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To Charles Kingsley   [17 June 1865]

Summary

Did not think anyone would notice case of Lathyrus.

Recalls reading correspondent’s paper on great fir woods of Hampshire.

Thanks for photograph.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Kingsley
Date:  [17 June 1865]
Classmark:  Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-13877

To Henry Denny   23 March [1865]

Summary

Interested by HD’s information on aperea; CD had concluded that it was not the progenitor of domestic guinea-pigs.

Is unsure what HD means by "stock-dove"; properly this is Columba oenas and the domestic pigeon is C. livia.

Suggests that the Zoological Society might arrange for some specimens [unspecified] to be supplied from the Gardens.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Henry Denny
Date:  23 Mar [1865]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.120)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2435

To Charles Kingsley   2 June [1865]

Summary

Thanks for note; sends photograph taken by one of his sons.

His continued ill-health has prevented him making the acquaintance of many.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Kingsley
Date:  2 June [1865]
Classmark:  Bonhams, New York (dealers) (4 December 2019, lot 19)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3174F

From John Murray   1 April 1865

Summary

Will be proud to publish CD’s new work on domestic animals [Variation]. Will announce it as the complement of the Origin. Advises on woodcuts; does not wish to limit number; agrees to CD’s suggestions for artists.

Author:  John Murray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  1 Apr 1865
Classmark:  DAR 171: 332
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3493

To John Murray   4 April [1865]

Summary

Discusses proposed publication of Variation.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Murray
Date:  4 Apr [1865]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 434
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3494

From J. D. Hooker   [3 November 1865]

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Summary

Kew affairs.

H. J. Carter’s observations are wonderful but want verification.

Skeptical of H. H. Travers’ observations.

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [3 Nov 1865]
Classmark:  DAR 102: 43–6
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4330

From Lucy Caroline Wedgwood   [April–May 1865?]

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Summary

Observations for CD on oxlips, which she finds never grow near cowslips or primroses.

Author:  Lucy Caroline Wedgwood; Lucy Caroline Harrison
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [Apr–May 1865?]
Classmark:  DAR 108: 171–2
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4370

From Thomas Rivers   6 January [1865]

Summary

Thanks CD for his paper on Lythrum [Collected papers 2: 106–31].

Astonished by CD’s powers of observation and perseverance.

His elms raised from three varieties of weeping elms are doing well.

Author:  Thomas Rivers
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  6 Jan [1865]
Classmark:  DAR 176: 163
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4381

To Asa Gray   19 April [1865]

Summary

Congratulates AG on the "grand news of Richmond".

Still interested in dimorphism and would welcome new cases.

Working on Variation

and correcting proofs of Climbing plants.

Would like seed of AG’s dimorphic Plantago.

Cannot understand how the wind could fertilise reciprocally dimorphic flowers.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Asa Gray
Date:  19 Apr [1865]
Classmark:  Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (77)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4467

From W. E. Darwin   [April–May 1865]

Summary

Sends camera outlines of pollen. Thinks the red longstyled ones are more sterile than the yellow.

Author:  William Erasmus Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [Apr–May 1865]
Classmark:  Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 20)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4506F

From Ellen Frances Lubbock   [27 August – 1 September 1865]

Summary

JL is in France with J. Steenstrup.

Author:  Ellen Frances Hordern; Ellen Frances Lubbock
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [27 Aug – 1 Sept 1865]
Classmark:  DAR 170: 10
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4603

To Edward Cresy   7 September [1865]

Summary

May his son George call for advice on his career?

CD has been ill for past four months.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Edward Cresy, Jr
Date:  7 Sept [1865]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 324
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4610

To Edward Cresy   19 October [1865]

Summary

Discusses income provided for sons at Cambridge.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Edward Cresy, Jr
Date:  19 Oct [1865]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 325
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4639

To Daniel Oliver   24 October [1865]

Summary

Thanks for correcting Fritz Miller’s paper on climbing plants. CD will send it to Linnean Society.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Daniel Oliver
Date:  24 Oct [1865]
Classmark:  DAR 261.10: 60 (EH 88206043)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4643

From Robert Swinhoe   [before 1 October 1865?]

Summary

Reports that dogs caught in the act of sodomy have been attacked by their fellows, who mutilate the offender’s genitals.

Gives a description of the nature and occurrence of the wild Bos of Formosa.

Author:  Robert Swinhoe
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [before 1 Oct 1865?]
Classmark:  DAR 177: 328
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4727

From William Erasmus Darwin   [late February–May 1865]

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Summary

[Outline sketches of pollen from short-styled yellow primrose and from long-styled yellow and red primroses.]

Author:  William Erasmus Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [late Feb–May 1865]
Classmark:  DAR 108: 89a
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4729

From Thomas Henry Huxley   1 January 1865

Summary

Sends photograph.

THH wishes he could write the popular zoology but writing is a boring and slow process when he is not interested, and he is overburdened with lectures.

Author:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  1 Jan 1865
Classmark:  DAR 166: 304
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4732

From Henrietta Anne Huxley   1 January 1865

Summary

Has just been shown CD’s remarks on Tennyson. Upbraids CD for "Owen-like quotation" out of context, and getting source wrong. "If ""facts"" in Origin are of this sort I agree with Bishop of Oxford."

Author:  Henrietta Anne Heathorn; Henrietta Anne Huxley
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  1 Jan 1865
Classmark:  DAR 166: 284
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4733

From J. D. Hooker   1 January 1865

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Summary

Forwards H. T. Stainton letter for reply.

Finds many Cucurbita have tendrils with sticking ends.

The "potentiality of so many organs in plants to play so many parts is one of the most wonderful of your discoveries . . . one day it will itself play a prodigious part in the interpretation of both morphological and physiological facts".

Is disgusted with Sabine’s address [see 4708] because of its mutilation of what JDH wrote.

THH’s slashing leader in Reader ["Science and ""Church policy"" ", 4 (1864): 821] – as usual he destroys all in his path.

Encloses letter from G. H. K. Thwaites with a message for CD [see encl].

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  1 Jan 1865
Classmark:  DAR 102: 1–3; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Directors’ Correspondence 162: 224
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4734

From Henry Holland   2 January 1865

Summary

Thanks for Lythrum paper [Collected papers 2: 106–31].

T. S. Cobbold’s book on the Entozoa [1864].

Remarks on development of the tapeworm.

Author:  Henry Holland, 1st baronet
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  2 Jan 1865
Classmark:  DAR 166: 245
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4735
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Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of  The …
  • … However, several smaller projects came to fruition in 1865, including the publication of his long …
  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865
  • … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … of life. He wrote to Charles Lyell on 22 January [1865] , ‘unfortunately reading makes my head …
  • … ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • … of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • … others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • … my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In …
  • … however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was …

Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865

Summary

On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London …
  • … Darwin wrote that he fell ill again on 22 April 1865 and was unable to ‘do anything.’  Emma Darwin’s …
  • … hand). Darwin began the ice treatment on 20 May 1865. In his letter to Chapman of 7 June 1865
  • … week of July, he had evidently given up the treatment (see letter from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. …
  • … by William Brinton, William Jenner, and George Busk (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [7 January 1865], …
  • … 11, Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]). In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 [November 1863] …
  • … with dietary restrictions (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864], …

Prize possessions: To Henry Denny, 17 January [1865]

Summary

Between 1980 and 2018, I was honorary curator of the Alfred Denny Museum of Zoology in the University of Sheffield. One of our prize possessions was a letter from Darwin to Henry Denny, then curator and assistant secretary of the Literary and Philosophical…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … University of Sheffield. One of our prize possessions was a letter from Darwin to Henry Denny, then …
  • … soon after its formation in the early 1900s. In his letter, 17 January 1865 , Darwin asked …
  • … of the world. We presumed that Henry Denny had passed the letter to his son when he came to …
  • … known to successive heads of departments! I had taken the letter from the safe to photograph it in …
  • … of department, Professor John Lee.  On my mentioning the letter, he said ‘Oh yes, I have it on my …
  • … To our mutual amazement, it turned out that THE Darwin letter was in fact two letters. The second …
  • … sent copies. They in turn sent me copies of the intervening letter from Denny to Darwin, dated 23 …

The Lyell–Lubbock dispute

Summary

In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in …
  • … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
  • … basis of Lubbock’s book, Prehistoric times (Lubbock 1865).  By 1860, Lyell had begun work …
  • … material available pertaining to the antiquity of humans. In 1865, he wrote that the section on …
  • … Galton.   In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, evidently in response …
  • … about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he discussed a …
  • … transmutation; he also wrote to Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 …
  • … 1863b, p. 213).  In May 1864, Lubbock received a letter from Falconer, who reiterated his …
  • … not pursue any grievance against Lyell until the spring of 1865. 13  In the course of …
  • … C. Lyell 1863c and Lubbock 1861 (and consequently in Lubbock 1865), combined with the wording of …
  • … between the end of February and the beginning of March 1865, Lubbock wrote the note which would …
  • … received a copy of Lubbock’s book, published in mid-May 1865, he immediately wrote to express his …
  • … and went on to say that he intended to make a copy of his letter to show to friends. 18 In …
  • … Ramsay in a note to an article published in the April 1865 issue of the Philosophical Magazine . …
  • … wrote to Darwin to ask what he thought of the affair ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 June 1865] ). …
  • … he reiterated his admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week …
  • … in the dispute. When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), …
  • … with Huxley in June and July and had seen Huxley’s letter to Hooker about the affair, 24 he …
  • … reluctantly agreed to delete his own note. In his last letter to Huxley dealing with the affair, he …

How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]

Summary

Sometimes, what stands out in a Darwin letter is not what is in it, but what is left out or just implied because the recipient would have known what Darwin was referring to. It is frustrating to spend hours looking but fail to identify something mentioned…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … Sometimes, what stands out in a Darwin letter is not what is in it, but what is left out or just …
  • … but fail to identify something mentioned or alluded to in a letter, but incredibly satisfying to …
  • … work and a dash of luck is found in a relatively short letter written by Darwin in June 1865 to his …
  • … Henrietta’s interest in a ‘controversy’ discussed in a letter from their mutual friend Thomas Huxley …
  • … print unbearable.  The first step was to look at the letter from Hooker to which this letter
  • … Indian mutiny. At least three novels had been written around 1865. Suddenly, ‘How to’ made sense:  …
  • … a favourable review in the  Athenæum  in January 1865. It had all the criteria for a novel Darwin …

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: 30 hits

  • … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
  • … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
  • … observations of cats’ instinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
  • … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
  • … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
  • … Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
  • … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
  • … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
  • … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
  • … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
  • … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
  • … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
  • … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
  • … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
  • … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
  • … specimens and bird observations from Calcutta. Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 …
  • … “enthusiasm and indomitable patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin …
  • … contained in “a little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 …
  • … he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to …
  • … expression of emotion in chimpanzees and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von …
  • … to show in his museum in Canterbury, New Zealand. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to …
  • … to be attracted to dark spots on the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. …
  • … the black letters in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July …
  • … Fieldwork Women: Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June …
  • … on the shores of mountain lakes in Pennsylvania. Letter 3681  - Wedgwood, M. S. to …
  • Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, …
  • Letter 4928  - Henslow, G. to Darwin, [11 November 1865] J. S. Henslow’s son, George, …

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] ( …
  • … 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 …
  • … regular attacks had occurred again in the last week of April 1865, and the third week of May, just …
  • … after eating, and that he seldom threw up food.  In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , …
  • … Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) on several occasions in 1864 and 1865. ‘Bad hysteria & sickness’ were …
  • … and care see, for example, Correspondence vol. 4, letter to Emma Darwin, [27-8 May 1848] . …
  • … difficulties reading, see letters to J. D. Hooker, 1 June [1865] and 27 [or 28 September 1865] …
  • … 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] …

Inheritance

Summary

It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited.  But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did.  Darwin’s attempt to…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … example of in that way. ( T. H. Huxley, 16 July 1865 ). 'Your last note& …
  • … make widely opposite remarks.' ( to T. H. Huxley, [17 July 1865] ). He was forced to confess …

Referencing women’s work

Summary

Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … earthworms . Selected letters Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. …
  • … work are referenced throughout Variation . Letter 2395 - Darwin to Holland, …
  • … her identity is both anonymised and masculinised. Letter 3316 - Darwin to Nevill, D …
  • … Darwin’s Fertilisation of Orchids . Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., …
  • … being acknowledged publicly as a science critic. Letter 4370 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … are identified only as “friends in Surrey”. Letter 4794 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [25 …
  • … Sir C. Lyell” or received from “Miss. B”. Letter 7060 - Wedgwood, F. J. to …
  • … was referenced in the final publication. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C …
  • … are not cited in Expression . Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H., …
  • … description of a crying baby in Mary Barton. Letter 8321 - Darwin to …
  • … he would “feel the public humming” at him. Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, …
  • … lady, on whose accuracy I can implicitly rely”. Letter 8427 - Darwin to Litchfield H …
  • … of Henrietta’s considerable editorial input. Letter 8719 - Darwin to Treat, M., [1 …
  • … Letters relating to Earthworms Letter 7428 - Wedgwood, F. to Darwin, [4 …
  • … depth of furrows in an old field near his house. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R. to …
  • … activity in the fields of North Wales. Letter 8193 - Ruck, A. R. to Darwin, H …
  • … published discussion of earthworm activity . Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. …
  • … discussion of turf-based worm castings . Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, …
  • … lady, on whose accuracy I can implicitly rely”. Letter 11221 - Darwin to Darwin …
  • … are referenced in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12742 - Darwin, H. to Darwin, …
  • … "My son Horace" in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12745 - Darwin to …
  • … anonymously in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12760 - Wedgwood, K. E. S. to …
  • … but does not identify the workers in question. Letter 13037 - Darwin to Darwin, …

George Busk

Summary

After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until the material was sent, in 1852, for study by George Busk, one of the foremost workers on the group of his day. In 1863, on the way down to Malvern Wells, Darwin had…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … for their ostracism by Charles and Lady Lyell ( letter from J. D. Hooker [2 June 1865] ).  …

3.10 Ernest Edwards, 'Men of Eminence'

Summary

< Back to Introduction In 1865 Darwin was invited to feature in another series of published photographs, Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art, with Biographical Memoirs . . . The Photographs from Life by Ernest Edwards, B.A.…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … < Back to Introduction In 1865 Darwin was invited to feature in another series of …
  • … had been launched by Lovell Augustus Reeve in 1863, but by 1865 Edward Walford had taken over as …
  • … Darwin wrote to Walford, probably in the spring of 1865, to say, ‘I should of course be proud to be …
  • … more than one sitting seems to have taken place, in November 1865 and April 1866. Darwin’s account …
  • … true Philosopher’. The beard that Darwin had grown by 1865–1866 helped to enhance this …
  • … public image – wrote to Emma, apparently in late November 1865, to say that he was waiting for a …
  • … which derived from the three-quarter view photograph of 1865–1866 mentioned above (see separate …
  • … of image Ernest Edwards 
 date of creation 1865–1866 
 computer-readable date …
  • … print 
 references and bibliography Letter from Darwin to Edward Walford, 22 [Jan. – April …
  • … (1866), ‘Charles Robert Darwin’, pp. 49–52. Draft of a letter from Darwin to Edwards, commending him …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … of departure reviews of Origin . The second is a single letter from naturalist A. R. Wallace to …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … nature, as he is in a “muddle” on this issue. Letter 3256 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
  • … of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …
  • … of variations. Darwin and Graham Letter 13230 — Darwin, C. R. to Graham, …
  • … of people, including members of his own family. Letter 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, …
  • … about his “honest & conscientious doubts”. Letter 471 — Darwin, Emma to Darwin, C. …
  • … there is a danger in giving up revelation”. Letter 2534 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, …
  • … need of an act of intervention to bring change. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
  • … with that knowledge which only He can give me.” Letter 5303 — Boole, M. E. to Darwin, C …
  • … that his theory be compatible with her faith. Letter 5307 — Darwin, C. R. to Boole, M. …
  • … and science should each run its own course. Letter 8070 — Darwin, C. R. to Abbot, F. E. …
  • … “with qualifications”, if he wishes. Letter 8837 — Darwin, C. R. to Doedes, N. D., 2 …
  • … man’s intellect, “but man can do his duty”. Letter 12041 — Darwin, C. R. to Fordyce, …
  • … most correct description of my state of mind”. Letter 12757 — Darwin, C. R. to Aveling, …
  • … as examples to illustrate his ideas on beauty. Letter 4752 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … discusses humming birds and orchids as examples. Letter 4939 — Shaw, James to Darwin, C …
  • … a long discussion on beauty in the natural world. Letter 4943 — Darwin, C. R. to Shaw, …
  • … beauty of flowers is solely to attract insects. Letter 5003f — Shaw, James to Darwin, C …
  • … Beauty against the Duke of Argyll’s criticisms. Letter 5004 — Darwin, C. R. to Shaw, …

Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions

Summary

Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …

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] , …
  • … Gray, 4 August [1863] ). The results were published in his 1865 paper ‘Three forms of  Lythrum …

Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870

Summary

This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … to confide in his closest friends and associates by letter. The letters in this volume speak …
  • … Darwin to Hooker (on hearing of Robert FitzRoy’s suicide), 1865. As you are now so …

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 on race and gender

Summary

Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … ( Beagle diary , p. 143). He was delighted to receive a letter from an African correspondent …
  • … and Progress Key letters: Letter to J. S. Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … the making of the colonial order in the Eastern Cape, 1770–1865 . Cambridge: Cambridge University …
  • … Correspondence with women Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February …

Scientific Practice

Summary

Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…

Matches: 24 hits

  • … | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of …
  • … with detailed correspondence about barnacles. Letter 1514 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. …
  • … of one idea. – cirripedes morning & night.” Letter 1480 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, …
  • … on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. H …
  • … and difficulties of botanical experimentation. Letter 4895 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J …
  • … on Anelasma which he thinks seems probable. Letter 5173 — Müller, J. F. T. to …
  • … and on some plants which seem to be dichogamous. Letter 5429 — Müller, J. F. T. to …
  • … and crossed with pollen of other species. Letter 5480 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. …
  • … Claus, Die freilebenden Copepoden [1863]. Letter 5551 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. …
  • … on the use and importance of the microscope. Letter 207 — Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D., …
  • … with a microscope ranks second only to geology. Letter 1018 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, …
  • … “take advantage of your wicked offer of assistance”. The letter is full of observations on barnacles …
  • … ed., Manual of scientific enquiry (1849)]. Letter 1167 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … finds this microscope “wonderfully superior”. Letter 1174 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … specimens and information for his barnacle book. Letter 1140 — Darwin, C. R. to Ross, J …
  • … to the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin. Letter 1262 — Darwin, C. R. to Hancock, …
  • … discusses Lithotrya and its burrowing habits. Letter 1495 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … at his collection to check on his suspicions. Letter 1370 — Darwin, C. R. to Covington, …
  • … only one specimen is known to exist in the world. Letter 1251 — Darwin, C. R. to Gould, …
  • … between theory and practice in natural history. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … with the former and deferring the species paper. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … have progressed but Hooker is not converted. Letter 1339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …

Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small

Summary

In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … by the American educator Emily Talbot (Talbot ed. 1882). His letter to Talbot written the previous …
  • … by the flippant witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice …
  • … men, and their role as providers for the family. In his letter, he conceded that there was ‘some …
  • … of our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • … she be fairly judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January …
  • … he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 …
  • … Would my actions be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February …
  • … a solid scientific foundation cannot be overestimated’ ( letter to William Jenner, 20 March [1882] …
  • … to delight in his children’s accomplishments. In a letter to Anthony Rich, he shared several of his …
  • … to take a long trip to Jamaica ‘for complete rest’ ( letter to Anthony Rich, 4 February 1882 ). …
  • … to T. F. Jamieson, 24 January [1863] ). From 1863 to 1865, Darwin suffered the most extended …
  • … to have known’ ( letter to Charles Kingsley, 2 June [1865] ). In the years following …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
  • … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
  • … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
  • … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
  • … the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
  • … Anderson is “neither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
  • … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
  • … narrative so not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
  • … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
  • … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …
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