To Ellen Frances Lubbock [26 September 1869?]
Summary
Would have liked to come to lunch, but has been talking so much to Hooker that he has no strength left.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ellen Frances Hordern; Ellen Frances Lubbock |
| Date: | [26 Sept 1869?] |
| Classmark: | Houghton Library, Harvard University (Autograph File, D) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6669 |
From T. S. Cobbold 1 September [1869]
Summary
Thanks CD for parasitic worms [see 6858] specimens. Supports "fact of succession".
| Author: | Thomas Spencer Cobbold |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 190 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6876 |
From William Bowman 3 September [1869]
Summary
Asks whether he may come with F. C. Donders to visit CD.
| Author: | William Bowman, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6877 |
To Frans Cornelis Donders 6 September 1869
Summary
Asks about Charles Bell’s statement concerning contraction of eye muscles. Asks whether such contraction is related to secretion of tears.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
| Date: | 6 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6878 |
From J. D. Hooker 7 September 1869
Summary
Reports on events at Exeter [BAAS] meeting. G. G. Stokes made a first-rate President.
Huxley "poured boiling oil" over James McCann in answer to his "conceited dogmatic sermon".
F. A. W. Miquel is coming to stay.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 30–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6879 |
From Walter Elliot 7 September 1869
Summary
Sends excerpt on polygamous breeding habits of Asiatic elephants by Lieut. Johnstone [Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal (1868): 128]. [See Descent 1: 268.]
| Author: | Walter Elliot |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 86: A74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6880 |
To Fritz Müller 8 September [1869]
Summary
Wants observations on a Papilio to see whether ticking noise is confined to one sex.
Experiments on self-sterility.
Will send copy of his orchid paper ["Fertilisation of orchids", Collected papers 2: 138–56].
Eschscholzia when self-fertilised, produced pods.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 8 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 30) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6881 |
From James Orton 8 September 1869
Summary
Sends a lower molar of fossil horse from Quito. Curious as to its species, especially in view of Owen’s findings in Mexico.
| Author: | James Orton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 38 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6882 |
From Edward Burnett Tylor 8 September 1869
Summary
Wishes to borrow a paper by R. G. Haliburton on superstitions connected with sneezing [see 5635].
| Author: | Edward Burnett Tylor |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 201 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6883 |
From John Blackwall 8 September 1869
Summary
His observations on young of Theridion lineatum reveal no characteristics distinguishing one from another;
quotes N. Westring on stridulation in Theridion serratipes [see Descent 1: 339].
| Author: | John Blackwall |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 82: A80–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6884 |
To Gustav Jäger 9 September 1869
Summary
Admires GJ’s book [Die Darwin’sche Theorie (1869)].
Asks about plumage of rejected male pheasant.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gustav Jäger |
| Date: | 9 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | Frau Dr Hildegard Jaeger (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6885 |
To J. D. Hooker 10 September [1869]
Summary
F. C. Donders has been to lunch – a good "Darwinian"!
JDH’s speech of resignation [as BAAS President] at Exeter was charming [Rep. BAAS (1869)]. JDH should have been an ambassador.
Has received Indian census.
Is unusually well.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 10 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 151–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6886 |
From Edward Blyth 13 September 1869
Summary
Gives some observations and opinions on the appearance and behaviour of mandrills.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 225 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6887 |
From John Beddoe 13 September 1869
Summary
Encloses last instalment of data on colour of women’s hair and conjugal selection. Fears results are inconclusive.
| Author: | John Beddoe |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 85: A17–18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6888 |
From George Cupples 13 September 1869
Summary
Proportion of sexes in rats.
| Author: | George Cupples |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 86: 75 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6889 |
From V. O. Kovalevsky 13 September 1869
Summary
Since March has been living in Heidelberg, where his wife is studying mathematics and physics.
The Russian translation of Variation has been printed in his absence; he will bring a copy to Down if he receives one from Russia.
| Author: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 169: 78 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6890 |
To Edward Blyth 14 September [1869]
Summary
Thanks EB for his attempts to find out about the mandrills;
sorry to hear that he has been so badly treated by the manager of Land and Water.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Blyth |
| Date: | 14 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | McGill University Library, Department of Rare Books |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6891 |
From Frederick Smith 14 September 1869
Summary
On stridulation of Coleoptera, Trox sabulosus, Mutilla. [See Descent 1: 380.]
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Sept 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 82: A5–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6892 |
To Samuel Hubbard Scudder 15 September [1869]
Summary
Thanks SHS for papers he has sent.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Samuel Hubbard Scudder |
| Date: | 15 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | Boston Society of Natural History (papers at the Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6893 |
From J. T. Moggridge 16 September [1869]
Summary
Thanks for CD’s ["Fertilization of orchids", Collected papers 2: 138–56].
Although Thomas Meehan’s paper ["Variations in Epigaea repens", Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. (1868): 153–6] shows great variability in this genus, JTM sees a need to qualify the generalisation that there is as much variation in the wild as under domestication. He knows no evidence for a constant proportion between variability in the wild and under cultivation.
Observations on correlation between leaf size and exposure to sun and shade.
Has evidence for two varieties of Ophrys apifera in England, which live in mutually exclusive colonies.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Sept [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 212 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6894 |
| letter | (46) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Günther, Albert | (2) |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (2) |
| Beddoe, John | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Günther, Albert | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Blyth, Edward | (1) |
| Donders, F. C. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (46) |
| Günther, Albert | (5) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Blyth, Edward | (2) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
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…
Darwin in Conversation exhibition
Summary
Meet Charles Darwin as you have never met him before. Come to our exhibition at Cambridge University Library, running from 9 July to 3 December 2022, and discover a fascinating series of interwoven conversations with Darwin's many hundreds of…
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 4 hits
- … that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). He was also unsatisfied …
- … which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). The botanist and …
- … ). Darwin welcomed Krause’s suggestion, but warned him on 9 June not to ‘expend much powder & …
- … (Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield, [27 August 1879] (DAR 219.9: 201)). Celebrity and honours …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 7 hits
- … Darwin asked Murray to intervene, complaining on 9 January , ‘M r . Dallas’ delay … is …
- … on the auditory organs of Orthoptera and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter …
- … from the south of France to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood on 9 Novembe r, describing sphinx moths that …
- … direct result of natural selection ( Variation 2: 185–9). Wallace seized upon this point in a …
- … Katherine ( letter from C. M. Hawkshaw to Emma Darwin, 9 February [1868] ). Darwin’s eldest son, …
- … from Fritz Müller, 22 April 1868 , 17 June 1868 , 9 September 1868 , and 31 October 1868 …
- … A different order of pride was expressed on 9 November by Ernst Haeckel on the birth of his son …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 7 hits
- … excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I am almost stark …
- … , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his son, William, …
- … better fun’ than species ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1862] ), he responded to the …
- … active young wolves’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 ). Darwin had managed to …
- … to read any paper or speak’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 [April 1862] ). A visit in October from …
- … me go away for an hour after dinner & retire to my room at 9 o clock I do not think it would …
- … as true as gospel, so it must be true’ ( to J. D. Hooker, 9 May [1862] ). the real …
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…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 In the same letter, Darwin …
- … about C. Lyell 1863a are discussed in Bynum 1984, pp. 154–9. 7. See Correspondence …
- … letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and n. 7. 9. See Correspondence vol. 11, …
- … 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, [24 March 1863] and n. 9. In his published review, Lubbock wrote …
- … Emma Darwin to Henrietta Emma Darwin, [1 June 1865] (DAR 219.9: 28). 24. See the …
- … 30. Letter from John Lubbock to T. H. Huxley, 9 June 1865 (Imperial College, Huxley papers 6: 110) …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 6 hits
- … learn from experience, Darwin was wary, telling Romanes on 9 March , ‘I intend to have another …
- … but I cannot endure to do this’, Darwin told Francis on 9 November , and writing to Fritz …
- … ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). ‘I …
- … who had received presentation copies. Galton wrote on 9 October , ‘I wish the worms were not such …
- … of letters about worms’, he told Francis Darwin on 9 November , ‘but amidst much rubbish there …
- … ( letter to Francis Darwin, 28 [October 1881] ). On 9 November, Darwin told Francis , ‘I have …
Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms
Summary
‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 , and letter to Ernst Krause, 9 June [1879] ). The final text of the …
- … inflated to an elephant’ ( letter from Ernst Krause, 9 December 1880 ). Again, Darwin felt …
- … the success of our efforts’ ( letter to A. B. Buckley, 9 November 1880 ). He worked with Huxley on …
- … about their party quarrels’ ( letter to James Torbitt, 9 May 1880 ). Politicians grew concerned …
Darwin & coral reefs
Summary
The central idea of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, as it was later formulated, was that the islands were formed by the upward growth of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. It overturned previous ideas and would in itself…
Books on the Beagle
Summary
The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.
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
- … into an entirely new province of knowledge’ ( 9 December 1859 ). He soon became interested in …
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
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: 5 hits
- … Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] Jane Loring Gray, …
- … Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] Darwin’s nephew, …
- … 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 November 1868] Darwin’s …
- … Letter 7433 - Wedgwood, F. to Darwin, [9 January 1871] Darwin’s brother-in-law, …
- … Letter 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 January 1872] Darwin thanks his son …
Volume 29 (1881) is published!
Summary
In October 1881, Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A slim volume on a subject that many people could understand and on which they had their own opinions, it went…
Matches: 1 hits
- … has been received. Letter t o Francis Darwin, 9 November [1881] In October …
Darwin & Glen Roy
Summary
Although Darwin was best known for his geological work in South America and other remote Beagle destinations, he made one noteworthy attempt to explain a puzzling feature of British geology. In 1838, two years after returning from the voyage, he travelled…
Matches: 1 hits
- … field guide to Glen Roy: To Charles Lyell, 9 August [1838] To Charles Lyell, …
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: 5 hits
- … by his perfectibility principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide …
- … hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James Crichton-Browne and …
- … of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] ). In March, Darwin received …
- … I do not care to follow him’ ( letter from T. H. Farrer, 9 October 1869 ). Farrer ventured to …
- … on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier in the year, …
Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Summary
On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Beagle voyage, to a letter to C. A. Kennard written on 9 January 1882 , only shortly before …
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…
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 3 hits
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…
