From John Michels 3 May 1870
Summary
Sends drawings of atypical Geranium and honeysuckle pollen-grains. Would they produce variation in seedlings?
| Author: | John Michels |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 175 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10495 |
From J. D. Hooker [31 May 1870]
Summary
Sends enclosure [a letter from Lady Lyell?]. He is choking with vanity.
Is going to send Willy to Mr La Touche in Salop; he brought up young Colenso and Frank Lyell. Some of his friends will think he is sending his son into a nest of young adders!
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [31 May 1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 46; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Directors’ Correspondence 105: 236) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6964 |
From F. C. Donders 17 May 1870
Summary
The illness and death of his daughter have delayed his answers to CD’s queries. He has, however, worked on the circulation of the eye and has almost finished a paper on it, which he will send to CD. In general, the views of Charles Bell are confirmed.
As for CD’s second query, he doubts that the relationship exists, but will answer fully in next letter.
| Author: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 224 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7141 |
To Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden 2 May [1870]
Summary
Thanks for copies of FVH’s "Preliminary field report [of the U. S. Geological Survey] of Colorado and New Mexico" [Am. J. Sci. 49 (1870): 258–63] and Geological report [of the exploration] of the Yellowstone [and Missouri] River[s under the direction of Captain W. F. Reynolds (1869)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden |
| Date: | 2 May [1870] |
| Classmark: | Smithsonian Archives (Record Unit 7177, Image No. SIA2016-009764) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7178 |
From L. C. Wedgwood [5 May 1870]
Summary
Expression in horses.
Crying in babies.
| Author: | Lucy Caroline Wedgwood; Lucy Caroline Harrison |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [5 May 1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 60 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7179 |
To C. W. Stoddard 5 May [1870]
Summary
Discusses flora of Sandwich Isles. "There is nothing I shd enjoy so much as to visit California, but I am growing old & my health is weak".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Warren Stoddard |
| Date: | 5 May [1870] |
| Classmark: | The Huntington Library (HM 72755) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7180 |
From W. T. Preyer 9 May 1870
Summary
Sends his "Charles Darwin, eine biographische Skizze" [Das Ausland 2 Apr 1870].
| Author: | William Thierry (William) Preyer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 68 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7181 |
From H. H. Vivian 10 May 1870
Summary
About the insertion of a column on marriage of cousins in the census form.
| Author: | Henry Hussey Vivian |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 180: 8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7182 |
To H. H. Vivian 11 May [1870]
Summary
Thanks for HHV’s interest in the census [CD’s plan to add questions on consanguineous marriage to the census] on which CD hopes to persuade Sir J. Lubbock to speak.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Hussey Vivian |
| Date: | 11 May [1870] |
| Classmark: | Invercargill City Libraries and Archives (Alex Robertson Collection, vol. 12: A0444 S12450012) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7183 |
To Fritz Müller 12 May 1870
Summary
Crossing experiments and self-sterility [in Eschscholzia].
Pangenesis.
Hermann Müller on insect adaptations for fertilisation of flowers.
CD working on book on man and sexual selection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 12 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 32) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7184 |
From Francis Galton 12 May 1870
Summary
Good news: one little rabbit has a white forefoot.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: A17–18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7185 |
To Frans Cornelis Donders 13 May [1870]
Summary
In a fortnight will begin to arrange notes on expression. Asks for FCD’s conclusions about the contraction of eye muscles. Is interested in abstract of FCD’s experiments on "rate of travelling of the nervous powers".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
| Date: | 13 May [1870] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7187 |
To Thomas Henry Farrer 13 [May 1870]
Summary
Encloses part of letter from Fritz Müller on Passiflora, with seeds.
Is endeavouring to have included in next census a question as to whether the parents in each household are cousins.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer |
| Date: | 13 [May 1870] |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7188 |
From Patrick Nicol 13 May 1870
Summary
Answers to CD’s queries on expression; observations on the facial expressions of the insane.
| Author: | Patrick Nicol |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 172: 55 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7189 |
To W. T. Preyer 15 May 1870
Summary
Comments on WP’s biographical article on CD. Asks him to thank O. F. Peschel for his present of the publication [Das Ausland 2 Apr 1870].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Thierry (William) Preyer |
| Date: | 15 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 256–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7190 |
From T. H. Farrer 17 May 1870
Summary
On death of his wife. Botany a solace.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 62 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7192 |
From C. E. C. B. Appleton 18 May [1870]
Summary
Asks CD to review Wallace’s recent book of essays [Natural selection (1870)], particularly the new essay, which questions the applicability of natural selection to man.
| Author: | Charles Edward Cutts Birchall Appleton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 May [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 79 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7193 |
To F. C. Donders 19 May 1870
Summary
Expresses sympathy [on death of FCD’s daughter].
Will be grateful for his paper and letter.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
| Date: | 19 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7194 |
From Charles Renard 20 May 1870
Summary
Announces CD’s election as Honorary Member of the Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou.
| Author: | Charles (Carl Ivanovich) Renard; Secretary, Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7195 |
From Federico Delpino 20 May 1870
Summary
Responds to CD’s request for Canna seeds.
Studying dichogamy in Lotus. Describes mechanism that pumps pollen on to a visiting bee. Corrects Axell on Lotus.
| Author: | Federico Delpino |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 147 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7196 |
| letter | (34) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (15) |
| Donders, F. C. | (3) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Appleton, C. E. C. B. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
| Donders, F. C. | (2) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (2) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Hayden, F. V. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (34) |
| Donders, F. C. | (5) |
| Farrer, T. H. | (4) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Bates, H. W. | (2) |
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 5 hits
- … appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). Piqued, Mivart flung …
- … accepted it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I wanted some …
- … to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Müller had sent him a …
- … myself was standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Finishing …
- … to me, which have ever been made’ ( letter to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 ). In June, Lady …
Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
Summary
Learn about Darwin's adventures on his epic journey.
Matches: 1 hits
- … These activities explore Darwin’s life changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle. Using letters home, …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 20 hits
- … (1) Austen, J. T. (5) Austin, A. D. …
- … H. (7) Ball, John (5) Ball, Robert …
- … (1) Beaufort, Francis (5) Becher, A. B. …
- … (8) Beneden, Édouard van (5) Bennet, C. A. (b) …
- … (1) Birch, Samuel (5) Birkett, Thomas …
- … (2) Boner, Charles (5) Bonham-Carter, Alice …
- … (2) Bookseller. (5) Boole, M. E. (3) …
- … (29) Brace, C. L. (5) Bradfield, Thomas …
- … (3) Canby, W. M. (5) Candolle, Alphonse de …
- … Carneri, Bartholomäus von (5) Carpenter, W. B. (19) …
- … (3) Clark, Andrew (5) Clark, J. W. (a) …
- … (2) Collingwood, Cuthbert (5) Colvile, J. W. …
- … (1) Cross, George (5) Cross, R. A. …
- … (4) Crotch, W. D. (5) Crowe, J. R. …
- … (1) Dew-Smith, A. G. (5) Dicey, A. V. …
- … (2) Doedes, N. D. (5) Dohrn, Anton …
- … (3) Drummond, James (a) (5) Drysdale, …
- … (3) Edmondston, Laurence (5) Edwards & …
- … (1) Edwards, Henry (5) Edwards, W. H. …
- … (3) Forchhammer, J. G. (5) Ford, G. H. …
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: 7 hits
- … as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described …
- … mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did …
- … for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). …
- … been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Only until …
- … the Athenæum in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later expressed …
- … honours like the Copley Medal ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and …
- … reminder of their loss (see Correspondence vol. 5). Unable to find Annie’s gravestone in 1863, …
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 …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 5 hits
- … 1865 4 th English edition published, 1866 5 th English edition published, 1869 …
- … Joseph Hooker on the Arctic. 4 th to 5 th edition I have, …
- … von Nägeli, resulting in a substantial addition ( Origin 5 th ed, pp 151–3). Nägeli had …
- … of significant correspondents. 5 th to 6 th edition …
- … French edition which had already begun using the text of the 5 th English edition but had fallen …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 14 hits
- … account book (Down House MS) and Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855 …
- … beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin’s aesthetic …
- … to which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he announced that the plants …
- … by Darwin; these lists are in DAR 255: 8 and DAR 255: 2–5. The first is a list that Darwin …
- … plants sent to him by Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ), since many of the …
- … to Darwin from Kew. Darwin said in the letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] that he had received …
- … Malpighia urens 5 …
- … —— speciosa 5 do. do. …
- … § Gongora atropurpurea 5 § Cyrtopodium Andersonii …
- … § —— maculata 5 —— punctata 10 …
- … Anoectochilus argenteus 12 5 s . § …
- … curassavica. 4. Canna Warszewiczii. 5. ‘speciosa’ deleted in pencil. 6. This …
- … 1863a, p. 10. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] and n. 19. 9. …
- … aurantiaca 12. ‘Anoectochilus argenteus 5 s .’ deleted in ink. 13. ‘—— pictus 8 …
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Summary
There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 5 hits
- … able to throw off thick dictionaries by flexing. On 5 April , Edward Blyth, who had supplied …
- … 3 June 1868 ). ‘It was very kind’, Darwin wrote on 5 June , ‘almost heroic, in you to sacrifice …
- … distributed it in Japan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 5 September 1868 ); Edward Wilson, a neighbour …
- … Molendo and Alexander Walther addressed themselves on 5 August to ‘the Reformator of Natural …
- … had sent four letters the previous year, wrote again on 5 October , ‘I am quite distressed that …
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
- … ( Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November 1845] ). In the event, the …
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
- … (e.g. to Lydia Becker, 2 August 1863 ; to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 ). Click on the …
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: 4 hits
- … your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This hint of uncertainty …
- … resulted in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin told his American …
- … might come into play in some circumstances. In a letter of 5 May [1867] , Darwin admitted, …
- … would subdue; that is yours’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin complied, and his …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
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: 7 hits
- … de Gembloux 1839]. Said to be good by D r L. Lindsay 5 [DAR *119: 1v.] 6 …
- … p. 290 “Thacker” [Thacker 1834–5] p. 291 Athenæum 1839. p. …
- … The Philosoph. of Instinct & Reason by S. Bushnan. Longman. 5 s [Bushnan 1837]—dedicated to L …
- … Traite Elementair Palæontologie M. Pictet [Pictet 1844–5]— Forbes?? Waterhouse has it— 1844— read …
- … cloth lettered, (pub. at 6 s per vol.) reduced to 5 s 1834–43 1. Humming Birds, Vol. 1 …
- … Gardener’s and Florist’s Dictionary, 2 vols. 8vo. 1724. 5 s . 42 [P. Miller 1724] Life …
- … 1769] Zoolog. Journal [ Zoological Journal ] 5 Vols. Voyage de la Coquille [Duperrey …
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 4 hits
- … same man in one volume’, Darwin pointed out to Krause on 5 June , adding that although Krause’s …
- … beyond his ‘tether’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 5 June 1879 , and letter to G. H. Darwin, …
- … Darwin with information, suggestions, and questions. On 5 February, a stonemason, Thomas Maston, …
- … vague probabilities’ ( letter to Nicolai Mengden, 5 June 1879 ). On the very day that Emma …
