From Edward Blyth [c. 22 March 1856]
Summary
Gives references to works on fowls and pigeons.
Observations on Gallinaceae.
Musk ox skull from southern England is additional evidence for Agassiz’s glacial period. Owen is mistaken in calling it a buffalo.
EB describes the buffalo proper.
Will send domestic pigeon specimens.
Believes pigeons were not bred in India before the Mohammedan conquest. Describes Indian breeds.
Believes the ass is an African rather than an Asian production. Discusses various species of ass and their distribution.
Wild horned cattle on borders of Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur.
[Notes received by CD on 6 May 1856.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [c. 22 Mar 1856] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: 133–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1845 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … DCP-LETT-1845 …
To John Lubbock 5 September [1856]
Summary
Quotes passage from [Frédéric?] Gerard on distribution of certain Lepidoptera.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Date: | 5 Sept [1856] |
Classmark: | DAR 263: 9 (EH 88206458) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1949 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … University Press. 1985–. Gérard, Frédéric. 1845. Géographie zoologique. Vol. 6, pp. 112– …
- … Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle , on ‘Géographie zoologique’ ( Gérard 1845 ). …
- … CD first read the work in 1845 ( Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV, 119: 16a). His copy …
- … Quoted, with some minor errors, from Gérard 1845 , p. 136 (p. 27 of CD’s reprint). The …
- … the pole. The information from Gérard 1845 is cited in Natural selection , p. 535 n. 2, …
To Charles Lyell 21 April [1856]
Summary
Speculates about cause of inclination in unusual columns of lava. Suggests CL check with William Hopkins about sliding movements in viscid matter.
Comments on CL’s expedition to Madeira.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 21 Apr [1856] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.126) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1855 |
From H. C. Watson 10 June 1856
Summary
Evidence relevant to E. Forbes’s land-bridge theory.
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 June 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 33 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1898 |
From S. P. Woodward 2 May 1856
Summary
Proportion of molluscan species to genera in various periods. The difficulty of determining species increases with the number of species per genus. Identifying species within a genus is most difficult in that period in which the genus shows its greatest development.
Author: | Samuel Pickworth Woodward |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 May 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 153 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1864 |
To Robert Everest? 18 June [1856]
Summary
Seeks to verify whether bulldogs have degenerated in India [see Variation 1: 37–8].
CD has "sometimes gone so far as to doubt whether climate has any influence even on colour".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Robert Everest |
Date: | 18 June [1856] |
Classmark: | Barbara and Robert Pincus (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1906 |
From Charles James Fox Bunbury 7 February 1856
Summary
Has heard CD is much interested in questions relating to varieties and species. Mentions a case of a seminal variety of Colletia spinosa, described by John Lindley, which appears identical with another wild species of Colletia from S. America. Hopes CD will one day "enlighten us very much" on "the laws of species". There are many different views on the limits of species; M. F. Dunal made 50 species of Solanum which George Bentham considers are all varieties of S. nigrum.
Author: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Feb 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 374, DAR 205.4: 97 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1830 |
To J. W. Lubbock 27 May [1856]
Summary
Asks JWL to use his influence to forward the appointment of T. H. Huxley to the Examinership in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at University of London. Gives details of THH’s qualifications.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John William Lubbock, 3d baronet |
Date: | 27 May [1856] |
Classmark: | The Royal Society (LUB: D23) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1877 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … for anatomy and physiology upon his graduation in 1845 from London University ( DNB ). …
To Laurence Edmondston 11 September [1856]
Summary
Requests observations on pigeons.
Knew LE’s son [Thomas] and deplores his fate [accidental death in 1846].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Laurence Edmondston |
Date: | 11 Sept [1856] |
Classmark: | L. D. Edmondston (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1954 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … during the voyage (see Correspondence vol. 3, letter to Edward Forbes, 13 May [1845] ). …
To Philip Henry Gosse 22 September [1856]
Summary
CD is working hard on variations.
Asks if PHG’s bald-pate pigeon [described in A naturalist’s sojourn in Jamaica (1851)] is a true rock-pigeon.
Can he obtain a specimen of the rabbits that have run wild, and a wild canary, and the body of any domestic or fancy pigeon which has been in the West Indies for some generations?
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Philip Henry Gosse |
Date: | 22 Sept [1856] |
Classmark: | Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1958 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … lived and collected in Jamaica in 1844 and 1845. No specimen seems to have been sent to …
To Armand de Quatrefages 4 January [1856]
Summary
The information correspondent hopes to get from M.-J.-P. Flourens will be valuable.
CD is keeping all varieties of pigeons, poultry, ducks, etc. for his work on variation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Jean Louis Armand (Armand de Quatrefages) Quatrefages de Bréau |
Date: | 4 Jan [1856] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.144) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2036 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1845. Living Cirripedia (1854): A monograph of the …
To the Royal Society 8 October [1856?]
Summary
The bearer has called for the books. Requests volumes of Isis for 1828 and 1829.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Royal Society of London |
Date: | 8 Oct [1856?] |
Classmark: | DAR 249: 111 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1970A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … p. 65), 8 October fell on a Wednesday in 1845 (when, however, CD was away from Down from …
From John Richardson 17 July 1856
Author: | John Richardson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 17 July 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 285 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1929 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on ichthyology ( J. Richardson 1836 and 1845). See Natural selection , pp. 539 and 555. …
From C. J. F. Bunbury 16 April 1856
Summary
Is interested by what CD tells him about his researches and speculations on species, variation, and distribution. Hopes he will not give up the idea of publishing his views. Advises CD on need for caution and candour. Raises some difficulties with "specific centre" theory of distribution.
Author: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 16 Apr 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 218 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1854 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … at the Cape of Good Hope from 1835 to 1845 ( DNB ). The number of CD’s portfolio of notes …
To John Murray 20 November [1856–7]
Summary
Thanks for gift [of books requested in 1026]. Sale is a good deal more than he had anticipated.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Murray |
Date: | 20 Nov [1856-7] |
Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42153 ff.54–55) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1028 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … RN. 2d edition, corrected, with additions. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1845. …
To Leonard Horner [1856–7]
Summary
Thanks LH for memorandum [missing] by K. R. Lepsius.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Leonard Horner |
Date: | [1856–7] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2618 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … und Aethiopien … in den Jahren 1842–1845 ausgeführten wissenschaftlichen Expedition. 12 …
From J. D. Hooker [26 June or 3 July 1856]
Summary
Can no longer make out story of NW. American plants; consulting Asa Gray.
Questionable validity of seed-salting experiments.
Aristolochia and Viscum seem to shed pollen before flower opens.
Ray Society should only do translations.
Thomas Thomson in India has rediscovered Aldrovanda, a rare relative of Drosera.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [26 June or 3 July] 1856 |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 197 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1911 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Calcutta botanic garden. He died in 1845. Nathaniel Wallich had been superintendent …
To C. J. F. Bunbury 21 April [1856]
Summary
CD writes on geographical distribution – "a grand game of chess with the world for a board".
Gives his hypothetical explanation why zoology of Cape [of Good Hope] is not so peculiar as its botany: it was once a group of islands – later united.
Tries hard to set forth the difficulties of his [species] theory.
Tells CJFB in confidence of his theory of the glacial epoch and its effect on plant distribution, such as identical species being found on summits of mountains in the tropics. Invites him to attack his "doctrine".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
Date: | 21 Apr [1856] |
Classmark: | Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds (Bunbury Family Papers E18/700/1/9/6) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1856 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843 par une commission scientifique. 4 pts in 6 vols. Paris. [1845–54]. …
From Edward Blyth 8 January [1856]
Summary
Encloses "notes for Mr. D" [see 1818] and a memorandum on the wild cattle of southern India [see 1819].
Breeds of silky fowl of China and Malaya. Black-skinned fowl.
Doubts any breed of canary has siskin blood; all remain true to their type.
Wild canary and finch hybrids.
Hybrids between one- and two-humped camels.
Does not regard zebra markings on asses as an indication of interbreeding but as one of the many instances of markings in the young which more or less disappear in the adult.
Crossing of Coracias species at the edges of their ranges.
Regional variations and intergrading between species of pigeons.
Regards the differences in Treron as specific [see Natural selection, p. 115 n. 1].
Gives other instances of representative species or races differing only in certain details of colouring.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Jan [1856] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A110–13, A117–21 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1817 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … as distinct species … Hodgson 1856 . Rüppell 1845, p. 106, in which Rüppell recorded that …
letter | (19) |
Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
Blyth, Edward | (2) |
Bunbury, C. J. F. | (2) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Richardson, John | (1) |
Bunbury, C. J. F. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
Edmondston, Laurence | (1) |
Everest, Robert | (1) |
Gosse, P. H. | (1) |
Horner, Leonard | (1) |
Lubbock, J. W. (b) | (1) |
Lubbock, John | (1) |
Lyell, Charles | (1) |
Murray, John (b) | (1) |
Quatrefages de Bréau, Armand de Quatrefages | (1) |
Royal Society of London | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (19) |
Bunbury, C. J. F. | (3) |
Blyth, Edward | (2) |
Edmondston, Laurence | (1) |
Everest, Robert | (1) |
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … and anticlinal lines of a geological formation, 3 March 1845 Edward Forbes's " …
Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 8 hits
- … his Journal of researches for a second edition in 1845, having already provided corrections in …
- … vice-presidents in 1844 and remaining on the council from 1845 onwards; he was a conscientious …
- … attacked the work vehemently in the Edinburgh Review (1845), while other colleagues like Edward …
- … his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt he ought to be both …
- … of his Journal of researches for a second edition in 1845. At Lyell’s recommendation, …
- … the original publisher, to John Murray, and throughout 1845 Darwin worked hard to provide manuscript …
- … on board the Beagle back to Tierra del Fuego. By 1845, Darwin was in full command of a …
- … Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) and quick to make use of the young …
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: 1 hits
- … vol. 3, letter to Charles Lyell, 8 October [1845] ). Having indulged his senses, Darwin …
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: 1 hits
- … he was working (Darwin to his wife Emma, [7-8 February 1845] ). Although Darwin did not usually …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 19 hits
- … on Instinct [F. G. Cuvier 1822] read Flourens Edit [Flourens 1845] read L. Jenyns paper on …
- … 1834–9] Carlyles Oliver Cromwell [Carlyle 1845] (read) Keppells(?) voyage to Borneo …
- … Exploring Expedition towards the Rocky Mountains [Frémont 1845]. (amusing extracts). perhaps for …
- … America by A. Downing Wiley & Putnam. 14 s . [Downing 1845] (Brit. Museum) (read) good …
- … [DAR *119: 22] Eyeres Travels [E. J. Eyre 1845] very amusing Tschudi’s Travels in …
- … Campbells Lives of Chancellors [J. Campbell 1845–7] last vol. Ludlows Memoirs …
- … Murchisons Russia [Murchison, Verneuil, and Keyserling 1845] (read) Agassiz’s Works …
- … Wilkes Expedition. £ 3. 3 s [Wilkes 1845] order at L. Library. read Botanical Soc. of …
- … Soc. of Neuchatel on Jura. 1846, or 7, or 8 [?Marcou 1845]. 46 Morris good for me.— …
- … 1853] Vol. V of Campbells Chancellors [J. Campbell 1845–7] Lives of the Lindsays …
- … [I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1832–7] Wilkes [Wilkes 1845]. Voyage Vol I. to V Apr …
- … May. Blanco White. Auto-biography [Blanco y Crespo 1845].— 24 Improvisatore [Andersen 1845] …
- … Aug. 5 th Lyells Travels in N. America [Lyell 1845] Oct. Cosmos [A. von Humboldt 1845–8]. …
- … Dec. 10 Ray. Society. Vol I. Reports [Ray Society 1845].— 20 D r Badham insect Life …
- … Feb 6 Explanations by Author of Vestiges [Chambers 1845] —— Bronn’s Gesickte [Bronn 1842–3] 2 …
- … [Twamley 1844] —— Whewell on Education [Whewell 1845–52]. Dec: 26. Watson History of …
- … [Heber 1828] —— 31 Kitto on Deafness [Kitto 1845] —— the French in Algiers [Lamping …
- … 1841] April 10 Wagners Anatomy by Tulk [Wagner 1845] (half through) —— 24 Steenstrup …
- … th Elie de Beaumont Lecons Geologie [Élie de Beaumont 1845] skimmed. June 17 th . Downing …
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: 4 hits
- … hundred letters from Darwin, from his first negotiations in 1845 until his final years. Although …
- … came to discuss a second edition, probably at the end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburn’s …
- … Colonial Library in three monthly parts (July to September 1845) before being reissued in a single …
- … you have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business …
Richard Matthews
Summary
Richard Matthews was 21 years old when he stepped aboard the Beagle, destined for a lonely career as a missionary in Tierra del Fuego. The Church Missionary Society had arranged for him to accompany the three Fuegians (Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York…
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Orundellico (Jemmy Button)
Summary
Orundellico was one of the Yahgan, or canoe people of the southern part of Tierra del Fuego. He was the fourth hostage taken by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, in 1830 following the theft of the small surveying boat. This fourteen-year old boy was…
Matches: 3 hits
Journal of researches
Summary
Within two months of the Beagle’s arrival back in England in October 1836, Darwin, although busy with distributing his specimens among specialists for description, and more interested in working on his geological research, turned his mind to the task of…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
Summary
< Back to Introduction A popular biography of Darwin for young readers by the American naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, published in 1891, sought to present him as ‘an example to the youth of all lands’ (p. v). Thus ‘our hero’ was shown to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Captain Fitz Roy, R.N. , 2 nd ed. (London: John Murray, 1845), pp. 22, 90, 182, and 384. Francis …
Second species sketch
Summary
Darwin finishes an expanded sketch of his species theory, first drafted in 1842
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin finishes an expanded sketch of his species theory, first drafted in 1842 …
George Darwin born
Summary
The Darwins' son George Howard Darwin born
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Darwins' son George Howard Darwin born …
Yokcushlu (Fuegia Basket)
Summary
Yokcushlu was one of the Alakaluf, or canoe people from the western part of Tierra del Fuego. She was one of the hostages seized by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, after the small boat used for surveying the narrow inlets of the coast of Tierra del…
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In the course of discussions about species in the autumn of 1845, his close friend Joseph Dalton …
Introduction to the Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle
Summary
'a humble toadyish follower…': Not all pictures of Darwin during the Beagle voyage are flattering. Published here for the first time is a complete transcript of a satirical account of the Beagle’s brief visit in 1836 to the Cocos Keeling islands…
Matches: 4 hits
- … in roman numerals. Others relate to Darwin’s 1839 or 1845 volumes and Belcher’s Narrative of the …
- … The British press was decidedly unsympathetic. Recalled in 1845, he returned home in humiliation as …
- … world, and had copies of both the 1839 Narrative and the 1845 second edition titled Journal of …
- … Borneo, and the Philippines in HMS Samarang from 1842 to 1845, and ended his naval career with …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…