To John Wickham Flower 23 March [1851]
Summary
Thanks JWF for [cirripede] fossils; one species seems from a new formation.
Regrets that his health makes it necessary to decline an invitation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Wickham Flower |
| Date: | 23 Mar [1851] |
| Classmark: | Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1075 |
To Josiah Wedgwood III [after 12 July 1851]
Summary
Inquires about the nature of some money recently paid to him.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Josiah Wedgwood, III |
| Date: | [after 12 July 1851] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.10: 16 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1213 |
To Edward Forbes [1 May – 5 June 1851]
Summary
Comments on MS by C. S. Bate. Bate not aware of other work on Cirripedia; cites Bate’s errors. Would Bate allow CD to use his drawings in Living Cirripedia? [See Living Cirripedia 1: 9–16.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Forbes |
| Date: | [1 May – 5 June 1851] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 131 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1214 |
To John Richardson 4 November [1851]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Richardson |
| Date: | 4 Nov [1851] |
| Classmark: | J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (26–7 June 2007) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1267F |
To Charles Spence Bate 13 June [1851]
Summary
Thanks CSB for drawings of [cirripede] larva and for permission to cite unpublished paper ["On the development of the cirripedes", Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 2d ser. 8 (1851): 324–32]. Describes method of preserving specimens. Mentions Balanus common on tidal rocks at Tenby.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Spence Bate |
| Date: | 13 June [1851] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 44 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1340 |
To C. S. Bate 18 August [1851]
Summary
Thanks CSB for cirripede larvae.
Has been unwell.
Cannot see transverse articulation referred to and does not believe in it.
Sends species synonyms.
Discussion of Chthamalinae.
Suggests using asphalt to seal specimen containers.
Comments on mouth of larva.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Spence Bate |
| Date: | 18 Aug [1851] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 45 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1345 |
From J. D. Hooker [c. April 1851]
Summary
Wants catalogue of small islands that contain peculiar plants. Thinks complete floras of islands in various stages of depression [subsidence] would provide good data.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. Apr 1851] |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 164 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1382 |
To John Edward Gray [January 1851]
Summary
Is coming tomorrow to see Lorenz Spengler on cirripedes [Auserlesne Schnecken, Muscheln und andre Schaalthiere (1758)] and the remaining sessile cirripedes in the collection. Has finished Balanus.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Edward Gray |
| Date: | [Jan 1851] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Zoology letters 2: 57) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1383 |
To Charles Lyell [8 April 1851]
Summary
Detailed critique of CL’s A manual of elementary geology [3d ed. (1851), used in editing 4th ed. (1852)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [8 Apr 1851] |
| Classmark: | Kinnordy MS (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1384 |
To John Mumford 1 January 1851
Summary
Receipt for £3 5s, proceeds of a lecture, for the Down Coal and Clothing Club.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Mumford |
| Date: | 1 Jan 1851 |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (LUB: D17) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1385 |
To Rowland Hill 6 January 1851
Summary
Drawings of the apteryx in three positions.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Rowland Hill, 2d Viscount Hill |
| Date: | 6 Jan 1851 |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s, New York (dealers) (2006) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1385F |
To James de Carle Sowerby 21 January [1851]
Summary
CD is pleased with plates [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)]; most corrections need only a touch. Requests revises soon and asks how much he owes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James de Carle Sowerby |
| Date: | 21 Jan [1851] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1386 |
To Robert Fitch 24 January [1851]
Summary
Collection of fossil cirripedes to be returned. Would RF be willing to donate duplicates to the British Museum?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Fitch |
| Date: | 24 Jan [1851] |
| Classmark: | Norwich Castle |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1387 |
To J. de C. Sowerby 10 February [1851]
Summary
CD likes the plates [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)] except pl. I [Scalpellum], which calls for several revisions; he sees that not all corrections were made, but assumes they called for too extensive changes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James de Carle Sowerby |
| Date: | 10 Feb [1851] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1388 |
To J. de C. Sowerby 13 February [1851]
Summary
CD appreciates JdeCS’s care. Sends specimens, noting points to be observed. He adds that the figures which have been most troublesome are those of which drawings were made [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James de Carle Sowerby |
| Date: | 13 Feb [1851] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1389 |
To William Jackson Hooker 17 February [1851]
Summary
Encloses letter from J. D. Hooker. Glad he will soon be home.
Everyone will be astonished at oaks and birches of tropics.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Jackson Hooker |
| Date: | 17 Feb [1851] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1390 |
To J. de C. Sowerby 19 February [1851]
Summary
Comments on JdeCS’s plates [for Fossil Cirripedia (Lepadidae)]. Asks if JdeCS can lend him specimens of fossil Balanidae.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James de Carle Sowerby |
| Date: | 19 Feb [1851] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1391 |
To S. P. Woodward 3 March [1851]
Summary
Cirripede fossil specimens returned.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Samuel Pickworth Woodward |
| Date: | 3 Mar [1851] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1392 |
To William Harris 4 March [1851]
Summary
Has finished the last proof of his monograph [Fossil Lepadidae] and returns WH’s specimens. Has named two new species from the collection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Harris |
| Date: | 4 Mar [1851] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 42579: 233–4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1393 |
To Edwin Lankester, Ray Society 4 March [1851]
Summary
Asks EL to request the Council [of the Ray Society] to permit him to have nine plates [for vol. 1 of Living Cirripedia] instead of eight (of which two were to be in colour) and a tenth plate if he pays for it himself.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edwin Lankester; Ray Society |
| Date: | 4 Mar [1851] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1395 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (83) |
| Darwin, Emma | (6) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (6) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Darwin, Emma | (8) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (8) |
| Lankester, Edwin | (7) |
| Ray Society | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (100) |
| Darwin, Emma | (14) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (14) |
| Lankester, Edwin | (7) |
| Ray Society | (7) |
The death of Anne Elizabeth Darwin
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin’s eldest daughter, Annie, died at the age of ten in 1851. Emma was heavily pregnant with their fifth son, Horace, at the time and could not go with Charles when he took Annie to Malvern to consult the hydrotherapist, Dr Gully.…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Darwin’s eldest daughter, Annie, died at the age of ten in 1851. Emma was heavily pregnant with …
- … expired at Malvern at 1 Midday on the 23 d . of April 1851.— I write these few pages, as I …
- … her dear joyous face. Blessings on her.— April 30. 1851. Notes: 1 …
- … Darwin’s reaction to her sister’s death Aug. 1851. Etty nearly 8 years old. She appeared for …
- … Annie's illness and death To W. D. Fox, [ 27 March 1851 ] To Emma Darwin, [17 …
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Summary
Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…
Matches: 20 hits
- … voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm in a letter to William Darwin Fox, 23 May 1833 ( …
- … he explained in the preface to Living Cirripedia (1851): vii, ‘to have described only a single …
- … In both volumes of Living Cirripedia (1851 and 1854), Darwin devoted an …
- … parts of the mature animal.’ ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 25). As a basis for his homologies, …
- … in the various genera of Lepadidae ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 286–7), which he later …
- … the highest classificatory value’ ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 285).^12^ For delineating …
- … the cement glands of the organism ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 20). This association suggested to …
- … feel no hesitation in advancing it. ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 37–8) In Living …
- … was challenged in 1859 by August Krohn. As he admitted in a letter to Charles Lyell, 28 September …
- … (as Darwin called it in his Autobiography and in his letter to Lyell), was more than a matter of …
- … belonging to the same species!’ ( Living Cirripedia (1851): 293)—this discovery was unique in the …
- … Toward the end of his study of Balanus , in a letter to Hooker on 25 September [1853] ( …
- … devoted the first sixty-five pages of Living Cirripedia (1851), and a lengthy section in …
- … latter instrument suited his purposes well; he reported in a letter to Richard Owen, 26 March 1848 …
- … and mounting his specimens is well demonstrated by a letter he wrote to Charles Spence Bate, 13 …
- … Informing Darwin about the award ( Correspondence vol. 5, letter from J. D. Hooker, [4 November …
- … mentioned both Coral reefs and Living Cirripedia (1851), but it was the latter work that …
- … it was empirically invalid ( Calendar nos. 2118 and 2119, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 July [1857] …
- … ^9^ CD discussed his conception of archetype in a letter to Huxley, 23 April [1853] ( …
- … to the analogy with plants in Living Cirripedia (1851): 214: ‘Although the existence of …
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: 27 hits
- … pages of text copied from Notebook C and carries on through 1851; the second (DAR 128) continues the …
- … [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] …
- … from Parent to offspring of some Forms of Disease. 1851 [Whitehead 1851]. Packard. A Guide to …
- … [Malcolm 1836] H. Dixon Life of Pen [W. H. Dixon 1851].— Southeys Life of Wesley [R. …
- … Humboldt 1849]. Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig 1851]. Sir John Davies. China …
- … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
- … Steenstrup on Hermaphroditismus [Steenstrup 1846]. 1851. Jan. 6 th . Pickering Races …
- … 1850].— April 5 Manual of Geology Lyell [Lyell 1851] —— 30 Annales des Sc. Phys. de …
- … nothing July 16 th Dixon. Pigeons [E. S. Dixon 1851].— Dec. 26. Count Odart’s …
- … Wilkie [Cunningham 1843] [DAR 119: 23b] 1851 Jan 27. M. Martineau. …
- … 1844]. good London Labour & London Poor [Mayhew 1851].— Missionary Life in Canada …
- … July 1 st . Edwardes Year in Punjaub [Edwardes 1851] good 16 Gleig’s Life of Clive [Gleig …
- … 15. Liebig Familiar letters on Chemistry [Liebig 1851]. Nov. 15 th Wilson Voyage. Scotland …
- … [DAR *128: 182] 83 Jury Report. Exhibition of 1851 on silk-worms & sheep, selection …
- … et de ses ràces ou varietes 8 o . 12. p. 1 Pl. Poitiers 1851. Chez H. Oudin [Mauduyt 1851] Read …
- … [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, …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 7 hits
- … four volumes on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and …
- … year on cirripede anatomy, Darwin wrote a rather reflective letter to his former professor and …
- … his conclusions about larval-adult homologies in a letter to Dana in December 1853 . …
- … made to the plates, but even close to publication in early 1851, Darwin told Sowerby, ‘ I like the …
- … books. ’ When the first fossil monograph appeared in June 1851, it was the third part of volume 5 …
- … of the living species; having finished writing in July 1851 , he corrected proof-sheets from …
- … the first volume of Living Cirripedia bears the date 1851, it did not appear until January …
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: 18 hits
- … hurrah for my species-work’ ( Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
- … confusing sub-class of Crustacea, Living Cirripedia (1851, 1854) and Fossil Cirripedia (1851 …
- … 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 …
- … dioecious plants from monoecious forms (Living Cirripedia (1851): 214; (1854): 29, 528 n.) and, at …
- … 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 …
- … he justified in a lengthy footnote (Living Cirripedia (1851): 293 n.). The problem that bothered …
- … 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 ). …
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 7 hits
- … to Darwin and to his contemporaries. Throughout 1851, Darwin concentrated on the pedunculated …
- … details with the Ray Society for Living Cirripedia (1851) and with the Palaeontographical …
- … in his health was indicated by his comment in a letter to Hooker on 29 [May 1854] : ‘Very far …
- … large-scale geological changes. As he told Hooker in a letter of 5 June [1855] , ‘it shocks my …
- … he had written to Hooker ( Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 [June 1850] ), …
- … interested in animal breeding. As Darwin told Fox in a letter of 27 March [1855] , the object of …
- … ‘all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 7 May [1855] ). But …
1.3 Thomas Herbert Maguire, lithograph
Summary
< Back to Introduction This striking portrait of Darwin, dating from 1849, belonged to a series of about sixty lithographic portraits of naturalists and other scientists drawn by Thomas Herbert Maguire. They were successively commissioned over a…
Matches: 5 hits
- … the small impression that can be purchased.’ In 1851 the scope of the project was expanded …
- … in securing the Association’s decision to hold its July 1851 meeting in Ipswich. Furthermore, this …
- … When Prince Albert himself visited the Ipswich conference in 1851 amid great celebrations, he too …
- … 1849], DCP-LETT-1335, and 25 Oct. [1849], DCP-LETT-1261. Letter from Ransome to Michael Faraday, 6 …
- … Electrical Engineers, 1991–2012), vol. 4, pp. 305–306, letter 2433. Report on ‘British Association …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 19 hits
- … end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburn’s terms ( Letter 856 ). Instead he asked his friend …
- … John Murray, to open negotiations with his own publisher ( Letter 824 ). Lyell’s talk with Murray …
- … have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business …
- … copies some pages in Darwin’s chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an …
- … & make the poor workman some present’ (12 June [1849] Letter 1245 ). Darwin’s next …
- … his ‘big species book’; on 18 June 1858, he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace with the …
- … asked Lyell to act as his intermediary with John Murray ( Letter 2437 ), who, without even reading …
- … not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a retail …
- … proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all Murray’s …
- … – and a second edition was immediately called for ( Letter 2549 ). In the end Murray paid Darwin …
- … (Variation ), but work progressed slowly ( Letter 3078 ); meanwhile in 1862 Murray published On …
- … Murray only offered Darwin half profits for this title ( Letter 3261 ); it was never a best-seller …
- … ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray decided to print …
- … to Brazil, the beginning of a life-long correspondence ( Letter 4881 ). Subsequently Darwin …
- … the risk himself. Murray suggested printing 750 copies ( Letter 6597 ), but Darwin decided on 1000 …
- … fail, I think, to be much read’ (28 September [1870] Letter 7329 ). Murray decided to print 2500 …
- … hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was …
- … America, of St George Mivart‘s Genesis of species ( Letter 7907 ) ; this was Darwin’s …
- … By November of that year, fourteen copies had been sold ( Letter 8044 ). Meanwhile, Darwin was …
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: 23 hits
- … 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 …
- … 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] ). …
- … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
- … 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 ). …
- … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
- … change of species by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the …
- … disaffected towards Lyell and his book. In a February letter to the Athenæum , a weekly review of …
- … find great difficulty in answering Owen unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
- … of so much of Lyell’s book being written by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
- … is wretched to see men fighting so for a little fame’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). …
- … overt act, and I shall watch for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] …
- … God demented Owen, as a punishment for his crimes… ?’ ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January [1863] …
- … Darwin’, a transitional form between reptiles and birds ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January …
- … a significant gap had been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January …
- … continued to capture his and others’ attention ( see letter to J. D. Dana, 20 February [1863] , …
- … ). The Darwins’ daughter, Annie, had died at Malvern in 1851, and Hooker’s news was a powerful …
George Robert Waterhouse
Summary
George Waterhouse was born on 6 March 1810 in Somers Town, North London. His father was a solicitor’s clerk and an amateur lepidopterist. George was educated from 1821-24 at Koekelberg near Brussels. On his return he worked for a time as an apprentice to…
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…
Matches: 4 hits
- … when they had four children aged less than six years old in 1851, they employed eight servants …
- … following the death of his oldest daughter, Annie , in 1851. Seven years later he was again …
- … were favourite family games, and in 1859 he ended a letter to his oldest son with the exclamation ‘I …
- … (Darwin to his son William, [30 October 1858] ). In one letter in 1856, he explained his paternal …
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…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, …
- … clothes & dry blankets for the first time for weeks.’ ( Letter from B. J. Sulivan, 25 December …
- … with his wife in the Falklands where they remained until 1851 – their eldest son, James Young …
- … never suited him, and following his return to England in 1851 Sulivan was frequently ill, but never …
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: 4 hits
- … responsible for the magazine's success at that time. In 1851 she met the philosopher, writer …
- … visitors (23 March 1873; Emma described his visit in a letter to Fanny Allen, [26 March 1873], DAR …
- … it too hot and left before the manifestations started ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) and Charles Darwin’s letter to Francis Darwin, [1 May 1876] ). …
Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Matches: 4 hits
- … on H.M.S. Rattlesnake in the South Pacific (1846–1851). He pursued natural history alongside …
- … marine invertebrates. Shortly after his return to England in 1851, he was elected a fellow of the …
- … colleague as ‘my dear Huxley’ for the first time in a letter of 20 February [1855]. Darwin did have …
- … subject of transmutation with Huxley (see for example his letter of 23 April 1853), but he did not …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 23 hits
- … he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace. This …
- … has infinitely exceeded my wildest hopes.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). …
- … to choose from the load of curious facts on record.—’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). …
- … as evidence for what actually occurred in nature ( see letter to Asa Gray, 4 April [1858] , and …
- … throwing away what you have seen,’ he told Hooker in his letter of 8 [June 1858] , ‘yet I have …
- … his work was interrupted by the arrival of the now-famous letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, …
- … selection. Darwin’s shock and dismay is evident in the letter he subsequently wrote to Charles Lyell …
- … Even his terms now stand as Heads of my Chapters.’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). …
- … on Charles Lyell’s endorsement, the editors have dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the …
- … McKinney has suggested that Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same …
- … Brooks maintains that Darwin received Wallace’s letter even earlier, perhaps as early as 14 May. …
- … of the Peninsular & Oriental Company, and assuming that the letter to Darwin was posted at the …
- … 20 May via Southampton. According to Brooks, Darwin kept the letter for a month, during which time …
- … at Down on 18 June. In the absence of Wallace’s letter or of any firm evidence for the date of its …
- … work, and he shows no sign of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858], that he …
- … ‘There is not least hurry in world about my M.S.’ In his letter to Hooker of 8 June [1858], he …
- … of someone who is distressed, as Darwin clearly was in his letter to Lyell, at the prospect of …
- … papers at the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858, including a letter from Wallace to Hooker thanking him …
- … Darwin was during the days immediately following his letter to Lyell. On 18 June 1858, his eldest …
- … of his material would require a ‘small volume’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October [1858] ). …
- … kidney beans’, to the Gardeners’ Chronicle (see letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle, [before 13 …
- … of Glen Roy, and his monograph on Fossil Cirripedia (1851 and 1854) ( Quarterly Journal of the …
- … for the work. Again, he called upon Lyell for advice ( letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). …
Thomas Burgess
Summary
As well as its complement of sailors, the Beagle also carried a Royal Marine sergeant and seven marines, one of whom was Thomas Burgess. When the Beagle set sail he was twenty one, having been born in October 1810 to Israel and Hannah Burgess of Lancashire…
Matches: 5 hits
- … probably never thought about him again until he opened a letter from him in March 1875 . It was …
- … couple of miles north of Wilmslow (TNA HO107/99/20/8/11). In 1851, when they were living in Wilmslow …
- … Orme sr in 1860 (TNA RG11/3490/34/13). In his second letter Burgess explained that he had never …
- … a copy of one. Darwin complied and Burgess sent a third letter expressing his thanks for the …
- … friend ‘who Doubted Some of my Assertions’. Presumably a letter and photograph were not sufficient …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 7 hits
- … until Darwin published his own taxonomic works between 1851 and 1854. Linnaeus ordered the world …
- … & yet all the genera have 1/2 a dozen synonyms’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] …
- … and explicit in the work of contemporary naturalists. In a letter to his friend Joseph Hooker, he …
- … I believe, from trying to define the undefinable’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1856] ). …
- … a selected quality to keep incipient species distinct’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] …
- … of hybrids might be produced by natural selection ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 1 March 1868 ). …
- … to ‘say no more but leave the problem as insoluble’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 8 [April] 1868 ). …
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: 28 hits
- … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
- … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
- … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
- … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
- … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
- … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
- … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
- … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
- … disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
- … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
- … her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
- … on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
- … sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
- … to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …
- … in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September …
- … and to promote work he admired. He was so interested in a letter from Fritz Müller in Brazil …
- … with the ants that inhabited the trunk that he sent the letter to Nature for publication. ‘It …
- … communicated this information in an article in Nature ( letter from Johann von Fischer, [before …
- … phyllotaxis by the mutual pressure of very young buds’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 June [1876] ). …
- … Scottish shoemaker and ardent naturalist Thomas Edward ( letter from F. M. Balfour, 11 December …
- … live blood-hound which shall hunt it to the death’ ( letter from James Torbitt, 19 April 1876 …
- … the public to consider Torbitt an untrustworthy fanatic ( letter to James Torbitt, 21 April 1876 ) …
- … request, with the ‘awful job’ of informing the author ( letter to G. G. Stokes, 21 April [1876] ). …
- … thought the paper was ‘not worthy of being read ever’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 28 January 1876 …
- … to William Thiselton-Dyer on 26 April that Tait’s letter about his ‘accursed paper’ had quite …
- … minded Horace, however, who was the first to type a letter, telling George on 1 May (in the only …
- … Henry Lewes for an article on the snail’s heart and a letter to Nature on the use of the …
- … his oldest daughter Annie, who died at the age of 10 in 1851, but William, who was 11 years old at …
About Darwin
Summary
To many of us, Darwin’s name is synonymous with his theory of evolution by natural selection. But even before the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, he was publicly known through his popular book about the voyage of the Beagle, and he was…
About Darwin
Summary
To many of us, Darwin’s name is synonymous with his theory of evolution by natural selection. But even before the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, he was publicly known through his popular book about the voyage of the Beagle, and he was…
