To Linnean Society 1 January [1875]
Summary
Asks permission to republish his climbing plants paper [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 1–118] in a corrected form [Climbing plants].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Linnean Society |
Date: | 1 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 97: C12 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10004 |
From W. D. Fox [1875–80]
Summary
Sends date of his mother’s death – 7 Apr 1859.
Was completely mystified by conjuring performance of [John Nevil] Maskelyne.
Author: | William Darwin Fox |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1875–80] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.29?? DAR 210.14: 36 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13810 |
To Asa Gray 29 January [1875]
Summary
Asks AG to forward [unspecified] enclosure to Chauncey Wright.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 29 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 153: 165 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13813 |
To ? 31 [January 1875–82]
Summary
[Provides directions for travel to Down by train.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Unidentified |
Date: | 31 Jan [1875-82] |
Classmark: | Romero de Tejada 1982, p. 150; Museo Nacional de Etnología [now Antropología], Madrid |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13889A |
From Alpheus Hyatt 8 January [1875]
Summary
Encloses report on his paper "Old age characteristics among ammonites", [Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 17 (1875): 236–41].
Stability of long inherited characters. Dependence of some recently acquired characters on the environment.
Author: | Alpheus Hyatt |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 358 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9233 |
From Francis Darwin [1875?]
Summary
Had two mornings working on Drosera but it was sluggish. Frog preparations are pretty good.
Author: | Francis Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1875?] |
Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 28 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9791F |
To F. J. Cohn 1 January 1875
Summary
Asks whether he might copy two of FJC’s drawings of Aldrovanda. He would like to have a proof of the plate for two woodcuts to be used in his forthcoming book [Insectivorous plants].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ferdinand Julius Cohn |
Date: | 1 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 97 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9795A |
To Daniel Oliver 1 January [1875]
Summary
Returning the plants DO had sent him from Kew
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 1 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | Newcastle University Special Collections (Spence Watson/Weiss Archive GB186 SW/6/5) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9795F |
From Daniel Oliver 2 January 1875
Author: | Daniel Oliver |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 115 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9796 |
From J. D. Hooker 3 January [1875]
Summary
Disapproves of Huxley’s article [review of Ernst Haeckel’s Anthropogenie] in Academy [7 (1875): 16–18].
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 3 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 1 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9797 |
To J. D. Hooker 3 January [1875]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 3 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 95: 363–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9798 |
To H. E. Litchfield 4 January [1875]
Summary
Describes his views on vivisection. Cannot sign petition of F. P. Cobbe, with its attack on Rudolf Virchow.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta Emma Litchfield |
Date: | 4 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 36 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9799 |
From J. D. Hooker 5 January 1875
Summary
Huxley strongly dissuades JDH from writing to Mivart because of his Presidency of Royal Society. JDH will hold his letter until he hears what Bentham says.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 2–3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9800 |
To F. B. Goodacre 5 January 1875
Summary
CD would be pleased to have FBG’s essay dedicated to him but fears that he will be unable to give any assistance towards FBG’s ‘excellent scheme’.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Burges Goodacre |
Date: | 5 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | Dr John Goodacre (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9801 |
To Friedrich Max Müller 5 January 1875
Summary
Has read FMM’s article in Contemporary Review [25 (1875): 305–26].
Never suspected FMM was responsible for the Quarterly Review article ["Primitive man", Q. Rev. 137 (1874): 40–77]; knows it was written by Mivart.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Friedrich Max Müller |
Date: | 5 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | John Wilson (dealer) catalogue 89 (October 2002) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9802 |
To Daniel Oliver 6 January [1875]
Summary
CD’s observations [for Insectivorous plants] seem to indicate that the same species of Genlisea may bear two kinds of bladders, so he asks for rhizomes and leaves of three species to test this possibility.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 6 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9803 |
From Francis Darwin to Daniel Oliver [after 6 January 1875]
Summary
Asks DO to return enclosed post-card with locality of Genlisea aurea specimen that DO had sent.
Author: | Francis Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | [after 6 Jan 1875] |
Classmark: | Newcastle University Special Collections (Spence Watson/Weiss Archive GB186 SW/6/8) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9803F |
To T. H. Huxley 6 January 1875
Summary
Thanks THH for his article in the Academy and his defence of CD and G. H. Darwin against Mivart. Still thinks he should write plainly to Mivart.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 6 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 313) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9804 |
To J. D. Hooker 6 January [1875]
Summary
Is not inclined to restrain himself from expressing his opinion of Mivart. Huxley’s article in Academy.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 6 Jan [1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 95: 365–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9805 |
From Joseph Fayrer 6 January 1875
Summary
Encloses results of experiments on influence of snake poison on ciliary action and vegetable protoplasm.
Author: | Joseph Fayrer, 1st baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 Jan 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 58.2: 71, 73–82, DAR 164: 112 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9806 |
letter | (55) |
Darwin, C. R. | (32) |
Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
Darwin, Francis | (2) |
Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
Brownen, George | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
Huxley, T. H. | (4) |
Oliver, Daniel | (3) |
Cobbe, F. P. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
Hooker, J. D. | (10) |
Huxley, T. H. | (6) |
Oliver, Daniel | (4) |
Cobbe, F. P. | (2) |
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,…
Darwin The Collector
Summary
Look at nature more closely and create and record your own natural collections.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities provide an introduction to Charles Darwin, how and why he collected so many specimens …
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…
1 Belgrave Street, London
Summary
Marriages and gossip
Matches: 1 hits
- … A family friend relates news of her marriage and other gossip. …

German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…

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…
Matches: 0 hits
Darwin And Evolution
Summary
What is evolution? What did Darwin discover and how did he come to his conclusions?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities give an introduction to Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. Specimens brought …
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, …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
Matches: 0 hits
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
'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…
Matches: 3 hits

Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Interview with Randal Keynes
Summary
Randal Keynes is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and the author of Annie’s Box (Fourth Estate, 2001), which discusses Darwin’s home life, his relationship with his wife and children, and the ways in which these influenced his feelings about…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of interview: 7 August 2008 Transcription 1. Introduction Dr White: …

Interview with Tim Lewens
Summary
Dr Tim Lewens is a Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Organisms and artifacts (2004), which examines the language and arguments for design in biology and philosophy, and of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Transcription 1. Introduction Dr White: This is part …

Interview with Emily Ballou
Summary
Emily Ballou is a writer of novels and screenplays, and a prize-winning poet. Her book The Darwin Poems, which explores aspects of Darwin’s life and thoughts through the medium of poetry, was recently published by the University of Western Australia Press.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Date of interview: 28 May 2009 Transcription 1. Introduction Dr …
Interview with Pietro Corsi
Summary
Pietro Corsi is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford. His book Evolution Before Darwin is due to be published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. Date of interview: 17 July 2009 Transcription 1: Introduction …
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Interview with John Hedley Brooke
Summary
John Hedley Brooke is President of the Science and Religion Forum as well as the author of the influential Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991). He has had a long career in the history of science and…
Matches: 0 hits

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, …