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Darwin Correspondence Project
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To George Bentham   3 February [1862]

Summary

Asks GB’s help to clear up discrepancies between his and John Lindley’s observations on pollination of Melastomataceae.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  George Bentham
Date:  3 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 694–6)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3437

To T. H. Huxley   6 February [1862]

Summary

Returns "The Week" [unidentified].

Agrees with THH’s published letter that writer is a man of excellent spirit, but doubts he is a good logician.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  6 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3438

To Charles Kingsley   6 February [1862]

Summary

Comments on CK’s letter [3426].

Identifies species of pigeon shot by party.

On CK’s "grand and awful" notion of genealogy of man, CD recalls how revolting was the thought that his ancestors must have been like the Fuegians. His present belief that they were hairy beasts is less revolting.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Kingsley
Date:  6 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection); 19th Century Shop (dealer) (March 2014)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3439

To J. D. Hooker   9 February [1862]

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Summary

Thanks JDH for box of melastomes

and a very valuable reference from Daniel Oliver.

Is crossing Monochaetum which he thinks is dimorphic.

Is "sometimes half tempted to give up species & stick to experiments".

Pollen of Bletia hyacinthina is quite unlike other Bletia species but exactly the same as Epipactis.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  9 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 143
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3440

From Charles Augustus Bennet, Lord Tankerville   [9 February 1862]

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Summary

Describes battles among bulls for leadership of the [Chillingham] herd.

Author:  Charles Augustus Bennet, 6th earl of Tankerville
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [9 Feb 1862]
Classmark:  DAR 83: 157–8
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3441

To John Murray   9 [February 1862]

Summary

Sends MS of Orchids except last chapter. It contains many new and curious facts and conclusions, but he has no idea whether it will sell. If it does not, will hold himself largely responsible.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Murray
Date:  9 [Feb 1862]
Classmark:  National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 114–115)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3442

From Maurice Alberts   10 February 1862

Summary

Has received diploma from the University of Breslau [honorary doctorate in medicine and surgery]. Should he forward it or will CD pick it up in London? [See 3226a and 3446.]

Author:  Maurice Alberts
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  10 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 230: 9a
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3442A

To Ludwig Rütimeyer   11 February [1862]

Summary

Chillingham cattle leg bones will be sent to LR.

J. E. Gray has read a paper on unusual Japanese domesticated pig at the Zoological Garden ["On the skull of the Japanese pig", Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1862): 13–17].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Karl Ludwig (Ludwig) Rütimeyer
Date:  11 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  Universitätsbibliothek Basel, Handschriften (G IV 91, 2)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3443

From W. E. Darwin   12 February [1862]

Summary

Discusses his new microscope.

Author:  William Erasmus Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  12 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 1)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3443F

From John Lubbock   13 February 1862

Summary

Hopes CD will come to lunch on Saturday. The Busks and J. D. Hooker are with JL.

Author:  John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  13 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 170.1: 28
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3444

From Maurice Alberts   13 February 1862

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Summary

Has forwarded a diploma from the University of Breslau [Honorary Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery].

Author:  Maurice Alberts
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  13 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 96: 2v
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3445

To Maurice Alberts   [after 13 February 1862]

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Summary

Acknowledges receipt of a diploma for Doctor’s degree from the University of Breslau and expresses his thanks.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Maurice Alberts
Date:  [after 13 Feb 1862]
Classmark:  DAR 96: 2r
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3446

To William Erasmus Darwin   14 February [1862]

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Summary

Discusses WED’s growing interest in botany; would be grateful for certain observations.

Is much concerned about Horace’s illness.

Has sent Orchids MS to printers

and will work a little at dimorphism.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  William Erasmus Darwin
Date:  14 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  DAR 210.6: 95
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3447

To Asa Gray   16 February [1862]

Summary

Floral structure of Melastoma. Asks AG to observe position of pistils in lately-opened flowers of different plants.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Asa Gray
Date:  16 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (63)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3448

From Charles William Crocker   17 February 1862

Summary

Thanks for Primula paper [Collected papers 2: 45–63].

Separation of sexes in Billbergia.

Offers to experiment under CD’s direction, now that he has retired from Kew.

Author:  Charles William Crocker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  17 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 161.2: 254
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3449

From Andrew Crombie Ramsay   17 February 1862

Summary

In his paper for Geological Society ["Glacial origin of certain lakes", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 18 (1862): 185–204] he will prove that all the lake-basins of the Alps were scooped out by glaciers.

Author:  Andrew Crombie Ramsay
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  17 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 176: 8
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3450

From Asa Gray   18 February 1862

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Summary

Discusses politics in the U. S. and relations between Britain and America.

Author:  Asa Gray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  18 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 165: 106
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3451

From Searles Valentine Wood   18 February 1862

Summary

Variation in Mollusca. The most abundant forms vary most.

Author:  Searles Valentine Wood
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  18 Feb 1862
Classmark:  DAR 181: 144
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3452

To A. C. Ramsay   18 February [1862]

Summary

Would like to hear ACR’s new views on origin of mountain lakes, but cannot stand the hot, late meetings [at Geological Society].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Andrew Crombie Ramsay
Date:  18 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  DAR 261.9: 3 (EH 88205976)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3453

From J. B. Innes   19 February [1862]

Summary

Reports on a bird, offspring of a male mule between a canary and greenfinch, and a hen canary.

Family news.

Author:  John Brodie Innes
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  19 Feb [1862]
Classmark:  DAR 167.1: 8
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3454
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Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
  • … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
  • … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862
  • … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862
  • … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
  • … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862
  • … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
  • … with his study of  Primula  and escalated throughout 1862 as he searched for other cases of …
  • … 1861, and was published in the society’s journal in March 1862. The paper described the two …
  • … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
  • … hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
  • … on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … resulted from his ‘ enormous  labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
  • … Oliver: ‘I can see at least 3 classes of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), …
  • … result once out of four or five sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). …
  • … one species may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The …
  • … and determined to publish on  Linum  ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), …

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.

Matches: 5 hits

  • … In March 1862, Heinrich Georg Bronn wrote to Darwin stating his intention to prepare a …
  • … make any such changes to the existing German edition (see letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 …
  • … number of small corrections & a few of importance’ (see letter to H. G. Bronn, 11 March [1862] …
  • … that the remainder be included in the new edition; in his letter to Bronn of 25 April [1862 ], he …
  • … possible use in a new American edition of Origin (see letter from E. Schweizerbart’sche …

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: 19 hits

  • … his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention …
  • … 11   My dear Hooker… What a remarkably nice and kind letter Dr A. Gray has sent me in answer to my …
  • … be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy it… His letter does strike me as most uncommonly …
  • … on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year …
  • … a brace of letters 25   I send enclosed [a letter for you from Asa Gray], received …
  • … might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing …
  • … Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which …
  • … notions of natural Selection and would see whether it or my letter bears any date, I should be very …
  • … 55   My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter influenced by trumpery feelings. …
  • … in the mud. BEGINNING OF WAR IN AMERICA: 1861-1862 In which the start of the American …
  • … do a good deal to secure it. Darwin passes Gray’s letter to Hooker with a cringe. …
  • … cause. Tension.   THE DARWIN BOYS: 1862 In which Darwin reports one …
  • … full relief from all anxiety. Darwin shows Gray’s letter to Hooker. DARWIN:  …
  • … back. JANE GRAY:   189   [Jane Gray. Letter to her sister. Fall, 1868.] Mr Darwin …
  • … DARWIN:   192   My dear Gray. When I look over your letter[s] … and see all the things you …
  • … 1856 33  C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 14 MARCH 1862 34  JD HOOKER TO C DARWIN, …
  • … 1861 115 A GRAY TO CHARLES WRIGHT, 17 APRIL 1862 116 A GRAY TO RW CHURCH 7 MAY …
  • … 10 JUNE 1861 121  A GRAY TO C DARWIN, 31 MARCH 1862 122  JD HOOKER TO C …
  • … 16 DEC 1861 124 A GRAY TO ENGELMANN, 20 FEB 1862 125  A GRAY TO C DARWIN, 31 …

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: 27 hits

  • … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for …
  • … purposes’ (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1862] , and …
  • … book (Down House MS) and  Correspondence  vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855] ). …
  • … a construction suitable for tropical plants. In 1861 and 1862, while preparing  Orchids , he was …
  • … its sensitivity to touch (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December …
  • … his employer’s hothouses over the previous two years. In a letter of 24 December [1862] ( …
  • … he had had, he would ‘probably have made a mess of it’ (letter to G. H. Turnbull, [16? February …
  • … adding ‘I shall keep to curious & experimental plants’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January …
  • … of Westerham, with whom he had dealt over many years. In his letter to Hooker, Darwin mentioned that …
  • … of the plants you want before going to Nurserymen’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ) …
  • … I shall avoid[,] of course I must not have from Kew’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ) …
  • … him: ‘I long to stock it, just like a school-boy’ (letter to J. D.  Hooker, 15 February [1863] ). …
  • … which I wished for, but which I did not like to ask for’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 February …
  • … in a particular mixture of moss, peat, and charcoal (see the letter from Henrietta Emma Darwin to …
  • … of his plants, proffering further advice on cultivation (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 March …
  • … sh d . not see such transcendent beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … to envision the tropics (see  Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, [28 April 1831] …
  • … of my old friends again’ ( Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Catherine Darwin, May–June [1832] …
  • … of the tropics ( Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to Charles Lyell, 8 October [1845] ). …
  • … to identify the families to which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he …
  • … for experiments, which seem to me really worth trial’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 February [1863] …
  • … [that is, cool hothouse]’ ( Correspondence  vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26[–7] March 1864 …
  • … Tait that he had ‘4 houses of different temperatures’ (letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March [1869 …
  • … to the greenhouses ( Correspondence  vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, [25 January 1864] ). …
  • … out’ on that list the plants he could not supply (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [16 February 1863] …
  • … ‘Gloxinia droopy & upright’ both in this list and in his letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 February …
  • … Kent ( Post Office directory of the six home counties  1862). 3.  Asclepias curassavica. …

I beg a million pardons: To John Lubbock, [3 September 1862]

Summary

  Alison Pearn looks at a letter Darwin wrote to his neighbour and friend, John Lubbock, after making a mistake in his research on bees in 1862.

Matches: 1 hits

  • …   Alison Pearn looks at a letter Darwin wrote to his neighbour and friend, John Lubbock, …

Women’s scientific participation

Summary

Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…

Matches: 27 hits

  • … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
  • … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
  • … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
  • … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
  • … Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
  • … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
  • … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
  • … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
  • … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
  • … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
  • … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
  • … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
  • … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
  • … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
  • … specimens and bird observations from Calcutta. Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 …
  • … “enthusiasm and indomitable patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin …
  • … contained in “a little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 …
  • … he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to …
  • … expression of emotion in chimpanzees and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von …
  • … to show in his museum in Canterbury, New Zealand. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to …
  • … to be attracted to dark spots on the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. …
  • … 3681  - Wedgwood, M. S. to Darwin, [before 4 August 1862] Darwin’s niece, Margaret, …
  • … lady”. Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March, 1862 - DAR 219.1:49) Emma Darwin …
  • …  - Darwin to Wedgwood, K. E. S, M. S. & L. C., [4 August 1862] Darwin thanks his “angel …

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…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … to confide in his closest friends and associates by letter. The letters in this volume speak …
  • … towards your doctrines … Huxley to Darwin, 1862. I cannot bear the thought …
  • … … Darwin to Asa Gray, in Boston, Mass., 1862. I have been greatly …

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

  • … Dimorphic Plants: Primulaceae Letters Letter Packet: Floral Dimorphism …
  • … and the appearance of his new Orchid book. Letter 3515 - Daniel Oliver to Darwin, 23 …
  • … find anything distinctly dimorphic in the Oxalis. Letter 3757 - Joseph Dalton Hooker to …
  • … and Darwin held Hooker’s work in high esteem. Letter 4053 - Darwin to Asa Gray, 20 March …
  • … family, his personal health, and his botanic work all in one letter? Why or why not? …

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 30 hits

  • … Were women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
  • … Tollet for proofreading and criticisms of style. Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. …
  • … lady”. Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March 1862 - DAR 219.1:49) Emma Darwin …
  • … her to read to check that she can understand it. Letter 7312 - Darwin to Darwin, F. …
  • … from all but educated, typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E …
  • … he seeks her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, …
  • … he uses to avoid ownership of indelicate content. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to …
  • … so as not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to …
  • … Darwin’s female readership Letter 5391 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [6 February …
  • … of the Manchester Ladies Literary Society . Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to …
  • … the chapter on pangenesis, which is a revelation. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. …
  • … Darwin assumes that 'A. B. Blackwell' is a man. Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to …
  • … him to the psychology of Herbert Spencer. Letter 7624 - Bathoe, M . B. to Darwin …
  • … his statements on a lack of reasoning in animals. Letter 7644 - Barnard, A. to …
  • … during a visit to an asylum with her father. Letter 7651 - Wedgwood, F. J. to …
  • … on any comments that she feels might be suitable. Letter 7411 - Pfeiffer, E. J. to …
  • … and beauty in the process of sexual selection. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8778 - Forster, L. M . to Darwin, H. …
  • … and the showing of teeth in Expression . Letter 10072 - Pape, C. to …
  • … and hopes Darwin will complete her questionnaire. Letter 10390 - Herrick, S. M. B. …
  • … of questions which she hopes aren’t too silly. Letter 10415 - Darwin to Herrick, S. …
  • … and is pleased that his work has interested her. Letter 10508 - Treat, M. to Darwin …
  • … it nearly all night before she could lay it down. Letter 13547 - Tanner, M. H. …
  • … involving worms which occurred in her garden. Letter 13650 Kennard, C. A. to Darwin …
  • … Reading Variation Letter 5712 - Dallas, W. S. to Darwin, [8 December 1867] …
  • … array of facts” contained in the work. Letter 5861 - Blyth, E. to Darwin, [11 …
  • … are a few things which must be altered”. Letter 5928 - Gray, A. to Darwin, [25 …
  • … to be made to the text for the second edition. Letter 6040 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 30 hits

  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
  • … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
  • … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • … of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • … better, attributing the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • … he was ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • … others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • … my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In …
  • … however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was …
  • … might be more willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865 …
  • … & I loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ) …
  • … you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; …
  • … needed for references, probably from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June …
  • … in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 November [1864 …
  • … 1865 that he had just finished hearing it read aloud ( letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August [1865] ). …
  • … Linnean Society for publication in Müller’s name ( see letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, …
  • … so weak that I am not able to do any scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] …
  • … on  Verbascum.  Darwin had suggested to Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic …
  • … coloured varieties (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
  • … species arising’ ( Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). …
  • … experiments in 1863 (see Correspondence  vol. 11, letter from John Scott, 21 September [1863] …
  • … disturbing the serenity of the Christian world’ (Brewster 1862, p. 3). John Hutton Balfour, though …
  • …  vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). According to Hooker, Balfour’s prejudice …

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: 24 hits

  • … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
  • … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
  • … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
  • … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
  • … than  Origin had (see  Correspondence  vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
  • … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
  • … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
  • … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
  • … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
  • … change of species by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the …
  • … disaffected towards Lyell and his book. In a February letter to the  Athenæum , a weekly review of …
  • … find great difficulty in answering Owen  unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
  • … of so much of Lyell’s book being written by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
  • … with Owen when it became clear that Owen’s November 1862 description of the recently discovered  …
  • … work on mimicry in butterflies, which had been published in 1862 (see  Correspondence  vol. 10). …
  • … to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury in September 1862 ( see letter to Julius von Haast, 22 …
  • … men, given at the Museum of Practical Geology at the end of 1862, and published as a book in early …
  • … that had already occupied much of his time in 1861 and 1862. With the publication in 1862 of his …
  • … a question he had been struggling with in 1861 and 1862; he wanted to determine experimentally …
  • … Edinburgh, had initiated the correspondence in November 1862 with a letter correcting Darwin’s …
  • … ( see letter to Asa Gray, 23 February [1863] , and Loring 1862). However, his tolerance of Gray’s …

Orchids

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A project to follow On the Origin of Species Darwin began to observe English orchids and collect specimens from abroad in the years immediately following the publication of On the Origin of Species. Examining…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … SOURCES Books Darwin, Charles 1862. On the various contrivances by which …
  • … 1: "Structure of Orchis") Letters Letter Packet: Orchids …
  • … the pollen will stick on the head of an insect. Letter 3421 —Charles Darwin to Joseph …
  • … at the bottom of the flower’s lengthy nectary. Letter 3662 —Charles Darwin to Asa Gray …
  • … of orchids and their pollinating insects. Letter 5637 - Alfred Russel Wallace to Charles …
  • … attitude towards his work on orchids is shown in an 1860 letter Darwin wrote to the American …
  • … Darwin’s work with orchids and Chapter 1 of Darwin’s 1862 book On the various …

John Murray

Summary

Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…

Matches: 20 hits

  • … and, when the files were full, the letters were burnt; from 1862 his father was persuaded to keep …
  • … end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburn’s terms ( Letter 856 ). Instead he asked his friend …
  • … John Murray, to open negotiations with his own publisher ( Letter 824 ). Lyell’s talk with Murray …
  • … have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business …
  • … copies some pages in Darwin’s chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an …
  • … & make the poor workman some present’ (12 June [1849] Letter 1245 ). Darwin’s next …
  • … his ‘big species book’; on 18 June 1858, he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace with the …
  • … asked Lyell to act as his intermediary with John Murray ( Letter 2437 ), who, without even reading …
  • … not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a retail …
  • … proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all Murray’s …
  • … – and a second edition was immediately called for ( Letter 2549 ). In the end Murray paid Darwin …
  • … (Variation ), but work progressed slowly ( Letter 3078 ); meanwhile in 1862 Murray published  On …
  • … Murray only offered Darwin half profits for this title ( Letter 3261 ); it was never a best-seller …
  • … ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray decided to print …
  • … to Brazil, the beginning of a life-long correspondence ( Letter 4881 ). Subsequently Darwin …
  • … the risk himself. Murray suggested printing 750 copies ( Letter 6597 ), but Darwin decided on 1000 …
  • … fail, I think, to be much read’ (28 September [1870] Letter 7329 ). Murray decided to print 2500 …
  • … hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was …
  • … America, of St George Mivart‘s Genesis of species  ( Letter 7907 ) ;  this was Darwin’s …
  • … By November of that year, fourteen copies had been sold ( Letter 8044 ). Meanwhile, Darwin was …

Dining at Down House

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … and Conclusion”). Letters Letter Packet: Dining at Down House …
  • … ill health began on his Beagle voyage. In this letter (written amidst the excitement of South …
  • … difficulties of traveling on horseback while ill. Letter 465 —Emma Wedgwood (Emma Darwin …
  • … making himself agreeable” for her sake. Letter 3626 —Emma Darwin to T. G. Appleton, 28 …
  • … to thank Appleton for gifts sent from America. Letter 3597 —Darwin to Joseph Dalton …
  • … to Henrietta Darwin, [5 September 1868] In this chatty letter to her daughter Henrietta, who …
  • … typical nineteenth-century luncheon fare. Letter 8296 —Darwin to Francis Galton, 21 …
  • … who was then a professor at Cambridge University. This letter is full of news about the political …
  • … his letters. They were particularly intrigued by this letter written from Emma to Charles before …

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,…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
  • … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
  • … botanist Asa Gray. Darwin and Hooker Letter 714 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … and he is curious about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
  • … and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … and their approach to information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … ends with a discussion of lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … up his doubts about Darwin’s doctrines. In his second letter he talks about his visit with Falconer. …
  • … was on the Beagle voyage and afterwards. Letter 152 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. …
  • … is Henslow’s “bounden duty to lecture me”. Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R. …
  • … sends home a copy of his notes on the specimens. Letter 249 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, …
  • … sends news of Cambridge and mutual friends. Letter 251 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S …
  • … illness and specimens are sent to Henslow. Letter 272 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. …
  • … collection and plans to cross the Cordilleras. Letter 1189 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … Hermann Müller. Darwin and Lubbock Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, …
  • … and it has reawakened his passion for entomology. Letter 1720 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … 147 (1857): 79–100]. Darwin and Müller Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, …
  • … of the floral anatomy of Lopezia miniata . Letter 5471 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, H. …
  • Letter 3800 — Scott, John to Darwin, C. R., [11 Nov 1862] Scottish gardener John Scott notes …
  • Letter 3805 — Darwin, C. R. to Scott, John, 12 Nov [1862] Darwin thanks Scott for bringing …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
  • … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
  • … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
  • … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
  • … the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
  • … Anderson is “neither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
  • … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
  • … narrative so not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
  • … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
  • … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …

Darwin on race and gender

Summary

Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … ( Beagle diary , p. 143). He was delighted to receive a letter from an African correspondent …
  • … and Progress Key letters: Letter to J. S. Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … Correspondence with women Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February …

Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health

Summary

On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’.  Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…

Matches: 29 hits

  • … of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin …
  • … thus completing the work he had started on the genus in 1862. His varied botanical observations and …
  • … and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the …
  • … As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the …
  • … observations indoors ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin …
  • … gradation by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
  • … fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
  • … matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864 …
  • … long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was …
  • …  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing …
  • … of the two species with the common oxlip. In a letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly …
  • … the ‘splendid case of Dimorphism’ in  Menyanthes  ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. …
  • … act. In his ongoing quest to confirm the statement in his 1862 book on orchids that nature ‘abhors …
  • … this interest. At the start of the year, he received a letter, insect specimens, and an article on …
  • … that it was ‘the best medicine for my stomach’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 17 February [1864] ). …
  • … Scott, a gardener at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1862 with a letter regarding the …
  • … two years, with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] …
  • … is difficult enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … troublesome … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). …
  • … the conclusion that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ) …
  • … his indomitable perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker …
  • … basis he recommended a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August …
  • … and curators at a great distance. Gray forwarded a letter from Charles Wright, a plant collector in …
  • … to the materialist philosophy of Ludwig Buchner ( letter from Hermann Kindt, 5 September 1864 ). …
  • … himself. Haeckel’s scientific life, he reported in a letter of 9 [July 1864] , had been …
  • … often called me her German “Darwin–Mann” ’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 10 August 1864 ). Haeckel …
  • … to listen to any thing from him except á la Darwin!’ ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 November 186[4] …
  • … and Book of Joshua critically examined  (Colenso 1862–79). After reading extracts from Colenso’s …
  • … Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 6 November [1862] ). A declaration that Erasmus …

Forms of flowers

Summary

Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … briefly mentioned in his Primula paper. In July 1862, Darwin explained to Gray, ‘ I have …
  • … of the genus Linum ’, between 11 and 21 December 1862. The paper was read at a meeting of the …
  • … to Lythrum , a genus that he had begun researching in 1862 after Hooker had supplied him with …
  • … of Lythrum he had been working on since late July 1862. He told Oliver that, ‘ as each form has …
  • … of the crossing experiments immediately, but by October 1862, he admitted to Hooker, ‘ I am rather …
  • … 117: 50). Darwin released William from counting in November 1862, telling him, ‘ Next year I shall …
  • … (p. 82) and clarified the meaning to Fritz Müller in a letter in September 1866, ‘ What I meant in …
  • … than in the short-styled form ’, Darwin annotated this letter, wondering, ‘Would it be worth while …

Darwin and Fatherhood

Summary

Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … all of their education in the home, although he noted in 1862 that his fifteen-year-old daughter …
  • … her own wish’ (Darwin to his son William,  30 [October 1862] ). Darwin frequently discussed the …
  • … were favourite family games, and in 1859 he ended a letter to his oldest son with the exclamation ‘I …
  • … (Darwin to his son William,  [30 October 1858] ). In one letter in 1856, he explained his paternal …
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