To Edward Cresy [12 November 1860]
Summary
Thanks for information about the weight of water.
Describes experiments on Drosera.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Edward Cresy, Jr |
Date: | [12 Nov 1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 143 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2620 |
From Charles Lyell [before 20 November 1860]
Summary
Discusses the possibility of a land-bridge connecting Biscay with Ireland and the consequent occurrence in southern Ireland of Asturian plants which are absent from England.
Asks if Hooker or anyone has criticised Edward Forbes’ botanical migration of five floras in the British Isles ["On the connexion between the distribution of existing fauna and flora of the British Isles, and the geological changes which have affected their area", Mem. Geol. Surv. G. B. 1 (1846): 336–432].
Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 20 Nov 1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 170.2: 80 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2902 |
To T. H. Huxley 1 November [1860]
Summary
THH’s term "Pithecoid Man" is a theory in itself.
CD is convinced that his doctrine of a mundane period of glaciation is correct.
Henrietta’s serious illness.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 1 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 141) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2972 |
To Edward Cresy 2 November [1860]
Summary
Thanks for pamphlet by A. S. Taylor.
"… we have had a terrible week with my poor girl [Henrietta] on the point of death".
Discusses experiments involving placing solutions of ammonia and other substances on leaves of plants.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Edward Cresy, Jr |
Date: | 2 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 143 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2973 |
To Edward Cresy 2 November [1860]
Summary
Discusses pamphlet by A. S. Taylor
and note by A. W. v. Hofmann concerning iodine solution.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Edward Cresy, Jr |
Date: | 2 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 143 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2974 |
To Daniel Oliver 3 November [1860]
Summary
DO’s candidacy for Professorship of Botany [at University College, London].
Henrietta’s health is better.
Paper in Botanische Zeitung [T. Nitschke, "Über die Reizbarkeit der Blätter von Drosera rotundifolia", 18: 229–34, 237–45, 245–50] missed leading point that plants close longer over animal substances. Carbonate of ammonia works on Lemna and Euphorbia roots.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 3 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 24 (EH 88206008) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2975 |
To J. M. Rodwell 5 November [1860]
Summary
Comments on relationship between eye-colour and deafness in cats [discussed in Origin]. Asks for more information.
Mentions criticism of Origin.
Thanks for information about horses.
Hopes JMR writes his book on language. Mentions Hensleigh Wedgwood’s work [A dictionary of English etymology, 3 vols. (1859–65)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Medows Rodwell |
Date: | 5 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 147: 328; Bradford Museums and Galleries: Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley (NH.6.40 p. 641) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2976 |
To Daniel Oliver 7 November [1860]
Summary
Congratulations on Professorship.
Homologies between Drosera and Dionaea. Carbonate of ammonia on roots. Wants W. H. Fitch to make drawings of Dionaea. Will copy minute structure of hairs from Trécul [see 2965].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 7 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 25 (EH 88206009) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2977 |
To W. E. Darwin [9 November 1860]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | [9 Nov 1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 59 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2978 |
To T. H. Huxley 10 November [1860]
Summary
On the prospectus of Natural History Review. Suggests it might offer information on whether subjects that correspondents may wish to investigate have been done already.
Henrietta still very seriously ill.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 10 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 143) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2979 |
From Edward Cresy 10 November 1860
Summary
Explains discrepancies in weights and measures caused by changes since 1836 in apothecaries’ measures.
EC has found that a discrepancy in A. W. von Hofmann’s experiments with iodine solutions resulted from an error in Hofmann’s use of decimals.
Reports S. P. Woodward’s opinion of the Origin: "a very sad book, it unsettles all one’s religious principles and the worst of it is so much of it is true".
Author: | Edward Cresy, Jr |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Nov 1860 |
Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 7, 9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2980 |
To J. S. Henslow 10 November [1860]
Summary
The stone hatchets are a great muddle. Would like a copy of Jacques Boucher [de Crèvecoeur] de Perthes’s book [Antiquités Celtiques et antédiluviennes (1847–64)].
Is studying action of carbonate of ammonia on Drosera. Asks if this has been done.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 10 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A83–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2981 |
To G. V. Reed 12 November [1860]
Summary
The family was detained at Eastbourne by a setback in Henrietta’s health.
Will send Leonard for tutoring on Thursday morning. Frank is doing capitally at school.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Varenne Reed |
Date: | 12 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | Buckinghamshire Record Office (D 22/39/5) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2982 |
To John Phillips 14 November [1860]
Summary
Thanks JP for copy of his Life on the earth [1860].
Is sorry, but not surprised, to see that JP is "dead against" CD on the Origin.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Phillips |
Date: | 14 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History Archive Collections (John Phillips collection)) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2983 |
From Trenham Reeks 15 November 1860
Summary
Sends weights of three objects (blotting paper, thread, and hair) to within 1/1000 of a grain.
Author: | Trenham Reeks |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 15 Nov 1860 |
Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 10–11 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2984 |
To Daniel Oliver 16 November [1860]
Summary
One thirty-thousandth of a grain of human hair inflects a single Drosera hair. Astonished by his results so he is not publishing until next summer. [Not published until 1875, Insectivorous plants. See ch. 2 for observations on inflection.]
Wants to study effects of acids on live Dionaea. Oliver should do their anatomy. Corresponding with chemical physiologists about carbonate of ammonia on roots.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | 16 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 26 (EH 88206010) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2985 |
To T. H. Huxley 16 November [1860]
Summary
Thanks THH for his lecture ["On the study of zoology", Lay sermons, addresses and reviews (1870), pp. 104–31]. Best exposé and classification of the higher objects of natural history he has ever read. On reading and observation.
Henrietta’s lack of improvement.
R. McDonnell’s work on rays and electric organs of fishes.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 16 Nov [1860] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 145) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2986 |
To Daniel Oliver [21 November 1860]
Summary
The plant CD’s father called "flycatcher" was not Asclepias.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | [21 Nov 1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 27 (EH) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2987 |
To John Lubbock [18 November 1860]
Summary
Drawing up paper on Drosera but will not publish till results are tested.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Date: | [18 Nov 1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 263: 39 (EH 88206483) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2988 |
To John Higgins 19 November 1860
Summary
Acknowledges receipt of £244 15s. 11d.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Higgins |
Date: | 19 Nov 1860 |
Classmark: | Dominic Winter Auctioneers (dealers) (10 April 2019, lot 138) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2988F |
Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
Lyell, Charles | (3) |
Cresy, Edward, Jr | (1) |
Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
Harvey, W. H. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
Huxley, T. H. | (4) |
Oliver, Daniel | (4) |
Cresy, Edward, Jr | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (37) |
Lyell, Charles | (6) |
Oliver, Daniel | (5) |
Cresy, Edward, Jr | (4) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 16 hits
- … on the topic. Lyell also added the following note on page 11: *Mr. John Lubbock published …
- … 2 have struck out Galton & Prestwich at p. 11 who will be surprisd [ sic ] to …
- … had done ‘an injustice’ to Falconer and Prestwich. 11 In the same review Lubbock expressed …
- … he took exception to the wording of the note on p. 11 of C. Lyell 1863c, which implied that Lubbock …
- … The statement made by Sir Charles Lyell, in a note to page 11 of his work, that my article on the …
- … of the note in the preface (letter to John Lubbock, 11 June [1865] ). No correspondence with …
- … of the preface of C. Lyell 1863c and reworded the note on p. 11. Unlike the earlier …
- … Lyell revised both the preface and the note on page 11 of the third edition of Antiquity of man …
- … versions of the end of the preface and of the note on page 11 are included below. Preface, C …
- … as well as of the subsequent issues.” Note on page 11, C. Lyell 1863c (original version) …
- … made by him in company with Mr. Busk. Note on page 11, C. Lyell 1863c (revised version) …
- … in Letters, 1863 , (introduction to Correspondence vol. 11, pp. xv–xvii). For a comparison of …
- … 1984, pp. 154–9. 7. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] …
- … Bartholomew 1973. 8. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March …
- … 18 April [1863 ]. 10. Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March …
- … (rough draft of letter from T. H. Huxley to Charles Lyell, 11 June 1865, Imperial College, Huxley …
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: 7 hits
- … German edition (see letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ). Since the publication of …
- … & a few of importance’ (see letter to H. G. Bronn, 11 March [1862] ). Darwin had sent Bronn …
- … letter from E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 11 July 1862 ). (No American edition …
- … we shall immediately see)’. Page xiv, n., line 11, delete ‘in the years 1794–5’. …
- … substitute for ‘but then . . . kinds of flowers.’: 11 In just some of …
- … sentence also appears in Origin 4th ed., p. 20. 11. p. 56. This whole paragraph was …
- … in Origin 4th ed., p. 449. 47. p. 409–11. This passage also appears, with slight …
1.1 Ellen Sharples pastel
Summary
< Back to Introduction The earliest surviving portrayal of Darwin, who was born on 12 February 1809, is this pastel or chalk drawing by Ellen Wallace Sharples. He is shown kneeling chivalrously before his sister Catherine (born in 1810), in the kind…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Art Journal , 16:1 (Spring–Summer 1995), pp. 3–11. Julius Bryant (ed.), English Heritage …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 8 hits
- … backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). I feel …
- … review me in a hostile spirit’ ( letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874 ). Darwin was …
- … Correspondence vol. 20, letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). To Darwin’s relief, …
- … the moment of being hatched ( letter to Nature , 7 and 11 May [1874] ; Spalding 1872a). …
- … & that must be enough for me’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). Plants that eat . …
- … cartilage, bone & meat &c. &c.’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). His research …
- … Correspondence vol. 21, letter from Francis Darwin, [11 October 1873] ). Darwin wasted …
- … the photograph he sent highly ( letter from D. F. Nevill, [11 September 1874] ). At the …
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: 7 hits
- … gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ). Darwin was altogether …
- … on Linum ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), writing up his experiments in …
- … of Natural History’ ( letter to Armand de Quatrefages, 11 July [1862] ). She had had assistance …
- … for a second edition ( letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ), Darwin asked him to use …
- … see letter from E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 11 July 1862 ). Yet Darwin was now …
- … interest. He told Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 11 September [1862] ): ‘This is a nice, but …
- … from one parent’ ( letter to Armand de Quatrefages, 11 July [1862] ). really good …
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: 8 hits
- … Blair, R.H. 11 July 1871 Worcester College for the …
- … Chaumont, F.S.B.F. de 11 March 1871 Woolston, …
- … 9 Nov 1870 11 St Mary Abbot's Terrace, London, England …
- … 1 Feb 1871 11 St Mary Abbot's Terrace, London, England …
- … 7 Sept 1872 11 St Mary Abbot's Terrace, London, England …
- … 1 Feb. 1871 11 Saint Mary Abbot's Terrace, Kensington. W., London, …
- … Sulivan, B.J. 11 Jan 1867 Bournemouth, England …
- … Wallace, A. R. 11 March [1867] 9 St. Mark’s Crescent …
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: 11 hits
- … regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). The botanist Asa Gray, …
- … by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the same letter, he …
- … bottom of seas, lakes, and rivers ( Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix VII). Quarrels at …
- … Academy of Sciences, Berlin (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix III), and of the Société des …
- … unsuccessful ( see letter from E. A. Darwin to Emma Darwin, 11 November [1863] ). The council of …
- … [9 May 1863] , and memorandum from G. H. Darwin, [before 11 May 1863]) . As he struggled …
- … to drive the quietest man mad’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). Hooker and Gray agreed …
- … tropical plants than before (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix VI). He was fascinated with …
- … pistils mature at different times ( see letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). The fertility of …
- … ‘Crossing & Sterility’ (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II). When Darwin finished, by …
- … animal suffering caused by them (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix IX). Francis Darwin later …
Darwin's 1874 letters go online
Summary
The full transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1874 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1874 through his letters and see a full list of the letters. The 1874 letters…
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 4 hits
- … man in his most "primitive wildness" ( letter to Henslow, 11 April 1833 ). They …
- … Letter 204 : Darwin to Henslow, J. S., 11 April 1833 "The Fuegians are in a more …
- … 98). Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C., 11 October [1859] "the …
- … Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C., 11 October [1859] I suppose that you do not …
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: 4 hits
- … St George Jackson Mivart ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). A worsening …
- … Mivart not to acknowledge it ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). 'I hate …
- … attacks on Darwin became notorious, had written on 11 May expressing concern that his recently, …
- … well informed: `The die is cast’, he wrote excitedly on 11 May , when the matter was first raised …
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: 6 hits
- … the popularity of his book, writing to Robert Cooke on 11 April , ‘though I believe it is of …
- … for extended periods. In a letter to Thiselton-Dyer of 11 October , Darwin described how the …
- … Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel). Writing to Darwin on 11 March 1877 , Krause declared the …
- … visits from distinguished persons. Gladstone came to Down on 11 March. ‘I expected a stern, …
- … not been a difficulty to me,’ he replied to Romanes on 11 June , ‘as I have never believed in a …
- … that they become quite tipsy’ ( letter to W. M. Moorsom, 11 September [1877] ). Moorsom replied …
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 in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 5 hits
- … to think of the future’, Darwin confessed to William on 11 September just hours after Amy’s …
- … naturalist Thomas Edward ( letter from F. M. Balfour, 11 December 1876 ; letter to Samuel Smiles …
- … who died at the age of 10 in 1851, but William, who was 11 years old at the time of her death, would …
- … you are one of the best of all’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 11 September [1876] ). …
- … do I cannot conceive’, Darwin wrote anxiously to Hooker on 11 September. By the time Darwin …
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: 10 hits
- … in that little sheet of note-paper! DARWIN: 11 My dear Hooker… What a remarkably …
- … 1 OCTOBER 1846 7 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 11 JANUARY 1844 8 C DARWIN TO A …
- … 10 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 24 AUGUST 1855 11 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 5 JUNE 1855 …
- … 22 NOVEMBER 1856 29 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 11 APRIL 1861 30 A GRAY TO C …
- … A GRAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 1858 58 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 11 OCTOBER 1858 59 A GRAY TO …
- … HOOKER, 18 OCTOBER 1859 63 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 11 NOVEMBER 1859 64 JD …
- … 13 NOVEMBER 1859 66 C DARWIN TO R OWEN, 11 NOVEMBER 1859 67 C DARWIN …
- … 17 FEBRUARY 1861 111 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 11 DECEMBER 1861 112 C DARWIN …
- … DARWIN TO A GRAY 28 MAY 1864 159 FROM A GRAY 11 JULY 1864 160 C DARWIN …
- … TO A GRAY 28 JANUARY 1876 204 FROM A GRAY 11 DECEMBER 1874 205 TO A …
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: 4 hits
- … Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864 : ‘the venerable beard gives …
- … continue his observations indoors ( Correspondence vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] …
- … two letters to the Athenæum ( Correspondence vol. 11). Darwin’s anxiety about the matter was …
- … and the question of human origins ( Correspondence vol. 11). Wallace, however, traced a possible …
Thomas Rivers
Summary
Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…
Darwin and Religion
Summary
When Darwin published On the Origin of Species, was there a clear cut division between those who supported science and those who supported God? Find out how Darwin’s letters reveal a complex reaction from all sides and a desire from Darwin to keep his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils explore the reaction to Darwin’s findings as evidenced through his letters. Activities …
Henrietta Darwin's diary
Summary
Darwin's daughter Henrietta kept a diary for a few momentous weeks in 1871. This was the year in which Descent of Man, the most controversial of her father's books after Origin itself, appeared, a book which she had helped him write. The small…
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
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…