[33]

Dear Sir ─ I am much obliged for your very courteous note. It is I regret that wd be impossible for me to explain the causes of my disbelief in any good being derived from the conference without treating the subject at inordinate length. I am convinced that I will only add that each man who no doubt & wish wishes to form a judgement on this subject shd independently weigh shd weigh must in my opinion, weigh the evidence for himself; & he ought not to be influenced by being told that a considerable body num ber of scientific men can, which others cannot reconcile the results [illeg] & by science with revealed word, or or natural even with natural what is generally [illeg] natural religion, whilst others cannot do so. I beg leave to remain

I = Conference on Religion)

To W. R. Brown[e]

1880.12.22

[In blue crayon, not Darwin's hand:] to W Brown 1880

[33v]

= ceding self-fertilised generations become more and more self-fertile. Thus In the sixth generation the self-fertilised plants of this variety compared with the crossed plants yielded produced capsules in the proportion ration of 147 to 100 to them. produced by the crossed plants, both lots being allowed to fertilise themselves spontaneously. In the seventh generation 20 flowers on one of these plants were artificially self-fertilised and thus produced 10 yielded no less than 19 very fine capsules!

This new variety transmitted faithfully all its characters so faithfully to all the succeeding to the sixth and last self-fertilised gener=

[Cross and self fertilisation, p. 79: "From the first it seemed to be rather more fertile, when self-fertilised, than the old varieties, and in the succeeding self-fertilised generations became more and more self-fertile. In the sixth generation the self-fertilised plants of this variety compared with the crossed plants produced capsules in the proportion of 147 to 100, both lots being allowed to fertilise themselves spontaneously. In the seventh generation twenty flowers on one of these plants artificially self-fertilised yielded no less than nineteen very fine capsules!
This variety transmitted its characters so faithfully to all the succeeding self-fertilised generations, up to the last or ninth, that all the many plants which were raised presented a complete uniformity of character; thus offering a remarkable contrast with the seedlings raised from the purchased seeds."]