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Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health

Summary

On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’.  Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…

Matches: 17 hits

  • On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July
  • 52 hours without vomiting!! In the same month, Darwin began to consult William Jenner, …
  • prescribed a variety of antacids and purgatives, and limited Darwins fluid intake; this treatment
  • the dimorphic aquatic cut-grass  Leersia . In May, Darwin finished his paper on  Lythrum
  • and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the
  • As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the
  • …  five years earlier. His primary botanical preoccupation in 1864 was climbing plants. He had become
  • observations indoors ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin
  • gradation by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
  • fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
  • matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864
  • long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was
  • …  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing
  • garden, taking notes by dictation. His niece Lucy Caroline Wedgwood sent observations of  …
  • household news, were sometimes written by Darwins wife, Emma, or by Henrietta. Darwins own replies
  • case of Dimorphismin  Menyanthes  ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. Darwin, [20
  • he saw few people outside the family and, according to Emma Darwins diary and his ownJournal’, …

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: 20 hits

  • … |  Editors and critics  |  Assistants Darwins correspondence helps bring to light a
  • community. Here is a selection of letters exchanged between Darwin and his workforce of women
  • Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August
  • silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to
  • to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to
  • be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to
  • Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L
  • Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [5
  • her observations on the expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676
  • Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] Darwin thanks Hooker for
  • New Zealand. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] …
  • Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 November 1868] Darwin
  • lakes in Pennsylvania. Letter 3681  - Wedgwood, M. S. to Darwin, [before 4 August
  • on holiday in Llandudno. Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] …
  • Wedgwood, S. E. & J. to Darwin, [10 November 1837] Emmas sister, Sarah, passes on
  • …  - Wright, Charles to Gray, A., [20, 25, 26 March & 1 April 1864] Charles Wright tells
  • E. to Darwin, W. E., [January 23rd 1887]: Emma Darwin tells her eldest son, William, …
  • E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March, 1862 - DAR 219.1:49) Emma Darwin updates her son, William, …
  • is a great critic”, thought the article worth reprinting, Emma was less convinced. Letter

Darwin's health

Summary

On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…

Matches: 19 hits

  • March 1849, ten years before  Origin  was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker
  • Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to
  • I was rapidly going the way of all fleshSee the letter At various periods in his
  • fatigue, trembling, faintness, and dizziness. In 1849, Darwins symptoms became so severe that he
  • for three months while he took Dr Gullys water cure. In Darwins letter to Hooker, he described Dr
  • certain that the Water Cure is no quackery.—  See the letter After returning from
  • as my retching is apt to be extremely loud.—  See the letter Besides experimenting
  • of a fashionable spinal ice treatment. In April 1864, Darwin attributed his improved health to Dr
  • gaining vigour .’ (letter to JDHooker, 13 April [1864] ) Why was Darwins so ill? …
  • vol. 12, letter to F. T. Buckland, 15 December [1864] ). On Darwins early stomach
  • vol. 4). Throughout the winter of 1863 and spring of 1864, he was sick almost daily (see
  • Chapman.  In a letter to J. D. Hooker, [20-] 22 February [1864] ( Correspondence vol. 12), …
  • 38, 47, 64). Fainting androckinghad been recorded in Emma Darwins diary (DAR 242) on several
  • sensationshas been found. On Darwins reliance on Emma Darwins companionship and care see, for
  • Hooker, 1 June [1865] and 27 [or 28 September 1865] . Emma or another member of the household
  • … , and Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood, [28 August 1837] ). His
  • alive’. See also Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 17 March
  • October 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December
  • of chalk, magnesia, and other antacids in March 1864 (see Emma Darwins diary, DAR 242, and n. 8, …

2.3 Wedgwood medallions

Summary

< Back to Introduction Despite Darwin’s closeness to the Wedgwood family, he was studiously uninterested in the productions of his maternal grandfather Josiah Wedgwood I, the immensely successful ceramic manufacturer. In a letter to Hooker of January…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … &lt; Back to Introduction Despite Darwins closeness to the Wedgwood family, he was
  • at Kew, and in the spring of 1863 he borrowed from the Darwin family a Wedgwood medallion of Charles
  • It is therefore extremely unlikely that it was Darwin himself who commissioned the sculptor Thomas
  • of his father, and probably paid for it himself. In a letter from his Southampton home, dateable to
  • production of the medallion: the first wax model portraying Darwin; the plaster mould created from
  • her Life in Letters of her father, dated his model for Wedgwoods Darwin medallion to 1869. …
  • one Woolner design, still exist in the collections of the Wedgwood Museum at Barlaston. Two of them
  • blue jasper with an integral frame like a wreath. Although Darwin wears modern dress, the rather
  • At the same time, it harks back to the neoclassicism of Wedgwoods eighteenth-century medallions of
  • such as John Locke and Adam Smith, who had been portrayed on Wedgwood medallions at an earlier
  • Darwin about his Wedgwood enthusiasms and collecting: 5 Feb. 1864 (DCP-LETT-4401); 6 April 1864 (DCP

Natural Science and Femininity

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…

Matches: 15 hits

  • thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity
  • feminine powers of feeling and aesthetic appreciation, Darwin and his male colleagues struggled to
  • Britain? Letters Letter 109 - Wedgwood, J. to Darwin, …
  • pursuit of real, professional work on his return. Letter 158 - Darwin to Darwin, R. W., …
  • and taking in the aesthetic beauty of the world around him. Darwin describes thestrikingcolour
  • made up of meals, family time and walks into town with Emma. Letter 555 - Darwin to
  • … ‘ A Biographical Sketch of an Infant ’. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May
  • them in the north-facing borders of his garden. Letter 2864 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
  • andnever saw anything so beautiful”. Letter 4230 - Darwin to GardenersChronicle, [2
  • microscopical spherical bodies found on flowers which Emma had gathered and brought into the house
  • linked with his domestic family life. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, [2
  • at least provide Darwin with aesthetic pleasure. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
  • he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 4469 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin
  • Letter 4472 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [26 or 27 April 1864] Hooker once again discusses
  • in his home. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] …

Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex

Summary

The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…

Matches: 23 hits

  • …   On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If any
  • he ought to do what I am doing pester them with letters.’ Darwin was certainly true to his word. The
  • and sexual selection. In  Origin , pp. 8790, Darwin had briefly introduced the concept of
  • in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, …
  • to the stridulation of crickets. At the same time, Darwin continued to collect material on
  • his immediate circle of friends and relations. In July 1868 Darwin was still anticipating that his
  • which was devoted to sexual selection in the animal kingdom. Darwin described his thirst for
  • as well say, he would drink a little and not too much’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 15 May [1868] ) …
  • in January 1868. A final delay caused by the indexing gave Darwin much vexation. ‘My book is
  • 1867 and had expected to complete it in a fortnight. But at Darwins request, he modified his
  • would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwins angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to
  • of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
  • if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
  • reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation
  • would strike me in the face, but not behind my back’ ( letter to John Murray, 25 February [1868] ) …
  • ignorant article… . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] …
  • … ‘he is a scamp &amp; I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] …
  • wrote of the colour of duck claws on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed tothe Rev d  C. …
  • at Cambridge, George Robert Crotch, writing to his mother Emma in a letter dated [after 16 October
  • Langton wrote from the south of France to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood on 9 Novembe r, describing
  • and received a number of reports from family members. Emma Darwins niece, Cicely Mary Hawkshaw, …
  • old daughter Katherine ( letter from C. M. Hawkshaw to Emma Darwin, 9 February [1868] ). Darwins
  • other national papers, and within a few days Darwin and Emma were receiving letters of

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: 24 hits

  • In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous
  • for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health
  • … ‘I feel a very old man, &amp; my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition
  • Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwins greatest scientific pleasure. The year
  • fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882
  • working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that
  • for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwins interest in root response and the
  • François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20
  • quite untirable &amp; I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January
  • probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • and was no longer able to take his daily strolls (Henrietta Emma Litchfield, ‘Charles Darwins death
  • E. Litchfield to G. H. Darwin, 17 March 1882 (DAR 245: 319)) Emma wrote ten days later: ‘You will
  • been a good deal plagued with dull aching in the chest’ (Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28
  • benefit &amp; he escaped pain entirely yesterday’ (letter from Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, 6 April
  • wrote to George, who had visited Down on 11 April (Emma Darwins diary (DAR 242)). ‘Father was taken
  • H. Darwin, [19 April 1882] (DAR 245: 320)). It was left to Emma to convey the sorrowful news to his
  • which I hope were never very violent’ ( letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [20 April 1882
  • were not wanting to tell me how you felt for meHope [Wedgwood] expresses a feeling that I should
  • they were the most overflowing in tenderness’ (letter from Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin, 10 May 1882
  • was eagerly awaited by his family, including his cousin Emma Wedgwood. In long letters to her sister
  • plied him with questions without any mercy’ ( letter from Emma Wedgwood to F. E. E. Wedgwood, [28
  • able to work’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To the physician Henry Holland, …
  • History every day’ ( letter to Henry Holland, 6 November [1864] ). Writing to the clergyman and

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 14 hits

  • Discussion Questions | Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth
  • Letters Darwins Notes On Marriage [April - July 1838] In these notes, …
  • theories, &amp; accumulating facts in silence &amp; solitude”. Darwin also comments that he has
  • an hourwith poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to
  • whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13
  • her own steam and is afirst rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30
  • of physiology at Bedford College for girls. Appealing to Emmasfeminine sympathies”, Cresy is keen
  • Anderson isneither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28
  • to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • almost out of a womans natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20
  • but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May

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: 17 hits

  • and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important
  • when strong institutional structures were largely absent. Darwin had a small circle of scientific
  • in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of
  • section contains two sets of letters. The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. …
  • and he is curious about Hookers thoughts. Letter 729Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
  • to Hookerit is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
  • and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • Letter 4463Scott, John to Darwin, C. R., 14 Apr [1864] Scott thanks Darwin for his
  • Letter 4468Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 19 [Apr 1864] Darwin makes another plea to his
  • Letter 4469Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 20 Apr 1864 Hooker again refuses to help Scott, …
  • Letter 4471Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 25 Apr [1864] Darwin thinks his friend Kew
  • Letter 4611Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 13 Sept [1864] Darwin sends abstract of John Scott
  • Letter 4441Becker, Lydia to Darwin, C. R., 30 Mar 1864 Becker sends Darwin a copy of her
  • Letter 1176Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, Emma, [201 May 1848] Darwin writes to his wife Emma. …
  • Catherines and his own. He also notes that Hensleigh [Wedgwood] thinks he has settled the free-will

What did Darwin believe?

Summary

What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…

Matches: 20 hits

  • What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of
  • rhetoric of crusading secularists, many of whom take Darwin as an icon. But Darwin was very
  • Letters became an important medium through which Darwins readers sought to draw him out on matters
  • the religious implications of his work. Letters written to Darwin by persons unknown to him became
  • often seeking direction for their own. Mary Booles letter In December 1866 Darwin
  • after her husband, the mathematician George Boole, died in 1864. Dear Sir Will you
  • of Science &amp; the promises of religion. See the letter Boole, like a number
  • meeting point should still be far off. See the letter In his response to Boole
  • feeling. But he does not venture into such territory in this letter to a stranger. Emma
  • matters many years earlier with his cousin and fiancée, Emma Wedgewood. In their correspondence, …
  • but we gain a sense of what the couple discussed from Emmas words to him: My reason
  • It is clear from other correspondence that one of Emmas most cherished beliefs was in an afterlife. …
  • she means so in eternity. There is a marked tension in Emmas letter between reason and feeling, and
  • to himself, and allowed his differences of belief with Emma to remain for the most part submerged. …
  • members of the Darwin family, offer a fuller perspective on Emmas religious beliefs. The documents
  • over Scriptural or doctrinal authority, as a foundation for Emmas views. They also show that Emmas
  • was another important religious tradition in the Darwin and Wedgwood families. Josiah Wedgwood, who
  • Unitarian school in Shrewsbury. The circle with whom he and Emma socialised when in London included
  • were regular guests of Darwins brother Erasmus, and of Emmas brother, Hensleigh Wedgwood and his
  • writer. Wallace, Alfred Russel. Naturalist. Wedgwood, Josiah. Master potter and

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: 24 hits

  • In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwins mind was the writing of  The variation of animals and
  • letters on climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also submitted a manuscript of his
  • protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. Darwins transmutation theory continued to
  • Argyll, appeared in the religious weeklyGood Words . Darwin received news of an exchange of
  • Butler, and, according to Butler, the bishop of Wellington. Darwins theory was discussed at an
  • in the  GardenersChronicleAt the end of the year, Darwin was elected an honorary member of
  • year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of
  • The death of Hugh Falconer Darwins first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family
  • having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • for the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1864, had staunchly supported his candidacy, …
  • had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus
  • his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium
  • may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • for our griefs &amp; pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865
  • gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • added, ‘I know it is folly &amp; nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • to CDs theory of transmutation, in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to
  • … ), and wrote up his results on his voyage to India in late 1864, despite suffering from sea-sickness
  • in learned societies and in the popular press. In December 1864, George Douglas Campbell, the duke
  • this and that modification of structure’ (G. D. Campbell 1864, pp. 2756). Campbell argued further
  • attending school, and spent some time travelling in Europe (Emma Darwins diary (DAR 242),  Emma
  • people werent so foolish’;. In November, Darwin and Emma visited Erasmus in London ( …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same …
  • … nineteenth century were different in important ways. Many of Darwin's leading supporters were …
  • … their religious beliefs with evolutionary theory. Darwin's own writing, both in print and …
  • … much as possible. A number of correspondents tried to draw Darwin out on his own religious views, …
  • … political contexts. Design Darwin was not the first to challenge …
  • … on the controversial topic of design. The first is between Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray, …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … nature, as he is in a “muddle” on this issue. Letter 3256 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
  • … of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …
  • … of variations. Darwin and Graham Letter 13230 — Darwin, C. R. to Graham, …
  • … of people, including members of his own family. Letter 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, …
  • … conscientious doubts”. Letter 471 — Darwin, Emma to Darwin, C. R., [c. Feb 1839] …
  • … of Argyll’s address to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864), Darwin used birds, flowers and …
  • … of Argyll’s address [to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864)] on beauty and sexual selection. He …

Darwin and Fatherhood

Summary

Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…

Matches: 17 hits

  • Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten
  • an unusually large number of letters sent by members of the Darwin family to be studied. However, in
  • required them to work long hours away from their family. Darwin was unusual in being able to pursue
  • this part of Kent asextraordinarily rural &amp; quiet’ (Darwin to his sister Catherine,  [24 July
  • left their children in the care of servants in the country. Darwin frequently expressed regrets that
  • meetings and social events in the capital. As a result, Darwin rarely spent a day without the
  • they employed eight servants including two nursery maids. Emma actively supervised and assisted with
  • … ‘visitsto see their father when he was working (Darwin to his wife Emma,  [7-8 February 1845] ). …
  • childrens development in diaries and letters. However, Darwin was unusual for the systematic
  • was far more typical of mid-nineteenth-century fathers was Darwins intense involvement in his
  • to incessant anxiety &amp; movement on account of Etty.’ (Darwin to W. D. Fox18 October [1860] …
  • daughter reveal (J. D. Hooker to Darwin16 September 1864 ). In addition to his fears for
  • … (Darwin to W. D. Fox10 October [1850] ) as he and Emma tried to choose suitable schools and
  • children in letters to friends, and the choices that he and Emma made were deliberately conventional
  • were favourite family games, and in 1859 he ended a letter to his oldest son with the exclamationI
  • … (Darwin to his son William,  [30 October 1858] ). In one letter in 1856, he explained his paternal
  • the age of twenty-six. This meant that in old age Darwin and Emma continued to share Down House with

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: 21 hits

  • The year 1876 started out sedately enough with Darwin working on the first draft of his book on the
  • life in Down House measured by the ongoing tally of his and Emmas backgammon games. ‘I have won, …
  • regarding the ailments that were so much a feature of Darwin family life. But the calm was not to
  • four days later. ‘I cannot bear to think of the future’, Darwin confessed to William on 11
  • quantity of workleft in him fornew matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The
  • to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February
  • … &amp; I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
  • provided evidence for theadvantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising
  • year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20
  • nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
  • himbaselyand who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
  • was never far away in the Darwin family. In April, while Emma was suffering from a feverish cold, …
  • In the same month, Darwin heard that his sister Caroline Wedgwood continued to languish in
  • associated with a happy event. On 7 September, Charles and Emma became grandparents for the first
  • have heart to go on again . . . I cannot conceive Emma and Charles exhibited a practical
  • August to be with her daughter at the time of the birth, and Emma was unimpressed by her. ‘The more
  • word she says’, she confided to Henrietta (letter from Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield, [31 August
  • ability to console Francis after Amys death gained Emmas respect. ‘She is always able to speak’, …
  • of Darwins recently completed autobiography (letter from Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin, [13 September
  • … &amp; his wife (very pleasing) &amp; a Prof. Romer came to lunch’, Emma Darwin reported to Leonard
  • from different forms of dimorphic and trimorphic plants in 1864 showed that hybrid sterility in

Discussion Questions and Essay Questions

Summary

There are a wide range of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwin’s correspondence.  We have provided a set of sample discussion questions and essay questions, each of which focuses on a particular topic or correspondent in depth.…

Matches: 10 hits

  • of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwins correspondence.  We have
  • start researching and writing an essay that centres on Darwins letters, narrowing the field to a
  • Why was correspondence so important for Darwin? How did Darwin encourage people he did not
  • material did letters contain? How much knowledge does Darwin assume when he writes to
  • and class, matter in scientific exchange? What does Darwin do when he wants to introduce a
  • internet today? Essay writing How was Darwins early species theory discussed
  • What ethical implications did readers draw from Darwins theories?[Mary Boole (1864), F. E. Abbot
  • on inheritance theory (pangenesis) (1870-1)] How did Darwin involve his family in his research
  • in letters? [Hooker on geographic distribution of species (1864--6 and earlier), Wallace on the
  • debates over design in the natural world conducted? [F. J. Wedgwood, Asa Gray, J. F. W. Herschel, …

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: 26 hits

  • In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished
  • used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwins letters; the full transcript
  • … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwins alterations. The spelling and
  • book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been
  • a few instances, primarily in theBooks Readsections, Darwin recorded that a work had been
  • of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the
  • own. Soon after beginning his first reading notebook, Darwin began to separate the scientific
  • the second reading notebook. Readers primarily interested in Darwins scientific reading, therefore, …
  • editorsidentification of the book or article to which Darwin refers. A full list of these works is
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands &amp; Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824
  • 183440]: In Portfolio ofabstracts34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm
  • 1833] (Boot) Leslie life of Constable [Leslie 1843]. (Emma) (read) M rs  Frys Life
  • Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleays letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • Public Library. 3  ‘BooksReadis in Emma Darwins hand. 4  “”Traité …
  • 6  The text from page [1v.] to page [6] is in Emma Darwins hand and was copied from Notebook C, …
  • to old Aristotle.’ ( LL 3: 252). 10  Emma Darwin wrote7 thinstead of3 d “ …
  • 12  A mistranscription forEntozoaby Emma Darwin. See Notebook C, p. 266 ( Notebooks ). …
  • wroteTransactto replaceJournalwritten in Emma Darwins hand. 16  Emma Darwin
  • of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to
  • … (Liebig 1851). 50  Probably Elizabeth Wedgwood. 51  This note is a
  • …  The text from page [1a] to half way down page [5a] is in Emma Darwins hand and is a copy of CDs
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 31928). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors
  • in ink by CD. 73  This entry was written by Emma Darwin. 74  “8 … …
  • to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November
  • 1855The senses and the intellect . London. [2d ed. (1864) in Darwin Library.]  *128: 165