To the President and Council of the Geological Society of London 24 March 1840
Summary
Regrets that state of his health forces him to resign as one of the Secretaries of the Society.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Geological Society of London |
| Date: | 24 Mar 1840 |
| Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/5/8 ) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-561 |
To the Geological Society of London 28 March [1840]
Summary
Feels he has no choice but to comply with the request of Council that he remain in office. Is reluctant to do so as his health has caused him to miss meetings and he has never once attended without suffering the next day. Cannot hold office beyond next anniversary meeting.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Geological Society of London |
| Date: | 28 Mar [1840] |
| Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/5/56) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-562 |
From David Milne 28 March 1840
Summary
Comments on CD’s paper on South American volcanoes [Trans. of the Geol. Soc. of London, 2d ser., pt 3, 5 (1840): 601–31]. Jets of steam or flame issuing from the side of a hill in Glen Almond.
| Author: | David Milne Home |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1840 |
| Classmark: | Milne Home 1891, pp. 69–72 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-562F |
From Charles Maclaren to Thomas Walker 30 March 1840
Summary
CD has asked CM whether he can supply William Kemp’s address, and CM passes the enquiry to TW.
| Author: | Charles Maclaren |
| Addressee: | Thomas Walker |
| Date: | 30 Mar 1840 |
| Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (MS Add. 10252/1) (gift of Ruth Cramond and David Cramond) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-562G |
To Leonard Jenyns 5 April [1840]
Summary
Health is improved, but would do anything to get strong again. Is consulting his father; will return to London soon to see B. W. Hawkins.
Will send MS [of Fish, no. 2] to the printer, and be there when LJ comes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | 5 Apr [1840] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-563 |
To Emma Darwin [5 April 1840]
Summary
An amusing description of his railway journey to Shrewsbury.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | [5 Apr 1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.8: 5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-564 |
From Benjamin Silliman 7 April 1840
Summary
Thanks CD for a copy of his Journal of researches which is "not second in interest and instruction to any work of the kind I have ever read".
| Author: | Benjamin Silliman, Sr |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Apr 1840 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 184 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-565 |
To William Kemp 1[1] May [1840]
Summary
CD has read WK’s abstract in the Scotsman, 15 February 1840, p. 3, and asks for further details.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Kemp |
| Date: | 1[1] May [1840] |
| Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (MS Add. 10252/2) (gift of Ruth Cramond and David Cramond) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-565F |
To Thomas Walker 5 May [1840]
Summary
Acknowledges TW’s letter supplying him with William Kemp’s address.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Walker |
| Date: | 5 May [1840] |
| Classmark: | Jim Somerville (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-565G |
From W. C. Redfield 6 May 1840
Summary
Thanks CD for information about Captain Tillard’s account of the volcanic eruption in the Azores in 1811.
| Author: | William C. Redfield |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 May 1840 |
| Classmark: | Yale University: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (William C. Redfield’s outbound letter book 1835–41 (z117 00151 2), pp. 179–80) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-565H |
From B. J. Sulivan 12 May 1840
Summary
Gives CD the results of some calculations for "dip" over different distances, as requested.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 May 1840 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 274 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-566 |
To Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce 13 May [1840–2]
Summary
Informs correspondent that he wrote to William Walton all that he knew about the guanaco.
Present state of his health prevents his acceptance of invitation to attend the meeting of the Society.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Royal Society of Arts |
| Date: | 13 May [1840-2] |
| Classmark: | Royal Society of Arts (RSA/PR/MC/104/10/28) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-567 |
To John Washington, Secretary, Royal Geographical Society 16 May 1840
Summary
Has much pleasure "in accepting the honour of being proposed as a member of the Council of the Geographical Society".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Washington; Royal Geographical Society |
| Date: | 16 May 1840 |
| Classmark: | Royal Geographical Society |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-568 |
To A. Y. Spearman 20 May 1840
Summary
The fourth number of part one of the Zoology has now been published. The Smith, Elder & Co. account is submitted.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Young Spearman, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 20 May 1840 |
| Classmark: | The National Archives (TNA) (T1/4524 paper 25824) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-568A |
To Robert Fitzroy [20 February 1840]
Summary
Cancelled. Same as To Robert FitzRoy [20 February 1840]. Dated 21 [May 1840], in first edition of the printed Calendar, but cancelled before the second edition.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert FitzRoy |
| Date: | [20 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 117 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-569 |
To Charles Babbage 26 May [1840]
Summary
Asks if he can bring his guests, J. C. L. and Mme [Simonde de] Sismondi and [Fanny] Allen, to CB’s parties.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Babbage |
| Date: | 26 May [1840] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 37191: 294–5) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-570 |
To ? [2 June? 1840]
Summary
Can give no information on the separation of the sexes in the guanaco.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | [2 June? 1840] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Charnwood Autographs Vol. IV Add MS 70951: 315) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-570F |
To J. M. Herbert [after 5 June 1840]
Summary
Writes to find whether the date of the event [JMH’s marriage?] has been fixed.
Has been unwell and does not yet feel up to work.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | [after 5 June 1840] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.19) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-571 |
To W. D. Fox [7 June 1840]
Summary
Family news.
CD’s health is improving, but he has scarcely put pen to paper in the last half-year, and everything in the publishing line is going backwards.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [7 June 1840] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 60) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-572 |
To J. S. Henslow 3 July [1840]
Summary
Describes an orange tree with curious "horned" fruit; sends specimen. Asks if the horns represent "metamorphoses of some organ into the fruit orange".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | 3 July [1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A5–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-573 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (45) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (2) |
| Allen, Frances | (1) |
| Allen, Jessie | (1) |
| Darwin, S. E. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Geological Society of London | (4) |
| Smith, G. N. | (3) |
| Spearman, A. Y. | (3) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
| Geological Society of London | (4) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (4) |
| Redfield, W. C. | (3) |
| Smith, G. N. | (3) |
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: 24 hits
- … 765. in Geograph. Soc?? Review of this in Edin. Phil Jour. 1840. June [Anon. 1840]. Report of …
- … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
- … 26—Account of Domestic & Foreign Bees [Jardine ed. 1840]: (Athenæum 1840 p. 195) …
- … A. Necker 1823] read Lindleys Horticulture [Lindley 1840]— Chapter on Races improvement of …
- … Admiral Von Wrangel’s Travels [Wrangel 1840].— Sir Ker Porter’s Travels in Caucasus [R. K. …
- … Instinct by D r . Alison [W. P. Alison 1847]. No 19. July. 1840 27 Annales des Sciences …
- … 12v.] Bowerbank’s Book on Fossil Fruit [Bowerbank 1840] must be studied Liebigs …
- … 1834] Royle on Indian Agricult. & Production [Royle 1840] Bennets. Whaling Voyage …
- … 1833]— Prof. Smyth. French Revolution 3 vols [Smyth 1840] Baber’s Biography. translat. …
- … II d . death [Hallam 1827] Ranke’s Popes [Ranke 1840].— Southeys life of Wesley …
- … reproductive system Encyclop of Rural Sports [Blaine 1840] (at Athenæum?) Book II Chapt. 4 on …
- … 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] …
- … 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 …
- … 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, …
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: 21 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] ( …
- … 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] . …
- … 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, …
- … checked his chronic vomiting ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864] …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 14 hits
- … youth survive, although more may once have existed . In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, …
- … cousin Emma Wedgwood; the one of Darwin is signed and dated 1840. Their style is characteristic of …
- … estimate of Richmond’s work can be gauged from a letter which Hooker wrote to Darwin some years …
- … 1839. Josiah Wedgwood himself wrote to his daughter Emma in 1840, asking her to commission Richmond …
- … However, it seems that the pair of portraits dating from 1840 which is now at Down House had a …
- … finished watercolours rather than drawings, indicating the 1840 pair now at Down House. …
- … the dates of various Darwin family commissions. In 1840 there were indeed entries (unpriced) for …
- … data to the various copies or alternative versions of the 1840 portraits which exist. A watercolour …
- … the back of the frame, ‘Charles Robert Darwin age 31 March 1840’; but she mysteriously described it …
- … of her mother – the only one she knew about – to 1840. However, in Emma Darwin: A Century of …
- … Richmond; signed and dated bottom right ‘G. Richmond 1840’ date of creation March 1840 …
- … account books, entry for Dec. 1839. Joseph Hooker, letter to Darwin, 17 March 1862 (DCP-LETT-3474). …
- … p. 134, says that Erasmus Darwin retained the 1840 watercolours in his own collection in London, and …
- … this seemingly conflicts with the indications in Erasmus’s letter of 1866, quoted above. …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 13 hits
- … Agassiz (see Barrett 1973, Rudwick 1974, and L. Agassiz 1840). In another paper, “On the …
- … letters have suffered an even more severe loss. In a letter to Lyell’s sister-in-law, Katharine …
- … of fact . . . on the origin & variation of species” ( Letter to J. S. Henslow, [November 1839] …
- … that he had a sound solution to what J. F. W. Herschel in a letter to Lyell had called the ‘mystery …
- … about searching for evidence to support his hypothesis. In a letter to Lyell, [14] September [1838 …
- … just the same, though I know what I am looking for' ( Letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [26 July …
- … there were no doubts as to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [ c. February 1839] …
- … My stomach as usual has been my enemy In 1840 the illness was different. As he wrote to …
- … life. ‘My stomach’, he wrote to FitzRoy, [20 February 1840] , ‘as usual has been my enemy—but D …
- … for several months (See Correspondence vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 , …
- … reasonable diagnosis (see Colp 1977). The illness of 1840 appears to have been the …
- … descendants, twelve letters from Darwin to Kemp in the years 1840 to 1843 have come to light; they …
- … notebook). See also Allan 1977, pp. 128–30). The letter, on ‘Double flowers’ to the …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 9 hits
- … gives the first notice that he is going to cry. Feb 27. 1840 When nine weeks & three days …
- … our door N o 12 and N o 11 is in the slit for the Letter box.— he decidedly ran past N o 11 …
- … has learned them from my sometimes changing the first letter in any word he is using—thus I say …
- … , pp. 131–2. [6] Correspondence vol. 2, letter from Emma Wedgwood, [23 January 1839] . …
- … preceding sentence and the following text to ‘Feb 27. 1840’ on page 6 is in Emma Darwin’s hand. …
- … stayed with CD and Emma Darwin between 21 March and 2 May 1840 (Emma Darwin’s diary). If Emma Darwin …
- … December, rather than 4, and 28 days, not 29, in February (1840 was a leap year) when calculating …
- … Darwin’s parents Bessy and Josiah Wedgwood II, on 5 June 1840. They remained in Staffordshire and …
- … the role of bees in pollination, made in the summers between 1840 and 1842, are in DAR 46.2 and DAR …
Natural Science and Femininity
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…
Matches: 16 hits
- … Britain? Letters Letter 109 - Wedgwood, J. to Darwin, …
- … pursuit of real, professional work on his return. Letter 158 - Darwin to Darwin, R. W., …
- … colour and “beauty” of tropical vegetation. Letter 542 - Darwin to Wedgwood, C. S., [27 …
- … meals, family time and walks into town with Emma. Letter 555 - Darwin to FitzRoy, R., …
- … ‘ A Biographical Sketch of an Infant ’. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May …
- … them in the north-facing borders of his garden. Letter 2864 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
- … and “never saw anything so beautiful”. Letter 4230 - Darwin to Gardeners’ Chronicle, [2 …
- … linked with his domestic family life. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, [2 …
- … at least provide Darwin with aesthetic pleasure. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
- … he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 4469 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin …
- … before expecting to dedicate his life to science. Letter 4472 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin …
- … duty to the public to contribute more than this. Letter 6044 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., …
- … and influence to help shape his sons’ fortunes. Letter 6046 - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, …
- … from the comfort of his “ pretty garden ”. Letter 6139 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 …
- … moths all of which were conducted in his home. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S …
- … attracted to dark spots on the bedroom wallpaper. Letter 10821 - Graham C. C. to Darwin …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 15 hits
- … hurrah for my species-work’ ( Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
- … William Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] …
- … by Darwin on the use of microscopes on board ship ( see letter to Richard Owen, [26 March 1848] ). …
- … to Milne directly, he sent a long rejoinder in the form of a letter for publication in the Scotsman. …
- … asked for it to be destroyed. Only the draft of Darwin’s letter remains ( letter to the Scotsman …
- … that his original fieldwork was ‘time thrown away’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8 [September 1847] ) …
- … that it would be a ‘thorn in the side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). …
- … marine invertebrates himself (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April [1837]) …
- … opinion that such a monograph was a ‘desideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), …
- … abortive stamens or pistils ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November …
- … care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). …
- … sacrifice the rule of priority for the sake of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February …
- … it as ‘the greatest curse to natural History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). …
- … Museum of Zoology, has been transcribed with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849 …
- … the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). …
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Summary
This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…
Matches: 3 hits
Conrad Martens
Summary
Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting under the watercolourist Copley Fielding (1789–1855), who also briefly taught Ruskin. In 1833 he was on board the Hyacinth, headed for India, but en route in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … South American Survey, to whom FitzRoy had given him a letter of introduction. When the Beagle …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 9 hits
- … SOURCES Papers Darwin, C.R. 1840. On the formation of mould. Transactions of the …
- … John Murray. Chapters 1 and 3. Letters Letter 385 - Sarah Elizabeth …
- … by Emma’s sister at the behest of her father Josiah, this letter conveys the details of when and how …
- … In his reply of two days later, Darwin wrote, “Your letter & facts are quite splendid.—I cannot …
- … request, and his gratitude for her observations. Letter 12745 - Darwin to Sophy …
- … such a case as grass roots, weeds, in a gravel path.” [ Letter 12760 , 15 October 1880] …
- … her interest in earthworms and its significance. Letter 13632 - Darwin to John …
- … QUESTIONS 1. What do you think of Darwin's letter to John Murray? What does Darwin …
- … this experiment? Can you relate your own observations to the letter selections for this module? …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 24 hits
- … be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
- … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
- … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
- … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
- … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
- … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … that Mr Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
- … his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874 …
- … Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
- … edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
- … Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
- … to take so sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March …
- … sent an apology for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); …
- … numbers and sex ratios among the Pitcairn islanders ( letter from William Dealtry, 16 January 1874 …
- … will say that I have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). …
- … by none but anatomists; and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). …
- … the return on subsequent print runs would be very good ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 …
- … by the conciseness & clearness of your thought’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 20 April 1874 ). …
- … legal action over the ‘scurrilous libel’ on his son ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [27 July 1874] ). …
- … false, scurrilous accusation of [a] lying scoundrel’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] ). …
- … as father and son agonised over the wording of both the letter to the editor and the letter to …
- … relationship with Murray on the outcome ( enclosure to letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874 ) …
- … is refused I’m really no worse off than if I had sent my letter direct to the Editor & it had …
- … previous publications to review me in a hostile spirit’ ( letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874 ). …
Darwin and Design
Summary
At the beginning of the nineteenth century in Britain, religion and the sciences were generally thought to be in harmony. The study of God’s word in the Bible, and of his works in nature, were considered to be part of the same truth. One version of this…
Darwin’s first love
Summary
Darwin’s long marriage to Emma Wedgwood is well documented, but was there an earlier romance in his life? How was his departure on the Beagle entangled with his first love? The answers are revealed in a series of flirtatious letters that Darwin was…
Matches: 13 hits
- … Had nineteen-year-old Darwin followed this instruction in a letter he received in 1828, there would …
- … creditors) to a ruined abbey in a forest. In Fanny’s first letter, and in many others she wrote to …
- … First and last pages of the letter from Fanny Owen, [late January 1828] (DAR …
- … wrote over the first set of writing. Before the Penny Post (1840), envelopes were rarely used. …
- … awfully dull and prosy ’. She closed her letter with instructions to ‘ burn this, or if it …
- … ) Fanny’s thanks came in a characteristic letter. Apologies for not writing sooner, were …
- … mania go on, are you as constant as ever ?’ In this letter, the postilion and housemaid are …
- … ‘ la belle Fanny ’. Letter from Fanny Owen, 27 January [1830] (DAR …
- … Darwin that she would remember him. Responding to a recent letter he had written in a ‘ Blue …
- … there was not to be an end of them!! In her last letter before the Beagle sailed, she …
- … Little wonder that Darwin felt bereft when he learned in a letter from his sister Catherine, …
- … The first and last pages of Fanny Owen’s letter of 1 March 1832 (DAR 204:55), in which Fanny …
- … so very engaging and delightful about her.— ’ In the letter accompanying his book in 1872, Darwin …
Syms Covington
Summary
When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin’. Covington kept an illustrated journal of his observations and experiences on the voyage, noting wildlife, landscapes, buildings and people and,…
Bartholomew James Sulivan
Summary
On Christmas Day 1866, Bartholomew Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, commiserating on shared ill-health, glorying in the achievements of their children, offering to collect plant specimens, and…
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 26 hits
- … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
- … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
- … made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
- … than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
- … is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
- … tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
- … a very long period before the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] …
- … data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
- … I d have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
- … completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
- … him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George …
- … with his noisy courting of the female in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 …
- … doubted her ability to recognise the different varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February …
- … weary of everlasting males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November …
- … with much more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). …
- … in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 …
- … orang-utan, and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ) …
- … does himself an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
- … geological structures of the South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), …
- … of the same species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February …
- … Taylor Fish in order to confirm the view expressed in his 1840 paper ‘Formation of mould’ of the …
- … sundew), a genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March …
- … for either the fourth or the fifth English editions ( see letter from Victor Masson, 29 September …
- … not employ [her] to translate “Domestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). …
- … before offering my book to English readers.—’ ( letter from Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). …
- … He literally poured boiling oil over the bumptious man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 27 hits
- … in Unconscious memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s …
- … memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for publication in the Journal of Popular …
- … publishers decided to print ‘500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ) …
- … the animal learnt from its own individual experience ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). …
- … whether observations of their behaviour were trustworthy ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 March [1881] …
- … about the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 …
- … for more suggestions of such plants, especially annuals ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 March …
- … supposed he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The …
- … dead a work falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). …
- … conversation with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), …
- … add, however little, to the general stock of knowledge’ ( letter to E. W. Bok, 10 May 1881 ). …
- … regular ‘bread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
- … any future publication & to acknowledge any criticism’ ( letter to C. G. Semper, 19 July 1881 …
- … view of the nature & capabilities of the Fuegians’ ( letter to W. P. Snow, 22 November 1881 ). …
- … the kindly protection of the high priests of science’ ( letter from Francisco de Arruda Furtado, 29 …
- … Nature , which he thought ‘an excellent Journal’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 July [1881] ). In …
- … minds, without being in the least conscious of it’ ( letter to Alexander Agassiz, 5 May 1881 ). …
- … remember the prodigious effect this produced about the year 1840(?) on all our minds’ ( letter to …
- … big one’ and had ‘gone much out’ of his mind ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 20 June [1881] ). Feeling …
- … than for originality’, and telling Hooker, ‘Your long letter has stirred many pleasant memories of …
- … poured in so atrocious a manner on all physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 April 1881 ). …
- … George Jesse and Frances Power Cobbe. Jesse, in a private letter, stated that Darwin must not have …
- … Royal Commission for the regulation of vivisection, and a letter from Cobbe in The Times made …
- … Cobbe’s claims. To Darwin’s relief, a second letter from Cobbe, published on 23 April, was answered …
- … April , Darwin asked, ‘did you notice how in her second letter she altered what she quoted from her …
- … Darwin, however, prevented Jesse from publishing a private letter he had written to him, explaining …
- … his own and everyone else’s judgment on the subject ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 12 July 1881 ). …
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
