From Charles William Nunn 23 September 1868
Summary
Sends an ear of wheat that has an oat kernel growing on it.
| Author: | Charles W Nunn |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Sept 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 172: 79 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6387 |
From Albert Günther 13 May 1868
Summary
Sends proofs of his fish paper.
Will observe modification of colour in fish.
Is studying the development of the axolotl.
Encloses notes in reply to CD’s queries on fishes.
| Author: | Albrecht Carl Ludwig Gotthilf (Albert) Günther |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 242a, DAR 82: B23 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6170 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … For CD’s questions, see the letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] . See letter to Albert …
- … and Salarias are both current genera. See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. …
- … 8. See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. …
- … 9. See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. 10. In Descent 2: 20, CD said that …
- … Günther refers to George Henry Ford . See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. …
- … 4. See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. 5. Günther was the founding editor …
- … to Günther 1859–70 . See letter to Albert Günther, 12 May [1868] and n. 6. CD cited the …
From Alfred Russel Wallace 7 February 1868
Summary
Thanks for Variation.
Reports work on his travel book [The Malay Archipelago (1869)].
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Feb 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: B48 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5848 |
From Ludwig Büchner 9 October [1868 or later]
Summary
Thanks CD for letter of 3 Oct [missing] about LB’s publication.
| Author: | Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig (Ludwig) Büchner |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Oct [1868 or later] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 355 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13783 |
To Julius von Haast 28 January [1868]
Summary
Thanks JvH for J. Stack’s answers [to queries about expression]. Though few, they are the best and clearest he has received. Sends a corrected printed version of queries.
Belatedly thanks JvH for his splendid report on glaciers [missing].
CD lives "in constant state of overwork and fatigue".
Everyone astonished by Dinornis photos.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Francis Julius (Julius) von Haast |
| Date: | 28 Jan [1868] |
| Classmark: | Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand (Haast family papers, MS-Papers-0037-051-3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5808 |
To Alfred Wrigley [after 12 March 1868]
Summary
Assures AW he has not hurt Horace’s feelings. CD has always been doubtful about a private tutor for Horace. Fears a letter [giving notice of removal] was lost in the post.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Wrigley |
| Date: | [after 12 Mar 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 182v |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6008 |
From T. H. Huxley 18 December 1868
Summary
Sends letter [from Haeckel?] opened by mistake.
August Schleicher a great loss.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Dec 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 316 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6498 |
To J. J. Weir 7 May [1868]
Summary
Thanks JJW for his great assistance.
Discusses sexual selection in birds.
Sends queries on secondary sexual characteristics of birds.
Has often marvelled at the different growth of the flowering and creeping branches of ivy.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Jenner Weir |
| Date: | 7 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6165 |
From Friedrich Hildebrand 3 July 1868
Summary
Thanks CD for mentioning his Corydalis and Primula experiments in Variation.
Has become Professor of Botany at Freiburg.
Encloses specimen of Corydalis cava.
| Author: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 July 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 209 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6267 |
To Rolla Charles Meadows Rouse [after 12 March 1868]
Summary
Discusses tuition arrangements for Horace Darwin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Rolla Charles Meadows Rouse |
| Date: | [after 12 Mar 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 39-40 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5962 |
To T. H. Huxley [13–21 September 1868]
Summary
Sends a page to be sent on to Charles William Nunn.
Offers sympathy for the illness of THH’s son, Henry (Harry) Huxley.
Wishes he could have attended the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting at Norwich.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | [13–21 Sept 1868] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6381F |
Matches: 4 hits
- … D. Hooker, 25 September 1868 . In his letter of 12 September 1868 , Huxley had mentioned …
- … the letter from T. H. Huxley, 12 September 1868 , and the letter from C. W. Nunn, 23 …
- … florets growing out of it (see letter from T. H. Huxley, 12 September 1868 and n. 1). …
- … son Henry (Harry) Huxley. See letter from T. H. Huxley, 12 September 1868 . CD refers to …
To T. H. Farrer 15 September [1868]
Summary
Comments on THF’s MS [on fertilisation of scarlet runners]. Suggests publication, though CD anticipated main features ten years before. Is amused at the caution with which THF put his case that the final end [of the contrivances] was crossing distinct individuals.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
| Date: | 15 Sept [1868] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6365 |
To Alfred Wrigley 7 March [1868]
Summary
States his intentions regarding Horace’s future education. CD thought he had made those intentions clear in an earlier letter.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Wrigley |
| Date: | 7 Mar [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 44 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5993 |
From Ernst Haeckel 23 March 1868
Summary
Has received English edition of Variation. First volume of German edition came three months ago. Comments on book.
Will send copy of recent lectures on human evolution [Entstehung des Menschengeschlechts (1868)]. Gegenbaur much interested in the subject.
Considers Selachius the ancestral form of the fish and hence of all higher vertebrates. Believes their swim-bladder became lung of amphibians.
Mentions cases of hybrid crosses between rabbits and hares producing fertile offspring.
| Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Mar 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 47 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6040 |
To J. D. Hooker 3 February [1868]
Summary
Comments on Wollaston’s troubles
and his book [Coleoptera Hesperidum (1867)].
Mohl’s claim to foreign membership in Royal Society very strong.
Has been in despair about Variation – not worth a fifth part of the labour it cost him.
Is reading F. A. W. Miquel’s Flora du Japon [Prolusio florae Japonicae (1866–7)]; wonders whether A. Murray could be correct in his view that an area of the sea prevented Asiatico-Japan flora colonising western N. America.
Comments on A. Murray’s book [Geographical distribution of mammals (1866)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 44–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5835 |
To W. W. Reade 21 May [1868]
Summary
Thanks WWR for information in answer to his queries concerning expression.
Asks when horns first appear among a breed of sheep on the Guinea coast,
and for information about the gorilla and chimpanzee.
Asks about African ideas of beauty.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Winwood Reade |
| Date: | 21 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.371) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6754 |
From W. S. Dallas 19 October 1868
Summary
Thanks CD for his promise of support and his flattering opinion of his qualifications for the position of Assistant Secretary of the Geological Society.
| Author: | William Sweetland Dallas |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Oct 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 24 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6423 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … No letter to Dallas between 12 and 19 October has been found. Dallas had been curator of …
- … See letter from W. S. Dallas, 12 October 1868 . …
- … Society of England; see the letter from W. S. Dallas, 12 October 1868 . CD had already …
- … John Murray , see the letters from W. S. Dallas, 9 June 1868 and 12 October 1868 and …
From C. O. Waterhouse 19 February 1868
Summary
Coloration of blind beetles.
Sizes of sexes in Taphroderes.
| Author: | Charles Owen Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Feb 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 82: A76–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5897 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Waterhouse has not been found. In his letter of 12 February 1868 , Waterhouse had listed …
- … see his annotation to the letter from C. O. Waterhouse, 12 February 1868 . Waterhouse …
- … CD’s annotation to the letter from C. O. Waterhouse, 12 February 1868 . On Leptomastax …
- … letter to answer your question about Brentus— It does belong to the first group of Curculionidæ. Hoping you will understand this disjointed rambling, | Believe me, | Yours very sincerely, | Chas. O. Waterhouse. Chas. Darwin Esq re . 3.1 The Brentus] ‘Look at specimen’ added pencil 3.1 4 12 ] ‘ …
From J. B. Innes 14 December 1868
Summary
Hopes Miss [Sarah Elizabeth] Wedgwood will sell part of her land for a parsonage at Down. Recounts his futile efforts to obtain land in the past.
Encloses news item about the supposed hybrid [of cow and deer].
| Author: | John Brodie Innes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Dec 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 167: 23, 23a |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6502 |
To J. D. Hooker [8–10 September 1868]
Summary
Has written to A. J. Gower.
Sends more copies of Queries about expression.
Pall Mall Gazette article [see 6342] is monstrous to say religion did not attack science. Should scientific men ignore whole subject of religion?
Sends French journal with article on JDH and one (weak) by Agassiz on geographical distribution.
M. J. Berkeley has sent his address [Rep. BAAS 38 (1868): 83–7].
CD differs with JDH on Owen; could hardly bear to shake hands with him.
Wallaces, Blyth, Jenner Weirs are coming to stay on Sunday.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [8–10 Sept 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 91–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6357 |
Matches: 3 hits
| letter | (116) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (40) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (6) |
| Dallas, W. S. | (4) |
| Bates, H. W. | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (72) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (4) |
| Weir, J. J. | (4) |
| Darwin, Emma | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (112) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (12) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (10) |
| Bates, H. W. | (5) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (5) |
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
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 …
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 …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
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 …
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, 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 …
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,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
