To Gardeners’ Chronicle 21 May [1855]
Summary
Reports on his experiments on action of sea-water on seeds and the bearing of his investigations on the theory of centres of creation and Edward Forbes’s theory of continental extensions to account for distribution of organic forms. CD’s experiments confirm germination powers were retained after 42 days’ immersion by seven out of eight kinds of seeds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | 21 May [1855] |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, no. 21, 26 May 1855, pp. 356–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1684 |
To J. D. Hooker 27 May [1855]
Summary
CD’s seed paper in Gardeners’ Chronicle [Collected papers 1: 255–8];
CD attacks Forbes’s "Atlantis".
Considers solutions to floating problem. Decides to test Azores seeds.
Photographs and drawings of CD.
Plant movement experiments with Hedysarum gyrans.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 27 May [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 132 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1688 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … in Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [13 March 1846] . He believed that the …
- … letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 21 May [1855]. CD refers to Edward Forbes’s explanation of the origin of the British flora in which plants were thought to have migrated to Britain over former land-bridges and continental extensions ( Forbes 1846 ). …
To J. D. Hooker 5 June [1855]
Summary
Seeds: worried they will turn into another barnacle job.
Studies plants colonising abandoned field.
Experiment on plant sleep movements.
CD objects to "Atlantis" because no evidence; does not affect species theory.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 5 June [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 135 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1693 |
To George Gulliver 27 December [1855]
Summary
His thanks for the present [The works of William Hewson, edited by GG, 1846]. [See 1796.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Gulliver |
| Date: | 27 Dec [1855] |
| Classmark: | Josh B. Rosenblum (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1801A |
Matches: 2 hits
To T. H. Huxley 29 [September 1855]
Summary
Responds to THH’s questioning of his observations on cirripede anatomy with extensive discussion of what he observed. Admits his elementary knowledge of microscopical structures but seriously doubts he has erred. Cement glands, ovarian tubes, etc.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 29 [Sept 1855] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 21); Janet Huxley (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1757 |
To J. D. Hooker 7 April [1855]
Summary
CD has begun seed-salting experiments. Wants JDH to write which seeds he expects to be easily killed [in salt water].
CD’s idea that coal-plants lived in salt water like mangroves made JDH savage.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 7 Apr [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 127 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1661 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter to Miles Joseph Berkeley, 7 April [1855] ). This sentence follows a deleted passage in which CD said that he did not know which seeds were albuminous (see Manuscript alterations and comments). John Lindley’s Vegetable kingdom divided dicotyledonous plants (exogens) into those orders whose embryos are furnished with abundant albumen and those with none or only a moderate amount ( Lindley 1846 , …
To Asa Gray 24 August [1855]
Summary
"Close" species in large and small genera.
Alphonse de Candolle on geographical distribution [Géographie botanique raisonnée (1855)].
Species variability.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 24 Aug [1855] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1749 |
To George Gulliver 18 December [1855]
Summary
Sends blood of pigeons for examination. Discusses variation of blood in related animals.
Would like copy of book edited by GG [The works of W. Hewson (1846)].
Suggests investigation of blood in varieties of domesticated animals.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Gulliver |
| Date: | 18 Dec [1855] |
| Classmark: | Houghton Library, Harvard University (Autograph File, D) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1796 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1846). There is a copy in the Darwin Library–CUL. In Gulliver 1840 , p. 44, Gulliver compared the blood corpuscles of the passenger pigeon with many different species of the Columbidae and concluded that they were quite peculiar. They approximated in ‘long diameter’ to those of the turtle dove, but differed in the ‘short diameter’. Gulliver 1841. CD’s copy of the article, now in the Darwin Library–CUL, was not annotated. For Gulliver’s reply to CD’s inquiries, see Correspondence vol. 6, letter …
| letter | (8) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Gulliver, George | (2) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Gulliver, George | (2) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
Darwin and barnacles
Summary
In a letter to Henslow in March 1835 Darwin remarked that he had done ‘very little’ in zoology; the ‘only two novelties’ he added, almost as an afterthought, were a new mollusc and a ‘genus in the family Balanidæ’ – a barnacle – but it was an oddity. Who,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In a letter to Henslow in March 1835 Darwin remarked that he had done ‘very little’ in zoology …
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’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 …
Barnacles
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Darwin and barnacles …
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: 1 hits
- … Specialism | Experiment | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing …
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: 1 hits
- … The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for …
John Lort Stokes
Summary
John Lort Stokes, naval officer, was Charles Darwin’s cabinmate on the Beagle voyage – not always an enviable position. After Darwin’s death, Stokes penned a description of their evenings spent working at the large table at the centre, Stokes at his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Lort Stokes, naval officer, was Charles Darwin’s cabinmate on the Beagle voyage – not …
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: 1 hits
- … This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the …
Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
Summary
The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published four volumes on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on …
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: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
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 in Conversation exhibition
Summary
Meet Charles Darwin as you have never met him before. Come to our exhibition at Cambridge University Library, running from 9 July to 3 December 2022, and discover a fascinating series of interwoven conversations with Darwin's many hundreds of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 9 July – 3 December 2022 Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The ‘historical sketch’ printed as a preface to the American edition ( Origin US ed., pp …
Divergence
Summary
In a later account of how he had come to the evolutionary ideas published in Origin, Darwin wrote: 'Of all the minor points, the last which I appreciated was the importance & cause of the principle of Divergence' (to Ernst Haeckel, [after 10]…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In a later account of how he had come to the evolutionary ideas published in Origin , …
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 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: 1 hits
- … The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of …
Introduction to the Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle
Summary
'a humble toadyish follower…': Not all pictures of Darwin during the Beagle voyage are flattering. Published here for the first time is a complete transcript of a satirical account of the Beagle’s brief visit in 1836 to the Cocos Keeling islands…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I naturally wished to have a savant at my elbow – in the position of a humble toadyish …
Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson
Summary
[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … [ f.146r Title page ] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle …
