To G. C. Druce 25 April 1876
Summary
Thanks Naturalist Society and Club of Northampton for his election.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Claridge Druce |
| Date: | 25 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy, One of the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford (Druce Archives 5.0.1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10427 |
To Lawson Tait 25 March [1876]
Summary
RLT’s two articles in Spectator [4 Mar and 25 Mar 1876] greatly honour CD.
Tait has made a good point about "Survival of the Fittest".
Dr Rudinger’s extensive inquiries show that all eminent German surgeons are unanimous about non-growth of extra digit after amputation.
J. Kollmann has written regretting CD has given up atavism and extra digits [in 2d ed. of Variation]; gives new evidence of a rudimentary sixth digit in batrachians.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Date: | 25 Mar [1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 221.5: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10428 |
From Lawson Tait 26 March [1876]
Summary
Cat born tailless as a consequence of a spina bifida.
| Author: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Mar [1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 31 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10429 |
From Naphtali Lewy [26 March – 24 April 1876]
Summary
NL has written an essay Toldot adam (Lewy 1874, privately printed in book form as Lewy [1875]) to convince his people of the truth of CD’s theory.
| Author: | Naphtali Lewy (Halevi) |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [26 Mar – 24 Apr 1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 201: 20 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10430 |
From Lawson Tait 27 March [1876]
Summary
Regrowth of amputated digits is a capacity possessed by the new-born but rapidly lost.
| Author: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Mar [1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 32 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10431 |
From Robert Bell 28 March 1876
Summary
Encloses letter printed in the Toronto Globe about the discovery on Prince Edward Island of a skeleton of a tailed man.
| Author: | Robert Bell |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 127 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10432 |
To Axel Blytt 28 March 1876
Summary
Thanks AB for his paper on the Norwegian flora ["Forsög til en Theori om Invandringen af Norges Flora", Nyt Mag. Naturvidensk. 21 (1876): 279–362]. Appears to CD to be the most important contribution towards understanding the present distribution of plants since Edward Forbes’s essay on the effects of the glacial period ["On the connexion between the distribution of existing fauna and flora of the British Isles and the geological changes which have affected their area", Mem. Geol. Surv. Engl. & Wales 1 (1846): 336–432].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Axel Gudbrand (Axel) Blytt |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10433 |
To Lawson Tait 28 March 1876
Summary
James Paget’s scepticism about regrowth of digits. Suggests RLT experiment with amputation of digits, both extra and normal, of kittens and fowls. Fears they will fail to regrow, but, if regrowth is proved, it will be an important discovery.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | Roy Davids Ltd (dealer) (1996) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10434 |
From F. J. Cohn 28 March 1876
Summary
Has had doctoral student [Alexander Fraustadt] working on the physiology and chemistry (i.e., chlorophyll and starch distribution) and comparative anatomy of Dionaea.
| Author: | Ferdinand Julius Cohn |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 201 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10435 |
To F. J. Cohn 31 March [1876]
Summary
Thanks FJC for paper by Alexander Fraustadt ["Vegetative Organe von Dionaea", Ell. Beitr. Biol. Pfl. 2 (1877): 27–64].
Mentions paper by A. W. Bennett ["Glands of carnivorous plants", Mon. Microsc. J. 15 (1876): 1–5].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ferdinand Julius Cohn |
| Date: | 31 Mar [1876] |
| Classmark: | Stuart Opotowsky (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10436 |
From James Torbitt 1 April 1876
Summary
Thanks for response to query on what is an individual.
Sends paper on potatoes [see 10440].
| Author: | James Torbitt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 131 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10437 |
From T. H. Huxley 3 April 1876
Summary
A Dr Sarazin offers services as translator.
Will read CD’s letter about Robert Swinhoe to Royal Society Council and see what can be done for him.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 345 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10438 |
From Mary Treat 3 April 1876
Summary
Encloses Pinguicula specimens.
Believes she has found a new species of water-lily.
| Author: | Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Davis; Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Treat |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 178 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10439 |
To James Torbitt 4 April 1876
Summary
Thanks for essay [Cras credemus: a treatise on the cultivation of the potato from the seed, having for proposed results the extinction of the disease (1876)] and seeds. Thinks principle on which JT is acting is right.
Cannot allow publication of his earlier letter [10368], as he cannot recall what he wrote.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Torbitt |
| Date: | 4 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 148: 92 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10440 |
From James Torbitt 6 April 1876
Summary
Requests permission to publish CD’s previous letter [10440].
| Author: | James Torbitt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Library, Glasnevin |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10441 |
To James Torbitt 6 April 1876
Summary
JT may publish CD’s letter.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Torbitt |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Library, Glasnevin |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10442 |
From James Torbitt 7 April 1876
Summary
Believes publishing CD’s letter will enable JT to suppress the potato disease several years sooner.
Returns CD’s answer to JT’s question "What is an individual?", and repeats his request for permission to publish it.
| Author: | James Torbitt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Library, Glasnevin |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10443 |
From J. D. Hooker 8 April 1876
Summary
Requests CD’s evaluation of the work of the entomologist Robert McLachlan, who is up for F.R.S. in competition with the physiologist A. H. Garrod.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 53–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10444 |
To J. D. Hooker 9 April [1876]
Summary
McLachlan has as strong a claim to be F.R.S. as any entomologist, but Garrod’s work is of higher quality.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 95: 404–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10445 |
From J. D. Hooker 11 April 1876
Summary
Lists the 14 men elected to be F.R.S. Garrod defeated McLachlan.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Apr 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 55 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10446 |
| letter | (474) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (259) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (15) |
| Darwin, Francis | (14) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (8) |
| Torbitt, James | (8) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (208) |
| Darwin, Francis | (18) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (13) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (11) |
| Unidentified | (11) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (467) |
| Darwin, Francis | (32) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (28) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (17) |
| Tait, Lawson | (15) |
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 30 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
- … has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). Francis Darwin, happily …
- … life. But the calm was not to last, and the second half of 1876 was marked by anxiety and deep grief …
- … in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The preparation of the second edition …
- … Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February 1876 ). When Smith, Elder and Company …
- … observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. ) Darwin focused instead on the …
- … ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising Orchids was less a …
- … with his new research in mind: ‘During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the “Effects of Cross …
- … pamphlet, Darwin confounded (C. O’Shaughnessy 1876), which, he informed Darwin, ‘completely …
- … and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). Combatting enemies... …
- … disguised his views as to the bestiality of man’ (Mivart 1876, p. 144). Not only was the comment …
- … in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). Although Mivart had long been a …
- … a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ). Both aims were achieved, and in Darwin’s …
- … in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February 1876] ). 'The heat of battle& …
- … issue had occupied Darwin for much of 1875. In January 1876, a Royal Commission report was published …
- … The Physiological Society, which had been founded in March 1876 by the London physiologist John …
- … The 'insect eating theory' Throughout 1876, Darwin continued to receive responses …
- … published later that year and a German translation in 1876. ‘What is more to be wondered at—Nature …
- … an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 ). Others questioned whether insects …
- … eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 ). William Dallinger from Liverpool …
- … to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). Pangenesis v. perigenesis …
- … second edition of Variation was published in February 1876 (despite bearing a publication date …
- … ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March 1876] ). A less welcome reaction came from an ardent …
- … previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September 1876] ). ...all sorts of …
- … later told Muller ( letter to Fritz Müller, [9 February 1876] ). Likewise, when Johann von Fischer …
- … ( letter from Johann von Fischer, [before 15 September 1876] ). Hubert Airy’s latest paper on leaf …
- … of very young buds’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 June [1876] ). Darwin recognised scientific skill …
- … Thomas Edward ( letter from F. M. Balfour, 11 December 1876 ; letter to Samuel Smiles, 16 …
- … it to the death’ ( letter from James Torbitt, 19 April 1876 ). Darwin beat an angry retreat. He …
- … untrustworthy fanatic ( letter to James Torbitt, 21 April 1876 ). Darwin also had cause to …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 25 hits
- … in the vegetable kingdom , published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project …
- … the self-fertilised’ ( To G. H. Darwin, 8 January [1876] ). George explained the difficulties of …
- … equal value.’ ( From G. H. Darwin, [after 8 January 1876] ). It was his cousin, the statistician …
- … introduction to the book ( To Francis Galton, 13 January [1876] ). Joseph Henry …
- … on yet another experimental aspect of his work. In February 1876, he wrote to the agricultural …
- … in a state of nature’ ( To J. H. Gilbert, 16 February 1876 ). Darwin wanted to try to remove all …
- … soil to remove nutrients ( From J. H. Gilbert, 4 March 1876 ). In June 1876, Darwin had supposedly …
- … samples differed ( To Edward Frankland, [before 6 June 1876] ). The project proved to be too …
- … am convinced that the book is of value’ By August 1876, the book had gone to press and …
- … shall ever do on this subject’ ( To Asa Gray, 9 August 1876 ). As Darwin began correcting …
- … I would suggest 1,500’ ( To R. F. Cooke, 16 September 1876 ). In the meantime, a happy event, the …
- … it too much for you’ ( To Francis Darwin, 16 September [1876] ). Francis must have found some …
- … slightly modified’ ( To Francis Darwin, 20 September [1876] ). Darwin continued to send work, …
- … & very useful’ ( To Francis Darwin 25 September [1876] ). At the end of September …
- … early in November’ ( To J. V. Carus, 27 September 1876 ). The title had now changed from that …
- … alone worth reading. ( To Otto Zacharias, 5 October [1876] ). Hermann Müller, in contrast, wrote …
- … Pedecino, and Comes ( From Hermann Müller, 4 October 1876 ). Gray was impatient for a copy …
- … had not yet been released ( From Asa Gray, 12 October 1876 ). Darwin sent the sheets, apologised …
- … that of almost anyone else’ ( To Asa Gray, 28 October 1876 ). Gray reassured him, ‘I have as yet …
- … faultless as your temper’ ( From Asa Gray, 12 November 1876 ). The book was published on 10 …
- … 6 or 700 would sell.’ ( To John Murray, 15 November 1876 ). In fact, Murray sold 1100 copies of …
- … for science’ ( From Friedrich Hildebrand, 6 December 1876 ). After reading the book, Hildebrand …
- … for further work’ ( From Hermann Müller, 6 December 1876 ). Alphonse de Candolle noted the …
- … experiments ( From Alphonse de Candolle 16 December 1876 ). One critical review came from Alfred …
- … yet been produced’ ( From A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been …
Darwin's 1876 letters online
Summary
Birth, tragic death . . . and cardigan jackets. To mark the 211th anniversary of Darwin's birth, we have released online the transcripts and footnotes of over 460 letters written to and from him in 1876 and a supplement of 180 letters written before…
Matches: 6 hits
- … footnotes of over 460 letters written to and from him in 1876 and a supplement of 180 letters …
- … was devoted to the means of crossing. The year 1876 started energetically, with Darwin …
- … of Variation under domestication appeared early in 1876. Reprints of Origin, Climbing plants …
- … in January 1877; Darwin had been working on it since May 1876. Work was probably a welcome …
- … letters written or conjectured to have been written before 1876, which have been discovered or …
- … to a span of years, but that were probably written before 1876. Many of these are from a recently …
From Argus pheasant to Mivart: To A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876
Summary
This letter has almost everything you might want from a Darwin letter, and merits a correspondingly, magnificently complete set of notes provided by the Correspondence Project. First, the letter is to that other doyen of natural selection, Alfred Russel…
Matches: 1 hits
- … records Darwin's views on the first volume of Wallace's 1876 book The geographical …
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Summary
George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Emma to a Sunday afternoon at the Leweses’ on 30 April 1876 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) and …
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … hurrah, 2795 games. (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ) And an entry in Jane …
4.28 'English celebrities' montage
Summary
< Back to Introduction One of the stranger appropriations of Elliott and Fry’s portrayal of Darwin was to make him one of a group of ‘Authors’, in an album titled English Celebrities, 19th Century (1876). Fiction writers and scientists were grouped…
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
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: 4 hits
- … Letter 10439 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [3 April 1876] Mary Treat describes a field trip …
- … 10390 - Herrick, S. M. B . to Darwin, [12 February 1876] Sophia Herrick asks …
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin to Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin gives his son, Francis, …
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin t o Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin gives his son, Francis …
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…
Matches: 3 hits
3.17 Lock and Whitfield, 'Men of Mark'
Summary
< Back to Introduction The ambitious series of photographs of Men of Mark, published by the firm of Lock and Whitfield between 1876 and 1883, was a successor to similar sets which had appeared in the 1850s and 1860s. This one was distinguished by its…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Mark , published by the firm of Lock and Whitfield between 1876 and 1883, was a successor to …
Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
Matches: 6 hits
- … in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured …
- … and continued collecting wild plants in the spring of 1876. The resulting observations would …
- … his observations. On 7 September 1876, Francis welcomed his son Bernard into the …
- … on the nature and function of aggregation. Francis’ 1876 paper on aggregation sought explicitly to …
- … protoplasm, rather than condensations of cell-sap (F. Darwin 1876, p. 312). Cohn’s comments on …
- … by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. Darwin, F. 1876. The Process of Aggregation in the …
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Summary
Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…
Matches: 1 hits
- … religious sect’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 June [1876] ). Experimenters and a portion of the …
Power of movement in plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Family experiments Darwin was an active and engaged father during his children's youth, involving them in his experiments and even occasionally using them as observational subjects. When his children…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin to Francis Darwin, 29 May 1876 Darwin writes to Francis to …
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: 1 hits
- … Letter 10523 - Darwin to Treat, M., [1 June 1876] Darwin praises Treat’s work and …
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: 6 hits
- … THE OLDER ONE GETS THE MORE THERE IS TO DO: 1868-1876 In which the friends consider the …
- … 20 JULY 1857 45 A GRAY, PREFACE TO DARWINIANA, 1876 46 THE NICENE CREED, …
- … TO A GRAY, 22 MAY 1860 91 A GRAY, DARWINIANA, 1876 92 A GRAY, REVIEW OF …
- … TO JD HOOKER 1870 183 C DARWIN, AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1876 184 A GRAY, PREFACE, …
- … GRAY, 19 JANUARY 1863 193 TO A GRAY 9 AUGUST 1876 194 FROM A GRAY 25 …
- … JUNE 1874 203 C DARWIN TO A GRAY 28 JANUARY 1876 204 FROM A GRAY 11 …
People featured in the German and Austrian photograph album
Summary
Biographical details of people from the Habsburg Empire that appeared in the album of German and Austrian scientists sent to Darwin on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Johannes Mattes for providing these details and for permission to make his…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Künste”. He co-founded the Scientific Club in Vienna (1876) and moved from Vienna to Paris in 1889. …
- … and was sent back to Europe as a military attaché. Since 1876, Gagern served as secretary of the …
- … Kautschuk- und Leder-Industrie. 2 nd issue. Wien: Manz 1876. N.N.: GM Josef Edler von …
- … society Carnuntum (1884) and the Scientific Club (1876) in Vienna. Doblhoff-Dier J. v.: …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 10546 – Darwin to Editor of The Times , [23 June 1876] Darwin forwards to The …
Essays & reviews by Asa Gray
Summary
Asa Gray wrote a series of reviews of Darwin’s works for American magazines such as Atlantic Monthly and The Nation. These gave publicity to Darwin’s theories, and they also contained extended reflections on the possible implications of these theories…
