From S. V. Wood Jr to Charles Lyell 19 September 1873
Summary
Thanks for proofs of the Supplement to Crag Mollusca. Sends crab apples.
| Author: | Searles Valentine Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.117/6327-9) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9059G |
Matches: 13 hits
- … My father has with myself watched these trees from the pips & will confirm all I have …
- … I told you also, I think, that of three trees which were left ungrafted by me out of a …
- … the few feeble blossoms which these three trees put forth did not set; & consequently, …
- … in the same clump in which these apple trees were planted was a grafted peartree (of the …
- … which caused this large crop on the grafted trees caused the few feeble blossoms which my …
- … put forth to set & the result is that the tree which bore two apples some years ago has …
- … somewhat in size if they had been left on the trees for 3 or 4 weeks longer. — These …
- … of the two apples which each of these two trees have borne. The three Hawthorndens in the …
- … a very free bearer, & the two apples from the seedling tree of the Stone pippin kind, & …
- … the 14 from the seedling tree of the Hawthornden, represent about the proportional …
- … fecundity of the parent apples each parent tree of the same …
- … size as these seedling trees would this year bear, about a hundredfold (certainly fifty …
- … Garden apple is as good a species as any wild tree (indeed I go further & say that each …
From S. V. Wood Jr to Charles Lyell 27 September 1873
Summary
Returns CD’s books and discusses apples and Crags at Sudbury.
| Author: | Searles Valentine Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 27 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.117/6330-1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9075F |
Matches: 7 hits
- … kind & I think that it must be these wild trees which yield them & if so they must be …
- … Polstead in Suffolk (Near the Stour) Cherry trees are very common in the hedges & of very …
- … seedling apple in a fence & this was a high tree 20 years old or more & during some three …
- … down it put forth no blossoms As the three trees of which I sent you the fruits & sprays …
- … what a multitude of blossoms an apple tree puts forth it does not seem to me remarkable, …
- … well recollect that all the young apple trees before I grafted them possessed the large & …
- … further as in leaving this place I leave my trees behind me I am sorry to see from M r …
To Charles Lyell 24 September 1873
Summary
Discusses apple specimens received from CL; reversion to crab state. Cites passage on subject in Variation.
Comments on letter from Mr Wood on inheritance in fruit-trees.
Would like to cross flowers of "Hawthornden" with many distinct varieties.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 24 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.432) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9065 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … from Mr Wood on inheritance in fruit-trees. Would like to cross flowers of "Hawthornden" …
- … that inheritance is so general with apple trees, as Mr Wood thinks. Many have tried, but …
- … It is still more remarkable that his parent trees were not intercrossed, as probably many …
- … in flower at the same time. As I can hardly doubt that bees must carry pollen from tree …
- … to tree (which c d be easily proved by cutting off the stamens of several flowers before …
From Richard Strachey 9 December 1873
Summary
Sends observations from a friend in India confirming CD’s view that bees cut the tubes of flowers to extract [nectar] in order to save time.
Also observations on snails descending from trees on threads suspended from their tails.
| Author: | Richard Strachey |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Dec 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 46.2: C56–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9176 |
From John Chapman 19 July 1873
Summary
Asks CD to meet with Dr Wild to discuss the Westminster Review, which CD has supported.
Quotes from Alexander Kennedy on Maori observations on competition between native New Zealand birds and introduced bees for nectar of tree blossoms.
| Author: | John Chapman |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 132, 132/1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8983 |
From Asa Gray 25 February 1873
Summary
Sends "squib" he has written exposing the folly of some of Louis Agassiz’s ideas. AG cannot "fire off [his] cracker" in U. S. so sends it to amuse CD. If it is sent to Nature, CD must not give AG’s name. [See "Survival of the fittest", Nature 7 (1873): 404].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Feb 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 183; Nature, 27 March 1873, p. 404 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8786 |
From A. W. Bennett 12 July 1873
Summary
Believes some flowers fail to produce seed because of the access of too great a quantity of pollen. Asks for CD’s opinion and references.
| Author: | Alfred William Bennett |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 141 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8976 |
From H. H. Howorth 31 December 1873
Summary
Thanks CD for subsidence references in response to HHH’s Nature paper ["The distribution of volcanoes", 9 (1874): 141–2].
Hopes to refer to CD’s having previously suggested the corresponding elevation of continents and sinking of the larger oceans in his next letter to Nature [9 (1874): 201–2]. Occurrence of volcanoes at boundary between rising and sinking lands reconciles his views with CD’s.
| Author: | Henry Hoyle Howorth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Dec 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 278 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9194 |
To Frederick Allen’s agent [October 1873]
Summary
Has heard that Mr Allen wishes to let his house and thinks it probable that it would suit his son [Francis]. Asks whether he may have refusal of it.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Agent for Mr Allen |
| Date: | [Oct 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 157–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9079 |
To Asa Gray 11 March [1873]
Summary
Astonished by Agassiz’s argument; has sent AG’s memorandum to Nature [see 8786].
Is working on cross- and self-fertilising plants and has temporarily stopped work on Drosera.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 11 Mar [1873] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (106) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8806 |
To J. D. Hooker 28 June 1873
Summary
Thanks for Dionaea.
George Bentham’s last Linnean Society [Presidential] Address [Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (1873): viii–xxix]. Admires it greatly.
CD’s recent work leads him to a different theory [from GB’s] on the separation of the sexes of plants.
Huxley has been at Down working with CD on Drosera – very helpful.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 28 June 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 263–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8956 |
From S. V. Wood Sr to Charles Lyell 30 September 1873
Summary
Sends proofs of pages on shells with revised species names. Discusses Crag Moll, Sutton and Butley Red Grag, and Scrobicularia beds. Son asks him to thank Lyell for extract from Darwin’s book.
| Author: | Searles Valentine Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 30 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.117/6422-3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9077F |
To C. H. Blackley 5 July [1873]
Summary
Comments on CHB’s book [Experimental researches on catarrhus aestivus – hay-fever or hay-asthma (1873)].
Explains that some pollens are wind-blown while others depend on insects for dispersal. Effect of pollen on skin and mucous membrane astonishing. Sends a book [M. Wyman, Autumnal catarrh (1872)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Harrison Blackley |
| Date: | 5 July [1873] |
| Classmark: | John Hay Library, Brown University (Albert E. Lownes Manuscript Collection, Ms.84.2) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8965 |
From Stanley Haynes [1873?]
Summary
Notes headed "Observations on the expression of the emotions".
| Author: | Stanley Haynes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1873?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 125 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8708 |
From J. B. Dunbar-Brander [before 9 July 1873]
Summary
Offers different explanations [from CD’s in Expression] for movements of dogs after voiding, and for their turning around before lying down.
CD is also wrong in saying hares do not cry except when they suffer.
| Author: | James Brander Dunbar-Brander |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 9 July 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 279 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8711 |
From M. D. Conway 10 September [1873]
Summary
Comparative study of "ethnical scriptures" shows that natural selection has operated in the evolution of religion.
| Author: | Moncure Daniel Conway |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 220 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9049 |
To Thomas Belt [7 August 1873]
Summary
Discusses utility of plant secretions to ants.
Will read TB’s book when published [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1874)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Belt |
| Date: | [7 Aug 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 78 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8998 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … from the surface of the leaves of lime trees. It is quite possible that the primordial …
From W. D. Fox 22 August [1873]
Summary
Thanks CD for a copy of Expression. Is always interested in CD’s work, but finds himself diverging from some of his leading ideas.
P.S. Has found shedding of toenails in a nephew as well.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Aug [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 198/3, 199 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9023 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Sutton Gover . Fox evidently refers to the tree sparrow ( Passer montanus ), but the …
From J. D. Hooker 16 September 1873
Summary
Mimosa too far gone to send now.
CD’s marjoram is the common [Origanum] vulgare, not the pot herb.
On the water injury, Thiselton-Dyer and he may have used too fine a spray, but plant is insensitive.
Horribly angry at P. G. Tait’s letter in Nature [8 (1873): 381–2].
Tyndall writes that he is strong – the next number of Nature will prove it.
G. Henslow is much better.
JDH leaves for Bradford [BAAS meeting] tomorrow.
Rejoices at CD’s success with Drosera; longs to be at Nepenthes.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 162–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9057 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … a splendid Xanthorrhoea (Australian Grass tree) coming into flower. Ever yours affec | Jos …
To J. D. Hooker 31 October 1873
Summary
On Nepenthes.
Asks JDH, if he publishes, to mention CD’s work on digestive powers of Drosera so that charges of plagiarism will not be made against CD later when he publishes.
Describes at length his observations on the movements of Desmodium.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 31 Oct 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 95: 300–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9118 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … tracheae are conducting tubes in the xylem of trees and plants). See letter from J. D. …
| letter | (23) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Wood, S. V. | (3) |
| Bennett, A. W. | (1) |
| Chapman, John | (1) |
| Conway, M. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (14) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Agent for Mr Allen | (1) |
| Belt, Thomas | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Wood, S. V. | (3) |
| Gray, Asa | (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…
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. …
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, …
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. …
