From E. A. Darwin 25 September [1873]
Summary
EAD sees advantages to Frank’s becoming CD’s assistant.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: B90–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9069 |
From G. H. Darwin [25 September – 3 October 1873]
Summary
Criticises CD’s letter to Nature ["Complemental males in certain cirripedes", Collected papers 2: 177–82].
On the elimination of useless parts.
GHD fails to see the point of CD’s use of the law of distribution about a mean.
| Author: | George Howard Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [25 Sept – 3 Oct 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.1: 74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9070 |
From John Murray 25 September [1873]
Summary
Acknowledges CD’s cheque.
Sends CD cheque for profits on Orchids and a statement of stock on hand of CD’s works [missing].
Origin and Expression sales are stagnant.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 437, DAR 210.11: 1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9071 |
From W. W. Keen 26 September 1873
Summary
Sends corrections of Descent and Expression.
| Author: | William Williams Keen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 89: 24–5, DAR 169: 2, and Expression 2d ed., p. 169 n. 19 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9072 |
From Hubert Airy 26 [September–November 1873]
Summary
The Royal Society referees have rejected HA’s phyllotaxy paper, and it will not be printed in Philosophical Transactions. HA is not sorry for he has found new facts which limit the applicability of his views. Now believes that the original leaf arrangement was not necessarily always two-ranked but rather that existing arrangements have developed from a variety of forms with differing numbers of leaf-ranks.
| Author: | Hubert Airy |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 [Sept-Nov] 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 31 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9073 |
To J. D. Hooker 27 September 1873
Summary
Had read Tyndall’s letter [Nature 8 (1873): 399] – awfully savage, but certainly a great mistake to print it.
Thinks JDH will think better of Clerk Maxwell’s paper after he reads it.
Asks whether JDH could find out for him the temperature of rain in very hot countries.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 27 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 95: 280–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9074 |
From M. T. Masters 27 September 1873
Summary
Seeks an interview with CD to discuss reorganisation of Gardeners’ Chronicle.
| Author: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 84 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9075 |
From S. V. Wood Jr to Charles Lyell 27 September 1873
Summary
Returns CD’s books and discusses apples and Crags at Sudbury.
| Author: | Searles Valentine Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 27 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.117/6330-1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9075F |
From Edward Frankland 27 September 1873
Summary
Has sent CD some pure distilled water for his Drosera experiments.
| Author: | Edward Frankland |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 208 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9076 |
To M. T. Masters 29 September [1873]
Summary
CD refuses an interview because of a severe headache, but wishes all success to the Gardeners’ Chronicle.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
| Date: | 29 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9077 |
To Edward Frankland 29 September 1873
Summary
Is sending washings of 445 leaves in EF’s distilled water with 20 grains of carbonate of soda. Details of the difficulties and complications involved.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Frankland |
| Date: | 29 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9077A |
From S. V. Wood Sr to Charles Lyell 30 September 1873
Summary
Sends proofs of pages on shells with revised species names. Discusses Crag Moll, Sutton and Butley Red Grag, and Scrobicularia beds. Son asks him to thank Lyell for extract from Darwin’s book.
| Author: | Searles Valentine Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 30 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen.117/6422-3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9077F |
| letter | (52) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Wood, S. V. | (3) |
| Frankland, Edward | (2) |
| Baxter, W. W. | (4) |
| Burdon Sanderson, J. S. | (3) |
| Cheeseman, T. F. | (1) |
| Conway, M. D. | (1) |
| Crichton-Browne, James | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
| Darwin, Francis | (1) |
| Fox, W. D. | (1) |
| Frankland, Edward | (3) |
| Gomperz, Theodor | (1) |
| Haeckel, Ernst | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Krefft, Gerard | (1) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Masters, M. T. | (1) |
| Morse, E. S. | (1) |
| Murray, John (b) | (1) |
| Müller, Fritz | (1) |
| Nature | (1) |
| Weir, J. J. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (50) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
| Frankland, Edward | (5) |
| Baxter, W. W. | (4) |
| Darwin, Francis | (4) |
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…
