To John Maurice Herbert 2 January [1856]
Summary
Thanks JMH for book of poems.
Recalls early days together. He cannot visit due to health.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | 2 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.121) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1814 |
To William Yarrell 6 [February 1856]
Summary
"The Pigeons are all quite well".
Sends thanks to Mrs Cotton.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Yarrell |
| Date: | 6 [Feb 1856] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1829 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) Charles Robert Darwin …
To J. M. Herbert 18 November [1856]
Summary
Defers a visit with Lieutenant Blakiston; "my wife is out of health & expects her confinement in a few weeks, & I cannot possibly receive any one here or leave home . . ."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | 18 Nov [1856] |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s, New York (dealers) (June 1991); Remember When Antiquities (dealers) (catalogue 26, 1992); Gerard A. J. Stodolski Inc. (dealers) (1995) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2020A |
From William Freeman Daniell 8 October – 7 November 1856
Summary
Responds to CD’s queries on Sierra Leone: fertility of European animals introduced to W. Africa, relationship of health and complexion of Europeans, etc.
| Author: | William Freeman Daniell |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Oct – 7 Nov 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1970 |
To Syms Covington 9 March 1856
Summary
Thanks SC for his interesting account of the state of the colony. SC was wise to settle there where his sons have much better prospects.
Has finished his book on barnacles [1854]. Royal Medal awarded him chiefly for this work.
Asks SC whether he has observed any odd imported breeds of poultry, for his work on variation of species.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Syms Covington |
| Date: | 9 Mar 1856 |
| Classmark: | Sydney Mail, 9 August 1884, p. 255 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1840 |
To John William Lubbock 28 [June 1856 – January 1865?]
Summary
Regrets he cannot accept dinner invitation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John William Lubbock, 3d baronet |
| Date: | 28 [June 1856 - Jan 1865] |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (LUB: D26) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1880 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … have very much liked to have come, but my health has been so indifferent of late that I …
To John Lubbock [14 January 1856]
Summary
Inquires about a Mr Smith, who might prove helpful "in the domestic bird line".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | [14 Jan 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 263: 6 (EH 88206455) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1884 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … is confirmed by the reference to CD’s ill health: according to the letter to W. B. …
To W. D. Fox 3 October [1856]
Summary
Finds his grief over his daughter Anne’s death still strong.
Is following Lyell’s advice about publishing his species doctrine. It is not to be a sketch, however, but as perfect as his 19 years of work will allow. His work on pigeons has been invaluable on many points. "No subject gives me so much trouble as means of dispersal of terrestrial production in the oceanic islands."
Finds "most remarkable differences" in skeletons of rabbits.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 3 Oct [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 100) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1967 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … beg you, let me hear how you get on in health; & if so inclined let me have some words on …
To T. H. Huxley 9 April [1856]
Summary
Arrangements for visit of Huxleys to Down on 26 Apr.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1856] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 33) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1852 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … heartily sorry at so poor an account of your health. I will tell you a pleasanter way for …
From Edward Blyth 23 February 1856
Summary
Opposition to EB within the Asiatic Society.
Possibility of establishment of a zoological garden at Calcutta.
Has seen Gallus varius alive for the first time.
Will procure domestic pigeons for CD; could CD pay for them by returning hardy creatures, such as macaws and marmosets, which EB can sell for a high price in India?
Does not recall his authority for genealogy of the asses of Oman. If a genuine wild ass exists EB believes it will be in south Arabia.
Infertility of Irish and Devon red deer.
Details of an unusual species of wild dog.
Fertility of canine hybrids. General tendency toward hybrid sterility.
Has skins of hybrid Coracias and the parent species.
Wide-ranging species; skua found in Europe and Australia, but not in the tropics.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Feb 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A128–A132 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1832 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier 11 May [1856]
Summary
Thanks WBT for help with pigeons and poultry.
Will probably be away at the time of Anerley show.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 11 May [1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1873 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … to Tenby because of Emma Darwin’s poor health (see letter to W. D. Fox, 8 June [1856] ), …
To Charles Lyell 10 November [1856]
Summary
Illnesses of Mrs Horner and Emma Darwin.
Death of Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood.
Mentions work on his "Big Book" [Natural selection].
Remarks on J. A. H. de Bosquet’s discovery of a Chthamalus in the Chalk.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 10 Nov [1856] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.140) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1984 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … think, illness after so many years of good health, seems all the more to be deplored. — I …
To W. B. Tegetmeier 19 November [1856]
Summary
Emma’s illness prevents his attending Philoperisteron [pigeon fanciers’ club].
Expects larger collection of skins from West Africa.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 19 Nov [1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1992 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … present owing to the state of M rs Darwin’s health it is impossible for me to leave home. …
To Asa Gray 24 August [1856]
Summary
Rarity of intermediate varieties.
Variability of introduced plants.
Ranges of plants common to Europe and U. S.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 24 Aug [1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (36) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1944 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … is nothing which I should enjoy more; but my health is not, & will, I suppose, never be …
To W. D. Fox 3 January [1856]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his help and reports on progress in "the Cock and Hen line of business". Has written to every quarter of the world for skins of poultry and pigeons.
As for seeds, Hooker and Bentham obstinately refuse to believe they can live even a few years in the ground.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 3 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 86) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1815 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Fox visited the Isle of Wight for his health (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter from W. …
From Charles Lyell 1–2 May 1856
Summary
Urges CD to publish his theory with small part of data.
Corrects names of land shells on list of shells picked up at Down.
Discusses transport of Ancylus from one river-bed to another by water-beetle.
"I hear that when you & Hooker & Huxley & Wollaston got together you made light of all Species & grew more & more unorthodox."
Mentions discussion of old Atlantis by Oswald Heer.
Comments on Helix and Nanina.
Mentions beetle discovered with small bag of eggs of water-spider under wing.
Madeira evidence favours single species birth-place theory.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1–2 May 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 282 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1862 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and botanist, had visited Madeira for his health in 1850. He had sent Lyell his paper ( …
| letter | (16) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Blyth, Edward | (1) |
| Daniell, W. F. | (1) |
| Lyell, Charles | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Herbert, J. M. | (2) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (2) |
| Covington, Syms | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (16) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Herbert, J. M. | (2) |
| Lyell, Charles | (2) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (2) |
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: 6 hits
- … letter which he put down to his exceptionally poor health: Indeed all this winter, I …
- … up to its name. Darwin experienced chronic episodes of ill health, which increased in severity in …
- … treatment. In April 1864, Darwin attributed his improved health to Dr Jenner’s advice: ‘ drinking …
- … very least, it seems clear that Darwin’s periods of ill health were quite useful. Citing a troubled …
- … letter to Robert FitzRoy, [20 February 1840] . Darwin’s health diary (Down House MS), which he …
- … Darwin had sometimes noted the acidity of his vomit in his health diary (Down House MS; see Colp …
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: 8 hits
- … had plagued him since the spring of 1863. Because of poor health, Darwin corresponded little during …
- … and having scientific papers read to him. In March, his health improved enough for him to make some …
- … he could work (presumably at writing) for two hours. As his health grew worse during the last two …
- … flower-peduncle, petiole, leaf, and aerial roots. When his health deteriorated in 1863, he found …
- … forms of the trimorphic Lythrum , and when his health permitted in 1864 he drew up the results …
- … Sabine, 4 December [1864] ). Struggling with ill-health Darwin received news of …
- … form of letters during 1864; because of his fragile state of health, he saw few people outside the …
- … scientific colleagues, and he continued writing even as his health worsened again in November and …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 3 hits
- … 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat …
- … Jenner. In November and December of 1864, however, his health grew worse. In his ‘Journal’, Darwin …
- … for references to the extensive literature on CD’s health, see Colp 1977 and 1998, and Bowlby 1990. …
Darwin's illness
Summary
Was Darwin an invalid? In many photographs he looks wearied by age, wrapped in a great coat to protect him from cold. In a letter to his cousin William Fox, he wrote: "Long and continued ill health has much changed me, & I very often think with…
Climbing plants
Summary
Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…
Darwin soundbites
Summary
From atheistical cats to old fogies in Cambridge, we've collected some of Darwin's pithier remarks - some funny, some serious - but all quotes from letters you can read in full here. We particularly like this one: Will you be so kind as…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Where's it from? On sickness, health, and bananas …you began your …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Matches: 7 hits
- … One of Darwin's defining characteristics was his poor health. The letters provide insight into …
- … to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 Darwin’s ill health began on his Beagle voyage. In …
- … to their marriage, Emma expresses her concern for Darwin’s health, her sympathy for the frustration …
- … spiritualism. Darwin expresses his regrets that his own ill health prevents him from visiting the …
- … his own aches and pains, Lenny reports on their father’s health, noting that Darwin’s frustration …
- … of Darwin's personal life? 2. How did Darwin's health affect his scientific …
- … married. In it Emma expressed her concern for Darwin’s health, her sympathy for the frustration he …
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
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: 4 hits
- … friends and relatives, Darwin felt sufficiently restored in health to work for two or three hours a …
- … keeping up the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 …
- … that it was a success, and there is no doubt that his health improved, at least temporarily. This is …
- … a methodical mind keen to establish order: he chronicled his health, his daily and household …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 7 hits
- … and here, attended by every blessing except that of vigorous health… DARWIN: 4 My …
- … In truth there is nothing which I should enjoy more; but my health is not, and will, I suppose, …
- … able to suppress his anger. He is in his 70s and in poor health. SEDGWICK: 69 …
- … They are enjoying the furore. Darwin is more earnest, his health – mental and physical – is …
- … In which Drwin struggles more than usual with his health, grows a beard, and cancels The Times; and …
- … to cross over to England in two months… Mrs Gray’s health makes me anxious to avoid another winter …
- … if he had had a good laugh. Then, Darwin’s health dictates that he and his American guests …
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: 5 hits
- … dropped markedly, reflecting a decline in his already weak health. Darwin then began punctuating …
- … is the mother of fine children all over the world’. Health worries Despite his …
- … no reason why he should not recover his previous state of health. Brinton’s words must have …
- … to J. D. Hooker, 26 December [1863] ) that Darwin’s health fluctuated and showed little improvement …
- … from his sons. She was pessimistic about his prospects of health over the next few months: ‘When not …
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Benjamin (1) District Health Office (1) …
Expression
Summary
Darwin's interest in emotional expression can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the different sounds and gestures among the peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and on his return from the voyage he started recording observations…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The exigencies of the public service have already ruined my health, & curtailed my capacities. …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 5 hits
- … respect for the elder naturalist, inquired after Darwin’s health, and expressed his desire to meet …
- … Galton, 13 September 1871 ). A return to poor health During the summer months, Darwin …
- … ). On 23 September he informed Murray that owing to poor health he had done nothing for six …
- … described the joyous occasion in great detail, her uncertain health requiring her to attend …
- … Murchison, and the earl of Derby. Given his poor state of health for much of the summer, it is …
Darwin on marriage
Summary
On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of…
Matches: 4 hits
- … be exclusively geological United States, Mexico Depend upon health & vigour & how far I …
- … music & female chit-chat.— These things good for one’s health.— [16] but terrible loss of …
- … to gain one’s bread.— (But then it is very bad for ones health[19] to work too much) Perhaps …
- … rather than with the advantages. [19] ‘for ones health’ interl.i [20] The heading …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 6 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now …
- … consulted Jones in July 1865 and attributed his improved health by the end of that year to the diet …
- … with his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin. Owing to improved health, Darwin was able to make a number …
- … she and Emma continued to play in safeguarding Darwin’s health and securing his privacy. Similarly, …
- … waterlilies prevailed over considerations of health in this case. Ernst Haeckel Nor …
- … died in October. On learning of Catherine’s poor state of health, Hooker, who had lost his father …
The full edition is now online!
Summary
For nearly fifty years successive teams of researchers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to track down all surviving letters written by or to Charles Darwin, research their content, and publish the complete texts. The thirtieth and final…
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: 4 hits
- … country. Darwin frequently expressed regrets that his ill health (e.g., Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 14 …
- … to hydropathic spas or the seaside to strengthen their health. Although his interest in inheritance …
- … ). In addition to his fears for his children’s health, Darwin’s other principal concern as a …
- … and holidays at the seaside were often necessitated by ill health rather than pleasure. It was …
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: 8 hits
- … reminiscences, and laments about advancing age and poor health, with family friends from childhood, …
- … operation, combined with Moulinié’s increasingly poor health, led to yet further delay, and the new …
- … to Darwin which he, however, declined on the grounds of ill health. Expression : …
- … usual chemist, William Baxter, were not in this case for his health, but to test their effects when …
- … he repeated to several correspondents. His own health was slightly better than in the …
- … sons spent some time on the continent for the sake of their health ( see letter to W. D. Fox, 16 …
- … over their wills, and he poured out such a litany of ill health to one correspondent that Emma …
- … Darwin gracefully declined on the habitual grounds of ill health ( letter from J. S. Craig, 4 …
