From Catherine Darwin 14 October [1832]
Summary
Writes news of family, Maer, and Woodhouse. His father has sent for a banana tree
and plans to buy J. J. Audubon’s book [Birds of America (1827)].
Charles Langton has been given a living near Ludlow.
| Author: | Emily Catherine (Catherine) Darwin; Emily Catherine (Catherine) Langton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Oct [1832] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 86 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-187 |
To R. W. Darwin 8 February – 1 March 1832
Summary
Writes with great happiness about the first part of the voyage, after his misery from seasickness passed. He finds himself well prepared, the ship quiet, comfortable, and compact; he has already a "rich harvest" and finds the natural history (especially geology) exceedingly interesting. The tropics are full of great beauty.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Waring Darwin |
| Date: | 8 & 26 Feb & 1 Mar [1832] |
| Classmark: | DAR 223: 8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-158 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … them a graceful lightness, which no European tree partakes of. — Bananas & Plantains, are …
- … their foliage: but of the glorious orange trees no description no drawings, will give any …
- … embosomed in a luxuriant wood of beautiful trees. —& situated on a steep bank overlooks …
- … of walking amongst such flowers, & such trees cannot be comprehended, but by those who …
To R. W. Darwin 10 February 1832
Summary
Sends a short résumé of his trip on the chance that it will arrive in England earlier than longer letter [158] which he hopes to send by surer means.
He is "incessantly occupied by new and most interesting animals" and thinks he will be able to do some original work in natural history.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Waring Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Feb 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-159 |
From C. L. Hughes 2 November 1832
Summary
Notes for CD on a river trip to Mercedes on the Rio Negro [Uruguay].
| Author: | Charles Lawrence Hughes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Nov 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 34: 14–15 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-190 |
To Frederick Watkins 18 August 1832
Summary
Brief summary of the voyage so far. His delight in the Brazilian forest; his trip into the interior; the turbulence at Rio; has grown a beard.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frederick Watkins |
| Date: | 18 Aug 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 148: 292 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-181 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Cambridgeshire only that every hedge tree & hill must be levelled & arable land turned …
To Catherine Darwin 5 July [1832]
Summary
Sailing next day to Montevideo. He has taken many hitherto undescribed animals. Describes the glories of the Brazilian forest.
Mentions his concern over the Reform Bill.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emily Catherine (Catherine) Darwin; Emily Catherine (Catherine) Langton |
| Date: | 5 July [1832] |
| Classmark: | DAR 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-176 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of vegetation. — Whilst seated on a tree, & eating my luncheon in the sublime solitude of …
To W. D. Fox May 1832
Summary
Writes of voyage and his work in natural history: geology, collecting insects (freshwater beetles and spiders at Botofogo Bay); life at sea, sublime views ashore.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | May 1832 |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 46) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-168 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … me collecting amongst pineapples & orange trees; whilst staining your fingers with dirty …
From Susan Darwin 12–18 November 1832
Summary
Family news.
| Author: | Susan Elizabeth Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 & 18 Nov 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 98 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-191 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and profitable. — The two great Palm Trees are arrived & touch the top of the Hothouse now …
From Caroline Darwin 12[–18] September 1832
Summary
News of the Darwin, Wedgwood, and Owen families, including a report on Frances Wedgwood’s death.
| Author: | Caroline Sarah (Caroline) Darwin; Caroline Sarah (Caroline) Wedgwood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12[–18] Sept 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 73 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-185 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … flowers. he is going to get a Banana tree principally from your advice— he is giving up …
From W. D. Fox 29 August – 28 September 1832
Summary
He is staying on the Isle of Wight because he has been unwell. He is thought to be in danger of contracting consumption, and the climate is beneficial. He is convalescent now, but will spend the winter there.
Offers to forward any natural history stores CD may want.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Aug & 28 Sept 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 107 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-184 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … you revelling among them, with sky, ocean, Trees, in fact every thing grand & sublime. You …
From W. D. Fox 30 June 1832
Summary
Has been away from parish because of a three-month illness. Refers briefly to events in England since the Beagle sailed.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 June 1832 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 106 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-175 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Whitethroat & you surrounded by the Noble Trees of a S. American Forest with every luxury …
| letter | (11) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, Caroline | (1) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (1) |
| Darwin, S. E. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Darwin, R. W. | (2) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (1) |
| Fox, W. D. | (1) |
| Langton, Catherine | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Fox, W. D. | (3) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (2) |
| Darwin, R. W. | (2) |
| Langton, Catherine | (2) |
Thomas Rivers
Summary
Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…
Matches: 4 hits
- … in Hertfordshire and a leading authority on roses and fruit trees. Darwin initiated the …
- … with detailed information about bud variation in fruit trees, strawberries, roses, and laburnum, and …
- … first read Origin, Rivers was led to consider the growth of trees over several years: how a patch of …
- … on the transmission of characters in weeping ash and thorn trees: “it is Capital for my Purpose”. …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 16 hits
- … ] Mr Coxe “view of the cultivation of Fruit trees in N. America [Coxe 1817].— in Library of …
- … 1835] (Gerard [Gérard 1844]) Fruit & Fruit Trees of America by A. Downing Wiley & …
- … at end April 13 th . Boutcher & Forsyth on Forest trees [Boutcher 1775 and Forsyth 1791 …
- … on œconomy of nature [Biberg 1759]. Barck on foliation of trees [Barck 1759]. Hasselgren on Swedish …
- … & Clarke [Lewis and Clark 1814] Boutcher & Forsyth on Forest Trees [Boutcher 1775 and …
- … 1845] skimmed. June 17 th . Downing Fruit & Forest trees of America [Downing 1845] …
- … p. 209 to 268.) 99 Great work by Decaisne on Fruit Trees. Le Jardin Fruitier [Decaisne …
- … a new method of cultivating and increasing all sorts of trees, shrubs, and flowers . Revised by …
- … 119: 2a Anon. 1839a. Loudon’s British trees and shrubs . Edinburgh Review 69: …
- … *119: 15v. Barck, Harald. 1759. On the foliation of trees. In Stillingfleet, Benjamin, ed., …
- … Boutcher, William. 1775. A treatise on forest trees . Edinburgh. 119: 7a, 13a …
- … William. 1817. A view of the cultivation of fruit trees . Philadelphia. *119: 4v. …
- … Downing, Andrew Jackson. 1845. The fruits and fruit trees of America . London. [Darwin …
- … Evelyn, John. 1664. Sylva, or a discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber … To …
- … defects, and injuries in all kinds of fruit and forest trees. London. 119: 7a, 13a …
- … 1838. Arboretum et Fructicetum Britannicum; or the trees and shrubs of Britain, native and …
Visiting the Darwins
Summary
'As for Mr Darwin, he is entirely fascinating…' In October 1868 Jane Gray and her husband spent several days as guests of the Darwins, and Jane wrote a charming account of the visit in a sixteen-page letter to her sister. She described Charles…
Matches: 3 hits
- … shrubbery at one side, gravel walks, flower beds, nice trees with seats beneath them, & green …
- … shrubbery at one side, gravel walks, flower beds, nice trees with seats beneath them, & green …
- … lane, to see some old oak boles, almost as big as California trees in diameter, but only shells— Mr. …
Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson
Summary
[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…
Matches: 29 hits
- … where more than thirty feet above the sea, covered with palm trees and encircling a large shallow …
- … limits but all the Islets being covered with lofty coconut trees – they are for all intents or …
- … a half of its superfices - the remainder being covered with trees of other species of the class – …
- … of land around at an equal height by the tops of the coconut trees – As a white cloud here and there …
- … down to high water mark with green bushes and tall coconut trees – in the flat of coral rock nearly …
- … water, and at high tide – the leafy branches of the bushy trees particularly those of a willow …
- … the long arms (leaf branches or fronds) of the coco-nut trees as they waved in the evening breeze. …
- … more luxuriant than on any of the others – the coconut trees generally grow separate, but here the …
- … and curved fronds the most shady arbours, and overhead the trees occupied by numbers of gannets, …
- … which [ f.168r p.43 ] smoothly hovers about among the trees and every now and then comes …
- … glittering the sun – whilst around its borders the coconut trees stand with their lofty trunks – …
- … Sea and be caught by the Sharks – and by climbing the Coco trees befalling and breaking their necks” …
- … sand– in which the coconut tree and a few sorts of timber trees specially adapted to that soil only …
- … forest and jungles raise rice, sugarcane, pepper, and spice trees – at the same time preserving the …
- … – there are no mountains or rivers *[24] – few trees are visible white sandy patches, scrubby …
- … Sound, a thick wood was discovered in which there were many trees of considerable size – and in the …
- … walking to and fro with him in the shade of the coconut trees. A Peripatetic Academical mode, which …
- … were also allowed the produce of a certain number of coa-nut trees – and might catch fish and turtle …
- … husk the fruit on the spot – where it has fallen from the trees – which accordingly they do. Firmly …
- … issued a law of that description (in the case of the coconut trees) but I find that I had given him …
- … avenue of most elegant and magnificent orange and apple trees (these being in fact of the real …
- … that the greater part of the sea fowl roost on branches ^of trees^ and that many rats make their …
- … believe that “rats make their nests on the top of coconut trees at ninety to a hundred feet above …
- … “Besides the palm there are upon the larger Islets other trees particularly a kind of Teak – and …
- … opposite extract thus “There are upon the largest Islets trees of other sorts – particularly a kind …
- … to rear by cutting [ f.217v p.138 ] down the coconut trees and raising maize *[31] ) to the …
- … conception – being completely overshadowed by coconut trees and as a natural consequence swarming …
- … mosquitos is a natural consequence of the shade of Coconut trees” may not be deemed admissible by …
- … a certain Voyageur hath reported that “they ran up the trees and barked at him.” *[36] It …
Mauro Galetti: profile of an ecologist
Summary
Mauro Galetti solved Darwin’s puzzle of the ‘bright seeds’. This is what he told us about becoming an ecologist.
Benjamin Renshaw
Summary
How much like a monkey is a person? Did our ancestors really swing from trees? Are we descended from apes? By the 1870s, questions like these were on the tip of everyone’s tongue, even though Darwin himself never posed the problem of human evolution in…
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
Summary
< Back to Introduction A popular biography of Darwin for young readers by the American naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, published in 1891, sought to present him as ‘an example to the youth of all lands’ (p. v). Thus ‘our hero’ was shown to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … cape can be seen a distant view of Down House amid its trees and gardens, with smoke rising from the …
Darwin’s earthquakes
Summary
Darwin experienced his first earthquake in 1834, but it was a few months later that he was really confronted with their power. Travelling north along the coast of Chile, Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, were confronted with a series of…
Darwin on childhood
Summary
On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his early childhood. Life. Written August–– 1838 My earliest recollection, the date of which I can approximately tell, and which must have been before…
Mendoza, Argentina
Summary
Geologising across the Andes
Matches: 1 hits
- … Andes and finds of fossil shells at 1200ft, and petrified trees. …
4.18 'Figaro' chromolithograph 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In a cartoon of 1874 by Figaro’s French-born artist Faustin Betbeder (known as Faustin), Darwin holds up a mirror reflecting himself and the startled ape sitting beside him. Their hairy bodies, seen against a background of palm…
Matches: 1 hits
- … him. Their hairy bodies, seen against a background of palm trees, are made to look closely alike, …
4.3 Alfred Crowquill, caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction One of the satires on Darwin’s Origin of Species was drawn by the prolific designer and illustrator Alfred Henry Forrester, who used the pseudonym ‘Alfred Crowquill’. His name appears prominently at bottom left of this print as…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in human clothes. Above them, snakes coil round the trees while more monkeys cavort in the branches. …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the long neck of the giraffe for browsing on the branches of trees. * But he likewise believed in …
4.29 Richard Grant White, 'Fall of man'
Summary
< Back to Introduction At about the same time as The Hornet pictured Darwin as ‘A Venerable Orang-Outang’, a novella by the American journalist and critic Richard Grant White offered a more scurrilous take on The Descent of Man. The Fall of Man: Or,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … are shown embracing amorously, fighting or cavorting in trees. One wonders whether Darwin viewed …
Darwin’s species notebooks: ‘I think . . .’
Summary
I have lately been sadly tempted to be idle, that is as far as pure geology is concerned, by the delightful number of new views, which have been coming in, thickly & steadily, on the classification & affinities & instincts of animals—bearing…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In the first of the notebooks Darwin drew three trees. During the past few decades, one of these has …
Review: The Origin of Species
Summary
- by Asa Gray THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (American Journal of Science and Arts, March, 1860) This book is already exciting much attention. Two American editions are announced, through which it will become familiar to many…
Matches: 4 hits
- … vegetation springs up; but it has been observed that the trees now growing on the ancient Indian …
- … virgin forests. What a struggle between the several kinds of trees must here have gone on during …
- … to increase, and all feeding on each other or on the trees, or their seeds and seedlings, or on the …
- … course of centuries, the proportional numbers and kinds of trees now growing on the old Indian ruins …
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … as a general rule, to be now forming. Where many large trees grow, we expect to find saplings. …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … houses are like what children make in summer, with boughs of trees.— I do not think any spectacle …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 1 hits
- … as a general rule, to be now forming. Where many large trees grow, we expect to find saplings. …
