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From Frederick Smith   11 February 1863

Summary

Has been unable to find a book [unspecified] wanted by CD.

Author:  Frederick Smith
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  11 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 177: 196
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3978

From W. D. Fox   [11 February 1863]

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Summary

Plans to meet CD in town.

Author:  William Darwin Fox
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [11 Feb 1863]
Classmark:  DAR 164: 177
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3979

From Ludolph Christian Treviranus   12 February 1863

Summary

Sends his paper ["Über Dichogamie nach C. C. Sprengel und Ch. Darwin", Bot. Ztg. (1863): 1–7, 9–16].

Author:  Ludolph Christian Treviranus
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  12 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 178: 182
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3980

To Thomas Rivers   [14 February 1863]

Summary

Delighted by curious case of inheritance in the weeping ash [cited in missing letter from TR] "which produced weeping seedlings and itself lost the weeping peculiarity!" Wishes he could get authentic information on the weeping elm.

What TR says of seedlings conquering each other well illustrates struggle for existence and natural selection.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Rivers
Date:  [14 Feb 1863]
Classmark:  19th Century Shop (dealers) (catalogue 5, 1988)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3982

From Edwin Brown   14 February 1863

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Summary

Sends copy of his second paper on mutability of race forms ["On the mutability of species", Proceedings of the Northern Entomological Society, 22 December 1862, pp.4–26].

On tactics of his opponents.

He and Bates have divided up Carabidae and Vanessa for studying relationship of forms.

Author:  Edwin Brown
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 160: 325
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3983

From S. P. Woodward   14 February 1863

Summary

Points out some errata in the Origin.

Discusses the factors producing the shape of the cells of the honeycomb.

Reports case of two varieties of musk-rat that behave very differently but are, according to Waterhouse, the same.

Author:  Samuel Pickworth Woodward
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 181: 154
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3984

From Isaac Anderson-Henry   14 February 1863

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Summary

On holiday; cannot answer CD’s questions.

Author:  Isaac Anderson; Isaac Anderson Henry
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 159: 63
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3985

CD memorandum   14 February 1863

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Summary

Agreement to cancel the bond of D. T. Ansted, dated 19 April 1855. Prof. Ansted is arranging to pay CD what he can.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  David Thomas Ansted
Date:  14 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 210.10: 24
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3985A

To J. D. Hooker   15 February [1863]

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Summary

Asa Gray on democracy of plants.

Requests plants for new hothouse. Transferring plants to Down in winter.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  15 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 181
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3986

To T. H. Huxley   16 February [1863]

Summary

It is not carpal or tarsal bones that are increased [in six-fingered men] but generally only the digits and metacarpals.

Pectoral fins of fish and sharks.

Asks THH to check P. M. Roget’s statement that there is a rudiment of a sixth digit in frogs.

[P.S. missing from original.]

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 200)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3987

To Roland Trimen   16 February [1863]

Summary

Further discusses RT’s observations on Cape [of Good Hope] orchids and asks whether it would be possible for him to send some specimens to Kew.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Roland Trimen
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  Royal Entomological Society (Trimen papers, box 21: 55)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3988

From J. D. Hooker   [16 February 1863]

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Summary

British attitude towards America: not hate as Asa Gray thinks, but contempt.

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [16 Feb 1863]
Classmark:  DAR 101: 103–4
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3989

To Horace Benge Dobell   16 February [1863]

Summary

Thanks HBD for his lectures On the germs and vestiges of disease [1861].

Thinks his reasoning that the V. M. F. ("force exhibited in the operations of life") is not a "given quantity" is satisfactory.

How far the conditions of life affect the forms of organic life puzzles CD more than any other part of his subject. Thinks he may have underrated its importance in Origin.

Asks for source of the quotation on regeneration in HBD’s work.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Horace Benge Dobell
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  Barton L. Smith MD (private collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3990

To John Scott   16 February [1863]

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Summary

Tells JS Acropera capsule should be left to grow.

JS was correct on "bud-variation" in fern frond.

Does not believe Primula structure necessarily related to dioecism, but the difference in fertility of the two forms forced him to admit the possibility.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Scott
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  DAR 93: B55, B81–2
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3991

To Camille Dareste   16 February [1863]

Summary

Thanks for letter and pamphlet.

His approbation of Origin is extremely gratifying, especially since Origin produced no effect whatever in France.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Gabriel-Madeleine-Camille (Camille) Dareste
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 368
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3992

To J. J. Briggs   16 February [1863]

Summary

Sends belated thanks for the useful facts which he plans to quote. [See 3963.]

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Joseph Briggs
Date:  16 Feb [1863]
Classmark:  Mrs H. Codd (private collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3992A

To T. H. Huxley   [after 16 February 1863]

Summary

A note reminding THH to examine the rudiment of the 6th toe on the hind foot of a Batrachian.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  [after 16 Feb 1863]
Classmark:  Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 202)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3992F

To Charles Lyell   17 [February 1863]

Summary

Criticises Dana’s classification of man and his use of fore-limbs as a basis for systematic classification.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  17 [Feb 1863]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.288)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3993

From Richard Frean   17 February 1863

Summary

Discusses his reading and understanding of Origin.

Author:  Richard Frean
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  17 Feb 1863
Classmark:  Launceston Library (State Library of Tasmania): Local Studies Collection – Manuscripts (Robert Norman Smith Diaries and correspondence LMSS 0020)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3993F

From George Henry Kendrick Thwaites   17 February 1863

Summary

Replies to CD’s letter: dimorphism common in Ceylon Rubiaceae. [See Forms of flowers, p. 286.]

Author:  George Henry Kendrick Thwaites
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  17 Feb 1863
Classmark:  DAR 109: A94
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3994
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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: 17 hits

  • … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of  The variation …
  • … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
  • … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
  • … of man and his history' The first five months of 1863 contain the bulk of the …
  • … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
  • … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
  • … than  Origin had (see  Correspondence  vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
  • … origins was further increased by the discovery in March 1863 of the Moulin-Quignon jaw, the first …
  • … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
  • … in learned journals and the press during the first half of 1863 focused attention even more closely …
  • … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
  • … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
  • … would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In May, Darwin responded to Gray …
  • … put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the same letter, he assured Gray …

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: 19 hits

  • … purposes’ (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1862] , and …
  • … experimentation, and the building of the hothouse early in 1863 marked something of a milestone in …
  • … book (Down House MS) and  Correspondence  vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855] ). …
  • … its sensitivity to touch (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December …
  • … his employer’s hothouses over the previous two years. In a letter of 24 December [1862] ( …
  • … mid-February (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 13 January [1863] and 15 February [1863] ). It was …
  • … he had had, he would ‘probably have made a mess of it’ (letter to G. H. Turnbull, [16? February …
  • … adding ‘I shall keep to curious & experimental plants’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January …
  • … of Westerham, with whom he had dealt over many years. In his letter to Hooker, Darwin mentioned that …
  • … of the plants you want before going to Nurserymen’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ) …
  • … I shall avoid[,] of course I must not have from Kew’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ) …
  • … him: ‘I long to stock it, just like a school-boy’ (letter to J. D.  Hooker, 15 February [1863] ). …
  • … which I wished for, but which I did not like to ask for’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 February …
  • … in a particular mixture of moss, peat, and charcoal (see the letter from Henrietta Emma Darwin to …
  • … of his plants, proffering further advice on cultivation (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 March …
  • … sh d . not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he announced that the plants …
  • … worth trial’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 February [1863] ). Darwin’s hothouse became an …
  • … foreground, with pipes clearly visible, is the hothouse of 1863. Over many years, the …

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: 28 hits

  • … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
  • … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
  • … observations of cats’ instinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
  • … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
  • … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
  • … Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
  • … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
  • … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
  • … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
  • … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
  • … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
  • … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
  • … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
  • … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
  • … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
  • … specimens and bird observations from Calcutta. Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 …
  • … “enthusiasm and indomitable patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin …
  • … contained in “a little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 …
  • Letter 4235 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [8 July 1863] Lydia Becker sends Darwin a …
  • Letter 4139  - Darwin, W. E. to Darwin, [4 May 1863] William sends the results of a …
  • Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [31 July 1863] Lydia Becker details her …
  • … 4233  - Tegetmeier, W. B. to Darwin, [29 June - 7 July 1863] Tegetmeier updates Darwin …
  • … 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] Darwin offers the results of …
  • Letter 4010 - Huxley, T. H. to Darwin, [25 February 1863] Huxley praises Henrietta’s …
  • Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 March 1863] Darwin secretly passes on …

Thomas Rivers

Summary

Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … Project was contacted by the owner of an important Darwin letter that contains a rare instance of …
  • … and “struggle for existence” in correspondence. The letter was addressed to Thomas Rivers , a …
  • … knowledge out of your wealth of information? ( 11 January [1863] ) Rivers and Darwin …
  • … would find abundance of food”, Rivers wrote ( [3 February 1863] ). Darwin thought the example …
  • … just such feelings & reflexions as yours.— ( [14 February 1863] ) Darwin’s letter
  • … thorn trees: “it is Capital for my Purpose”. When this letter was first published in volume 11 of …
  • … grateful to the owner for making images of this important letter available to us so that we can …
  • … had turned the nursery business over to his son. In his last letter to Darwin he confesses himself …

The Lyell–Lubbock dispute

Summary

In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
  • … ‘Textual changes made to C. Lyell 1863c’). On 6 February 1863, Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863a) …
  • … Busk, Prestwich, and Galton.   In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, …
  • … Bath in 1864 (C. Lyell 1864). 3  By November 1863 a third edition of Antiquity of …
  • … of several aspects of the book. Throughout the first half of 1863, Darwin discussed the book in …
  • … aggrieved about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he …
  • … transmutation; he also wrote to Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 …
  • … 1863b, p. 213).  In May 1864, Lubbock received a letter from Falconer, who reiterated his …
  • … and went on to say that he intended to make a copy of his letter to show to friends. 18 In …
  • … wrote to Darwin to ask what he thought of the affair ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 June 1865] ). …
  • … he reiterated his admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week …
  • … in the dispute. When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), …
  • … with Huxley in June and July and had seen Huxley’s letter to Hooker about the affair, 24 he …
  • … note on p. 11.  Unlike the earlier controversies of 1863 where the disputants had quarrelled …
  • … 13). The third edition had originally appeared in November 1863. In spite of Lyell’s 1865 revisions, …
  • … (Original version of the last section, printed in November 1863) In conclusion, I wish it to …
  • … evidence appealed to.  53 Harley Street: November 1863  Preface, C. Lyell 1863c, pp. …
  • … in the interval between the autumn of 1861 and February 1863. In this long interval my thoughts had …
  • … 2. Letter from Charles Lyell to John Lubbock, 20 February 1863 (British Library, Add. MSS 49640). …
  • … of C. Lyell 1863a, see Darwin's Life in Letters, 1863 , (introduction to Correspondence …
  • … vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyell’s unwillingness to commit …
  • … vol. 11, letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and n. 7. 9. See Correspondence …

'An Appeal' against animal cruelty

Summary

The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 …
  • … the distribution of the pamphlet in August and September 1863 (see letter from G. B. Sowerby Jr to …
  • … and to 'a good many persons Squires Ladies & MPs' (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D …
  • … more success with the campaign than she expected (see the letter from Emma Darwin to William Erasmus …
  • … (see CD's Classed account book (Down House MS), 20 August 1863, recording a payment of £2 11 s …
  • … involved no more cruelty than the possible alternatives (see letter from E. L. Darwin, 7 September …
  • … to the RSPCA in 1852 for working horses with sore necks (see letter from Emma Darwin to William …
  • … threatened to report a similar case of cruelty in 1866 (see letter to [Local landowner], [1866], …

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: 11 hits

  • … affords." ( Darwin to H.W. Bates , 26 January [1863] ). In addition to sharing a …
  • … and Conclusion”). Letters Letter Packet: Dining at Down House …
  • … ill health began on his Beagle voyage. In this letter (written amidst the excitement of South …
  • … difficulties of traveling on horseback while ill. Letter 465 —Emma Wedgwood (Emma Darwin …
  • … making himself agreeable” for her sake. Letter 3626 —Emma Darwin to T. G. Appleton, 28 …
  • … to thank Appleton for gifts sent from America. Letter 3597 —Darwin to Joseph Dalton …
  • … cook. Emma Darwin to Henrietta Darwin, [4 November 1863] In this brief note to her …
  • … to Henrietta Darwin, [5 September 1868] In this chatty letter to her daughter Henrietta, who …
  • … typical nineteenth-century luncheon fare. Letter 8296 —Darwin to Francis Galton, 21 …
  • … who was then a professor at Cambridge University. This letter is full of news about the political …
  • … his letters. They were particularly intrigued by this letter written from Emma to Charles before …

Science, Work and Manliness

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …

Matches: 10 hits

  • … Letters Letter 282 - Darwin to Fox, W. D., [9 - 12 August 1835] Darwin …
  • … “a little reading, thinking and hammering”. Letter 1533 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., [27 …
  • … involved in producing such a magnum opus. In a subsequent letter , Darwin describes Dana’s …
  • … that de Bosquet has bestowed on the subject. Letter 2669 - Bunbury, C. J. F. to Darwin, …
  • … a work of “astonishing labour and patience”. Letter 4262 - Darwin to Gray, A., [4 …
  • … 134 crosses which was “no slight labour”. Letter 3901 - Darwin to Falconer, H., [5 & …
  • … not depleted completely his health and strength. Letter 4000 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., …
  • … a wonderful, indefatigable worker you are!”. Letter 4997 - Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, [4 …
  • … systematically to collect and arrange facts. Letter 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 …
  • … and anxiety” involved in the editorial process. Letter 9157 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., …

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…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 …
  • … sweeping conclusions on insufficient grounds. Letter 3934 - Darwin to Scott, J., [21 …
  • … how to make the material worthy of publication. Letter 4185 - Darwin to Scott, J., [25 …
  • … indefatigable worker you are!”. Letter 7605 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [20 March …
  • … memorial” in memory of the book. Letter 8140 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [3 …
  • … how he made so many observations without aid. Letter 8146 - Darwin to Treat, M., [5 …
  • … “in some well-known scientific journal”. Letter 8171 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L., [21 …
  • … that Lucy is worth her weight in gold. Letter 9005b - Darwin to Treat, M., [12 …
  • … flies until he had repeated the experiment. Letter 9580 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H. D., …
  • … should not yet be submitted to the publisher. Letter 9613 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … and thinks that it ought to be published. Letter 10523 - Darwin to Treat, M., [1 June …
  • … in the pursuit of her “admirable work”. Letter 11096 - Darwin to Romanes, G. J., [9 …
  • … her manuscript to Nature for publication. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., …

Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters

Summary

On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … help him with his research (e.g. to Lydia Becker, 2 August 1863 ; to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 …
  • … seeking permission to go on the Beagle voyage, to a letter to C. A. Kennard written on 9 …
  • … from the youthful exuberance of the Beagle letters (e.g. letter to Caroline Darwin, 29 April …
  • … that led up to his ‘confessing a murder’ in his famous  letter to J. D. Hooker, in which he admitted …
  • … who was proofreading a draft chapter of Descent (letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …

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: 21 hits

  • … his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention …
  • … 11   My dear Hooker… What a remarkably nice and kind letter Dr A. Gray has sent me in answer to my …
  • … be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy it… His letter does strike me as most uncommonly …
  • … on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year …
  • … a brace of letters 25   I send enclosed [a letter for you from Asa Gray], received …
  • … might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing …
  • … Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which …
  • … notions of natural Selection and would see whether it or my letter bears any date, I should be very …
  • … 55   My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter influenced by trumpery feelings. …
  • … do a good deal to secure it. Darwin passes Gray’s letter to Hooker with a cringe. …
  • … full relief from all anxiety. Darwin shows Gray’s letter to Hooker. DARWIN:  …
  • … of your darling. BOOKS BY THE LATE CHARLES DARWIN: 1863-1865 In which Drwin struggles …
  • … back. JANE GRAY:   189   [Jane Gray. Letter to her sister. Fall, 1868.] Mr Darwin …
  • … DARWIN:   192   My dear Gray. When I look over your letter[s] … and see all the things you …
  • … me, and yet was most anxious till two days ago, when I got a letter from him in excellent spirits. …
  • … 1860 98 A GRAY TO ALPHONSE DE CANDOLLE, 16 FEB 1863 99  C DARWIN TO LYELL, …
  • … 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150 C DARWIN TO J. D. …
  • … JULY 1864 160  C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 3 JAN 1863 161  TO ASA GRAY 13 …
  • … 1862 164  C Darwin TO ASA GRAY, 23 FEBRUARY 1863 165  A Gray TO C Darwin …
  • … APRIL 1866 173  C DARWIN TO ASA GRAY 20 APRIL 1863 174 FROM A GRAY TO …
  • … STAY 1881 192  C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 19 JANUARY 1863 193  TO A GRAY 9 AUGUST …

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: 19 hits

  • … Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to Hooker’s letter which he put down to his exceptionally …
  • … I was rapidly going the way of all flesh.  See the letter At various periods in his …
  • … months while he took Dr Gully’s water cure. In Darwin’s letter to Hooker, he described Dr Gully’s …
  • … certain that the Water Cure is no quackery.—  See the letter After returning from …
  • … in severity in the years around 1848, 1852, 1859, and 1863. In a letter to Hooker in April of 1861, …
  • … as my retching is apt to be extremely loud.—  See the letter Besides experimenting …
  • … the vomiting wonderfully & I am gaining vigour .’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864] ) …
  • … these grounds (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 2, letter to J. S. Henslow, 14 October …
  • … first mentioned attacks of ‘periodical vomiting’ in a letter to W. D. Fox, [7 June 1840] ( …
  • … sickness in 1849, describing ‘incessant vomiting’ in his letter to Richard Owen, [24 February 1849 …
  • … before Darwin’s decision to consult John Chapman.  In a letter to J. D. Hooker, [20-] 22 February …
  • … after eating, and that he seldom threw up food.  In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , …
  • … and care see, for example, Correspondence vol. 4, letter to Emma Darwin, [27-8 May 1848] . …
  • … had suffered from gout (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter to W. D. Fox, [25-9 January 1829] , …
  • … see King-Hele 1999, pp. 161-2). Erasmus also wrote a letter to Darwin’s father, in which he claimed …
  • … are discussed in Colp 1977, pp. 31-2, 47, 98. In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ( …
  • … feel a little alive’. See also Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … the treatment (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1849] …
  • … Wells, under James Smith Ayerst, in September and October 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 28 hits

  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
  • … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
  • … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • … of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • … better, attributing the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • … he was ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • … others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • … my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In …
  • … however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was …
  • … might be more willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865 …
  • … & I loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ) …
  • … you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; …
  • … needed for references, probably from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June …
  • … in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 November [1864 …
  • … 1865 that he had just finished hearing it read aloud ( letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August [1865] ). …
  • … Linnean Society for publication in Müller’s name ( see letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, …
  • … so weak that I am not able to do any scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] …
  • … coloured varieties (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
  • … species arising’ ( Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). …
  • … vol. 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, 10 June 1863 ). However, probably the most enthusiastic …
  • … that Lyell in his  Antiquity of man , published in 1863, had made unacknowledged use of Lubbock’s …

Referencing women’s work

Summary

Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … earthworms . Selected letters Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. …
  • … work are referenced throughout Variation . Letter 2395 - Darwin to Holland, …
  • … her identity is both anonymised and masculinised. Letter 3316 - Darwin to Nevill, D …
  • … Darwin’s Fertilisation of Orchids . Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., …
  • … being acknowledged publicly as a science critic. Letter 4370 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … are identified only as “friends in Surrey”. Letter 4794 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [25 …
  • … Sir C. Lyell” or received from “Miss. B”. Letter 7060 - Wedgwood, F. J. to …
  • … was referenced in the final publication. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C …
  • … are not cited in Expression . Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H., …
  • … description of a crying baby in Mary Barton. Letter 8321 - Darwin to …
  • … he would “feel the public humming” at him. Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, …
  • … lady, on whose accuracy I can implicitly rely”. Letter 8427 - Darwin to Litchfield H …
  • … of Henrietta’s considerable editorial input. Letter 8719 - Darwin to Treat, M., [1 …
  • … Letters relating to Earthworms Letter 7428 - Wedgwood, F. to Darwin, [4 …
  • … depth of furrows in an old field near his house. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R. to …
  • … activity in the fields of North Wales. Letter 8193 - Ruck, A. R. to Darwin, H …
  • … published discussion of earthworm activity . Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. …
  • … discussion of turf-based worm castings . Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, …
  • … lady, on whose accuracy I can implicitly rely”. Letter 11221 - Darwin to Darwin …
  • … are referenced in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12742 - Darwin, H. to Darwin, …
  • … "My son Horace" in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12745 - Darwin to …
  • … anonymously in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12760 - Wedgwood, K. E. S. to …
  • … but does not identify the workers in question. Letter 13037 - Darwin to Darwin, …

Inheritance

Summary

It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited.  But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did.  Darwin’s attempt to…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … in invisible ink on the germ' ( to J. D. Hooker, 26 [March 1863] ).   Years before he …
  • … Huxley, [17 July 1865] ). He was forced to confess in a letter to Hooker , that it was indeed & …

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: 25 hits

  • … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
  • … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
  • … botanist Asa Gray. Darwin and Hooker Letter 714 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … and he is curious about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
  • … and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … and their approach to information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … ends with a discussion of lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … up his doubts about Darwin’s doctrines. In his second letter he talks about his visit with Falconer. …
  • … was on the Beagle voyage and afterwards. Letter 152 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. …
  • … is Henslow’s “bounden duty to lecture me”. Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R. …
  • … sends home a copy of his notes on the specimens. Letter 249 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, …
  • … sends news of Cambridge and mutual friends. Letter 251 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S …
  • … illness and specimens are sent to Henslow. Letter 272 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. …
  • … collection and plans to cross the Cordilleras. Letter 1189 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … Hermann Müller. Darwin and Lubbock Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, …
  • … and it has reawakened his passion for entomology. Letter 1720 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … 147 (1857): 79–100]. Darwin and Müller Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, …
  • Letter 4170 — Becker, Lydia to Darwin, C. R., 18 May 1863 This is a very formal letter
  • Letter 4258 — Becker, Lydia to Darwin, C. R., 31 July [1863] Becker has found seeds produced …
  • Letter 4260a — Darwin, C. R. to Becker, L. E., 2 Aug [1863] Darwin thanks Lydia Becker for …

Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 30 hits

  • … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
  • … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
  • … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
  • … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
  • … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
  • … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
  • … protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
  • … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
  • … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
  • … hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
  • … on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … resulted from his ‘ enormous  labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
  • … Oliver: ‘I can see at least 3 classes of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), …
  • … result once out of four or five sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). …
  • … one species may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The …
  • … and determined to publish on  Linum  ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), …
  • … d . like to make out this wonderfully complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). …
  • … The case clearly excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … that the case warranted a paper for the Linnean Society ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] …
  • … that had given him ‘great pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he …
  • … know not  in the least , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] …
  • … govern the structure of almost every  flower’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 8 June [1862] ). …
  • … so doubtful about anything I published’, he told Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 [May 1862] ). …
  • … May, and George Bentham pronounced it ‘most valuable’ (letter from George Bentham, 15 May 1862).  …
  • … in writing the book, it was, after all, ‘a success’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] ). …
  • … power of natural selection. He made the point to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 March [1862] …
  • … the truth of natural selection through the back door ( letter to Asa Gray, 23[–4] July [1862] ). …
  • … ‘nearly overcome his opposition to the  Origin  ’ ( letter from Asa Gray, 2–3 July 1862 ). …
  • … with ‘good dashes of original reflexions’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 13 January [1862] ). He warmly …
  • … part of his popular exposition of Darwin’s theory (Rolle 1863; see letter to Friedrich Rolle, 17 …

Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870

Summary

This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … to confide in his closest friends and associates by letter. The letters in this volume speak …
  • … derivation of Species … Darwin to Charles Lyell, 1863. Permit me again to …

Climbing Plants

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … , Vol. 4 (May 1857-May 1860). Letters Letter Packet: Climbing movement in …
  • … Darwin believed this was a wise course of action. Letter 8545 - Asa Gray to Charles …
  • … for how the stimulus travels in the plant. The rest of the letter is filled with news of Gray’s trip …
  • … publish with his old papers on climbing plants. Letter 8656 - Asa Gray to Charles …
  • … of tendrils, as described in the following excerpt from an 1863 letter he wrote to the English …

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: 24 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … by the American educator Emily Talbot (Talbot ed. 1882). His letter to Talbot written the previous …
  • … by the flippant witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice …
  • … men, and their role as providers for the family. In his letter, he conceded that there was ‘some …
  • … of our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • … she be fairly judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January …
  • … he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 …
  • … Would my actions be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February …
  • … a solid scientific foundation cannot be overestimated’ ( letter to William Jenner, 20 March [1882] …
  • … to delight in his children’s accomplishments. In a letter to Anthony Rich, he shared several of his …
  • … ( letter from Aleksander Jelski, [1860–82] ). In 1863, the final blow was dealt to Darwin’s …
  • … a fallen enemy!’ ( letter to T. F. Jamieson, 24 January [1863] ). From 1863 to 1865, Darwin …
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