To Henry Tibbats Stainton 13 April [1856]1
Down Bromley Kent
April 13th
Private
Dear Sir
I am much obliged to you for so courteously sending me a copy of “Entomologist Weekly Intelligencer”.—2 I do not suppose that I ought to mention anything which passed on the Council. But I may say that I individually have nothing to object to in your remarks.—3 I can see, however, that apparently you are not aware of a most important change made 3 years ago, with consent of the Queen, in the distribution of the Royal Medals; before that time it was compulsory in the Council to give it to men for publications in the Transactions, & this will explain, if you take the trouble to look at the names, the cause of many of the awards.— It was, I think, an extremely bad rule. Hence I think you will perceive why, except to Mr Newport, no medal was given to an Entomologist.4
Since the rule was changed, the 3 recipients have been myself, (when I was not on council) Dr Hooker, & Mr. Westwood.5 As I have been a recipient, of course I can say nothing whether or no the awards have been well, or atrociously ill made; but this I can say that the Council take great trouble in deciding, & a most difficult & disagreeable task it is to perform.—
Pray believe me | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Newport, George. 1851. On the impregnation of the ovum in the Amphibia. (First series.) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London pt 1, pp. 169–242.
[Stainton, Henry Tibbats]. 1856. Why did Mr Westwood get the Royal Medal? Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer, 12 April 1856, pp. 9–10.
Westwood, John Obadiah. 1839–40. An introduction to the modern classification of insects; founded on the natural habits and corresponding organisation of the different families. 2 vols. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman.
Summary
Thanks HTS for Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer [no. 2, 12 Apr 1856]. Agrees with his remarks [in "Why did Mr Westwood get the Royal Medal?"], but explains that a change in rules for awarding the Royal Medal has been made. Earlier it had to be given for publications in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which explains small number of entomologist recipients.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1853
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Henry Tibbats Stainton
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Special Collections MSS DAR 16)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1853,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1853.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6