Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Apache Server at dcp-public.lib.cam.ac.uk Port 443
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 24 hits
- … James (c) (3) Anderson-Henry, Isaac (17) …
- … A. A. van (2) Bence Jones, Henry (8) …
- … E. M. (6) Bonham-Carter, Henry (1) …
- … Charles (2) Bradshaw, Henry (1) …
- … Cattell, John (3) Cecil, Henry (2) …
- … A. A. L. P. (2) Coe, Henry (6) …
- … Cohn, F. J. (22) Colburn, Henry (3) …
- … Denison, C. L. (3) Denny, Henry (13) …
- … Dorrell, Mr. (2) Doubleday, Henry (13) …
- … Edwards, Ernest (1) Edwards, Henry (5) …
- … Farrer, William (1) Faulds, Henry (2) …
- … Gill, T. N. (1) Gillman, Henry (2) …
- … Grove, W. R. (12) Groves, Henry (3) …
- … Hennell, S. S. (1) Hennessy, Henry (1) …
- … Holland, Edward (2) Holland, Henry (23) …
- … Hunt, T. C. (1) Huntsman, Henry (1) …
- … Jackson, H. W. (3) Jackson, Henry (2) …
- … Johnson, G. W. (1) Johnson, Henry (a) (16) …
- … Land and Water (1) Landor, Henry (1) …
- … Lee, H. P. (1) Lee, Henry (5) Lee, J …
- … London Library (1) Lonsdale, Henry (1) …
- … Menyhért (2) MacKay, Henry (1) …
- … Ludwik (2) Matthew, Henry (3) …
- … Pitman, H. A. (3) Pitman, Henry (1) …
Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Matches: 14 hits
- … for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, …
- … column on science for the Westminster Review. Huxley became a regular correspondent of …
- … with Darwin addressing his younger colleague as ‘my dear Huxley’ for the first time in a letter of …
- … J. D. Hooker, 9 May 1856 and 21 May 1856). But he considered Huxley a valuable ally, and invited him …
- … a small number of fixed forms, with no transitional species. Huxley’s defense of the type system was …
- … Darwin carefully broached the subject of transmutation with Huxley (see for example his letter of 23 …
- … persistent reservations about the role of natural selection, Huxley became an outspoken defender of …
- … based on perceived differences in brain anatomy. Sometimes Huxley used these more specialist debates …
- … While continuing to promote Darwinian theory publicly, Huxley favoured a view of evolution per …
- … accumulation of small variations. Saltationism enabled Huxley to retain his commitments to the type …
- … between reptiles and birds. The friendship between Huxley and Darwin grew closer over the …
- … honesty”, his “genial, simple, and generous nature” (Huxley 1871b). Darwin was delighted by Huxley’s …
- … “you have indeed been a true friend.” Over the years, Huxley made a number of visits to Down with …
- … favourite of Darwin’s. On several occasions, Darwin helped Huxley out of severe financial …
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: 8 hits
- … also continued: Darwin’s own works expanded on it, Thomas Henry Huxley gave lectures about it, and …
- … & Nicotiana being partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. …
- … The issue arose again when, through November and December, Huxley delivered a series of lectures to …
- … he is no common man This correspondence with Huxley made Darwin keener than ever to …
- … ’ ( letter from Asa Gray, 2–3 July 1862 ). Henry Walter Bates Natural selection was …
- … views on transmutation in a paper on the aye-aye. However, Huxley described the event, detailing how …
- … in the summer: John Lubbock briefly met up with Tyndall and Huxley in August while there to examine …
- … the new second edition of Owen’s Palaeontology , which Huxley thought ‘rather more scoundrelly’ …
Henrietta Huxley
Summary
A colourful and insightful exchange occurred in 1865 in a light-hearted conversation between Darwin and Henrietta Huxley, the wife of Darwin’s friend and colleague, Thomas Henry Huxley. Like her husband, Henrietta was a close friend and great champion of…
Matches: 3 hits
- … Henrietta makes reference to an 1860 debate between T. H. Huxley and the Bishop of Oxford in which …
- … Though reports of the confrontation between the Bishop and Huxley were mixed at the time, the …
- … suggests that, while it evidently still loomed large in Huxley and Darwin’s imagination, it was at …
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: 21 hits
- … the medium Charles E. Williams, and was attended by George Henry Lewes and Marian Evans (George …
- … George Darwin, the psychic researcher Frederick William Henry Myers, and Thomas Henry Huxley, who …
- … was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). Darwin agreed that it …
- … he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874] ). This did …
- … additions to Descent was an eight-page note written by Huxley with the aim of ending a dispute …
- … ape and human brains, he asked for a clarifying note from Huxley (Desmond and Moore 2004, pp. xxxv …
- … have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). The technical …
- … and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). The second …
- … published views. In December, he sought advice from Huxley and Hooker, sending them a draft …
- … review ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December 1874 ). Huxley stepped in, shunning Mivart at an …
- … Catholic priest and friend of Mivart’s, who was attending Huxley’s lectures. Father Roberts’s manner …
- … give him the cold shoulder Darwin thanked Huxley for representing him in public but was …
- … & give him the cold shoulder’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 23 December 1874 ). He enclosed his …
- … a retraction to the editor of the Quarterly Review . Huxley concluded: ‘our views on those points …
- … in public and neither the apology in the private letter to Huxley nor a private apology to George …
- … 24 December [1874] ). On the same day, Mivart replied to Huxley’s letter in detail, concluding: …
- … V, p. 644). In his dealings with both Huxley and Darwin, Mivart wanted a clear …
- … Society ( letter From J. D. Hooker, 29 December 1874 ). Huxley advised against this …
- … more funds if it was to be completed. Darwin learned from Huxley that Dohrn’s father would allow him …
- … support the election of his nephew, the fine-art specialist Henry Parker ( letter from E. A. Darwin …
- … to do—It is enough to kill anyone’, and asked Thomas Henry Farrer to attempt to influence the …
4.4 Thomas Huxley, caricature sketch
Summary
< Back to Introduction This amusing sketch signed by Thomas Huxley is in a letter that he wrote to Darwin on 20 July 1868. By the late 1860s, Origin of Species had given rise to extreme adulation of Darwin on the part of some of the younger German…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Introduction This amusing sketch signed by Thomas Huxley is in a letter that he wrote to …
- … and was ecstatic about his face-to-face meeting with Darwin. Huxley, knowing Darwin’s poor state of …
- … so the visit is unlikely to have taken place. In Huxley’s drawing, Kühne, looking older than …
- … University Library originator of image Thomas Henry Huxley date of creation …
- … Wyhe, ‘Iconography’, p. 134: the original letter with Huxley’s pen drawing is ‘said to be in a …
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: 18 hits
- … contained particles of starch very clearly,’ he wrote to Henry Groves, the botanist who had supplied …
- … about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He wrote to …
- … over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). Earthworms …
- … fact the clergyman and professor of ecclesiastical history Henry Wace. Darwin was confident that the …
- … Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The agricultural chemist Joseph Henry Gilbert was struck by the benefits …
- … for him, as he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 …
- … person’. The two men also agreed on the deficiencies of Huxley’s argument that animals were …
- … ( letter from John Collier, 22 February 1882 ; T. H. Huxley 1881, pp. 199–245). Huxley used …
- … to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). Huxley urged Darwin to consult another …
- … say automaton ) critically’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 March 1882 ). Darwin was very …
- … more automata in the world like you’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 March 1882 ). Darwin did …
- … a few letters shortly after the publication of Origin . Huxley had written a number of glowing …
- … I cannot tell how or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin’s …
- … A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To the physician Henry Holland, he remarked. ‘I shall …
- … a little work in Natural History every day’ ( letter to Henry Holland, 6 November [1864] ). …
- … years following Origin, a number of Darwin’s friends, Huxley, John Lubbock, and Charles Lyell, …
- … on heredity. His belief in human improvement was tested by Henry Keylock Rusden, an Australian …
- … undertaken observations years earlier. In 1871, he had asked Henry Johnson to observe the thickness …
New features for Charles Darwin's 208th birthday
Summary
The website has been updated with an interactive timeline (try it!) and enhanced secondary school resources for ages 11-14. What's more, the full texts of the letters for 1872 are now online for the first time, and a selection of Darwin's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … received by particular correspondents (examples: Thomas Henry Huxley , Mary Treat , Charles …
Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies
Summary
The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…
Matches: 13 hits
- … an important philosophical ally in John Stuart Mill. Through Henry Fawcett, a young Cambridge …
- … ‘the only one proper to such a subject’ ( letter from Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1861] ). Mill in …
- … some view if it is to be of any service!’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] ). …
- … Undoubtedly, the news that most excited Darwin was word from Henry Walter Bates, recently returned …
- … with the controversy between Richard Owen and Thomas Henry Huxley concerning the anatomical …
- … that their brain structures were strikingly dissimilar. Huxley pointed out, publicly and acerbicly …
- … vol. 9, Appendix VIII).) For his part, Darwin enjoyed Huxley’s sparring with Owen, though …
- … ‘a complete and awful smasher’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 January [1861] ). Ever since Owen’s …
- … he had nursed a growing animosity toward the man; as he told Huxley at the beginning of the year, he …
- … Owen would ‘never be friends again’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 January [1861] ). Friends …
- … direct bearing on the subject of species’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] ), Darwin …
- … of the ordnance survey, the ‘pleasant & distinguished’ Henry James. In Southampton, James …
- … expertise. His old and established friends—Hooker, Gray, Huxley, and Lyell—continued to support his …
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: 5 hits
- … in the theory of Evolution’, he told the businessman Henry Wallis on 31 March , stating that he …
- … & call me & Krause liars’. Thomas Huxley’s advice was to ignore Butler, and …
- … it (see Correspondence vol. 28, Appendix VI). When Huxley heard on 8 January that Wallace …
- … May . Romanes assured Darwin that the artist, John Collier, Huxley’s son-in-law, was ‘such a …
- … Hacon , to include bequests of £1000 each to Hooker and Huxley to acknowledge his ‘life-long …
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: 23 hits
- … friends Charles Lyell, the respected geologist, and Thomas Henry Huxley, the zoologist and anatomist …
- … a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described the detailed …
- … views of human dignity and intelligence, exclaiming to Huxley: ‘I declare I never in my life read …
- … circles following the publication of Lyell’s and Huxley’s books. Three years earlier Darwin …
- … earlier in the century. Lyell’s Antiquity of man and Huxley’s Evidence as to man’s place in …
- … would sway many towards a new way of thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see …
- … Antiquity of man of the ongoing debate between Owen, Huxley, and others concerning the comparative …
- … is’, Hooker wrote to Darwin, ‘I suppose it is virtually Huxley’s writing, & that L. will find …
- … on the river Amazons , a book that he had encouraged Henry Walter Bates to write. When the book …
- … [9 May 1863] ). The others listed were himself, Hooker, Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace, and John …
- … Another criticism that continued to exercise Darwin was Huxley’s assertion, first made in his 1860 …
- … were either unable to cross or else formed sterile hybrids. Huxley made this point again in his six …
- … end of 1862, and published as a book in early 1863 (T. H. Huxley 1863a). Though Darwin was otherwise …
- … sterility of species, when crossed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 10 [January 1863] ). He reminded …
- … man’s place in nature was published in February 1863, Huxley again argued that natural selection …
- … species could be produced by selective breeding. Huxley’s criticism provided additional …
- … also began with the Scottish hybridiser Isaac Anderson-Henry, and Darwin continued the exchange of …
- … of result that both he and Darwin hoped would counteract Huxley’s criticism ( letter from John …
- … 7 November [1863] ). Scott had referred directly to Huxley’s reservations about natural …
- … German botanist in Trinidad, and continued writing to George Henry Kendrick Thwaites, the director …
- … 16 July 1863 ). In England, Darwin asked Philip Henry Gosse, a writer and naturalist in …
- … plants in the same species ( see letter to Isaac Anderson-Henry, 20 January [1863] ). These …
- … took an interest in science, reading and commenting on Huxley’s books and Lyell’s Antiquity of man …
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: 13 hits
- … came from some of those whose support he most wanted: Thomas Henry Huxley, William Benjamin …
- … have been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A chronological list …
- … of his scientific method by the young Cambridge fellow Henry Fawcett in the December issue of …
- … some of the most fascinating in the volume. George Henry Kendrick Thwaites questioned Darwin …
- … were considered in future editions of Origin . William Henry Harvey wondered, in addition to …
- … yet understand the concept of natural selection. Even Huxley, an avowed supporter, proved a …
- … se ,’ Darwin’s theory would remain unproven (T. H. Huxley 1860a). Darwin had long reflected …
- … animal groups could give rise to new species, Darwin found Huxley’s lecture irritating and …
- … distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 ). But Baer in fact …
- … earlier sessions, including the Thursday meeting at which Huxley and Owen ‘had a furious battle over …
- … ‘for half an hour’, ridiculing Darwin ‘badly & Huxley savagely’. Huxley rose in response and …
- … tried to answer the Bishop in such an assembly,’ he told Huxley; nonetheless he believed that ‘this …
- … his theory. ‘I can pretty plainly see’, he commented to Huxley on 2 December, ‘that if my view is …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 6 hits
- … and a series of letters with the Irish botanist William Henry Harvey. Darwin remained …
- … Many of these were made in response to discussions with Henry Walter Bates, friend and travelling …
- … by the science-writer, and partner to George Eliot, George Henry Lewes . And he took the …
- … through his assistant, Arabella Buckley ), Thomas Henry Huxley , Osbert Salvin , Abraham …
- … appetite for vengeance had already been whetted by Thomas Henry Huxley’s review of Mivart: ‘I have …
- … that after all, Truth doesn’t die. Thomas Henry Huxley, 28 September 1871 …
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: 13 hits
- … of the human race. In 1861, Lubbock joined Thomas Henry Huxley, Busk, and several other …
- … in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Asa Gray, and Huxley but he never spoke out publicly …
- … is by me. Evidently, he then showed the note to Huxley and asked for his opinion on the …
- … C. Lyell 1863c that were almost identical. He did not, as Huxley had suggested, send Lyell the text …
- … involvement is the fact that, although he corresponded with Huxley in June and July and had seen …
- … resolve the dispute. Lubbock continued to seek advice from Huxley, Hooker, and other X-club friends …
- … in person with Darwin. Lyell wrote to Darwin, Hooker, and Huxley and also showed the correspondence …
- … his preface 27 Hooker also encouraged Lyell to follow Huxley’s advice, and told Huxley, …
- … one deal with Lubbock’. 28 Lyell quickly agreed to Huxley’s proposal, although he decided to …
- … agreed to delete his own note. In his last letter to Huxley dealing with the affair, he revealed …
- … that the published version of the note had been toned down. Huxley told Hooker: ‘It was as much as I …
- … vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 15. Letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 March 1865, in BL MSS ADD 49641. …
- … D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] . 25. Lubbock wrote to Huxley, ‘I should be quite satisfied …
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…
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: 13 hits
- … to address in the fifth edition was that of the engineer Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin. Darwin had …
- … pleased to see Thomson’s work challenged by both Thomas Henry Huxley and Wallace. He confided to …
- … less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). Towards …
- … without reserve. Darwin initially contacted the physician Henry Maudsley, who had worked for some …
- … more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). Darwin had …
- … discoveries in Patagonia and Wales ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 May 1869 , letter from W. B. …
- … part at Darwin’s most outspoken British supporter, Thomas Huxley, whose address ‘The physical basis …
- … “punctum saliens” of the whole meeting was decidedly Huxley’s answer to D r M c Cann. He …
- … man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September 1869 ). Huxley playfully groused that as usual …
- … fools of themselves than they did’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 28 September 1869 ). …
- … Delpino’s criticism was noted in a letter from Thomas Henry Farrer, who had been reading some of …
- … set foot on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier in …
- … by his horse. Having been advised in 1866 by the doctor Henry Bence Jones to go riding for his …
Inheritance
Summary
It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited. But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did. Darwin’s attempt to…
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
Matches: 1 hits
- … on fanaticism has not been identified. 8 Thomas Henry Huxley . 9 Richard …
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: 5 hits
- … Mivart enclosed a copy of an article replying to Thomas Henry Huxley’s scathing review of Genesis …
- … myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was far …
- … widen. Wallace’s favourable review of the physiologist Henry Charlton Bastian’s recent book on the …
- … 23 December 1872, CD note ), and he exclaimed to Thomas Huxley that he would like a society formed, …
- … younger correspondents, Huxley’s seven-year-old son, Henry ( letter from Henry Huxley, 17 and 20 …
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: 8 hits
- … leading roles in creating a private memorial fund for Thomas Henry Huxley, and in efforts to …
- … climates but not in others. He encouraged research by Thomas Henry Farrer on a complex floral …
- … ( letter from William Main, 2 April 1873 ). The zoologist Henry Reeks suspected the habit of …
- … the advance of civilisation and good breeding ( letter from Henry Reeks, 3 March 1873 ). …
- … to borrow a large sum in his own name. Together with Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin drafted an appeal …
- … it would offend his father ( enclosure to letter from T. H. Huxley, 3 December 1873 ). In …
- … conversation with Emma Darwin, and Darwin began to sound out Huxley’s friends on the matter. The …
- … from J. D. Hooker, [7 April 1873] ). A group of Huxley’s close friends, including Hooker, …
