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6430_10256

Summary

From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hookerf1   25 October 1868Lund (Suède)25 Okt. 1868.Monsieur le Professeur! J’ai écrit à deux de mes amis qui ont des connaissances personnelles à la Lapponie, pour avoir les…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … Footnotes f1 For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol. 16, Appendix I. …
  • … Association for the Advancement of Science in Norwich (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 30 August 1868) …
  • … of northern Europe during the Stone Age (Nilsson 1868); see letter to John Lubbock, 15 February …
  • … Footnotes f1 For a transcription of this letter in its original French, see part II: 811–2. …
  • … Association for the Advancement of Science in Norwich (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 30 August 1868) …
  • … of northern Europe during the Stone Age (Nilsson 1868); see letter to John Lubbock, 15 February …
  • Letter details From Nilsson, Sven To Hooker, J. D. …

The writing of "Origin"

Summary

From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … whole has infinitely exceeded my wildest hopes.— (letter to Charles Lyell,  25 [November …
  • … to choose from the load of curious facts on record.—’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). …
  • … as evidence for what actually occurred in nature (see letter to Asa Gray, 4 April [1858] , and  …
  • … throwing away what you have seen,’ he told Hooker in his letter of 8 [June 1858] , ‘yet I have …
  • … his work was interrupted by the arrival of the now-famous letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, …
  • … selection. Darwin’s shock and dismay is evident in the letter he subsequently wrote to Charles Lyell …
  • … Even his terms now stand as Heads of my Chapters.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). …
  • … on Charles Lyell’s endorsement, the editors have dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the …
  • … McKinney has suggested that Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same …
  • … Brooks maintains that Darwin received Wallace’s letter even earlier, perhaps as early as 14 May. …
  • … of the Peninsular & Oriental Company, and assuming that the letter to Darwin was posted at the …
  • … 20 May via Southampton. Accordingto Brooks, Darwin kept the letter for a month, during which time he …
  • … at Down on 18 June. In the absence of Wallace’s letter or of any firm evidence for the date of its …
  • … work, and he shows no sign of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858] , …
  • … ‘There is not least hurry in world about my M.S.’ In his letter to Hooker of 8 June [1858] , he …
  • … of someone who is distressed, as Darwin clearly was in his letter to Lyell, at the prospect of …
  • … Society on 1 July 1858. It also includes an unpublished letter from Wallace to Hooker thanking him …
  • … Darwin was during the days immediately following his letter to Lyell. On 18 June 1858, his eldest …
  • … abstract of his material would require a ‘small volume’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October [1858] …
  • … for the work. Again, he called upon Lyell for advice (letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). …
  • … Darwin held firm to the original plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , …
  • … ‘an abstract’ from the title of the forthcoming book (letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). …
  • … he wrote to Fox, ‘& I feel worse than when I came’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ) …

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: 6 hits

  • … Darwin began the ice treatment on 20 May 1865. In his letter to Chapman of 7 June 1865, he reported …
  • … week of July, he had evidently given up the treatment (see letter from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. …
  • … gout’ by Henry Holland in 1849 ( Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 6 February [1849]). …
  • … by William Brinton, William Jenner, and George Busk (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [7 January 1865], …
  • … 11, Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]). In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 [November 1863] …
  • … with dietary restrictions (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864], …

Perfect copper-plate hand: From Adolf Reuter, 30 May 1869

Summary

My favourite correspondent was chosen not because he is a brilliant conversationalist or a significant scientific thinker – but after a decade of reading a series of challenging hand writings, my favourite is the one who wrote in a perfect copper-plate…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … wrote to CD in a spirit of humility, starting his first letter ‘ Sir, you will be very astonished …
  • … a brief correspondence dotted with treasures. With one letter came a delicate ink sketch of a vine …

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Summary

George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … visitors (23 March 1873; Emma described his visit in a letter to Fanny Allen, [26 March 1873], DAR …
  • … it too hot and left before the manifestations started ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
  • … (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) and Charles Darwin’s letter to Francis Darwin, [1 May 1876] ). …

A tale of two bees

Summary

Darwinian evolution theory fundamentally changed the way we understand the environment and even led to the coining of the word 'ecology'. Darwin was fascinated by bees: he devised experiments to study the comb-building technique of honey bees and…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … John Lubbock seems very much ahead of his time when, in a letter to Darwin in 1867 , he commented …
  • … the buzzing place where I myself was standing. (letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May …
  • … as an example of acquired knowledge in insects. The letter was in response to one from a disgruntled …

Volume appendices

Summary

Here is a list of the appendices from the print volumes of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin with links to adapted online versions where they are available. Appendix I in each volume contains translations of letters in foreign languages and these can…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … and these can be accessed online by searching for a letter and clicking on the translation tab on …
  • … 8 V Patrick Matthew's letter to the Gardeners’ Chronicle …

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: 28 hits

  • … purposes’ (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1862] , and …
  • … book (Down House MS) and  Correspondence  vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855] ). …
  • … its sensitivity to touch (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December …
  • … his employer’s hothouses over the previous two years. In a letter of 24 December [1862] ( …
  • … he had had, he would ‘probably have made a mess of it’ (letter to G. H. Turnbull, [16? February …
  • … adding ‘I shall keep to curious & experimental plants’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January …
  • … of Westerham, with whom he had dealt over many years. In his letter to Hooker, Darwin mentioned that …
  • … of the plants you want before going to Nurserymen’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ) …
  • … I shall avoid[,] of course I must not have from Kew’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ) …
  • … him: ‘I long to stock it, just like a school-boy’ (letter to J. D.  Hooker, 15 February [1863] ). …
  • … which I wished for, but which I did not like to ask for’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 February …
  • … in a particular mixture of moss, peat, and charcoal (see the letter from Henrietta Emma Darwin to …
  • … of his plants, proffering further advice on cultivation (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 March …
  • … sh d . not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … to envision the tropics (see  Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, [28 April 1831] …
  • … of my old friends again’ ( Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Catherine Darwin, May–June [1832] …
  • … of the tropics ( Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to Charles Lyell, 8 October [1845] ). …
  • … to identify the families to which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he …
  • … for experiments, which seem to me really worth trial’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 February [1863] …
  • … [that is, cool hothouse]’ ( Correspondence  vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26[–7] March 1864 …
  • … Tait that he had ‘4 houses of different temperatures’ (letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March [1869 …
  • … to the greenhouses ( Correspondence  vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, [25 January 1864] ). …
  • … out’ on that list the plants he could not supply (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [16 February 1863] …
  • … ‘Gloxinia droopy & upright’ both in this list and in his letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 February …
  • … Treviranus 1863a, which he received in mid-February (see letter from L. C. Treviranus, 12 February …
  • … that Darwin made of the plants sent to him by Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] …
  • … as having been sent to Darwin from Kew. Darwin said in the letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] …
  • … Treviranus and to Treviranus 1863a, p. 10. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] …

German poems presented to Darwin

Summary

Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade , [before 16 …
  • … lift this veil, till I myself do raise it.) Letter from Emil Rade 1    …
  • … 5   Notes   1. This letter is published in vol. 25 of The …
  • … The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Emil Rade, 16 …

Editorial policy and practice

Summary

Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of the Correspondence. Transcriptions are made from the original or a facsimile where these are available. Where they are not, texts are taken from the best…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of …
  • … (for example in a dealer's catalogue).The text of each letter has been closely checked against …
  • … letters he received is given in the 'Annotations' below the letter (line numbers refer to …
  • … to be identified by inference from the content and date of a letter or its reply, or some other …
  • … of letters have had to be dated only approximately. If a letter is in a series which contains a …
  • … and ‘after’ are used in a strict sense. Thus a letter dated ‘after 8 July 1854’ is judged to have …
  • … 3. The address If there is no address on a letter from Darwin, but there is some internal …
  • … not supplied unless good evidence is at hand. 4. The letter summaries The summaries on …
  • … of the printed Calendar . Where the full text of a letter is also given and there are …

Contact

Summary

Found a new letter? Think we've made a mistake? Have a question? We'd like to hear from you. Email the Darwin Correspondence Project Team or write to us at: Darwin Correspondence Project Cambridge University Library West Road …

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Found a new letter? Think we've made a mistake? Have a question? We'd like to hear from …

The Voyage of the Beagle

Summary

It was a letter from his friend and former teacher, John Stevens Henslow, that brought the 22-year-old Charles Darwin news of the offer of a place on board the Admiralty surveying vessel HMS Beagle on a voyage to chart the coast of South America. During…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … never was a finer chance for a man of zeal & spirit. ( Letter from J. S. Henslow, 24 August …
  • … brought him to wider scientific attention. Henslow's letter was waiting for Darwin when …

Virginia Isitt: Darwin’s secretary?

Summary

In an undated and incomplete draft letter to a “Miss I.”, Emma Darwin appears to be arranging for Miss I. to come to Down for a trial period as a secretary. When the letter first came to light, no one had heard of the mysterious “Miss I.” and, as far as we…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … I have received from my niece your letter to her (in which you say you wd like to undertake the …
  • … Mr D[arwin]. In an undated and incomplete draft letter to a “Miss I.”, Emma Darwin …
  • … that a formal post was even considered. The letter  (editorial expansions in square …
  • … the evening w. us but I hope you will A second letter in the Darwin Archive–CUL (DAR …
  • … secretary. The niece that Emma mentions in her draft letter to Miss Isitt was probably Julia …

Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species

Summary

Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … that point Darwin was ‘interrupted’, as he put it, by a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace which …

Strange things sent to Darwin in the post

Summary

Some of the stranger things Darwin received in the post can tell us a lot about how Darwin worked at home. In 1863, Darwin was very excited when the ornithologist Alfred Newton sent him a diseased, red-legged partridge foot with an enormous ball of clay…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Photograph of Hinrich Nitsche's ear, enclosed with the letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April …

Symbols and abbreviations

Summary

All letters are 'ALS' (autograph letter signed) unless otherwise stated. The following abbreviations and conventions are used throughout: CD – Charles Darwin  del – deleted illeg – illegible interl – interlined underl –…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … All letters are 'ALS' (autograph letter signed) unless otherwise stated. The …
  • … following are used in the 'physical description' for each letter.  Letters are assumed to …
  • … own hand) unless otherwise stated.  L – letter pc – post card mem – …
  • … D – document (other than above) draft – draft of letter C – copy of letter CC – …
  • … with sender’s name by amanuensis ALS – autograph letter signed by sender LS – letter in …
  • … or emendations in sender’s hand TLS – typed letter signed ACCS – contemporary copy in …
  • … 6pp †. Means:   a five-page autograph letter signed by the sender and written in …

Bartholomew James Sulivan

Summary

On Christmas Day 1866, Bartholomew Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, commiserating on shared ill-health, glorying in the achievements of their children, offering to collect plant specimens, and…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, …
  • … clothes & dry blankets for the first time for weeks.’ ( Letter from B. J. Sulivan, 25 December …

5935_4582

Summary

From J. D. Hooker   26[–7] February 1868KewFeby 26th/68Dear Darwin I have been bursting with impatience to hear what you would say of the Athenæum Review & who wrote it— I could not conceive who…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … Next morning — After rereading all this vaporous letter I shall try to answer your last page in a …
  • … some] ‘(5)’ added before blue crayon Top of letter : ‘London— Athen. Lewes’ f10 blue …
  • … of Variation in the Athenæum to Richard Owen (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 February [1868] …
  • … Chronicle , 22 February 1868, p. 184, in his letter to Hooker of 23 February [1868]. f4 …
  • … f10 These annotations are for CD’s reply. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 February [1868] and nn. …
  • Letter details From Hooker, J. D. To Darwin, C. R. …
  • … Tries to answer question on last page of CD’s letter anent sexuality. …

Visiting the Darwins

Summary

'As for Mr Darwin, he is entirely fascinating…'  In October 1868 Jane Gray and her husband spent several days as guests of the Darwins, and Jane wrote a charming account of the visit in a sixteen-page letter to her sister.  She described Charles…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Jane wrote a charming account of the visit in a sixteen-page letter to her sister, Susan Loring.  …
  • … experiments. A complete transcript of the letter is below; here are some highlights: …
  • … expressions of wonder— Complete text of the letter from Jane Gray to Susan Loring, 28 …
  • … I was in too much of a hurry on Saturday morng. to add to my letter thanks for the nice budget of …
  • … time in England grows short— This morng. came your letter, dear Sue, & accounts of a snow …

Was Darwin an ecologist?

Summary

One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.

Matches: 7 hits

  • … Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern scientific paper quoted …
  • … daresay very well, & for coining new words.’  See the letter The word first appeared …
  • … for atheism, but as Darwin himself acknowledged in a letter to Mary Boole, it was more satisfactory …
  • … as a result of the direct intervention of God.  See the letter We may contrast Darwin’s …
  • … sucks it, must have! It is a very pretty case.’  See the letter Darwin was confident …
  • … nature as she really is.’ It seems from Haeckel’s letter that what most struck him about …
  • … of his great discovery is by contrast extremely modest. In a letter written in 1864 and …
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