From G. R. Waterhouse [7 March 1855]
Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [7 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 20 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1642 |
To G. R. Waterhouse 4 March [1855]
Summary
A page of [unspecified] text is missing from a parcel of material received from GRW.
CD "hopes and expects to live to see Carboniferous, & perhaps even Silurian, mammifers!"
Has several questions to ask whenever they meet.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Date: | 4 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF PAL/100/7/29) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1641 |
To J. S. Henslow 2 July [1855]
Summary
Sends a list of plants with stamps to pay the Hitcham girls who will collect seeds for him.
Describes his work with seeds in salt water.
For his experiments he would like seeds collected from plants that grow both near Hitcham and in the Azores.
Explains again what JSH should do in marking "close species".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 2 July [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A31–A35 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1708 |
To J. D. Hooker 24 April [1855]
Summary
More on seed-salting. JDH’s admission that he expected seeds to die in a week gives CD "a nice little triumph".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 24 Apr [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 130 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1671 |
To J. D. Hooker 14 [July 1855]
Summary
CD experiments: sowing seeds in fields; "breaking" seeds’ constitution with coloured light; plant hybridisation. Compiling works on hybridism.
Respect for W. B. Carpenter.
Note on "nectar secreting" to Gardeners’ Chronicle [Collected papers 1: 258–9].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 14 [July 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 141 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1717 |
From H. C. Watson 8 November 1855
Summary
Artificiality of orders and genera in botany.
Difficulties in numerical analysis of close species in large and small genera.
HCW has "pretty strong bias towards the view that species are not immutably distinct".
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Nov 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 31 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1775 |
To M. J. Berkeley 3 July [1855]
Summary
Reports success of seed-soaking experiments. Celery and onion germinate after 85 days’ immersion.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Miles Joseph Berkeley |
Date: | 3 July [1855] |
Classmark: | Shropshire Archives (SA 6001/134/44) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1710 |
To J. D. Hooker 11 May [1855]
Summary
JDH to be appointed Assistant Director at Kew.
On where to publish seed-salting paper. Floating problem perhaps more important than germination.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 11 May [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 131 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1680 |
To J. D. Hooker 13 April [1855]
Summary
Pea self-fertilisation: has forty-five varieties growing side by side.
Describes seed-salting experiments: e.g., immersion in tank filled with snow. Reports some successful germinations.
Made list of naturalised plants from Asa Gray’s Manual [of Botany] to calculate the proportions of the great families.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 13 Apr [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 128 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1667 |
To T. C. Eyton 26 November [1855]
Summary
Asks TCE’s advice on preparation of birds’ skeletons.
His pigeon collection is growing; now has pairs of ten varieties.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
Date: | 26 Nov [1855] |
Classmark: | Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections, University of Birmingham (EYT/1/41) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1784 |
To W. D. Fox 27 [June 1855]
Summary
Several seeds have come up after 65–70 days’ immersion in salt water.
Has now a fine collection of pigeons and intends to cross them systematically.
Needs information on mongrel crosses of animals of all kinds.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 27 [June 1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 94) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1704 |
From J. D. Hooker [before 17 March 1855]
Summary
JDH criticises C. J. F. Bunbury’s paper on Madeira [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 1 (1857): 1–35].
Absence of Ophrys on Madeira suggests to JDH a sequence in creation of groups.
Why are flightless insects common in desert?
Australian endemism.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 17 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 210–13 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1644 |
To J. S. Henslow 14 July [1855]
Summary
Sends a list of 22 plants that grow at Hitcham and in the Azores and are, according to H. C. Watson, least likely to have been imported [by man]. Will pay the little girls of Hitcham liberally to collect the seeds for his experiments.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 14 July [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A40–A41, A57 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1718 |
To W. D. Fox 27 March [1855]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his offer of assistance in collecting varieties of poultry. Describes his needs. He will raise his own pigeons.
Often doubts whether, despite all help, the problem of species will not overpower him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 27 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 88) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1656 |
To W. D. Fox 26 April [1855]
Summary
Explains more clearly what he is looking for in his work on poultry: relative variation at different ages, the effect of disuse on different parts, breeding between wild and domestic, and degree of fertility of "mongrels of very diverse races".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 26 Apr [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 89) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1675 |
To J. W. Lubbock 10 January [1855]
Summary
Reports that his intercession with Folliott Baugh [Rector of Chelsfield, Kent] has had no effect. Baugh still believes Farnborough’s rights have not been attended to if entire fund is applied to the school at Down.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John William Lubbock, 3d baronet |
Date: | 10 Jan [1855] |
Classmark: | The Royal Society (LUB: D21) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1628 |
To W. D. Fox 22 [July 1855]
Summary
Describes his method of putting young poultry to death.
Asks questions arising from WDF’s reply about crossed mongrels.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 22 [July 1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 95) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1728 |
To Charles James Fox Bunbury [20 March 1855]
Summary
CD hopes to have an hour’s talk with CJFB before CD leaves London.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
Date: | [20 Mar 1855] |
Classmark: | John Hay Library, Brown University |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13784 |
To J. S. Henslow 21 July [1855]
Summary
Thanks JSH for all he has done. His botanical little girls are marvellous. His marking of the list of dubious species is what CD wanted. Explains that he wanted to ascertain whether closely allied forms belong to large or small genera.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 21 July [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A98–A100 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1726 |
To W. D. Fox 19 March [1855]
Summary
Asks WDF to observe at what age pigeons have tail-feathers sufficiently developed to be counted.
CD is hard at work on his notes for a book with all the facts "for & versus" the immutability of species.
Asks for a young chicken and a nestling common pigeon.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 19 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 87) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1651 |
Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
Watson, H. C. | (2) |
Blyth, Edward | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Waterhouse, G. R. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
Fox, W. D. | (5) |
Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
Henslow, J. S. | (4) |
Berkeley, M. J. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (26) |
Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
Fox, W. D. | (5) |
Henslow, J. S. | (4) |
Berkeley, M. J. | (2) |
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 …
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … In March 1862, Heinrich Georg Bronn wrote to Darwin stating his intention to prepare a second …
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, 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 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 …
Darwin's 1874 letters go online
Summary
The full transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1874 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1874 through his letters and see a full list of the letters. The 1874 letters…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The full transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1874 …
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’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 …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letters | Selected Readings Darwin's first reflections on human progress were …
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 …
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: 1 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the making out the …
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: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
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, 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 …
Darwin on race and gender
Summary
Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …