To Charles James Fox Bunbury [20 March 1855]
Summary
CD hopes to have an hour’s talk with CJFB before CD leaves London.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
Date: | [20 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | John Hay Library, Brown University |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13784 |
From Arthur Edward Knox [c. March 1855–7?]
Summary
CD has suggested an explanation of how pike were introduced to a remote lake in Ireland by cormorants [carrying pike spawn on their feet or in their gullets].
Author: | Arthur Edward Knox |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | Mar 1855-7 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 243 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1624 |
From G. R. Waterhouse [after 2 March 1855]
Summary
Gives instances of sexual differences in the number of tarsi within species of Coleoptera and also variation in the number of tarsi between related species.
Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 2 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 47: 133–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1625 |
From J. D. Hooker [before 7 March 1855]
Summary
CD’s tabulation of colonists curious but explicable.
Working on Tasmanian flora; contemplating general essay on Australian distribution: Tasmania and Australia same alpine species; Swan River flora very peculiar and quite distinct from New South Wales.
Trying to establish new journal at Linnean.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 7 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 216–17 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1638 |
From Thomas Vernon Wollaston 2 March [1855]
Summary
Hybrid insects.
Description of the Salvages.
Variability of "transition groups" of insects; relation of variability to ranges of insects. The variability of wings, even within species. Reduction of flying ability on isolated islands.
Forbes’s "Atlantis" theory and insect fauna of the Atlantic islands, considered with regard to insect migrations.
Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 136 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1640 |
To G. R. Waterhouse 4 March [1855]
Summary
A page of [unspecified] text is missing from a parcel of material received from GRW.
CD "hopes and expects to live to see Carboniferous, & perhaps even Silurian, mammifers!"
Has several questions to ask whenever they meet.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Date: | 4 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF PAL/100/7/29) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1641 |
From G. R. Waterhouse [7 March 1855]
Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [7 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 20 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1642 |
To J. D. Hooker 7 March [1855]
Summary
Latitude overrules everything in distribution. Alpine distributions are like insular. Tabulating proportions.
T. V. Wollaston’s Madeira insects: many flightless, thus not blown to sea. TVW’s insects do not confirm Forbes’s Atlantis.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 7 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 126 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1643 |
From J. D. Hooker [before 17 March 1855]
Summary
JDH criticises C. J. F. Bunbury’s paper on Madeira [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 1 (1857): 1–35].
Absence of Ophrys on Madeira suggests to JDH a sequence in creation of groups.
Why are flightless insects common in desert?
Australian endemism.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 17 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 210–13 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1644 |
To T. H. Huxley 8 March [1855]
Summary
Thanks THH for corroborating his observations. Discusses metamorphosis of ovaria to cement organs. Ovaries, germinal vesicles, and anatomy of cirripedes. Difficulties of classification, and observation.
THH’s article on Mollusca [Charles Knight, ed., English cyclopædia: a new dictionary of universal knowledge (1854–70) 3: 855–74].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 8 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 25) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1645 |
To J. S. Henslow 13 March 1855
Summary
Acknowledges a list [of plants?].
Looks forward to new edition [of British plants growing wild in the parish of Hitcham, Suffolk, 2d ed. (1855)].
JSH should not trouble about Anacharis until he is less busy. Will send cirripedes.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 13 Mar 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A25 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1647 |
To Arthur Henfrey 17 March [1855]
Summary
Can AH give information about D. A. Godron, "De l’espèce et des races" [Mem. Soc. Sci. Lett. & Arts Nancy (1847): 182, 239–88]? CD unable to locate reference.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Arthur Henfrey |
Date: | 17 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1648 |
To Leonard Horner 18 [March 1855]
Summary
CD has been a referee for LH’s Nile geology paper [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 145 (1855): 105–38]. Praises the work but offers criticism not in his report: Joseph Russegger’s statement about the baked Upper Sandstone deposit cannot be believed; LH’s paper is too long.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Leonard Horner |
Date: | 18 [Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | Kinnordy MS (private collection) (Sold at Sotheby’s (dealers), 9 July 2018, lot 373) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1649 |
To the Royal Society 19 March 1855
Summary
Recommends publication of Leonard Horner’s account of researches in alluvial deposits of Egypt [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 145 (1855): 105–38]. It contains valuable observations which will probably become of still higher value in future.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Sharpey; Royal Society of London |
Date: | 19 Mar 1855 |
Classmark: | The Royal Society (RR2: 111) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1650 |
To W. D. Fox 19 March [1855]
Summary
Asks WDF to observe at what age pigeons have tail-feathers sufficiently developed to be counted.
CD is hard at work on his notes for a book with all the facts "for & versus" the immutability of species.
Asks for a young chicken and a nestling common pigeon.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 19 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 87) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1651 |
From John Davy 21 March 1855
Summary
On the ova of the salmon in relation to the distribution of species.
Author: | John Davy |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 21 Mar 1855 |
Classmark: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 146 (1856): 21–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1651A |
To John Davy 25 March [1855]
Summary
Will forward JD’s paper to the Royal Society ["On the ova of salmon", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 146 (1856): 21–9].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Davy |
Date: | 25 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Royal Institution of Great Britain (Box XVII, 210) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1653 |
To John Davy 26 March [1855]
Summary
Discusses JD’s paper ["On ova of salmon"]. His experiments are of particular value regarding power of dispersal and geographical distribution and would make of them a very different subject. Hopes JD can test again the tenacity of life of non-developed ova being less than that of those fully developed – a result which surprised CD.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Davy |
Date: | 26 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Royal Institution of Great Britain (Box XVII, 210) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1654 |
To J. S. Henslow 26 March [1855]
Summary
Thanks JSH for Anacharis which is flourishing.
P. H. Gosse told him he had several sea animals and algae living in artificial sea-water for over 13 months.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 26 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A26–A27 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1655 |
To W. D. Fox 27 March [1855]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his offer of assistance in collecting varieties of poultry. Describes his needs. He will raise his own pigeons.
Often doubts whether, despite all help, the problem of species will not overpower him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 27 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 88) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1656 |
letter | (23) |
Darwin, C. R. | (16) |
Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
Waterhouse, G. R. | (2) |
Davy, John | (1) |
Knox, A. E. | (1) |
Bunbury, C. J. F. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
Davy, John | (2) |
Fox, W. D. | (2) |
Henfrey, Arthur | (2) |
Henslow, J. S. | (2) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Horner, Leonard | (1) |
Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
Miller, Hugh | (1) |
Royal Society of London | (1) |
Sharpey, William | (1) |
Waterhouse, G. R. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (23) |
Davy, John | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Waterhouse, G. R. | (3) |
Fox, W. D. | (2) |
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,…
Matches: 24 hits
- … (1) Abney, W. de W. (3) Accademia dei Lincei …
- … (1) Ainslie, O. A. (3) Airy, Hubert …
- … (4) Alberts, Maurice (3) Albrecht, R. F. …
- … (1) Ambrose, J. L. (3) American Academy of …
- … (1) Anderson, James (c) (3) Anderson-Henry, …
- … (1) Badger, E. W. (3) Baer, K. E. von …
- … (1) Balch, C. L. (3) Baldwin, J. D. …
- … (5) Ball, Robert (3) Ball, Valentine …
- … (1) Beal, W. J. (3) Beale, L. S. (2) …
- … (1) Beddoe, John (3) Beger, Karl (2) …
- … (66) Bergson, Edouard (3) Bergstedt, C. F. …
- … (4) Blake, C. C. (3) Blanche (2) …
- … (1) Blewitt, Octavian (3) Blomefield, Leonard …
- … (5) Boole, M. E. (3) Boott, Francis …
- … (1) Bornet, Édouard (3) Bosquet, J. A. H. de …
- … (1) Bouton, Louis (3) Bowerbank, J. S. …
- … (1) Bridgman, W. K. (3) Brigg, John …
- … (1) Brown-Séquard, C. É. (3) Browne, H. G. C. …
- … (2) Burgess, Thomas (3) Burn, Robert …
- … (1) Bush, John (3) Busk, George (18) …
- … (2) Butler, Mary (3) Butler, Samuel (b) …
- … (1) Campbell, G. D. (3) Canby, W. M. …
- … (9) Cattell, John (3) Cecil, Henry …
- … (7) Chance, Frank (3) Chancellor of the …
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…
Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] ). Darwin’s …
- … been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A chronological list of all …
- … and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like François Jules …
- … I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the end of 1860, …
- … is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further details of the …
3.6 William Darwin, photo 3
Summary
< Back to Introduction A photograph of Darwin apparently taken outdoors (he is seated on a chair but swathed in a cloak and rug) is undated and undocumented. It exists only as an unprinted collodion positive in the Darwin archive, strongly suggesting…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction A photograph of Darwin apparently taken outdoors (he is …
I beg a million pardons: To John Lubbock, [3 September 1862]
Summary
Alison Pearn looks at a letter Darwin wrote to his neighbour and friend, John Lubbock, after making a mistake in his research on bees in 1862.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Alison Pearn looks at a letter Darwin wrote to his neighbour and friend, …
4.46 'Puck' cartoon 3
Summary
< Back to Introduction In 1885 Darwin made yet another posthumous appearance in the New York satirical magazine Puck – again in a religious context. ‘SHEOL’ referred to the recently published Revised edition of the Bible, which modified the text of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In 1885 Darwin made yet another posthumous appearance in the …
Teaching Evolution at Key Stage 3? Join our December workshop
Summary
This free, exciting training and consultation event takes place on Tuesday 12th December at Cambridge University Library, 9.00-4.30. The workshop aims to support KS3 science teachers in delivering informed, dynamic Darwin-based sessions.
Matches: 1 hits
- … This exciting training and consultation event takes place on Tuesday 12th December at Cambridge …
4.42 'Punch' Sambourne cartoon 3
Summary
< Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s last caricature of Darwin, ‘Man is But a Worm’, was published in Punch’s Almanac for 1882 on 6 December 1881, only four months before Darwin’s death. Like Sambourne’s ‘Punch’s Fancy Portraits. No. 54. Charles…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s last caricature of Darwin, ‘Man is But a …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 8 hits
- … of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 3 July 1868 ). But this work would eventually …
- … pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). But such worries were …
- … kind almost heroic, in you to sacrifice your hair and pay 3 d in the cause of science …
- … canary (letters from J. J. Weir, [26] March 1868 and 3 June 1868 ). ‘It was very kind’, …
- … on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter sent on 3 April by Henry Doubleday that contained a …
- … you have communicated to me’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 3 June 1868 ). it is a fatal …
- … of species through the study of monstrosities, remarked on 3 April , ‘your works are destined to …
- … admirer of your genius’, wrote Frederick Behrens on 3 December , ‘I presume you are much plagued …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Surgeons [DAR *119: 1] Books to be Read 3 “Traité de la Folie des …
- … on Annals of Nat. Hist. [Jenyns 1838] Prichard; a 3 d . vol [Prichard 1836–47] Lawrence [W. …
- … ou Traité de Tératologie, par I. Geoffroy-Saint Hilaire, 3 vols. 8vo. et atlas de 20 planches. ibid, …
- … of Human wishes. 28 Bacon’s Essays [Bacon 1825–36].— Butler. 3. first sermons …
- … 1826]— (read) Pallas’ Travels [Pallas 1802–3]— Hookker (623 no) read Darby’s Louisiana …
- … Drinkwater] 1833]— Prof. Smyth. French Revolution 3 vols [Smyth 1840] Baber’s …
Darwin in Conversation exhibition
Summary
Meet Charles Darwin as you have never met him before. Come to our exhibition at Cambridge University Library, running from 9 July to 3 December 2022, and discover a fascinating series of interwoven conversations with Darwin's many hundreds of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 9 July – 3 December 2022 Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 4 hits
- … ( to Charles Layton, 24 November [1869] ). From the 3 rd edition on, each English …
- … ( Origin 2d ed, p. 481). 2 nd to 3 rd editions; US edition …
- … changes, was doomed to disappointment. 3 rd to 4 th editions …
- … to include at least one change only previously made in the 3 rd German edition . I …
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…
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 5 hits
- … to the subject of cross and self-fertilisation. On 3 October , he wrote with fresh enthusiasm to …
- … other interested parties. Darwin was summoned to testify on 3 November. It caused him much anxiety, …
- … for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). In the event, the …
- … weekly publications of Natural History’, he explained on 3 June , ‘are not sufficiently …
- … time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). Finally it was arranged for …
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's Fantastical Voyage
Summary
Learn about Darwin's adventures on his epic journey.
Matches: 1 hits
- … These activities explore Darwin’s life changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle. Using letters home, …
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 …
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 …
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…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Kingdom, & even the world’ ( letter from J. L. Chester, 3 March 1880 ). Darwin’s sons George …
- … regret that I did not do so’ ( letter to Samuel Butler, 3 January 1880 ). At the top of Butler’s …
- … It is a horrid disease’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 3 February 1880 ). All went quiet until …
- … letter … made me open my eyes’, Gray replied on 3 February , but he affirmed his original …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…