From J. D. Hooker [17 May 1866]
Summary
W. H. Harvey is dead. His loss to science.
Will get a copy of Crawfurd’s paper. It was such trash he tore his up.
His letter to Asa Gray was about his [JDH’s] proof that America will have an aristocracy from interbreeding of wealth, intellect, and beauty; and the lower classes, not having time for politics, will leave them to the aforementioned.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [17 May 1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 75–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5093 |
To Alphonse de Candolle 14 January [1863]
Summary
Thanks AdeC for his memoir ["Étude sur l’espèce", Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 4th ser. 18 (1862): 59–110].
CD astonished at the amount of variability in the oaks.
CD differs from most contemporaries in thinking that the vast continental extensions of Forbes, Heer, and others are not only advanced without sufficient evidence but are opposed to much weighty evidence.
AdeC’s comment on CD’s work [Origin] is generous.
CD is satisfied at the length AdeC goes with him and is not surprised at his prudent reservations. He remembers how many years it took him to change his old beliefs. The great point is to give up immutability. So long as species are thought immutable there can be no progress in "epiontology" [see ML 1: 234 n.]. CD is sure to be proved wrong in many points but the subject will have "a grand future".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alphonse de Candolle |
Date: | 14 Jan [1863] |
Classmark: | Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3917 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Collection– CUL. See Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 13 June …
- … 352–6. See also Correspondence vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 November [1862] and …
- … 1862b . See also Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 13 June 1862 . …
- … 73 ). In his letter of 18 September 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10), Candolle promised CD …
- … letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January [1863] . On 21 December 1862, CD began the chapter of Variation discussing bud-variation (see Correspondence vol. 10, …
From D. F. Nevill [11 September 1874]
Summary
Has sent the Utricularia with the bladders that CD described.
In Variation CD does not mention a rare breed of Siamese cat, which she owns.
Asks for another photograph.
Author: | Dorothy Fanny Walpole; Dorothy Fanny Nevill |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [11 Sept 1874] |
Classmark: | DAR 172: 19 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9633 |
From W. W. Baxter [after 23 August 1872?]
Author: | William Walmisley Baxter |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 23 Aug 1872?] |
Classmark: | DAR 60.2: 86 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9793 |
To Hugh Falconer [1845?–7 or 1857–64]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
Date: | 1845-7 or 1857-64 |
Classmark: | DAR 144: 21 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2305 |
To Charles Victor Naudin 7 February 1863
Summary
Thanks for informative letter of 2 February. CD is glad to have CVN’s opinion on the crossing of varieties of melons,
has made use of his memoir on the Cucurbitaceae ["Cucurbitacées cultivées au Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle en 1862", Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 18 (1863): 159–208]
and anticipates with great interest his work on hybridisation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Victor Naudin |
Date: | 7 Feb 1863 |
Classmark: | Progressus rei botanicæ 4 (1913): 94 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3972 |
To H. W. Bates 15 December [1861]
Summary
Praises MS of first chapter of HWB’s book [The naturalist on the river Amazons (1863)]. Suggests he give common names and make comparisons to familiar English species to help readers. Suggests a few changes. Will speak strongly to Murray about publishing whenever HWB is ready.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Walter Bates |
Date: | 15 Dec [1861] |
Classmark: | Leeds University Library Special Collections (Brotherton collection) (tipped into a copy of Bates 1892) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3345 |
To George Harris 27 April 1875
Summary
Briefly answers GH’s query whether animals can perceive any qualities unperceived by man.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Harris |
Date: | 27 Apr 1875 |
Classmark: | University of California Los Angeles, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division (Ms. 10, Letters concerning George Harris’s A Philosophical Treatise on the Nature and Constitution of Man) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9953 |
To J. D. Hooker 22 [May 1864]
Summary
CD’s pleasure at JDH’s willingness to help Scott find a position in India.
Naudin underrates contamination of his experiments by insects. Thus CD doubts Naudin’s results on rapidity and universality of reversion in hybrids.
Wallace’s paper on man [see 4494] reflects his genius, although CD does not fully agree with it.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 22 [May 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 236 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4506 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … 1856, and 1858, see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from C. V. Naudin, 26 June 1862 and …
- … the parent type (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] and …
- … the paper to the Linnean Society by 10 June 1864 (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 June [ …
- … See letter from A. R. Wallace, 10 May 1864 , and letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 May …
- … generation. In his letter to Asa Gray of 1 July [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10), CD also …
- … 1864] and n. 5. See letter from J. D. Hooker, 19 May 1864 and nn. 10 and 11. CD is …
To W. A. Leighton 4 December [1862]
Summary
Apologises for the trouble he has caused over his enquiries about strawberries. Describes the problems he and Emma have had with Verbascum.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Allport Leighton |
Date: | 4 Dec [1862] |
Classmark: | Unknown dealer |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3633F |
From John Scott 10 April 1865
Summary
Comments on CD’s Lythrum paper [Collected papers 2: 106–31]
and on H. Crüger’s orchid paper [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 127–35].
May take position at Calcutta Botanic Garden.
Regrets he cannot be elected to Linnean Society.
Pleased Asa Gray has commented on JS’s paper.
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Apr 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 115 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4810 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … and Acropera , see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from John Scott, 11 November 1862 , …
- … see n. 1, above, Correspondence vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] , and …
- … 28 March 1864 , 5 May [1864] , and first letter of 10 June [1864] ). CD communicated both …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1865] , and letter to J. D. Hooker, 16 [March …
- … see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 , n. 1, and this volume, …
- … Rungbee 10 th . April 1865. Sir, I duly received your letter along with the copies of my …
- … 10–12. CD first told Scott of Hermann Crüger’s work and of the manuscript of Crüger 1864 in February or March 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter …
From W. B. Tegetmeier 13 March 1865
Summary
Will return page on pigeons.
Has concluded his crossing experiments and found no trace of hybrid sterility or loss of fertility.
The Field is publishing a series of papers on different pigeon varieties [24 (1864): 366, 395, 459; 25 (1865): 115, 139, 155, 228, 258].
Author: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 Mar 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 178: 63 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4785 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … crossed inter se (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 27 [December …
- … in 1859 and 1860 (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 27 [December …
- … 10 to Tegetmeier for ‘experiments on the cross-breeding of pigeons’ (Royal Society, council minutes, 1 December 1862). There is no record of a report on these experiments in the Royal Society archives. See letter …
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 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … CD (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 15 March [1862] , and …
- … occasions (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 26[–7] November [1862] , and …
- … see, for example, Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] , …
- … 1864b , and John Scott . See letter from John Scott, 10 April 1865 and n. 13. At the end …
From Julius von Haast 6 August 1863
Author: | John Francis Julius (Julius) von Haast |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 Aug 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4264 |
From E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 23 March 1866
Author: | E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23 Mar 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 71 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5038 |
To John Scott 1 and 3 August [1863]
Summary
Thanks JS for orchid paper [Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 7 (1863): 543–50]. JS presents excellent new facts on sterility of orchids.
His argument that coloured primroses are not hybrids is good, as is idea of discovering primrose parentage by breeding for colours.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Scott |
Date: | 1 and 3 Aug 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 93: B24, B27–8, B70; DAR 147: 455 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4260 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … congratulate’. See Correspondence vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] . …
- … 2: 104)). See also Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Daniel Oliver, 13 October [1862] and …
- … of Orchids (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Friedrich Hildebrand, 14 July 1862) . …
- … in Primula ’. See also letter from John Scott, 21 May [1863] and nn. 10–11. The original …
From Lucy Caroline Wedgwood [April–May 1865?]
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 L. E. Becker 23–4 May [1863]
Summary
Gives the results of her observations on Lychnis; lists four different types of flower present and their occurrence.
Author: | Lydia Ernestine Becker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23–4 May [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 107 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4182 |
To Asa Gray 23 February [1863]
Summary
Recommends Lyell’s book [Antiquity of man (1863)].
Quotes praise of AG’s pamphlet [see 2938].
Comments on U. S. politics.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 23 Feb [1863] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (55) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4006 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … III). See also Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 15 March [1862] . In a review …
- … pp. 454–70). See Correspondence vol. 10, letters from Asa Gray , 4 and 13 October 1862 …
- … slavery’ (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 16 October [1862] ). The …
- … England with his letter of 29 December 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10). CD refers to John …
letter | (2901) |
people | (56) |
bibliography | (7) |
Darwin, C. R. | (1571) |
Hooker, J. D. | (176) |
Gray, Asa | (60) |
Darwin, W. E. | (43) |
Scott, John | (38) |
Darwin, C. R. | (1267) |
Hooker, J. D. | (261) |
Gray, Asa | (71) |
Lyell, Charles | (56) |
Darwin, W. E. | (51) |
Darwin, C. R. | (2837) |
Hooker, J. D. | (437) |
Gray, Asa | (131) |
Darwin, W. E. | (94) |
Lyell, Charles | (67) |
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Reading my roommate’s illustrious ancestor: To T. H. Huxley, 10 June 1868
Summary
My roommate at Harvard College was Tom Baum, now a Hollywood screenwriter. Tom’s full name is Thomas Henle Baum, his middle name a reference to a German physician ancestor for whom the ‘Loop of Henle’ in the kidney had been named. Other than this iconic…
Matches: 1 hits
- … My roommate at Harvard College was Tom Baum, now a Hollywood screenwriter. Tom’s full name is …
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: 1 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The variation of animals and …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom , published on 10 November …
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: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
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: 1 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
Schools Gallery: Using Darwin’s letters in the classroom
Summary
English| History| Science English Pupils in Cumbria lead the way Year 9 English pupils at Ulverston Victoria High School spent several weeks studying Darwin’s letters, including comparing sections from Darwin’s ‘Voyage of the Beagle’ to letters…
Matches: 1 hits
- … English | History | Science English Pupils in Cumbria lead …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, 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: 1 hits
- … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher …
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 1 hits
- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts of …
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s daughter Henrietta wrote the following journal entries in March and July 1871 in …
Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species , …
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Summary
One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.
Matches: 1 hits
- … I gave two seeds to a confounded old cock, but his gizzard ground them up; at least I cd. not …
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that he ‘Began by Lyell’s advice writing …
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: 1 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
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: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
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: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …