RECORD: Ridley, Henry Nicholas to Darwin, Francis. [1882]. CUL-DAR198.169. (John van Wyhe ed., 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 2.2026. RN1

NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. The folder CUL-DAR198 contains letters, mostly to Francis Darwin, regarding his appeals for letters from Darwin in order to create Life and letters (1887).

"Ridley, Henry Nicholas, 1855-1956. Botanist and geologist. Discovered a method to tap rubber without damaging the trees seriously. Visited A.R. Wallace in later years. 1878 Nov. 28 CD to R, about Dr E.B. Pusey, an important letter, "Dr Pusey's attack will be as powerless to retard by a day a belief in evolution as were the virulent attacks made by divines fifty years ago against Geology, & the still older ones of the Catholic church against Galileo, for the public is wise enough always to follow scientific men when they agree on any subject; & now there is a most complete unanimity amongst Biologists about Evolution, tho' there is still considerable difference as to the means, such as how far natural selection has acted & how far external conditions, or whether there exists some mysterious innate tendency to perfectibility." CCD27:458, 1888-1911 First Scientific Director Singapore Botanical Gardens." Paul van Helvert & John van Wyhe, Darwin: A Companion, 2021.

See Ridley to Francis Darwin CUL-DAR198.168

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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

File last updated 27 February, 2026