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 |
To J. D. Hooker 4 February [1861]
Summary
Changes in admission to Athenaeum.
Slowly working at his volume on Variation.
Experiments on insectivorous and "sensitive" plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 4 Feb [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115.2: 87 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3057 |
To Journal of Horticulture [17 May 1861]
Summary
Thanks Mr Beaton for his answer [to 3147].
Asks further questions on points raised in Beaton’s previous papers: whether crossing white and blue varieties of Anemone apennina produced many pale shades; whether the Mathiola incana and M. glabra which crossed freely were artificially or naturally crossed.
CD is delighted by Beaton’s assertion that "not a flower in a thousand is fertilised by its own immediate pollen".
Recounts his experiments with Leschenaultia formosa to show insect fertilisation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Journal of Horticulture |
| Date: | [17 May 1861] |
| Classmark: | Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman n.s. 1 (1861): 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3162 |
To Charles William Crocker 18 May [1861]
Summary
Describes results of his experiments with hollyhocks. Some varieties breed true even though growing near others. This suggests that their pollen is "pre-potent" over that of other varieties, which is not the case with most plants. Asks some questions on which he would be glad to have correspondent work. [See also 3170.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles William Crocker |
| Date: | 18 May [1861] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3151 |
To George Robert Waterhouse 12 November [1861]
Summary
Returns a letter from a Mr Walsh – "a clear-headed man on my side". What he says about sea trout in lochs would make a good case for CD if borne out by professional ichthyologists.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Date: | 12 Nov [1861] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3317 |
From Asa Gray 31 December 1861
Summary
Discusses dimorphism and suggests CD investigate Valeriana.
Praises CD’s views with respect to the U. S. Civil War and relations with England. Worsening relations between Britain and U. S.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Dec 1861 |
| Classmark: | DAR 110 (ser. 2): 65, DAR 165: 104–105 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3354 |
From Daniel Oliver [before 3 November 1861]
Summary
List of references on orchid structure and fertilisation.
| Author: | Daniel Oliver |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before Nov 1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 225–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3039 |
To J. D. Hooker 28 September [1861]
Summary
Bates agrees with CD on neuter ants.
Orchids.
Repeating experiment of C. F. v. Gärtner to study Huxley’s idea of physiological species.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 28 Sept [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 114 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3268 |
To J. D. Hooker 17 November [1861]
Summary
JDH’s letter on grounds of generalisation in plant morphology.
Faunal distribution and the glacial period.
Orchid homologies.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 17 Nov [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 131 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3322 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … See Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 July [1855] . The term ‘chorisis’, …
- … 1855 ). There are notes dated ‘Oct 28 th . 1861—’ and ‘Oct 29— 1861’ on Heterocentron roseum in DAR 205.8: 44 and 45. CD continued his experiments to test the relative fecundity of different-coloured anthers in 1862. He had apparently been given the plants by John Lindley . In 1860, CD tried to persuade Hooker to prepare from his published materials a general work on botany (see Correspondence vol. 8, letters …
- … letter from Daniel Oliver, 8 November 1861 ). CD was scheduled to read a paper on the two forms of Primula before the Linnean Society of London on Thursday, 21 November 1861 (see Collected papers 2: 45–63). At a meeting of the Royal Society of London on 21 November 1861, Charles Lyell communicated two papers that described deposits found near Bovey Tracey, Devon: William Pengelly’s paper on the lignites and clays ( Pengelly 1862 ) and Oswald Heer’s paper on the fossil flora (Heer 1862) (see Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1861): 449–55). In 1855, …
From John D. Glennie Jr 6 April 1861
Summary
The stinging of bees and wasps contrasted.
| Author: | John David Glennie, Jr |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1861 |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: 70–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3113 |
From P. L. Sclater 17 April 1861
Summary
Corrects CD’s statement [Origin, 3d ed.] that Madeira does not possess one peculiar bird. There is one, out of the 99.
| Author: | Philip Lutley Sclater |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Apr 1861 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 292 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3121 |
To Journal of Horticulture [before 14 May 1861]
Summary
Asks D. Beaton whether varieties of the same species of Compositae frequently cross by insect agency or other means. Do the raisers of hollyhocks have to keep each variety separate for raising seed?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Journal of Horticulture |
| Date: | [before 14 May 1861] |
| Classmark: | Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman, n.s. 1 (1861): 112 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3147 |
To P. L. Sclater 4 May [1861]
Summary
CD is unable to locate his specimens of two Falkland Island birds [Opetiorhynchus].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Philip Lutley Sclater |
| Date: | 4 May [1861] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.246) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3138 |
To J. D. Hooker 22 June [1861]
Summary
Many mutual acquaintances are ill.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 22 June [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 84 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3192 |
To J. D. Hooker 23 [April 1861]
Summary
Lieut. F. W. Hutton’s original review [Geologist 4 (1861): 132–6, 183–8] understands that mutability cannot be directly proved.
CD met Bentham at Linnean Society and asked him to write up his views on mutability.
Opinion of Owen.
Conversation with Lyell on antiquity of man.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 23 [Apr 1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 91 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3098 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [March 1861] ). Beginning with the number of 2 April 1861, the Cottage Gardener and Country Gentleman began a new series under the title Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman. A journal of horticulture, rural and domestic economy, botany and natural history . CD had subscribed intermittently to the journal since 1855 …
From W. E. Darwin [17 November 1861]
Summary
Describes in detail his day at home and at the bank in Southampton.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [17 Nov 1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.5: 3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3320 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1855 ( Navy list 1861). William had taken rooms in the lodging house of Mary Pratt , 1 Carlton Place, Southampton ( Post Office directory of Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire 1867). William perhaps refers to Phillip Carteret Fall , who had been a partner in the Southampton and Hampshire Bank before his retirement in the summer of 1861 ( Banking almanac 1861; see also letter …
| letter | (16) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (1) |
| Glennie, J. D., Jr | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Oliver, Daniel | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Journal of Horticulture | (2) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Crocker, C. W. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (16) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Journal of Horticulture | (2) |
| Sclater, P. L. | (2) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
Biogeography
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle During his five year journey around the world on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin encountered many different landscapes and an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Some of his most…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle …
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’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 …
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Friendship | Mentors | Class | Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Variation under domestication
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A fascination with domestication Throughout his working life, Darwin retained an interest in the history, techniques, practices, and processes of domestication. Artificial selection, as practiced by plant and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment A fascination with domestication …
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid …
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 …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his …
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'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’s Photographic Portraits
Summary
Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the study of Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, but can be witnessed in his many photographic portraits and in the extensive portrait correspondence that…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the …
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 …
Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but …
