From J. D. Hooker 20 September 1862
Summary
Asks his opinion of A. C. Ramsay’s glacial lake theory. Encloses Julius Haast’s communication on glacial phenomena.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Sept 1862 |
| Classmark: | DAR 101: 58, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Director’s Correspondence 174 (New Zealand letters, 1854–1900): 273) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3731 |
To Francis Galton 22 February [1855]
Summary
Thanks for FG’s note and trouble in searching out pigeons.
Is obliged to FG for obtaining C. J. Andersson’s offer of information about breeds of cattle in South Africa.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Galton |
| Date: | 22 Feb [1855] |
| Classmark: | National Library of South Africa, Cape Town |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554F |
Matches: 3 hits
- … did not reply to any letters from this period until May 1854 ( letter from C. J. …
- … 5), and the letter from C. J. Andersson to Francis Galton, 18 May 1854 (Galton 195, …
- … 1854 (Galton 195, University College, London, Special Collections)); accordingly, Andersson could not have offered to send observations to CD before that date. Galton’s letter …
To A. C. Ramsay 22 November [1854]
Summary
Grief at the death of Edward Forbes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Andrew Crombie Ramsay |
| Date: | 22 Nov [1854] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1606 |
To J. D. Hooker 5 November [1854]
Summary
Congratulates JDH on receipt of Royal Medal.
CD gathering facts on aberrant genera of insects.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 5 Nov [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 152 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1597 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … of the Linnean Society on 7 November 1854 (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 November [ …
- … Hooker, [4 November 1853] ). See letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 11 November 1854 . For the …
- … 1854–5): 261). CD had been awarded the Royal Medal in 1853 for his works on geology and for his monograph on the pedunculated Cirripedia (see letter …
To J. D. Hooker 27 [June 1854]
Summary
CD gives his definition of "highness" and "lowness" as "morphological differentiation" from a common embryo or archetype. JDH’s view, with which CD agrees when it can be applied, is the same as Milne-Edwards’, i.e., the physiological division of labour. There is little agreement among zoologists and CD admits his own lack of clarity.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 27 [June 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 121 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1573 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Hooker, [24 June 1854] , and letter to Josiah Wedgwood III, 1 May [1854] , n. 2. Henri …
- … letter to W. D. Fox, [17 January 1850] and n. 3. [Brodie] 1854 . See letter from J. D. …
- … letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [31 July 1843] ). The view generally held by naturalists at the time, drawn from embryology, was that an advance from lower to higher organisms was an advance from the more general to the more special form (see Ospovat 1981 , pp. 216–28 and Appel 1987 , pp. 216–22). CD’s views on highness and lowness in the particular context of ranking the Cirripedia were discussed in Living Cirripedia (1854): …
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 |
From J. D. Hooker 20 April 1863
Summary
Attacks by Falconer [Athenæum 4 Apr 1863, pp. 459–60] and Joseph Prestwich on Lyell.
W. B. Carpenter fails to attack Owen.
Welwitschia male cones with useless ovules marvellous example of lost function and retained structure.
JDH evaluates his sons.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Apr 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 101: 128–31; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Director’s correspondence 174 (New Zealand letters, 1854–1900): 281–2) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4111 |
From J. D. Hooker 5 December [1854]
Summary
Bentham’s list of aberrant genera: CD’s worry that he eliminated large genera a priori is half right. He eliminated those large, anomalous genera that virtually constitute natural orders. JDH criticises CD’s tabulations of aberrants.
Difficulty of distinguishing affinity and analogy in plants.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Dec [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 388–90 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1611 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … from J. D. Hooker, [15 November 1854] , enclosing Bentham’s list, and letter to J. D. …
- … to J. D. Hooker, 15 November [1854] . See letter from J. D. …
- … points noted here in the letter to Hooker, 11 [December 1854] . CD discussed the scarcity …
- … 11 [December 1854] . The memorandum is preserved with Hooker’s letter in DAR 205.9 ( …
- … 1854] . It is not clear whether Hooker is making a literal reference to the vegetable kingdom or to CD’s work on John Lindley’s Vegetable kingdom ( Lindley 1846 ), as mentioned in letter …
- … 1854] . J. D. Hooker and Thomson 1855, introductory essay, pp. 109, 200; and pp. 43–7. See letter …
To Thomas Salt 24 December 1851
Summary
Asking Thomas Salt to inform the Executors of Captain Muckleston that he wishes to foreclose the mortgage.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Salt |
| Date: | 24 Dec 1851 |
| Classmark: | Rachel Salt (private collection); sold by Spink’s (dealers), July 2018 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1465F |
To A. A. Gould 21 July 1855
Summary
If AAG is no longer member of the Ray Society, CD would like to send copy of Living Cirripedia, vol. 2.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Augustus Addison Gould |
| Date: | 21 July 1855 |
| Classmark: | Houghton Library, Harvard University (Augustus A. Gould papers, 1831–66 MS Am 1210: 230) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1724 |
From J. D. Hooker 25 August 1854
Summary
JDH and F. W. Binney identify Calamites specimens as pith casts. They are cryptogams related to, but higher than, Lycopodiaceae and contradict progression.
Insects found in coal.
Lyell says Stonesfield slate marsupials are actually placentals.
JDH reading Alexander Braun on individuality ["Das Individuum der Pflanze in seinem Verhältniss zur Species", Abh. K. Akad. Wiss. Berlin (Phys. Kl.) (1853): 19–122].
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Aug 1854 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 384 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1581 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 June 1854] , and letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 July [1854] , …
- … Cirripedia (1854) , available for distribution in early September ( letter to T. H. …
- … Bonney 1919 , p. 6). See letter to Fanny Mackintosh Wedgwood, 18 [August 1854] . …
- … 1854 , pp. 382, 386–7). The nature of certain fossils found in the Stonesfield Oolitic beds had long been a matter of debate (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter …
- … letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 May 1847] . Binney and Hooker were preparing a paper on the fossil plants in limestone nodules found in the Lancashire coalfield (Binney and Hooker 1855 ). It was read on 14 December 1854 …
To J. D. Hooker 1 March [1854]
Summary
Thanks JDH for dedication of Himalayan journals. CD praises the work and suggests stylistic revisions.
Lyell’s remarks on lava beds in letter from Madeira are not original – they refer exclusively to Élie de Beaumont’s data.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 1 Mar [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 118 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1556 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Lyell’s letter to Leonard Horner dated January 1854 from Madeira (see letter to Charles …
- … Lyell, 18 February [1854] , n. 2, and letter from J. D. Hooker, [26 February 1854] , …
- … pp. 237–9. See letter from J. D. Hooker, [26 February 1854] . Roderick Impey Murchison …
- … 1854a , 1: 65–70. See letter from J. D. Hooker, [26 February 1854] . A favourable review …
From J. D. Hooker 19 June 1863
Summary
Has heard from Julius von Haast that some of his letters were lost before leaving New Zealand. Haast’s enclosure for CD has been forwarded.
Haast and James Hector have both sent accounts of their travels in New Zealand.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 June 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 101: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4216 |
To J. D. Hooker 1 August [1857]
Summary
Important issue at stake with new flora calculations: evidence that species are only strongly marked varieties. Planning large-scale survey.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 1 Aug [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 206, 207 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2130 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [June 1854] , and letter from J. D. …
- … 1857–8. Wollaston 1854 . Koch 1843–4 . Ledebour 1842–53 (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 …
- … 1854] . The proper dosage of chloroform had recently been the subject of discussion in various medical journals following an increase in the number of deaths resulting from its use. See letters …
To John Higgins 23 March [1854]
Summary
Discusses investments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Higgins |
| Date: | 23 Mar [1854] |
| Classmark: | Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/76) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1561 |
To J. D. Hooker 26 March [1854]
Summary
CD welcomes the prospect of the Philosophical Club of the Royal Society as means for seeing old acquaintances and making new ones. Will try to go up to London regularly.
Admits that the warning from JDH and Asa Gray (that more harm than good will come from combat over the species issue) makes him feel "deuced uncomfortable".
Reflects upon the complexity of Agassiz; how singular that a man of his eminence and immense knowledge "should write such wonderful stuff & bosh".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 Mar [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1562 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … 52, 334–50. CD’s notes about the letter, dated 26 March 1854, are in DAR 205.2: 102. They …
- … ed. 1881 , 2: 176). In his letter to Hooker, 21 February 1854 , Gray referred to the ‘ …
- … races of mankind. In his letter to Hooker of 21 February 1854 , Gray wrote: ‘I confine …
- … 1959 , pp. 233–5). The letter to which CD refers, dated 21 February 1854 (Archives, Royal …
- … gymnosperms generally, see letters from J. D. Hooker, [29 June 1854] and 25 August 1854 . …
- … pp. 39, 57). See letter from J. D. Hooker, [ c . 25 March 1854], n. 3. Henry Holland , …
- … 4, letter to J. F. Royle, [23 April – 28 May 1847] . CD was elected on 24 April 1854 and …
To John Richardson 30 December [1851]
Summary
Will send JR’s box of cirripedes on Thursday.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Richardson |
| Date: | 30 Dec [1851] |
| Classmark: | Louisiana State University Libraries, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (James E. Murdoch Papers, Mss. 667) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1466H |
Matches: 3 hits
- … referred to in Living Cirripedia (1854) and in the letter to John Richardson, 4 November [ …
- … 1851 and 1854, 30 December fell on a Tuesday only in 1851. See letter to John Richardson, …
- … letter to John Richardson, 4 November [1851] (this volume, Supplement), the days of the carrier, and Living Cirripedia (1854). …
From J. D. Hooker [29 June 1854]
Summary
JDH on "highness" of Coniferae: they are genuine Dicotyledons, not a link to cryptogams; that is a geologists’ fallacy. Thus they are highest plants in Carboniferous.
Does not agree with CD’s "elastic" species theory. Long correspondence with Lyell on this.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [29 June 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 383 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1576 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [24 June 1854] . See letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [June 1854] . …
- … ibid . , pp. 95–117). See also letter to S. P. Woodward, 6 May 1854 , n. 4. J. …
- … D. Hooker 1855 (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 July [1854] ). …
- … The Thursday after letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [June 1854] . The use of chloroform as a …
To Hugh Falconer [1845?–7 or 1857–64]
Summary
Arranges a time for visiting HF.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
| Date: | 1845-7 or 1857-64 |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 21 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2305 |
| letter | (519) |
| people | (14) |
| bibliography | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (172) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (61) |
| Lyell, Charles | (20) |
| Hancock, Albany | (16) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (15) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (510) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (112) |
| Lyell, Charles | (27) |
| Hancock, Albany | (17) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (15) |
| 1838 | (1) |
| 1844 | (2) |
| 1845 | (2) |
| 1846 | (5) |
| 1847 | (3) |
| 1848 | (14) |
| 1849 | (15) |
| 1850 | (23) |
| 1851 | (23) |
| 1852 | (13) |
| 1853 | (30) |
| 1854 | (56) |
| 1855 | (53) |
| 1856 | (36) |
| 1857 | (15) |
| 1858 | (16) |
| 1859 | (12) |
| 1860 | (19) |
| 1861 | (20) |
| 1862 | (21) |
| 1863 | (22) |
| 1864 | (20) |
| 1865 | (15) |
| 1866 | (10) |
| 1867 | (10) |
| 1868 | (13) |
| 1869 | (4) |
| 1870 | (5) |
| 1871 | (5) |
| 1872 | (5) |
| 1873 | (5) |
| 1874 | (4) |
| 1875 | (6) |
| 1876 | (4) |
| 1877 | (5) |
| 1878 | (3) |
| 1879 | (1) |
| 1880 | (1) |
| 1881 | (2) |
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Specialism | Experiment | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing …
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: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published four volumes on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Species theory In November 1845, Charles Darwin wrote to his friend and confidant Joseph …
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Summary
Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for …
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Friendship | Mentors | Class | Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific …
Editorial policy and practice
Summary
Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of the Correspondence. Transcriptions are made from the original or a facsimile where these are available. Where they are not, texts are taken from the best…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of …
Joseph Simms
Summary
The American doctor and author of works on physiognomy Joseph Simms wrote to Darwin on 14 September 1874, while he was staying in London. He enclosed a copy of his book Nature’s revelations of character (Simms 1873). He hoped it might 'prove…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The American doctor and author of works on physiognomy Joseph Simms wrote to Darwin on 14 …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children,[1] began the research that …
Barnacles
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Darwin and barnacles …
Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
Summary
The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University …
3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and …
Science, Work and Manliness
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Discussion Questions | Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels …
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and …
Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a …
