From John Michels 3 May 1870
Summary
Sends drawings of atypical Geranium and honeysuckle pollen-grains. Would they produce variation in seedlings?
| Author: | John Michels |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 May 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 175 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10495 |
From E. A. Darwin [1870–81]
Summary
Share dealings.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1870–81] |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: 111 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12379 |
To V. O. Kovalevsky 22 February [1870]
Summary
"I have received a very large box full of beautiful tea from Russia yesterday … my life is as regular & monotonous as a clock.
I make sure, but wofully slow progress, with my new book."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Date: | 22 Feb [1870] |
| Classmark: | J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (17 March 1995); Swann Auction Galleries (dealers) (1 October 1953) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13060 |
From Charles Wicksted to Georgina Tollet 13 March [1870?]
Summary
Jury of fox-hunters report on hounds’ behaviour when catching fox. Fox never behaves like frightened dog.
| Author: | Charles Wicksted |
| Addressee: | Georgina Tollet |
| Date: | 13 Mar [1870?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 97 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13857 |
To? [1870–82]
Summary
Printed acknowledgment of the receipt of a letter.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | [1870–82] |
| Classmark: | DAR 133: 1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13859 |
To ? 23 August [1870–80]
Summary
Discusses evolution of species.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 23 Aug [1870-80] |
| Classmark: | Charles Hamilton (dealer) (3 November 1966) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13884 |
To ? [1870–82]
Summary
Query [possibly for publication] on ridges and furrows in pasture-land that had been ploughed long ago. Gives directions for measuring ridges on sloping land.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | [1870–82] |
| Classmark: | DAR 63: 87 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13885 |
From Benjamin Clarke 1 November [1870]
Summary
Sends CD some Indian corn seeds to demonstrate the extreme effect sometimes producible on progeny by the mutilation of a parent.
Writes of a recent book.
| Author: | Benjamin Clarke |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Nov [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.11: 26 (EH 88206077) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5662 |
From St G. J. Mivart [25 June 1870?]
Summary
Sets a time for CD to call.
| Author: | St George Jackson Mivart |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [25 June 1870?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 181 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5927 |
From Francis Darwin [before 4 January 1870]
Summary
Humphrey does not think more bones in female os coccyx than in male. Because of maceration it is impossible to compare male and female skeletons. Has another coach while Stuart ill.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 4 Jan 1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6520F |
From Alice Bonham-Carter to Emma Darwin 25 January [1870]
Summary
Sends a translation of two sentences [on floral structure] as requested by Henrietta Darwin.
| Author: | Alice Bonham-Carter |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Jan [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 240 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6576 |
From Gilbert William Child 26 January [1870]
Summary
Sends 2d ed. of his Essays on physiological subjects (1869).
| Author: | Gilbert William Child |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Jan [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 141 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6579 |
From William Boyd Dawkins 29 January [1870]
Summary
Discovery of skull of "River-bed" race of man near Corwen.
| Author: | William Boyd Dawkins |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Jan [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 122 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6582 |
To Alexander Agassiz [23 October 1870?]
Summary
Suggests time for AA to visit.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Agassiz |
| Date: | [23 Oct 1870?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6595 |
To ? 12 February [1870–82]
Summary
Send information about the bust of himself by Thomas Woolner and suggests applying to the sculptor himself about a cast.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 12 Feb [1870-82] |
| Classmark: | Erbengemeinschaft Alberts (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6611F |
From G. W. Child 16 February [1870]
Summary
Criticises chapter on good effect of crossing in Variation: (1) does not accept that inbreeding alone results in degeneracy; (2) good effects of crossing exaggerated; (3) denies deleterious effects of close marriage in humans.
| Author: | Gilbert William Child |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Feb [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 142 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6617 |
From J. D. Hooker [7 March 1870]
Summary
Does not give much for botanical results of Round Island, but the zoology is wonderful.
Lyell’s new book [The student’s elements of geology (1870)]. Urges Lyell to make it Elementary principles.
Grove is disgusted with CD for being disquieted by William Thomson: "Take another dose of Huxley’s penultimate address to Geol. Soc." [Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 25 (1869): 28–53].
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [7 Mar 1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 42–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6646 |
To Thomas Woolner 10 March [1870]
Summary
Thanks for drawing. ‘The "Woolnerian tip" is worth anything to me.’
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Woolner |
| Date: | 10 Mar [1870] |
| Classmark: | Bodleian Libraries, Oxford (MS. Eng. lett. d. 292, fol. 77) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6650 |
To T. H. Huxley 20 June [1870]
Summary
Asks for figures of embryos by A. Ecker and T. L. W. Bischoff to copy [for Descent, ch. 1].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 20 June [1870] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 269) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6788 |
From J. D. Hooker [31 May 1870]
Summary
Sends enclosure [a letter from Lady Lyell?]. He is choking with vanity.
Is going to send Willy to Mr La Touche in Salop; he brought up young Colenso and Frank Lyell. Some of his friends will think he is sending his son into a nest of young adders!
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [31 May 1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 46; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Directors’ Correspondence 105: 236) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6964 |
| letter | (381) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (162) |
| Kovalevsky, V. O. | (11) |
| Galton, Francis | (10) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
| Reade, W. W. | (8) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (215) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (12) |
| Murray, John (b) | (10) |
| Unidentified | (9) |
| Sclater, P. L. | (8) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (377) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (20) |
| Murray, John (b) | (17) |
| Kovalevsky, V. O. | (12) |
| Galton, Francis | (11) |
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
Matches: 29 hits
- … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The …
- … machine’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December [1870] ). Finishing Descent; …
- … some weeks’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ). Darwin was still working hard on …
- … I shall be’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). She had previously read proof-sheets …
- … shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Henrietta disagreed: ‘Certainly …
- … of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February 1870] ). Darwin was also encouraged …
- … sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). Cobbe accused Darwin of smiling in …
- … great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870?] ). Humans as animals: ears …
- … [1868] ; this volume, letter to Thomas Woolner, 10 March [1870] ). Darwin included Woolner’s …
- … findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March 1870 ). Indeed, Darwin noted the same …
- … bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). Researching expression: …
- … spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870 ). Keen for more evidence of …
- … hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] ). Darwin made a similar request of …
- … not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] ). Darwin’s queries were part …
- … of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). He also wrote to a leading Dutch …
- … on this subject’ ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). Human evolution: debates and …
- … more fully in a collection of essays published in April 1870 (Wallace 1870a). Wallace wrote to …
- … naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). Despite their increasing …
- … in one sense rivals’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870] ). Darwin alluded here to the …
- … No one but yourself’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 20 May 1870 ). Darwin very rarely used the …
- … never write reviews’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). St George Jackson Mivart …
- … to answer objectors’ ( letter to W. H. Flower, 25 March [1870] ). In his letters to Mivart, Darwin …
- … on the Primates’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 April [1870] ). He also tried to recruit Mivart’s …
- … lump of granite’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 22 April 1870 ). Mivart hinted that his …
- … his “origin” ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 25 April 1870 ). In his critical essays (later revised …
- … Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs français (Quatrefages 1870), that gave a detailed account, as …
- … many others’ ( letter to Armand de Quatrefages, 28 May [1870] ). Quatrefages had …
- … discord’ ( letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 30 March 1870 ). In proposing Darwin for election, …
- … them’ ( letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 18 July 1870 ). The assertion had been made by Emile …
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: 12 hits
- … Brooke, C.A.J. 30 Nov 1870 Sarawak, Borneo …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 15 March 1870 West Riding …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 18 March 1870 Down, Kent, …
- … Donders, F.C. 27 May 1870 Utrecht, Netherlands …
- … Forbes, David 13 June 1870 Portman Square, London W. …
- … Nicol, Patrick 13 May 1870 Sussex Lunatic Asylum, …
- … Reade, Winwood W. [c.8 or 9 Apr 1870] Accra, West …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 4 June 1870 Lagos, Africa …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 3 Sept 1870 Conservative Club, St …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 9 Nov 1870 11 St Mary Abbot's …
- … Weale, J.P.M. [25 May 1870] Bedford, Cape of Good …
- … Weir, J.J. 27 June 1870 Blackheath, London, England …
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: 4 hits
- … Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin seeks Henrietta’s …
- … Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 September 1870] Written shortly before …
- … Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, J., [29 September 1870] Darwin asks Murray to …
- … Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to Darwin, [29 April 1870] George Cupples tells Darwin about a …
Francis Darwin
Summary
Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished scientist. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, initially studying mathematics, but then transferring to natural sciences. Francis completed…
Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … behaviour of her dog (letter from J. L. Gray, 14 February 1870 ), she also passed on information …
Casting about: Darwin on worms
Summary
Earthworms were the subject of a citizen science project to map the distribution of earthworms across Britain (BBC Today programme, 26 May 2014). The general understanding of the role earthworms play in improving soils and providing nutrients for plants to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … on my mind’ ( letter to W. T. Preyer, 17 February [1870 ])) that without earthworms aerating the …
Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … more litters & no happy results”, he wrote on 26 April 1870 . In the following year, Galton …
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
- … of Descent (letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Audio of more …
Darwin and Gender Projects by Harvard Students
Summary
Working in collaboration with Professor Sarah Richardson and Dr Myrna Perez, Darwin Correspondence Project staff developed a customised set of 'Darwin and Gender' themed resources for a course on Gender, Sex and Evolution first taught at Harvard…
Matches: 1 hits
- … grateful I shall be.”(Letter to Darwin, H. E., [8 Feb 1870] ) Although Miranda acknowledges that …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Experimenting with emotions
Summary
Darwin’s interest in emotions can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On his return, he started recording observations in a set of notebooks, later labelled '…
John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 1 hits
- … you owe any more … Darwin to his son Francis, 1870. …
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…
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Photograph: Authenticity, Science and the Periodical Press, 1870 – 1890 (London and New York: …
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: 1 hits
- … & I feel deeply for you. ( Letter to F. C. Donders, 19 May 1870 ) …
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…
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…
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: 1 hits
- … Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] Letter from Mary Treat, …
Moral Nature
Summary
In Descent of Man, Darwin argued that human morality had evolved from the social instincts of animals, especially the bonds of sympathy and love. Darwin gathered observations over many decades on animal behavior: the heroic sacrifices of social insects,…
