From W. D. Fox 6 January [1865]
Summary
Thanks CD for his Lythrum paper [Collected papers 2: 106–31].
Tells of the birth of his 16th child. Has five grandchildren.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 183 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4741 |
To W. D. Fox 16 [March 1863]
Summary
If WDF should hear what ram was put to the ewes, CD would like to add it [see Variation 2: 30].
Will add "cautiously" that WDF believes white and slate muscovy ducks breed true [Variation 2: 40].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 16 [Mar 1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 137) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4044 |
To W. D. Fox 23 March [1863]
Summary
Thanks WDF for authentic details of number and colour of lambs [Variation 2: 30].
Complains of his eczema.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 23 Mar [1863] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.292) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4057 |
To W. D. Fox 12 May [1862]
Summary
Asks if WDF has ever crossed wild and common turkeys. Would like to quote his authority [see Variation 1: 292].
Also curious whether WDF has known the so-called japanned peacock to appear from common peacock [Variation 1: 290].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 12 May [1862] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 132) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3544 |
To W. D. Fox [9–12 August] 1835
Summary
Expresses envy for WDF’s life as a clergyman.
Outlines homeward voyage; tells of his hope of seeing active volcanoes and Tertiary strata in Galapagos. Recommends geology to Fox. Discusses Lyell’s views; CD has become "a zealous disciple".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [9–12 Aug] 1835 |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 47a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-282 |
To W. D. Fox 15 March [1856]
Summary
Believes WDF’s case of mongrel Scotch deerhound is very valuable for him.
Mentions his work on pigeons and chickens.
Fears sometimes he will break down: "My subject gets bigger and bigger".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 15 Mar [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 97) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1843 |
To W. D. Fox 28 August [1837]
Summary
Proof-sheets [of Journal of researches] are tumbling in. Mentions future plans for Zoology and geological works. Has £1000 from Government for illustrations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 28 Aug [1837] |
| Classmark: | University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Pearce/Darwin Fox collection RBSC-ARC-1721-1-76) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-374 |
To W. D. Fox 9 March [1863]
Summary
Has quoted WDF on crossing white and slate muscovy ducks [Variation 2: 40]. When not crossed, do these breed true?
Will also quote him on Mr Woodd’s white ewes that produced black lambs by a ram with only black spots [Variation 2: 30].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 9 Mar [1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 138) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4033 |
To W. D. Fox 14 February 1878
Summary
CD and Frank Darwin hard at work on physiology of plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 14 Feb 1878 |
| Classmark: | University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Pearce/Darwin Fox collection RBSC-ARC-1721-1-74) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11358 |
To W. D. Fox 12 September [1862]
Summary
WDF’s information on turkeys will be useful when CD resumes his half-finished volume [see Variation 1: 292].
Illness in the family.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 12 Sept [1862] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 134) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3717 |
To W. D. Fox 23 September [1859]
Summary
His book [Origin] is nearly done. Is not so silly as to expect to convert WDF. Lyell is wavering; Hooker has come round.
Family news.
Asks WDF to find out if a cross between differently coloured horses produces a dun.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 23 Sept [1859] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 122) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2493 |
To W. D. Fox [17 May 1862]
Summary
Thanks WDF for interesting letter about turkeys. Would be grateful for information on fertility of the hybrids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [17 May 1862] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 133) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3555 |
To W. D. Fox 14 May [1868]
Summary
WDF’s letter gives CD the kind of facts he wants. His story about peacocks is so good that CD will quote it [Descent 2: 46].
Pleased WDF approves of his book [Variation]
– "beloved Pangenesis disagrees badly with many".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 14 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 148b) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6172 |
To W. D. Fox 14 October [1855]
Summary
CD now has a sufficiently large collection of [skeletons of] chickens to be able to tell how far the young differ proportionally from the old.
He goes on accumulating facts; what he will do with them "remains to be seen".
Attended Glasgow BAAS meeting. "Duke of Argyll spoke excellently" [Rep. BAAS (1855): lxiii–lxxxvi].
Lists his pigeon collection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 14 Oct [1855] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 96) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1766 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … enthusiast. See Correspondence vol. 1, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 [June 1828] , n. 3. …
- … letter to W. D. Fox, 22 August [1855] , n. 1. Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton’ s estate at Oulton Park, Cheshire, was close to Fox’s home. Both Egerton and CD were ordinary members of the council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and had met at the recent meeting in Glasgow. George Douglas Campbell , Duke of Argyll, president of the British Association, 1854–5. In the president’s address, delivered on 12 …
To W. D. Fox 25–6 October [1865]
Summary
Bad health during last six months has prevented scientific work.
News of family.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 25–6 Oct [1865] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 146) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4924 |
To W. D. Fox 23 May [1863]
Summary
Health has been poor but eczema is improved.
A "squib" about Owen and Huxley on the brain has appeared in Public Opinion [3 (1863): 497–8].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 23 May [1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 139) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4181 |
To W. D. Fox 20 [September 1862]
Summary
Would like to go to Cambridge [for BAAS meeting]. Reminisces about his student days.
Pleased that WDF likes his book [Orchids]. At one time CD agreed with Lyell that he was an ass to publish it.
Working on dimorphism and sensibility of other plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 20 [Sept 1862] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 135) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3732 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … first week of October. See also letter to W. D. Fox, 12 September [1862] . CD and Fox …
- … letter to John Murray, 22 December [1859] ). CD had been working on the manuscript intermittently since January 1860, and had reached chapter eight on ‘Silk-worms Geese &c’ by the summer of 1862 (see Correspondence vols. 8–10, ‘Journal’ ( Correspondence , vol. 10, Appendix II)). Fox had two married daughters: Eliza Anne Sanders gave birth to her first child, Charles Henry Martyn Sanders , on 21 March 1862 ( Gentleman’s Magazine n.s. 12 ( …
To W. D. Fox 12 December [1868]
Summary
Thanks WDF for information about sheep and cattle.
Mentions corrections for new edition of Origin [5th ed. (1869)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 12 Dec [1868] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.357) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6500 |
To W. D. Fox [9 May 1830]
Summary
Very sorry WDF was obliged to go to Cheltenham with his parents instead of coming to Cambridge, for the weather is fine, the beetles numerous. Adds news of friends and facts about his collection of insects.
Thinks of reading divinity with Henslow the summer after next.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [9 May 1830] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 29) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-80 |
From W. D. Fox 29 October [1868]
Summary
Thanks CD for a recent letter.
Reports on his health, which has been bad for 12 months.
Sends extracts of works on domestication.
Discusses the pairing of various birds; comments on the pugnacity of partridges, pheasants, male guinea-fowl, and peacocks.
Gives proportions of sexes in pheasants.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Oct [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 189; DAR 193: 112; DAR 83: 187, DAR 84.1: 128–30, DAR 86: A87–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6436 |
| letter | (35) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Fox, W. D. | (4) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
| Fox, W. D. | (31) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (4) |
Lost in translation: From Auguste Forel, 12 November 1874
Summary
You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections on your favourite topic—ants. If only you had paid attention when your mother tried to teach you English you might be able to read it. But you didn’t, and you…
Matches: 1 hits
- … You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 1 hits
- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts of …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more …
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: 1 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
German and Dutch photograph albums
Summary
Darwin Day 2018: To celebrate Darwin's 209th birthday, we present two lavishly produced albums of portrait photographs which Darwin received from continental admirers 141 years ago. These unusual gifts from Germany and the Netherlands are made…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1877, Charles Darwin was sent some unusual birthday presents: two lavishly …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I am merely slaving over the sickening work of preparing new Editions …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
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: 1 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
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,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have …
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 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
