To [A. J. Woodhouse?] 25 January [1867?]
Summary
Two queries on teeth: 1. Is there evidence of inherited peculiarities in milk teeth?
2. Are male incisors longer than female?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred James Woodhouse |
| Date: | 25 Jan [1867?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.11: 14 (EH 88206066) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13645 |
From S. E. Wedgwood [1867–72?]
Summary
Jessie [Wedgwood] says driving in sun made one of her eyes water.
| Author: | Sarah Elizabeth (Elizabeth) Wedgwood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1867–72?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 195.4: 104 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13856 |
From John William Salter 4 January [1867]
Summary
Thanks CD for his kindness and hopes one day to return it.
Finds more and more observations fall in with CD’s theory but still finds it difficult to account for the sudden leaps in the fossil record and to explain why some organisms first appear as such high forms.
| Author: | John William Salter |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 11 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4969 |
To Charles Henry Middleton 20 [1867?]
Summary
Sorry he cannot remember where S. Filippe [San Felipe?] is.
Doubts that bones of ox, sheep, and horse could have been deposited in guano [on coast of Chile], but they would be worth examination.
[Tipped in copy of Origin (1866) with CHM’s bookplate.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Henry Middleton |
| Date: | 20 [Jan-Dec] 1867 |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (in Middleton’s copy of Origin 4th ed., BB.5.6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5341 |
From Thomas Henry Huxley [before 7 January 1867]
Summary
On Haeckel’s Generelle Morphologie; the logical argument for natural selection is still incomplete. THH jumps over the hole by an act of faith.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 7 Jan 1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 134a–d |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5343 |
To Athenæum 1 January 1867
Summary
Expresses his support for new books being sold with the pages cut.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Athenæum |
| Date: | 1 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | Athenæum, 5 January 1867, pp. 18–19 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5343F |
From Fritz Müller 1 January 1867
Summary
Describes his experiments in fertilising Oncidium flexuosum and comparison with Notylia.
Has been examining Catasetum.
Encloses seeds of two species of Gesneria and describes hairs in the seed capsule. Hairs in other plants seem to have a different function.
Starting tomorrow for a botanical excursion on the Continent.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 104–9; DAR 157a: 104 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5344A |
From John Murray 2 January [1867]
Summary
William Clowes [printer for J. Murray] estimates that Variation will come to a first volume of 648 pages and a second volume of 624 pages – which is too much for volumes the same size as Origin. Murray proposes a larger size.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 342 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5345 |
To John Murray 3 January [1867]
Summary
Sorry about enormous size of Variation MS, but cannot shorten it now. If JM is afraid to publish, CD will consider agreement cancelled. Suggests he ask someone with judgment to read the MS. Has written concluding chapter on man. Whether it will be included depends on size of volume.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 3 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 158–160) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5346 |
To William Bernhard Tegetmeier 6 January [1867]
Summary
Returns some of WBT’s skulls.
His MS is with printer, but book [Variation] will probably not be out until November.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 6 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5347 |
To T. H. Huxley 7 January [1867]
Summary
Gives up plan to have Haeckel’s Generelle morphologie translated.
His big book [Variation] has gone to printer. Thinks of adding a chapter on man.
Will order Duke of Argyll’s book [Reign of law (1867)].
"Nature never made species mutually sterile [by selection]; nor will man.–"
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 7 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 233) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5348 |
To Ernst Haeckel 8 January 1867
Summary
Comments on EH’s "great work" [Generelle Morphologie].
An English translation "hopeless".
Asks about EH’s expedition.
MS of Variation sent to printers.
Fritz Müller working on plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Date: | 8 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A-Abt. 1-52/12) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5349 |
To John Murray 8 January [1867]
Summary
CD annoyed at large size of Variation. Suggests printing detailed parts in small type. JM can, of course, decline to publish altogether.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 8 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 155–157) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5350 |
To J. D. Hooker 9 January [1867]
Summary
Criticisms and comments on JDH’s "Insular floras" in Gardeners’ Chronicle [(1867): 6].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 3–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5353 |
From John Murray 9 January [1867]
Summary
CD should not be discouraged by the bulk of Variation. CD’s suggestion to print technical details in small type is good.
Murray has sent MS to a "man of letters and good information" as an experiment to test its effect. Has no intention of throwing up publication.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 343 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5354 |
From James Philip Mansel Weale 9 January 1867
Summary
Sends paper on new species of Bonatea, to which he has given the name Darwinii.
Has now an extensive collection of insects.
Has discovered moths whose larva cases resemble perfectly the thorns of the Acacia horrida.
Has asked for the head of a Bushman murderer. Difficult to convince authorities of interest of science.
| Author: | James Philip Mansel Weale |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | DAR 82: A113–14 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5355 |
To John Murray 10 January [1867]
Summary
Relieved by JM’s note and by his agreement on type size. Is alarmed by what the verdict [on Variation] of JM’s friend will be. He is not a man of science. An unscientific reader would have condemned the Origin. An eminent semi-scientific man thought the Journal of researches not worth publishing.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 10 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 f. 166) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5356 |
From Bartholomew James Sulivan 11 January 1867
Summary
Has given CD’s queries about expression to W. H. Stirling. Thomas Bridges, the catechist, had previously answered some questions incompletely [see 2643]; BJS forwards them [see Expression].
BJS answers CD’s query about when some calves show their adult colour.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 288 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5357 |
From J. D. Hooker [12 January 1867]
Summary
Responds to CD’s criticisms. JDH is sometimes confused as to what he has borrowed from CD.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [12 Jan 1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 131–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5358 |
From Thomas Belt 12 January 1867
Summary
MS essay "On esculent fruits" [apparently enclosed in a missing letter].
| Author: | Thomas Belt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 181–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5359 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (25) |
| Murray, John (b) | (4) |
| Wedgwood, F. J. | (4) |
| Wedgwood, Hensleigh | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (27) |
| Murray, John (b) | (7) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Darwin, H. E. | (2) |
| Litchfield, H. E. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (52) |
| Murray, John (b) | (11) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
| Wedgwood, F. J. | (4) |
| Darwin, H. E. | (3) |
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 …
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…
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…
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.
