From Frederick Smith March 1866
Summary
Discusses the stinging habits of wasps and bees and whether or not they leave their sting in the wound.
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 197 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5023 |
From Charles Lyell 1 March 1866
Summary
Feels sure that at times the globe must have been superficially cooler. Believes CD will turn out right with regard to migration across the equator via mountain chains, while the tropical heat of certain lowlands was retained.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 91: 89–90 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5024 |
To Charles Lyell [3 March 1866]
Summary
Has returned memorial to Chancellor of Exchequer; thanks CL for his note.
Lengthy remarks on cool period. Did not know of CL’s interest. New facts in new German and English [4th] editions of Origin will be too late for CL’s use. CD’s ten-year-old MS on cool period is available.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [3 Mar 1866] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.315) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5025 |
To Robert Caspary 4 March 1866
Summary
Thanks RC for photograph and for papers, which are of highest interest to CD. He is not fully convinced about the rose by RC’s graft-hybrid paper [Bull. Congr. Int. Bot. & Hortic. Amsterdam (1865): 65–80]. Still retains faith in his own view that no plant is perpetually self-fertilised.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Xaver Robert (Robert) Caspary |
| Date: | 4 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 92: A38–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5026 |
From Charles Lyell 5 March 1866
Summary
Surprised at Hooker’s introducing "so organic a change as a deviation in the axis of the planet" to explain the cold of the Glacial Period.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | ML 2: 158 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5027 |
From Fritz Müller 6 March 1866
Summary
Thanks CD for German translation of Origin.
Droughts over the summers have brought about changes in the numbers of plants and animals in the area. The small quantity of Orchestia darwinii that has survived the changes no longer includes two previously common male forms. Great changes also take place without such unusual physical conditions. The disappearance of a briefly abundant bryozoan in local caves has made way not for the return of original bryozoan inhabitants but for a completely new fauna.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 80–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5027A |
To Charles Lyell 8 March [1866]
Summary
Gives details of enclosed MS on cool period. Mentions Hooker’s opposed "axis of the earth" view. Causes of glacial period are beyond CD; "cannot believe change in land and water being more than a subsidiary agent".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 8 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.316) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5028 |
From George Henslow 8 March 1866
Summary
Reviewing C. V. Naudin’s article ["Nouvelles recherches sur l’hybridité dans les végétaux", Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 4th ser. 19 (1863): 180–203] for Popular Science Review [5 (1866): 304–13]. Requests references.
Proposes to visit Down on Easter weekend.
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 153 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5029 |
From Charles Lyell 10 March 1866
Summary
Comments on cool-period MS. Still believes geographical changes principal cause of former changes of climate.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | K. M. Lyell ed. 1881, 2: 408–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5031 |
From George Henslow 12 March 1866
Summary
Thanks for references for his Naudin–hybridism paper [see 5029].
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 154 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5033 |
From Benjamin Dann Walsh 13 March 1866
Summary
On the "bullae" as constant, regular generic characters in Hymenoptera. Disagrees with Louis Jurine ["Observations sur les ailes des hyménoptères", Mem. Accad. Sci. Torino 24 (1820): 177–214].
| Author: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5034 |
From Rudolf Suchsland 16 March 1866
Summary
Asks, on behalf of his father, whether he might publish a new German translation of the Origin, believing Bronn’s to be inadequate.
| Author: | Georg Rudolf Emil (Rudolf) Suchsland |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 271 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5035 |
From George Henslow 17 March [1866]
Summary
Forgot to thank CD for his praise of tendril paper [see 4944].
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 155 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5036 |
From George Henslow [18–30 March 1866]
Summary
Cannot come to Down on weekend because of teaching duties.
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [18–30 Mar 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 156 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5037 |
From E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 23 March 1866
Summary
Describes plans for new German edition of Origin [1867].
| Author: | E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 71 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5038 |
To Robert McLachlan 23 March [1866]
Summary
Thanks for the paper on Sterrha (McLachlan 1865).
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert McLachlan |
| Date: | 23 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | Raab Collection (dealer) (June 2014) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5038F |
From Albert Müller 28 March 1866
Summary
Oswald Heer [in Die Urwelt der Schweiz (1866)] agrees with CD that Swiss ants (Formica sanguinea) capture more slaves than do British ants. Does this contradict selection, since the British ants are exposed to harder conditions and a poorer fauna?
| Author: | Albert Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 280 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5039 |
To Albert Müller 28 March [1866]
Summary
Writes on slave-making ants; cannot explain why fewer slaves are caught in England than in Switzerland.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albert Müller |
| Date: | 28 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | Universitätsbibliothek Basel, Handschriften (Allgemeine Autographensammlung, D) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5040 |
From Robert Swinhoe 28 March 1866
Summary
Sends CD comb of the Chinese honey-bee, as requested.
| Author: | Robert Swinhoe |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 329 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5041 |
To Richard Kippist 31 March [1866]
Summary
Asks [Secretary] to list the proper titles of foreign societies of which he is an honorary member; he has mislaid diplomas.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Richard Kippist |
| Date: | 31 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London, Misc. loose letters, case 1: C. Darwin (4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5042 |
| letter | (412) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (182) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (35) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (11) |
| Murray, John (b) | (11) |
| Henslow, George | (10) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (225) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (33) |
| Lyell, Charles | (12) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (9) |
| Müller, Fritz | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (407) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (68) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (18) |
| Murray, John (b) | (17) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (16) |
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: 29 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of …
- … Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But the crowning achievement of the year …
- … publisher in December. Much of Darwin’s correspondence in 1866 was focussed on issues surrounding …
- … 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had first consulted Jones …
- … go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). Darwin began riding the cob, …
- … the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 ). More predictably, however, Darwin …
- … how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). Towards Variation …
- … to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January [1866] ). Darwin found the evidence of …
- … 13), and continued to refine his hypothesis in 1866. He wrote to Hooker on 16 May [1866] , ‘I … …
- … to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] ). When finally published in 1868, it …
- … definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). The fourth edition of …
- … also added material obtained through correspondence in 1866, including observations by the American …
- … undertook an ambitious expedition to Brazil in 1865 and 1866, partly with a view to finding support …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September [1866] ). Darwin had first heard of Agassiz’s …
- … dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] ). Darwin also ventured to inform …
- … more than a subsidiary agent’, Darwin wrote on 8 March [1866] , prefacing his remark with, ‘I …
- … Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself was jubilant: ‘I have …
- … Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866] ). Celebrity Darwin’s …
- … exalted, and most brilliant intellects of our age’ (Anon 1866, p. 176). At Down, Darwin …
- … in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [ c . 10 May 1866] ). Henrietta’s letter …
- … I dread all exertion’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 May 1866] ). Darwin’s interest in Caspary’s …
- … The German zoologist had written to Darwin on 11 January 1866 , ‘Every time I succeed in making a …
- … His vast work, Generelle Morphologie , published in 1866, was dedicated to Darwin (as well as to …
- … has ever received’ ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 18 August [1866] ). Darwin clearly admired parts of …
- … dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). The Origin in Germany …
- … ( see for example, letter to C. W. Nägeli, 12 June [1866] ). Also in March, however, Christian …
- … C. scoparius , sent to Darwin with his letter of 8 May [1866] , allowed detailed comparisons of …
- … diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 May – 11 June 1866] ). On examining more specimens later …
- … becoming diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 20 June [1866] ). Darwin was excited by …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 6 hits
- … … is highly remarkable’ In September 1866, Darwin announced to the American botanist …
- … is highly remarkable’ ( To Asa Gray, 10 September [1866] ). By early December, the French botanist …
- … for several years ( To Édouard Bornet, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin began a series of experiments, …
- … ). Fritz Müller, writing from Brazil in December 1866, noted that plants of this poppy growing in …
- … climatic conditions’ ( From Fritz Müller, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin’s interest was piqued and he …
- … not exist in Britain. During a visit to Darwin in May 1866, Robert Caspary, a specialist in …
Beauty and the seed
Summary
One of the real pleasures afforded in reading Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the discovery of areas of research on which he never published, but which interested him deeply. We can gain many insights about Darwin’s research methods by following these …
Matches: 7 hits
- … a new edition of On the Origin of Species (the fourth) in 1866. Darwin made substantive changes to …
- … … or are they? Towards the end of September 1866 Darwin received a letter from Fritz Müller, …
- … composite of letter from Müller to Darwin, 2 Aug 1866, in Darwin’s experimental notebook"," …
- … Fritz Müller to Charles Darwin, 2 Aug 1866. Darwin immediately responded: I have …
- … Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 25 Sept [1866] This letter must have crossed in the post …
- … me.— Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 10 Dec [1866] Hooker replied with …
- … birds. Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 14 Dec 1866 Darwin was skeptical about …
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…
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Summary
One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.
Matches: 6 hits
- … Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 10 December [1866] . The ‘hard seed for grit’ …
- … did not then exist: even the word was not coined until 1866. There was no academic department that …
- … coined by the German scientist and theorist Ernst Haeckel in 1866. ‘By ecology, we mean the whole …
- … dreadful’, Darwin wrote to T. H. Huxley on 22 December 1866 . ‘He seems to have a passion for …
- … such study to an ‘uncritical’ natural history (Haeckel 1866, 2: 286–7; see also Stauffer 1957, p. …
- … et al . New York: CABI Publishing. Haeckel, Ernst. 1866. Generelle Morphologie der …
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
Summary
This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
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…
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: 6 hits
- … Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, C. R., 2 July 1866 Wallace writes a lengthy analysis …
- … Letter 5303 — Boole, M. E. to Darwin, C. R., 13 Dec 1866 In this letter marked “private”, …
- … Letter 5307 — Darwin, C. R. to Boole, M. E., 14 Dec 1866 Darwin believes he is unable to …
- … Letter 5003f — Shaw, James to Darwin, C. R., [6--10 Feb 1866] James Shaw transcribes a …
- … Letter 5004 — Darwin, C. R. to Shaw, James, 11 Feb [1866] Darwin thanks James Shaw for the …
- … Letter 5060 — Shaw, James to Darwin, C. R., 19 Apr 1866 James Shaw fills a letter to Darwin …
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
Darwin and vivisection
Summary
Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 14, letter to a local landowner, [1866?] ). A regular subscriber to the …
3.10 Ernest Edwards, 'Men of Eminence'
Summary
< Back to Introduction In 1865 Darwin was invited to feature in another series of published photographs, Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art, with Biographical Memoirs . . . The Photographs from Life by Ernest Edwards, B.A.…
Matches: 8 hits
- … seems to have taken place, in November 1865 and April 1866. Darwin’s account book (among Down House …
- … appeared in volume 5 of Men of Eminence , published in 1866 – the biographical ‘facts’ having …
- … Philosopher’. The beard that Darwin had grown by 1865–1866 helped to enhance this impression of …
- … was clearly taken on the same occasion and is dated 24 April 1866. John van Wyhe believes that two …
- … derived from the three-quarter view photograph of 1865–1866 mentioned above (see separate catalogue …
- … Ernest Edwards date of creation 1865–1866 computer-readable date c. 1865-11 …
- … of his life for the text of Men of Eminence , 3 May [1866], (DCP-LETT-5524). Edward Walford (ed.) …
- … Reeve [later Alfred William Bennett], 1863–1867), vol. 5 (1866), ‘Charles Robert Darwin’, pp. 49–52. …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 5 hits
- … had been delivered to the publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct …
- … on human expression that he may have drawn up in late 1866. His correspondents were asked to copy …
- … completely revised the German translation of Origin in 1866, would be called upon to translate …
- … Beagle shipmate Bartholomew James Sulivan at Christmas 1866, Darwin had written at the end of the …
- … work, Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (Haeckel 1866), contained much interesting material, …
'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…
3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…
Matches: 3 hits
- … before the partnership with Polyblank was dissolved c.1866). The full image was reproduced …
- … and publishers. Ernst Haeckel, writing to Darwin in January 1866, thought it was ‘certainly very bad …
- … DCP-LETT-3745. Letter from Ernst Haeckel to Darwin, 11 Jan. 1866, DCP-LETT-4973, and Darwin’s reply, …
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
- … in different ways (letter from Jeffries Wyman, 11 January 1866 ). Concurrently with his …
Science, Work and Manliness
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 4997 - Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, [4 February 1866] Wallace laments the sense of …
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
- … Letter 5173 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 2 Aug 1866 Müller provides some observations …
3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s son William, who had become a banker in Southampton, took the opportunity of a short visit home to Down House in April 1864 to photograph his father afresh. This half-length portrait was the first to show Darwin with a…
