To William Bowman 16 May [1869–81]
Summary
"I shall not be in London on Monday, but I have written to my Brother to ask him to aid you"
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bowman, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 16 May [1869-81] |
| Classmark: | George Houle Autographs (dealer) (Catalogue 61 or 81, March 1992) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13781 |
To Adolph Reuter 24 July [1869]
Summary
Thanks for facts on inheritance. May be used if CD corrects 3d ed. [2d ed.] of Variation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Adolf Reuter |
| Date: | 24 July [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 297 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13837 |
To ? 2 May [1869 or later]
Summary
"When a man has laboured hard in science & has proved that he is capable of original research, he may [some]times indulge in speculation [&] the public will indulge him. But even in this case it is a common error to speculate too largely, for speculation is far easier than observation or experiments . . ."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 2 May [1869-82] |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s (dealers) (28 March 1983) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13866A |
To Richard Kippist 31 January [1869?]
Summary
"You are most perfectly welcome to Fragmenta [F. J. H. von Mueller Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae (1858–64)], & I shall be delighted if they are of the slightest use to you."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Kippist |
| Date: | 31 Jan [1869?] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (pasted in Mueller 1858–82, vol. 1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3426A |
To Benjamin Dann Walsh 3 April [1869]
Summary
Glad BDW has proved his case on dimorphism of Cynips.
Interested in galls
and BDW’s Cicada articles [Proc. Entomol. Soc. Philadelphia (1864)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
| Date: | 3 Apr [1869] |
| Classmark: | Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Walsh 17) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5482 |
From J. D. Hooker 14 [January] 1869
Summary
Oliver overlooked CD’s request about rutaceous flowers. Of precisely which points about the ovules does CD want illustrations?
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 [Jan] 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: A78, DAR 103: 3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5729 |
To George Howard Darwin 6 February [1869]
Summary
John Lubbock regrets GHD did not take the Eton post. JL thinks scientific masters will soon occupy places as high and as profitable as classical masters.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Howard Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Feb [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.1: 4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5843 |
To Charles Lyell [3 November 1869]
Summary
Takes "much to heart" solar evidence for short age of the earth. Cites evidence for "long endurance of our existing continents". Comments on process of denudation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [3 Nov 1869] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.346) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5974 |
To ? 6 April [1869–71]
Summary
"My experiment was intended solely to show that colour reappeared, and I choose kinds which breed [true] to colour, as is certainly the case with [sports] and those which I tried . . .
I have recorded an undoubted case of wild rock Pigeons caught in Scotland having bred in confinement …"
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 6 Apr [1869-71] |
| Classmark: | L’Autographe S.A. (dealers) (Catalogue 21) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6098A |
From W. W. Reade 28 June [1869]
Summary
Horned rams of Guinea sheep.
CD’s queries about expression are too difficult for him to answer.
| Author: | William Winwood Reade |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 June [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 86: A32–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6260 |
To Scientific Opinion [before 20 October 1869]
Summary
Replies to F. Delpino’s criticisms of Pangenesis [Sci. Opin. 2 (1869): 365–7, 391–3, 407–8], especially concerning the difficulty of explaining the regrowth of amputated organs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Scientific Opinion |
| Date: | [before 20 Oct 1869] |
| Classmark: | Scientific Opinion 2 (1869): 426. |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6442 |
From John Lubbock [after 5 August 1869]
Summary
Visiting arrangements.
| Author: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 5 Aug 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 170: 70 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6519 |
From Francis Darwin [before 8 May 1869]
Summary
Reports what he must pay for university courses. Forgets what CD wants to know about vermiform appendage.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 8 May 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 12 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6519F |
From E. A. Darwin [after 21 April 1869]
Summary
Discusses CD’s health and James Paget’s "verdict".
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 21 Apr 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: B65 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6521 |
From George Henslow [after 22 February 1869]
Summary
Sends information from a Kent sheep-breeder.
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 22 February1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 167 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6522 |
From James Paget [1869]
Summary
"I enclose a note from Lord Fitzwilliam about his horse with zebra-marks. The case seems as striking as I believed."
| Author: | James Paget, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1869] |
| Classmark: | Paget ed. 1901, p. 408 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6533 |
From Margaret Susan Vaughan Williams to Henrietta Emma Darwin [after 14 October 1869]
Summary
Describes expression of her baby when crying.
| Author: | Margaret Susan Wedgwood; Margaret Susan Vaughan Williams |
| Addressee: | Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta Emma Litchfield |
| Date: | [after 14 Oct 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 180: 4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6535 |
From E. A. Darwin 26 [November 1869 or later]
Summary
Has seen J. J. Sylvester again.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 [Nov 1869 or later] |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: B66 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6539 |
To William Thierry Preyer [before 21 March 1869]
Summary
Replies to inquiries about his life and career.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Thierry (William) Preyer |
| Date: | [before 21 Mar 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 262–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6540 |
From Vladimir Onofrievich Kovalevsky [January–March 1869]
Summary
Has written to Moscow about translations of Origin. Wishes to translate additions to the fifth English edition and print them as a supplement.
Pleased by CD’s high opinion of Alexander Kovalevsky.
| Author: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Jan–Mar 1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 169: 54 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6541 |
| letter | (539) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (225) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (17) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (12) |
| Cupples, George | (10) |
| Tait, W. C. | (9) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (289) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (19) |
| Cupples, George | (15) |
| Carus, J. V. | (9) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (9) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (514) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (36) |
| Cupples, George | (25) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (18) |
| Tait, W. C. | (17) |
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: 27 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition …
- … that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). Much of the remainder of …
- … to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). Hooker went straight to a crucial …
- … probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , and letter from A. R. Wallace, …
- … in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin had argued ( Origin , pp. …
- … formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Croll could not supply Darwin with an …
- … have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). Darwin did not directly …
- … towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). Towards Descent …
- … ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was able to return to work on …
- … ( letter from Robert Elliot to George Cupples, 21 June 1869 ). Details on mating behaviour …
- … in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 ). Albert Günther, assistant in the …
- … varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February [1869] ). The data contined to …
- … cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet completion of the work was …
- … for Descent . Researching emotion In 1869, Darwin still expected that Descent …
- … hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James Crichton-Browne and …
- … ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). Darwin had often complained of the …
- … in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). More remarkable still were Wallace …
- … seem to you like some mental hallucination’ ( 18 April 1869 ). Since his marriage to Annie …
- … (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and scolded him for again being too …
- … demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). Proceeding on all fronts …
- … South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), and fossil discoveries in …
- … investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February 1869 ). In a letter to the Gardeners …
- … of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] ). In March, Darwin received …
- … in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March 1869 ). This research contributed to …
- … editions ( see letter from Victor Masson, 29 September 1869 ). The work had been undertaken, like …
- … Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by these proceedings, Darwin …
- … of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an explication of Darwinian …
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: 11 hits
- … Crichton-Browne, James 20 May 1869 32 Queen Anne St. …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 19 May 1869 West Riding …
- … Gray, Asa 9 May [1869] [Alexandria, Egypt] …
- … Gray, Jane 9 May [1869] [Alexandria, Egypt] …
- … Gray, Asa 8 & 9 May 1869 Florence, Italy (about …
- … King, P.G. 25 Feb 1869 Sydney, Australia …
- … Maudsley, Henry 20 May 1869 32 Queen Anne St. …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 17 Jan 1869 Sierra Leone, Africa …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 28 June [1869] Sierra Leone, …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 26 Dec 1869 Sierra Leone, Africa …
- … Scott, John 2 July 1869 Royal Botanic Gardens, …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] Jane Loring Gray, …
- … Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] Darwin’s niece, Margaret, …
- … Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s …
- … - Darwin to Gunther, A. C. L. G., [21 September 1869] Darwin asks Gunther for “a great …
Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
Matches: 3 hits
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
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
- … work on human expression. Donders visited Darwin in 1869 , and a year later Darwin consoled him …
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…
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
Science: A Man’s World?
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., [8 November 1869] Darwin thanks Antoinette …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
John Beddoe
Summary
In 1869, when gathering data on sexual selection in humans, Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with John Beddoe, a doctor in Bristol. He was looking for evidence that racial differences that appear to have no benefit in terms of survival - and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1869 Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with a John Beddoe, a doctor in …
Suggested reading
Summary
Contemporary writing Anon., The English matron: A practical manual for young wives, (London, 1846). Anon., The English gentlewoman: A practical manual for young ladies on their entrance to society, (Third edition, London, 1846). Becker, L. E.…
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 4 hits
- … himself an injustice & never demands justice” (14 April 1869). But Wallace continued, both …
- … about the application of natural selection to ‘man’ in 1869, and looked instead to a ‘higher …
- … investigation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 18 April [1869]). Wallace’s views on man were also …
- … the “great General” (letter to Charles Kingsley, 7 May 1869). In later years when Darwin reflected …
Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … was later expanded into the book, Hereditary Genius (1869), which contained an entry on the …
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…
About the project
Summary
On this site you can read and search the full texts of more than 7,500 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and find information on 7,500 more. Available here are complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1869. More are…
Matches: 1 hits
- … all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1869. More are being added all the time. …
John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down …
Family life
Summary
From the long letters exchanged with his sisters during the Beagle voyage, through correspondence about his marriage to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, the births—and deaths—of their children, to the contributions of his sons and daughters to his scientific…
Matches: 1 hits
- … From the long letters exchanged with his sisters during the Beagle voyage, through …
Interview with John Hedley Brooke
Summary
John Hedley Brooke is President of the Science and Religion Forum as well as the author of the influential Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991). He has had a long career in the history of science and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in spiritualism. He first writes to Darwin about this in 1869, and this is exactly the same time …
