To J. D. Hooker 23 February [1868]
Summary
Review in Athenæum full of contempt. Is sure Owen wrote it [see 5931].
Gardeners’ Chronicle review [(1868): 184] favourable.
Fears Pangenesis is still-born. Cites Bates, Spencer, Lubbock, and Sir Henry Holland. Is sure Pangenesis will sometime reappear. Questions that are connected and answered by Pangenesis.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 23 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 94: 52–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5918 |
To Hermann Müller 23 February [1868]
Summary
Offers to undertake publication of English translation of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin. W. S. Dallas will translate it.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller |
Date: | 23 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 146: 430 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5919 |
From Hermann Müller [after 23 February 1868]
Summary
HM is certain his brother Fritz would like to see Für Darwin translated into English by Dallas. He will make arrangements with the German publisher.
Two friends are writing Darwinian works: Adolf Speyer on phylogeny of Lepidoptera
and August Röse on genealogy of mosses.
Author: | Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 23 Feb 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 292 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5920 |
From Asa Gray 24 February 1868
Summary
AG is writing notice of American edition of Variation [Nation 6 (1868): 234–6].
Pangenesis is "as good an hypothesis as one can now make".
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 161 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5921 |
From A. R. Wallace 24 February 1868
Summary
Responds to CD’s queries on polygamy in birds and orang.
Discusses sexual selection and secondary characters; colours and sexual preference.
Expresses his admiration for Pangenesis; it is superior to Herbert Spencer’s theory.
ARW differs somewhat with CD’s chapter on causes of variability [ch. 22 in Variation]. Thinks several of CD’s arguments are unsound.
Briefly discusses how natural selection might aid in producing sterility between allied species.
Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 106: B70–2, DAR 86: A10–11 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5922 |
From John Murray 24 February [1868]
Summary
Second issue [of Variation] is ready.
Murray thinks that the Athenæum review was written by J. E. Gray [see 5931].
Author: | John Murray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 356 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5923 |
From Robert McLachlan 24 February 1868
Summary
Reports that when August Meyer confined several distinct species of Phryganeidae they coupled and produced fertile ova, indicating that some specific characters are not so important so far as reproduction is concerned [see Descent 1: 342 n. 2].
Author: | Robert McLachlan |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 82: A86–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5924 |
From W. S. Dallas 24 February 1868
Summary
Has difficulty translating Piderit’s use of verbissen.
Will hold F. Müller’s book until CD decides about translating it.
Author: | William Sweetland Dallas |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 16 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5925 |
From Asa Gray 25 February [1868]
Summary
AG is not surprised at popularity of CD’s Variation. Gives some corrections for next edition.
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 162 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5928 |
To W. D. Fox 25 February [1868]
Summary
Is working on "Sexual selection"; asks WDF to send observations on birds’ finding new mates during breeding season [see Descent 2: 103–7].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 148a) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5929 |
To Ludwig Rütimeyer 25 February [1868]
Summary
Will forward LR’s memoir to Earl of Tankerville. Has sent LR’s pamphlet on "Darwin Lehre" [Die Grenzen der Thierwelt (1868)] to a German lady he employs as a translator. Cannot agree that there is an innate principle of perfection.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Karl Ludwig (Ludwig) Rütimeyer |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Universitätsbibliothek Basel, Handschriften (G IV 91, 5) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5930 |
To John Murray 25 February [1868]
Summary
Thanks JM for presentation copies [of Variation]. Sends directions and list.
Has been told positively that hostile review in Athenæum was by Berthold Seemann, to whom he once refused a testimonial.
On the whole, reviews have been very good.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Murray |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 182–183) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5931 |
To Robert Caspary 25 February [1868]
Summary
Will send English edition [of Variation] when available.
Mentions revisions in second issue concerning graft-hybrids.
Asks for Euryale seed for experiment.
Discusses fertility of crossed and self-fertilised plants.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Xaver Robert (Robert) Caspary |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 143: 252 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5932 |
From Alexander Wallace 25 February 1868
Summary
Asks CD to make his queries about proportion of sexes more precise so he can keep them in mind in his experiments with silkworms. [see Descent 1: 313.]
Author: | Alexander Wallace |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 85: B69–70 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5933 |
From Thomas Stretch to W. B. Tegetmeier 25 February 1868
Author: | Thomas Stretch |
Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Date: | 25 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 86: C13 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5934 |
To Henry Lee 25 February [1868]
Summary
Thanks for results on sexes of trout. [See 5793.] CD is collecting information about the proportional numbers of sexes in animals.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Lee |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Walter R. Benjamin Autographs (dealer) (May 1988) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5934A |
To Robert McLachlan 25 February [1868]
Summary
Is obliged for the facts about the hybrids [see 5910], which permit him to reject the view of B. D. Walsh (and H. W. Bates?) that organs play an important part in keeping incipient species distinct.
He has asked John Murray to send RM a copy of Variation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Robert McLachlan |
Date: | 25 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5934B |
From J. D. Hooker 26[–7] February 1868
Summary
Could not believe Owen to be so demoniacal as to write the Athenæum review [of Variation].
Gardeners’ Chronicle review [see 5918] is weak. CD’s ideas on causes of variation may be as hazy as the reviewer’s.
Huxley’s clever remark on Pangenesis. JDH’s view of Pangenesis as fundamental to development doctrines, but nothing is gained by formulation in terms of germs or gemmules.
Tries to answer question on last page of CD’s letter anent sexuality.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 26[–7] Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 200–3, DAR 94: 67 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5935 |
From H. W. Bates 26 February 1868
Summary
Finds no absolute differences in size of sexes of Copridae. Gives several other genera in which males are larger than females.
Confirms his view of stridulation organ of house cricket. [see Descent 1: 354–5.]
Tells CD of a powerful convert to Darwinism: H. von Kiesenwetter of Berlin.
Author: | Henry Walter Bates |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 26 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 82: A34–5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5936 |
From Robert Buist 26 February 1868
Author: | Robert Buist |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 26 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 82: B76–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5937 |
letter | (143) |
Darwin, C. R. | (60) |
Dallas, W. S. | (7) |
Gray, J. E. | (5) |
Bates, H. W. | (3) |
Blyth, Edward | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (79) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Tegetmeier, W. B. | (4) |
Bates, H. W. | (3) |
Stainton, H. T. | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (139) |
Dallas, W. S. | (7) |
Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
Bates, H. W. | (6) |
Gray, J. E. | (6) |