To John Higgins 25 December 1854
Summary
Discusses his account. Mentions health of children.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Higgins |
| Date: | 25 Dec 1854 |
| Classmark: | Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/83) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1615 |
To J. D. Hooker 29 [May 1854]
Summary
CD "lectures" JDH on taking care of his health.
CD’s pleasure in London trip.
CD and Emma have taken season tickets to Crystal Palace.
Edward Forbes’s "Introductory Lecture" is the best CD ever read.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 29 [May 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 122 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1575 |
To Fanny Mackintosh Wedgwood 18 [August 1854]
Summary
Thanks for writing about E. A. Darwin’s illness. Will never forget the comfort she was [when Anne Darwin died, 1851].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frances Emma Elizabeth (Fanny) Mackintosh; Frances Emma Elizabeth (Fanny) Wedgwood |
| Date: | 18 [Aug 1854] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1547 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) Charles Robert Darwin …
To P. G. King 21 February 1854
Summary
PGK’s letter stirred memories of their old days in the Beagle.
Gives news of his work on cirripedes. Would like to examine Scalpellum papillosum of King from Patagonia if PGK’s father has a duplicate in his collection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Philip Gidley King |
| Date: | 21 Feb 1854 |
| Classmark: | Mitchell Library, Sydney (MLMSS 3447/2 Item 1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554A |
From J. D. Hooker [24 June 1854]
Summary
Birth of JDH’s second child.
Asks CD’s view of "highness" and "lowness" in animals. Gives his own for plants; extent of deviation from type, e.g., floral parts deviating from leaf.
Reading B. C. Brodie’s Psychological inquiries [1854].
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [24 June 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 202–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1572 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … London 21 to 23 June. He recorded in his Health diary (Down House MS) that he had had what …
To Edward Sabine 28 June [1854]
Summary
Is unequal to taking chair as President of Natural History Section of BAAS meeting in Liverpool. Very little fatigue or excitement brings on swimming of head, nausea, and other symptoms.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Sabine |
| Date: | 28 June [1854] |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (Sa: 386) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1574 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … as to make a general one on the score of health. — Pray believe me, | Yours sincerely & …
To Josiah Wedgwood III 1 May [1854]
Summary
About share transfers, involving JW as a trustee of CD/Emma marriage trust.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Josiah Wedgwood, III |
| Date: | 1 May [1854] |
| Classmark: | V&A / Wedgwood Collection (MS W/M 1028) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1568 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … It appears that Caroline Wedgwood’s mental health was suffering at this time (Wedgwood and …
To Robert Patterson 6 April [1854]
Summary
He has returned William Thompson’s MSS and, he believes, all his specimens of Cirripedia.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Patterson |
| Date: | 6 Apr [1854] |
| Classmark: | Praeger 1935, p. 713 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1565 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Praeger 1935 , p. 713. CD recorded in his Health diary (Down House MS) that on 30 March …
From J. D. Hooker [6 November 1854]
Summary
Fossil leaves from Disko Island.
JDH to begin working out the botanical geography of the polar sea.
Has not forgotten CD’s request on aberrant species.
Has taken a house on Richmond Hill.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [6 Nov 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 385 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1600 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … According to Emma Darwin’s diary and CD’s Health diary (Down House MS), CD and Emma were …
To J. S. Henslow 20 February [1854]
Summary
Honoured and gratified by the dedication [to CD] of Hooker’s book [Himalayan journals].
News of Lyell from Madeira.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | 20 Feb [1854] |
| Classmark: | California State Library, San Francisco, Sutro Library (Crocker collection: folder #11) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … for Teneriffe. — M rs . Bunbury has profited in health wonderfully from her voyage, & been …
To John Price 26 [August 1854]
Summary
Discusses specimen of Balanus crenatus.
Sorry JP’s children are ill.
Will come to Liverpool if well [for meeting of BAAS].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Price |
| Date: | 26 [Aug 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 272 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1582 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … come to Liverpool, if I keep well, but my health is extremely fickle: I shall have much …
To J. D. Hooker 26 March [1854]
Summary
CD welcomes the prospect of the Philosophical Club of the Royal Society as means for seeing old acquaintances and making new ones. Will try to go up to London regularly.
Admits that the warning from JDH and Asa Gray (that more harm than good will come from combat over the species issue) makes him feel "deuced uncomfortable".
Reflects upon the complexity of Agassiz; how singular that a man of his eminence and immense knowledge "should write such wonderful stuff & bosh".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 Mar [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1562 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … new to feel any uneasiness about his health. — I am particularly obliged to you for …
| letter | (12) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (10) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (1) |
| Higgins, John | (1) |
| King, P. G. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (1) |
| Higgins, John | (1) |
| King, P. G. | (1) |
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 6 hits
- … letter which he put down to his exceptionally poor health: Indeed all this winter, I …
- … up to its name. Darwin experienced chronic episodes of ill health, which increased in severity in …
- … treatment. In April 1864, Darwin attributed his improved health to Dr Jenner’s advice: ‘ drinking …
- … very least, it seems clear that Darwin’s periods of ill health were quite useful. Citing a troubled …
- … letter to Robert FitzRoy, [20 February 1840] . Darwin’s health diary (Down House MS), which he …
- … Darwin had sometimes noted the acidity of his vomit in his health diary (Down House MS; see Colp …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 8 hits
- … had plagued him since the spring of 1863. Because of poor health, Darwin corresponded little during …
- … and having scientific papers read to him. In March, his health improved enough for him to make some …
- … he could work (presumably at writing) for two hours. As his health grew worse during the last two …
- … flower-peduncle, petiole, leaf, and aerial roots. When his health deteriorated in 1863, he found …
- … forms of the trimorphic Lythrum , and when his health permitted in 1864 he drew up the results …
- … Sabine, 4 December [1864] ). Struggling with ill-health Darwin received news of …
- … form of letters during 1864; because of his fragile state of health, he saw few people outside the …
- … scientific colleagues, and he continued writing even as his health worsened again in November and …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 3 hits
- … 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat …
- … Jenner. In November and December of 1864, however, his health grew worse. In his ‘Journal’, Darwin …
- … for references to the extensive literature on CD’s health, see Colp 1977 and 1998, and Bowlby 1990. …
Darwin's illness
Summary
Was Darwin an invalid? In many photographs he looks wearied by age, wrapped in a great coat to protect him from cold. In a letter to his cousin William Fox, he wrote: "Long and continued ill health has much changed me, & I very often think with…
Climbing plants
Summary
Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…
Darwin soundbites
Summary
From atheistical cats to old fogies in Cambridge, we've collected some of Darwin's pithier remarks - some funny, some serious - but all quotes from letters you can read in full here. We particularly like this one: Will you be so kind as…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Where's it from? On sickness, health, and bananas …you began your …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Matches: 7 hits
- … One of Darwin's defining characteristics was his poor health. The letters provide insight into …
- … to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 Darwin’s ill health began on his Beagle voyage. In …
- … to their marriage, Emma expresses her concern for Darwin’s health, her sympathy for the frustration …
- … spiritualism. Darwin expresses his regrets that his own ill health prevents him from visiting the …
- … his own aches and pains, Lenny reports on their father’s health, noting that Darwin’s frustration …
- … of Darwin's personal life? 2. How did Darwin's health affect his scientific …
- … married. In it Emma expressed her concern for Darwin’s health, her sympathy for the frustration he …
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 4 hits
- … friends and relatives, Darwin felt sufficiently restored in health to work for two or three hours a …
- … keeping up the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 …
- … that it was a success, and there is no doubt that his health improved, at least temporarily. This is …
- … a methodical mind keen to establish order: he chronicled his health, his daily and household …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 3 hits
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 7 hits
- … and here, attended by every blessing except that of vigorous health… DARWIN: 4 My …
- … In truth there is nothing which I should enjoy more; but my health is not, and will, I suppose, …
- … able to suppress his anger. He is in his 70s and in poor health. SEDGWICK: 69 …
- … They are enjoying the furore. Darwin is more earnest, his health – mental and physical – is …
- … In which Drwin struggles more than usual with his health, grows a beard, and cancels The Times; and …
- … to cross over to England in two months… Mrs Gray’s health makes me anxious to avoid another winter …
- … if he had had a good laugh. Then, Darwin’s health dictates that he and his American guests …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 5 hits
- … dropped markedly, reflecting a decline in his already weak health. Darwin then began punctuating …
- … is the mother of fine children all over the world’. Health worries Despite his …
- … no reason why he should not recover his previous state of health. Brinton’s words must have …
- … to J. D. Hooker, 26 December [1863] ) that Darwin’s health fluctuated and showed little improvement …
- … from his sons. She was pessimistic about his prospects of health over the next few months: ‘When not …
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Benjamin (1) District Health Office (1) …
Expression
Summary
Darwin's interest in emotional expression can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the different sounds and gestures among the peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and on his return from the voyage he started recording observations…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The exigencies of the public service have already ruined my health, & curtailed my capacities. …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 5 hits
- … respect for the elder naturalist, inquired after Darwin’s health, and expressed his desire to meet …
- … Galton, 13 September 1871 ). A return to poor health During the summer months, Darwin …
- … ). On 23 September he informed Murray that owing to poor health he had done nothing for six …
- … described the joyous occasion in great detail, her uncertain health requiring her to attend …
- … Murchison, and the earl of Derby. Given his poor state of health for much of the summer, it is …
Darwin on marriage
Summary
On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of…
Matches: 4 hits
- … be exclusively geological United States, Mexico Depend upon health & vigour & how far I …
- … music & female chit-chat.— These things good for one’s health.— [16] but terrible loss of …
- … to gain one’s bread.— (But then it is very bad for ones health[19] to work too much) Perhaps …
- … rather than with the advantages. [19] ‘for ones health’ interl.i [20] The heading …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 6 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now …
- … consulted Jones in July 1865 and attributed his improved health by the end of that year to the diet …
- … with his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin. Owing to improved health, Darwin was able to make a number …
- … she and Emma continued to play in safeguarding Darwin’s health and securing his privacy. Similarly, …
- … waterlilies prevailed over considerations of health in this case. Ernst Haeckel Nor …
- … died in October. On learning of Catherine’s poor state of health, Hooker, who had lost his father …
The full edition is now online!
Summary
For nearly fifty years successive teams of researchers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to track down all surviving letters written by or to Charles Darwin, research their content, and publish the complete texts. The thirtieth and final…
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 4 hits
- … country. Darwin frequently expressed regrets that his ill health (e.g., Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 14 …
- … to hydropathic spas or the seaside to strengthen their health. Although his interest in inheritance …
- … ). In addition to his fears for his children’s health, Darwin’s other principal concern as a …
- … and holidays at the seaside were often necessitated by ill health rather than pleasure. It was …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 8 hits
- … reminiscences, and laments about advancing age and poor health, with family friends from childhood, …
- … operation, combined with Moulinié’s increasingly poor health, led to yet further delay, and the new …
- … to Darwin which he, however, declined on the grounds of ill health. Expression : …
- … usual chemist, William Baxter, were not in this case for his health, but to test their effects when …
- … he repeated to several correspondents. His own health was slightly better than in the …
- … sons spent some time on the continent for the sake of their health ( see letter to W. D. Fox, 16 …
- … over their wills, and he poured out such a litany of ill health to one correspondent that Emma …
- … Darwin gracefully declined on the habitual grounds of ill health ( letter from J. S. Craig, 4 …
