To J. D. Hooker 2 December 1868
Summary
Enthusiastic about JDH’s plan for a British Flora – "a grand idea to make a Flora a guide for knowledge already acquired & to be acquired". Gives examples of subjects.
No work exists on various biological points in plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 Dec 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 102–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6487 |
Matches: 10 hits
- … Enthusiastic about JDH’s plan for a British Flora – "a grand idea …
- … to make a Flora a guide for knowledge already acquired & to be acquired". Gives examples …
- … George. 1865b. Handbook of the British flora; a description of the flowering plants and …
- … scheme, & if you make only a beginning on a Flora, which shall serve as an index to all …
- … it you will have started a new era in the Floras of various countries. I can well believe …
- … that he was going to write a ‘British Flora’ adapted to students’ purposes and containing …
- … George Bentham’s Handbook of the British flora ( Bentham 1865 ), see the letter from J. …
- … advanced students, if they found in their Flora a line or two on various curious points, …
- … y r idea; it is a grand idea to make a Flora a guide for knowledge already acquired & to …
- … ought to be introduced into a Utopian Flora,—on the quickness of the germination of the …
To J. D. Hooker 3 February [1868]
Summary
Comments on Wollaston’s troubles
and his book [Coleoptera Hesperidum (1867)].
Mohl’s claim to foreign membership in Royal Society very strong.
Has been in despair about Variation – not worth a fifth part of the labour it cost him.
Is reading F. A. W. Miquel’s Flora du Japon [Prolusio florae Japonicae (1866–7)]; wonders whether A. Murray could be correct in his view that an area of the sea prevented Asiatico-Japan flora colonising western N. America.
Comments on A. Murray’s book [Geographical distribution of mammals (1866)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 44–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5835 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … not worth a fifth part of the labour it cost him. Is reading F. A. W. Miquel’s Flora du …
- … Japon [ Prolusio florae Japonicae (1866–7)]; wonders whether A. Murray could …
- … area of the sea prevented Asiatico-Japan flora colonising western N. America. Comments on …
- … no writing. I am now reading Miquel on Flora of Japan & like it: it is rather a relief to …
- … for talking such nonsense. — Do you sigh over the “Insular Flora”, the introduction …
- … to New Zealand Flora, to Australia, …
- … your Arctic Flora & dear Galapagos, &c &c &c. In imagination I was grinding my teeth & …
- … papers by Frederich Anton Wilhelm Miquel on the flora of Japan are in the Darwin Pamphlet …
From H. C. Watson to J. D. Hooker 1 January 186[8]
Summary
HCW’s criticisms of CD’s theory.
| Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 1 Jan 186[8] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Directors’ Correspondence 105 f. 222 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5077F |
To J. D. Hooker 29 December 1868
Summary
JDH’s letter invaluable for an answer to Nägeli’s essay [Entstehung und Begriff der Naturhistorischen Art (1865)].
Has gone through his index to Gardeners’ Chronicle but finds little of use to JDH for his Flora.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 29 Dec 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 108—9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6515 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … through his index to Gardeners’ Chronicle but finds little of use to JDH for his Flora . …
To J. D. Hooker 21 May [1868]
Summary
JDH too severe on Duke of Argyll.
Pities JDH on [BAAS] address [see 6099]; Huxley feels JDH will do well and will not pity him.
Thinks Huxley will give an excellent and original lecture on geographical distribution of birds.
Has been working hard on sexual selection and correspondence about it.
Mignonette is sterile with its own pollen but any two distinct plants are fertile together. It is utterly mysterious and not even Pangenesis will explain it.
On Lyell’s book [Principles, 10th ed.].
Wallace’s wonderful cleverness, but he is not cautious enough. CD differs from Wallace on birds’ nests and protection.
A. Murray’s miserable criticism of Wallace [J. Travel & Nat. Hist. 1 (1868): 137–45].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 21 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 62–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6196 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 December [1868]
Summary
Is working on new edition of Origin [5th (1869)].
Asks JDH’s assistance on a problem posed by Nägeli on morphological differences that are of no utility to plants and hence could not be selected. CD wants to show that these differences do not support the idea of progressive development as Nägeli suggests.
Owen pitches into CD and Lyell in third volume of Anatomy of vertebrates [1866–8].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 25 Dec [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 105–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6512 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … to hear that you are going on with y r flora. W d it be worth while my looking through my …
To J. D. Hooker 26 November [1868]
Summary
CD thought Watson’s article beastly in its criticisms of JDH. Watson’s criticism of CD was not new or important, but fair, so CD could honestly thank him, adding his regret at what was said about JDH.
Is sitting for Woolner bust.
Has read James Croll on alternation of glacial and warmer periods in north and south, which would remove JDH’s objections to cool period extending to equator.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 Nov [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 98–101 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6476 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … by temporary migration of equatorial flora southward. — I thought myself compelled to …
| letter | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Watson, H. C. | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Watson, H. C. | (1) |
Suggested reading
Summary
Contemporary writing Anon., The English matron: A practical manual for young wives, (London, 1846). Anon., The English gentlewoman: A practical manual for young ladies on their entrance to society, (Third edition, London, 1846). Becker, L. E.…
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: 28 hits
- … & imported well worth studying probably— Thunberg Flora Japonica [Thunberg 1784] in …
- … Ryan on marriage [Ryan 1831] (read) Babbington on Flora of Channel Isl d . [Babington 1839 …
- … of the Caledonian Horticultural Society ].— Flora of St Helena 1825 [A. Watson 1825] in …
- … Himallaya & high Peru [Meyen 1836].— Phillippi on Flora of Sicily [Philippi 1836].— …
- … 1781]. Linn. on insects [Linnaeus 1781b]. Forsskahl on Flora of insects [Forsskahl 1781]. Avelin on …
- … trees of America [Downing 1845] 24 th Hopkirks Flora Anomala [Hopkirk 1817] July 8 …
- … ]. (since I read up old) (read) all Leidy, a Flora & Fauna within living Animals [Leidy …
- … Hornschuck Essay on the Sporting of Plants. in the ‘Flora’ or separate [Hornschuch 1848] quoted in …
- … 97 [DAR *128: 169] Wahlenberg Flora Suecica [Wahlenberg 1824–6]— most curious …
- … Ramond Acad. of Sci. Jan. 1826 [G. Cuvier 1830]. Flora of Pyrenees [Ramond de Carbonnières 1799–1801 …
- … 50 c. [Goethe 1837] [DAR *128: 150] Heers Flora Helvetica Tertiaria, translated …
- … [Pitton de Tournefort 1718]. skimmed 27. Gmelin Flora Siberica [Gmelin 1747–69] 1855. …
- … Primitiæ floræ sarnicæ; or, an outline of the flora of the Channel Islands of Jersey, …
- … Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus. 1836. Bemerkungen über die Flora der Südseeinseln. Annalen der Wien …
- … 119: 17b Forsskahl, Jonas Gustav. 1781. The flora of insects. In Linnaeus, ed., Select …
- … 119: 17a Gmelin, Johann Georg. 1747–69. Flora Sibirica sive historia plantarum …
- … 119: 22b Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1844–7. Flora Antarctica . Pt 1 of The botany of the …
- … Library.] 128: 8 Hopkirk, Thomas. 1817. Flora Anomoia. A general view of the …
- … Friedrich. 1848. Ueber Ausartung der Pflanzen. Flora 31: 17–28; 33–44; 50–64; 66–8. *128: 177 …
- … London. 119: 18b Leidy, Joseph. 1853. A flora and fauna within living animals. …
- … 128: 13 Michaux, François André. 1803. Flora Boreali-Americana . 2 vols. Paris. *119: …
- … 163 Philippi, Rudolph Armandus. 1836. Ueber die Flora Siciliens, im Vergleiche zu den …
- … natural history of the Himalayan mountains, and of the flora of Cashmere . 2 vols. London. …
- … and physick. To which is added the calendar of flora . London. [Other eds.] 119: 11a …
- … . London. 128: 6 Thunberg, Carl Peter. 1784. Flora Japonica . Lipsiae. *119: 6v. …
- … 21b Torrey, John and Gray, Asa. 1838–43. A flora of North America: containing …
- … Zurich. *128: 169 ——. 1824–6. Flora Suecica . Upsalla. *128: 169 Walker, …
- … *119: 19v.; 119: 16a Watson, Alexander. 1825. Flora Sta Helenica . St Helena. *119: 7v …
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
- … Darwin returns the manuscript of Hooker’s On the Flora of Australia , which he has proofread. …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 6 hits
- … it in Plants. I have the greatest curiosity about the alpine Flora of the United States and I have …
- … and hearty admiration. [Your paper on the Statistics of the flora of the northern United States] …
- … and flatter myself I now appreciate the character of your Flora… One of your conclusions makes me …
- … I presume he has been urging you to finish your great Flora, before you do anything else. Now, I …
- … GRINDING AWAY: 1888 In which Gray grinds away at his Flora before suffering a stroke and …
- … 212 My dear Hooker…I grind away at [my] ‘Flora’ but, like the mills of the gods, I grind slowly, …
2.7 Joseph Moore, Midland Union medal
Summary
< Back to Introduction The Midland Union was an association of natural history societies and field clubs across the Midland counties, intended to facilitate – especially through its journal The Midland Naturalist – ‘the interchange of ideas’ and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … and autodidact, with a special interest in mosses; his Flora of Warwickshire (1891) was based on …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Marianne North
Summary
Marianne North was born in Hastings where her father became a Liberal MP. Her family supported Marianne’s attempts at singing and painting as suitable activities for a Victorian lady. After her parents died, Marianne sold the family home and began…
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 3 hits
Essay: What is Darwinism?
Summary
—by Asa Gray WHAT IS DARWINISM? The Nation, May 28, 1874 The question which Dr. Hodge asks he promptly and decisively answers: ‘What is Darwinism? it is atheism.’ Leaving aside all subsidiary and incidental matters, let us consider–1. What the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … himself a single problem–namely, How are the fauna and flora of our earth to be accounted for? . . . …
Biogeography
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle During his five year journey around the world on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin encountered many different landscapes and an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Some of his most…
Matches: 1 hits
- … many different landscapes and an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Some of his most vivid …
ESHS 2018: 19th century scientific correspondence networks
Summary
Sunday 16 September, 16:00-18.00, Institute of Education, Room 802 Session chair: Paul White (Darwin Correspondence Project); Discussion chair: Francis Neary (Darwin Correspondence Project) This session marks the formal launch of Ɛpsilon …
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … naturalists of his day, with unsurpassed knowledge on tropic flora, fauna, and native peoples. This …
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … excitement of South American cities, cultures, geography, flora and fauna) Darwin complains to his …
The Letters
Summary
Darwin’s correspondence provides us with an invaluable source of information, not only about his own intellectual development and social network, but about Victorian science and society in general. Letters form the largest single category of Darwin’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … who provided him with observations on the fauna, flora, and peoples of the world. The correspondence …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
1.11 Laura Russell, oil
Summary
< Back to Introduction This little oil portrait of Darwin was painted by Laura Russell, daughter of Jules, vicomte de Peyronnet. She was married to Arthur Russell, MP for Tavistock; he was one of the sons of Lord William Russell, and his elder…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 1869, when Laura was eight months pregnant with her daughter Flora. They visited Down House several …
Search tips
Summary
In this section: The three basic searches Using filters to refine search Using facets to refine search results What is (and isn’t) in here? How do I… …Find all letters exchanged with a particular correspondent? …Find letters written by…
Matches: 1 hits
- … care. We have manually coded some group identifiers (“flora” eg), index terms such as people, …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … work. When Darwin had read the introduction to Hooker’s Flora of New Zealand in October 1853, he …
Origin
Summary
Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to establish priority for the species theory he had spent over twenty years researching. Darwin never intended to write Origin, and had resisted suggestions in 1856…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to Hooker. Indeed, when Hooker was writing his essay on the flora of Australia in December 1858, he …
