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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: 24 hits

  • … be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
  • … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such …
  • … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
  • … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’  ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
  • … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
  • … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
  • … that Mr Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
  • … his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874 …
  • … Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
  • … edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence  vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
  • … Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
  • … to take so sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March …
  • … sent an apology for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); …
  • … numbers and sex ratios among the Pitcairn islanders ( letter from William Dealtry, 16 January 1874 …
  • … will say that I have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). …
  • … by none but anatomists; and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). …
  • … and had cost twenty-four shillings.) Murray’s partner, Robert Francis Cooke, informed Darwin that …
  • … the return on subsequent print runs would be very good ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 …
  • … by the conciseness & clearness of your thought’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 20 April 1874 ). …
  • … legal action over the ‘scurrilous libel’ on his son ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [27 July 1874] ). …
  • … false, scurrilous accusation of [a] lying scoundrel’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] ). …
  • … as father and son agonised over the wording of both the letter to the editor and the letter to …
  • … relationship with Murray on the outcome ( enclosure to letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874 ) …
  • … the year. He assisted the retired diplomat and ornithologist Robert Swinhoe, a valued correspondent …

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: 25 hits

  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … on the Dog with illustrations of about 100 varieties [?C. H. Smith 1839–40] 24 Flourens …
  • … to be Poor Sir. J. Edwards Botanical Tour [?J. E. Smith 1793] Fabricius (very old) has …
  • … of Soul. amongst Ancients [Toland 1704] Adam Smith Moral Sentiments [A. Smith 1759] …
  • … on Aurochs [Weissenborn 1838] Smiths grammar [J. E. Smith 1821] & introduct of Botany [J. …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … ed. 1834] read Vol. (2 d ) on Dogs [C. H. Smith 1839–40] /on Ruminants [Jardine ed. 1835–6] …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … Hist. of own time [Burnet 1724–34] Sidney Smith Lectures 49  [Plymley 1808] Sleemans …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … [Brewster 1831] March. 8 Houdins the conjurer Life [Robert-Houdin [1859] 19 …
  • … 21  Erasmus Alvey Darwin. 22  Robert Waring Darwin. 23  The  …
  • … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
  • … to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … The   cyclopædia of anatomy and physiology,  edited by Robert Bentley Todd, was issued in parts. …
  • … Pulteney. 1847. Instinct. In vol. 3, pp. 1–29, of Todd, Robert Bentley,  The cyclopædia of anatomy …
  • … on the progress of civilisation . Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers.  119: 22a Anon. …
  • … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832.  A letter in vindication of   the principles of …
  • … Therry,   Esq.  Sydney. *119: 8v. Brown, Robert. 1814. General remarks, geographical …
  • … … Translated   by John Black. With notes …   by Robert Jameson . London. [Darwin Library.]  …
  • … by her niece. 7 vols. London. 119: 12b, 18b Burns, Robert. 1786.  Poems, chiefly in the …
  • … London. [Other eds.]  119: 11b [Chambers, Robert]. 1844.  Vestiges of the natural history …
  • … 1847.  Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor   Coleridge and Robert Southey . London.  119: 21b …

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: 25 hits

  • … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
  • … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
  • … made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
  • … than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
  • … is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
  • … tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
  • … a very long period  before  the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll,  31 January [1869] …
  • … data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
  • … I d  have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
  • … completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
  • … him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George …
  • … with his noisy courting of the female in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 …
  • … doubted her ability to recognise the different varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February …
  • … weary of everlasting males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November …
  • … with much more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). …
  • … in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 …
  • … orang-utan, and the bird of paradise  (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ) …
  • … does himself an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
  • … geological structures of the South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), …
  • … of the same species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February …
  • … role of earthworms in the formation of the soil ( letter to  Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] …
  • … sundew), a genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March …
  • … for either the fourth or the fifth English editions ( see letter from Victor Masson, 29 September …
  • … not employ [her] to translate “Domestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). …
  • … before offering my book to English readers.—’ ( letter from Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). …

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: 5 hits

  • … southern tip of South America in January 1835. Darwin told Robert Fitzroy, the former captain of the …
  • … year on cirripede anatomy, Darwin wrote a rather reflective letter to his former professor and …
  • … Copenhagen University and to ask whether Johannes Japetus Smith Streenstrup, professor of zoology …
  • … his conclusions about larval-adult homologies in a letter to Dana in December 1853 . …
  • … access to the unparalleled collection of Norwich collector Robert Fitch. This  enabled Darwin to …

Cross and self fertilisation

Summary

The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…

Matches: 7 hits

  • of Ipomœa. I remember saying the contrary to you & M r  Smith at Kew. But the result is now
  • 17 March [1867] ). He noted another factor in a letter to Gray, remarking, ‘I am going on with my
  • in Britain. During a visit to Darwin in May 1866, Robert Caspary, a specialist in aquatic
  • finding that more seed was produced by the former ( From Robert Caspary, 18 February 1868 ). …
  • plants in order tocompare their power of growth’ ( To Robert Caspary, 25 February [1868] ).  By
  • … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly
  • ARWallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long

3.8 Leonard Darwin, interior photo

Summary

< Back to Introduction Leonard Darwin, who created the distinctive image of his father sitting on the verandah at Down House, also portrayed him as a melancholy philosopher. His head, brightly lit from above, emerges from the enveloping darkness; he…

Matches: 6 hits

  • above, it would need to have been early in that year. A letter which Leonard wrote to his father
  • to the portrait of Darwin, although a pencilled note on the letter could suggest that Leonard was
  • as well as veneration and respect’. Worthington George Smith, a naturalist and illustrator, created
  • DAR 186.34 (DCP-LETT-11484), Leonard Darwins letter to his father, enclosing unidentified
  • … ‘Charles Darwin F.R.S.’, pp. 154-163. Worthington Smiths wood engraving is in DAR 140.1 (unlisted, …
  • Centenary: The Portraits, Prints and Writings of Charles Robert Darwin, exhibited at Christs

Who we were

Summary

Many people have contributed to the Darwin Correspondence Project since it was first founded in 1974. Some names are now lost to us, and we would appreciate hearing from anyone who has contributed in the past and is not listed here. The final staff of…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … editions of the works of Mary Somerville, Charles Lyell, and Robert Chambers. Victorian Sensation: …
  • … the public. She also keeps the office running, transcribes letter texts, researches obscure …
  • … Kathleen Lane Sarah Lavelle Margot Levy Robert Lindsey Jean Macqueen …

3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2

Summary

< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … the publication of Origin in late November 1859. In his letter of spring 1862, Darwin’s brother …
  • … he expressed with it (if correctly identified) in his 1861 letter to Gray was shared by many readers …
  • … print 
 references and bibliography Letter from Darwin to Hooker, 17 Dec. [1860], DCP-LETT …
  • … Centenary: The Portraits, Prints and Writings of Charles Robert Darwin, exhibited at Christ’s …

Darwin’s student booklist

Summary

In October 1825 Charles Darwin and his older brother, Erasmus, went to study medicine in Edinburgh, where their father, Robert Waring Darwin, had trained as a doctor in the 1780’s. Erasmus had already graduated from Cambridge and was continuing his studies…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … went to study medicine in Edinburgh, where their father, Robert Waring Darwin, had trained as a …
  • … who had moved on to London for further medical training (see letter from E. A. Darwin, [29 …
  • … to date precisely. Darwin mentions reading  Granby  in a letter to his sister dated 29 January …
  • …   surface   du  globe  was produced by Robert Jameson, who started the  Edinburgh …
  • … work in 1879 Darwin judged it ‘a wretched production’ (letter to Ernst Krause, 19 March 1879 ); …
  • … when a selection of his work was published by the poet Robert Southey in 1807. Finally there are …
  • … which was edited by David Brewster ( ODNB ); Robert Edmond Grant contributed several papers on …
  • … CD described Lister 1826 as an ‘entertaining book’ (see letter to S. E. Darwin, 29 January [1826] …
  • … (1750–2). A periodical by Samuel Johnson. 20 Smith 1826. 21 Clarke 1810–23. …
  • … Desmond, Adrian, and Sarah Parker. 2006. The bibliography of Robert Edmond Grant (1793–1874).  …
  • … a novel . 3 vols. London: Saunders & Otley. Jameson, Robert, trans. 1827.  Essay on the …

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: 20 hits

  • … Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to Hooker’s letter which he put down to his exceptionally …
  • … I was rapidly going the way of all flesh.  See the letter At various periods in his …
  • … months while he took Dr Gully’s water cure. In Darwin’s letter to Hooker, he described Dr Gully’s …
  • … certain that the Water Cure is no quackery.—  See the letter After returning from …
  • … in the years around 1848, 1852, 1859, and 1863. In a letter to Hooker in April of 1861, for example, …
  • … as my retching is apt to be extremely loud.—  See the letter Besides experimenting …
  • … the vomiting wonderfully & I am gaining vigour .’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864] ) …
  • … these grounds (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 2, letter to J. S. Henslow, 14 October …
  • … first mentioned attacks of ‘periodical vomiting’ in a letter to W. D. Fox, [7 June 1840] ( …
  • … sickness in 1849, describing ‘incessant vomiting’ in his letter to Richard Owen, [24 February 1849 …
  • … he was sick almost daily (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [6 …
  • … before Darwin’s decision to consult John Chapman.  In a letter to J. D. Hooker, [20-] 22 February …
  • … after eating, and that he seldom threw up food.  In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , …
  • … and care see, for example, Correspondence vol. 4, letter to Emma Darwin, [27-8 May 1848] . …
  • … had suffered from gout (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter to W. D. Fox, [25-9 January 1829] , …
  • … see King-Hele 1999, pp. 161-2). Erasmus also wrote a letter to Darwin’s father, in which he claimed …
  • … are discussed in Colp 1977, pp. 31-2, 47, 98. In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ( …
  • … feel a little alive’. See also Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … the treatment (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1849] …
  • … at Down for several years (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October 1849 …

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: 28 hits

  • … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
  • … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
  • … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
  • … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
  • … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
  • … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
  • … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
  • … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
  • … disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
  • … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
  • … her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
  • … on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
  • … sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
  • … to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …
  • … in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September …
  • … and to promote work he admired. He was so interested in a letter from Fritz Müller in Brazil …
  • … with the ants that inhabited the trunk that he sent the letter to Nature for publication. ‘It …
  • … communicated this information in an article in Nature ( letter from Johann von Fischer, [before …
  • … phyllotaxis by the mutual pressure of very young buds’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 June [1876] ). …
  • … Scottish shoemaker and ardent naturalist Thomas Edward ( letter from F. M. Balfour, 11 December …
  • … live blood-hound which shall hunt it to the death’ ( letter from James Torbitt, 19 April 1876 …
  • … the public to consider Torbitt an untrustworthy fanatic ( letter to James Torbitt, 21 April 1876 ) …
  • … request, with the ‘awful job’ of informing the author ( letter to G. G. Stokes, 21 April [1876] ). …
  • … thought the paper was ‘not worthy of being read ever’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 28 January 1876 …
  • … to William Thiselton-Dyer on 26 April that Tait’s letter about his ‘accursed paper’ had quite …
  • … minded Horace, however, who was the first to type a letter, telling George on 1 May (in the only …
  • … Henry Lewes for an article on the snail’s heart and a letter to Nature on the use of the …
  • … permanent value’, was ‘extremely dry’, he informed Robert Cooke on 16 September . Darwin was …

Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia

Summary

Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … a student in Edinburgh and, in particular, his contact with Robert Edmond Grant. In his …
  • … voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm in a letter to William Darwin Fox, 23 May 1833 ( …
  • … emphasis upon analogy and affinity in arranging groups (S. Smith 1965; Ospovat 1981, p. 108). Darwin …
  • … developed, as is shown by his correspondence with George Robert Waterhouse. On [26 July 1843] ( …
  • … homologies. Through the work of naturalists such as Robert Brown, Martin Barry, and Owen in England …
  • … was challenged in 1859 by August Krohn. As he admitted in a letter to Charles Lyell, 28 September …
  • … (as Darwin called it in his Autobiography and in his letter to Lyell), was more than a matter of …
  • … Toward the end of his study of Balanus , in a letter to Hooker on 25 September [1853] ( …
  • … latter instrument suited his purposes well; he reported in a letter to Richard Owen, 26 March 1848 …
  • … and mounting his specimens is well demonstrated by a letter he wrote to Charles Spence Bate, 13 …
  • … Informing Darwin about the award ( Correspondence vol. 5, letter from J. D. Hooker, [4 November …
  • … it was empirically invalid ( Calendar nos. 2118 and 2119, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 July [1857] …
  • … ^9^ CD discussed his conception of archetype in a letter to Huxley, 23 April [1853] ( …

Books on the Beagle

Summary

The Beagle was a sort of floating library.  Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.

Matches: 24 hits

  • Captain FitzRoy in the  Narrative  (2: 18). CD, in his letter to Henslow, 9 [September 1831] , …
  • … . . . There will be  plenty  of room for Books.’ (Letter from Robert FitzRoy, 23 September 1831
  • theimmense stockwhich CD mentions may be had from a letter FitzRoy wrote to his sister during an
  • on board the  Beagle §  —  mentioned in a letter or other source as being on board
  • Naturelle  3 (1834): 84115. (DAR 37.1: 677v.; letter to J. S. Henslow, 12 July 1835). * …
  • dhistoire naturelle . 17 vols. Paris, 182231. (Letter from J. S. Henslow, 1521 January [1833]). …
  • a report of the proceedings . .  . Cambridge, 1833.  (Letter to Charles Whitley, 23 July 1834). …
  • of the 2d meeting . . . Oxford, 1832 . London, 1833.  (Letter to J. S. Henslow, March 1834 and
  • … . . .Translated . . . by John Black. With Notes . . . by Robert Jameson.  London, 1813. (DAR 30.2: …
  • unidentified; see also Hawkesworth, John). (DAR 32.2: 89v.; Robert FitzRoys letter to the South
  • residence in New Zealand in 1827 . . . London, 1832. (Letter to Caroline Darwin, 27 December 1835). …
  • 33: 254). § EuclidElements of geometry.  (Letter to J. S. Henslow, 30 October 1831). …
  • The philosophy of zoology . . .  2 vols. Edinburgh, 1822. (Letter from Susan Darwin, 15 October
  • to the mountain barometer.  2d ed. London, n.d. [1802]. (Letter to Robert FitzRoy, [10 October 1831
  • de lordre des polypiers.  Paris, 1821. (DAR 30.1: 13v.; letter to J. S. Henslow, 24 July7
  • Video. Novem r . 1832’; vol. 3 (1833): ‘C. Darwin’; letter to J. S. Henslow, 24 July7 November
  • The history of England.  Volume one. London, 1830. (Robert FitzRoys letter to the  South African
  • … ‘A few little books written by Miss Martineau’. (Letter from Caroline Darwin, 28 October [1833]). …
  • and La Plata . . .  2 vols. London, 1826. (DAR 31.2: 319; letter to Robert Fitzroy, 28 August 1834) …
  • … ‘C. Darwin H.M.S. Beagle’. Copy examined by Sydney Smith  c.  1968. Quentin Keynes). Nuñez, …
  • 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804 . . .  London, 1805. (Robert FitzRoys letter to the  South
  • John  An account of the voyages . . .  London, 1773. (Robert FitzRoys letter to the  South
  • …  Edinburgh, 1814. ( Voyage , p. 89). Fox, Robert Were. On the electro-magnetic properties
  • Sydney, N. S. W.). Darwin LibraryDown. Southey, RobertHistory of Brazil.  London, 1810

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: 25 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … by the American educator Emily Talbot (Talbot ed. 1882). His letter to Talbot written the previous …
  • … by the flippant witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice …
  • … men, and their role as providers for the family. In his letter, he conceded that there was ‘some …
  • … of our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • … she be fairly judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January …
  • … he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 …
  • … Would my actions be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February …
  • … a solid scientific foundation cannot be overestimated’ ( letter to William Jenner, 20 March [1882] …
  • … to delight in his children’s accomplishments. In a letter to Anthony Rich, he shared several of his …
  • … been highly praised by his scientific peers. A lecture by Robert Stawell Ball that was printed in …
  • … to take a long trip to Jamaica ‘for complete rest’ ( letter to Anthony Rich, 4 February 1882 ). …
  • … cleverer sort of young London Doctors such as Brunton or Pye Smith to put himself in communication …

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: 8 hits

  • … Government grant was exhausted ( Correspondence  vol. 2, letter to A. Y. Spearman, 9 October 1843, …
  • … either, as the correspondence with Charles Lyell, George Robert Waterhouse, John Stevens Henslow, …
  • … are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] ). …
  • … the essay of 1844 to read (see  Correspondence  vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 [February 1847]) …
  • … himself: as he told his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt he …
  • … Natural selection Perhaps the most interesting letter relating to Darwin’s species theory, …
  • … Darwin not only used his personal notes and records but, by letter, marshalled the resources of …
  • … of the laws of creation, Geographical Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) …

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: 18 hits

  • … handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller, 22 February …
  • … Correspondence about Darwin’s Questionnaire (click on the letter dates to see the individual letters …
  • … Correspondent Letter date Location …
  • … Africa)? ] mentioned in JPM Weale letter, but Bowker's answers not found …
  • … Woolston, Southampton, England letter to W.E. Darwin shrugging …
  • … Square W London, England enclosed in a letter from Henry Maudsley …
  • … South Africa possibly included in letter from Mansel Weale …
  • … Peradeniya, Ceylon enclosed in letter from G.H.K. Thwaites …
  • … Egypt] possibly included in letter(s) from Asa Gray Nile …
  • … Lake Wellington, Australia letter to F.J.H. von Mueller nodding, …
  • … Abbey Place, London, England letter to Emma Darwin baby expression …
  • … Penmaenmawr, Conway, Wales letter to Emma Darwin infant daughter …
  • … Square W, London, England Enclosed letter from Dr. C. Browne …
  • … W., London, England enclosed in letter from W. W. Reade Hottentots …
  • … Chinese Swinhoe, Robert 4 Aug 1868 …
  • … Chinese Swinhoe, Robert 5 Aug 1867 …
  • … England (about Australia) encloses letter from Austrialian friend, letter not …
  • … forwarded by Smyth; Wilson sent letter to Ferdinand von Mueller Victoria Aborigines …

Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'

Summary

The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … and living members of the sub-class Cirripedia (see S. Smith 1968). The Beagle specimens …
  • … letters have suffered an even more severe loss. In a letter to Lyell’s sister-in-law, Katharine …
  • … of fact . . . on the origin & variation of species” ( Letter to J. S. Henslow, [November 1839] …
  • … that he had a sound solution to what J. F. W. Herschel in a letter to Lyell had called the ‘mystery …
  • … about searching for evidence to support his hypothesis. In a letter to Lyell, [14] September [1838 …
  • … just the same, though I know what I am looking for' ( Letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [26 July …
  • … there were no doubts as to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [  c.  February 1839] …
  • … for several months (See  Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 , …
  • … notebook). See also Allan 1977, pp. 128–30). The letter, on ‘Double flowers’ to the  …

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: 18 hits

  • … hurrah for my species-work’ ( Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … series of interesting exchanges on geology with David Milne, Robert Chambers, John Phillips, and …
  • … William Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] …
  • … by Darwin on the use of microscopes on board ship ( see letter to Richard Owen, [26 March 1848] ). …
  • … re-examined his own thesis in letters to Milne, Lyell, and Robert Chambers, and, in addition to …
  • … would be too technical for his readers and forwarded it to Robert Jameson, editor of the  Edinburgh …
  • … that his original fieldwork was ‘time thrown away’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8 [September 1847] ) …
  • … that it would be a ‘thorn in the side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). …
  • … marine invertebrates himself (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April [1837]) …
  • … opinion that such a monograph was a ‘desideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), …
  • … abortive stamens or pistils ( Correspondence  vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November …
  • … care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). …
  • … sacrifice the rule of priority for the sake of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February …
  • … it as ‘the greatest curse to natural History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). …
  • … Museum of Zoology, has been transcribed with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849 …
  • … the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). …
  • … last half of 1848 and the beginning of 1849. When his father Robert Waring died on 13 November 1848, …
  • … similar to the routine undertaken at Malvern. Robert Waring Darwin’s estate was a large one. …

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: 20 hits

  • … book on the species question, Darwin wrote to George Robert Waterhouse. Waterhouse had written the …
  • … principles and the proximity of other cells. Darwin’s letter has not been found, but from Waterhouse …
  • … were not subject to the space constraints of other cells. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 14 April …
  • … diameter being determined by her power of reaching.’ (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 10 February …
  • … were exercising their minds on the problem. In his next letter, Waterhouse described wasps’ nests …
  • … formal constraints as a group of bees working together. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 13 February …
  • … mind on the subjects of wasp’s nests. He sent another long letter to Darwin on the subject, this …
  • … the other straight sides that were bounded by other cells (letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 17 April …
  • … arranged to look at Tegetmeier’s piece of honeycomb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, [21 April 1858] …
  • … to keep an eye out for the first beginnings of the comb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 May [1858] …
  • … has not correctly described their manner of building’ (letter to W. E. Darwin, [26 May 1858] .) …
  • … hardly been begun; & all must be very minute. ( See the letter ) Darwin was …
  • … asked Tegetmeier to look out for isolated cylindrical cells (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 5 June …
  • … ordering another hive from Tegetmeier, and buying a swarm (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 8 [June …
  • … of humbug they had ever brought forward.’   Frederick Smith however had apparently made paper …
  • … Waterhouse reviewed the latest controversies in his letter to Darwin of 2 August 1858 . The …
  • … of bee cell sizes might have a simple explanation. (Letter to Richard Hill, 8 August [1859] .) …
  • … are different sizes) was carried out in different ways (letter from Jeffries Wyman, 11 January …
  • … Darwin’s conclusions about the building of cells. (Letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 8 September [1858] …
  • … bought to bear, a myth. In 1865, Darwin received a letter from Edward Cresy (letter from …

Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson

Summary

[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … intended for N o II of the foresaid works. By Captain Robert Fitzroy R.N. In the first …
  • … of his family and party of followers amongst whom are a Smith and a Carpenter. Being himself a ship …
  • … a moment longer to come home as he deserved to do.” That letter they shewed to Mr Ross and requested …
  • … to somewhere else” – so now read “your brother's letter and then we may have something sure to …
  • … wrote to him immediately before leaving for Sumatra – a letter calculated to elicit something …
  • … – not all exaggerated – and Mr R sent him back with a letter [ f.183r p.73 ] as he proposed. …
  • … was not of any profitable description but of what Mr H in letter to Mr R denominated “fiddle faddle” …
  • … to a note from Mr H concerning the last mentioned fugitive a letter which – Mr H sent to Mr R – …
  • … ] The three or four runaways mentioned in the forgoing letter had run to apply to Mr Ross – and on …
  • … from frequenting your islands &c” and in this his second letter he writes “I told you how it …
  • … at present only as by the bye” – In reply to Mr Ross’ letter which he sent with the paper –Mr H …
  • … the Eastern one may be seen by the following extract from a letter dated 19 th May and sent by Mr …
  • … Copy Extract Of a letter sent to Captain Ross by Captain Harding of H.M …
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