To J. D. Hooker 25 [December 1859]
Summary
CD will not write to L. Descaisne to defend his priority over C. V. Naudin.
Feels success of theory depends on acceptance and application by good and well-known workers, like JDH, Huxley, and Lyell.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 25 [Dec 1859] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 31 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2602 |
To J. D. Hooker 24 April [1855]
Summary
More on seed-salting. JDH’s admission that he expected seeds to die in a week gives CD "a nice little triumph".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 24 Apr [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 130 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1671 |
From D. T. Ansted 23 April 1863
Summary
Is very grateful for CD’s note and return of the bond for £250; promises to repay CD any profits made from those shares, even in the event of DTA’s death.
Is sorry to hear CD is ill.
| Author: | David Thomas Ansted |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Apr 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 76 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4123 |
To J. D. Hooker 27 [or 28 September 1865]
Summary
Agrees with JDH on difference in grief over loss of father and of child. His love of his father.
The Reader.
Politics and science.
Health improved by Bence Jones’s diet.
[Dated "Thursday 27th" by CD.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [27 or 28] Sept 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 275 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4901 |
To A. R. Wallace 22 December 1857
Summary
Comments on agreement of their respective views on distribution.
Reference to differences on subsidence.
Reports on progress of his work and praises ARW’s investigations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 22 Dec 1857 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2192 |
To J. D. Hooker 3 June [1857]
Summary
"Law" [see 2092] correlating variability and abnormal development not confirmed by JDH for plants.
CD studies struggle for existence in his weed garden.
Scotch fir observed at Moor Park.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 3 June [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 200 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2101 |
To F. J. Hughes 5 May 1880
Summary
Still remembers FJH. Thinks no scientific journal would publish her essay on Genesis and science.
Regrets death of her brother [W. D. Fox].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frances Jane Fox; Frances Jane Hughes |
| Date: | 5 May 1880 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.573) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12596 |
To J. D. Hooker 18 October [1861]
Summary
Orchid anatomy. Movements of labellum.
Repeating Gärtner’s experiment with Verbascum varieties.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 18 Oct [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3288 |
To J. D. Hooker 16 [May 1857]
Summary
Asks JDH’s opinion, and botanical evidence, on important law: parts that are highly developed in comparison to other allied species are very variable.
Interest in hairiness of alpine plants revived by reading A. Moquin-Tandon [Éléments de tératologie végétale (1841)]; correlation with dryness. CD seeks interpretation independent of direct environmental effect.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 16 [May 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 197 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2092 |
To George Busk 13 September [1871]
Summary
CD plans to use notes provided by GB. [See Origin, 6th ed., p. 193.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Busk |
| Date: | 13 Sept [1871] |
| Classmark: | Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology MSS 405 A. Gift of the Burndy Library) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7937 |
From Daniel Oliver 14 June 1864
Summary
Will be glad to do diagram for CD;
asks whether he has read a Hugo von Mohl paper [see 4349].
| Author: | Daniel Oliver |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 June 1864 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 27 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4534 |
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 |
From H. W. Bates 19 December 1866
Summary
HWB sends a copy [missing] of Boutakoff’s letter, explaining that the deer were saiga antelopes and the islands were new discoveries.
| Author: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Dec 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 82 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5313 |
To a local landowner [1866?]
Summary
Requests that correspondent take some action regarding the state of horses on his farm. Robert Ainslie of Tromer Lodge, Down, was fined in 1852 following CD’s complaints.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | [1866?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 27 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4963 |
From J. D. Hooker [early December 1856]
Summary
Podostemaceae flowering under water.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [early Dec 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 149 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1966 |
To John Higgins 2 August [1852]
Summary
Discusses rent reduction and possibility of a lease.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Higgins |
| Date: | 2 Aug [1852] |
| Classmark: | Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/2/6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1485 |
To W. E. Darwin 22 [September 1858]
Summary
Discusses domestic affairs.
Is working at the abstract of his book [Origin].
Asks WED to examine birds’ feet for dirt sticking to them, as this may represent a means of seed dispersal across seas.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 22 [Sept 1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 29 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2328 |
To William Marshall 9 April [1860]
Summary
Asks for information about Anacharis.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Marshall |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 336 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2753 |
To John Higgins 9 April [1854]
Summary
Discusses his investments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Higgins |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1854] |
| Classmark: | Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/79) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1566 |
| letter | (284) |
| people | (10) |
| bibliography | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (86) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (35) |
| Dana, J. D. | (14) |
| Lyell, Charles | (12) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (8) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (279) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (51) |
| Dana, J. D. | (18) |
| Lyell, Charles | (14) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (9) |
| 1834 | (1) |
| 1847 | (2) |
| 1848 | (7) |
| 1849 | (5) |
| 1850 | (8) |
| 1851 | (15) |
| 1852 | (23) |
| 1853 | (18) |
| 1854 | (14) |
| 1855 | (19) |
| 1856 | (20) |
| 1857 | (12) |
| 1858 | (5) |
| 1859 | (9) |
| 1860 | (17) |
| 1861 | (8) |
| 1862 | (11) |
| 1863 | (21) |
| 1864 | (10) |
| 1865 | (12) |
| 1866 | (9) |
| 1867 | (4) |
| 1868 | (2) |
| 1869 | (3) |
| 1870 | (5) |
| 1871 | (6) |
| 1872 | (1) |
| 1873 | (3) |
| 1874 | (1) |
| 1875 | (4) |
| 1876 | (2) |
| 1878 | (1) |
| 1879 | (3) |
| 1880 | (3) |
Edward Lumb
Summary
Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, he travelled to Buenos Aires aged sixteen with his merchant uncle, Charles Poynton, and after some fortunate enterprises set up in business there. In 1833…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published four volumes on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Specialism | Experiment | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing …
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma …
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: 1 hits
- … On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend …
3.9 Leonard Darwin, photo on horseback
Summary
< Back to Introduction It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific locale that a family photograph of him riding his horse Tommy takes on a special interest. He is at the front of Down House, the door of which is open; it seems as…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The ‘historical sketch’ printed as a preface to the American edition ( Origin US ed., pp …
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
- … After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until …
Hermann Müller
Summary
Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the younger brother of Fritz Müller (1822–97). Following the completion of his secondary education at Erfurt in 1848, he studied natural sciences at Halle and Berlin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the …
Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 …
Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
Summary
Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it’s hard to choose from many letters that stand out, but one of this editor’s favourites, that always brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it …
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and …
Arthur Mellersh
Summary
Arthur Mellersh was a midshipman (promoted to mate during the voyage) serving on the Beagle at the time when Darwin was travelling around the world. One account suggests an inauspicious start to their friendship; apparently Mellersh introduced himself…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Arthur Mellersh was a midshipman (promoted to mate during the voyage) serving on the Beagle at …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children,[1] began the research that …
Syms Covington
Summary
When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin’. Covington kept an illustrated journal of his observations and experiences on the voyage, noting wildlife, landscapes, buildings and people and,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘ fiddler & boy …
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
- … Honey-bees construct wax combs inside their nests. The combs are made of hexagonal prisms – cells …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
Fritz Müller
Summary
Fritz Müller, a German who spent most of his life in political exile in Brazil, described Darwin as his second father, and Darwin's son, Francis, wrote that, although they never met 'the correspondence with Müller, which continued to the close of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Francis Darwin, in Life and letters of Charles Darwin , wrote of Fritz Müller They …
