My dear Hooker

Two of the kinds of seeds will be very useful to me; but why the others were sent by Col. Playfair, I know not, except from the abundance of his kindness.—²

I am sure I never heard of Curtis’ observations on Dioneæa; nor have I met with anything more than general statements about this plant or about Nepenthes catching insects &c—³

I have always thought the D. of Argyll wonderfully clever; but as for calling him “a little beggar” my inherited, instinctive feelings w^d. declare it was a sin thus to speak of a real old Duke.—⁴

Your conclusion that all speculation about preordination is idle waste of time is the only wise one: but how difficult it is not to speculate. My theology is a simple muddle: I cannot look at the Universe as the result of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design, or indeed of design of any kind in the details.— As for each variation that has ever occurred having been preordained for a special end, I can no believe in it, than that the spot on which each drop of rain falls has been specially ordained.—

Spontaneous generations seems almost as great a puzzle as preordination; I cannot persuade myself that such a multiplicity of organisms can have been produced, like crystals, in Bastian’s solutions of the same kind.—⁵ I am astonished that as yet I have met with no allusion to Wyman’s positive statement that if the solutions are boiled for 5 hours, no organisms appear; yet, if my memory serves me, the solutions when opened to air, immediately became stocked.⁶ Against all evidence I cannot avoid suspecting that organic particles (my gemmules from the separate cells of the lower creatures!) will keep alive & afterwards multiply under proper conditions.⁷ What an interesting problem it is.—

Your affect | C. Darwin