To G. R. Waterhouse [January–June 1850]
Summary
Wishes to propose John Lubbock as a member of the Entomological Society.
Asks for B. H. Hodgson’s pamphlet on sheep ["Tame sheep and goats", J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 16 (1847): 1003–26]. Asks for odd numbers of GRW’s work [A natural history of the Mammalia (1846–8)]. Regrets that this work has stopped.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Date: | [Jan–June 1850] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF PAL/100/6/6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1144 |
To Richard Owen [January – 23 March 1850]
Summary
CD regrets the trouble RO has had about C. G. Ehrenberg’s parcel.
He is reading On the nature of limbs [1849] with uncommon interest and admires the way Owen worked out the toes.
Also has read On parthenogenesis [1849] with great interest.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Owen |
| Date: | [Jan – 23 Mar 1850] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1231 |
DCP-LETT-1282
Summary
Cancelled: part of 1014. Has been dissecting an animal about the size of a pin-head for the last half month. Could spend another month on it 'and daily see some more beautiful structure'.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert FitzRoy |
| Date: | [1850?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1282 |
To W. J. Hooker [January 1850]
Summary
Thanks WJH for information about J. D. Hooker; CD was very anxious to hear something about his safety.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Jackson Hooker |
| Date: | [Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Directors’ Correspondence English letters A–H 1850, 29: 201) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1285 |
To Adam White [January–March 1850]
Summary
Requests AW to ask Arthur Adams, who is going on a polar expedition to Lancaster Sound, to collect cirripedes.
Asks location of "Cape Rivers".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Adam White |
| Date: | [Jan–Mar 1850] |
| Classmark: | Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology MSS 405 A. Gift of the Burndy Library) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1286 |
To Charles Lyell [3 January 1850]
Summary
Discusses CL’s paper, "On craters of denudation" [Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 6 (1850): 207–34], which "will be a thorn in the side of É[lie] de B[eaumont]". Notes evidence from Galapagos overlooked by CL. Mentions other examples of craters.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [3 Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.90) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1287 |
To Robert Fitch 6 January [1850]
Summary
Asks to borrow some more cirripede specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | 6 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1288 |
From Charles Pickering 9 January 1850
Summary
Lists plants of Metia or Aurora Island collected during visit in Sept 1839. Flora same as that of neighbouring Tahiti.
| Author: | Charles Pickering |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Jan 1850 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.4: 99 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1289 |
To Robert Fitch 10 January [1850]
Summary
Thanks him for sending fossil cirripede specimens. Unfortunately one was broken in transit. Asks if James de Carle Sowerby may draw specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | 10 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1290 |
To Robert Fitch 15 January [1850]
Summary
Discusses fossil cirripede specimens from RF’s collection. Comments on problems of describing their valves.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | 15 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1291 |
To W. D. Fox [17 January 1850]
Summary
Account of the birth of Leonard Darwin, during which he administered the chloroform to Emma.
Continues the water-cure.
Has begun work on fossil cirripedes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [17 Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 75) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1292 |
To J. S. Henslow 17 January [1850]
Summary
Announces birth of his fourth son, Leonard.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | 17 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A96–A97 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1293 |
To J. S. Bowerbank 19 January [1850]
Summary
Describes result of his dissection of one of JSB’s cirripede specimens, "now a hundred fold more instructive". Awaits fossils from Copenhagen Chalk for comparison with British specimens. Asks permission for J. de C. Sowerby to draw specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Scott Bowerbank |
| Date: | 19 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1294 |
To Robert Fitch [23 January 1850]
Summary
Thanks for fossil cirripede specimens. "Yours is incomparably the finest collection in the world of fossil Secondary cirripedes."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | [23 Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1295 |
To J. S. Bowerbank [24 January – 7 March 1850]
Summary
Thanks JSB for specimens of fossil Balanidae.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Scott Bowerbank |
| Date: | [24 Jan – 7 Mar 1850] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.91) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1296 |
To Japetus Steenstrup 25 January [1850]
Summary
Thanks JS for fossil cirripedes. Discusses the specimens. Sends thanks to J. G. Forchhammer for specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johannes Japetus Smith (Japetus) Steenstrup |
| Date: | 25 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen (NKS 3460 4to) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1297 |
To Robert Fitch [28 January 1850]
Summary
Thanks him for cirripede specimens. Discusses RF’s collection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | [28 Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1298 |
To Albany Hancock [26 January – March 1850]
Summary
Discusses mollusc specimens and related notes sent to AH. Thanks him for cirripede specimens. Discusses various cirripede species.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albany Hancock |
| Date: | [26 Jan – Mar 1850] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1311 |
To W. E. Darwin [1850–4?]
Summary
Two letters have arrived for WED.
Joseph has had two teeth out.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | [1850–4?] |
| Classmark: | Christie’s, London (dealers) (17 November 1995) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13799F |
To George Brettingham Sowerby Jr 9 January [1850]
Summary
Sends thanks for a note and returned drawing.
He is sending more text.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Brettingham Sowerby, Jr |
| Date: | 9 Jan [1850] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13843 |
| letter | (20) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
| Pickering, Charles | (1) |
| Fitch, Robert | (5) |
| Bowerbank, J. S. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| FitzRoy, Robert | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (20) |
| Fitch, Robert | (5) |
| Bowerbank, J. S. | (2) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| FitzRoy, Robert | (1) |
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,…
Darwin The Collector
Summary
Look at nature more closely and create and record your own natural collections.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities provide an introduction to Charles Darwin, how and why he collected so many specimens …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
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
- … 1874 computer-readable date c. 1874-02-01 to 1874-02-17 medium and material …
4.21 Gegeef, 'Our National Church', 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction A print with the ironic title Our National Church: The Aegis of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity was issued by the London publisher Edmund Appleyard in c.1872-3, and sold at a penny. The artist who drew it signed himself …
3.4 William Darwin, photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In the 1860s Darwin increasingly turned to two of his sons - first to William and later to Leonard - for the fashioning of his image. William, the eldest, apparently took up photography c.1857, when still in his teens, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In the 1860s Darwin increasingly turned to two of his sons - …
4.34 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s cartoon in Punch, a ‘Suggested Illustration’ for Darwin’s forthcoming book on The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875) is another playful transformation of the author into an ape or monkey. However,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … December 1875 computer-readable date 1875-12-01 to 1875-12-10 medium and …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
1 Belgrave Street, London
Summary
Marriages and gossip
Matches: 1 hits
- … A family friend relates news of her marriage and other gossip. …
1.4 Samuel Laurence drawing 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction Samuel Laurence’s intimate chalk drawing of Darwin is dated 1853. It is likely that Darwin sat for the portrait at Down House, and Francis Darwin, in his catalogue of portraits of his father painted or drawn ‘from life’, noted…
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…
4.44 'Puck' cartoon 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In March 1882, a month before Darwin’s death, an admiring image of him appeared in the American comic journal Puck. It was in a cartoon drawn by Joseph Keppler, Puck’s co-publisher, co-editor and chief cartoonist, titled Reason…
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms
Summary
‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 0 hits
Darwin And Evolution
Summary
What is evolution? What did Darwin discover and how did he come to his conclusions?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities give an introduction to Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. Specimens brought …
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Lena much excited about the Mission which was just over. 1 Whilst it is fresh in my mind I …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
