To Charles Lyell 28 [September 1860]
Summary
Discusses extinction of ammonites.
Discusses August Krohn’s cirripede research and Krohn’s correction of his own work.
Discusses origin of dog in connection with origin of man.
Comments on the guinea-pig in South America.
Notes K. E. von Baer’s view of species.
Mentions difficulty of crossing rabbit and hare.
Agrees with Hooker’s views on variation under cultivation and in nature.
Regrets use of term "natural selection", would now use "Natural Preservation".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 28 [Sept 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.229) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2931 |
To Charles Lyell 15 and 16 [February 1860]
Summary
Auguste Bravard’s discoveries magnificent.
Bravard has sent pamphlets [Observaciones geológicas (1857) and Monografia de los terrenos marinos terciarios (1858)] with strange doctrine that Pampean deposit is subaerial.
Review of Origin by Wollaston [Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 3d ser. 5 (1860): 132–43] clever and misinterprets CD only in a few places.
Wallace’s MS ["Zoological geography of the Malay Archipelago", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 4 (1860): 172–84] admirably good.
Henslow "will go very little way with us". "He, also, shudders at the eye!"
Baden Powell says CD’s statement about eye is conclusive.
Leonard Jenyns cannot go as far as CD, yet cannot give good reason.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 15 and 16 Feb 1860 |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.198); The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/B1/ Lyell Temp Box 3.1 Folder_6) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2700 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Dalton Hooker . See letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] . John Stevens Henslow visited …
- … in his book (see letter from Asa Gray, 23 January 1860 ). CD had sent Gray’s letter to …
- … February [1860] . CD had used this expression in his letter to Asa Gray, [8 or 9 February …
- … 1860 , pp. 176–8). CD omitted a word when he began a new page of the letter. Lyell was at work on a study of early human remains. Late in 1859, he had visited the Loess formations in Belgium and the valley of the Rhine, where fossil human bones had been found together with those of extinct animals. Lyell discussed these findings in his work on the antiquity of man ( C. Lyell 1863 ). CD received proof-sheets of Asa Gray’ …
To Charles Lyell 10 January [1860]
Summary
Comments on corrections [in Origin, 2d ed. (1860)], especially on use of Wallace’s name.
Discusses human evolution with respect to CL’s work. Cites expression as a source of evidence.
Andrew Murray’s criticisms of the Origin involving blind insects in caves [Edinburgh New Philos. J. n.s. 11 (1860): 141–51].
Humorously describes human ancestors.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 10 Jan [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.191) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2647 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … the enclosure to the letter to Asa Gray, 28 January [1860] . Lyell’s letter in response …
- … 3 January [1860] , to Charles Lyell , 4 [January 1860], and to Asa Gray , 28 January [ …
- … Asa Gray, 18 November [1858] . CD probably alludes to his idea of sexual selection, expanded at length in Descent . CD had long collected notes on the expression of the emotions. His earliest comments are in his notebooks ( Notebooks ). See also CD’s observations on the expressions and behaviour of his children ( Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix III). He published the results of his research in Expression . Letter to Thomas Bridges, 6 January 1860 . …
To Charles Lyell 22 May [1860]
Summary
Mentions American edition of Origin.
A "savage" review [by John Duns] in North British Review [32 (1860): 455–68].
Comments on views of G. H. K. Thwaites on the survival of simple forms as a problem in his theory.
Mentions imperfection of geological record.
Marine origin of coal.
Illness of Etty.
Encloses article by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire on hare–rabbit crosses [Histoire naturelle générale (1854–62) 3: 222].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 22 May [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.213) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2812 |
To Charles Lyell 11 August [1860]
Summary
Comments on his fear that "so many heavy guns fired by great men" might influence the public and scientists.
Sends CL the Owen-inspired Wilberforce review [Q. Rev. 108 (1860): 225–64].
Mentions defence of Origin by Asa Gray at American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Agassiz and Theophilus Parsons have poor criticisms ["Prof. Agassiz on the origin of species", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 30 (1860): 142–54].
Lists other negative reviews by Rudolph Wagner ["An essay on classification by Louis Agassiz", Göttingische Gelehrte Anz. (1860) pt 2: 761–800], Charles Daubeny ["Remarks on the final causes of the sexuality of plants, with particular reference to Mr Darwin’s work On the origin of species by natural selection", Rep. BAAS 30 (1860) pt 2: 109–10], and two anonymous ones (one favourable).
Huxley says K. E. von Baer "goes a long way with us".
Comments on "pipes" in chalk as evidence of geological processes still at work.
Is writing on origin of dog breeds [Variation 1: 15–43].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 11 Aug [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.223) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2895 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … preceding letter and letter to Asa Gray, 22 July [1860] . See letters to J. D. Hooker, [ …
- … Q. Rev. 108 (1860): 225–64]. Mentions defence of Origin by Asa Gray at American Academy of …
- … J. D. Hooker, [20? July 1860] , to T. H. Huxley, 20 July [1860], and to Asa Gray , 22 …
- … 1860]). John Murray , the publisher of the Quarterly Review and of Origin , had also sent CD a copy (see letter to John Murray, 3 August [1860] ). See letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 August [1860] . CD refers to the 4 August issue of the Athenæum , which carried an extract from Asa Gray’ …
To Charles Lyell 3 October [1860]
Summary
Comments on letter from Jeffries Wyman.
Discusses reprinting reviews by Asa Gray.
Mentions views of W. S. Symonds on the geological record.
Discusses descent of turtles and tortoises.
The universality of variation.
Notes only a few species leave modified descendants.
Discusses Apteryx.
Variation among pigeons.
Comments on fertility among hybrids.
Does not agree that he makes natural selection do too much work.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 3 Oct [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.230) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2935 |
To Charles Lyell 15 April [1860]
Summary
Has resolved not to correct Owen’s misrepresentations in his review of Origin.
Discusses at length the theological implications of natural selection.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 15 Apr [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.208) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2761 |
To Charles Lyell 30 July [1860]
Summary
Comments on BAAS meeting: "our side seems to have got on very well". Asa Gray, too, is fighting nobly.
Comments on review [by Samuel Wilberforce] in the Quarterly [Rev. 108 (1860): 225–64].
Mentions a favourable review in the London Review.
Wonders if German translation [of the Origin] by Bronn has drawn attention to the subject.
The Natural History Review to be edited by Huxley and others.
Expects CL’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)] to be a bombshell.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 30 July [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.222) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2881 |
To Charles Lyell 28 August [1860]
Summary
The adultery of Lady [Harriet Spencer] Grey and Captain Keppell.
A new species of elephant discovered by Hugh Falconer.
Comments on excellent review by Asa Gray [Atlantic Monthly 6 (1860): 229–39].
Still believes dogs descended from several wild stocks.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 28 Aug [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.224) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2900 |
To Charles Lyell 5 [October 1860]
Summary
Discusses views of T. V. Wollaston concerning island species related to those of mainland; possible land connection between islands and mainland.
Comments on bats of Atlantic islands.
Plant extinction on St Helena.
Experiments on Drosera.
Bronn’s objections [to the Origin] at end of his translation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 5 [Oct 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.231) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2938 |
To Charles Lyell 10 April [1860]
Summary
W. B. Carpenter’s review of Origin [in Br. & Foreign Med.-Chir. Rev. 25 (1860): 367–404] "very good and well balanced, but not brilliant".
"There is a brilliant review by Huxley" [Westminster Rev. 17 (1860): 541–70].
Asa Gray sends good case of selection producing black pigs in Virginia.
Great blow to CD that CL cannot admit potency of natural selection.
Owen’s review in Edinburgh Review [111 (1860): 487–532] "extremely malignant, clever".
Patrick Matthew has published extract in Gardeners’ Chronicle [7 Apr 1860] from his Naval timber and arboriculture [1831], a complete but not developed anticipation of natural selection.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 10 Apr [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.206) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2754 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … missing, but see the letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] . Jeffries Wyman wrote to CD later …
- … 1860): 367–404] "very good and well balanced, but not brilliant". "There is a brilliant review by Huxley" [ Westminster Rev. 17 (1860): 541–70]. Asa Gray …
- … 1860] . See letter to W. B. Carpenter, 6 April [1860] . [T. H. Huxley] 1860b. Thomas Henry Huxley maintained that CD’s theory could not be fully acknowledged until it was shown how sterility could arise between interbreeding hybrids ( T. H. Huxley 1860a , p. 198). Asa Gray’ …
- … 1860’, is in the Darwin Library–CUL. Brixham Cave, near Torquay, was being excavated by Hugh Falconer and William Pengelly . Lyell had joined the group to inspect the fossil remains and flint implements they had uncovered. Lyell described the results of the excavations in C. Lyell 1863 , pp. 96–103. For an account of Lyell’s work on the antiquity of man, see Bynum 1984 . The letter has not been found, but see the letter to Asa Gray, …
To Charles Lyell [1 August 1861]
Summary
Mentions Dutch translation [of Origin].
Discusses evolutionary origin of sexuality.
Asa Gray’s suggestion that variation was directed by a higher power and Herschel’s view of providential arrangement in nature.
Compares variation in domestic and wild species.
Asks CL for introductions for his son William in Southampton, where he has joined a bank.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | [1 Aug 1861] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.259) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3223 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 8, letters to Asa Gray , 3 July [1860] , and 26 November [1860] . See …
- … 1860. See letters to George Maw , 13 July [1861] , and to H. C. Watson, [17 July 1861]. On CD’s views on the origin and functional importance of sexual dimorphism in evolution, see Ghiselin 1969 and Hodge 1985 . Thwaites 1847 . Asa Gray …
To Charles Lyell 23 [September 1860]
Summary
Hopes to get Asa Gray’s review of Origin republished.
Argues for single origin of mammals.
Encloses two phylogenetic diagrams indicating possible descent of mammals.
Comments on rodents, marsupials, and dingo in Australia,
and on a paper on the survival of stumps as a result of root grafting.
Argues that man had a single progenitor and consists of a single species.
Comments on destruction of non-white races.
Discusses introduction of rodents to islands by man.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 23 [Sept 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.227) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2925 |
To Charles Lyell 1 [June 1860]
Summary
Comments on review of Origin by Andrew Murray [Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh 4 (1860): 274–91] and views of William Hopkins on Origin ["Physical theories and the phenomena of life" Fraser’s Mag. 61 (1860): 739–52; 62 (1860): 74–90]. The attacks will tell heavily.
Mentions Blyth’s failure to receive appointment as naturalist to China expedition of 1860.
Encloses letter from Asa Gray.
Discusses gestation period in domesticated dogs.
Comments on hybrid fertility.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 1 [June 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.214) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2820 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … CD’s reply, see the letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] . Lyell questioned whether domestic …
- … the editor of The Future . [Duns] 1860 . See letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] . Phillips …
- … 1860): 274–91] and views of William Hopkins on Origin ["Physical theories and the phenomena of life" Fraser’s Mag. 61 (1860): 739–52; 62 (1860): 74–90]. The attacks will tell heavily. Mentions Blyth’s failure to receive appointment as naturalist to China expedition of 1860. Encloses letter from Asa Gray. …
To Charles Lyell 12 [February 1860]
Summary
Encloses letters from H. G. Bronn, Asa Gray, and C. J. F. Bunbury, concerning the Origin.
Will send review by Gray and a notice by Bronn.
Says Bronn will superintend the German translation.
Comments on lecture by Huxley [at Royal Institution, 10 Feb 1860, Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 3 (1858–62): 195–200]. Has remonstrated with him for saying sterility is "a universal and infallible criterion of species".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 12 [Feb 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.196) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2693 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … January 1860 , and Correspondence vol. 7, letters to Asa Gray , 11 August [1858] and 11 …
- … Bunbury, 9 February [1860] . CD refers to Edward Forbes . See letter from Asa Gray, 23 …
- … 1860] , and to H. G. Bronn, 4 February [1860]. CD possibly refers to his nephew Henry Parker , who was a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Letters from Asa Gray , …
- … Asa Gray, and C. J. F. Bunbury, concerning the Origin . Will send review by Gray and a notice by Bronn. Says Bronn will superintend the German translation. Comments on lecture by Huxley [at Royal Institution, 10 Feb 1860, …
To Charles Lyell [24 March – 3 April 1860]
Summary
Discusses letter of recommendation for Edward Blyth.
Sedgwick’s review of the Origin in the Spectator [24 Mar 1860].
Mentions breaks between geological formations.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | [24 Mar – 3 Apr 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.204) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2734 |
To Charles Lyell 2 February [1861]
Summary
Quotes passage from letter from Asa Gray dealing with views of Francis Bowen on heredity and Agassiz "(foolish man)" on heredity and languages.
Sent CL the Calcutta Review [with Edward Blyth’s review of Origin, 35 (1860): 64–88].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 2 Feb [1861] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.238) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3054 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … 1860] , 23 [September 1860] , and 4 December [1860] ). Lyell approved the proposal ( ibid . , letter to Asa Gray, …
- … Asa Gray dealing with views of Francis Bowen on heredity and Agassiz "(foolish man)" on heredity and languages. Sent CL the Calcutta Review [with Edward Blyth’s review of Origin , 35 (1860): …
- … 1860] ). See also Correspondence vol. 9, Appendix III. As Lyell told one correspondent, ‘ Asa Gray’ …
To Charles Lyell 21 August [1861]
Summary
Suggests change in a passage [in MS] of CL’s [Antiquity of man (1863)] dealing with adaptations for travel.
Comments on review of Origin by F. W. Hutton [Geologist (1861): 132–6, 183–8].
Emphasises importance of variability for natural selection.
Discusses possiblity of intelligent causes in variation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 21 Aug [1861] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.261) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3235 |
To Charles Lyell 25 March [1865]
Summary
Mentions Miss Buckley’s information on roosting in trees [see Variation 1: 181 n.].
Refers to Duke [of Argyll] and his Lamarckian view of change.
Roosting habits and behaviour of pigeons in Egypt.
Criticises Herbert Spencer’s works.
Has finished Elements; comments on Laurentian stages.
Remarks on his health
and forthcoming work [Variation].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 25 Mar [1865] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.307) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4794 |
To Charles Lyell 5 [July 1860]
Summary
Glad CL plans trip to Amiens to investigate flints and post-glacial period.
Mentions support by Huxley, Hooker, and Lubbock at Oxford BAAS meeting. Asa Gray also goes on fighting.
Likes article by William Hopkins ["Physical theories and the phenomena of life", Fraser’s Mag. 61 (1860): 739–52; 62 (1860): 74–90].
Comments on hybrids of hare and rabbit.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 5 [July 1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.221) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2860 |
Matches: 2 hits
letter | (33) |
Darwin, C. R. | (31) |
Lyell, Charles | (2) |
Lyell, Charles | (31) |
Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (33) |
Lyell, Charles |
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 …