From Asa Gray [before 3 April 1858]
Summary
List of close species taken from AG’s Manual of botany [1848].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 3 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 103 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2249 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Gray, 8 June [1855] , and letter from Asa …
- … to a list Gray had drawn up for CD in 1855 (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter to Asa …
- … 1855 ). The first list (now in DAR 165: 92/3) was compiled from A. Gray 1848 . The new list was taken from the second edition of this work ( A. Gray 1856 ). Apparently there was also a covering note sent by Gray with this list, which is now lost. CD sent the note on to Joseph Dalton Hooker (see letter …
To the Secretary, Royal Society 22 March 1858
Summary
Recommends Leonard Horner’s "Account of some recent researches near Cairo" for publication in Philosophical Transactions [R. Soc. Lond. 148 (1858): 53–9]. Believes all the details and sections should be published in full because of importance of investigations leading to the conclusion that man has existed in Egypt for over 13000 years.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Royal Society of London |
| Date: | 22 Mar 1858 |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (RR3: 147) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2244 |
To Charles Lyell 18 [June 1858]
Summary
Encloses MS by A. R. Wallace. CD has been forestalled. " . . . if Wallace had my MS sketch written out in 1842 he could not have made a better short abstract!" Wallace does not say if he wishes CD to publish MS, but CD will offer to send it to journal.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 18 [June 1858] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.152) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2285 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 5, letter from Edward Blyth, 8 December 1855 , n. 1. Wallace wrote …
- … 5, CD memorandum, [December 1855]). CD’s first surviving letter to him, dated 1 May 1857, …
- … letter from Charles Lyell, 1–2 May 1856 ). Shortly before that date, Lyell had visited Darwin at Down, and his notes indicate that he and CD discussed natural selection. It was probably during that discussion that Lyell recommended Wallace’s paper to CD. See McKinney 1972 , pp. 111–12, and Wilson ed. 1970, p. xlv (which cites McKinney 1966 ). For CD’s notes on Wallace 1855 , …
To the Secretary, Royal Society 28 September 1858
Summary
Recommends W. B. Carpenter’s latest part of memoir on Foraminifera be published in Philosophical Transactions [R. Soc. Lond. 149 (1859): 1–41].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Royal Society of London |
| Date: | 28 Sept 1858 |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (RR3: 41) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2330 |
To Gardeners’ Chronicle [before 13 November 1858]
Summary
Reports the decreased yield of pods resulting from excluding bees from the flowers of the kidney bean. Gives other observations suggesting the importance of bees in the fertilisation of papilionaceous flowers.
Cites cases of crosses between varieties of bean grown close together and requests observations from readers on the subject. States his belief "that is a law of nature that every organic being should occasionally be crossed with a different individual of the same species".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | [before 13 Nov 1858] |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 13 November 1858, pp. 828–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2359 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … to M. J. Berkeley, 7 April [1855] ; and vol. 6, letter to M. J. Berkeley, 29 February [ …
- … CD had studied the work closely in 1855 (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter to M. J. …
- … 1855] ). Gärtner 1849 . Miles Joseph Berkeley had described the affected seed-coats of peas in Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette , 24 June 1854, p. 404. See Correspondence vol. 5, letter …
To W. E. Darwin [20 June 1858]
Summary
Relates domestic affairs.
Thinks his bees’ cell theory will hold good.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | [20 June 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 28 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2267 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier 8 September [1858]
Summary
Has finished with and is disposing of his pigeons.
Invites WBT to Down; would like to see his bees’ cells.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 8 Sept [1858] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2325 |
To J. D. Hooker 9[–10] November [1858]
Summary
Lyell receives Copley Medal; CD to write notes for JDH’s éloge of Lyell.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9[–10] Nov [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 253 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2355 |
To J. D. Hooker 31 December [1858]
Summary
Replies at length to JDH’s worried reaction to his comments on lowness of Australian plants. CD distinguishes between "competitive highness", i.e., which fauna would be exterminated and which survive if two faunas were placed in competition, and ordinary "highness" of classification.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 31 Dec [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 35 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2388 |
To W. D. Fox 28 February [1858]
Summary
WDF’s nephew has forgotten to mention the most important element, whether the lizards’ eggs floated and stayed alive on sea-water.
Thanks for facts about turkeys and terrier [see Natural selection, p. 481 n.].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 28 Feb [1858] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 112) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2229 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … October [1856] . Westwood 1855 . Stainton 1857–9. See letter to W. D. Fox, 22 February [ …
- … letter: he has forgotten to mention one most important element, viz whether the eggs floated; if you have any communication with him I particularly wish you w d . ask this question, & tell him to open eggs, as you suggest, if he tries the experiment again. If the eggs do not float or are killed by salt-water it is marvellous how Lizards get on every oceanic island. — Westwoods Butterflies of Grt Britain 1855, …
To J. D. Hooker 2 November [1858]
Summary
On moving the natural history collection of the British Museum to Kensington.
Subscription for John Ralfs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 Nov [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 252 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2351 |
To W. E. Darwin 14 [May 1858]
Summary
Relates events at home;
hopes WED gets the scholarship.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 14 [May 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 26 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2273 |
From Samuel Wells 17 November 1858
Summary
Reports on difference between first and second plantings of beans.
| Author: | Samuel Wells |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Nov 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 77: 147 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2363 |
From Leonard Jenyns [before 18 April 1858]
Summary
[Copy of some rough notes.] References about species. Variations within species.
| Author: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 18 Apr 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 45: 20–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2250 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … See Correspondence vol. 5, letter from Edward Blyth, 8 December 1855 , n. 1, for CD’s …
- … letter, was printed in a report of a meeting of the Zoological Society ( Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2d ser. 17 (1856): 510–11). Wallace 1855 . …
- … 1855 . CD’s annotated copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL. CD had asked Edward William Vernon Harcourt about the birds of Madeira in 1856 (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter …
To Frederick Smith [before 9 March 1858]
Summary
Four queries regarding the habits of bees and ants with answers by FS interlined between each query.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frederick Smith |
| Date: | [before 9 Mar 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR Pamphlet collection (bound with Smith, Frederick (a) 1854) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2235A |
To a librarian [c. June 1858 or later]
Summary
Will return Benjamin Jowett’s Epistles of St Paul (Jowett 1855) and requests several books, of which the latest is Hugh Miller’s Cruise of the Betsey (Miller 1858).
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Librarian |
| Date: | [c. June 1858 or later] |
| Classmark: | Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection: Edward G. and Hortense R. Levy Autograph Collection, Part 2 (OSB MSS 137) Box 25, folder 1188) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2199F |
Matches: 2 hits
- … letter, Miller 1858 (see n. 4, below). Benjamin Jowett ’s Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans ( Jowett 1855 ). …
- … letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 March [1845] ). CD added Hugh Miller ’s My schools & schoolmasters; or, the story of my education ( Miller 1854 ) to his list of books read on 18 July 1855 ( …
From Andrew Crombie Ramsay 29 December 1858
Summary
Responds to CD’s queries about the thickness of various geological formations. [See Origin, p. 284.]
| Author: | Andrew Crombie Ramsay |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Dec 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.9: 398 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2387 |
To J. D. Hooker 6 October [1858]
Summary
Abstract growing to inordinate length.
Writing in support of S. Passell as assistant at Linnean Society.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 6 Oct [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 248 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2335 |
To J. D. Hooker 24–5 November [1858]
Summary
Praises JDH’s Australian introduction.
Disputes JDH’s emphasis on SE. and SW. Australian flora.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 24–5 Nov [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 255 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2371 |
From J. D. Hooker [26 December 1858]
Summary
JDH cannot abide CD’s connection of wide-ranging species and "highness". Australian flora contradicts this in many ways.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [26 Dec 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 125–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2385 |
| letter | (23) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (15) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Jenyns, Leonard | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
| Royal Society of London | (2) |
| Fox, W. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (23) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
| Royal Society of London | (2) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (1) |
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 …
Biogeography
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle During his five year journey around the world on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin encountered many different landscapes and an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Some of his most…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle …
Schools Gallery: Using Darwin’s letters in the classroom
Summary
English| History| Science English Pupils in Cumbria lead the way Year 9 English pupils at Ulverston Victoria High School spent several weeks studying Darwin’s letters, including comparing sections from Darwin’s ‘Voyage of the Beagle’ to letters…
Matches: 1 hits
- … English | History | Science English Pupils in Cumbria lead …
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 …
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Friendship | Mentors | Class | Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand …
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 …
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 …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Specialism | Experiment | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
Variation under domestication
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A fascination with domestication Throughout his working life, Darwin retained an interest in the history, techniques, practices, and processes of domestication. Artificial selection, as practiced by plant and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment A fascination with domestication …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid …
Hermann Müller
Summary
Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the younger brother of Fritz Müller (1822–97). Following the completion of his secondary education at Erfurt in 1848, he studied natural sciences at Halle and Berlin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his …
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that he ‘Began by Lyell’s advice writing …
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: 1 hits
- … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher …
Darwin’s Photographic Portraits
Summary
Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the study of Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, but can be witnessed in his many photographic portraits and in the extensive portrait correspondence that…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The ‘historical sketch’ printed as a preface to the American edition ( Origin US ed., pp …
Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but …
