Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Apache Server at dcp-public.lib.cam.ac.uk Port 443

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 12 hits
- … for evaluation, and persuaded his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker to comment on a paper on Verbascum …
- … committed suicide at the end of April; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic …
- … thriving, and when illness made work impossible, Darwin and Hooker read a number of novels, and …
- … the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). Darwin …
- … kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] ). However, …
- … griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 ). …
- … Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
- … know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). He …
- … and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] ). In …
- … ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
- … willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). After …
- … loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ). …

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: 5 hits
- … ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . …
- … the origin of species particularly, worried Darwin; he told Hooker that he had once thought Lyell …
- … lack of expertise in the subject. ‘The worst of it is’, Hooker wrote to Darwin, ‘I suppose it is …
- … credit to his own research and that of Joseph Prestwich. Hooker wrote: ‘I fear L. will get scant …
- … had contributed to the proofs of human antiquity. Darwin and Hooker repeatedly exchanged regrets …

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…

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: 13 hits
- … discussed the book in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Asa Gray, and Huxley but he never …
- … complaint about the book was more personal. He confided to Hooker that he was ‘deeply disappointed’ …
- … but had tried, indirectly, to influence him. He told Hooker: 10 Do see Falconer …
- … Falconer to tone down his attack on Lyell and agreed, on Hooker’s advice, to soften a passage in the …
- … allude to Sir C’s explanation of the matter’. 23 Hooker, who had also been sent copies of the …
- … have given Lyell’s explanation in print, he disagreed with Hooker’s assessment of Lubbock’s note, …
- … reiterated his admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week …
- … wished to avoid direct involvement in the dispute. When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter …
- … of Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863c; see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] and n. 13) …
- … 7. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyell’s …
- … ]. 10. Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] . …
- … have seen is milk & water’ (see enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] ). …
- … by a mutual friend of ours’ (letter from John Lubbock to J. D. Hooker, 23 June 1865, in Royal …

Joseph Dalton Hooker
Summary
The 1400 letters exchanged between Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) account for around 10% of Darwin’s surviving correspondence and provide a structure within which all the other letters can be explored. They are a connecting thread that spans…
Matches: 24 hits
- … with his closest friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. The 1400 letters exchanged …
- … that period. They illuminate the mutual friendships he and Hooker shared with other scientists, but …
- … two men. Their correspondence began in 1843 when Hooker, just returned from James Clark Ross …
- … main elements of his species theory, and within a few months Hooker was admitted into the small and …
- … perhaps his most famous letter of all , Darwin wrote to Hooker in January 1844 of his growing …
- … 1858 outlining an almost identical theory to his own, it was Hooker, together with Charles Lyell, …
- … Darwin called “natural selection”. It was also to Hooker that Darwin, writing furiously in …
- … of On the Origin of Species for comment, and Hooker continued to be a sounding board for …
- … which various plants are nourished, reproduce, and colonise. Hooker, who after ten years as …
- … global networks of well-informed correspondents. Hooker was a frequent visitor to Darwin at …
- … as well as to the patient ”. It was to Darwin that Hooker wrote just an hour after the death of his …
- … the many hundreds of letters that passed between Darwin and Hooker all but a handful of those that …
- … in 1888 and 1902, the second of which he dedicated to Hooker “in remembrance of his lifelong …
- … letters is also obvious, for example in his annotations to Hooker’s comments on the first edition of …
- … Key letters Developing a theory: Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] : Darwin …
- … day, distracted by grief, Darwin sent two letters to Hooker who was in the midst of arranging …
- … The writing of Origin and its reception: Hooker was one of the few to whom Darwin sent …
- … for comment – with close to disastrous results when Hooker’s children used some of it for scrap …
- … response of the old fogies of Cambridge. Read Hooker’s description of the famous 1860 …
- … . Friendship, gossip, and shared jokes: Hooker started a running joke in their …
- … being the result of natural selection. When Hooker had his family silver stolen by a man …
- … had resulted in neuter humans who would not flirt. Hooker suggested they should give up …
- … daughter of his grandfather , Erasmus Darwin. Hooker sometimes made fun of Darwin’s …
- … letters 1573 and 1576 ). The birth of one of Hooker’s sons interrupted the writing of …
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: 25 hits
- … writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring Gray Louis Agassiz, Adam …
- … this actor uses the words of Jane Loring Gray, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, …
- … of natural selection to his friend, the botanist, Joseph D Hooker GRAY: 3 Charles …
- … year 1839, and copied and communicated to Messrs Lyell and Hooker in 1844, being a part of …
- … DARWIN: 7 January 1844. My dear Hooker. I have been …engaged in a very presumptuous work …
- … the opportunity I enjoyed of making your acquaintance at Hooker’s three years ago; and besides that …
- … sheet of note-paper! DARWIN: 11 My dear Hooker… What a remarkably nice and kind …
- … 22 Hurrah I got yesterday my 41st Grass! Hooker is younger than Darwin and Gray by …
- … species before… DARWIN: 24 My dear Hooker… you cannot imagine how pleased I am …
- … on your bowels of immutability. Darwin passes to Hooker a brace of letters 25 …
- … there is a little rap for you. GRAY: 26 Hooker [is] dreadfully paradoxical to …
- … as well as any man. I send it… Darwin passes to Hooker an envelope of seeds. …
- … and Hawks have often been seen in mid Atlantic. HOOKER: 28 Thanks for your letter …
- … pleased to have. DARWIN: 33 My dear Hooker. Thanks, also, for [your] Photograph, …
- … expression and so by no means does you justice. HOOKER: 34 I believe I have very …
- … beguiled into should ‘rile’ you, as you say it does… Hooker rightly tells me, I have no business to …
- … make a very audacious remark in opposition to what I imagine Hooker has been writing and to your own …
- … to tell you, that before I had ever corresponded with you, Hooker had shown me several of your …
- … – a Scottish paleobotanist and contemporary of Darwin and Hooker – splutters… FALCONER: …
- … I can see that you have already corrupted and half-spoiled Hooker!! DARWIN: Now when I see …
- … out much fuller in my sketch copied in 1844, and read by Hooker some dozen years ago…. I should be …
- … world to come. DARWIN: 56 My dearest Hooker, You will, and so will Mrs Hooker, be …
- … FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker begin to consider the theological …
- … which he and Gray can pour their thoughts and anxieties. Hooker is the more agitated and anxious; …
- … C DARWIN, 18–19 AUGUST 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150 …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 19 hits
- … on publishers, decried on one occasion by Joseph Dalton Hooker as ‘Penny-wise Pound foolish, …
- … Fuller consideration of Darwin’s work was given by Hooker in an evening speech on insular floras at …
- … me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). Towards …
- … continued to refine his hypothesis in 1866. He wrote to Hooker on 16 May [1866] , ‘I … am at work …
- … it was too big. ‘You must congratulate me’, he wrote to Hooker, ‘when you hear that I have sent M.S. …
- … Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] ). When …
- … of Darwin’s closest scientific friends and correspondents. Hooker’s research on alpine floras, Henry …
- … have survived and appear in this volume), drawing Darwin, Hooker, and the botanist Charles James Fox …
- … bigotted to the last inch, & will not yield’, he wrote to Hooker, who attached greater weight to …
- … same temperate species on distant mountains, and remarked to Hooker on his strong preference for …
- … more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] ). Darwin …
- … ‘Your father … entered at the same time with Dr B. J. who received him with triumph. All his friends …
- … me to worship Bence Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself …
- … then went for ¾ to Zoolog. Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866] ). …
- … tell him the truth how little exertion I can stand. I sh d like very much to see him, though I …
- … original contract between Darwin and the New York publisher D. Appleton and Co. in 1860. …
- … & admit how little is known on the subject’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 and 4 August [1866] ). …
- … see how differently we look at every thing’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 August [1866] ). Yet both …
- … same thing in a different light from you’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 August 1866 ). The two …
6430_10256
Summary
From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hookerf1 25 October 1868Lund (Suède)25 Okt. 1868.Monsieur le Professeur! J’ai écrit à deux de mes amis qui ont des connaissances personnelles à la Lapponie, pour avoir les…
Matches: 8 hits
- … From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hooker f1 25 October 1868 Lund (Suède) 25 Okt. 1868. …
- … du Renne &c f2 Mais comme la poste va très lentement d’ici aux regions les plus …
- … que veut connaitre M r . Darwin. f4 De l’autre partie j’espère tôt ou tard pouvoir communiquer …
- … de joindre ici la mienne en échange de la Votre, et j’espère que Vous avez la bonté de me …
- … Appendix I. f2 For CD’s query, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 August 1868. Hooker …
- … From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hooker f1 25 October 1868 Lund (Sweden) 25 Oct. 1868 …
- … 811–2. f2 For CD’s query, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 August 1868. Hooker passed CD …
- … Letter details From Nilsson, Sven To Hooker, J. D. Sent from Lund …
5935_4582
Summary
From J. D. Hooker 26[–7] February 1868KewFeby 26th/68Dear Darwin I have been bursting with impatience to hear what you would say of the Athenæum Review & who wrote it— I could not conceive who…
Matches: 6 hits
- … From J. D. Hooker 26[–7] February 1868 Kew Feby 26 th /68 Dear …
- … Pangenesis as I have my crudity. Ever yr affec | J D Hooker …
- … please return it.—as I have no time to copy it.— J H. CD …
- … in the Athenæum to Richard Owen (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 February [1868]); the review was …
- … Chronicle , 22 February 1868, p. 184, in his letter to Hooker of 23 February [1868]. f4 …
- … f10 These annotations are for CD’s reply. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 February [1868] and nn. …

Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 16 hits
- … by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August 1874] ). …
- … of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such reminiscences …
- … looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). I …
- … hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] ). Darwin …
- … to believe in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 …
- … the publishers, he applied first to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, and finally borrowed one from …
- … for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); however, he did …
- … ‘I’m a grown man now’, he reminded Darwin, ‘& sh d . stand on my own footing, & if it is …
- … Mivart (see Correspondence vol. 20, letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). To Darwin …
- … views. In December, he sought advice from Huxley and Hooker, sending them a draft letter that …
- … Mivart had written the article ( enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 21 December 1874 ). Huxley …
- … to write to Mivart directly after he knew the full result of Hooker’s and Huxley’s representations ( …
- … or adviseable’. On Christmas Eve, Darwin wrote to Hooker that they were still in a dilemma …
- … 15 th he published that shabby rejoinder’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1874] ). On …
- … made public through anonymous reviews. While staying with Hooker over Christmas, John Tyndall, …
- … removed as secretary of the Linnean Society ( letter From J. D. Hooker, 29 December 1874 ). …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 9 hits
- … tapping into the networks of others, such as Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray, who were at leading …
- … of face-to-face contact. His correspondence with Joseph Hooker and Asa Gray illustrates how close …
- … The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker. The second is between Darwin …
- … to conclusion that species are not immutable. He admits to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. …
- … Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] Darwin catches up on personal …
- … name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 In …
- … Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin opens by discussing their …
- … lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 6 & 7 Apr 1850 …
- … Letter 1339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 13 June [1850] Darwin writes to Hooker from his …

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: 20 hits
- … the accursed Index-maker’, Darwin wrote to Joseph Dalton Hooker on 6 January . Darwin had sent …
- … ). Darwin sympathised, replying on 14 January , ‘I sh d have a very bad heart, as hard as …
- … to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). But such …
- … away’ that sparked the most discussion. Darwin wrote to Hooker on 23 February , ‘did you look at …
- … thought it was by Gray himself, but Darwin corrected him: ‘D r Gray would strike me in the face, …
- … editor of the London and Westminster Review . When Hooker later tried to refute the claims of the …
- … a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] ). …
- … on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d C. Darwin M.d’; Binstead evidently …
- … (from ?, 6 April 1868). On 21 May , Darwin complained to Hooker, ‘I am bothered with heaps of …
- … kind almost heroic, in you to sacrifice your hair and pay 3 d in the cause of science …
- … information on colour changes in the canary (letters from J. J. Weir, [26] March 1868 and 3 …
- … , ‘almost heroic, in you to sacrifice your hair and pay 3 d in the cause of science.’ Darwin …
- … added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). Sexual …
- … as of ‘victorious males getting wives’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 25 February [1868] ). Yet a …
- … role of colour, sound, and smell in attracting females. J. J. Weir reported on 14 April 1868 …
- … Wallace that he had begun the previous year, writing to Hooker on 21 May , ‘I always distrust …
- … circulated to remote parts of the world. A correspondent of Hooker’s distributed it in Japan ( …
- … the Linnean Society of London on 19 March. In a letter to Hooker on 21 May , he enthused over an …
- … and self fertilisation , pp. 119–20. He also enlisted Hooker to identify grasses that had grown …
- … the previous year by James Philip Mansel Weale ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [20 May 1868] ). …

How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]
Summary
Sometimes, what stands out in a Darwin letter is not what is in it, but what is left out or just implied because the recipient would have known what Darwin was referring to. It is frustrating to spend hours looking but fail to identify something mentioned…
Matches: 3 hits
- … written by Darwin in June 1865 to his close friend Joseph Hooker . The letter is written in Emma …
- … Darwin mentions both his own health—very bad—and that of Hooker’s wife (she had recently suffered a …
- … The first step was to look at the letter from Hooker to which this letter was a reply ( From J. D. …

Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 20 hits
- … exclaimed to his close friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘Hurrah! I have been 52 hours …
- … 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin wrote to Hooker: ‘The only approach to work which …
- … by which leaves produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). Darwin’s …
- … peduncles to test sensitivity, and in his request to Hooker for another specimen: ‘I want it …
- … plant morphology. Many of his other correspondents, such as Hooker and Gray, had grown accustomed to …
- … the Lythrum paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] …
- … letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly wrote to Hooker: ‘I will fight you to the death, …
- … and 249). When Darwin requested orchid specimens from Hooker in November, he said that he did …
- … certain difficult & tedious points’, Darwin asked Hooker about the possibility of Scott’s …
- … with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] ). …
- … often at odds with one another: ‘Gardeners are the very d—l, & where two or three are gathered …
- … enough to play your part over them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
- … … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). Nevertheless …
- … that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ). In his …
- … a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August 1864] ). Darwin …
- … you have bearded this lion in his den’ ( letter to B. D. Walsh, 4 December [1864] ). Walsh also …
- … he spoke out on the modification of species ( letter to B. D. Walsh, 21 October [1864] ). …
- … he thought him ‘sanguine & unsafe’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 February 1864 ). Hooker …
- … correct if they contradicted the Bible ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, [19 September 1864] ). When …
- … Lyell 1865] I shall recant for fifth time’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 October [1864] ). 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: 15 hits
- … correcting’ ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868] ). He may have …
- … he remarked to his best friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘If I lived 20 more years, & …
- … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
- … Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now missing) to Hooker, remarking: ‘I should be extremely …
- … blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). Hooker …
- … principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical …
- … retrench that position following criticism from his friend Hooker, by admitting that the survival of …
- … do fairly well, though if I had read you first, perhaps I d have been less deferential towards …
- … males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet …
- … & contempt—almost hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James …
- … by Wallace’s assertions: ‘If you had not told me I d have thought that they had been added by …
- … commentary (Royer trans. 1870). Darwin complained to Hooker, ‘Besides her enormously long & …
- … [her] to translate “Domestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by …
- … by Anglican clergymen in the biology section of the meeting. Hooker described the session with some …
- … suggestions to its publisher, Macmillan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 November 1869 ). Darwin …

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 9 hits
- … work of preparing new Editions’, he complained again to Hooker on 18 August. Finally, by …
- … much more than insectivorous plants. As he confessed to Hooker on 12 December , ‘I have not felt …
- … during the affair by the loyalty of his close friends, Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley. …
- … honoured George. You have indeed been a true friend.’ Hooker was hampered by his position as …
- … & if he speaks to me should let him feel it .’ Hooker also directed some of his anger …
- … thirst for vengeance is now quite Satisfied’, he told Hooker on 17 January , ‘I feel now like a …
- … firm. Darwin was impressed by the device, remarking to Hooker on 13 October : ‘Horace has made a …
- … to the Royal Society on his behalf. Darwin complained to Hooker on 13 October , ‘It is not at all …
- … had reservations about the paper’s merit. He confessed to Hooker two days later, ‘after agonies of …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 16 hits
- … Henry Huxley, William Benjamin Carpenter, and Joseph Dalton Hooker. Others were not quite as …
- … cannot expect fairness in a Reviewer’, Darwin commented to Hooker after reading an early notice that …
- … of the geological record; but this criticism, he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main …
- … principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). Above …
- … it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] ). This …
- … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
- … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
- … ‘topics of the day’ at the meeting in a letter from Hooker written from Oxford. Hooker’s letter, one …
- … Owen ‘had a furious battle over Darwins absent body’, Hooker attended the fabled Saturday session of …
- … of the development of Western civilisation. Wilberforce, Hooker recounted, responded by shouting …
- … audience’. With his blood boiling and his heart pounding, Hooker threw down the gauntlet and became …
- … ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1860). Other …
- … were already proved) to his own views.—’ ( letter from J. S. Henslow to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1860 …
- … these visits have led to changed structure.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 April [1860] ). Tracing …
- … months later, ‘just as at a game of chess.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 [July 1860] ). With the …
- … substance from non=nitrogenised substances.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 31 [August 1860] ). Relying …

Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 6 hits
- … be well abused’, he wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker on 21 January , ‘for as my son Frank …
- … the proof-sheets, rather than waiting for the bound copies. Hooker suggested one of the reasons …
- … tell heavily against natural selection’, Darwin wrote to Hooker on 21 January . Darwin read the …
- … arrogant, odious beast that ever lived,’ Darwin wrote to Hooker on 16 September . Darwin …
- … laughing. crying grinning pouting &c. &c’, he wrote to Hooker on 21 March . Darwin …
- … in June, and was married on 31 August. Darwin remarked to Hooker on 23 July , ‘her loss will be …

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: 4 hits
- … a specimen of the carnivorous Drosophyllum lusitanicum , Hooker wrote: “Pray work your wicked …
- … at the end of November 1872 and sold quickly. He wrote to Hooker on 12 January [1873] , “Did I …
- … ( letter from E. F. Lubbock, [before 7 April 1873] ). Hooker added: “I have beaten my brains to …
- … to worry, however, that he would overwork himself, and so Hooker volunteered to accompany him on a …
A beginning, & that is something: To J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869]
Summary
Alison Pearn talks about a letter Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker after finishing corrections to the fifth edition of Origin of Species in 1869.
Matches: 1 hits
- … about a letter Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker after finishing corrections to the …