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From B. J. Sulivan   [November 1838 – April 1839]

Summary

Observations on the geology of the Falkland Islands.

Author:  Bartholomew James Sulivan
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [Nov 1838 – Apr 1839]
Classmark:  DAR 39: 20–5
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-13847

To ?   [February 1838 – February 1841?]

Summary

Asks correspondent if he would prefer the President’s signature alone or with those of other scientific men.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Unidentified
Date:  [Feb 1838 – Feb 1841?]
Classmark:  B. Altman (dealer) (3 October 1982)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-13864

To Eugène Robert   28 March 1838

Summary

Discusses the geology of volcanic islands.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Louis Eugène (Eugène) Robert
Date:  28 Mar 1838
Classmark:  Robert 1840, pp. 443–4
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-350F

To Charles Babbage   [1838]

Summary

CD is much obliged for invitations to CB’s parties, but is afraid to accept because he would meet people to whom he has sworn he never goes out.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Babbage
Date:  [1838]
Classmark:  The British Library (Add MS 37191: 81)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-351

To Charles Babbage   [21 January 1838]

Summary

Asks Babbage to take small parcel to Henslow.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Babbage
Date:  [21 Jan 1838]
Classmark:  The British Library (Add MS 37190: 320)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-357

Questions for Mr Wynne   [February–July 1838]

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Summary

Questions on breeding and habits.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  [–] Wynne
Date:  [Feb–July 1838]
Classmark:  DAR 206: 42
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-399

To Richard Owen    [January 1838]

Summary

Would like to call upon RO to discuss the last engravings sent by George Scharf. CD assumes that the revise of Toxodon [see 395] was received.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Richard Owen
Date:  [Jan 1838]
Classmark:  Kenneth W. Rendell (dealer) (1990)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-399A

To J. S. Henslow   [21 January 1838]

Summary

Sends rock specimen for W. H. Miller. Asks JSH to see whether there is any geology in P. B. Webb and Sabin Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Îles Canaries [1835–50]. Finds his work on geology growing so large that it will take more than one volume and asks whether this will make publication aid more difficult.

Has accepted Secretaryship of the Geological Society.

Will not come to Cambridge because "as long as I continue well I cannot bear to leave my work for half a day".

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Stevens Henslow
Date:  [21 Jan 1838]
Classmark:  Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Dreer collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-400

To John Gould   [February 1838]

Summary

The publishers [of Zoology] have agreed to 50 plates [for Birds]. Asks JG to decide which are most worthy of being done. Also asks him to see whether Bayfield will undertake [to colour] the birds (and quadrupeds) at something under 5d each.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Gould
Date:  [Feb 1838]
Classmark:  William Patrick Watson (dealer) (catalogue 20, April 2014)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-401

From William Fullerton Lindsay-Carnegie to Charles Lyell   [14 February 1838]

Summary

Impressed by CD’s theory [of earthworm action].

Author:  William Fullerton Lindsay-Carnegie
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  [14 Feb 1838]
Classmark:  DAR 170: 3
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-402

To A. Y. Spearman   16 February 1838

Summary

Encloses the account of Smith, Elder & Co. for the first part of "The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle" [Fossil Mammalia].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Alexander Young Spearman, 1st baronet
Date:  16 Feb 1838
Classmark:  The National Archives (TNA) (T1/4524 paper 25824)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-402A

From John George Children    21 February 1838

Summary

In view of the charges directed by Edward Blyth against George R. Gray for gross incivility and discourtesy in discharging his duties as assistant in the zoological department at the British Museum, CD is asked by the Trustees to comment upon his own experience with Gray and to offer his judgment of these charges.

Author:  John George Children
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  21 Feb 1838
Classmark:  Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF ZOO/205/1/74)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-402B

From A. Y. Spearman   23 February 1838

Summary

Payment of the Smith, Elder & Co. account has been ordered, amounting to the sum of £68.10.10 for the first part of the Zoology.

Author:  Alexander Young Spearman, 1st baronet
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  23 Feb 1838
Classmark:  The National Archives (TNA) (Treasury out–letter book T 27/137 p. 443)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-402C

To John George Children   22 February [1838]

Summary

Testifies to the courtesy and helpfulness of George Gray [assistant at the British Museum]. [See 402b.]

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John George Children
Date:  22 Feb [1838]
Classmark:  British Museum (Officers’ Reports 20 (1838): 5314)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-402F

From Robert FitzRoy   26 February 1838

Summary

His work [on vol. 2 of Narrative] is going slowly.

Has no objection to anything in CD’s excellent volume. CD should "entertain no further scruple on that subject".

Author:  Robert FitzRoy
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  26 Feb 1838
Classmark:  DAR 204: 145
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-403

From William Buckland to the Geological Society of London   9 March 1838

Summary

Recommends CD’s paper on "Formation of mould" [Collected papers 1: 49–53; read 1 Nov 1837] be printed in Transactions. Praises it as establishing a new "geological power".

Author:  William Buckland
Addressee:  Geological Society of London
Date:  9 Mar 1838
Classmark:  Geological Society of London (GSL/COM/P/4/2/47)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-404

From Robert Bastard James to Charles Lyell   [c. 10 March 1838]

Summary

Sends four samples of dust blown on board his ship from the coast of Africa, nearly 400 miles away, during four days in March 1838. Gives careful descriptions and relates the tests he made of it [see Collected papers 1: 200].

Author:  Robert Bastard James
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  [c. 10 Mar 1838]
Classmark:  DAR 168: 43
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-405

To J. S. Henslow   [26 March 1838]

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Summary

Declines Ray Club dinner; too busy with Zoology.

Thanks JSH for presenting his work to Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Asks him to get an answer from W. H. Miller on specimen of crystallised mineral.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Stevens Henslow
Date:  [26 Mar 1838]
Classmark:  DAR 93: A1–2
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-406

To Susan Darwin   [1 April 1838]

Summary

FitzRoy is hard at work on his book [Narrative, vol. 2].

CD’s health is improved.

Describes his visit to zoo.

Gives news of E. A. Darwin and Harriet Martineau.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Susan Elizabeth Darwin
Date:  [1 Apr 1838]
Classmark:  DAR 223: 39
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-407

From Leonard Horner   7 April [1838]

Summary

Postpones meeting with CD because he must attend House of Commons for Factory Amendment Act.

Author:  Leonard Horner
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  7 Apr [1838]
Classmark:  DAR 210.8: 1
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-408
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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: 11 hits

  • … whom his work brought him into close contact. In November 1838, two years after his return, Darwin …
  • … be as they are (Kohn 1980). Between April 1837 and September 1838 he filled several notebooks with …
  • … it (in his referee’s report to the Society of 9 March 1838), had been developed by Darwin from a …
  • … and Buckland (see the reports by Buckland, 9 March 1838 , and Sedgwick, [after 15 May 1838] ). …
  • … of his  Beagle  work, and it too was in geology. In 1838 he set out on a geological tour in …
  • … Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle  from February 1838 to October 1843. The correspondence …
  • … plant distribution and classification (see Henslow 1837a and 1838; W. J. Hooker and G. A. W. Arnott …
  • … his hypothesis. In a letter to Lyell, [14] September [1838] , he wrote: 'I have lately been …
  • … generation, fecundity, and inheritance. After mid-September 1838, when he had his ‘theory to work by …
  • … of Comte’s  Philosophie positive ([Brewster] 1838; see also Manier 1978, pp. 40–5) which …
  • … the task Darwin had set for himself when, in the spring of 1838, he wrote in his notebook: ' …

Darwin’s species notebooks: ‘I think . . .’

Summary

I have lately been sadly tempted to be idle, that is as far as pure geology is concerned, by the delightful number of new views, which have been coming in, thickly & steadily, on the classification & affinities & instincts of animals—bearing…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … sub-laws.   Letter to Charles Lyell, [14] September [1838] In 1837, living in London …
  • … replaced old ones on a consistent basis. In September 1838, Darwin abandoned his reproductive …

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: 3 hits

  • … to explain a puzzling feature of British geology.  In 1838, two years after returning from the …
  • … To understand what led Darwin to ‘see’ what he saw in 1838 is to take a glimpse from the perspective …
  • … guide to Glen Roy: To Charles Lyell, 9 August [1838] To Charles Lyell, [14] …

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: 26 hits

  • … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he …
  • … arranged alphabetically, of the scientific books read from 1838 through 1846, but it was not kept up …
  • … Inside Front Cover] C. Darwin June 1 st . 1838 Stoke’s Library 1 …
  • … read L. Jenyns paper on Annals of Nat. Hist. [Jenyns 1838] Prichard; a 3 d . vol …
  • … Cavernes d’Ossements 7 th  Ed. 10  8 vo . [Serres 1838] good to trace Europ. forms compared …
  • … 1827] Paxton on the culture of Dahlias [Paxton 1838] read Paper on consciousness in …
  • … [DAR *119: 4v.] Bevan’s work on Bees new Ed. 1838 [Bevan 1838] Harlaam Phys. & …
  • … [Anon. 1839b] Rev. on Walker on Intermarriage [A. Walker 1838] M me  Necker on Education [A …
  • … Torrey have published Botany of N. America [Torrey and Gray 1838–43]. both indigenous & imported …
  • … r  Yarrell has it?? Walker on Interriage [A. Walker 1838] refers to writings of …
  • … has published work on fossil shells of N. America [Conrad 1838] Atlas de la Geographie des …
  • … well worth reading. Read Loudon’s Arboretum [Loudon 1838] in Edinburgh Review July 1839 [Anon …
  • … worth reading [Beale 1839] Loudons Arboretum [Loudon 1838]. read D r . Moreton’s …
  • … with Plates and Woodcuts. Post 8vo., 9 s . 6 d . [Knapp] 1838] Read Gleanings in Natural …
  • … Woodcuts. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo., 12 s . 30  [Jesse 1838] Salmonia— Sir. H Davy [H. Davy …
  • … 1828] quoted by Weissenborn on Aurochs [Weissenborn 1838] Smiths grammar [J. E. Smith 1821] …
  • … Blacklock admirable little Treatise on Sheep [Blacklock 1838];  good  quotation in Royle [Royle …
  • … War and Peace [J. F. Davis 1852]. read Books Read, 1838–51 [DAR 119: Cover]  Books …
  • … d'Histoire Naturelle ] Loudon Arboretum [Loudon 1838] Lists at end of Royal Soc …
  • … Society of   London ]: up to parts published March 1838 Whole of Geographical Journal [ …
  • … [Ray 1692].— Reference at end British Aviary [Anon. 1838?]— d[itt]o d[itt]o Lister’s …
  • … 1814]— nothing Lyell’s Elements of Geology [Lyell 1838] Gibbon’s Life of himself …
  • … are many marginal notes Mitchells Australia [Mitchell 1838] Walter Scott’s life …
  • … Abercrombie on the Intellectual Powers [Abercrombie 1838] References at end 59 Hunters …
  • … & C Prevost on l’Ile Julie [Prévost 1835]. 1838 Oct 2 Watertons Essays on Nat. …
  • … at end Mayo Pathology of Human mind [T. Mayo 1838] Evelyn’s Sylva [Evelyn 1664]— …

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

  • … Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Caroline Wedgwood, [May 1838] , and letter to Robert FitzRoy, …

Darwin on childhood

Summary

On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his early childhood.  Life. Written August–– 1838 My earliest recollection, the date of which I can approximately tell, and which must have been before…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Darwin’s Notes On Marriage [April - July 1838] In these notes, written shortly before …

Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications

Summary

This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics.  Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  2 (1838): 210-12. —Observations of proofs …
  • … Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  2 (1838): 446-9.  [ Shorter publications , pp.  …
  • … Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  2 (1838): 542-4.  [ Shorter publications , pp.  …
  • … Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  2 (1838): 552-4.  [ Shorter publications , pp.  …

Dining at Down House

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Wedgwood (Emma Darwin) to Charles Darwin, [30 December 1838] In this letter, written prior to …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, C. R., [21–22 Nov 1838] In this letter, his soon-to-be wife, …

Darwin on marriage

Summary

On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to …
  • … his correspondents. First note [after 7 April 1838][1] Work finished [2] …
  • … Library,  DAR 210.8:1 Second note [July 1838][12] This is the Question[13] …
  • … blank pages of the letter from Leonard Horner, 7 April [1838]. [2] Presumably CD is looking …
  • … of writing, but in a letter to Charles Lyell, [12 November 1838], informing Lyell that his cousin …

People featured in the Dutch photograph album

Summary

Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …

Matches: 4 hits

  • …   39 St Michiels Gestel 20 oktober 1838 St Michiels Gestel   …
  • … University   Utrecht 3 september 1838 Utrecht 19 march 1903 …
  • … School.   Zalt-Bommel 25 january 1838 Culemborg 11 june 1903 …
  • … School.   Amersfoort 8 october 1838 Deventer 10 march 1882 …

Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859

Summary

The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … on how species might have arisen. In September 1838, reading Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the principle …
  • … his species doubts as has been commonly thought. Between 1838 and 1857, he told at least ten of his …
  • … the mutability of species. As early as 14 September 1838, before reading Malthus, he wrote to Lyell …

People featured in the Dutch photograph album

Summary

List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…

Matches: 4 hits

  • …   39 St Michiels Gestel 20 October 1838 St Michiels Gestel   …
  • … University   Utrecht 3 September 1838 Utrecht 19 March 1903 …
  • … School.   Zalt-Bommel 25 January 1838 Culemborg 11 June 1903 …
  • … School.   Amersfoort 8 October 1838 Deventer 10 March 1882 …

Marriage

Summary

Charles Darwin and Emma Wedgwood are married. They were first cousins. Darwin had proposed on 11 November 1838, describing it as the 'day of days!'.

Matches: 1 hits

  • … They were first cousins. Darwin had proposed on 11 November 1838, describing it as the 'day of …

Darwin & Geology

Summary

The lessons Darwin learned from Adam Sedgwick at Cambridge, and in the field in North Wales, stood him in good stead during the Beagle voyage. While he was attached to the Beagle from 1831 to 1835, Darwin actually spent about two-thirds of his time ashore,…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Society of London before becoming its secretary in 1838. This job carried significant …

Glen Roy

Summary

Darwin makes a field trip to Glen Roy, Scotland, to observe the geological phenomenon of the 'parallel roads'.  He later described his theory of how the roads were created as 'one long gigantic blunder'

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Darwin makes a field trip to Glen Roy, Scotland, to observe the geological phenomenon of the …

Zoology of the Beagle published

Summary

The first part of The Zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle is published. Darwin organised and superintended its publication, and wrote up the locations of the fossils, and the habitats and behaviour of the living species, he had collected.

Matches: 1 hits

  • … The first part of The Zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle is published. Darwin organised and …

Asa Gray

Summary

Darwin’s longest running and most significant exchange of correspondence dealing with the subjects of design in nature and religious belief was with the Harvard botanist Asa Gray.  Gray was one of Darwin’s leading supporters in America. He was also a…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … and study botany. He travelled in England and Europe in 1838 and it was then that he first met …

Engagement to Emma Wedgwood

Summary

Darwin proposes to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and is accepted

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Darwin proposes to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and is accepted …
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