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DCP-LETT-6525

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Ladies
Date:  
Classmark:  DAR 96: 66
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-6525
Document type
Author
Correspondent
Date
1882 (1)
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14 Items

Lydia Becker

Summary

Becker was a leading member of the suffrage movement, perhaps best known for publishing the Women’s Suffrage Journal. She was also a successful biologist, astronomer and botanist and, between 1863 and 1877, an occasional correspondent of Charles Darwin. …

Matches: 4 hits

  • … correspondence between Becker and Darwin, starting with a letter she wrote to him in 1863, concerns …
  • … organisation, the disarmingly titled  Manchester Ladies’ Literary Society. On December 22nd 1866 …
  • … by sending not one but three papers to be read at the ladies’ inaugural meeting ('Climbing …
  • … Becker’s use of headed paper and the enclosure in her letter to Darwin of the society’s first …

Descent

Summary

There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … civil servant Walter Mantell who noted that in one area ‘ ladies are highly prized from their skill …
  • … to us should so much resemble one ’. Darwin saved the letter to show Henrietta . *** ‘ …

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…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … botanists such as George Bentham and Francis Boott.  In one letter Bentham reported to her on the  …
  • … giving lectures in botany to an audience of  ‘about  40 ladies  and a few gentlemen’ (letter to …
  • … sending him observations about the behaviour of her dog (letter from J. L. Gray, 14 February 1870 …
  • … of Darwin’s current research preoccupations. In their letter to Darwin from Egypt, Jane Gray wrote: …
  • … The other women only the up & down wrinkles— (letter from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 …
  • … whilst I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games. (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ) …
  • … boys and for the gift of pincushions sent back with them (letter from Emma Darwin to Jane Gray, 28 …

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 29 hits

  • … Were women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
  • … Tollet for proofreading and criticisms of style. Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. …
  • … her to read to check that she can understand it. Letter 7312 - Darwin to Darwin, F. …
  • … from all but educated, typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E …
  • … he seeks her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, …
  • … he uses to avoid ownership of indelicate content. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to …
  • … so as not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to …
  • … Darwin’s female readership Letter 5391 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [6 February …
  • … diagrams, to share with members of the Manchester Ladies Literary Society . Letter
  • … the chapter on pangenesis, which is a revelation. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. …
  • … Darwin assumes that 'A. B. Blackwell' is a man. Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to …
  • … him to the psychology of Herbert Spencer. Letter 7624 - Bathoe, M . B. to Darwin …
  • … his statements on a lack of reasoning in animals. Letter 7644 - Barnard, A. to …
  • … during a visit to an asylum with her father. Letter 7651 - Wedgwood, F. J. to …
  • … on any comments that she feels might be suitable. Letter 7411 - Pfeiffer, E. J. to …
  • … and beauty in the process of sexual selection. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8778 - Forster, L. M . to Darwin, H. …
  • … and the showing of teeth in Expression . Letter 10072 - Pape, C. to …
  • … and hopes Darwin will complete her questionnaire. Letter 10390 - Herrick, S. M. B. …
  • … of questions which she hopes aren’t too silly. Letter 10415 - Darwin to Herrick, S. …
  • … and is pleased that his work has interested her. Letter 10508 - Treat, M. to Darwin …
  • … it nearly all night before she could lay it down. Letter 13547 - Tanner, M. H. …
  • … involving worms which occurred in her garden. Letter 13650 Kennard, C. A. to Darwin …
  • … Reading Variation Letter 5712 - Dallas, W. S. to Darwin, [8 December 1867] …
  • … array of facts” contained in the work. Letter 5861 - Blyth, E. to Darwin, [11 …
  • … are a few things which must be altered”. Letter 5928 - Gray, A. to Darwin, [25 …
  • … to be made to the text for the second edition. Letter 6040 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to …

'An Appeal' against animal cruelty

Summary

The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 …
  • … of the pamphlet in August and September 1863 (see letter from G. B. Sowerby Jr to Emma Darwin, 22 …
  • … 1863, pp. 821–2, under the title `Vermin and traps' ( Letter no. 4282). The wording of the …
  • … their own acquaintances, and to 'a good many persons Squires Ladies & MPs' (see letter
  • … more success with the campaign than she expected (see the letter from Emma Darwin to William Erasmus …
  • … s. 6 d. for distributing the 'cruelty pamphlet', and letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. …
  • … involved no more cruelty than the possible alternatives (see letter from E. L. Darwin, 7 September …
  • … to the RSPCA in 1852 for working horses with sore necks (see letter from Emma Darwin to William …
  • … threatened to report a similar case of cruelty in 1866 (see letter to [Local landowner], [1866], …
  • … , pp. 44, 54–5, 78, and Correspondence vol. 2, letter to W. D. Fox, 28 August [1837]). Later he …
  • … Autobiography , pp. 78–9, Correspondence vol. 7, letter to W. E. Darwin, 22 [September 1858], …
  • … Gardeners’ Chronicle , 29 August 1863, pp. 821–2 ( Letter no. 4282). The woodcut was arranged …
  • … is to William Howitt; the quotation is taken from Howitt"s letter to the Morning Star , 8 …
  • … Gardeners’ Chronicle , 29 August 1863, pp. 821–2 ( Letter no. 4282). 7 Edward Strong …

Visiting the Darwins

Summary

'As for Mr Darwin, he is entirely fascinating…'  In October 1868 Jane Gray and her husband spent several days as guests of the Darwins, and Jane wrote a charming account of the visit in a sixteen-page letter to her sister.  She described Charles…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … Jane wrote a charming account of the visit in a sixteen-page letter to her sister, Susan Loring.  …
  • … experiments. A complete transcript of the letter is below; here are some highlights: …
  • … expressions of wonder— Complete text of the letter from Jane Gray to Susan Loring, 28 …
  • … I was in too much of a hurry on Saturday morng. to add to my letter thanks for the nice budget of …
  • … very sociable, pleasant dinner with lively talk— When the ladies retired, Mrs. Darwin’s sister, Miss …
  • … I can’t but notice how much handsome jewelry the ladies wear— I take refuge in wearing just as …
  • … to Knockold beeches— The carriage met them, & bro’t the ladies home— At 4½ or 5 all were …
  • … of talk at dinner, & often much worth hearing— After the ladies retired, we presently had coffee …
  • … time in England grows short— This morng. came your letter, dear Sue, & accounts of a snow …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
  • … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
  • … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
  • … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
  • … The book is designed to encourage the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter
  • … Anderson is “neither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
  • … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
  • … narrative so not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
  • … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
  • … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …

Darwin on human evolution

Summary

'I hear that Ladies think it delightful reading, but that it does not do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale.' For the first time online you can now read the full texts of nearly 800 letters Darwin wrote and received during 1871,…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Darwin's friend Joseph Dalton Hooker commented, 'I hear that Ladies think it delightful …
  • … and planned to study mathematics and science. In his letter of congratulations, Darwin became …

Darwin soundbites

Summary

From atheistical cats to old fogies in Cambridge, we've collected some of Darwin's pithier remarks - some funny, some serious - but all quotes from letters you can read in full here. We particularly like this one: Will you be so kind as…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … (tip: click on the 'Original' tab to see an image of the letter)     …
  • … tedious an operation as the pairing of young gentlemen and ladies. Where's it from …

Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest

Summary

The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…

Matches: 27 hits

  • … the reasons behind the book’s popularity: ‘I hear that Ladies think it delightful reading, but that …
  • … to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
  • … and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
  • … they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
  • … and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
  • … one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
  • … habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears”  (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
  • … ‘will-power’ and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 …
  • … in order to make it darker than the hair on his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 …
  • … together with an image of an orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). …
  • … of himself, adding that it made a ‘very poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] …
  • … each night, returning to its allotted space each morning ( letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 …
  • … without having a high aesthetic appreciation of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 …
  • … endowment of spiritual life’ at some time in the past ( letter from Roland Trimen, 17 and 18 April …
  • … to the white’. Darwin thanked Innes for his ‘pleasant letter’, but asserted his antipathy to human …
  • … myself a good way ahead of you, as far as this goes’ ( letter to J. B. Innes, 29 May [1871] ). …
  • … ‘whereas the baboon is as the Creator made it’ ( letter from George Morrish, 18 March 1871 ). …
  • … could also redeem the wayward author of  Descent  ( letter from a child of God, [after 24 …
  • …  with the most deep and tender religious feeling’ ( letter from F. E. Abbot, 20 August 1871 ). The …
  • … charges of atheism amongst his ‘clerical brethren’ ( letter from George Henslow, 5 December 1871 ) …
  • … from one and the same  catarrhine monkey !’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 21 December 1871 ). …
  • … review as ‘a windbag full of metaphysics & classics’ ( letter to John Murray, 13 April [1871] …
  • … law &c’, and transmitted by culture, not biology ( letter from John Morley, 30 March 1871 ). …
  • … dog when it was confronted by the presence of its master. ( Letter from Hensleigh Wedgwood, [3–9 …
  • … sense was especially troubling to Emma, as indicated in a letter that she wrote to Cobbe on 25 …
  • … was emotionally and morally bound. In one particularly long letter to Wedgwood, Darwin alluded to …
  • … ‘Every point of agreement is a satisfaction to me’ ( letter to Hensleigh Wedgwood, 9 March 1871 ). …

Scientific Networks

Summary

Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
  • … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
  • … botanist Asa Gray. Darwin and Hooker Letter 714 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … and he is curious about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
  • … and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … and their approach to information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … ends with a discussion of lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … up his doubts about Darwin’s doctrines. In his second letter he talks about his visit with Falconer. …
  • … was on the Beagle voyage and afterwards. Letter 152 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. …
  • … is Henslow’s “bounden duty to lecture me”. Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R. …
  • … sends home a copy of his notes on the specimens. Letter 249 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, …
  • … sends news of Cambridge and mutual friends. Letter 251 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S …
  • … illness and specimens are sent to Henslow. Letter 272 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. …
  • … collection and plans to cross the Cordilleras. Letter 1189 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … Hermann Müller. Darwin and Lubbock Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, …
  • … and it has reawakened his passion for entomology. Letter 1720 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … 147 (1857): 79–100]. Darwin and Müller Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, …
  • … of the floral anatomy of Lopezia miniata . Letter 5471 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, H. …
  • … Fritz Müller is Hermann Müller’s brother. Letter 5481 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. …
  • … (1864?)], intended to encourage the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 115 …

Benjamin Renshaw

Summary

How much like a monkey is a person? Did our ancestors really swing from trees? Are we descended from apes? By the 1870s, questions like these were on the tip of everyone’s tongue, even though Darwin himself never posed the problem of human evolution in…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … cases in his postbox. One such account came in a letter from a Venezualan-born American named …
  • … even referred to one of the most famous bearded ladies in history, Juliana Pastrana, in the second …

Florence Caroline Dixie

Summary

On October 29th 1880, Lady Florence Dixie wrote a letter to Charles Darwin from her home in the Scottish Borders; “Whilst reading the other day your very interesting account of A Naturalist’s Voyage round the world,” she said, “I came across a passage…of…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … On October 29th 1880, Lady Florence Dixie wrote a letter to Charles Darwin from her home in the …
  • … football and, in 1895, was elected president of the British Ladies’ Football Club. In 1890, …

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: 28 hits

  • … in Unconscious memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s …
  • … memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for publication in the Journal of Popular …
  • … publishers decided to print ‘500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ) …
  • … the animal learnt from its own individual experience ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). …
  • … whether observations of their behaviour were trustworthy ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 March [1881] …
  • … about the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 …
  • … for more suggestions of such plants, especially annuals ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 March …
  • … supposed he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The …
  • … dead a work falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). …
  • … conversation with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), …
  • … add, however little, to the general stock of knowledge’ ( letter to E. W. Bok, 10 May 1881 ). …
  • … regular ‘bread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • … any future publication & to acknowledge any criticism’ ( letter to C. G. Semper, 19 July 1881 …
  • … view of the nature & capabilities of the Fuegians’ ( letter to W. P. Snow, 22 November 1881 ). …
  • … the kindly protection of the high priests of science’ ( letter from Francisco de Arruda Furtado, 29 …
  • … Nature , which he thought ‘an excellent Journal’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 July [1881] ). In …
  • … minds, without being in the least conscious of it’ ( letter to Alexander Agassiz, 5 May 1881 ). …
  • … this produced about the year 1840(?) on all our minds’ ( letter to John Lubbock, [18 September 1881 …
  • … big one’ and had ‘gone much out’ of his mind ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 20 June [1881] ). Feeling …
  • … than for originality’, and telling Hooker, ‘Your long letter has stirred many pleasant memories of …
  • … poured in so atrocious a manner on all physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 April 1881 ). …
  • … George Jesse and Frances Power Cobbe. Jesse, in a private letter, stated that Darwin must not have …
  • … Royal Commission for the regulation of vivisection, and a letter from Cobbe in The Times made …
  • … Cobbe’s claims. To Darwin’s relief, a second letter from Cobbe, published on 23 April, was answered …
  • … April , Darwin asked, ‘did you notice how in her second letter she altered what she quoted from her …
  • … Darwin, however, prevented Jesse from publishing a private letter he had written to him, explaining …
  • … his own and everyone else’s judgment on the subject ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 12 July 1881 ). …
  • … but with respect to the latter word, added, ‘two English Ladies complained that they did not know …