To L. C. Wedgwood 21 January [1872]
Summary
Thanks for observations on angles of worm-holes on slopes. William Darwin is observing at Stonehenge. She is worth her weight in gold.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Lucy Caroline Wedgwood; Lucy Caroline Harrison |
| Date: | 21 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (Add 4251: 332) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8171 |
To Raphael Meldola 23 January [1872]
Summary
Discusses the problems of mimicry as related to natural selection; the general variability of colour as a character; and the conditions necessary for natural selection to fix firmly a character.
Encloses a Fritz Müller letter speculating that organisms respond to certain colours because of the prevalence of those colours in their environment.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
| Date: | 23 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8172 |
To Francis Galton 23 January [1872]
Summary
His rabbits have lost their patches and are grey.
Has FG seen William Crookes [spiritualist]?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Galton |
| Date: | 23 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/3/2/2/12 Letter 1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8173 |
To W. E. Darwin 23 January [1872]
Summary
Discusses earthworm activity observed in old ploughed fields.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Special Collections MSS DAR 34) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8174 |
From B. J. Sulivan 23 January 1872
Summary
Louis Agassiz is going on a voyage to the Falklands, and BJS wonders whether it is worth while telling him of the Gallegos fossil bed so that he can investigate.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 297 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8175 |
From J. D. Hooker 24 January 1872
Summary
William [Hooker] is in first division of matriculation list of London University.
Other family news.
No news on Ayrton affair. Ayrton has taken staff appointments out of JDH’s hands.
Asks whether CD knows about Zizania aquatica – can hardly believe it is an annual.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 103–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8176 |
From Thomas Stanley 24 January 1872
Summary
Wants references to the work of Julius von Haast and James Hector on New Zealand glaciers, which CD mentions in the Origin [6th ed., p. 335].
| Author: | Thomas Stanley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 246 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8177 |
To B. J. Sulivan 24 January 1872
Summary
Suggests BJS write to Louis Agassiz about his [fossil mammal?] specimens but doubts that he will have time to do the work. Regrets they were ignored at the Royal College of Surgeons; thinks Owen neglected many things because he was overworked.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Date: | 24 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | Sulivan family (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8178 |
To William Bowman 25 January 1872
Summary
Discusses role of orbicular muscle and distended veins in eye in secretion of tears. Asks WB’s opinion.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bowman, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 25 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8179 |
From Raphael Meldola 25 January 1872
Summary
Discusses the roles of natural and sexual selection in producing mimicry, and the problem of explaining the cause of the first mimetic variation; considers the ideas of A. R. Wallace and Fritz Müller on this problem.
| Author: | Raphael Meldola |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 118 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8180 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 January [1872]
Summary
Heartily glad about Willy.
Has never had Zizania.
Still has Leersia. He cannot make the beast produce.
What slow coaches the Ministers are about the Ayrton affair.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 25 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 218–19 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8181 |
From Arthur Mellersh 25 January 1872
Summary
Reminisces on the evening he, B. J. Sulivan, and J. C. Wickham from the Beagle spent with CD, nearly ten years ago.
Hopes the mission at Tierra del Fuego will not "improve" the people to extinction.
| Author: | Arthur Mellersh |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 146 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8182 |
To W. E. Darwin 26 January [1872]
Summary
Gives information on recent editions of Lyell’s works.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 138 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8183 |
To Raphael Meldola 27 January [1872]
Summary
Invites RM to keep some specimens as long as he wishes.
Recalls vaguely the mention of a butterfly species in which the male alone is mimetic.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
| Date: | 27 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8184 |
To J. V. Carus 27 January [1872]
Summary
CD sends some sheets [of 6th ed. of Origin]. Informs JVC that he is having it stereotyped, so he can never again make any serious alterations. "The little strength left to me shall be employed on new works."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 27 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 78–79) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8186 |
To John Murray 27 January [1872]
Summary
Has corrected last page of index of Origin [6th ed.]. Sends instructions.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 27 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 283 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8187 |
To John Murray 30 January 1872
Summary
Requests that JM make stereotype plates of 6th edition of Origin available to D. Appleton. This will be last edition and CD is "extremely anxious" to spread his views.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 30 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 272–3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8188 |
From William Green 30 January 1872
Summary
Calls CD’s attention to Andrew Jackson Davis’ work on the origin of man,
philosophy of evil,
the mode of producing rain at pleasure,
and who and what is God.
| Author: | William Green |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Jan 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 222–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8189 |
From John Ball 31 January [1872]
Summary
Expands on a letter to Nature concerning the probability of the survival of a new variety in a given species. Differs with [F. Jenkin’s] argument, to which CD had agreed to a greater extent than JB feels it deserved.
| Author: | John Ball |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 196–201 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8190 |
To J. J. Moulinié 1 February 1872
Summary
Encloses a letter to be prefixed to JJM’s translation of the Origin.
Expresses his satisfaction that JJM has undertaken the translation [of a fourth French edition] of Origin. Urges the use of the sixth English edition so as to include corrections and additions.
His interest in influencing the eminent men of science in France.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Jean Jacques Moulinié |
| Date: | 1 Feb 1872 |
| Classmark: | Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology MSS 405 A. Gift of the Burndy Library); Paul C. Richards (dealer) (Cat. 241) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8191 |
| letter | (627) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (273) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (21) |
| John Murray | (21) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (19) |
| Reade, W. W. | (15) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (338) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (19) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (16) |
| John Murray | (16) |
| Unidentified | (16) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (611) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (38) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (37) |
| John Murray | (37) |
| Galton, Francis | (23) |
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 29 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can …
- … as evolution’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 27 July [1872] ). By the end of the year Darwin …
- … s. 6 d. ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 February 1872 ). Always closely involved in …
- … translator ( letter to J. J. Moulinié, 23 September 1872 ). He recapped the history of the French …
- … of the year ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 23 November 1872 ). To persuade his US publisher, …
- … Mivart ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). A worsening breach The …
- … beautiful’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 3 March 1872 ). I consider that you have …
- … Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). Piqued, Mivart flung back by return of post …
- … errors’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 6 January 1872 ). Darwin likened the affair to the …
- … towards me’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 8 January [1872] ). Despite Darwin’s request that he …
- … world’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 10 January 1872 ). Darwin, determined to have the last …
- … acknowledge it ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). 'I hate controversy,’ Darwin …
- … I do it badly’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 3 August [1872] ). Darwin's theories under …
- … the world moves!’ ( letter from Mary Treat, 13 December 1872 ). 'Here is a bee' …
- … it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I wanted some encouragement’, he …
- … to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Müller had sent him a …
- … of natural and sexual selection to bees (H. Müller 1872), and with his reply Darwin enclosed an …
- … standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Finishing Expression …
- … doing nothing’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was far from idle during their …
- … to be more erect’ ( letter to Briton Riviere, 19 May [1872] ). Riviere had been suggested to …
- … clever book’ ( letter to J. M. Herbert, 21 November 1872 ) and invited Butler to dinner the …
- … from Samuel Butler to Francis Darwin, [before 30 May 1872] , and letter from Samuel Butler, 30 …
- … feels no doubts’ ( letter to F. C. Donders, 17 June 1872 ). Right up to the beginning of June, …
- … Buckley Litchfield ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 13 May 1872 ). Delivery to the press brought only …
- … myself’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 25 July 1872 ). A battle for the independence of …
- … partisan reply ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 May 1872 ). On 13 June, a messenger arrived in …
- … to letter from John Lubbock to W. E. Gladstone, 20 June 1872 ). Darwin was quietly using his …
- … an old honest Tory’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 July [1872] ). Darwin and Wallace: …
- … Wallace’s defence ( letter to Nature , 3 August [1872] ). Although the two men were …
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
New features for Charles Darwin's 208th birthday
Summary
The website has been updated with an interactive timeline (try it!) and enhanced secondary school resources for ages 11-14. What's more, the full texts of the letters for 1872 are now online for the first time, and a selection of Darwin's…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
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: 7 hits
- … Letter 8321 - Darwin to Litchfield, H. E., [13 May 1872] Darwin consults his …
- … Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [15 June 1872] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, reports …
- … Letter 8427 - Darwin to Litchfield H. E., [25 July 1872] Darwin thanks Henrietta for …
- … 8168 - Ruck, A. R. to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] Amy Ruck reports the results …
- … 8193 - Ruck, A. R. to Darwin, H., [1 February 1872] Amy Ruck sends a second …
- … Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin asks his …
- … Letter 7345 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [15 June 1872] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, reports …
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: 9 hits
- … Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [13 December 1872] Mary Treat details her …
- … Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to Darwin, [17 December 1872] Dora Roberts reports an …
- … 8144 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [5 January 1872] Darwin asks his niece, Lucy, …
- … 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] Amy Ruck reports the results …
- … Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin asks his …
- … Letter 8169 - Wedgwood, L. to Darwin, [20 January, 1872] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, gives the …
- … 8427 - Darwin to Litc hfield, H. E., [25 July 1872] Darwin thanks Henrietta for …
- … 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 January 1872] Darwin thanks his son William …
- … Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [13 December 1872] Mary Treat details her …
Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Summary
On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Lydia Becker, 2 August 1863 ; to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 ). Click on the play …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the fittest’ as ‘survival of the better’ (see Spencer 1872, and the letter to Herbert Spencer, 10 …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Darwin as mentor
Summary
Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Ernest Griset’s drawing titled ‘Emotional!’ was published in Fun magazine on 23 November 1872, and is another skit referring to Darwin’s recently published Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. A hippopotamus had been…
Thomas Rivers
Summary
Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…
Matches: 1 hits
- … for the prosperity I have long enjoyed” ( 29 March 1872 ). …
4.5 William Beard, comic painting
Summary
< Back to Introduction In June 1872, Darwin’s friend Asa Gray, the Harvard Professor of Botany, sent him a print or photograph of a comic painting by the American artist William Holbrook Beard. Titled The Youthful Darwin Expounding His Theories, it…
Matches: 3 hits
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…
Climbing Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…
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: 3 hits
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…
Matches: 4 hits
- … book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born …
- … him in May, August and October 1871, and in March and August 1872, but some of these payments, and …
- … April 1871, and reproduced in the London Journal in June 1872. Darwin also sent it to various …
- … one of Huxley, in The London Journal , 55:1426 (8 June 1872), p. 357, illustrating an article …
4.20 Frederick Waddy, caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction A series of portrait caricatures drawn by Frederick Waddy appeared in the journal Once a Week through 1872. It clearly emulated the more famous series in Vanity Fair, and indeed, Waddy’s drawing of Darwin has the same title or…
