To [W. E. Darwin] [1857?]
Summary
Will be grateful for facts from Mr Linton on numbers of eggs from goldfinch–canary crosses.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | [1857?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 187 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2029 |
To J. D. Hooker [after 20 January 1857]
Summary
CD finds Alphonse de Candolle very useful, though JDH has low opinion.
CD argues for accidental introductions explaining some odd distributions, e.g., New Zealand vs Australian plants.
CD’s method.
Diverging affinities in isolated genera.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [after 20 Jan 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 190 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2033 |
To Asa Gray 1 January [1857]
Summary
Thanks AG for 2d part of "Statistics [of the flora of the northern U. S.", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 22 (1856): 204–32; 2d ser. 23 (1857): 62–84, 369–403].
Is glad AG concludes species of large genera are wide-ranging, but is "riled" that he thinks the line of connection of alpine plants is through Greenland. Mentions comparisons of ranges worth investigating.
Believes trees show a tendency toward separation of the sexes and wonders if U. S. species bear this out. Asks which genera are protean in U. S.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 1 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (7) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2034 |
From William Henry Harvey 3 January 1857
Summary
Sexes of algae.
| Author: | William Henry Harvey |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Jan 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 115 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2035 |
To T. H. Huxley 4 January [1857]
Summary
Congratulations [on Mrs H’s delivery].
Balanus balanoides positively identified by CD.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 4 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 48) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2037 |
To Henry Doubleday 8 January [1857]
Summary
Thanks for a kind note, and asks not to answer until better.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Doubleday |
| Date: | 8 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Dr Heather Whitney (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2037F |
To W. H. Harvey 7 January [1857]
Summary
Thanks for information, which is just the amount he wanted.
Will not go to the BAAS meeting in Dublin: the frightful voyage deters him.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Henry Harvey |
| Date: | 7 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Sheffield City Archives (Gatty family autograph albums X561/1/1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2037G |
From Richard Hill 10 January 1857
Summary
Will attend to any subject in Jamaica about which CD wants information.
Crithagra brasiliensis and canary refused to pair.
A collection of Jamaican land Mollusca will be presented to the British Museum.
Hurricanes are a considerable influence on diffusion of birds and insects.
| Author: | Richard Hill |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Jan 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 237 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2038 |
From Charles Lyell [16 January 1857]
Summary
Enumerates fossil mammals known in Secondary strata.
Lack of angiosperm plants in rocks older than Chalk is no reason to anticipate rarity of warm-blooded quadrupeds.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [16 Jan 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 394 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2039 |
To J. D. Hooker 17 January [1857]
Summary
CD will advise W. F. Daniell on collecting.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 17 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 188 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2040 |
To T. H. Huxley 17 January [1857]
Summary
Asks THH question on flow of glaciers after ice has been fractured and fragmented.
CD had to leave Royal Society lecture [joint paper by THH and J. Tyndall, "On the structure and motions of glaciers", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 147 (1857): 327–46] before the end because of headache.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 17 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.8: 1 (EH 88205939) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2041 |
To J. D. Hooker 20 January [1857]
Summary
CD will advise Daniell not to apply for Royal Society grant.
CD’s experiment: fish fed seeds, which germinated when voided.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 20 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 189 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2042 |
From Henry Doubleday 26 January 1857
Summary
Sends specimens of Tortrix, which illustrate the extraordinary variation of markings in two or three species. In every family of Lepidoptera there seem to be species extremely prone to vary and in some localities they vary more than in others.
| Author: | Henry Doubleday |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Jan 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 235 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2044 |
To William Sharpey, Secretary, Royal Society 24 January [1857]
Summary
Feels unqualified to offer advice on research by the expedition; he has never attended to natural history of the region. Suggests collecting Carboniferous plants and studying the geographical extension of sea-borne erratic boulders.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Sharpey |
| Date: | 24 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (MC17: 336) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2206 |
From J. B. Bacon to Elizabeth Drysdale [1857–62?]
Summary
Heath is generally cut every six years, often in order to provide young growth for grazing. Also, the heath is in good condition for burning at six years growth.
| Author: | J. B. Bacon |
| Addressee: | Elizabeth Pew, Lady Drysdale; Elizabeth Copland, Lady Drysdale; Elizabeth Drysdale, Lady Drysdale |
| Date: | [1857–62?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 46.1: 93 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2626 |
To John Lubbock 25 January [1857]
Summary
Dining with the Lubbocks.
JL’s paper on respiration of insects ["On the distribution of the tracheae in insects", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1860–2): 23–50].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 25 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 263: 20 (EH 88206469) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3413 |
From J. Knightly Ince [1857–61?]
Summary
Translates some German terms describing colour of horses.
| Author: | J. Knightly Ince |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1857–61?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.11: 20 (EH 88206072) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6538 |
| letter | (17) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Bacon, J. B. | (1) |
| Doubleday, Henry | (1) |
| Harvey, W. H. | (1) |
| Hill, Richard | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
| Copland, Elizabeth | (1) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (16) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Doubleday, Henry | (2) |
| Harvey, W. H. | (2) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
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,…
Darwin The Collector
Summary
Look at nature more closely and create and record your own natural collections.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities provide an introduction to Charles Darwin, how and why he collected so many specimens …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
4.18 'Figaro' chromolithograph 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In a cartoon of 1874 by Figaro’s French-born artist Faustin Betbeder (known as Faustin), Darwin holds up a mirror reflecting himself and the startled ape sitting beside him. Their hairy bodies, seen against a background of palm…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 1874 computer-readable date c. 1874-02-01 to 1874-02-17 medium and material …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
1 Belgrave Street, London
Summary
Marriages and gossip
Matches: 1 hits
- … A family friend relates news of her marriage and other gossip. …
1.4 Samuel Laurence drawing 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction Samuel Laurence’s intimate chalk drawing of Darwin is dated 1853. It is likely that Darwin sat for the portrait at Down House, and Francis Darwin, in his catalogue of portraits of his father painted or drawn ‘from life’, noted…
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…
4.44 'Puck' cartoon 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In March 1882, a month before Darwin’s death, an admiring image of him appeared in the American comic journal Puck. It was in a cartoon drawn by Joseph Keppler, Puck’s co-publisher, co-editor and chief cartoonist, titled Reason…
4.21 Gegeef, 'Our National Church', 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction A print with the ironic title Our National Church: The Aegis of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity was issued by the London publisher Edmund Appleyard in c.1872-3, and sold at a penny. The artist who drew it signed himself …
3.4 William Darwin, photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In the 1860s Darwin increasingly turned to two of his sons - first to William and later to Leonard - for the fashioning of his image. William, the eldest, apparently took up photography c.1857, when still in his teens, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In the 1860s Darwin increasingly turned to two of his sons - …
4.34 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s cartoon in Punch, a ‘Suggested Illustration’ for Darwin’s forthcoming book on The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875) is another playful transformation of the author into an ape or monkey. However,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … December 1875 computer-readable date 1875-12-01 to 1875-12-10 medium and …
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms
Summary
‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…
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: 0 hits
Darwin And Evolution
Summary
What is evolution? What did Darwin discover and how did he come to his conclusions?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities give an introduction to Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. Specimens brought …
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Lena much excited about the Mission which was just over. 1 Whilst it is fresh in my mind I …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
