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From Henry Walter Bates   18 March 1861

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Summary

Sends his paper ["Insect fauna of the Amazon valley", Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 2d ser. 5 (1861): 223–8, 335–61].

Points out three areas of interest arising from the study of the species of Papilio: the derivation of the fauna, the variability of the species, and the permanence of local varieties.

Discusses J. S. Baly’s views on specific differences in reproductive organs [Catalogue of the Hispidae in the collection of the British Museum (1858)].

Author:  Henry Walter Bates
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  18 Mar 1861
Classmark:  DAR 160.1: 61
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3092

Matches: 2 hits

  • … organs [ Catalogue of the Hispidae in the collection of the British Museum (1858)]. …
  • … of the Entomological Society of London n.s.  5 (1858–61), Proceedings, p.  128). …

To ?   20 June [1861–8]

Summary

Sends a copy of the paper [with A. R. Wallace, "On the tendency of species to form varieties" (1858), Collected papers 2: 3–19] about which his correspondent asked; CD’s parts were written years ago and not intended for publication; he gave permission for publication of the extracts. Wallace’s paper seems to him excellent.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Unidentified
Date:  20 June [1861-8]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-13879

Matches: 3 hits

  • … tendency of species to form varieties" (1858), Collected papers 2: 3–19] about which his …
  • … papers read to the Linnean Society by Joseph Dalton Hooker and Charles Lyell in 1858 (C.   …
  • … Darwin and Wallace 1858). CD’s paper contained extracts from his 1844 manuscript essay on …

To Thomas Henry Huxley   3 January [1861]

Summary

Congratulates THH on first number of Natural History Review.

THH’s article on brain ["On the zoological relations of man with the lower animals", Nat. Hist. Rev. (1861): 67–84] completely smashes Owen.

Owen’s Leeds address [Rep. BAAS (1858): xlix–cx].

In his historical sketch of opinion on species CD has picked out some sentences [by Owen] with which he will take some revenge. CD is not bold enough to come to an open quarrel.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  3 Jan [1861]
Classmark:  Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 155, 372–6)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3041

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Owen. Owen’s Leeds address [ Rep. BAAS (1858): xlix–cx]. In his historical sketch of …
  • … to Owen’s presidential address at the 1858 meeting of the British Association for the …
  • … of Science held in Leeds ( R.  Owen 1858 ). See nn.  13 and 14, below. Henrietta Anne …
  • … Association meeting at Leeds ( R.  Owen 1858 , p.  li). The phrase was also used in Owen’s …
  • … a reference to passages in R.  Owen 1858 (see n.  9, above) in ‘An historical sketch of …

From Francis Walker   1 February 1861

Summary

Identifies two dipterous species of parasites [chalcidites].

Was not able to attend to the aphids last year, but will make use of CD’s suggestions and "study as much as I can the inquiry as to species".

Author:  Francis Walker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  1 Feb 1861
Classmark:  DAR 46.2 (ser. 3): 54–5
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3053

Matches: 3 hits

  • … in aphids, see Correspondence vol.  7, letters to John Lubbock , 30 [March? 1858] and [ …
  • … November 1858] . The reference is to chapter 3 of CD’s ‘big book’ on species, ‘On the …
  • … big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge …

To Daniel Oliver   30 November [1861]

Summary

Requests that DO examine enclosed microscope slides of Acropera ovules, to confirm CD’s opinion that females are non-functional.

Can DO comment on disagreement between Robert Brown and John Lindley over the number of Acropera carpels?

O. Heer’s Atlantis theory vs CD’s hypothesis of a migration north during warm periods.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Daniel Oliver
Date:  30 Nov [1861]
Classmark:  DAR 261.10: 2 (EH 88205986)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3333

Matches: 1 hit

  • … pp.  369–70; see also Correspondence vol.  7, letter to Asa Gray, 11 August [1858] ). …

To George Bentham   17 June [1861]

Summary

Asks for specimen of Orchis pyramidalis for his work on insect fertilisation of orchids.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  George Bentham
Date:  17 June [1861]
Classmark:  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 697)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3186

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Bibliography Bentham, George. 1858. Handbook of the British flora; a description of the …
  • … Orchis pyramidalis having no nectary in Bentham 1858 , p.  501. CD gave an account of this …
  • … Linnean Society of London on 15 November 1858. See also Jackson 1906 , pp.  179, 180, and …

To Charles Lyell   1 October [1861]

Summary

The flint tools found at Bedford.

Further discussion of Jamieson’s theory of the formation of the roads of Glen Roy by a glacial lake. Comments on formation of Glen Spean terraces. Mentions glaciers in North Wales.

Agreement with John Murray to publish [Orchids].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  1 Oct [1861]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.266)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3272

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Cambridge University Press. 1985–. Gray, Asa. 1858–9. Diagnostic characters of new species …
  • … of European and American floras ( A.  Gray 1858–9 ). For the discussion of this point in …
  • … the northern temperate zone. [Read 14 December 1858 and 11 January 1859. ] Memoirs of the …

To T. H. Huxley   1 April [1861]

Summary

Does not think much of the arguments of the Duke [of Argyll], though liberal and complimentary to himself.

THH’s Athenæum letter ["Man and the apes", 30 Mar 1861, p. 433] almost too civil. What a thorn THH must be to Owen.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  1 Apr [1861]
Classmark:  Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 162)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3107

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Bibliography Oldham, Thomas. 1858. On some additions to the knowledge of the Cretaceous …
  • … Asiatic Society of Bengal ( Oldham 1858 ). Oldham prefaced a list of recently identified …
  • … the Cretaceous deposits of Europe ( Oldham 1858 , pp.  114–15). The Athenæum , 30 March  …

From Charles and Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin   [13 January 1861]

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Summary

Two letters for WED at E. A. Darwin's. G. H. Darwin has been to dentist. Please collect and pay for GHD’s skates.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin; Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin
Addressee:  William Erasmus Darwin
Date:  [13 Jan 1861]
Classmark:  DAR 185: 117
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3046F

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Street, Golden Square, London, until 1858; by 1861 they had moved to Calthorpe Place, …
  • … used by Oetzmann & Plumb, pianoforte makers ( Post Office London directory 1858, 1861). …

To the Field   [before 15 June 1861]

Summary

His thanks to "Eques" of Argyllshire for his remarkable information on the inheritance of colour in horses. Acknowledges the difficulty of defining dun. Requests further information.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  The Field
Date:  [before 15 June 1861]
Classmark:  The Field, the Farm, the Garden, the Country Gentleman’s Newspaper 17 (1861): 521
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3182A

Matches: 2 hits

  • … May 1861] and n.  5. CD had written in 1858 to Skeffington Poole , a retired lieutenant- …
  • … 7, letter to Skeffington Poole, 13 October [1858] ). CD cited information on the subject …

To Charles Lyell   12 April [1861]

Summary

Discusses progress of CL’s work [on Antiquity of man (1863)].

CD had not thought of subsidence in connection with "roads" of Glen Roy.

Discusses habits of ants.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  12 Apr [1861]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.244)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3117

Matches: 3 hits

  • … other naturalists had been engaged since 1858 in a study of the fossil remains of a cave …
  • … species. See Correspondence vol.  7, letters to J.  D. Hooker, 6  October [1858] and …
  • … 20 [October 1858] . Lyell had found the extinct freshwater bivalve Cyrena fluminalis above …

To W. B. Tegetmeier   1 March [1861]

Summary

Thanks for skulls

and information about Ferguson.

Is working on rabbits’ skeletons.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  William Bernhard Tegetmeier
Date:  1 Mar [1861]
Classmark:  Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3075

Matches: 2 hits

  • … studying the formation of bees’ cells in 1858, Tegetmeier had recommended providing the …
  • … 7, letter to W.  B. Tegetmeier, 8 [June 1858] . CD acknowledged Tegetmeier’s assistance in …

To W. E. Darwin   [25 May 1861]

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Summary

Has heard, through Lubbock, of a gentleman who is offering a partnership in a bank.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  William Erasmus Darwin
Date:  [25 May 1861]
Classmark:  DAR 210.6: 64
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3157

Matches: 3 hits

  • … a position in the Colonial Office from 1858. Godfrey Wedgwood , son of Francis and Frances …
  • … beginning of the Michaelmas term in October 1858 (see Correspondence vol.  7, letter to …
  • … W.  E.  Darwin, 15 [October 1858] ). CD had mentioned the prospect of a legal profession …

To Richard Kippist   27 [February or March 1861?]

Summary

Requests a number of books to be sent by the carrier on Thursday morning.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Richard Kippist
Date:  27 [Feb or Mar] 1861
Classmark:  Morristown National Historical Park (Lloyd W. Smith MS 697)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3889A

Matches: 2 hits

  • … and rabbits by Pierre Paul Broca ( Broca 1858–9 ); the fourth part was cited in Variation …
  • … Marcus Antonius, Bibliop. Broca, Paul. 1858–9. Mémoire sur l’hybridité en général, sur la …

From William Hardy to Luke Hindmarsh   [8 May 1861]

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Summary

Sends data on numbers of "wild" cattle in the herd on the estate of Lord Tankerville that have been killed by fighting, accidents, etc. He does not perceive that the cattle have diminished in size.

Author:  William Hardy
Addressee:  Luke Hindmarsh
Date:  [8 May 1861]
Classmark:  DAR 46.1: 92
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3142

Matches: 2 hits

  • … and Durham. London: Kelly and Co. 1858. Variation : The variation of animals and plants …
  • … Post Office directory of Northumberland 1858). Chillingham Castle was the seat of Charles …

To J. D. Hooker   18 [May 1861]

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Summary

Henslow’s death.

What a contrast C. C. Babington will be as Professor of Botany at Cambridge.

Beaton not to be trusted.

CD may switch from Athenæum to London Review & Wkly J. Polit.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  18 [May 1861]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 100
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3152

Matches: 2 hits

  • … botanical work, see Correspondence vol.  7, letters to J.  D.  Hooker, 21 July [1858] and …
  • … 30 [July 1858] . Frances Harriet Hooker was Henslow’s daughter. See letter to Journal of …

To George Bentham   22 June [1861]

Summary

Thanks GB for specimen [of Orchis pyramidalis].

Discusses a great difficulty with orchids: "Insects visit several species which never secrete an atom of honey." [See Orchids, p. 44ff.] Does GB know whether nectar is ever secreted and reabsorbed promptly?

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  George Bentham
Date:  22 June [1861]
Classmark:  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 692)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3193

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Bibliography Bentham, George. 1858. Handbook of the British flora; a description of the …
  • … repaid. See Orchids , pp.  44–53. Bentham 1858 , p.  512. Frederick Bond had sent CD these …

To J. D. Hooker   23 [April 1861]

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Summary

Lieut. F. W. Hutton’s original review [Geologist 4 (1861): 132–6, 183–8] understands that mutability cannot be directly proved.

CD met Bentham at Linnean Society and asked him to write up his views on mutability.

Opinion of Owen.

Conversation with Lyell on antiquity of man.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  23 [Apr 1861]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 91
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3098

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Linnean Society of London on 15 November 1858, Bentham later related to Francis Darwin a …
  • … read at the Linnean Society , July 1st, 1858, a long paper of mine had been set down for …
  • … vol.  7, letter to J.  D.  Hooker, 21 July [1858] . Bentham held the view, as did CD, that …

From Robert Colgate   25 June 1861

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Summary

Notes observations on the spread of bees in New Zealand and their importance as pollinators of clover and other introduced plants.

Author:  Robert Colgate
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  25 June 1861
Classmark:  DAR 76 (ser. 2): 171–2
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3197

Matches: 2 hits

  • … See Correspondence vol.  7, letter from William Swale, 13 July 1858 , and letter to the …
  • … Gardeners’ Chronicle , [before 13 November  1858]. A borough near Christchurch, South …

To T. C. Eyton   12 [May 1861 – April 1863]

Summary

Thanks TCE for telling him of his crossed pigs. When they are grown, he would like to know whether they resemble each other.

Doubts the half-bred Gallus sonnerati will be productive, though he was assured many years ago that such a fertile half-breed once occurred.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Campbell Eyton
Date:  12 [May 1861 - Apr 1863]
Classmark:  Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections, University of Birmingham (EYT/1/45)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-13804

Matches: 1 hit

  • … on species, was written between 1856 and 1858. ) See also Variation 1: 234, where CD also …
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Abstract of Darwin’s theory

Summary

There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … sent to Charles Lyell and Joseph Dalton Hooker in June 1858 as part of Darwin’s contribution to the …
  • … manuscript and the printed text of Darwin and Wallace 1858 have been noted. For CD’s work on the …
  • … dated Down, September 5th, 1857.” (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 50). The text comprises the second …
  • … printed version reads: ‘astounded’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 50). 3 The printed version …
  • … carpets, of another for cloth, &c.’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 51). 10 The printed …
  • … external appearances, but who could’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 51). 11 The manuscript …
  • … should go on selecting for one object’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 51). 13 The printed …
  • … few years, or at most a few centuries’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 51). 17 At this point in …
  • … not hold the progeny of one pair’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 51). 18 The printed version …
  • … printed version reads: ‘far more’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 52). 21 The printed version …
  • … by struggling with other organisms’ (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 52). 22 The printed version …

The writing of "Origin"

Summary

From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … Charles Lyell,  25 [November 1859] ) The year 1858 opened with Darwin hard at work …
  • … on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to prepare the next chapter, ‘Mental …
  • … facts on record.—’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). In addition to behaviour such as …
  • … occurred in nature (see letter to Asa Gray, 4 April [1858] , and  Natural selection , p. 161). …
  • … you have seen,’ he told Hooker in his letter of 8 [June 1858] , ‘yet I have been forced to …
  • … much of his research completed, Darwin began in mid-June 1858 to write up the results of his study …
  • … of my Chapters.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). As was his custom, Darwin did …
  • … endorsement, the editors have dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the accuracy of Darwin’s …
  • … Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same day that another letter …
  • … 2). The correspondence between mid-May and mid-June 1858 provides some circumstantial …
  • … of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858] , that he expects the …
  • … full well you will be dreadfully severe.—’ On 18 [May 1858] , he again tells Hooker: ‘There is …
  • … the Darwin–Wallace papers at the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. It also includes an unpublished …
  • … days immediately following his letter to Lyell. On 18 June 1858, his eldest daughter, Henrietta Emma …
  • … did not attend the meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. After the theory of natural …
  • … a ‘small volume’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October [1858] ). Begun while he was in Sandown on …
  • … detailed sections for his ‘big book’. In September 1858 he finished his manuscript discussion of …
  • … experiments on bees’ cells continued through the autumn of 1858, even though he had completed a …
  • … of publishing (see ‘Journal’; Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to …

The evolution of honeycomb

Summary

Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … of reaching.’ (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 10 February 1858 .) By now not only …
  • … together. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 13 February 1858 .) In April 1858, Darwin went to …
  • … discussion in a memorandum to W. H. Miller, [15 April 1858] , summarising his position as follows …
  • … by other cells (letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 17 April 1858 ). Waterhouse also told Darwin …
  • … piece of honeycomb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, [21 April 1858] ); however, it had been mislaid. …
  • … beginnings of the comb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 May [1858] ). He suspected that the first …
  • … manner of building’ (letter to W. E. Darwin, [26 May 1858] .) To Tegetmeier, he explained in more …
  • … cylindrical cells (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 5 June [1858] ). Tegetmeier suggested putting a …
  • … and buying a swarm (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 8 [June 1858] ). (Articial wax is probably …
  • … result is shown in the photograph below. In August 1858, Waterhouse’s remarks at the 5 April …
  • … At a meeting of the Entomological Society on 7 July 1858 ( Proceedings of the Entomological Society …
  • … latest controversies in his letter to Darwin of 2 August 1858 . The notion that the theory of …
  • … with the least possible expenditure of wax, but in September 1858 Tegetmeier was able to give Darwin …
  • … of cells. (Letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 8 September [1858] .) In  Origin , in November …

Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin

Summary

The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From …
  • … of organic change at the Linnean Society of London in July 1858 and prompted the composition and …
  • … from these years. The 'big book' The year 1858 opened with Darwin hard at …
  • … on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to prepare the next chapter, ‘Mental …
  • … facts on record.—’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). In addition to behaviour such as …
  • … occurred in nature ( see letter to Asa Gray, 4 April [1858] , and  Natural selection , p. 161). …
  • … you have seen,’ he told Hooker in his letter of 8 [June 1858] , ‘yet I have been forced to …
  • … best.—’ Other topics discussed in the letters of 1858 also relate to questions that Darwin …
  • … much of his research completed, Darwin began in mid-June 1858 to write up the results of his study …
  • … of my Chapters.’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). As was his custom, Darwin did …
  • … endorsement, the editors have dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the accuracy of Darwin’s …
  • … Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same day that another letter …
  • … 2). The correspondence between mid-May and mid-June 1858 provides some circumstantial …
  • … of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858], that he expects the publication of …
  • … full well you will be dreadfully severe.—’ On 18 [May 1858], he again tells Hooker: ‘There is not …
  • … the Darwin–Wallace papers at the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858, including a letter from Wallace to …
  • … days immediately following his letter to Lyell. On 18 June 1858, his eldest daughter, Henrietta Emma …
  • … did not attend the meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. The writing of Origin …
  • … a ‘small volume’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October [1858] ). Begun while he was in Sandown on …
  • … detailed sections for his ‘big book’. In September 1858 he finished his manuscript discussion of …
  • … experiments on bees’ cells continued through the autumn of 1858, even though he had completed a …
  • … the most difficult challenge to his views. In November 1858, he communicated a long summary of his …
  • … letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle, [before 13 November 1858] ), in which he presented the evidence for …
  • … of publishing (see ‘Journal’; Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to …
  • … we run two horses’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 6 October [1858] ). Visitors to Down and trips to …

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

  • … on the structure of bees’ cells,  [before 8 June 1858] , and their geometry,  [19 June 1858] . …

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…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by June 1858. At that point Darwin was …
  • … theory of transmutation ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). Darwin recorded in his …
  • … 10 9 March 1858 Mental powers and the instincts of …
  • … [4] 12 June 1858 [3] [Discussion on large genera and …
  • … [6] 12 June 1858 [Correcting chapter 6] (DAR 10.2: 26a- …
  • … intended to be added to chapter 4 was completed on 14 April 1858. Stauffer considers the alterations …

Instinct and the Evolution of Mind

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Letter 2226 —Frederick Smith to Darwin, 26 Feb 1858 In this letter, Smith, a prominent …
  • … Letter 2235 —Darwin to Frederick Smith, [before 9 Mar 1858] This letter contains a list of …
  • … Letter 2413 —Charles Darwin to Emma Darwin, [25 Apr 1858] Written from Moor Park, a …
  • … 2265 —Charles Darwin to William Erasmus Darwin, [26 Apr 1858] Writing to his eldest son, …
  • … Letter 2306 —Charles Darwin to Joseph Hooker, 13 [July 1858] In this famous letter to …

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: 4 hits

  • … and gratefully Charles Darwin. CREED AND FEVER: 1858 In which Gray expresses his …
  • … Origin of Species…’ FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker begin …
  • … 1856 24  C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 13 JULY 1858 25  C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, …
  • … OF COMMON PRAYER 47  C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 4 JULY 1858 48  C DARWIN TO LYELL …

Alfred Russel Wallace’s essay on varieties

Summary

The original manuscript about varieties that Wallace composed on the island of Gilolo and sent to Darwin from the neighbouring island of Ternate (Brooks 1984) has not been found. It was sent to Darwin as an enclosure in a letter (itself missing), and was…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Darwin to Charles Lyell (letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). The only known version of the …
  • … below. Wallace’s essay was written in February 1858. He recollected the events surrounding …
  • … and habits which they exhibit. Ternate, February, 1858. Note 1 In CD’s …

Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions

Summary

Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...

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  • … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …

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…

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  • … driven away grief.’ (Darwin to W. D. Fox,  2 July [1858] ). The death of a baby daughter only a …
  • … small adventures (Darwin to his son William,  [30 October 1858] ). In one letter in 1856, he …

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…

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  • … vol. 7, letter to Robert Monsey Rolfe, 10 November [1858] , and Correspondence vol. 12, …
  • … Correspondence vol. 7, letter to W. D. Fox, 13 November [1858] ). He first visited the …

Controversy

Summary

The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … Letter 2285 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 18 [June 1858] Darwin writes to Lyell and …
  • … Letter 2294 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, [25 June 1858] Darwin writes to Lyell saying …
  • … Letter 2295 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 26 [June 1858] Darwin writes to Lyell and …
  • … Hooker, J. D. & Lyell, Charles to Linnean Society, 30 June 1858 Hooker and Lyell write …
  • … Letter 2306 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 13 [July 1858] Darwin writes to Hooker, saying …
  • … Letter 2337 — Wallace, A. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct 1858 Darwin thanks Hooker and Lyell for …

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:

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  • … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …

Darwin as mentor

Summary

Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…

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  • … Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. …

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…

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  • … Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin, [22 February 1858] Edward Blyth, curator of the …
  • … Letter 2345 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [20 October 1858] Darwin describes to Joseph …

Origin

Summary

Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to establish priority for the species theory he had spent over twenty years researching. Darwin never intended to write Origin, and had resisted suggestions in 1856…

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  • … a similar  theory by Alfred Russel Wallace in June 1858. In the aftermath of the first public …
  • … a longer abstract of his species theory . On 5 July 1858, Darwin stated his intention to start work …
  • … was writing his essay on the flora of Australia in December 1858, he asked to borrow Darwin’s ‘ …
  • … convert. ’ Making the book By mid-October 1858, Darwin had expected that his abstract …
  • … was having, and the fulfilment of his stated aim in July 1858 when he began to write his abstract: ‘ …

On the Origin of Species

Summary

From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…

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  • … transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected …
  • … of organic change at the Linnean Society of London in July 1858 and prompted the composition and …

Orchids

Summary

Why Orchids? Darwin  wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…

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  • … would again bubble to the surface of Darwin’s mind. By 1858, Darwin had examined over a hundred …
  • … beginning of a period of intense orchid research, but June 1858 brought a letter that changed Darwin …

2.26 Linnean Society medal

Summary

< Back to Introduction In 1908 the Linnean Society celebrated the jubilee of ‘the greatest event’ in its whole history, which had occurred on 1 July 1858: the presentation by Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker of papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel…

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  • … event’ in its whole history, which had occurred on 1 July 1858: the presentation by Charles Lyell …
  • … of thanks recalled the momentous reading of the papers in 1858, and the stunned or bemused reactions …
  • … is inscribed round the rim on both sides ‘LINN.SOC.LOND: 1858–1908’. The ‘Objects exhibited in the …
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