To Charles Lyell 27 and 28 April [1860]
Summary
Thanks CL for loan of paper by J. S. Newberry ["Notes on the ancient vegetation of N. America", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 208–18].
Mentions reviews of the Origin.
Discusses evolution of the domestic dog, especially with respect to the views of Owen, Pallas, and Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.
Mentions W. B. Carpenter’s views on taxonomy.
Discusses hybridisation of plants and animals.
Comments on progress in human evolution.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 27 and 28 Apr 1860 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.209) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2771 |
To Daniel Sharpe 23 August [1848?]
Summary
Thanks for note.
Glad DS sticks to cleavage and foliation question. Bernhard Studer one of few to take correct view on subject.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Daniel Sharpe |
| Date: | 23 Aug [1848?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 47 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-991 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … London: Palaeontographical Society. 1854. ML : More letters of Charles Darwin: a record of …
- … letter makes 1848 more probable. The reference to Sharpe continuing to work on cleavage and foliation indicates that time had passed since his first paper (Sharpe 1847, read 2 December 1846). Sharpe supplied CD with fossil cirripedes he had found in Tertiary beds near Lisbon ( Fossil Cirripedia (1854): …
To Williams & Norgate 16 February [1861]
Summary
Wishing to purchase a copy of Ferguson’s illustrated series of rare and prize poultry, including comprehensive essays upon all classes of domestic fowl (Ferguson 1854).
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Williams & Norgate |
| Date: | 16 Feb [1861] |
| Classmark: | RR Auction (dealers) (14 June 2018, Lot 30) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3062F |
To Francis Galton 28 May 1873
Summary
Comments about questionnaire CD completed for FG [for Galton’s English men of science (1874)].
Describes his early interest in collecting and his education.
Asks about determining the mean heights of two groups of men.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Galton |
| Date: | 28 May 1873 |
| Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/15); Pearson 1914–30, 2: 178 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8924 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … and n. 3; Correspondence vol. 5, letter to John Higgins, 18 March [1854] and n. 1. …
- … letter to Nature from G. H. Darwin, 4 October [1873]). Living Cirripedia (1851) and (1854), …
- … 1854). Robert Waring Darwin’s fortune depended on both his successful medical practice and the money he acquired by making loans, some of which were inherited by CD. See Correspondence vol. 3, letter …
To Albany Hancock 29 January [1853]
Summary
Discusses Alcippe. Asks to borrow specimens. Would like to hire fishermen to collect specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albany Hancock |
| Date: | 29 Jan [1853] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1498 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … to them. See Living Cirripedia (1854): 555. See letter to Albany Hancock, 10 February [ …
- … letter to Albany Hancock, [21 September 1849] ). Because of this belief he had deferred examining Alcippe until he was finished with the common cirripedes. For a discussion of their differences, see Living Cirripedia (1854): …
To J. A. H. de Bosquet 24 December 1853
Summary
Comments on MS of JAHdeB’s work ["Crustacés fossiles du Limbourg" (1854)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Augustin Hubert de Bosquet |
| Date: | 24 Dec 1853 |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 129 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1543 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … du Genre Verruca. ’ ( Bosquet 1854 , p. 13 n. ). See letter to J. A. H. de Bosquet, 18 …
- … manuscript of Bosquet 1854 . See Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 10. See letter to J. A. H. …
- … letter as a result of a piece having been torn off. A misreading by the copyist of ‘tergum’. Probably a misreading of ‘specierum’ by the copyist. CD did include descriptions of Bosquet’s new species in the ‘Synopsis et index systematicus specierum’ of Living Cirripedia (1854): …
To Edwin Lankester, Ray Society 19 March [1853]
Summary
Objects to early deadline for submitting manuscript [of Living Cirripedia 2 (1854)]. Discusses illustrations by G. B. Sowerby [Jr].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edwin Lankester; Ray Society |
| Date: | 19 Mar [1853] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.104) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1507 |
To Albany Hancock 25 December [1852]
Summary
Discusses capacity of some cirripedes to bore into rock.
Mentions Alcippe specimens borrowed from AH.
Relation of sexes in Ibla and Scalpellum.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albany Hancock |
| Date: | 25 Dec [1852] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1495 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Cirripedia (1854): 512–18, CD repeated the arguments he had given in this letter and …
- … Cirripedia (1854): 314. Hancock apparently gave a cautionary reply (see CD’s letter to …
- … 1854): 514). CD had requested specimens of the new genus of Cirripedia that Hancock had discovered in 1849 (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter …
To Syms Covington 28 February 1855
Summary
Pleased to hear that SC is prospering.
News of FitzRoy, Sulivan and J. L. Stokes.
The Crimean War is badly mismanaged, but Englishmen are behaving nobly.
Wishes he knew what to do with his boys.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Syms Covington |
| Date: | 28 Feb 1855 |
| Classmark: | Sydney Mail, 9 August 1884, pp. 254–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1637 |
To Armand de Quatrefages 4 January [1856]
Summary
The information correspondent hopes to get from M.-J.-P. Flourens will be valuable.
CD is keeping all varieties of pigeons, poultry, ducks, etc. for his work on variation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Jean Louis Armand (Armand de Quatrefages) Quatrefages de Bréau |
| Date: | 4 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.144) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2036 |
To W. E. Darwin 22 February [1863 or later]
Summary
Seeks investment advice.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Feb [1863 or later] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 131 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13799 |
To C. C. Babington 1 February [1862]
Summary
Thanks for seeds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Cardale Babington |
| Date: | 1 Feb [1862] |
| Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (MS Add.8182: 23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3432 |
To J. A. H. de Bosquet 13 October [1853]
Summary
Discusses publication of Fossil Cirripedia.
Comments on paper by JAHdeB ["Les crustacés fossiles du terrain Crétacé du Limbourg", Verh. Uitg. Comm. Geol. Beschrijving & Kaart Ned. 2 (1854): 11–137].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Augustin Hubert de Bosquet |
| Date: | 13 Oct [1853] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 128 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1537 |
To ? 31 December [1852–3]
Summary
Responds to correspondent’s request for information about shells from the Coquimbo beds in Chile. Difficulty in deciding on age of deposits and species. Notes views of Alcide d’Orbigny.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 31 Dec [1852-3] |
| Classmark: | Houghton Library, Harvard University (Autograph File, D) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13872 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … that CD wrote the letter before publishing Living Cirripedia (1854) , to which he does not …
- … 1854): 227–8. Balanus coquimbensis is a synonym of B. laevis subsp. coquimbensis . Alcide Charles Victor Dessalines d’Orbigny had also examined CD’s South American fossil shells ( South America , p. iv). See Correspondence vol. 3. See Correspondence vol. 3, letter …
To Ernst Haeckel 21 November [1864]
Summary
Sends Living Cirripedia [vol. 2].
Has employed translator for Fritz Müller’s book [Für Darwin (1864)].
Thanks for paper and speech.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Date: | 21 Nov [1864] |
| Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A–Abt. 1: 1–52/6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4676 |
From Francis Galton to Charles John Andersson [after 22 February 1855]
Summary
Sends on CD’s list of enquiries about native breeds of animals in South Africa.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles John (Carl Johann) Andersson |
| Date: | [after 22 Feb 1855] |
| Classmark: | National Library of South Africa, Cape Town |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554G |
To John Murray 15 October [1859]
Summary
Discusses presentation copies [of the Origin].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 15 Oct [1859] |
| Classmark: | DAR R 143 (with R. F. Cooke correspondence) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2506 |
From Bartholomew James Sulivan 2 February [1855]
Summary
The only mainland vegetation he saw on Falkland Island shores were trees. Remembers no strange birds there, but on journey home saw a woodcock more than 500 miles from the nearest land.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Feb [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 251 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1551 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … organisms with other correspondents during the winter of 1854–5. See also letter to J. S. …
- … 1854] . The Darwin family took a house at 27 York Place, Baker Street, from 18 January to 15 February (‘Journal’; Correspondence vol 5, Appendix I). According to Henrietta Litchfield, ‘there was a bitter frost almost all the time. Neither my father nor my mother were well, and they did not much enjoy their stay. ’ ( Emma Darwin (1915) 2: 156). See also letter …
To Syms Covington 23 November 1850
Summary
Thanks SC for box of specimens [of cirripedes].
Often wishes he had settled in one of the colonies because of opportunities for his children.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Syms Covington |
| Date: | 23 Nov 1850 |
| Classmark: | Sydney Mail, 9 August 1884, p. 254 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1370 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Bay in Melbourne. It was completed in 1854. This letter was published by Gavin de Beer in …
- … letter to Syms Covington, 30 March 1849 , in which CD asked him to send Australian cirripedes. CD referred to four of Covington’s specimens in Living Cirripedia (1854): …
- … 1854): 487–91. John Clement Wickham, first lieutenant and CD’s shipmate aboard H.M.S. Beagle . William Sharp Macleay . When Covington left for Australia, CD had written a letter …
From J. D. Hooker [3 November 1854]
Summary
JDH’s contempt for R. I. Murchison.
There is a Cyperus species and a Pteris species endemic to hot volcanoes of Ischia. Why are there no other migrators?
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [3 Nov 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 214–15 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1629 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … of CD’s query, see letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 11 November 1854 , n. 2. J. D. Hooker …
- … the same topic (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 November 1854] ). A note in DAR 114.4: …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 November 1844 , n. 2). CD had been elected a fellow on 7 March 1854 …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [8 July 1855] (see L. Huxley ed. 1918, 1: 446–7). Franz Unger , botanist and palaeobotanist. Murchison 1854 . …
| 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 …
