To Alphonse de Candolle 11 December 1872
Summary
Thanks AdeC for great pleasure his new book [Histoire des sciences (1873)] has given him. Comments on several of the essays.
When AdeC backs up Asa Gray in saying all instincts are congenital habits, CD must protest.
Asks several questions about butterflies of the Alps discussed on p. 322 [of Histoire].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alphonse de Candolle |
Date: | 11 Dec 1872 |
Classmark: | Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8672 |
To Alphonse de Candolle 2 November [1872]
Summary
Thanks for AdeC’s Histoire des sciences [1873].
Sends a copy of Expression.
His health keeps him weak; he dreads grappling with the fearful subject of variation [in nature]
so he is working up some observations in botanical physiology to publish with his old papers on climbing plants.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alphonse de Candolle |
Date: | 2 Nov [1872] |
Classmark: | Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8593 |
To J. D. Hooker 5 January [1873]
Summary
Asks whether his observations on absorptive powers of glandular hairs of plants are new facts.
Asks for a Drosophyllum.
Comments on Francis Galton’s article in Fraser’s Magazine,
Greg’s Enigmas,
and Alphonse de Candolle’s Histoire des sciences.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 5 Jan [1873] |
Classmark: | DAR 94: 243–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8726 |
To J. V. Carus 11 November [1872]
Summary
Reports on very successful sale of Expression in England. Suggests German publisher keep the type set up in case more than the expected 3000 copies are needed.
Has begun work on some old botanical observations [of Drosera for Insectivorous plants].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
Date: | 11 Nov [1872] |
Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 98–99) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8618 |
To Francis Galton 4 January [1873]
Summary
Comments on FG’s article ["Hereditary improvement", Fraser’s Mag. 87 (1873): 116–30]. Finds it "the sole feasible, yet I fear utopian, plan of procedure in improving the human race".
Thanks for rabbits for Balfour.
Mentions reading W. R. Greg’s Enigmas [of life (1872)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Galton |
Date: | 4 Jan [1873] |
Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/14) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8724 |
To Gaston de Saporta 30 May 1874
Summary
Thanks GdeS for his "Études sur la végétation" [Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 5th ser. 15 (1872): 277–315]. "Nothing can be more important … than your evidence of the extremely slow and gradual manner in which specific forms change."
Hopes GdeS will shed light on whether polymorphic forms like Rubus and Hieracium are generating new species at present; CD doubts this.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Louis Charles Joseph Gaston (Gaston) de Saporta, comte de Saporta |
Date: | 30 May 1874 |
Classmark: | Archives Gaston de Saporta (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9476 |
To Robert Smith 27 February [1873]
Summary
CD answers a question about the attitude of foreign naturalists towards Darwinism by distinguishing between the belief in evolution and belief in natural selection. Gives the views of [Louis] Agassiz, [R. A.] Kölliker, [C. W.] Nägeli, [Ernst] Häckel, [C. F. W.] Claus, [F. J.] Cohn, Alphonse de Candolle, [J. L.] Claparède, Asa Gray, Gaston de Saporta, [E. D.] Cope, and [Carl] Gegenbaur.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Robert Smith |
Date: | 27 Feb [1873] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 138 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8790F |
To ? 18 July [1873?]
Summary
Comments on ability of recipient to move his scalp.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Unidentified |
Date: | 18 July [1873?] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.430) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8982 |
letter | (8) |
Candolle, Alphonse de | (2) |
Carus, J. V. | (1) |
Galton, Francis | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Saporta, Gaston de | (1) |
Candolle, Alphonse de | (2) |
Carus, J. V. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
Galton, Francis | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Saporta, Gaston de | (1) |
Smith, Robert | (1) |
Unidentified | (1) |