To J. D. Hooker [April 1852]
Summary
Questions on variation in nature: taxa varying in one region but not another. Variation between vs within species. Rarity of variation in important organs within a species. G. R. Waterhouse’s views on variation in highly developed organs, which CD relates to variation in rudimentary organs.
Asks for cases of obligate self-fertilising plants.
[CD annotation proposes using the Steudel Nomenclator botanicus (1821–4) to determine if variable species occur in genera with many species.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [Apr 1852] |
| Classmark: | DAR 107: 66–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1496 |
To William Parsons, earl of Rosse, Chairman of the Committee of Papers, Royal Society 16 March [1852]
Summary
Referee’s report on paper by Daniel Sharpe ["On foliation and cleavage", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 142 (1852): 445–62].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Parsons, 3d earl of Rosse, Lord Rosse, Lord Oxmantown; Royal Society of London |
| Date: | 16 Mar [1852] |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (RR2: 226) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-840 |
To W. E. Darwin 24 [February 1852]
Summary
Is glad WED has made a good beginning [at Rugby?].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 24 [Feb 1852] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1474 |
| letter | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
| Parsons, William | (1) |
| Royal Society of London | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
| Parsons, William | (1) |
| Royal Society of London | (1) |
Lost in translation: From Auguste Forel, 12 November 1874
Summary
You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections on your favourite topic—ants. If only you had paid attention when your mother tried to teach you English you might be able to read it. But you didn’t, and you…
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- … You receive a gift from your scientific hero Charles Darwin. It is a book that contains sections …
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…
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- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
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…
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- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts of …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
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- … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
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- … < Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
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Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
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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…
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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…
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- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
German and Dutch photograph albums
Summary
Darwin Day 2018: To celebrate Darwin's 209th birthday, we present two lavishly produced albums of portrait photographs which Darwin received from continental admirers 141 years ago. These unusual gifts from Germany and the Netherlands are made…
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- … In 1877, Charles Darwin was sent some unusual birthday presents: two lavishly …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
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- … I am merely slaving over the sickening work of preparing new Editions …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
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- … I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
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- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
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…
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- … 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…
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- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
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…
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- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
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…
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- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
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,…
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- … Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have …
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…
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- … Species theory In November 1845, Charles Darwin wrote to his friend and confidant Joseph …
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…
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- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
