To Leonard Blomefield 13 March 1877
Summary
CD doubts that he will be able to do much more that is new, but cannot bear idleness. Has great amount of material on variation under nature, but so much has been published since the appearance of the Origin that he doubts he has the power of mind to render the mass into a digested whole.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | 13 Mar 1877 |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (L16163.017b) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10891 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … his name to Blomefield ( ODNB ). See letter from Leonard Blomefield, 12 March 1877 . …
- … See letter from Leonard Blomefield, 12 March 1877 and n. …
- … 4. See letter from Leonard Blomefield, 12 March 1877 and n. 3. John Edward Gray was …
- … published in his lifetime. See letter from Leonard Blomefield, 12 March 1877 and n. 1. CD …
From J. D. Hooker 7 November 1877
Summary
Sent rare cycad seeds for CD’s cotyledon study.
Welwitschia seed germinated at Kew had ordinary cotyledons. JDH thinks mature Welwitschia leaves are original cotyledons.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Nov 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 97–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11227 |
To G. H. K. Thwaites 26 March 1877
Summary
Thanks for specimens [of insects].
Wonders whether difference between male and female plays part in fertilisation of fig.
Flowers of Oxalis sensitiva, sent long ago, are trimorphic and cleistogamic.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Henry Kendrick Thwaites |
| Date: | 26 Mar 1877 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.508) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10913 |
To H. W. Bates 6 February [1877]
Summary
Requests return of August Weismann’s letter which refers to eggs.
Curious about the drawing [of the caterpillar? See 10780].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Date: | 6 Feb [1877] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10829 |
From J. D. Hooker 19 March 1877
Summary
Oliver cannot, as CD has requested, hunt for trimorphic flowers in the Herbarium’s collection of Oxalis specimens. He would help Frank if he comes.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Mar 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 80–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10898 |
To Pieter Harting 19 March 1877
Summary
Thanks for account of his work. Cannot read Dutch, but son has translated it.
Thanks for album sent by PH’s countrymen.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Pieter Harting |
| Date: | 19 Mar 1877 |
| Classmark: | Leiden University Libraries (BPL 1938) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10899 |
From George Bentham [after 12 July 1877]
Summary
Answers CD’s query on "bloom".
| Author: | George Bentham |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 12 July 1877] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 169 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11051 |
From Francis Galton 22 February 1877
Summary
Attributes the Castilian accent of speech of deaf and dumb men to imitation of their teachers’ lip movements.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Feb 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: A97–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10859 |
To Robert Damon 15 October 1877
Summary
Cannot give information requested. Seems incredible that mere contact should be poisonous.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Damon |
| Date: | 15 Oct 1877 |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 212–213) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11185 |
To Francis Galton [6–12 January 1877]
Summary
Has received French essay on effects of conscription on [decreasing] height of men, due to unfit left at home to propagate race. Would FG care to see it?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Galton |
| Date: | [6–12 Jan 1877] |
| Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10774 |
To Francis Galton 9 January [1877]
Summary
Can FG come to lunch on Sunday? George Darwin wants to meet him.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Galton |
| Date: | 9 Jan [1877] |
| Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/22) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10776 |
From M. T. Masters [before 13 December 1877]
Summary
Thanks CD for his specimen of "self-containedness". Some of the bromeliads will flower under similar treatment, but MTM does not know whether they seed.
| Author: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 13 Dec 1877] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 65 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4888 |
To Raphael Meldola 27 September [1877]
Summary
Does not think Fritz Müller can object to anything RM has said in his essay.
Has alluded to colour preference among butterflies in Descent [1: 400–1].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
| Date: | 27 Sept [1877] |
| Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11154 |
From Asa Gray 6 February 1877
Summary
Sends specimen of Gilia aggregata and will try to get Phlox subulata.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Feb 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 193 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10830 |
From W. E. Darwin [12 or 19 July 1877]
Summary
Discusses an experiment.
His dogs appear to have rabies.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [12 or 19] July 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.5: 14 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10743 |
To Asa Gray 3 January 1877
Summary
Asks AG not to send his rare specimens [of Leucosmia].
Is glad of the notice about black pigs.
Has great faith in Jeffries Wyman;
thinks A. R. Wallace founds his speculation on a feeble basis.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 3 Jan 1877 |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (118) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10768 |
To E. H. Sieveking 11 December 1877
Summary
Would like the letters from grandfather [Erasmus Darwin] to J. A. H. Reimarus to be published.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Henry Sieveking |
| Date: | 11 Dec 1877 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.528) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11275 |
From Francis Galton 12 January 1877
Summary
Would like to see essay [on effects of conscription in France, see 10774]. Knows of Swiss memoir to the same effect. Author says Swiss yeomen apt to leave homestead to sickly son. Landed populations deteriorate.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Jan 1877 |
| Classmark: | Pearson 1914–30, 2: 192 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10783 |
To R. A. Vance 4 December 1877
Summary
Thanks RAV for valuable letter [11232]. CD too ignorant of anatomy to form a decided opinion, but is inclined to attribute spiral folds to reversion and the valves to partial abortion of the fold. Asks RAV to verify by examining lower intestine of an opossum for the structure. If missing he would hesitate to allude to reversion. If RAV can prove the nature of these remnants it would be a conclusion of much interest.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Reuben Aleshire Vance |
| Date: | 4 Dec 1877 |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11269 |
To R. F. Cooke 24 November 1877
Summary
Asks exact number of copies of recent printing of Origin.
Approves stereotyping Orchids,
but fears he cannot approve of stereotyping Cross and self-fertilisation and Forms of flowers. It is too soon for the latter, and he is too busy to correct the former.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Date: | 24 Nov 1877 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 300–1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11252 |
| letter | (58) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (27) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (2) |
| Darwin, Francis | (2) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (2) |
| Galton, Francis | (2) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Bemmelen, A. A. van | (1) |
| Bailey, W. W. | (1) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Becker, L. E. | (1) |
| Bemmelen, A. A. van | (1) |
| Bentham, George | (1) |
| Blair, R. A. | (1) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (2) |
| Candolle, Alphonse de | (1) |
| Cheeseman, T. F. | (2) |
| Clark, J. W. (a) | (1) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (3) |
| Damon, Robert | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (56) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
| Darwin, Emma | (1) |
| Darwin, Francis | (2) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (3) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
| Enrique | (1) |
| Estorff, Karl von | (1) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (2) |
| Flower, W. H. | (1) |
| Galton, Francis | (4) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Gladstone, W. E. | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (2) |
| Haeckel, Ernst | (1) |
| Harting, Pieter | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Hyatt, Alpheus | (1) |
| Jenyns, Leonard | (2) |
| John Murray | (3) |
| Masters, M. T. | (1) |
| Meldola, Raphael | (1) |
| Nature | (1) |
| Norton, C. E. | (1) |
| Oliver, Daniel | (1) |
| Rade, Emil | (1) |
| Reade, T. M. | (2) |
| Romanes, G. J. | (1) |
| Sayce, A. H. | (1) |
| Schneider, Hugo | (1) |
| Sieveking, E. H. | (1) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (1) |
| Thwaites, G. H. K. | (1) |
| Vance, R. A. | (1) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (1) |
| Whitney, W. D. | (1) |
| Williams & Norgate | (1) |
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 …
