From Friedrich Hildebrand 6 December 1876
Summary
Repeated maize crosses without success: i.e., in most cases yellow and red varieties did not produce fertile offspring.
| Author: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Dec 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 214 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10701 |
From J. V. Carus 19 March 1876
Summary
Insectivorous plants is out
and Climbing plants is at the printer’s.
He is now at work on the geological writings.
Thinks all of CD’s papers extremely interesting "for the spirit and the method".
Cites some misprints in Climbing plants.
| Author: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 103 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10419 |
From Giovanni Canestrini 6 May 1876
Summary
Two parts of the second edition of the Italian translation of Variation are already out.
Expression will soon follow [published in 1878].
The publisher [Unione] asks CD to give him the right of Italian translations of his works.
| Author: | Giovanni Canestrini |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 38 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10499 |
From Horace Pearce 16 November 1876
Summary
Asks advice on transplanting insectivorous plants.
| Author: | Horace Pearce |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Nov 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10675 |
From J. H. Gilbert 6 January 1876
Summary
Thanks for a copy of Insectivorous Plants.
| Author: | Joseph Henry Gilbert |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Jan 1876 |
| Classmark: | Rothamsted Research (GIL13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10346F |
From Lawson Tait 1 March 1876
Summary
Regrowth of an amputated extra thumb.
| Author: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 30 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10412 |
From Casimir de Candolle 30 July 1876
Summary
Experimenting on climbing plants.
Has no further information on Dionaea.
| Author: | Anne Casimir Pyramus (Casimir) de Candolle |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 July 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 32 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10567 |
From Mary Treat 3 April 1876
Summary
Encloses Pinguicula specimens.
Believes she has found a new species of water-lily.
| Author: | Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Davis; Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Treat |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 178 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10439 |
From Heinrich Goldschmidt and E. v. Portheim 23 April 1876
Summary
Two student adherents of his theory correct an error in Insectivorous plants.
| Author: | Heinrich Jacob (Heinrich) Goldschmidt; Eduard Porges von Portheim |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 60 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10467 |
From Louis Grenier 20 May 1876
Summary
Thanks CD for his authorisation for the résumé which LG will read to the Société Botanique de Lyon.
Insectivorous plants has made a sensation in France. Some are for, some against. Some doubt that a plant could absorb and assimilate the matter dissolved by the secretions. Asks CD if N. B. Ward’s method of culture might be used to answer the question definitively.
| Author: | Louis Grenier |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 226 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10511 |
From S. B. Herrick 12 February 1876
Summary
Inquires whether insectivorous habit in plants supplements or replaces the normal method of plant nutrition.
| Author: | Sophie McIlvaine Bledsoe (Sophie) (Bledsoe) Herrick |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Feb 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 189 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10390 |
From Ernst Haeckel 9 May 1876
Summary
Sends Die Perigenesis der Plastidule [1876]. Comments on CD’s theory of Pangenesis. Explains his own theory of Perigenesis.
Returns Webb and Berthelot, Îles Canaries; Géographie botanique [1840].
Describes work on 3d ed. of Anthropogenie.
| Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 68 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10501 |
From R. F. Cooke 23 February 1876
Summary
Sends cheque for Descent [2d ed., 1875 issue].
Has sent corrections to printer for Climbing plants
and Origin. Has ordered to print: 1250 copies of Origin,
500 of Climbing plants,
and 1000 of Naturalist’s voyage [Journal of researches].
| Author: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Feb 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 483 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10407 |
From P. A. Hanaford 3 September 1876
Summary
PAH’s friend, a florist, is repeating CD’s experiments with Dionaea muscipula.
CD’s works stir interest in America.
| Author: | Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Sept 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 92 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10588 |
From R. F. Cooke 21 February 1876
Summary
Murray wishes to settle payments for Descent [2d ed., 11th thousand]. Over 500 copies of the 1000 printed have been sold.
| Author: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 Feb 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 482 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10404 |
From W. H. Dallinger 10 January 1876
Summary
Has confirmed CD’s observations on Drosera.
Asks whether CD agrees that it is "no longer a fact" that the bladders of Utricularia vulgaris enable the plant to become lighter for fecundation and heavier when that act is accomplished. Plans to undertake further observations, under very high-powered microscopes, of mechanism of digestion.
| Author: | William Henry Dallinger |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Jan 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10352 |
From George Cross 4 October 1876
Summary
Drosera plants grown with insects excluded have developed normally.
| Author: | George Cross |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Oct 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 268 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10630 |
From Thomas Brittain 30 November 1876
Summary
Informs CD about Apocynum androsaemifolium, an insectivorous plant not mentioned in CD’s book. Offers to send specimen.
| Author: | Thomas Brittain |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Nov 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 312 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10693 |
From Albert Gaudry 2 December 1876
Summary
Thanks CD for translation of Climbing plants.
AG is at work on Les enchaînements du monde animal [1878]. Will send CD a copy as soon as it is ready.
| Author: | Albert-Jean (Albert) Gaudry |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Dec 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 19 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10696 |
From John Murray 6 January [1876]
Summary
At last, Expression is beginning to sell again.
Cooke has not yet decided on number of Variation [2d ed.] to print.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Jan [1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 481 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10347 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875. Variation : The variation of …
- … John Murray, 25 September [1873] ; Correspondence vol. 22, letter from R. F. Cooke, 17 November 1874 ). The second edition of Variation , published in February 1876, was printed by William Clowes & Sons ; they were responsible for entering CD’s corrections to the index (see Publishers’ Circular , 1 March 1876, p. 168, and Correspondence vol. 23, letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 August [1875] ). …
| letter | (43) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (2) |
| Davis, Mary | (2) |
| John Murray | (2) |
| Müller, Hermann | (2) |
| Rolleston, George | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (43) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (2) |
| Davis, Mary | (2) |
| John Murray | (2) |
| Müller, Hermann | (2) |
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 …
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 …
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: 1 hits
- … The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom , published on 10 November …
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Summary
Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In …
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The variation of animals and …
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 …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
Movement in Plants
Summary
The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The power of movement in plants , published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical …
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 …
Insectivorous Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Plants that consume insects Darwin began his work with insectivorous plants in the mid 1860s, though his findings would not be published until 1875. In his autobiography Darwin reflected on the delay that…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Plants that consume insects …
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: 1 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
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 …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species , published in 1877, …
Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species , …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, …
