To J. D. Hooker 13 April [1855]
Summary
Pea self-fertilisation: has forty-five varieties growing side by side.
Describes seed-salting experiments: e.g., immersion in tank filled with snow. Reports some successful germinations.
Made list of naturalised plants from Asa Gray’s Manual [of Botany] to calculate the proportions of the great families.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 13 Apr [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 128 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1667 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … 1852 ). The collection had been displayed at the Great Exhibition and then moved to the Museum of Economic Botany at Kew. See letter …
- … 1852. They had been given to CD by Watson. The concluding volume was added to his set (now in the Darwin Library–CUL) in 1859. Only the final volume is annotated. The notes and calculations mentioned in the letter …
To J. D. Hooker 26 [March 1863]
Summary
CD’s opinion of Lyell’s Antiquity of man.
Geographical distribution during and between glacial periods.
Latent characters and reversion.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 [Mar 1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 188 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4061 |
To J. D. Hooker 3 February [1868]
Summary
Comments on Wollaston’s troubles
and his book [Coleoptera Hesperidum (1867)].
Mohl’s claim to foreign membership in Royal Society very strong.
Has been in despair about Variation – not worth a fifth part of the labour it cost him.
Is reading F. A. W. Miquel’s Flora du Japon [Prolusio florae Japonicae (1866–7)]; wonders whether A. Murray could be correct in his view that an area of the sea prevented Asiatico-Japan flora colonising western N. America.
Comments on A. Murray’s book [Geographical distribution of mammals (1866)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 44–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5835 |
To J. D. Hooker 15 November [1854]
Summary
Calculating small number of species in aberrant genera of insects and plants.
Joachim Barrande’s "Colonies", Élie de Beaumont’s "lines of Elevation", Forbes’s "Polarity" make CD despair, as these theories lead to conclusions opposite to CD’s from the same classes of facts.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 15 Nov [1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 156 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1601 |
To J. D. Hooker 9 May [1856]
Summary
Lyell urges CD to publish a sketch of species theory; CD asks JDH’s opinion on best course.
Concerned about opposition, particularly by Owen, to Huxley’s admission to Athenaeum.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9 May [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 161 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1870 |
To J. D. Hooker 12 October 1849
Summary
CD thinks great dam across Yangma valley is a lateral glacial moraine.
Reports on Birmingham BAAS meeting.
Details of water-cure.
Barnacles becoming tedious; careful description shows slight differences constitute varieties, not species.
Lamination of gneiss.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 12 Oct 1849 |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 116 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1260 |
Matches: 1 hit
To J. D. Hooker [9 or 16 February 1854]
Summary
Has received JDH’s book [Himalayan journals (1854)]. Is very gratified by the dedication to him.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [9 or 16] Feb 1854 |
| Classmark: | Oliver N. Hooker (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1552F |
Matches: 2 hits
- … 1852 , An expedition to the valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah , under the heading ‘Books read’ in his reading notebooks on 23 March 1854 (see Correspondence 4, Appendix IV, 128: 8). In his Life and letters …
- … letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, OM, GCSI. Based on materials collected and arranged by Lady Hooker. 2 vols. London: John Murray. Marginalia : Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990. Stansbury, Howard. 1852. …
To J. D. Hooker [28 February 1866]
Summary
Refers to part of JDH letter on glacial period sent on to Lyell. CD will not yield. Cannot think how JDH attaches so much attention to physicists. Has "come not to care at all for general beliefs without the special facts".
His health is improved but not so good as JDH supposes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [28 Feb 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 31–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5020 |
To J. D. Hooker 15 and 22 May [1863]
Summary
The Lyell–Falconer squabble.
Discusses island vs continental floras and their degree of modification.
Critical of Wallace.
CD’s observations on phyllotaxy.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 15 and 22 May 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 193 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4167 |
To J. D. Hooker 2 November [1858]
Summary
On moving the natural history collection of the British Museum to Kensington.
Subscription for John Ralfs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 Nov [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 252 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2351 |
To J. D. Hooker 13 July [1856]
Summary
Has found no case of Huxley’s eternal hermaphrodites.
Cruelty and waste in nature.
CD does not believe in hybrids.
One proven case of multiple creations would smash CD’s theory.
Asks JDH to read MS on alpine and Arctic distribution.
Lyell’s "conversion" to mutability.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 13 July [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 169 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1924 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from J. D. Hooker. 10 July 1856. Loiseleur Deslongchamps 1842–3 . CD recorded having read this work on 5 April 1856 ( Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV, 128: 18). There is a copy of the first part in the Darwin Library–CUL. Robert Brown . A reference to the manuscript flora of Madeira drawn up by Charles Morgan Lemann before his death in 1852. …
To J. D. Hooker 14 [October 1862]
Summary
Thanks for Aldrovanda reference and Cassia.
Has wasted labour on Melastomataceae without getting a glimpse of the meaning of the parts.
Wants seeds, from their native land, of Heterocentron or Monochaetum.
Is beginning to change his view about rarity of natural hybrids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 14 [Oct 1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 166 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3762 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1852 . CD cited Hugh Algernon Weddell’s account of ‘naturally produced’ hybrids between Aceras anthropomorpha (a misspelling of A. anthropomorphum , a synonym of Orchis anthropophora ) and Orchis galeata (a synonym of Orchis militaris subsp. militaris , the military orchid) in Orchids , p. 19 n. Hooker had described his observation of naturally occurring orchid hybrids in his letter …
To J. D. Hooker 29 [May 1854]
Summary
CD "lectures" JDH on taking care of his health.
CD’s pleasure in London trip.
CD and Emma have taken season tickets to Crystal Palace.
Edward Forbes’s "Introductory Lecture" is the best CD ever read.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 29 [May 1854] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 122 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1575 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1852. Edward Forbes’s inaugural lecture as professor of natural history at Edinburgh, published in the Scotsman , 17 May 1854. Forbes succeeded Robert Jameson , who had held the Regius professorship from 1804 until his death on 19 April 1854. CD’s opinion of Jameson as a dull lecturer stemmed from his undergraduate days at Edinburgh (see Autobiography , p. 52). Forbes’s anniversary address as president of the Geological Society, 17 February 1854. See letter …
From Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker [28 April 1864]
Summary
Emma prepares JDH for his visit to Wedgwood factory and Barlaston.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [28 Apr 1864] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 232 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4473 |
From Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker 26 December [1863]
Summary
CD would be pleased to sit for a bust by Thomas Woolner for JDH, but he is too ill now.
Emma’s views on slavery and the Civil War.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 26 Dec [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 214 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4359 |
| letter | (35) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (33) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | |
| Darwin, C. R. | (33) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
Edward Lumb
Summary
Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, he travelled to Buenos Aires aged sixteen with his merchant uncle, Charles Poynton, and after some fortunate enterprises set up in business there. In 1833…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
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 …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published four volumes on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Specialism | Experiment | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing …
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma …
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend …
3.9 Leonard Darwin, photo on horseback
Summary
< Back to Introduction It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific locale that a family photograph of him riding his horse Tommy takes on a special interest. He is at the front of Down House, the door of which is open; it seems as…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The ‘historical sketch’ printed as a preface to the American edition ( Origin US ed., pp …
George Busk
Summary
After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until the material was sent, in 1852, for study by George Busk, one of the foremost workers on the group of his day. In 1863, on the way down to Malvern Wells, Darwin had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until …
Hermann Müller
Summary
Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the younger brother of Fritz Müller (1822–97). Following the completion of his secondary education at Erfurt in 1848, he studied natural sciences at Halle and Berlin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the …
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: 1 hits
- … Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 …
Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
Summary
Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it’s hard to choose from many letters that stand out, but one of this editor’s favourites, that always brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it …
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: 1 hits
- … Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and …
Arthur Mellersh
Summary
Arthur Mellersh was a midshipman (promoted to mate during the voyage) serving on the Beagle at the time when Darwin was travelling around the world. One account suggests an inauspicious start to their friendship; apparently Mellersh introduced himself…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Arthur Mellersh was a midshipman (promoted to mate during the voyage) serving on the Beagle at …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children,[1] began the research that …
Syms Covington
Summary
When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin’. Covington kept an illustrated journal of his observations and experiences on the voyage, noting wildlife, landscapes, buildings and people and,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘ fiddler & boy …
The evolution of honeycomb
Summary
Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Honey-bees construct wax combs inside their nests. The combs are made of hexagonal prisms – cells …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
Fritz Müller
Summary
Fritz Müller, a German who spent most of his life in political exile in Brazil, described Darwin as his second father, and Darwin's son, Francis, wrote that, although they never met 'the correspondence with Müller, which continued to the close of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Francis Darwin, in Life and letters of Charles Darwin , wrote of Fritz Müller They …
