From Asa Gray 7 July 1857
Summary
Believes, with CD, that extinction may be an important factor in explaining plant distributions, but sees no reason why the several species of a genus must ever have had a common or continuous area. "Convince me of that, or show me any good grounds for it … and I think you would carry me a good way with you". It is just such people as AG that CD has to satisfy and convince.
Feels that the crossing of individuals is important in repressing variation and perhaps in perpetuating the species, but instances some plants in which it cannot, apparently, take place.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 July 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 381; DAR 165: 98 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2120 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … From Asa Gray 7 July 1857 …
- … DAR 205.9: 381; DAR 165: 98 Asa Gray Cambridge, Mass. 7 July 1857 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … See letter from H. C. Watson, 10 March 1857 , letter from H. C. …
- … Watson to Asa Gray, 13 March 1857 , and letter to Asa …
- … Gray, [after 15 March 1857] . A duplicate copy of the third part of A. …
- … Gray 1856–7 (see letter to Asa Gray, 9 May [1857] , and letter from …
- … Asa Gray, 1 June 1857 ). A. Gray …
- … 1857a . See letter to Asa Gray, 18 June [1857] . Gray refers to CD’s belief in the …
- … Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 7 th . 1857. My Dear Mr. Darwin Your letter of June 18 th …
- … beings occasionally cross-fertilised (see letters to Asa Gray , [after 15 March 1857] and …
- … 18 June [1857] ). See …
- … letter to Asa Gray, 20 July [1857] . J. D. Hooker and Thomson 1855. Jean Louis Auguste …
From Asa Gray 1 June 1857
Summary
Comments on species with disjoined ranges; does not feel, despite CD’s expectations, that they tend to belong to small families.
Gives the proportion of U. S. trees in which the sexes are separate [see Natural selection, p. 62].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 June 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 8: 47bA |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2098 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … From Asa Gray 1 June 1857 …
- … DAR 8: 47bA Asa Gray Cambridge, Mass. 1 June 1857 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … Cambridge, Mass. U.S.A. June 1 st , 1857 My Dear Darwin Yours of the 9 th . came last …
- … See letter to Asa Gray, 9 May [1857] . See …
- … letters to Asa Gray , 1 January [1857] and [after …
- … 15 March 1857] . Gray refers to his tabulation of the trees of the northern United States …
- … in A. Gray 1856–7 , p. 400. See letter to Asa Gray, 9 May [1857] . See letter from Asa …
- … Gray , [ c . 24 May 1857]. See …
- … letter to Asa Gray, [after 15 March 1857] , in which CD enclosed some notes and a letter …
From Asa Gray [August 1857]
Summary
States he has "misgivings about the definiteness of species". Believes there is some inherent tendency for plants to originate varieties. Cross-fertilisation is likely in most cases but sees difficulties with plants like Adlumia.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Aug 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 100, 101 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2129 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … From Asa Gray [August 1857] …
- … DAR 165: 100, 101 Asa Gray unstated [Aug 1857] Charles Robert Darwin …
- … This letter falls between the letters to Asa Gray , 20 July [1857] and …
- … 5 September [1857] . Gray is responding …
- … to CD’s letter to Asa Gray, 20 July [1857] , in which CD revealed his belief in the …
- … discussion of this point in the letter to Asa Gray, 18 June [1857] , and the letter from …
- … Asa Gray, 7 July 1857 . See …
- … letter to Asa Gray, 20 July [1857] . The chapter numbers refer to chapter 3, ‘On the …
From Asa Gray [c. 24 May 1857]
Summary
Discusses difficulties involved in deciding which genera are protean in the light of some comments by H. C. Watson.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. 24 May 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 97 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2104 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … From Asa Gray [ c. 24 May 1857] …
- … DAR 165: 97 Asa Gray unstated [c. 24 May 1857] Charles Robert Darwin …
- … Yours | A. Gray crossed pencil Top of first page : ‘Ch. 4’ pencil ; ‘June 9 th —1857’ ink …
- … C. Watson, 10 March 1857 . Francis Boott was a specialist on the genus Carex . Edward …
- … 1856–7 (see letter to Asa Gray, 9 May [1857] ). CD refers to the chapter of his species …
- … reference in letter from Asa Gray, 1 June 1857 , to having ‘ despatched ’ a letter to CD ‘ …
- … letter from Asa Gray, 16 February 1857 ); he had also sent Hewett Cottrell Watson’s …
- … on this list to Gray (see letters from H. C. Watson, 10 March 1857 and from H. C. …
- … Watson to Asa Gray , 13 March 1857). See letter from H. …
From Asa Gray 16 February 1857
Summary
Discusses the ranges of alpine species in U. S. and considers the possible migration routes of such species from Europe.
Lists those U. S. genera which he considers protean and describes the U. S. character of some genera which are protean in Europe.
Describes how he distinguishes introduced and aboriginal stocks of the same species.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Feb 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 96 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2053 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … From Asa Gray 16 February 1857 …
- … DAR 165: 96 Asa Gray Cambridge, Mass. 16 Feb 1857 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … Hewett Cottrell Watson for his comments (see letter from H. C. Watson, 10 March 1857 ). …
- … Cambridge, Mass. Feb. 16 th , 1857 My Dear Mr. Darwin I meant to have replied to your …
- … creation. ’ ( A. Gray 1859 , pp. 444–5). See letter to Asa Gray, 1 January [1857] . See …
- … letter to Asa Gray, 1 January [1857] and n. 6. See letters to J. D. …
- … See letter to Asa Gray, 1 January [1857] . Gray’s underscoring has been typographically …
From Asa Gray [before 3 April 1858]
Summary
List of close species taken from AG’s Manual of botany [1848].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 3 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 103 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2249 |
From Asa Gray 21 June 1858
Summary
Self-fertilisation in Fumariaceae.
[CD note on bees’ visiting some members of Fumariaceae.]
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 June 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 76: B15 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2288 |
From Asa Gray 11 October 1861
Summary
Notes several cases of "dioecio-dimorphism" in different genera; feels the discovery of pollen that will act only on the pistil of another flower is most important. Believes CD should next turn his attention to investigating cases of "precocious fertilisation".
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Oct 1861 |
| Classmark: | DAR 109: 82–3, DAR 110 (ser. 2): 117, DAR 111: 83 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3282 |
From Asa Gray 24 July 1865
Summary
Is reading CD’s "Climbing plants".
The Civil War is ended; slavery is dead.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 July 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 148 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4877 |
From Asa Gray 18 February 1862
Summary
Discusses politics in the U. S. and relations between Britain and America.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Feb 1862 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 106 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3451 |
From Asa Gray [10–16] June [1863]
Summary
Possible dimorphism in Phlox.
Knows of no U. S. law prohibiting marriage of cousins.
Gives references to papers on phyllotaxy.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [10–16] June [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 136 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4198 |
From Asa Gray 22 May 1855
Summary
Has filled up CD’s paper [see 1674].
Distribution and relationships of alpine flora in U. S.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 May 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: D1–D2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1685 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … third part of volume two. J. D. Hooker 1857 and 1862. See letter to Asa Gray, 25 April [ …
From Asa Gray 16 June 1874
Summary
AG’s article in Nature was "just and moderate".
Sends his review of C. Hodge’s What is Darwinism? (1874) [Nation 18 (1874): 348–51].
It is uphill work making a theist out of CD.
Gives further observations on Sarracenia variolaris.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 June 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 185 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9492 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the stated meetings and related documents 3 (1857–79): 422–3, American Academy of Arts and …
From Asa Gray [10 January 1860]
Summary
Agassiz denounces Origin as "atheistical";
AG is currently reviewing it [in Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84].
Jeffries Wyman praises it, though not a convert.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [10 Jan 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 98 (ser. 2): 26a |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2631 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … American Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (1857–60): 362). Agassiz also denounced CD’s views …
From Asa Gray 26 May 1863
Summary
Discusses recent correspondence in the Athenæum: the disagreement between Lyell and Hugh Falconer and Owen’s remarks on heterogeny [see 4110].
Briefly discusses orchids and some problems in phyllotaxy.
Mentions the political situation and the quarrelsome behaviour of the English.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 May 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 135 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4186 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … First lessons in botany ( A. Gray 1857 ) for information on phyllotaxy, following Hugh …
Six things Darwin never said – and one he did
Summary
Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly attributed to Darwin that never flowed from his pen.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly …
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
Matches: 11 hits
- … of information about his preoccupations during 1856 and 1857. They reveal little noticed aspects of …
- … as ever I can.’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 8 February [1857] ). Darwin also attempted to test …
- … the alpine plants pretty effectually’ complained Darwin in 1857 ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [2 May …
- … of calculation was wrong ( letter to John Lubbock, 14 July [1857] ). Darwin thought his results …
- … experiments on plants through the summers of 1856 and 1857, particularly with garden vegetables like …
- … Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette in October 1857, to be followed by a second notice in 1858. …
- … find the work: am I not a kind Father?’ Darwin wrote in 1857, soon followed by the complaint ‘You …
- … to end!’ (letters to W. E. Darwin, [17 February 1857] and 21 [July 1857] ). The problem of …
- … of his manuscript ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 1 May 1857 ) seem innocuous and hardly the veiled …
- … are all vividly displayed in Darwin's letters. By the end of 1857, Darwin was well on the way …
- … long letter to Asa Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] ). From this letter it is evident …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … was in Darwin’s day. To J. D. Hooker, 3 June [1857] : on the struggle for existence in …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 2070: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [before 29 Sept 1857] Darwin’s brother-in-law, …
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Summary
There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…
Matches: 3 hits
- … natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same …
- … to Prof. Asa Gray, Boston, U.S., dated Down, September 5th, 1857.” (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 50). …
- … was sent to A. Gray 8 or 9 months ago, I think October 1857 [‘or perhaps’ del ]’. The printed …
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: 4 hits
- … the Origin of Species…’ FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker …
- … JUNE 1855 20 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 21 A GRAY TO C DARWIN, …
- … MARCH 1862 35 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 36 A GRAY TO C DARWIN …
- … OCTOBER 1858 59 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 12 OCTOBER 1857 60 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, …
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: 1 hits
- … ’s appearance, but there is a fascinating scrap from 1857 comparing his views on species to …
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: 3 hits
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
Summary
Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared. Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…
Matches: 1 hits
- … written in 1842 , and, as he told Asa Gray in September 1857 , he intended to call the ‘ big …
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Matches: 7 hits
- … Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s …
- … 4 26 January 1857 Variation under nature (DAR 9; …
- … 5 3 March 1857 The struggle for existence as bearing on …
- … 6 31 March 1857 On natural selection (DAR 10.2; …
- … 7 29 September 1857 Laws of variation: varieties & …
- … 8 29 September 1857 Difficulties on the theory of …
- … 9 29 December 1857 Hybridism (DAR 12; Natural …
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: 1 hits
- … of other cells. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 14 April 1857 .) In a later letter …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
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…
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,…
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…
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: 3 hits
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: 7 hits
- … ago’, he wrote to the American botanist Asa Gray in July 1857, it occurred to me that …
- … staggered about the permanence of species.— By 1857, Darwin had found the confidence to …
- … And this much acceleration I owe to you. ’ In February 1857, the rate of this acceleration was …
- … the way facts fall into groups ’, he told Fox in February 1857. Trials of strength …
- … in theory of the descent of species ’. In December 1857, Darwin had expressed his satisfaction that …
- … there is no good & original observation ’. In 1857, Darwin recorded in his journal that …
- … varieties differ from each other’, he told Wallace in May 1857, before stating ‘ I am now preparing …
The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 3 hits
- … completed his ninth chapter, on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to …
- … on variation under nature. Having learned in the summer of 1857 that his method for deriving …
- … with an abstract of his views sent to Asa Gray in September 1857. The correspondence between Darwin, …
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: 21 hits
- … 112 Jukes. “Students Manual of Geology” [Jukes 1857]— published a few years ago, good on …
- … Lucas l’Heredite Naturelle [Lucas 1847–50] 1857 Nov. 15. Andersson Lake Gnami …
- … Thackeray English Humourists [Thackeray 1853] 1857 Jan. Cockburn life of Selby [ …
- … 1856]: H. Coverdale [Smedley [1854–6]: Quits [Tautphoeus] 1857] 29 Lutfullah. Life of …
- … Marsh] 1858] Buckle History of Civilisation [Buckle 1857] Feb. 28 Sir J. Mackintosh …
- … Oct. 22. Olmstead Journey through Texas [Olmsted 1857] Dec. Motley’s History of Dutch …
- … 1853]— Aug.— Sherard Osborne’s Quedah [Osborn 1857] d[itt]o d[itt]o Arctic Journal …
- … Harris 1842] Jukes Student Manual of Geology [Jukes 1857] Azara’s Quadrupeds [Azara …
- … *119: 18v.; 119: 8a, 21a Buckle, Henry Thomas. 1857. History of civilization in …
- … 21v., 22; 119: 19a Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. 1857. The life of Charlotte Brontë . …
- … [Abstract in DAR 205.3: 138.] 119: 20a ——. 1857. The student’s manual of geology. …
- … [Other eds.] *119: 15v. Livingstone, David. 1857. Missionary travels and researches …
- … 3 vols. Vivay. [Other eds.] *119: 22 Lutfullah. 1857. Autobiography of Lutfullah: a …
- … *119: 23; 128: 5 Napier, William Francis Patrick. 1857. The life and opinions of General …
- … of Elgin’s mission to China and Japan in the years 1857, 1858, 1859 . 2 vols. Edinburgh and …
- … on their economy . New York. 128: 25 ——. 1857. A journey through Texas; or, a winter …
- … an Arctic journal\. London. 128: 25 ——. 1857. Quedah; or, stray leaves from a journal …
- … Rouvroy, Louis de, Duke de Saint-Simon Vermandois. 1857. The memoirs of the Duke of Saint Simon on …
- … [Other eds.] *119: 1v.; 119: 12a Smiles, Samuel. 1857. The life of George Stephenson, …
- … New York. *128: 178 [Tautphoeus, Jemima von]. 1857. Quits; a novel . 3 vols. London. …
- … . Edited by J. C. Morris. Madras. 1833–51. Second series, 1857–. [Abstract in DAR 74: 177.] *119: …
