From W. E. Darwin 8 May [1866]
Summary
Describes the floral structure of broom, particularly the form of the varying anthers. Encloses drawings of anthers and pollen.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 76: B52, 66–72 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3144 |
From Daniel Oliver [after 13 May 1866]
Summary
Gives CD some references to papers.
Reports improvement in his wife’s health.
| Author: | Daniel Oliver |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 13 May 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 31 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4964 |
From H. E. Darwin [c. 10 May 1866]
Summary
Mogg [John Traherne Moggridge] wants to visit CD.
Self-fertilising orchids.
| Author: | Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta Emma Litchfield |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. 10 May 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 67 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5075 |
To [John Gould?] [before 10 May 1866?]
Summary
Asks for the name of a hummingbird.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Gould |
| Date: | [before 10 May 1866?] |
| Classmark: | Jeff Weber, Rare Books (dealer) (October 2018) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5075F |
To Julius von Haast 5 May [1866]
Summary
Regrets that JvH is not on list of candidates for Royal Society. This year the Council of Royal Society is extraordinarily deficient in natural historians and geologists. Thinks JvH is sure to be elected another year.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Francis Julius (Julius) von Haast |
| Date: | 5 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand (Haast family papers, MS-Papers-0037-051-3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5079 |
To William Robinson 5 May [1866]
Summary
Writes a line of thanks; includes instructions on procedure for crossing experiments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Robinson |
| Date: | 5 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | Royal Horticultural Society, Lindley Library (WRO/2/26) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5080 |
From Asa Gray 7 May 1866
Summary
Thinks a new U. S. edition of Origin is needed.
Gives observations on the climbing habits of Bignonia capreolata.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 150 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5081 |
From Robert Caspary 7 May 1866
Summary
Thanks CD for invitation. Solicitous of CD’s health. Will let Hooker decide whether CD’s health will allow his visit.
[Alexander] Braun in poor health.
| Author: | Johann Xaver Robert (Robert) Caspary |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5082 |
To ? 10 May [1866?]
Summary
The apparent difference in arm lengths of compositors is due to a drooping shoulder. File-makers stand in a peculiar position and call one of their legs the hind leg.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 10 May [1866?] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5083 |
From J. T. Moggridge 10 May [1866]
Summary
Sends a box of orchids.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 205 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5084 |
From E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 10 May 1866
Summary
Encloses letter from H. B. Geinitz, who declines to handle translation of new edition of Origin. Recommends Julius Victor Carus. Also suggests Gustav von Leonhard as translator for Origin.
Discusses translation of Variation.
| Author: | E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 72 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5085 |
From John Gould 10 May 1866
Summary
Gives CD genus and species names of the singular humming-bird; distressed by specific name made necessary by revised laws of nomenclature.
| Author: | John Gould |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 20–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5086 |
From Friedrich Hildebrand 11 May 1866
Summary
Sending his paper on tristyly in Oxalis.
Cannot attend botanical congress, where CD will be vice-president.
| Author: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 203 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5087 |
To J. D. Hooker [12 May 1866]
Summary
Caspary wants to visit Down. CD would like to see him but dreads the exertion.
Pleased that JDH will get D.C.L. at Oxford.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [12 May 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 288 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5088 |
From J. D. Hooker 13 May 1866
Summary
Refers to enclosure from Asa Gray
with whom he can talk calmly now that war is over. North had no right to resort to bloodshed.
Startled by CD’s attendance at Royal Society soirée.
Has asked E. B. Tylor to make up questions for consuls and missionaries, through whose wives a lot of most curious information [for Descent?] could be obtained.
Tying umbilical cord has always been a mystery to JDH.
John Crawfurd’s paper on cultivated plants is shocking twaddle ["On the migration of cultivated plants in reference to ethnology", J. Bot. Br. & Foreign 4 (1866): 317–32].
R. T. Lowe back from Madeira.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 71–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5089 |
To William Ewart Gladstone 14 May 1866
Summary
Memorial to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from the fellows of the Royal, Linnean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London, stating the importance of separating the administration of the national natural history collections of the British Museum from that of the library and art collections, and placing it in the hands of one officer, immediately responsible to one of the Queen’s ministers.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Date: | 14 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | Gunther 1975, p. 238 (facsimile of printed copy of memorial) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5090F |
To John Higgins 14 May 1866
Summary
Acknowledges receipt of £262 8s. 8d.
Had not heard they had suffered so much from the cattle plague in Lincolnshire.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Higgins |
| Date: | 14 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | Dominic Winter Auctioneers (dealers) (10 April 2019, lot 138) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5090G |
To J. D. Hooker 16 May [1866]
Summary
Glad to see Asa Gray’s letter.
Asks whether he may insert a sentence about Cape Verde alpine plants in new edition [4th] of Origin.
Fears "twaddle" may also be the word for his two chapters on cultivated plants. Asks for Crawfurd’s paper.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 16 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 289, 289b |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5091 |
To Friedrich Hildebrand 16 May [1866]
Summary
Has forwarded FH’s paper on Fumariaceae to horticultural congress. Comments on its findings.
Discusses forms of Oxalis.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Date: | 16 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | Klaus Groove (private collection); sold by Venator and Hanstein, Cologne (dealers), 16 March 2018 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5092 |
From J. D. Hooker [17 May 1866]
Summary
W. H. Harvey is dead. His loss to science.
Will get a copy of Crawfurd’s paper. It was such trash he tore his up.
His letter to Asa Gray was about his [JDH’s] proof that America will have an aristocracy from interbreeding of wealth, intellect, and beauty; and the lower classes, not having time for politics, will leave them to the aforementioned.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [17 May 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 75–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5093 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (14) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (3) |
| Caspary, Robert | (2) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Darwin, H. E. | (1) |
| Gladstone, W. E. | (1) |
| Gould, John | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (35) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (7) |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (3) |
| Murray, John (b) | (3) |
| Caspary, Robert | (2) |
Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
Summary
Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it’s hard to choose from many letters that stand out, but one of this editor’s favourites, that always brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5…
Matches: 1 hits
- … brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5 April 1878 . Müller was a German …
My most solemn request: To Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844
Summary
Alistair Sponsel talks about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife Emma in 1844. Having just completed a sketch of his species theory, Darwin wrote detailed instructions about what to do with his manuscript in the event of his death.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Alistair Sponsel talks about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife …
4.48 'Puck', cartoon 5
Summary
< Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of the Nineteenth Century, another cartoon in the American humorous magazine Puck depicted Darwin as the epitome of philosophical enlightenment. The Universal Church of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of …
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 5 hits
- … appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). Piqued, Mivart flung …
- … accepted it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I wanted some …
- … to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Müller had sent him a …
- … myself was standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Finishing …
- … to me, which have ever been made’ ( letter to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 ). In June, Lady …
Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
Summary
Learn about Darwin's adventures on his epic journey.
Matches: 1 hits
- … These activities explore Darwin’s life changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle. Using letters home, …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 20 hits
- … (1) Austen, J. T. (5) Austin, A. D. …
- … H. (7) Ball, John (5) Ball, Robert …
- … (1) Beaufort, Francis (5) Becher, A. B. …
- … (8) Beneden, Édouard van (5) Bennet, C. A. (b) …
- … (1) Birch, Samuel (5) Birkett, Thomas …
- … (2) Boner, Charles (5) Bonham-Carter, Alice …
- … (2) Bookseller. (5) Boole, M. E. (3) …
- … (29) Brace, C. L. (5) Bradfield, Thomas …
- … (3) Canby, W. M. (5) Candolle, Alphonse de …
- … Carneri, Bartholomäus von (5) Carpenter, W. B. (19) …
- … (3) Clark, Andrew (5) Clark, J. W. (a) …
- … (2) Collingwood, Cuthbert (5) Colvile, J. W. …
- … (1) Cross, George (5) Cross, R. A. …
- … (4) Crotch, W. D. (5) Crowe, J. R. …
- … (1) Dew-Smith, A. G. (5) Dicey, A. V. …
- … (2) Doedes, N. D. (5) Dohrn, Anton …
- … (3) Drummond, James (a) (5) Drysdale, …
- … (3) Edmondston, Laurence (5) Edwards & …
- … (1) Edwards, Henry (5) Edwards, W. H. …
- … (3) Forchhammer, J. G. (5) Ford, G. H. …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 7 hits
- … as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described …
- … mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did …
- … for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). …
- … been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Only until …
- … the Athenæum in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later expressed …
- … honours like the Copley Medal ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and …
- … reminder of their loss (see Correspondence vol. 5). Unable to find Annie’s gravestone in 1863, …
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: 5 hits
- … in Danish (Morlot 1859, Forchhammer et al. 1851–5); Lubbock cited Morlot as the source of many …
- … work in the Brixham cave explorations of 1858 and 1859. 5 Another controversy arose when …
- … editions of Antiquity of man , see Grayson 1985. 5. For two interpretations of Hugh …
- … Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyell’s …
- … 1865 (University of Edinburgh, Lyell 1, Gen. 113: 3644–5). 17. Rough notes for letter …
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 5 hits
- … 1865 4 th English edition published, 1866 5 th English edition published, 1869 …
- … Joseph Hooker on the Arctic. 4 th to 5 th edition I have, …
- … von Nägeli, resulting in a substantial addition ( Origin 5 th ed, pp 151–3). Nägeli had …
- … of significant correspondents. 5 th to 6 th edition …
- … French edition which had already begun using the text of the 5 th English edition but had fallen …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 14 hits
- … account book (Down House MS) and Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855 …
- … beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin’s aesthetic …
- … to which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he announced that the plants …
- … by Darwin; these lists are in DAR 255: 8 and DAR 255: 2–5. The first is a list that Darwin …
- … plants sent to him by Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ), since many of the …
- … to Darwin from Kew. Darwin said in the letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] that he had received …
- … Malpighia urens 5 …
- … —— speciosa 5 do. do. …
- … § Gongora atropurpurea 5 § Cyrtopodium Andersonii …
- … § —— maculata 5 —— punctata 10 …
- … Anoectochilus argenteus 12 5 s . § …
- … curassavica. 4. Canna Warszewiczii. 5. ‘speciosa’ deleted in pencil. 6. This …
- … 1863a, p. 10. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] and n. 19. 9. …
- … aurantiaca 12. ‘Anoectochilus argenteus 5 s .’ deleted in ink. 13. ‘—— pictus 8 …
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Summary
There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 1 hits
- … gewidmete Gedichte sind dem Album besonders beigefügt. 5 Translation …
'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
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … able to throw off thick dictionaries by flexing. On 5 April , Edward Blyth, who had supplied …
- … 3 June 1868 ). ‘It was very kind’, Darwin wrote on 5 June , ‘almost heroic, in you to sacrifice …
- … distributed it in Japan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 5 September 1868 ); Edward Wilson, a neighbour …
- … Molendo and Alexander Walther addressed themselves on 5 August to ‘the Reformator of Natural …
- … had sent four letters the previous year, wrote again on 5 October , ‘I am quite distressed that …
