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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: 16 hits

… mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A vicious dispute over an anonymous …
… von Humboldt’s 105th birthday, Darwin obliged with a reflection on his debt to Humboldt, whom he had …
… one of the greatest men the world has ever produced. He gave a wonderful impetus to science by …
… pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
… And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
… was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
… inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
… world. While Darwin was in London, his son George organised a séance at Erasmus’s house. The event …
… in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
… William Henry Myers, and Thomas Henry Huxley, who sent a long report to Darwin with the spirit …
… his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874 …
… Coral reefs His son Horace had suggested a new edition of the coral book in December 1873, …
… Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
… Descent was published in November 1874 ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 ). Though …
… on subsequent print runs would be very good ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 ). …
… Sharpe for promotion at the British Museum ( letter to R. B. Sharpe, 24 November [1874] ). He …

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: 16 hits

… [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
… on the Dog with illustrations of about 100 varieties [?C. H. Smith 1839–40] 24 Flourens …
… to be Poor Sir. J. Edwards Botanical Tour [?J. E. Smith 1793] Fabricius (very old) has …
… of Soul. amongst Ancients [Toland 1704] Adam Smith Moral Sentiments [A. Smith 1759] …
… on Aurochs [Weissenborn 1838] Smiths grammar [J. E. Smith 1821] & introduct of Botany [J. …
… 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34 —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
… ed. 1834] read Vol. (2 d ) on Dogs [C. H. Smith 1839–40] /on Ruminants [Jardine ed. 1835–6] …
… M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
… Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
… [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
… of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
… ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55 The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
… eds.] 119: 11a Blacklock, Ambrose. 1838. A treatise on sheep; with the best means …
… ——. 1840. An encyclopædia of rural sports; or, a complete account, historical, practical, …
… 1844. Algeria, past and present. Containing a description of the country … with a review of …
… Artaud. 2 vols. Metz. 128: 24 ——. 1807. A short system of comparative anatomy . …

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: 18 hits

… Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of On the origin of …
… his cousin William Darwin Fox, ‘My work will have to stop a bit for I must prepare a new edit. of …
… views on all points will have to be modified.— Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( …
… Darwin’s most substantial addition to Origin was a response to a critique of natural selection …
… of species. Darwin correctly assessed Nägeli’s theory as a major challenge requiring a thorough and …
… morphological features (Nägeli 1865, p. 29). Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now missing) …
… made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
… than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
… is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
… tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
… a very long period before the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] …
… data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
… I d have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
… completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
… & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). More …
… and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and …
… an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
… Sweetland Dallas’s edition of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an …

Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications

Summary

This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…

Matches: 8 hits

… , pp. 2-15. F1.] —Geological notes made during a survey of the east and west coasts of …
… publications , pp. 50-91. F1653.] —Note on a rock seen on an iceberg in 61° south latitude …
… Shorter publications , pp. 95-6. F1652.] —On a remarkable bar of sandstone off Pernambuco, …
… F1660.] —Remarks on the preceding paper, in a letter from Charles Darwin, Esq., to Mr. …
… 127-8. —On the transportal of erratic boulders from a lower to a higher level. Proceedings …
… F1677.] —Geology. Section VI, pp. 156-95, in A manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for …
… to make rectilinear, uniformly-directed grooves across a submarine undulatory surface. …
… two letters: on glacial drift. In Prehistoric Europe: a geologic sketch , edited by James Geikie, …

Who we were

Summary

Many people have contributed to the Darwin Correspondence Project since it was first founded in 1974. Some names are now lost to us, and we would appreciate hearing from anyone who has contributed in the past and is not listed here. The final staff of…

Matches: 11 hits

… Prize of the History of Science Society, and he has edited a selection of Darwin’s evolutionary …
… the Project in 1996. Her background is in history, with a BA from Oxford, and a PhD from Cambridge. …
… (Research Assistant and Associate Editor) Rosy has a degree in Greek and Latin and is a trained …
… editors. She is the author of Darwin and women: a selection of letters . Ms Amparo …
… all aspects of both print and online production. She has a particular responsibility for the …
… he is the author of Surgeons, Manufacturers and Patients: A transatlantic history of hip …
… (Oxford World's Classics, 2016), and is completing a book to be published by the University of …
… Project Canada. She originally joined the Darwin Project as a research assistant before taking on …
… of Learning) Sally worked with teachers and pupils at a range of primary and secondary schools …
… and inspired when teaching evolution. She co-developed a series of website interactives entitled …
… talking to adults who are were simply curious. Sally has a background in the heritage sector and in …

3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos

Summary

< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…

Matches: 23 hits

… photograph him at Down. He would be ‘happy to give [them] a sitting & aid in any way’, but he …
… several times with M r Rejlander, who was assisting me on a scientific subject, &, who took …
… that Darwin agreed to be photographed by Rejlander as a way of compensating him for the relatively …
… also to have photographed Darwin’s relatives on request. A family album of ‘cartes de visite’ now in …
… compositions such as The two ways of life (1857), a photograph assembled from a large number of …
… or ‘composition-photography’, and justified it as a way of enabling the photographer to manipulate …
… in his portrait photographs sometimes seem to be ‘acting a part’. For example, Rejlander showed …
… However, if the photographer had any plans for purveying a fanciful or dramatised portrayal of …
… first week of April 1871, and may have posed in his studio, a few months before the photographer …
… Elliott and Fry. The camera was shaded by canopies, forming a dark tunnel, while the sitter was …
… of Rejlander’s photographs. In this way they communicate a sense of Darwin’s commanding intellect …
… family, and were evidently not approved for general sale. A similar but more distanced knee-length …
… and ornithologist Henry Eeles Dresser. However, it was a fourth photograph, showing just Darwin’s …
… to cameos and medallions. Its endless replication is a striking instance of the dispersal of popular …
… On 11 November 1871, Rejlander sent Darwin ‘a bundle of cards’, which were probably ‘carte de visite …
… one.’ This was the profile view, which was translated into a vignette drawing, and then wood …
… re-interpreted in vignette form by Charles Henry Jeens as a steel engraving, which was published in …
… Life and Letters ; Jeens’s image in turn was copied as a wood-engraved illustration in Sarah Bolton …
… an obituary article in the same journal in April 1882. A coarser wood engraved version adorned …
… Universelle de Paris, about 6 May 1882 . It even became a lantern slide – the first image in a …
… O.G. Rejlander, An Apology for Art-Photography, read at a Meeting of the South London Photographic …
… of Manchester, English MS 1404, pp. 52–3, with a letter to Dresser from Darwin, dated 10 Sept. 1875 …
… (22 Jan. 1887), accompanying a laudatory article by Revd R.A. Armstrong. Francis Darwin’s catalogue …

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: 14 hits

… | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of …
… and the construction of theory. Darwin was not simply a gentleman naturalist and broad theorist. He …
… laboratory methods and equipment. Darwin used letters as a speculative space, trying out theories …
… and Detail Darwin is usually thought of as a gentleman naturalist and a scientific …
… with detailed correspondence about barnacles. Letter 1514 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. …
… [ Living Cirripedia , vol. 1] which has been published for a year with no notice taken of it, …
… on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. H …
… in domestic settings. Darwin used his house and garden as a site of experiment, often studying …
… and difficulties of botanical experimentation. Letter 4895 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J …
… on Anelasma which he thinks seems probable. Letter 5173 — Müller, J. F. T. to …
… Letter 5480 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr 1867 Müller cites cases of difference …
… Copepoden [1863]. Letter 5551 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 26 May [1867] …
… This collection of letters between Darwin and a variety of correspondents shows his perspective on …
… off a young naturalist with tools, he recommends him to Smith & Beck of 6 Colman St. City for a …

Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life

Summary

1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…

Matches: 23 hits

… ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
… and cosseting regarding the ailments that were so much a feature of Darwin family life. But the calm …
… by anxiety and deep grief. In May, William Darwin suffered a serious concussion from a riding …
… Cross and self fertilisation , that the family suffered a devastating loss. The Darwins must have …
… expected in September. Their joy at the safe delivery of a healthy boy was soon replaced by anguish …
… death. For once, the labour of checking proofs proved a blessing, as Darwin sought solace for the …
… his anxiety about Francis. By the end of the year there was a different order at Down House with …
… Year's resolutions Darwin began the year by making a resolution. He would in future …
… quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
… Origin for the very last time, and made minor changes to a reprint of the second edition of …
… voyage, Volcanic islands and South America , in a new single-volume edition titled …
… was nevertheless ‘firmly resolved not even to look at a single proof ’. Perhaps Carus’s meticulous …
… & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
… provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
… Autobiography’ (‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). During a two-week holiday after finishing Cross and self …
… nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
… him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
… disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
… must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
… her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
… on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
… sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
… to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …

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: 22 hits

… chlorophyll by examining thin slices of plant tissue under a microscope. When not experimenting, he …
… more weak than usual. To Lawson Tait, he remarked, ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly …
… early April, he was being carried upstairs with the aid of a special chair. The end came on 19 April …
… 1881. But some of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater …
… fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
… the nature of their contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. …
… François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
… up the results on Brazilian cane, with Darwin providing a detailed outline: ‘I had no intention to …
… quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
… probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
… we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
… of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
… find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
… It proved to be very popular, with reviews appearing in a wide range of journals and newspapers (see …
… indeed more than complimentary.’ ‘If the Reviewer is a young man & a worker in any branch of …
… sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
… leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
… on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
… light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
… cleverer sort of young London Doctors such as Brunton or Pye Smith to put himself in communication …
… where he had witnessed an earthquake in 1835 ( letter from R. E. Alison, [March–July 1835 ]). …
… will be months before I am able to work’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To …

Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'

Summary

The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…

Matches: 19 hits

… activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as …
… By the end of 1843 he had also completed the writing of a book on the volcanic islands visited …
… was born. In September 1842, the family, now increased by a daughter, Anne Elizabeth, moved to Down …
… he had come to desire so whole-heartedly. Towards a species theory Viewed …
… and their origin. By the middle of March 1837, apparently as a result of thinking about the …
… Herbert 1980, p. 12; Sulloway 1982b). Using transmutation as a working hypothesis he immediately set …
… he filled several notebooks with observations and ideas on a wide range of topics. Then, in …
… his species theory, the so-called 'pencil sketch', based on a principle that he called …
… was published, but the general outline of 1842 is, to a surprising degree, present in the version …
… Beagle . Also in November 1837, Darwin read the fourth of a series of papers to the Geological …
… and living members of the sub-class Cirripedia (see S. Smith 1968). The Beagle specimens …
… letters have suffered an even more severe loss. In a letter to Lyell’s sister-in-law, Katharine …
… of fact . . . on the origin & variation of species” ( Letter to J. S. Henslow, [November 1839] …
… that he had a sound solution to what J. F. W. Herschel in a letter to Lyell had called the ‘mystery …
… about searching for evidence to support his hypothesis. In a letter to Lyell, [14] September [1838 …
… just the same, though I know what I am looking for' ( Letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [26 July …
… there were no doubts as to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [ c. February 1839] …
… for several months (See Correspondence vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 , …
… notebook). See also Allan 1977, pp. 128–30). The letter, on ‘Double flowers’ to the …

Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network

Summary

The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…

Matches: 17 hits

… varieties. In contrast to the received image of Darwin as a recluse in Down, the letters show him to …
… came to stay; and, with his father’s advice, Darwin began a series of judicious financial …
… and extensively revised his Journal of researches for a second edition in 1845, having already …
… 1844 and remaining on the council from 1845 onwards; he was a conscientious member of the Royal …
… Government grant was exhausted ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter to A. Y. Spearman, 9 October 1843, …
… 1200 letters between the two men survive, fully documenting a life-long friendship. …
… & plants & on the question of what are species; I have a grand body of facts & I think I …
… stocks. I know how much I open myself, to reproach, for such a conclusion, but I have at least …
… in the year both Jenyns and Hooker were invited to read a manuscript essay on his species theory …
… it was not until the beginning of 1847 that Hooker was given a fair copy of the essay of 1844 to …
… Darwin himself: as he told his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt …
… Natural selection Perhaps the most interesting letter relating to Darwin’s species theory, …
… would be published in the event of his death and stipulated a sum of money to be bequeathed, …
… that Hooker was by far the best man for the task and added a note on the cover to that effect. …
… Emma may, perhaps, as some scholars have thought, indicate a reluctance to take the responsibility …
… Darwin not only used his personal notes and records but, by letter, marshalled the resources of …
… of the laws of creation, Geographical Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) …

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: 22 hits

… Origin of species , it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. …
… Darwin’s study of cirripedes, far from being merely a dry, taxonomic exercise, was a highly …
… most recent methods available, Darwin was able to provide a thorough taxonomic study that has …
… interest in invertebrate zoology stemmed from his years as a student in Edinburgh and, in particular …
… Beagle voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm in a letter to William Darwin Fox, 23 May …
… well prepared to appreciate the unusual nature of a cirripede he collected during the Beagle …
… curious’ minute cirripedes buried within the shell of a gastropod mollusc. In the zoological notes …
… formed by this animal.—’ (DAR 31.2: 305). He gave a detailed description and tentatively identified …
… 1835 the presence of larval stages of cirripedes was still a matter of dispute among naturalists. …
… larvae into adult barnacles, reinforced (and reinterpreted) a few years later by Karl Hermann Konrad …
… to mid-nineteenth century naturalists that a revaluation of the group, based on a systematic and …
… emphasis upon analogy and affinity in arranging groups (S. Smith 1965; Ospovat 1981, p. 108). Darwin …
… 1852) or elevating it to a separate class altogether (R. Owen 1855). Milne-Edwards and Owen also …
… as a distinct class between the Crustacea and the Annelida (R. Owen 1855).^7^ Darwin, however, with …
… was challenged in 1859 by August Krohn. As he admitted in a letter to Charles Lyell, 28 September …
… (as Darwin called it in his Autobiography and in his letter to Lyell), was more than a matter of …
… Toward the end of his study of Balanus , in a letter to Hooker on 25 September [1853] ( …
… latter instrument suited his purposes well; he reported in a letter to Richard Owen, 26 March 1848 …
… and mounting his specimens is well demonstrated by a letter he wrote to Charles Spence Bate, 13 …
… Informing Darwin about the award ( Correspondence vol. 5, letter from J. D. Hooker, [4 November …
… it was empirically invalid ( Calendar nos. 2118 and 2119, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 July [1857] …
… ^9^ CD discussed his conception of archetype in a letter to Huxley, 23 April [1853] ( …

Darwin’s student booklist

Summary

In October 1825 Charles Darwin and his older brother, Erasmus, went to study medicine in Edinburgh, where their father, Robert Waring Darwin, had trained as a doctor in the 1780’s. Erasmus had already graduated from Cambridge and was continuing his studies…

Matches: 18 hits

… where their father, Robert Waring Darwin, had trained as a doctor in the 1780’s. Erasmus had already …
… congenial. In October 1826 Charles returned to Edinburgh for a second year, this time without …
… at Edinburgh, and saw two very bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they were …
… days of chloroform. The two cases fairly haunted me for many a long year. ( Autobiography …
… and in January 1828 he went up to Cambridge to read for a degree that would enable him to be …
… to date precisely. Darwin mentions reading Granby in a letter to his sister dated 29 January …
… having returned to Edinburgh in the autumn of 1826, he made a list of some books he had been reading …
… in 1825. Some of the books are suitable reading for a medical student: John Abernethy was a …
… close connections of Edinburgh’s intellectual community. A translation of the principal geological …
… History Society of Edinburgh. Hugh Blair, although not a scientist, first gave his lectures on …
… in 1759, and in 1760 the University of Edinburgh created a professorship of rhetoric for him, the …
… as well as two books of arctic exploration there is also a book of arctic zoology. Two titles …
… was written by Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, a doctor at Lichfield; Anna Seward wrote a …
… in 1804. On rereading this work in 1879 Darwin judged it ‘a wretched production’ (letter to Ernst …
… to be published in English. The Rambler was a magazine of essays, many of a philosophical …
… fare. Henry Kirke White (1785–1806) died aged 21 while a student at Cambridge: his verse became …
… CD described Lister 1826 as an ‘entertaining book’ (see letter to S. E. Darwin, 29 January [1826] …
… (1750–2). A periodical by Samuel Johnson. 20 Smith 1826. 21 Clarke 1810–23. …

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: 16 hits

… handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller, 22 February …
… Correspondence about Darwin’s Questionnaire (click on the letter dates to see the individual letters …
… Correspondent Letter date Location …
… Africa)? ] mentioned in JPM Weale letter, but Bowker's answers not found …
… Woolston, Southampton, England letter to W.E. Darwin shrugging …
… Square W London, England enclosed in a letter from Henry Maudsley …
… South Africa possibly included in letter from Mansel Weale …
… Peradeniya, Ceylon enclosed in letter from G.H.K. Thwaites …
… Egypt] possibly included in letter(s) from Asa Gray Nile …
… Lake Wellington, Australia letter to F.J.H. von Mueller nodding, …
… Abbey Place, London, England letter to Emma Darwin baby expression …
… Penmaenmawr, Conway, Wales letter to Emma Darwin infant daughter …
… Square W, London, England Enclosed letter from Dr. C. Browne …
… W., London, England enclosed in letter from W. W. Reade Hottentots …
… England (about Australia) encloses letter from Austrialian friend, letter not …
… forwarded by Smyth; Wilson sent letter to Ferdinand von Mueller Victoria Aborigines …

The "wicked book": Origin at 157

Summary

Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 November 1859. To celebrate we have uploaded hundreds of new images of letters, bringing the total number you can look at here to over 9000 representing more than…

Matches: 4 hits

… Wallace are after Origin ’s appearance, but there is a fascinating scrap from 1857 comparing …
… for him; his cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood wrote about a violent shower of fish , but also about …
… Innes , vicar of the Darwins’ parish of Down in Kent, and a lifelong friend of both Charles and …
… James Sulivan , Lieutenant on HMS Beagle , sent a cross-section of fossil-bearing strata …

Cross and self fertilisation

Summary

The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…

Matches: 20 hits

… kingdom , published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide …
… to the American botanist Asa Gray, ‘I have just begun a large course of experiments on the …
… ( To Édouard Bornet, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin began a series of experiments, reporting back to …
… ( To Edouard Bornet, 20 August [1867] ). It was only after a new season of experiments that Darwin …
… unnoticed, had it existed in all individuals of such a common garden plant. Perhaps in the case of …
… of these seeds to Müller, hoping that he would ‘raise a plant, cover it with a net, & observe …
… generations. In June 1869, Müller remarked, on receiving a new batch of seeds from Darwin, ‘that it …
… plants’ ( To Fritz Müller, 12 May 1870 ). From a fairly early stage in his experimental …
… & about which I dont know whether you w d care, is that a great excess of, or very little …
… weight, or period of germination in the seeds of Ipomœa. I remember saying the contrary to you & …
… indisputably germinate quicker than seeds produced by a cross between two distinct plants’ ( To …
… in sweet peas simply did not exist in Britain. During a visit to Darwin in May 1866, Robert …
… Darwin informed George Bentham, ‘I am experimenting on a very large scale on the difference in power …
… to me’ ( To George Bentham, 22 April 1868 ). A month later, he had another set of remarkable …
… elongating vegetative cells enclosing the sperm, provide a conduit through the style to the ovary of …
… ‘I am convinced that if you can prove that a plant growing in a distant place under different …
… Julius Carus, who wrote in early May, Darwin stated, ‘M r Murray announced my next book without …
… [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly …
… the set of all my works, I would suggest 1,500’ ( To R. F. Cooke, 16 September 1876 ). In the …
… of hybrids, has not yet been produced’ ( From A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this …

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: 22 hits

… summer to finish my S. American geology; then to get out a little zoology & hurrah for my …
… The correspondence reveals how his initial interest in a singular species found during the Beagle …
… to this work and that guided his observations through a difficult, often frustrating taxonomical …
… restored in health to work for two or three hours a day at his ‘beloved cirripedia’. …
… that Darwin’s two hours at the microscope did not preclude a prodigious amount of other scientific …
… that Darwin and his colleagues gave to their views reveals a recognition on the part of British …
… William Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] …
… by Darwin on the use of microscopes on board ship ( see letter to Richard Owen, [26 March 1848] ). …
… plausible the theory of Louis Agassiz, who had proposed that a glacier blocking the foot of Glen Roy …
… and, in addition to writing to Milne directly, he sent a long rejoinder in the form of a letter for …
… asked for it to be destroyed. Only the draft of Darwin’s letter remains ( letter to the Scotsman …
… that his original fieldwork was ‘time thrown away’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8 [September 1847] ) …
… was that the boulders were transported by floating ice, a notion which was roundly criticised by …
… those of their parent formations and proposed that only a great rush of water could carry them up …
… that it would be a ‘thorn in the side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). …
… marine invertebrates himself (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April [1837]) …
… opinion that such a monograph was a ‘desideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), …
… abortive stamens or pistils ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November …
… care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). …
… sacrifice the rule of priority for the sake of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February …
… it as ‘the greatest curse to natural History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). …
… Museum of Zoology, has been transcribed with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849 …

The evolution of honeycomb

Summary

Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…

Matches: 20 hits

… are used to store honey, nectar, and pollen, and to provide a nursery for bee larvae. The combs are …
… as showing the workings of providence, the bee cell was a favourite subject. The question of how …
… theology (1839), Brougham commented that bees acted with a discipline that in men could only be …
… who before any geometer could calculate under what form a cell would occupy the least space without …
… theory of evolution by natural selection was supposed to be a comprehensive theory of life on earth: …
… for holding honey and larvae, and was delighted to discover a Mexican bee, Melipona domestica , …
… argued that if the Melipona put its cells together in a more regular fashion, it would probably …
… principles and the proximity of other cells. Darwin’s letter has not been found, but from Waterhouse …
… were not subject to the space constraints of other cells. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 14 April …
… diameter being determined by her power of reaching.’ (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 10 February …
… were exercising their minds on the problem. In his next letter, Waterhouse described wasps’ nests …
… formal constraints as a group of bees working together. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 13 February …
… mind on the subjects of wasp’s nests. He sent another long letter to Darwin on the subject, this …
… the other straight sides that were bounded by other cells (letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 17 April …
… arranged to look at Tegetmeier’s piece of honeycomb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, [21 April 1858] …
… to keep an eye out for the first beginnings of the comb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 May [1858] …
… has not correctly described their manner of building’ (letter to W. E. Darwin, [26 May 1858] .) …
… hardly been begun; & all must be very minute. ( See the letter ) Darwin was …
… asked Tegetmeier to look out for isolated cylindrical cells (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 5 June …
… of humbug they had ever brought forward.’ Frederick Smith however had apparently made paper …

Books on the Beagle

Summary

The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.

Matches: 24 hits

… ‘Considering the limited disposable space in so very small a ship, we contrived to carry more …
… Captain FitzRoy in the Narrative (2: 18). CD, in his letter to Henslow, 9 [September 1831] , …
… . . . There will be plenty of room for Books.’ (Letter from Robert FitzRoy, 23 September 1831 …
… The names of those who take Books are to be written in a list kept for that Purpose. Any …
… are not already Duplicates in the Catalogue will confer a general benefit by lending them in a …
… zoological and geological notes it is possible to compile a list of works used by CD during the …
… of the ‘immense stock’ which CD mentions may be had from a letter FitzRoy wrote to his sister during …
… and geological notes in the Darwin Archive (DAR 29–38), a brief description of those records may be …
… be distinguished — they are usually in pencil or in a different ink. During the voyage pencil was …
… Brahma pens. References to books in pencil, or in ink of a different shade from that normal to the …
… of three kinds: References to which CD prefixed a ‘V[ide]’ or ‘Mem’. For example, ‘V. …
… intended to consult them after the voyage unless they follow a specific reference, or a quoted …
… on board the Beagle § — mentioned in a letter or other source as being on board …
… Naturelle 3 (1834): 84–115. (DAR 37.1: 677v.; letter to J. S. Henslow, 12 July 1835). * …
… d’histoire naturelle . 17 vols. Paris, 1822–31. (Letter from J. S. Henslow, 15–21 January [1833]). …
… a report of the proceedings . . . Cambridge, 1833. (Letter to Charles Whitley, 23 July 1834). …
… of the 2d meeting . . . Oxford, 1832 . London, 1833. (Letter to J. S. Henslow, March 1834 and …
… also Hawkesworth, John). (DAR 32.2: 89v.; Robert FitzRoy’s letter to the South African Christian …
… la corvette . . .La Coquille 1822–5. Zoologie par MM. [R. P.] Lesson et [P.] Garnot. 2 vols., …
… residence in New Zealand in 1827 . . . London, 1832. (Letter to Caroline Darwin, 27 December 1835). …
… 33: 254). § Euclid. Elements of geometry. (Letter to J. S. Henslow, 30 October 1831). …
… (Inscriptions: vol. 1 (1830), ‘Given me by Capt. F.R C. Darwin’; vol.2 (1832), ‘Charles Darwin M: …
… ‘C. Darwin H.M.S. Beagle’. Copy examined by Sydney Smith c. 1968. Quentin Keynes). Nuñez, …
… concerning a future state . . . by a country pastor [R. W.]. London, 1829. (Letter from Caroline …

	carnivorous plants	(1)
	CCD intro	(6)
	Coral reefs	(1)
	Darwin's controversies	(1)
	Descent of man	(1)
	spiritualism	(1)
	Historical documents	(3)
	Descent	(1)
	emotion	(1)
	heredity	(1)
	human evolution	(1)
	ice ages	(1)
	Nägeli	(1)
	natural selection	(1)
	Origin	(1)
	Geology	(4)
	Darwin Project	(1)
	Featured	(5)
	health	(1)
	Human nature	(1)
	Evolution	(1)
	Life sciences	(2)
	barnacles	(1)
	Down	(1)
	Natural selections: a longer read	(2)
	Voyage of HMS Beagle	(1)
	Home and family	(1)

Darwin Correspondence Project

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