From J. D. Hooker 5 September 1864
Summary
R. I. Murchison’s address [see 4595] smashes Ramsay’s glacial theory.
JDH defends his view that CD should not answer Kölliker.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Sept 1864 |
| Classmark: | DAR 101: 238–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4608 |
To T. W. Woodbury 7 December [1862]
Summary
Cannot aid TWW with respect to bees from East Indies. Suggests he write to Edward Blyth.
Thanks him for getting query on variation in bees circulated in Germany.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas White Woodbury |
| Date: | 7 Dec [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 148: 374 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3849 |
From G. R. Waterhouse [7 March 1855]
Summary
Comparison of skulls of Ichthyosaurus and Cetacea.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [7 Mar 1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 20 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1642 |
From G. H. Darwin 18 April 1874
Summary
Sends queries [on proofs of Descent, 2d ed.]. Will be finished, except for the index, in two days.
Is now less satisfied than formerly with his statistics on cousin marriage.
[Enclosure is a copy by GHD of J. S. Mill’s statement about Origin (Logic 2: 18 n.).]
| Author: | George Howard Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.2: 34 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9417 |
To F. B. Goodacre 13 August [1879]
Summary
Reports the results of breeding from FBG’s hybrid geese. The hybrids are fertile inter se. Would FBG like the geese back? If CD publishes his observations may he use FBG’s results?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Burges Goodacre |
| Date: | 13 Aug [1879] |
| Classmark: | Dr John Goodacre (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12193 |
DCP-LETT-2501F
Summary
Cancelled: Known only from reference in letter to Charles Lyell, 11 October [1859]
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [4 October 1859] |
| Classmark: | |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2501F |
From Asa Gray 10 June 1877
Summary
Has two young friends who wish to call on CD.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 June 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 197 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10994 |
From W. B. Tegetmeier 13 March 1865
Summary
Will return page on pigeons.
Has concluded his crossing experiments and found no trace of hybrid sterility or loss of fertility.
The Field is publishing a series of papers on different pigeon varieties [24 (1864): 366, 395, 459; 25 (1865): 115, 139, 155, 228, 258].
| Author: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Mar 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 63 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4785 |
From W. E. Darwin [17 November 1871]
Summary
Says has sent a copy of CD’s memorial to Captain Jones. Passes on Sir Geo. Grey’s comments on pasturage near Morpeth. Tells superstition about straight furrows and fairies.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [17 Nov 1871] |
| Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 38) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8073F |
To B. J. Sulivan 15 January [1867]
Summary
Thanks BJS for W. H. Stirling’s answers [to queries about expression]
and for information on cattle and breeding of dogs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Date: | 15 Jan [1867] |
| Classmark: | Sulivan family (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5365 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … In his letter of 11 January 1867 , Sulivan enclosed responses from Thomas Bridges …
- … remark in Variation 1: 39. See letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 January 1867 and nn. 4 …
- … to William Erasmus Darwin ; see letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 January 1867 and n. 6. …
- … relationship between this letter and the letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 January 1867 . …
- … 1860 ; see also, this volume, letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 January 1867 and nn. 2 and …
To John Scott 19 December [1862]
Summary
JS should be proud of his paper ["Nature of the fern-spore", Edinburgh New. Philos. J. 2d ser. 16 (1862): 209–27].
CD has just found that JS’s observations on the confluence of two sexes causing variability were independently confirmed by Huxley.
CD has always suspected a fundamental difference between buds and ovules.
Asks for examples of "bud-variation" or "sports".
Asks JS to test germination of pollen on rostellum of Laelia.
Offers JS money for experimental supplies, e.g., netting, to keep insects out of flowers.
Encloses an outline of crossing experiments with Lythraceae, Primula, Pelargonium, and others, which he feels would be valuable.
Note on melastomids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 19 Dec [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: B35–6, B64–5, B80 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3868 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … forms of the orchid Acropera (see letter from John Scott, 11 November 1862 ). Earlier in …
- … See letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] , and letter from John Scott, 17 December [ …
- … December [1862] and n. 20. See letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] , and letter from …
- … on the Melastomataceae in his letter to Scott of 11 December [1862] , and sought Scott’s …
- … be sent to Scott (see letters to John Scott , 3 December [1862] and 11 December [1862] ). …
- … letter from John Scott, 17 December [1862] . CD discussed the resemblances of buds and ovules in chapter 11 …
- … 11 of Variation , ‘On bud-variation, and on certain anomalous modes of reproduction and variation’, on 21 December 1862 (see ‘Journal’ ( Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix II)). He cited observations by Scott of this phenomenon in Variation 1: 385. See letter …
From Lydia Ernestine Becker 30 March 1864
Summary
Sends CD a copy of her book [Botany for novices (1864?)], intended to encourage the young, especially ladies, to study nature.
| Author: | Lydia Ernestine Becker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Mar 1864 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 112 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4441 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … see, for example, Correspondence vol. 11, letter from L. E. Becker, 31 July [1863] ); …
- … has been found (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to L. E. Becker, 2 August [ 1863] ). …
- … letters to CD in the spring and summer of 1863 discussing dimorphism in plants that she had been observing and collecting (see Correspondence vol. 11). …
To Asa Gray 25 February [1864]
Summary
Has not worked for six months due to illness.
Has been looking at climbing plants.
Hermann Crüger’s paper shows that CD was right about Catasetum pollination. Crüger’s account of pollination of Coryanthes "beats everything".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 25 Feb [1864] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (80) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4415 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … s recent work see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to Charles Lyell, 17 [February 1863] and …
- … see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II, and this volume, letter to J. D. Hooker, [20–] …
- … November 1863 ( Correspondence vol. 11). Gray’s letter of 16 February 1864 would not yet …
- … 17 February [1864] and n. 11. The most recent known letter from Asa Gray is that of 23 …
From J. B. Innes 19 February [1862]
Summary
Reports on a bird, offspring of a male mule between a canary and greenfinch, and a hen canary.
Family news.
| Author: | John Brodie Innes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Feb [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 167.1: 8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3454 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … me Dear Darwin | Yours faithfully | J. B. Innes End of letter : ‘11 10 1 4 | 2’ ink …
- … letter to J. B. Innes, 24 February [1862] ). Innes refers to his son, John William Brodie Innes . According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), Charlotte Langton died on 2 January 1862. Her death was announced in The Times , 6 January 1862, p. 1. Innes refers to his wife, Eliza Mary Brodie Innes . The International Exhibition opened at South Kensington on 1 May 1862 ( The Times , 2 May 1862, pp. 11– …
From Ernst Haeckel 2 January 1864
Summary
Returns letter mailed by mistake [see 4361].
Hopes CD will accept gift of his Radiolarien [Die Radiolarien, 2 vols. (1862)].
| Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Jan 1864 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 36 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4377 |
From Henry Walter Bates 28 January 1865
Summary
Pleased at receiving CD’s letter.
HWB informs him of favourable notice of the mimetic paper [in Wiegmann’s Arch. Naturgesch. 29 (1863) pt 2: 315–19].
He is pleased with his post [Asst. Sec. of Royal Geographical Society].
| Author: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Jan 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 79 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4756 |
From George Cupples 22 June 1868
Summary
Weighing ten deerhound puppies for CD each week.
| Author: | George Cupples |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 June 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 284 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6257 |
From Asa Gray [10–16] June [1863]
Summary
Possible dimorphism in Phlox.
Knows of no U. S. law prohibiting marriage of cousins.
Gives references to papers on phyllotaxy.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [10–16] June [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 136 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4198 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … and Arts ( A. Gray 1863d ). See letters to Asa Gray , 11 May [1863] and 31 May [1863] . …
- … in a missing postscript to his letter to Gray of 11 May [1863] , or in a letter that has …
- … in St Louis, Missouri ( DAB ). See letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] and nn. 8–11. Gray …
- … around the stems of plants (see letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). Gray discussed the …
- … See also Naumann 1845 . See letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] and n. 12; the reference is …
From Thomas Rivers 6 July 1865
Summary
Thanks CD for "Climbing plants" [see 4861].
Encloses sketch of a climbing French bean.
Tells of a row of non-climbing haricot beans that in good season put out slender climbing shoots.
He has the peach almond in fruit this season.
| Author: | Thomas Rivers |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 July 1865 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 164 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4866 |
To A. R. Wallace [12–17] March [1867]
Summary
Asks to be kept informed on gaudy caterpillars.
Problems of his work on man; scope and role of sexual selection.
Indulgence of interest in expression is simply a "hobby-horse". Will see whether he can get queries inserted in an Indian newspaper.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | [12–17] Mar [1867] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add 46434 ff. 80–83v) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5440 |
Matches: 10 hits
- … 7–9, 144, and Hartley 2001 . In his letter of 11 March [1867] , Wallace suggested that CD …
- … letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] . The other letter from Wallace has not been …
- … between this letter and the letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] . The end of the …
- … 17 March [1867] , and n. 15). See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] and n. …
- … See Browne and Messenger 2003. See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] and n. …
- … 7. See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] ; Wallace had asked whether CD’s work …
- … Correspondence vol. 12). See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] and n. …
- … 2. See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] . CD made notes on human expression as …
- … to foreign newspapers. See letter from A. R. Wallace, 11 March [1867] and n. 6. CD …
- … letters to his wife, Emma, or daughter Henrietta. Emma recorded in her diary (DAR 242) that Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood and Georgina Tollet were visiting from 11 …
| letter | (2348) |
| people | (38) |
| bibliography | (10) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1281) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (148) |
| Gray, Asa | (51) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (38) |
| Scott, John | (33) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1005) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (249) |
| Gray, Asa | (57) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (54) |
| Lyell, Charles | (52) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2285) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (397) |
| Gray, Asa | (108) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (92) |
| Lyell, Charles | (68) |
| 1822 | (1) |
| 1828 | (1) |
| 1831 | (7) |
| 1832 | (3) |
| 1833 | (3) |
| 1834 | (2) |
| 1835 | (1) |
| 1836 | (3) |
| 1837 | (4) |
| 1838 | (6) |
| 1839 | (7) |
| 1840 | (4) |
| 1841 | (2) |
| 1842 | (1) |
| 1843 | (4) |
| 1844 | (17) |
| 1845 | (15) |
| 1846 | (9) |
| 1847 | (10) |
| 1848 | (6) |
| 1849 | (2) |
| 1850 | (9) |
| 1851 | (6) |
| 1852 | (3) |
| 1853 | (5) |
| 1854 | (11) |
| 1855 | (26) |
| 1856 | (33) |
| 1857 | (36) |
| 1858 | (35) |
| 1859 | (44) |
| 1860 | (101) |
| 1861 | (50) |
| 1862 | (155) |
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| 1876 | (62) |
| 1877 | (73) |
| 1878 | (67) |
| 1879 | (45) |
| 1880 | (64) |
| 1881 | (81) |
| 1882 | (8) |
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 …
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … In March 1862, Heinrich Georg Bronn wrote to Darwin stating his intention to prepare a second …
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, 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 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 …
Darwin's 1874 letters go online
Summary
The full transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1874 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1874 through his letters and see a full list of the letters. The 1874 letters…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The full transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1874 …
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’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 …
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,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letters | Selected Readings Darwin's first reflections on human progress were …
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 …
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I cannot bear to think of the future The year 1876 started out sedately enough with …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as the making out the …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
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 …
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, 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 …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In …
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 …
