From A. R. Wallace 1 January 1881
Summary
ARW’s view of migration of plants from mountain to mountain gains support from case described in Nature [23 (1880): 125–6] by J. G. Baker. Identical species of alpine plants found in African mountains and Madagascar.
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Jan 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 271.6: a6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12964 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … ARW’s view of migration of plants from mountain …
- … to mountain gains support from case described in Nature [23 (1880): 125–6] by J. G. …
- … Baker. Identical species of alpine plants found in African mountains and Madagascar. …
- … or at all events a support) of my views of the land migration of plants from mountain …
- … to mountain. In Nature of Dec. 9 p. 126 Mr. Baker of Kew …
- … on the migration of alpine plants across mountain chains and the role of wind as means of …
- … are comparatively recent immigrants, & if so must have passed across the sea from mountain …
- … to mountain,— for the richness & speciality of the Madagascar forest-vegetation renders it …
- … Abyssinia, the Cameroons, & other African mountains. Now if there is one thing more clear …
From C. J. F. Bunbury 10 April 1855
Summary
Responds to CD’s questions about mountain vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope. The distribution of some plants provides problems for both migration and special creation hypotheses.
| Author: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Apr 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.4: 95 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1664 |
Matches: 16 hits
- … Responds to CD’s questions about mountain vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope. The …
- … 1848 . CD had previously discussed the mountain flora of the Cape with him (see letter to …
- … at least I can try. First, as to the mountain vegetation of the Cape. This is a subject on …
- … who has resided long in that country. He says that the mountains in the interior of the …
- … the Sneeuwberg, Roggeveld, & Nieuwveld mountains,—have, even in their higher regions, an …
- … or Heaths. The actual summits of the mountains, Zeyher says, are covered with Grasses. At …
- … under 3000 feet. The height of Table Mountain itself (3580 f t ) is perhaps hardly …
- … is hitherto known) to the top of that mountain, but they are all of thoroughly S. African …
- … do not know of any genera confined to that mountain. Not a few species, again, (& species …
- … Cape) are common to the summit of the mountain & to much lower levels. I wish I had noted …
- … Erica coccinea grows on the summit & at the foot of Table Mountain; Erica spumosa, on …
- … the summit of the mountain, & on the sandy table-land behind Simons Town, …
- … which indeed is a prolongation of the same mountain-mass, but less than 1000 f t above the …
- … last two are Ferns. The Amatola, & other mountains of Caffraria, remain to be examined. I …
- … appears to be partly owing to the chains of mountains bordering the coast (especially …
- … the Outeniqua or Zitzikamma mountains on the S. coast,) wch catch the vapours brought by …
To A. R. Wallace 2 January 1881
Summary
On land migration of plants. The case in Nature is striking but CD doubts that seeds of plants could be blown from mountains of Abyssinia to mountains of Madagascar.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 2 Jan 1881 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12968 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … in Nature is striking but CD doubts that seeds of plants could be blown from mountains of …
- … Abyssinia to mountains of Madagascar. …
- … than that the seeds of plants sh d have been blown from the Mountains of Abyssinia …
- … or other central mountains of Africa …
- … to the Mountains of Madagascar. — It seems to me almost infinitely more probable that …
- … flora of Madagascar and that of the mountain regions of continental Africa (see letter …
- … Madagascar, subsequently ascending to the mountains. How lamentable it is that two men sh …
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1863a. Enumeration of the mountain flowering plants and ferns collected by M. Gustav Mann, government botanist, during his various ascents of the Camaroons Mountains, of Clarence Peak, Fernando Po, and of the peak of San Thomé. Appendix 3 in Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains. An exploration, by Richard F. Burton. 2 vols. London.
From C. D. Douglas 5 January 1836
Summary
Reports in detail on the 20 Feb 1835 earthquake and on volcanic activity into December of 1835. Encloses a letter sent to him describing the earthquake.
| Author: | Charles D. Douglas |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Jan 1836 |
| Classmark: | DAR 39.1: 5–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-292 |
Matches: 17 hits
- … silent. — 11.5] scored 12.3 tops … Mountain 12.6] scored 14.1 S n . Carlos … Osorno 14.6] …
- … seen forming on the S.S.E. side of the Mountain, it boiled over melted lava & threw up …
- … but the smoke falling down, soon hid the Mountain in obscurity. And when seen again a few …
- … from a small crater on the S.W. side of the mountain, just above the verge of snow. The …
- … smoke, the small crater formed outside the Mountain had gone out. The Corcovado was silent …
- … not seen from here. On the Seven peaked Mountain South from the corcovado were three large …
- … from Renigue the whole top of this Mountain which appears from the water like Table land, …
- … its E. side is hid by this view, & the mountain appears a well shaped cone with two large …
- … as it rises, & forms like a crown to the Mountain. The Snow appears to cover 1 5 of its …
- … The sun rose beautifully from behind the mountain Renigue, between two high curling colums …
- … was formerly a very high three peaked Mountain, that two years before his marriage, its …
- … flames issue from the side of the mountain, between the two craters: these flames first …
- … line fliting up & down the side of the mountain between the two craters; these momentary …
- … the craters, and also of this imense mountain being hollow perhaps only a thin shell which …
- … I ever saw, the S.S.E. side of the Mountain Osorno had fallen in, uniting the two …
- … in an arch to N.E. & fell behind the mountain, a dense black cloud stood high aboe it, & …
- … matter was thrown very high from the Mountain top, & very large flash of lightning from …
CD’s notes arising from conversations with J. D. Hooker 8 December 1844
Summary
[Notes on conversations with J. D. Hooker.] Geographical distribution; diffusion and distribution of species. Island and mountain floras; means of migration (high-roads, icebergs).
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Dec 1844 |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 35–40 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-798 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … and distribution of species. Island and mountain floras; means of migration (high-roads, …
- … peculiar genus of grass) common to Mountains of Van Diemen’s land, New Zealand & Tierra …
- … of Sandwich Is d . — Believe Europæan form on Organ Mountains in Brazil— Schonburgk found …
- … Rubi on 6000 ft mountains in Guyana. — What is …
- … Flora of Bourbon? Really all mountains, except of Australia (a) are allied. ( My views …
- … for migration. (a) On Van Diemens Land Mountains, An Anemone & Andromeda, & none of these …
- … in T. del Fuego. — On New Zealand Mountains a herbaceous Veronica, (& Epilobiums? ) in …
- … other genus. — Believe that on most mountains as Ceylon & E. India, the extra-tropical …
- … are found. Certainly appears as if all mountains in some degree uniform. — Certainly the …
- … in most countries—yet great tendency to be on mountains. (All my reasoning will apply to …
- … alpine Floras. ) One species found on mountains of Chile , N. America & Europe. important …
- … his sketch of 1842, CD had stated that the mountain faunas of eastern South America, the …
From J. D. Hooker 7 October 1872
Summary
Miscellaneous personal matters.
What does CD think of Robert Mallet’s earthquake theory? Would it not account for strata dipping at base of range of mountains?
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Oct 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 121–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8547 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … earthquake theory? Would it not account for strata dipping at base of range of mountains? …
- … follow and extend at either side of the mountain-chains of the world’ ( Mallet 1872 , p. …
- … the action of earthquakes and the elevation of mountain chains in ‘Volcanic phenomena …
- … and the formation of mountain chains’ . …
- … Volcanic phenomena and the formation of mountain chains’: On the connexion of certain …
- … South America; and on the formation of mountain chains and volcanos, as the effect of the …
- … dipping inwards at the base of ranges of mountains? All quiet here at present | Ever yours …
From C. J. F. Bunbury to Charles Lyell 20 February 1866
Summary
Discusses CD’s and J. D. Hooker’s letters to Lyell concerning Louis Agassiz’s theory of the glaciation of the Amazon basin in Brazil.
| Author: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 20 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | F. J. Bunbury ed. 1891–3, Later life 1: 144–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5011F |
Matches: 11 hits
- … distribution of temperate species in the mountains of eastern and western South America ( …
- … spread from the Andes to the Brazilian mountains. See F. J. Bunbury ed. 1891–3, Later …
- … of temperate forms on the Organ mountains; he seems to consider as a “temperate” genus …
- … to the possibility of glaciers on the Brazilian mountains: though I still think it quite …
- … If there are Vacciniums on the Organ mountains, they are of the sub-genus (Gaylussacia of …
- … island of St. Catherine. If the Brazilian mountains were once a branch of the Andes (which …
- … the Upper Andes to be found on the mountains of Minus, &c. , such as those “Rhododendrons …
- … consider the possibility of the Organ mountains and those of Minas having been formerly …
- … that Vaccinium plants on the Organ mountains in Brazil were not temperate species, but …
- … n. 2. The reference is apparently to the mountains of Minas Gerais, a state in eastern …
- … also suggested that the South American mountains had formerly been higher (see letter to …
Gray, Asa. 1842. Notes of a botanical excursion to the mountains of North Carolina, &c.; with some remarks on the botany of the higher Alleghany mountains. In a letter to Sir W. J. Hooker. London Journal of Botany 1 (1842): 1–14, 217–37; 2 (1843): 113-25; 3 (1844): 230–42.
To Charles Lyell 7 February [1866]
Summary
Discussion of Mrs Agassiz’s letter [to Mary Lyell, forwarded to CD] regarding S. American glacial action,
with comments on Bunbury’s letter on temperate plants.
Refers to opinions of Agassiz, David Forbes, Hooker, and CD on glacial period and glaciers.
Wishes he had published a long chapter on glacial period [Natural selection, pp. 535–66] written ten years ago.
Tells of death of his sister, Catherine, and other family matters.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 7 Feb [1866] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.312) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4999 |
Matches: 14 hits
- … even so few, temperate forms reached the mountains of Brazil; & I supposed they travelled …
- … 1846b. The vegetation of the Organ mountains of Brazil. Journal of the Horticultural …
- … Mr Gustav Mann on the higher parts of that mountain. [Read 7 March 1861. ] Journal of the …
- … for by the isolated position of these Mountains. There are no erratic boulders on the …
- … 450–3). The Serra dos Orgãos, or Organ Mountains, are a coastal range in central Rio de …
- … Agassiz’s description of the Organ Mountains, including reference to ‘glacial phenomena’, …
- … 1870 , pp. 15–18. CD referred to these mountains in the fourth and later editions of …
- … that temperate plants retreated to mountains in the tropics at the end of a former ice …
- … Hypericum , and Vaccinium in the Organ Mountains ( Gardner 1846b , pp. 281–4). CD gave an …
- … period and mentioned the occurrence on mountains in Abyssinia of species otherwise found …
- … s report of former glacial action on the mountains of Lebanon, see Correspondence vol. 8, …
- … maintained that the flora of the Organ mountains was Brazilian rather than northern in …
- … 9. For CD, the Cordillera included all the mountain ranges that run parallel to the west …
- … researches , p. 237). Silla de Caracas is a mountain in the coastal range near Caracas, …
From Hermann Brehmer 4 May 1876
Summary
Encloses article on local immunity to tuberculosis. Has he interpreted CD’s views correctly? Believes the immunity notable in areas like Iceland or mountain areas is due to local conditions, not natural selection. Describes his sanatorium in mountains of Silesia and medical criticism of his work.
| Author: | Hermann Brehmer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 287–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10496 |
Matches: 11 hits
- … immunity notable in areas like Iceland or mountain areas is due to local conditions, not …
- … selection. Describes his sanatorium in mountains of Silesia and medical criticism of his …
- … as e.g. the inhabitants of the higher mountains, of Iceland etc fall ill with phthisis …
- … they discontinue their previous—high fat—diet. Mountain dwellers, e.g. the inhabitants of …
- … called free, immune zones in the higher mountains do not fall ill with phthisis there. It …
- … as for example the inhabitants of the high mountains and of Iceland, fall ill of Phthisis …
- … life. Also strangers who are sent to the mountains free from consumption do not fall ill …
- … from Phth
〈 isis〉 & go back〈 〉 him〈 th〉 eir mountains they〈 〉 not a〈 〉 〈 〉 〈 p〉 … - … sent to the so-called free, immune mountain regions were cured from phthisis there. On the …
- … from phthisis, they return to their immune mountain-home, they are again healthier, the …
- … ago, to draw attention to this effect of the mountain climate on phthisis, and here in …
Ewan, Joseph Andorfer. [1950.] Rocky Mountain naturalists. [Denver, Colo.]: University of Denver Press.
Matches: 1 hit
- … Ewan, Joseph Andorfer. [1950. ] Rocky Mountain naturalists. [Denver, Colo. ]: University …
Gould, John. 1832. A century of birds from the Himalaya mountains. London: n.p.
Matches: 1 hit
- … John. 1832. A century of birds from the Himalaya mountains. London: n.p. PR2 MH.6.15 16 …
‘Volcanic phenomena and the formation of mountain chains’: On the connexion of certain volcanic phenomena in South America; and on the formation of mountain chains and volcanos, as the effect of the same power by which continents are elevated. By Charles Darwin. [Read 7 March 1838.] Transactions of the Geological Society of London 2d ser. 5 (1840): 601–31. [Shorter publications, pp. 97–124.]
To Charles Boner [before 8 January 1870]
Summary
Has received [read?] CB’s two works [Chamois hunting in the mountains of Bavaria (2d ed., 1860) and Forest creatures (1871)] and has made use of them in his present book [Descent].
CB’s descriptions of the Tyrol make CD long to be "strong and young again to ramble over the mountains".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Boner |
| Date: | [before 8 Jan 1870] |
| Classmark: | Kettle ed. 1871, p. 77 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7073 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … CB’s two works [ Chamois hunting in the mountains of Bavaria (2d ed. , 1860) and Forest …
- … of the Tyrol make CD long to be "strong and young again to ramble over the mountains". …
- … Charles. 1860. Chamois hunting in the mountains of Bavaria and the Tyrol. New edition. …
- … to Boner 1860 ( Chamois hunting in the mountains of Bavaria and in the Tyrol ) and Boner …
- … strong and young again to ramble over the mountains. My next book will not be ready for a …
To Asa Gray 14 July [1856]
Summary
Asks whether Allegheny Mountains are sufficiently continuous so that plants could travel from north to south along them.
Hopes AG’s work on geographical distribution is progressing, as he has questions on plants common to Europe which do not range up to Arctic.
Are intermediate varieties less numerous in individuals than the varieties they connect?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 14 July [1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1926 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Asks whether Allegheny Mountains are sufficiently continuous so that plants could travel …
- … Gray, Asa. 1842. Notes of a botanical excursion to the mountains of North Carolina, &c. ; …
- … of Mount Oconee (now called Stratton Mountain) in South Carolina in Bartram 1791 , p. …
- … reading a paper by you on plants on mountains of Carolina, (in London Journal of Botany) …
- … on the botany of the higher Alleghany mountains. In a letter to Sir W. J. Hooker. London …
- … M ts . ,—not that I know where these Mountains are. — How does your memoir on Geograph. …
From John Ball 28 November 1879
Summary
Thanks CD for noticing some difficulties in his hypothesis. Concedes that there is no proof that higher plants are more intolerant of carbon dioxide than lower plants. Argues that the main difference between the lowlands and the high mountains in Palaeozoic times would be the much greater climatic fluctuations that would occur on the mountains. Discusses carbon dioxide diffusion in the Palaeozoic atmosphere. Thinks that the large number of species and genera peculiar to high mountains favours the assumption that "their diffusion must date from a geologically remote period" [see ML 2: 20–2].
| Author: | John Ball |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Nov 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 36 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12335 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … between the lowlands and the high mountains in Palaeozoic times would be the much …
- … fluctuations that would occur on the mountains. Discusses carbon dioxide diffusion in the …
- … species and genera peculiar to high mountains favours the assumption that "their diffusion …
- … of relation between the floras of the mountain masses & that of the surrounding lower …
- … whole the facts favour the idea of the mountain plants being derived from the low country …
- … of genera & species peculiar to the high mountains is great enough to make an a priori …
- … the condition of the lowlands & the high mountains in palæozoic (pre-coalmeasure) times …
To J. D. Hooker 10 March [1854]
Summary
More praise for Himalayan journals.
How remote was glacial action in Himalayas?
Implies Himalayas were birthplace of many plants.
Final volume of Cirripedia to be printed in two or three months.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 10 Mar [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 119 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1558 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Farewell | Your’s affectionly | C. Darwin I fancy the Khasia Mountains in form, must be …
- … something like the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. — …
- … 2: 323–4). CD had visited the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, in January 1836 during the …
- … Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, &c. 2 vols. London: John Murray. Huxley, …
- … that Mount Ararat, in the Caucasus Mountains, was occupied by the ancestors of all the …
- … stimulated by Hooker’s reference to the mountain of Tendong, near Darjeeling, being known …
From J. D. Hooker 26 November 1850
Summary
Falconer’s misbehaviour.
Geology of Khashia [Khasi] mountains. Speculations on mountain building and origin of Himalayas.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Nov 1850 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (India letters 1847–51: 314–15 JDH/1/10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1371 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Falconer’s misbehaviour. Geology of Khashia [Khasi] mountains. …
- … Speculations on mountain building and origin of Himalayas. …
- … blocks of Nunklow spur in the Khasia Mountains and suggested they were the result of …
- … of enormous plains & no less conspicuous mountains the magnitude of the causes favors too …
- … For Hooker’s description of these mountains, see J. D. Hooker 1854 , 2: 265–325. Samuel …
- … not only abounding at low elevations in the mountains, but descending in abundance to the …
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heredity in Commentary
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…
