From J. D. Hooker 7 November 1862
Summary
JDH admits he wrote Gardeners’ Chronicle and Natural History Review articles on orchids [Gard. Chron. (1862): 789–90, 863, 910; Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 2 (1862): 371–6].
JDH’s objections to CD’s idea of how Greenland was repopulated. Temperate Greenland has as Arctic a flora as Arctic Greenland – a fact of astounding force. Why should certain Scandinavian species be absent? Migration by sea-currents can no more account for the present distribution in Greenland than can special creation.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Nov 1862 |
Classmark: | DAR 101: 68–9, 73–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3797 |
From George Busk 1 April 1862
Summary
E. A. Parkes informs him there will be difficulty about the Army returns [on CD’s Query to Army surgeons, see Freeman, Works of Charles Darwin, p. 111] owing to official obstructions by Director General. [Enclosed letter from Parkes to GB says that the Director General does not think that Army surgeons could be asked to collect information systematically for CD, but perhaps some informal, voluntary arrangement could be made.]
Author: | George Busk |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Apr 1862 |
Classmark: | DAR 160.3: 377, DAR 174.1: 22 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3492 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 February [1862]
Summary
Admires JDH’s paper on Arctic plants ["Distribution of Arctic plants", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862): 251–348]. Such papers compel people to reflect on modification of species;
JDH will be driven to a cooled globe.
Serious erratum in paper.
New and original evidence in case of Greenland. Its flora requires accidental means of transport by ice and currents.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 25 Feb [1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 144 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3458 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … J. D. Hooker, 9 November 1856 , and Correspondence vol. 7, letter to Charles Lyell, 26 …
- … 1856, CD sent Hooker part of the manuscript of his ‘big book’ on species that discussed geographical distribution (a section of chapter 11 of Natural selection ). Hooker was initially unconvinced by CD’s proposal of a cooling of the whole globe, including the tropics, during the glacial period (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter …
To A. C. Ramsay 5 September [1862]
Summary
On ACR’s paper on glacial origin of lakes. CD thinks it is correct. Suggests further investigation to corroborate it. His only doubt has to do with areas of great activity.
On ACR’s view of cause of glacial period: CD did battle with Hooker on same point.
T. F. Jamieson has smashed CD’s Glen Roy marine theory in splendid style.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Andrew Crombie Ramsay |
Date: | 5 Sept [1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.9: 7 (EH 88205980) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3714 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 6, letters to Charles Lyell , 16 [June 1856] and 25 June [1856] ). …
- … 1856 ( Natural selection , pp. 534–66). It was in discussing the abstract of this chapter, drawn up for publication in Origin , that CD broached with Hooker his disagreement with Lyell’s view of the causes of the climatic changes of the glacial period (see n. 8, above). In his letter …
To W. B. Tegetmeier 27 [December 1862]
Summary
CD interested in hybrid sterility and encloses his preliminary MS. Outlines experiments to test for existence of sterility in breeds of poultry and pigeons.
Experiments on dimorphism have led him to change in part his opinion as given in Origin, and he is now asking pigeon and poultry fanciers for any examples of special selective sterility [i.e., a particular pair are sterile when crossed, but each individual is fertile with others] and hopes to investigate its inheritance.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Date: | 27 [Dec 1862] |
Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3877 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 6, letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 30 August [1856] ); the records of …
- … 1856 he began crossing all kinds, ‘to see whether crosses are fertile’ (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter …
- … 1856 and 1857 are in DAR 205.7: 166–89. See also CD’s Catalogue of Down specimens (Down House MS). Tegetmeier apparently did not return the list until 1865 (see letter …
From J. D. Hooker [24 July 1862]
Summary
Wife’s health improved by trip.
Heer’s collections convince JDH that Miocene vegetation was Himalayan, not American, as Heer supposed.
Zurich promises to be a good natural history school.
Review of Natural History Review in Parthenon [1 (1862): 373–5].
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [24 July 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 70: 171, DAR 101: 48–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3665 |
To J. D. Hooker 21 [September 1862]
Summary
Thanks for Haast’s observations. Particularly glad to get geological evidence of glacial action (in Southern Hemisphere).
Thinks Ramsay’s theory to large extent true, but thinks that in a much disturbed country some lakes would have been formed in depressions.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 21 [Sept 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 161 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3735 |
To W. E. Darwin 4 [July 1862]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | 4 [July 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 100 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3641 |
To John Scott 19 November [1862]
Summary
Praises JS’s experimenting.
Has he ever studied the relative fertility of varieties? CD very interested in this subject.
Discusses Acropera.
Wants to quote JS on Zea [Variation 1: 321].
CD sends his Primula paper [Collected papers 2: 45–63].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Scott |
Date: | 19 Nov [1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: B11–B14, DAR 147: 431 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3814 |
To Asa Gray 9 August [1862]
Summary
Believes Lythrum is trimorphic. Asks AG for seeds of plants he suspects are polymorphic.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 9 Aug [1862] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (71) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3685 |
To Daniel Oliver [17 September 1862]
Summary
Performed a large number of Lythrum crosses before leaving home.
Working on Drosera for amusement. Has tried effect on plants of vegetable substances active on animal nervous systems, e.g., opium; makes Drosera inactive for hours.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | [17 Sept 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 36 (EH 88206019) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3709 |
To Daniel Oliver 12 [April 1862]
Summary
DO’s observations on polymorphism in Primula and Campanula. CD recognises three classes of dimorphism, as in Primula, Thymus, and Campanula and violets.
DO’s Campanula paper and Royal Institution lecture [Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 3 (1858–62): 431–3].
CD’s interest in Fumariaceae from A. Gray’s comments on "selfing".
Bees bite holes in flowers when same species grows in high density.
Organisation of CD’s notes.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 12 [Apr 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 1 (EH 88205985) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3504 |
To T. W. Woodbury 7 December [1862]
Summary
Cannot aid TWW with respect to bees from East Indies. Suggests he write to Edward Blyth.
Thanks him for getting query on variation in bees circulated in Germany.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas White Woodbury |
Date: | 7 Dec [1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 148: 374 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3849 |
From C. V. Naudin 26 June 1862
Author: | Charles Victor Naudin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 26 June 1862 |
Classmark: | DAR 172.1: 6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3621 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … 1856; see Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV, *128: 155, 157, 167). In Naudin 1852 , which CD had apparently read by November 1855 (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter …
- … 1856; see Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV, *128: 155, 157, 167). In Naudin 1852 , which CD had apparently read by November 1855 (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter …
To J. D. Hooker 14 [October 1862]
Summary
Thanks for Aldrovanda reference and Cassia.
Has wasted labour on Melastomataceae without getting a glimpse of the meaning of the parts.
Wants seeds, from their native land, of Heterocentron or Monochaetum.
Is beginning to change his view about rarity of natural hybrids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 14 [Oct 1862] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 166 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3762 |
To W. D. Fox 12 May [1862]
Summary
Asks if WDF has ever crossed wild and common turkeys. Would like to quote his authority [see Variation 1: 292].
Also curious whether WDF has known the so-called japanned peacock to appear from common peacock [Variation 1: 290].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 12 May [1862] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 132) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3544 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from Fox containing this information has been found. The then earl of Leicester was Thomas William Coke and the earl of Powis was Edward James Herbert . CD refers to a paper by John Gould describing a new species of turkey, Meleagris mexicana (a synonym of M. gallopavo subsp. mexicana ), a native of Mexico, which Gould believed to be distinct from the wild turkey of North America ( J. Gould 1856 ). …
From Adam Fitch 18 November 1862
Summary
In reply to CD’s letter, "Peas" in Gardeners’ Chronicle [8 Nov 1862; Collected papers 2: 70] sends information on the duration of some of A. Knight’s crossed varieties.
Author: | Adam Fitch |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 18 Nov 1862 |
Classmark: | DAR 77: 166–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3813 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1856 and 1858; the third chapter was entitled, ‘On the possibility of all organisms crossing, & on susceptibility of the reproductive system to external agencies’ (see Natural selection , pp. 33–91). Having published Origin as an abstract of his ‘big book’, CD planned to revise the longer manuscript for publication (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter …
To Charles Lyell 14 October [1862]
Summary
Further comments on Jamieson’s theory of the formation of the roads of Glen Roy; paper by Jamieson dealing with glaciation in Scotland ["On the ice-worn rocks of Scotland", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 18 (1862): 164–84].
Comments on paper by A. C. Ramsay on the glacial formation of lakes ["On the glacial origin of certain lakes", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 18 (1862): 185–204].
Criticises remarks by John Tyndall on glacial formation of Swiss valleys.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 14 Oct [1862] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.267), The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen. 112/2840–3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3761 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1856), and the Alphabetical supplement to the classified catalogues of the library of the Geological Society of London: additional books and maps, 1854–59 (London, 1860). A. A. Gould 1841 . Möller 1846. Middendorf 1848–75 . Lovén 1846 . A. A. Gould 1841 . Thomas Rupert Jones was assistant secretary at the Geological Society of London ( DNB ). CD expressed his concerns on these points in the letter …
Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
Busk, George | (1) |
Fitch, Adam | (1) |
Naudin, C. V. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Oliver, Daniel | (2) |
Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
Fox, W. D. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (18) |
Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
Oliver, Daniel | (2) |
Busk, George | (1) |
Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
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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 …
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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: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
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 …
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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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to …
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Six things Darwin never said – and one he did
Summary
Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly attributed to Darwin that never flowed from his pen.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly …
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: 1 hits
- … Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s …
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 …
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Descent
Summary
There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘ Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim-bladder, a great swimming …
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Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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 …
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Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a …
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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 …
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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 …
4.16 Joseph Simms, physiognomy
Summary
< Back to Introduction In September 1874, the American doctor Joseph Simms, then on a three-year lecture tour of Britain, sent Darwin a copy of his book, Nature’s Revelations of Character; Or, Physiognomy Illustrated. He was seeking a public…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In September 1874, the American doctor Joseph Simms, then on a …
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Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The origin of language was investigated in a wide range of disciplines in the nineteenth century. …
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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 …
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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: 1 hits
- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …