To J. G. Forchhammer 12 November [1849]
Summary
Encloses a letter to be forwarded to Sven Lovén, asking for a specimen of a remarkable cirripede. Still anxious to receive JGF’s specimens.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johan Georg Forchhammer |
| Date: | 12 Nov [1849] |
| Classmark: | University of Copenhagen, Mineralogical Museum Archives |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1268 |
To Thomas Salt 19 November [1849]
Summary
He is willing to wait until the end of February 1850 for Mr Salt to find him an opportunity to invest up to £30,000.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Salt |
| Date: | 19 Nov [1849] |
| Classmark: | Rachel Salt (private collection); sold by Spink’s (dealers), July 2018 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1271F |
To Peter Lund Simmonds 25 February [1849]
Summary
Sends detailed report on the prospects for a settlement on the coast of Patagonia, pointing out many problems, and recommending instead the Falkland Islands.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Peter Lund Simmonds |
| Date: | 25 Feb [1849] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (Quentin Keynes collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1229A |
To M. E. Lyell [24 October 1849]
Summary
Asks MEL to translate page of paper by Sven Lovén ["Ny art af Cirripedia", Ofvers. K. Vetensk. Acad. Forh. Stockholm 1 (1844): 192–4]. CD is "dreadfully interested" in the barnacles [Alepas squalicola] described.
Hopes Charles Lyell’s "craters of Denudation" prosper.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Mary Elizabeth Horner; Mary Elizabeth Lyell |
| Date: | [24 Oct 1849] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 332 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1266 |
To Japetus Steenstrup 30 December [1849]
Summary
CD is distressed that JS’s shipment of fossils has been lost: "of all the Cirripedes in the world, I most wish to dissect the Alepas squalicola". Welcomes JS’s offer to send some northern recent species. CD finds great confusion in the current classification of cirripedes in British museums; different genera are made into one species, mere varieties are made into distinct species. If JS would give him some named common northern species, it would be of great assistance.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johannes Japetus Smith (Japetus) Steenstrup |
| Date: | 30 Dec [1849] |
| Classmark: | Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen (NKS 3460 4to) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1281 |
To Albany Hancock [29 or 30 October 1849]
Summary
Thanks him for specimens of Alcippe.
Comments on sketches by AH and on cirripede paper by Lovén.
Discusses Lithotrya and its burrowing habits.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albany Hancock |
| Date: | [29 or 30] Oct 1849 |
| Classmark: | Maine Historical Society |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1262 |
To J. G. Forchhammer 1 December [1849]
Summary
Inquires about parcel of cirripede specimens lost in transit. Asks him to tell Steenstrup about the loss.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johan Georg Forchhammer |
| Date: | 1 Dec [1849] |
| Classmark: | University of Copenhagen, Mineralogical Museum Archives |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1273 |
To J. S. Henslow [7 October 1849]
Summary
Thanks JSH for information and suggestions on benefit clubs,
and for a shipment of fossil cirripedes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | [7 Oct 1849] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A89–A90 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1283 |
To J. D. Dana 8 October 1849
Summary
Discusses cirripedes collected by JDD.
Gratified that he agrees "to some extent" with CD’s views on coral reefs.
Mentions his health.
Asks for JDD’s publication on cirripedes.
Sends message from William Baird concerning Crustacea research of J. O. Westwood.
Mentions Joseph Leidy’s discovery of cirripede eyes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Dwight Dana |
| Date: | 8 Oct 1849 |
| Classmark: | Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Dana Family Papers (MS 164) Series 1, Box 2, folder 43) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1259 |
To Charles Lyell 3 July [1849]
Summary
Discusses CL’s Second visit to the United States [1849]. Corrects CL’s error regarding location of Megatherium finds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 3 July [1849] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.79) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1248 |
From J. D. Hooker 24 June 1849
Summary
Pleasure at receiving CD’s scientific letters to JDH and Hodgson.
The H. Wedgwoods’ pecuniary loss.
Condolences at CD’s father’s death.
Rajah harasses JDH’s work. Lack of supplies, rain, malarial valleys, and landslips make going difficult. Cannot get into Tibet.
"Twenty species [of plants] here [Camp Sikkim] to one there [Tierra del Fuego?] always are asking me the vexed question, ""where do we come from?""."
From observation of terraces descending to steppes and plains of India, he thinks that the Himalayas were once a grand fiord coast.
Has information CD requested on Yangsma valley. JDH’s detailed hypothesis of origin of dam there. Does not agree with CD’s interpretation.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 June 1849 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (India letters 1847–51: 187–8 JDH/1/10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1247 |
To J. D. Hooker 12 October 1849
Summary
CD thinks great dam across Yangma valley is a lateral glacial moraine.
Reports on Birmingham BAAS meeting.
Details of water-cure.
Barnacles becoming tedious; careful description shows slight differences constitute varieties, not species.
Lamination of gneiss.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 12 Oct 1849 |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 116 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1260 |
From J. D. Hooker 3 February 1849
Summary
Continues prior letter of this date. Has received CD’s [1202]. Thanks CD for saving his correspondence.
Sent "a yarn about species" in October mail.
Some "puerile" JDH letters printed in Athenæum.
Requests CD extract anything valuable from his letters to CD and Lyell for Athenæum.
CD’s complemental males in barnacles wonderful.
Warns CD to drop his battle about perpetuity of names in species descriptions.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Feb 1849 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (India letters 1847–51: 136–7 JDH/1/10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1220 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 12: This menace was received with a scornful laugh, while one of the Campbell’s replied, “It is a far cry to Lochow,” a proverbial expression of the tribe, meaning that their ancient hereditary domains lay beyond the reach of an invading army. ‘Something of no value or importance, esp. in negative phrases as not to care a rush, not worth a rush’ ( OED ). Neither CD nor Lyell sent any extracts of Hooker’s letters …
From Thomas Salt to E. A. Darwin 8 February 1849
Summary
Discusses the division of R. W. Darwin’s estate.
| Author: | Thomas Salt |
| Addressee: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Feb 1849 |
| Classmark: | Shropshire Archives (SA D3651/B/47/1/11) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1222F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter concerns the winding up of the estate of Robert Waring Darwin , the father of Erasmus Alvey Darwin and CD. Lord Powis ( Edward James Herbert ) had inherited the debts of his father, the former Lord Powis ( Edward Herbert ), to R. W. Darwin. Rocke, Eytons & Co. was a private bank in Shrewsbury, Ludlow, and Ellesmere ( Banking almanac 1849, p. 102). Susan Elizabeth Darwin . R. W. Darwin had 15 shares in the North Staffordshire Railway Company, and 12 …
| letter | (14) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Salt, Thomas | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Forchhammer, J. G. | (2) |
| Dana, J. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
| Hancock, Albany | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Forchhammer, J. G. | (2) |
| Salt, Thomas | (2) |
| Dana, J. D. | (1) |
Lost in translation: From Auguste Forel, 12 November 1874
Summary
You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections on your favourite topic—ants. If only you had paid attention when your mother tried to teach you English you might be able to read it. But you didn’t, and you…
Matches: 1 hits
- … You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections …
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: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 1 hits
- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts of …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more …
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: 1 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
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: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
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: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
German and Dutch photograph albums
Summary
Darwin Day 2018: To celebrate Darwin's 209th birthday, we present two lavishly produced albums of portrait photographs which Darwin received from continental admirers 141 years ago. These unusual gifts from Germany and the Netherlands are made…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1877, Charles Darwin was sent some unusual birthday presents: two lavishly …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I am merely slaving over the sickening work of preparing new Editions …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
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: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
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: 1 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Species theory In November 1845, Charles Darwin wrote to his friend and confidant Joseph …
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
