To Nature 11 February [1874]
Summary
Prefaces Fritz Müller’s observations on termites and stingless bees [see 9281].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Nature |
| Date: | 11 Feb [1874] |
| Classmark: | Nature, 19 February 1874, pp. 308–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9283 |
From Fritz Müller 20 April [1874]
Summary
FM gives his own observations of leaf-cutting ants, which support those of Thomas Belt in his book [The naturalist in Nicaragua (1873)]. [See 9223.] These ants feed only upon the fungus that grows upon the leaves that they carry to their nests.
He has caught a moth of the Glaucopidæ that when touched emitted a cloud of snow-white wool.
Observations on the stingless bees of Brazil.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Apr [1874] |
| Classmark: | Nature, 11 June 1874, pp. 102–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9422A |
To Nature 7 and 11 May [1874]
Summary
Thanks Nature correspondents for their observations on destruction of primroses [Nature 9 (1874): 509; 10 (1874): 6–7]. Reports an error in his observations: ovules, as well as nectar, are taken by the birds. As the habit of cutting off primrose flowers is widespread, CD concludes it is instinctive in bullfinches.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Nature |
| Date: | 7 and 11 May [1874] |
| Classmark: | Nature, 14 May 1874, pp. 24–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9444 |
From Hermann Müller 15 February 1874
Summary
Feels CD’s and Fritz Müller’s judgments on his "Anwendung" essay [see 8313] are of highest value. Mentions some of FM’s comments.
Looks forward to second English edition of Descent.
| Author: | Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 303 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9293 |
To Fritz Müller 13 February 1874
Summary
Has sent FM’s letter on termites to Nature ["Habits of various insects", Nature 10 (1874): 102–3].
Would be interested in observations on the stingless bees of Brazil.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 13 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 37) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9288 |
To J. S. Burdon Sanderson 12 June 1874
Summary
JSBS’s article in Nature ["Venus’s fly-trap", 10 (1874): 105–7, 127–8] could not have been better done.
Has found another plant, Pinguicula, which can catch and digest flies.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott Burdon Sanderson, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 12 June 1874 |
| Classmark: | University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Darwin - Burdon Sanderson letters RBSC-ARC-1731-1-18) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9489 |
From T. M. Story-Maskelyne 4 May 1874
Summary
Reply to CD’s letter in Nature ["Flowers of the primrose", Collected papers 2: 183–4]. She has a canary that eats primroses.
| Author: | Thereza Mary Llewelyn; Thereza Mary Story-Maskelyne |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 May 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 263 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9426 |
From Fritz Müller [c. January 1874]
Summary
Agrees with Bates that neuter termites are not modified imagos (sterile females), but modified larvae (of both sexes).
Systematic relations of stingless honey-bees (Melipona and Trigona) are not yet well established.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. Jan 1874] |
| Classmark: | Nature, 19 February 1874, p. 309 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9281 |
From Edward Frankland 30 April 1874
Summary
Variation in bullfinches’ instinctive ability to remove nectaries and ovaries from cowslips.
| Author: | Edward Frankland |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 211 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9435 |
From Edward Frankland 26 April 1874
Summary
Bullfinches’ instinctive capacity for removing nectaries from cowslips.
| Author: | Edward Frankland |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 210 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9430 |
From C. J. Monro 26 April 1874
Summary
Sends cherry blossoms damaged by birds in response to CD’s letter in Nature ["Flowers of the primrose", Collected papers 2: 183–4].
| Author: | Cecil James Monro |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 230 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9428 |
To Edward Frankland 14 May [1874]
Summary
Requests sewage water (and oleic acid) for experiments to determine sensitivity of leaves [of Drosera].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Frankland |
| Date: | 14 May [1874] |
| Classmark: | The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9460A |
To W. D. Fox 11 May [1874]
Summary
Has just finished new editions of Descent
and Coral reefs.
Is working on a book almost wholly on Drosera; thinks he has made some discoveries.
Will never have strength and life to complete more of the series of books related to Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 11 May [1874] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 153) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9454 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … nature’, and on how ‘complex affinities’ between ‘past and present inhabitants of the world’ could be given ‘a rational explanation on the principle of descent, together with modifications acquired through natural selection, entailing divergence of character and the extinction of intermediate forms’ (see Variation 1: 4 and 11). …
To V. O. Kovalevsky 24 January [1874]
Summary
Has ordered James Clerk Maxwell’s book [On the stability of the motion of Saturn’s rings (1859)] as a present for Sofya Kovalevsky.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Date: | 24 Jan [1874] |
| Classmark: | Institut Mittag-Leffler |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9253 |
To G. H. Darwin 30 January [1874?]
Summary
Returns and sends comments on Clarke Hawkshaw’s essay ‘The persistence of forms of life in the depths of the sea’.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Howard Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Jan [1874?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 185: 152 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7466F |
Matches: 3 hits
- … 11 at a depth of 2975. by the Challenger is said by Prof. Wyville Thompson to be closely allied to the Clymenidæ “a well known shallow water group of high organisation”. {Nature …
- … Nature is 3°C (Mar 14) in 1420 faths s . not far from the Island of Sombrero and the lowest temperature is 1.5.C in 2575 fath s . (June. 16) and again in 2025 fath s . (June. 11). …
- … Nature as a member of another bristle-worm family, Ammocharidae (a synonym of Oweniidae). Worms in both these families construct tubes from particles of sand, and species are found from the intertidal zone to the deep sea. Carpenter et al. 1869 , pp. 477–8. At this time, the Protozoa (first erected as a class within Animalia by Georg August Goldfuss ; see Goldfuss 1818 ) included several groups that have since been reclassified. William Lant Carpenter ; see C. W. Thomson 1873a , pp. 502–11. …
To T. H. Farrer 4 July [1874]
Summary
Has read THF’s article on Coronilla [see 9400] – "a very curious case"; is troubled by C. emerus.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
| Date: | 4 July [1874] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9531 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Nature , 2 July 1874. In Farrer 1874 , p. 169, Farrer had described and illustrated how the claw or base of the vexillum (the large central petal of a papilionaceous flower) in Coronilla emerus (now Hippocrepis emerus , scorpion senna) was elongated and straight with the upper part of the petal curved inward towards the base. Joseph Dalton Hooker visited CD on Saturday 11 …
From Anton Dohrn 6 April 1874
Summary
His gratitude for CD’s gift. An account of his difficulties with the Zoological Station and his health.
F. M. Balfour has told him that CD would like to see the question of complemental males in cirripedes studied again. AD would like to enter the field and to study the whole morphological development of cirripedes.
Describes the interest in embryological work in Russia and Germany.
| Author: | Felix Anton (Anton) Dohrn |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 214 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9394 |
From F. S. B. François de Chaumont 29 April 1874
Summary
Observations on early shedding of tears and shrugging of shoulders.
| Author: | Francis Stephen Bennet François de Chaumont |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 139 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9433 |
Matches: 1 hit
From George Cupples 3 February 1874
Summary
Responds to CD’s queries about breeders’ practices in destroying and saving males or females in litters of deerhounds.
| Author: | George Cupples |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 90: 85–90 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9263 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Nature , 2 October 1873 ( Wallace 1873 ), Alfred Russel Wallace criticised the custom of taking the most conservative estimate of the antiquity of human remains or artefacts; he estimated that 500,000 years had passed since flints worked by humans were buried in the lowest deposits of Kent’s Cavern at Torquay. Cupples also told this story in the enclosure to his letter to CD of 11 …
To W. G. Kemp 11 November [1874]
Summary
Responds to the correspondent's comments on natural selection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Walter Gustav Kemp |
| Date: | 11 Nov [1874] |
| Classmark: | West Berkshire Museum, Newbury (NEBYM:1986.63.1.1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9716F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 11 th Dear Sir I am obliged by your note. I agree with you that the reproductive system of natural species must have been in some way modified in correlation with the variation which they have undergone. But why has not a single domestic var. of an animal or plant, many of which have been profoundly modified, been rendered mutually sterile? Until this can be answered, it cannot be said that we know anything definitely. As I have said I suspect that the difference is due to organisms in a state of nature …
| letter | (21) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (10) |
| Frankland, Edward | (2) |
| Müller, Fritz | (2) |
| Cupples, George | (1) |
| Dohrn, Anton | (1) |
| Burdon Sanderson, J. S. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (1) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (1) |
| Fox, W. D. | (1) |
| Frankland, Edward | (1) |
| Kemp, W. G. | (1) |
| Kovalevsky, V. O. | (1) |
| Müller, Fritz | (1) |
| Nature | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
| Frankland, Edward | (3) |
| Müller, Fritz | (3) |
| Nature | (2) |
| Burdon Sanderson, J. S. | (1) |
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … In March 1862, Heinrich Georg Bronn wrote to Darwin stating his intention to prepare a second …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
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: 1 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letters | Selected Readings Darwin's first reflections on human progress were …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the making out the …
Interview with Randal Keynes
Summary
Randal Keynes is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and the author of Annie’s Box (Fourth Estate, 2001), which discusses Darwin’s home life, his relationship with his wife and children, and the ways in which these influenced his feelings about…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Randal Keynes is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and the author of Annie’s Box …
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: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s daughter Henrietta wrote the following journal entries in March and July 1871 in …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
Darwin on race and gender
Summary
Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
Vivisection: first sketch of the bill
Summary
Strictly Confidential Mem: This print is only a first sketch. It is being now recast with a new & more simple form – but the substance of the proposed measure may be equally well seen in this draft. R.B.L. | 2 586 Darwin and vivisection …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Strictly Confidential Mem: This print is only a first sketch. It is being now recast with a …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom , published on 10 November …
