From John Scott 12 April 1877
Summary
Comments on various species of Lagerstroemia.
In the series of opium poppy intercrosses made at CD’s suggestion, JS has learned that the reason they failed to intercross was the absence of insects at the period of their flowering.
| Author: | John Scott |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Apr 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 207–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10928 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … who was curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta (now Kolkata), had been seconded in …
- … and was in charge of the experimental gardens at Deegah and Meetapore (Digha and Mithapur, …
- … was superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. In a letter of 21 July 1865 ( …
- … Annual report on the experimental poppy gardens at Deegah and Meetapore for the season …
- … observed it produce a single seed in our gardens or in those of Calcutta, though it is …
- … the normal var. with red flowers is fairly fertile in the Calcutta gardens if I recollect …
- … aright, but in gardens here I have rarely seen a single seed vessel on it, and that never …
- … good seeds. I find only one form in the gardens here (Bankipore), I enclose flowers; I am …
- … of flower-visiting insects in our fields and gardens varies much from season to season. I …
- … of a Litchi ( Nephelium Litchi ) in my garden here. The result of this is that a very …
- … exceptional, indeed I never in the Calcutta gardens observed it. of the normally 2-celled …
- … below) were sterile in the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Lagerstroemia elegans Wall. is …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 7 August 1877
Summary
Requests plants that show movement, and any with "bloom" living near the sea.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 7 Aug 1877 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 80–1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11094 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 80–1) Charles …
- … at Kew on 3 September 1877 (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Inwards book ). Lynch had sent CD …
- … the propagating department at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Robinia pseudoacacia is the …
- … to CD on 5 September 1877 (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Outwards book ). Henry Nicholson …
- … would later be sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (see letter from H. N. Ellacombe, 30 …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 31 August [1877]
Summary
Discusses plants to be sent to Kew.
Thanks for letter about Trifolium
and for R. I. Lynch’s observations on sleep of Erythrina.
Mentions letter from F. J. Cohn, dealing with discovery by Francis Darwin, that CD has had printed in Nature ["The contractile filaments of the teasel", Nature 16 (1877): 339; Collected papers 2: 205–7].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 31 Aug [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 89–91) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11122 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 89–91) Charles …
- … would later be sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (see letter from H. N. Ellacombe, 30 …
- … at Kew on 3 September 1877 (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Inwards book ). According to the …
- … propagating department at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, had been providing CD with both …
- … seems like that of Phaseolus which in my garden did not sleep during early part of summer …
- … book (3 September 1877, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), the plant was an Acacia . CD had …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 9 July [1877]
Summary
Asks for advice on how to care for previously sent species.
Occurrence of "bloom".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 9 July [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 67–8) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11043 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 67–8) Charles …
- … whilst there are a good many in the flower-garden & greenhouse. Would Bentham be a likely …
- … Outwards book (Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; see n. 2, below). The year 1877 is …
- … used plants from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where Thiselton-Dyer was assistant …
From George Hodgskin 6 January 1877
Summary
Sends nest of a Uruguayan bird.
| Author: | George Hodgskin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Jan 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 225 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10773 |
From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 10 August 1877
Summary
Information on plants requested by CD.
| Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Aug 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 100 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11100 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 28 July [1877]
Summary
Thanks R. I. Lynch for his MS on Averrhoa.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 28 July [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 79) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11076 |
From G. J. Romanes 2 December 1877
Summary
Thanks for letter. Values CD’s opinion more than that of anybody else.
Perfectly astonished at reception CD got among popular audiences at GJR’s lectures.
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Dec 1877 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 68 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11283 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … the other plants could be grown in the other gardens, and well attended to. That is a very …
- … when there are such a multitude of other gardens belonging to do-nothing people. But as …
- … onions there is a difficulty in all the gardens I know—viz. , that they are more or less …
- … therefore, you should know any part of your garden where onions have not grown for some …
- … I have conquered. CD had offered his garden for any experimental work Romanes might want …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer [before 24 August 1877]
Summary
Would like specimen of Cassia mimosoides.
Offers books to R. I. Lynch in return for services rendered.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | [before 24 Aug 1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 83–4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11085 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 11 August 1877
Summary
Thanks for plants.
Thanks R. I. Lynch for information about "bloom" on leaves.
WTT-D should not write to Mr Smith about plants near seashore.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 11 Aug 1877 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 85–6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11102 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 15 September [1877]
Summary
Wants a Euphorbia to test for leaf movements.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 15 Sept [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., 1873–81: ff. 95–6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11141 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 22 September 1877
Summary
Thanks for Euphorbia.
Asks for plants for "bloom" experiments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 22 Sept 1877 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 97–8) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11149 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 18 July [1877]
Summary
Thanks him for various plants sent for experiments.
Frank [Darwin] has been feeding Drosera meat to study differences between fed and unfed plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 18 July [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 72–3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11059 |
From J. H. Balfour to John Scott 24 May 1877
Summary
Thanks JS for valuable Manual of opium husbandry, and congratulates him on his success in India.
| Author: | John Hutton Balfour |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 24 May 1877 |
| Classmark: | Transactions of the Hawick Archæological Society (1908): 70 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10971F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1908): 70 John Hutton Balfour Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 24 May 1877 John Scott …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 7 October 1877
Summary
Wants seed with large cotyledons to test for sensitivity and movement.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 7 Oct 1877 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 101–2) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11171 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 11 October [1877]
Summary
Movements in cotyledons; outlines tracing technique. [A tracing of movements of red cabbage cotyledon enclosed.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 11 Oct [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 103–5) (Image reproduced with the kind permission of the Board of Trustees) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11178 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 May [1877]
Summary
CD has again become interested in "bloom" on plants; requests JDH’s help with seeds and plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 25 May [1877] |
| Classmark: | DAR 95: 440–1; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 69) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10972 |
To H. N. Ridley 16 April [1877]
Summary
Thanks for Saxifraga. CD had shown in Insectivorous plants [pp. 345–7] that this genus had some powers of absorption.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Nicholas Ridley |
| Date: | 16 Apr [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Letters to H. N. Ridley CLE–GUR, 1878–81: f. 43) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10931 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Letters to H. N. Ridley CLE–GUR, 1878–81: f. 43) Charles …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 27 September [1877]
Summary
Thanks for Australian leaves for "bloom" experiments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 27 Sept [1877] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 99) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11156 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 99) Charles …
From J. D. Hooker 13 November 1877
Summary
JDH cannot attend at the bestowal of CD’s honorary doctorate at Cambridge.
O. C. Marsh is rash to suggest all vertebrate types originated in America.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Nov 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 99–100 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11234 |
| letter | (85) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (34) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (11) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (6) |
| Gray, Asa | (5) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (49) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (19) |
| Lynch, R. I. | (3) |
| Romanes, G. J. | (3) |
| Gray, Asa | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (83) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (25) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (13) |
| Gray, Asa | (7) |
| Lynch, R. I. | (5) |
17 Spring Gardens, London
Summary
Darwin in London preparing for the voyage
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin is living in London persuading Fitzroy to accept him on the voyage and preparing clothing, …
Photograph album of Dutch admirers
Summary
Darwin received the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the Netherlands. He wrote to the Dutch zoologist Pieter Harting, An account of your countrymen’s generous sympathy in having sent me on my…
Matches: 1 hits
- … with his works. In 1868, Darwin wrote to the zoological gardens in Amsterdam (Natura Artis …
Descent
Summary
There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … a multitude of breeders & visiting them & the zoological Gardens ’. One of those breeders …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
Matches: 9 hits
- … Anthony) Director of the Rotterdam Zoological Gardens, President of the Netherland …
- … de Piscieulturist at the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … President of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … Director of the Hague Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens. 54 Den Haag 28 may …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Mag.” …
- … Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Assistant Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Mag.” …
- … of the Leijden University’s Royal Botanical Gardens. Leiden …
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
- … to ‘experimentise’ on the hawks in the Zoological Gardens . He was delighted when the birds …
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…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Matches: 9 hits
- … Anthony) Director of the Rotterdam Zoological Gardens, President of the Netherland …
- … de Pisciculturist at the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … President of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … Director of the Hague Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens. 54 Den Haag 28 May …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Assistant Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … of the Leijden University’s Royal Botanical Gardens. Leiden …
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
- … 2 April 1874 ), a high price that aggrieved Darwin. Gardens and gardeners Darwin’s …
Orchids
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A project to follow On the Origin of Species Darwin began to observe English orchids and collect specimens from abroad in the years immediately following the publication of On the Origin of Species. Examining…
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…
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Summary
The 1400 letters exchanged between Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) account for around 10% of Darwin’s surviving correspondence and provide a structure within which all the other letters can be explored. They are a connecting thread that spans…
Matches: 3 hits
Instinct and the Evolution of Mind
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…
Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 4 hits
- … and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and J. D. Hooker’s father, …
- … Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, that he should repeat …
- … had recently accepted the position of curator of the botanic gardens at Calcutta. Scott eventually …
- … had been offered the directorship of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ( letter from F. H. Hooker, 13 …
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
Summary
< Back to Introduction A popular biography of Darwin for young readers by the American naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, published in 1891, sought to present him as ‘an example to the youth of all lands’ (p. v). Thus ‘our hero’ was shown to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … can be seen a distant view of Down House amid its trees and gardens, with smoke rising from the …
British Association meeting 1860
Summary
Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…
Matches: 1 hits
- … by Natural Selection—a theory open—like the Zoological Gardens (from a particular cage in which it …
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…
'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
- … for the prize, was held at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, in June 1864 ( The …
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 …
4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Ernest Griset’s drawing titled ‘Emotional!’ was published in Fun magazine on 23 November 1872, and is another skit referring to Darwin’s recently published Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. A hippopotamus had been…
Matches: 1 hits
- … A hippopotamus had been born at the London Zoological Gardens on 5 November, exciting great public …
