From Francis Darwin [15–18 September 1873]
Summary
FD has asked J. B. Sanderson about Mucin.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [15–18 Sept 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10156F |
To J. J. Weir 18 September [1873]
Summary
JJW is quite at liberty to use CD’s name as patron of cat show.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Jenner Weir |
| Date: | 18 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | Boston Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine (B MS Misc.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8524 |
From Francis Darwin [30 September 1873]
Summary
He is travelling overnight by train from London to Pantlludw and will wake A. R. Ruck with a morningade on his flute.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [30 Sept 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 27 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8942F |
To Gerard Krefft [September 1873]
Summary
Thanks for observations on worm-castings and for JLGK’s amusing letter.
Wants to know whether species of Eucalyptus are dichogamous. [The P.S. on Eucalyptus may be part of another letter to another correspondent.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Louis Gerard (Gerard) Krefft |
| Date: | [Sept 1873] |
| Classmark: | Mitchell Library, Sydney (MLMSS 5828); Smithsonian Libraries (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology MSS 405 A Gift of the Burndy Library) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9037 |
From J. D. Hooker [September 1873]
Summary
Abstracts literature on sensitive plants (Linnaeus, L. P. Cailletet, W. R. McNab).
The Mimosa at Down is M. pudica.
Dichogamy in Eucalyptus difficult to decide, but Thiselton-Dyer thinks there is some protandry.
[Letter is in W. T. Thiselton-Dyer’s hand.]
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Sept 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 209.6: 205 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9038 |
To Theodor Gomperz 1 September [1873]
Summary
Will reread and consider TG’s letter when his health improves.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Theodor Gomperz |
| Date: | 1 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | Cedric Hausherr (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9039 |
To W. D. Fox 1 September [1873]
Summary
Has been in bed for some days with ugly head symptoms. "We are a poor lot."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 1 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 152) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9040 |
To Francis Darwin [4 September 1873]
Summary
Asks FD to bring any book that gives the affinities of the various earths, alkalis and metals.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | [4 Sept 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 271.9: 2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9040F |
From Andrew Clark 3 September 1873
Summary
Diagnosis of CD’s illness; prescribed diet.
| Author: | Andrew Clark, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9041 |
To W. W. Baxter 4 September 1873
Summary
Orders list of chemical salts. Ashamed to order from Hopkins and Williams because they charge him such an extremely low rate.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Walmisley Baxter |
| Date: | 4 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | John Wilson (dealer) (August 2015) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9042 |
To W. W. Baxter 5 September [1873]
Summary
Orders salts of various metals; thinks chlorides (where soluble) would be better than nitrates.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Walmisley Baxter |
| Date: | 5 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.431) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9043 |
From Gerard Krefft 6 September 1873
Summary
Proud of CD’s good opinion of him. He worked in a merchant’s office in Germany for many years. Emigrated to Australia as a gold-digger and took up natural history after he was 30.
| Author: | Johann Louis Gerard (Gerard) Krefft |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 169: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9044 |
To James Crichton-Browne 7 September [1873]
Summary
Thanks JC-B for volume of Asylum reports and paper on epilepsy. Seems clear from reports that physiology of brain will soon be largely understood.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Crichton-Browne |
| Date: | 7 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 345 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9045 |
To W. W. Baxter 8 September [1873]
Summary
Requests chemicals for Drosera experiments. Lists 12 acids tried so far.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Walmisley Baxter |
| Date: | 8 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.11: 6 (EH 88206058) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9046 |
To J. S. Burdon Sanderson 9 September [1873]
Summary
Pleased JSBS has decided to work on Drosera; sends plants. Does not know whether thermo-electric pile could detect temperature change when leaves close.
CD’s experiment with very weak hydrochloric acid repeated with success: the plants digest albumen more quickly.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott Burdon Sanderson, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 9 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Darwin - Burdon Sanderson letters RBSC-ARC-1731-1-14) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9047 |
To T. F. Cheeseman 9 September [1873]
Summary
Thanks TFC for his extremely interesting paper ["On the fertilisation of the New Zealand species of Pterostyles", Trans. & Proc. N. Z. Inst. 5 (1872): 352–7]. Has no doubt his explanation [of the fertilisation mechanism] is correct. The case is analogous to that of the Cypripedium though TFC’s case is much more curious.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Frederick Cheeseman |
| Date: | 9 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | Auckland War Memorial Museum Library Tāmaki Paenga Hira (T. F. Cheeseman Papers MS-58) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9048 |
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 |
From W. S. Wade 11 September 1873
Summary
Reports case of a man with an eyelid abnormality that apparently was acquired in infancy but was inherited by his children.
| Author: | William Swift Wade |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9050 |
To M. D. Conway 12 September [1873]
Summary
Thanks for strange debate, which CD returns. Principle of evolution has first-rate supporters in [Edward Sylvester?] Morse and Theodore Nicholas Gill.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Moncure Daniel Conway |
| Date: | 12 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9051 |
To J. D. Hooker 12 September [1873]
Summary
Thanks JDH and Thiselton-Dyer for useful information.
Is surprised Mimosa albida is not sensitive to water. Asks that they try again, or lend it to him.
Remembers a walk in Brazil in great bed of Mimosa.
After JDH left, CD was very bad, with much loss of memory and severe shocks continually passing through his brain.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 12 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 95: 274–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9052 |
| letter | (52) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Wood, S. V. | (3) |
| Frankland, Edward | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
| Baxter, W. W. | (4) |
| Burdon Sanderson, J. S. | (3) |
| Frankland, Edward | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (50) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
| Frankland, Edward | (5) |
| Baxter, W. W. | (4) |
| Darwin, Francis | (4) |
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…
Darwin in Conversation exhibition
Summary
Meet Charles Darwin as you have never met him before. Come to our exhibition at Cambridge University Library, running from 9 July to 3 December 2022, and discover a fascinating series of interwoven conversations with Darwin's many hundreds of…
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 4 hits
- … that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). He was also unsatisfied …
- … which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). The botanist and …
- … ). Darwin welcomed Krause’s suggestion, but warned him on 9 June not to ‘expend much powder & …
- … (Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield, [27 August 1879] (DAR 219.9: 201)). Celebrity and honours …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 7 hits
- … Darwin asked Murray to intervene, complaining on 9 January , ‘M r . Dallas’ delay … is …
- … on the auditory organs of Orthoptera and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter …
- … from the south of France to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood on 9 Novembe r, describing sphinx moths that …
- … direct result of natural selection ( Variation 2: 185–9). Wallace seized upon this point in a …
- … Katherine ( letter from C. M. Hawkshaw to Emma Darwin, 9 February [1868] ). Darwin’s eldest son, …
- … from Fritz Müller, 22 April 1868 , 17 June 1868 , 9 September 1868 , and 31 October 1868 …
- … A different order of pride was expressed on 9 November by Ernst Haeckel on the birth of his son …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 7 hits
- … excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I am almost stark …
- … , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his son, William, …
- … better fun’ than species ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1862] ), he responded to the …
- … active young wolves’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 ). Darwin had managed to …
- … to read any paper or speak’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 [April 1862] ). A visit in October from …
- … me go away for an hour after dinner & retire to my room at 9 o clock I do not think it would …
- … as true as gospel, so it must be true’ ( to J. D. Hooker, 9 May [1862] ). the real …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 In the same letter, Darwin …
- … about C. Lyell 1863a are discussed in Bynum 1984, pp. 154–9. 7. See Correspondence …
- … letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and n. 7. 9. See Correspondence vol. 11, …
- … 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, [24 March 1863] and n. 9. In his published review, Lubbock wrote …
- … Emma Darwin to Henrietta Emma Darwin, [1 June 1865] (DAR 219.9: 28). 24. See the …
- … 30. Letter from John Lubbock to T. H. Huxley, 9 June 1865 (Imperial College, Huxley papers 6: 110) …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 6 hits
- … learn from experience, Darwin was wary, telling Romanes on 9 March , ‘I intend to have another …
- … but I cannot endure to do this’, Darwin told Francis on 9 November , and writing to Fritz …
- … ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). ‘I …
- … who had received presentation copies. Galton wrote on 9 October , ‘I wish the worms were not such …
- … of letters about worms’, he told Francis Darwin on 9 November , ‘but amidst much rubbish there …
- … ( letter to Francis Darwin, 28 [October 1881] ). On 9 November, Darwin told Francis , ‘I have …
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…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 , and letter to Ernst Krause, 9 June [1879] ). The final text of the …
- … inflated to an elephant’ ( letter from Ernst Krause, 9 December 1880 ). Again, Darwin felt …
- … the success of our efforts’ ( letter to A. B. Buckley, 9 November 1880 ). He worked with Huxley on …
- … about their party quarrels’ ( letter to James Torbitt, 9 May 1880 ). Politicians grew concerned …
Darwin & coral reefs
Summary
The central idea of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, as it was later formulated, was that the islands were formed by the upward growth of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. It overturned previous ideas and would in itself…
Books on the Beagle
Summary
The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.
Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … into an entirely new province of knowledge’ ( 9 December 1859 ). He soon became interested in …
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…
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] Jane Loring Gray, …
- … Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] Darwin’s nephew, …
- … 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 November 1868] Darwin’s …
- … Letter 7433 - Wedgwood, F. to Darwin, [9 January 1871] Darwin’s brother-in-law, …
- … Letter 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 January 1872] Darwin thanks his son …
Volume 29 (1881) is published!
Summary
In October 1881, Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A slim volume on a subject that many people could understand and on which they had their own opinions, it went…
Matches: 1 hits
- … has been received. Letter t o Francis Darwin, 9 November [1881] In October …
Darwin & Glen Roy
Summary
Although Darwin was best known for his geological work in South America and other remote Beagle destinations, he made one noteworthy attempt to explain a puzzling feature of British geology. In 1838, two years after returning from the voyage, he travelled…
Matches: 1 hits
- … field guide to Glen Roy: To Charles Lyell, 9 August [1838] To Charles Lyell, …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … by his perfectibility principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide …
- … hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James Crichton-Browne and …
- … of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] ). In March, Darwin received …
- … I do not care to follow him’ ( letter from T. H. Farrer, 9 October 1869 ). Farrer ventured to …
- … on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier in the year, …
Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Summary
On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Beagle voyage, to a letter to C. A. Kennard written on 9 January 1882 , only shortly before …
Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
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: 3 hits
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
