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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: 6 hits

  • … to make out this wonderfully complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). The three …
  • … the structure of almost every  flower’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 8 June [1862] ). I …
  • … to wait. ‘It is a very extraordinary  book!’, wrote Daniel Oliver on 14 May, and George Bentham …
  • … [2–3 August 1862] , and letter from W. E. Darwin, 5 August 1862 ). Botany is a new …
  • … a new era in the science’ (A. Gray 1862b, p. 429). Oliver joined in the chorus, telling him: ‘Your …
  • … & most promising direction to our studies’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, 14 May 1862 ). Darwin …

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: 5 hits

  • … himself as ‘a broken-down brother-naturalist’, sent to Daniel Oliver, keeper of the herbarium at the …
  • … to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] ). When Darwin asked Oliver whether the tendrils of  …
  • … than modified branches or leaves as most botanists thought, Oliver initially expressed reservations. …
  • … routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864] ). Though …
  • … philosophy of Ludwig Buchner ( letter from Hermann Kindt, 5 September 1864 ). Fritz Müeller sent …

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: 25 hits

  • … (1) Austen, J. T. (5) Austin, A. D. …
  • … H. (7) Ball, John (5) Ball, Robert …
  • … (1) Beaufort, Francis (5) Becher, A. B. …
  • … (8) Beneden, Édouard van (5) Bennet, C. A. (b) …
  • … (1) Birch, Samuel (5) Birkett, Thomas …
  • … (2) Boner, Charles (5) Bonham-Carter, Alice …
  • … (2) Bookseller. (5) Boole, M. E. (3) …
  • … (29) Brace, C. L. (5) Bradfield, Thomas …
  • … (3) Canby, W. M. (5) Candolle, Alphonse de …
  • … Carneri, Bartholomäus von (5) Carpenter, W. B. (19) …
  • … (3) Clark, Andrew (5) Clark, J. W. (a) …
  • … (2) Collingwood, Cuthbert (5) Colvile, J. W. …
  • … (1) Cross, George (5) Cross, R. A. …
  • … (4) Crotch, W. D. (5) Crowe, J. R. …
  • … (1) Dew-Smith, A. G. (5) Dicey, A. V. …
  • … (2) Doedes, N. D. (5) Dohrn, Anton …
  • … (3) Drummond, James (a) (5) Drysdale, …
  • … (3) Edmondston, Laurence (5) Edwards & …
  • … (1) Edwards, Henry (5) Edwards, W. H. …
  • … (3) Forchhammer, J. G. (5) Ford, G. H. …
  • … P. A. C. (2) Hanbury, Daniel (1) …
  • … J. F. (1) Mackintosh, Daniel (12) …
  • … Maynard, C. J. (1) McAlpine, Daniel (1) …
  • … Oldfield, H. A. (1) Oliver, Daniel (131) …
  • … E. A. S. (1) Sharpe, Daniel (8) …

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: 2 hits

  • … letters to the Linnean Society, Darwin enlisted the help of Daniel Oliver, a botanist at Kew, to …
  • … ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 May 1865 and nn. 2 and 5), and he may have suffered, or …

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: 9 hits

  • … as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described …
  • … mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did …
  • … for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). …
  • … been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Only until …
  • … the  Athenæum  in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later expressed …
  • … honours like the Copley Medal ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and …
  • … leaves, asking the professional botanists Gray, Hooker, and Daniel Oliver for references on …
  • … the family, to explaining the phenomenon ( see letter from Daniel Oliver, 17 February 1863 , …
  • … reminder of their loss (see  Correspondence  vol. 5). Unable to find Annie’s gravestone in 1863, …

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: 4 hits

  • … only of Hooker but also of a newly appointed Kew botanist, Daniel Oliver; his old friend and …
  • … selection. As the letters between Darwin, Hooker, and Oliver indicate, the novelty of this approach …
  • … (letters to Charles Lyell, 24 November [1860] , and to Daniel Oliver, 20 October [1860] ). …
  • … the Book considerably.—’ ( letter to John Murray, 5 December [1860] ). Although he took Lyell’s …

Orchids

Summary

Why Orchids? Darwin  wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … in May 1862 ( Orchids ). A letter to Hooker, on 5 June [1860] reveals why orchids might, …
  • … significance of this structure in a letter to More on 5 August 1860, ‘ Dr. H. is considerably …
  • … that of a more traditional botanist like Hooker. Writing to Daniel Oliver in October 1860, Darwin …
  • … sexes in Catasetum and Myanthus . In a letter to Daniel Oliver in December 1861, Darwin …
  • … Sales were slow, but the book had a positive reception. Daniel Oliver, who was professor of botany …

Insectivorous plants

Summary

Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Darwin roped in Hooker’s assistant at Kew Gardens, Daniel Oliver, to help him with his observations, …
  • … in the autumn of 1860 alone. Darwin started by asking Oliver to compare Drosera with Dionaea …
  • … without numerous & carefully repeated experiments ’. Oliver observed related plants in the …
  • … reaction of Drosera leaves to various substances. When Oliver got a reaction from gum which …
  • … different species of Drosera from Kew . After 4 or 5 weeks hard work, he reported back to Gray …

Forms of flowers

Summary

Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … meaning of the dimorphism ’. Two months later, he told Daniel Oliver, ‘ I am surprised to find …
  • … he had been working on since late July 1862. He told Oliver that, ‘ as each form has two sets of …

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: 15 hits

  • … de Gembloux 1839]. Said to be good by D r  L. Lindsay 5 [DAR *119: 1v.] 6 …
  • … p. 290 “Thacker” [Thacker 1834–5] p. 291 Athenæum 1839. p. …
  • … The Philosoph. of Instinct & Reason by S. Bushnan. Longman. 5 s  [Bushnan 1837]—dedicated to L …
  • … Dispatches [Wellesley 1834–9] Carlyles Oliver Cromwell [Carlyle 1845] (read) Keppells( …
  • … Traite Elementair  Palæontologie M. Pictet [Pictet 1844–5]— Forbes?? Waterhouse has it— 1844— read …
  • … cloth lettered, (pub. at 6 s  per vol.) reduced to 5 s  1834–43 1. Humming Birds, Vol. 1 …
  • … Gardener’s and Florist’s Dictionary, 2 vols. 8vo. 1724. 5 s . 42  [P. Miller 1724] Life …
  • … 1837–8]— read aloud April 12 th . Carlyles Oliver Cromwell [Carlyle 1845] May 5. Ray …
  • … . London. [Other eds.]  119: 13b ——. 1845.  Oliver Cromwell’s letters and speeches: with …
  • … 142–214.  *119: 21v.; 119: 18a Clarke, Edward Daniel. 1810–23.  Travels in various   …
  • … . 9 vols. Paris.  *128: 169 Defoe, Daniel. 1719.  The life and strange surprizing   …
  • … London.  *119: 23, 24; 128: 5 Ekmarck, Carl Daniel. 1781. On the migration of birds. In …
  • … G. H. Hodson. London.  128: 25 Hofacker, Johann Daniel. 1828.  Ueber die Eigenschaften   …
  • … Illustrated Library.) London.  *128: 157 Johnson, Daniel. 1822.  Sketches of field sports …
  • … *119: 4v.; 119: 13a Wilcke, Henricus Christianus Daniel. 1781. On the police of nature. In …

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: 3 hits

  • … evidence and renewing contact with correspondents such as Daniel Oliver, Friedrich Hildebrand, Fritz …
  • … we sh d . have broken down’, Darwin wrote back on 5 September . ‘As it is we have made out …
  • … flagella of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). Francis’s paper eventually …

Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network

Summary

The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … for the future, is that addressed to his wife Emma, dated 5 July 1844 , just after Darwin had …
  • … expertise of William Hopkins and aroused the interest of Daniel Sharpe, whose subsequent work led to …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … published the results in  Forms of flowers , pp. 293–5, he credited observations of the different …
  • … we look at every thing’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 August [1866] ). Yet both men seemed to relish …
  • … when the young daughter of Hooker’s colleague at Kew, Daniel Oliver, died suddenly. ‘How grieved I …