To Asa Gray 20 March [1863]
Summary
Discusses the meaning of C. K. Sprengel’s term "dichogamy". Dichogamous plants are functionally monoecious; Primula is functionally dioecious.
Reports Hermann Crüger’s observations of Cattleya and of bees pollinating Catasetum. Crüger will observe Melastomataceae.
Has built a hothouse.
Fears Amsinckia cannot be dimorphic.
Ill health slows his work on Variation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 20 Mar [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (58) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4053 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … March 1863] . See letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 . See also letter from Charles …
- … 1863] , and letter from H. W. Bates, 17 January [1863] ). Bates’s account of his eleven years as a naturalist in the Amazon region of South America ( Bates 1863 ) was published between 1 and 14 April 1863 ( Publishers’ Circular 26 (1863): 193). C. Lyell 1863a ; see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 . See letters to Charles Lyell , …
To Asa Gray 23 February [1863]
Summary
Recommends Lyell’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)].
Quotes praise of AG’s pamphlet [see 2938].
Comments on U. S. politics.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 23 Feb [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (55) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4006 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … between 4 and 14 February 1863 (see letter to Charles Lyell, 4 [February 1863] ). CD had …
- … 1863] , which is in DAR 210.6: 109, Henrietta recorded that CD was ‘reading Sir Charles Lyell & …
- … Charles and Mary Elizabeth Lyell had been invited to Down House for a few days, from 1 to 4 March 1863, …
- … 1863, on 18 April 1863 (see letter to Asa Gray, 20 April [1863] ). C. Lyell 1863a . Chapters 12 to 18 of Charles Lyell’ …
From Asa Gray 20 April 1863
Summary
AG’s opinion of Lyell’s Antiquity of man.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Apr 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 134 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4112 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … rebelled’ (see letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). See CD’s annotations to the …
- … Charles Lyell’s Antiquity of man ( C. Lyell 1863a ). See letter to Asa Gray, 20 March [1863] . …
- … 1863] and 20 March [1863] . See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] , letter from J. D. Hooker, [1 March 1863] , and letter to Charles Lyell, …
To Asa Gray 20 April [1863]
Summary
Fears England and U. S. will drift into war; he and AG must "keep to Science".
Thanks for facts on Incas; regrets he has always avoided the case of man.
Has sent his Linum paper [Collected papers 2: 93–105].
Is it true that Ohio has legislated against marriage of cousins?
Can AG explain the invariable angles in phyllotaxy; are they the consequence of packing in the early bud?
Owen’s comments on heterogeny in the Athenæum [28 Mar 1863] have vexed W. B. Carpenter; CD has replied [Collected papers 2: 78–80].
Hopes AG will observe Gymnadenia; John Scott has been experimenting on its fertilisation.
Gives his observation on pollination of Cypripedium.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 20 Apr [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (51) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4110 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Lyell 1863a ). See letter to Charles Lyell, 18 April [1863] , and letter to Hugh Falconer, …
- … to J. D. Hooker, [17 April 1863] , and letter to Charles Lyell, 18 April [1863] . CD’s …
- … 1863] and n. 22, and letter from Daniel Oliver, 17 February 1863 . CD refers to Hugh Falconer’s letter in the Athenæum , 4 April 1863, pp. 459–60, which was critical of Charles Lyell’ …
To Asa Gray 29 October [1864]
Summary
Sends question [missing] for an ornithologist.
Is plodding on at Variation.
Has added to Climbing plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 29 Oct [1864] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (88) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4647 |
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: 3 hits
- … 28 March 1863, pp. 417–19. For Falconer’s dispute with Charles Lyell , see letter to …
- … 1863 ( Dana 1863b ). For CD’s opinion of Dana 1863c and a definition of cephalisation, see the letter to Charles Lyell, …
- … 1863 ( Athenæum , 7 February 1863, p. 176) and the second edition was published in April (see C. Lyell 1863b , p. vii, and letter to Charles Lyell, …
To Asa Gray 11 May [1863]
Summary
CD despairs when men like AG and Lyell consider themselves incapable of judging on change of species by descent.
Is confused over phyllotaxy.
Has been looking at Plantago lanceolata.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 11 May [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (59) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4153 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … 1863] , the letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] , and the letter to Charles Lyell, …
- … 1863 . According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), the Darwins stayed at Leith Hill Place, near Dorking, Surrey, the home of Josiah Wedgwood III , between 6 and 13 May 1863. Letters from Asa Gray , 11 April 1863 , 13 April 1863 , and 20 April 1863 . In his letter of 20 April 1863 , Gray commented favourably on Charles Lyell’ …
To Asa Gray 11 December [1861]
Summary
Discusses the worsening relations between their two countries and the possibility of war.
Expects Orchids and his Primula paper [Collected papers 2: 45–63] to be out soon.
Thanks AG for some facts on dimorphism.
George Bentham has given him a list of Oxalis and Mentha species that are dimorphic like Primula.
Is in a "thick mud" regarding design in nature.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 11 Dec [1861] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (62) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3342 |
To Asa Gray 25 February [1864]
Summary
Has not worked for six months due to illness.
Has been looking at climbing plants.
Hermann Crüger’s paper shows that CD was right about Catasetum pollination. Crüger’s account of pollination of Coryanthes "beats everything".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 25 Feb [1864] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (80) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4415 |
To Asa Gray 23 November [1862]
Summary
Recommends H. W. Bates’s paper on butterflies of Amazonia ["Insect fauna of the Amazon valley", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862): 495–566].
Lyell’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)] is eagerly awaited.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 23 Nov [1862] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (49) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3820 |
From Asa Gray 13 April 1863
Summary
Hopes CD will finish and bring out his book on variation.
AG will publish extracts of H. W. Bates’s paper on mimetic analogy [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 36 (1863): 279–94].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Apr 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 133 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4089 |
From Asa Gray [25 February 1868 or later]
Summary
Discusses arrangements for American edition of Variation.
Observations on apparently inherited instinct in a dog.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [25 Feb 1868 or later] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 102 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2563 |
From Asa Gray 22–30 March 1863
Summary
Discusses the Duke of Argyll’s article on the supernatural [Edinburgh Rev. 116 (1862): 378–97].
Has heard that the Incas married their sisters; this may be worth investigating as a case of inbreeding.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22–30 Mar 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 131 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4056 |
From Asa Gray 21 July 1863
Summary
Gives some observations on Drosera.
Comments on Richard Owen’s "transmutation theory" in his aye-aye paper [Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. 5 (1866): 33–101].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 July 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 128, 138 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4248 |
To Asa Gray 21 April [1862]
Summary
Is sending first half of orchid book.
Feels he is wrong about Melastoma.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 21 Apr [1862] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (65) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3513 |
To Asa Gray [after 11 October 1861]
Summary
Thanks AG for notes on hollies.
Replies to an argument for design. Feels it monstrous to consider orchids created as they are now seen, since every part reveals modification on modification.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | [after 11 Oct 1861] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (51a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3283 |
Matches: 1 hit
To Asa Gray 4 August [1863]
Summary
Anticipated AG’s attitude on design in orchids. Does he not think that the variations that gave rise to fancy pigeon varieties were accidental?
Has been working hard at Lythrum
and spontaneous movements of tendrils.
Defends Drosera as a "sagacious animal" but does not know whether he will ever publish on it.
Comments on political situation in U. S.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 4 Aug [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (83) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4262 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1863 and n. 7; CD refers to Oswald Heer and his theory that sudden changes and the production of monstrosities were causal factors in the emergence of new species. CD had discussed variation and selection in domestic pigeons in Origin , pp. 20–29, and provided an extended discussion of this subject in Variation ( Variation 1: 131–224). He selected this example because the accidental variations in pigeons had been ‘extraordinarily great’ ( Variation 1: 131). See Correspondence vol. 9, letters to Charles Lyell , [1 August 1861] , 13 [August 1861] , and 21 August [1861] ; Charles Lyell’ …
To Asa Gray 2 January [1863]
Summary
Thanks AG for Cypripedium and Mitchella.
Plans to investigate pollination of Cypripedium.
Has finished Linum paper [Collected papers 2: 93–105].
Would welcome facts on "bud-variations".
Hears that Cinchona is dimorphic.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 2 Jan [1863] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (56) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3897 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1863 ( General index to the Journal of the Linnean Society , p. vi). However, CD obtained a number of offprints of the paper in mid-April for distribution; Gray’s name appears on CD’s presentation list (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix IV). Letter from J. D. Dana, 4 December 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10). In 1859, James Dwight Dana had suffered a nervous breakdown from which he never fully recovered (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to Charles Lyell, …
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Gray, Asa | (6) |
| Gray, Asa | (12) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (18) |
| Gray, Asa |
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 …
