To ? 24 August [1861–8]
Summary
Thanks correspondent for a remarkable instance of inheritance [not specified].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 24 Aug [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | Wellcome Collection (MS.7781/1–32 item 28) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13880 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1862 24 Aug 1863 24 Aug 1864 24 Aug 1865 24 Aug 1866 24 Aug 1867 24 Aug 1868 Unidentified …
To ? 31 December [1861–8]
Summary
"As I have never especially attended to Conchology I am sorry to say I cannot tell you the name of the enclosed shell which I now return–"
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 31 Dec [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | J. David Archibald (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13881A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1862 31 Dec 1863 31 Dec 1864 31 Dec 1865 31 Dec 1866 31 Dec 1867 31 Dec 1868 Unidentified …
To ? 7 May [1861–8?]
Summary
CD is obliged for the offer, but he is "too much occupied to contribute to any periodicals".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 7 May [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | DAR 249: 122 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3141 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 7 May 1862 7 May 1863 7 May 1864 7 May 1865 7 May 1866 7 May 1867 7 May 1868 Unidentified …
To Charles Lyell 21 August [1861]
Summary
Suggests change in a passage [in MS] of CL’s [Antiquity of man (1863)] dealing with adaptations for travel.
Comments on review of Origin by F. W. Hutton [Geologist (1861): 132–6, 183–8].
Emphasises importance of variability for natural selection.
Discusses possiblity of intelligent causes in variation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 21 Aug [1861] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.261) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3235 |
To ? 20 June [1861–8]
Summary
Sends a copy of the paper [with A. R. Wallace, "On the tendency of species to form varieties" (1858), Collected papers 2: 3–19] about which his correspondent asked; CD’s parts were written years ago and not intended for publication; he gave permission for publication of the extracts. Wallace’s paper seems to him excellent.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 20 June [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13879 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 20 June 1862 20 June 1863 20 June 1864 20 June 1865 20 June 1866 20 June 1867 20 June 1868 …
To ? 25 November [1861–8]
Summary
Has read correspondent’s notice on bent cleavage. Refers him to observations on the same fact in South America, p. 160. CD has also suggested a conjectural explanation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 25 Nov [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | Royal Institution of Great Britain (RI MS F/1/M) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13881 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1862 25 Nov 1863 25 Nov 1864 25 Nov 1865 25 Nov 1866 25 Nov 1867 25 Nov 1868 Unidentified …
To Robert Scot Skirving 16 November [1861–8]
Summary
Knows nothing of the habits of earwigs. Thinks Edward Newman may be trusted on the point [as to whether or not earwigs can fly].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Scot Skirving |
| Date: | 16 Nov [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 481 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4673 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 16 Nov 1862 16 Nov 1863 16 Nov 1864 16 Nov 1865 16 Nov 1866 16 Nov 1867 16 Nov 1868 Robert …
To ? 8 December [1861–8]
Summary
Thanks for information on inheritance of mental peculiarities in cats.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 8 Dec [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | Dr Jeremy J. C. Mallinson (private collection): sold at Sotheby’s (dealers), 11 December 2017, lot 50 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13770J |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 8 Dec 1862 8 Dec 1863 8 Dec 1864 8 Dec 1865 8 Dec 1866 8 Dec 1867 8 Dec 1868 Unidentified …
To ? 11 June [1861–8]
Summary
CD regrets he has to turn down an invitation because of his ill health.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 11 June [1861-8] |
| Classmark: | Christie’s, London (dealers) (online 31 October – 8 November 2018, lot 6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3179F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 11 June 1862 11 June 1863 11 June 1864 11 June 1865 11 June 1866 11 June 1867 11 June 1868 …
To B. P. Brent 1 April [1861]
Summary
Thanks for informatiion about birds and for copies of the Cottage Gardener (26 March 1861). Discusses ancestor of domestic fowl.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
| Date: | 1 Apr [1861] |
| Classmark: | Richard Brent (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3107F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 27 February [1865] , n. 5. The letter from Brent has not …
To Charles Lyell [1 August 1861]
Summary
Mentions Dutch translation [of Origin].
Discusses evolutionary origin of sexuality.
Asa Gray’s suggestion that variation was directed by a higher power and Herschel’s view of providential arrangement in nature.
Compares variation in domestic and wild species.
Asks CL for introductions for his son William in Southampton, where he has joined a bank.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [1 Aug 1861] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.259) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3223 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of geology did not in fact appear until 1865. The delay was due to Lyell’s eventual …
To Charles Lyell 20 July [1861]
Summary
Mentions George Maw’s "good review" of Origin [Zoologist 19 (1861): 7577–611].
Relates remark by J. S. Mill concerning soundness of logic and method of Origin.
Is at work [on Orchids and Variation].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 20 July [1861] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.258) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3215 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of geology did not in fact appear until 1865. The delay was due to his decision to publish …
| letter | (12) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Unidentified | (7) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Skirving, R. S. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | |
| Unidentified | (7) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Skirving, R. S. | (1) |
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: 29 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 …
- … of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family had had a …
- … the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). Darwin was ready to submit his …
- … letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus Alvey Darwin, 3 January 1865 ). Erasmus forwarded his letters …
- … laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] ). Sic transit gloria …
- … the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] ). However, Hooker, at the time …
- … are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 ). Darwin, now ‘haunted’ by …
- … with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). Continuing ill-health …
- … to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). He particularly hated being ill …
- … of life. He wrote to Charles Lyell on 22 January [1865] , ‘unfortunately reading makes my head …
- … it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] ). In July, he consulted …
- … bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] ). By October, Darwin thought he might be …
- … to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until December, …
- … hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). Delays and …
- … last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] ). In April he authorised …
- … press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early June, he wrote to Murray …
- … when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was not until 25 December …
- … of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). After sending the manuscript to the …
- … like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ). An abstract of the paper …
- … for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; Darwin noted at the beginning of …
- … the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June [1865] ). The paper was published in a …
- … German, he had it translated, and wrote to Müller in August 1865 that he had just finished hearing …
- … letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, and 10 October 1865] ; since it is impossible to …
- … clearly understand (l etter to Daniel Oliver, 20 October [1865] ). Darwin was particularly …
- … scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] ), he clearly read Müller’s letters …
- … from sea-sickness ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ). This may have been unwise: Thomas …
- … & ability’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1865] ). Scott took these criticisms, no …
- … again when he had time ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ); at the time of writing, he had …
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: 5 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 …
- … from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865]). Darwin’s condition had been …
- … and George Busk (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [7 January 1865], and letter from George Busk, 28 April …
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…
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: 22 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in …
- … 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 …
- … 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 …
- … Ramsay in a note to an article published in the April 1865 issue of the Philosophical Magazine . …
- … thought of the affair ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 June 1865] ). Hooker, for his part, could see …
- … for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week later he sent Lubbock a …
- … the note in the preface (letter to John Lubbock, 11 June [1865] ). No correspondence with Lyell …
- … him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), Darwin wrote back ( letter to J. D …
- … and Lubbock had no direct communication after the end of May 1865, each appealing to friends to …
- … Thus, in print-runs after the end of June 1865, Lubbock had cancelled his note at the end of the …
- … of both interested parties. Only one known review of Lubbock 1865 draws attention to Lubbock’s note; …
- … situation was succinct. In his letter to Hooker of [4 June 1865] he warned that no one could do …
- … (C. Lyell 1863c; see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] and n. 13). The third edition had …
- … vii–ix (revised version of last section, printed in August 1865, but dated 1863 on the title page) …
- … of the ‘ Elements of geology ’ 34 [C. Lyell 1865], and the printed proofs were transferred …
- … (see enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] ). Later, Lubbock claimed that he had …
- … the note which appeared at the end of the preface to Lubbock 1865. He told Hooker, ‘I did not trust …
- … ours’ (letter from John Lubbock to J. D. Hooker, 23 June 1865, in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, …
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: 4 hits
- … found in a relatively short letter written by Darwin in June 1865 to his close friend Joseph …
- … this letter was a reply ( From J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] ), but there was no mention of any …
- … 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 …
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…
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: 4 hits
- … regular attacks had occurred again in the last week of April 1865, and the third week of May, just …
- … threw up food. In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , Darwin stated that his sickness was …
- … Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) on several occasions in 1864 and 1865. ‘Bad hysteria & sickness’ were …
- … difficulties reading, see letters to J. D. Hooker, 1 June [1865] and 27 [or 28 September 1865] …
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
- … 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: 9 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 …
- … Letter from Darwin to Edward Walford, 22 [Jan. – April 1865?], (DCP-LETT-5508). Letter from Erasmus …
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, …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin to Hooker (on hearing of Robert FitzRoy’s suicide), 1865. As you are now so …
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.…
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…
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…
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…
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 4 hits
- … started in January 1860, and advertised in the press since 1865 with the unwieldy title, …
- … apparently discussing it or showing it to anyone until 1865, when he sent a version of it to Huxley, …
- … a book based on a series of articles that had appeared in 1865. In it he challenged aspects of …
- … vol. 13, letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] and n. 4). Darwin’s wife and children also …
3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s son William, who had become a banker in Southampton, took the opportunity of a short visit home to Down House in April 1864 to photograph his father afresh. This half-length portrait was the first to show Darwin with a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … (DCP-LETT-4707); Naudin’s gushing acknowledgement, 18 June 1865 (DCP-LETT-4863). Letter from …
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: 1 hits
- … Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., [20 November 1865] Edward Cresy Jnr. seeks Darwin …
The evolution of honeycomb
Summary
Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…
Matches: 1 hits
- … precise measurement was bought to bear, a myth. In 1865, Darwin received a letter from Edward …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
