To J. D. Hooker 22 [January 1844 – March 1882]
Summary
Discusses books returned
and invites him to Down for a few days.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 22 [Jan 1844 - Mar 1882] |
Classmark: | Sotheby’s (dealers) (14 and 28 May 1983) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13816A |
To G. R. Waterhouse 10 [June 1844 – March 1845]
Summary
Invites GRW and his family to visit.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Date: | 10 [June 1844 - Mar 1845] |
Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13852 |
To Josiah Wedgwood III [May 1844]
Summary
Family financial matters.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Josiah Wedgwood, III |
Date: | [May 1844] |
Classmark: | V&A / Wedgwood Collection (MS W/M 1028) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13855 |
To Hugh Falconer [December? 1844]
Summary
Returns notes on mule yaks [see Natural selection, p. 438]
and sends queries on silkworms.
A bed is ready any time HF will come.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
Date: | [Dec? 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 144: 17 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1691 |
From George Robert Waterhouse [April 1844]
Summary
Regularly attends Owen’s lectures. Owen at pains to show groups are not linked. Thus makes Lepidosiren appear fish-like.
GRW thinks embryology will become chief guide to insect classification. But contradictions between classification based on embryological and adult characters do occur.
Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [Apr 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 48: 79 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2026 |
To W. A. Leighton 25 November [1844?–6]
Summary
Thanks for procuring cuttings of weeping yew.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Allport Leighton |
Date: | 25 Nov [1844-6] |
Classmark: | Fraser’s Autographs (dealer) (May 2013) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-653F |
To E. A. Darwin [before 1 October 1844]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Date: | [before 1 Oct 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.10: 3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-678 |
To Emma Darwin [3 June 1844]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
Date: | [3 June 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.8: 23 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-726 |
From Erasmus Alvey Darwin [May 1844 – 1 October 1846]
Summary
Sends calculations of angles of elevation [of sea-bottom, for South America?].
Swale has sent Lady Willoughby’s diary, which EAD will forward to CD.
Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [May 1844 – 1 Oct 1846] |
Classmark: | DAR 39: 28–30 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-727 |
To Geological Society of London [3 January 1844]
Summary
Asks that A. d’Orbigny’s geological map of S. America be sent to him with a card of the Society’s evening meetings.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Geological Society of London |
Date: | [3 Jan 1844] |
Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/8/92) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-728 |
To J. D. Hooker [11 January 1844]
Summary
Queries on ratios of species to genera on southern islands. CD’s observations on distribution of Galapagos organisms, and on S. American fossils, and facts he has gathered since, lead him to conclusion that species are not immutable; "it is like confessing a murder".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [11 Jan 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-729 |
To Henry Denny 20 January [1844]
Summary
Discusses sending HD lice specimens. Asks him to check with G. R. Waterhouse.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Denny |
Date: | 20 Jan [1844] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.37) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-731 |
To Ernst Dieffenbach 25 January 1844
Summary
Delighted to be able to contribute Infusoria to ED’s "great countryman Ehrenberg". Includes a list of eight substances from his collection described in detail, which Ehrenberg might find useful in his researches.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ernst Dieffenbach |
Date: | 25 Jan 1844 |
Classmark: | J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (Catalogue 574 11–13 November 1965) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-732 |
To J. D. Hooker [27 January 1844]
Summary
C. G. Ehrenberg would like some earth from Galapagos, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falklands; wishes to hunt for Infusoria.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [27 Jan 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-733 |
From J. D. Hooker 29 January 1844
Summary
Remarks on geographical divisions of the flora of the Southern Hemisphere.
JDH beginning Galapagos plants. Value of studying insular floras with respect to inquiries about adaptation of species.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 29 Jan 1844 |
Classmark: | DAR 100: 5–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-734 |
To Henry Denny 5 February [1844]
Summary
Dicussion of some specimens from the Beagle voyage.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Denny |
Date: | 5 Feb [1844] |
Classmark: | Jeremy and Helen Evans (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-734F |
To J. D. Hooker [3–17 February 1844]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [3–17 Feb 1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-735 |
To Charles Wicksted 13 February [1844?]
Summary
Inquires about the habits of a litter of foxhounds whose sire was particularly good at recovering the scent in paths or roads.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Wicksted |
Date: | 13 Feb [1844?] |
Classmark: | George Clive (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-735A |
To J. D. Hooker 23 February [1844]
Summary
Has just completed Volcanic islands.
Sends queries on Galapagos flora in particular and island floras in general; also on relationship of wide-ranging species to wide-ranging genera.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 23 Feb [1844] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-736 |
To William Kemp 23 February [1844]
Summary
Regrets the delay in sending copies of his paper.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Kemp |
Date: | 23 Feb [1844] |
Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (MS Add. 10252/34) (gift of Ruth Cramond and David Cramond) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-736F |
letter | (95) |
Darwin, C. R. | (74) |
Hooker, J. D. | (11) |
Waterhouse, G. R. | (3) |
Ehrenberg, C. G. | (2) |
Carpenter, W. B. | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (23) |
Darwin, C. R. | (22) |
Denny, Henry | (7) |
Gardeners’ Chronicle | (5) |
Carpenter, W. B. | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (95) |
Hooker, J. D. | (34) |
Denny, Henry | (8) |
Ehrenberg, C. G. | (5) |
Gardeners’ Chronicle | (5) |
My most solemn request: To Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844
Summary
Alistair Sponsel talks about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife Emma in 1844. Having just completed a sketch of his species theory, Darwin wrote detailed instructions about what to do with his manuscript in the event of his death.
Matches: 1 hits
- … about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife Emma in 1844. Having just completed a sketch of his …

Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 10 hits
- … published two books on geology, Volcanic islands (1844) and Geological observations on South …
- … edition in 1845, having already provided corrections in 1844 for a German translation of the first …
- … Society of London, acting as one of four vice-presidents in 1844 and remaining on the council from …
- … and refereed papers for all these organisations. Between 1844 and 1846 Darwin himself wrote ten …
- … others. Only two months after their first exchange, early in 1844, Darwin told Hooker that he was …
- … murder) immutable’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] ). Nine months later, in his letter …
- … , pp. 57–255), an expanded version, completed on 5 July 1844, of a pencil sketch he had drawn up …
- … of 1847 that Hooker was given a fair copy of the essay of 1844 to read (see Correspondence vol. …
- … the natural history of creation , published anonymously in 1844. His old friend Adam Sedgwick …
- … future, is that addressed to his wife Emma, dated 5 July 1844 , just after Darwin had completed …
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: 5 hits
- … of his paper on Darwin. THE SAND WALK: 1844 In which Darwin, at home in …
- … and copied and communicated to Messrs Lyell and Hooker in 1844, being a part of [an …
- … a murder. DARWIN: 7 January 1844. My dear Hooker. I have been …engaged in a …
- … which is not written out much fuller in my sketch copied in 1844, and read by Hooker some dozen …
- … 1846 7 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 11 JANUARY 1844 8 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 25 …

Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Summary
On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…
Matches: 1 hits
- … he no longer believed in fixity of species [11 January 1844] ? And then there …

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
- … 1841].— L d . Dudley’s Correspondence [Dudley 1844]. Hallam Constitut Hist: Hen VII …
- … Hall’s voyage in the Nemesis to China [Bernard 1844]. The Emigrant, Head [F. B. Head 1846] …
- … Observ. on Instinct [Etherington 1841–3]. Whittaker 1844. in Parts. cheap. 1.6 a part. 38 …
- … Jesses new Book. (April 44) on Nat. Hist [Jesse 1844] must be studied. J. Jarves “Scenes in …
- … Traite Elementair Palæontologie M. Pictet [Pictet 1844–5]— Forbes?? Waterhouse has it— 1844— read …
- … Hooker recommends order [Backhouse 1844] at Library …
- … Vestiges of Nat: Hist: of Creation. Churchill: 1844. 7 s ” 6 d . [Chambers] 1844] in which …
- … in Taylors Scientific Memoirs—goes by sexes [Wartmann 1844] for (1844) Blofield Algeria. 1844 …
- … on transmutation of shells [Haldeman 1843–4] already (1844) VI. vols. published Lib. Geological …
- … Read Waterton’s last series on Nat: Hist: [Waterton 1844] tailess horses. Read “Bronn …
- … [Bernhardi 1834] (M. Gerard. experiments on species [Gérard 1844].) read Sageret sur les …
- … Travels to Khiva. 47 Residence in India [Sleeman 1844] L d Cloncurry Memm [Lawless 1849 …
- … [Plymley 1808] Sleemans Residence in India [Sleeman 1844] Curiosities of Literature …
- … [Lockhart 1828] 16 L d Dudley’s Letters [Dudley 1844] Nov. 25 Finished 3 d Part …
- … 30. Dieffenbach’s New Zealand [Dieffenbach 1843] 1844 Wiegman on Hybrids—German— …
- … 20 Astoria.— by Irving [Irving 1836] 1844 Jan 7 th Borrow’s Bible in Spain …
- … April 26 th : Martin Chuzzlewit. & Pickwick [Dickens 1844 and 1837] July 20 th …
- … Rome [Niebuhr 1828–42] [DAR 119: 14a] 1844 May 26 th L d …
- … Narr: of Visit to Mauritius & G. Good Hope [Backhouse 1844] very poor Oct 1 Owen on …
- … Read. 6 vols: finished [DAR 119: 15a] 1844 & 5 Oct 20. Lloyd Field …
- … —— Vestiges of the Nat. History of Creation [Chambers] 1844] Pœppig Reisen …
- … nothing this seems all [DAR 119: 15b] 1844 & 5 Burne’s Bokhara (3. vols) …
- … 1840] 30 th . Arnolds life 3 vols [A. P. Stanley 1844] Jan 5 th . L d . Mahon …

Divergence
Summary
In a later account of how he had come to the evolutionary ideas published in Origin, Darwin wrote: 'Of all the minor points, the last which I appreciated was the importance & cause of the principle of Divergence' (to Ernst Haeckel, [after 10]…
Matches: 1 hits
- … beginning to think along these broad lines as early as 1844 , and was certainly investigating …

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…

Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
Summary
Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared. Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…
Matches: 1 hits
- … enclosure to Gray , along with extracts from Darwin’s 1844 species essay , that was read to the …
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,…

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: 1 hits
- … Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. In his letter of 11 January 1844 , Darwin revealed to Hooker that …

Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 4 hits
- … a theory of transmutation in a short pencil sketch, and in 1844, he once again committed his …
- … published in the event of his sudden death . Later in 1844, he told the naturalist Leonard …
- … of Creation caused a publishing sensation in October 1844, the public reaction to the …
- … receive his views with open arms. Since its publication in 1844, the transmutationist work …
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.…
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Summary
Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…
Matches: 6 hits
- … influential essay on classification (Milne-Edwards 1844). Like von Baer, Milne-Edwards recognised …
- … paper on classification by Gaspard Auguste Brullé (Brullé 1844). In this work, Brullé argued that …
- … of embryological development, as outlined in his essay of 1844 ( Foundations , pp. 57–255), …
- … p. 45). See also the fuller discussion of this topic in the 1844 essay ( Foundations , p. 229). …
- … and body of a mammal. ^5^ In his species essay of 1844, for example, CD stated: ‘The cause …
- … CD had arrived at such a view of cirripede systematics by 1844, judging by statements in the essay …

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
- … outlines of his ‘species theory’ (1842 Pencil sketch and 1844 Essay). In the course of …

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: 4 hits
- … from the day of his birth, 27 December 1839, until September 1844. Parallels in the development of …
- … during this period but in far less detail. By September 1844, Henrietta Emma was one year old, and …
- … possible unlike any other child I ever saw[55] Sep. 1844. Annie 3 years & ½ was looking …
- … Etruria pottery works. Emma Darwin visited there on 31 May 1844. [58] Betley Hall, home of …

Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … order to supplement views already expressed in his essay of 1844 ( Foundations ; Correspondence …

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: 4 hits
- … during the autumn of 1843, and Planariae, described in 1844. Another important specimen was the …
- … W. J. Hooker and G. A. W. Arnott 1836, 1841; J. D. Hooker 1844–7, 1845, 1846, 1853–5, and 1860). In …
- … true that, until he took J. D. Hooker into his confidence in 1844, Darwin does not appear to have …
- … for Kemp, based on Kemp’s letters, and published in 1844 almost entirely as Darwin wrote it (see …

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: 3 hits
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. …

Hunt for new letters: last chance!
Summary
Think you know of a letter to or from Darwin that we haven’t found? Let us know! Although we already know of more than 15,000 letters that Darwin exchanged with nearly 2000 correspondents around the world, letters continue to come to light in both…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Think you know of a letter to or from Darwin that we haven’t found? Let us know! Although …