To John Scott 19 December [1862]
Summary
JS should be proud of his paper ["Nature of the fern-spore", Edinburgh New. Philos. J. 2d ser. 16 (1862): 209–27].
CD has just found that JS’s observations on the confluence of two sexes causing variability were independently confirmed by Huxley.
CD has always suspected a fundamental difference between buds and ovules.
Asks for examples of "bud-variation" or "sports".
Asks JS to test germination of pollen on rostellum of Laelia.
Offers JS money for experimental supplies, e.g., netting, to keep insects out of flowers.
Encloses an outline of crossing experiments with Lythraceae, Primula, Pelargonium, and others, which he feels would be valuable.
Note on melastomids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 19 Dec [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B35–6, B64–5, B80 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3868 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … similar experiments with cabbages between 1863 and 1871 (see DAR 76: 41–4 and DAR 78: 139– …
- … his notes from these experiments, dated 1863–5, are in DAR 51 (ser. 2): 18–23. Origin , …
- … to work on the family throughout 1862 and 1863 without ultimately being able to account …
- … on this species, dated October 1861 – January 1863, are in DAR 205.8: 45–7, 49–53, 56. He …
- … continued to work on the species until May 1863 (see DAR 205.8: 22–41). His experimental …
To John Scott 3 December [1862]
Summary
JS’s facts on Primula are new to CD.
In Linum CD has also found dimorphic and non-dimorphic species.
Plans to publish next autumn on successive homomorphic generations in Primula.
"Fluctuating forms" due to culture.
Urges JS to publish.
Lobelia functionally monoecious.
Where did JS publish on Clivia hybrids? Did he count parent and cross seeds, as Gärtner shows is necessary?
CD has done large experiments on artificially fertilised cowslips. They never resemble oxlips.
Would welcome detailed criticism of natural selection by a careful observer like JS. Most criticism worthless. Expects a great deal from Lyell’s reaction.
Suggests JS do orchid experiment to see if rostellum can be penetrated by pollen.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 3 Dec [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B60–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3844 |
To John Scott 11 December [1862]
Summary
Criticises style of JS’s fern paper [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 16 (1862): 209–27].
JS’s remark on "the two sexes counteracting variability in the product of the one" is new to CD.
Does the female [fern?] plant always produce female by parthenogenesis?
They seem to work on same subjects; CD has much material on Drosera.
Does not understand JS’s objections to natural selection.
Offers to suggest experiments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 11 Dec [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B37, B49–52 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3853 |
To John Scott 19 November [1862]
Summary
Praises JS’s experimenting.
Has he ever studied the relative fertility of varieties? CD very interested in this subject.
Discusses Acropera.
Wants to quote JS on Zea [Variation 1: 321].
CD sends his Primula paper [Collected papers 2: 45–63].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 19 Nov [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B11–B14, DAR 147: 431 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3814 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … carried out the suggested experiments in 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11), publishing …
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: 28 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation …
- … & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a letter of 23 [June …
- … of man and his history' The first five months of 1863 contain the bulk of the …
- … put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described the …
- … anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] ). In the same letter, he gave his …
- … origins was further increased by the discovery in March 1863 of the Moulin-Quignon jaw, the first …
- … bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 June 1863 ). Although English experts …
- … in learned journals and the press during the first half of 1863 focused attention even more closely …
- … made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Darwin reiterated in a later letter …
- … separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public perceptions of creation, …
- … said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did not relish …
- … guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Nevertheless, Darwin’s regret was …
- … species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). The botanist Asa Gray, Darwin’s …
- … would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In May, Darwin responded to Gray …
- … put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the same letter, he assured Gray …
- … unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] ). Hugh Falconer was also preparing a …
- … by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] ). Falconer published his criticisms in …
- … so for a little fame’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). Falconer and Owen were …
- … ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Archaeopteryx Falconer, …
- … his crimes… ?’ ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January [1863] , and letter to Hugh Falconer, 20 …
- … reptiles and birds ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January [1863] ). Darwin was delighted by …
- … fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Only until March did Darwin …
- … attention ( see letter to J. D. Dana, 20 February [1863] , and letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March …
- … Athenæum in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later expressed …
- … a good letter (!)’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). At the same time Darwin admitted …
- … on Foraminifera ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [29 March 1863] , and Appendix VII). The reviewer, …
- … origin of matter.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [29 March 1863] ). Owen’s endorsement of Lamarck …
- … nothing’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 12–13 March [1863] ). poor miserable devil of a …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 24 hits
- … , and volume 10, letter to Thomas Rivers, 15 January 1863 ). The decision was evidently prompted …
- … experimentation, and the building of the hothouse early in 1863 marked something of a milestone in …
- … mid-February (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 13 January [1863] and 15 February [1863] ). It was …
- … a mess of it’ (letter to G. H. Turnbull, [16? February 1863] ). Even before work on the …
- … plants’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January [1863] ). Darwin apparently refers to the catalogues …
- … to Nurserymen’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ). Darwin agreed to send Hooker his …
- … have from Kew’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ). Darwin probably gave his list …
- … a school-boy’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 February [1863] ). On 20 February, the plants from Kew …
- … like to ask for’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 February 1863] ). He had, he confessed to Hooker, …
- … Emma Darwin to William Erasmus Darwin, [22 February 1863] in DAR 210.6: 109). There were other …
- … on cultivation (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 March 1863] ). Darwin derived enormous …
- … each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin’s aesthetic appreciation of …
- … which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he announced that the plants …
- … worth trial’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 February [1863] ). Darwin’s hothouse became an …
- … foreground, with pipes clearly visible, is the hothouse of 1863. Over many years, the …
- … book gives an entry under ‘Science’, dated 28 March 1863, for five guineas’ worth of plants bought …
- … not supply (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [16 February 1863] ). However, it can be dated with …
- … this list and in his letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 February [1863]. Secondly, he mentioned in this list …
- … (see letter from L. C. Treviranus, 12 February 1863 ). The second list is headed ‘Stove …
- … to him by Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ), since many of the species listed …
- … from Kew. Darwin said in the letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] that he had received 165 plants …
- … at Clapton, London ( Post Office London directory 1863). 2. John Cattell was a florist, …
- … p. 10. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] and n. 19. 9. Catasetum …
- … with premises at Clapton, London. After Low’s death in 1863 the firm was conducted by his son, …
Thomas Rivers
Summary
Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…
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: 17 hits
- … ‘Textual changes made to C. Lyell 1863c’). On 6 February 1863, Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863a) …
- … Busk, Prestwich, and Galton. In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, …
- … Bath in 1864 (C. Lyell 1864). 3 By November 1863 a third edition of Antiquity of …
- … of several aspects of the book. Throughout the first half of 1863, Darwin discussed the book in …
- … aggrieved about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he …
- … note on p. 11. Unlike the earlier controversies of 1863 where the disputants had quarrelled …
- … 13). The third edition had originally appeared in November 1863. In spite of Lyell’s 1865 revisions, …
- … (Original version of the last section, printed in November 1863) In conclusion, I wish it to …
- … evidence appealed to. 53 Harley Street: November 1863 Preface, C. Lyell 1863c, pp. …
- … in the interval between the autumn of 1861 and February 1863. In this long interval my thoughts had …
- … 2. Letter from Charles Lyell to John Lubbock, 20 February 1863 (British Library, Add. MSS 49640). …
- … of C. Lyell 1863a, see Darwin's Life in Letters, 1863 , (introduction to Correspondence …
- … vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyell’s unwillingness to commit …
- … vol. 11, letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and n. 7. 9. See Correspondence …
- … University Press. 1985–.: Falconer, Hugh. 1863. Letter. Athenaeum , 4 April 1863, pp. 459 …
- … 13 (1858–63): i–x; 14 (1858–63): 1–34, 129–88; 15 (1863–66): 245–321. Lubbock, John. 1861. …
- … Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Owen, Richard. 1863. Ape-origin of man as tested by the …
'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: 13 hits
- … (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested …
- … the distribution of the pamphlet in August and September 1863 (see letter from G. B. Sowerby Jr to …
- … (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [6–27 September 1863], and letter from Emma Darwin to J. …
- … from Emma Darwin to William Erasmus Darwin, [2 September 1863] (DAR 219.1: 77), and Correspondence …
- … (see CD's Classed account book (Down House MS), 20 August 1863, recording a payment of £2 11 s …
- … and letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]). There is no surviving record of …
- … alternatives (see letter from E. L. Darwin, 7 September 1863, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, …
- … to the RSPCA, payments being recorded from 1854 to 1861, in 1863 and 1864, from 1871 to 1875, and in …
- … 1858], and this volume, letter to J. B. Innes, 1 September [1863]). The 'Appeal' …
- … published in the Gardeners’ Chronicle , 29 August 1863, pp. 821–2 ( Letter no. 4282). The …
- … Jr (see letter from G. B. Sowerby Jr to Emma Darwin, 22 July 1863 and n. 1). 3 This …
- … published in the Gardeners’ Chronicle , 29 August 1863, pp. 821–2 ( Letter no. 4282). …
- … Bromley ( Post Office directory of the six home counties 1863). 8 The closing words, …
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: 9 hits
- … Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [31 July 1863] Lydia Becker details her …
- … Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [16 July 1863] Hildebrand writes to …
- … Letter 4235 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [8 July 1863] Lydia Becker sends Darwin a …
- … Letter 4139 - Darwin, W. E. to Darwin, [4 May 1863] William sends the results of a …
- … Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [31 July 1863] Lydia Becker details her …
- … 4233 - Tegetmeier, W. B. to Darwin, [29 June - 7 July 1863] Tegetmeier updates Darwin …
- … 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] Darwin offers the results of …
- … Letter 4010 - Huxley, T. H. to Darwin, [25 February 1863] Huxley praises Henrietta’s …
- … Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 March 1863] Darwin secretly passes on …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
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
- … help him with his research (e.g. to Lydia Becker, 2 August 1863 ; to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 7 hits
- … of your darling. BOOKS BY THE LATE CHARLES DARWIN: 1863-1865 In which Drwin struggles …
- … 1860 98 A GRAY TO ALPHONSE DE CANDOLLE, 16 FEB 1863 99 C DARWIN TO LYELL, …
- … 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150 C DARWIN TO J. D. …
- … JULY 1864 160 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 3 JAN 1863 161 TO ASA GRAY 13 …
- … 1862 164 C Darwin TO ASA GRAY, 23 FEBRUARY 1863 165 A Gray TO C Darwin …
- … APRIL 1866 173 C DARWIN TO ASA GRAY 20 APRIL 1863 174 FROM A GRAY TO …
- … STAY 1881 192 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 19 JANUARY 1863 193 TO A GRAY 9 AUGUST …
Science, Work and Manliness
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …
Matches: 4 hits
- … Letter 4262 - Darwin to Gray, A., [4 August 1863] Darwin tells Gray about his recent …
- … Letter 3901 - Darwin to Falconer, H., [5 & 6 January 1863] Darwin gives feedback on …
- … Letter 4000 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., [20 February 1863] Darwin praises Dana’s latest work …
- … Letter 4185 - Darwin to Scott, J., [25 & 28 May 1863] Darwin praises Scott’s …
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 4 hits
- … in severity in the years around 1848, 1852, 1859, and 1863. In a letter to Hooker in April of 1861, …
- … 1849 ( Correspondence vol. 4). Throughout the winter of 1863 and spring of 1864, he was sick …
- … pp. 31-2, 47, 98. In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ( Correspondence vol. 11), …
- … Wells, under James Smith Ayerst, in September and October 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, …
Inheritance
Summary
It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited. But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did. Darwin’s attempt to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in invisible ink on the germ' ( to J. D. Hooker, 26 [March 1863] ). Years before he …
Darwin as mentor
Summary
Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
Summary
This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … derivation of Species … Darwin to Charles Lyell, 1863. Permit me again to …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … species in the world’. To J. D. Hooker, 25 [June 1863] : describing the light-sensing …
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 3 hits
Climbing Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of tendrils, as described in the following excerpt from an 1863 letter he wrote to the English …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 5 hits
- … visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat epilepsy …
- … medical practitioner Darwin contacted around this time. In 1863, Darwin experienced a period of …
- … joints (see, for example, Holland 1855, p. 233, and Garrod 1863, pp. 263-4). The diagnosis of …
- … George Busk, 28 April 1865). In November and December 1863, Darwin had consulted the stomach …
- … vol. 11, Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]). In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 [November …
2.3 Wedgwood medallions
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite Darwin’s closeness to the Wedgwood family, he was studiously uninterested in the productions of his maternal grandfather Josiah Wedgwood I, the immensely successful ceramic manufacturer. In a letter to Hooker of January…
Matches: 4 hits
- … ceramic manufacturer. In a letter to Hooker of January 1863, Darwin described himself and his wife …
- … scientists for the museum at Kew, and in the spring of 1863 he borrowed from the Darwin family a …
- … above, Hooker had actually been in touch with Woolner since 1863. However, it was apparently William …
- … museum. Letters from Joseph Hooker to Darwin, 6 Jan. 1863 (DCP-LETT-3902) and [24 March 1863] (DCP …
John Beddoe
Summary
In 1869, when gathering data on sexual selection in humans, Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with John Beddoe, a doctor in Bristol. He was looking for evidence that racial differences that appear to have no benefit in terms of survival - and…
