To W. E. Darwin 13 May [1857]
Summary
Discusses family health and affairs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 13 May [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 15 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2091 |
To J. D. Hooker 30 September [1857]
Summary
C. F. Ledebour [Flora rossica (1842–53)] particularly useful for variety tabulation. Results generally favourable.
Additions to Down House.
Last two chapters of MS took six months to write.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 30 Sept [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 210 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2148 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … established by CD’s reference to the failing health of his son Leonard Darwin (see n. 13, …
- … was that his children had inherited his ill-health (see Correspondence vol. 5, letters to …
- … so are in the midst of brick & rubbish. — My health has been very indifferent of late; & I …
- … last ten days our darling little fellow Lenny’s health has failed, exactly as three of our …
To Charles Lyell 13 April [1857]
Summary
CD returns a letter from Wollaston.
Although opposed to the Forbesian doctrine [of continental extension] as a general rule, CD would have no objection to its being proved in some cases. Does not think Wollaston has proved it; nor can anyone until more is known about the means of distribution of insects – but the identity of the two faunas is certainly interesting.
His health is very poor and his "everlasting species-Book" quite overwhelms him with work. It is beyond his powers, but he hopes to live to finish it.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 13 Apr [1857] |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.109/702) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2077 |
To W. D. Fox [30 April 1857]
Summary
His impressions of the hydropathic establishment and E. W. Lane. Is convinced the only thing for "chronic cases" is the water-cure.
Asks if WDF knows of any breed of pig that originated or was modified by a cross with a Chinese or Neapolitan pig, and whether the crossbreed bred true.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [30 Apr 1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 103) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2085 |
To T. C. Eyton 26 [June 1857]
Summary
Ill.
Comments on TCE’s study of birds’ bones.
His work on variation progresses.
Asks about horses with bars like zebra or ass.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
| Date: | 26 [June 1857] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.147) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2113 |
To J. D. Dana 5 April [1857]
Summary
Asks whether Crustacea from temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere are more strongly analogous to those in same latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere than are Arctic to Antarctic Crustacea.
Discusses astonishing finds of mammalian and reptilian remains in Purbeck beds; notes reactions of Lyell.
Has doubts about Richard Owen’s recent classification of mammals [J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 2 (1858): 1–37].
Works away [on Natural selection].
Asa Gray has given valuable assistance.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Dwight Dana |
| Date: | 5 Apr [1857] |
| Classmark: | Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Dana Family Papers (MS 164) Series 1, Box 2, folder 44) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2072 |
To John Lubbock [6 March 1857]
Summary
Voting to elect JL [a member of Athenaeum].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | [6 Mar 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 71 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2392 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … movements, as you know, are uncertain from health, but I pledge my word to come if able; …
To J. D. Hooker 8 April [1857]
Summary
Independence of variation from climate shown by several plant genera; CD asks for confirmation.
Progressing with book [Natural selection].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 8 Apr [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 191 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2073 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … could be collected’. Henrietta Darwin’s health had begun to fail in 1856. In August 1856, …
To J. S. Henslow 18 October [1857]
Summary
Sends details on Myosotis sports. Feels sure he could make any flower in some degree monstrous in four or five generations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | 18 Oct [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A45–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2154 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the Death of your Aunt. If you keep your health, God grant you may live as long. Most …
To W. B. Tegetmeier 21 November [1857]
Summary
When he has reviewed his work, he will give up pigeons and will probably give them away next summer. Wants a few Malay eggs in the spring.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 21 Nov [1857] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2173 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … shall give up Pigeons. — I shall certainly attend, (health permitting) the Annual Show of …
To Syms Covington 22 February 1857
Summary
Sends news of his family, Sulivan, and FitzRoy.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Syms Covington |
| Date: | 22 Feb 1857 |
| Classmark: | Sydney Mail, 9 August 1884, p. 255 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2056 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … very great one. With every good wish for your health and prosperity, I am, dear Covington, …
To E. W. V. Harcourt 15 December [1857]
Summary
Will not accept invitation to Hastings, or offer to send pigeons to Down.
Is looking forward to seeing pigeons at Crystal Palace poultry show.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward William Vernon Harcourt |
| Date: | 15 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | Bodleian Libraries, Oxford (MS. Harcourt dep. adds. 346, fols. 263–4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2184F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … for your kind note & invitation; but my health has been for some time so indifferent that …
To Alfred Russel Wallace 1 May 1857
Summary
Reports long preparation of work on how species and varieties differ. Agreement with Wallace’s conclusions as reported in Annals and Magazine of Natural History and in his letter to CD of 10 0ct [1856]. On distinction between domestic varieties and those in "a state of nature".
On mating of jaguars and leopards, the breeding of poultry, pigeons, etc.
Requests help for his experimenting on means of distribution of organic beings on oceanic islands.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 1 May 1857 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2086 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … dull letter, but I am a good deal out of health; & am writing this, not from my home, as …
To W. D. Fox 8 February [1857]
Summary
Birth of his sixth son [C. W. Darwin]. It is dreadful "to think of all the sendings to school and the professions afterwards".
CD is not well but has not the courage for water-cure again; trying mineral acids.
Working hard on the book [Natural selection]; is overwhelmed with riches in facts and interested in way facts fall into groups.
To his surprise [Helix pomatia] has withstood 14 days in salt water.
Pigeons’ skins come in from all parts of the world.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 8 Feb [1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 110) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2049 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … not to say one single word about your own health. Do you think I do not care to hear? — It …
To J. D. Hooker 3 June [1857]
Summary
"Law" [see 2092] correlating variability and abnormal development not confirmed by JDH for plants.
CD studies struggle for existence in his weed garden.
Scotch fir observed at Moor Park.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 3 June [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 200 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2101 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … is going to Yarmouth; I trust that the health of your children is not motive. — Good Bye | …
To P. H. Gosse 27 April [1857]
Summary
Asks PHG to conduct an experiment to see if young littoral molluscs will cling to a duck’s foot – CD seeks to explain distribution of molluscs without adopting E. Forbes’s [continental extension] theory.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Philip Henry Gosse |
| Date: | 27 Apr [1857] |
| Classmark: | Leeds University Library Special Collections (Brotherton Collection: Gosse Correspondence) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2082 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … animals, it seems to me worth trying. — My health has lately been very indifferent, & I …
To W. B. Tegetmeier 12 [May 1857]
Summary
Accepts a dozen eggs of rumpless Polands. Having so many enables him to see whether the breed "comes true".
Asks what colour turbits have dark tails – "it is just the class of facts which interest me".
Do fowls when crossed throw odd and unexpected colours like pigeons?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 12 [May 1857] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2090 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … not been for a long time in London; my health having been of late very indifferent), & …
To A. R. Wallace 22 December 1857
Summary
Comments on agreement of their respective views on distribution.
Reference to differences on subsidence.
Reports on progress of his work and praises ARW’s investigations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 22 Dec 1857 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2192 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … end: I get on very slowly, partly from ill-health, partly from being a very slow worker. — …
To J. D. Hooker 2 June [1857]
Summary
Qualifications of John Lindley, Huxley, Albany Hancock, Joseph Prestwich, J. C. Ross, and Francis Beaufort for Royal Medal.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 June [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 199 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2099 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … notwithstanding the really surprising state of health I was in there. I fear that my head …
From T. V. Wollaston [12 April 1857]
Summary
Lists groups of insects absent from the Madeiran fauna.
| Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [12 Apr 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 139 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2076 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … even if one was bursting with plethora & health) to go beyond a certain (Helix) pace. …
| letter | (20) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
| Wollaston, T. V. | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (2) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
| Covington, Syms | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (20) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (2) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
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 …
