To John Price [8 September – 13 October 1863]
Summary
Comments on JP’s work [Old Price’s remains (1863–4)].
Anglo-American relations. Progress of the Civil War.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Price |
| Date: | [8 Sept – 13 Oct 1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 273 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4286 |
To J. B. Innes 1 September [1863]
Summary
Family and local news, and memories of old times.
CD’s youngest son, Horace, is too delicate to go to school.
CD has had a bad summer, is still ill, can do very little work – "Botany … is all that I am good for".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Brodie Innes |
| Date: | 1 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4287 |
From Asa Gray 1 September 1863
Summary
Sees difficulties in adhering to the concept of design in nature.
Is surprised at Hooker’s and Daniel Oliver’s ignorance regarding spontaneous movements of tendrils.
CD should continue his work on climbing plants, "it will be fruitful in your hands".
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 157.2: 108; DAR 165: 139, 140 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4288 |
From J. J. Aubertin 3 September 1863
Summary
Thanks CD for his letter and geological report on the stones JJA sent.
Encloses postage stamps for CD’s son.
| Author: | John James Aubertin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 124 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4289 |
From J. B. Innes 4 September [1863]
Summary
Explains "Duke Darwinii" reference [in 4283].
Family news.
Writes of Scottish immorality and pious talk.
| Author: | John Brodie Innes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 167: 12 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4290 |
From John Lubbock 4 September 1863
Summary
Has returned from trip to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Has been made President of the Ethnological Society.
| Author: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 170: 40 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4291 |
To W. D. Fox 4 [September 1863]
Summary
His bad health has caused him to return to Malvern.
Emma cannot find the gravestone of their child, Anne. Asks WDF whether he can remember its location.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 4 [Sept 1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 140) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4292 |
To Hugh Falconer 4 [September 1863]
Summary
Sends address.
Comments on BAAS meeting at Newcastle.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
| Date: | 4 [Sept 1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4293 |
From Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox [6–27 September 1863]
Summary
Encloses a four-page printed pamphlet on the cruelty of steel traps [see Collected papers 2: 83–4].
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [6–27 Sept 1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 142a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4294 |
From Edward Levett Darwin 7 September 1863
Summary
Glad to find they are cousins.
Sends his book [High Elms (pseud.), The game-preserver’s manual (1858)].
| Author: | Edward Levett Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 99: 17–18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4295 |
From W. D. Fox 7 September [1863]
Summary
Gives directions to CD’s daughter’s [Anne’s] grave.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 180 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4296 |
From W. F. Kirby 8 September [1863]
Summary
Describes some cases of geographical distribution of butterflies. Raises the perplexing question of the distribution of Pyrameis atalanta in Europe and P. calliroe in the Canaries.
| Author: | William Forsell Kirby |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3 (Letters): 280 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4297 |
From Hugh Falconer 10 September 1863
Summary
Is having E. Suess’s essay [see 4284] translated; will forward it as soon as it is done.
| Author: | Hugh Falconer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4298 |
From the secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand 14 September 1863
Summary
CD elected an honorary member of the Society.
| Author: | Philosophical Institute of Canterbury |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 230 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4298A |
From Edward Blyth 21 September 1863
Summary
Sends some original observations on British ferns [not found].
Has secured a small pension and hopes to acquire a house near Kew.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 206 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4300 |
From John Scott 21 September [1863]
Summary
Sends Primula MS, which CD has promised to communicate to Linnean Society [see 4213].
Will soon send results on peloric Antirrhinum.
| Author: | John Scott |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 96 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4301 |
From Emma Darwin to John Scott 23 September [1863]
Summary
CD too unwell to read. JS should not send Primula paper MS until CD returns home.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 23 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B1–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4302 |
From G. H. K. Thwaites 24 September 1863
Summary
Sends information on the flowers of Cassia roxburghii; will send flowers of all the species of Cassia for CD to study with a view to discovering the law which operates to bring about the differences.
| Author: | George Henry Kendrick Thwaites |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: 74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4303 |
From Emma Darwin to John Scott 24 September [1863]
Summary
JS’s MS [of Primula paper] arrived, but CD is too ill to read it.
CD has sent JS’s paper on orchid sterility to Botanische Zeitung and to Hooker.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 24 Sept [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B3–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4304 |
From Joanna Baillie Horner 24 September 1863
Summary
News of C. J. F. Bunbury and the Lyells.
| Author: | Joanna Baillie Horner |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166.2: 269 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4305 |
| letter | (29) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Darwin, Emma | (4) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (4) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Scott, John | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
| Darwin, Emma | (1) |
| Falconer, Hugh | (1) |
| Fox, W. D. | (3) |
| Innes, J. B. | (1) |
| Price, John | (1) |
| Scott, John | (2) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (1) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (24) |
| Darwin, Emma | (5) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (5) |
| Fox, W. D. | (4) |
| Scott, John | (4) |
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…
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…
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 4 hits
- … that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). He was also unsatisfied …
- … which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). The botanist and …
- … ). Darwin welcomed Krause’s suggestion, but warned him on 9 June not to ‘expend much powder & …
- … (Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield, [27 August 1879] (DAR 219.9: 201)). Celebrity and honours …
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: 7 hits
- … Darwin asked Murray to intervene, complaining on 9 January , ‘M r . Dallas’ delay … is …
- … on the auditory organs of Orthoptera and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter …
- … from the south of France to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood on 9 Novembe r, describing sphinx moths that …
- … direct result of natural selection ( Variation 2: 185–9). Wallace seized upon this point in a …
- … Katherine ( letter from C. M. Hawkshaw to Emma Darwin, 9 February [1868] ). Darwin’s eldest son, …
- … from Fritz Müller, 22 April 1868 , 17 June 1868 , 9 September 1868 , and 31 October 1868 …
- … A different order of pride was expressed on 9 November by Ernst Haeckel on the birth of his son …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 7 hits
- … excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I am almost stark …
- … , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his son, William, …
- … better fun’ than species ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1862] ), he responded to the …
- … active young wolves’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 ). Darwin had managed to …
- … to read any paper or speak’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 [April 1862] ). A visit in October from …
- … me go away for an hour after dinner & retire to my room at 9 o clock I do not think it would …
- … as true as gospel, so it must be true’ ( to J. D. Hooker, 9 May [1862] ). the real …
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: 6 hits
- … Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 In the same letter, Darwin …
- … about C. Lyell 1863a are discussed in Bynum 1984, pp. 154–9. 7. See Correspondence …
- … letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and n. 7. 9. See Correspondence vol. 11, …
- … 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, [24 March 1863] and n. 9. In his published review, Lubbock wrote …
- … Emma Darwin to Henrietta Emma Darwin, [1 June 1865] (DAR 219.9: 28). 24. See the …
- … 30. Letter from John Lubbock to T. H. Huxley, 9 June 1865 (Imperial College, Huxley papers 6: 110) …
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: 6 hits
- … learn from experience, Darwin was wary, telling Romanes on 9 March , ‘I intend to have another …
- … but I cannot endure to do this’, Darwin told Francis on 9 November , and writing to Fritz …
- … ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). ‘I …
- … who had received presentation copies. Galton wrote on 9 October , ‘I wish the worms were not such …
- … of letters about worms’, he told Francis Darwin on 9 November , ‘but amidst much rubbish there …
- … ( letter to Francis Darwin, 28 [October 1881] ). On 9 November, Darwin told Francis , ‘I have …
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
- … Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 , and letter to Ernst Krause, 9 June [1879] ). The final text of the …
- … inflated to an elephant’ ( letter from Ernst Krause, 9 December 1880 ). Again, Darwin felt …
- … the success of our efforts’ ( letter to A. B. Buckley, 9 November 1880 ). He worked with Huxley on …
- … about their party quarrels’ ( letter to James Torbitt, 9 May 1880 ). Politicians grew concerned …
Darwin & coral reefs
Summary
The central idea of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, as it was later formulated, was that the islands were formed by the upward growth of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. It overturned previous ideas and would in itself…
Books on the Beagle
Summary
The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.
Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … into an entirely new province of knowledge’ ( 9 December 1859 ). He soon became interested in …
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…
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: 5 hits
- … Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] Jane Loring Gray, …
- … Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] Darwin’s nephew, …
- … 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 November 1868] Darwin’s …
- … Letter 7433 - Wedgwood, F. to Darwin, [9 January 1871] Darwin’s brother-in-law, …
- … Letter 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 January 1872] Darwin thanks his son …
Volume 29 (1881) is published!
Summary
In October 1881, Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A slim volume on a subject that many people could understand and on which they had their own opinions, it went…
Matches: 1 hits
- … has been received. Letter t o Francis Darwin, 9 November [1881] In October …
Darwin & Glen Roy
Summary
Although Darwin was best known for his geological work in South America and other remote Beagle destinations, he made one noteworthy attempt to explain a puzzling feature of British geology. In 1838, two years after returning from the voyage, he travelled…
Matches: 1 hits
- … field guide to Glen Roy: To Charles Lyell, 9 August [1838] To Charles Lyell, …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … by his perfectibility principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide …
- … hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James Crichton-Browne and …
- … of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] ). In March, Darwin received …
- … I do not care to follow him’ ( letter from T. H. Farrer, 9 October 1869 ). Farrer ventured to …
- … on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier in the year, …
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
- … Beagle voyage, to a letter to C. A. Kennard written on 9 January 1882 , only shortly before …
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…
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: 3 hits
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
