To ? 1 November [1877–9]
Summary
Asks to be sent Dr. Frank’s Die Natur: wagerechte Richtung von Pflanzentheilen.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Unidentified |
Date: | 1 Nov [1877-9] |
Classmark: | Swann Auction Galleries (dealers) (November 2005) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10234F |
From Sigmund Fuchs [1877–8?]
Summary
Asks if CD agrees with Carl Claus’s Grundzüge der Zoologie [3d ed. (1876)], in separating tunicates from molluscs.
Author: | Sigmund Fuchs |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1877–8?] |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 221 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10336 |
To Sigmund Fuchs [1877–8?]
Summary
[Draft of letter for Francis Darwin to write to SF.] CD declines to express an opinion on SF’s query.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Sigmund Fuchs |
Date: | [1877–8?] |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 221v |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10337 |
From W. E. Darwin [24 April 1877?]
Summary
Sends notes made in June 1867, on Rhamnus catharticus and R. lanceolatus. Encloses diagrams and measurements relating to pollen size in R. lanceolatus.
Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [24 Apr 1877?] |
Classmark: | DAR 109: A44, A71–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10343 |
To Albert Günther 28 January [1877]
Summary
Has signed certificates.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Albrecht Carl Ludwig Gotthilf (Albert) Günther |
Date: | 28 Jan [1877] |
Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF ZOO/200/11/113) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10372 |
From Francis Darwin [before 21 May 1877]
Summary
Edwin Ray Lankester wants to reprint FD’s paper ‘Food bodies’ in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.
Author: | Francis Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 21 May 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 22 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10520F |
From G. J. Romanes [after 8 January 1877]
Summary
Returns E. Haeckel’s Perigenesis [der Plastidule (1876)]. EH’s "plastidules" do not differ from Spencer’s "physiological units". Does not see that biology gains anything from EH’s theory.
Author: | George John Romanes |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 8 Jan 1877] |
Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 93 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10554 |
From W. E. Darwin [12 or 19 July 1877]
Summary
Discusses an experiment.
His dogs appear to have rabies.
Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [12 or 19] July 1877 |
Classmark: | DAR 210.5: 14 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10743 |
From Adolphe de Stillfried [1877?]
Summary
Writes of his admiration for CD and requests an autograph or photo.
Author: | Adolphe de Stillfried |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1877?] |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 257 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10744 |
To [E. M. Dicey?] [1877]
Summary
Gives his opinion on the education of girls in physiology. Would regret that any girl who wished to learn physiology should be checked.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Elinor Mary Bonham-Carter; Elinor Mary Dicey |
Date: | [1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 202: 41 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10746 |
To Veitch & Sons [before 11 August 1877]
Summary
Asks specific questions on looking after plants of Dionaea. [The correspondent’s replies to the questions are written beneath them.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Veitch & Sons |
Date: | [before 11 Aug 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 202: 96 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10749 |
From [W. T. Thiselton-Dyer] [after 22 September 1877]
Summary
Lists of Acacia and Eucalyptus species.
Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 22 Sept 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 209.12: 3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10750 |
From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer [June 1877 or later]
Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [June 1877 or later] |
Classmark: | DAR 68: 32–5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10751 |
To Francis Darwin [c. 20 March 1877]
Summary
Asks FD to mollify Daniel Oliver and assure him that CD asks "only for what I wd. give my life’s blood for".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
Date: | [c. 20 Mar 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 211: 19 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10752 |
From W. E. Darwin [24 August 1877]
Summary
Action of heavy rain on the leaves of Robinia.
Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [24 Aug 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 85 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10753 |
From E. A. Darwin 17 [1877?]
Summary
Wants Francis [Rhodes] Darwin’s address; also asks if CD has heard "the great news".
Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 17 [1877?] |
Classmark: | DAR 105: B94–5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10754 |
To W. E. Darwin 20 [August 1877]
Summary
Asks WED to make some observations on Acacia or Robinia.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | 20 [Aug 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 139 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10755 |
To Julius von Haast [c. 11 February 1877]
Summary
The extract from Ticknor [see 10722] is one of the most curious cases of inheritance CD has met with. He has sent it to Francis Galton as CD is not likely to write on inheritance again.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Francis Julius (Julius) von Haast |
Date: | [c. 11 Feb 1877] |
Classmark: | Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand (MS-Papers-0037-051) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10756 |
From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer [before 17 January 1877]
Summary
Remarks on the difference between the sexes in Restionaceae and other subjects – occasioned by reading the introduction [to Forms of flowers].
Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 17 Jan 1877] |
Classmark: | DAR 111: B55–8r |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10757 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer [early 1877?]
Summary
Thanks WTT-D for his comments on and praise of his book [Forms of flowers].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Date: | [early 1877?] |
Classmark: | DAR 111: B58v |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10758 |
letter | (621) |
Darwin, C. R. | (289) |
Cooke, R. F. | (14) |
John Murray | (14) |
Darwin, Francis | (13) |
Hooker, J. D. | (13) |
Darwin, C. R. | (310) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (20) |
Hooker, J. D. | (14) |
Romanes, G. J. | (11) |
Darwin, G. H. | (10) |
Darwin, C. R. | (599) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (29) |
Hooker, J. D. | (27) |
Darwin, Francis | (19) |
Romanes, G. J. | (19) |
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 28 hits
- … , Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and …
- … from a family that the Darwins had befriended. The year 1877 was more than usually full of honours. …
- … of a very heavy shower’, William wrote on 24 August 1877 . ‘The leaves were not at all depressed; …
- … gardeners ( letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August 1877 ). At Down House, Darwin and …
- … a delicate twig’ ( letter to R. I. Lynch, 14 September 1877 ). Research on movement would continue …
- … of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). Francis’s paper eventually appeared …
- … wrote to the editor, George Croom Robertson, on 27 April 1877 , ‘I hope that you will be so good …
- … had written to the editor Ernst Ludwig Krause on 30 June 1877 , ‘I have been much interested by …
- … the German debate (letters to W. E. Gladstone, 2 October 1877 and 25 October [1877] ). …
- … and lively’ ( letter from W. E. Gladstone, 23 October 1877 ). Gifts of German and Dutch …
- … Darwin and Ernst Haeckel). Writing to Darwin on 11 March 1877 , Krause declared the journal ‘an …
- … the director, Adriaan Anthoni van Bemmelen, on 12 February 1877 : ‘I suppose that every worker at …
- … of his 70th year. Darwin was in fact 68 on 12 February 1877. Distinguished guests and …
- … & smooth as butter’ ( letter to C. E. Norton, 16 March 1877 ). Hooker was asked repeatedly by …
- … & me to dejeuner!!!’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 June 1877 ). Darwin was staying in …
- … centuries to come’ ( letter from C. C. Graham, 30 January 1877 ). Graham then gave a lengthy …
- … man and of societies’ ( letter from Marcellin de Bonnal, [1877] ). A similar complaint came from …
- … by a duke!’ ( letter to J. M. Rodwell, 3 June 1877 ). Back home, he learned from his brother that …
- … order of the day’ ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 27 January [1877] ). Carlyle’s remarks were …
- … . In a letter from an unknown correspondent on 13 June 1877 , he was criticised for having quoted …
- … monstrosity ( letter from C. T. E. Siebold, 10 October 1877 ). An American banker, William Burrows …
- … back our civilization’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 17 May 1877 ). Bowles proposed that such …
- … of humanity beneath’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 18 May 1877 ). More transitional human …
- … inflexible tails ( letter from Arthur Mellersh, 1 January 1877 ). The American physician Jesse …
- … (Trollope 1867; letter to G. J. Romanes, [1 and 2 December 1877] ). Dispute and …
- … George and Francis. He wrote to Francis on 24 September 1877 about his forthcoming work, Life …
- … value’, he confessed in a letter of 25 November 1877 that the book had ‘resolved itself into a …
- … physical’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 10 September 1877 ). Darwin was doubtful of the elephant …

Photograph album of German and Austrian scientists
Summary
The album was sent to Darwin to mark his birthday on 12 February 1877 by the civil servant Emil Rade, and contained 165 portraits of German and Austrian scientists. The work was lavishly produced and bound in blue velvet with metal embossing. Its ornate…
Matches: 7 hits
- … album was sent to Darwin to mark his birthday on 12 February 1877 by the civil servant Emil Rade …
- … have ever received ( Letter to Ernst Haeckel, 16 February 1877 ) …
- … the start of his 70th year, but Darwin was only 68 in 1877. Despite this oversight, the album …
- … world.— ( Letter from Leonard Blomefield, 12 March 1877 ) Familiar faces Ernst …
- … with the final album. He wrote to Darwin on 9 February 1877 : ‘what will perhaps astonish you is …
- … worth to give you ( Letter from J. V. Carus, 22 March 1877 ) The professor of …
- … scientific work. ( Letter from C. G. Semper, 26 April 1877 ) Carl Kraus, an …

1877 letters now online
Summary
Flowers, bloom, a son married . . . and a suspended monkey in Cambridge at Darwin's honorary LLD ceremony. The transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters written to and from Darwin in 1877 are now online. Read more about Darwin's life in 1877…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of over 600 letters written to and from Darwin in 1877 are now online. Read more about Darwin& …

Photograph album of Dutch admirers
Summary
Darwin received the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the Netherlands. He wrote to the Dutch zoologist Pieter Harting, An account of your countrymen’s generous sympathy in having sent me on my…
Matches: 5 hits
- … the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the …
- … lasting pleasure. ( Letter to Pieter Harting, 19 March 1877 ) Harting had also written …
- … it states his ‘69th Birthday’, when in fact he was 68 in 1877. It was arranged in alphabetical order …
- … from A. A. van Bemmelen and H. J. Veth, 6 February 1877 ) Dutch correspondents …
- … ( Letter from C. W. Thomson, 30 June 1877 ) Much earlier, in 1861, Tiberius Cornelis …
German and Dutch photograph albums
Summary
Darwin Day 2018: To celebrate Darwin's 209th birthday, we present two lavishly produced albums of portrait photographs which Darwin received from continental admirers 141 years ago. These unusual gifts from Germany and the Netherlands are made…

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
- … tiredness of the later years (e.g. letter to E.M. Dicey, [1877] ). Working …

Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 11074: Sayce, A. H. to Darwin, C. R., 27 July 1877 Darwin’s study of human nature …

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 …

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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … grains by a dilution method. In his letter of 9 March 1877 , Darwin wrote: ‘Your calculation of …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…

Exercise: Caricatures of Science
Summary
Caricatures provide intriguing insights into both ideals and transgressions of gender. The following six images show caricatured representations of nineteenth-century men and women of science. They provide insight into the boundaries of what was deemed …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Lydia Becker (1877) Caricature of Lydia Becker from …

Floral Dimorphism
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Floral studies In 1877 Darwin published a book that included a series of smaller studies on botanical subjects. Titled The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, it consisted primarily of…
Matches: 5 hits
- … | Experiment Floral studies In 1877 Darwin published a book that included a …
- … findings on floral dimorphism were eventually published in 1877, but these experiments and …
- … SOURCES Book Darwin, C. R. 1877. The different forms of flowers on plants of the …
- … experiment, the class read chapter 1 of Charles Darwin’s 1877 T he Different Forms of …
- … Flowers on Plants of the Same Species (London: John Murray, 1877), 16. [2] Ibid., 30. …

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…
Matches: 6 hits
- … (see letter from From Emil Rade , [before 16] February 1877). The poems were composed by …
- … in Rade’s account of the making of the album (Rade 1877, pp. 39–40), but the others were published …
- … Letter from Emil Rade 1 [before 16] February 1877 2 Münster i./Westf. …
- … From Emil Rade [before 16] February 1877 2 Münster i./Westf. February 1877. …
- … this letter and the letter to Emil Rade, 16 February 1877. 3. The gift was a photograph …
- … Appendix VI. A number of other poems were included in Rade 1877. …
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. …
Darwin as mentor
Summary
Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 11096 - Darwin to Romanes, G. J., [9 August 1877] Darwin points out a mistake made …
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. …

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…

Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
Matches: 7 hits
- … and proofreading Darwin’s second edition of Orchids (1877). By January of the following …
- … ( Dipsacus sylvestris )’ at the Royal Society on 1 March 1877 (F. Darwin 1877a). His address was …
- … and a plate of sixteen figures, was published in July 1877 in the Quarterly Journal of …
- … the journal by the end of the month ( Nature , 23 August 1877, p. 339). Although, as Darwin …
- … to his father’s beloved Drosera rotundifolia in June 1877, finding sundews that had been ‘fed’ …
- … Grant. References Darwin, C. 1877. The Contractile Filaments of the …
- … teasel ( Dipsacus sylvestris ). (Abstract.) [Read 1 March 1877.] Proceedings of the Royal …
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 11221 - Darwin to Darwin, H., [1 November 1877] Darwin asks his sons, …

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
- … Virchow’s attempt to discredit evolutionary theory in 1877, assured him that his views were now …
- … editor of the journal Kosmos , which had been founded in 1877 by Krause and others as a journal …
- … and particularly the theory of natural selection in 1877) had previously told Krause, ‘He is a very …
- … of laws he had received from Cambridge University in 1877. Emma Darwin recorded that Darwin found …