From Alois Humbert [before 18] January 1873
Summary
On a humming-bird Sphinx moth which tried to extract nectar from flowers on wallpaper. [See Descent, 2d ed., p. 317.]
| Author: | Alois Humbert |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 18] Jan 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 89: 76 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8718 |
To James Paget 18 January [1873]
Summary
JP’s note [8739] suggests reversion, but that is an easy trap. Will look to the ears of "our brethren at the Zool. Gardens".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Paget, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 18 Jan [1873] |
| Classmark: | Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology MSS 405 A. Gift of the Burndy Library) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8740 |
To Alphonse de Candolle 18 January [1873]
Summary
The evidence of tameness of Alpine butterflies [see 8672] seems good and the fact is surprising to CD for they can hardly have acquired this in their short life-time.
The question whether butterflies are attracted to bright colours independently of the supposed presence of nectar is still unanswered.
CD has great difficulty in believing that any temporary condition of parents can affect the offspring.
Pangenesis is much reviled, but CD must still look at generation from this point of view, which makes him averse to believing that an emotion has any effect on the offspring.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alphonse de Candolle |
| Date: | 18 Jan [1873] |
| Classmark: | Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8741 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Humbert, Alois | (1) |
| Candolle, Alphonse de | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
| Paget, James | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Candolle, Alphonse de | (1) |
| Humbert, Alois | (1) |
| Paget, James | (1) |
1.18 John Collier, oil in Linnean
Summary
< Back to Introduction By 1881 it was clear to Darwin’s intimates that he was increasingly frail, and that, as he approached death, he had finally escaped from religious controversy to become a heroic figure, loved and venerated for his achievements…
Darwin & coral reefs
Summary
The central idea of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, as it was later formulated, was that the islands were formed by the upward growth of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. It overturned previous ideas and would in itself…
Matches: 5 hits
- … of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. A letter from Robert Edward Alison, who had …
- … first sighting of a coral island is confirmed by a letter to his sister Caroline, written on 29 …
- … the time of the visit of the Beagle to Tahiti. The letter of 29 April was written shortly after …
- … he had a sound theory and one that was worth publishing. The letter continues: ‘I hope to be able to …
- … heart’ to have finished writing his book on coral reefs: letter to Leonard Jenyns [9 May 1842] . …
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: 17 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. …
- … of dimorphism, like that of Primula… GRAY: 118 I have no time nor heart to write …
- … 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: …
- … 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. …
- … 117 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 1861 118 A GRAY TO DE CANDOLLE, 26 APRIL 1861 …
- … TO GRAY AT THIS TIME 189 JANE LORING GRAY, LETTER TO HER SISTER, 1868 or 1869 …
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: 17 hits
- … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
- … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34 —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
- … M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
- … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
- … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
- … Linnéenne de Bordeaux ] Tom VI. & VII. 1833–1835 118 22 d . Bulletin des Sc. Nat. …
- … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
- … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55 The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
- … to William Jackson Hooker. See Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
- … one are printed notices pasted into the notebook. 118 CD marked this entry with ‘O’ …
- … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832. A letter in vindication of the principles of …
- … by Bekhur to Garoo and the Lake Manasarowara: with a letter from … J. G. Gerard, Esq. …
- … 1830. On the dying struggle of the dichotomous sytem. In a letter to N. A. Vigors. Philosophical …
- … *119: 8v., 22v.; *128: 165 ——. 1850a. Letter to the Rev. John Bachman, on the question of …
- … art of improving the breeds of domestic animals. In a letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir …
- … 1820. Remarks on the improvement of cattle, &c. in a letter to Sir John Saunders Sebright, …
- … de Genève . Geneva. 1821–. [Abstract in DAR 73: 1–18.] 119: 21a Mémoires de la Société …
The Voyage of the Beagle
Summary
It was a letter from his friend and former teacher, John Stevens Henslow, that brought the 22-year-old Charles Darwin news of the offer of a place on board the Admiralty surveying vessel HMS Beagle on a voyage to chart the coast of South America. During…
Darwin’s introduction to geology
Summary
Darwin collected minerals as a child and was introduced to the science of geology at the University of Edinburgh, but he only became actively interested in the subject as he was completing his degree at Cambridge.
Matches: 1 hits
- … field trip to study the stratigraphy of North Wales. A letter written beforehand to Henslow …
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: 24 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 the years around 1848, 1852, 1859, and 1863. In a letter to Hooker in April of 1861, for example, …
- … 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 …
- … he was sick almost daily (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [6 …
- … 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] . …
- … intervals during the day and in the evening (see LL 1: 113, 118-19, 121-5, and A. Desmond and Moore …
- … 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] …
- … at Down for several years (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October 1849 …
- … September and October 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, …
- … Browne 1990, and for his consumption of alcohol, see LL 1: 118, and Colp 1977, p. 103. Darwin …
- … checked his chronic vomiting ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864] …
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…
