To Charles Lyell 22 January [1865]
Summary
Criticises Duke of Argyll’s address [to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864)] and demurs on Argyll’s "new birth" theory.
Agrees with CL on beauty.
Enjoyed hearing of Princess Royal’s discussion [on Darwinism].
CD’s illness.
CL’s advice on chapter [of Variation] on dogs was excellent.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 22 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.304) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4752 |
From Henry Denny 23 January 1865
Summary
Species of lice and the animals they infest. Different kinds of dogs, fowls, and pigeons are infested by the same species of Pediculi [see Descent 1: 219].
| Author: | Henry Denny |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Jan 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 80: B150–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4753 |
From J. D. Hooker [26 January 1865]
Summary
John Scott has arrived in Calcutta and has been given an appointment by Thomas Anderson.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [26 Jan 1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4754 |
To John Edward Gray 27 January [1865]
Summary
Thanks JEG for congratulations [on Copley Medal?].
Mentions JEG’s illness.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Edward Gray |
| Date: | 27 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.305) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4755 |
From Henry Walter Bates 28 January 1865
Summary
Pleased at receiving CD’s letter.
HWB informs him of favourable notice of the mimetic paper [in Wiegmann’s Arch. Naturgesch. 29 (1863) pt 2: 315–19].
He is pleased with his post [Asst. Sec. of Royal Geographical Society].
| Author: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Jan 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 79 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4756 |
To Henry Denny 28 January [1865]
Summary
Returns [Andrew] Murray’s paper;
especially values HD’s note that the same species of lice infect the different varieties of fowl, pigeon, and dog. Further queries about the relationship of the same species of pediculi to different domestic varieties.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Denny |
| Date: | 28 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | Alfred Denny Museum, University of Sheffield |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4756F |
To A. R. Wallace 29 January [1865]
Summary
Commends ARW’s papers on parrots
and on the theory of geographical distribution [see 4750].
Wild pigs in Aru Islands must have been introduced and later ran wild. Does ARW have an opinion on the subject?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 29 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add. MS 46434, f. 49) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4757 |
To Abraham Dee Bartlett 30 January [1865]
Summary
Orders that one of CD’s Porto Santo rabbits be killed and sent to him.
Asks whether ADB has got young from mating these with females of other breeds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Abraham Dee Bartlett |
| Date: | 30 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Joseph Bradley Murray Collection (MS 363) Box 1, folder 4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4758 |
From A. R. Wallace 31 January [1865]
Summary
Sends papers with comments. Convinced that the Aru pig is a species peculiar to New Guinea fauna, not a domestic animal that ran wild.
Admires CD’s paper ["Three forms of Lythrum", Collected papers 2: 106–31].
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Jan [1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: B22–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4759 |
To A. R. Wallace 1 February [1865]
Summary
Exchange of photographs.
Aru pigs present perplexing case, whether wild or domesticated.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 1 Feb [1865] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add. MS 46434, f. 53) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4760 |
To J. D. Hooker 2 February [1865]
Summary
Hugh Falconer’s death great loss to science.
His own health has been especially bad this last week.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 Feb [1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 259 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4762 |
To [Robertson Munro?] 3 February [1865 or 1866?]
Summary
Is glad MTM is going to experiment on Passiflora.
Is grieved to hear that John Scott has been inaccurate but cannot think he recorded, in his paper, experiments that he never made [see 4485].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robertson Munro |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1865-6] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 16 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4763 |
To Ray Society [14–18 January 1865]
Summary
"Read a letter from Mr Darwin expressing his regret that the state of his health would not permit of his writing an Introductory Chapter to the Translation of Gaertner’s work [Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich (1849)]."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ray Society |
| Date: | [14–18 Jan 1865] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Library MSS RAY A: vol. 2, p. 107r: Minute 1146, 3d February 1865) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4764 |
From J. D. Hooker 3 February 1865
Summary
Falconer’s illness and suffering. His great ability and knowledge.
CD’s paper ["Climbing plants"] went extremely well [at Linnean Society]. M. T. Masters and Bentham commented.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Feb 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 8–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4765 |
To Max Ernst Wichura 3 February [1865]
Summary
He has finished MEW’s work on hybrid willows [Die Bastardbefruchtung im Planzenreich (1865)] and sends his thanks. The extreme frequency of hybrid willows is new to CD, and he finds the explanation of their numbers in certain locations ingenious.
Comments on the criticism of Gärtner’s view of reversion
and the differences between MEW and Naudin.
CD now has doubts regarding his own view that hybrids are sterile from not being perfectly accommodated to their conditions of life.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Max Ernst Wichura |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1865] |
| Classmark: | Autographia (dealers) (1986) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4765A |
From Maxwell Tylden Masters 7 February 1865
Summary
MTM heard part of the abstract of CD’s paper on climbing plants, read at the Linnean Society on 2 Feb. Offers CD his opinion and information on the subject, which he has studied for many years.
| Author: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Feb 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 71 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4766 |
To Richard Kippist 8 February 1865
Summary
Requests all parts of Transactions due him.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Kippist |
| Date: | 8 Feb 1865 |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4767 |
To A. D. Bartlett 9 February [1865]
Summary
Inquires about body of Porto Santo rabbit which has not arrived.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Abraham Dee Bartlett |
| Date: | 9 Feb [1865] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4768 |
To J. D. Hooker 9 February [1865]
Summary
Falconer’s death haunts him. Personal annihilation not so horrifying to him as sun cooling some day and human race ending.
His health has been wretched.
Masters has written his agreement with CD’s "Climbing plants".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9 Feb [1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 260 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4769 |
From August Schleicher 9 February 1865
Summary
Sends a pamphlet and photograph to CD [missing];
announces a botanical congress at Erfurt at which CD’s theory will be discussed.
| Author: | August Schleicher |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Feb 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 53 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4770 |
| letter | (261) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (112) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (22) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (7) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (7) |
| Henslow, F. H. | (6) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (142) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (24) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (8) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (6) |
| Murray, John (b) | (5) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (253) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (46) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (15) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (13) |
| Müller, Fritz | (9) |
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: 29 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The …
- … However, several smaller projects came to fruition in 1865, including the publication of his long …
- … of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family had had a …
- … the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). Darwin was ready to submit his …
- … letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus Alvey Darwin, 3 January 1865 ). Erasmus forwarded his letters …
- … laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] ). Sic transit gloria …
- … the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] ). However, Hooker, at the time …
- … are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 ). Darwin, now ‘haunted’ by …
- … with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). Continuing ill-health …
- … to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). He particularly hated being ill …
- … of life. He wrote to Charles Lyell on 22 January [1865] , ‘unfortunately reading makes my head …
- … it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] ). In July, he consulted …
- … bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] ). By October, Darwin thought he might be …
- … to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until December, …
- … hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). Delays and …
- … last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] ). In April he authorised …
- … press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early June, he wrote to Murray …
- … when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was not until 25 December …
- … of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). After sending the manuscript to the …
- … like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ). An abstract of the paper …
- … for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; Darwin noted at the beginning of …
- … the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June [1865] ). The paper was published in a …
- … German, he had it translated, and wrote to Müller in August 1865 that he had just finished hearing …
- … letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, and 10 October 1865] ; since it is impossible to …
- … clearly understand (l etter to Daniel Oliver, 20 October [1865] ). Darwin was particularly …
- … scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] ), he clearly read Müller’s letters …
- … from sea-sickness ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ). This may have been unwise: Thomas …
- … & ability’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1865] ). Scott took these criticisms, no …
- … again when he had time ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ); at the time of writing, he had …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 5 hits
- … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London …
- … Darwin wrote that he fell ill again on 22 April 1865 and was unable to ‘do anything.’ Emma Darwin’s …
- … hand). Darwin began the ice treatment on 20 May 1865. In his letter to Chapman of 7 June 1865 …
- … from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865]). Darwin’s condition had been …
- … and George Busk (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [7 January 1865], and letter from George Busk, 28 April …
Prize possessions: To Henry Denny, 17 January [1865]
Summary
Between 1980 and 2018, I was honorary curator of the Alfred Denny Museum of Zoology in the University of Sheffield. One of our prize possessions was a letter from Darwin to Henry Denny, then curator and assistant secretary of the Literary and Philosophical…
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
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in …
- … basis of Lubbock’s book, Prehistoric times (Lubbock 1865). By 1860, Lyell had begun work …
- … material available pertaining to the antiquity of humans. In 1865, he wrote that the section on …
- … not pursue any grievance against Lyell until the spring of 1865. 13 In the course of …
- … C. Lyell 1863c and Lubbock 1861 (and consequently in Lubbock 1865), combined with the wording of …
- … between the end of February and the beginning of March 1865, Lubbock wrote the note which would …
- … received a copy of Lubbock’s book, published in mid-May 1865, he immediately wrote to express his …
- … Ramsay in a note to an article published in the April 1865 issue of the Philosophical Magazine . …
- … thought of the affair ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 June 1865] ). Hooker, for his part, could see …
- … for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week later he sent Lubbock a …
- … the note in the preface (letter to John Lubbock, 11 June [1865] ). No correspondence with Lyell …
- … him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), Darwin wrote back ( letter to J. D …
- … and Lubbock had no direct communication after the end of May 1865, each appealing to friends to …
- … Thus, in print-runs after the end of June 1865, Lubbock had cancelled his note at the end of the …
- … of both interested parties. Only one known review of Lubbock 1865 draws attention to Lubbock’s note; …
- … situation was succinct. In his letter to Hooker of [4 June 1865] he warned that no one could do …
- … (C. Lyell 1863c; see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] and n. 13). The third edition had …
- … vii–ix (revised version of last section, printed in August 1865, but dated 1863 on the title page) …
- … of the ‘ Elements of geology ’ 34 [C. Lyell 1865], and the printed proofs were transferred …
- … (see enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] ). Later, Lubbock claimed that he had …
- … the note which appeared at the end of the preface to Lubbock 1865. He told Hooker, ‘I did not trust …
- … ours’ (letter from John Lubbock to J. D. Hooker, 23 June 1865, in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, …
How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]
Summary
Sometimes, what stands out in a Darwin letter is not what is in it, but what is left out or just implied because the recipient would have known what Darwin was referring to. It is frustrating to spend hours looking but fail to identify something mentioned…
Matches: 4 hits
- … found in a relatively short letter written by Darwin in June 1865 to his close friend Joseph …
- … this letter was a reply ( From J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] ), but there was no mention of any …
- … Indian mutiny. At least three novels had been written around 1865. Suddenly, ‘How to’ made sense: …
- … a favourable review in the Athenæum in January 1865. It had all the criteria for a novel 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…
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: 4 hits
- … regular attacks had occurred again in the last week of April 1865, and the third week of May, just …
- … threw up food. In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , Darwin stated that his sickness was …
- … Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) on several occasions in 1864 and 1865. ‘Bad hysteria & sickness’ were …
- … difficulties reading, see letters to J. D. Hooker, 1 June [1865] and 27 [or 28 September 1865] …
George Busk
Summary
After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until the material was sent, in 1852, for study by George Busk, one of the foremost workers on the group of his day. In 1863, on the way down to Malvern Wells, Darwin had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … and Lady Lyell ( letter from J. D. Hooker [2 June 1865] ). …
3.10 Ernest Edwards, 'Men of Eminence'
Summary
< Back to Introduction In 1865 Darwin was invited to feature in another series of published photographs, Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art, with Biographical Memoirs . . . The Photographs from Life by Ernest Edwards, B.A.…
Matches: 9 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In 1865 Darwin was invited to feature in another series of …
- … had been launched by Lovell Augustus Reeve in 1863, but by 1865 Edward Walford had taken over as …
- … Darwin wrote to Walford, probably in the spring of 1865, to say, ‘I should of course be proud to be …
- … more than one sitting seems to have taken place, in November 1865 and April 1866. Darwin’s account …
- … true Philosopher’. The beard that Darwin had grown by 1865–1866 helped to enhance this …
- … public image – wrote to Emma, apparently in late November 1865, to say that he was waiting for a …
- … which derived from the three-quarter view photograph of 1865–1866 mentioned above (see separate …
- … of image Ernest Edwards date of creation 1865–1866 computer-readable date …
- … Letter from Darwin to Edward Walford, 22 [Jan. – April 1865?], (DCP-LETT-5508). Letter from Erasmus …
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...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin to Hooker (on hearing of Robert FitzRoy’s suicide), 1865. As you are now so …
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.…
Darwin on race and gender
Summary
Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
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…
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 4 hits
- … started in January 1860, and advertised in the press since 1865 with the unwieldy title, …
- … apparently discussing it or showing it to anyone until 1865, when he sent a version of it to Huxley, …
- … a book based on a series of articles that had appeared in 1865. In it he challenged aspects of …
- … vol. 13, letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] and n. 4). Darwin’s wife and children also …
3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s son William, who had become a banker in Southampton, took the opportunity of a short visit home to Down House in April 1864 to photograph his father afresh. This half-length portrait was the first to show Darwin with a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … (DCP-LETT-4707); Naudin’s gushing acknowledgement, 18 June 1865 (DCP-LETT-4863). Letter from …
Science: A Man’s World?
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., [20 November 1865] Edward Cresy Jnr. seeks Darwin …
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: 1 hits
- … precise measurement was bought to bear, a myth. In 1865, Darwin received a letter from Edward …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
