To Gardeners’ Chronicle [after 28 February 1857]
Summary
Reports that he fertilised a single pale red carnation with the pollen of a crimson Spanish pink, and a Spanish pink with the pollen of the same carnation. He got seed from both crosses and raised many seedlings. There was no difference between the seedlings from reciprocal crosses, not one plant set a single seed.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
Date: | [after 28 Feb 1857] |
Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 7 March 1857, p. 155 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2061 |
To Asa Gray 29 November [1857]
Summary
Thanks AG for his criticisms of CD’s views; finds it difficult to avoid using the term "natural selection" as an agent.
Discusses crossing in Fumaria and barnacles.
Has received a naturally crossed kidney bean in which the seed-coat has been affected by the pollen of the fertilising plant.
Finds the rule of large genera having most varieties holds good and regards it as most important for his "principle of divergence".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 29 Nov [1857] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (18) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2176 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Press. 1985–. Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von. 1849. Versuche und Beobachtungen über die …
- … a different species reported in Gärtner 1849 (see letter to M. J. Berkeley, 29 February [ …
- … 1857 . See Correspondence vol. 4, letters to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] , [4 …
- … February 1849] , and …
- … 10 February [1849] . See also Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 …
From Asa Gray [c. 24 May 1857]
Summary
Discusses difficulties involved in deciding which genera are protean in the light of some comments by H. C. Watson.
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [c. 24 May 1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 97 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2104 |
To W. D. Fox [30 April 1857]
Summary
His impressions of the hydropathic establishment and E. W. Lane. Is convinced the only thing for "chronic cases" is the water-cure.
Asks if WDF knows of any breed of pig that originated or was modified by a cross with a Chinese or Neapolitan pig, and whether the crossbreed bred true.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | [30 Apr 1857] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 103) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2085 |
From George Bentham [16 or 17 December 1857]
Summary
Returns CD’s lists [sent with 2184]. Confusion in genera of Silene is great in continental botanic gardens. One would have to know whether C. F. v. Gärtner had the right names for species in his experiments.
Author: | George Bentham |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [16 or 17 Dec 1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 151 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2186 |
To George Bentham 1 December [1857]
Summary
Thanks GB for his help on naturalised plants; comments on spreading of plants.
Wants to quote GB on the names of species and varieties of Silene on which C. F. von Gärtner experimented.
Thinks GB will be disappointed in his book [Natural selection]. "It will be grievously too hypothetical."
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Bentham |
Date: | 1 Dec [1857] |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: ff. 682–3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2177 |
To Robert Patterson 10 March [1857]
Summary
Asks RP’s help in procuring a specimen of a real Irish rabbit, L. veomicule [Lepus vermicula]?.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Robert Patterson |
Date: | 10 Mar [1857] |
Classmark: | W. E. Praeger 1935, p. 714 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2062 |
To W. D. Fox 17 December [1857]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his letter about a rabbit breed that he thinks is the Himalaya. He is particularly glad to hear of it because it breeds so true.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 17 Dec [1857] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 105) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2187 |
To Asa Gray 18 June [1857]
Summary
Thanks for AG’s remarks on disjoined species. CD’s notions are based on belief that disjoined species have suffered much extinction, which is the common cause of small genera and disjoined ranges.
Discusses out-crossing in plants.
Has failed to meet with a detailed account of regular and normal impregnation in the bud. Podostemon, Subularia, and underwater Leguminosae are the strongest cases against him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 18 June [1857] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (9a) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2109 |
To Francis Galton 7 July [1857]
Summary
Encloses signed document.
"Much interested about all domestic animals of all savage nations."
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Galton |
Date: | 7 July [1857] |
Classmark: | UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/3/2/1/27) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2121 |
To J. D. Hooker 14 [November 1857]
Summary
Rule that species vary most in larger genera seems universal.
Response to Gardeners’ Chronicle note on "Bees and kidney beans" [Collected papers 1: 275–7].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 14 [Nov 1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 215 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2170 |
To W. D. Fox 30 October [1857]
Summary
Has come to think his brains were not made for thinking – he immediately feels better when at Moor Park.
News of his family.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 30 Oct [1857] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 104) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2161 |
To William Sharpey 9 April [1857]
Summary
Recommendations of books of general interest [for the Royal Society library]. These include [Louis] Agassiz’s works, [William] McGillivray’s [History of] British birds, and David Low’s [On the domesticated animals of the British Islands].
Comments on current candidates for the Royal Society.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Sharpey |
Date: | 9 Apr [1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 249: 128 (photocopy) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2073F |
From J. D. Hooker [6 December 1857]
Summary
Finds CD’s results [of his survey of well-marked varieties from A. P. and Alphonse de Candolle’s Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis (1824–73)] "very curious and suggestive". Thinks the Labiatae will present an obstacle to him as it is a very large and distinct order with well-defined species and genera. Would like to see him tackle more volumes of Candolle’s Prodromus, as his case can only be established by evidence from mundane plants. CD should beware of generalising from local species variability. A comparison of C. C. Babington’s and G. Bentham’s [British] Floras [Babington Manual of British botany (1843, 4th ed., 1856); Bentham Handbook of British flora (1858)] would be invaluable. Suggests CD write to Ferdinand Müller and Charles Moore in Australia. Moisture favouring extension of species is important for CD’s view.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [6 Dec 1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 195–6, DAR 47: 192 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2181 |
To J. D. Hooker 8 April [1857]
Summary
Independence of variation from climate shown by several plant genera; CD asks for confirmation.
Progressing with book [Natural selection].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 8 Apr [1857] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 191 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2073 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Polygala vulgaris is common milkwort. Harvey 1849 , Don 1841 , and Herbert 1846 are all …
To William Walmisley Baxter 23 September [1857–9?]
Summary
The returned gloves are similar to some he has already, and he would prefer a pair with stiffer bristles.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Walmisley Baxter |
Date: | 23 Sept [1857-9] |
Classmark: | Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh (dealers) (4 February 2009) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2142F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … father. CD first took the water cure in 1849. Horsehair gloves were used to apply friction …
To William Sharpey, Secretary, Royal Society 24 January [1857]
Summary
Feels unqualified to offer advice on research by the expedition; he has never attended to natural history of the region. Suggests collecting Carboniferous plants and studying the geographical extension of sea-borne erratic boulders.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Sharpey |
Date: | 24 Jan [1857] |
Classmark: | The Royal Society (MC17: 336) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2206 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Manual of scientific enquiry (Herschel ed. 1849), to which CD had contributed a chapter on …
To Charles Lyell 11 February [1857]
Summary
Discusses a proposed expedition to Australia. Urges collecting and investigating productions of isolated islands. Recommends dredging the sea-bottom.
Mentions keeping Helix pomatia alive in sea-water.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 11 Feb [1857] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.145) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2050 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … refers to his contribution to Herschel ed. 1849 (see also letter to William Sharpey, 24 …
From Frederick Smith 10 November 1857
Summary
Sends drawings of two forms of workers of Cryptocerus discocephalus in response to CD’s request for examples of insects whose workers show disparity of form.
Author: | Frederick Smith |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Nov 1857 |
Classmark: | DAR 11.2: 65a |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2167 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Alfred Russel Wallace to the Amazon in 1849 and remained in Brazil to continue his …
To T. H. Huxley [before 12 November 1857]
Summary
Glad THH has taken up aphid question versus Owen ["On the agamic reproduction and morphology of Aphis", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 22 (1858): 193–236].
Fertilisation and inheritance discussed. Speculates that fertilisation may be a mixture rather than a fusion. Can understand in no other way why crossed forms tend to go back to ancestral forms.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | [before 12 Nov 1857] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 58) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2166 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Huxley attacked Owen’s explanation in Owen 1849 of the phenomenon of parthenogenesis as …
letter | (22) |
Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
Bentham, George | (1) |
Gray, Asa | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Smith, Frederick (a) | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
Fox, W. D. | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Gray, Asa | (2) |
Sharpey, William | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (22) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Fox, W. D. | (3) |
Gray, Asa | (3) |
Bentham, George | (2) |
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 7 hits
- … On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good …
- … headaches, fatigue, trembling, faintness, and dizziness. In 1849, Darwin’s symptoms became so severe …
- … health diary (Down House MS), which he kept between 1 July 1849 and 16 January 1855, describes …
- … vol. 2). He suffered from persistent sickness in 1849, describing ‘incessant vomiting’ in his letter …
- … Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1849] , and Correspondence vol. 7, …
- … where he and his family spent three months in March 1849 (see Correspondence vol. 4). He also …
- … vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October 1849 , and Colp 1977, pp. 43-6). He underwent …
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…
Matches: 10 hits
- … of an Admiralty Manual of scientific enquiry (1849) designed to guide the scientific work of …
- … for the Advancement of Science in Birmingham in September 1849. At Birmingham, Darwin made …
- … of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ), but in the end he adhered to the …
- … History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). He also wrote a paper, which he sent …
- … with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] . As Darwin wrote to J. D. Hooker, …
- … fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). Health and wealth …
- … 1847 and during the last half of 1848 and the beginning of 1849. When his father Robert Waring died …
- … to Down in June, is the subject of several letters in 1849. Darwin was convinced that it was a …
- … House MS) that he kept for the next five years. In December 1849, for example, he had 25 days that …
- … personal wealth considerable. In the year between September 1849 and September 1850, Darwin’s …
1.3 Thomas Herbert Maguire, lithograph
Summary
< Back to Introduction This striking portrait of Darwin, dating from 1849, belonged to a series of about sixty lithographic portraits of naturalists and other scientists drawn by Thomas Herbert Maguire. They were successively commissioned over a…
Matches: 5 hits
- … This striking portrait of Darwin, dating from 1849, belonged to a series of about sixty lithographic …
- … and Kirby. According to a report in the Athenaeum in 1849 , the original intention was simply …
- … and dated in the image, bottom right, ‘T.H. Maguire, 1849’. date of creation 1849 …
- … ‘Our weekly gossip’, Athenaeum , no. 1141 (8 Sept. 1849), pp. 913–914. ‘Review. Portraits of …
- … Secretary’, Gardeners’ Chronicle , 42 (20 October 1849), pp. 662–663. Letters from Darwin to …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 5 hits
- … to J. F. W. Herschel, ed., Manual of scientific enquiry (1849)]. Letter 1167 — …
- … 1262 — Darwin, C. R. to Hancock, Albany, [29–30 Oct 1849] Darwin thanks Hancock for specimens …
- … Letter 1251 — Darwin, C. R. to Gould, A. A., 20 Aug [1849] Darwin thanks J. D. Dana for …
- … Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 Hooker sends Darwin “a yarn about …
- … Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin writes to Hooker about his …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … synonyms’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ). In the conclusion to …
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…
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
- … Life of Wilkie [Cunningham 1843] & Chantry [G. Jones 1849]. Grote’s History of Greece …
- … Universelle ou traité des Cepages Comte Odart 1849” [Odart 1849] read very good . Rivers …
- … Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray [C. W. G. Saint-John 1849] (read) Knox. Ornithological …
- … on Pop. praised by Daily News. by M r Hicks [Hickson 1849] Published separately Taylor & …
- … India [Sleeman 1844] L d Cloncurry Memm [Lawless 1849] Lady Lyell Sir J Heads …
- … 1828–40] Campbell’s Chief Justices [J. Campbell 1849–57] Tocquevilles Democracy …
- … [J. Campbell 1845–7] Lives of the Lindsays [Lindsay 1849] D r Harvey’s Sea Side …
- … Aspects of Nature. Humboldt [A. von Humboldt 1849]. Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig …
- … Inside Front Cover] Edig. New Phil. Journ.— 1849. Jan. Marten on Transportal of …
- … [Lamb 1837]. (good) [DAR 119: 22a] 1849. Feb 8 th . Geology of Russia by …
- … Marc 3 d Thompson’s Nat. Hist of Ireland [Thompson 1849–56]. Vol. I. II & 3 May. St. …
- … Nov 22. H. Miller Footsteps of the Creator [H. Miller 1849] Dec. 10. Dana’s Geology. U.S. …
- … 1849a and 1849b] Aug. 16 Harvey Sea-side Book [Harvey 1849] —— Agassiz Lake Superior …
- … Dec. 26. Count Odart’s Amelographie [Odart 1849] —— Richardson’s Boat Voyage [J. Richardson …
- … [W. Lloyd 1840].— [DAR 119: 22b] 1849 Feb. 5 th . Miss Martineau. …
- … June Brooks Four Months amongst Goldfinders [Brooks 1849] July 25. Campbell’s Chancellor’s [J …
- … [Fry 1847] (poor) Sept. 5. Newman on the Soul [Newman 1849] Nov. 4 th Burtons life …
- … . Jan 15 th Lives of Lindsays 3. Vols. [Lindsay 1849] Capital Feb. 6 th . …
- … Cure [Lane 1846] amusing June Layards Nineveh [Layard 1849] Vol 1. Vol. 2. Sept. 23 d . …
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,…
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. …
Matches: 10 hits
- … College 28 Amsterdam 18 november 1849 Uithoorn 25 august …
- … Burghal School Enkhuizen 20-05-1849 Steenderen …
- … Arnhem High Burghal School Arnhem 1849 Den Bosch 18 …
- … School Amsterdam 29 march 1849 Sneek 31 july 1938 …
- … Burghal School 28 Goes 28 september 1849 Lichtenvoorde 13 …
- … History. Utrecht 16 august 1849 Angerlo 18 october 1930 …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 24 january 1849 Monnickendam 8 …
- … College. Breda 21 september 1849 Den Bosch 13 oktober 1879 …
- … Clerk Winterswijk 23 january 1849 Amsterdam 5 December …
- … on Natural History. Middelburg 1849 Middelburg 1921 …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 1 hits
- … been diagnosed as ‘suppressed gout’ by Henry Holland in 1849 ( Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W …
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.…
Matches: 10 hits
- … College 28 Amsterdam 18 November 1849 Uithoorn 25 August …
- … Burghal School Enkhuizen 20 May 1849 Steenderen …
- … Arnhem High Burghal School Arnhem 1849 Den Bosch 18 …
- … School Amsterdam 29 March 1849 Sneek 31 July 1938 …
- … Burghal School 28 Goes 28 September 1849 Lichtenvoorde 13 …
- … History. Utrecht 16 August 1849 Angerlo 18 October 1930 …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 24 January 1849 Monnickendam 8 …
- … College. Breda 21 September 1849 Den Bosch 13 October 1879 …
- … Clerk Winterswijk 23 January 1849 Amsterdam 5 December …
- … on Natural History. Middelburg 1849 Middelburg 1921 …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Barnacles
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 1253 —Darwin to Albany Hancock, [21 Sept 1849] Darwin writes to barnacle expert …
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Summary
George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…
Matches: 1 hits
- … widened her social network and after her father's death in 1849 she travelled to Switzerland …
'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…
People featured in the German and Austrian photograph album
Summary
Biographical details of people from the Habsburg Empire that appeared in the album of German and Austrian scientists sent to Darwin on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Johannes Mattes for providing these details and for permission to make his…
Julia Wedgwood
Summary
Charles Darwin’s readership largely consisted of other well-educated Victorian men, nonetheless, some women did read, review, and respond to Darwin’s work. One of these women was Darwin’s own niece, Julia Wedgwood, known in the family as “Snow”. In July…
Matches: 1 hits
- … intakes at both Queen’s and Bedford Colleges in 1848 and 1849. Her teachers included James Martineau …
William Yarrell
Summary
William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on British birds and fish, writing standard reference works on both. He was a member of several science and natural history societies, including the Linnean Society…
Matches: 1 hits
- … William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on …
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: 1 hits
- … MAY 1848 5 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 12 OCTOBER 1849 6 C DARWIN TO R …
Darwin's illness
Summary
Was Darwin an invalid? In many photographs he looks wearied by age, wrapped in a great coat to protect him from cold. In a letter to his cousin William Fox, he wrote: "Long and continued ill health has much changed me, & I very often think with…
Matches: 1 hits
- … clientele. He wrote from Malvern to his friend Hooker in 1849. " At present, I am …