From Thomas Meehan 3 March 1873
Summary
Although he believes in evolution, TM feels that natural selection is an inadequate cause;
nor is he satisfied with E. D. Cope’s law of acceleration and retardation.
Discusses some of his work relating to nutrition and sex and colour and sex.
| Author: | Thomas Meehan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Mar 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 109 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8796 |
From T. W. Higginson 30 March 1873
Summary
Pleased CD enjoyed his book [Outdoor papers (1871)].
Rejoices at CD’s kindly feelings toward the coloured race.
The Index is in financial trouble due to F. E. Abbot’s unworldliness.
Agassiz is setting up a summer school for natural history off the Massachusetts coast. His pupils develop more liberal scientific opinions than Agassiz’s.
Encloses some notes on expression.
| Author: | Thomas Wentworth Higginson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Mar 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 198 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8830 |
From W. E. Darwin 30 October 1873
Summary
Has visited Alford and Beesby.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Oct 1873 |
| Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 52) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9117F |
Matches: 2 hits
From Hubert Airy 3 January 1873
Summary
HA’s paper on leaf arrangement is almost ready; asks CD to communicate it to the Royal Society. Seeks permission to quote from CD’s notes.
| Author: | Hubert Airy |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Jan 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 24 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8720 |
From M. D. Conway 10 September [1873]
Summary
Comparative study of "ethnical scriptures" shows that natural selection has operated in the evolution of religion.
| Author: | Moncure Daniel Conway |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Sept [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 220 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9049 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … world! I trust you, and Mrs Darwin and your family are well, and beg that you will not …
- … Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Max Müller drew attention to the contrast between the natural sciences explaining the origin of things from cells, and the study of the origin of language through roots. However, he warned that evolutionist philosophers abhorred the reasoning of linguists who held that if two roots of exactly the same sound produced two totally different families …
- … family of New England (see G. A. Gray 1908 ); if so, she was probably introduced to Conway by his acquaintance Oliver Wendell Holmes (see Conway 1904 , 1: 340–2). See n. 2, above. The sermon on the mount appears in Matt. 5–7; Laws was Plato’s last dialogue. Ralph Waldo Emerson published several sets of essays, and Alfred Tennyson was the poet laureate. Friedrich Max Müller gave three lectures, ‘Mr. Darwin’ …
From Andrew Clark 3 September 1873
Summary
Diagnosis of CD’s illness; prescribed diet.
| Author: | Andrew Clark, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9041 |
From Arthur Mostyn-Owen 21 May 1873
Summary
Offers to exchange a water-colour portrait of CD, done, he believes, by Fanny Biddulph, for a copy of Descent.
There has been a decrease of game-birds in the area.
| Author: | Arthur Mostyn Owen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 May 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8917 |
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 J. D. Hooker 16 September 1873
Summary
Mimosa too far gone to send now.
CD’s marjoram is the common [Origanum] vulgare, not the pot herb.
On the water injury, Thiselton-Dyer and he may have used too fine a spray, but plant is insensitive.
Horribly angry at P. G. Tait’s letter in Nature [8 (1873): 381–2].
Tyndall writes that he is strong – the next number of Nature will prove it.
G. Henslow is much better.
JDH leaves for Bradford [BAAS meeting] tomorrow.
Rejoices at CD’s success with Drosera; longs to be at Nepenthes.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Sept 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 162–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9057 |
From Asa Gray 25 February 1873
Summary
Sends "squib" he has written exposing the folly of some of Louis Agassiz’s ideas. AG cannot "fire off [his] cracker" in U. S. so sends it to amuse CD. If it is sent to Nature, CD must not give AG’s name. [See "Survival of the fittest", Nature 7 (1873): 404].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Feb 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 183; Nature, 27 March 1873, p. 404 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8786 |
From Federico Delpino 20 April 1873
Summary
Left the Garibaldi at Rio de Janeiro.
Phylogeny of aphids.
| Author: | Federico Delpino |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Apr 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8868 |
From Francis Galton 30 May 1873
Summary
Thanks CD for completed questionnaire;
answers his query about determining mean heights of men.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 May 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: A74–A76 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8928 |
From T. H. Huxley 3 December 1873
Summary
A letter from Anton Dohrn declines the proposed fund [that THH and others suggested be raised in England for marine biological station at Naples].
Hooker’s inaugural as President of Royal Society a success.
R. Owen distinguished himself in his way.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Dec 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 330; Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 13: 252) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9169 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … Darwin, Foster and Dew-Smith, Balfour. Ceterum censeo: do not take this letter badly, and do not put me a degree lower in your estimation, which is so valuable to me, that I could give anything for it. Give my very heartfelt greetings to the Happy family …
- … Darwin, Foster u. Dew. -Smith, Balfour gelungen lassen. Ceterum censeo: nehmen Sie diesen Brief nicht übel, und setzen Sie mich seinethalben nicht nun einen Grad tiefer in Ihrer Sympathie, die mir zu Kostbar ist, als dass ich sie für irgend etwas weggeben könnte. Grüssen Sie die Happy family …
From A. G. Butler 27 March 1873
Summary
On ocelli and relation to sexual selection;
instance of rejection of male by female butterfly.
| Author: | Arthur Gardiner Butler |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Mar 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 89: 96–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8829 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Darwins were in London from 15 March until 10 April 1873 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). For CD’s interest in sexual difference in insects with ocellated spots, see the letter from Raphael Meldola, 24 March 1873 and n. 1. CD added this information to his section on courtship in butterflies in Descent 2d ed. , p. 307. See also CD’s annotations. Bibio is a genus of true flies of the family …
From John Downing 13 November 1873
Summary
Is pleased that CD found the letters from Bell’s Weekly Messenger to the point.
Encloses extracts relating to benefits derived by animals from altered conditions of life.
Encloses notes on deterioration of short-horns from inbreeding. Breeders agree with him on benefits of introducing fresh blood into inbred stocks.
| Author: | John Downing |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Nov 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 241 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9140 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … family of either parent— and I have been assured that there was not. During my stay in England I met a great many breeders of
〈 Sh〉 orthorns and the thoughtful men among them expressed opinions favourable to my proposition as to the prudence of occasionally introducing fresh blood in a diluted form into closely in-bred stocks Apologising for the length of this letter and hoping that your health is improving | I beg to remain | Dear Sir, | With much esteem, | Yours faithfully | John Downing. T〈 o〉 | Charles Darwin …
From Ernst Haeckel 8 October 1873
Summary
On CD’s paper ["Complemental males of certain cirripedes", Collected papers 2: 177–82].
Comments on paper by W. H. Dallinger and J. J. Drysdale ["Life history of a Cercomonad", Mon. Microsc. J. 10 (1873): 53–8].
Discusses origin of life, the Gastraea theory and concept that primary germ layers are homologous in all animals. Notes similar views of E. Ray Lankester ["On the primitive cell-layers of the embryo", Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th ser. 11 (1873): 321–38].
Reception of Darwinism in Germany.
| Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Oct 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 61 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9091 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … family was increased by a small female anthropoid. The two other members present themselves in the enclosed photograph. — This year, Darwinism has made very great progress in Germany. Historians , social-political thinkers, even a few theologians (!! ) already make it the basis of their theories. Hopefully Charles Darwin …
From James Paget 17 January 1873
Summary
Describes a patient’s ears with peculiar tufts of hair in places where he has never seen them before. Encloses sketch.
| Author: | James Paget, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Jan 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 87: 56–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8739 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … family; but I could not cross-examine him for he seemed to discern that my questions tended monkey-wards There was no growth of hair on the other surface of the ear— The upper and the posterior tufts grew below & within the border of the helix: the middle and anterior tuft from the outer border of the curved between the tragus & antitragus— The general form of the ear was not remarkable: but it had no small lobe descending from the upper border of the helix. Always sincerely your’s | James Paget. Charles Darwin …
From Hermann Müller 10 June 1873
Summary
Reports on insects fertilising Viola tricolor and on the fertilisation of the two wild forms [see Cross and self-fertilisation, p. 124 n., 125].
| Author: | Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 June 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 77: 154–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8941 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … family Lycaenidae. Rhingia rostrata is a species of hoverfly. On Viola tricolor , see the letter from Hermann Müller, 19 May 1873 , and H. Müller 1873 , p. 145. Charles Valentine Riley had described a new species of moth ( Pronuba yuccasella , now Tegeticula yuccasella , the yucca moth) that fed exclusively on the nectar of the yucca, and mutual adaptations of the insect and flower that ensured cross-pollination ( Riley 1869–77 , 5: 150–60). CD’s annotated copy is the Darwin …
From Francis Darwin 14 August [1873]
Summary
Has found Lathyrus maritima on the cliffs near Barmouth.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Aug [1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 26 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9009F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … family should be without his worm-garden— we have grt fun with ours— we take notes and take tracings of their burrows I think they will lay their eggs as I have two worms and they are in full breeding condition— We find they make a very curly burrow with a blind end and then somehow turn round with their heads towards the entrance I think we shall make them out— They have made no castings in the surface of the earth but very small ones in the burrow itself My love to mother & thank her for her letter— We send you a Maritima | Yrs affec F Darwin …
| letter | (19) |
| Airy, Hubert | (1) |
| Butler, A. G. | (1) |
| Clark, Andrew | (1) |
| Conway, M. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
| Airy, Hubert | (1) |
| Butler, A. G. | (1) |
| Clark, Andrew | (1) |
| Conway, M. D. | (1) |
Family Visits
Summary
The Darwin Correspondence Project is pleased to announce their 'Family Fun' Workshops for the summer holidays, with fun hands-on and interactive sessions available throughout August. The workshops will be suitable for all primary aged…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Darwin Correspondence Project is pleased to announce their 'Family Fun' Workshops for the …
The Darwin family
Summary
To celebrate the 163rd birthday of Origin of species, we are launching three new interactives online from our Darwin in Conversation exhibition. They illustrate how Darwin’s children contributed to his science as infants and adults, how he did two of his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Discover how Darwin’s children contributed to his science. Touch the items on the desk to see how …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun …
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 …
Henrietta Emma Darwin
Summary
Henrietta “Etty” Darwin (1843–1927) was the eldest of Charles Darwin’s daughters to reach adulthood. She married Richard Buckley Litchfield in 1871. She was a valued editor to her father as well as companion and correspondent to both of her parents.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Henrietta “Etty” Darwin (1843–1927) was the eldest of Charles Darwin’s daughters to reach …
Emma Darwin
Summary
Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin's wife and first cousin, was born Emma Wedgwood, the eighth and youngest child of Josiah Wedgwood II and Bessy Allen. Her father was the eldest son of the famous pottery manufacturer, Josiah Wedgwood I. Her mother was one…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin's wife and first cousin, was born Emma Wedgwood, the eighth and …
Francis Darwin
Summary
Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished scientist. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, initially studying mathematics, but then transferring to natural sciences. Francis completed…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished …
Power of movement in plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Family experiments Darwin was an active and engaged father during his children's youth, involving them in his experiments and even occasionally using them as observational subjects. When his children…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Family experiments Darwin …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of …
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
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: 1 hits
- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts of …
Life of Erasmus Darwin
Summary
The Life of Erasmus Darwin (1879) was a curious departure for Darwin. It was intended as a biographical note to accompany an essay on Erasmus's scientific work by the German writer Ernst Krause. But Darwin became immersed in his grandfather's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Life of Erasmus Darwin (1879) was a curious departure for Darwin. It was intended as a …
Darwin’s scientific women
Summary
Darwin exchanged letters with women who were botanists, travellers, observers, writers, and naturalists. Find out about their lives and how they contributed to his research.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s letters shed light on the lives of some otherwise little-known women and reveal how much …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
William Darwin Fox
Summary
Charles Darwin’s cousin, William Darwin Fox, was admitted to Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1824, three years before Darwin; the two men became close friends. They corresponded throughout their lives, exchanging accounts of their growing families…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s cousin, William Darwin Fox, was admitted to Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1824, …
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: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
People
Summary
This section is about Charles Darwin and his correspondents. It is divided into the following areas: Key correspondents The Beagle voyage networks Family and friends Darwin's scientific networks Readers and critics Publishers, artists…
Matches: 1 hits
- … This section is about Charles Darwin and his correspondents. It is divided into the following …
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: 1 hits
- … ‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury …
