To T. H. Huxley 23 January [1863 or 1864]
Summary
THH’s efforts to obtain Copley Medal for CD fail. Thanks THH for kind words of sympathy.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 23 Jan [1863-4] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 254) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2662 |
From Erasmus Alvey Darwin 21 [January 1863]
Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 21 [Jan 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 105: B15–16 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3399 |
To [Friedrich Emil Suchsland] [after 19 January 1863]
Summary
Returns book by Friedrich Rolle. Author has sent copies.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Friedrich Emil Suchsland |
Date: | [after 19 Jan 1863] |
Classmark: | J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (Catalogue 618, item 441) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3772 |
To Daniel Oliver 20 [January 1863]
Summary
Has been copying out references from Natural History Review [possibly D. Oliver, "The structure of the stem in dicotyledons; being references to the literature of the subject", Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 2 (1862): 298–329].
Suggests DO study high incidence of separate sexes in freshwater plants.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 20 [Jan 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 38 (EH 88206021) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3776 |
To Thomas Henry Huxley 10 [January 1863]
Summary
CD overwhelmed by THH’s praise.
Agrees with his reservations about species theory but not wholly about sterility and gives his reasons for differing.
On Natural History Review, Hugh Falconer, and R. Owen.
Has written a review [Collected papers 2: 87–92] of H. W. Bates’s paper ["Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862): 495–566].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 10 [Jan 1863] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 183) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3852 |
From J. D. Hooker [12 January 1863]
Summary
Huxley’s lectures [Man’s place in nature (1863)]; he would be a scientific H. T. Buckle, if he were more careful.
Asks CD what the evidence is for inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [12 Jan 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 101: 98 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3892 |
To Asa Gray 2 January [1863]
Summary
Thanks AG for Cypripedium and Mitchella.
Plans to investigate pollination of Cypripedium.
Has finished Linum paper [Collected papers 2: 93–105].
Would welcome facts on "bud-variations".
Hears that Cinchona is dimorphic.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 2 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (56) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3897 |
To J. D. Hooker 3 January [1863]
Summary
Indignant over Owen’s conduct as described in Hugh Falconer’s article on elephants ["On the American fossil elephant of the regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico", Nat. Hist. Rev. (1863): 43–114].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 3 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 178 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3898 |
From Hugh Falconer 3 January [1863]
Summary
Describes an astounding "sort of mis-begotten-bird-creature", the Archaeopteryx, a grand Darwinian case.
His elephant paper is out in Natural History Review [(1863): 43–114].
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 3 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 10 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3899 |
To John Lubbock 4 January [1863]
Summary
Praises JL’s article ["North American archaeology", Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 3 (1863): 1–26]
and Hugh Falconer on the American fossil elephant [Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 3 (1863): 43–114].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Date: | 4 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 263: 58 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3900 |
To Hugh Falconer 5 [and 6] January [1863]
Summary
His admiration for HF’s paper on American fossil elephant.
Notes "temporary irruption of S. American forms into N. America".
Rejoices that HF has "smashed" case of Mastodon on Timor.
Shares HF’s anger at Owen.
He is eager to hear about fossil bird [Archaeopteryx].
Comments on criticisms of species theory by [Johann Andreas?] Wagner.
Describes research on fertilisation of Melastomataceae.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
Date: | 5 and 6 Jan 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 144: 29 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3901 |
From J. D. Hooker 6 January 1863
Summary
Falconer’s elephant paper.
Owen’s conduct.
Falconer’s view of CD’s theory: independence of natural selection and variation.
JDH on Tocqueville,
the principles of the Origin,
and the evils of American democracy.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 Jan 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 101: 88–91 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3902 |
From John Lubbock 6 January [1863]
Summary
Is pleased by CD’s praise of his article.
Hugh Falconer’s is certainly interesting.
Author: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 170: 24 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3903 |
From John Scott 6 January 1863
Summary
Sends Primula scotica and P. farinosa.
So far cannot fertilise Gongora atropurpurea although it is similar to Acropera luteola.
Experimenting on intergeneric hybrids to test CD’s view that sterility is not a special endowment.
Scott’s personal history.
Acropera capsule grows.
Plans for experiments CD has suggested on Primula, peloric Antirrhinum, and Verbascum.
Asks about Gärtner’s experiments on maize.
Aware of Anderson-Henry’s failures.
Through kindness of J. H. Balfour and James McNab, enjoys facilities for research. JS is in charge of the propagating department. Balfour almost engaged him to be superintendent of the Madras Horticultural Garden.
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 Jan 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 81, 83 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3904 |
To James Dwight Dana 7 January [1863]
Summary
Responds to JDD’s letter [3845].
Discusses his own poor health.
"Man is our great subject at present."
Lyell’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)] sold 4000 copies on day of sale.
"The fossil bird [Archaeopteryx] … is a grand case for me." Wishes a skeleton could be found in the "so-called red sandstone foot-step beds".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | James Dwight Dana |
Date: | 7 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Dana Family Papers (MS 164) Series 1, Box 2, folder 44) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3905 |
To Thomas Rivers 7 January [1863]
Summary
Thanks for parcel of shoots with several interesting cases of "bud-variation".
Asks for information about roses.
Strange that great changes in peaches are less rare than slight ones and no case seems recorded of new apples or pears or apricots by "bud-variation". "How ignorant we are!"
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Rivers |
Date: | 7 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 81 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3906 |
From Hugh Falconer 8 January [1863]
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 11 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3908 |
To John Scott 8 January [1863]
Summary
CD’s respect for JS’s indomitable work and interesting experiments increases steadily.
His gratitude for the primulas and the astonishing Gongora specimen.
Asks JS’s opinion about crossing a primrose with the pollen of a wild cowslip and of a cultivated polyanthus.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Scott |
Date: | 8 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | Transactions of the Hawick Archæological Society (1908): 67 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3908F |
From Hugh Falconer 9 January 1863
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 9 Jan 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 12 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3909 |
To Thomas Rivers 11 January [1863]
Summary
Thanks for "rich and valuable" letter [missing].
Has read TR’s paper in Gardeners’ Chronicle ["Seedling fruits – plums", (1863): 27] – "a treasure to me".
Questions about seedling peaches that approach almonds.
Asks whether TR has ever observed varieties of plants growing close to other varieties for several generations without being affected by crossing.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Rivers |
Date: | 11 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 82 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3910 |
Darwin, C. R. | (35) |
Falconer, Hugh | (4) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Anderson Henry, Isaac | (3) |
Anderson, Isaac | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (34) |
Rivers, Thomas | (5) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Bates, H. W. | (2) |
Candolle, Alphonse de | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (69) |
Rivers, Thomas | (8) |
Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
Falconer, Hugh | (6) |
Anderson Henry, Isaac | (4) |
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 …
1.4 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…
1 Belgrave Street, London
Summary
Marriages and gossip
Matches: 1 hits
- … A family friend relates news of her marriage and other gossip. …
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…
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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.