From Asa Gray [before 3 April 1858]
Summary
List of close species taken from AG’s Manual of botany [1848].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 3 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 103 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2249 |
From Leonard Jenyns [before 18 April 1858]
Summary
[Copy of some rough notes.] References about species. Variations within species.
| Author: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 18 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 45: 20–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2250 |
To Leonard Jenyns 1 April [1858]
Summary
Thanks LJ for his book [Observations in meteorology (1858)].
CD has been working on his species book [Natural selection].
Has become dreadfully heterodox on immutability of species.
His work on pigeons: variation under domestication throws the greatest light on variation in a state of nature.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | 1 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2251 |
To Asa Gray 4 April [1858]
Summary
Discusses the variation of species in large and small genera.
Thanks AG for his list of close species.
Laments the slow progress he makes with his book [Natural selection].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 4 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (25) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2252 |
To Leonard Jenyns 9 April [1858]
Summary
Asks LJ to lend him a copy of his paper ["Variation of species", Rep. BAAS 26 (1856): 101–5] and any notes or references he has. Although CD has a large accumulation of facts, it is impossible to see and consider too many.
His health is poor.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2253 |
To J. D. Hooker 10 April [1858]
Summary
Asa Gray’s criticism of Buckle and his comments on large and small genera.
CD suspects glacial epoch immensely long. Rates of organic change too variable to make them a good measure of geological time.
Bees’ cells are a difficulty for theory.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 10 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 231 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2254 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier 14 April [1858]
Summary
CD will go over his pigeon MS and then dispose of all his birds. Has Burmese fowls’ skins if WBT is interested.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 14 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2255 |
To W. H. Miller [15 April 1858]
Summary
A set of questions CD prepared for his meeting with WHM to discuss the geometry of bees’ cells.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Hallowes Miller |
| Date: | [15 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 24a |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2255A |
To W. D. Fox 16 April [1858]
Summary
Asks WDF for facts about stripes in horses and ponies.
Health has been very bad.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 16 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 112a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2256 |
To Henry Norton Shaw, Royal Geographical Society 16 April [1858]
Summary
Is much obliged and honoured by the Diploma of the Geographical Society of Vienna.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Norton Shaw |
| Date: | 16 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Royal Geographical Society |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2257 |
From G. R. Waterhouse 17 April 1858
Summary
Bees’ cells; GRW thinks hexagonal shape is accidental. Encloses notes on cells of Icaria.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Apr 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2258 |
To Leonard Jenyns 18 April [1858]
Summary
Thanks LJ for his MS [of "Variation of species", Rep. BAAS 26 (1856): 101–5].
Will read it at his hydropathic establishment [Moor Park], where he is going for a rest.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | 18 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2259 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier [21 April 1858]
Summary
"Excessively" interested in theory of bees’ cell formation.
Fears few of his pigeons will be of any use to WBT.
Hopes WBT will describe foreign poultry breeds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | [21 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2260 |
To Emma Darwin [28 April 1858]
Summary
CD recounts an idyllic stroll and nap – "as pleasant a rural scene as ever I saw, and I did not care one penny how any of the beasts or birds had been formed".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | [28 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.8: 34 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2261 |
To Charles Lyell 26 April [1858]
Summary
Comments on letter from Georg Hartung to CL dealing with erratic boulders.
Discusses migration of plants and animals.
A letter from Thomas Thomson on heat endured by temperate plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 26 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.151) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2262 |
To J. D. Hooker 26 [April 1858]
Summary
Confidential revelation concerning W. F. Daniell.
Georg Hartung confirms CD’s supposition from flora of Azores that icebergs had been stranded there.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 [Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 232 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2263 |
To Leonard Jenyns [28 April 1858]
Summary
Returns MS [of "Variation of species"]; several facts were new to him, especially interested in wagtails.
Wishes he could swallow Florent Prévost on sparrows ["Du régime alimentaire des oiseaux", C. R. Hebd. Acad. Sci. 46 (1858): 136–8].
LJ’s facts seem to bear out CD’s conclusion that secondary sexual characters were most variable of all.
Explains how he intends to deal with variation, and general facts in natural history in the light of species theory. Can only afford one chapter on variation in nature. It seems more important to make out variation in domestic animals.
Asks for facts on birds’ nests for his chapter on instincts.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | [28 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2264 |
To W. E. Darwin [26 April 1858]
Summary
Has been at Moor Park since Tuesday. Is passing his time watching ants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | [26 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 24 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2265 |
To Emma Darwin [25 April 1858]
Summary
Concerned about ED’s headaches, CD writes an affectionate letter.
Believes he has found a rare slave-making species of ant.
Is reading novels: Beneath the surface and Three chances.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | [25 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.8: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2413 |
To A. A. Gould 6 April [1858]
Summary
Thanks AAG for procuring an authoritative answer from T. M. Brewer on the habits of the [American] cuckoo. Surprised William Yarrell erred so much.
Wishes AAG had time to give an account of Japanese shells, which would be interesting from the geographical point of view.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Augustus Addison Gould |
| Date: | 6 Apr [1858] |
| Classmark: | Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections (Honeyman Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2448 |
| letter | (20) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Jenyns, Leonard | (1) |
| Waterhouse, G. R. | (1) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (4) |
| Jenyns, Leonard | (4) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (20) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (5) |
| Jenyns, Leonard | (5) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Gray, Asa | (2) |
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…
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
- … mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. 3; Hutchinson 1914, …
- … partly inspired by the controversies associated with it. 4 One area of controversy centred …
- … admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week later he sent …
- … of the situation was succinct. In his letter to Hooker of [4 June 1865] he warned that no one …
- … Gardens, Kew, Letters to J. D. Hooker, vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 15. Letter from T. H. Huxley …
- … Gardens, Kew, Letters to J. D. Hooker, vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 32. See Anthropological …
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…
4.47 'Puck' cartoon 4
Summary
< Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of the Nineteenth Century, another cartoon in the American humorous magazine Puck depicted Darwin as the epitome of philosophical enlightenment. The Universal Church of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of …
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
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: 23 hits
- … (1) Alberts, Karl (4) Alberts, Maurice …
- … (2) Allman, G. J. (4) Althaus, Julius …
- … (1) Atkinson, Edward (4) Aubertin, J. J. …
- … (1) Bailey, W. W. (4) Baillie, A. F. …
- … (1) Bary, Anton de (4) Bashford, Frederick …
- … (1) Behrens, Wilhelm (4) Beke, C. T. …
- … (1) Bianconi, G. G. (4) Bibliogr. Inst. …
- … (8) Blackwall, John (4) Blackwell, A. L. B. …
- … (7) Blair, R. H. (4) Blake, C. C. (3 …
- … (2) Broca, Paul (4) Broderip, W. J. …
- … (1) Browne, Hugh (4) Browne, W. R. …
- … (1) Canning, A. S. G. (4) Capes, Frederick …
- … (1) Cardwell, Edward (4) Carlier, A. G. …
- … (1) Chapman, John (4) Charles, R. F. …
- … (2) Cheeseman, T. F. (4) Chemical supplier …
- … (1) Chester, J. L. (4) Chiantore, G. …
- … (2) Clark, J. W. (b) (4) Clarke, Benjamin …
- … (3) Coan, T. M. (4) Cobbe, F. P. (13 …
- … (2) Crotch, G. R. (4) Crotch, W. D. …
- … (56) Dallinger, W. H. (4) Daly, J. …
- … (11) Dobson, G. E. (4) Dodel-Port, Arnold …
- … (3) Dunker, Wilhelm (4) Dupré, August …
- … (2) Fawcett, Henry (4) Fayrer, Joseph …
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
- … translation, 1863 2d French translation 1865 4 th English edition published, 1866 …
- … Lyell, 11 October [1859] and letter from Charles Lyell, 4 October 1859 ). Despite having …
- … doomed to disappointment. 3 rd to 4 th editions This …
- … Everything which I have read during last 4 years I find is quite washy in my mind . Once …
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: 8 hits
- … Butler, as he told his daughter Henrietta Litchfield on 4 January , ‘would like its publication …
- … as for its success’, Darwin told Arabella Buckley on 4 January . Buckley had suggested …
- … ‘500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ). Unlike Darwin’s other …
- … publish, although he was sending his printers ‘in 3 or 4 weeks the M.S. of a quite small book of …
- … ‘an excellent Journal’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 July [1881] ). In these ways, Darwin kept up …
- … [1881] ). Feeling ‘awfully guilty’ for doing so, on 4 August Hooker sent Darwin a list of queries …
- … ‘I was a fool to go,’ he told William Darwin on 4 August , ‘but I could hardly have declined.’ He …
- … new investigations’. Thanking Wiesner for the book on 4 October , Darwin warned him, ‘I read …
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 …
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…
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…
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: 7 hits
- … improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until …
- … for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early June, he wrote to …
- … from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June [1865] ). The paper was published …
- … to high scientific account’ (A. Gray 1865–6, pp. 273-4). Darwin had also written to Gray on 19 …
- … for him to read attentively ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). The fact that …
- … do it if it ever can be done’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ); the hard work of …
- … keep out of contact with him’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 May [1865] ). Darwin contributed …
Teachers notes: Offer of a lifetime
Summary
The Offer of a Lifetime? Activities for: English Key Stage 3 and 4 When Darwin was 22 he received an exciting and unique opportunity to join HMS Beagle. The voyage changed his life but the letters show how close he came to not going at all! …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities for: English Key Stage 3 and 4 When Darwin was 22 he received an exciting and …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
Matches: 1 hits
- … More Darwin the Collector activities 4 How did Darwin develop his ideas on …
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: 9 hits
- … published in Paris (in 2 vols.), so long ago as 1839 4 [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. Said to …
- … et anim: on sleep & movements of plants £ 1 ..s 4. [Dutrochet 1837] Voyage aux …
- … observations on increase & decrease of different diseases 4 to . 1801 [Heberden 1801] quoted …
- … worth reading [Dampier 1697] Sportsman’s repository 4 to . [W. H. Scott 1820]— contains …
- … Audubons Ornithol: Biography [Audubon 1831–9]— 4 Vols. well worth reading [DAR *119: 4v.] …
- … 31 An analysis of British Ferns. G. W. Francis 4 s [Francis 1837]— plates of every …
- … of Rural Sports [Blaine 1840] (at Athenæum?) Book II Chapt. 4 on variation by Blaine .— & on …
- … Yak.— Steudel Botan. Nomenclature [Steudel 1821–4]. Synonym of every plant & country— …
- … Paper on transmutation of shells [Haldeman 1843–4] already (1844) VI. vols. published Lib. …
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…
Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small
Summary
In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Müller, 1 January 1882 , and letter to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that …
- … in apposition’, was read at the Linnean Society on 4 May, but not published. Darwin carried …
- … of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice looked to Darwin to …
- … Jamaica ‘for complete rest’ ( letter to Anthony Rich, 4 February 1882 ). Horace had settled in …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
