late & nitrates wd. do very well, & are necessary in the case of silver"; send bottle of "Oxley's Essence of Ginger"; send four acids when ready, since CD wants to try them before the metallic salts; send the latter in two lots if it takes long to prepare them.

Note: 1. Date and recipient suggested by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University. This letter follows one dated the previous day, the original of which is now in possession of Baird & Tatlock (London) Ltd., incorporating Hopkin & Williams; copy on file at APS, courtesy of Baird & Tatlock.

432. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) 1873 Sep. 24. LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.L

Thanks for note and for apples, received "only today, as they were directed to Beckenham instead of to Orpington Station"; seedlings from same parent are "wonderfully alike in fruit and leaves; forgets what [Joseph Dalton] Hooker says; reversions to crab-state are exceptional;1 wild crabs themselves differ much; see Darwin, Variation under Domestication [(1868)], I, 350, and II, 31; inneritance is not as general with apple trees as Wood thinks;2 no one has raised a new Ribstone or Golden Pippen,3 although seedling by [Thomas] Andrew Knight approaches latter; Wood's most remarkable statement is about sterility of seedlings, since they are several years old;4 it is remarkable that parent trees were not intercrossed, since many flowered simultaneously; if bees carry pollen between trees, then pollen of above-named varieties is prepotent over others, so they have the character of species; would like to fertilize flowers of Hawthornden with pollen from many distinct varieties and to compare resulting seedlings; is ill, under care of [Andrew] Clark; invites Lyell to Down.

Note: 1. Lyell has written in pencil in margin here: "This is my contention".
2. See letter to Lyell dated June 1, 1872, above.
3. Lyell has written here: "but how has the failure occurred. probably from sterility or want of vitality".
4. Lyell has written here: "(14th year from the first sown)".

433. To [A. MOSCHKAU]; Down (type 6) 1873 Dec 19. LS; 8 x5; 2p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.180

Thanks for letter; returns the enclosed; has alluded to parrots speaking in Darwin, Descent of Man [(1871)];1 in new edition, has added good evidence that they understand the words used; will add, on corr.'s authority, the case of the starling; is ill and overwhelmed with letters, so cannot correspond with anyone.

Note: 1. See Darwin, Descent of Man (1871), I, 236; and II, 335.

434. To A. [G.] DEW-SMITH; Down (type 6) [?1873-1875]1 Oct 19th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. and env., add. [A. Dew Smith Esqr--/ 24. Green St/ Cambridge] B D25.225

Son is going to Cambridge tomorrow; takes opportunity to send specimen of Dionaea so corr. can observe changes in temperature in plant when it is in action; gives instructions to assure proper measurement; wishes plant were a better specimen, "but I have given away all by best specimens for [John Scott] B[urdon-] Sanderson's electrical experiments, which have proved so wonderful."2

Note: 1. Down address variant used determines limits of 1871 and 1875. Fact that address is printed in center of page upon paper having a distinctive escutcheon watermark eliminates 1871 and 1872.
2. See Darwin, Insectivorous Plants (1875), 318.

435. To [James Philip Mansel WEALE]; Down (type 7) 1874 Jan 8th LS; 9 x8.25 1p. B D25.252

What proportion of leaves of Pinguicola [sic; Pinguicula] have insects adhering to them; send leaves having captured insects, so CD can identify insects caught; observe how secretions from captured insects flow around leaf; do leaves ever capture seeds; if so, send specimens; describe habitat, esp. nearby vegetation, for Pinguicula vulgaris.

436. To Dr. [Andrew] CLARK; 6 Queen Anne St [1874]1 Jan 10 LS; 7 x4.5 2p. B D25.182

Has just come to London; please call and see CD.

Note: 1. Date determined by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University.

437. To?O.P.L.; Down (type 7) [1874 ca. February 20] [end. Recd on 20th Febry 1874] ALS; 9 x7.25 4p., end. [Recd. on 20th Febry 1874. O.P.L.] B D25.135

Thanks for reference, which CD had lost and is delighted to recover and to quote; will discuss point mooted in corr.'s letter; all organs necessary for reproduction are attributed to natural selection; sexual selection occurs only when advantage is gained by struggle between two or more individuals of same sex; males vary more than females; corr. may consider this a result of masculine " `vital force' ", but CD prefers to speak of it as mere variability; this variability does not account for well-marked sexual differences unless variations are accumulated; when sexes are alike, there is no evidence of sexual selection, unless two sexes closely resemble one sex of closely allied form in which sexes differ; if sexes differ much in color, esp. if male is more brilliant, then brightness of male is probably due to sexual selection; evidence of action of sexual selection is only good if one sex displays its colors to the other; individual would not display colors unless this were an advantage, and if it is advantage, this is basis for sexual selection; corr. probably does not think stridulatory organs of insects result from vital force; if such organs result from sexual selection, why not color; [Giovanni] Canestrini says in recent Italian paper that female spiders select a mate from among many males; collected spiders during voyage of Beagle and deposited them in British Museum.

438. To [Alfred William BENNETT]1; Down (type 6) [1874]1 March 11 ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.137

Has just heard that corr. has ceased to assist editor of Nature; where are wood blocks of climbing plants, which belong to Linnean Society;2 must borrow them before long, and they might get mislaid at Macmillan's.

Note: 1. For year and recipient of this letter, see: A. J. Meadows, Science and Controversy: A Biography of Sir Norman Lockyer (Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1972), 31-32; and DNB, second supplement, 1, 143-44.
2. CD refers to the thirteen illustrations for Darwin, Climbing Plants (1865).

439. To [John] PHILLIPS; Down (type 7) (black border)1 [1874]1 Mar 31 [wmk. 1868] LS; 7 x4.5 2p. B D25.123 #4

Thanks for invitation, but journey to Oxford would "nearly annihilate" CD; corr.'s sketches indicate only a big theory would equal corr.'s fossils;1 will watch for published account; remembers pleasant hours spent with corr. at York.1

Note: 1. This letter is, apparently, a reply to a letter to CD dated March 14, 1874, which is located in the Robin Darwin Deposit, University Library, Cambridge; the earlier letter contains sketches. The black border may result from death of CD's wife's sister-in-law, Frances Mosley Wedgwood; see Emma Darwin, I, xxvii. The trip to York was in 1845; see Life and Letters I, 343-44. Information provided by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University.

440. To?; Down (type 6) [1874] Ap. 13th [end. 1874/ April 16] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and end. [1874/ Ch. Darwin Esq/ Down/ April 16] (enclosure wanting) B D25.83

Encloses check; wants the "Flora" (German), for the year 1873, numbers 28 and 29; will accept entire volume if necessary.

441. To Leonard RUDD; Down (type 6) [1874] Ap. 18th [pmk. AP18/ 74] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and fragment of env., add. [Leonard Rudd Esq/ Guy's Hospital/ London/ S.E.] B D25.159

Thanks for case of additional mammae; abnormality of this sort is not rare; that mammae enlarge every month is quite new, but does not understand its meaning; this does not occur commonly with women.

442. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1874]1 May 31st ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.L

Thanks for note and that of [George Julius Poulett] Scrope; "What you have done1 may be the first step in an admirable plan"; thinks bequest shows wisdom and would do same, if CD had fewer sons; enjoyed Lyell's visit to Down; is glad Lyell sent [Anton Felix] Dohrn's paper to Scrope.

Note: 1. Lyell was bequeathing a large sum to science; see Life of Lyell, II, 477-78. Year determined from this information.

443. To?; Down (type 6) [1874] July 13th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.144

Utricularia arrived safely; was unwell, so son [?Francis Darwin] took charge of specimens and worked at bladders; it will be difficult to make out the function of parts; will his great experience on Desmids under the microscope, corr. knows that one's brain must be clear and hand steady to do anything on difficult structures.

444. To [George John ROMANES]; Down (type 6) 1874 July 16 LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with changes: More Letters, I, 354 (letter 264). line 1, change "your kind and long communication" to "the copy of your long letter".1 line 4, change "much" to "at present". lines 7/8, change "some later time, when I may again take up the subject. Your letter" to "a future time. It". line 11, change "through so-called" to "through mere so-called". line 16, illegible word is "severe".

Note: 1. For long letter from Romanes, see More Letters, I, 352-54 (letter 263).

445. To [Bartholomew] PRICE; Abinger Hall/ Wotton/ Surrey1 [1874 July]1 27th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.54

Thanks for specimen of Utricularia, which CD presumes is from corr.; obtained microscope at Abinger, concludes that there is essential similarity [between specimen received and some other specimens], but with some important differences; five of the largest bladders contained dead Entomostraca: 24, 20, 15, 10, and 7 victims respectively; "What slaughter!"; leaves on Thursday [July 30] for three weeks at house of son [William Erasmus Darwin] at Bassett, Southampton.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 6, has been crossed out. Date for letter determined by Abinger address; see "Darwin's Journal," 19-21.

446. To [George John ROMANES]; Abinger Hall/ Wotton. Surrey (Post Town)/ Gomshall (Station) S.E.R. [embossed]1 [1874]1 July 28th ALS; 7 x4.5 1p. B D25.N

Thanks for letters; "I have so poor a metaphysical head that Mr [Herbert] Spencer's terms of equilibration &c always bother me & make everything less clear".

Note: 1. Year determined by Abinger address; see "Darwin's Journal," 19-21.

447. To?; Bassett/ Southampton.1 [1874]1 Aug. 7th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. (mutilated) B D25.119

Is glad hop interests corr.; numerous almost small angular bodies, which CD imagined to be ovules, are worth corr.'s attention; would be proud to appear in an engraving in Gardeners' Chron.; is taking a three-week rest.

Note: 1. Year determined by Bassett address. Only year in which CD was there on August 7 was 1874; see "Darwin's Journal," 19. Down address variant, type 6, is crossed out.

448. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) [1874] Sept. 3d ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.L

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, II, 237-38 (letter 571).

449. To Lady Dorothy [Fanny Walpole] NEVILL; Down (type 6) 1874 Sep 7. LS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.7

Thanks for Drosera plant; does corr. have specimen of epiphytic Utricularia, which produces minute bladders only when making fresh shoots or leaves?

450. To [Charles] LYELL; Down (type 6) 1874 Sep 23. LS (postscript in CD's hand); 8 x5; 3p. B D25.L

Printed, with minor changes: Life and Letters III, 190. line 14, missing sentence is: "I have just begun Mr [Thomas Francis] Jamieson's paper,1 which seems to me very interesting & I shd think true." At end of letter is: [Robert] Mallet will not like to hear of palaeozoic true sub-aerial explosive volcanoes.

Note: 1. "On the Last Stage of the Glacial Period in North Britain," Q. Jl. geol. Soc. Lond., 30 (1874): 317-38.

451. To [?James Crichton BROWNE]1; Down (type 6) 1874 Oct. 8th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.266

Thanks for West Riding Asylum Report; notes excellent article and photograph by corr.1

Note: 1. Browne was director of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Yorkshire and editor of the Medical Reports of the West Riding Lunatic Asylum. CD owned at least volumes 1, 2, and 5; see Darwin Library: List of Books Received in the University Library, Cambridge, March-May 1961 (Cambridge: University Library, Cambridge, 1961), under "West Riding".

452. To [Daniel] OLIVER; Down (type 6) 1874 Oct 14th LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.88

Thanks for aid and information; plants arrived safe; will set to work in two days and will then return them; thank [Joseph Dalton] Hooker when he returns.

453. To [George John ROMANES]; 2 Bryanston St/ Portman St1 [?1874 December 7]1 Monday night ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Would like to meet corr.; planned to visit Brown Institution; come for lunch on Wednesday.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. According to "Darwin's Journal," 19-21, there were eleven weeks in which CD was at Bryanston Street address on both Monday and Wednesday, between 1873 (first possible year of correspondence with Romanes) and 1882 (year of CD's death). Type 8 address variant was not employed until at least late 1874. CD begins greeting Romanes by name in salutations to letters on December 16, 1874, but this letter begins with "My dear sir". Letter is thus dated with the only candidate Monday in late 1874, namely December 7. This may indicate first use of type 8 variant.

454. To [George John ROMANES]; 2. Bryanston St1 [?1874 December 9]1 Wednesday evening ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Wants corr. to call tomorrow morning; hopes to be well then.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. This letter appears to follow after the preceding letter, above. In this letter, CD still greets Romanes formally in the saluation.

455. To [George John] ROMANES; Down. 1874 Dec 16th LS (postscript in CD's hand); 9 x7.25 4p. B D25.N

Thanks for Romanes's book [?Christian Prayer and General Laws... (London: 1874)]; already has copy from Macmillan; diagram is excellent, as is reasoning; must think over subject; Romanes must show advantage of longevity; diagram may apply to sterility of distinct species, although CD has argued elsewhere [Variation under Domestication (1868), II, 185-89] that intersterility is incidentally acquired; glad Romanes is taking up pangenesis; vine with digitate leaves is good for graft-hybrids; asked [Thomas Henry] Farrer's gardener to raise such a plant; read Variation under Domestication, I, 395, on vines; facts are from [Carl Friedrich von] Gärtner's [Versuche und Beobachtungen über die] Bastarderzeugung [im Pflanzenreich (Stuttgart: K. F. Hering, 1849), 619f.]; does not have [?H. Adorne de] [Tscharner's?] or [Georg Heinrich] Ritter's book; Horticultural Society, Royal Society, and Linnean Society have good libraries in scientific horticulture; plants will serve better than animals; suggests hyacinths, dahlias, crocuses, potato, and beet for graft-hybrid experiments, but disclaims expertise; would consult [Joseph Dalton] Hooker, but wife [Frances Harriet Henslow Hooker] just died; will find consultant at Kew Gardens; Romanes should prepare for "endless disappointments, as your first experiments will merely serve to teach you what ultimately must be done"; may have seen account of successful grafts of two colored beets; "It wd. be very difficult to get people to see vast importance of graft-hybrids, as throwing light on sexual generation."

456. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1874 Dec 23. LS; 8 x5; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

As enclosed shows, [Joseph Dalton] Hooker wishes to help Romanes, so call at Kew soon.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above. Romanes had visited Hooker by January 14, 1875; see Life of Romanes, 19-20.

457. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1874 Dec 27th LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Is glad the letter from [Joseph Dalton] Hooker pleases Romanes;1 Hooker is "the best & kindest man I have ever known"; grafting of ears of rabbits would be almost impossible, since rabbits would not remain quiet afterwards; supposes Romanes will use chloroform; comb of fowl, especially Spanish breed, is strongly inherited and thus well fitted for experiment; supposes birds could be chloroformed.

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

458. To [William Bernhard] TEGETMEIER; no location [ca. 1874]1 Printed form letter, with autograph insertions, S; 8 x5; 3p., add. [Mr. Tegetmeier,/ 346, Strand,/ London, W.C.] B D25.24

Orders Boddaert's Table des Planches Enluminees.

Note: 1. Date determined by Sydney Smith, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge University. A letter from CD to Tegetmeier dated April 5, 1874, on deposit at New York Botanical Gardens, begins with "Many thanks for Boddart."

459. To [?William] MARSHALL; Down (type 9) [ca. 1874-1879]1 Nov. 4th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.65

Miserable summer caused acorns to drop off cork tree; will consult J[oseph Dalton] Hooker to see whether Quercus rubra or Q. coccinea is handsomer and will have one sent to corr. "for my own honour & glory."

Note: 1. Down address variant used determines absolute endpoints of 1874 and 1882. CD died in April, 1882. CD's handwriting became decidedly shakier in 1880, and this letter is in a steady hand.

460. To [William O.] OGLE; Bryanston St--Portman St1 [ca. 1874-1880]1 Friday ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.60

Called on Ogle in morning, but he was out; invites corr. to lunch on Sunday.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. This letter is written in steady hand; shaky hand began sometime in 1880.

461. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1875]1 Jan 13th LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Has received German journal from Berlin containing several accounts of graft-hybrids produced not by splicing but by inserting bud of one potato tuber into another kind of tuber; results are clear and are compared with sexual generation; offers journal from Germany to Romanes.

Note: 1. For Romanes's reply, see Life of Romanes, 19-20.

462. To [A. G. DEW-SMITH]; Down (type 8) 1875 Jan 19th LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.227

Thanks for letter with account of Zoological Station in Naples; tell [Michael] Foster to publish [Anton] Dohrn's letter and circular as they stand; publish list of donors and amounts subscribed; remembers disappointment in past when he subscribed to something and then did not hear any news of the project's success.

463. To Lady Dorothy [Fanny Walpole] NEVILL; Down (type 8) 1875 Feb. 15 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.8

Thanks for note; will not be in London until late spring [actually, March 31]; is busy on Insectivorous Plants [(1875)]; just acknowledged corr.'s aid in chapter on Utricularia [page 431], proofed in morning.

464. To?; Down (type 8) 1875 March 7 LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.153

Thinks corr. wrote article on CD in Gardeners' Chron.; thanks for the honor.

465. To [George John] ROMANES; 2 Bryanston St.1 [1875]1 Ap. 7th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

[Thomas Henry] Farrer's gardener has cut-leaved vines almost ready;2 will send them to Romanes in Scotland; [Thomas Henry] Huxley and Lawson Tait will be at Down on 18th; invites Romanes to come to meet them on Saturday the 17th; do not discuss experiments on animals before Darwin women, since it would horrify them.

Note: 1. Down variant address, type 8, is crossed out on top, and a little hand is drawn in which points to the lower half of the printed address. The only year in which CD was at Bryanston Street on April 7 was 1875; see "Darwin's Journal," esp. 19. In addition, April 17, 1875, was a Saturday.
2. See letter to Romanes, December 16, 1874, above.

466. To J[ohn] Jenner WEIR; no location [1875 May 2] [pmk. MY2/ 75] [Filed with #302] Address leaf only; address reads: "J. Jenner Weir/ Blackheath". B D25.208

467. To [James] PAGET; Down (type 8) 1875 May 3 LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.229

Thanks for lectures [Paget, Clinical Lectures and Essays..., ed. by H. Marsh (London: 1875)]; vivisection question goes on as well as could be desired.

468. To?; Down (type 8) 1875 May 19th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.142

Has had letter from Prof. [August] Weismann, who is interested in corr.'s experiments on birds not eating gaudy caterpillars; has corr. published more lince papers in Entomological Transactions; does corr. know of any others working on this subject, such as [Charles Valentine] Riley of United States; Riley is probably the best.

469. To?; Down (type 8) 1875 May 29 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.172

Thanks for paper on ostrich feathers; sends ostrich feather just received from President of Transvaal.

470. To Fritz SCHULTZE; Down (type 8) [1875]1 June 14th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and add. [An Prof. Dr. Fritz Schultze/ Dresden-(Planen?)/ Reisewitzerstrasse St. (sic)] B D25.89

Thanks for letter and book [Kant und Darwin... (Jena: 1875)]; is honored to be coupled with "the illustrious [Immanuel] Kant"; reads German poorly; give CD's regards to [Ernst Heinrich Philipp August] Hackel [i.e. Haeckel] and thank him for note.

Note: 1. Year determined from publication date of corr.'s book.

471. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1875] July 12th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 359-60 (letter 270). p. 359, line 14, change "gave" to "saw".
Also printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 38-39.

472. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1875 July 18 LS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 32.

473. To Mrs. DOWIE; Down (type 8) [1875] August 15th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.39

Thanks for note, but [James] Paget says all amputated digits, not just supernumerary ones, tend to regrow a little in the young; must correct erroneous statement; owes correction to corr. and to Paget.

474. To [George John] ROMANES; Basset Southampton [1875 September]1 11th ALS; 7 x4.5 1p. B D25.N

The Huxleys [Thomas Henry Huxley and his wife, Henrietta Anne Heathorn Huxley] come to Down on 18th for the Sunday; invites Romanes to meet them and the Litchfields [Richard Buckley Litchfield and his wife, Henrietta Emma Darwin Litchfield]; Frank [i.e. Francis Darwin] may or may not have returned by then.

Note: 1. Only twice (on May 11, 1878, and on September 11, 1875) was CD at Bassett on the eleventh of the month and then back at Down the following eighteenth, a Saturday. The earlier date is preferred because Romanes had not yet met the Huxleys at time this letter was written. See "Darwin's Journal," 19-21.

475. To Dr. S. NEWINGTON; Down (type 8) (last two lines crossed out) 1875 Sep 17. LS; 7.5 x4 3/4; 3p. B D25.36

Thanks for letter of September 2, explaining about vines; thinks Madresfield vine was a sport of the Hamburgh and reverted to it after being in-arched; has not yet received specimen of berries; had not heard of corr.'s observation of roots secreting carbonic acid, discovered by Dr. N. 25 years since and at first denied by [John] Lindley; Prof. Lacho has proved this by growing plants in polished marble pots; returns J[ohn] Herschel's letter; observations on coincidence of pulse and step are new to CD.

476. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) (next to last line crossed out) [1875] Sept. 24th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: Life of Romanes, 34. At end of letter is: is glad about corr.'s success with medusae.1

Note: 1. See Romanes, "Preliminary Observations on the Locomotor System of Medusae," Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 166 (1876): 269-313.

477. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) (last two lines crossed out) 1875 Oct 8. LS; 8 x5; 6p. B D25.N

Despatched certificate [proposing Romanes for election to Linnean Society]1 to Kew, but it has not returned; will keep it for [Thomas Henry] Huxley's signature when latter visits Down in eight days; potatoes arrived yesterday;1 on basis of accounts by Germans, thinks two lots are hybridized; inspect large numbers of parent tubers for signs of hybrid mottling; give quantitative data on number inspected; Romanes, rather than CD, should plant the hybrids; does not know rate of reversion to pure forms; no account of same has been published; should potatoes be sent to Scotland;1 is sorry about onions, "as the nature of seminal hybrids would be so absolutely new";1 thanks for drawing of striped horse, but subject is finished.2

Note: 1. On election, potatoes, Scotland address, and onions, see Life of Romanes, 13, 15, 34-38, and 40-41.
2. See Darwin, Variation under Domestication (1875), I, 58-63; and II, 343. This edition was sent to printers on October 3, 1875; see "Darwin's Journal," 20.

478. To [George John] ROMANES; 6 Q. Anne St. [1875 November 4]1 Thursday 8th [sic] ALS; 7 x4.5 4p. B D25.N

Came to London yesterday to be examined by Vivisection Commission, but returns to Down today; hopes to receive carrots soon; plants will not seed during winter, so wait until spring; mere diffusion of color from side to side [in graft-hybrid carrots] is not important; wants to see if seed yields white and red or mottled carrots; wants seeds of pure forms for control group; saw [James Scott] B[urdon-]Sanderson, who is first to comprehend physiological importance of proving graft-hybrids; latter told CD about medusas; corr.'s papers in Nature, esp. the last,2 are curious and amusing; part about ferrets was funny and important; it is too late about sternums, but has added a note;3 will notify Romanes upon receipt of carrots.4

Note: 1. The "8" written by CD is incorrect. CD testified before the Vivisection Commission on November 3, 1875; see Great Britain, Parliament, Sessional Papers, 1876, v. 41, "Report of the Royal Commission on the Practice of Subjecting Live Animals to Experiments for Scientific Purposes, with Minutes of the Evidence Presented to the Commission," [Cd. 1397], 233-34. Jeffrey L. Sturchio of the University of Pennsylvania provided this reference. For further evidence, this is a reply to letter printed in Life of Romanes, 42-45, and a sort of postscript to this letter is abstracted below.
2. "Instinct and Acquisition," Nature, Lond., 12 (1875): 553-54.
3. See: Life of Romanes, 44; and Darwin, Variation under Domestication (1875), I, 288.
4. See subsequent letter, below.

479. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1875 Nov 4. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Sends postscript to letter sent in morning; carrots have arrived; has potted them and put them in greenhouse because they are so small.

480. To Secretary Royal Socy [George Gabriel STOKES]; Down (type 8) 1875 Nov. 27th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.230

Submits enclosed paper by [Robert] Lawson Tait.

481. To [George John] ROMANES; 2. Bryanston St1 [1875 December]1 17th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

If skins of birds can be transplanted easily, experiment on spots and barbs by transplanting bit of skin of blue-feathered pigeon; pigeons are easily kept; has been successful in canvassing for [Edwin] Ray Lankester and has excited indignation about his case; returns to Down on Monday; hopes corr.'s paper went off well last night;2 thinks it a grand discovery.

Note: 1. Only time CD was at Bryanston Street on a 17th and returned to Down on Monday was during December of 1875. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.
2. Romanes, "Preliminary Observations on the Locomotor System of Medusae [the Croonian Lecture, read December 16, 1875]," Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 166 (1876): 269-313.

482. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1875 Dec 26. LS (postscript in CD's hand); 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 47-48.

483. To?; Down (type 8) (last two lines crossed out) 1875 Dec 26 LS; 8 x5; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.116

Sorry for "so soon troubling you again"; encloses list of errata for Darwin, Insectivorous Plants [(1875)] detected by [Julius] Victor Carus in course of translating; forward them to French translator.

484. To [George John] ROMANES; 6 Q. Anne St.1 [ca. 1875-1879]1 Sunday Evening ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Will call on Romanes early on Tuesday morning; goes to Kew tomorrow.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. During the period during which this letterhead was used, there were only six occasions when CD was at Queen Anne Street on both Sunday and Tuesday; the earliest of these is April 4, 1875, and the latest is December 7, 1879. See "Darwin's Journal," 19-21.

485. To [William O. OGLE]; Down (type 8) 1876 Feb. 15 LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.61

Thanks for book not yet received; send it to 6 Queen Anne St., Cavendish Square; will read it sometime in future.

486. To H[enr]y EDWARDS, Jr.; Down (type 8) [1876 March 1?]1 [pmk. MAR/24] ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and fragment of env., add. [Hy. Edwards Esqr/ San. Francisco/ California/ U. States] B D25.9

Had received photograph and paper, but was overwhelmed with letters; read corr.'s discussion of Prof. [August Friedrich Leopold] Weissmann's views on dimorphism in butterflies; glad corr. approved of Weissmann's essay, which struck CD much.

Note: 1. This date is written on original in ink, in an unknown hand.

487. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1876 Ap. 14. LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Will probably receive the paper tomorrow;1 goes to London on 20th;2 will call upon corr. shortly thereafter.

Note: 1. Probably "An Account of Some New Species, Varieties, and Monstrous Forms of Medusae," J. Linn. Soc. (Zoology), 12 (1876): 524-31.
2. CD was in London April 27 to May 3, 1876; see "Darwin's Journal," 20.

488. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; Down, Beckenham. [1876] Apl. 26th [pmk. AP26/ 76] AN on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [G. H. (sic) Romanes Esqr/ 18. Cornwall Terrace/ Regents Park/ London.N.W] B D25.N

Cannot go to London today; has just received corr.'s note; will tell no one; hopes to be well enough to go to London tomorrow; will call upon corr.

489. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; 6. Queen Anne St. ("Down, Beckenham." is crossed out) [1876] Ap. 27th [pmk. AP27/ 76] ANS on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [G. H. (sic) Romanes Esqr/ 18. Cornwall Terrace/ Regents Park.--] B D25.N

Hopes to call upon corr. tomorrow morning.

490. To [George John] ROMANES; 6. Queen Anne St1 [1876] Ap 29th ALS; 7 x4.5 1p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 45.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.

491. To [August Wilhelm von HOFMANN]; Down (type 8) 1876 May 3 LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.66

Thanks for corr.'s work on [Justus] Liebig; glad corr. has not forgotten CD.

492. To?; Down (type 8) (last two lines are crossed out) 1876 May 10. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.248

Thanks for letter; will send sheets of new book [Cross and Self Fertilisation (1876)] before index is printed, as requested by corr.; this will not occur until October; is glad about newspaper and about twenty able collaborators.

493. To [George John] ROMANES; H. Wedgwoods Esq/ Hopedene/ Dorking1 [1876] May 29th. ALS; 8 x5; 6p. B D25.N

First portion printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 363-65 (letter 275).
Next portion printed in full, with minor changes and with some overlap with previous portion: Life of Romanes, 49-50.
Small and redundant portion printed: Life and Letters III, 204.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.

494. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1876] June 4th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: Life of Romanes, 60-61.

495. To [George John] ROMANES; no location [1876 ca. June 15]1 A postscript, S by init.; 9 x7.25 4p., sketch B D25.N

Romanes asks about Frank's [i.e. Francis Darwin's] discovery,2 "but if I were like you in constant communication with spirits, I shd. not care even for a jelly-fish, & this is the strongest simile I can apply to you";3 do not mention Frank's work until confirmed; Frank finds that leaves of teazle or Dipsacus have protoplasmic filaments extending from glands on footstalks; these filaments are stimulated by carbonate of ammonia or putrid meat and contract on exposure to alcohol; filaments appear to ingest matter; much work must still be done, and Frank is busy with another paper,4 but "I can hardly doubt that we have here a highly organised plant which emits from its cells masses of protoplasm, identical with an amoeba or other Protozoan, for the sake of capturing particles of dead organic matter; & this seems to me a wonderful discovery"; letter by Dr. [Benjamin Ward] Richardson in Nature is capital.5

Note: 1. See note 5, below, for date.
2. See Francis Darwin, "On the Protrusion of Protoplasmic Filaments from the Glandular Hairs of the Common Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris)," Proc. R. Soc., 26 (1877): 4-8.
3. CD is joking about Romanes's interest in spiritualism; see Life of Romanes, 48-49.
4. "On the Glandular Bodies on Acacia sphaerocephala and Cecropia peltata Serving as Food for Ants...," J. Linn. Soc. (Botany), 15 (1875-1877): 398-409.
5. See Richardson, "Abstract Report to `Nature' on Experimentation on Animals for the Advance of Practical Medicine," Nature, Lond., 14 (1876): 149-52, 170-72, 197-99, 250-52, 289-91, 339-41, and 369-72. Published in the issue for June 15, 1876, and subsequent issues.

496. To?; Down (type 8) [?1876] June 30th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.49

Has not heard of essay mentioned by corr.; would like copy if it is small and corr. has a spare one; will not answer it, as this takes time.

497. To [George Warde or Ebenezer] NORMAN; Down (type 8) ALFRED M.? [1876] Sept. 15th [end. 1876/ 15 Septr.] ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and end. [1876/ 15 Septr./ Chas. Darwin/ on receipt/ of letter of/ condolence, for/ death of Daughter/ in Law--] B D25.194

Thanks for note; it has been a terrible blow; [Amy Richenda Ruck Darwin] was sweet and gentle; son [Francis Darwin] has gone to North Wales where she was buried yesterday.

498. To [Peter Martin DUNCAN]; Down (type 8) 1876 Sep. 19 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.78

While cleaning out a room, found a fossil coral and a long MS. account of it by [William] Lonsdale; these must have arrived while CD was ill, and they were forgotten; will send them to corr.

499. To [?William] MARSHALL; Down (type 8) 1876 Sep. 19 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.238

Wishes to build a billiard room, with bedroom and dressing room above; wants corr. to undertake the project; come to Down; Horace [Darwin] does not know corr.'s London address; must hurry with project because winter is coming.

500. To [?William] MARSHALL; Down (type 8) [1876]1 Sept. 29th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.226

Please write to "Mr. Laslett/ Builder/ Farnborough/ Kent." and arrange to meet him at Down House on Tuesday; leaves home [for Leith Hill Place] on Wednesday [October 4], so cannot invite corr. to sleep at Down.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above, for year. For departure to Leith Hill, see "Darwin's Journal," 20. Laslett may have been William Emerson Laslett the solicitor.

501. To [?William] MARSHALL; Down (type 8) [1876]1 Nov. 22d ALS; 8 x5; 6p. B D25.255

Accepts Mr. Deards's estimate for the work, as his is cheaper; repay Laslett and [?Thomas Hayter] Lewis for expenses involved in estimates; make trap door to roof out of glass, and put flooring in attic crawl space, so lumber may be stored there; forget Horace [Darwin]'s idea about partition; wants to enlarge window in present hall; wants sealed airspace inside the outer walls.

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above, for date.

502. To W[illiam Erasmus DARWIN]; no location (blue paper) [1876] AL, S by init.; 8 x5; 2p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.256

Send enclosed to Capt. [?James Felix or?Henry M.] Jones; proofs will reach corr. soon; new chapter seven will have to be much corrected by CD;1 does not think much of [Edward Drinker] Cope's essay ["On the Origin of Genera," Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 20 (1868): 242-300], read long ago when received; "He writes very obscurely, but is an excellent Naturalist. He looks, following [Jean Louis Rodolphe] Agassiz at a genus as something essentially distinct from a species, which I believe to be quite an error."

Note: 1. CD here refers to Fertilisation of Orchids (1877), which he was readying for publication in 1876. Thus the year for this letter. On the new chapter seven, see page vi of the book.

503. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877] 1876 (sic) Jan 2.1 LS; 2 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Is pleased to propose corr. for Royal Society; will be at 2 Bryanston Street in London on the 6th; will sign certificate then; suggest others, not on the council [of the Royal Society], who might also sign it; [John Scott] Burdon-Sanderson should sign it; is reading corr.'s medusa paper;3 will call on corr. early next week.

Note: 1. CD's amanuensis apparently wrote the wrong year. See subsequent letter, below, and check "Darwin's Journal," 20, to see that CD went to London of January 6, 1877, but not on January 6, 1876.
2. Francis Darwin, CD's amanuensis, penned a short note at end of letter.
3. "Further Observations on the Locomotor System of Medusae," Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 167 (1877): 659-752.

504. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1877 Jan. 4. LS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

From what corr. says, CD will not send certificate [proposing corr. for Royal Society]; will bring blank certificate to London; invites corr. to lunch at 2 Bryanston Street on Monday [January 8]; bring or send certificate.

505. To Howard MILLER; Down (type 8) 1877 Jan. 10th [pmk. JA 10/ 77] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and env., add. [Howard Miller Esqr/ Elderton/ Armstrong Co./ Pa./ U. States] B D25.112

Thanks for offer, which would be of value to anyone engaged in embryological studies, but CD is not so engaged.

506. To R[?ichar]d [KE.?]; Down (type 8)1 1877 Feb. 15th-- [end. Feb. 16/ 77] ALS; 8 x5; 2p., end. [Books sent & advised/ Feb. 16/ 77 Rd Ke.] B D25.199

Please send Botanische Zeitung for 1857; send [Eugene] Michalet, ["Sur la Floraison des Viola de la Section Nomimium, de l'Oxalis acetosella et du Linaria spuria,"] Bull. Soc. bot. Fr., 7 [(1860):] 465[-70]; and send [Joseph] Duval-Jouve, ["Note sur Quelques Plantes Critiques du Flora monspeliensis de Linné,"] Bull. Soc. bot. Fr., 10 [(1863); 10-20]; send also H[enri Ernest] Baillon, "Sur l'Émission des Tubes Polliniques des Helianthemum," [Adansonia, Recueil Périodique d'Observations Botaniques, 2 (1861):] 56[-59]; send by rail.

Note: 1. Lower half of this printed address is highlighted with a drawn hand pointing to it.

507. To Miss JACOBSON; Down (type 8) 1877 Feb. 25th AL in third person S; 6 x5; 1p. B D25.84

CD accedes to corr.'s request.

508. To [George Henry Kendrick] THWAITES; Down (type 8) 1877 Mar 26 LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.TH

Thanks for specimens; sexual differences remind CD of complemental males in cirripedes; hopes [John Obadiah] Westwood will make a paper on subject;1 wonders if specimens play role in fertilization of figs, a subject studied by Dr [Hermann] Crüger in West Indies; has seen account of corr. from Miss [Marianne] North;2 has just examined Oxalis sensitiva specimen sent long ago, and to CD's surprise its flowers are trimorphic and cleistogamic.3

Note: 1. "Descriptions of the Insects Infesting the Seeds of Ficus Sycomorus and Carica," Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond., 30 (1882): 47-60.
2. See entry for North in DNB; she was in Ceylon in 1876.
3. See Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers (1877), 322-24.

509. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877]1 April 15th ALS; 8 x5; 5p. B D25.N

Is astonished that corr. was not on list [of newly-elected Fellows of Royal Society]; [Joseph Dalton Hooker], President [of the Royal Society] and others implied that age and position in scientific society (e.g. being a professor) weighed heavily, as did having been proposed many times; youth is a disqualification; Council [of Royal Society] acts honestly; corr.'s work is valuable; connot remember names of fifteen [new Fellows];2 do not withdraw name; offers to re-propose corr. for election.

Note: 1. See letters to Romanes dated January 2 and January 4, 1877, above.
2. For names, see Proc. R. Soc., 26 (1877): 210.

510. To Otto ZACHARIAS; Down (type 8) 1877 April 26th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and env., add. [Dr. Otto Zacharias/ Red: der Nordsee-Zeitung/ Geestemünde/ Germany] B D25.27

Thanks for anomalous foot of the pig, but CD is not osteologist enough to pass judgment on it; is away from home; will send foot to Prof. [William Henry] Flower at Royal College of Surgeons, who has studied limbs of Ungulata and who is "a most careful & admirable observer"; will send notice if any "remarkable peculiarities" are found.

511. From W[illiam] H[enry] FLOWER; Royal College of Surgeons of England./ Lincoln's Inn. Fields,/ (W.C.) 1877 May 3 ALS 7.25 x4.5 4p. B D25.X1

Thanks for pig's foot; it contains an extra digit, which may be either a reversion or a case of over-development; wants further information about other feet of affected pig and about feet of pig's relatives.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

512. From W[illiam] H[enry] FLOWER; Royal College of Surgeons of England./ Lincoln's Inn Fields,/ (W.C.) 1877 May 17th ALS; 7.25 x4.5 3p., sketch B D25.X2

Thanks for information about pig's foot in letter of May 10; sends catalog of their teratological series; mentions another pig foot specimen with similar deformity, specimen number 297A; glad corr. will collect similar cases.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above. This letter may be to Otto Zacharias, and not to CD, but there is no indication of such on original.

513. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1877 May 23d. ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Thank [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen for having sent his book [Physiological Aesthetics (London: H. S. King, 1877)]; thanks for letter; "good Heavens what a lot of books there is to read"; had not heard of "rub"--presumably over spontaneous generation--at Royal Society;1 [Thomas Henry] Huxley said [John] Tyndall's work about old germs withstanding boiling was decisive;2 would like to see question settled; Frank's [i.e. Francis Darwin's] paper on teazle has been rejected, to CD's chagrin;3 none of sons can attend corr.'s lecture;4 corr.'s negative results concerning spiritualism please CD, who thinks Williams [the spiritualist] is "a very clever rogue".

Note: 1. See Glenn Vandervliet, Microbiology and the Spontaneous Generation Debate during the 1870's (Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1971).
2. See Tyndall, "Further Researches on the Deportment and Vital Resistance of Putrefactive and Infective Organisms...," Proc. R. Soc., 26 (1877): 228-38; and idem, "Further Researches on the Deportment and Vital Persistence of Putrefactive and Infective Organisms...," Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 167 (1877): 149-206.
3. See Francis Darwin, "On the Protrusion of Protoplasmic Filaments from the Glandular Hairs of the Common Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris)," Q. Jl microsc. Sci., 17 (1877): 169-74 and 245-72. 4. Romanes, "Evolution of Nerves and Nervo-Systems," Not. Proc. Meet. Memb. R. Instn, 8 (1875-1878): 427-48.

514. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877]1 May 27th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Thanks for letter; does not know what referees said about Frank's [i.e. Francis Darwin's] paper;1 [Edwin] Ray Lankester and [John Hutton] Balfour have seen [teasel] filaments; latter is sure they are protoplasm; "It is terribly discouraging to a young worker to have his work rejected because the facts are quite new";1 will show corr.'s letter to Frank; will read corr.'s lecture when it appears in Nature;2 deception during seances is wicked and scandalous; will take a month's rest soon [from June 8 to July 4, 1877];3 has read a third of [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen's book, finding it clever but too "deductive"; Allen neglects effects of habit.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.
2. "Evolution of Nerves and Nervo-Systems," Nature, Lond., 16 (1877): 231-33, 269-71, and 289-93.
3. See "Darwin's Journal," 20.

515. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1877 June 5. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Thought corr. would like the following extract, found by chance, and bearing on effects of habit in passage of nervous force.1

Note: 1. See Jean Lamarck, Philosophie Zoologique, 2v. (Paris: Baillière, 1830), II, 318, paragraph beginning: "Dans toute action, le fluide...."

516. To [George John] ROMANES; "My address will be/ `Bassett, Southampton.' "1 [1877] June 11th. ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 367-68 (letter 279). p. 367, line 7, change "purchases" to "preserves".

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. Also crossed out is "Leith Hill Place".

517. To [Rudolf August Birminghold LUDWIG]1; Down (type 8) [1877 July 16th]1 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.186

Received letter and essay dedicated to CD, dated July 4, only today;2 it is interesting to discover in ancient forms any characters now present in distinct species or subgroups, and Crocodilus Darwinii is excellent illustration of this.

Note: 1. Pencil note on third page reads: "addressed Herrn Rudolphe Ludwig/ Waldstrasse 49/ Darmstadt/ July 16th 1877".
2. See Rudolf Ludwig, Fossile Crocodiliden aus der Tertiärformation des Mainzer Beckens... (Cassell, 1877).

518. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877] Augt. 9th ALS; 8 x5; 6p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 56-57. p. 57, line 4, change "half of the botanists" to "half-a-score of Botanists". Also printed, with changes: More Letters, II, 406-07 (letter 731).

519. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877] Aug. 10th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 62-63. Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: More Letters, II, 407-08 (letter 733). p. 407, line 1, change "went" to "wrote".

520. From Léo ERRERA; Venise. 1877 Sept. 15 Draft of ALS; 8 x5.5 3p. (in French)1 B D25.224 #1

Has studied heterostylism for some years in the Primula elatior; has prepared manuscript on subject with G[ustave] Gevaert, in which there is a correction of a point made in Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation (1876); wishes to send portion of manuscript that deals with CD's book to CD for review; reply in English.

Note: 1. Translation into English provided by editor's wife, Nancy E. Carroll.

521. To Léo [Abram] ERRERA; Down (type 8) 1877 Sep 18. [pmk. SP18/ 77] LS; 8 x5; 2p. and env., add. [Mons: Léo Errera/ 6A. Rue Royale 6A/ Brussels/ Belgium] B D25.224 #2

Would be happy to look at corr.'s MS.; to save CD's time, mark pages which CD should scan; will read paper in entirety when published;1 has recently published Different Forms of Flowers [(1877)], in which results of some experiments on P. elatior are given.2

Note: 1. See Errera and Gevaert, "Sur la Structure et les Modes de Fecondation des Fleurs et en Particulier sur l'Hétérostylie du Primula elatior," Belg. Soc. Bot. Bull., 17 (1878): 38-181 and 182-248.
2. See preceding letter, above.

522. From L[éo Abram] E[RRERA]; Bruxelles/ 6A rue royale. IN TWO PARTS IN VAULT, EACH HAVING SEPARATE FOLDER. PART II NOT FILMED 1877 Sept. 30 Draft of ALS; various sizes; 3p. (in French)1 B D25.224 #3

Thanks for prompt letter; has marked the essential passages of the MS. for CD's comment in blue crayon; have borrowed from [A. von Marilaun] Kerner the terms "autogamy", "geitonogamy", "xenogamy", and "allogamy"; discusses the advantages of these; points out the main elements of the argument in the MS.; thanks CD for copy of Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers [(1877)]; mentions terminology used by Herman Müller and [F.] Delpino.1

Note: 1. Free translation into English provided by editor's wife, Nancy E. Carroll. See preceding letter, above.

523. To Léo [Abram] ERRERA; Down (type 8) (last two lines crossed out) 1877 Oct 4th [pmk. OC4/ 77] LS; 8 x5; 4p. and env., add. [Monsieur Léo Errera/ 6A Rue Royale/ Brussells] B D25.224 #4

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, II, 413-14 (letter 741).

524. From L[éo Abram] E[RRERA]; no location 1877. Oct 10 Draft of ALS; 8.5 x6.5 2p. (in French)1 B D25.224 #5

Thanks for aid; has already begun work upon inconspicuous flowers; explains why he concluded that CD believed that autogamy generally was more advantageous than geitonogamy.1

Note: 1. Translation into English provided by editor's wife, Nancy E. Carroll. See also preceding four letters, above.

525. To?; Down (type 8) 1877 Oct 15. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.76

Thanks for curious photographs; will read account of them with interest; appearance of same abnormality in different races of humans in different environments has always seemed remarkable to CD; did not know corr.'s pupil R[udolf] von Willemoes-Suhm, but had read his papers, esp. on development of cirripedes; had "highest opinion of his abilities. His death has been a very serious loss to natural science."

526. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877 December 1-2]1 Saturday night, Sunday morning ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 66-67. Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: More Letters, I, 370-71 (letter 281).

Note: 1. Date determined from date of Romanes's reply; see Life of Romanes, 68-69.

527. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1877 Dec 5. LS;1 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

CD's gardener does not know what onion worm is; onions can be planted at Down in part of garden where onions have not grown for 30 years; will take charge of experimental plants for corr.; thanks for letter; Romanes overestimates CD and his works; it would be absurd for CD to suddenly be called "Dr".

Note: 1. Francis Darwin, CD's amanuensis, penned a short note at end of letter, recommending that Romanes try "Thymol" upon his medusas.

528. To?; Down (type 8) 1877 Dec. 11 LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.132

Thanks for letter; would like to see six letters of grandfather [Erasmus Darwin] published, but grandfather's name and that of [Johann Albrecht Heinrich] Reimarus are so unknown that no editor would want to publish the letters; would like to see letters if brought to England.

529. To R[euben A.] BLAIR; Down (type 8) 1877 Dec 27. [pmk. APR/ 27] LS; 8 x5; 2p. and env., add. [R. Blair Esq/ Sedalia/ Missouri/ U.S.A.] B D25.203 #1

Thanks for news of the case of the goose; seems to show inheritance of the effects of injury; such cases are rare and should be examined; send wing to CD, if possible; see if goose had normal offspring before injury.

530. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1877-1878]1 Jan. 24th ALS; 8 x5; 6p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 105-07.

Note: 1. CD mentions "perforation of the corolla by bees" in this letter as being on page 425 of Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation. This only occurred in the first edition, published November 10, 1876; see Freeman, page 31. Therefore, 1877 is lower endpoint. A new, second edition appeared in 1878 without any mention of perforation on page 425; this sets upper endpoint for letter.

531. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1878 March 7. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

CD's gardener says onions sown before middle of March may be injured by frost, but if CD delays in planting, onions will not be ready by May; should CD take risk and plant now; is glad corr.'s essay will appear in the Fortnightly; was thinking about it the other day; books were sent by rail in morning.1

Note: 1. See Romanes, "The Scientific Evidence of Organic Evolution: A Discourse," Fortnightly Rev., 30 (1881): 739-58.

532. To?; Down (type 8) 1878 March 28th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.133

Thanks for letter; temperament or mental disposition depends on structure of the brain, so nature of milk digested probably does not affect character of child; case of diseases is different; facts about starling imitating cries and songs of other birds are curious, but "I have become so absorbed with vegetable physiology that it is not likely I shall ever again attend to the minds of the higher animals."

533. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878] April 9th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Condolences [on loss of sister];1 leaves home on 27th and returns on May 13; invites corr. to Down before or after these dates; onions are not yet up; doubts that corr. could do anything with onions before leaving for Scotland.2

Note: 1. See Life of Romanes, 69-71.
2. On onions, see also letter to Romanes, March 7, 1878, above.

534. From W[illiam] H[enry] FLOWER; Royal College of Surgeons of England/ Lincoln's Inn Fields/ (W.C.) 1878 April 12 ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.203 #2

Was delayed in looking at goose's wing; sketches the wing's bones on the back of [Reuben A.] Blair's letter; bones are normal, but appear to have been abnormally flexed; proposes "far-fetched" hypothesis in which such an injury might have led to "some disturbance in the functons of the nerves which control the muscles of the same region" in the offspring; must examine several wings, especially of very young birds, to check this; wing of original goose should be examined as well; case is worth following up.1

Note: 1. See also letter to Blair, December 27, 1877, above. With this letter is a copy of same, plus an env., add. to "R. A. Blair Esq/ Sedalia/ Missouri/ U.S.A" and pmk. "Beckenham/ DE27/ 77". It should accompany earlier letter, of course.

535. To [Reuben A. BLAIR]; Down (type 8) 1878 Ap. 14. LS; 8 x5; 4p. and photo of goose (enclosure wanting)1 B D25.203 #3

Thanks for wing of goose, photograph, and letter; enclosed explains delay of [William Henry] Flower; send wings requested by Flower directly to Flower; CD will pay expenses for this undertaking; return letters to CD; did old gander bleed when it was wounded; did wound suppurate; did wing heal quickly or slowly; these questions relate to inheritance of mutilations.
Include photo of gosling with turned with features

Note: 1. Enclosure is obviously Flower's report, which is abstracted above as a letter to CD.

536. To Rob[er]t THOMSON; no location [Envelope add. to Thomson, but note does not belong with the envelope] [1878 May 23] [end. 1878; pmk. MY23/ 78] ALS; 4.5 x7 3/4; 1p. and env., add. [Robt Thomson Esq/ Beaufort/ South Carolina/ U.S.A.], end. [Charly Darwin/ 1878] B D25.202

Orders "large pot of soft spermaceti ointment".

537. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878]1 June 16th LS; 8 x5; 4p. (enclosures wanting) B D25.N

Wrote notes on insects 40 years ago and used them in long chapter on instinct written four or five years before Darwin, Origin [(1859)]; sends two pages of this chapter; offers entire chapter of 110 pages for Romanes's use, but presumes it is too late to be of any good; Frank [i.e. Francis Darwin] took the baby [i.e. Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin] to see train and called engine a "puff puff"; baby now calls all vehicles and chimneys and fires (lighted or unlighted) by the name "boo boo"; more onions from last lot have died, apparently because of wet weather, but total deaths are few;1 one pea has sent up an aborted shoot of a half plumule.

Note: 1. See letter to Romanes, April 9, 1878, above.

538. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878] June 19th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 72.

539. To [a son of Edward TRUELOVE]; Down (type 8) 1878 July 1. ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and end. [Chas. Darwin] B D25.131

Private letter; had not heard of corr.'s father until his trial; cannot sign memorial for this reason; has no reason to doubt corr.'s father's character; "I have not seen the Moral Phys. by R[obert] D[ale] Owen, but I have heard the nature of its contents; & though I am strongly opposed to all such views & plans, yet the Conviction of your Father seemed to me very harsh, as the publication of works of this nature can hardly be considered as obscene in the ordinary sense of the word."1

Note: 1. See: Owen, Moral Physiology; or, a Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question... (New York: 1831); and Edward Truelove, In the High Court of Justice. Queen's Bench Division, February 1, 1878. The Queen v. E. Truelove, for Publishing the Hon. R. D. Owen's "Moral Physiology"... (London: 1878). Copy of the latter is at British Museum.

540. To [Reuben A. BLAIR]; Down (type 9) 1878 July 4th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.203 #4

Thanks for letter and for kindness; has written to [William Henry] Flower with all particulars and has urged Flower to examine wings carefully; there may be delay caused by holiday; corr. will receive word.1

Note: 1. See letter to Blair, April 14, 1878, above.

541. To F. G. STOKES; Down (type 8) [1878] July 16th [pmk. JY16/ 78] ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and env., add. [F. G. Stokes Esq/ The Nook/ Alma Road/ Windsor], end. [C. Darwin/ 2762] B D25.105

Corr. will find interesting points to observe; if corr. has musical ear, he should study the various intonations which children just before and just after learning to speak; these sounds are "highly expressive".

542. From R[euben] A. BLAIR; Sedalia Mo. 1878 July 17. ALS; 10 x8; 4p. B D25.203 #6

Thanks for letter of April 14; has sent pair of ten-month-old wings, pair of ten-day-old wings, one three-month-old gander's wing, and the old gander's wing, to [William Henry] Flower; had difficulties obtaining wings; abnormality did not appear in offspring until fifth week; parents of the old goose and gander had no defects; injury did not produce blood or suppuration; speculates about nature of injury.1

Note: 1. See letter to Blair, July 4, 1878, above.

543. To [William Henry] FLOWER; Down (type 8) 1878 Aug. [4? 11?] ALS; 8 x5; 4p. (enclosure wanting)1 B D25.68

Has heard from R[euben] A. Blair, who has sent specimens as described in enclosed letter; since [Charles Edouard] Brown-Sequard's observations, all cases of inheritance from injury seem worthy of study; encloses Blair's letters to CD; encloses Flower's note to CD on subject; please tell CD of results, so that Blair can be informed; man in Leeds offered CD a pigeon born without eyes and without sockets in skull; told man to send it to Flower.1

Note: 1. See previous letter, above.

544. To [Léo Abram ERRERA]; Leith Hill Place/ Dorking1 [1878] Aug 8th [pmk. DORKING/ AU8/ 78] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and env., add. [A/ Mon. Léo Errera/ Morley's Hotel/ Trafalgar Sqr/ London. and 152 (clique?) de Mer/ Blankenberghe/ Belgium], end. [letter of/ Aug 8th/ (1878)] B D25.244 #6

Sorry corr. went to Down for nothing; left home before the post arrived yesterday; hopes corr.'s researches on cross-fertilization progress well.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.

545. From [Léo Abram ERRERA]; Bkbgh [i.e. Blankenberghe] 1878 August 12 Retained copy of AN; 5.25 x2 3/4; 2p. B D25.224 #7

Thanks for letter; hopes to find CD at home some other time; invites CD to call upon Errera if CD ever comes to the Continent; congratulations on election to French Academy of Sciences.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

546. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1878 Aug. 20th/ 28th ALS; 8 x5; 8p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 74-77. Also printed: Life and Letters III, 225; and More Letters, II, 48-49 (letter 417).

547. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878] Sept. 2d ALS; 8 x5; 3p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 78. At end of letter is: guesses that Lady [Mary Farrer] Hobhouse is trustworthy;1 sends [Joseph Rémi Léopold] Delboeuf, [?La Psychologie comme Science Naturelle, Son Présent et Son Avenir (Brussels: 1876)];2 enclosed is worth getting; mentioned first edition to corr.; it is smallish book; "He is a Spencerian to the back-bone."3

Note: 1. See Life of Romanes, 76; and More Letters, II, 49 (letter 417).
2. See More Letters, II, 48 (letter 417); and Life of Romanes, 75-76.
3. Probably a reference to Alfred Victor Espinas, Des Sociétés Animales, 2nd ed. (Paris: G. Baillière, 1878). See Life of Romanes, 79.

548. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878]1 Sept 21st ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Order copy of last Thursday's Spiritualist;1 it contains exposure of Williams [the medium];2 H[ensleigh] Wedgwood brought it to Down; Wedgwood admits that Williams is a rogue, but believes him to be a medium nonetheless; Wedgwood claims further to have seen John King, notwithstanding the old beard and dirty ghost clothes; this is a psychological curiosity!3

Note: 1. See "An Exposure of Imposture," The Spiritualist Newspaper, A Record of the Progress of the Science and Ethics of Spiritualism, 13, September 20, 1878. Year for this letter determined by this publication date.
2. See also letter to Romanes, May 23, 1877, above.
3. On this whole subject, see Edward Clodd, The Question: `If a Man Die, Shall He Live Again?', A Brief History and Examination of Modern Spiritualism (London: Grant Richards Ltd., 1917), passim, esp. 128-29.

549. To?; Down (type 8) 1878 Sept. 28th LS; 7 x4.5 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.85

Private letter; encloses copy of the Medium with an exposure of Williams the spiritualist; hopes corr. will publish an account of the exposure.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

550. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [?1878]1 Oct 1st ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Has just read corr.'s article in Fortnightly;1 thinks it good; "I honour you for taking so much trouble pro bono publico of the mass of readers"; article in the Edinburgh must be nonsense; editor should not have admitted such an article; "But the poor old Edinburgh seems to have played out its part & is ready for extinction."2

Note: 1. See, perhaps, Romanes, "The Beginning of Nerves in the Animal Kingdom," Fortnightly Review, 30 (1878): 509-26. Year for letter determined by this publication date.
2. See the review of geology texts in Edinb. Rev., 147 (Jan.-April, 1878): 183-200. This reference suggested by editor's wife, Nancy E. Carroll.

551. From W[illiam] H[enry] FLOWER; Royal College of Surgeons of England./ Lincoln's Inn Fields,/ (W.C.) 1878 Nov 6th ALS; 7.5 x4.5 7p. and enclosure1 B D25.203 #8

Flower and assistant Dr. Larson have dissected wings sent by [Reuben A.] Blair; sends Larson's report;1 will give summary of it here; deformity is same in all young birds and resembles clubfoot in man; wing of old gander, however, is "perfectly normal" and has never been broken or dislocated; concludes that this is merely a case of mutual deformity in siblings; does not know if this is common, but saw a similar specimen during summer; returns letters.2

Note: 1. Enclosure is Larson's report; see appendix, below.
2. See letter to Flower, Aug. [4? 11?], 1878, above.

552. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; at R. B. Litchfield/ 4, Bryanston Street/ Portman Square, W. [1878 November] 20th Wednesday [pmk. N020/ 78] ANS on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [G. J. Romanes Esqr/ 18. Cornwall Terrace/ Regents Park] B D25.N

Will call upon corr. tomorrow morning; send card if corr. will not be home then.

553. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) [1878] Dec. 5th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 85-86.

554. To [Reuben A. BLAIR]; Down (type 9) (last two lines crossed out) 1878 Dec. 9th. ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and enclosures1 B D25.203 #9

[William Henry] Flower has been ill, so CD's reply has been delayed; encloses Flower's report and letter;1 there is no connection between the deformity and the injury; it must be a case of "post hoc" and not "propter hoc"; "I am well accustomed in my experimental work to get definite result only once in three or four times, & thus alone can science prosper."

Note: 1. Enclosures are listed separately elsewhere in calendar; see letter from Flower, November 6, 1878, above.

555. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1878] Dec. 11th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Thanks for letter;1 has just received "Vegetative Bastarderzeugung durch Impfung" by [Hugo] Lindemuth, an agriculturist and gardener;2 it has three plates, and CD offers it to corr.; CD has not received papers which corr. says he has sent.

Note: 1. See Life of Romanes, 86-88.
2. See Lindemuth, "Ueber Vegetative Bastarderzeugung durch Impfung," Landw. Jbr, 7 (1878): 887-939.

556. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; Down, Beckenham. [1878] Dec. 27th [pmk. DE28/ 78] AN on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [G. J. Romanes Esqr/ 18. Cornwall Terrace/ Regents Park/ London N.W.] B D25.N

Read Prof. [William] James, "Brute and Human Intellect," Journal of Speculative Philosophy, [12] (1878): 236-[76].

557. To [William Rathbone] GREG; Down/ Beckenham 1878 Dec. 31 LS; 10.25 x8; 5p. B D25.10

Has read chapter on design and thinks it clever; corr.'s son should read book by "Physicus" and published by Trübner; none of corr.'s son's objections are new; see [Darwin], Variation under Domestication [(1868)], II, last three pages, on design in variation; [Gaston de] Saporta, Geinitz and Oppell, and [Melchior] Newmayr have found close series of fossil forms; fossil bones sometimes do not reveal fine differences; for CD's views on crossing eliminating new variations, see Variation under Domestication, chap. XX; corr.'s son forgets effects of isolation on crossing; corr.'s son "says I rest exclusively on natural selection; whereas no one else as far as I know has made so many observations on the effects of use & disuse. Nor do I deny the direct effect of external conditions, tho' I probably underrated their power in the earlier editions of the Origin. We know far too little about the laws of inheritance to argue about them: what is certain is that some new variations are strongly inherited from the first, whilst some seem never to very rarely to be transmitted; nor until trial is made can we predict what will be the result"; [Richard] Owen says open spaces in teeth of race horses were specially designed for bit; "no doubt the little jockeys were specially designed to ride them"; dismisses final cause for lowering of specific gravity of water upon freezing, giving bismuth as counterexample.

558. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; Down, Beckenham. [1879 January 18] [pmk. JA18/ 79] N on p.c.; 3 x4 3/4; 1p. and add. [G. J. Romanes Esq/ 18 Cornwall Terrace/ Regents Park/ London NW] B D25.N

Sees advertised [Tito] Vignoli, [Über das] Fundamentalgesetz der Intelligenz im Thierreich[e (Leipzig: 1879)].

559. To?; Down (type 8) 1879 Jan 31. LS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.136

Will not sign corr.'s petition because does not consider himself as "coming with the class" who will sign it; thinks establishment of a professorship of pathology at Cambridge would be desirable; one of CD's sons says corr. errs about abolition of medical fellowships at Trinity.

560. To Karl HÖCHBERG; Down (type 9) (last two lines crossed out) 1879 Feb. 25th [pmk. FE25/ 79] ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and env., add. [Herrn Karl Hochberg/ Castagnola/ presso Lugano/ Switzerland] B D25.18

Has never attended to vegetarian diet; only valuable evidence would be statistics on countries where inhabitants live on widely different diets; hardest workers CD ever saw, the miners in Chile, lived exclusively on vegetable diet including seeds of Leguminosae; but Gauchos are active and live almost exclusively on meat; in tropical Africa there is an extraordinary craving for meat at intervals, but inhabitants eat largely of seeds of Leguminosae, and Arachis hypogaea is widely cultivated.

561. To Léo [Abram] ERRERA; Down (type 9) 1879 March 5th [pmk. MR 5/ 79] ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and env., add. [A/ M. Léo Errera/ aux soins G. Magolez/ Libraire Rue de l'Impératrice/ Bruxelles.] B D25.224 #8

Has just returned from a week's absence to find present from corr. and [Gustave] Gevaert;1 will read it soon; corr.'s work is more than a vulgarization or popularization.

Note: 1. Errera and Gevaert, "Sur la Structure et les Modes de Fecondation des Fleurs et en Particulier sur l'Hétérostylie du Primula elatior," Belg. Soc. Bot. Bull., 17 (1878): 38-181 and 182-248. See also letter to Errera, September 18, 1877, above.

562. To Léo [Abram] ERRERA; Down (type 9) (last two lines crossed out) 1879 March 13th [pmk. MR13/ 79] ALS; 8 x5; 3p. and env., add. [Monr. Léo Errera/ aux soins G. Magolez/ Libraire - Edituer/ Rue de l'Impératrice/ Bruxelles/ Belgium.] B D25.224 #9

Has read corr.'s book, containing new, original, and ingenious views;1 likes case of the staminoid [sic; staminode] of Pentstemon and observations on insects rarely visiting some varieties; that corr. and [Gustave] Gevaert will continue labors is "the earnest wish of one who is too old to do much more himself"; engraving of Primula is good; would like photograph of corr.

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

563. From [Léo Abram ERRERA]; no location [ca. 1879 March 13]1 Retained copy of AL, S by init.; 8 3/4 x5.5 2p. B D25.224 #10

Has delayed answering until a photograph of Errera was available; wishes photograph of CD in return; corr. and [Gustave] Gevaert are encouraged by CD's praise.

Note: 1. This is obviously a reply to the preceding letter, above.

564. To?; Down (type 8) 1879 June 4th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.220

Corr.'s note has much on measurement about which CD is incompetent; has asked son-in-law, [Richard Buckley] Litchfield, to look into the case and report to corr.

565. To [Edwin Ray] LANKESTER; Down (type 8) 1879 July 9th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.55

Thank authoress of "Key-notes" for her present; has lost appreciation for poetry, however; is glad corr. is to spend more time on original investigations, because corr. does "splendid work"; leaves for holiday in lakes soon; will read poetry there.

566. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1879 July 23d ALS; 8 x5; 3p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

Is grieved at what corr. says about [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen; sends check for L25 for the subscription; will give more if needed; sorry corr. and wife [Ethel Duncan Romanes] could not come to Down; has been ill; leaves for Coniston for a month on August 1; hopes weather stays as good as it is; encloses paper, but [Thomas] Meehan is a very inaccurate observer; good luck with medusas; regards to wife.

567. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1879]1 Sept. 14th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: Life of Romanes, 97-98. At end of letter is: how is poor [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen?

Note: 1. Year determined by reference to Coniston in postscript; see "Darwin's Journal," 21. See also preceding letter, above.

568. To?; Down (type 8) 1879 Dec. 4th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.214

Thanks for note; remembers having seen same appearance in horses, but is unlikely to write ever again about variation of domesticated animals.

569. To [George John] R[OMANES]; Down [?1879-1882]1 25th ANS; 6 3/4 x5.25 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

Enclosed received this morning; they may be worth taking to Linnean Society; agrees about the [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen affair.1

Note: 1. The Grant Allen episode began with letter to Romanes, July 23, 1879, above; CD died in 1882.

570. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1880 Feb 3. LS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 94. line 6, add: two enclosed letters from [?John Fletcher] Moulton on the subject are worth reading, but they are private; please return them; Moulton does not think much of [Frederick] Guthrie as a physicist. At end of letter is: is glad to read [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen's letter; "we have all done a good work."1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above; for reply, see Life of Romanes, 95-96.

571. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1880 Feb 5. LS; 8 x5; 4p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: More Letters, II, 51-52 (letter 420). At end of letter is: returns diagram.

572. To W. TEARLE; Down (type 8) 1880. Apr. 16th [pmk. AP16/ 80] ALS; 8 x5; 2p. and env., add. [W. Tearle Esqr/ Cambridge St/ St Neots/ Hunts.] B D25.46

Private letter; cannot aid corr.; any remarks CD could make would add to corr.'s doubts on subjects which corr. considers sacred; "...every man ought to weigh for himself impartially & anxiously all the arguments for & against any revelation ever having been made to man.--"

573. To Cousin [Hensleigh WEDGWOOD]; Down (type 9) 1880 May 5th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.242

CD and corr. have not met in some time; no good scientific journal would publish corr.'s essay; "Science progresses only by the discovery of new facts & direct deductions from them"; there have been too many attempts to reconcile Genesis and Science; considers death of corr.'s brother [Josiah Wedgwood, of Leith Hill Place] a grievous loss; there never existed "a man with a sweeter disposition."

574. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) [1880] Nov. 14th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 101-02.

575. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1880 Nov. 15th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 102-03.

576. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1880 Dec 20th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Thanks for pleasing note;1 Frank [i.e. Francis Darwin] thought that his papers interested no one;2 on corr.'s experiments, suggests canary grass and cabbage seedlings when short; fill pots to top, so rims will not make shade; plants should be kept in complete darkness until time for experiment, making them sensitive to light and upright; comparing effects of intermittent light upon plants with effects upon animals will be interesting; corr.'s last sentence amused CD; [Ethel Duncan] Romanes is right to forbid monkey from nursery.

Note: 1. See Life of Romanes, 104-05.
2. See Francis Darwin, "The Theory of the Growth of Cuttings...," J. Linn. Soc. (Botany), 18 (1881): 406-19; and idem, "On the Power Possessed by Leaves of Placing Themselves at Right Angles to the Direction of Incident Light," ibid., 420-55.

577. To [John Maurice HERBERT]; Down (type 9) [1880] Dec. 25th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.H

Printed in full, with minor changes: Sir Gavin de Beer, ed., "The Darwin Letters at Shrewsbury School," Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond., 23 (1968): 73-74. p. 73, line 4, change "also like" to "also much like" and change "something" to "anything". p. 73, line 12, change "me" to "us".

578. To [George John] ROMANES; 4 Bryanston St.1 [1880-1881]1 ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

Thanks; if able to see [Thomas Henry] Huxley, will not be able to see corr. before noon; will see corr. in afternoon if corr. calls then.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out. This letter is in the shaky hand characteristic of CD from late 1880 onwards; CD's last visit to Bryanston Street was in 1881.

579. To?; Down (type 9) 1881 Jan 20th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.32

Required address is "A. R. Wallace Esq./ Pen-y-Bryn/ St. Peters Road/ Croydon."; letter with unexpected news about date of pension [for Alfred Russel Wallace] makes CD happy, because Wallace can rest immediately from literary work and devote strength to natural science; receipt of letters has been delayed by snow drifts.

580. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) 1881 Jan 24 LS; 8 x5; 3p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.N

Romanes can buy young pigs, but they must be inspected first and none will pass inspection because infection is about; another obstacle would be the immense snow drifts; keep enclosed letter from [Jean Henri] Fabre.1

Note: 1. For CD's reply to Fabre's letter, see More Letters, I, 385-86 (letter 298).

581. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Jan 28th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Has just read corr.'s review in Nature; [Samuel Butler] will "smart under your stricture" unless he is "as callous as a rhinoceros"; corr. has been too severe; corr. is right to attribute [Butler's] conduct to "the disappointment of his inordinate vanity"; it is psychological curiosity that [Butler] should suppose that [Thomas Henry] Huxley lectured and [John] Murray advertised [Ernst Krause, Erasmus Darwin (1879)] because of his book [Butler, Evolution Old and New... (London: Hardwicke & Bogue, 1879)]; [Butler] will hate corr.; thanks for saving CD from [Butler's] "malignant revenge"; [Ernst Ludwig] Krause's letter is very good and strictly accurate; it is lucky corr. did not come to get pigs, for infection is severe, strictest rules are observed, and as magistrate, CD must give orders daily for animals to cross roads, even if only from one field to another on same farm.1

Note: 1. See: Romanes, "Unconscious Memory," Nature, 23 (1880-1881): 285-87; and Krause, "Unconscious Memory--Mr. Samuel Butler," Nature, 23 (1880-1881): 288.
On pigs, see preceding letter, above.

582. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Feb. 11th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Thanks for second letter in Nature; is particularly pleased by first part; sympathy expressed privately and publicly toward CD almost makes CD glad that [Samuel] Butler attacked him.1

Note: 1. See Romanes, "Mr. Butler's `Unconscious Memory'," Nature, Lond., 23 (1880-1881): 335-36. On Butler controversy in general, see Barlow, ed., Autobiography, 167-219. See also: preceding letter, above; and Life and Letters III, 220.

583. To T[homas] R[oscoe] R[ede] STEBBING; Down (type 9) 1881 Feb. 11th [pmk. FE11/ 81] ALS; 8 x5; 4p. and env., add. [The Revd. T. R. R. Stebbing/ Tunbridge Wells] B D25.132

Thanks for letter in Nature; case is well put, and corr. interprets CD's conduct accurately; has no idea how he merited such vehemence from [Samuel] Butler; [Ernst Ludwig] Krause's failure to mention the correction and enlargement of his text was accidental; CD failed to mention these extra efforts by Krause because CD was busy with experiments; the historical sketch appeared for the first time in third edition of [Darwin, Origin (1861)]; there was no time to put it in second edition [1860].1

Note: 1. See Stebbing, "Mr. Butler's `Unconscious Memory'," Nature, Lond., 23 (1880-1881): 336. See also preceding letter, above.

584. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type9) [1881] March 7th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, II, 213-14 (letter 548).

585. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1881]1 March 9th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Thanks for letter;1 corr.'s remarks on consciousness and self-consciousness are good; may have worked for weeks to no avail; CD's experiments showed that worms do learn, but CD dare not trust results; will try to eliminate source of doubt.1

Note: 1. This letter is almost certainly an answer to Romanes's reply to the preceding letter, above. See also More Letters, II, 215 (letter 549).

586. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) (last two lines crossed out) 1881 Mar 26. LS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 108-09.

587. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Ap. 16 ALS; 8 x5; 10p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 109-12. p. 111, line 11, change "prick" to "pith". p. 111, line 22, change "softer" to "softest". Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: Life and Letters III, 243-45.

588. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Ap. 18th ALS; 8 x5; 8p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 114-16. p. 115, line 1 following signature, add: "I am extremely glad that you seem to have silenced [Samuel] Butler and his reviewers. But Mr Butler will turn up again, if I know the man."
Printed: More Letters, II, 431-32 (letter 431). See full text for changes. Printed: Life and Letters III, 206. See full text for changes.

589. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 April 25th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes: Life and Letters III, 208-09. p. 208, line 15, change "with Miss Cobbe....." to "with the sweet Miss [Frances Power] Cobbe.-- Good Heavens what a liar she is: did you notice how in her second letter she altered what she quoted from her first letter, trusting to no one comparing the two?"1

Note: 1. See: Cobbe, "Mr. Darwin and Vivisection," London Times, April 19, 1881, p. 8; and idem, "Mr. Darwin on Vivisection," London Times, April 23, 1881, p. 8.

590. To W[illiam Erasmus DARWIN]; Down. [1881]1 May 20th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.139

Does not know what to do with L3,000 from United States funded loan; has too much in railways; sees that United States is offered $ 1 million in bonds at three and a half per cent; does this indicate that U.S. is a good security; please advise CD about what to do with the investment.

Note: 1. This letter is written in the shaky hand characteristic of CD from late 1880 to his death in April, 1882. This leaves May of 1881 as the only May in which "shaky hand" letters were written.

591. To?; Glenrhydding House/ Patterdale, Penrith1 1881 Jun 17th. ALS; 8 x5; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.95

Thanks for enclosed paper; case is curious and "an awful look-out for palaeontologists"; thinks there are analogous cases with the Pulmoniferae; is surprised that author says it is not established that one mollusc can be parasitic within shell of another.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.

592. To?; Glenridding House/ Patterdale/ Penrith1 1881 June 22 LS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.204

Suggests modification in corr.'s trials in formation of diamonds; use flesh of animal for carbon, as this may be nature's source of carbon for diamonds; has long wanted to see what chemicals resulted from slow cooling, after much heating, of all the elements one might find in living organisms; imagines a protein might be generated; this is example of " `a fool's experiment' ", the likes of which CD tries now and then for fun, with interesting side-results occasionally.

Note: 1. Down address variant, type 8, is crossed out.

593. To R[euben] A. BLAIR; Down (type 9) 1881 June 25th [pmk. AMBLESIDE 25 JU/ 81] ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and env., add. [R. A. Blair Esqr--/ Sedalia/ Mo./ U. States] B D25.203 #11

Thanks for kind expressions; congratulations about mastodon remains; "I hope that the study of natural history may give your daughter a large share of the satisfaction which the study has given me.--"

594. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 8) [1881] July 4th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.4

Leaves for Penrith in a few hours; will be at Down tomorrow night; has heard from [John] Collier, and wife [Emma Wedgwood Darwin] has arranged everything [for portrait of CD by Collier]; rejoices about corr.'s book; wants to know what corr. thinks about "the German Physiologico-Evolution book1 & about the Creed of Science"; has read the latter with much interest; "I rejoice for my own private eating that you have taken to review & write so much in Nature, & if it does not waste too much of your time you thusly do a public service.-- Nature seems to me an excellent Journal, & I look forward weekly with pleasure to reading or skimming the whole."

Note: 1. Perhaps Wilhelm Roux, Der Kampf der Theile in Organismus... (Leipzig: 1881).

595. To?; Down (type 9) 1881 August 5th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.84

Never lends money; but since corr. seems in need, encloses check for L30 as a present; this might support corr. while he is [learning? leaving?] the special department; cannot assist further; acknowledge.

596. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) [1881] Augt. 7th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 120. One sentence printed: Life and Letters III, 223.

597. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Sept. 2d. ALS; 8 x5; 8p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes and minor omissions: Life of Romanes, 123-25. At end of letter is: thanks for invitation to sons, but none of them will be in Scotland.
Printed, with changes: Life and Letters III, 209-10.1

Note: 1. For letter to CD for which this letter is reply, see Life of Romanes, 121-23.

598. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) (black border)1 [1881] Oct 14th ALS; 7 x4.5 3p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: Life of Romanes, 126-27.

Note: 1. CD's brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin died on August 26; see "Darwin's Journal," 21 and 21n.

599. To?; Down (type 9) 1881 November 2d. ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.51

Thanks for informing CD of error; perhaps amount per square yard was one pound, fourteen and a half ounces instead of one pound thirteen and a half ounces; calculations were checked; two other errors have been discovered, but they are so flagrant that no one was fooled; will try to find source of error.

600. To?; Down (type 9) 1881 Nov. 6th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.52

Can now explain blunder about amount of earth ejected per acre; in one calculation, assumed that worms worked 45 days, while in another, assumed they worked 40 days; concluded that shorter period was correct, but forgot to go back and correct; a son of CD finds relation between weight for square yard and for acre correct as given.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

601. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1881 Nov. 12th ALS; 8 x5; 4p. B D25.N

Printed in full, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 395-96 (letter 308).

602. To?; no location [1881 November] [end. Recd. Nov 1881] AN, S by init.; 4.5 x7.25 2p., end. [Recd. Nov. 1881] B D25.223

What does [Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp] Pfeffer mean in relation to [Julius Ritter von] Wiesner's book [Das Bewegungs-vermögen der Pflanzen... (Wien: 1881)]; Wiesner thinks process of light bending plant towards it is a direct effect, but CD thinks light is merely a stimulus that tells plant which way to bend; thought Pfeffer was on Wiesner's side; thinks this might help corr. and Mr [Patroll?] in understanding Pfeffer's difficult style.

603. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) (black border)1 1881 Dec. 8th ALS; 7 x4.5 3p. (enclosures wanting) B D25.N

Returns letters and acknowledges check for £12·10; circular is grand and [Charles Grant Blairfindie] Allen is noble; nothing can be done by subscribers; suggests giving microscope to Allen; will be in London next week and will see corr.; is overwhelmed with "stupid letters"; will send [Darwin], Origin [(1880)].2

Note: 1. CD's brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin died on August 26.
2. See Edward Clodd, Grant Allen: A Biography (London: Grant Richards, 1900), 84-85. See also letter to Romanes, February 3, 1880, above.

604. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) [1881] Dec. 10th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Cannot help [James Cossar] Ewart; has already written testimonial for [Edwin] R[ay] Lankester, and has on this ground declined to give one for [William Carmichael] Mc. Intosh [sic; M'Intosh], "of whose work I have a very high opinion; thinks Ewart is fit; remembers interesting interview with Ewart and bacteria at University College laboratory; will be in London after Thursday [December 15]; will see corr. then.

605. To?; Down (type 9) 1881 Dec. 16th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.100

Letter from corr. to CD's late brother Erasmus [Alvey Darwin] has been forwarded to CD; Erasmus had nothing to do with the Congress; CD was not a member either, although CD went to London to be introduced to some members; was asked to Lady [Sophia Coutts Burdett, styled] Burdett-Coutts' party, but did not attend; it would therefore be inappropriate to include CD's likeness into corr.'s composition; if corr. still wishes to do so, will send "an excellent, unpublished photograph of myself, made by my son Lieut: [Leonard] Darwin"; is too busy and weak to give a sitting.

606. To [George John] ROMANES; 4 Bryanston St. (black border)2 [1881 December]1 17th Saturday ALS; 7 x4.5 3p. B D25.N

Wants to see corr. before leaving London; will see [Thomas Henry] Huxley tomorrow morning; will see [Andrew] Clark this evening; call upon CD later tomorrow or early Monday; if well, will see [John Scott] Burdon-Sanderson on Monday; "My visit to London has been rather a failure, for I have been able to do hardly anything."

Note: 1. There was only one Saturday the 17th on which CD was at Bryanston Street; see "Darwin's Journal," 19-21.
2. CD's brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin died on August 26.

607. To [F. W.] SURMAN; Down (type 9) [1881] Dec. 19th ALS; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.233

Please write to CD at Down, giving full name, birth date, age, duration of corr.'s having lived with CD's brother [Erasmus Alvey Darwin], and duration of corr.'s having lived at previous place, with name and address of family.

608. To [F. W.] SURMAN; Down (type 9) 1881 Dec. 22d. ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.232

Corr.'s case is hopeless, since [Albert Carl Ludwig Gotthilf] Günther says that the man must not be beyond 30 years age; moreover, permission of one of the three chief trustees must be obtained before application; has no influence on archbishop, Chancellor, and Speaker; sorry for disappointment; Günther says number of applicants is great.1

Note: 1. See preceding letter, above.

609. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) [1882] 1881 (sic) Jan 1st1 ALS; 8 x5; 8p. B D25.N

Printed, with minor changes: More Letters, I, 389-90 (letter 302). At end of letter is: received December number of Nineteenth Century with corr.'s article, but has not yet read it;2 has had note from [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen, which calls CD's attention to "capital fact about Sexual Selection" in [Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld,] Voyage of the Vega [Round Asia and Europe..., tr. Alexander Leslie, 2v. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1881)], II, 97.

Note: 1. Mention of Brazilian Legation in this letter couples it with the two subsequent letters, below. See also date of publication in note 2, below. Apparently CD erred, as one is wont to do on the first day of the new year, by writing down the previous year.
2. Romanes, "Intelligence of Ants II," Nineteenth Century, 10 (July-December 1881): 245-58.

610. To [George John] ROMANES; Down Beckenham [1882]1 Jan 3d. ALS; 4.5 x7; 1p. B D25.N

Brazilian Legation says documents were intended for CD; secretary [of the Legation] is sure the Baron [de Villa Franca] would be gratified if statements were published; what does corr. think about whole story; return documents.

Note: 1. See subsequent letter, below.

611. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1882 Jan 6th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. (enclosures wanting) B D25.N

Is glad to shirk extra labor, so accepts corr.'s offer to prepare paper for Linnean Society and abstract for Nature; will send copies to the Baron [de Villa Franca] and Dr. Glass [Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, Rio de Janeiro]; suggests an introduction for paper; has scribbled an outline for paper; agrees with corr. about the microscope and [Charles] Grant [Blairfindie] Allen.1

Note: 1. See preceding two letters. See also Baron de Villa Franca and Dr. Glass, "On New Varieties of the Sugar-cane Produced by Planting in Apposition," Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., November 1880-June 1882, 30-31. On Allen and the microscope, see letter to Romanes, December 8, 1881, above.

612. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1882. Jan. 20th ALS; 8 x5; 2p. B D25.N

Sees propriety of [George] Croom Robertson's proposal; agrees to all that corr. proposes; cannot personally see the advantage of waiting until another half-payment is made, prefers to see testimonial or present given at once; does not wish to impose CD's judgment on Robertson.1

Note: 1. This letter apparently refers to the giving of a microscope to Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen; see preceding letter, above.

613. To [George John] ROMANES; Down. [1882 (?January)]1 23d ANS; 4.5 x7; 1p. B D25.N

Is glad about microscope; H[erbert] Spencer's plan would have destroyed graciosity of the present; is better, but is still weak; hopes corr. will be able to read sugar cane paper soon.

Note: 1. This letter obviously follows shortly after the preceding letter. For sugar cane paper, see letter to Romanes, January 6, 1882, above.

614. To [George John] ROMANES; Down (type 9) 1882 Jan. 28th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.N

Is bound to do what [Donald] McAlister wishes, even though it is superfluous; can only manage to write one or two poorly-done pages; has just received corr.'s note of 25th; declines again to provide testimonial to [James Cossar] Ewart, since CD had already given one for [Edwin Ray] Lankester and had refused to give one to [William Carmichael] McIntosh [i.e. M'Intosh]; P[atrick] Geddes has also done excellent work, but CD supposes he is very young; according to [Alexander] Dickson's testimonial to Geddes, [John] Young is also in the field; sorry to disappoint corr.1

Note: 1. See letter to Romanes, December 10, 1881, above.

615. To?; Down (type 9) 1882 Feb 4th. ALS; 8 x5; 3p., sketches (enclosure wanting) B D25.190

Make copies on wood of the cuts enclosed in blue lines in plate to the enclosed paper;1 gives directions for execution of copies; "They must be fac-similes"; needs them as soon as possible for paper to be read before Linnean Society;2 sketch shows what copies should look like when done; return the pamphlet; will soon have another sketch engraved.

Note: 1. Francis Darwin, "The Process of Aggregation in the Tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia," Q. Jl. microsc. Sci., 16 (1876): 309-19.
2. Darwin, "The Action of Carbonate of Ammonia on Chlorophyll-bodies," J. Linn. Soc. (Botany), 19 (1882): 262-84.

616. To [Trübner & Co.]; Down (type 7) [1882] Feb. 9th [end. 11 FEB 1882] AL in third person; 4 3/4 x7.5 1p., end. by stamp [Trübner & Co./ 11 FEB 1882/ London] B D25.53

Orders International Sc[ientific] Dict[ionary] to be sent by post.

617. To?; Down, Kent 1882. March 29th AN in third person S; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.122

CD thinks Mr [Loeb? Loct?] ought to have sent an addressed envelope.

618. To [Philip Lutley] SCLATER; Down (type 9) 1882 April 3d ALS; 8 x5; 1p. and end. [733] (enclosure wanting)1 B D25.S

Sends enclosed paper to be read at Zoological Society and to be printed in the Journal, if referees recommend; if paper is rejected, would appreciate its return, so it can be submitted to Nature; wants its contents recorded.1

Note: 1. Paper is probably W. Van Dyck, "On the Modification of a Race of Syrian Street-Dogs by Means of Sexual Selection, with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin," Proc. zool Soc. Lond., 1882, 367-70.

619. To?; Down (type 9) 1882 April. 17th ALS; 8 x5; 3p. B D25.240

Corr. has misunderstood CD, but mistake was a natural one and the criticism was good; ought not to have interpolated the sentence about the burying of food;1 case was mentioned to illustrate a long-continued habit, since CD thinks well-fed domestic dogs do not revisit their buried treasures; when burying food, dog makes hole with front legs alone and shovels in the earth with his nose; there is no resemblance to excrement-covering movements; thanks for courteous expressions.

Note: 1. See Darwin, Variation under Domestication (1868), I, 182.
1882 April 19--CD died at four in the afternoon.

620. To "My dear Camilla"; Down. n.y. Feb. 21 ALS; 4.5 x7; 1p. (enclosure wanting) B D25.222

Look at enclosed letter from an "odd & good-hearted man"; no one at Down can make it out; do not translate whole letter, but only part in which the man recommends some treatment; doubts if CD should try it; does writer of the letter seem to know what is the matter with CD?

621. To [John William] LUBBOCK, [Baron Avebury]; Down. n.y. 14th ALS; 7 3/4 x4 3/4; 3p. B D25.87

Received yesterday enough specimens of Helix pomatia [edible snail] "for my Snailery"; thanks for Lepidoptera books, which CD's sons study with interest; give number of acres in [Larch?] wood, and when planted; have collected in it about 115 species of plants; Leonard Horner comes to Down on Monday; if corr. would like to meet Horner, come for supper on Tuesday; the Carters (staying at Colonel [Caters?] house) and [John Brodie] Innes and wife.

622. To G. DENNY; no location n.d. Address leaf only, which reads "G. Denny Esqr/ Philosophical Hall/ Leeds"; 2 x7 B D25.221

623. To [John PHILLIPS]; no location n.d. ALS; 6.5 x5; 1p., incomplete B D25.123 #6

Has not yet received book, but thanks for note; book will surely interest CD.

624. To G[eorge] J[ohn] ROMANES; Down, Beckenham. n.d. AN, S by init., on p.c.; 1p. and add. [G. J. Romanes Esqr/ Dunskaith/ Nigg/ Rosshire] B D25.N

Has not read corr.'s letter; asks permission to show it to George [Howard Darwin], who arrived recently, and to CD's other sons; will tell them to keep it secret if corr. wishes, but a secret cannot forever be well kept owing to forgetfulness.

625. To [George John ROMANES]; no location n.d. ?AN; 8 x5; 1p. B D25.N

"18 Cornwall Terrace [Romanes's address]/ Linn. Soc. & List/ Carrots--Rabbits--gray same side/ Copy of Var. under Dom./ fuller [abstract?] of Potato-grafts/ [Francis] Galton's article on Pangenes./ Medusa & Royal Soc/ 11. York Place"1

Note: 1. See: Darwin, Variation under Domestication (1875), I, 420-22; and Galton, "Experiments in Pangenesis, by Breeding from Rabbits of a Pure Variety, into Whose Circulation Blood Taken from Other Varieties Had Previously Been Largely Transfused," Proc. R. Soc., 19 (1871): 393-410.

626. To Paget, James: no location n.d. A fragment of L; 1 3/4 x6; 2p. B P212

"I am greedy for facts.--"

Note: See Paget (1901): 407 for reference to this statement