From J. G. Malcolmson 2 January 1840
Summary
Discusses CD’s Glen Roy paper; would like to see the theory put beyond dispute. Tells of Mr Stables’ observations on the parallel roads. Discusses geological features of Scotland which he is sure are marine in origin.
| Author: | John Grant Malcolmson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Jan 1840 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 31; Geological Society of London (Membership certificates, 1840) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1147 |
To [W. A. Leighton?] [1840–77?]
Summary
Valediction only of a letter stuck into a writing case.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Allport Leighton |
| Date: | [1840–77?] |
| Classmark: | Estate of the late Mr D. Evans (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13770H |
To William Walton [1840–2]
Summary
Comments on the quality of the meat of the guanaco.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Walton |
| Date: | [1840–2] |
| Classmark: | Walton 1844, pp. 43–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-548A |
To William Walton [1840–2]
Summary
Describes the range of conditions under which the guanaco thrives and the ease with which it can be tamed.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Walton |
| Date: | [1840–2] |
| Classmark: | Walton 1844, pp. 50–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-548B |
To John Edward Gray 1 January [1840]
Summary
Testimonial in behalf of JEG’s application for the position of keeper of the zoological department of the British Museum from which John George Children was about to resign.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Edward Gray |
| Date: | 1 Jan [1840] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Library, J. E. Gray Miscellaneous papers vol. 1: f.118) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-548C |
To T. C. Eyton [6 January 1840]
Summary
Has been unwell.
Thanks TCE for his descriptions [of specimens for Birds]. Has already expended a high proportion of Government grant on birds, but if TCE thinks engravings are needed, he shall have them. He may keep the bones.
CD has become a father.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
| Date: | [6 Jan 1840] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.20) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-549 |
To Basil Hall [7 January 1840]
Summary
CD regrets inconvenience caused by his having Royal Geographical Society’s copy of Krusenstern’s Atlas [de l’océan Pacifique (1824–7)]. Locates Sulphur Island from it.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Basil Hall |
| Date: | [7 Jan 1840] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-550 |
To A. Y. Spearman 16 January 1840
Summary
Presents the Smith, Elder & Co. account for the first number of the fourth part (now published) of the Zoology.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Young Spearman, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 16 Jan 1840 |
| Classmark: | The National Archives (TNA) (T1/4524 paper 25824) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-550A |
To the Geological Society of London 22 January 1840
Summary
W. B. Clarke’s paper on ashes falling at sea off Cape Verde Islands [Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond. 3 (1839): 145–6] need not be published in Transactions.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Geological Society of London |
| Date: | 22 Jan 1840 |
| Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/COM/P/4/2/38) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-551 |
To J. S. Henslow [24 January 1840]
Summary
Sends specimens from Indian Ocean atolls.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | [24 Jan 1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A3–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-552 |
To Mr Folthorp of Smith, Elder & Co. [6 February 1840]
Summary
Sends MS [of Coral reefs?] to be copied.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Smith, Elder & Co |
| Date: | [6 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-553 |
To Charles Lyell [19 February 1840]
Summary
Remarks on his illness and treatment.
Discusses MS [of Coral reefs] and changes in his view of coral reefs since Journal of researches. Mentions C. G. Ehrenberg’s observations on coral reefs.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [19 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.21) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-554 |
To Robert FitzRoy [20 February 1840]
Summary
Poor health has made him give up all geological work.
Profits on their volumes [of Narrative] seem absurdly small.
Looks back on Beagle voyage as the most fortunate circumstance in his life.
Finds marriage a great happiness.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert FitzRoy |
| Date: | [20 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 117 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-555 |
To W. C. Redfield 24 February [1840]
Summary
Much interested in WCR’s paper on "Whirlwinds excited by fire" [Am. J. Sci. 36 (1839): 50–9; Edinburgh New Philos. J. 27 (1839): 369–79].
Sends a summary account of circular clouds and waterspouts formed during volcanic eruption in the Azores [S. Tillard, "Eruption of a volcano in sea off St Michael", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. (1812): 152–8].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William C. Redfield |
| Date: | 24 Feb [1840] |
| Classmark: | Yale University: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Letters to William C. Redfield vol. 2 Scientific 1831-41 (z117 00151 2) pp. 335–8) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-556 |
To Richard Owen 24 [February 1840]
Summary
Asks RO whether he has any MS [of Fossil Mammalia, no. 4] ready and to see that the plates are finished.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Owen |
| Date: | 24 [Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | The Royal College of Surgeons of England (MS0025/1/5/11) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-557 |
To Benjamin Silliman 26 February 1840
Summary
Asks that a letter on tornados be forwarded to W. C. Redfield. Hopes Silliman received a copy of Journal of Researches.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Benjamin Silliman, Sr |
| Date: | 26 Feb 1840 |
| Classmark: | Gallery of History (dealers) (4 December 1996) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-557F |
To Leonard Jenyns [27 February 1840]
Summary
Has been unwell. Publication of two numbers [of Zoology] has been delayed. Thought first Fish number good.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Date: | [27 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-558 |
To Basil Hall 15 March 1840
Summary
Discussion of the geology of Coquimbo, Chile.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Basil Hall |
| Date: | 15 Mar 1840 |
| Classmark: | Musée royal de Mariemont, Belgium (Aut. 1061/1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-558F |
To Richard Owen [March? 1840]
Summary
Sends a proof title page and asks RO to send a list of plates and contents [of Fossil mammalia] to the printer, Mr Stewart.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Owen |
| Date: | [Mar? 1840] |
| Classmark: | Christie’s, New York (dealers) (29 October 1993) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-559F |
To David Milne 20 [February 1840]
Summary
About earthquakes: the shock of February 1835 in Chile; possible connection between shocks occurring coincidentally in different parts of the world, and between earthquakes and the weather; DM’s collection of accounts of earthquakes in Scotland.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | David Milne Home |
| Date: | 20 [Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Charles E. Mudie Collection, 1816–1897: Correspondence Post-1650 MS 0112) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-560 |
| letter | (56) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (45) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (2) |
| Allen, Frances | (1) |
| Allen, Jessie | (1) |
| Darwin, S. E. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Geological Society of London | (4) |
| Smith, G. N. | (3) |
| Spearman, A. Y. | (3) |
| Blomefield, Leonard | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
| Geological Society of London | (4) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (4) |
| Redfield, W. C. | (3) |
| Smith, G. N. | (3) |
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: 23 hits
- … 765. in Geograph. Soc?? Review of this in Edin. Phil Jour. 1840. June [Anon. 1840]. Report of …
- … 26—Account of Domestic & Foreign Bees [Jardine ed. 1840]: (Athenæum 1840 p. 195) …
- … A. Necker 1823] read Lindleys Horticulture [Lindley 1840]— Chapter on Races improvement of …
- … Admiral Von Wrangel’s Travels [Wrangel 1840].— Sir Ker Porter’s Travels in Caucasus [R. K. …
- … Instinct by D r . Alison [W. P. Alison 1847]. No 19. July. 1840 27 Annales des Sciences …
- … 12v.] Bowerbank’s Book on Fossil Fruit [Bowerbank 1840] must be studied Liebigs …
- … 1834] Royle on Indian Agricult. & Production [Royle 1840] Bennets. Whaling Voyage …
- … 1833]— Prof. Smyth. French Revolution 3 vols [Smyth 1840] Baber’s Biography. translat. …
- … II d . death [Hallam 1827] Ranke’s Popes [Ranke 1840].— Southeys life of Wesley …
- … reproductive system Encyclop of Rural Sports [Blaine 1840] (at Athenæum?) Book II Chapt. 4 on …
- … 1836].— Paxton Pocket Bot. Dict. 1841 [Paxton 1840]— probably good—every plant cultivated in …
- … must study Whewell on Philosophy of Science [Whewell 1840].— Speculates on Instinct.— …
- … A. Alison on Population. 2 vols. Feb. 1842 [A. Alison 1840].— Youatt in Vet. says Blaine on …
- … to be good Papers on Sewalik Fossils in 1842 [Cautley 1840 and Cautley and Falconer 1840] The …
- … Sheep [Blacklock 1838]; good quotation in Royle [Royle 1840] Proceedings of Agricult. Soc …
- … Capt. Parsons quoted by Royle. Prod. Res. p. 170 [Royle 1840] (read) 37 Sweet has …
- … Parrots [Selby 1836]. 26. Honey Bees [Jardine ed. 1840]. Waterhouse has it??? Jacintes …
- … [DAR *119: 21v.] Gosse Canadian naturalist [Gosse 1840] in Entomolog. Soc. Duchesne …
- … Martineau 1821] (read) Letters of L d . Ward? [Ward 1840] [DAR *119: 22v.] …
- … July 8 th M.S. Voyage of Kolff to the Molucca Sea [Kolff 1840] 10 th Surville-Marion …
- … on the Horse [Youatt 1831] Library of Useful K. 1840 Jan 1 st Many numbers of …
- … India [Heyne 1814] d[itt]o [DAR 119: 7a] 1840 D r . Hollands Medical …
- … Transactions of the Royal Society of London ] from 1788 to 1840 —Abstracted— Maer Phil Transact. …
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…
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 10 hits
- … cousin Emma Wedgwood; the one of Darwin is signed and dated 1840. Their style is characteristic of …
- … 1839. Josiah Wedgwood himself wrote to his daughter Emma in 1840, asking her to commission Richmond …
- … However, it seems that the pair of portraits dating from 1840 which is now at Down House had a …
- … finished watercolours rather than drawings, indicating the 1840 pair now at Down House. …
- … the dates of various Darwin family commissions. In 1840 there were indeed entries (unpriced) for …
- … data to the various copies or alternative versions of the 1840 portraits which exist. A watercolour …
- … the back of the frame, ‘Charles Robert Darwin age 31 March 1840’; but she mysteriously described it …
- … of her mother – the only one she knew about – to 1840. However, in Emma Darwin: A Century of …
- … Richmond; signed and dated bottom right ‘G. Richmond 1840’ date of creation March 1840 …
- … p. 134, says that Erasmus Darwin retained the 1840 watercolours in his own collection in London, and …
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: 5 hits
- … Agassiz (see Barrett 1973, Rudwick 1974, and L. Agassiz 1840). In another paper, “On the …
- … My stomach as usual has been my enemy In 1840 the illness was different. As he wrote to …
- … life. ‘My stomach’, he wrote to FitzRoy, [20 February 1840] , ‘as usual has been my enemy—but D …
- … reasonable diagnosis (see Colp 1977). The illness of 1840 appears to have been the …
- … descendants, twelve letters from Darwin to Kemp in the years 1840 to 1843 have come to light; they …
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: 7 hits
- … gives the first notice that he is going to cry. Feb 27. 1840 When nine weeks & three days …
- … vol. 2, letters to T. C. Eyton, [6 January 1840] , and Robert FitzRoy, [20 February 1840] . …
- … preceding sentence and the following text to ‘Feb 27. 1840’ on page 6 is in Emma Darwin’s hand. …
- … stayed with CD and Emma Darwin between 21 March and 2 May 1840 (Emma Darwin’s diary). If Emma Darwin …
- … December, rather than 4, and 28 days, not 29, in February (1840 was a leap year) when calculating …
- … Darwin’s parents Bessy and Josiah Wedgwood II, on 5 June 1840. They remained in Staffordshire and …
- … the role of bees in pollination, made in the summers between 1840 and 1842, are in DAR 46.2 and DAR …
Natural Science and Femininity
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 555 - Darwin to FitzRoy, R., [20 February 1840] Darwin discusses the development …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November 1840 ). The sexual relations of barnacles seemed …
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…
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. …
Conrad Martens
Summary
Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting under the watercolourist Copley Fielding (1789–1855), who also briefly taught Ruskin. In 1833 he was on board the Hyacinth, headed for India, but en route in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting …
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.…
Richard Henry Corfield
Summary
Richard Henry Corfield was in his final year at Shrewsbury School when Darwin started there. It’s hard to say how well they knew each other, but fifteen years later Corfield appeared again in Darwin’s life as a surprisingly familiar face on the other side…
Matches: 1 hits
- … named Mary in Exeter ( BMD : ( Marriage index )). In 1840 there was a notice in the London …
Darwin and Design
Summary
At the beginning of the nineteenth century in Britain, religion and the sciences were generally thought to be in harmony. The study of God’s word in the Bible, and of his works in nature, were considered to be part of the same truth. One version of this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Creation’. Eight volumes were produced between 1833 and 1840 by leading authorities in moral …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … SOURCES Papers Darwin, C.R. 1840. On the formation of mould. Transactions of the …
Richard Matthews
Summary
Richard Matthews was 21 years old when he stepped aboard the Beagle, destined for a lonely career as a missionary in Tierra del Fuego. The Church Missionary Society had arranged for him to accompany the three Fuegians (Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York…
Matches: 1 hits
- … relationship between the missionaries and the Maoris. In 1840, the Church Missionary Society asked …
Leonard Jenyns
Summary
When Darwin returned from the Beagle voyage there was no-one available to describe the fish that he had collected. At Darwin’s request Jenyns, a friend from Cambridge days, took on the challenge. It was not an easy one: at that time Jenyns had only worked…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle published between 1840 and 1842. The manuscript version …
Darwin’s first love
Summary
Darwin’s long marriage to Emma Wedgwood is well documented, but was there an earlier romance in his life? How was his departure on the Beagle entangled with his first love? The answers are revealed in a series of flirtatious letters that Darwin was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … wrote over the first set of writing. Before the Penny Post (1840), envelopes were rarely used. …
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 …
Bartholomew James Sulivan
Summary
On Christmas Day 1866, Bartholomew Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, commiserating on shared ill-health, glorying in the achievements of their children, offering to collect plant specimens, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On Christmas Day 1866, Bartholomew Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to …
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…
